Tag Archive | England

SYNC free audiobooks for June 6-12: most mysterious!

Jun8

Time to download this week’s free audiobooks from SYNC so you can read with your ears!

Remember that although these complete audiobooks are only available from Thursday through Wednesday, you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device

Bookmark the SYNC site now so you can download great audiobooks all summer long: http://www.audiobooksync.com/

CD cover of Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood read by Katherine Kellgren for HarperAudioThe Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling
By Maryrose Wood
Read by Katherine Kellgren
Published by HarperAudio

 

 

Jane Eyreaudiobook cover of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte read by Wanda McCaddon for Tantor Media
By Charlotte Brontë
Read by Wanda McCaddon
Published by Tantor Media

Have you read either of these spooky titles before?
**kmm

Read with your ears! Free audiobook downloads all summer with SYNC

Jun1

SYNC summer YA audiobooks logoWoo-hoo! Summer is finally here!
time for road trips, new jobs,
Wordcount Blogathon,
lazy days by the pool…
so “read with your ears” while you work or relax – for free!

The popular SYNC program returns this summer with free audiobooks of YA and classic books, so you can read with your ears at your computer, on your phone, or with any other enabled electronic device.

Once you’ve downloaded a SYNC audiobook, it’s yours to keep and listen to for as long as you like!

There is a catch, of course – each pair of audiobooks is only downloadable for 7 days (Thursday through Wednesday).  I’ll remind you of each title pair and the SYNC download site weekly, but you can also have the program send you alerts by email (sign up on the SYNC site) or by text message by texting syncya to 25827 (standard message rates and fees apply).

Our first free pair of books take us to the stormy sea – download them before 11:59 pm US Eastern time on Wed, June 5th!

CD cover of Of Poseidon audiobookCD cover of The Tempest audiobook by BBC RadioMay 30 – June 5, 2013
Of Poseidon by Anna Banks, read by Rebecca Gibel (AudioGO)
The Tempest by William Shakespeare, read by a Full Cast, with music (AudioGO)

You’ll note several BooksYALove favorites on the line-up for SYNC Summer 2013 below – the link to my no-spoilers recommendation appears after those.

So get ready to read with your ears, all summer long! Which SYNC audiobook are you looking forward to most?
**kmm

June 6 – June 12, 2013
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood, read by Katherine Kellgren (HarperAudio)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, read by Wanda McCaddon (Tantor Audio)

June 13 – June 19, 2013
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Will Patton (Scholastic Audiobooks)
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, read by Robert Ramirez (Recorded Books)

June 20 – June 26, 2013
Once by Morris Gleitzman, read by Morris Gleitzman (Bolinda Audio)
Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr., read by Dion Graham (christianaudio)

June 27 – July 3, 2013
Rotters by Daniel Kraus, read by Kirby Heyborne (Listening Library)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, read by Jim Weiss (Listening Library)

July 4 – July 10, 2013
Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford, read by Nick Podehl (Brilliance Audio)
She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith, read by a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

July 11 – July 17, 2013
The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann, read by Peter Altschuler (HarperAudio)
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, read by Simon Vance (Tantor Audio)

July 18 – July 24, 2013
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers, read by Erin Moon (Recorded Books) – my recommendation here
Hamlet by William Shakespeare, read by a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

July 25 – July 31, 2013
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen, read by Charlie McWade (Scholastic Audiobooks) – my recommendation here
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, read by Steve West (Blackstone Audio)

Aug 1 – Aug 7, 2013
Death Cloud by Andrew Lane, read by Dan Weyman (Macmillan Audio) – my recommendation here
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, read by Ralph Cosham (Blackstone Audio)

Aug 8 – Aug 14, 2013
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis, read by Katherine Kellgren (Brilliance Audio) – my recommendation here
Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, read by Miriam Margolyes (Bolinda Audio)

Aug 15 – Aug 21, 2013
Sold by Patricia McCormick, read by Justine Eyre (Tantor Audio)
Let Me Stand Alone by Rachel Corrie, read by Tavia Gilbert (Blackstone Audio)

Legacy of the Clockwork Key, by Kristin Bailey (book review) – key to danger, love, time itself

May24

book cover of Legacy of the Clockwork Key by Kristin Bailey published by Simon PulseA pocket-watch that is actually a key,
a key made of clockwork
and music and love and danger.

