My Water Cure

“A gripping, sinister fable!” —Margaret Atwood, via Twitter ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR • GLAMOUR • GOOD HOUSEKEEPING • LIT HUB • THRILLIST King has tenderly staked out a territory for his wife and three daughters, Grace, Lia, and Sky. Here on his island, women are protected from the chaos and violence of men on the mainland. The cult-like rituals and therapies they endure fortify them from the spreading toxicity of a degrading world. But when King disappears and two men and a boy wash ashore, the sisters’ safe world begins to unravel. Over the span of one blistering hot week, a psychological cat-and-mouse game plays out. Sexual tensions and sibling rivalries flare as the sisters are forced to confront the amorphous threat the strangers represent. A haunting, riveting debut, The Water Cure is a fiercely poetic feminist revenge fantasy that’s a startling reflection of our time.

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I am guilty not because of my actions, to which I freely admit, but for my accession, admission, confession that I executed these actions with not only deliberation and premeditation but with zeal and paroxysm and purpose . . . The true answer to your question is shorter than the lie. Did you? I did. This is a confession of a victim turned villain. When Ishmael Kidder's eleven-year-old daughter is brutally murdered, it stands to reason that he must take revenge by any means necessary. The punishment is carried out without guilt, and with the usual equipment—duct tape, rope, and superglue. But the tools of psychological torture prove to be the most devastating of all. Percival Everett's most lacerating indictment to date, The Water Cure follows the gruesome reasoning and execution of revenge in a society that has lost a common moral ground, where rules are meaningless. A master storyteller, Everett draws upon disparate elements of Western philosophy, language theory, and military intelligence reports to create a terrifying story of loss, anger, and helplessness in our modern world. This is a timely and important novel that confronts the dark legacy of the Bush years and the state of America today.

A science-based approach for transforming ailments of both body and mind through cold-water swimming. The belief that swimming in cold water can improve one's health is hardly new. For centuries, people from all over the world have reported that immersing themselves in cold water alleviates their pain and improves their overall well-being. Even Katharine Hepburn famously claimed to treat her winter colds by swimming in the icy waters of the Pacific Ocean. But until now, the practice has been treated lightly by the scientific community, the curative effects all but dismissed by doctors seeking medicine-centered solutions for their patients' illnesses. In Chill, expert anesthetist and researcher Dr. Mark Harper delivers long-awaited evidence that cold-water swimming can, in fact, achieve powerful, tangible health benefits. Combining science with case studies and stories from the lives of patients, Dr. Harper illuminates the ways in which cold water can impact us physiologically and mentally, alleviating conditions like: • chronic pain • arthritis • anxiety • depression • PTSD • migraines • and more Dr. Harper guides us in safely establishing our own customized practice of cold-water swimming in order to harness the therapeutic power of water for improved circulation, a strengthened immune system, cell regeneration, and everyday vitality. Eye-opening and actionable, and full of extraordinary discoveries about our minds, our bodies, and the healing powers of Earth's most plentiful resource, Chill is a drug-free, no-cost, revolutionary approach to lasting wellness and rejuvenation. FOR EVERY SKILL LEVEL: With inspiring and instructional narrative case studies, Chill gives readers a highly accessible, cost friendly approach to healing—whether you are an athlete or someone who enjoys wading in the water. Many of the cases studies include people who could hardly swim! A NEW APPROACH TO COLD WATER PRACTICES: For readers who enjoyed The Wim Hof Method and Blue Mind, Dr. Harper offers a science-based, proven approach to the trending health and fitness practice of cold-water immersion. A NATURAL WAY TO HEAL: Joining an ever-growing genre of natural, drug-free alternative programs to heal ailments and improve overall health, Chill will call to readers who came to books like Alejandro Junger's Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself and Jon Kabat-Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living: How to Cope with Stress, Pain and Illness Using Mindfulness Meditation.

The notorious Opium-Eater returns in the sensational climax to David Morrell's acclaimed Victorian mystery trilogy. 1855. The railway has irrevocably altered English society, effectively changing geography and fueling the industrial revolution by shortening distances between cities: a whole day's journey can now be covered in a matter of hours. People marvel at their new freedom. But train travel brings new dangers as well, with England's first death by train recorded on the very first day of railway operations in 1830. Twenty-five years later, England's first train murder occurs, paralyzing London with the unthinkable when a gentleman is stabbed to death in a safely locked first-class passenger compartment. In the next compartment, the brilliant opium-eater Thomas De Quincey and his quick-witted daughter, Emily, discover the homicide in a most gruesome manner. Key witnesses and also resourceful sleuths, they join forces with their allies in Scotland Yard, Detective Ryan and his partner-in-training, Becker, to pursue the killer back into the fogbound streets of London, where other baffling murders occur. Ultimately, De Quincey must confront two ruthless adversaries: this terrifying enemy, and his own opium addiction which endangers his life and his tormented soul. Ruler of the Night is a riveting blend of fact and fiction which, like master storyteller David Morrell's previous De Quincey novels, "evokes Victorian London with such finesse that you'll hear the hooves clattering on cobblestones, the racket of dustmen, and the shrill calls of vendors" (Entertainment Weekly).