The Severed Cord is a book to fall in love with; a story of the two main characters, Helena, and Samuel, their relationship, a friendship and love that crosses all the social divides. Helena the daughter of an aristocratic family and Samuel the aged black butler work together to support each other in finding contentment. The novel paints a portrait of human love and compassion through an exploration of relationships and reactions to unexpected happenings. Helena is tied by her obligation to her frail but dominating mother and Samuel yearns to find his brother and his ancestral history. There are many twists and turns, joyful and sad with a surprise denouement and reaffirment of human love. Painted vividly and with compassion and excitement the descriptive narrative draws the reader in by sheer enjoyment and page-turning promise. There is much to love in this tender, poignant novel.

The fourth volume in the Amheida series, ‘Ain el-Gedida: 2006-2008 Excavations of a Late Antique Site in Egypt's Western Desert (Amheida IV) presents the systematic record and interpretation of the archaeological evidence from the excavations at ‘Ain el-Gedida, a fourth-century rural settlement in Egypt's Dakleh Oasis uniquely important for the study of early Egyptian Christianity and previously known only from written sources. Nicola Aravecchia (Washington University), the Deputy Field Director of NYU's Amheida Excavations, offers a history of the site and its excavations, followed by an integrated topographical and archaeological interpretation of the site and its significance for the history of Christianity in Egypt. In the second half of the volume a team of international experts presents catalogs and interpretations of the archaeological finds, including ceramics (Delphine Dixneuf, CRNS), coins (David M. Ratzan, NYU), ostraca and graffiti (Roger S. Bagnall, NYU and Dorota Dzierzbicka, University of Warsaw), small finds (Dorota Dzierzbicka, University of Warsaw), and zooarcheological remains (Pamela J. Crabtree, NYU and Douglas Campana).

Animals in complex human societies are often both meal and symbol, related to everyday practice and ritual. People in such societies may be characterized as having unequal access to such resources, or else the meaning of animals may differ for component groups. Here, in this book, 28 peer-reviewed papers that span 4 continents and the Caribbean islands explore in different ways how animals were incorporated into the diets and religions of many unique societies. The temporal range is from the Neolithic to the Spanish colonization of the New World as well as to modern tourist trade in indigenous animal art. The volume explores various themes including the interaction of foodways with complex societies, the interaction between diet and colonialism and the complex role that animals, and parts of animals, play in all human societies as religious, identity markers, or other types of symbols. Organized according to these themes, rather than geographic location or time period, the papers presented here crosscut such divisions. In so doing, this book presents an opportunity for scholars divided by geography especially, but also by temporal period, to explore each other's research and demonstrate that different archaeological settings can address the same problems cross-culturally.