She’s fine on her own. When she chances upon the secluded house on Cub Creek she purchases it. She’ll show her cousin Liz, and other doubters, that she can rise above her past and live happily and successfully on her own terms. Libbie has emotional problems born of a troubled childhood. Raised by a grandmother she could never please, Libbie is more comfortable not being comfortable with people. She knows she’s different from most. She has special gifts, or curses, but are they real? Or are they products of her history and dysfunction? At Cub Creek Libbie makes friends and even attracts the romantic interest of two local men, Dan Wheeler and Jim Mitchell. Relationships with her cousin and other family members improve dramatically and Libbie experiences true happiness—until a tragedy occurs. Having lost the good things gained at Cub Creek, Libbie must find a way out her troubles, to finally rise above them and seize control of her life and future, or risk losing everything, including herself.

    New York Times Best-selling Author Terri Blackstock's NewPointe 911 Collection---now available in one volume.

    She even seems to be coming to terms with her mother Jane’s premature death from cancer. But when Jane’s final wish is revealed, Olivia and her elder sister Georgia are mystified. Their mother rarely spoke of her rural Southern hometown, and never went back to visit—so why does she want them to return to Huntley, Georgia, to scatter her ashes?Jane’s request offers Olivia a temporary escape from the reality she’s long been denying: she hates her “dream” job, and she’s not really sure she wants to marry her groom-to-be. With her 14-year-old niece, Logan, riding shotgun, she heads South on a summer road trip looking for answers about her mother.As Olivia gets to know the town’s inhabitants, she begins to peel back the secrets of her mother’s early life—truths that force her to finally question her own future. But when Olivia is confronted with a tragedy and finds an opportunity to right a terrible wrong, will it give her the courage to accept her mother’s past—and say yes to her own desire to start over?

    What she finds is a small town that embraces all things Christmas and a handsome neighbor with a small son who both capture her heart. Add to that their adorable pup, and she knows the holidays are not going to be what she planned. At all. Steve Bergeron is quite content being a single father. He’s not willing to risk his heart — or his son’s — on another woman who is sure to leave them. It’s quite clear Holly will be gone by the new year. But he finds himself willing to do anything to chase away the sadness that lurks in the depths of Holly’s eyes. This isn’t part of his carefully laid out plans. At all. When an accident on Christmas Eve forces them both to question their choices, can the magic of the season warm their hearts and bring love and joy back into their lives?

    But whatever drove us away was never stronger than the pull of what brought us back...." When Vivien Walker left her home in the Mississippi Delta, she swore never to go back, as generations of the women in her family had. But in the spring, nine years to the day since she’d left, that’s exactly what happens—Vivien returns, fleeing from a broken marriage and her lost dreams for children.What she hopes to find is solace with "Bootsie," her dear grandmother who raised her, a Walker woman with a knack for making everything all right. But instead she finds that her grandmother has died and that her estranged mother is drifting further away from her memories. Now Vivien is forced into the unexpected role of caretaker, challenging her personal quest to find the girl she herself once was.But for Vivien things change in ways she cannot imagine when a violent storm reveals the remains of a long-dead woman buried near the Walker home, not far from the cypress swamp that is soon to give up its ghosts. Vivien knows there is now only one way to rediscover herself—by uncovering the secrets of her family and breaking the cycle of loss that has haunted her them for generations.

    She knew how. Mildred could breathe the word no to a second cup of ice cream. Could resist drinking too much champagne. But when it came right down to a friend needing a favor, she might say no first, but if someone really needed her—really needed her! —she always said yes. That’s how Mildred ended up with strangers camped out in her spare bedroom, helping her friend Fran to start a new business at the antique emporium, and walking around the empty church with a dust rag in her hand even though she hated to dust. She couldn’t say no to dust for long either. The only real no Mildred had said in recent history was to a man who loved her. Hugh wasn’t the first man to pursue her. But he was the most recent. And she had been flattered but not interested—not in the way he wanted her to be interested. Hugh didn’t give up right away. He lodged himself near her at church. Found her in the church kitchen after a fellowship supper to aid in the clean-up. And finally, her would-be lover had just asked her outright. That was the moment when Mildred had to say no. Until then Millie had been artfully dodging him. Only her best friend Fran understood. Fran said when Mildred finally felt the regretful effects of that no, “We’re all of us such fools.” But they aren’t fools. Mildred Budge and her friends are just people trying to live inside the faith released from heaven through the One who didn’t say no. This is the first novel in the series about Mildred Budge and her friends—just ordinary people trying to live out an extraordinary hope available to anyone who realizes what kind of help he or she really needs. That hope has a name, and Mildred Budge knows it. Need hope? Need a friend. Mildred Budge is a very good friend. If you like spending time with people who are just ordinary but extraordinarily hopeful, then you’ll love this story. Get a copy of this first novel in the series and find out for yourself what church ladies really think. About the author: Daphne Simpkins is an Alabama writer who writes about a variety of subjects and often on the secret lives of church ladies. Befriend her on Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin.com.

