A joyful, page-turning tale of a love affair between a woman, a man . . . and the stately ruin they transformed into a home. She rescued a house, then the house rescued her . . . When Anne, a divorced author suffering from writer's block, and her new partner, Ian, a widower and fellow Scottish romantic, decide to take their deepening relationship to the next level and move in together, it isn't as simple as it sounds. There are their respective adult children's feelings to consider, plus Anne and Ian want to make a new start away from the scrutiny of the tiny township where they've both lived for many years. Their search takes them to the historic Queensland town of Maryborough, where the brief glimpse of a derelict house not even for sale is the start of a whole new life together. This is Anne's story of how she lovingly brought Baddow House - known locally as 'the Ghost House' - back to life, and in doing so both rediscovered her passion for writing and cemented her relationship with Ian. But it's not all choosing paint colours and uncovering troves of priceless cedar. The restoration is a difficult, costly and painstaking process. And family tensions arise when the couple want to take the next step, marriage, placing a great strain on what had been an easy, comfortable partnership. How Anne overcomes the obstacles in her path, including a fear of being alone in the isolated, spooky house at night, will have you cheering her on.

Jean de Lacey is a jaded French émigré who reluctantly decides the only way to revive his fortunes is by marrying a wealthy wife. But before he proposes to anyone, he must free himself of the smuggling gang he has been involved with since his arrival in England. He woos young, beautiful Eugenie Ponnette, a fellow émigré, however de Lacey resists agreeing to the love match she insists on, even though his passion for Eugenie is different to anything he has experienced before. Before he can offer marriage, they are both caught up in danger – he from the smugglers he once called friends, and she from de Lacey’s deranged ex-lover. But Eugenie is no damsel in distress – except from her suppressed memories of the horrors she experienced in Paris, and her own discoveries of de Lacey’s deceptions. Can de Lacey convince Eugenie that he is truly in love with her? Can they settle their differences and find true happiness together?

From acclaimed bestselling author James Runcie, a meditation on grief and music, told through the story of Bach's writing of the St. Matthew Passion. In 1727, Stefan Silbermann is a grief-stricken thirteen-year-old, struggling with the death of his mother and his removal to a school in distant Leipzig. Despite his father's insistence that he try not to think of his mother too much, Stefan is haunted by her absence, and, to make matters worse, he's bullied by his new classmates. But when the school's cantor, Johann Sebastian Bach, takes notice of his new pupil's beautiful singing voice and draws him from the choir to be a soloist, Stefan's life is permanently changed. Over the course of the next several months, and under Bach's careful tutelage, Stefan's musical skill progresses, and he is allowed to work as a copyist for Bach's many musical works. But mainly, drawn into Bach's family life and away from the cruelty in the dorms and the lonely hours of his mourning, Stefan begins to feel at home. When another tragedy strikes, this time in the Bach family, Stefan bears witness to the depths of grief, the horrors of death, the solace of religion, and the beauty that can spring from even the most profound losses. Joyous, revelatory, and deeply moving, The Great Passion is an imaginative tour de force that tells the story of what it was like to sing, play, and hear Bach's music for the very first time.

David Suzuki's lifelong work as an environmentalist, naturalist, and scientist have influenced countless others in their fight to save the planet, 20 such devotees of them have contributed to this inspiring collection. These journalists, scientists, writers and environmentalists have taken their enthusiasm for Suzuki's philosophy and funneled it into their own personal recollections, manifestos, and essays: Rick Bass describes his love for the Yaak Valley in Montana; Richard Mabey takes readers to a moonlit May evening in Suffolk; David Helvarg tells us of a stirring seaside memory from his childhood. No matter what journey these writers take us on, the unifying theme of their work is always the same: a deep and abiding love of nature — inspired and shared by David Suzuki.

In an unorthodox approach, Georgetown University professor Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice, and sets out on a quest to discover the reality of how people end up loving their careers. Not only are pre-existing passions rare and have little to do with how most people end up loving their work, but a focus on passion over skill can be dangerous, leading to anxiety and chronic job hopping. Spending time with organic farmers, venture capitalists, screenwriters, freelance computer programmers, and others who admitted to deriving great satisfaction from their work, Newport uncovers the strategies they used and the pitfalls they avoided in developing their compelling careers. Cal reveals that matching your job to a pre-existing passion does not matter. Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it. With a title taken from the comedian Steve Martin, who once said his advice for aspiring entertainers was to "be so good they can't ignore you," Cal Newport's clearly written manifesto is mandatory reading for anyone fretting about what to do with their life, or frustrated by their current job situation and eager to find a fresh new way to take control of their livelihood. He provides an evidence-based blueprint for creating work you love, and will change the way you think about careers, happiness, and the crafting of a remarkable life.