Showing results by narrator "Ann Richardson" in All Categories

Reeling from her disastrous foray into the Pit, Birdie, the young Songkeeper, retreats into the mountains. But in the war-torn North, kneeling on bloodstained battlefields to sing the souls of the dying to rest, her resolve to accept her calling is strengthened. Such evil cannot go unchallenged. 

Freed from the hold of a slave ship, Birdie, the young Songkeeper, and Ky, a streetwise thief, emerge to a world at war. Hordes of dark soldiers march across Leira, shadowed by whispers of plague and massacres, prompting Ky to return to his besieged home city in hopes of leading his fellow runners to safety. Desperate to end the fighting, Birdie embarks on a dangerous mission into the heart of the Takhran's fortress. 

Jenny Lucas swore she’d never go home again. But being told you’re dying has a way of changing things. Years after she left, she and her five-year-old daughter, Isabella, must return to her sleepy North Carolina town to face the ghosts she left behind. They welcome her in the form of her oxygen tank - toting grandmother, her stoic and distant father, and David, Isabella’s dad...who doesn’t yet know he has a daughter. As Jenny navigates the rough and unknown waters of her new reality, the unforgettable story that unfolds is a testament to the power of love.

A heat wave grips Cape Cod, but the attendees of the So Noir literary retreat don't allow the hot weather to dampen their enthusiasm. They roam the halls of Castleton Manor in Lighthouse Bay, Massachusetts, wearing trench coats and fedoras, just like their favorite fictional private eyes. Librarian Faith Newberry gets herself in a jam when she agrees to deliver a lecture about the detective code. It's not exactly duck soup to grab the audience's attention, but Watson, her devoted feline companion, listens attentively.

The air crackles with anticipation in scenic Lighthouse Bay, Massachusetts, when best-selling author Camilla Courtenay breezes into Castleton Manor to judge the final round of a Regency romance writing contest. The three finalists are competing for a publishing contract with Northanger Press, and the pressure intensifies when they accept their last - and most challenging - writing assignment. Librarian Faith Newberry eagerly assists the contestants with their research while looking forward to the lavish grand ball when the winner will be announced.

A winter storm is brewing in Lighthouse Bay, Massachusetts. But it's not just wind and snow swirling through the opulent halls of Castleton Manor. Eleven members of the Drelincourt family have booked the literary retreat for a private gathering. It's librarian Faith Newberry's job to convince the family patriarch, Max Drelincourt, and his nieces and nephews to sell their ancestor's complete, autographed collection of valuable Agatha Christie first editions. When Faith realizes that not everyone is on the same page about the sale, a mysterious affair begins.

It's Simmering Suspense Week at the Castleton Manor literary retreat in Lighthouse Bay, Massachusetts. Librarian Faith Newberry has her hands full with a week of author talks and signings planned. But when the bejeweled guest of honor, reigning queen of romantic suspense Gloria Bauer, clears out her luxurious suite and disappears without a trace, Faith must scramble to keep the manor's other guests - and her cranky boss, Marlene Russell - satisfied with one less author.

Faith Newberry is settling in nicely at her job as librarian at the upscale and pet-friendly Castleton Manor literary retreat. Even her cat, Watson, has taken to his new life in Lighthouse Bay on Cape Cod. With a cozy cottage on the grounds of the Massachusetts estate in which to live, and surrounded by books by day and friends by night, Faith thinks life couldn't get much sweeter.

Faith Newberry's dream job may be morphing into a nightmare. Newly hired as the librarian at the upscale and pet-friendly Castleton Manor literary retreat, Faith sees her move from Boston to the quaint Cape Cod village of Lighthouse Bay, Massachusetts, as a boon. But things turn ugly when she discovers that the first edition book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle proudly displayed in the library - also his first in the Sherlock Holmes series - is a counterfeit, and not a very good one at that. Who could have absconded with the real volume?

How we read and interpret the Bible with children may mean the difference between whether or not it will continue to be an important source for their faith development as they become young adults. We want to teach them in ways that they don't have to unlearn later.