    A lowcountry murder.Peace, safety, a place to grieve and heal. After her husband is murdered by the Russian mob, Boston detective Callie Jean Morgan comes home to her family's cottage in South Carolina. There, she can keep their teenage son, Jeb, away from further threats. But the day they arrive in Edisto Beach, Callie finds her childhood mentor and elderly neighbor murdered. Taunted by the killer, who repeatedly violates her home and threatens others in the community, Callie finds her new sanctuary has become her old nightmare. Despite warnings from the town's handsome police chief, Callie plunges back into detective work, pursuing a sinister stranger who may have ties to her past. He's turning a quiet paradise into a paranoid patch of sand where nobody's safe. She'll do whatever it takes to stop him.

    Michael Black’s world has seen a lot of changes over the past year, and falling for a witch who chats with his animal patients has been the best one by far. He’s decided to make it official, so the men associated with the coven insist on helping him celebrate. Michael is popping the question to the woman he loves, the coven has only two trials to go before the prophecy is fulfilled, and the guys want to throw him a bachelor party. Sounds like a plan. And no demon is going to stand in his way.

    Luckily for Stacey Little, home cooks run in the family. Whether it’s fried chicken or pimento cheese, fruit salad or meatloaf, everybody’s family does it a little differently. The Southern Bite is a celebration of those traditions and recipes every Southern family is proud to own. It’s the Pecan Chicken Salad that’s mandatory for every family reunion and the hearty Goulash, so comforting after a long day. It’s the Glazed Ham that makes its way to the Easter table every year. If you’re lucky enough to hail from the South, you’ll no doubt find some familiar favorites from your own family recipe archives, along with a whole slew of surprises from Southern families a lot like yours! There’s Turnip Green Dip for your next party, Chicken Corn Chowder for those chilly fall nights, and Cornbread Salad for when you really need to make an impression.No matter what’s cooking, Little’s goal is the same: to revel in the culinary tradition all Southerners share. These are the recipes that bring us together and the meals our families will cherish for generations to come.

    Her plan begins to fall in place when she enters high school and discovers she has a natural talent for excelling in shorthand, typing and other business classes. Meanwhile she spares no effort in helping her family continue to survive despite their poverty, a less than fertile few acres, and a family history of instability.She strives to fit in at high school in spite of the harsh limits placed on her by her hot-tempered, authoritarian mother, Corie Mae. She often turns for support to her easy-going father Ray, who sometimes intervenes to overrule Corie Mae’s restrictions.As she goes about her life, doing her school work and helping out at home, she interacts with interesting, unforgettable, and sometimes dangerous characters, including a mentally challenged neighbor, an escaped convict, and a lecherous employer. She is forced to make decisions and take actions that would be difficult for a much older adult. Maggie meets each challenge with determination, imagination, and courage whether it’s cutting a pitchfork from a mare’s tail or helping to deliver her baby sister.The typical spoken language, folkways, and traditional beliefs and religious practices are skillfully woven into this portrait of Appalachian family life. The author’s sympathetic insights into mountain culture combined with memorably etched characters and events create a realistic reflection of Tennessee mountain life during the decade following WWII.Maggie’s life takes an unexpected turn when her cousin JD reveals a dark secret that could shatter the family. Maggie struggles to maintain her dreams of a better life amidst the many trials that will test the grit of this Appalachian Daughter.“I absolutely loved the story! I really think that the thoughtful approach to the main character’s life situations will be meaningful to girls and boys who read the book.”Early Reader

    This book will reflect people, regardless of where they come form, who claim Southern food as their own, whether for a lifetime or a mealtime. People feel deep affection for their local community cookbooks, especially those well-worn volumes that serve as a timestamp of a particular place and time. No other type of recipe collection is more generous, gracious, and welcoming. Before we give you a bite, we Southern cooks have to tell you about what we've made. Southern food is evocative, so our food and food stories are bound together in our communities. A memorable Southern cookbook holds good food and a good read, the equivalent of a brimming recipe box plus the scribbled notes and whispered secrets that cover the tips, advice, and stories that a generous cook shares with family members, friends, and neighbors. These recipes bring all sorts of cooks, recipes, and stories to a common table to bring readers a cookbook filled with good things to eat that have something to say.

