From Carnegie Hall to the smoky jazz clubs of London, Body & Soul burns with passion and truth--at once a riveting, compulsive read and a breathtaking glimpse into a boy's heart and an artist's soul.

     Tracy Ellison, a young knockout with tall hair and attitude, is living life as fast as she can. Motivated by the material world, she and her friends love and leave the young men who will do anything to get next to them. It's only when the world of gratuitous sex threatens heartbreak that Tracy begins to examine her life, her goals, and her sexuality.

    Everyone thought little Sunny had perished with Lady Gallagher in storm–tossed seas off the Arabian coast, but the beautiful toddler had been found, taken to the palace of Darhabar, and raised as the ruler’s own child. Now the emir, Ahmad Khan, is sending her home, and Sunny’s uncertain, new life is completely in God’s hands. This classic series, which has sold more than 375,000 copies, has a fresh, new look sure to please Lori Wick’s longtime fans and readers just discovering the treasure of a great story.

    Victor is the stoic, handsome son of an alcoholic father who has abandoned his family. Thomas is a gregarious, goofy young man who lost both his parents in a fire at a very young age. Through storytelling, Thomas makes every effort to connect with the people around him: Victor, in contrast, uses his quiet countenance to gain strength and confidence.When Victor's estranged father dies, the two men embark on an adventure to Phoenix to collect the ashes. Along the way, Smoke Signals illustrates the ties that bind these two very different young men and embraces the lessons they learn from one another.

    Series premiere special price! The Prussian Baron von Dortmann and his daughter face the uncertainty of life just before WW II as their faith and relationships are tested.

    These 22 interlinked tales are narrated by characters raised on humiliation and government-issue cheese, and yet are filled with passion and affection, myth and dream. There is Victor, who as a nine-year-old crawled between his unconscious parents hoping that the alcohol seeping through their skins might help him sleep. Thomas Builds-the-Fire, who tells his stories long after people stop listening, and Jimmy Many Horses, dying of cancer, who writes letters on stationary that reads "From the Death Bed of James Many Horses III," even though he actually writes them on his kitchen table. Against a backdrop of alcohol, car accidents, laughter, and basketball, Alexie depicts the distances between Indians and whites, reservation Indians and urban Indians, men and women, and most poetically, between modern Indians and the traditions of the past.

    Lee Reston, a widow in her mid-forties, had a full and rewarding life with her three incredible children and a thriving florist business. And like most of us, Lee never imagined how she would cope if that which was most precious was taken from her ...Then came the shattering news that turned her life upside down: Lee's oldest son, Greg, is killed in a motorcycle accident. In her anguish and grief, she turns to police officer Christopher Lallek, Greg's best friend; together they grieve for Greg and begin to heal their pain. As their friendship blossoms, Chris becomes part of the family, helping with odd jobs around the house and joining in family dinners and backyard barbecues. Soon, Lee realizes she's experiencing feelings she never thought she'd feel again--she's falling in love with this serious, gentle young man--and wonders what the world will think of their unexpected love affair. She finds her answer close to home, for Lee's daughter has feelings of her own for Chris. Now the family that was once the core of her existence becomes a mixed blessing, as Lee must confront her own children to understand where family ties end -- and a woman's need for love begins ...A widow is torn between her family and a new, young love... "A moving tale." (Publishers Weekly)

    She writes the kind of fiction that celebrates the flawed dignity of the human and reminds us all of the fine venture of living in grace and hope in the worlds we are born to and make.

    Now Mark is caught between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years. Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And Reggie will do anything to protect her client --even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom... or cost them both their lives.

    In Sean Donovan, Patrick's only son abandons all he has loved - home, family, and God - in a desperate flight that nearly ends at the gallows. Rescued by a marriage of convenience, Sean's repentant heart just might change his new bride's mind when it comes to loving him. In Donovan's Daughter, Sean's younger sister Marcail is also determined to escape Santa Rosa. But when the young woman is thrust into a small-town scandal that threatens her brand new teaching career, she must choose whether to hold on to her dreams or choose an unexpected path. Historically accurate and uplifting, here are two masterful tales of love, faith, and courage in early California.

    This new collection of stories from the multi-award-winning author of Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog contains:A Letter from the ClearysAt the RialtoDeath on the NileThe Soul Selects Her own SocietyFire WatchInside JobEven the QueenThe Winds of Marble ArchAll Seated on the GroundLast of the WinnebagosTen stories - which have all won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award or both - are compulsory reading for the serious science fiction fan.

