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Queerspawn in Love is a memoir about what happens when the daughter of a quartet of lesbians falls in love with a man serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area as the daughter of four lesbians, Kellen Anne Kaiser nonetheless envisioned her life working out, fairytale like, with a Prince Charming. Super-Femme, she spent countless childhood hours playing dress up in lacey wedding gowns, and committing her Barbies to matrimony. However when her possible prince did arrive, it was not without complications. Home on leave from the Israeli army, the man she picks doesn’t seem like a sure bet. Starting with some casual sex gone awry, they face obstacles like: war in the Middle East, long distance romance, differing views on sex and approaching adulthood. Along the way they find themselves most challenged by a more mundane concern, the upkeep of a relationship between two people. Whether it is in the uncharted territory of dating as Queerspawn, or the angst of compromising politically, it becomes clear that even if the particulars are peculiar, heart break is the same. A modern coming of age story, it reflects on identity, family and love. Author: Kellen Kaiser Publication Date: May 3, 2016 -
A chance meeting with a charismatic photographer will forever change Elizabeth’s life. Until she met Richard, Elizabeth's relationship with Georgia O’Keeffe and her little-known Hawaii paintings was purely academic. Now it’s personal. Richard tells Elizabeth that the only way she can truly understand O’Keeffe isn’t with her mind—it’s by getting into O’Keeffe’s skin and reenacting her famous nude photos. In the intimacy of Richard’s studio, Elizabeth experiences a new, intoxicating abandon and fullness. It never occurs to her that the photographs might be made public, especially without her consent. Desperate to avoid exposure—she’s a rising star in the academic world and the mother of young children—Elizabeth demands that Richard dismantle the exhibit. But he refuses. The pictures are his art. His property, not hers. As word of the photos spreads, Elizabeth unwittingly becomes a feminist heroine to her students, who misunderstand her motives in posing. To the university, however, her actions are a public scandal. To her husband, they’re a public humiliation. Yet Richard has reawakened an awareness that’s haunted Elizabeth since she was a child—the truth that cerebral knowledge will never be enough. Now she must face the question: How much is she willing to risk to be truly seen and known? Author: Barbara Linn Probst Publication Date: April 7, 2020 -
Tara moves to the American South three years after her arranged marriage to tech executive Sanjay. Ignored and lonely, Tara finds herself regressing back to childhood memories that have scarred her for life. When she was eight, her parents had left her behind with her aging grandparents and a schizophrenic uncle in Mangalore, while taking her baby brother with them to make a new life for the family in Dubai. Tara’s memories of abandonment and isolation mirror her present life of loneliness and escalating abuse at the hands of her husband. She accepts the help of kind-hearted American strangers to fight Sanjay, only to be pressured by her patriarchal family to make peace with her circumstances. Then, in a moment of truth, she discovers the importance of self-worth—a revelation that gives her the courage to break free, gently rebuild her life, and even risk being shunned by her community when she marries her childhood love, Cyrus Saldanha. Life with Cyrus is beautiful, until old fears come knocking. Ultimately, Tara must face these fears to save her relationship with Cyrus—and to confront the victim-shaming society she was raised within. Intimate and deeply moving, Purple Lotus is the story of one woman’s ascension from the dark depths of desolation toward the light of freedom. Author: Veena Rao Publication Date: September 29, 2020 -
She was going to stab her doctor, but she wrote a book instead. Years later, Willa Goodfellow revisits her account of the antidepressant-induced hypomania that hijacked her Costa Rican vacation and tells the rest of the story: her missed diagnosis of Bipolar 2, how she’d been given the wrong medications, and finally, her process of recovery. Prozac Monologues is a book within a book—part memoir of misdiagnosis and part self-help guide about life on the bipolar spectrum. Through edgy and comedic essays, Goodfellow offers information about a mood disorder frequently mistaken for major depression as well as resources for recovery and further study. Plus, Costa Rica.- If your depression keeps coming back . . .
- If your antidepressant side effects are dreadful . . .
- If you are curious about the bipolar spectrum . . .
