Cursed Bread

WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION NOMINEE • Best Book of the Month: The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Book Riot, CrimeReads • An elegant and hypnotic new novel of obsession that centers on the real unsolved mystery of the 1951 mass poisoning of a French village, by the Booker Prize–nominated author of The Water Cure "Intoxicating, sumptuous, and savage.”—Alexandra Kleeman, acclaimed author of Something New Under the Sun Still reeling in the aftermath of the deadliest war the world had ever seen, the small town of Pont-Saint-Esprit collectively lost its mind. Some historians believe the mysterious illness and violent hallucinations were caused by spoiled bread; others claim it was the result of covert government testing on the local population. In that town lived a woman named Elodie. She was the baker’s wife: a plain, unremarkable person who yearned to transcend her dull existence. So when a charismatic new couple arrived in town, the forceful ambassador and his sharp-toothed wife, Violet, Elodie was quickly drawn into their orbit. Thus began a dangerous game of cat and mouse--but who was the predator and on whom did they prey? Audacious and mesmerizing, Cursed Bread is a fevered confession, an entry into memory’s hall of mirrors, and an erotic fable of transformation. Sophie Mackintosh spins a darkly gleaming tale of a town gripped by hysteria, envy like poison in the blood, and desire that burns and consumes.

This is a book about curses. It is not about curses as insults or offensive language but curses as petitions to the divine world to render judgment and execute harm on identified, hostile forces. In the ancient world, curses functioned in a way markedly different from our own, and it is into the world of the ancient Near East that we must go in order to appreciate the scope of their influence. For the ancient Near Easterners, curses had authentic meaning. Curses were part of their life and religion. They were not inherently magic or features of superstitions, nor were they mere curiosities or trifling antidotes. They were real and effective. They were employed proactively and reactively to manage life’s many vicissitudes and maintain social harmony. They were principally protective, but they were also the cause of misfortune, illness, depression, and anything else that undermined a comfortable, well-balanced life. Every member of society used them, from slave to king, from young to old, from men and women to the deities themselves. They crossed cultural lines and required little or no explanation, for curses were the source of great evil. In other words, curses were universal. Because curses were woven into the very fabric of every known ancient Near Eastern society, they emerge frequently and in a wide variety of venues. They appear on public and private display objects, on tomb stelae, tomb lintels, and sarcophagi, on ancient kudurrus and narûs. They are used in political, administrative, social, religious, and familial contexts. They are the subject of incantations. They are tools that exorcise demons and dispel disease; they ban, protect, and heal. This is the phenomenology of cursing in the ancient Near East, and this is what the present work explores.

A traveler goes on a year-long journey with a man known only as "The teacher," and absorbs a new teaching on spiritual truths for every day of the year.

A real Heavenly Angel named Lay Lay talks about what really happened in the Garden of Eden between Adam, Eve, and the Serpent and why the Serpent never talked to Adam.

After a tragic childhood among the Great War cemeteries of Flanders Fields, a troubled young woman searches for love and meaning in war-ravaged Europe. Elaine Madden's quest takes her from occupied Belgium through the chaos of Dunkirk, where she flees disguised as a British soldier, into the London Blitz, where she finally begins to discover herself. Recruited to T Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as a 'fast courier', she is parachuted back to the country of her birth to undertake a top-secret political mission and help speed its liberation from Nazi oppression. Elaine Madden never claimed to be a heroine, but her story proves otherwise. Its centrepiece – war service as one of only two women SOE agents parachuted into enemy-occupied Belgium – is just one episode in an extraordinary real-life drama of highs and lows, love, loss and betrayal. Relayed to the author in the final years of her life, Elaine's true story of courage and humour in testing times is more intriguing, more compelling than fiction.

Loose Him and Let Him Go, whose title is drawn from John 11:44, is a complete revelatory work put together on a strong inspiration from the Holy Spirit. It commands a unique and rare revelation on covenant and curse breaking, deliverance from all Satanic oppressions. The mystery of Gods covenant of blessing is founded on the principles of the Word of God. It touches virtually every possible area in human life and history. No one goes through it without credible and unbelievable testimony. A copy in hand is no doubt a complete life-changing, Spirit-filled work of revelation with the capacity to break all spiritual strongholds; reverse all evil spells and captivity; bring an experience of new life, of freedom; and so much more to life, family, community, and nations when followed with the confessional prayer at the end of every chapter. As you read, meditate with great expectations. God is committed to the revelation to deal with the root cause of all your negative experiences. My congratulations for your undeniable and unexplainable miracles, every one of them being possible through the Word of God. God bless.

Underground author Xaviant Haze tackles the psychedelic underground and delves into the actions of the CIA and British Intelligence, with their mind control experiments and use of drugs such as LSD. Haze explores the pioneers of pyschodelia and the role of British Intelligence in spreading the use of LSD within the music industry. He looks into the CIA and its use of LSD as a mind control drug; at one point every CIA officer had to take the drug and endure mind control tests and interrogations to see if the drug worked as a “truth serum.” He looks into other truth serum drugs at the disposal of intelligence agencies such as scapolamine and asks: “Why waterboarding?” He looks at Big Pharma’s war on psychedelics and the healing powers that these drugs have. It’s a tour de force in search of the liquid conspiracy that still trickles down the alleyways. This is your government on drugs. Chapters include: The Pioneers of Psychedelia; The MI6, MDMA and LSD; Taking it to the Streets: LSD becomes Acid; Great Works of Art Inspired and Influenced by Acid; Scapolamine: The CIA’s Ultimate Truth Serum; Mind Control, the Death of Music and the Meltdown of the Masses; Big Pharma’s War on Psychedelics; The Healing Powers of Psychedelic Medicine; tons more.