New Releases by Lloyd Jones

Lloyd Jones was seven years old the first time he climbed high into a grandstand to watch rugby with his father. The experience was baptismal. From his new elevated perspective Jones believed he could see everything that mattered – a field of play that rolled out, green with promise, from suburban New Zealand to the wider world. The grandstand is a guiding metaphor for these questing narrative poems that reach back into childhood and forward into the life of a writer constantly experimenting with form and voice. Jones writes of the wild secrets of boyhood – riding dogs, falling from trees, destroying the class ukuleles, learning to sail in small boats. He is alert to the airless small-town grievances that must inevitably be escaped. As an aspiring young writer Jones travelled widely, testing his identity against difference – places, people, politics and importantly, language. The more recent poems are a re-assembling of coordinates and a return to the local view. The grandstand has long been decommissioned – it''s a housing estate now, but the poems are full of air and greenery. Dream spaces where language is forever in play.

The National League was in its second season of existence in 1877. In mid-season, the Louisville Grays suddenly took the league by storm and by mid-August were considered a lock to win the pennant. Then, disaster struck. The Grays fell out of first place, and the pennant was lost. Suspicions were high that the club had sold out to gamblers. Three players were tricked into confessing to the selling of exhibition games and were blacklisted from the sport along with a fourth player who refused to cooperate with the investigation. Since then, historians have presented a simple narrative about how the Grays sold the pennant to gamblers, how that treachery was discovered, and the steps that followed. However, none of this is true. For nearly 150 years the story of the Louisville Grays has been told, and the story has been wrong. For the first time, the objective evidence that was there all along is examined in comparison to the narrative that has been told about the Grays. The evidence shows the Grays did not sell the pennant; they simply lost it. This is the story of how Major League Baseball''s first great scandal never truly happened.

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, there lived an elf. The elf was a shoemaker, and her shoes were admired around the kingdom. The elf was confident at her job, until one day the Princess ordered a pair of shoes for the Royal Ball. Putting pressure on herself and comparing her work to her friends'' on ''Elfstagram'', the elf is worried that her shoes will not be perfect. The Elf, The Princess and the Impossible Shoe explores childhood perfectionism and the anxiety that it can cause, and offers children aged 5+ effective tools to deal with their feelings. It also contains a guide for parents and professionals, giving expert advice on how to use the book to aid discussion on this topic.

Why did God inspire the Bible to be written? He cared. Why did I write this book? I cared. Acta, non verba G. Lloyd Jones Rags to Redeemed to Revealed This book is a story of rags to redeemed to revealed. Why me? Why write this book? Who would read it? These are questions I assume most authors ask themselves. There is a profusion of books written showing how God continues to interact with His people. For me, this book is personal; it is a continuation and illustration of my first book with many pictures. It''s also an endeavor to give specificity to God''s faithfulness, mercy, and engagement in the life of His people and in the life of His, working on being humble, servants. Soli Deo gloria!

Winner of the McKitterick First Novel Award. Shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. "One of the most remarkable books ever written on the subject of Wales" – Jan Morris on Lloyd Jones'' extraordinary debut novel, Mr Vogel. Acclaimed novelist Iain Sinclair, meanwhile, has described it as "the tour-guide Wales has been waiting for." One of the most original and engaging novels to appear from – and about – Wales in recent years, Mr Vogel is all the more remarkable for the author''s own amazing story. Following a bout of alcoholism which nearly killed him, Lloyd decided to recuperate by walking around Wales. It was this epic walk which inspired Lloyd to write Mr Vogel, "an astonishing mixture of fantasy, philosophy and travel" (Jan Morris). The novel begins with the discovery, in the attic of a second-hand bookshop, of an account of a lame man''s mysterious quest – the so-called ''Vogel Papers''; the account tells of an unnamed colonial outpost, a land which resembles Wales but which is somehow skewed. Our guide, a Welshman, becomes obsessed with the Vogel Papers: his investigations take him across three continents and around his homeland – from Anglesey to Pembrokeshire, from Bangor to the Black Mountains – in search of a strange man known only as Mr Vogel. Accompanied by his reprobate friends Paddy and Waldo, as well as a motley crowd of academics, osteopaths and famous writers (not to mention a piglet and a couple of teddybears), our narrator gradually nears the end of his search. Only then does it become clear that the real Mr Vogel was never very far away after all. Mr Vogel is a story of one man''s dream of freedom, love and friendship. Compelling and warm-hearted, it is at once a novel, an anthology and a memoir; above all it is a reflection on the importance of hope and a celebration of Wales'' culture, landscape and people. In the words of Iain Sinclair, "Stop what you''re doing and listen to this mongrel monologue!"

