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On a blustery Maine day, thirty-nine-year-old Roberta Kuriloff found herself standing on a plot of land purchased with her former partner, holding a couple of wood stakes to mark off exactly where her new house would sit. No longer their land. No longer their dream. Now, just hers. Immersed in a world of blueprints, materials, contractors, and critters, Roberta confronted the major losses she’d suffered in her life—in particular the deaths of her mother and aunt from cancer and her separation from her father and brother during her placement in an orphanage—and to try to understand how those losses had shaped the woman, lawyer, and activist she’d become. As she cleared land, hammered nails, lifted beams, and shivered in her rented mobile home, the answers began to come to her. Roberta soon found love again, with a woman named Nancy . . . only to lose her abruptly just one year later in a car accident. Her grief over Nancy’s death, and the psychic and out-of-body events she experienced following that loss, led to an eight-year spiritual quest where she explored her Jewish roots, the Kabbalah, Buddhism, and reincarnation. As she healed, new love beckoned with Bernice—and at long last Roberta found that intrinsic sense of self, that unshakable foundation of heart and soul, that home, that she’d been searching for all along. Pub Date: July 18, 2023 Author: Roberta S. Kuriloff -
Told alternately, by Colleen, an idealistic young white teacher; Frank, a black high school football player; and Evelyn, an experienced black teacher, Freedom Lessons is the story of how the lives of these three very different people intersect in a rural Louisiana town in 1969. Colleen enters into the culture of the rural Louisiana town with little knowledge of the customs and practices. She is compelled to take sides after the school is integrated―an overnight event for which the town’s residents are unprepared, and which leads to confusion and anxiety in the community―and her values are tested as she seeks to understand her black colleagues, particularly Evelyn. Why doesn’t she want to integrate the public schools? Frank, meanwhile, is determined to protect his mother and siblings after his father’s suspicious death―which means keeping a secret from everyone around him. Based on the author’s experience teaching in Louisiana in the late sixties, this heartfelt, unflinching novel about the unexpected effects of school integration during that time takes on the issues our nation currently faces regarding race, unity, and identity. Author: Eileen Harrison Sanchez Publication Date: November 12, 2019 -
In this accessible, straightforward book, seasoned author Betsy Graziani Fasbinder offers readers the why, what, and how of public speaking, along with exercises and resources to support ongoing learning. She provides inspiration and encouragement to help writers to overcome their fears of public speaking, but she doesn’t stop there; she also lays out the practical, nuts-and-bolts tools they need to select, deselect, and arrange the content of what to say when they’re on a podium, in an interview, or in casual conversations about their writing, and includes a model for handling challenging questions from interviewers and audience members with confidence and grace. Part practical how-to―full of usable tools and tips―and part author cheerleader and champion, From Page to Stage is the ultimate resource for writers who wish bring their storytelling skills to their speaking opportunities. Author: Betsy Graziani Fasbinder Publication Date: August 7, 2018 -
For fans of Eat Pray Love and Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, a therapist’s tale of mid-life sexual awakening as she bravely explores relationships, sex, and pleasure—and learns that it’s never too late to desire and be desired. Is it ever too late to connect to the sexual part of yourself? At forty-eight years old, after her husband announced he had fallen in love with a man, Alisa Kriegel was determined to finally figure out this essential part of herself. As a psychologist, she had the tools to help others; now, it was time to help herself. Alisa’s bold and vulnerable story told with honesty and humor, shows us that it’s possible to have a sexual awakening—and to experience the thrill of feeling desired—at any age. Letting go of decades of shame and giving herself permission for pleasure was just the beginning of jumping into a series of adventures in online dating, sex, and romance. From sex clubs in New York City to a canoe trip in the Canadian wilderness, this memoir offers readers an insight-filled journey into one woman’s mid-life discoveries about sex, love, and relationships—and a behind-the-scenes, in-depth analysis of women’s sexuality. Author: Alisa Kriegel Publication Date: November 4, 2025 -
2016 International Book Award Finalist in Health: Death & Dying and Finalist in Memoir/Autobiography/Biography 2017 Eric Hoffer Award Finalist in Memoir “This tenderly rendered addition to the literature on hospice care deserves the widest possible audience.” —Kirkus Reviews Twenty-one people of different ages have one thing in common; they’re within six months of their deaths. They’ve endured the battle of the medical system as they sought cures for their illnesses, and are now settling in to die. Some reconcile, some don’t. Some are gracious, some not. As Nina Angela McKissock, a highly experienced hospice nurse, goes from home to home and within the residential hospice, she shares her journey of deep joy, humorous events, precious stories, and heartbreaking love. Free of religiosity, dogma, or fear, From Sun to Sun brings readers into McKissock’s world—and imparts the profound lessons she learns as she guides her beloved patients on their final journey. Author: Nina Angela McKissock Publication Date: August 4, 2015 -
Dizzy with grief after a shattering breakup, Kristen did what any sensible thirty-nine-year-old woman would do: she fled, abandoning her well-ordered life in metropolitan Boston and impulsively relocating to a college town in North Carolina to start anew with a freshly divorced southerner. Dismissing the neon signs that flashed Rebound Relationship, Kristen was charmed by the host of contrasts with her new beau. He loved hunting and country music, she loved yoga and NPR; he worried about nothing, she worried about everything. The luster of her new romance and small-town lifestyle soon—and predictably—faded, but by then a pregnancy test stick had lit up. As Kristen’s belly grew, so did her concern about the bond with her partner—and so did a fierce love for her unborn child. Ready or not, she was about to become a mother. And then, tragedy struck. Poignant and insightful, From the Lake House explores the echoes of rash decisions and ill-fated relationships, the barren and disorienting days an aching mother faces without her baby, and the mysterious healing that can take root while rebuilding a life gutted from loss. Author: Kristen Rademacher Publication Date: July 21, 2020 -
