In the Orchard, the Swallows

In the Orchard, the Swallows PDF Author: Peter Hobbs
Publisher: Europa Editions
ISBN: 1609451937
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 87

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Book Description
This tale of innocence and corruption in Pakistan is “a beautiful, often painful, journey of a young man’s doomed yearning for love” (The Guardian). During a village wedding in Pakistan, a boy risks speaking to the beautiful daughter of a powerful local politician. As night falls, the two meet in his father’s orchard, inadvertently falling asleep as they wait for the light of dawn to reveal the orchard’s beauty, naive to the dangers posed by their innocent mistake. As first light approaches, and the girl’s father realizes the young couple’s mutual attraction, he has the boy sent to prison without explanation or the benefit of a trial. Fifteen years later, the boy—now a man—is released without a word. Bereft of family and weakened from years of abuse, he collapses on the side of the road and is taken in by a kindly scholar. As time passes, the man recovers enough to take daily walks to his father’s now abandoned orchard, where he last saw his young beloved among the trees, beneath soaring, fluttering swallows . . . In clear, crystalline prose, this novel reveals the ability of the human spirit to conquer the random cruelties of life, and how the power of love and hope, once known, can never truly be extinguished. “Hobbs’ prose is spare, clean, and lyrical, giving In the Orchard, the Swallows a timeless feeling; however, the markers of the Afghan war and the changes in the landscape remind the reader that this story is very contemporary.” —Booklist “A perfectly cut jewel of a book.” —The Financial Times

In the Orchard, the Swallows

In the Orchard, the Swallows PDF Author: Peter Hobbs
Publisher: Europa Editions
ISBN: 1609451937
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 87

Get Book Here

Book Description
This tale of innocence and corruption in Pakistan is “a beautiful, often painful, journey of a young man’s doomed yearning for love” (The Guardian). During a village wedding in Pakistan, a boy risks speaking to the beautiful daughter of a powerful local politician. As night falls, the two meet in his father’s orchard, inadvertently falling asleep as they wait for the light of dawn to reveal the orchard’s beauty, naive to the dangers posed by their innocent mistake. As first light approaches, and the girl’s father realizes the young couple’s mutual attraction, he has the boy sent to prison without explanation or the benefit of a trial. Fifteen years later, the boy—now a man—is released without a word. Bereft of family and weakened from years of abuse, he collapses on the side of the road and is taken in by a kindly scholar. As time passes, the man recovers enough to take daily walks to his father’s now abandoned orchard, where he last saw his young beloved among the trees, beneath soaring, fluttering swallows . . . In clear, crystalline prose, this novel reveals the ability of the human spirit to conquer the random cruelties of life, and how the power of love and hope, once known, can never truly be extinguished. “Hobbs’ prose is spare, clean, and lyrical, giving In the Orchard, the Swallows a timeless feeling; however, the markers of the Afghan war and the changes in the landscape remind the reader that this story is very contemporary.” —Booklist “A perfectly cut jewel of a book.” —The Financial Times

In the Orchard, the Swallows

In the Orchard, the Swallows PDF Author: Peter Hobbs
Publisher: House of Anansi
ISBN: 1770892117
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 121

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Book Description
A Guardian Book of the Year and Chapters/Indigo Best Book In the foothills of a mountain range in northern Pakistan is a beautiful orchard. Swallows wheel and dive silently over the branches, and the scent of jasmine threads through the air. Pomegranates hang heavy, their skins darkening to a deep crimson. Neglected now, the trees are beginning to grow wild, their fruit left to spoil on the branches. Many miles away, a frail young man is flung out of prison gates. Looking up, scanning the horizon for swallows in flight, he stumbles and collapses in the roadside dust. His ravaged body tells the story of fifteen years of brutality. Just one image has held and sustained him through the dark times -- the thought of the young girl who had left him dumbstruck with wonder all those years ago, whose eyes were lit up with life. A tale of tenderness in the face of great and corrupt power, In The Orchard, The Swallows is a heartbreaking novel written in prose of exquisite stillness and beauty.

