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“A smart and uplifting tale of personal and musical renewal; an impressive debut.” —Kirkus Reviews “Magic Flute is a beautifully constructed inside-look at the world of grand opera, and the passion that accompanies the power of art.” —Bookstr Liz Morgan is a talented, ambitious flutist headed for a brilliant career. But before she can achieve the world-class recognition she craves, an accident puts an end to her dreams. Desperate to fulfill her mother’s musical legacy, she fights to reinvent her path, and settles on a new passion: singing. She even leaves San Francisco and returns to the town in Wales where she spent her early childhood to do it. But as Liz works to perfect her voice and launch a new career, she is confronted with her mother’s other legacy: the choice between the seduction of fame and the constancy of an ordinary life. Magic Flute is an intimate exploration of the world of grand opera. Amid the backstage detail is a story of passions and choices that explores the humanity behind the most dramatic of art forms. Author: Patricia Minger Publication Date: November 15, 2016 -
Indie Reader Discovery Awards Winner for Parenting Bronze Medal Winner Inspirational Memoir-Female Living Now Book Awards-Books for Better Living When LeeAndra Chergey is told that her son, Ryan, is no longer considered “normal,” she and her family are forced into a new way of handling the outside world. Together, Chergey’s family and a team of carefully chosen therapists put in years of hard work, and eventually teach Ryan to speak and express emotions. Through it all, Chergey follows her heart—and in the process, she learns that being “normal” is not nearly as important as providing your child with a life full of joy, love, and acceptance. Tender and candid, Make A Wish For Me is a story of accepting and tackling a disability stigmatized and misunderstood by society. Author: LeeAndra Chergey Publication Date: November 10, 2015 -
She left everything behind and risked not only her life, but also the lives of her two small children to escape from Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon. In the middle of the night, Charlie―along with her husband, two toddlers and two young sisters―joined 100 other people on a tiny boat and fled their home country. The journey was long and dangerous, but after almost two years in refugee camps, the family finally made it to America. After emigrating, as many Vietnamese refugee women did, Charlie began working in the booming nail industry. When her path crossed with Olivett, an African American woman, they became business partners―and built an empire together. After only a few years in the US, Charlie was a millionaire and living the American dream. Her tale is one of tragedy and triumph―a true rags to riches story that will amaze and inspire readers from all walks of life. Author: Krista Beth Driver Publication Date: October 8, 2019 -
“Reinhart writes in a conversational tone, as if she’s telling a juicy story to a good friend… A memoir that crafts a neatly resolved narrative.” —Kirkus Reviews When Leah Reinhart was six years old, her family moved to an unlikely neighborhood on a hill much like the country—a place where everyone dressed and lived like they were living a real-life Little House on the Prairie. Yet their new home was in Oakland, California, and everything surrounding Leah’s neighborhood was the polar opposite of their old-fashioned lifestyle. As an already scared little white girl in a predominantly African American city, Leah quickly learned that would have to face many of her fears—or get eaten alive. And in her search for love and belonging, she also found that things aren’t always as they appear. As she got to know her neighbors, most of whom belonged to the neighborhood church, she began to realize that the hood was sometimes much safer than the country. Over the course of her life—learning from the streets, a cult, trial and error, and many years of therapy—Leah developed an eye for patterns. She learned how the belief system she’d absorbed during her childhood manifested in her teenage years and young adulthood. Ultimately, she learned how to change her thoughts and accept herself—and in doing so, she broke free of the cycle she’d been imprisoned by. Author: Leah E. Reinhart Publication Date: June 5, 2018 -
