Back Of The House

Max reappeared in the doorway of the inn, and the crowd on deck shouted in delight as he stopped, bowed to his audience, and took a huge gulp from the open bottle. Gretchen shuddered against Helga’s shoulder, and Hermie’s fist pounded the rail as he muttered between clenched teeth, “Come on, Papa.” “It’s all right. The captain will wait.” Paul breathed into his cupped hands. The ship began its laboring surge as the black, swirling water of the Weser River churned up waves that grew from undulating ripples to frothy caps. Still Max whirled and danced and tipped his bottle as he headed almost casually toward the departing ship. The laughter died, and in a body the crowd began coaxing him to jump, make one mad leap, to entertain them one more time. Helga pulled the children tighter against her, holding them, willing them not to watch. And then Max jumped, tossing the empty bottle into the water as his body floated, suspended, arms extended, fingers spread, wildly grasping for the slowly arching rail. His face suddenly twisted to disbelieving shock as his fingers missed their grip, and he dropped like a slender arrow straight down into the roiling, icy water without causing the slightest splash. After three long months at sea, Helga Heinrich and her four children sail into the thriving Indianola seaport on the Texas coast in 1853 to begin a new chapter.

Luke knows his country is at war when the sirens sound during school. Moments after Luke heads for a shelter along with his teachers and friends, his home and school are destroyed. His parents take him to what they think will be the safety of their summer home, Dragonfly House. Luke's friend, Jack, and his family join them at the house, and they fish and play with a tame bear. But they soon realize danger has followed them and must turn to the magic of the dragonfly queen and a big fish to stay safe. Five years later, severe drought, caused by a vanishing river, ravages the land. After Jack discovers a giant hiding in a magic teacup, the families head for the Dragonfly House once again. But as the drought, a forest fire, and a wolf threaten their happy existence, they must turn to the giant to save them. In two charming tales, a young boy and his friends summon assistance from magical creatures to survive in a dangerous world.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of 13 Minutes and the writer behind Netflix's Behind Her Eyes comes a heart-breaking, heart-stopping tale of love, life and death which will take your breath away. Toby is a boy who has forgotten how to live. Clara is a girl who was born to die. Toby's life was perfectly normal . . . Taken from his family, Toby now lives in the Death House. Isolated from the outside world the inhabitants of are watched for any signs of a mysterious illness . . . Clara was a girl who had everything. Adored by her friends and her family, her life was destined for greatness. Now, Clara is the newest resident of the Death House and she's determined not to allow her life to end there. This is Toby and Clara's story. Sarah Pinborough is the SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING author of BEHIND HER EYES, now a hit Netflix mini series. You can learn more about Sarah Pinborough at www.sarahpinborough.com, or by following @SarahPinborough on twitter.

With The Row House in Washington, DC, the architectural historian and preservationist Alison Hoagland turns the lucid prose style and keen analytical skill that characterize all her scholarship to the subject of the Washington row house. Row houses have long been an important component of the housing stock of many major American cities, predominantly sheltering the middle classes comprising clerks, tradespeople, and artisans. In Washington, with its plethora of government workers, they are the dominant typology of the historical city. Hoagland identifies six principal row house types—two-room, L-shaped, three-room, English-basement, quadrant, and kitchen-forward—and documents their wide-ranging impact, as sources of income and statements of attainment as well as domiciles for nuclear families or boarders, homeowners or renters, long tenancy or short stays. Through restrictive covenants on some house sales, they also illustrate the pervasive racism that has haunted the city. This topical study demonstrates at once the distinctive character of the Washington row house and the many similarities it shares with row houses in other mid-Atlantic cities. In a broader sense, it also shows how urban dwellers responded to a challenging concatenation of spatial, regulatory, financial, and demographic limitations, providing a historical model for new, innovative designs. Publication of this volume was assisted by a grant from Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.