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The Italian Fashion System: The Role of Institutions and Institutional Change, 1940s–1980s (Palgrave Studies in Economic History)
by Elisabetta Merlo Ivan ParisFashion is a research topic of increasing interest to economic and business historians as it points towards new understandings of economic growth and decline. This book explores the role of institutions and institutional change in the Italian fashion system from the 1940s to the 1980s. Starting from the premise that institutions play a central role in explaining the peculiarity and development of the Italian fashion system, this book analyses the diverse institutional entities involved in supporting and promoting Italian fashion. The objective is twofold: to highlight, with a comparative approach, the distinctly polycentric nature of Italian fashion and to explain the emergence of the stylist as the outcome of a lengthy process of institutional change. The book explores the role that institutions and institutional actors have played in making Italian fashion a key player into the world economy, enriching the existing interpretative framework through unique interdisciplinary analysis. This book will be of interest to researchers and students working in economic and business history, the history of fashion, and cultural studies.
Second Handbook of Academic Integrity (Springer International Handbooks of Education)
by Sarah Elaine EatonThe book brings together diverse views from around the world and provides a comprehensive overview of academic integrity and how to create the ethical academy. At the same time, the Handbook does not shy away from some of the vigorous debates in the field such as the causes of academic integrity breaches. There has been an explosion of interest in academic integrity in the last 20-30 years. New technologies that have made it easier than ever for students to ‘cut and paste’, coupled with global media scandals of high profile researchers behaving badly, have resulted in the perception that plagiarism is ‘on the rise’. This, in combination with the massification and commercialisation of higher education, has resulted in a burgeoning interest in the importance of academic integrity, how to safeguard it and how to address breaches appropriately. What may have seemed like a relatively easy topic to address – students copying sources without attribution – has in fact, turned out to be a complex, interdisciplinary field of research requiring contributions from linguists, psychologists, social scientists, anthropologists, teaching and learning specialists, mathematicians, accountants, medical doctors, lawyers and philosophers, to name just a few.Because of this broad interest and input, this handbook serves as the single authoritative reference work which brings together the vast, growing, interdisciplinary and at times contradictory body of literature. For both established researchers/practitioners and those new to the field, this Handbook provides a one-stop-shop as well as a launching pad for new explorations and discussions.
Description and Analysis of Factors That Generate Acceptance of Leadership within Selling Centers
by Rico SchwarzkopfSales processes in the business customer segment are increasingly taking place on a multi-person level. In order to ensure that technical experts and decision-makers can be adequately deployed in the selling center, sales associates usually carry out leadership tasks. The leadership of the selling center participants plays a crucial role when it comes to acting in a coordinated and professional manner towards the customer. However, this presupposes that a sales associate is accepted in the leadership role by all participants involved. This book examines the factors that generate acceptance of leadership within selling centers in order to enable and positively influence the cooperation of the selling center team.
Remote Investment Transactions in the Digital Age: Perception, Techniques, Law Regulation (Intelligent Systems Reference Library #250)
by Agnessa Inshakova Denis Matytsin Elena InshakovaThe book contains the results of the best research developments obtained during the implementation of major scientific events organized and carried out with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation and the President of the Russian Federation.The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time at the level of Russian and international interdisciplinary social and humanitarian sciences, primarily economic and legal, firstly, philosophical concepts and regulatory legal approaches to the regulation of remote investment transactions have been studied; secondly, a set of economic and legal conditions and means of harmonizing and observing the mutual interests of participants in remote investment transactions has been developed and proposed in order to prevent and minimize potential conflicts between the parties; thirdly, the current state and international regulation of investment transactions concluded and executed on Internet platforms was critically assessed; fourthly, a system of guarantees and protection of the rights of participants in remote investment transactions is proposed, including special contractual structures and an economic and legal model for the proper fulfillment of obligations.Measures are substantiated to expand and increase the intensity of the national investment turnover based on the improvement of the current legislation regulating investments through remote digital technologies in the Internet space, which provided a solution to the world scientific problem of great socioeconomic and economic importance. The book is designed for a wide target audience—scientists of different generations, different disciplinary and industry affiliations. Among them are young researchers, as well as scientists who have received recognition from the world scientific community, studying the socioeconomic, managerial, and legal consequences of the emergence and spread of digital technologies in the field of investment. Readers can be all individuals and legal entities interested in the development of digital technologies in the field of investment.
