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“In this extraordinary work, Annette Gendler illuminates the borders and meeting points between Judaism and Christianity, Germans and Jews, American Jews and Israeli Jews. Writing with eloquent precision, she reminds us why converts to Judaism are among the most precious gifts to the Jewish people. This book confirms Annette Gendler as an indispensable Jewish voice for our time.” —Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Like Dreamers, Senior fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem History was repeating itself when Annette Gendler fell in love with a Jewish man in Germany in 1985. Her Great-Aunt Resi had been married to a Jew in Czechoslovakia before World War II—a marriage that, while happy, created tremendous difficulties for the extended family once the Nazis took over their hometown in 1938, and ultimately did not survive the pressures of the time. Annette and Harry’s love, meanwhile, was the ultimate nightmare for Harry’s family of Holocaust survivors. Weighed down by the burdens of their family histories, Annette and Harry kept their relationship secret for three years, until they could forge a path into the future and create a new life in Chicago. As time went on, however, Annette found a spiritual home in Judaism—a choice that paved the way toward acceptance by Harry’s family, and redemption for some of the wounds of her own family’s past. Author: Annette Gendler Publication Date: April 4, 2017 -
Finalist, 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards 2017 IPPY Awards: Contemporary Fiction, Gold Medal Readers' Favorite: Gold Medal Award for Women's Fiction Andrew Carnegie funded fifty-nine public libraries in Kansas in the early 20th century—but it was frontier women who organized waffle suppers, minstrel shows, and women’s baseball games to buy books to fill them. Now, a century later, Angelina returns to her father’s hometown of New Hope to complete her dissertation on the Carnegie libraries, just as Traci and Gayle arrive in town—Traci as an artist-in-residence at the renovated Carnegie Arts Center and Gayle as a refugee whose neighboring town, Prairie Hill, has just been destroyed by a tornado. The discovery of an old journal inspires the women to create a library and arts center as the first act of rebuilding Prairie Hill after the tornado. As they work together to raise money for the center, Traci reveals her enormous heart, Angelina discovers that problem-solving is more valuable than her PhD, and Gayle demonstrates that courage is not about waiting out a storm but building a future. Full of Kansas history—from pioneer homesteaders to Carrie Nation to orphan trains—To the Stars through Difficulties is a contemporary story of women changing their world, and finding their own voices, powers, and self-esteem in the process. Author: Romalyn Tilghman Publication Date: April 4, 2017 -
2017-18 Reader Views Literary Award, Adult Fiction: Finalist 2017 Next Gen indies: Romance Finalist, Mystery Finalist Newly engaged, Clive and Henrietta now begin the difficult task of meeting each other’s family. “Difficult” because Clive has neglected to tell Henrietta that he is in fact the heir to the Howard estate and fortune, and Henrietta has just discovered that her mother has been hiding secrets about her past as well. When Clive brings Henrietta to the family estate to meet his parents, they are less than enthused about his impoverished intended. Left alone in this extravagant new world when Clive returns to the city, Henrietta finds herself more at home with the servants than his family, much to the disapproval of Mrs. Howard—and soon gets caught up in the disappearance of an elderly servant’s ring, not realizing that in doing so she has become part of a bigger, darker plot. As Clive and Henrietta attempt to discover the truth in the two very different worlds unraveling around them, they both begin to wonder: Are they meant for each other after all? Author: Michelle Cox Publication Date: April 4, 2017 -
2017 Independent Press Awards Winner, Medical Mystery 2017 International Book Awards Finalist, Fiction: Mystery/Suspense While the federal government is launching a national investigation on the “equity” of organ distribution a female tech CEO flies across country to get a liver transplant. Soon, well-respected transplant nurse Sarah Golden and her best friend, Jackie, find themselves tangled up in an intense plot to uncover the answer to the question on everyone’s mind: Can you buy your way up to the top of the waiting list? Their pursuit of justice brings them to Miami, San Francisco, and Chicago—a sometimes fun, sometimes dangerous roller coaster ride from which they barely escape with their lives. Author: Amy Peele Publication Date: April 11, 2017 -