The infinitely intricate clockwork devices made by Meg’s late father and grandfather and other Secret Order ‘amusementists’ make the automatons whirring and blinking in Europe’s royal courts seem like primitive toys in comparison.

Read the beginning of Meg’s story, as Kristin shares part of chapter one here, and be sure to watch the book trailer, one of my favorites!

You’ll want to hurry to your local library  or independent bookstore to pick up this first book of the Secret Order series so you can travel through the mystery with Meg and Will, outwitting mazes and mechanical monsters, solving puzzles on a pirate ship, and trying to stay one step ahead of pure human evil.

What’s the most amazing clockwork device you’ve seen in action?
**kmm

Book info: Legacy of the Clockwork Key (The Secret Order, #1) / Kristin Bailey. Simon Pulse, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My book talk: Rescued by a secretive benefactor, Meg is no longer a young lady of good society in Victorian England, but a orphaned housemaid in a mansion that time forgot. When intricate devices point to clues regarding her parents’ deaths, the sixteen-year-old knows she must follow them, despite the danger to herself, her reputation, and her heart.

Meg wonders why every detail here must stay as it was, why the Baron took her in, why the staff knows “he’s always watching” when no one sees him. She mourns for her learned parents, killed in the fire which consumed their clock shop and her future six months ago. If only her grandfather were still alive…

When she asks the Baron’s young coachman to repair the clock-locket which alone survived the fire, it turns out to be a clockwork key. Meg recognizes its design in the parlor fireplace and unlocks secrets about the Baron (and her grandfather) that send her rushing to Will for help. Visiting a graveyard, unlocking more secrets, befriending a young widow – the pair uncovers a far-reaching organization of inventors, a sinister plot, and a terrifying problem.

The unseen Baron fires them both for “unbecoming behavior” and Meg knows that he’s discovered her visit into his workroom. With widowed Mrs. Pricket, they flee London, trying to reach the nearest amusementist (as Lucinda Pricket calls these inventors in the Secret Order) and safety. Although the inventor is long gone, his larger-than-life clockwork-powered amusement remains, and they must reanimate it to find more clues. For if they cannot stop the Baron, then he will kill them as surely as he killed Meg’s parents and Lucinda’s husband and others of the Secret Order.

Can they outrun the man who wants to control time?
Can they survive the perils of the gigantic clockwork amusements?
Can Meg and Will ignore their attraction to one another?

An entire secret organization dedicated to inventing the most elaborate toys on earth, a murderer bent on snuffing out all competitors, a chance for love outside Victorian society’s cast-iron rules – all in the first book of The Secret Order series.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Renegade Magic, by Stephanie Burgis (book review) – dark magic, Regency manners, secrets everywhere

May6

book cover of Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis published by AtheneumThe pointed comments about their mother,
the deliberate snubs by those in high society,
the accusations of magic being used…
can the healing waters of Bath wash away their troubles?

The Guardians have refused to train Kat to handle the magical powers she inherited from her mother, and all of England may be in dreadful peril because of it!

This funny and suspenseful series owes much to the author’s love of Regency romances, like those of Georgette Heyer, and her own life as one of several siblings.

Kat, Incorrigible is the first book of the series (my recommendation here), and Stolen Magic  is the third (review coming soon).

Try out the first chapter of Renegade Magic  here and get swept into A Tangle of Magicks  in “The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson” series, as it’s known in the UK.
And the “Dueling Magicks” short story is currently available free (grab it now here!).

