Books like 'The Baggage Handler'
Readers who enjoyed The Baggage Handler by David Rawlings also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy psychological christian spirituality family magical-realism low-fantasy
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Dark Mother Earth by Kristian Novak
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn amnesiac writer’s life of lies and false memories reaches a breaking point in this stunning English-language debut from an award-winning Croatian author.As a novelist, Matija makes things up for a living. Not yet thirty, he’s written two well-received books. It’s his third that is as big a failure as his private life...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century adult book coming-of-age contemporary crime -
![The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom]()
The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe Next Person You Meet in Heaven: (B&N Exclusive Edition) The Sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch AlbomThis special edition contains an extra chapter and is available exclusively at Barnes & Noble... -
![Buddha's Little Finger by Victor Pelevin]()
Buddha's Little Finger by Victor Pelevin
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRussian novelist Victor Pelevin is rapidly establishing himself as one of the most brilliant young writers at work today. His comic inventiveness and mind-bending talent prompted Time magazine to proclaim him a "psychedelic Nabokov for the cyber-age... -
![I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer]()
I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsMercer Mayer’s Little Critter is having quite the grumpy day in this classic, funny, and heartwarming book. Whether he’s cranky on the slide or stubborn in the sandbox, both parents and children alike will relate to this beloved story... -
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![A Day Like This by Kelley McNeil]()
A Day Like This by Kelley McNeil
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWhat if everything you’ve ever loved, ever known, ever believed to be true…just disappeared?Annie Beyers has everything—a beautiful house, a loving husband, and an adorable daughter. It’s a day like any other when she takes Hannah to the pediatrician…until she wakes hours later from a car accident. When she asks for her daughter, confused doctors tell Annie that Hannah never existed... -
![The Loft by Bette Lee Crosby]()
The Loft by Bette Lee Crosby
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings50 YEARS OF MEMORIES ARE HIDDEN IN THE WALLS OF THE LOFT... Annie only needs to find one... the one that will save Oliver's life. On the day of their wedding, Annie saw nothing but happiness ahead, but when an accident calls her back to Memory House, her world is changed forever... -
![Sebastian and the Troll by Fredrik Backman]()
Sebastian and the Troll by Fredrik Backman
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis is a short story I wrote in December 2017. It’s about pain. It’s been translated by my friend Vanja Vinter and is published here on my blog for now because I’m not really sure where else to put it yet. If you read it and find something you like with it you’re welcome to donate whatever you think it’s worth to a charity of your choice...Categorized as:
magical-realism low-fantasy fiction mental-illness contemporary fantasy psychological young-adult -
![A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck, Sergei Burbank]()
A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck, Sergei Burbank
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAn ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he'll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter. Then, he dies. Soren wakes to find himself cast by a God he has never heard of into a Hell whose dimensions he can barely grasp: a vast library he can only escape from by finding the book that contains the story of his life...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism spirituality 21st-century action-adventure adult afterlife audiobook -
![A Spell of Rowans by Byrd Nash]()
A Spell of Rowans by Byrd Nash
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRaised by a narcissistic mother, the Rowan children’s magical talents were twisted to fit her needs. When Rachel dies, her children must confront the past to have a future.Rachel Rowan could sniff out secrets and her antique shop, Rosemary Thyme, was a front to torment the residents of Grimsby. When she dies, her children are faced with the deadly fallout of blackmail, murder, and magic... -
![The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch]()
The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsHarry Mulisch's magnum opus, is a rich mosaic of twentieth-century trauma in which many themes—friendship, loyalty, family, art, technology, religion, fate, good, and evil—suffuse a suspenseful and resplendent narrative.The Discovery of Heaven begins with the meeting of Onno and Max, two complicated individuals whom fate has mysteriously and magically brought together...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![What Lies Beyond The Stars by Michael Goorjian]()
What Lies Beyond The Stars by Michael Goorjian
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“Something in me knows of a life I was meant to live but for whatever reason, I have not . . . ”Words that ring painfully true for Adam Sheppard, a San Francisco programmer who has spent the vast majority of his 30-something years lost in the dim glow of a computer screen... -
![For One More Day by Mitch Albom]()
For One More Day by Mitch Albom
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 65 ratings"Every family is a ghost story..."Mitch Albom mesmerized readers around the world with his number one New York Times bestsellers, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie. Now he returns with a beautiful, haunting novel about the family we love and the chances we miss.For One More Day is the story of a mother and a son, and a relationship that covers a lifetime and beyond... -
![The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino, Jefferson Mays]()
The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino, Jefferson Mays