- If you want ideas for recovery from mental illness . . .
- If you care for somebody who might have more than depression . . .
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David Mariani is a successful doctor in Beverly Hills. Just as he begins to suspect a big-pharma conspiracy related to a number of his young patients, a mysterious and beautiful woman sweeps into his life, turning it upside down—but then, just as quickly as she appeared, she disappears with her young daughter, and the mild-mannered doctor finds himself pulled into the adventure of his life . . . unraveling a world of international intrigue and government conspiracies, and immersed in a genetic code mystery that could affect the future of the entire human race. Author: M. L. Stover Publication Date: October 4, 2016 -
Elisabeth Goodwin comes to California from Massachusetts in 1849 with her new husband, Nate, to reunite with her father, who’s struck gold on the American River. But she soon realizes her husband is not the man she thought—and neither is her father, who abandons them shortly after they arrive. As Nate struggles with his sexuality, Elisabeth is forced to confront her preconceived notions of family, love, and opportunity. She finds comfort in corresponding with her childhood friend back home, writer Louisa May Alcott, and spending time in the company of a mysterious Californio. Armed with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance, she sets out to determine her role in building the West, even as she comes to terms with the sacrifices she must make to achieve independence and happiness. A gripping and illuminating window into life in the Old West, Prospects of a Woman is the story of one woman’s passionate quest to carve out a place for herself in the liberal and bewildering society that emerged during the California gold rush frenzy. Author: Wendy Voorsanger Publication Date: October 20, 2020 -
Ana Hebra Flaster was six years old when her working-class family was kicked out of their Havana barrio for opposing communism. Once devoted revolutionaries themselves but disillusioned by the Castro government’s repressive tactics, they fled to the US. The permanent losses they suffered—of home, country, and loved ones, all within forty-eight hours—haunted her multigenerational family as they reclaimed their lives and freedom in 1967 New Hampshire. There, they fed each other stories of their scrappy barrio—some of which Hebra Flaster has shared on All Things Considered—to resurrect their lost world and fortify themselves for a daunting task: building a new life in a foreign land. Weaving pivotal events in Cuba–US history with her viejos’—elders’—stories of surviving political upheaval, impossible choices, and “refugeedom,” Property of the Revolution celebrates the indomitable spirit and wisdom of the women warriors who led the family out of Cuba, shaped its rebirth as Cuban Americans, and helped Ana grow up hopeful, future-facing—American. But what happens when deeply buried childhood memories resurface, demanding an adult’s reckoning? Here’s how the fiercest love, the most stubborn will, and the power of family put nine new Americans back on their feet. Author: Ana Hebra Flaster Publication Date: April 22, 2025 -
María Isidra is a proper Catholic girl raised in 1960s Spain by a strong matriarch during a repressive dictatorship. Early sexual trauma and a hefty dose of fear keep her in line for much of her childhood, but also lead her to live a double life. In her home, there is no discussing the needs of her growing body. In the street, kissing in public is forbidden. Upon the dictator’s death in 1975, Spain bursts wide open, giving way to democracy and a cultural revolution. Barcelona’s vibrant downtown and its new freedoms seduce María Isidra. She dives into a world of activism, communal living, literature, counterculture, open sexuality, and alcohol. And yet she knows something is missing. Longing to reconnect with her body—from which she has felt estranged since childhood—she finds a surprising home in a rundown salsa club, where the lush rhythm sparks a deep wave of healing. Transformed, she sets off on a series of sexual and romantic misadventures, in search for what she has always found painfully elusive: true intimacy. Author: Isidra Mencos Publication Date: October 11, 2022 -
Lucinda Jackson, a harried scientist and business executive, sets off to make a break from her corporate decades and have an “extraordinary” retirement. She launches into a five-phase “Project Escape,” complete with a vision, goals, and a scorecard of success to deliver this next chapter. Soon, Jackson and her semi-reluctant husband of thirty years are off to the Pacific island country of Palau. But while Jackson got the girl out of the corporation, even the jolt of Palau can’t fully get the corporation out of the girl. Struggling through self-examination around purpose, identity, ego, marriage, and parenthood after years of investing so much in career, Jackson learns who she is again. Whether you’re thinking ahead to retirement or are already there, Project Escape provides an unvarnished but ultimately encouraging reference in navigating the “post-career” era. Author: Lucinda Jackson Pub Date: April 12, 2022 -
