England, Present-day
Julia Garten shouldered and shoved The Second Chance Bookshop door, jiggling the latch and ducking her head as the five-hundred-year-old blackened wood frame complained and then invited her across the threshold. Each morning, she enjoyed the same ritual: a pause and inhale as the listening silence welcomed her. Moments before, she knew her precious stock of used books had conversed, words fluttering from yellowed pages, seeping through age-softened leather bindings, and flying up into the cool air, free as they were always meant to be. One day, she’d catch those fleeting whispers, as elusively above her pitch as a dog whistle.
Beowulf drew a big old doggy Newfie sigh and shuffled to his spot by the wood burner. When her life in New York had spectacularly exploded over Mark’s extra-curricular donations to a thirty-something blonde from the Met’s fundraising department, Julia had resolved that she would trade men for dogs permanently. Beowulf was proof of the wise decision. She flipped the crackled door sign to ‘open’, lit a fire to take the October chill from the air, brewed her third coffee of the morning, and pulled out her laptop.
“Okay, e-Bay, what do you have for me today?” Julia relished this morning routine, checking her bids on first editions, Stuart-era portraits, and obscure 17th-century pamphlets that had little value except to the eccentric circle of writers, readers, academics, and re-enactors she’d cultivated since opening the bookshop a year ago. Oh, and the select group of English stately homes and private country estates that welcomed a volunteer historian dedicated to searching art sales worldwide for family portraits – significant to their history but to few others. (Read more)
FATE offers tales of history, mystery, and magic—sometimes all three. From Anglo-Saxon conquest to the pursuit of alchemy, from ghostly warnings to hidden identities, these short stories explore the threads of destiny that bind us all. You’ll meet mothers, invaders and long-lost lovers, time travellers and vengeful spirits, each navigating a world where fate plays its hand. Whether you crave historical depth, puzzling mystery, or fantastical wonder, there’s a story here for you.
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