    And a new generation of Kents clawed for wealth as an immigrant horde poured in from across the sea. Gideon Kent, his life on the wane, frets over his lost dynasty. Eleanor, his actress-daughter, learns what it is to love an outsider in this land of the free, while Carter drifts cross-country in search of a lazy fortune. It falls to young Will to redeem Philip Kent's American dream. THE AMERICANS is the eighth and final installment of the Kent Family Chronicles.

    Radiant, headstrong Sophia and her shy, brilliant daughter, Margaret, possess powerful charms to ward off loneliness, despair, and the human misery that often beats a path to their door. And they are protected by the eccentric wisdom and muscular love of the remarkable matriarch Charlie Kate, a solid, uncompromising, self-taught healer who treats everything from boils to broken bones to broken hearts.Sophia, Margaret, and Charlie Kate find strength in a time when women almost always depended on men, and their bond deepens as each one experiences love and loss during World War II. Charms for the Easy Life is a passionate, luminous, and exhilarating story about embracing what life has to offer, even if it means finding it in unconventional ways.

    As the emotionally scarred Lovejoys prepare for their mother’s funeral, the spirit of the selfish and manipulative Mudear hovers above them, complaining about her daughters’ “ugly ways” in death as she did in life.

    Despite her arthritis, Mary, an elderly grandmother, is determined to make one final quilt in order to pass along her spiritual legacy to her family and friends.

    In 1970, ex-Navy SEAL John Kelly juggles two missions--a private vendetta and the Pentagon's rescue mission of American POWs.Part II is ISBN 0-7366-2604-2 10 cassettes

    Jefferson, a young black man, is an unwitting party to a liquor store shoot out in which three men are killed; the only survivor, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, who left his hometown for the university, has returned to the plantation school to teach. As he struggles with his decision whether to stay or escape to another state, his aunt and Jefferson's godmother persuade him to visit Jefferson in his cell and impart his learning and his pride to Jefferson before his death. In the end, the two men forge a bond as they both come to understand the simple heroism of resisting and defying the expected. Ernest J. Gaines brings to this novel the same rich sense of place, the same deep understanding of the human psyche, and the same compassion for a people and their struggle that have informed his previous, highly praised works of fiction.

     Jurassic ParkOn a remote jungle island genetic engineers have created a dinosaur game park. Then a rival firm tries to steal embryos, and the nightmare begins. Congo Three intrepid adventurers plunge into the heart of Africa in a desperate bid for the fabulous diamonds of the Lost City of Zinj.

    So I record it now for all future generations to accept or dismiss as seems them good. As for me, I believe. And it is, after all, my story." So begins "The Christmas Box, " the touching story of a widow and the young family who moves in with her. Together they discover the first gift of Christmas and learn what Christmas is really all about. "The Christmas Box" is a Christmas story unlike any other.

    But innocence can't last forever... The only family Ruby Landry has ever known are her loving guardian, Grandmère Catherine, a Cajun spiritual healer, and her drunken, outcast Grandpère Jack. Although thinking about her dead mother and mysterious father sometimes makes her feel as mournful as the wind sighing through the Spanish moss, Ruby is grateful for all she has. Her life is filled with hope and promise...especially when her attraction for handsome Paul Tate blossoms into a mysterious, wonderful love. But Paul's wealthy parents forbid him to associate with a poor Landry, and Grandmère urges her to follow her dream of becoming a great painter, foreseeing a time when Ruby will be surrounded with riches in the dazzling city of New Orleans! Yet she cannot know how close that uncertain future looms.... In a faded photograph, Ruby glimpses for the first time the image of her father -- and learns of a shameful deception and a shocking scheme of blackmail that now must come to light. Stunned by these revelations, she is devastated when Grandmère dies, leaving her to seek out her father in his vast New Orleans mansion. There, in a house of lies, madness, and cruel torment, Ruby clings to her memories of Paul to keep her heart alive. For only their love can save her now....

    "Until that moment, I hadn't realized how much I'd been needing to meet someone I might be able to say everything to."They met at a party.  It was hate at first sight.  Ruth was far too beautiful, too flamboyant.  Not at all Ann's kind of person.  Until a chance encounter in the bathroom led to an alliance of souls.  Soon they were sharing hankies during the late showing of "Sophie's Choice," wolfing down sundaes sodden with whipped cream, telling truths of marriage, mortality, and love, secure in a kind of intimacy no man could ever know.  Only best friends understand devil's food cake for breakfast when nothing else will do.  After years of shared secrets, guilty pleasures, family life and divorce, they face a crisis that redefines the meaning of friendship and unconditional love.