Penetrating Trauma: A Practical Guide on Operative Technique and Peri-Operative Management
by Elias Degiannis Dietrich Doll George C. VelmahosThis is the third, fully revised edition of a well received book that provides clear practical guidance on all aspects of the penetrating trauma surgical treatment. It aims at fostering the type of strategic thinking that can save patients’ lives. The coverage encompasses prehospital care and operative management in penetrating injuries to various body regions and specific organs. Tips, tricks and technical pearls are highlighted by experienced doctors and each chapter includes a list of the most important points to observe. This third edition of Penetrating Trauma has been extensively revised and updated – with inclusion of some entirely new chapters – to take into account the most recent trends in resuscitation, diagnostics, and treatment. It will be an ideal resource for all physicians managing penetrating trauma.
Who Needs Nurseries?: We Do!
by Helen PennThe role that nurseries play in supplementing family care is an important subject – but in the UK, there is currently little consensus about what nurseries should provide, how they should be run, and who should pay for them. This topical book sets out to look at: • Who benefits from using nurseries? • Who can access nurseries? • Who should provide them? • How do children behave while they are in nurseries and after they leave them? • What do they learn as a result of these experiences in nurseries? • What are the myths and assumptions about bringing up children that make nurseries possible? Some countries, particularly in the Nordic regions, have managed to deal with these issues coherently, but the current blanket solutions in the UK, which are geared towards fiscal priorities, may need rethinking. In this book, Helen Penn attempts to answer the question: Is there a more considered way ahead?
Schooling Inequality: Aspirations, Opportunities and the Reproduction of Social Class
by Jessie AbrahamsDespite a mass expansion of the higher education sector in the UK since the 1960s, young people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds remain less likely to enter university than their advantaged counterparts. Drawing on unique new research gathered from three contrasting secondary schools in England, including interviews with children from three year groups and careers advisors, this book explores the aspirations, opportunities and experiences of young people from different social-class backgrounds against a backdrop of continuing inequalities in education. By focusing both on the stories of young people and the schools themselves, the book sheds light on the institutional structures and practices that render young people more, or less, able to pursue their aspirations.
Designed to Fail: Why Racial Equity in School Funding Is So Hard to Achieve
by Roseann LiuA provocative examination of how systemic racism in education funding is sustained. For people who care about urban school districts like Philadelphia’s, addressing the challenges that these schools face often boils down to the need for more money. But why are urban districts that serve Black and Brown students still so perennially underfunded compared to majority-white ones? Why is racial equity in school funding so hard to achieve? In Designed to Fail, Roseann Liu provides an inside look at the Pennsylvania state legislature and campaigns for fair funding to show how those responsible for the distribution of school funding work to maintain the privileges of majority-white school districts. Liu analyzes how colorblind policies, political structures, and the maintenance of the status quo by people in power perpetuate wide and deepening racial disparities in education funding. Taking a lesson from community organizers fighting for a racially equitable school funding system, Liu’s work is a bold call to address structural racism at the root and organize from a place of abundant justice.
Voodoo: An African American Religion
by Jeffrey E. AndersonDespite several decades of scholarship on African diasporic religion, Voodoo remains underexamined, and the few books published on the topic contain inaccuracies and outmoded arguments. In Voodoo: An African American Religion, Jeffrey E. Anderson presents a much-needed modern account of the faith as it existed in the Mississippi River valley from colonial times to the mid-twentieth century, when, he argues, it ceased to thrive as a living tradition.Anderson provides a solid scholarly foundation for future work by systematizing the extant information on a religion that has long captured the popular imagination as it has simultaneously engendered fear and ridicule. His book stands as the most complete study of the faith yet produced and rests on more than two decades of research, utilizing primary source material alongside the author’s own field studies in New Orleans, Haiti, Cuba, Senegal, Benin, Togo, and the Republic of Congo. The result serves as an enduring resource on Mississippi River valley Voodoo, Louisiana, and the greater African Diaspora.
