Best of
Womens

2013

The Clippie Girls


Margaret Dickinson - 2013
    A family at war. A city in peril. Rose and Myrtle Sylvester look up to their older sister, Peggy. She is the sensible, reliable one in the household of women headed by their grandmother, Grace Booth, and their mother, Mary Sylvester. When war is declared in 1939 they must face the hardships together and huge changes in their lives are inevitable. For Rose, there is the chance to fulfil her dream of becoming a clippie on Sheffield’s trams like Peggy. But for Myrtle, the studious, clever one in the family, war may shatter her ambitions. When the tram on which Peggy is a conductress is caught in a bomb blast, she bravely helps to rescue her passengers. One of them is a young soldier, Terry Price, and he and Peggy begin courting. They meet every time he can get leave, but eventually Terry is posted abroad and she hears nothing from him. Worse still, Peggy must break the devastating news to her family that she is pregnant. The shock waves that ripple through the family will affect each and every one of them and life will never be the same again.

When the Morning Glory Blooms


Cynthia Ruchti - 2013
    Sixty years earlier, with her fiance Drew in the middle of the Korean Conflict, Ivy throws herself into her work at a nursing home to keep her sanity and provide for the child Drew doesn't know is coming. Ivy cares for Anna, an elderly patient who taxes Ivy's listening ear until the day she suspects Anna's tall tales are not the ramblings of dementia. They're fragments of Anna's disjointed memories of a remarkable life. Finding a faint thread of hope she can't resist tugging, Ivy records Anna's memoir, scribbling furiously after hours to keep up with the woman's emotion-packed, grace-hemmed stories. Is Ivy's answer buried in Anna's past? Becky, Ivy, Anna--three women fight a tangled vine of deception in search of the blossoming simplicity of truth.

Paint Chips


Susie Finkbeiner - 2013
    She has a fierce protector and a colorful collection of friends...but sometimes she wonders if her life will ever be normal again. Though college and romance await her, embracing them requires a new kind of strength-one she isn't sure she has. Emerging from years of confusion, Cora struggles to latch hold of the sanity she needs to return to the real world. She yearns to find a place of peace...but first she must deal with the ghosts of her past. Can this mother and daughter overcome abuse, betrayal, abandonment, and the horrors of sexual trafficking, and make it back into each others arms? Facing the past is never easy. But as they chip away the layers, they might just find something beautiful beneath the mess.

Gentlewoman: Etiquette for a Lady, from a Gentleman


Enitan O. Bereola II - 2013
    Have you ever witnessed a Lady? Not a woman, but a Lady. She's a girl by birth, woman by maturity and Lady by choice. Do you remember how the sight of a Lady made you feel? Did she smile at you? Could you feel her warmth? Do you remember her scent of comfort and truth? Can you recall how difficult it was explaining what you witnessed when she strolled by? Her high heels were music; her stride was a song. She walked in greatness influencing nations with each step. Do you remember the first time you saw a Lady? Well, when was the last time you saw her? Her story isn't being told. Her legacy is being watered down and society is taking notes. She's much more than a victim with hips. "GENTLEWOMAN" sets out to explore the demise of femininity and class in contemporary society. Unlike any other book, the author shares a lifetime of relevant research and insight that will inform, educate and empower womanhood. The book is fresh, fun and sexy uncommon sense advice designed to facilitate a necessary conversation amongst the sexes that leads to real solutions. Oh, and a man wrote it! CLASS IS BACK IN SESSION! "From selecting wines to selecting a mate, I am re-branding etiquette. Making manners beautiful, again." -E.B. II

Ignore the Guy, Get the Guy: The Art of No Contact: A Woman's Survival Guide to Mastering A Breakup and Taking Back Her Power