What magic powers would you like to use against the stuffier conventions of  society?
**kmm

Book info: Renegade Magic (Kat, Incorrigible #2) / Stephanie Burgis. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2012 hardcover, 2013 paperback.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My recommendation: Kat doesn’t care about polite society, but when accusations of witchcraft during her eldest sister’s wedding send the family fleeing to see-and-be-seen Bath, she’ll take the change of scenery. But this spirited young lady had no idea that evil magic was gathering in the fashionable city – she may have to break a few more Guardian rules to stop it!

No one could have imagined that Frederick’s mother would storm the little country church to accuse middle sister Angeline of bewitching her son – with real witchcraft! Never mind that the three sisters really did inherit their mother’s magical skills and that Stepmama pretends they are not excluded from polite Regency society because of that scandalous family history.

Suddenly, they’re off to the resort city of Bath so that Angeline may acquire a new fiance to quell the gossips, with Stepmama settling the family into her distant relative’s well-placed townhouse by hinting that Lady Fotherington is Kat’s godmother. Of course, everyone important in society respects that great Lady; only Kat knows she’s one of the Guardians using magic to protect England against evil magic-wielders – and that she despises Kat for inheriting her mother’s powers.

As Angeline and Stepmama and reluctant Kat visit all the right places during the proper hours, brother Charles gets himself entangled in gambling again (all he learned at Oxford, it seems), a notorious man singles out Angeline, and Kat seeks out the unusual magic giving off sparks of evil with her cousin Lucy’s unexpected help.

Are the famous spring waters of Bath hiding a darker secret?
Why is scandalous Viscount Scarwood wooing Angeline?
How will Kat ever get the Guardians to train her properly?

Good magic, bad magic, and treachery lurk below the surface of 19th century Britain’s preoccupation with fashion and manners in this fast-paced sequel to Kat, Incorrigible.  Be sure to follow Kat’s quest to recover Stolen Magic  in the third book of the series, too.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

X for eXamine the evidence – Death Cloud, by Andrew Lane (book review) – young Sherlock’s first case!

Apr27

book cover of Death Cloud by Andrew Lane published by Farrar Straus GirouxSlack smoke, yellow dust, red boils,
Secretive Baron whom no one sees outside his villa,
Dead men tell no tales,
The game is afoot!

Summer holiday from school turns into a race to solve this mystery before more people die as Sherlock meets the unspoken-of Holmes side of his family, a canal-boat owning orphan, and an independent American miss.

This is the first young adult series about Sherlock Holmes authorized by the estate of the great detective’s creator.
paperback cover of Death Cloud by Andrew Lane published by Square Fish
Find Death Cloud and the following four books of the series at your local library or independent bookstore.

Which cover art do you prefer – the realistic young gent of the hardcover edition or the explosive red of the paperback?
**kmm

Book info: Death Cloud (Young Sherlock Holmes, book 1) / Andrew Lane. Farrar Straus Giroux, hardcover 2010; Square Fish Books, paperback 2011. [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My recommendation: Shuffled off to stay during school holiday with relatives he’s never met, Sherlock is not a happy young man. However, strange occurences near his uncle’s country home soon pique his interest, and his new American tutor teaches him observation skills that bring the fourteen-year-old much closer to evildoers than any of them want.

With Father just posted to India,  Mother suddenly unwell, and older brother Mycroft working in London, it’s just not possible for Sherlock to go home over the 1868 school break as he’d so anticipated. But to be forced to stay with a pious aunt and an eccentric uncle who has hired a tutor for him when just wants to ramble the woods and think!

Luckily, Mr. Crowe is an untraditional tutor, skipping over Latin verbs to show Sherlock how to carefully observe the world around him, skills that serve him well when they find a dead man at the edge of Uncle’s land, a man with boils all over his skin. Recently, another man in town had died with such marks on him said his new pal Matty, who spoke of black smoke which went into the dead man’s room – is it the plague?