Many Hands Make Light Work is the rollicking true story of a family of nine children growing up in the college town of Ames, Iowa in the ’60s and ’70s. Inspiring, full of surprises, and laugh-out-loud funny, this utterly unique family champions diversity and inclusion long before such concepts become cultural flashpoints. Cheryl and her siblings are the offspring of an eccentric professor father and unflappable mother. Mindful of their ever-expanding family’s need for cash, her parents begin acquiring tumbledown houses in campus-town, to renovate and rent. Dad, who changes out of his suit and tie into a carpenter’s battered white overalls, like Clark Kent into Superman, is supremely confident his offspring can do anything, whether he’s there or not. Mom, an organizational genius disguised as a housewife, manages nine children so deftly that she finds the time―and heart―to take in student boarders, who stir their own offbeat personalities into this unconventional household. The kids, meanwhile, pour concrete, paint houses, and, at odd moments, break into song, because instead of complaining, they sing as they work, like a von Trapp family in painters caps. Free-wheeling and contagiously cheerful, Many Hands Make Light Work is a winsome memoir of a Heartland childhood unlike any other. Author: Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy Publication Date: August 6, 2019 -
Any woman who wants to marry can . . . once she learns how. Marriage Minded's A to Z format, packed with warmth, wisdom, and humor, makes the process fun and informative. You will learn how to overcome obstacles, meet men, and date constructively; you’ll read about single women of all ages who became happily married; and in Marcia Naomi Berger, you’ll have a sensitive guide to creating the lasting, loving union you’ve always wanted. After her parents divorced, Berger became a long-term commitmentphobe who stayed single for many years. Now happily married for more than thirty-three years, this psychotherapist and clinical social worker’s mission is to help others create marriages that fulfill them―emotionally, spiritually, physically, and materially. Author: Marcia Naomi Berger Publication Date: September 14, 2021 -
What do politics, living donor kidney transplants, and the current opioid crisis all have in common? Sarah Golden and Jackie Larsen, best friends since nursing school, could never have imagined that they’d end up as amateur sleuths searching to find a killer—for the second time! Jackie, a stay-at-home mom with marriage troubles, is racing the clock to get her young son, Wyatt, a living kidney donor to avoid the ravages of dialysis. Sarah, who has been living her career in the fast-paced world of organ transplantation, is helping expedite Wyatt’s kidney transplant. Then a much-despised hospital colleague turns up dead of an opiate overdose—despite the fact that she’d never used drugs—and Sarah smells foul play. Her curiosity and tenacity pull Jackie, once again, into a life-and-death adventure that neither woman could have expected. Armed with smarts, tenacity, big hearts, and their raucous senses of humor, the pair gets the help of a few colorful friends to pursue the killer and take on the mission in the only style they both know how: straight on and arm-in-arm as the friends they’ve always been. Author: Amy Peele Publication Date: April 13, 2021 -
When recent Harvard grad Helen Zuman moved to Zendik Farm in 1999, she was thrilled to discover that the Zendiks used go-betweens to arrange sexual assignations, or “dates,” in cozy shacks just big enough for a double bed and a nightstand. Here, it seemed, she could learn an honest version of the mating dance—and form a union free of “Deathculture” lies. No one spoke the truth: Arol, the Farm’s matriarch, crushed any love that threatened her hold on her followers’ hearts. An intimate look at a transformative cult journey, Mating in Captivity shows how stories can trap us and free us, how miracles rise out of crisis, how coercion feeds on forsaken self-trust. Author: Helen Zuman Publication Date: May 8, 2018 -
“A beautifully written, challenging, and thought-provoking book, one that truly leads us to insights and recognitions that make it possible to contemplate a world that works for all. I haven’t seen anything like it. Trenshaw’s book contributes to helping us see the world at the margins with clarity.” —Margaret J. Wheatley, author of So Far From Home, Perseverance, Turning to One Another, and Leadership and the New Science When Cynthia Trenshaw, recently widowed, moves to Berkeley, she thinks the reason she has transplanted herself is to earn her master’s degree in theology. But when, step by unexpected step, she is drawn into the cultural borderlands where society’s “invisible people” reside, she encounters dispossessed and demanding teachers not listed on any academic roster—and becomes immersed in a heady curriculum of helplessness and joy, wisdom and pain. A book that encourages readers to receive the generosity and reciprocity of the margins, Meeting in the Margins offers guidance for how we can all, as individuals, begin to repair the rift between the margins and the mainstream of society—simply by being profoundly present. Author: Cynthia Trenshaw Publication Date: October 6, 2015 -