Leslie Braswell - 2013
    Now it means you're smart, sexy and selective. It means you have options and don't have to settle when it comes to matters of the heart. You can be a strong woman who knows and appreciates what a man brings to a relationship, but won't settle for anything less than the very best. Leslie Braswell’s book "Ignore the Guy, Get the Guy: The Art of No Contact” is a Woman’s survival guide to mastering a breakup and taking back her power. Women can learn how to obtain the relationships they want by earning the love and respect from any man they choose and have the time of their lives in the process. In this book you'll learn...-Why silence is golden... -What a man secretly expects after a breakup...-Why a strong woman steals the show... -How to prevent a man from losing interest...-Why women lose the battle of the breakup...-How to make him miss you...-How to handle your emotions...-How he broke up and what it says about him...-How to handle a breakup through Facebook and Twitter...-How to SKY ROCKET your self confidence...-What the biggest attraction killer is...-How to be on Mr. Ex’s Mind...-What you should do to get him back ...-Fatal mistakes you might be making without knowing it...If you've ever let yourself fall to pieces, cried, begged and pleaded for a man to take you back after a breakup, or if you have ever sought closure, you've never learned the art or the power of no contact.

Shakti Meditations: Guided Practices to Invoke the Goddesses of Yoga


Sally Kempton - 2013
    Shakti Meditations provides an immediate way to experience the many gifts of this divine feminine power. Taught by expert meditation teacher Sally Kempton, these guided inner practices use India’s goddesses of yoga as gateways for discovering and inviting the many dimensions of Shakti.Like rivers flowing through us, each deity carries its own unique energies to help empower and guide us in our spiritual, relationship, career, and creative paths. As we meditate upon them, their virtues and energies begin to arise in such forms as:Durga for strength, protection, and action• Lakshmi for abundance and self-compassion• Kali to ignite our courage and clear inner obstacles• Saraswati to spark creative inspiration and clarify communication• Maha Devi to draw us closer into spacious and liberated consciousnessFor yoga practitioners, healers, meditators, and anyone who needs to call on the power of the feminine, Shakti Meditations gives listeners a powerful method to explore this limitless source of light and energy within us.

Gloria Steinem: The Kindle Singles Interview (Kindle Single)


Salamishah Tillet - 2013
    Steinem has spent her life working for racial justice and women’s rights. In this interview, she speaks humorously and insightfully on everything from politics to pop culture. She reveals that the backlash she received for supporting Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential bid was “one of the worst experiences of my life,” and criticizes a history of feminism that forgets the deep alliances between early civil rights and women’s rights activists. Whether she’s defending Kim Kardashian from public vitriol or calling out the antiquated sexual assault policies of the U.S. military, Gloria Steinem is always engaged, always fighting for what she believes in. The interview was conducted by Salamishah Tillet, an Associate Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. Tillet blogs for The Nation, and is the author of Sites of Slavery: Citizenship and Racial Democracy in the Post-Civil Rights Imagination. She is also the co-founder of A Long Walk Home, a non-profit organization that uses art therapy and the visual and performing arts to end violence against girls and women. Cover design by Adil Dara Kim.

MADAM PRESIDENT


Jerry Beller - 2013
    With the election as a backdrop, madam weaves through an Iranian Crisis, an investigation into moles and corruption in the FBI, Congress and corporate America. Beller addresses many real events and people who are part of current events for the USA during 2012, while also creating many interesting fictional characters. President Resbo’s runs for reelection as an independent, running against congress and the two party system, advocating a different approach to politics, solutions that go outside those the democrats and republicans squabble over.MADAM PRESIDENT is the first of a series of American Myth novels that Beller will release over the next several years. He has worked on the series for over two decades, and the novels cover the history of the United States, blending fiction and non-fiction in the manner of a historical fiction purist.Jerry Beller will also be releasing HEY JOE in the spring. This is a story where an American moves to Jamaica in the greatest adventure of his life, which happens to lead to the most significant romance of his life. HEY JOE is the first of several books in the Jamaica Series.

Mary Travers: A Woman's Words


Mary Travers - 2013
    It includes her interviews with Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia and Richie Havens. She reveals being an abused spouse, a single mother, almost dying after an illegal abortion and her opinions on celebrity and how she honed her talents to become America's premier female folksinger.

