Wild Cherry

In Wild Cherry by K'wan, Gina is married to a man who more than takes good care of her, but her life of luxury comes with a price that she's not sure she can pay anymore. Princess' man doesn't see her as any more than dollar signs—as long as she keeps using her body to bring in the stacks. When Gina and Princess meet and realize that they share a common problem, they sent into motion an unforgettable plot that will solve all their problems...

First published in 1968, The Wild Cherry Tree is a late collection of ten tales including comic vignettes, a humorous celebration of the sensual life, and several explorations of love, loneliness, and problematic relationships. 'The Wild Cherry Tree' sees the wife of a pig-farmer who dresses like a 'shabby, straddling scarecrow' as she tends her pigs by day, but, alone in the evenings, adorns herself in exotic clothes and jewels without leaving the house. That is until one day, when she has to deal with the consequences. 'Same Time, Same Place' follows an impoverished spinster and a lonely bachelor who become friends, but when he drunkenly and clumsily proposes to her she avoids him, denying herself 'the possibility of friendship with a man who genuinely likes her.' 'The First Day of Christmas' observes a man with his lover on a festive evening out, surrounded by fellow drinkers and full of saucy dialogue, who is torn between asking her hand and burying his grief in drink. 'The Black Magnolia' celebrates the sensual life in a farce involving two voluptuous and liberated women and a repressed, tee-total bachelor. The bonus story 'A Waddler' is Bates's first published story, and is a village sketch with colourful dialogue. It follows a man as he deals with the death of his overly critical wife, as he is conversely complimented by a fellow widow on carrying his grief so well.

How far must you run to leave the past behind in order to find love? In Where the Wild Cherries Grow by Laura Madeleine, it is 1919, and the end of the war has not brought peace for Emeline Vane. Lost in grief, she is suddenly alone at the heart of a depleted family. And just as everything seems to be slipping beyond her control, in a moment of desperation, she boards a train and runs away. Her journey leads her to a tiny seaside village in the South of France. Taken in by café owner Maman and her twenty-year-old son, Emeline discovers a world completely new to her: of oranges, olives and wild herbs, the raw, rich tastes of the land. But soon secrets from home begin blowing in on the sea waves. Fifty years later, Bill Perch, a young solicitor on his first case, finds Emeline’s diary, and begins to trace an anguished story of betrayal and love that will send him on a journey to discover the truth. What really happened to Emeline all those years ago?

The edible bounty of Canada’s fields, forests, marshes and mountainsides are illuminated by Blanche Pownall Garrett in this classic Canadian cookbook. Offering a wonderful array of cooking possibilities, this book includes more than 160 recipes using forty common, wild and edible plants, found from coast to coast. Organized by season, with multiple recipes for each featured plant, each section provides information about where to find each plant along with full-colour photography to aid in identification, and a detailed text description. The selection of recipes offer a wide variety of new culinary adventures for every kind of occasion and chef — preserves, syrups, candies, soups, salads, appetizers, main dishes, dessert, and even wines. Originally published in 1975, this new edition of this classic cookbook features full-colour photos and updated recipes.

"There's nothing happens to a person that can't be cured if you get what it takes to do it. We come out of the earth, and there's something in the earth to cure everything ... I don't fix a tonic until I'm sure what's wrong with a person. I don't make guesses. I have to be sure, because medicine can do bad as well as good, and I don't want to hurt anybody.... Maybe it takes some herbs. Maybe it takes some touching. But most of all, it takes faith"--Vernon Cooper, Lumbee healer. The Lumbee Indian tribe has lived in the coastal plain of North Carolina for centuries, and most Lumbee continue to live in rural areas of Robeson County with access to a number of healing plants and herbs used in the form of teas, poultices, and salves to treat common ailments. The first section of this book describes and documents the numerous plant and herbal remedies that the Lumbee have used for centuries and continue to use today. There are remedies for ailments relating to cancer (external and internal), the circulatory and digestive systems, the heart, hypertension and hypotension, infections and parasitic diseases, asthma, pregnancy, sprains, swellings, and muscle, skeletal and joint disorders, to name just a few. The second portion of this work records the words, recollections and wellness philosophies of living Lumbee elders, healers, and community leaders. The information presented in this book is not intended to be a substitute for the advice or treatment from a physician. The authors do not advocate self-diagnosis or self-medication, and warn that any plant substance may cause an allergic or extremely unhealthy reaction in some people.