Nora Murphy

A gripping debut domestic suspense novel, The Favor explores with compassion and depth what can happen when women pushed to the limit take matters into their own hands. Staying is dangerous. Leaving could be worse. Leah and McKenna have never met, though they have parallel lives. They don’t—ever—find themselves in the same train carriage or meet accidentally at the gym or the coffee shop. They don’t—ever—discuss their problems and find common ground. They don’t—ever—acknowledge to each other that although their lives have all the trappings of success, wealth and happiness, they are, in fact, trapped. Because Leah understands that what’s inside a home can be more dangerous than what’s outside. Driving past McKenna’s house one night, she sees what she knows only too well herself from her own marriage: McKenna’s “perfect” husband is not what he seems. She decides to keep an eye out for McKenna, until one night, she intervenes. Leah and McKenna have never met. But they will.

The Favor

New Mother

A Novel

Favor

Joanna Rawson

Diego Vazquez

Julia Klatt Singer

Four writers gather stories from the people of St. Paul and weave them into this beautiful collection.

Stories from St. Paul

Twelve Branches

Favour

Duanne Simon

Nora Murphy has turned her passion for country house style and its embodiment--her own home in Newtown, Connecticut--into a multimedia juggernaut. Her blog, website, e-magazine, strong presence on social media, and increasing visibility in print media and on TV have earned her a devoted following all over the country. Now she has distilled the essence of her knowledge about country house style and how to achieve it in this irresistible volume. The first part of the book lays out the universal elements of the style; the second reveals how she has incorporated these elements into her own home; and the third shows how the elements of this comfortable, comforting, easy aesthetic and approach to life can be applied in different ways and in different locations to striking, individual effect. Five homes, each of which expresses a unique take on the style, are featured. Part primer, part wish book, Nora Murphy's Country House Style is all inspiration.

Making Your Home a Country House

Nora Murphy's Country House Style

‘Taut, compelling and deliciously dark’ – B. A. Paris Leah Dawson and McKenna Hawkins had a lot in common, but they had never met. They are smart, professional women living in the same sunny, prosperous neighbourhood in lovely houses with picket fences and beautiful gardens. And they were both married to successful, good-looking men who both seem bent on having ‘the perfect wife’. They don’t – ever – find themselves in the same train carriage or meet accidentally at the gym or in the coffee shop. And they don’t – ever – discuss their problems and find common ground. But they do cross paths. And they see something each recognizes in the other. That they are living in hell. Neither narrator is unreliable. They always tell us the truth. And their truth hurts. A lot. Because these two attractive, intelligent professional women are living in a hell of their husband’s making. And there is no way to get out of hell. Is there?

‘A thrilling debut—I couldn’t put it down!’ - Shari Lapena

The Favour

Kelley Armstrong

Robert Byrne

Jennifer Hillier

Sandie Jones

Katharine Schellman

Mark Pryor

Ragnar Jonasson

Looking for a new book that will make your heart race? The fifth edition of The Minotaur Sampler compiles the beginnings of eight can't-miss novels--either standalone or first in series--publishing Spring/Summer 2022 for free for easy sampling. Standalone: A gripping debut domestic suspense novel, Nora Murphy's The Favor explores with compassion and depth what can happen when women pushed to the limit take matters into their own hands. Standalone: Four friends head into the Icelandic highlands in the middle of winter. The first day they get caught in an unexpected snowstorm, and end up in an abandoned hunting lodge. Outside is a chilling new standalone thriller from Ragnar Jonasson. First in Series: Katharine Schellman's captivating Jazz age mystery series debut, Last Call at the Nightingale, beckons readers into a darkly glamorous speakeasy where music, liquor, and secrets flow. First in Series: James Byrne's The Gatekeeper introduces Dez Limerick - "a welcome blast of freshness"* and "the most exciting new character I've read in years"** -- in the most anticipated new thriller in years. First in Series: A Rip Through Time mixes romance, mystery, and fantasy with thrilling results. In this series debut from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, a modern-day homicide detective finds herself in Victorian Scotland—in an unfamiliar body—with a killer on the loose. Standalone: The Things We Do in the Dark is the brilliant new thriller from Jennifer Hillier, the award-winning author of the breakout novels Little Secrets and Jar of Hearts - The secrets of the past come back around when a woman, long believed dead, turns up alive. First in Series: Mark Pryor's Die Around Sundown is the first entry in an exciting new mystery series set in World War II era Paris, where a detective is forced to solve a murder while protecting his own secrets. Standalone: From Sandie Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick The Other Woman, comes a gripping new domestic suspense novel. In The Blame Game, a psychologist working with victims of domestic abuse suddenly finds she may be being targeted herself: She knows she’s telling the truth. But the evidence says she’s lying.

