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› Find signed collectible books: 'American Way of Death'
Before the turn of the century, the American funeral was simple "to the point of starkness," says Jessica Mitford, the acclaimed muckraking journalist who published this investigation of the country's funeral business in 1963. That the country went on to develop a tendency for gross overspending on funerals Mitford puts down to the greed and ingenuity of undertakers, whom she regards as salesmen guilty of pressuring families into agreeing to their excessive standards for burial. Mitford, who died recently, delivers facts and criticism in a forthright and humorous manner. She would certainly appreciate that her assessment of the American way of death endures after her own passing. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'At Home in Mitford'
A Light in the Window is the second installment in this enormously popular series about a small-town rector, Father Tim, and the heartwarming cast of characters surrounding him. This time Father Tim, a lifelong bachelor, finds his heart distracted by his free-spirited neighbor Cynthia, but his stomach and the rectory cash box are distracted by Edith, a wealthy widow who is wooing the rector with love potion casseroles. At every turn, including when a brooding Irish cousin decides to move in, Father Tim must decide whether he will practice what he preaches.
Fans of the series say they long to buy real estate in Mitford, just so they can live next door to these funny and endearing characters and feel the embrace of such a loving community. But what author Jan Karon probably knows, and many readers are starting to figure out, is that the integrity and solid Christian values that these characters possess can be found in just about every neighborhood, and with inspiration like this book, anyone can build their own Mitford community. --Gail Hudson [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Blessing'
Grace is lovely but not really up to the Parisian haute monde into which her marriage plunges her. Charles is very French, very much in love with Grace, and unwilling to give up his mistress. And both are the credulous victims of their son Sigismund, a juvenile Machiavelli of the first order. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Chatsworth the House: The House'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Christmas Pudding'
› Find signed collectible books: 'A Common Life'
A Common Life is a trip back in time for fans of "the little town with the big heart." Somewhere between the second and third volumes of Jan Karon's Mitford Years series, dyed-in-the-wool bachelor Father Timothy Kavanagh and his next-door neighbor Cynthia Coppersmith tied the knot. The author left it to readers' imaginations to fill in the blanks. In this delightful story, Karon paints a complete picture of the events surrounding the wedding of Mitford's best-loved couple, and chronicles the poignant and often hilarious reactions to the nuptial news by the tightly knit North Carolina community.
All the details cherished by those who are enchanted by weddings are offered here, from the color of the bridal outfit (aquamarine) to the choice of flowers (virgin's bower and hydrangeas). When the wedding bells finally ring, the pews are packed with the people who make Mitford special: ornery Uncle Billy, delightful Miss Sadie, indispensable Louella, and the cantankerous Emma Newland. And there's not a dry eye in the house when Father Tim's problematic foster child Dooley Barlowe sings for the two people who love him the most.
A Common Life is not just a wedding story. It's also an intimate portrait of the unfolding love between Cynthia and the shy Father Tim, complete with fears and hesitations, professions of commitment, and Barnabas the dog delivering love letters. But there's nothing heavy-handed here. The tensions don't run any higher than wondering if Cynthia will make it to the wedding on time after getting locked inside her own bathroom, or guessing if Esther will make her famous three-layer orange marmalade cake for the reception. Told in the warm, down-home style that Karon has built her reputation on, A Common Life is sweet without being saccharine, charming without being cloying. It's an invitation to a literary reunion of the best kind, and like all weddings, it will probably coax a few tears and plenty of smiles. --Cindy Crosby [via]

› Find signed collectible books: 'A Common Life : The Wedding Story'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Continual Feast: Words of comfort and celebration collected by Father Tim'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Counting My Chickens: And Other Home Thoughts'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Daughters and Rebels: An Autobiography'
pre World War II England 6th of 7 children [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Diana Mosley'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Don't Tell Alfred'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Esther's Gift : A Mitford Christmas Story'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Father Timothy A. Kavanagh'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Fine Old Conflict'

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Garden at Chatsworth'
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![[???]: The Garden at Chatsworth: The Duchess of Devonshire [???]: The Garden at Chatsworth: The Duchess of Devonshire](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/P/0711218374.01._SL160_SCLZZZZZZZ__.jpg)
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Grace Had an English Heart'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Hallelujah! the Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes'
Throughout Maya Angelous life, from her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, to her world travels as a bestselling writer, good food has played a central role. Preparing and enjoying homemade meals provides a sense of purpose and calm, accomplishment and connection. Now in Hallelujah! The Welcome Table, Angelou shares memories pithy and poignantand the recipes that helped to make them both indelible and irreplaceable.