The Short Day Dying

The Short Day Dying PDF Author: Peter Hobbs
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780156032414
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Publisher Description

Creakwing's Crossing

Creakwing's Crossing PDF Author: Peter Harrison
Publisher: Authors On Line Ltd
ISBN: 9780755200634
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The swallows have always feared Winter. For them it is a time of dying and decay. A time they have always fled from, seeking the warmth and safety of the southlands. But this year is to be different. The swallows' wise and venerable leader, Creakwing, announces that he is now too old and infirm to undertake the epic journey across thousands of miles of land and sea. He intends to remain in the northlands during the cold dark months of Winter and try to survive alone. Knowing that for him this will mean almost certain death, a group of young swallows devise a daring plan to rescue their leader. Many other birds are enlisted to help in the plan. Among them, the thieving jackdaws, a captive yellow bird, a brilliantly ingenious blue tit, a wise old owl who is not as wise as he thinks he is.... and finally, out in the icy wastes of ocean the mysterious storm petrels. There will be triumph and tragedy during the long and dangerous journey, an epic Crossing about which the bardic swallows will tell tales and sing songs for generations to come. 'Creakwing's Crossing' is a stirring tale in a literary tradition stretching from Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind in The Willows' to 'Watership Down' by Richard Adams in the present day. It is also a tale to remind us that though the boundaries created by Man continue to create tensions and conflict, the natural world observes no frontiers, and the swallows continue to move through the sky as freely as they have always done, in the ancient mystery of migration.

The Lone Swallows

The Lone Swallows PDF Author: Henry Williamson
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 113

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Book Description
"The Lone Swallows" by Henry Williamson is HW's second published book. The book is a collection of nature essays, most of which had already been published in newspapers and magazines: they are HW's first attempts to 'describe the common sights and sounds of the English countryside', as he stated in his own 'Compiler's Note' that fronts the first edition.

Places I Stopped on the Way Home

Places I Stopped on the Way Home PDF Author: Meg Fee
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1785783041
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
'Fee writes with stunning honesty ... utterly breathtaking' - Bustle A beautiful memoir from an exciting young writer, Meg Fee, on finding her way in New York City. Full of the dramas and quiet moments that make up a life, told with humour, heart, and hope. In Places I Stopped on the Way Home, Meg Fee plots a decade of her life in New York City – from falling in love at the Lincoln Center to escaping the roommate (and bedbugs) from hell on Thompson Street, chasing false promises on 66th Street and the wrong men everywhere, and finding true friendships over glasses of wine in Harlem and Greenwich Village. Weaving together her joys and sorrows, expectations and uncertainties, aspirations and realities, the result is an exhilarating collection of essays about love and friendship, failure and suffering, and above all hope. Join Meg on her heart-wrenching journey, as she cuts the difficult path to finding herself and finding home.

The Oölogist

The Oölogist PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Birds
Languages : en
Pages : 602

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Book Description


Stay under Your Hat

Stay under Your Hat PDF Author: Alan E. Walter
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
Stay under Your Hat is not only a book title, but also a principle of living. Alan Walter, the author, first understood the principle while leading a dual diagnosis group for the Department of Community Supervision (state probation) in Northwest Georgia. As God further developed the principle in Alan’s mind and heart, it has grown into a book that will likely involve sequels. Stay under Your Hat is a call to those who believer in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This book seeks to call Christians to return to the one basic purpose for our lives. That purpose is to effectively model God through the surrender of our identity, security, and reason for living to God the Father. While reading this book you’ll have the opportunity to see some of the simplicities and the glory of how God created, outfitted, and redeemed us to model Him well. My hope is that you will realize that the most natural, safe, and secure place for you to be as a Christian is to stay under your hat!

Artful

Artful PDF Author: Ali Smith
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241959586
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
A playful, form-bending novel from the Booker Prize-shortlisted, Women's Prize-winning author of How to be both and the critically acclaimed Seasonal quartet 'Playful and audacious' Independent Narrated by a character who is haunted - literally - by a former lover, Artful slips slyly between fiction and essay, guiding the reader thrillingly through a sequence of ideas on art and literature. With Smith's trademark humour, inventiveness, poignancy and critical insight, this is unique experiment in form, style, life, love, death, immortality and what art can mean. Based on four electrifying lectures given by the author at Oxford University, and exploring the explosive connections between art, story, memory and grief - Artful is a tidal wave of ideas to blast away the cobwebs and change how you see the world. ***** 'Artful is a revelation; a new kind of book altogether . . . makes you glad to be alive' Jackie Kay 'Powerful and moving' London Review of Books 'Blending of criticism and fiction, Artful belongs in a genre of its own . . . Joyful for anyone interested in the art of writing, and living, well' Anita Sethi, New Statesman

The Lone Swallows

The Lone Swallows PDF Author: Henry Williamson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Natural history
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description