Esther de Waal is one of today's most beloved spiritual writers. In The White Stone, she reflects on the changes and losses that come with growing older. Esther reflects on solitude and, following a period of illness, saying goodbye to a family home and the Welsh border landscape she had known for decades which inspired some of her greatest writing. In her characteristic style, she sees everything as a portal into a deeper spiritual understanding. She draws on the wealth of the Christian tradition, especially scripture and the monastic and Celtic spiritualities she knows so well, to help her navigate her way through not only the inevitable sense of loss that accompanies such change, but also to embrace the new possibilities it brings. The white stone of the title refers to a small pebble from the river that ran through her garden that she keeps in her pocket, but also strikes a note of hope referring to the new identity promised by God (Revelation 2.17). This is a book of simple, profound wisdom that will speak to many coping with change in their own lives.

A Starter level Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Lester Vaughan. 'The people on this island don't like archaeologists,' the woman on the ferry says. You only want to study the 4,500 year-old Irish megalithic stones but very soon strange things begin to happen to you. Can you solve the mystery in time?

"I mark this day most especially with a White Stone." ---Lewis Carroll, The Diaries of Lewis Carroll Edmund Whitty, a London newspaper correspondent who can usually be counted upon for crisp and lurid copy, has fallen upon lean times. After his triumphant exposé of a notorious serial killer, he has inexplicably lost his knack for sensational reporting. Broke and desperate, he seizes upon a generous offer from a mysterious American to discredit a quack psychic. But how, he ends up wondering uneasily, does the psychic know so much about a scandal involving Whitty's late brother? When the psychic is brutally murdered, Whitty finds himself accused of the crime and thrown into Milbank prison, the most bizarre institution of its kind in England. Help comes unexpectedly from "the Captain," a gangster not known for charity work. To save his own skin, Whitty must find the men responsible for the disappearance of the Captain's young niece, Eliza. Whitty's search takes him to Oxford, where he meets the brilliant and eccentric Reverend William Boltbyn, a renowned children's author who delights in playing croquet, devising elaborate stories, and taking artistic photographs of little girls. There he uncovers a looking-glass world, the dark side of Victoriana, and the murder of innocence. John MacLachlan Gray, who evoked "the mean streets and byways of 1852 London with a skill worthy of Dickens" (Publishers Weekly) in The Fiend in Human, spins an even more irresistible tale of dark secrets behind the facade of Victorian respectability in White Stone Day.

Alleviate stress, foster creativity, and commune with nature while creating beautiful art with Meditative Stone Art. Let artist Maria Mercedes Trujillo Arango guide you on a meditative art journey, for beginner and expert crafters alike, as she shares her unique, sophisticated, and inspiring designs for decorating stones. Along with the fascinating histories of rock art and mandalas, meditation practices, information about gathering the perfect stones, tools, and art techniques, Meditative Stone Art includes 50 illustrated step-by-step projects—25 calming mandala designs and 25 nature-inspired designs, including: Drawing and Painting Techniques: Creating White Work Designs Creating Black Work Designs Creating Colorful Designs Creating Metallic Designs 25 Mandala Designs (Step-by-Step Tutorials): Ancient Symbol Mandalas: Spirals, Dots, and Concentric Circles Hinduism-Inspired Mehndi and Kolam Mandalas Buddhism-Inspired Mandalas Judaism-Inspired Mandalas Christian Rose Window–Inspired Mandalas Islamic Geometric Rosette–Inspired Mandalas Free-Form Mandalas 25 Nature-Inspired Designs (Step-by-Step Tutorials): Butterflies Beetles Flowers Leaves Gardens Fish Feathers Shells Clouds Galaxies Constellations Chock-full of beautiful photography of finished pieces and easy-to-follow illustrations and instructions to get your designs just right, Meditative Stone Art will have you feeling focused, creative, and relaxed in no time.

Introductory chapters cover Japan’s historic love-hate relationship with China, then an in-depth analysis of three themes: Japan’s turn to the West; Japan’s return to the East; from war to peace. The book explains why Japanese modern writers oscillate between East and West.