    Now, as a powerful September hurricane bears down on the Louisiana coast, those worlds will come face to face.The choices they make will send them on an odyssey north and into the fall of 1965, as the brutal and envious sheriff Percy Parris pursues them. Along the way they meet an unusual and eclectic series of people who help them become more than what they were.As fall turns to winter, their lives will change forever in the wake of a storm named Betsy.The Saints of Lost Things is a story of love, hope, and perseverance, and envy and bitterness. And the remarkable power of kindness.

    With reminiscence and narration, a local sheriff must comb through his own humid world to unravel the truth behind the death of a local boy. But it’s not as easy as it seems, because no one is talking. The Other Side of the Bay is a remarkable portrait of the unique people in the Panhandle of Florida. The story weaves itself into the tall longleaf forests, and along the crests of the uneasy bay, telling a tale of the human spirit. This is a novel of how things aren't always as black and white as they ought to be, and how right and wrong aren't always easy to tell apart. It's an evocative tale that delivers its reader to the apricot sun rises and sepulchral storm clouds of their own bittersweet memories.

    As Mason and Lavada set forth to recover themselves, they remain entrenched in the rural and rugged landscape that bore them and their haunted histories. This moving story tells of the families we’re borne into, the families we make for ourselves, and how tightly woven are the ties that bind.“Charles Dodd White’s writing is dark, gothic and steeped in a voice that is all his own. A Shelter of Others confronts what it means to be human.” Frank Bill, author of Donnybrook“It would be easy to draw comparisons to Harry Crews, Ron Rash, or James Salter, but to do so would overlook a voice uniquely his own. Charles Dodd White whittles language down to its most beautiful form. His prose has been pared to poetry. Simple as that.” David Joy, author of Where All Light Tends To Go

    New York Times bestselling author Miranda James returns to Athena, Mississippi, with an all-new mystery featuring Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce Ducote, two snoopy sisters who are always ready to lend a helping hand. But when a stressed socialite brings murder right to their doorstep, even they have trouble maintaining their Southern hospitality… With the Mississippi sun beating down, An’gel and Dickce are taking a break to cool off and pet sit their friend Charlie Harris’s cat, Diesel, when their former sorority sister, Rosabelle Sultan, shows up at their door unexpectedly, with her ne’er-do-well adult children not far behind. Rosabelle’s selfish offspring are desperate to discover what’s in her will, and it soon becomes clear that one of them would kill to get their hands on the inheritance. Suddenly caught up in a deadly tangle of duplicitous suspects and deep-fried motives, it will take all of the sisters’ Southern charm to catch a decidedly ill-mannered killer…

    Her mother has always been fragile and unsteady, but her lack of interest in the infant signals a new emotional deterioration. While Claire struggles to keep every one safe, her father is too distracted by his beautiful wife to recognize the impending dangers. Claire is left largely on her own to save her family. Her outsized responsibility brings about mesmerizing, and shocking consequences---and trigger events that will shape Claire's life forever.

    That was the plan anyway. When Buck noses around in an old missing persons case by way of returning a favor to a neighbor, he unearths more corruption and criminal mischief than he ever suspected the rugged uplands could hide. A departure for T.R. Pearson, East Jesus South is not a comedy. It’s a creepy, unsettling look at the rot beneath the honeyed, 'Aw Shucks' veneer of the American South.

    Charles Dodd White, author of A Shelter of Others, says, "With ferocious economy and a great big heart, Taylor Brown writes one of the best debuts I've ever picked up. These are stories, verses, meditations, and accusations-everything, in short, you could hope to get from important fiction. This work demands your attention."

    Presented as a timeline of the Christmas season, each event depicted tells a highly visual story of local Southern traditions and classic holiday parties. Each event will captivate readers with an expansive collection of vibrant, full-page images, and festive, complimentary menus accompany many of the events. Combining all the elements for which Southern Living is known and revered - food, travel, and homes, this book is a journey of celebrations through the South, from the low country and the pan-handle to the Texas ranch and Williamsburg farmhouse. Kicking off the season is a reason to get outdoors with "A Tree-Cutting Outing" and "Mistletoe Hunt." "Open House" celebrations in stunningly decorated homes, a "Midnight Mass" in a charming Southern town, and a jubilant Christmas morning spread add to the bliss of the holiday euphoria. An "Oyster Roast" in a sleepy coastal town brings luck to the coming months, as it ties up the complete Christmas season with a ruby red bow.