2016 International Book Award Finalist in Travel: Guides & Essays 2016 IndieFab Finalist in Travel 2016 Readers’ Favorite Awards Gold Medal Winner in Non-Fiction: Travel In the 1960s and ’70s, thousands of baby boomers strapped packs to their backs and flocked to Europe, wandering the continent on missions of self-discovery. Many of these boomers still dream of “going back”—of once again cutting themselves free and revisiting the places they encountered in their youth, recapturing what was, and creating fresh memories along the way. Marianne Bohr and her husband, Joe, did just that. In Gap Year Girl, Bohr describes what it’s like to kiss your job good-bye, sell your worldly possessions, pack your bags, and take off on a quest for adventure. Page by page, she engagingly recounts the experiences, epiphanies, highs, lows, struggles, surprises, and lessons learned as she and Joe journey as independent travelers on a budget—through medieval villages and bustling European cities, unimaginable culinary pleasures, and the entertaining (and sometimes infuriating) characters encountered along the way. Touching on universal themes of escape, adventure, freedom, discovery, and life reimagined, Gap Year Girl is an exciting account of a couple’s experiences on an unconventional, past the-blush-of-youth journey. Author: Marianne Bohr Publication Date: September 1, 2015 -
For fans of McCarthy’s Bar, a debut memoir about a woman’s humorous and poignant solo adventures of self-discovery on Ireland’s backroads following a painful divorce. When an introverted, divorced, middle-aged mother and school librarian from the Midwest decides to leave her comfort zone and travel alone to Ireland, her desire to fulfill her dream overcomes her fear as she immerses herself into what will become an adventure of courage and self-discovery. Motivated by her love of Irish music and Celtic spirituality, along with her desire to find healing from depression and divorce, Diane sets off for Ireland, a country she’s been obsessed with for years. Her romantic preconceptions of the Emerald Isle quickly clash with reality, however, and while there she faces many obstacles, including driving the narrow, ill-marked roads throughout the countryside she traverses. Nevertheless, this first sojourn leads to three more trips over the next six years, and she gradually learns to navigate Ireland’s back roads—not to mention her own personal and spiritual roads toward self-discovery and acceptance. This heartfelt and humorous account of Diane’s adventures—including hanging out with an Irish rock band, traveling remote roads in search of a hermit nun, and meeting her favorite Irish musician not once but twice—is sure to inspire readers to get outside their own comfort zones and take some rewarding risks of their own. Author: Diane Hartman Publishing Date: September 30, 2025 -
Boston, 1984. Even in a world without cell phones, messages come through loud and clear if one is listening. When thirty-something Nora Forrest travels to Manhattan to see a Broadway play starring her idol, an aging Irish actor named Hugh Sheenan, she doesn’t know whether what happens in the theater that night should be credited to witchcraft, extrasensory perception, synchronicity, or simple accident—and she knows that many people would tell her nothing had happened at all. Told through the voices of four people, Gillyflower is a story about intersections and connections—real, imaginary, seized, and eluded. It’s a book about everyday magic, crystalline memory, and the details that flow through time and space like an electrified mist. It’s a detective story, a love story, and a coming-of-age story—for the never really young and for the almost old. Author: Diane Wald Publication Date: April 16, 2019 -
A bank internship in Japan’s booming 1981 economy is supposed to be twenty-three-year-old Dorothy Falwell’s ticket into a prestigious international MBA program. But the internship is unpaid―so, to make ends meet, she accepts an evening job as a hostess in a rundown suburban bar, a far cry from the sensuous woodblock prints she’s seen of old Tokyo’s “floating world.” Like her namesake, Dorothy hasn't planned on the detours she encounters in her own twisted version of Oz. Renamed Gina by her boss, she struggles with nightly indignities from customers and confusing advice from new friends. Then her internship crumbles and the suave but mysterious Mr. Tambuki offers help. How can she resist? With patience and the utmost respect for her opinions, Mr. Tambuki lures her into his exotic world of unorthodox Zen instruction, erotic art, and high-octane sex. Soon, bizarre sexual escapades with monks, salarymen, and gangsters begin to feel normal until one of her clients goes too far, and Dorothy realizes she’s in over her head. But can she find her way back from this point of no return? Author: Belle Brett Publication Date: September 25, 2018 -
Raw and riveting, Girl, Groomed is seasoned psychotherapist Carol Odell’s evolving story of coming to terms with the impacts of her own history of sexual abuse and violence at the hands of a predatory horse trainer who, for far too much of her young life, held all the reins. Set in the equestrian world of Virginia, this candid memoir details how, starting at ten years old, Carol falls under the spell of Clarentine, the charismatic—and explosively violent—owner of the stables just down the hill from her house. In tandem with that story, Carol examines the multi-faceted consequences of the complex trauma that resulted from the exploitive relationship Clarentine cultivated with her—including the resulting crisis she blindly imposes on her marriage. Chapters toggle back and forth between scenes of her childhood growing up jumping horses on the show circuit and the therapy sessions she later undergoes as an adult. Using her own journey as an example, Carol demonstrates in this insightful memoir how unintegrated trauma limits us and our connection with others—and how the work of uncovering and reintegrating “what we do with what happens to us” can become the very source of our liberation. Author: Carol Odell, LICSW Publication Date: April 22, 2025 -
At sixteen, Caroline longed to meet the man who owned the apartment she was hanging out at with her teenage friends. The one they said was a stripper—a fact that intrigued her. From the moment she finally saw Gary Richard, she craved his attention; and once their eyes met, he was all she wanted. Months later, she was dismayed to discover that she was pregnant. But she had Gary Richard, she reassured herself, and he was all she needed to be okay. A belief that didn’t change even when she held their week-old son in court, watching her boyfriend face charges for stolen property. This was her family, her life—so when Gary Richard’s lawyer suggested a ploy to show the judge he was a changed man, she married him. At seventeen years old, she became a wife. Over the next nine years, Caroline’s identity and dreams of a fairy-tale life became twisted by adultery, betrayal, poverty, court cases, and lies. And then, one evening, the reality of her marriage finally became clear to her after a sergeant revealed she was the victim of one of her husband’s crimes—statutory rape—and her son’s DNA was the evidence the prosecution needed to convict him. Author: Brandi Dredge Publication Date: October 22, 2024 -
