The story world By the year 2120, the world has changed dramatically. Few plants or animals have survived climate change and the human population has dropped to 3 billion. For those living in the affluent northern region, life is made comfortable by an artificial intelligence called The Gaia Machine. But for those living in the southern region, life is tough. So tough, they must trade their young women as surrogates in exchange for fresh water. Ophelia's story Ophelia Alsop, a privileged woman from the United Kingdom, and long-time conscientious objector to the surrogacy trade, takes matters into her own hands by becoming pregnant with her husband. For this, she is punished by the invisible hand of the law in a manner only The Gaia Machine could execute. When she speaks out against the injustice, she is abducted and imprisoned in a bizarre underworld where she discovers the shocking truth behind the surrogacy trade, illegal harvesting of human organs and the Ruling Elite's terrifying plans for the future of humanity. Spanning the United Kingdom, France and Spain, Ophelia's journey takes her from a life of privilege to one of poverty before she finds a way to destroy The Gaia Machine and reveal the power brokers behind the digital curtain. But success, she learns, looks rather different to what she had expected.

After an owner's death, many companion animals are abandoned or forgotten. They are given to friends or relatives of the deceased who may or may not want to care for them. More often, they are surrendered to an animal shelter. Every person who owns a pet should be concerned with what will happen to them when we die. This is a growing problem that needs to be addressed in one's lifetime. Ophelia G. McMahon was an American Brown Tabby cat who was adopted from the Clearwater, Florida Animal Shelter. During the "Big Snowstorm of 1993" she became an orphan and ended up in an abusive home. The first time I saw Ophelia, she had been confined in a small bedroom for several months, sharing her home with a ball python. Cowering in a chair beneath a table, she looked up at me with her sad green eyes as if to say, "Help me, please." There was no way I could leave without her. A growing area of law today in estate planning for pets is the care of one's pet upon the owner's death or incapacity. People are always concerned with passing on wealth to children or other relatives with as little consequences as possible, but what about taking care of a pet! If you die and your pet survives you, the issue is not going to be just leaving enough money for the pet to be cared for in the long run. Who is going to take care of your pet today and tomorrow? Back in 1946, humorist H. Allen Smith wrote the fictional tale of a cat named Rhubarb who inherited all his owner's wealth and a baseball team. His story contained more truth than fiction. Benny, Betty and Rambo's owner left a will so detailed that it included instructions for the disposition of her Seiko watch. What about her beloved pets? Philanthropist Jenny Smith's pets ended up in the very animal shelter she'd established a trust fund for. Most recently, JFK Jr's dog Friday and cat Ruby weren't even mentioned in his Last Will and Testament.

THE MARRIAGE PLOT Ophelia Elliot has delayed marriage long enough. Now, for the sake of her future, she must choose between three impatient suitors. But she’s determined to use only the most rational of methods to make her decision. And when her dear friend, Sidney Mason, offers to help, how can the discerning debutante resist? Besides, spending time with him is no hardship—his dashing looks and irresistible laughter have delighted her for years. Not that Sidney is a suitable prospect. As a member of Parliament, he’s already married to the state. No matter how chivalrous his attentions, falling in love with him would be most unreasonable . . . The fact is, Sidney finds Ophelia infuriatingly stubborn—and yet there is no other woman for him. Convincing her that she must marry for love—his love—will be a formidable challenge. So he concocts a clever strategy to expose her suitors’ true natures—and show the strong-willed beauty that when it comes to marriage, it is imperative that she follow her heart—straight into his strong and loving arms . . . “Rachael Miles’ knowledge of the time period she writes about adds a depth of authenticity that enriches every page.” —Jodi Thomas, New York Times bestselling author

"What if it wasn't random?" he whispered, and the hairs on the back of her neck rose one by one with tickling tugs. "What if sometimes people are meant to meet each other?" Ophelia Brighton hasn't had a vision from the past since she was a small child. Now a grad student, both her thesis and her life are interrupted when a troubled young Irishman knocks on her door in Santa Cruz, California. Her visions return with his arrival, and Ophelia must struggle to keep her balance amidst her growing confusion over her place in the world... and time. When Ophelia's visions of a Victorian mystery reveal a secret that will change her future, she also discovers a love that was stronger than death. But is it too late to right the wrongs of the past?

