Books like 'The Greatest Gift'
Readers who enjoyed The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy 20th century supernatural classics season-winter historical-fiction christian magical-realism family
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D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri d'Aulaire, Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsHere are the gods, goddesses, and legendary figures of ancient Greece--mighty Zeus, with his fistful of thunderbolts; gray-eyed Athena, goddess of wisdom; Helios, the sun; greedy King Midas--lavishly depicted by Caldecott winners Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire... -
![The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende]()
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 72 ratings“Spectacular...an absorbing and distinguished work...The House of the Spirits...is a unique achievement, both personal witness and possible allegory of the past, present, and future of Latin America... -
![Boy's Life by Robert McCammon]()
Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAn Alabama boy’s innocence is shaken by murder and madness in the 1960s South in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Swan Song. It’s 1964 in idyllic Zephyr, Alabama. People either work for the paper mill up the Tecumseh River, or for the local dairy. It’s a simple life, but it stirs the impressionable imagination of twelve-year-old aspiring writer Cory Mackenson... -
![The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov]()
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsMoscow, 1929: a city that has lost its way amid corruption and fear, inhabited by people who have abandoned their morals and forsaken spirituality. But when a mysterious stranger arrives in town with a bizarre entourage that includes a giant talking cat and a fanged assassin, all hell breaks loose... -
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![The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis]()
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsAlternative cover for ISBN: 978-0-00-746123-3C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce is a classic Christian allegorical tale about a bus ride from hell to heaven. An extraordinary meditation upon good and evil, grace and judgment, Lewis’s revolutionary idea in the The Great Divorce is that the gates of Hell are locked from the inside...Categorized as:
christian classics literary-fiction spirituality 20th-century action-adventure afterlife audiobook -
![The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis]()
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 78 ratingsThe story takes the form of a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, a junior "tempter" named Wormwood, so as to advise him on methods of securing the damnation of a British man, known only as "the Patient".Screwtape holds an administrative post in the bureaucracy ("Lowerarchy") of Hell, and acts as a mentor to Wormwood, the inexperienced tempter...Categorized as:
christian classics historical-fiction literary-fiction spirituality 20th-century audiobook book -
![The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis]()
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 88 ratingsLibrarian note: An alternate cover for this edition can be found here: 2005.Journeys to the end of the world, fantastic creatures, and epic battles between good and evil—what more could any reader ask for in one book? The book that has it all is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, written in 1949 by Clive Staples Lewis. But Lewis did not stop there... -
![Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis]()
Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters, two of C. S. Lewis's most important and enduring works, are now available in this stunning, collectible hardcover edition. The most popular of C. S. Lewis's works of non-fiction, Mere Christianity, has sold several million copies worldwide... -
![The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia]()
The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsFrom a beguiling voice in Mexican fiction comes an astonishing novel—her first to be translated into English—about a mysterious child with the power to change a family’s history in a country on the verge of revolution.From the day that old Nana Reja found a baby abandoned under a bridge, the life of a small Mexican town forever changed... -
![The Screwtape letters & Screwtape proposes a toast by C.S. Lewis]()
The Screwtape letters & Screwtape proposes a toast by C.S. Lewis
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsDedicated to his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, this masterpiece of satire has entertained and enlightened millions of readers with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life from the vantage point of the demon Screwtape. At once wildly comic and strikingly original, the correspondence of the worldly-wise old devil to his nephew Wormwood shows C.S. Lewis at his darkest and most playful...Categorized as:
christian classics literary-fiction spirituality 20th-century adult angels audiobook -
![The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis]()
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 100 ratingsPeter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy find their way through an old wardrobe into the world of Narnia. There, they unite with Aslan to fight the White Witch and save Narnia from perpetual Darkness... -
![Black Water: The Book of Fantastic Literature by Alberto Manguel, Julio Cortázar]()
Black Water: The Book of Fantastic Literature by Alberto Manguel, Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis huge anthology offers a kaleidoscope of brilliant writing from the Magi of the imagination. Alberto Manguel has selected 72 fantastic tales from life on the edge of the twilight zone, with stories from Marguerite Yourcenar, Herman Hesse, Italo Calvino, Vladimir Nabokov, and many, many more...Categorized as:
literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century absurdism adult anthologies audiobook -
![Complete Ghost Stories by M.R. James]()
Complete Ghost Stories by M.R. James
