A tea leaf reader in nineteenth-century England falls in love—and in danger—with a reclusive alchemist in an enthralling historical fantasy by the author of Salt & Broom and Grimm Curiosities. Cornwall, 1854. The people of Roche have always whispered about the recluse in the black granite tower that looms above the moorland. But one young woman is driven to discover the truth behind the old tales. Her life overshadowed by family tragedy, Mina Penrose escapes her lonely days by working at The Magpie, a cozy tearoom on the village’s edge. Lately she’s been seeing shapes in the sodden leaves that hint at the future. After one such omen, Mina stumbles upon a murdered man on the heath. Villagers immediately suspect Harker Tregarrick, a living, breathing mystery who never ventures beyond the bounds of his centuries-old estate. Until the day after the murder, when the handsome and compelling recluse visits The Magpie…leading to a meeting that will change both their fates. Captivated by a man around whom danger and rumors of death swirl, Mina has never felt more alive. Can she uncover Harker’s heartbreaking history—and the truth about the murder—before tragedy strikes again?

Citing the professionalism and commercialization that dominate the multibillion-dollar soccer industry, this fascinating study also describes the game's rebellious side—from its working-class roots and political protests from fans and players to the current resurgence within radical communities. Documenting a complete history of the sport, this perceptive work also reflects on common criticisms, including the ways that soccer ferments nationalism, serves right-wing powers, and fosters competitiveness. Acknowledging these concerns, alternative perspectives on the game and practical examples of how to achieve egalitarian matches are explored. Serving as both as an orientation for the politically conscious football supporter and as an inspiration for those who try to pursue the love of the game away from television sets and big stadiums, this thoughtful examination reclaims the notion of soccer as “the people’s game.”

'A hauntingly lyrical, fairytale-like horror'– Kalynn Bayron, New York Times bestselling author Once upon a time, on the edge of a forest, there was a lonely child with only his older sister for company. So his sister made him a playmate — Daye, a girl woven from carefully selected flowers and words. And finally, this boy, Rory, had a friend.Rory is gloriously happy, until he learns that Daye is a seasonal creature. At the end of each season, she must be woven back together or fall gruesomely apart. And when, one autumn, his sister fails to return home from university in time, Rory has no choice but to watch his best friend slowly crumble, not knowing until the last second if she can be pieced together again.Realizing he can no longer rely on his sister to keep Daye alive, Rory determines he must leave home to learn how to do it himself. And the more he learns, the more he starts to Why can’t Daye survive more than one season? Can he do anything to break this cycle of bloom and decay? But as Rory grows older, his thoughts turn darker too . . .While Rory sinks deeper into research and experiments, ensconced in libraries and hunched in university labs, Daye is left to wait for his return. Alone. Sometimes, the silence seems to seep all the way to her branch-bones. Sometimes, the company of birds is the only thing to remind her that she is still alive. And as Rory keeps pushing his experiments further and further, Daye starts to wonder – how far is too far?An entrancing, inventive and unsettling reimagining of the story of Blodeuwedd from Welsh mythology, Honeysuckle is a feminist Frankenstein with flowers; a deliciously dark, twisted, horror-tinged fairytale with rot at its heart . . .

A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified in the brutal reality of 1805—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel. My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive. Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the Republican equivalent of a Kennedy? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it. Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a brutal reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible. A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.

A story about a new girl in an old town filled with dark secrets . . . that might just kill her. People say the house is cursed. It preys on the weakest, and young women are its favorite victims. In Louth, they're called the Dead Girls. All Bram wanted was to disappear—from her old life, her family's past, and from the scandal that continues to haunt her. The only place left to go is Louth, the tiny town on the Hudson River where her uncle, James, has been renovating an old mansion. But James is haunted by his own ghosts. Months earlier, his beloved wife died in a fire that people say was set by her daughter. The tragedy left James a shell of the man Bram knew—and destroyed half the house he'd so lovingly restored. The manor is creepy, and so are the locals. The people of Louth don't want outsiders like Bram in their town, and with each passing day she's discovering that the rumors they spread are just as disturbing as the secrets they hide. Most frightening of all are the legends they tell about the Dead Girls. Girls whose lives were cut short in the very house Bram now calls home. The terrifying reality is that the Dead Girls may have never left the manor. And if Bram looks too hard into the town's haunted past, she might not either.

From familiar fairy tales and legends - Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss in Boots, Beauty and the Beast, vampires and werewolves - Angela Carter has created an absorbing collection of dark, sensual, fantastic stories.

Nefando, viaggio verso le viscere di una stanza, è stato un videogioco online poco conosciuto e subito eliminato dalla rete a causa del suo criticato contenuto sensibile. Le esperienze dei giocatori sono, ora, al centro dei dibattiti gamers nei forum più profondi del deep web, però gli utenti non sembrano mettersi d'accordo: era un gioco dell'orrore per nerd, una immorale messa in scena oppure un esercizio poetico? Le viscere di quella stanza sono davvero così profonde e contorte? Sei giovani condividono un appartamento a Barcellona e le loro stanze vibrano come alveari. In ciascuna di esse fervono attività inquietanti e turbanti. I loro spazi privati sono architetture bianche dove si esplora il territorio dei corpi, della mente e dell'infanzia. Spiragli sull'abietto e sul racconto, che li collega al processo di creazione di un videogioco di culto.

Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher, a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer. 2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed? Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.