In 1918, Rebecca Goldberg—a Jewish immigrant from the Russian Empire living in rural Wilmington, Massachusetts—lost her husband, Nathan, to a railroad accident, a tragedy that left her alone with six children to raise. To support the family after Nathan’s death, Rebecca continued work she’d done for years: keeping chickens. Once or twice a week, with a suitcase full of fresh eggs in one hand and a child in the other, she delivered her product to relatives and friends in and around Boston. Then, in 1920—right at the start of Prohibition—one of Rebecca’s customers suggested that she start selling alcoholic beverages in addition to her eggs to add to her meagre income. He would provide his homemade raw alcohol; Rebecca would turn it into something drinkable and sell it to new customers in Wilmington. Desperate to feed her family and keep them together, and determined to make sure her kids would all graduate from high school, Rebecca agreed—making herself a wary participant in the illegal alcohol trade. Rebecca’s business grew slowly and surreptitiously until 1925, when she was caught and summoned to appear before a judge. Fortunately for her, the chief of police was one of her customers, and when he spoke highly of her character before the court, all charges were dropped. Her case made headline news—and she made history. Publication Date: May 25, 2021 Author: Marian Leah Knapp -
Some truths can do more harm than good. This is what Isa comes to believe at the tender age of nine when she first has a dream about kissing a girl—an act that would never be acceptable to her family. By her late twenties, Isa has left her hometown in South Texas, so her conservative family won't discover that she’s gay, and immersed herself in the workaholic routine of law school. One fateful night, she experiments with a man, and subsequently ended up with an unwanted pregnancy. Meanwhile, Isa’s only sister, Cristina, loses the infant she spent years trying to conceive. Moving forward with her own pregnancy and giving the baby to Cristina seems like the perfect solution—until Isa bonds with the newborn. Still, the sisters move forward with the family adoption. Now everyone in the family has a secret. Twelve years later, after much deceit and loss has passed between the sisters, Isa decides to reveal both her sexuality and her niece’s true parentage to their family, against Cristina’s wishes—but before all can be exposed, tragedy strikes. Timely and gripping, Profound and Perfect Things is a story of two first-generation Mexican-American sisters striving to build a meaningful existence outside their traditional parent’s approval and ways of life—and an exploration of the boundaries of our responsibilities to those we love. Author: Maribel Garcia Publication Date: May 14, 2019 -
Pray. Trust. Ride: encourages you to stay in the saddle and ride through life with a looser rein. We live more fully when we can let go— even when all looks bleak and our brains scream, Hang on and do something! Do anything! Fix this! Stop that! The truth is, those problems that strangle our hearts are the sort of problems that we can’t fix. King Jehoshaphat understood that when he was boxed in by his enemy; at his most vulnerable moment, he leaned on God and let go of the outcome. Using this approach as her guiding principle, Lisa Boucher shares in this helpful guide how to lean on spiritual principles to help people live with less anxiety and strife, and how letting go allows us to accept that we can’t solve all our problems; we can’t save others from themselves; we can’t stop the inevitable from happening. What we can do is let go and trust that God has our backs. Author: Lisa Boucher Publication Date: November 1, 2022 -
Cynical young gossip columnist Jane Benjamin joins FDR’s Office of War Information, a propaganda unit, to find a Wendy-the-Welder poster girl to urge more women to the shipyard work essential to America’s winning World War II—and, incidentally, to make herself into the new Hedda Hopper. But somebody doesn’t want those women at work. During a five-day contest to beat the world speed record for building a liberty ship, Jane investigates the lives of the first women welders and learns more about her flyboy former lover’s secret post–Pearl Harbor mission—and her cynicism begins to melt. But when inspectors find and publicize a series of flaws in the contest-week welding, the women welders are blamed. Worse, two poster girl candidates are killed. Are they being sabotaged by a belligerent male shipyard supervisor? The industrialist shipyard owner with a history of controlling women? Or someone else trying to diminish the success of the US liberty ship program? To find out, Jane must choose between her professional ambition and service to the women welders—before the murderer harms another girl and America’s best chance of winning the war. Author: Shelley Blanton-Stroud Pub Date: November 14, 2023 -