    The feisty, quick-witted, fiercely Catholic spinster travels to Italy and Ireland to shake off the malaise of a forced retirement. There, against the backdrop of IRA and Islamic terrorism, she confronts the love of her life, a priest who has betrayed her by concealing his clerical identity. Back home in Staggerford, Minnesota, two spiteful acquaintances smear Agatha’s good name with malicious stories. With the sure touch of a narrative master, Jon Hassler blends gentle satire and acute insight in a compelling story of loss, forgiveness, and renewal.

    Like her extraordinary novel, McCracken's stories are a delightful blend of eccentricity and romanticism. In the title story, a young man and his wife are intrigued and amused when a peculiar unknown aunt announces a surprise visit—only the old woman can't be traced on the family tree. In "What We Know About the Lost Aztec Children," the "normal" middle-class son of a former circus performer (the Armless Woman) must suddenly confront his mother's pain. In "It's Bad Luck to Die," a young woman discovers that her husband's loving creations—he's a tattoo artist—make her feel at home in her skin for the first time. Daring, offbeat, and utterly unforgettable, Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry is the work of an unparalleled young storyteller who possesses a rare insight and unconventional wisdom far beyond her years. Her stories will steal your heart.It's bad luck to die --Some have entertained angels, unaware --Here's your hat what's your hurry --The bar of our recent unhappiness --Mercedes Kane --What we know about the lost Aztec children --June --Secretary of State --The goings-on of the world

    Stories of humor and despair, along with her ongoing remarks about camping, cooking, and quilting on the wagon trail make you feel as if you pulled up stakes and are traveling with the Pieratt’s, too.But hints of the brewing trouble ahead plagued them along the way as people questions their motive for settling in the new territory. If they are from the South, why don’t they have slaves with them? Would the Pieratt’s vote for or against legal slavery in the new state? Though Deborah does not realize it, her letters show how this trip affected her family for generations to come.This series is based on author Linda K. Hubalek's ancestors that traveled from Kentucky to Kansas in 1854. Twelve old quilt patterns are mentioned in the letters, and the sketched designs are in the back of the book for reference.

    She is marrying a handsome young man who will inherit wealth and influence from his cattle-baron father. But the reverberations of a murderer's bullet echo far down the corridors of her life and change everything for Deborah.From the plains of Texas to the Indian Territories of Kansas, Deborah finds herself faced with all the beauty, savagery, and challenges of the Old West. And along the way a tiny seed of faith is planted and the characteristics that will become her distinctive mark strength, independence, honor and faith in a God who is bigger than the land ever noted for its awesome size will begin to develop.

    Along with his roommate, an arsonist named Firebug, Miguel tries to fit a lifetime of partying, casual sex, and high times into a few short years. But when he meets the beautiful and practical-minded Cristalena, the shallowness and imminent danger of his world come crashing home. Tense, gritty, and moving, written in the fast, rhythmic language of the streets, "Spidertown" captures a world where children own guns, where death is a part of everyday life, and where, miraculously, hope manages to survive.

    This luminous journey is marked by memories of his lonely childhood, secrets of his doomed young mother, and his passion for a woman who is as unreachable as the stars.

    The prospect of the long trip back from where she came, to make her boys spend Christmas traveling, is too painful to face. With all her strength, she prevails upon her fiancé's partner to allow her and her boys to see the place where they had pinned all their hopes, and to be able to spend at least Christmas at the ranch that was to be her home. Monroe Locket wants no part of a widow-woman mail-order bride, nor her snot-nosed boys. He can’t manage to deny her, however, and nothing he does seems to daunt her. Olivia is one determined woman, who makes biscuits better than any two angels trying hard in heaven, and who manages to bring Christmas right along with her. Once Upon A Christmas is a revised edition of a novella long out of print. With it, Curtiss Ann Matlock once again gives us a space to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the holidays, to lift our hearts, and to experience the joy beyond reason.***originally appeared in the anthology 1993 Keepsake Christmas Stories

    Here is the place to keep them.First there was To Our Children's Children: Preserving Family Histories for Generations to Come. A collection of over one thousand evocative questions, the book offered a very personal, human approach to genealogy, awakening readers to the possibility of creating a family history through the simple act of remembering. From this book, hundreds of thousands of individuals have learned the value of passing on family treasures made of words. However, readers kept asking Bob Greene and D.G. Fulford for a version of the book with room to record the answers. The To Our Children's Children Journal is just that: a handy and beautiful journal posing 365 questions (one for each day of the year), with ample space for families to write their own answers. Approachable, enjoyable, and thought-provoking, the Journal is a pleasure to read and to ponder--something that, once completed, will become a lasting part of any family's history, to be put on the bookshelf and treasured for generations to come.

