Thrilling, atmospheric, and filled with ancient magic, this lyrically written YA debut is perfect for readers of The Raven Cycle and Wink Poppy Midnight. Once a year, Wren is chased through the woods near her rural Ireland hometown in a warped version of a childhood game. Her pursuers belong to the judges, a group in control of an ancient, powerful magic they stole from her own people, the augurs . . . but they know nothing of her real identity. If they learned the truth, the game would surely turn deadly. Though she knows the risks, Wren also goes on the hunt, taking a dangerous undercover assignment as an intern at enemy headquarters, the Harkness Foundation. If she can uncover a long-buried secret, she can save her family and end the judges' reign once and for all. But as the web of lies, deceit, and betrayal thickens around Wren, she hurtles toward a truth that threatens to consume her and reveal who she really is. Not only has she come to the attention of powerful judge Cassa Harkness, but she is also falling dangerously in love with the one person she shouldn't. And she may need to decide which she'd rather lose, her heart or her life. This spellbinding YA debut from Mary Watson is part thriller, part love story and entirely captivating.

In the tiny Irish town of Kilshamble, Zara's investigation of her sister's mysterious death leads her into an ancient magical war.

A unique interdisciplinary study, this book examines the British and European tradition of the wren hunt, in which a bird ordinarily revered and protected for most of the year was killed around the time of the annual solstice. In focusing on this ancient ritual, Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence draws on her training in cultural anthropology and biology to cast a fresh light on the complexities of human-animal relationships.Following an introductory chapter on animal symbolism, Lawrence proceeds in subsequent chapters to describe the wren both as a biological entity and as the subject of numerous tales and legends, to delineate the details of the wren hunt ceremony and the various meanings ascribed to it, and, finally, to relate the ceremony to important contemporary issues in human-animal interactions and current attitudes toward the living environment. Whereas most other studies tend to concentrate solely on human perceptions of animals and fail to include the animal's role in the relationship, Lawrence's approach shows how the participation of both animal and human determines the symbolic status of the animal -- which in turn influences the treatment of that animal within a particular society.At a time when human destructiveness toward nature has reached tragic proportions, Lawrence contends, it is critical that we understand the processes by which certain cultural beliefs, in combination with observations about the natural history of a particular animal, result in emotional and mental responses that may ultimately determine the fate of that species. The author argues persuasively that the wren hunt -- with its ancient roots, associated beliefs, and complex meanings in thepreindustrialized world -- still has much to teach us.

"From notable mixed martial artist and UFC fighter, Justin Wren, comes a personal account of faith, redemption, empowerment, and overwhelming love as one man sets out on an international mission to fight for those who can't fight for themselves. Justin Wren knows what it's like to feel like the world is against you. Like many kids, Justin was bullied as a child, but had a dream that kept him going. Fueled by the anger he felt toward his tormenters, Justin trained hard and propelled his dream of becoming a UFC fighter into reality. But the pain from his childhood didn't dissipate and Justin fell into a spiral of depression and addiction, leading him on a path toward destruction. After getting kicked out of his training community, his career was in shambles and he had nowhere else to go, so Justin attended a men's retreat, and it was there he found God. As Justin began piecing his life back together, he joined several international mission trips that opened his eyes and his heart to a world filled with suffering deep in the jungle of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There he came across the Mbuti Pygmy tribe, a group of people persecuted by neighboring tribes and forced into slavery. His encounter with the Pygmy tribe left him wondering who was there to help them and in that moment Justin stepped out of the ring and into a fight for the forgotten. From cage fighter to freedom fighter, Justin's story is a deeply personal memoir with a bigger message about a quest, justice, and the amazing things that can happen when we relinquish our lives to God"--

In a high-stakes sequel, reluctant necromancer Luke Manchett must call upon the most wicked and eerie ghosts of his dispelled Host to save two innocent souls. It’s been a few months since Luke Manchett inherited a Host of eight hostile spirits from his dead father and made a deal with the devil to banish them. Luke’s doing his best to blend in to the background of high school, to ignore the haunting dreams spawned by his father’s Book of Eight, and to enjoy the one good thing to come from the whole mess: his girlfriend, Elza. And then it all begins again. Ash, a strange new girl with stark white hair, requests his help—and his Book of Eight—to save her twin sister, who was attacked by a demon. Ash knows a lot more about necromancy than Luke and seems to know what she’s doing, but can she be trusted? As Luke is drawn into a spiral of ever more dangerous favors, he finds himself not only summoning the deadliest members of his father’s Host, but returning to Deadside in a terrifying quest to save what he holds dearest—or die trying.

A New York Times Best New Historical Novel of 2021 "Potent... fast-paced..." - The New York Times Book Review "Wonderfully imagined and wonderfully written . . . Superb!" -- Lee Child Part Wolf Hall, part The Name of the Rose, a riveting new literary thriller set in Restoration London, with a cast of real historic figures, set against the actual historic events and intrigues of the returned king and his court … The City of London, 1678. New Year’s Day. Twelve years have passed since the Great Fire ripped through the City. Eighteen since the fall of Oliver Cromwell and the restoration of a King. London is gripped by hysteria, and rumors of Catholic plots and sinister foreign assassins abound. When the body of a young boy drained of his blood is discovered on the snowy bank of the Fleet River, Robert Hooke, the Curator of Experiments at the just-formed Royal Society for Improving Natural Knowledge, and his assistant Harry Hunt, are called in to explain such a ghastly finding—and whether it's part of a plot against the king. They soon learn it is not the first bloodless boy to have been discovered. Meanwhile, that same morning Henry Oldenburg, the Secretary of the Royal Society, blows his brains out, and a disgraced Earl is released from the Tower of London, bent on revenge against the King, Charles II. Wary of the political hornet’s nest they are walking into – and using scientific evidence rather than paranoia in their pursuit of truth – Hooke and Hunt must discover why the boy was murdered, and why his blood was taken. The Bloodless Boy is an absorbing literary thriller that introduces two new indelible heroes to historical crime fiction. It is also a powerfully atmospheric recreation of the darkest corners of Restoration London, where the Court and the underworld seem to merge, even as the light of scientific inquiry is starting to emerge …

"Originally published in 2014 by Hardie Grant Egmont ... Australia"--Page facing title page.