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Our Books of the Month for October

Fiction

Description

"What is it you think you're protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There's no one left for you to save." Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner-of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed. In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia's new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile, undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive. According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance's final gambit? To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena's fight-to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self-is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

Non-Fiction

Description

Harvard professor and bestselling author Arthur C. Brooks offers science-based insights on work and life in this curated collection from his "How to Build a Life" column in The Atlantic. Imagine if your life were a startup. How would you lead it and shape it to be most successful? That's the question behind The Happiness Files, a rich selection of enlightening and instructive essays by Arthur C. Brooks, known worldwide for his inspiring yet practical wisdom and advice in his weekly column for The Atlantic and in his bestselling books, From Strength to Strength and Build the Life You Want (coauthored with Oprah Winfrey). The simple answer, as Brooks wisely explains, is to manage your life in a way that leads to truly valuable rewards: love, enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning-in other words, happiness. Building on his popular Harvard Business School course "Leadership and Happiness," Brooks begins each essay with sharp observations and behavioral science research that shed light on how happiness really works, then offers experiential wisdom and practical advice. Beautifully written, the essays range from ancient philosophy to literature, pop culture, and the contemporary world of work. They explore topics and challenges such as "Procrastinate This, Not That," "Why Success Can Feel So Bitter," and "Five Pillars of a Good Life." Readers will find the chapters helpfully grouped by theme: "On Managing Yourself," "On Jobs, Money, and Building Your Career," "On Balancing Work, Life, and Relationships," and more. We all need more happiness in our work and in our lives. In The Happiness Files you'll find enlightenment, inspiration, and useful guidance for leading a happier, more successful, and more fulfilling life and career.

Children's Fiction

Description

Imaginative, magical, wildly funny, and with a truly unique world, The Spick and the Span is an extraordinary, exciting fantasy middle grade adventure - perfect for fans of Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor, Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood and Co, Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle, and Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Thanks to many generations of careless magicians, the city of Helm is overflowing with magic, which has made it a very dangerous place to live. Leave anything alone for too long and it will transform into something else: your house will turn to gingerbread, your teapot will start pouring pond water or - if you're really unlucky - your floor will turn to lava. The magicians liked to pretend it's them who keep the worst magical hiccups in check, but the real heroes of the whole sorry situation are of a wholly different occupation: equally well known but decidedly less respected. The heroes of the city of Helm are the cleaners. Ward, an ambitious twelve-year-old cleaner, wants nothing more than to belong to the League of Cleaners, who will grant him the prestige and popularity he's been looking for all his life - if only he can pass three near-impossible tests. Struggling toward this goal with a team he doesn't trust, Ward's world is upended when his friend disappears and mysterious magic-eating monsters appear all over the city and start tearing holes in the fabric of reality. Suddenly his ambitions are the least of his problems... Hugely funny and exciting, and with an incredibly imaginative, original story, The Spick and the Span is the unmissable fantasy middle grade debut of 2025 - you'll never look at magic the same way again...

Children's Non-Fiction

Cluedle - The Case of the Grindstone Goblet: 60 Curiously Clever Mystery Puzzles

By Browne, Hartigan

60.00
60.00

Dispatched by Magrudy Warehouse

Estimated delivery between 3-7 days

Description

Can you work out Cluedunnit? Team up with world-famous private investigator Hartigan Browne and solve 60 fun brain-busting puzzles to help the headmaster of Grindstone Academy (the most prestigious school in the English countryside!) recover their prized possession: the Grindstone Goblet. Use your detective skills to work out: * Why have all the books in the library been moved? * What is the treasure of immense worth? * Can the key to finding the Gleaming Goblet be found in a poem from William Shakespeare's Macbeth? Packed full of codes to crack, evidence to evaluate, clues to unravel and maps to navigate, Cluedle - The Case of the Grindstone Goblet is a funny, mystery puzzle book for code-cracking families and skilful young super sleuths. The perfect activity book for holidays, car journeys and rainy days!