Midwinter Folk

When Rowan’s parents divorce, her brother Luke turns ‘cold and strange’, and suddenly Rowan starts hearing voices. Is someone stalking her or is she going mad? London is caught in the grip of the coldest winter on record. The Thames freezes over and the streets are half-buried by snow. Rowan soon realises that Luke has been snared by the enemy; the voracious Hunters who want ‘power over all’, and finds that she is running for her life across the increasingly bizarre landscape of the frozen city. It takes a journey into the treacherous depths of Midwinter to save not only Luke, but all that she holds dear. “The old lady looked long into Rowan’s eyes. In the green depths Rowan thought she could see faces amongst leaves, human-like, creature-like, deer running in the shadows of a great forest. “They are in for the kill, Rowan. Remember you have allies. But take care, for ‘The Hunters’ have many spies.”

In this enchanting new book, one of the country's most celebrated storytellers has gathered together traditional tales that have their roots in the cold and long, dark nights of midwinter. Herein you will find magical accounts of the Legend of Tinsel, the Christmas Cat and the New Year's Bell, with a number of wintery riddles to unpick while enjoying the festive season and welcoming in the New Year. With so many folk tales intrinsically linked to ancient seasonal customs, there are a few included here relating to traditions such as the Ottery St Mary Tar Barrels (Devon), the Viking 'Up Helly Aa' (Shetland) and Tom Bawcock's Eve (Cornwall). This is a book to curl up with in front of an open fire on long winter nights and to share and retell over a steaming mug of mulled wine.

Double agents, espionage and romance, this historical story transports you back to the Jacobite rising in 1745 and in the midst of an attempt by Scottish highlanders to place Bonnie Prince Charlie on the English throne. The plot follows Alastair Maclean, who has been exiled to France, and returns to join the Jacobite army as it moves towards London. Along the way he uncovers double agents, working for both the Jacobites and the British, and falls in love with an enemy's wife. With masses of old-world descriptions and scene-setting, you will walk the roads with the Scottish rebels as they conjure up support and surge forward to London. John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, was a British novelist and historian. He was also known as a Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada. After a brief legal career, he started his writing, political and diplomatic careers at the same time; first serving as a private secretary to the administrator of various colonies in southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort during the First World War. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927, but spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing 'The Thirty-Nine Steps', which was later filmed by Alfred Hitchcock and other adventure fiction.

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Midwinter by John Buchan - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of John Buchan’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Buchan includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘Midwinter by John Buchan - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Buchan’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

Folk Music: TheBasics gives a brief introduction to British and American folk music. It is an excellent introduction to the players, the music, and the styles that make folk music an enduring and well-loved musical style.

Confronting Religious Denial of Science: Christian Humanism and the Moral Imagination traces the cultural backstory of contemporary conflicts between biblical literalists who oppose evolution and "New Atheists" who insist that religion is so pernicious it should be outlawed, if not exterminated. That's a clash of fundamentalisms. It's a zero-sum game derived from high Victorian misunderstanding of both religion and science. The God whom science supposedly replaces is the Engineer Almighty sitting at his keyboard, controlling every event on earth. But that's not a viable concept of God. Far better, Wallace argues, to understand Christianity in Clifford Geertz's terms as a system of symbols that both constitutes a worldview and, according to David Sloan Wilson, encourages prosocial behavior. That reframing makes it possible to reclaim what biblical scholars have said for decades: the miracles of Jesus were confrontational symbolic actions. They contradicted the political status quo in colonial Palestine, not the laws of biology. Prayer, she explains, is not magical thinking. It's a creative, highly disciplined introspective process, most familiar to many people in forms like mindfulness meditation. Wallace offers an intriguing exploration of issues that believers seldom discuss in ways that make sense to the religiously unaffiliated.

'Lots of ideas for making gifts and decorations but not spending tons of money buying them' Jenni Murray Celebrating midwinter is not about what you buy or how much you spend – it's about your attitude to life. Turn away from the frenetic consumerism of Christmas and rediscover the authentic and meaningful realities of this, the oldest and most precious celebration of the year. The true significance of midwinter is not found in any individual spiritual or religious belief or practice. Instead, the winter solstice provides an opportunity to celebrate what we as humans share; to set aside our differences and come together with a sense of community and cheer. Merry Midwinter is a cornucopia of ideas for how to make your own decorations (kissing boughs, advent wreaths, crackers, stockings and more); your own alternative gifts which cost nothing except your time and thought; your own entertainments and games; and simple, seasonal recipes from years gone by.

The persecution of Old World German Protestants and Anabaptists in the seventeenth century--following debilitating wars, the Reformation, and the Inquisition-- brought about significant immigration to America. Many of the immigrants, and their progeny, settled in the Appalachian frontier. Here they established a particularly old set of religious beliefs and traditions based on a strong sense of folk spirituality. They practiced astrology, numerology, and other aspects of esoteric thinking and left a legacy that may still be found in Appalachian folklore today. Based in part on the author's extensive collection of oral histories from the remote highlands of West Virginia, Signs, Cures, and Witchery; German Appalachian Folklore describes these various occult practices, symbols, and beliefs; how they evolved within New World religious contexts; how they arrived on the Appalachian frontier; and the prospects of those beliefs continuing in the contemporary world. By concentrating on these inheritances, Gerald C. Milnes draws a larger picture of the German influence on Appalachia. Much has been written about the Anglo-Celtic, Scots-Irish, and English folkways of the Appalachian people, but few studies have addressed their German cultural attributes and sensibilities. Signs, Cures, and Witchery sheds startling light on folk influences from Germany, making it a volume of tremendous value to Appalachian scholars, folklorists, and readers with an interest in Appalachian folklife and German American studies.