Book description
Discover the dark side of Christmas in this fascinating exploration of the strange folk tales and arcane traditions still haunt winter and the festive season to this day.As winter comes and the hours of darkness overtake the light, we seek out warmth, good food, and good company. But beneath the jollity and bright enchantment of the festive season, there lurks a darker mood - one that has found expression over the centuries in a host of strange and unsettling traditions and lore. Here, Sarah Clegg takes us on a journey through midwinter to explore the lesser-known Christmas traditions, from English mummers plays and Austrian Krampus runs, to modern pagan rituals at Stonehenge and the night in Finland when a young girl is crowned with candles as St Lucy - a martyred Christian girl who also appears as a witch leading a procession of the dead. At wassails and hoodenings and winter gatherings, attended by ghastly, grinning horses, snatching monsters and mysterious visitors, we discover how these traditions originated and how they changed through the centuries, and we ask ourselves: if we can't keep the darkness entirely at bay, might it be fun to let a little in?
Steel
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Sleek Assassin
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Purity
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QuestQuill
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CuriousCrafter
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FireBerry
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Knight Light
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Unleashed
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Electric Player
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Free Ham
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Racy Babe
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Flashpoint
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Trash Master
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Romance Guppy
The fact that ListenBook doesn't just play, but enhances audio quality, is truly remarkable. I'm amazed at how effortlessly this app has made reading a constant in my life. I’ve been using ListenBook for months, and it’s been a fantastic experience. The app is lightweight, doesn’t drain my battery, and works perfectly in the background. The equalizer and voice boost features are amazing. Highly recommend!
Nice Gnome
My audiobook collection has never looked better. Thank you, ListenBook! This was my first audiobook in this genre and I'm hooked! The performance brought the story to life in a way reading never could. Already downloaded another by the same narrator. This served its purpose as background listening while I worked. I probably missed some details but the narrator's voice was pleasant enough.
Mr. Lucky
Effortlessly enjoying audiobooks on the go – kudos to this app's functionality. Audiobooks at my fingertips – this app's functionality is truly impressive. I love how customizable the playback speed is. It makes listening so much more enjoyable.
Playing a wide variety of audio formats
Works on all devices with iOS 13 and newer
Huge amount of features for a small price
Frequent updates to add new features and improve existing ones
Advanced playback controls
Live sound processing
Changing the timbre of the reader's voice and noise reduction
Translated into more than 20 languages
If you love listening to fiction audiobooks, ListenBook has features to make the process easier.
Edit book data: title, author, cover
Use equalizer to make the sound comfortable for you
Adjust the playback speed
Enjoy dark and light app themes
Supported formats: MP3, M4B, AWB, FLAC, OGG audio files and many more (must be DRM free)
Auto-Bookmarks make it easy to find your place
AirPlay support allows redirection of audio output.
VoiceOver support
Dark mode for night owls
Convenient bookmarking system helps you mark the most important places.
Unlimited bookmarks for each audiobook
Put your own cover on the wager
Share your audiobook with friends
Lock-screen control
Customise app with extensive options
Sleep timer with shake to reset, set custom notification sounds, and a few unique options
Auto rewind depending on paused time, customize rewind times to your liking
Removing background noise from recordings made in classrooms and meetings
Changing the timbre of the reader's voice for a better listening experience