Life―and death―may be hard; but joy is simple. Lannette Cornell Bloom, a typical, overworked nurse, wife, and mom of two, was forty-three when her mother was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. She quit her job and dove headlong into the familiar role of caretaking. This choice―to slow down and be present for the hardest year of her life―resulted in an awakening. In unexpected moments, as childhood memories flooded into the present, Lannette glimpsed bits of magic that existed just beyond the pain. Without knowing it, she was experiencing a mindful dying process with her mother―and it was a journey that would change the way she lived the rest of her life. A touching and soulful memoir that gracefully uncovers the beauty that is often lost within the dying process, Memories in Dragonflies is a beautiful portrait of what it means to be human and a gentle reminder to enjoy every moment, because even the simplest ones bring lasting joy. Author: Lannette Cornell Bloom Publication Date: August 21, 2018 -
When Quenton wants to take Alix home to France after years of exile in England, she is torn between the restoration of her fortune and her dream to build her Sterling Wood Stable into a successful racing business. She finds an unlikely friend in her uncle’s companion, Nicholas Griffon. Caught by her surprising fondness for him, Alix does not realize shadows from the past are stalking her—until she’s trapped by their darkness. Author:Diane Shute Publication Date: June 5, 2018 -
“Sullivan’s candid, moving memoir of how her life has been shaped by her sister is emotional, easily readable, and instantly relatable. This is a must-read for anyone who cares for a person with autism or other developmental disability, as well as a wonderful tale of resiliency and tenacity that will touch the hearts of a broad swath of readers.” —Booklist “The memoir is often heartbreaking, but Sullivan’s depictions of a complicated and loving family and the unique issues faced by siblings of the severely disabled provide a sense of hope and closure.” —Kirkus Reviews Mikey & Me will resonate with anyone considered the typical one in a family with a special needs child. Author Teresa Sullivan’s memoir about growing up with her profoundly disabled sister reveals the incessant challenges that confront family caregivers, and the resulting expectations placed on “typical” siblings. Sullivan’s honesty about her self-destructive coping mechanisms will strike a cord with anyone who has struggled with addiction, as will her hard-won recovery. Mikey & Me is an unflinching and insightful exploration of the relationship between two sisters, one blind and autistic, unable to voice her own story, the other gifted with the heart and understanding to express it exquisitely for her. Author: Teresa Sullivan Publication Date: August 29, 2017 -
2017 Gold Medal IPPY Award in Autobiography/Memoir “A wonderful, thoughtful and inspiring story of love and courage—the kind of tale that teaches us to take chances, and that we CAN overcome our own obstacles.” —Betsy Stone, PhD, clinical psychologist and author of Happily Ever After They first meet in Paris in the spring of 1996. David is a divorced American attorney living on a converted barged moored on the banks of the Seine; Roni Beth is single, an empty-nested clinical and research psychologist, working from her home in Connecticut. Now in their fifties, both had signed off on loving again. This memoir tells the inspiring story of their intense and transformative twenty-two month transatlantic courtship. Along the way, David the loner, living amid the beauty, freedom and pleasures of Paris, brings Roni Beth, a responsible and overextended professional haunted by earlier loss and trauma, back to her core as a woman, while she helps him reclaim connections that tie him to a larger world. They wrestle internal demons (mostly hers) and external threats (friends, family and different perspectives) as they share adventures in their respective worlds. The tensions of a romance played out across six time zones are captured through fanciful and reflective letters and fax correspondence – flirting, musing, laughing, arguing and whining. Over twenty-four Atlantic crossings, they move into the shared reality that confronts them with parts of themselves that had yearned for compassion and psychic space. As their respective needs become clear, they navigate the clutter on their paths and bridge the geographic distance with courage, joy and integrity. Author: Roni Beth Tower Publication Date: October 25, 2016 -
Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the summer of 1969, Moon Water finds Nettie, sixteen, with her boyfriend wanting to break up just as they are figuring out the sex thing. Nettie’s lifelong nemesis is jabbing her with perfectly polished nails, while her hellfire- and- brimstone preacher refuses to baptize her. Amid this turmoil, a Monacan Indian medicine woman gives her a cryptic message about a coming darkness, a blood moon whose veiled danger threatens Nettie and those she loves. To prepare for the darkness, Nettie and her best friend, Win, make a treacherous journey into the mountains to build a mysterious dreamcatcher from ancient elements. A captivating, suspenseful standalone sequel to The Wiregrass, a Historical Novel Society’s Editor’s Choice and Southern Literary Review’s Read of the Month. Author: Pam Webber Publication Date: August 20, 2019 -
"In Motherhood Reimagined, Sarah Kowalski speaks to a generation of women who were told that they could have it all―only to discover that career success often comes at an emotional and physical cost. This honest, often heartbreaking, but ultimately uplifting memoir chronicles Kowalski’s race against the ticking clock of infertility. The discoveries she makes about her body and mind translate into a compelling and poignant read . . . This book is a must-read for any women who hears the ticking of her biological clock.” ―Marika Lindholm ,CEO and founder of ESME.com (Empowering Solo Moms Everywhere) At the age of thirty-nine, Sarah Kowalski heard her biological clock ticking, loudly. A single woman harboring a deep ambivalence about motherhood, Kowalski needed to decide once and for all: Did she want a baby or not? More importantly, with no partner on the horizon, did she want to have a baby alone?Once she revised her idea of motherhood—from an experience she would share with a partner to a journey she would embark upon alone—the answer came up a resounding Yes. After exploring her options, Kowalski chose to conceive using a sperm donor, but her plan stopped short when a doctor declared her infertile. How far would she go to make motherhood a reality? Kowalski catapulted herself into a diligent regimen of herbs, Qigong, meditation, acupuncture, and more, in a quest to improve her chances of conception. Along the way, she delved deep into spiritual healing practices, facing down demons of self-doubt and self-hatred, ultimately discovering an unconventional path to parenthood. In the end, to become a mother, Kowalski did everything she said she would never do. And she wouldn't change a thing. A story of personal triumph and unconditional love, Motherhood Reimagined reveals what happens when we release what's expected and embrace what's possible. Author: Sarah Kowalski Publication Date: October 17, 2017 -
2016 IndieFab Finalist in Anthologies Approximately 1 in 7 women suffer from postpartum depression after having a baby. Many more may experience depression during pregnancy, postpartum anxiety, OCD, and other mood disorders. Postpartum depression is, in fact, the most common pregnancy-related complication—yet confusion and misinformation about this disorder are still widespread. And these aren’t harmless myths: the lack of clarity surrounding mothers’ mental health challenges can have devastating effects on their well-being and their identities as mothers, which too often leads to shame and inadequate treatment. In this one-of-a-kind anthology, thirty mothers break the silence to dispel myths about postpartum mental health issues and explore the diversity of women’s experiences. Powerful and inspiring, Mothering Through the Darkness will comfort every mother who’s ever felt alone, ashamed, and hopeless—and, hopefully, inspire her to speak out. Author: Stephanie Sprenger and Jessica Smock Publication Date: November 3, 2015 -
2016 Shelf Unbound Winner, Memoir 2017 IPPY Gold Medal Winner, Autobiography/Memoir “Motherlines is a deep treasure written in the inimitable voice of a woman whose work was a lighthouse for me when I first wrote Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom. There is pure gold healing in these pages. Let it touch and heal you.” —Christiane Northrup, MD, OB/GYN physician and author of the New York Times bestsellers Goddesses Never Age; Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom; and The Wisdom of Menopause When she was twenty and living a bohemian life, Patricia Reis’s mother asked, “What about your spiritual life?” Years later, this question drives her midlife quest to reconcile the desires of her body with the mandates of her spirit. During the 1980’s—a rich and turbulent period in American history when feminism, the women’s spirituality movement and liberation theology were all very much alive— Reis encounters a number of uncommon women who witness, encourage, and nourish her potential. She discovers an unlikely confidante in her maternal