At an early age, Gitel questions the expected roles of women in society and in Judaism. Born in Belorussia and brought to the US in 1911 as a child, she leads a life constrained by her religious Jewish parents. Forbidden from going to college and pushed into finding a husband, she marries Shmuel, an Orthodox Jewish pharmacist whose left-wing politics she admires. They plan to work together in a neighborhood pharmacy in Chicago—but when the Great Depression hits and their bank closes, their hopes are shattered. In the years that follow, Shmuel’s questionable decisions, his poor health, and his bad luck plague their marriage and leave them constantly in financial distress. Gitel dreams of going back to school to become a teacher once their one daughter reaches high school, but an unexpected pregnancy quashes that aspiration as well. And when, later, a massive stroke leaves Shmuel disabled, Gitel is challenged to combine caring for him, being the breadwinner at a time when women face salary discrimination, and being present for their second daughter. Offering an illuminating look at Jewish immigrant life in early-1900s America, Gitel’s Freedom is a compelling tale of women’s resourcefulness and resilience in the face of limiting and often oppressive expectations. Author: Iris Mitlin Lav Publication Date: March 25, 2025 -
2016 USA Best Book Awards: Literary Fiction, Finalist “[Meyers] weaves a strange pattern of beautifully detailed memories, tragic events, and science into an unforgettable tale of loss, longing, and the reality that one tries to escape in order to move on.” ―Booklist Charles Lang is a renowned scientist whose wife Julie and daughter Jess vanished mysteriously several years ago. Yet Charles remembers none of this, not even his own name. All that he has left of his identity are the accidental remnants scattered throughout the house, and the only clue Charles has regarding what happened to him is a thick cap of bandages wrapped around his head. As Charles starts to have memories of the past, memories that may or may not be his own, he realizes that only by uncovering the details of his former life will he have any hope of being reunited with Julie and Jess. A haunting tale of love and longing, of fate and free will, of the blurring lines between fiction and reality, Glass Shatters explores the dangers of trying to reinvent oneself. With the lyricism of Nicole Krauss, the exhilarating suspense of Kazuo Ishiguro, and the Gothic sensibility of Mary Shelley, Michelle Meyers’s debut novel showcases a daring new voice in the contemporary literary landscape. Author: Michelle Meyers Publication Date: April 12, 2017 -
Odile Atthalin was a young woman from a prominent, bourgeois family in Paris when she decided to leave home in search of meaning. All she knew was that she wanted to go East; but once she had separated from France and committed to creating a new life for herself, opportunities fell into place. After years of travels around the world, including a life-changing four years in an Indian ashram, Atthalin settled in Berkeley, CA, where she found all she needed: her first real home; a godson with special needs to nurture, to whom she became a devoted godmother; and a subculture of seekers, writers, guides, healers, artists, and spiritual creatives—a diverse tribe in which she could fit and finally felt she belonged. Author: Odile Atthalin Publication Date: June 20, 2017 -
Linda Olson and her husband, Dave Hodgens, were young doctors whose story had all the makings of a fairy tale. But then, while they were vacationing in Germany, a train hit their van, shattering their lives—and Linda’s body. When Linda saw Dave for the first time after losing her right arm and both of her legs, she told him she would understand if he left. His response: “I didn’t marry your arms or your legs. If you can do it, I can do it.” In order to protect their loved ones, they decided to hide the truth about what really happened on those train tracks, and they kept their secret for thirty-five years. As a triple amputee, Linda learned to walk with prostheses and change diapers and insert IVs with one hand. She finished her residency while pregnant and living on her own. And she and Dave went on to pursue their dream careers, raise two children, and travel the world. Inspiring and deeply moving, Gone asks readers to find not only courage but also laughter in the unexpected challenges we all face. The day of the accident, no one envied Linda and Dave. Today, many do. Author: Linda K. Olson Publication Date: October 27, 2020 -
What will the world look like in thirty years’ time? How will humanity survive the oncoming effects of climate change? Set in the near future and inspired by the world around us, Gravity Is Heartless is a romantic adventure that imagines a world on the cusp of climate catastrophe. The year is 2050: automated cities, vehicles, and homes are now standard, artificial Intelligence, CRISPR gene editing, and quantum computing have become a reality, and climate change is in full swing—sea levels are rising, clouds have disappeared, and the planet is heating up. Quinn Buyers is a climate scientist who'd rather be studying the clouds than getting ready for her wedding day. But when an unexpected tragedy causes her to lose everything, including her famous scientist mother, she embarks upon a quest for answers that takes her across the globe—and she uncovers friends, loss and love in the most unexpected of places along the way. Gravity Is Heartless is bold, speculative fiction that sheds a hard light on the treatment of our planet even as it offers a breathtaking sense of hope for the future. Author: Sarah Lahey Publication Date: June 2, 2020 -
“Every Philadelphian —make that anyone interested in democratic engagement and transparent governance—should read this book by a veteran Democratic Party committeeperson. A rigorous, completely absorbing case study of Philadelphia’s political structure, the book is both an insider’s guide and a primer on taking back the party. Frank in her assessments of the past and present, Bojar offers a seductive vision of a future party, transformed from the bottom up, and entreats readers to put down the book and make it happen.” —Belinda Davis, Professor of History, Rutgers University Drawing on the experiences of grassroots political activists from different socio- economic and ethnic backgrounds, Green Shoots of Democracy explores how self-identified progressives manage (or fail to manage) to work within a big city political machine. Although the book focuses on the work of progressives to foster democracy and transparency within the Philadelphia Democratic Party, lessons gleaned from their experiences are applicable beyond Philadelphia. Americans have long had a history of volunteerism; however, grassroots partisan politics is often not considered a worthy volunteer endeavor—not as worthy as, for example, working in a homeless shelter or a literacy center. Green Shoots of Democracy argues for a more democratic, transparent party structure—one that is sorely needed to counter the widespread perception that electoral politics is dirty business rather than an honorable civic project. Author: Karen Bojar Publication Date: August 2, 2016 -