“Of This Much I'm Sure says it--the truths we keep secret. It goes there: messy and beautiful and complicated and terrifying and, ultimately, joyful. It's a story about fighting like hell. It's a story that is more necessary than ever before.” —Megan Stielstra, The Wrong Way To Save Your Life At twenty-two, Chicagoan Nadine Kenney is thrilled to meet her future husband, Jamie, while vacationing in Florida. After a whirlwind, long-distance romance, Nadine leaves her friends, family, and city to join Jamie in suburban Massachusetts. Once married, they begin trying for a baby without knowing how hard that road will become. Nadine soon faces the little-known horrors of IVF when a procedure causes severe internal bleeding, and she wakes up from emergency surgery with a six-inch scar instead of a baby bump. In the difficult year that follows, anxiety and additional failed fertility treatments threaten her new marriage and her mental state. By some saving grace, she eventually becomes pregnant naturally, but the horrors are not over: her son is diagnosed with potentially terminal kidney complications. Ultimately, Nadine learns that in an unpredictable life, the only thing she can be sure of is the healing power of hope. Author: Nadine Kenney Johnstone Publication Date: April 11, 2017 -
Not a Perfect Fit is a collection of stories that are laugh-out-loud funny one minute and thought-provoking the next. Stories range from Schmidt’s experience living off-grid as the only English woman in an Amish neighborhood to family trips that are remarkably similar to National Lampoon’s Vacation. Through it all, she manages to rise above the many challenges she faces—inspiring and entertaining her audience along the way. Filled with animal antics, gratitude, mishaps, and madcap adventures, Not a Perfect Fit’s tell-all, single girl- gone-country, down-home stories give readers permission to laugh and cry—and, most important, to carry on. Author: Jane Schmidt Publication Date: April 11, 2017 -
IndieReader Discovery Awards: Women's Issues, First Place Royal Dragonfly Book Award Winner in Women's Interests 2017 Canada Book Award Winner After her son, Zachary, dies in her arms at birth, visual artist and author Alexis Marie Chute disappears into her “Year of Distraction.” She cannot paint or write or tap into the heart of who she used to be—too caught up in mourning not only for Zachary but also for the future they might have had together. It is only when Chute learns she is pregnant again that she sets out to find healing and rediscover her identity—just in time, she hopes, to welcome her next child. In the forty weeks of her pregnancy, Chute grapples with her strained marriage, shaken faith, and medical diagnosis, with profound results. Glowing with riveting and gorgeous prose, Expecting Sunshine chronicles the anticipation and anxiety of expecting a baby while still grieving for the child that came before—enveloping readers with insightful observations on grief and healing, life and death, and the incredible power of a mother’s love. Author: Alexis Marie Chute Publication Date: April 18, 2017 -
2017 International Book Awards Winner in Animals/Pets 2017 Living Now Awards Gold Medal Winner in Animals/Pets Written for the dog and cat lover, animal advocate, and fan of natural medicine, Dog as My Doctor, Cat as My Nurse reveals how our timeless relationships with our beloved animal friends hold the keys to our optimal health. Acupuncturist, plant-based nutritional consultant, and animal advocate Carlyn Montes De Oca weaves together an insightful tapestry of prescriptive advice, personal stories about her lively “six-pack” of rescue dogs and cats, and testimonials from other dog and cat lovers, including best-selling author Jack Canfield. In an age when most people will suffer from a preventable chronic disease, Dog as My Doctor, Cat as My Nurse opens readers eyes’ to the fact that our beloved companion animals can be some of the most powerful allies we will ever have on the journey towards a healthier, happier, and more extraordinary life. Author: Carlyn Montes De Oca Publication Date: April 18, 2017 -