aunt, Ruth, a free-spirited Franciscan nun. Their many letters, and a handful of pivotal visits, bring immediacy and intimacy as they each become radicalized by feminism and a new theology of liberation. Starting in the early 1980s—a rich period in American history when feminism, the women’s spirituality movement, and liberation theology were all very much alive—and continuing over a ten-year period, Reis encounters a number of uncommon women who witness, encourage, and nurture her potential. She discovers an unlikely confidante in her maternal aunt Ruth, a free-spirited Franciscan nun. Their many letters, and a handful of pivotal visits, bring immediacy and intimacy to their unfolding relationship. Candid and compelling, Motherlines is a story of sex (with men and with women, and of abstaining altogether), illegal abortions, making vows and breaking them, spiritual practices, and creative ambition—and, at its heart, one woman’s quest for a place in her maternal lineage and a spiritual maturity outside religious concepts. Author: Patricia Reis Publication Date: October 11, 2016 -
Thirteen-year-old Elisha lives in a village near Shechem in the Land of Canaan in ancient Israel. She wants to be like other girls but is unmarried, speaks to an angel, and composes and sings her own songs—a pursuit her parents disapprove of. When she tells the village women to stand up for themselves, the men are outraged he tribe banishes her. After journeying alone through the desert, escaping bandits, wild animals, and men who would sell her as a servant, Elisha makes it to Jerusalem, where the angel guides her to study with Abraham and Sarah. She learns much including reading and writing, and Abraham even gives her Doron, his servant, to accompany her as she sings her songs throughout the country. Doron becomes her lover and her songs are well accepted—until she sings one about equality for women. Mountain of Full Moons explores how we overcome our fears, go out into the world, and gain the courage to speak up and be whom we choose to be. Author: Irene Kessler Publication Date: April 14, 2020 -
Orphaned at age eight, JoAnna Wilson was raised by her eccentric aunt in the bucolic southern community of Mt. Moriah. Now a twenty-six-year old would-be writer, JoAnna faces several crossroads: in her marriage, in her career, and in her faith. She left home for Chicago in 1997 immediately following the murder of her best friend, Grace. Now she comes back to Mt. Moriah for the first time in four years to attend her aunt’s funeral—and realizes that she must confront both the profound sorrow she feels over Grace’s death and the mysterious guilt she carries. She must finally grieve. A hauntingly sweet story of love and loss that alternates between JoAnna’s childhood in Mt. Moriah, her life in Chicago and her present encounters upon returning home, Mt. Moriah’s Wake ponders deep questions: When we experience unspeakable tragedy, do we see ourselves as victim or survivor? Is it possible to regain happiness in the face of such? And how do we find our faith again, once it is lost? As her past and present worlds collide, JoAnna grapples with these questions—and her journey moves toward an unexpected conclusion. Publication Date: July 27, 2021 Author: Melissa Norton Carro -
Winner IPPY Silver in Mystery and IndieFab Finalist in Mystery and Multicultural Fiction “One of the best mysteries I've read in a long time. Kept me from doing ten important things I should have been doing because I just had to finish it! Kate Raphael writes great women characters and does a fantastic job of portraying the realities of Palestinian life as background to a gripping story.” —Starhawk, best-selling author of The Fifth Sacred Thing and The Spiral Dance “Both [Chloe] and Rania work, in their own ways, to protect the innocent from easy labels like terrorist―labels that Raphael dismantles and examines in this provocative novel.” —Publishers Weekly When Rania—the only female Palestinian police detective in the northern West Bank, as well as a young mother in a rural community where many believe women should not have such a dangerous career—discovers the body of a foreign woman on the edge of her village, no one seems to want her look too deeply into what’s happened. But she finds an ally in Chloe—a gay, Jewish-American peace worker with a camera and a big attitude—and together, with the help of an annoying Israeli policeman, they work to solve the murder. As they do, secrets about war crimes and Israel’s thriving sex trafficking trade begin to surface—and Rania finds everything she holds dear in jeopardy. Fast-paced and intricately plotted, Murder Under The Bridge offers mystery lovers an intimate view of one of the most fraught political conflicts on the planet. Author: Kate Raphael Publication Date: November 3, 2015 -
