Inside Mr. Enderby

      Anthony Burgess
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Inside Mr Enderby is a the first volume in the four-book Enderby series of comic novels by the British author Anthony Burgess. The book was first published in 1963 in London by William Heinemann under the pseudonym Joseph Kell. The series began in 1963 with the publication of this book, and concluded in 1984 with Enderby's Dark Lady, or No End to Enderby (after a ten year break following the publication of the third novel in the series, The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End). The story opens on a note of pure fantasy, showing schoolchildren from the future taking a field trip through time to see the dyspeptic poet Francis Xavier Enderby while he is asleep. Enderby, a lapsed Catholic in his mid-40's, lives alone in Brighton as a 'professional' poet – his income being interest from investments left to him by his stepmother. Enderby composes his poetry whilst seated on the toilet. His bathtub, which serves as a filing cabinet, is almost full of the mingled paper and food scraps that represent his efforts. Although he is recognised as a minor poet with several published works (and is even awarded a small prize, the 'Goodby Gold Medal', which he refuses), he has yet to be anthologised. He is persuaded to leave his lonely but poetically fruitful bachelor life by the editor of a woman's magazine, Vesta Bainbridge, after he accidentally sends her a love poem instead of a complaint about a recipe in her magazine. The marriage, which soon ends, costs Enderby dearly, alienating him from his muse and depriving him of his financial independence. Months pass, and Enderby is able to write only one more poem. After spending what remains of his capital, he attempts suicide with an overdose of aspirin, experiencing disgusting (and rather funny) visions of his stepmother as he nears death. His cries of horror bring help, and he regains consciousness in a mental institution, where the doctors persuade him to renounce his old, "immature" poetry-writing self. Rechristened "Piggy Hogg", he looks forward contentedly to a new career as a bartender.

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    Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

      Gregory Maguire
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Is this new land a place where magics really happen? From Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author of Wicked, comes his much-anticipated second novel, a brilliant and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella tale. In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings.... When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats.... We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks? Extreme beauty is an affliction Set against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. Clara was the prettiest child, but was her life the prettiest tale? While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, burning all memories of her past, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household--and the treacherous truth of her former life. God and Satan snarling at each other like dogs.... Imps and fairy godmotbers trying to undo each other's work. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes! Far more than a mere fairy-tale, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a novel of beauty and betrayal, illusion and understanding, reminding us that deception can be unearthed--and love unveiled--in the most unexpected of places.

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    Kidnapped by Her Husbands

      Rebecca Royce
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Alone in prison. No recollection of the past. A baby grows inside her. In a futuristic world where women are scarce and only the wealthy can afford a wife, Melissa Alexander is trapped in a prison rehabilitation center with no memory of who she is. The unborn child growing inside her is all that keeps them from making her pay for the sins she's committed--sins she cannot recall. But when five sexy strangers, claiming to be her husbands, kidnap her and bring her to safety, Melissa fears she can't trust them. All she can remember is what she was taught under the prison's watchful, vengeful eye: to hate them. But how can she hate--or love--what she can't remember?

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    Abandoned & Protected: The Marquis' Tenacious Wife