    Gradually he learns the violent history of the house's owner, the fierce, saturnine Heathcliff and the thwarted love that has led him to exact terrible revenge on the two families that have sought to oppose him.Since its original publication in 1847, Emily Bronte's only novel, whether repelling, captivating or intriguing different generations of readers, has never relaxed its powerful grip on the public, and the figure of the haunted, brutal Heathcliff has become part of Britain's cultural mythology.This edition also includes over sixty of Emily Bronte's poems, an introduction, notes, text summary, selected criticism and a chronology of Emily Bronte's life and times.(back cover)

    Packer. “This is a Christmas parable.” With that introduction, President Packer relates the tender story of a man whose strange dream during a difficult Christmas season awakens him to the reality of the Savior's atonement. This meaningful story is highlighted by President Packer's own paintings. A Christmas gift sure to be remembered.

    A fighter from the French Underground is appointed to help him and becomes a friend. When they stumble upon stolen Nazi treasure, they uncover a conspiracy at the highest levels on both sides of the conflict—and mortal danger to themselves.The lovely diplomat also assigned to the same border has lived through her own personal battle during the war years. She now guardedly lets down some inner barriers to reach out to the bands of impoverished German children left orphaned and abandoned by the war. Her compassion, seen in very practical ways, has far-reaching impact, and the two soldiers gradually are drawn into her humanitarian efforts. And then the two friends discover their common interest in her … The first in an explosive new historical fiction series!

    Tony Award-winning Dewhurst presents a remarkable performance.Read by Colleen Dewhurst.2 audiocassettes (155 min.) : analog.Contents:Babette's feast --Sorrow-acre.

    In this unforgettable memoir, John Foster recounts the life and death of his lover, Juan Cespedes. This unlikely love story takes in much of the twentieth century seen from the angle of the outsider: Juan is the refugee from oppression, the immigrant trying to make it, the early victim of a spreading plague. John is the sophisticate from a first-world culture, who fully embraces his unexpected love. This is the rarest of things--a book full of intelligence and laughter that tells of terrible events with intimacy and grace.

    A single woman in an Amish community where marriage and children are the expectation for every woman. After seeing her aged parents through their final illnesses, Miriam is now finally ready to begin her own life. But is it too late for the husband and children she longs for?

    . . or is it? Sixteen years ago Carly Hargrove made a decision that would irrevocably alter her life. With little comprehension of the life-long consequences of her actions, she trades her own future happiness to protect the man she's loved since kindergarten, David Montgomery.With an ocean separating them, Carly builds a life for herself without David. She's the mother of three, lives in a beautiful house, and is married to a man who comes home every night—even if most of those nights he drinks too much. What more could she want?Her answer arrives on a cold fall day when David shows up at her door. In town for his father's funeral, he has come to see Carly one last time, hoping to rid himself of the anger that still consumes him.Instead, he is drawn into a web of secrets that rekindles the fierce need he once felt to protect Carly. He becomes caught up in her life in a way he never could have imagined—a way that will bind him to her forever.

    An invaluable book for those who participate in the writing process, as well as those who enjoy the end result. "Willard's perspective on the relationship between writing and personal experience is uniquely enlightening and affirmative" (Robert Pack, Director, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference).

    When you've done your best, the authors give you answers that have come down through time. Can you outthink the sages, or will they help you out of a tight spot?

    Schooled in the ways of kings and surrounded by splendor, Afton falls in love with the earl’s son, brave, Calhoun, her childhood protector.But Calhoun’s mother, the Lady Endeline, has much different plans for him than marriage to a villein’s daughter. Suddenly Afton’s world is torn viciously apart. She is cast out of the castle, given to a man she fears and despises as a reward for his loyalty—an all too clear reminder that, for all her dreams, she is nothing but a villein.Now all she has left is a burning desire for vengeance . . .

    Focusing on the cultural pages of three major daily newspapers of the period, Robin Pickering-Iazzi discovered a wealth of contributions by famous and less-known woman that have been unavailable to readers in Italy as well as the United States for over 60 years. Expertly translated, these 16 stories are evidence not only of the high literary quality of this body of work but also of resistance to the self-sacrificing ideal of the "New Woman" of Fascism. The memorable female characters in Unspeakable Women adopt a varying strategies to create their own identities and agency regarding writing, sexuality, marriage, and family-all in opposition to the repressive norms of the culture. The stories are by Grazia Deledda, who won the Noble Prize for Literature in 1926, Maria Luisa Astaldi, Gianna Manzini, Ada Negri, Carola Prosperi, Pia Rimini, and Clarice Tartufari.