The aviation world is a man’s world—it always has been, and it continues to be so today. In fact, women make up a mere 5 to 6 percent of the total pilot population worldwide. But from the first time Erin Seidemann experienced what it was like to see the world from a small plane’s perspective, she was hooked—and she’s spent much of her time since then fighting her way into becoming one of that 5 to 6 percent. Postcards from the Sky: Adventures of an Aviatrix tells of the struggles and adventures one encounters as a woman in the male-dominated space of aviation. With humor and equanimity, Seidemann recounts her varied experiences as a female pilot—from the chauvinistic flight instructor she makes the mistake of falling in love with to the many, many customs agents who insist she can’t possibly be her plane’s owner (“Where’s your boyfriend?”)—while at the same time giving insight about just what makes flying so incredible . . . and so very addictive. Frank, funny, and full of adventure, Postcards from the Sky is an entertaining foray into a world few women have dared enter. Author: Erin Seidemann Publication Date: November 10, 2015 -
NOMINATED for Library of Virginia Literary Awards in the ART in LITERATURE: Mary Lynn Kotz Award category. “Two cultured French families lose everything in the Second World War, even each other. Winkler spins from this tragic tale a thing of beauty, as delicately radiant as the imagined painting at its core, even as she keeps the pages turning until the end.” ―Nicole Mones, author of Night in Shanghai France, 1940. Nazi forces march towards Paris. Lili Rosenswig’s wealthy and eccentric family is ensconced in their country chateau with their sumptuous collection of arts and antiques. The beloved Matisse portrait of Lili’s mother has been brought from their Paris salon for safety. It is the day before young lovers Lili and Paul are to be married that they are forced to flee and their fortunes change irrevocably. Lili and her family escape but Paul must stay behind to defend his country. In their struggle to adapt to changing circumstances in an unpredictable world, all are pushed to reinvent themselves. When top Nazi Herman Goring loots their Matisse portrait, their story is intertwined with the fate of the painting. Portrait of a Woman in White is a moving family saga, an obsessive search for lost love and lost art and how far we will go to survive. Author: Susan Winkler Publication Date: September 2, 2014 -
Through braided memories that flash against the present day, Portrait of a Feminist depicts the evolution of Marianna Marlowe’s identity as a biracial and multicultural woman—from her childhood in California, Peru, and Ecuador to her adulthood as an academic, a wife, and a mother. How does the inner life of a feminist develop? How does a writer observe the world around her and kindle, from her earliest memories, a flame attuned to the unjust? With writing that is simultaneously wise and shimmering, nuanced and direct, Marlowe confronts her own experiences with the hallmarks of patriarchy. Interweaving stories of life as the child of a Catholic Peruvian mother and an atheist American father in a family that lived many years abroad, she examines realities familiar to so many of us—unequal marriages, class structures, misogynist literature, and patriarchal religion. Portrait of a Feminist explores the essential questions of feminism in our time: What does it look like to live in defense of feminism? How should feminism be evolving today? Author: Marianna Marlowe Publication Date: February 25, 2025 -
At age forty, with two growing children and a new consulting company she’d recently founded, Gretchen Cherington, daughter of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Richard Eberhart, faced a dilemma: Should she protect her parents’ well-crafted family myths while continuing to silence her own voice? Or was it time to challenge those myths and speak her truth—even the unbearable truth that her generous and kind father had sexually violated her? In this powerful memoir, aided by her father’s extensive archives at Dartmouth College and interviews with some of her father’s best friends, Cherington candidly and courageously retraces her past to make sense of her father and herself. From the women’s movement of the ’60s and the back-to-the-land movement of the ’70s to Cherington’s consulting work through three decades with powerful executives to her eventual decision to speak publicly in the formative months of #MeToo, Poetic License is one woman’s story of speaking truth in a world where, too often, men still call the shots. Author: Gretchen Cherington Publication Date: August 4, 2020 -