“Intriguing and full of twists, it’s hard to find fault with the author’s theme of communal empowerment, her love of food, and her frequent instructional asides. A highly educated foodie’s dream, this tale delivers a unique take on both the campus and mystery genres.” —Kirkus Reviews Emily Addams, foodie professor of women’s studies at Arbor State–a land grant university in Northern California–finds herself an unlikely suspect in the poisoning of a man she barely knows: Professor Peter Elliott of Plant Biology, the hotshot developer of a new genetically modified corn. How did her cornbread end up in his hand as he lay in the smelly muck of a pig’s pen? As Emily and her colleagues try to identify who and what has poisoned Peter, they also struggle to keep a new and corporate-minded administration from defunding the women’s and ethnic studies programs. In the process of solving the mystery, Emily and her network deepen their ties to each other–and uncover some of the dark secrets of a university whose traditionally communal values are being polluted by a wave of profit-fueled ideals. Oink comes with recipes. Author: J. L. Newton Publication Date: April 18, 2017 -
Sixty-year-old Frances Pia lives alone on a thirty-foot sailboat anchored near Sausalito, where she communes with the fog, sea lions, cormorants, and two sailor friends, Otto and Russell. She performs random acts of public defacement—painting drainpipes, public restrooms, and murals on the sides of houses—which she believes are beautification projects, and struggles with bouts of depression and mania. Frankly, she’s a bit of a nutcase. But Frances wasn’t always this way. She was once a Catholic nun with a sister, Anne, who loved her dearly. But then she slept with her brother-in-law, Greg—and ashamed and pregnant, she fled, leaving Anne, her art, and her vocation behind. When she also lost her baby, Nicola, in a freak accident, she lost faith in God and became a keeper of sorrows. Through a series of wacky adventures, including bouts with the cops and the sea, Frances opens her heart to love for the first time in years—and begins to really paint the town, redeeming herself with Anne and freeing herself from her guilt over Nicola’s death along the way. Author: Barbara Sapienza Publication Date: April 25, 2017 -
2017 International Book Awards Finalist, Autobiography/Memoir 2017 Living Now Awards Silver Medal Winner, Inspirational Memoir: Female A three-week adventure becomes a tragic dilemma for a loving sister, a motherless child, and a terrified father facing unimaginable loss together and using their relationships with one another to survive. I Know It In My Heart: Walking through Grief with a Child explores the impact of early parental loss, the evolution of grief from toddler to teenager, and the devastation of adult sibling loss. Told by Mary E. Plouffe—a grieving sister who is also a psychologist—the story is more than a memoir; it is an exploration of childhood and adult grief, and how family relationships can weave them into healing. Parents, therapists, and anyone else who wants to see loss though the eyes of a child will find useful information here for guiding children through loss, and understanding how those losses impact them as they grow. Narrated with professional wisdom steeped in personal pain, I Know It In My Heart brings us all a step closer to understanding, resilience, and healing. Author: Mary E. Plouffe Publication Date: May 2, 2017 -
2017-18 Reader Views Literary Award, Novel: Finalist “ . . . [A] beautifully written masterpiece that takes you on a historical journey inside a tormented family’s summer home to reveal painful secrets, utter heartbreak, and major family drama. An inspiring first novel.” —Boston Herald "A stirring historical novel perfect for women's fiction fans.” —Booklist "Eden is not just another farewell-to-the-summer-house novel, but instead a masterfully interwoven family saga with indelible characters, unforgettable stories, and true pathos. Most impressive, there's not an ounce of fat on this excellent book." —Anita Shreve, author of The Stars are Fire Becca Meister Fitzpatrick—wife, mother, grandmother, and pillar of the community—is the dutiful steward of her family’s iconic summer tradition . . . until she discovers her recently deceased husband squandered their nest egg. As she struggles to accept that this is likely her last season in Long Harbor, Becca is inspired by her granddaughter’s boldness in the face of impending single-motherhood, and summons the courage to reveal a secret she was forced to bury long ago: the existence of a daughter she gave up fifty years ago. The question now is how her other daughter, Rachel—with whom Becca has always had a strained relationship—will react. Eden is the account of the days leading up to the Fourth of July weekend, as Becca prepares to disclose her secret and her son and brothers conspire to put the estate on the market, interwoven with the century-old history of Becca’s family—her parents’ beginnings and ascent into affluence, and her mother’s own secret struggles in the grand home her father named “Eden.” Author: Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg Publication Date: May 2, 2017 -