Angelou tells us about the time she was expelled from school for being afraid to speakand her mother baked a delicious maple cake to brighten her spirits. She gives us her recipe for short ribs along with a story about a job she had as a cook at a Creole restaurant (never mind that she didnt know how to cook and had no idea what Creole food might entail). There was the time in London when she attended a wretched dinner party full of wretched people; but all wasnt lostshe did experience her initial taste of a savory onion tart. She recounts her very first night in her new home in Sonoma, California, when she invited M. F. K. Fisher over for cassoulet, and the evening Deca Mitford roasted a chicken when she was beyond tipsyand created Chicken Drunkard Style. And then there was the hearty brunch Angelou made for a homesick Southerner, a meal that earned her both a job offer and a prophetic compliment: If you can write half as good as you can cook, you are going to be famous.
Maya Angelou is renowned in her wide and generous circle of friends as a marvelous chef. Her kitchen is a social center. From fried meat pies, chicken livers, and beef Wellington to caramel cake, bread pudding, and chocolate éclairs, the one hundred-plus recipes included here are all tried and true, and come from Angelous heart and her home. Hallelujah! The Welcome Table is a stunning collaboration between the two things Angelou loves best: writing and cooking. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Highland Fling'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Hons and Rebels'

› Find signed collectible books: 'The House Of Mitford'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'In This Mountain'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh'
Charlotte Mosley's careful collection of Nancy Mitford's and Evelyn Waugh's delightfully careless letters immerses one in a lost whirl. The two writers met in London in the late 1920s, but their correspondence didn't take off until mid-World War II, when it quickly became an exaggeration-fest. Mitford, for example, matches Waugh's surreal reports from Europe with one about an M.P. swelling up before his fellow politicians' eyes: "Well, it took 2 ambulances to get him away & now he lies on 4 beds with his trunk hanging out the window. Let nobody say that war time London lacks fantasy."
For the next 21 years, these gifted gossips would render the ridiculous sublime and vice versa, turning (and then only mildly) serious in discussions of reading and writing, preferring to glide over the problematic and emotional. Throughout, Mitford likes to play the euphoric, lazy pupil, Waugh the master grammarian, theologian, and meanie. The exchanges on their own works in progress--particularly on Brideshead Revisited and The Pursuit of Love--are an important addition to literary history, but the book's true exhilaration lies in Mitford and Waugh's knowing--and knowingly vile--comic timing. Irresistibly offensive. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Life of Contrasts: The Autobiography of Diana Mitford Mosley'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Light from Heaven'
› Find signed collectible books: 'A Light in the Window'
A Light in the Window is the second installment in this enormously popular series about a small-town rector, Father Tim, and the heartwarming cast of characters surrounding him. This time Father Tim, a lifelong bachelor, finds his heart distracted by his free-spirited neighbor Cynthia, but his stomach and the rectory cash box are distracted by Edith, a wealthy widow who is wooing the rector with love potion casseroles. At every turn, including when a brooding Irish cousin decides to move in, Father Tim must decide whether he will practice what he preaches.
Fans of the series say they long to buy real estate in Mitford, just so they can live next door to these funny and endearing characters and feel the embrace of such a loving community. But what author Jan Karon probably knows, and many readers are starting to figure out, is that the integrity and solid Christian values that these characters possess can be found in just about every neighborhood, and with inspiration like this book, anyone can build their own Mitford community. --Gail Hudson [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Love in a Cold Climate'
In one of the wittiest novels of them all, Nancy Mitford casts a finely gauged net to capture perfectly the foibles and fancies of the English upper class. Set in the privileged world of the county house party and the London season, the story of coldly beautiful Polly Hampton and her aristocratic parents is a comedy of English manners between the wars by one of the most individual, beguiling and creative users of the language. [via]

› Find signed collectible books: 'Madame De Pompadour'

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mitford Bedside Companion: A Treasury of Favorite Mitford Moments'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mitford Snowmen'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mitford Years'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nancy Mitford: A Biography'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A New Song'
As if being a priest in this day and age isn't difficult enough, try shepherding two parishes, located hundreds of miles apart, at the same time. A predicament of biblical proportions indeed, but one the indomitable Father Tim Kavanaugh and his cheerful wife, Cynthia, can handle, with a little help from the Lord--not to mention their friends--in Jan Karon's A New Song, the fifth installment in her much-loved Mitford series. When asked to act as interim minister for a tiny island parish in North Carolina's Outer Banks, the recently retired Father heeds the call, all the while trusting in a divine master plan: "He had prayed that God would send him wherever He pleased, and when his bishop presented the idea of Whitecap, he knew it wasn't his bishop's bright idea at all, but God's."