“In Green-Light Your Book, Brooke Warner makes an argument for indie authorship that helps legitimize the field. Her voice is an important one in the conversation about what matters when it comes to modern-day publishing.” —Angela Bole, CEO and Executive Director of the Independent Book Publishing Association Green-Light Your Book is a straight-shooting guide to a changing industry. Written for aspiring authors, previously published authors, and independent publishers, it explains the ever-shifting publishing landscape and helps indie authors understand that they’re up against the status quo, and how to work within the system but also how to subvert the system in order to succeed. Green-Light Your Book seeks to equip authors and publishers with the language, knowledge, and skill sets they need to play big. Author:Brooke Warner Publication Date: June 14, 2016 -
In 1923, seventeen-year-old “Esther Grünspan arrives in Köln with a hardened heart as her sole luggage.” Thus she begins a twenty-two-year journey, woven against the backdrops of the European Holocaust and the Hindu Kali Yuga (the “Age of Darkness” when human civilization degenerates spiritually), in search of a place of sanctuary. Throughout her travails, using cunning and shrewdness, Esther relies on her masterful tailoring skills to help mask her heritage, navigate war-torn Europe, and emigrate to India. Esther’s traveling companion and the novel’s narrator is Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu God worshipped by millions for his abilities to destroy obstacles, bestow wishes, and avenge evils. Impressed by Esther’s fortitude and relentless determination, born of her deep—though unconscious—understanding of the meaning and purpose of love, Ganesha, with compassion, insight, and poetry, chooses to highlight her story because he recognizes it is all of everyone’s stories—for truth resides at the essence of its telling. Weaving Eastern beliefs and perspectives with Western realities and pragmatism, Guesthouse for Ganesha is a tale of love, loss, and spirit reclaimed. Author: Judith Teitelman Publication Date: May 7, 2019 -
Each eye-opening chapter in this self-help memoir highlights Tarot reader Jill Amy Sager’s self-discovery after unexpectedly channeling wisdom from the Universe. What she learned ignited profound change: she went from having grown up physically disabled and believing she is unlovable to feeling confident and content in her own skin. We all want to feel good about ourselves. Yet we can struggle far longer than we need to, unable to remove blocks getting in the way. We often feel stuck and forget to give ourselves the grace, acceptance, and compassion we so readily give to others. Here, Sager shares thirty insightful messages from a sage source she calls “Guidance” alongside illuminating personal stories that showcase how these teachings have improved her life. There are also thought-provoking questions to encourage your spiritual journey. This book is a wake-up call—a nourishing reminder that each of us matters, and therefore treating ourselves with kindness, love, and respect is essential. Guidance shows us how to relax into our natural state of being, feeling more at ease in our vast and beautiful hearts, and Sager’s stories illustrate just how attainable this state of being is. Ultimately, we discover that this enlightened life-changing shift is key to the happiness we seek and the welcomed harmony the world needs. Author: Jill Amy Sager Publication Date: January 7, 2025 -
As a horny little kid, Holly Lorka had no idea why God had put her in the wrong body and made her want to kiss girls. She had questions: Was she a monster? Would she ever be able to grow sideburns? And most importantly, where was her penis? The problem was, it was the 1970s, so there were no answers yet. Here, Lorka tells the story—by turns hilarious and poignant—of her romp through the first fifty years of her life searching for sex, love, acceptance, and answers to her questions. With a sharp wit, endearing innocence, and indelible sense of optimism, she struggles through the awkward years (spoiler: that’s all of them) and discovers that what she thought were mistakes are actually powerful tools to launch her into a magical—and ridiculous—life. Oh, and she discovers that she can buy a penis at the store, too. Author: Holly Lorka Publication Date: October 20, 2020 -
The American workplace has become toxic to mental, emotional, and physical health. A book for our complex and challenging times, Happier at Work offers a practical path for leaders and employees to shift a culture of fear and reactivity to one of communication and collaboration. Mindfulness and compassion come naturally to all of us, as does a fundamental goodness; in these pages, readers will discover how to access that true nature. Van Gils also explores the science behind practices that not only decrease stress, overwhelm, and chronic illness but also develop authentic, emotionally fit leaders and a compassionate workplace. Accessible and inspiring, Happier at Work is a guide to a transformed workplace―one of enhanced creativity, innovation, engagement, performance, and joy! Author: Gayle Van Gils Publication Date: June 30, 2017 -
Feeling crappy? Wanna be happier? Wanna up your game? Happy AF is your comprehensive roadmap for happiness. Drawing heavily from neuroscience, positive psychology, and behavioral science, the straightforward strategies and exercises in this how-to guide will teach you how to strengthen your happiness muscle and live up to your greatest potential. Happiness junky Beth Romero serves up a life-affirming parable laced with contextual how-tos—all backed by clinical research—in fresh, insightful, and accessible language you can relate to. Kinda like your best friend giving it to you straight (with love) over cocktails. In this book, you will discover: * the art of letting go * proven ways to jiu-jitsu your negative thoughts to transform your life * how goals, vision, purpose are the stepping-stones to greatness * the importance of gratitude and grace in your happiness journey * the scientific link between sleep, morning routines, diet, and exercise on your mental well-being * and much, much more! Happiness is a choice—and it’s within your reach. If you do the work. If you believe. Much like Dorothy with her ruby slippers, the power is always within you . . . just waiting for you to access it. So get ready to click your Manolos, Dr. Martens, or Adidas and find your happy place. Author: Beth Romero Pub Date: November 14, 2023 -
Abbie Rose Stone’s acquired wisdom runs deep, and so do her scars. She has successfully navigated the shoals of a long marriage, infertility, challenging children, and a career. Now it’s her turn to realize her dream: producing hard apple cider along the northern shores of Lake Michigan that she loves. She manages to resist new versions of the old pull of family dynamics that threaten to derail her plan―but nothing can protect her from the shock a lovely young stranger delivers when she exposes a long-held secret. In the wake of this revelation, Abbie must overcome circumstances that severely test her self-determination, her loyalties, and her understanding of what constitutes true family. Author: Barbara Stark-Nemon Publication Date: September 18, 2018 -