Living Wisely contains a lifetime of tested insight and guidance from mentor, Bible-study writer, and best-selling author Cynthia Heald. Cynthia shares foundational biblical truths that will help you live a wise life and discern godly choices to make at every crossroads. Living Wisely points you toward the truths of Scripture so you can live well in the midst of a world that doesn't understand true wisdom.

This groundbreaking anthology presents 40 narratives, both nonfiction and fiction, that together capture the impact and complexity of Alzheimer’s and other dementias on patients, as well as their caregivers and family. Deeply personal, recounting the wrenching course of a disease that kills a loved one twice - first they forget who they are, and then the body succumbs - these stories also show how witnessing the disease and caring for someone with it can be powerfully transformative, calling forth amazing strength and grace.

It’s springtime, and septuagenarian librarian Cleo Watkins is celebrating new blooms and old books. To her delight, the Georgia Antiquarian Book Society has brought its annual fair to Catalpa Springs in honor of Cleo’s gentleman friend, respected antiquarian bookseller and restorer, Henry Lafayette. But trouble rolls in with the fair when a flirtatious book scout makes the rounds, charming ladies of a certain age out of prized books.

Septuagenarian librarian Cleo Watkins believes in gracious manners, sweet tea, and justice - library justice. For over 40 years, Cleo has tried every trick in the book to get delinquent patron Dixie Huddleston to return the most overdue volume in Catalpa Springs, Georgia. When Dixie says she’ll finally relinquish the book, Cleo is shocked. She’s even more startled by the reason: superstitious Dixie says she’s seen the signs - she’s about to die and is setting her affairs in order.

Septuagenarian librarian Cleo Watkins won’t be shushed when an upstart young mayor threatens to permanently shelve her tiny town’s storm-damaged library. She takes to her bookmobile, Words on Wheels, to collect allies and rally library support throughout Catalpa Springs, GA. However, Cleo soon rolls into trouble. A major benefactor known for his eccentric DIY projects requests all available books on getting away with murder. He’s no Georgia peach, and Cleo wonders if she should be worried. She knows she should when she finds him murdered - and evidence points to her best friend.

Journalist and Professor Susanne Althoff investigates the obstacles women and nonbinary entrepreneurs - especially those of color - face when launching, funding, and growing their companies, obstacles that persist because the current start-up world was engineered by and for White men. Through interviews with more than a hundred founders across the country and in all industries, Althoff paints a picture of an entrepreneurial system rife with bias and discrimination, where women receive less than three percent of this country's venture capital.

Everyone knows Benjamin Franklin—the thrifty inventor-statesman of the Revolutionary era—but not about his love life. Poor Richard’s Women reveals the neglected voices of the women Ben loved and lost during his lifelong struggle between passion and prudence. The most prominent among them was Deborah Read Franklin, his common-law wife and partner for 44 years. Long dismissed by historians, she was an independent, politically savvy woman and devoted wife who raised their children, managed his finances, and fought off angry mobs at gunpoint while he traipsed about England.

From best-selling author Beth Wiseman come four sweet stories centered around celebrations in the Amish community: rumschpringe, baptism, weddings, and Christmas.

Sometimes life just hurts. Whether it's the sting of a current loss or a long-standing heartache, let God's love enfold you and restore the wounded places of your soul. Award-winning author Lisa Are Wulf invites you to embrace your inner healing within the sacred space of your heart. She offers encouragement, compassion, and strength for the journey. Enfolded in God's Arms features 40 reflections, comforting bible verses, and prayers, plus a quiet time with God. Experience new insights and perspectives as hurts are eased and life moves forward, all within God's gentle embrace.

Want to see your church's kids transformed for Jesus? Struggling to get the whole church on board? Know what you want to see happen, but not how to make it happen? Leading KidMin is about what it takes to achieve big-time change. Moving past the "why" and getting straight to the "how," Leading KidMin provides tools and strategies for actually leading, influencing, and implementing change on a local church level - all from the vantage point of the children's ministry director.