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe definitive edition of Calvino’s cosmicomics, bringing together all of these enchanting stories—including some never before translated—in one volume for the first timeIn Italo Calvino’s cosmicomics, primordial beings cavort on the nearby surface of the moon, play marbles with atoms, and bear ecstatic witness to Earth’s first dawn...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook classics -
![Sum: Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman, Multivoice]()
Sum: Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman, Multivoice
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSUM shows us forty wonderfully imagined possibilities of life beyond death. In one afterlife you may find that God is the size of a microbe and is unaware of your existence. In another, your creators are a species of dim-witted creatures who built us to figure out what they could not. In a different version of the afterlife you work as a background character in other people's dreams...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism spirituality 21st-century adult afterlife anthologies audiobook -
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![Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks]()
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsImaginary friend Budo narrates this heartwarming story of love, loyalty, and the power of the imagination—the perfect read for anyone who has ever had a friend . . . real or otherwise.Budo is lucky as imaginary friends go. He's been alive for more than five years, which is positively ancient in the world of imaginary friends...Categorized as:
family low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure audiobook book children -
![The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki]()
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsAfter the tragic death of his beloved musician father, fourteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house - a sneaker, a broken Christmas ornament, a piece of wilted lettuce...Categorized as:
family magical-realism spirituality 21st-century audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary -
![Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi]()
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsAn extraordinary debut novel, Freshwater explores the surreal experience of having a fractured self. It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born "with one foot on the other side...Categorized as:
family low-fantasy magical-realism spirituality 21st-century action-adventure audiobook book -
![Mystic Tea by Rea Nolan Martin]()
Mystic Tea by Rea Nolan Martin
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA community of quirky, mismatched, and endearing women struggle to find meaning and purpose on a ramshackle monastery in upstate New York. Having spent their lives in service to a church that seems to no longer serve them, they are confused about their own futures and the future of the entire monastery...Categorized as:
christian family spirituality action-adventure adult book contemporary female-author -
![Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan]()
Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA wry, affecting tale set in a small town on the Indonesian coast, Man Tiger tells the story of two interlinked and tormented families and of Margio, a young man ordinary in all particulars except that he conceals within himself a supernatural female white tiger. The inequities and betrayals of family life coalesce around and torment this magical being...Categorized as:
family low-fantasy magical-realism spirituality action-adventure adult book contemporary -
![My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn]()
My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsAn extraordinary and startlingly original sequel to Ishmael "Enthralling, shocking, hope-filled, and utterly fearless, Daniel Quinn leads us deeper and deeper into the human heart, history, and spirit. In My Ishmael, Quinn strikes out into entirely new territory, posing questions that will rock you on your heels, and providing tantalizing possibilities for a truly new world vision...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism spirituality action-adventure adult animals anthologies classics -
![The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success by Andy Andrews]()
The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success by Andy Andrews
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNational Bestseller—New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s WeeklyWhat makes the difference between failure and success? The Traveler’s Gift offers a modern day parable of one man’s choices—and the attitudes that make the difference between failure and success.Forty-six-year-old David Ponder feels like a total failure... -
![The Mires by Tina Makereti]()
The Mires by Tina Makereti
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA literary page turner that explores the intertwined lives of three neighboring families in a small coastal New Zealand town—a blend of Little Fires Everywhere and The Island of Missing Trees, combining domestic drama, suspense, indigenous folklore, and the threat of extremism on ordinary lives.Three women give birth in different countries and different decades...Categorized as:
family magical-realism fiction literary-fiction audiobook contemporary female-author multi-pov -
![The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia]()
The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe People of Paper reveals the ever-elusive prophesies of the Shandean Baby Nostradamus and the approximate temperature and incendiary potential of halos. Herein disillusioned and AWOL saints reclaim their crowns and fight purses, while a gang of flower pickers go off to war, led by a lonely man who can not help but wet his bed in sadness... -
![The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka]()
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsThe Metamorphosis and Other Stories, by Franz Kafka, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies audiobook classics contemporary -
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![The Assembler of Parts by Raoul Wientzen]()
The Assembler of Parts by Raoul Wientzen
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom the start of this extraordinary first novel, eight-year-old Jess finds herself in heaven reviewing her short life. She is guided in this by a being she calls the Assembler of Parts, and her task, as she understands it, is to glean her life's meaning. From birth, it was obvious that she was unlike other children: she was born without thumbs... -