Going to Hell to Get the Devil: The 1972 Charlotte Three Case and the Freedom Struggle in a Sunbelt City (Making the Modern South)
by J. Christopher SchutzThe 1968 burning of the Lazy B Stables in Charlotte, North Carolina, attracted little notice beyond coverage in local media. By the mid-1970s, however, the fire had become the center of a contentious and dubious arson case against a trio of Black civil rights activists, who became known as the “Charlotte Three.” The charges against the men garnered interest from federal law enforcement agents, investigative journalists— including one who later earned a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the trials—numerous New Left and Black Power activists, and Amnesty International, which declared the defendants “political prisoners.” In Going to Hell to Get the Devil, J. Christopher Schutz offers the first comprehensive examination of this controversial case and its outcome. In the 1960s and 1970s, Charlotte’s leaders sought to portray their home as a placid, business-friendly, and racially moderate community. When New Left and Black Power activists threatened that stability, city leaders employed a variety of means to silence them, including the use of law enforcement against African Americans they deemed too zealous. In the Charlotte Three case, prosecutors paid prisoners for testimony against the Black activists on trial, resulting in their convictions with lengthy prison sentences. The unwanted publicity surrounding the case of the Charlotte Three became a critical pivot point in the Queen City’s post–World War II trajectory. Going to Hell to Get the Devil tells more than the story of an arson case; it also tells the story of the South’s future, as the fate of the Charlotte Three became emblematic of the decline of the African American freedom struggle and the causes it championed.
Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist: The Story of a Transformation
by Yossi Klein HaleviThe poignant and insightful memoir from Yossi Klein Halevi, the award-winning journalist and author of the acclaimed Like Dreamers—a coming-of-age story about a traumatic family history, radical politics, and spiritual transformation that speaks to a new generation struggling to understand what it means to be Jewish in America.The child of a Holocaust survivor, Yossi Klein Halevi grew up in 1960s Brooklyn perceiving reality through the lens of his family’s brutal past. Increasingly identifying with their history of suffering, he regarded the non-Jewish world with fear and loathing. Determined to take action—and seek retribution—he became a disciple of the late rabbi Meir Kahane and a member of the radical fringe of the American Jewish community.In this wry and moving account, Halevi explores the deep-rooted anger of his adolescence and early adulthood that fueled his increasingly aggressive activism. He reveals how he started to question his beliefs—and his self-inflicted suffering as a hostage of history—and see the world from his own clear perspective.As a journalist and author, Halevi has dedicated himself to fostering interfaith reconciliation. Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist explains how such a transformation can happen—giving hope that peaceful coexistence between faiths is possible.
On My Own Two Feet: From Losing My Legs to Learning the Dance of Life
by Amy PurdyAmy Purdy, who inspired a nation on Dancing with the Stars and has been called a hero by Oprah Winfrey, reveals the intimate details of her triumphant comeback from the brink of death to making history as a Paralympic snowboarder.In this poignant and uplifting memoir, Dancing With the Stars sensation Amy Purdy reveals the story of how losing her legs led her to find a spiritual path. When the Las Vegas native was just nineteen, she contracted bacterial meningitis and was given less than a two percent chance of survival. In a near-death experience, she saw three figures who told her: “You can come with us, or you can stay. No matter what happens in your life, it’s all going to make sense in the end.” In that moment, Amy chose to live.Her glimpse of the afterlife—coupled with a mysterious premonition she’d had a month before —became the defining experiences that put Amy’s life on a new trajectory after her legs had to be amputated. She wouldn’t just beat meningitis and walk again; she would go on to create a life filled with bold adventures, big dreams, and boundless vitality—and share that spirit with the world. In 2014, Amy—the only competitor, male or female, with two prosthetic legs—claimed a bronze medal for the U.S. Paralympic team in adaptive snowboarding. She then became a contestant on season eighteen of Dancing With the Stars, and viewers were captivated as the girl with bionic legs managed to out-dance her competitors all the way to the finale.Amy’s journey is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity we all have to dream bigger, defy expectations, and rewrite our stories. Amy was given a second chance for a reason—to use her life to inspire others. Her powerful memoir urges us to live life to the fullest, because we are all a lot more capable than we could ever imagine.
