Our Lady Fetta opens in Portland, Me., and involves a small Hollywood estate with too many beneficiaries. The disposition of the will naturally carries the protagonist back to the Midwest and ultimately to the Southwest to reconnect with his former college classmates, one of whom acts as his attorney. The novel¡¦s diverse settings include Halifax, Chicago, Mesa, Santa Fe oand Tucson, where a couple of transplanted Mainers also figure among the hero¡¦s allies. Sanctimony, greed, religiosity, acculturation, the preservation of natural habitats, and other topics are explored; in addition to commentary and ideas by Robert Louis Stevenson, Somerset Maugham, Carlos Castaneda, Jim Morrison, Bram Stoker, and William Peter Blatty. Jet-setters, one of the short stories featured in the book, centers on a hilarious two-year romp in the Samoan islands at the onset of the global AIDS crisis. Other notable tales include New America, in which the author proposes a simple but macabre solution to overcrowded, tax-draining prisons, nnamely, banishment aboard galleons; Cardinal du Jour, about a teenage boy who narrowly escapes being molested by a high-ranking priest; Louse Party, about an LSD party and the horrors of addiction and drug abuse; and House with Ghost, based on actual events, about a man suffering from spirit attachment, whose ghostly companion haunts the home in which he rents a room and drives him out of the house.

Two journalists embarking on a year's adventure in Greece just as the country faces economic collapse seems foolhardy—but it's their decision to bring their crazy Jack Russell to a crisis-weary country with zero dog tolerance that tips the plan into actual madnessAfter an Arctic winter, a recession, and a downturn in the newspaper industry, two journalists and their dog embark on an adventure in the wild and beautiful southern Peloponnese. A perfect plan, except for one thing—Greece is deep in economic crisis. And if fiscal failure can't overturn the couple's escapade in rural Greece, perhaps macabre local customs, a scorpion invasion, zero dog-tolerance, health scares, and touchy expats will. This is a humorous and insightful journey through one of the last unspoiled regions of Greece. It is full of encounters with warm-hearted, often eccentric, Greeks who show that this troubled country still has heroes, if not euros. In a hillside village in the Mani, the locals share their lives, their laughter, and their stories, and help chart the couple's own passage back to happiness. They even find a place in their hearts for their Greek nemesis—the local pungent goat cheese. Things really can only get feta.

The collections of the Advocates Library, with the exception of its legal books and manuscripts, were given by the Advocates to the National Library of Scotland in 1925.

The beloved New York Times bestselling author reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays. "The elegance of Patchett’s prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike." —Publisher's Weekly “Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores “what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self.” When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks’ short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman—Tom’s brilliant assistant Sooki—with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both. A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer’s eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be. From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo’s children’s books (author of The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of Charles Schultz’s Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what matters most. Infused with the author’s grace, wit, and warmth, the pieces in These Precious Days resonate deep in the soul, leaving an indelible mark—and demonstrate why Ann Patchett is one of the most celebrated writers of our time.

A collection of 83 short fairy tales, including; The Lady of the Lake; Arthur in the Cave; The Curse of Pantannas; The Drowning of the Bottom Hundred; Elidyr's Sojurn in Fairy-Land; Rhys and Llywelyn; Lowri Dafydd Earns a Purse of Gold; The Llanfabon Changeling; Why the Red Dragon is the Emblem of Wales; Llyn Cwm Llwch; The Adventures of Three Farmers; Cadwaladr and His Goat; The Fairy Wife; Einion and the Lady of the Greenwood; The Green Isles of the Ocean; March's Ears; The Fairy Harp; Guto Bach and the Fairies; Ianto's Chase; The Stray Cow, and many more.