![A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw]()
A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsTravis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—he’s led to a place many believed to be only a legend... -
![Catastrophe: And Other Stories by Dino Buzzati]()
Catastrophe: And Other Stories by Dino Buzzati
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn Catastrophe, the renowned Italian short story writer Dino Buzzati brings vividly to life the slow and quietly terrifying collapse of our known, everyday world. In stories touched by the fantastical and the strange, and filled with humor, irony, and menace, Buzzati illuminates the nightmarish side of our ordinary existence...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies classics contemporary fiction -
![The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak]()
The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOn a train filled with quietly sleeping passengers, a young man’s life is forever altered when he is miraculously seen by a blind man. In a quiet town an American teacher who has lost her Japanese lover to death begins to lose her own self. On a remote road amid fallow rice fields, four young friends carefully take their own lives—and in that moment they become almost as one...Categorized as:
magical-realism adult anthologies coming-of-age contemporary epic fiction literary-fiction -
![The Lost Storyteller by Amanda Block]()
The Lost Storyteller by Amanda Block
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"A powerful novel about the bond between fathers and daughters, and how stories connect us all. I loved it" Jenny Colgan THE LOST STORYTELLER is the heartwarming and evocative debut novel from a stunning new voice in fiction, Amanda Block. Perfect for fans of Ruth Hogan, Jessie Burton and Diane Setterfield.Rebecca hasn't seen her father Leo since she was six... -
![Warriors, The by Mark Andrew Olsen]()
Warriors, The by Mark Andrew Olsen
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsYoung Abby Sherman has been summoned to Israel, where a Watcher, the Sentinel of Jerusalem, lies dying. In her last breaths, the woman tells Abby of an ancient document prophesying humanity's full-scale entry into the ongoing conflict between the armies of heaven and fallen angels... -
![There's No Such Place As Far Away by Richard Bach]()
There's No Such Place As Far Away by Richard Bach
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen she was about to turn five, a little girl named Rae Hansen invited Richard Bach to her birthday party. Though deserts, storms, mountains, and a thousand miles separated them, Rae was confident that her friend would appear... -
![The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno]()
The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"In the twilight of a childhood full of wonder, Billy Argo, boy detective, is brokenhearted to find that his younger sister and crime-solving partner, Caroline, has committed suicide...Categorized as:
family low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure book coming-of-age contemporary crime -
![Death with Interruptions by José Saramago]()
Death with Interruptions by José Saramago
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsNobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago's brilliant new novel poses the question what happens when the grim reaper decides there will be no more death?On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This, of course, causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially mass celebration...Categorized as:
magical-realism spirituality 20th-century 21st-century adult audiobook book classics -
![A Severed Wasp by Madeleine L'Engle]()
A Severed Wasp by Madeleine L'Engle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsKatherine Forrester Vigneras, in a continuation of her story from The Small Rain, returns to New York City from Europe to retire. Now in her seventies, she encounters an old friend from her Greenwich Village days who, it turns out, is the former Bishop of New York. He asks Katherine to give a benefit concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine...Categorized as:
family spirituality book children children-books classics contemporary female-author -
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![Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories by John Updike]()
Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories by John Updike
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe triumphant collection of short stories by America's most acclaimed novelist... -
![The Patron Saint of Ugly by Marie Manilla]()
The Patron Saint of Ugly by Marie Manilla
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBorn in Sweetwater, West Virginia, with a mop of flaming red hair and a map of the world rendered in port-wine stains on every surface of her body, Garnet Ferrari is used to being an outcast...Categorized as:
family low-fantasy magical-realism spirituality action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson]()
What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe New York Times bestsellerA LOVE THAT TRANSCENDS HEAVEN AND HELLWhat happens to us after we die? Chris Nielsen had no idea, until an unexpected accident cut his life short, separating him from his beloved wife, Annie. Now Chris must discover the true nature of life after death...Categorized as:
christian family magical-realism spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult afterlife -
![Denis Ever After by Tony Abbott]()
Denis Ever After by Tony Abbott
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDenis Egan is dead. He’s okay with that. It’s been five years since he died, and the place where souls go is actually pretty nice. Sure, there are some things about his life and how it ended he can’t quite recall, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. Remembering could prevent Denis from moving on to whatever’s next. However, something is standing in his way...Categorized as:
family low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure afterlife audiobook book children -
![The Catalain Book of Secrets by Jessica Lourey, Jess Lourey]()
The Catalain Book of Secrets by Jessica Lourey, Jess Lourey