"Romantics should enjoy watching this feisty couple rediscover their love for each other, work through their differences, and start over again with their new baby.” —Kirkus Reviews “An endlessly charming story about second chances, A Work of Art explores the question we’ve all asked ourselves: is true love worth a second chance?” —Redbook Letting go after her abrupt break-up with Samson is harder than Julene thought it would be, especially since her ex has wasted no time in burying himself in the local dating scene. But during an extended visit to her parents overseas, Julene rediscovers her love of art, and a burgeoning career develops. Samson, on the other hand, after trying valiantly—and unsuccessfully—to forget Julene, has settled instead on his own new career. When Julene returns home to Australia, a coincidental meeting leads to an emotional reunion—but her love and patience will be tested when she finds out just how busy Samson has been in her absence. Yes, they have both made mistakes they can work through and move past—but when a specter from Samson’s past looms, Julene wonders: Can she trust him again? Author: Micayla Lally Publication Date: May 2, 2017 -
Stacy Halloran has lived most of her life in 1950s-era housing development Arboria Park. But her beloved neighborhood may not survive much longer. Despite her parents’ entreaties to “stay in the yard where it’s safe,” the Park is where young Stacy roams in quest of “real life.” Through her wanderings, she learns about the area’s agricultural history; meets people from backgrounds different than her own; watches her siblings develop interracial and same-sex relationships; helps launch the local punk-rock scene; and finally, settles as a wife and mother. As the neighborhood declines (along with her relationship with her mother), Stacy considers moving on to rescue herself and her daughter. But then a massive highway project threatens the ever-resilient Park—and it’s Stacy’s task to rally family, friends, and neighbors to save it. Author: Kate Tyler Wall Publication Date: May 2, 2017 -
“Fasbinder writes with a graceful honesty that is both refreshing and timeless. Hers is a hopeful, heartfelt journey where deep laughs alternate with moments of profound loss. A beautiful and inspiring testament to the resilience and healing power of family.” —Booklist On the day that she decided to marry a widower—also a long-time friend—Betsy Graziani Fasbinder knew that she wasn’t only gaining a husband, she was inheriting a son. Unlike many stepmothers, Betsy didn’t have to struggle with an ex, or court battles, or the weekend shuffle between houses—but she did have to navigate living in the shadow of a young mother taken too soon, to honor the memory of her son’s first mother, and to become the kind of parent and partner she herself wanted to be. Over time this family would learn how love’s roots were formed in their shared losses, and how the new family love and joy they created together would become the richest kind of inheritance. Author: Betsy Graziani Fasbinder Publication Date: May 9, 2017 -
2018 Foreword Indies Finalist in Adult Nonfiction—Health “This book is a beautiful, raw and poignant story of the role of birthing in women’s lives. It takes us on one women’s journey yet it is so real that it is almost impossible to not take it to heart as partly our own.” ―Erica Weiss,MD, Obstetrician/Gynecologist, San Francisco, California “So many women today don’t believe that they have choices when it comes to giving birth – but Thais Derich shows us the way in her brave and beautifully written memoir. It is an important and timely story – a memoir full of heartache, resilience, and joy. My hope is that all women considering motherhood will find their way to Thais Derich’s book.” ―Melissa Cistaro, author of Pieces of My Mother, a NCIBA Best Nonfiction Book of 2015 winner On the joyful day of her son’s birth, Thais Derich never questioned going to the hospital. A week later, she walked out physically, spiritually, and emotionally injured, and fully disabused of the idea that the medical field would ever put her best interests before protocol, money, and legal concerns. The next three years of her life were spent recovering from that day, and preparing herself to do things her way when she became pregnant again. And then she did get pregnant again—and that resolve was put to the test. A universal story about betrayal and trust and the roller coaster ride in between, Second Chance illuminates the many ways in which our healthcare system is broken when it comes to helping women give birth, and gives a voice to all the mothers who have walked away from their delivery experiences wondering what the hell just happened. Author: Thais Derich Publication Date: May 9, 2017 -