Arizona Territory, 1899. Ruby Fortune faces an untenable choice: murder her abusive husband or continue to live with bruises that never heal. One bullet is all it takes. Once known as “Girl Wonder” on the Wild West circuit, Ruby is now a single mother of four boys in her hometown of Jericho, an end-of-the-world mining town north of Tucson. Here, Ruby opens a roadside inn to make ends meet. Drifters, grifters, con men, and prostitutes plow through the hotel’s doors, and their escapades pepper the local newspaper like buckshot. An affair with an African American miner puts Ruby’s life and livelihood at risk, but she can’t let him go. Not until a trio of disparate characters—her dead husband’s sister, a vindictive shopkeeper, and the local mine owner she once swindled—threaten to ruin her does Ruby face the consequences of her choices; but as usual, she does what she needs to in order to provide for herself and her sons. Set against the breathtaking beauty of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert and bursting with Wild West imagery, history, suspense, and adventure, Hardland serves up a tough, fast-talking, shoot-from-the-hip heroine who goes to every length to survive and carve out a life for herself and her sons in one of the harshest places in the American West. Author: Ashley E. Sweeney Publication Date: September 13, 2022 -
Four young children caught between love and hate—hostages to the cruelty of revenge. A deceitful American father and a naïve decision by a Filipino mother transformed their lives forever. Valorie, Veronica, Vance, and Vincent’s perfect world turned into a nightmare one hot afternoon in 1959 in Cebu, Philippines. What was to be a quick lunch with their father turned into a flight to America, where four dreadfully long years of running from state to state, hiding, and vanishing into the night followed. Kidnapped from the only world they knew, confusion quickly set in. At nine, Valorie, the eldest, liked seeing their father after his absence for over a year. Vance, a timid six-year-old, went along with whatever Valorie did. Vincent, the baby at three, cried for his mother while clinging to Veronica for comfort. Veronica, eight, was the only one who was truly panicked by what was happening around them—and she recognized instantly that she and her siblings would have to stick together in order to survive. In that moment, her childhood ended and the warrior within her emerged. Moving from state to state and school to school, avoiding the law, looking over their shoulders at every turn, the four Slaughter children found themselves fighting not only the heartbreak of separation from their loving mother but also poverty, discrimination, and abuse. Their only weapons were their deep love for one another and an unwavering determination to survive the trials they faced—and find their way back to their mother. Author: Veronica Slaughter Publication Date: August 4, 2020 -
She didn’t see the hammer. For a fraction of a second JoAnne Jones saw a young black face, framed by a black hoodie, and then she descended into a place where she felt and saw nothing. Jones survived this sudden assault by a stranger, but it left her with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), fractured hands, and PTSD. Headstrong tells the story of how she learned to live with the daily challenges of TBI. It brings the reader into a life traumatized by violence and set in the context of a society full of violence and vocal, visible white supremacists. Woven throughout Jones’s account are the stories of how medical professionals, friends, family, and strangers became a foundation strong enough to hold her during the worst of times, and to give her the buoyancy to find a path toward hope. Author: JoAnne Silver Jones Publication Date: November 19, 2019 -
Whether you recently lost your cherished pet or know you soon will, this book is for you. Healing Wisdom for Pet Loss is designed to help readers understand the bond they have with their pets and why losing them is uniquely painful; aid them in understanding the grief they experience in the aftermath of that loss; and teach them the skills they need to process this loss. In these pages, licensed mental health counselor Anne Marie Farage-Smith offers detailed explanations of the types of grief that one may encounter upon the loss or impending loss of a pet and provides validation for the emotions experienced in relation to that loss. She also reminds readers that help is available, and gives actionable criteria for the reader to determine when professional assistance is needed and how to find it. Containing a variety of deliberately open-ended writing exercises Farage-Smith has seen help others to understand and heal their grief, as well as suggestions for a variety of ways to honor and remember one’s pet, Healing Wisdom for Pet Loss is the loving, supportive grief journey companion every bereaved pet parent needs. Author: Anne Marie Farrage-Smith Publication Date:June 4, 2024 -
Wanting to understand how her path is tied to her mother tongue, Anne, a young, multiracial American woman, travels through China, the country of her mother’s birth. Along the way, she tries on different roles—seeker, teacher, student, girlfriend, artist, and daughter—and continually asks herself: Why do I feel called to make this journey? Whether witnessing a Tibetan sky burial, teaching English at a university in Chengdu, visiting her grandmother in LA, or falling in love with a Chinese painter, Anne is always in pursuit of intimacy with others, even as she is all too aware of her silences and separation. For two years, she settles into a comfortable routine in her boyfriend’s apartment and regains fluency in Chinese, a language she spoke as a young child but has used less and less as an adult. Eventually, however, her desire to know herself in other ways surfaces again. She misses speaking English, she feels suffocated by urban, polluted China, and she starts to fall for another man. Ultimately, Anne realizes that to live her truth as a mixed-race, bilingual woman she must embrace all of her influences and layers. In a world that often wants us to choose a side or fit an ideal, she learns that she can both belong and not belong wherever she is, and that home is ultimately found within. Author: Anne Liu Kellor Publication Date: September 7, 2021 -