    In Down South he combines his talents to unearth true down home Southern cooking so everyone can pull up a seat at the table and sample some of the region’s finest flavors.     Link rejoices in the slow-cooked pork barbecue of Memphis, fresh seafood all along the Gulf coast, peas and shell beans from the farmlands in Mississippi and Alabama, Kentucky single barrel bourbon, and other regional standouts in 110 recipes and 100 color photographs. Along the way, he introduces all sorts of characters and places, including pitmaster Nick Pihakis of Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ, Louisiana goat farmer Bill Ryal, beloved Southern writer Julia Reed, a true Tupelo honey apiary in Florida, and a Texas lamb ranch with a llama named Fritz.      Join Link Down South, where tall tales are told, drinks are slung back, great food is made to be shared, and too many desserts, it turns out, is just the right amount.

    Her head and body covered in bloody gashes and fresh bruises. Sunshine forms an immediate interest and digs into her life. After learning her identity, Eilida, she pokes around her hometown where she is mistaken for Eilida. Soon Sunshine’s world crashes. Everything she loved begins to fade. She trades in her skirts and heels for jeans and sneakers. A ghost avails itself to her and a man with eyes dark as coal stalks her dreams and waking nightmares. Her fiancé worries as he can’t wrap his mind around her transformation yet refuses to let go. Time ticks down as their wedding date approaches on the anniversary of a day that changed Eilida’s life forever…

    O’Rourke.When Garden & Gun magazine debuted a column aptly named “Good Dog,” it quickly became one of the publication’s most popular features in print. Now, Editor-in-Chief David DiBennedetto (proud owner of a Boykin spaniel) and the editors of G&G have gathered the most memorable stories, as well as original pieces, in this collection of essays written by some of most notable dog owners in literature and journalism.Good Dog offers memorable, beautifully written stories of dog ownership, companionship, friendship, and kinship. From the troublemakers who can’t be fenced in to the lifelong companions who won’t leave our sides, this poignant anthology showcases man’s best friend through all of his most endearing—and sometimes maddening—attributes. By turns inspirational and humorous (just like the dogs we love), Good Dog is a must-have collection for dog lovers everywhere.

    She loves their new home called Oakley Plantation, especially when she finds old love letters dated back to the Civil War. Unfortunately, she has only one side of them—letters from Lt. Stanton Winston Tate. Little does she know that across the state, a young man named Trevor Whitfield finds the other half—letters from Constantine Oakley. They both research the couple and find lots of history of the old plantation—and some not so good. In the meantime, Sheriff Carlton Adams is trying to solve all the cold cases before he retires. Three murders are left; all were in the late 1800s, and all involve the Oakleys. Fate intertwines their lives and research. When all seems to come to a dead end, a century year old lady named Mable Carter helps. However, her help unveils a curse and the spirits. Can Issy, Trevor and the Sheriff solve the case? Can they undo the curse?

    Putting ego aside, she takes a position at the Chatterbox, the local weekly newspaper run by her mother, the town gossip. What’s a southern belle to do in a crisis but run home to her mama? But when a mysterious hot high school football coach rolls into town, Ginny’s luck begins to change. Seems he has more secrets than a shady politician and Ginny’s determined to dig up the truth, and write the story that will get her career back on track. Everyone knows in a small, southern town, nothing stays private. But the more she delves into his past, the more she begins to fall for the former college football star. The coach’s star player has some secrets of his own and when Ginny uncovers it all, she must decide if she should reveal everything or follow her heart and protect the people she has grown to care for. Author Beth Albright weaves a saucy southern tale filled with intrigue, romance and laugh out-loud comedy. From the bright lights of Friday night football to the darkened bedroom of unexpected lovers, it’s a richly layered story with more twists and turns--and mud--than an Alabama back road.

    Claire is a bartender in pre-Katrina New Orleans, a college graduate whose heroin addiction parallels the swirling fortunes of her sinking city. She knows she needs to get clean, but despite being smart enough to see all the angles, she can’t quite find a way out.