New Books to Make Your Heart Race

The Minotaur Sampler, Volume 5

In an era of global warming, war, escalating expenses, declining income, and drugs and violence in schools, many mothers feel they have little control over their families or their worlds. Nora Murphy eloquently demonstrates that many women do control one tiny thing: their next stitch. While tracing the frustrations and joys of knitting a sweater for her son through the course of one cold, dark Minnesota winter, Murphy eloquently brings to life the traditions and cultures of women from many backgrounds, including Hmong, American Indian, Mexican, African, and Irish. Murphy’s personal stories — about her struggles to understand esoteric knitting patterns, her help from the shaman of the knit shop, and her challenges sticking with an often vexing project — will appeal to knitters as well as everyone else who has labored to create something from scratch.

Casting Back to the Heart of Our Craft

Knitting the Threads of Time

"This is conquered land." The Dakota woman's words, spoken at a community meeting in St. Paul, struck Nora Murphy forcefully. Her own Irish great-great grandparents, fleeing the potato famine, had laid claim to 160 acres in a virgin maple grove in Minnesota. That her dispossessed ancestors' homestead, The Maples, was built upon another, far more brutal dispossession is the hard truth underlying White Birch, Red Hawthorn, a memoir of Murphy's search for the deeper connections between this contested land and the communities who call it home. In twelve essays, each dedicated to a tree significant to Minnesota, Murphy tells the story of the grove that, long before the Irish arrived, was home to three Native tribes: the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk. She notes devastating strategies employed by the U.S. government to wrest the land from the tribes, but also revisits iconic American tales that subtly continue to promote this displacement--the Thanksgiving story, the Paul Bunyan myth, and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books. Murphy travels to Ireland to search out another narrative long hidden--that of her great-great-grandmother's transformative journey from North Tipperary to The Maples. In retrieving these stories, White Birch, Red Hawthorn uncovers lingering wounds of the past--and the possibility that, through connection to this suffering, healing can follow. The next step is simple, Murphy tells us: listen.

A Memoir

White Birch, Red Hawthorn

“This is conquered land.” The Dakota woman’s words, spoken at a community meeting in St. Paul, struck Nora Murphy forcefully. Her own Irish great-great grandparents, fleeing the potato famine, had laid claim to 160 acres in a virgin maple grove in Minnesota. That her dispossessed ancestors’ homestead, The Maples, was built upon another, far more brutal dispossession is the hard truth underlying White Birch, Red Hawthorn, a memoir of Murphy’s search for the deeper connections between this contested land and the communities who call it home. In twelve essays, each dedicated to a tree significant to Minnesota, Murphy tells the story of the grove that, long before the Irish arrived, was home to three Native tribes: the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk. She notes devastating strategies employed by the U.S. government to wrest the land from the tribes, but also revisits iconic American tales that subtly continue to promote this displacement—the Thanksgiving story, the Paul Bunyan myth, and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. Murphy travels to Ireland to search out another narrative long hidden—that of her great-great-grandmother’s transformative journey from North Tipperary to The Maples. In retrieving these stories, White Birch, Red Hawthorn uncovers lingering wounds of the past—and the possibility that, through connection to this suffering, healing can follow. The next step is simple, Murphy tells us: listen.

Nora Murphy

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