Shivers series-Book #7.

Wandering minstrel, Martin Pippin, encounters a lovelorn ploughman who begs him to release his beloved by entertaining the six young women sworn to guard her. This Martin Pippin does - telling beautiful tales of heartbreak, betrayal and everlasting love. But will the imprisoned Gillian ever be freed? This delightful collection will be loved by adults and children alike - a perfect introduction to sophisticated fairy tales. 'She is one of the few who can conceive and tell a fairytale . . . Before I had read five pages of Martin Pippin, I had forgotten who I was and where I lived. I was transported into a world of sunlight, of gay inconsequence, of emotional surprise, a world of poetry, delight and humour. And I lived and took my joy in that rare world, until all too soon my reading was done.' From J. D. Beresford's Foreword to the first American edition of 1922.

Four teenagers grow inseparable in the last days of the Soviet Union—but not all of them will live to see the new world arrive in this powerful debut novel, loosely based on Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. “Spectacular . . . intensely evocative and gorgeously written . . . will fill readers’ eyes with tears and wonder.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: New York Post Coming of age in the USSR in the 1980s, best friends Anya and Milka try to envision a free and joyful future for themselves. They spend their summers at Anya’s dacha just outside of Moscow, lazing in the apple orchard, listening to Queen songs, and fantasizing about trips abroad and the lives of American teenagers. Meanwhile, Anya’s parents talk about World War II, the Blockade, and the hardships they have endured. By the time Anya and Milka are fifteen, the Soviet Empire is on the verge of collapse. They pair up with classmates Trifonov and Lopatin, and the four friends share secrets and desires, argue about history and politics, and discuss forbidden books. But the world is changing, and the fleeting time they have together is cut short by a sudden tragedy. Years later, Anya returns to Russia from America, where she has chosen a different kind of life, far from her family and childhood friends. When she meets Lopatin again, he is a smug businessman who wants to buy her parents’ dacha and cut down the apple orchard. Haunted by the ghosts of her youth, Anya comes to the stark realization that memory does not fade or disappear; rather, it moves us across time, connecting our past to our future, joys to sorrows. Inspired by Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry’s The Orchard powerfully captures the lives of four Soviet teenagers who are about to lose their country and one another, and who struggle to survive, to save their friendship, to recover all that has been lost.

Shivers series-Book #4.

Varla Ventura, Coast to Coast favorite, Weird News blogger on Huffington Post, and author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces Weiser Books’ new Collection of forgotten occult classics. Paranormal Parlor is an eerie assemblage of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s sixth sense for tales of the weird and unusual. Should you find yourself walking beneath the silvery branches of an orchard on a fine late Summer afternoon, you may hear, among the birds tweets and the rustling wind, a haunting melody. This tune, most likely an old French love ballad, might take hold of your heart and mind in a way you've never known. If this should happen, you have two choices. You can run screaming away, terrified of the paranormal encounter you have unwittingly stumbled into, or you can stay and meet the specter behind the song.

Amber accidentally mails a very old letter she finds in the family's 100-year old house, and the next day, receives a ghostly reply.

The story of a young teacher and the mute woman with whom he falls in love.