From the more routine duties of settling into a new church to dealing with a number of deeper domestic issues--including a single mother's spiral into depression and a reclusive next door neighbor in need of kindness--Father Tim's new parish presents a welcome challenge. All the while, of course, the folks back home keep him informed of goings-on in Mitford--the biggest being the recent arrest of Dooley Barlowe, a mountain boy whom Father Tim had taken into his home and heart five years earlier. As in past Mitford episodes, things have a way of working themselves out, but not before Father Tim and his accompanying cast learn a few more valuable lessons about life. Full of the homey atmosphere and heartwarming truths--not to mention the endearingly quirky characters--that are Karon's trademark, A New Song is a delightful celebration of the communal ties that bind. --Stefanie Hargreaves [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'Noblesse Oblige: An Enquiry into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Out To Canaan'
Mix one part All Creatures Great and Small with two parts Lake Wobegon, sprinkle a little Anne of Green Gables and get: Mitford, the pinnacle of provincial life, where homespun wisdom, guarded tradition, and principled faith are the precepts of good living. Jan Karon, purveyor of so-called "gentle fiction," continues the series that began with At Home in Mitford, in Out to Canaan. The patriarch of the tightly bound community of Mitford, North Carolina, is Father Timothy Kavanaugh, a.k.a. legal counsel, psychologist, foster parent, headhunter, husband, political analyst, and rector of his congregation. He is always there to lend a helping hand, a kind word or bit of advice, which believe it or not, makes for an incredibly busy schedule in this quiet, country town.
Longtime mayor Esther Cunningham, revered for preserving the traditions of the town, finds a formidable foe in Mack Stroupe, a free-spending industrialist who stands for the two most reviled words in Mitford: change and development. If that isn't enough, a suspicious company called "Miami Development" wants to buy Sadie Baxter's home--a Mitford landmark--and turn it into a hoity-toity spa. Father Tim has his hands full again with Dooley, his foster child who is back from prep school for the summer. The good rector continues to doctor Dooley's troubled past by locating his siblings, Poohbaw and Jessie, and finding their alcoholic mother, Pauline, work. The plethora of intricately woven, cozy vignettes makes Out to Canaan a potpie of warm, country reading. --Rebekah Warren [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Patches of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes'
Throughout his years as Mitford's beloved Episcopal priest, Father Tim Kavanagh has been reading and also pondering two crucial questions: How can he guide and encourage his flock? How can he deepen and encourage his own spirit? The result is a wonderful collection of his favorite quotes from thinkers, theologians, poets, and philosophersfrom Mark Twain and C. S. Lewis to St. Paul and Wordsworth.
Patches of Godlight is a stunning two-color facsimile of Father Tim's own leather-bound notebook with his name gold stamped on the cover. Every quote is in his own handwriting, and scattered throughout the margins are his scribbled notes and doodles, even the occasional ink blot or coffee stain. Just as it has for Father Tim, this handsome, "must-have" quote book will provide wisdom and inspiration for millions of Mitford fans. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Pigeon Pie'
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate : Two Novels'
Few aristocratic English families of the 20th century have enjoyed quite the delicious notoriety that the Mitford sisters courted in the years bracketed by two world wars. For a start, two of the girls, Unity and Diana, were Fascists (the former was a friend of Hitler and Goebbels, and the latter married Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists). Two others took the writing route: Jessica ran away from home and became a famous muckraking journalist, and Nancy composed maliciously witty--and transparently autobiographical--novels as well as several biographies. The Pursuit of Love (1945), her greatest fictional success, and its companion, Love in a Cold Climate (1949), keep closely to the spirit (and details) of their youthful amusements and more grown-up adventures.
