Cumbria, 1870s. Just before her fifteenth birthday Jinnie Howlett is offered a position as maid-of-all-work at a farm near the Cumbrian border. She hopes this will be a welcome relief from the workhouse she knows too well. But when she meets her brutish employers Jinnie realises she has only exchanged one life of drudgery for another. She is grateful when one of the sons befriends her, but it isn't long before Jennie sees how tempting life is beyond her place of work . . . Catherine Cookson was the original and bestselling saga writer, selling over 100 million copies of her novels. If you like Dilly Court, Katie Flynn or Donna Douglas, you'll love Catherine Cookson.

John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress, only mentioned one of his children in his memoirs- Mary. Born blind, her story still intrigues us today. Mary developed a fierce determination for independence despite her disability after years of proving she was not hindered by her blindness. Only when she admits she needs help does she tap into the Source of all strength.

Special edition of Paul Harding’s Pulitzer Prize–winning debut novel—featuring a new foreword by Marilynne Robinson and book club extras inside In this deluxe tenth anniversary edition, Marilynne Robinson introduces the beautiful novel Tinkers, which begins with an old man who lies dying. As time collapses into memory, he travels deep into his past, where he is reunited with his father and relives the wonder and pain of his impoverished New England youth. At once heartbreaking and life affirming, Tinkers is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, and the fierce beauty of nature. The story behind this New York Times bestselling debut novel—the first independently published Pulitzer Prize winner since A Confederacy of Dunces received the award nearly thirty years before—is as extraordinary as the elegant prose within it. Inspired by his family’s history, Paul Harding began writing Tinkers when his rock band broke up. Following numerous rejections from large publishers, Harding was about to shelve the manuscript when Bellevue Literary Press offered a contract. After being accepted by BLP, but before it was even published, the novel developed a following among independent booksellers from coast to coast. Readers and critics soon fell in love, and it went on to receive the Pulitzer Prize, prompting the New York Times to declare the novel’s remarkable success “the most dramatic literary Cinderella story of recent memory.” That story is still being written as readers across the country continue to discover this modern classic, which has now sold over half a million copies, proving once again that great literature has a thriving and passionate audience. Paul Harding is the author of two novels about multiple generations of a New England family: Enon and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Tinkers. He teaches at Stony Brook Southampton.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize “The book is a form of meditation, written with headlong urgency, about seeing. . . . There is an ambition about her book that I like. . . . It is the ambition to feel.” — Eudora Welty, New York Times Book Review Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is the story of a dramatic year in Virginia's Roanoke Valley, where Annie Dillard set out to chronicle incidents of "beauty tangled in a rapture with violence." Dillard's personal narrative highlights one year's exploration on foot in the Virginia region through which Tinker Creek runs. In the summer, she stalks muskrats in the creek and contemplates wave mechanics; in the fall, she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot; she collects pond water and examines it under a microscope. She unties a snake skin, witnesses a flood, and plays King of the Meadow with a field of grasshoppers. The result is an exhilarating tale of nature and its seasons.

Move Over, Buffy! Tinker Not Only Kicks Supernatural Butt Shes a Techie Genius, Too! Inventor, girl genius Tinker lives in a near-future Pittsburgh which now exists mostly in the land of the elves. She runs her salvage business, pays her taxes, and tries to keep the local ambient level of magic down with gadgets of her own design. When a pack of wargs chase an Elven noble into her scrap yard, life as she knows it takes a serious detour. Tinker finds herself taking on the Elven court, the NSA, the Elven Interdimensional Agency, technology smugglers and a college-minded Xenobiologist as she tries to stay focused on whats really important her first date. Armed with an intelligence the size of a planet, steel toed boots, and a junk yard dog attitude, Tinker is ready to kick butt to get her first kiss. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "Each and every character is fascinating, extraordinarily well-developed, and gets right under your skin. . . . A terrific, memorable story." ¾Julie E. Czerneda, author of In the Company of Others "Spencer takes her readers on a fast-paced journey into disbelief. [Her] timing is impeccable and the denouement stunning." ¾Romantic Times (four-star review) "This novel [Alien Taste] is keeper-shelf material." ¾BookBrowser "Wonderfully inventive . . . a fun protagonist." ¾Locus

When young Jinnie Howlett's widowed father, a tinker man, died a pauper, she was indeed fortunate already to be an inmate of a northern workhouse, for with no other relatives, she might otherwise have ended up on the streets, a fate for children of her age that was, in the latter years of the nineteenth century, all too common. When, close to her fifteenth birthday and after years of toil and drudgery and an unfortunate experience at a previous workplace, she was at last offered a position as a maid-of-all-work, she was left in no doubt that this second chance was also her last. Jinnie's employers were to be the Shalemans and her place of work Tollet's Ridge Farm, a bleakly isolated and run-down sheep farm way out beyond Allendale and towards the Cumbrian border. It was only a matter of weeks before she discovered that she had exchanged one kind of drudgery for another, for the Shaleman family - Rose, invalid wife of Pug and mother to Bruce and Hal - demanded so much of her that she almost became nostalgic about her years at the house, as she called it. Fortunately for Jinnie, however, Bruce soon recognised that there was more to this seemingly vulnerable girl than the othe members of his family realised, and it was he who would defend her against the taunts and harassment of the brutish Pug and Hal. It was when, by accident, she became acquainted with Richard Baxton-Powell, who owed his life to Bruce, that Jinnie realised how different and tempting life was beyond her place of work; although later, when the persistent attention Richard paid her became too obtrusive, she was to understand that her growing confidence and maturity owed more to her life with the Shalemans than to any outside influence. It was then that Jinnie Howlett was suddenly thrust into womanhood, and the path to her own destiny became clear.

Some of the most creative artists from today’s maker scene discuss their process, workspaces and more in this inspiring guide to tinkering. The Art of Tinkering is an unprecedented celebration of what it means to tinker: to take things apart, explore tools and materials, and build wondrous, wild art that’s part science, part technology, and entirely creative. Join 150+ makers as they share the stories behind their beautiful and bold work—then do some tinkering yourself! This collection of exhibits, artwork, and projects explores a whole new way to learn, in which people expand their knowledge through making and doing, working with readily available materials, getting their hands dirty, collaborating with others, and problem-solving in the most fun sense of the word. Each artist featured in The Art of Tinkering shares their process and the backstory behind their work. Whether it’s dicussing their favorite tools (who knew toenail clippers could be so handy?) or offering a glimpse of their workspaces (you’d be amazed how many electronics tools you can pack into a pantry!), the stories, lessons, and tips in The Art of Tinkering offer a fascinating portrait of today’s maker scene. Artists include: Scott Weaver, Arthur Ganson, Moxie, Tim Hunkin, AnnMarie Thomas, Ranjit Bhatnajar and Jie Qi.