Many townspeople work making uniforms for the British Army as hostilities against the French heat up, and the mysterious Baron has arrived to inspect his warehouses in Farnham. Sherlock discovers that both dead men had worked at the factory, Mr. Crowe’s daughter Virginia decides she won’t be left out, and the three teens scout for more clues in this threatening puzzle.

Did the yellow powder found near both men cause their deaths?
Does the Baron’s visit have anything to do with this?
Why is the Holmes’ housekeeper suddenly trying to keep Sherlock indoors?

Wild inventions and political intrigue are just some of the dangers that Sherlock, Matty, and Virginia must face as they race to prevent more deaths in this first book of the Young Sherlock Holmes series, fully authorized by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the original character of Sherlock Holmes.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

E for Elle in A Conspiracy of Alchemists, by Liesl Schwarz (fiction) – steampunk, magic, love, danger

Apr5

book cover of A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz published by Del Rey BooksCorrect steam pressure in airship boiler? Check.
Passenger and cargo aboard? Check.
Clearance from Paris station to cast off? No? No?! Go, go, go, go!!

Being raised as a rational woman by her scientist father, airship captain Elle is most skeptical of Warlock Marsh’s claim that she will soon transform into Pythia as she becomes the world’s next Oracle, just as her runaway mother was…before her untimely death.

A wild chase after an artifact which must not fall into the hands of evil Alchemists takes Elle and Marsh from Oxford to Istanbul via Venice in this first book of The Chronicles of Light and Dark.

Can anyone outrun their destiny?
**kmm

Book info: A Conspiracy of Alchemists (Book One of The Chronicles of Light and Dark) / Liesel Schwarz. Del Rey, 2013. [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation:  A routine airship charter flight from Paris to London turns into a quest to close the gateway between evil Dark and the rational scientific world of Light for a young lady pilot in 1903, who little realizes that she is the gate-key that both sides will do anything to possess.

When a Warlock steals the sealed wooden box just given to her, Eleanor thinks she should have questioned her docking agent Patrice more closely before taking this charter. As gunfire starts at the Paris airfield, the young pilot knows that this is not a routine flight for her steam air-freighter at all, and when she arrives home in Oxford to find that her inventor father has kidnapped, she realizes that all these events are connected somehow.

Her charter passenger Mr. Marsh is really Viscount Greychester, an eminent Warlock on the Council which harnesses the Dark for productive purposes in this world. All signs point to Dr. Chance being abducted by the Alchemists, whose service to the undead Nightwalkers over centuries has made them hungry to unleash the Dark into this world for their own nefarious purposes.

Off go Elle and Marsh in the professor’s experimental gyrocopter, racing to reach the Council in Venice before the Alchemists can get there by train. No, Elle will not discuss her mother, who abandoned the family and was killed. No, Elle couldn’t have inherited her spiritual gifts, can’t possibly be an oracle, the Oracle, the key that would allow access to the full powers of Dark…

Unsatisfactory answers in Venice, reports that the Alchemists’ train is en route to Istanbul, visions appearing in Elle’s dreams… time is growing short, and the box stolen from Elle in Paris holds a magical substance that could allow the Alchemists to start pulling Dark power without the Nightwalkers’ assistance – if Dr. Chance is forced to create the triggering device!

Can they trust former allies in a strange land?
Is Elle truly on the verge of becoming the Oracle foretold?
Is Marsh really walking into her dreams of love?

There’s danger at every turn as Elle and Marsh must battle air pirates, rescue Dr. Chance, and race against time to save the world from Darkness eternal in this steampunk-paranormal start to The Chronicles of Light and Dark. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

TBR2012 Challenge Marches On (reflective) – more 2012 titles recommended, more to go!

Mar29

sketch of tired walking stickman from Online ClipArt LibraryAnother swath of my to-be-reviewed-2012 bookshelf cleared in March, bringing my total to 28 this-year recommendations of last year’s books, including my January and February lists.

