Ocean State Libraries

"Tucked into the mountains of North Wales, the village of Cwm Coed is bordered by a shimmering lake on one side and an army of pine trees on the other. But the tranquility is shattered when homegrown celebrity Rhys Lloyd returns to develop a luxury resort on the shore opposite the village. Old resentments begin to rise to the surface, and new tensions emerge between the locals and the outsiders. Still, when the resort throws open its doors for a New...

Strange things have been brewing in the village of Ashlaw in 1923: the once-prosperous drapers' shop has gone bankrupt and three separate families' lives have each, it seems, been hexed. In a bigger town, such news might happen every day, but in tiny, remote Ashlaw, even one of these curses can set the whole village off-kilter. So what could be responsible for the stir? Margot, a local, precocious schoolgirl, has been trying to figure this out, especially...

"A heartwarming literary-themed novel about a woman who turns an ordinary red phone box into the littlest library in England and brings together a struggling town. A little red telephone box full of stories, a chance to change her life... Jess Metcalf is perfectly content with her quiet, predictable life. But when her beloved grandmother passes away and she loses her job at the local library, Jess' life is turned upside down. Determined to pick up...

Seeking refuge after a murder upends her life, a woman discovers that no matter how far she runs, she can't escape the demons of her past  Widowed London social worker Georgina "Georgie" Jefferson battles guilt and public disgrace when one of her charges, abused five-year-old Angela Hopkins, is beaten to death. She retreats to Furze Pen, an isolated Devon cottage that once belonged to Stephen, the deceased brother she never knew. In this refuge,...

"O cotidiano de uma vila rural do Alentejo �e mat�eria para o agu�cado olhar de Jos�e Lu�is Peixoto sobre o sofrimento humano. Os amores, as trai�c�oes, a viol�encia, as mortes e o luto atravessam o dia a dia dos personagens, que ganham voz nos m�ultiplos narradores, aproximando o leitor de sentimentos muito vivos. A cozinheira, o serralheiro, o pastor: eis a hist�oria de duas gera�c�oes, no livro vencedor do Pr�emio Jos�e...

"Describes the development of one of the first cohousing communities in the U.S. offering a social understanding of its commons. Cohousing, a form of communal living that clusters around shared common space, began about a half century ago in Denmark. We Built a Village describes the process of planning and building of an early cohousing community in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the way the people involved simultaneously built their homes and their...

"Born into a posh family, nine-year old Lizzie Vogel has lived a charmed life thus far, with a big sister who knows everything, a cute baby brother, and a full-time housekeeper who bakes jam tarts. But when, in 1970, her father abandons her mother and sends his ex-family off to the tiny village of Flatstone, life as Lizzie knows it comes to an abrupt end. The new neighbors disapprove of divorcées and fatherless children, and Lizzie's theatrical mother...

"This newly revised edition of Visiting a Village is an ideal introduction to understanding the concept of community. Children will learn how the people in early communities worked together with a spirit of cooperation by trading their goods and services with each other. Knowing about what they might see on their first visit to an historic site will help spark a child's curiosity. In this book, they will meet such individuals as: the miller, the sawyer,...

The Domesday Book was a survey of England completed in 1086 for William the Conqueror. Maitland's 1897 overview of feudal life, The Doomsday Book and Beyond, was called the greatest single book on English medieval history by Professor J. C. Holt. It influenced a century of scholarship. In addition to the title essay, this book includes "England Before the Conquest" and "The Hide."