Anita Swanson Speake’s story begins with a diagnosis: idiopathic cardiomyopathy. At sixty-five, she had just found out that her heart was dying. When she got the news, she was in her late sixties. Her girls were raised and gone. Her three decades of high-stress nursing was behind her. She was living with her hopefully last, and certainly best, husband in a big, contemporary house with lots of glass on a lake in rural Northern California. She loved her life. But she didn’t love her scary new medical condition—or the many awful side effects of the medications her doctor promised would serve as a crutch for her heart. As she struggled with all this, Speake began to see herself as a member of the dying rather than the living. And over time, she began to ponder a new question: “Do I really want to get well?” Heartsong takes readers on an often humorous, sometimes sad journey through the best of Western medicine, complemented by a sampling of alternative and Eastern support systems—and through Speake’s evolving relationship with God—as she navigates this transition. Ultimately, with the help of her doctors, a Reiki practitioner, a Mindfulness coach, and her deep, abiding faith, Speake found renewed purpose late in a changing life—and realized God was waiting there for her all along. Author: Anita Swanson Speake Publication Date: May 14, 2019 -
“There is a magic at Hedgebrook and believe me, a major part of that magic is the food. I’ve always believed that good food equals good work. This book, just like Hedgebrook itself, is a gift for us all.” —Alice Sebold Hedgebrook is a literary nonprofit that supports the work of visionary women writers whose stories and ideas shape our culture now and for generations to come. Founded in 1988, Hedgebrook hosts a global community of writers through residencies and programs exclusively dedicated to supporting the creative process of women writers. Each evening, Hedgebrook residents gather in the farmhouse kitchen to share a home-cooked meal, their work, their process, and their stories. Meals at Hedgebrook are lovingly prepared using ingredients from Hedgebrook’s own organic garden. It is in this spirit that Hedgebrook devised the idea for The Hedgebrook Cookbook. Recipes from the kitchen and writing from our alumnae community, including Gloria Steinem, Jane Hamilton, Ruth Ozeki and others, bring the essence of radical hospitality from our farmhouse table to yours. Author: Denise Barr and Julie Rosten Publication Date: May 15, 2013 -
“Her Beautiful Brain is a daring and ambitious memoir that bestows unexpected rewards on the reader.” ―David Takami, Seattle Times “Unflinching, tragic and compassionate.” ―Shelf Awareness “In this poetic memoir, Hedreen mixes details from her own life with details about her mother's struggle with Alzheimer's disease... Candid, sometimes funny and always poignant.” ―Booklist Arlene was a twice-divorced, once-widowed copper miner’s daughter who raised six kids singlehandedly and got her bachelor’s and master’s degree at forty so she could support her family. In her late fifties, she started showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease—and in the two decades that followed, her children were forced to stand helplessly by as their mother’s once-beautiful brain slowly unraveled. In this poignant memoir, Ann Hedreen gives shattering insight into what it is to watch your mother—a woman you once thought of as invincible—begin to disappear. From Seattle to Haiti to the mine-gouged Finntown neighborhood in Butte, Montana where Arlene was born and raised, Her Beautiful Brain tells the heartbreaking story of a daughter’s love for a mother lost in the wilderness of an unpredictable and harrowing illness. Author: Ann Hedreen Publication Date: September 16, 2014 -
“Her Name is Kaur pushes past the boundaries of romance to illuminate the love at the very heart of faith. In this groundbreaking book, Meeta Kaur has gathered a diverse and fresh group of stories of growing up Sikh and redneck, Sikh and queer, Sikh and daydreaming, Sikh and heartbroken, Sikh and deeply beloved. Whether discussing the everyday (mother-in-law conflicts) or the taboo (mental illness), these women writers share colorful, intense, and engaging adventures that range from Los Altos to Toronto to Chandigarh. This collection deserves a place on the shelf of everyone interested in South Asian cultures, women of America, and just good storytelling.” —Minal Hajratwala, author of Leaving India: My Family’s Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents Sikh American women do the lion’s share of organizing and executing the business of the Sikh community, and they straddle multiple lives and worlds—cross-cultural, interreligious, intergenerational, occupational, and domestic—yet their experiences of faith, family, and community are virtually invisible in the North American milieu and have yet to be understood, documented, or shared. Until now. In Her Name is Kaur, Sikh American women explore the concept of love from many angles, offering rich, critical insight into the lives of Sikh women in America. Through a chorus of multi-generational voices—in essays ranging in tone from dramatic to humorous—they share stories of growing into and experiencing self-love, spiritual love, love within family, romantic love, the love they nurture for humanity and the world through their professional work, and more. Eye-opening and multifaceted, this collection of stories encourages its readers to take the feeling of love and turn it into action—practical action that will make the world a better place to be for everyone, regardless of their faith or creed. Author: Meeta Kaur Publication Date: June 17, 2014 -
After a lifetime of seeking all things spiritual, wellness, and at times woo-woo, Paige Davis finds herself facing a breast cancer diagnosis at thirty-eight years old. She quickly realizes, however, that cancer is not her crisis point but a landing pad of experiences that’s inviting her to integrate her mind, body, and spirit. Ultimately, she embraces her diagnosis through a lens of love rather than as a battle to be fought—a perspective that allows her to find peace in the present moment, and heal from the inside out. In Here We Grow, Davis provides a refreshing new paradigm of integrative living that doesn’t deny the hardship of a situation, but instead encourages meeting difficulty through embodied heart-centered presence. Utilizing mindfulness, meditation, and mind-body disciplines, she shares a tool kit for transformation as she learns to befriend her body, cope through compassion, face survivor’s guilt, create a “new normal” post treatment, and discover the unexpected awakening of intuition and open-heartedness in the healing journey. Filled with honesty, humor, and present-moment awareness that reveals our true capacity for joy, connection, grace, and resilience, Here We Grow is Davis’s story of meeting fear and uncertainty with mindfulness, meaning, and the unconditional love inherent in us all. Author: Paige Davis Publication Date: May 22, 2018 -
“Alice McDowell has brought us a gem with Hidden Treasure! She has masterfully shared with us her in-depth knowledge and clinical experience working with the 5 Belief Systems / Character Structure. The material is clear, practical, easy to understand, and the exercises are sure to deepen self-awareness on one’s transformational journey.” —Anne Hoye, Dean, Barbara Brennan School of Healing and The Brennan Institute Do you long to live a more authentic life but feel you might be getting in your own way? In Hidden Treasure, author Alice McDowell reveals five personality patterns that cause unnecessary suffering and block individuals from living a full and radiant life. These patterns can be so ingrained that they influence body shape and even who a person thinks they are. Through a series of exercises, compelling true stories, fun cartoons, and spiritual insights, McDowell offers individuals and groups an opportunity to learn about and break free of these patterns, and provides guidelines for readers to join or create a Hidden Treasure group for ongoing exploration. No matter a person’s age or background, Hidden Treasure can light the way to softening and healing these patterns—and restoring their true self and spiritual identity in the process. Author: Alice McDowell Publication Date: November 14, 2017 -