    Like her novel, A Hunger in the Heart, the stories in Birds of a Feather--several of which have won substantive awards--take us to the heart of the matter.

    She is now an acclaimed author and journalist and has written two award-winning memoirs, Velocity and Dreamtime Alice. The Poet's Wife traces her life from the end of Dreamtime Alice, and again confirms Sayer's place as one of our most lyrical and most courageous writers - memoirist like no other.

    The author of two cookbooks, Cooking in the South and Second Helpings, does it every day at Gabriel’s, her restaurant and bakery in Marietta, Georgia. In How to Cook Like a Southerner, Gabriel isn’t just sharing her recipes; she’s taking her Southern expertise to the next level, offering step-by-step photos for 35 of the most iconic Southern dishes, curating and testing over one hundred recipes from some of the best and most gracious cooks in the South, and offering tips to help you dress up even the most basic recipes for special occasions.The art and science of cooking has come a long way, creating a gadget for everything from zesting fruit to cutting paper-thin slices of vegetables, but creating delicious Southern food for your family and friends doesn’t require fancy gadgets and high-tech kitchen appliances. Johnnie Gabriel says all you need is a cutting board, a sharp knife, a rolling pin, and a seasoned cast iron skillet, just like her mama did. And because classic Southern dishes were created to use the meats and vegetables that were available in the region, the recipes in How to Cook Like a Southerner call for ingredients you can find at your local grocery store or farmers’ market. No speciality stores or online searches needed.Making a homemade pie crust for the first time? Let Johnnie show you how. Do you wonder what the difference between a blond, peanut butter, and coffee roux is? How to Cook Like a Southerner will guide you through each level. Wanna learn the tricks Southern grandmothers use for creating the best fried chicken, cornbread, buttermilk biscuits, field peas with snaps, macaroni and cheese, fried green tomatoes, and country fried steak? They’re all here.So stock up on cornmeal, buttermilk, and sugar and put on your favorite apron. It’s time to learn How to Cook Like a Southerner.

    His adventure turns into a living nightmare when his independent spirit collides with the rules of life in the Deep South. Crossing the racial divide, Arthur Belsay sets off a chain of events he can’t control. He flees to New York and makes a life for himself in what seems like a different country, but the past catches up with him.Ultimately Arthur faces a character-defining challenge: can he find the courage to save a woman who can’t return his love, though he risks almost certain death in the attempt?

    D. Marsden's road novel, Wondering, the Way is Made, is a captivating literary journey through South America for wanderers and wonderers.A formative experience in Africa opens the eyes of Joss Douglas to the flaws in his meticulously scheduled way of life. Some years later, in a world in which civilization is faltering, with a climate that grows harsher and wilder with each passing season, he no longer sees the sense in his ordered existence, and feels that he is working towards nothing. With his fiancée Tina, who has distant roots in Brazil, he steps out of his conventional programme and they set off on a voyage of discovery to South America.While they are away, rioting and crackdowns at home in England cut them adrift from their country. Fate brings them together with their friends from around the globe and these carefree and irrepressible misfits, a generation in microcosm, acquire a camper van and journey among the myriad landscapes and cultures of the South American continent in search of a place where they can ride out epic world events, while absorbing the wonders along the way.

    Zion is a mystery set in the rural South, the story of a war fought over the killing of hardwoods in Baxter Parish, Louisiana. The tale begins in 1964 and ends a decade later, but the Hardin family, faithful members of Little Zion Methodist Church, will carry the scars for life. This edition of Zion includes a Reader's Guide for Book Clubs and Author Q and A. Praise for Dayne Sherman and his work: “Dayne Sherman writes like I wish I could if I was still young enough to change.” --Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All Over But the Shoutin' and Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story “Sherman’s promising debut chronicles a young man’s thorny return to his Louisiana hometown… Sherman brilliantly reunites a land with its own set of vicious rules with a native of that land who, as a changed man, simply wants peace. Weaving his way through a series of complex characters and a terrain fertilized with a proud but bloody history, Sherman tells a spirited and engaging tale.” --Publishers Weekly “Zion begins ballistic, turns tectonic and ends gothic. The people of this fraught Louisiana town suffer both the shifts of history and the tribulations of their pasts. In Sherman’s dark vision, wood kin burn and kin make hay, setting these troubled characters searching in a spiritual, and sometimes literal, wilderness to find and make right what they can. Get ready for a thrill ride that slams into modernity with Old Testament inevitability.” –Tim Parrish, author of Fear and What Follows & The Jumper