Just in case you missed a few, try these 2012 titles:

The Dark Unwinding – Sharon Cameron

Exposure  – Kim Askew and Amy Helmes  

Mothership – Martin Leicht and Isla Neal 

The Secret War (Jack Blank #2) – Matt Myklusch

Sisters Red  – Jackson Pearce

Tempestuous  – Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

Making pretty good progress on the TBR2012 Challenge at Evie’s Bookish blog, but wait till you see the list after the Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April!

(sketch of Stickyman Tired courtesy of OpenClipArtLibrary http://openclipart.org/detail/86137/stickyman-tired-by-cybergedeon)

Dark Unwinding, by Sharon Cameron (fiction) – invention, espionage, affection

Mar6

Book cover of The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron published by ScholasticClever clockwork devices,
A hidden town,
A special man with a child’s heart,
A spy and traitor plotting destruction…

Is it any wonder that Mr. Babcock used Uncle Tully’s money to rescue working families from the poorhouses and create a unique village to fill all the estate’s needs? Or that agents from enemy countries would try to steal Uncle Tully’s work to use against England? Or that Katharine might finally find love?

The author promises us a sequel in fall 2013, so visit Stranwyne Keep yourself soon – and watch out for Aunt Alice’s sharp tongue!
**kmm

Book info: The Dark Unwinding / Sharon Cameron. Scholastic Press, 2012.  [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: It seems that Uncle is squandering away the family fortune, so it falls to Katharine to quietly visit the old man and gather enough evidence to have him declared insane. As “the poor relative”, the young lady has no choice but to make the long carriage journey to Stranwyne Keep, and a mysteriously strange place she finds it indeed.

A drowsy housekeeper, a mute young boy, a belligerent apprentice named Lane – that’s the entire staff for this huge English manor house? Mrs. Jeffries recognizes Katharine as Mr. Simon’s orphan daughter and avers that cousin Robert’s scheming mother must have sent her here to uproot Mr. Tully.

Where is all the money going if Uncle doesn’t throw lavish parties or buy fine horses? In his workshop across the moors, childlike genius Uncle Tully creates precise inventions in miniature with Lane’s assistance and keeps an unvarying personal timetable. Automatons, clockwork creations, part science, part magic, all Uncle Tully.

The family solicitor enlightens Katharine about how this estate is run – and how an entire village supports Uncle Tully’s projects as the estate supports its hundreds of workers rescued from London’s poorhouses! No wonder there is less money in the accounts than before… yet Mr. Babcock assures her that these projects will rebuild the fortune soon.

Katharine becomes convinced that some of her uncle’s entertaining inventions are very practical (others quite dangerous and alarming) as her fondness for this very special person grows, so she decides to support him in defiance of her aunt’s wishes, endangering her own chances of a safer financial future.

But all is not well in this idyllic setting, as strange noises taunt Katharine in the manor, Lane warns her about upsetting her uncle, a visiting student of mechanics begins to court her, people disappear from one location and reappear far away, and the villagers turn against her in defense of their dear Mr. Tully.

Who can she trust now – Lane? Mr. Babcock? Her maid and friend from the village?
What’s causing those eerie noises and her new nightmares?
Is someone really planning to steal inventions from Uncle Tully’s workshop?

A mystery and a Victorian family drama rolled into one, this Dark Unwinding twists and turns as Uncle Tully’s inventions tick-tock along, and a villain seeks to use them for nefarious purposes. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Something Red, by Douglas Nicholas (fiction) – white winter journey, red beast of death prowling

Feb27

book cover of Something Red by Douglas Nicholas published by Atriasnowfall,
If only they can escape this winter hell with their lives.

Dangers on all sides as Molly’s pieced-together family survives the treacherous pass (thanks to warrior monks!), but must reach the inn and the castle on their own. A deadly dangerous something is magically shielding itself from even  Nemain’s fey perception and is waiting…

Fantasy, fear, mythology, a desperate trudge through snow and snow as Something Red,  something evil stalks the travelers.