Karen Solt, an eighteen-year-old nonconformist with an alcohol problem, is working at a gas station when a slick Navy recruiter railroads her into enlisting in the military. Before she knows it, she is on a ship in the Deep South, struggling to navigate not only a world much different from her small Northern Arizona hometown but also her new discovery: she’s gay. Figuring out her sexuality clarifies many things, but also creates a daunting new set of problems, for Karen. It’s 1984: being gay in the Navy is considered a crime, and gay Sailors are regularly hunted by the Navy Criminal Investigative Service. Discovery means being kicked out, and by this point she is committed to the uniform (and to remaining with her first girlfriend, who is also enlisted). So she learns to hide her secret and find a way to serve—and even thrive professionally—without getting caught. But concealing her truth ultimately leads to devastating consequences. A story of desire, addiction, the damage of secrets, the power of community, and the soul-crushing cost of turning people into “others,” Hiding for my Life is a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit—and a poignant call for each of us to come out from hiding and live our truth. Author: Karen Solt Publication Date: June 4, 2024 -
Fans of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild will root for Anne Abel as she intrepidly sets out alone for Australia at the age of sixty, seeking to capture some Bruce Springsteen energy and fight off her lifelong, debilitating depression. At the age of fifty-nine, Anne has never been to a concert. Then, she reluctantly goes to a Bruce Springsteen concert—a man she knows nothing about—to spend time with her son and daughter-in-law. For three-plus hours Bruce Springsteen’s energy, humanity, and enthusiasm lift her out of her lifelong depression and makes her feel alive. A year later, due to increasing classroom violence where she taught, Anne walks out the door thinking, I’m never coming back. But, getting into her car to go home, she realizes that because she suffers with severe recurrent depression, without the structure and focus of teaching she will be at risk for falling into a deep depression. She’s been inpatient twice at a psychiatric hospital, had three regimens of electroconvulsive shock therapy, and tried over twenty medications. Anne needs a new and different plan. Then she remembers: in four months Bruce Springsteen will be touring in Australia. So even though Anne hates to travel and be alone, she books the trip. Eight concerts, five cities, twenty-six days. She hopes that harnessing some of Bruce Springsteen’s energy will keep her out of the abyss. Anne doesn’t go on this trip to change. But much to her surprise, she returns home a different person. Author: Anne Abel Publication Date: September 23, 2025 -
“Don’t be silly! Girls can’t fly,” seven-year-old Lola’s father admonishes her as they fly across Canada on a commercial flight in 1962. She is crushed—but decides he must be right. She’s only ever seen male pilots, after all.
Highway to the Sky begins during the empty zone of women in aviation, a three-decade drought following WWII when men reclaimed the jobs that had been performed by women during the war and forced women back to diapers and dishes, where they “belonged.”
Despite Lola’s childhood desire to avoid the straitjacket of traditional female roles and become a pilot, her desperate need for unconditional affection after a lonesome childhood sways her determination. At age twenty, she leaps into marriage and motherhood. Four years, one toxic relationship, and one private pilot license later, she leaves her husband, even though she knows she’ll be censured by friends, family, and 1970s society at large.
Lola’s head-on battle with tradition continues as the lone female pilot in her advanced flight training program and on the job as a flight instructor, bush pilot, charter pilot, and commuter airline pilot between 1979 and 1993. Flying is challenging at times, yes—but her true obstacles are the hostility, sabotage, and discrimination she faces in her industry. She perseveres, however. Ultimately, flying is what gives her the courage to regain control of her life—and helps her find personal happiness.
Author: Lola Reid Allin Publication date: September 17, 2024 -
In Hippie Chick, a rebellious teenager finds her mother dead in the bathroom. To save her from living alone with a difficult father, her older sister sends her a one-way plane ticket to leave New Jersey. Landing in San Francisco, she is thrust into a lifestyle way beyond what she is ready for, and that challenges all previous notions of how one behaves. It is 1963, and we are brought along as Ilene becomes immersed in the unfolding of the sixties during the earliest days of sexual freedom, psychedelic drugs, the jazz scene, and rock ’n’ roll. This is a deeply personal story of how one young woman manages to survive and even to thrive in the face of the whirlwind of experiences coming at her. It is filled with a rich tapestry of moments that run the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous, and everything in between. Author: Ilene English Publication Date: September 10, 2019 -
Sarah Golden and Jackie Larsen promised their partners they were out of the detective business. They declared “game over” after both of them almost lost their lives trying to solve their last medical mystery, and they’re happy with that decision: Sarah has finally allowed love and romance into her life, Jackie’s marriage is solid, and Jackie’s son, Wyatt, is still doing great with his year-old kidney transplant. So when they go on their dream trip to Cuba, they are not looking for trouble. But all their plans go out the window when a desperate plea from a Cuban transplant surgeon puts the duo in serious danger with the Cuban government on the same day the four most prominent immunologists in the world—doctors who were on the verge of solving the huge rejection issues that have plagued the transplant community for over fifty years—are killed in a car accident in Chicago. Soon, Sarah and Jackie find themselves dragged into the bowels of investigating venture capitalists and corporate greed—a terrain they know nothing about. As they uncover suspect clinical trials at major US transplant centers, including Sarah’s, their usual friends Biker Bob and Officer Handsome aren’t able to help them much, but they do receive assistance from an unlikely source: Sergio, who they helped to land in prison in Florida (and who is trying to win back his girlfriend), offers his help from the inside. Sarah and Jackie are armed with smarts, humor, and enough persistence to help them face the white-collared demons of corporate America—but with dangerous players gunning for them and death threats being made against their families, will they be able to solve this mystery before someone else gets hurt? Author: Amy S. Peele Publication Date: October 4, 2022 -