    Working alongside dangerous, desperate, itinerant men as a tree clearer in disaster zones, he’s still dealing with the loss of his young son. Writing letters to the boy offers some solace. The bottle gives more.Upon a return trip to Colorado, Patterson stops to go fishing with an old acquaintance, only to find him in a meth-induced delirium and keeping a woman tied up in the bathtub. In the ensuing chain of events, which will test not only his future but his past, Patterson tries to do the right thing. Still, in the lives of those he knows, violence and justice have made of each other strange, intoxicating bedfellows.Hailed as "the next great American writer" (Frank Bill, author of Crimes in Southern Indiana), Benjamin Whitmer has crafted a literary triumph that is by turns harrowing, darkly comic, and wise.

    In this interdisciplinary study, Maxwell examines and connects three key twentieth-century moments in which the South was exposed to intense public criticism, identifying in white southerners' responses a pattern of defensiveness that shaped the region's political and cultural conservatism.

    But after losing her husband, she has trouble seeing the good in anything except her four kids and her job...until one rainy day when she boards a plane and something good sitsdown beside her.Mitch is from North Carolina and lost his wife a few years ago. And on that short flight, Laci becomes an unexpected surprise that he can’t resist. An old-fashioned courtship brings their love to life, but is it strong enough to last when threatened by her uncertain future? Can Laci’s faith help her overcome the fear of what lies ahead and give Mitch her whole heart? Or will she let him go to spare him from repeating a horrible pain from his past.Laci will lose hope in love, and life...until it rains.

    Instead, where railroads ran and mines once burrowed into mountains, the healed landscape is being repurposed for hiking and biking. New and expanding venues around the city are providing more opportunities not only to get outside and exercise but also to appreciate the labor and industry that built the city.In Five-Star Trails: Birmingham local author Thomas Spencer leads readers to some of the best hikes around the city. Within a short drive from Birmingham, you can find yourself on an Appalachian mountain peak or on the banks of the Cahaba River as it broadens to snake through the Coastal Plain. You can visit old growth forest in the Sipsey Wilderness or hike down into the “Grand Canyon of the East” at Little River Canyon. And that's only the start. Across this landscape, you’ll find a level of diversity of plant and animal species, some rare and endangered, that rivals anywhere in the North America.

    Louis. There he begins a summer adventure in 1966 working as a switchman in the Texarkana rail yards — an often thrilling but always dangerous job. He finds companionship with railroaders who accept him as one of their own and soon he discovers the thrills of being free to make his own decisions. Immersed in the racially charged setting of the mid-1960s, Buster doesn’t seem to understand the intractable code for social behavior operating in the South and finds himself at odds with it. He tries to befriend an older black railroad employee, but when warnings against fraternization are ignored, the stationmaster decides to punish him and arranges a transfer to the much rougher rail yards of Shreveport, Louisiana. Preceded by his reputation as a “nigger lover,” Buster finds he has been sent to a world alien to him. He is confronted by the contempt of the district railroad superintendent and quickly learns he has no acceptance among the members of his new crews. Their disdain for the young outsider soon manifests itself in acts of ostracism and defamation — and ultimately physical confrontation. Cherishing his job as a railroader while fearing for his safety and even his life, Buster must persevere and adapt to the reality of being alone in a hostile world.

    It can - and should - be read again and again, by thoughtful people of all ages.   King’s true gift is in her ability to present readers with the sort of hard-earned wisdom that will help both young and old find sustenance and renewed meaning in their lives.   Her first pearl of wisdom: sincerity is an important virtue, and once you learn to fake it, you are well on your way to success! Dare to laugh at yourself.  Find kindred spirits and keep them close to you; expand your circle of friends. Know the true value of time. She also advises that we try to find words to express love and gratitude but to keep in mind that it is our actions that reveal our feelings more than our words.   And as an addition to this lecture, which was delivered to a graduating class at her alma mater, Montevallo College, King adds a new afterword on the value of becoming a lifelong reader.

    Fresh out of prison, he befriends a rail man called Doc who finds in Enoch the perfect partner for a simple heist: lifting copper wire off the cars in the middle of the night to fence.But when Enoch finds human cargo instead, he becomes a de facto guardian and begins a violent revenge odyssey through which he will stop at nothing to protect three Belarusian children.Souls and lives are at stake. Unfathomable evil has to be dealt with. And there is no one in Blackwood, Texas but a no-account ex-con for the job.