Seen through the adoring eyes of Fanny Logan, the self-effacing cousin who records their shenanigans with a wicked sincerity, the Radletts of Alconleigh shine with Gloucestershire glamour: apoplectic Uncle Matthew; Lord Alconleigh (modeled to a fine nuance after Mitford's father, Lord Redesdale, who like Uncle Matthew used to hunt his children with bloodhounds); his kind, rather vague wife, Aunt Sadie; as well as Fanny's favorite cousin Linda and the other six Radlett children. The Radlett daughters and Fanny wait impatiently for life to become interesting. Because of their station, however, nothing but marriage is expected of them, so they hurl themselves at love like crusaders, with varied and always fascinating results. At one point Fanny recounts:
A few minutes only after Linda had left me to go back to London, Christian and the comrades, I had another caller. This time it was Lord Merlin...."This is a bad business," he said, abruptly, and without preamble, though I had not seen him for several years. "I'm just back from Rome, and what do I find--Linda and Christian Talbot. It's an extraordinary thing that I can't ever leave England without Linda getting herself mixed up with some thoroughly undesirable character. This is a disaster--how far has it gone? Can nothing be done?"The Pursuit of Love follows the romantic fortunes of Linda Radlett, while Love in a Cold Climate ventures further afield with the story of Polly Hampton's shocking love affair and its unexpectedly funny aftermath. Fanny's inexhaustible narration is a pleasant buffer for Mitford's deft teasing, which dances along just this side of mockery. The author of U and Non-U, a famous tongue-in-cheek treatise on the shibboleths of upper-class mores, Mitford often leaves the reader wondering just where she stands in the class wars, and much of her humor arises in the fine distinctions of aristocratic manners and speech. Still, there's an inimitable tart sweetness to these stories of true love and its pallid imitators, making them perfect snapshots of a vanished world. --Barrie Trinkle [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Shepherds Abiding'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Shepherds Abiding: A Mitford Christmas Story'
Since he was a boy growing up in Mississippi, Father Tim has lived what he calls "the life of the mind." Except for cooking and gardening and washing his dog, he never learned to savor the work of his hands. And then he finds a derelict nativity scene--twenty figures, including a flock of sheep, that have suffered the indignities of time and neglect.
Could he give the small company new life? Restore the camel's ear, repaint every piece, replace a missing nose on a wise man? "You can't teach an old dog new tricks!" he reminds himself. It's when he imagines the excitement in Cynthia's eyes that he steps up to the plate--and begins a small journey of faith that touches everyone around him.
The eight novel in the bestselling Mitford Years series is a mediation on the best of all presents--the gift of one's heart. Lovingly written and beautifully illustrated, it seeks to restore the true Christmas spirit and give everyone a seat at Mitford's holiday table.
From the Hardcover edition. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family'
This is the Story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy, the eldest, was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; the ethereally beautiful Diana, married to the Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley and imprisoned without trial through most of World War II, was the most hated woman in England; Unity Valkyrie Mitford, born in the mining town of Swastika, Alaska, would become obsessed with Adolf Hitler, whom she met on at least 140 occasions. When war was declared between England and Germany, she shot herself in the head.
The Mitfords had style, presence, and were extremely gifted: four would go on to write best-selling books. Above all, they were funny -- hilariously and often mercilessly so. In this wise, evenhanded, and generous book, Mary Lovell captures the vitality and extraordinary drama of a family that took the twentieth century by the throat and became, in some respects, its victims. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Sun King'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'These High, Green Hills'
The village of Mitford is soothing tonic for a readership that feels starved for community and yearns for clear morals. The recently married Father Tim and his plain-folk neighbors live the best of Christianity in everyday life. Even the rampant gossip in Mitford is the good kind: folks worrying about other folks and everyone minding one another's business out of concern rather than malice. As a result, no one faces a crisis alone. Often the crises are cause for a belly laugh, such as the rectory's new computer system that seems programmed to torment. But just as often the crises have the bite of real-life problems, such as the bloody young girl in shredded clothes, whom Father Tim finds after she was beaten by her drunken father, and the soul-wrenching despair Father Tim feels when he loses a surrogate mother. The heavily quoted scripture gives a day-to-day context for biblical teachings as well as spiritual solace during the sadder days at Mitford. --Gail Hudson [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Unity Mitford: An Enquiry into Her Life and the Frivolity of Evil'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Voltaire in Love'

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Water Beetle'
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