    ELIZABETH -- A dedicated trauma surgeon, her only passion is for saving lives... until she loses her heart to Dr. Nicholas Chase, the new head of San Francisco's most prestigious transplant unit. NICK -- He has secrets he will do anything to hide from the world... and especially from his beloved Elizabeth. He is determined not to let her see how much he cares, for loving him would certainly destroy her. LARISA -- Fleeing her abusive and powerful husband, the beautiful former model turns to Elizabeth for help. But nothing can convince her that the terror is truly over... or that it's lime to love again. From San Francisco to New York to Paris, Katherine Stone spins a tale of passion, hope, and dreams that will fill every reader's heart with PROMISES of love!

    Deciding to go into the freight business, Darby is faced with unfriendly Paiutes, scorching desert and steep, impassable trails. Add to that the horrors contrived by the murderous band of a competitor, an ugly giant known as Big Bert Jasper, and you have all the makings of an exciting story. The Derby Man will be hard pressed to come out ahead on this caper.

    

    A murder and its consequences in a small Southern town are the backdrop to Pearson's investigations of a fictional world where laugh-out-loud humor is interwoven with some of mankind's darkest impulses.

    Many want it, only one can buy it. Its owner, Liz Lacey, successful artist and darling of the jetset, is about to make dramatic changes in her life.Apartment 3B is the enthralling story of Liz Lacey and of the men and women who come to view her apartment: sophisticated, cosmopolitan Lainey Conroy; globe-trotting media personality, Hugh Cassidy; gentle, determined Claire Moran who has triumphed over adversity; ambitious but tender-hearted Dominic Kent. And Cecily, sister-in-law to Lainey, who will stop at nothing to prevent Lainey from acquiring the apartment.

    She was determined to make a fresh start and travel west by wagon, but to do so she had to pretend to be the wife of Tony Winchester. The dazzling horse breeder from Kentucky could charm his way into any woman's affections. All Tony desired from a woman was a good time and a simple farewell, for he was a man haunted by heartache. Jessie could be no more than a friend to him, according to their bargain. But mere rules could not prevent him from tasting her soft fresh lips. Soon he knew he'd trade the vengeance that drove him to California for a passion hot as the desert winds and sweet as the rustling prairie grasses. Jessie thought she was heading for a broken heart -- yet it was too late to turn back. Little did they know that the splendor of love awaited them on the... Journey Home...

    Sofia and her fated daughters, Fe, Esperanza, Caridad, and la Loca, endure hardship and enjoy love in the sleepy New Mexico hamlet of Tome, a town teeming with marvels where the comic and the horrific, the real and the supernatural, reside.

    When Deputy D.A. Amanda Tarkenton finds out her surprise birthday gift is a trip to All-Star Wrestling, she wants to leave. Then Bram Masterson, AKA The Beastmaster, shows up in the ring. Tall, dark and brutally handsome, he sees the protesting Amanda in the audience and goes off-script, tossing her over his shoulder and carting her out of the auditorium to the cheers of the rabid crowd. He is the evil Beastmaster, the baddest of the bad. But Amanda has her own reputation to uphold. Everything this Beastmaster represents is an affront to her sterling reputation and her family's dedication to public service. Like any great litigator, she knows how to turn the tables, trapping Bram in a game of his own making. Soon, he is the one battling to protect what he holds dear. But after being humiliated both publicly and privately, Amanda is in no mood to show mercy.

    Just as Jessie's aging mind begins to wander, Ellen's husband dies in a car accident and the Woolman family begins a new journey led by two very different men: Harvey Mack, a developer with an eye on the Woolman property and the grieving Ellen, and Sam Theopolis, a mystic hired to care for Jessie. Sam becomes both Harvey's rival and a healing presence for the family until a crisis descends and he, too, needs the protection of the Woolmans' innocent belief in the saving power of love. Combining sorrow and grief with considerable light-hearted wit and eccentric characters, Sister Water is a novel that will reach old and young readers alike. Through her lyrical prose, author Nancy Willard draws on the rich style of magical realism to create a narrative flow that is at once powerful and seductive. Important to the Landscapes of Childhood series, this novel raises significant questions about the state of childhood and how that state affects adult sensibilities.

    Gunslinger Smoke Bellows leaves behind a violent past in Arizona to begin a new life in Utah, where he finds a ranch that needs the touch of a strong man in order to thrive--and a reason to live.

    "Finely wrought".--The Village Voice.