In a vast land where dark and light spirits have fought for domination over thousands of years, two orphans adopted by the Monastery of the Brotherhood rejoin the fight to sustain the light. Ophelia is traveling home to Ringell, the crown jewel and capital of the land of Hinnom. She goes there to meet Kempis, her surrogate brother also adopted by the brotherhood, now turned priest. She hopes to convince him to travel with her to Havenwood, an ancient site of conflicts between light and dark, where the cold war has again come alive. Abba, the spiritual leader of the creatures of light, reveals his wishes and wisdom through the oracles sent to Ophelia. These oracles prove evasive and dangerous, yet are enlightening to Ophelia and her companions, as their god leads them through a web of darkness that threatens to destroy them all.

“Magic is “messy and dangerous and filled with longing,” we learn in this brave tale of grief, villainy and redemption that borrows from the story of the Snow Queen. Set in a vast, chilly museum, the tale brings together a valiant girl, a charmed boy, a magical sword and a clock ticking down to the end of the world.”—The Wall Street Journal This is the story of unlikely heroine Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard who doesn't believe in anything that can't be proven by science. She and her sister Alice are still grieving for their dead mother when their father takes a job in a strange museum in a city where it always snows. On her very first day in the museum Ophelia discovers a boy locked away in a long forgotten room. He is a prisoner of Her Majesty, the Snow Queen. And he has been waiting for Ophelia's help. As Ophelia embarks on an incredible journey to rescue the boy everything that she believes will be tested. Along the way she learns more and more about the boy's own remarkable journey to reach her and save the world. A story within a story, this a modern day fairytale about the power of friendship, courage and love, and never ever giving up.

Ophelia is a little girl who lives deep in a far-off great forest where her widowed father is a woodcutter and her home a tiny cottage with a thatched roof and flower-filled window boxes. Blessed at birth by fairies, she is friends with all the little forest animals who live around her, and with no school or other children to fill her playtimes, she is never lonely, sharing adventures with many, like Sammy Skunk, Rory Raccoon, Oscar Owl, Betsy Bunny, Patrick Porcupine, Benjamin Beaver, and others—all joining with her in keeping their forest home peaceful and safe.

In the mid-eighteenth century, Sarah Fielding (1710-68) was the second most popular English woman novelist, rivaled only by Eliza Haywood. The History of Ophelia, the last of her seven novels, is an often comic epistolary fiction, narrated by the heroine to an unnamed female correspondent in the form of a single protracted letter. This Broadview edition includes a critical introduction and valuable appendices that contain contemporary reviews of the novel, Richard Corbould's illustrations to the Novelist’s Magazine edition, and excerpts from Sarah Fielding’s Remarks on Clarissa.

How can you be best friends when you like different things? Ophelia Starcluck can’t lose another friend. When her last bestie, Keira, moved away, she told Ophelia that since she didn’t like jumpers and sunflower seeds, she never wanted to see her again. Then Ophelia met Finn, and she’s 95.7% sure they have everything in common. Nothing could rock their friendship…until weasels, intent on terrorizing the galaxy, invade their spaceship and knock all the adults out with sleeping gas. Ophelia sends out a desperate cluck for help to any nearby ships, but no one answers. Alone in deep space, it’s up to her and Finn to fight the weasels in a battle of knowledge and skill to rescue their vessel and crew. But when Finn admits he’s been keeping a secret, Ophelia’s world shatters, putting the battle and their relationship at risk. With another friendship on the line, can Ophelia work with Finn to kick the weasels off their ship and save the galaxy? Ophelia Starcluck Saves the Galaxy is the first adventure in the new middle grade series, The Starcluck Adventures. If you like stories with friends, quirky humor, animals, and treks through space, you’ll love Kristen Gwen’s plucky tale. Pick up your copy today to embark on a solar-tastic journey. Adventure awaits!