What happens when a seemingly ordinary woman with a passion for the arts falls in love with a Hollywood star known for his bachelor status and quick temper with the paparazzi? Something extraordinary. Dee Schwartz is a writer and arts researcher. Ryder Field is a famous actor descended from Hollywood royalty. On the night they meet outside a bar, their connection is palpable. Ryder’s mother—legendary actress Rebecca Field, half of Hollywood’s golden couple when she died—was kidnapped and murdered by a crazed fan in a shocking event that forever tarnished Tinseltown. Dee’s mother, too, died when she was young. Bonded by this loss, the two embark on a love story that explores their search for magic—or “gold dust”—in their lives. Everything changes, however, when Dee mysteriously disappears after an awards ceremony. Is history repeating itself? Can there truly be a happily ever after in Hollywood? Set against the backdrop of contemporary Los Angeles, Hollyland is a poignant novel that moves fluidly between romance, humor, suspense, and joy. Pub Date: April 4, 2023 Author: Patricia Leavy -
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 -
A fictional diary set in interwar Germany and Spain allows us to peek into the life of Klara Philipsborn, the only Communist in her merchant-class, German-Jewish family.Klara’s first visit to Seville in 1925 opens her eyes and her spirit to an era in which Spain’s major religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, shared deep cultural connections. At the same time, she is made aware of the harsh injustices that persist in Spanish society. By 1930, she has landed a position with the medical school in Madrid. Though she feels compelled to hide her Jewish identity in her predominantly Christian new home, she finds that she feels less “different” in Spain than she did in Germany, especially as she learns new ways of expressing her opinions and desires. And when the Spanish Civil War erupts in 1936, Klara (now “Clara”) enlists in the Fifth Regiment, a step that transports her across the geography of the embattled peninsula and ultimately endangers a promising relationship and even Clara’s life itself. A blending of thoroughly researched history and engrossing fiction, Home So Far Away is an epic tale that will sweep readers away. Author: Judith Berlowitz Pub Date: June 21, 2022 -
So much of our world today is crying out for welcome, refuge, and belonging. Homes with Heart is both inspiration and guide for people to create home in the world: first, through their own living spaces; second, within families of choice; and third, through supportive communities. While author Ruth Frost includes elements of home design, she also delves deeply into making home in the world through the power of love in community and offers practical tools to help people overcome obstacles associated with home living, such as homes obstructed by clutter, homes associated with traumatic events, or homes that need to support families in transition. Sharing both from Frost’s own life experience and that of others including children, refugees, trauma survivors, and home hospice patients Homes with Heart extends well beyond “bricks and mortar”; it deals with who we are and how we live in the world within and beyond the walls that shelter us, inspiring laughter and tears in equal measure. Publication Date: June 29, 2021 Author: Ruth Frost -
Indiana University, September 1963. Meri Henriques, a naïve freshman from New York, arrives on campus thinking she’s about to enroll at an idyllic Midwestern college. Instead, she discovers a storm is brewing. An intriguing cast of characters inhabits Meri’s new and often troubled world: Katherine “Pixie” Gates, Meri’s charming and quirky roommate; Rose, brilliant and sarcastic fellow New Yorker; Daniel, a tough radical with a tender heart; folk singer Derek Stone, Meri’s heartthrob crush; and Shennandoah Waters, a white coed who only dates black men or exotic foreigners, much to her ultra-conservative parents’ horror. Over the course of Meri’s first year at college, tragedy strikes twice: John Kennedy is assassinated, and a young, black IU basketball player is castrated and thrown into a ditch—murdered for dating a white coed. And finally, that year’s commencement ceremonies bring an infamous symbol of white supremacy to campus, endangering anyone who dared to protest—thrusting Meri into the middle of violent and escalating racial tensions. Vivid and compelling, Hoosier Hysteria is a timely story of prejudice and political unrest that, today more than ever before, must be told. Author: Meri Henriques Vahl Publication Date: July 18, 2018 -
Hope Is a Bright Star is the story of a mother’s journey from shock and fear at her young daughter’s cancer diagnosis to anguish and despair at her death just a year later—and, finally, to peace and acceptance of her new life. When thirteen-year-old Elizabeth is diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, Faith is in awe of her courageous child, who faces her plight straight on and inspires all who meet her. Despite an army of medical professionals who provide innovative care for Elizabeth, she dies, and Faith and her surviving daughter, Olivia, are thrown into a maelstrom of grief. They find unexpected comfort in the arms of their family, friends, and community—but Faith faces another shock when she has her own cancer diagnosis while navigating the uncharted waters of a life she never expected. In time, Faith discovers moments and places of comfort and peace, and she slowly changes from a mother in despair to a woman with hope for the future. At turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, Hope Is a Bright Star reveals how abiding love can heal a family. Publication Date: June 8, 2021 Author: Faith Fuller Wilcox -
Her mom was working as a maid. Her dad’s Alzheimer’s was in high gear. And the rent on her parents’ small Chicago apartment had just gone up. Again. But Lori was holding it all together: helping care for her dad and pay her family’s bills, figuring out how to navigate graduate school and four jobs on top of her family responsibilities, and, somehow, continuing to believe that there was more to life than this. And there was. An exciting job teaching at a prestigious school in China. Although the previous month, she had turned down a job offer in Iowa―thinking it was too far away from her family―she felt completely at ease accepting the job in China. Grasping on to the fierce determination she’d had since childhood, Lori found herself in Guangzhou, China, where she fell in love with the culture and with a man from a tiny town in Hubei province. What followed was a transformative adventure―one that will inspire readers to use the bitter to make life even sweeter. Author: Lori Qian Publication Date: August 13, 2019