It’s the season of siren songs and loosened bonds―as well as war, campaign slogans, and assassination. At the height of the Vietnam War protests, Washington lawyer Tom Rayson uproots his family for the freewheeling city of Berkeley. While Tom pursues a romance with a sexy colleague in the Marin County woods, Marian joins a peace party that’s running a Black Panther for president and meets the Berkeley revolution. But for young Alice, her parents’ liberating forays become a blind leap in a city marked by beauty and social change―and for a girl, that’s no Summer of Love. Feeling estranged from her family, Alice embraces the moment and falls in with Jim and Valerie Dupres. Jim and Valerie have been learning the ropes on Telegraph Avenue, cadging meals at a nearby communal house and camping out in People’s Park. Soon they’re confronting National Guardsmen. As family and school fade away in a tear-gas fog, Alice feels an ambiguous freedom. Caught up in a rebellion that feels equally compelling, scary, and absurd, Alice could become a casualty—or she could defy the odds and become her own person. One thing is sure: there’s no going back. Author: Sarah Relyea Publication Date: June 9, 2020 -
2015 Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in General Fiction 2015 USA Book Awards Finalist in Women’s Fiction 2016 International Book Award Finalist in Fiction: Literary It happens without warning: At a folk-rock show at her son’s college, Lily becomes transfixed by the guitarist’s unassuming onstage presence and beautiful playing—and with his final note, something within her breaks loose. After the concert, Lily returns to her comfortable life—an Upper West Side apartment, a job as a videographer, and a kind if distracted husband—but she can’t stop thinking about the music, or about the duo’s guitarist, JJ. Unable to resist the pull of either one, she rashly offers to make a film about the band in order to gain a place with them on tour. But when Lily dares to step out from behind her camera, she falls deep into JJ’s world—upsetting the tenuous balance between him and his bandmate, and filling a chasm of need she didn’t know she had. Captivating and provocative, Play for Me captures the thrill and heartbreak of deciding to leave behind what you love to follow what you desire. Author: Céline Keating Publication Date: April 21, 2015 -
An updated twist on the classic Under the Tuscan Sun, this is the deeply personal story of how fiftysomething Barbara Boyle leaves her busy and familiar life behind in San Francisco and begins taking apart a 300-year-old stone barn to build a new home—a new life—in the largely undiscovered region of Piedmont, Italy. Filled with discoveries and pleasures of the stunning places and food she encounters, Pinch Me also details Barbara’s frustrations in adjusting to a new culture, as well as the startling heartbreak of being faced with a breast cancer diagnosis. But even in the midst of this crisis, she and her husband create a home out of the stone ruin they had found, forming deep friendships in their little town and unlocking a new level of joy in life. She shares intimate moments, joyous and bittersweet, as a new wife, stepmom, and a member of a community—and, of course, she shares a few recipes reflecting the gastronomical excellence of the region. A touching memoir filled with food, friendships, and scenes of Italy, Pinch Me is ultimately a celebration of love, of learning to see the world, as well as oneself, through a different window, and of the powerful joy that comes from building a dream. Author: Barbara Boyle Publication Date: February 11, 2025 -
2017 Silver Medalist, IPPY in Memoir/Personal Struggles 2017 International Book Awards, Finalist Autbiography/Memoir 2016 Best Book Awards, Finalist Women's Issues In 1994, Lizbeth Meredith said good-bye to her four- and six year-old daughters for a visit with their non-custodial father—only to learn days later that they had been kidnapped and taken to their father’s home country of Greece. Twenty-nine and just on the verge of making her dreams of financial independence for her and her daughters come true, Lizbeth now faced a $100,000 problem on a $10 an hour budget. For the next two years—fueled by memories of her own childhood kidnapping—Lizbeth traded in her small life for a life more public, traveling to the White House and Greece, and becoming a local media sensation in order to garner interest in her efforts. The generous community of Anchorage becomes Lizbeth’s makeshift family—one that is replicated by a growing number of Greeks and expats overseas who help Lizbeth navigate the turbulent path leading back to her daughters. Author: Lizbeth Meredith Publication Date: September 20, 2016 -