      Bree Wolf
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A bear of a man. A twig of a girl. And a love that was destined to be. After what her father did to her mother, HENRIETTA TURNER's worst fears are to be realised when her uncle decides to marry her off to a Scot. Gentleman or not, Henrietta knows that at his core he is still a barbarian. What will she suffer at the hands of this savage? CONNOR BRUNWOOD, MARQUIS OF RODRIDGE, cannot believe he fell head over heels in love with this thin, pale twig of a girl. However, the moment he saw her, he knew he had to make her his wife. If only she didn't hate the very sight of him! However, when his life is suddenly in danger, an assassin lying in wait, everything they thought they knew is put to the test. Will Henrietta betray her husband or stand by his side? Will she take the opportunity to rid herself of him forever? Or will she risk everything to save his life...as well as her heart? *This tale by a USA TODAY bestselling author shows that it is never too late to start over. If you like marriage of convenience stories with a touch of mystery, a dash of humour as well as heartfelt emotion, then you’ll love this instalment of Bree Wolf’s emotionally charged Love’s Second Chance Series. Buy ABANDONED AND PROTECTED, grab a cup of tea, settle into your favorite reading spot and start this swoon worthy romance now!* Love's Second Chance Series 1 Forgotten & Remembered - The Duke's Late Wife (Rosabel & Graham) 2 Cursed & Cherished - The Duke's Wilful Wife (Anna & Edmond) 3 Despised & Desired - The Marquess' Passionate Wife (Ellie & Frederick) 4 Abandoned & Protected - The Marquis' Tenacious Wife (Henrietta & Connor) 5 Ruined & Redeemed - The Earl's Fallen Wife (Charlotte & Sebastian) 6 Betrayed & Blessed - The Viscount's Shrewd Wife (Beth & Tristan) 7 Deceived & Honoured - The Baron’s Vexing Wife (Madeline & Derek) More to follow: 8 Sacrificed & Reclaimed - The Soldier's Daring Widow (Meagan & Edward) (Bonus Novella) A Forbidden Love Novella Series 1 The Wrong Brother 2 A Brilliant Rose 3 The Forgotten Wife 4 An Unwelcome Proposal 5 Rules to Be Broken 6 Hearts to Be Mended To Follow: 7 Winning her Hand 8 Conquering her Heart

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    Earthly Possessions

      Anne Tyler
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"To read a novel by Anne Tyler is to fall in love." PEOPLE Charlotte Emory has always lived a quiet, conventional life in Clarion, Maryland. She lives as simply as possible, and one day decides to simplify everything and leave her husband. Her last trip to the bank throws Charlotte's life into an entirely different direction when a restless young man in a nylon jacket takes her hostage during the robbery--and soon the two are heading south into an unknown future, and a most unexpected fate....

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    Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher

      Wendelin Van Draanen
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"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" *—Midwest Children's Book Review* Sammy should have known better than to think 8th grade would be easier than 7th. It's only September and already the history teacher is receiving death threats. Naturally, Sammy is the prime suspect. To make matters worse, officer Borsch has asked Sammy to help out at his wedding. If she doesn't find the real prankster fast, Sammy will be wearing prison stripes instead of a poofy pastel bridesmaid dress. This latest Sammy Keyes adventure blends mystery, comedy, and a dusting of fairy tale magic as Sammy takes off her high-tops, puts on some party shoes, and steps into a whole lot of trouble. The Sammy Keyes mysteries are fast-paced, funny, thoroughly modern, and true whodunits. Each mystery is exciting and dramatic, but it's the drama in Sammy's personal life that keeps readers coming back to see what happens next with her love interest Casey, her soap-star mother, and her mysterious father. From the Hardcover edition.

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    The Dark Days Club

      Alison Goodman
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London, April 1812. On the eve of eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall’s presentation to the queen, one of her family’s housemaids disappears-and Helen is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons infiltrating every level of society. Dare she ask for his help, when his reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her intelligence and headstrong curiosity wind up leading them into a death trap?

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    The Fall

      Guillermo Del Toro
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Ephraim Goodweather, director of the New York office of the Centers for Disease control, is one of the few humans who understands what is really happening. Vampires have arrived in New York City, and their condition is contagious. If they cannot be contained, the entire world is at risk of infection. As Eph becomes consumed with the battle against the total corruption of humanity, his ex-wife Kelly, now a vampire herself, is ever-more determined to claim their son Zack. As the Biblical origins of the Ancient ones are gradually revealed, Eph learns that there is a greater, more terrible plan in store for the human race - worse even than annihilation ...

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    The Mystery of the Empty Safe

      Gertrude Chandler Warner
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Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny used to live alone in a boxcar. Now they have a home with their grandfather, and they have started a children’s birthday party planning business. Cakes! Decorations! Party games and favors! The Alden children are having fun helping out the at neighborhood birthday parties. But then, a house is robbed—its hidden safe emptied—while Jessie, Henry, Benny and Violet are downstairs entertaining the young guests! When a second house safe is robbed during one of their parties, the Boxcar Children decide there’s a mystery to be solved. Will they succeed before another safe is emptied—and another birthday ruined?