Last Woman Standing
by Amy GentryFrom the author of Good as Gone (&“So gripping you might want to start to question your own family&’s past&”—Entertainment Weekly) comes a brilliant and timely thriller: Strangers on a Train by way of Thelma and Louise. Dana Diaz is an aspiring stand-up comedian—a woman in a man&’s world. When she meets a tough computer programmer named Amanda Dorn, the two bond over their struggles in boys&’ club professions. Dana confides that she&’s recently been harassed and assaulted while in L.A., and Amanda comes up with a plan: they should go after each other&’s assailants, Strangers on a Train–style. But Dana finds that revenge, however sweet, draws her into a more complicated series of betrayals. Soon her distrust turns to paranoia, encompassing strangers, friends—and even herself. At what cost will she get her vengeance? Who will end up getting hurt? And when it&’s all over, will there be anyone left to trust?
Unknown Valor: A Story of Family, Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima
by Martha MacCallum Ronald J. DrezNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.In honor of the 75th Anniversary of one of the most critical battles of World War II, the popular primetime Fox News anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum pays tribute to the heroic men who sacrificed everything at Iwo Jima to defeat the Armed Forces of Emperor Hirohito—among them, a member of her own family, Harry Gray.Admiral Chester Nimitz spoke of the “uncommon valor” of the men who fought on Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest and most brutal battles of World War II. In thirty-six grueling days, nearly 7,000 Marines were killed and 22,000 were wounded.Martha MacCallum takes us from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima through the lives of these men of valor, among them Harry Gray, a member of her own family.In Unknown Valor, she weaves their stories—from Boston, Massachusetts, to Gulfport, Mississippi, as told through letters and recollections—into the larger history of what American military leaders rightly saw as an eventual showdown in the Pacific with Japan. In a relentless push through the jungles of Guadalcanal, over the coral reefs of Tarawa, past the bloody ridge of Peleliu, against the banzai charges of Guam, and to the cliffs of Saipan, these men were on a path that ultimately led to the black sands of Iwo Jima, the doorstep of the Japanese Empire.Meticulously researched, heart-wrenching, and illuminating, Unknown Valor reveals the sacrifices of ordinary Marines who saved the world from tyranny and left indelible marks on those back home who loved them.
The Lightkeeper's Daughters: A Novel
by Jean E. Pendziwol"Jean Pendziwol’s beautifully written novel captured me from the very first page. Its descriptions of the windswept lightkeeper’s station of Elizabeth’s and Emily’s youth are so crisply rendered I felt I was standing on its shores watching the great ships cross the stormy waters of Lake Superior. Even more than its vivid evocation of a unique time and place, The LightKeeper's Daughters is a sensitive and moving examination of the nature of identity, the importance of family, and the possibility of second chances."—Heather Young, author of The Lose GirlsWith the haunting atmosphere and emotional power of The Language of Flowers,Orphan Train, and The Light Between Oceans, critically acclaimed children’s author Jean E. Pendziwol’s adult debut is an affecting story of family, identity, and art that involves a decades-old mystery.Though her mind is still sharp, Elizabeth’s eyes have failed. No longer able to linger over her beloved books or gaze at the paintings that move her spirit, she fills the void with music and memories of her family, especially her beloved twin sister, Emily. When her late father’s journals are discovered after an accident, the past suddenly becomes all too present.With the help of Morgan, a delinquent teenager performing community service at her senior home, Elizabeth goes through the diaries, a journey through time that brings the two women closer together. Entry by entry, these unlikely friends are drawn deep into a world far removed from their own, to Porphyry Island on Lake Superior, where Elizabeth’s father manned the lighthouse and raised his young family seventy years before.As the words on these musty pages come alive, Elizabeth and Morgan begin to realize that their fates are connected to the isolated island in ways they never dreamed. While the discovery of Morgan’s connection sheds light onto her own family mysteries, the faded pages of the journals will shake the foundation of everything Elizabeth thinks she knows and bring the secrets of the past into the light.
Analysis of Images, Social Networks and Texts: 11th International Conference, AIST 2023, Yerevan, Armenia, September 28–30, 2023, Revised Selected Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #14486)
by Dmitry I. Ignatov Michael Khachay Andrey Kutuzov Habet Madoyan Ilya Makarov Irina Nikishina Alexander Panchenko Maxim Panov Panos M. Pardalos Andrey V. Savchenko Evgenii Tsymbalov Elena Tutubalina Sergey ZagoruykoThis book constitutes revised selected papers from the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Analysis of Images, Social Networks and Texts, AIST 2023, held in Yerevan, Armenia, during September 28-30, 2023. The 24 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 93 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: natural language processing; computer vision; data analysis and machine learning; network analysis; and theoretical machine learning and optimization. The book also contains one invited talk in full paper length.