"Outward things are easily discussed; those things which touch the surface of our life we may debate and at times laugh and joke about in public. Of our hopes and fears, our disappointments and discouragements we may hint in the sweet confidences of love. Still below these there is an unsurveyed region of reality, a world of yearnings and gropings, strengths and weaknesses that reveal their existence, if at all, not in words and phrases, but in glimmerings of joy or sorrow that mantle the face, in the tenderer tones, the firmer step, the kindlier smile, in unwonted flashes of eye-light. Prayer and Worship are words that point to these deeper strata of being." --From the introduction

The Gorgon is a hideous creature, with snakes for hair and a deadly glare – and she''s fighting Perseus to the death. Specially written for children growing in reading confidence, this thrilling retelling of the Greek myth is brought to life with full colour illustrations. Includes links to recommended websites to find out more about Ancient Greece. "Crack reading and make confident and enthusiastic readers with this fantastic reading programme." - Julia Eccleshare

Murder mystery meets carnival flair in a rollicking Victorian adventure centered on a boy with a unique appearance — and unique gifts. In the seedy underworld of Victorian London, a boy is born and abandoned. Snatched up by an unscrupulous and abusive showman, Wild Boy, covered in hair from head to toe, becomes a sideshow freak. Isolated from other children and wickedly abused by the cruel master who bought him, Wild Boy becomes an avid observer, developing Sherlock Holmes–like deductive skills. Although he is tormented and insulted, kicked and spat at, his quick mind takes in everything he sees. When a murder occurs at the fair, Wild Boy is hastily accused. Can he use his powers of deduction to save himself? And will the talented and spunky young acrobat Clarissa be with him — or against him? Readers will be swept along by the cinematic pace, immersed in the vivid historical setting, and gripped by suspense as they wait to find out if a better fate could possibly await someone so very different.

An illustrated introduction to the bible. This delightfully illustrated children''s Bible tells 18 beloved stories from both the Old and New Testaments—a perfect introduction to God''s Word for youngsters. How did David slay a giant? What miracles did Jesus perform? Kids will find out inside! Dramatic music and sound effects bring the Bible to life. Scriptures and special thoughts drawn from each story are included for parents to read and share with their children.

From the author of the beloved, bestselling Mister Pip: a novel about a mother''s search for her stolen child. A novel you can''t stop thinking about. A woman washes up on a beach in Sicily. She has come from Tunisia to find her son, taken from her when he was just days old and stolen away to Berlin. With nothing but her maid''s uniform and a homemade knife stashed in a plastic bag, she relies on strangers — some generous, some malevolent — to guide her passage north. These strangers tell of their encounters with her, building her story in fragments of memory, prejudice and sentiment into a moving work of sacrifice and love. Hand Me Down World tells an epic story about the courage of a mother, the versions of truth to which we accommodate our lives, and love''s ultimate power to redeem us.

In tango, there are no wrong turns. But every dance begins with a backward step. Taking his cue from the tango, the acclaimed author of Mister Pip has written a thrilling and sensuous novel about how we fall in love. Ranging from rural New Zealand during the final days of World War I to Buenos Aires at mid-century to the present day, this masterful novel intertwines two love stories across three generations. The deep suspicions of an isolated community in the midst of war force Louise and Schmidt—two near-strangers—to hide in a cave overlooking the ocean. Desperate for solace, Schmidt teaches Louise the tango, and the iconic dance becomes their mutual obsession and the trigger for an affair that will span continents. Years later, Schmidt’s granddaughter, keeper of the family secrets, owns a restaurant in Wellington where a shy young student named Lionel washes the dishes. One day she snaps her fingers in his direction and says: “I need to dance.” Brilliantly evoking the seductive power of one of the world’s most famous dances, Lloyd Jones’s novel is a virtuoso performance.

Around Auburn brings to life the history of Auburn and the surrounding communities of Cayuga County over a century of change. From images of a bustling city in the 1850s through views of community events and daily life in the 1950s, this delightful visual history recalls the people, places, and events that have given Auburn its unique character. As well as images of the industries that have formed the heart of the community, and snapshots of a bygone era amidst the natural beauty of Owasco Lake, this book gives us a concise and accessible history of the famous men and women of Auburn and Cayuga County: Harriet Tubman, fearless abolitionist and leader of the Underground Railroad; Emily Howland, pioneering figure in the fight for women''s suffrage; and Theodore Case, inventor of the first commercially successful method of recording sound film.

In 1991, with communism in tatters in Eastern Europe, a New Zealand novelist takes it into his head to journey to Albania to interview a man whose face was surgically altered so he could serve as a double for the communist dictator. Part-mystery, part-travelogue. By the author of Swimming to Australia.

In every era the church needs revival—certainly today as much as ever. And in the heart of every committed Christian there is the longing for personal revival—to know the quality and depths of spiritual reality, and the presence of God in one''s personal life. This was the deepest desire of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, one of the great 20th-century Bible expositors. It was also the purpose behind this series of messages which were first given on the 100th anniversary of the Great Revival which started in Wales, and swept across England and throughout the United States and to the far corners of the world. As Dr. Lloyd-Jones recognized, it is a rare time in the history of the church when there is a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit— and a time of special interest of every Christian who longs for revival today. As Dr. J. I. Packer writes in his foreword, Dr. Lloyd-Jones believed in "the necessity of revival—that is, a quickening divine visitation—as the only vent that can avert ultimate spiritual disaster. The thrustful urgency of the sermons in this book testifies to the depth of his conviction that without revival in the church there is really no hope for the Western world at all." Dr. Lloyd-Jones deftly draws principles from the lives of Old and New Testament characters as well as expounding some of the great prayers of the Bible. Clearly and forcefully, he presents a masterful exposition of the circumstances accompanying revival in the past, why each generation needs it, and how it will come about today. We must come to the sovereign God, forsake our sin, and wait upon Him for this special, essential outpouring. God, bring us revival!

Richard Lloyd Jones (1799-1885)was born in Wales. He married Mary. They emigrated and settled in Wisconsin.