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    The Unknown Masterpiece

      Honoré de Balzac
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One of Honore de Balzac's most celebrated tales, "The Unknown Masterpiece" is the story of a painter who, depending on one's perspective, is either an abject failure or a transcendental genius--or both. The story, which has served as an inspiration to artists as various as Cezanne, Henry James, Picasso, and New Wave director Jacques Rivette, is, in critic Dore Ashton's words, a "fable of modern art." Published here in a new translation by poet Richard Howard, "The Unknown Masterpiece" appears, as Balzac intended, with "Gambara," a grotesque and tragic novella about a musician undone by his dreams. Honoré De Balzac (1799-1850) is generally credited as the inventor of the modern realistic novel. In more than ninety novels, he set forth French society and life as he saw it. He created a cast of over two thousand individual and identifiable characters, some of whom reappear in different novels. He organized his works into his masterpiece, La Comedie Humaine,which was the final result of his attempt to grasp the whole of society and experience into one varied but unified work. Richard Howard was born in Cleveland in 1929. He is the author of fourteen volumes of poetry and has published more than one hundred fifty translations from the French, including works by Gide, Stendhal, de Beauvoir, Baudelaire, and de Gaulle. Howard received a National Book Award for his translation of Fleurs du mal and a Pulitzer Prize for Untitled Subjects, a collection of poetry.

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    Our Lady of the Ice

      Cassandra Rose Clarke
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Hope City, Antarctica. The southernmost city in the world, with only a glass dome and a faltering infrastructure to protect its citizens from the freezing, ceaseless winds of the Antarctic wilderness. Within this bell jar four people–some human, some not–will shape the future of the city forever: Eliana Gomez, a female PI looking for a way to the mainland. Diego Amitrano, the right-hand man to the gangster who controls the city’s food come winter. Marianella Luna, an aristocrat with a dangerous secret. Sofia, an android who has begun to evolve. But the city is evolving too, and in the heart of the perilous Antarctic winter, factions will clash, dreams will shatter, and that frozen metropolis just might boil over…

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    Red

      Alyxandra Harvey
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Bad girls burn hot… Red is the color of Kia Alcott's hair. It's her temper, which blazes hot and always gets Kia into way too much trouble. And it's the color of fire. Fires that Kia can start…just by thinking about them. When her latest “episode” gets her kicked out of school, Kia is shipped off to her grandmother, who works for the wealthy Blackwoods. It's an estate shrouded in secrets, surrounded by rules, and presided over by a family that is far from normal…including the gorgeous and insolent Ethan Blackwood. Ethan knows far more about the dangers of the forest surrounding the estate than Kia can ever imagine. For this forest has teeth, and Ethan is charged with protecting the outside world from its vicious mysteries. But inside, even the most vibrant shade of red doesn't stand a chance against the dark secrets of the Blackwood family…

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    City of Flowers

      Mary Hoffman
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Sky stepped out into the sunshine, blinking, still holding the bottle, and a black man, robed like the others, took him by the arm and whispered, 'God be praised, it has found you!' Everything changes for Sky when he finds a perfume bottle that whiskes him away to the city of Giglia, an ancient city similar to Florence. This may be the beautiful City of Flowers, but things that seems beautiful might also be deadly. As a new Stravagante - someone who can travel through space and time with the help of a talisman - Sky finds himself caught up in a deadly feud between Giglia's two ruling families. Now, the Stravaganti must do all they can to avoid further bloodshed as politics, conspiracy and espionage unfold.

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    Winter Igniting

      Rebecca Zanetti
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His only goal was survival until he met her... With nothing to lose, former cop Damon Winter agrees to an undercover op, infiltrating a cult in the dangerous post-Scorpius world. After one look at his new partner, he knows she belongs far away from not only the cult, but from him. She's sweet and kind and has no business being in peril, but she's determined to help. Suddenly, the part he's playing as her man explodes into a passion neither of them had expected. She hadn't purposefully faced risk until she met him... April Snyder has survived loss, pain, and uncertainty. Now she's ready to live again. There's nothing left but to make a difference for others, so why not go undercover in the cult? Now all she has to do is keep it professional and ignore her handsome, deadly, overbearing partner, who's too sexy for her peace of mind. Intrigue, risk, and danger make for an irresistible temptation--until enemies close in, threatening everyone they've sworn to protect.