Gold Medal IPPY Winner in Religious Fiction Finalist in the novel/fiction category of the Next Generation Indie Book Award Winner: Best Religious Fiction, International Book Award 2017 The Divine Shekinah seeks deliverance from exile to heal a world desperately in need of Her wisdom. Her chosen mission keepers, three generations of kabbalists from places as diverse as a 19th century Polish shtetl and modern day Israel/Palestine, must grapple with profound injustices and the shadows of humanity. If they choose the path of righteousness, love, and forgiveness, Her light can return to the world. Will the mission succeed? Will the divine feminine return to this world? The Shekinah calls to all of us to find our own way to ‘knit the world back together.’ Author: Leah Chyten Publication Date: May 16, 2017 -
On a bus trip to a Catskill Mountain ashram, Rifka Kreiter recollects her past as she travels to meet Swamiji, another new guru on the scene in the bustling spiritual marketplace of 1976. Memories abound of an eventful childhood with an unstable mother on New York’s Upper West Side and in LA, of dancing the Twist at Manhattan’s Peppermint Lounge, and of sitting in against the war—as well as getting tear-gassed in Mississippi, surviving broken love affairs, and more. A checkerboard ride through the fifties, sixties, and early seventies, Home Free is powered by Kreiter’s passionate drive for pleasure, self-knowledge, and—above all—freedom from limitations, whether psychological, political, or spiritual. Ultimately, it is a joyful trip, as she strives to bust free, be it with drugs, therapy, political activism, or meditation. At last, she arrives at a destination as unexpected as it is transformational. Author: Rifka Kreiter Publication Date: May 16, 2017 -
2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist, Mystery 2017 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite, Mystery Psychologist and police consultant Dr. Pepper Hunt, struggling to deal with the murder of her husband, leaves the private practice they shared and relocates to Wyoming. There, in the stark landscape of the high desert, there is nothing to remind her of everything she lost and left behind. Then her new patient, Kimi Benally, goes missing in a Wyoming blizzard after her last therapy session—making Pepper the last person to see her. She knows the secrets Kimi shared in therapy hold clues to her mysterious disappearance, and she joins forces with Detective Beau Antelope to try to discover what’s happened to her. But as she follows the trail of Kimi’s obsession with the past, Pepper begins to fear the worst for her missing patient—and her own haunted memories surface. Author: J.L. Doucette Publication Date: May 23, 2017 -
“Her candid tale is followed by a useful list of substance-abuse and mental- illness websites, books, and organizations, making this a helpful resource for parents struggling to make sense of teen or adult children’s struggles.” ―Booklist “As her heartfelt and moving story descends further into the realms of despair and desperation, the author remains a beacon of hope and sets an amazing example for readers caught in a similar situation involving mental illness and a family member. The bond between mother and child knows no bounds in this intense memoir darkened by addiction and bipolar disorder yet buoyed by love and possibility.” ―Kirkus Reviews One day a teenage boy gets on his bike and rides forty miles up California’s Pacific Coast Highway to avoid causing an earthquake he fears will endanger his mother and sister. But the quake he is experiencing is not coming from beneath the earth; it’s the onset of bipolar illness. Blinded by Hope describes what it’s like to have an unusually bright, creative child—and then to have that child suddenly be hit with an illness that defies description and cure. Over the years, McGuire attributes her son’s lost jobs, broken relationships, legal troubles, and periodic hospitalizations to the manic phase of his illness, denying the severity of his growing drug use—but ultimately, she has to face her own addiction to rescuing him, and to forge a path for herself toward acceptance, resilience, and love. A wakeup call about the epidemic of mental illness, substance abuse, and mass incarceration in our society, Blinded by Hope shines a light on the shadow of family dynamics that shame, ignorance, and stigma rarely let the public see, and asks the question: How does a mother cope when love is not enough? Author: Meg McGuire Publication Date: June 6, 2017 -