Can you spy it just there, out of the corner of your eye, as Hob does?
**kmm

Book info: Something Red / Douglas Nicholas. Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2012. [author interview] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Just out of sight, danger stalks them along the remote forest roads. Dame Molly, her niece Nemain, mysterious Jack, and the orphan Hob push their ox-drawn wagons fast as they dare, hoping to escape the oncoming snows. But when an attacker is snowed-in with them, their castle safe haven becomes a death house.

This is Hob’s first journey through the Pennines since Irish healer Molly adopted the young teen from the priest in his small north English village. Bandits regularly rob and kill travelers on these mountain byways, despite armed escorts by St. Germaine’s monks, veterans of the Crusades. Molly and burly Jack are on high alert, for something is trailing them on this steep road, hiding among the dense trees, its night-call darkening their souls.

From the monastery-guarded mountain pass to the double-walled palisade of Osbert’s Inn, patrolled by a dozen vicious mastiffs, they hear tales of recent tragedies and join forces with pilgrims to travel together to Sir Jehan’s castle before the road is closed by snow.

The caravan is ambushed as snow falls harder still. Molly and Nemain of the old religion try to interpret the omens appearing in the blizzard’s shadows. Even within the castle stronghold, they will not be safe, it seems, for the relentless evil being stalking them along the road has arrived there, too.

How did the death-bringer pass through prayers and countercharms around the castle?
Can massive warrior Jack protect those he claims now as family?
Why has this dreadful evil chosen them for its prey?

Wooden-wheeled oxcart, the traveler and the knight, mysterious forces consulted by Molly and Nemain, the high-born and the low, all spring forth in the intricate tapestry woven by poet Douglas Nicholas’ first novel recounting this inexorable hunt by a hidden enemy. (Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.)

Treachery of Beautiful Things, by Ruth Frances Long (fiction) – supernatural music, dark longings

Feb20

book cover of Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long published by DialThe forest swallowed him.
Jenny watched it, couldn’t stop it.
Now it wants her, too.

Hoping for closure, Jenny returns to the woods where her big brother disappeared seven years ago… seven long years of psychotherapy, anxiety medications, and anguish.

Who would think that the beings of fairy tales and legend still lived inside that wood? Shielding themselves from the eyes of city folk, preparing to take back their ancient sites overrun by technology?

Heartbreak and hope, legend and loss, king and queen, monster and lover – dare to enter the Realm and discover for yourself in this mesmerizing debut YA novel by Irish author Ruth Frances Long.
**kmm

Book info: The Treachery of Beautiful Things / Ruth Frances Long. Dial Books, 2012. [author’s website]  [book Facebook page] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Tom was swallowed up by the woods when she was a young girl, her older brother snatched from her 7 years ago in front of her very eyes. Jenny returns to Burnam Copse for a final good-bye and hears his unmistakable flute music – and is drawn into the ancient Realm, in the midst of her modern British city!

Attacked by fairies, rescued by a leaf-clad man named Jack, going farther and farther into the green mossy wood that’s immensely larger than the small grove she entered, Jenny is bewildered and exhausted and lost. Will her parents think that she’s been kidnapped, too?

She asks again and again about the flute music she heard, learns that the Piper is in thrall to Queen Titania (once called Mab), meets a faun named Puck, and is nearly caught by the Wild Hunt.

Jenny travels with difficulty to the Palace where she discovers that Tom is the Piper – and that he has no memory of life outside the Realm. Her power to see through illusion makes the teen dangerous to many, coveted by others, and a threat to the power-hungry Queen.

Can Jenny find the key to restoring Tom’s memory in time?
Can she escape from the Realm?
Can she leave behind her feelings for Jack if she goes?

Soon Jenny’s resolve and skill will be tested to the limits as a power shift in the Realm threatens the outside world of mortals – and her actions will decide the fate of both worlds. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.