Maternal Placental Interface: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology #2781)
by Verónica Zaga-ClavellinaThis volume details critical and valuable experimental protocols to facilitate researchers in this fascinating field. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Maternal Placental Interface: Methods and Protocols aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field.
Energy Regulation in Africa: Dynamics, Challenges, and Opportunities (Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development)
by Ishmael Ackah Charly GateteThis book analyzes the political economy governing energy regulation across the African continent. Presenting case studies that span diverse energy sectors and countries, it provides an overview of their complex political and regulatory frameworks. The book explores emerging technologies and energy markets, highlighting Africa’s preparedness for the energy transition, and sheds light on the pivotal role of cross-border energy trade with regard to energy access. Further, it examines regulators’ influence within regional power pools, as well as their contribution to gender mainstreaming in the energy sector, addressing vital social issues. This book is divided into five parts, the first of which focuses on the political economy of energy regulation. The second part discusses emerging technologies and climate change issues, while the third examines regional energy markets, and regional institutional collaboration. The fourth part features contributions on gender mainstreaming, while part five rounds up the coverage. The book will be of interest to policymakers and investors in Africa, as well as scholars interested in energy regulation and economics.
MultiMedia Modeling: 30th International Conference, MMM 2024, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, January 29 – February 2, 2024, Proceedings, Part V (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #14565)
by Stevan Rudinac Alan Hanjalic Cynthia Liem Marcel Worring Björn Þór Jónsson Bei Liu Yoko YamakataThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 30th International Conference on MultiMedia Modeling, MMM 2024, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, during January 29–February 2, 2024.The 120 full papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 297 submissions. The MMM conference were organized in topics related to multimedia modelling, particularly: audio, image, video processing, coding and compression; multimodal analysis for retrieval applications, and multimedia fusion methods.
Advances in Information Retrieval: 46th European Conference on Information Retrieval, ECIR 2024, Glasgow, UK, March 24–28, 2024, Proceedings, Part VI (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #14613)
by Nazli Goharian Nicola Tonellotto Yulan He Aldo Lipani Graham McDonald Craig Macdonald Iadh OunisThe six-volume set LNCS 14608, 14609, 14609, 14610, 14611, 14612 and 14613 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 46th European Conference on IR Research, ECIR 2024, held in Glasgow, UK, during March 24–28, 2024.The 57 full papers, 18 finding papers, 36 short papers, 26 IR4Good papers, 18 demonstration papers, 9 reproducibility papers, 8 doctoral consortium papers, and 15 invited CLEF papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 578 submissions. The accepted papers cover the state of the art in information retrieval focusing on user aspects, system and foundational aspects, machine learning, applications, evaluation, new social and technical challenges, and other topics of direct or indirect relevance to search.
Assessing Progress in Decarbonizing Spain’s Building Stock: Indicators and Data Availability (Digital Innovations in Architecture, Engineering and Construction)
by Belinda López-Mesa Xabat OregiThis open access book delves into the topic of monitoring the effectiveness of building renovation policies within the European Union (EU) using indicators. Given the substantial environmental impact of existing buildings on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, decarbonizing them is imperative for achieving climate neutrality in Europe. The use of indicators for monitoring decarbonization progress and evaluating policies emerges as a valuable tool, ensuring the efficiency, effectiveness, and alignment of building renovation policies with broader sustainability and climate objectives. Additionally, this approach facilitates evidence-based decision-making, promotes accountability by Member States (MSs), supports the realization of long-term goals, and actively involves the public in these vital initiatives. The European Commission is actively engaged in this realm, releasing a framework of optional indicators in 2019 and subsequently refining it during the review of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The evolving framework seeks to encompass both mandatory and optional indicators, posing greater challenges for EU MSs in monitoring the impact of their national building renovation policies and the progress of decarbonizing their building stocks. This book offers insights into these developing indicator frameworks, assesses the availability and quality of data in the case of Spain, and suggests areas of improvement and innovative approaches using emerging technologies to enhance data. The target audience includes diverse stakeholders such as central government administrations, regional and municipal authorities, data-collecting institutions, urban planners, researchers, and citizens interested in comprehending the impact of building renovation. By addressing this broad audience, the book aims to foster a more inclusive and well-informed discussion on building renovation and the decarbonization of the European building stock.