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsM. R. James wrote his ghost stories to entertain friends on Christmas Eve, and they went on to both transform and modernize a genre. James harnesses the power of suggestion to move from a recognizable world to one that is indefinably strange, and then unforgettably terrifying...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies audiobook fiction -
![The Moon Under Her Feet by Clysta Kinstler]()
The Moon Under Her Feet by Clysta Kinstler
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNarrative weaving the biblical account of Mary and Jesus, the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris, and the Sumerian story of Inanna and Dumuzi to create an exotic tale of a strong, sensual woman.From Publishers WeeklyThis feminist retelling of the conception, birth, life and death of Christ as narrated by Mary Magdalene may cause some uproar in Christian circles...Categorized as:
christian classics family historical-fiction spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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![Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler]()
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsDoro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex--or design. He fears no one--until he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu has also died many times. She can absorb bullets and make medicine with a kiss, give birth to tribes, nurture and heal, and savage anyone who threatens those she loves. She fears no one--until she meets Doro... -
![No Flying in the House by Betty Brock]()
No Flying in the House by Betty Brock
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA funny and fantastical novel about a young girl who makes a life-changing discovery about who she really is. Perfect for fans of The Tail of Emily Windsnap—or anyone who has wondered if they might have some magic in them.Most little girls have parents to take care of them, but not Annabel Tippens. She has Gloria, a tiny white dog who talks and wears a gold collar... -
![The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman]()
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIn Berlin in 1941 during humanity's darkest hour, three unforgettable young women must act with courage and love to survive, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dovekeepers and The Marriage of Opposites Alice Hoffman. In Berlin, at the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her twelve-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime... -
![Wise Child by Monica Furlong]()
Wise Child by Monica Furlong
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsIn a remote Scottish village, nine-year-old Wise Child is taken in by Juniper, a healer and sorceress. Then Wise Child's mother, Maeve, a black witch, reappears. In choosing between Maeve and Juniper, Wise Child discovers the extent of her supernatural powers - and her true loyalties...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction magical-realism spirituality 20th-century action-adventure book -
![Forgetting to Remember by M.J. Rose]()
Forgetting to Remember by M.J. Rose
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDiscover a spellbinding love story in this dazzling time-travel adventure from the NYT bestselling author of The Last Tiara, M.J. Rose...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magical-realism family romance fantasy fiction time-travel sci-fi -
![Tryst by Elswyth Thane]()
Tryst by Elswyth Thane
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHilary Shenstone is dead, yet he haunts his old home. Only animals and a young girl Sabrina can sense his presence. The old housekeeper is aware of this, and helps Sabrina to contact the spirit...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult animals book coming-of-age -
![The Haunted Dolls' House by M.R. James]()
The Haunted Dolls' House by M.R. James
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEvil comes with many different faces. A macabre human drama is re-enacted in a Gothic dolls' house one night; a whistle awakens a force of unspeakable malevolence; an ancient curse is passed from person to person; a grisly crime is avenged from beyond the grave; the tomb of a Swedish count will not rest quietly . M. R... -
![The Day Boy and the Night Girl by George MacDonald]()
The Day Boy and the Night Girl by George MacDonald
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Romance of Photogen and Nycteris I. Watho THERE was once a witch who desired to know everything. But the wiser a witch is, the harder she knocks her head against the wall when she comes to it. Her name was Watho, and she had a wolf in her mind. She cared for nothing in itself — only for knowing it. She was not naturally cruel, but the wolf had made her cruel...Categorized as:
christian classics literary-fiction spirituality 20th-century audiobook book children -
![The Secrets of Hawthorn Place by Jenni Keer]()
The Secrets of Hawthorn Place by Jenni Keer
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTwo houses, hundreds of miles apart...yet connected always.When life throws Molly Butterfield a curveball, she decides to spend some time with her recently widowed granddad, Wally, at Hawthorn Place, his quirky Victorian house on the Dorset coast...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magical-realism family romance fiction womens-fiction mystery historical -
![The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker]()
The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsChava is a golem, a woman made of clay, able to hear the thoughts and longings of the people around her and compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a perpetually restless and free-spirited creature of fire, imprisoned in the shape of a man... -
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![Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón]()
Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 54 ratingsFifteen-year-old Oscar Drai meets the strange Marina while he's exploring an old quarter of Barcelona. She leads Oscar to a cemetery, where they watch a macabre ritual that occurs on the last Sunday of each month. At exactly ten o'clock in the morning, a woman shrouded in a black velvet cloak descends from her carriage to place a single rose on an unmarked grave... -
![The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain]()