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    Echoes

      Robin Jones Gunn
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In this dramatic contemporary romance by bestselling author Robin Jones Gunn, Lauren Phillips enters the wild, uncharted territory of the Internet on her home computer and "connects" with a man known only as "K.C." As she struggles to recover from a broken engagement, Lauren keeps busy by working full time and striving to finish her college degree. But her correspondence with K.C. quickly becomes the thing she loves most...and the source of dreams she cannot bear to relinquish. When the opportunity comes for them to meet after a year of corresponding, Lauren faces a tough choice: Is she willing to risk everything...including a broken heart? Readers will stay "on-line" to find out in this bestselling former Palisades release, now the third book in the new Glenbrooke series. Will Lauren risk losing her heart...to a man she's never met? Lauren Phillips tries to keep busy while recovering from a broken engagement. Then one day, through her home computer, Lauren accidentally connects on the Internet with a mysterious man she knows only as K.C. Lauren's e-mail relationship with K.C. quickly becomes the thing she loves most in life..and the source of dreams she cannot bear to relinquish. After a year of corresponding, the opportunity appears for them to meet. Lauren faces a tough choice: Is she willing to risk everything...including another broken heart?

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    Blood Cross

      Faith Hunter
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The vampire council has hired skinwalker Jane Yellowrock to hunt and kill one of their own who has broken sacred ancient rules — but Jane quickly realizes that in a community that is thousands of years old, loyalties run deep. . . With the help of her witch best friend and local vigilantes, Jane finds herself caught between bitter rivalries — and closer than ever to the secret origin of the entire vampire race. But in a city of old grudges and dark magic, Jane will have to fight to protect both sides, even if no one will protect her.

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    Ever After

      Kim Harrison
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The ever after, the demonic realm that parallels the human world, is shrinking. If it disappears completely, so does all magic. It's up to witch-turned-daywalking-demon Rachel Morgan to avert catastrophe and keep life from changing. . . for the worse. While saving the world is important, it isn't Rachel's only motivation. There's also the small fact that she caused the ley line to rip in the first place, setting off a chain reaction of unfortunate events. That little mistake has made her life forfeit unless she can fix it. It's also made her more than a few enemies, including the most powerful demon in the ever after—a terrifying entity who eats souls and now has an insatiable appetite for her. He's already kidnapped her friend and goddaughter to lure her out, and if Rachel doesn't give herself up soon, they'll die. But Rachel has more than a few impressive and frightening skills of her own, and she isn't going to hand over her soul and her life without one hell of a fight. She's also got a surprise: elven tycoon Trent Kalamack. With this unlikely ally beside her—a prospect both thrilling and unnerving—she's going to return to the ever after, kick some demon butt, rescue her loved ones. . . and prevent an apocalypse before it's too late. Or, at least that's the plan. . .

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    The Sins of the Fathers

      Lawrence Block
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The hooker was young, pretty. . . and dead, butchered in a Greenwich village apartment. The prime suspect, a minister's son, was also dead, the victim of a jailhouse suicide. The case is closed, as far as the NYPD is concerned. Now the murdered prostitute's father wants it opened again-and that's where Matthew Scudder comes in. But this assignment carries the unmistakable stench of sleaze and perversion, luring ex-cop-turned-investigator Scudder into a sordid world of phony religion and murderous lust where children must die for their parents most secret, unspeakable sins.