Novel Defence Functional and Engineering Materials: Functional Materials for Defence Applications (Indian Institute of Metals Series)
by Eswara Prasad Namburi R. J. H. Wanhill Dipak Kumar SetuaThis book provides the latest developments in functional and engineering materials for defence applications. It contains a total of 20 book chapters in 2 proposed volumes: Vol. 1. Defence Functional Materials and Vol. 2. Defence Engineering Materials. All the book chapters are authored by leading scientists from the premier institutes, such as DRDO laboratory, DMSRDE, Kanpur, India, and edited by Drs. N Eswara Prasad, RJH Wanhill, and DK Setua. Both the authors and the editors are well known internationally for their seminal works in the Functional and Engineering Materials R&D and S&T. The principal purpose of this two-volume book is to provide the salient features of materials selection, synthesis, development and qualification for many a classical applications encompassing aero, naval and ground-based defence systems. They would surely act as valuable vade mecums for both active researchers, defence experts, post-graduate students, and faculty members who like to work and contributeto defence forces through research in areas such as defence materials, products, prototypes, sub-systems and systems that need cutting edge technologies and the latest and best materials and materials solutions.
Mission Work: Poems
by Aaron BakerIn this prize-winning collection, a debut poet evokes his childhood as the son of missionaries in Papua New Guinea.Mission Work is an arresting collection of poems based on Aaron Baker’s experiences as a child of missionaries living among the Kuman people in the remote Chimbu Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Rich with Christian and Kuman myths and stories, the poems explore Western and tribal ways of looking at the world -- an interface of vastly different cultures and notions of spirituality, illuminated by the poet’s own struggles as he comes of age in this unique environment.The images conjured in Mission Work are viscerally stirring: native people slaughter pigs for a Chimbu wedding ceremony; a papery flight of cicadas cuts through a cloud forest; hands sting as they beat a drum made of dried snakeskin. Quieter moments are shot through with the unfamiliar as well. In “Bird of Paradise,” a father angles his son’s head toward the canopy of the jungle so the boy can catch sight of an elusive bird. Stanley Plumly, this year’s guest judge, writes, “How rare to find precision and immersion so alive in the same poetry. Aaron Baker's pressure on his language not only intensifies and elevates his memories of Papuan 'mission work,' it transforms it back into something very like his original childhood experience. Throughout this remarkably written and felt first book, the reader, like the author himself, ‘can’t tell if this is white or black magic,’ Christian, tribal, or both at once.”
Onions in the Stew
by Betty MacDonaldIn Onions in the Stew, Betty MacDonald, author of the beloved classic, The Egg and I, is in unbuttonedly frolicsome form as she describes how, with husband and daughters, she set to work making a life on Vashon Island, a then rough-and-tumble island in Puget Sound, just a ferry-ride from Seattle.
The Cemetery Boys
by Heather BrewerPart Hitchcock, part Hinton, this first-ever stand-alone novel from Heather Brewer, New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series, uses classic horror elements to tell a darkly funny coming-of-age story about the dangerous power of belief and the cost of blind loyalty that Kirkus Reviews called “a slick, spooky, chilling mystery.”When Stephen's dad says they're moving, Stephen knows it's pointless to argue. They're broke from paying Mom's hospital bills, and now the only option left is to live with Stephen's grandmother in Spencer, a backward small town that's like something out of The Twilight Zone. Population: 814.Stephen's summer starts looking up when he meets punk girl Cara and her charismatic twin brother, Devon. With Cara, he feels safe and understood—and yeah, okay, she's totally hot. In Devon and his group, he sees a chance at making real friends. Only, as the summer presses on, and harmless nights hanging out in the cemetery take a darker turn, Stephen starts to suspect that Devon is less a friend than a leader. And he might be leading them to a very sinister end. . . .