HALF A LIFE, another of Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul's highly autobiographical novels, is about Willie Chandran, who leaves his Indian family behind as he finds success in England as a writer. The trouble is that this new, assimilated life begins to seem alien and incomplete. Like all of Naipaul's exiles, Willie finds himself torn between his past and his present, and uneasy about his status as an outsider in both worlds.

Drawing on her own "journey home" to a more solid sense of self--a journey colored by a lifelong awareness of spiritual realms--the author describes a worldview focused on the marriage of spiritual and material realities. Fundamental to this worldview is a belief that reality is more fluid than we perceive with our five senses, that there is a dynamic, creative interplay between seen and unseen dimensions of reality. In this context we are co-creators of the life we experience.

Based on the author's experiences, this book describes the life of Annie de Leeuw during World War II, when she and one of her three sisters hid from the Nazis in the attic of a gentile peasant family for more than two years. A 1973 Newbery Honor Book.

Helen Nash, the Pond Doctor, gives the basics for constructing water features in the garden, complete with photos, drawings, cutaway views, and helpful tips.