“…a witty and moving story which truly captures the sense of wonder, self-discovery, and adventure that unfolds when one throws caution to the wind and ventures out into the world alone.” —D. Cameron, Stone Head Press In 1994, at the age of 64 with no business experience and very little start-up money, Nancy Hinchliff buys a turn-of-the-century mansion in Louisville, Kentucky and turns it into a charming Victorian Inn. Through sheer tenacity, she learns the business while successfully coping with one mishap after another. An admittedly asocial retired school teacher, she reinvents herself as an Inn keeper. The reader is drawn into this humorous and engaging tale as the author wields her way around cantankerous contractors, harrowing housekeepers, and no shortage of strange and interesting guests and events. Through her collected stories, Hinchliff gives readers a personal, in-depth, and honest look at what it’s like to be an inn keeper as she candidly describes her twenty-year journey of self discovery. Author: Nancy Hinchliff Publication Date: June 6, 2017 -
“[The author] weaves together her own difficult family history with the stories of women who share the burden of abuse. Kahn’s in-depth look at childhood trauma is expert, caring, informative, and affecting.” —Booklist For three decades, Laurie Kahn has treated clients who were abused as children—people who were injured by someone whom they believed to be trustworthy, someone who professed to love them. Their abusers—a father, stepfather, priest, coach, babysitter, aunt, neighbor—often were people who inhabited their daily lives. Love is why they come to therapy. Love is what they want, and love is what they say is not going well for them. Kahn, too, had to learn to navigate a wilderness in order to find the “good” kind of love after a rocky childhood. In Baffled by Love, she includes strands from her own story, along with those of her clients, creating a narrative full of resonance, meaning, and shared humanity. Author: Laurie Kahn Publication Date: June 6, 2017 -
“A nuanced portrait of what it means to be a family, with a bit of melodrama but plenty of heart.” ―Kirkus Reviews “A poignant literary pageant of custody battles, alchoholism, religious restraint and family turmoil, this tremendously moving read will leave you in bouts of feels all summer long.” ―Redbook “An emotionally gripping read that explores the deepest of cracks in a dysfunctional family, this poignant book belongs in the hands of every parent this summer.” ―Working Mother Richard and Michael, both three years sober, have just decided to celebrate their love by moving in together when Richard—driven by the desire to do the right thing for his ten-year-old-daughter, Brady, whom he has never met—impulsively calls his former father-in-law to connect with her. With that phone call, he jeopardizes the one good thing he has—his relationship with Michael—and also threatens the world of the fundamentalist Christian grandparents who love Brady and see her as payback from God for the alcohol-related death of her mother. Unable to reach an agreement, the two parties hire lawyers who have agendas far beyond the interests of the families—and Brady is initially trusted into Richard and Michael’s care. But when the judge learns that the young girl was present when a questionable act took place while in their custody, she returns Brady to her grandparents. Ultimately, it’s not until further tragedy strikes that both families are finally motivated to actually act in the “best interests of the child.” Author:Catherine Marshall-Smith Publication Date: June 13, 2017 -
“A sparkling, spiritual gem of a tale that splendidly illuminates the searing soul-searching of Cathars and Catholics in medieval Languedoc. Carleton's achievement makes historical fiction a retelling of history and a discovery of self.” —Stephen O'Shea, author of The Perfect Heresy and The Friar of Carcassonne What happens when a troubled young woman dares to follow the stirrings of her soul in turbulent times? Elmina begins life with a troubled childhood in a medieval French town—a childhood that turns her into a spiritually seeking young woman who dares to follow the stirrings of her soul. Her idealism and love lead her to leave a Cathar school and follow the man who will become Saint Dominic. As the world around her erupts into the Albigensian Crusade, Elmina finds herself complicit in its horror, and her spiritual and emotional life begins to unravel. With the aid of the counsel of her wise prior, Brother Noel, Elmina learns to paint her experiences within a sacred circle—a practice that helps her discover the origins of her lifelong fears and wrestle with questions that are as divisive today as they were eight centuries ago: the nature of God, the purpose of creation, the nature of evil, and the possibility of reincarnation. Author: Linda Carleton Publication Date: June 13, 2017