Icelandic Handknits: 25 Heirloom Techniques and Projects


Helene Magnusson - 2013
    Iceland boasts a rich heritage of knitting; thanks in equal parts to the island’s special wool, the harsh climate, and the need to battle the elements, Icelandic knitters have developed unique traditions of needlework techniques and handknit styles. In the pages of this book, renowned Icelandic knitwear designer Hélène Magnùsson delivers an array of beautiful patterns that reflect the depth of the country’sknitting traditions. You’ll appreciate the fully illustrated techniques section, the ample color photographs, and the detailed list of resources for Icelandic and Scandinavian knitting. More than just a book of knitting, this book is infused with bits of Icelandic folklore and culture, vintage photographs, and classic Icelandic recipes. Magnùsson believes that the best way to preserve traditions is to continue using them, giving them new life. And with this definitive collection of patterns, she has done just that.

Living Hell: The Prisoners of Santo Tomas (Based on the Diaries of Isla Corfield)


Celia Lucas - 2013
    But to the women locked up there it was something else. A Living Hell. More than 4,000 internees were held there from January 1942 until February 1945.'Living Hell' is their harrowing story. The book is based on the diaries of Isla Corfield. An Englishwoman whose comfortable life in Shanghai was suddenly disrupted by the outbreak of World War Two, she fled with her daughter Gill on an evacuee ship.But the ship was captured by the Japanese -- and Isla and Gill would have to struggle to survive as prisoners of war in both Santo Tomas and Los Banos internment camps.In the communities of the camps, Isla and her daughter experienced the extremes of both friendship and loss. Cut-off from information about the war and with no end to their internment in sight, the pair experience starvation, disease and desperation.Finally liberated by the Americans after four years, Isla's story is both humbling and life-affirming - the story of one brave Englishwomen's battle to survive against terrible odds.It is one of the great untold stories of World War Two. "An incredible story of bravery and will-power." - Robert Foster, best-selling author of 'The Lunar Code'. Celia Lucas is a writer of children’s fiction and biography. She is a journalist, feature writer and public relations consultant. Winner of Tir na Nog Prize 1988 she has also collaborated on a TV series with husband Ian Skidmore. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher.

Mademoiselle Gigi


Dennis Ward - 2013
    Gigi’s impeccable world of loving family, friends, and her plans to attend art school is shattered as the German army approaches Paris. Along with millions of other refugees, the family takes the decision to flee the advancing Nazis. Marked as rich Parisian Jews, her family is subject to people’s scorn while the French Republic crumbles around them. During the next four years, they will endure isolation, starvation, deportations of family and friends, and the horrors of the gestapo. Despite living through the grim realities of war, Gigi emerges from girlhood adolescence to become a beautiful young woman with a monumental sense of humor and lightness of being. Sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, "Mademoiselle Gigi" is an emotional roller-coaster that takes the reader on a page-turning journey from pure joy and laughter to despair and tears. Gigi’s indomitable spirit will inspire and capture your heart. Dennis Ward’s debut novel is based on the true life events of Gisele “Gigi” Carriton.

Chronic Resilience: 10 Sanity-Saving Strategies for Women Coping with the Stress of Illness


Danea Horn - 2013
    Certified life coach and speaker Danea Horn, who suffers from chronic kidney disease, infertility, and other demanding health challenges due to a birth disorder, offers techniques and ways to rebound from the pressures of having a body that's doing things you wish you could control.Chronic Resilience shows how to:- Stop pushing yourself so hard.- Use research to empower - not frighten - yourself.- Let yourself be pissed!- Train your troops in how to care for you.- Cultivate focus and flexibility.- Find things to be grateful for.- Focus on what you can do, not what you can't.Each chapter also contains highlights of interviews with women dealing with chronic health issues ranging from cancer to organ transplant, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), MS, Cushing's disease, diabetes, and others.