Hamas has taken power in Palestine, and the Israeli government is rounding up threats. When Palestinian policewoman Rania Bakara finds herself thrown in prison, though she has never been part of Hamas, her friend Chloe flies in from San Francisco to get her out. Chloe begs an Israeli policeman named Benny for help—and Benny offers Rania a way out: investigate the death of a young man in a village near her own. The young man’s neighbors believe the Israeli army killed him; Benny believes his death might not have been so honorable. Initially, Rania refuses; she has no interest in helping the Israelis. But she is released anyway, and returns home to find herself without a job and suspected of being a traitor. Searching for redemption, she launches an investigation into the young man’s death that draws her into a Palestinian gay scene she never knew existed. With Chloe and her Palestinian Australian lover as guides, Rania explores a Jerusalem gay bar, meets with a lesbian support group, and plunges deep into the victim’s world, forcing her to question her beliefs about love, justice, and cultural identity. Author: Kate Raphael Publication Date: September 19, 2017 -
“My brain was famous, but I was not. Not every gifted child invents a pollutant-free fuel, paints a masterpiece, or finds the cure for cancer,” Jack MacLeod tells us. “Some of us just live out our lives.” Jack died in 1974, and he narrates his story from beyond the grave. His prodigious memory, which allows him to memorize books, and his penchant for psychic connections give him unusual insights into the events of his past life and make him fiercely curious about his current state of existence. Jack immerses us in interconnected tales of his childhood participation in a research study on the intellectually gifted, his dual career as a clinical psychologist and university professor, his participation in the unmasking of an unscrupulous colleague, his long-term health issues, his brief but life-changing love affair with a student, his deep friendship with another man, and his eventual acceptance and celebration of the circumstances of his fate. How Jack dies, and how he deals with the murder of someone close to him, mirrors how he has lived and grown, and marks the significance of everyone and everything that has brought him to yet another level of brilliance. Author: Diane Wald Publication Date: October 5, 2021 -
2016 Best Book Award Finalist, Autobiography/Memoirs 2016 Foreward INDIE Awards Finalist, Nature 2016 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Medal Winner, Death & Dying/Grief & Loss 2017 IPPY Bronze Medal Winner, Best Regional Non-Fiction: Mid-Atlantic Marcia Mabee and her husband were a clueless suburban couple when they bought a mountain in a forgotten corner of rural Virginia as a weekend getaway—but after enchanting wildlife encounters, and a spectacular botanical discovery, they become passionate conservationists. Shortly after their property is dedicated as the Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve, Marcia is diagnosed with ovarian cancer; and before she finishes chemotherapy, Tim is struck down with pancreatic cancer. Each has promised the other to scatter their ashes among the wildflowers on their beloved mountain, but it is Marcia who survives. In the midst of grieving so deeply she nearly loses her grip on life, Marcia meets David at Tim’s memorial service. He is there on his wife’s behalf—a woman who was Tim’s high school sweetheart, and who is now divorcing David. Months later, David calls Marcia, and they enter into an intimate relationship, compelling Marcia to struggle with the twin forces of deep grief and new love. Author: Marcia Mabee Publication Date: September 6, 2016 -
Fed up with happiness gurus telling you that you can’t be happy unless you get rid of all of your negativity? Sick of all those perky Positive Pollys receiving all the happiness glory? Negatively Ever After will provide the guidance you need to find happiness without the impossible task of eradicating negativity from your life. This book debunks the popular misconception that being positive and being happy are synonymous. Using a simple “Happiness Bank” analogy, the author shares her research, experiences, and missteps in discovering that negativity is not the enemy. From achieving self-adoration and learning what gratitude truly means to determining whether sharing happiness is really a good idea, this book explains how to develop “Negativity Wisdom” in order to embrace and effectively utilize your inherent negative tendencies. Realistic and accessible, Negatively Ever After will help you harness your negativity and find your own inner happiness. Author: Deanna Willmon Publication Date: September 12, 2017