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFaith Falls is a snug little Minnesota town constructed over a mystery, a place where the most impressive building is a gorgeous Queen Anne with turrets, cantilevered gables, and a wraparound porch. In a concealed room beneath the twisting stairs of the Queen Anne lies the Catalain Book of Secrets, the repository of the wisdom the Catalain women have gathered since the beginning of time... -
![Nothing Less than Magic by Stacy Finz]()
Nothing Less than Magic by Stacy Finz
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhen a popular marriage counselor’s own marriage falls apart, she’s forced to question her methods—and discovers the magical ingredient she’s been missing all along—in the dreamiest possible way . . .Just one year ago, Chelsea Knight was living the life she’d always wanted. Marriage to the perfect guy, a thriving career, and a gorgeous condo overlooking San Francisco Bay...Categorized as:
magical-realism romance fantasy contemporary fiction mystery small-town season-autumn -
![Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey, محمد غفوری]()
Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey, محمد غفوری
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOnce the Orme family’s magnificent ancestral estate, Observatory Mansions is now a crumbling apartment complex, home to an eccentric group of misfits. One of them is Francis Orme, who earns his livelihood as a living statue. When not practicing “inner and outer stillness,” Francis steals the cherished possessions of others to add to his private museum... -
![Last Summer at Mars Hill by Elizabeth Hand]()
Last Summer at Mars Hill by Elizabeth Hand
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis is Elizabeth Hand's long-awaited collection of short stories, centered around her Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning novella The Last Summer at Mars Hill. There are 12 pieces in all here, ranging from those first published in places like Interzone and Pulphouse to a two-page poem taken from the pages of Asimov's...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure adult anthologies colonization contemporary dark -
![The Televisionary Oracle by Rob Brezsny]()
The Televisionary Oracle by Rob Brezsny
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMillions of people already live their lives in accordance with Rob Brezsny's "Real Astrology" prophecies. But the time has come for a deeper dose of Brezsny's brain. The Televisionary Oracle is an archetypal roller-coaster that would make Rumi dizzy and leave Carl Jung gasping for breath...Categorized as:
magical-realism spirituality adult alpha-mc anthologies contemporary female-mc feminism -
![Don't Try This at Home by Angela Readman]()
Don't Try This at Home by Angela Readman
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA girl repeatedly chops her boyfriend in half but, while her other half’ multiplies, she is still not satisfied. Love transforms a mother working down the chippie into Elvis. Clary’s father puts antlers on stuffed rabbits to make jackalopes, but when her mother walks out on them, Clary has to help her father if they are to survive...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author fiction haunted-places -
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![Here in Avalon by Tara Isabella Burton]()
Here in Avalon by Tara Isabella Burton
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn “enchanting” (Caroline Kepnes, author of You) New York City fairy tale about two sisters that fall under the spell of an underworld cabaret troupe that might be a dangerous cult—but one that makes the materialist world left in its wake feel like a sinister cult itself.Rose has come a long way...Categorized as:
magical-realism low-fantasy fantasy fiction contemporary literary-fiction 21st-century mystery -
![Strange Folk by Alli Dyer]()
Strange Folk by Alli Dyer
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA woman returns to her estranged, magical family in Appalachia but when a man is found dead in the woods nearby, it seems the family has conjured something sinister in this lush, shimmering, and wildly imaginative debut novel that is perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman, Deborah Harkness, and Sarah Addison Allen.Lee left Craw Valley at eighteen without a backward glance... -
![The Octopus Man by Jasper Gibson]()
The Octopus Man by Jasper Gibson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsOnce an outstanding law student Tom is now lost in the machinery of the British mental health system, talking to a voice no one else can the voice of Malamock, the Octopus God - sometimes cruel, sometimes loving, but always there to guide him.After a florid psychotic break, the pressure builds for Tom to take part in an experimental drugs trial that promises to silence the voice forever...Categorized as:
family fiction mental-illness contemporary literary-fiction psychological fantasy book -
![The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom]()
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 83 ratingsFrom the author of the phenomenal #1 New York Times bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, a novel that explores the unexpected connections of our lives, and the idea that heaven is more than a place; it's an answer. Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park... -
![My Name is Mina by David Almond]()
My Name is Mina by David Almond
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThere's an empty notebook lying on the table in the moonlight. It's been there for an age. I keep on saying that I'll write a journal. So I'll start right here, right now. I open the book and write the very first words: My name is Mina and I love the night. Then what shall I write? I can't just write that this happened then this happened then this happened to boring infinitum...Categorized as:
family low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure audiobook book children children-books -
![Мигрант, или Brevi finietur by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko]()
Мигрант, или Brevi finietur by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsАндрей Строганов вдруг оказывается на другой планете – он мигрировал с Земли. Два последних года его жизни изъяты в уплату за визу, поэтому Андрей не помнит, почему решил уехать...Categorized as:
magical-realism low-fantasy fantasy fiction space psychological contemporary mystery
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