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    Haunted Moon

      Yasmine Galenorn
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squo;re the D’Artigo sisters: savvy half-human, half-Fae ex-operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. My sister Delilah is a two-faced werecat and a Death Maiden. My sister Menolly is a vampire married to a werepuma. And me? I’m Camille, a wicked-good witch with three sexy husbands. I’m a priestess of the Moon Mother, and I’m training under the Queen of Darkness. Unfortunately, playing in the dark means that sometimes you stumble over secrets better left buried… There’s a new Fae sorcerer in town—Bran, the son of Raven Mother and the Black Unicorn—and I’m the unwilling liaison between him and our new Earthside OIA. With cemeteries being ransacked and spirits being harvested by a sinister, otherworldly force, Aeval sends us to rescue the missing wife of a prominent member of the Fae nobility. Our search leads us to the mysterious Aleksais Psychic Network and, ultimately, to face the Lord of Ghosts where Morio and I must undergo a ritual that will plunge us directly into the world of the dead.

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    The Trespasser

      D. H. Lawrence
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Detailed Biographical Account Included at the Start.David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence.Collection of 22 Works of D. H. LawrenceAaron's RodAmoresBayEngland, My EnglandFantasia of the UnconsciousGeorgian Poetry 1920-22Look! We Have Come ThroughNew PoemsSea and SardiniaSome Imagist PoetsSome Imagist Poets, 1916Sons and LoversThe Lost GirlThe Prussian OfficerThe RainbowThe TrespasserThe White PeacockTortoisesTouch and GoTwilight in ItalyWintry PeacockWomen in Love

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    The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore

      Laura Lee Hope
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CHAPTER I CHASING THE DUCK "Suah's yo' lib, we do keep a-movin'!" cried Dinah, as she climbed into the big depot wagon. "We didn't forget Snoop this time," exclaimed Freddie, following close on Dinah's heels, with the box containing Snoop, his pet cat, who always went traveling with the little fellow. "I'm glad I covered up the ferns with wet paper," Flossie remarked, "for this sun would surely kill them if it could get at them." "Bert, you may carry my satchel," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "and be careful, as there are some glasses of jelly in it, you know." "I wish I had put my hat in my trunk," remarked Nan. "I'm sure someone will sit on this box and smash it before we get there." "Now, all ready!" called Uncle Daniel, as he prepared to start oldBill, the horse. "Wait a minute!" Aunt Sarah ordered. "There was another box, I'm sure. Freddie, didn't you fix that blue shoe box to bring along?" "Oh, yes, that's my little duck, Downy. Get him quick, somebody, he's on the sofa in the bay window!" Bert climbed out and lost no time in securing the missing box. "Now we are all ready this time," Mr. Bobbsey declared, while Bill started on his usual trot down the country road to the depot. The Bobbseys were leaving the country for the seashore. As told in our first volume, "The Bobbsey Twins," the little family consisted of two pairs of twins, Nan and Bert, age eight, dark and handsome, and as like as two peas, and Flossie and Freddie, age four, as light as the others were dark, and "just exactly chums," as Flossie always declared. The Bobbsey twins lived at Lakeport, where Mr. Richard Bobbsey had large lumber yards. The mother and father were quite young themselves, and so enjoyed the good times that came as naturally as sunshine to the little Bobbseys. Dinah, the colored maid, had been with the family so long the children at Lakeport called her Dinah Bobbsey, although her real name was Mrs. Sam Johnston, and her husband, Sam, was the man of all work about the Bobbsey home. Our first volume told all about the Lakeport home, and our second book, "The Bobbsey Twins in the Country," was the story of the Bobbseys on a visit to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Daniel Bobbsey in their beautiful country home at Meadow Brook. Here Cousin Harry, a boy Bert's age, shared all the sports with the family from Lakeport. Now the Lakeport Bobbseys were leaving Meadow Brook, to spend the month of August with Uncle William and Aunt Emily Minturn at their seashore home, called Ocean Cliff, located near the village of Sunset Beach. There they were also to meet their cousin, Dorothy Minturn, who was just a year older than Nan. It was a beautiful morning, the very first day of August, that our little party started off. Along the Meadow Brook road everybody called out "Good-by!" for in the small country place all the Bobbseys were well known, and even those from Lakeport had many friends there. Nettie Prentice, the one poor child in the immediate neighborhood (she only lived two farms away from Aunt Sarah), ran out to the wagon as Uncle Daniel hurried old Bill to the depot....

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