For aspiring scientists and science leaders alike, a powerful collection of stories from a diverse group of authors that details the ups and downs experienced by women in STEM—and offers insight into how to make the field more inclusive for all. Imagine walking into a lab or a lecture hall and realizing you’re the only woman there. For most women in the sciences, this is not a difficult thing to envision; rather, it’s a familiar reality. Here, fifteen writers representing a wide range of women in STEM, from early-career researchers to accomplished leaders, offer authentic, personal reflections on the obstacles they’ve faced in this traditionally male-dominated field. These powerful narratives address critical themes—imposter syndrome, balancing personal responsibilities with professional ambitions, and navigating systemic biases such as sexism and racism—and span continents and cultures, illustrating the diversity of experiences while highlighting shared threads of resilience, courage, and the power of mentorship. Through these stories, readers—not just women in STEM but all those committed to building more inclusive and equitable workplaces—will gain a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of women in science and the role we can all play in creating environments where everyone can thrive. Deeply personal yet universally relatable, Persevere, Survive & Thrive is a celebration of courage and persistence—and the power of sharing stories to inspire change. Author: The Stories of Women in Fluids (SOWIF) Publication Date: November 11, 2025 -
2017-18 Reader Views Literary Award, Adult Fiction: Finalist 2017 Winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Regional Fiction: Northeast 2017 Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction by Independent Press Awards 2017 International Book Awards Finalist for Literary Fiction Have you ever wondered what the impetus was to start a certain painting? Why the artist chose to immortalize a particular subject? What if you suddenly discovered that the painting in question, your painting, was valuable? In Peregrine Island, the Peregrine family’s lives are turned upside-down one summer when so-called “art experts” appear on the doorstep of their Connecticut island home to appraise a favorite heirloom painting. When incriminating papers—and other paintings—are discovered behind the painting in question, the appraisal turns into a full-fledged investigation. Flattered at first by the art museum’s unanticipated interest, the family members quickly change their attitudes with the arrival of detectives on their terrace and the illusory but repeated appearance of a stranger reported to be concealed in a cove. The now-antagonistic family—grandmother, mother, and child—consequently begin to suspect one another, as well as the shady newcomers in their midst. As the summer progresses and the investigation reveals facts about the Peregrines’ past that even they didn’t know, they learn that people are not always who they appear to be—themselves not excluded—and art is often a reflection of their own lives. More important, in uncovering the secret of the painting they come to realize that the love each unconsciously sought has been right in front of them all along. Though Peregrine Island is driven by a mystery, it is as much characterized by its ever-present sense of spiritualism, accentuated by the symbolism of the Sound, the soul of relationships, and the wisdom of the very young and the very old. Author: Diane B. Saxton Publication Date: August 2, 2016 -
2015 International Book Awards: Finalist, Management and Leadership Do you find yourself and your employees less engaged and less productive in the workplace than you would like? According to a Gallup poll, more than 70 percent of the American workforce today is “unengaged”—which means that most of the people in your organization are only showing up to work to go through the motions and collect their paycheck. But there’s something you can do to change that. In People Leadership, Gina Folk covers thirty proven techniques that she learned and utilized during a twenty-five-year career managing people at a Fortune 500 company. Unlike many of the leadership theories you’ll find out there, Folk’s teachings have been implemented and shown to work with real people in real situations. Using Folk’s practices, any individual charged with managing or supervising others at any level can learn to re-engage their employees and improve their company’s productivity—and become the boss they’ve always wanted to be. Author: Gina Folk Publication Date: April 21, 2015