The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsrelates the adventures of Satan, the sinless nephew of the biblical Satan, in Eseldorf, an Austrian village in the year 1702. Twain wrote this version between November 1897 and September 1900. "Eseldorf" is German for "Assville" or "Donkeytown"... -
![The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley]()
The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsNicola Marter was born with a gift. When she touches an object, she sometimes glimpses those who have owned it before. When a woman arrives with a small wooden carving at the gallery Nicola works at, she can see the object’s history and knows that it was named after the Firebird—the mythical creature from an old Russian fable... -
![A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle]()
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsIn this companion volume to A Wrinkle In Time (Newbery Award winner) and A Wind In The Door fifteen-year-old Charles Wallace and the unicorn Gaudior undertake a perilous journey through time in a desperate attempt to stop the destruction of the world by the mad dictator Madog Branzillo. They are not alone in their quest...Categorized as:
christian classics family historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism spirituality 20th-century -
![To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey]()
To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsSet again in the Alaskan landscape that she brought to stunningly vivid life in The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey's second novel is a breathtaking story of discovery and adventure, set at the end of the nineteenth century, and of a marriage tested by a closely held secret... -
![The Martyr's Song by Ted Dekker]()
The Martyr's Song by Ted Dekker
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsWhat would you die for?That's the question suddenly thrust upon a small band of women and children in Bosnia at the close of World War II. When a group of bitter soldiers stumble upon their peaceful village, they suddenly face an insidious evil...and the ultimate test.It is then, in the midst of chaos and pain that the Martyr's Song is first heard...Categorized as:
christian historical-fiction spirituality 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book fiction -
![The Secrets Of Dr Taverner (Ash Tree Press Occult Detectives Library) by Dion Fortune]()
The Secrets Of Dr Taverner (Ash Tree Press Occult Detectives Library) by Dion Fortune
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOf the many authors who have turned their hands to the creation of 'supernatural sleuths', few have been so colourful, and as contradictory, as Dion Fortune... -
![Mennyms Alive by Sylvia Waugh]()
Mennyms Alive by Sylvia Waugh
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Mennyms, a family of life-size rag dolls, have always live with danger, ever since their maker Kate Penshaw instilled in them an indomitable life force. That life force carried them through perils of many kinds and helped them survive the greatest danger of all-the ever-present fear of discovery by the outside world... -
![Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier, Ray Bradbury]()
Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier, Ray Bradbury
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJohn Collier's edgy, sardonic tales are works of rare wit, curious insight, and scary implication. They stand out as one of the pinnacles in the critically neglected but perennially popular tradition of weird writing that includes E.T.A. Hoffmann and Charles Dickens as well as more recent masters like Jorge Luis Borges and Roald Dahl...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies fiction -
![The Chimneys of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston]()
The Chimneys of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLucy Maria Boston's thrilling and classic time fantasy tales of Green Knowe, an ancient English manor house and its grounds whose setting was based on her own long-time home of The Manor at Hemingford Grey, have been entertaining readers of all ages for decades.This book was renamed Treasure of Green Knowe for the American reading market... -
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![The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope]()
The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNewly orphaned Peggy Grahame is caught off-guard when she first arrives at her family's ancestral estate. Her eccentric uncle Enos drives away her only new acquaintance, Pat, a handsome British scholar, then leaves Peggy to fend for herself. But she is not alone. The house is full of mysteries and ghosts...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure book children -
![Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge]()
Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen orphan Maria arrives at Moonacre Manor, she feels like she's come home. Her new guardian is kind, like an old friend. However, beneath the beauty and comfort lies a tragedy. Maria is determined to find out about it, change it, and give her own life story a happy ending... -
![The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis]()
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 81 ratingsNARNIA... the world of wicked dragons and magic spells, where the very best is brought out of even the worst people, where anything can happen (and most often does)... and where the adventure begins.The Dawn Treader is the first ship Narnia has seen in centuries...Categorized as:
christian classics family literary-fiction spirituality 20th-century action-adventure animals -
![Mules And Men by Zora Neale Hurston]()
Mules And Men by Zora Neale Hurston
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsMules and Men is a treasury of black America's folklore as collected by a famous storyteller and anthropologist who grew up hearing the songs and sermons, sayings and tall tales that have formed an oral history of the South since the time of slavery...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction spirituality 20th-century adult animals anthologies -
![Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda]()
Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsIn Journey to Ixtlan, Carlos Castaneda introduces readers to this new approach for the first time and explores, as he comes to experience it himself, his own final voyage into the teachings of don Juan, sharing with us what it is like to truly “stop the world” and perceive reality on his own terms... -
![The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories: The Great Short Works of Franz Kafka by Franz Kafka, Anne Rice]()
The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories: The Great Short Works of Franz Kafka by Franz Kafka, Anne Rice
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsTranslated by PEN translation award-winner Joachim Neugroschel, The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories has garnered critical acclaim and is widely recognized as the preeminent English-language anthology of Kafka's stories. These translations illuminate one of this century's most controversial writers and have made Kafka's work accessible to a whole new generation...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies audiobook -
![The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges, Margarita Guerrero]()
The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges, Margarita Guerrero
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsIn a perfect pairing of talent, this volume blends twenty illustrations by Peter S.' with Jorge Luis Borges' 1957 compilation of 116 "strange creatures conceived through time and space by the human imagination," from dragons and centaurs to Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat and the Morlocks of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century adult animals anthologies -
![Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce]()
Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsWhen his brother catches measles, Tom is sent away for the summer to stay with his uncle and aunt and is thoroughly fed up about it. What a boring summer it's going to be. But then, lying in bed one night, he hears the old grandfather clock in the hall strike the very strange hour of 13 o'clock. What can it mean? As Tom creeps downstairs and opens the door, he finds out.. -
![Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer]()
Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAfter Charlotte's first night at boarding school, the view from the window has changed and the girl in the next bed is not the girl who was there last night. She is a stranger who calls Charlotte "Clare" and says she's her sister.. -
![The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston]()
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsL. M. Boston's thrilling and chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, have been entertaining readers for half a century.There are three children: Toby, who rides the majestic horse Feste; his mischievous little sister, Linnet; and their brother, Alexander, who plays the flute. The children warmly welcome Tolly to Green Knowe.. -
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![The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr.]()
The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr.
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWalter Wangerin's profound fantasy concerns a time when the sun turned around the earth and the animals could speak, when Chauntecleer the Rooster ruled over a more or less peaceful kingdom. What the animals did not know was that they were the Keepers of Wyrm, monster of evil long imprisoned beneath the earth ... and Wyrm, sub terra, was breaking free...Categorized as:
christian classics family spirituality 20th-century animals anthropomorphism audiobook -
![Duncton Wood by William Horwood]()
Duncton Wood by William Horwood
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBracken was born on an April night in a warm dark burrow deep in the historic system of Duncton Wood, six moleyears after Rebecca. This is the story of their love, and their epic struggle to find it.The moles of Duncton Wood are a varied lot. There are the aggressive Westsiders, the secretive and sickly Marchenders and the independent Eastsiders...Categorized as:
classics family literary-fiction spirituality 20th-century action-adventure animals anthologies -
![Fairy & Folk Tales of Ireland by W.B. Yeats, Benedict Kiely]()
Fairy & Folk Tales of Ireland by W.B. Yeats, Benedict Kiely
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTHE CLASSIC ONE-VOLUME INTRODUCTION TO IRELAND'S RICH FOLKLORE: WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS'S MAGICAL SELECTION OF TRADITIONAL IRISH FAIRY AND FOLK TALES Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland combines two books of Irish folklore collected and edited by William Butler Yeats -- Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, first published in 1888, and Irish Fairy Tales, published in 1892... -
![I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé, Angela Y. Davis]()
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé, Angela Y. Davis
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Stunning... Maryse Condé's imaginative subversion of historical records forms a critique of contemporary American society and its ingrained racism and sexism." —THE BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBEAt the age of seven, Tituba watched as her mother was hanged for daring to wound a plantation owner who tried to rape her... -
![Three Souls by Janie Chang]()
Three Souls by Janie Chang
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsAn absorbing novel of romance and revolution, loyalty and family, sacrifice and undying loveWe have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this ... So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife... -
![Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite]()
Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsONCE A PERSON LEAVES THE MOUNTAIN, THEY NEVER COME BACK, NOT REALLY. THEY’RE LOST FOREVER. Nellie Clay married Hobbs Pritchard without even noticing he was a spell conjured into a man, a walking, talking ghost story. But her mama knew. She saw it in her tea leaves: death. Folks told Nellie to get off the mountain while she could, to go back home before it was too late...Categorized as:
christian family historical-fiction magical-realism spirituality 20th-century adult book
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