Whoever said life in the country was boring... Alicia's a smart sassy lawyer who won't stand for any nonsense. She lives for payday, Prada and becoming a Partner of the firm. Having shaken the proverbial rural dust of Drayton Beauchamp off her Jimmy Choos, she knows exactly what she wants out of life. At least, until one disastrous summer, she thinks she does. Then, stuck back in the village she grew up in things start to get complicated as she rediscovers old friends, Matty the farmer's wife with a passion for fashion and Chloe, the eternal romantic. As she clashes with her mother's favourite gardener, deals with aggressive clients and sees her friend's marriage fall apart, she finds that she becomes inexplicably bound to the village. However much she tries to leave it appears fate has other plans. Whoever said life in the countryside was boring couldn't have been more wrong; there's always a rural affair.

Life is never dull in Drayton Beauchamp but for Zoe it feels as though her world has been turned upside down. As her elderly employer is rushed off to hospital and the dog rescue centre is set to close, she doesn't think it can get much worse... Until a city developer and his girlfriend turn up and threaten to build a new housing estate on the beloved allotments. With the village up in arms and the tensions rising, Zoe finds herself plunged into the centre of the controversy with some dramatic unforeseen consequences. Everything falls apart but, luckily, it turns out a dog really is a girl's best friend.

How ordinary Americans, frustrated by the legal and political wrangling over the Second Amendment, can fight for reforms that will both respect gun owners’ rights and reduce gun violence. Efforts to reduce gun violence in the United States face formidable political and constitutional barriers. Legislation that would ban or broadly restrict firearms runs afoul of the Supreme Court’s current interpretation of the Second Amendment. And gun rights advocates have joined a politically savvy firearm industry in a powerful coalition that stymies reform. Ian Ayres and Fredrick Vars suggest a new way forward. We can decrease the number of gun deaths, they argue, by empowering individual citizens to choose common-sense gun reforms for themselves. Rather than ask politicians to impose one-size-fits-all rules, we can harness a libertarian approach—one that respects and expands individual freedom and personal choice—to combat the scourge of gun violence. Ayres and Vars identify ten policies that can be immediately adopted at the state level to reduce the number of gun-related deaths without affecting the rights of gun owners. For example, Donna’s Law, a voluntary program whereby individuals can choose to restrict their ability to purchase or possess firearms, can significantly decrease suicide rates. Amending Red Flag statutes, which allow judges to restrict access to guns when an individual has shown evidence of dangerousness, can give police flexible and effective tools to keep people safe. Encouraging the use of unlawful possession petitions can help communities remove guns from more than a million Americans who are legally disqualified from owning them. By embracing these and other new forms of decentralized gun control, the United States can move past partisan gridlock and save lives now.

A deep dive into the history of the illustrated book jacket, tracing its development across the twentieth century, reflecting some of the most iconic designs of the era

• Includes a dictionary of nearly 300 magical plants with descriptions of each plant’s scientific name, common names, elemental qualities, ruling planets, and zodiacal signatures, with commentary on medico-magical properties and uses • Explores methods of phytotherapy and plant magic, including the Paracelsian “transplantation of diseases,” ritual pacts with trees, the secret ingredients of witches’ ointments, and the composition of magical philters • Explains the occult secrets of phytogenesis, plant physiology, and plant physiognomy (classification of plants according to the doctrine of signatures) Merging the scientific discipline of botany with ancient, medieval, and Renaissance traditions of occult herbalism, this seminal guide was first published in French in 1902 as a textbook for students of Papus’s École hermétique and sparked a revival in the study of magical herbalism in early twentieth-century France. Author Paul Sédir, pseudonym of Yvon Le Loup (1871-1926), explains the occult secrets of phytogenesis (the esoteric origin and evolutionary development of the plant kingdom), plant physiology (the occult anatomy of plants), and plant physiognomy (classification of plants according to the doctrine of signatures). Unveiling the mysteries behind planetary and zodiacal attributions, he provides readers with the keys to make their own informed determinations of the astral properties of plants. Moving from theory into practice, Sédir explores various methods of phytotherapy and plant magic, including the Paracelsian “transplantation of diseases,” the secret ingredients of witches’ ointments, and the composition of magical philters. In the third section of the book, Sédir offers a dictionary of magical plants that covers nearly 300 plant species with descriptions of their astral signatures, occult properties, and medico-magical uses. Compiled from an array of rare sources and esoterica, this classic text includes a wealth of additional materials and supplemental charts and diagrams drawn from Sédir’s occult colleagues, all of whom adopted and expanded upon Sédir’s pioneering system of plant correspondences.

Ed Emberley shies away from calling himself an artist and instead likes to say that "he draws pictures for a living." Now in his eighties,Ed Emberley is a Caldecott award-winning children's book illustrator and writer who has been creating original books since the1960s. He has written and illustrated more than 100 books and is perhaps best known for his beloved how-to-draw books for kids such as: Ed Emberley's Big Green Drawing Book, Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Faces, and Ed Emberley's Great Thumbprint Drawing Book, and many others. These simple and straightforward books, first published in the 1970s, have encouraged a generation of kids to take the drawing process step by step. Contemporary working artists today often cite Ed Emberley as a beloved early inspiration in their development as artists. By encouraging kids to draw using just a few simple shapes, Emberley has made drawing and creating accessible to everyone. As Emberley likes to say, "Not everyone needs to be an artist, but everyone needs to feel good about themselves." This definitive monograph on the wide repertoire of Emberley's life's work has been beautifully put together by Todd Oldham and Caleb Neelon. Highlighting work spanning over five decades, this gorgeous and comprehensive book celebrates the talented and prolific life of Ed Emberley.

A collector’s edition of the classic, illustrated, and comprehensive history of magic and the occult • Written by renowned Surrealist and magic scholar Kurt Seligmann (1900-1962) • Includes all 250 illustrations from the original 1948 edition • Explores magical practices and beliefs from their origins in the ancient world through the heyday of secret societies in the 18th century In the occult classic The Mirror of Magic, renowned Surrealist Kurt Seligmann (1900-1962) draws from his encyclopedic practitioner’s knowledge and extensive antiquarian collection to offer a comprehensive, illustrated history of magic and the occult from Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt through the 18th century. He explores the gods and divinatory arts of the legendary Sumerians and the star-wise Babylonians, including the birth of astrology. He examines the afterlife beliefs of the ancient Egyptians and the dream interpretation practices and oracles of ancient Greece, including the mysteries of Eleusis and the magical philosophy of Plato, Socrates, and other Greeks. He uncovers the origins of Gnosticism and the suppression and banishment of magic by the post-pagan, Christian emperors of Rome. Seligmann reviews the principles of alchemy, sharing famous transmutations and allegorical illustrations of the alchemical process and explores the Hermetica and its remarkable adepts. Investigating the Middle Ages, the author discusses the work of European magicians of the time, including Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Agrippa, Nostradamus, and Pico Della Mirandola. He studies the medieval practices of devil worship, witchcraft, and black magic, as well as the “Cabala” in both its Hebrew and Christian forms. He also examines the art of the Tarot and many lesser known divination techniques. He explores the development of secret societies, including Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism, in the 17th century and the increase in occult publications and magical science in the 18th century. First published in 1948, this history of magic and the occult seeks to “mirror” the magical worldview throughout the ages. Beautifully illustrated with images from the author’s rare library, this collector’s edition features all of the artwork--more than 250 images--from the original 1948 edition.