Every Note Played


Lisa Genova - 2018
    That was eight months ago.Richard now has ALS, and his entire right arm is paralyzed. His fingers are impotent, still, devoid of possibility. The loss of his hand feels like a death, a loss of true love, a divorce—his divorce.He knows his left arm will go next.Three years ago, Karina removed their framed wedding picture from the living room wall and hung a mirror there instead. But she still hasn’t moved on. Karina is paralyzed by excuses and fear, stuck in an unfulfilling life as a piano teacher, afraid to pursue the path she abandoned as a young woman, blaming Richard and their failed marriage for all of it.When Richard becomes increasingly paralyzed and is no longer able to live on his own, Karina becomes his reluctant caretaker. As Richard’s muscles, voice, and breath fade, both he and Karina try to reconcile their past before it’s too late.

Run Away: One Woman's Story of Resilience


Jeanhee Kang - 2012
    Jeanhee Kang was shunned by her unforgiving society after being expelled from high school at age sixteen for breaking a taboo. She knew she had to find a way out of there at any cost." Run Away: One Woman's Story of Resilience doesn't spare the reader any of the agonizing details of her childhood, nor does the book hold back all she overcame to realize her dreams. Though often faced with insurmountable odds, Jeanhee Kang has made a tremendous journey halfway around the world -- a journey filled with heartbreaking, emotional trials -- and she has survived it all. This tale of her inspirational underdog story is dedicated to the 50 million American women who face similar hardships every day.

Sideshow


Samie Sands - 2018
    What you see isn't always the only thing you receive. Come for the popcorn, the show, and the animals. Stay for the Horror. We insist. Panis Et Poenam by Alex Winck Make My Escape by C.L. Williams SOLD by Katie Jaarsveld Diamonique by Samie Sands Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel by Andrew Darlington Stuff of Dreams by Rick Eddy WONDERLAND by Samie Sands The Freak by Kevin Hall Clown in the Mirror by Katie Jaarsveld Carnival Carnage by Samie Sands

Something Found


Carrie Crafton - 2012
    She isn't prepared for a nosy sister-in-law, the complications of marriage, or being entrusted with her father-in-law's biggest secret. But what she least expects is to miss the woman she was trying so hard to get away from, her mother. While this new life is daunting, love and determination push her forward, as she slowly adjusts to the unique beauty that is Ireland.

Torch


Cheryl Strayed - 2006
    "Work hard. Do good. Be incredible!" is the advice Teresa Rae Wood shares with the listeners of her local radio show, Modern Pioneers, and the advice she strives to live by every day. She has fled a bad marriage and rebuilt a life with her children, Claire and Joshua, and their caring stepfather, Bruce. Their love for each other binds them as a family through the daily struggles of making ends meet. But when they received unexpected news that Teresa, only 38, is dying of cancer, their lives all begin to unravel and drift apart. Strayed's intimate portraits of these fully human characters in a time of crisis show the varying truths of grief, forgiveness, and the beautiful terrors of learning how to keep living.

Marathon


Hal Higdon - 2009
    Race director Peter McDonald arrives at the Expo for an interview with TV reporter Christine Ferrara, new in town. Peter and Christine find love almost immediately, but when will she learn the dark secret that clouds his life? Thus begins the fascinating 72-hour countdown to the Lake City Marathon, a race beset by problems: Will Peter lose his sponsor and job? Will hot weather threaten the health of runners? Can he keep the identity of Celebrity X secret? And for Christine: Why is Naní the supermodel clinging to Peter’s side? The race up front pits fast Kenyans against twin brothers from Minnesota. Among the women, the sudden loss of the world record holder opens the door for a flirtry Irishwoman and an unheralded podiatrist, who has not raced since injuries cancelled her college career. Back in the pack, Naní raises money for charity, a New York Times reporter chases Celebrity X, and once-married color commentators bicker their way through the telecast. Marathon, amazingly, is Hal Higdon’s first novel, told in the grand tradition of fact/fiction books by James Michener (Hawaii, The Source) and Arthur Hailey (Hotel, Airport). If you are a runner, veteran or newcomer, or someone who has a friend who runs, Marathon will provide details about the sport that you never knew.

Heaven and Hell 1


John Jakes - 1993
    Like NORTH AND SOUTH and LOVE AND WAR, this novel blends historical detail and fiction."A superb storyteller and compelling writer. Not necessary to have read the first two books, for events and people are clearly defined, thus HEAVEN AND HELL stands on its own considerable merit." (Chattanooga News-Free Press)

Moonlight on Linoleum: A Daughter's Memoir


Terry Helwig - 2011
    I am the one who came out on the other side of childhood; she is the one who searched for the door."In the tradition of The Glass Castle comes a debut memoir about a woman’s hopeful life despite the sad results of her mother’s choices. Moonlight on Linoleum is an affecting story of a girl who rose above her circumstances to become an early and faithful caretaker to her five siblings. It is about the power one finds in sisterhood to thrive in a difficult and ever-changing landscape as the girls bond in unconditional love despite constant upheaval and uncertainty. In these pages, Teresa Helwig crafts a moving portrait of a mother she loved completely even as she struggled to understand her. "Putting myself in Mama's shoes, which were most often white moccasins molded in the shape of her size seven-and-a-half foot, I see an eighteen-year-old girl with two children, one of them still a baby. . . . Her former husband is in Korea, drafted after their divorce; she has a sister who disappears from time to time, leaving yet another child in her care; she has no money, no high-school diploma, and a mother unhappy to have her home." Teresa and her sisters, who were added regularly throughout the 1950s and '60s, grew up with with their charismatic, troubled, and very young mother, Carola. Because of their stepfather’s roving job as in the oil fields, they moved frequently from town to town in the American West. The girls were often separated and left behind with relatives and never knew what their unstable mother would do next. Missing her mother became a habit for Teresa; one summer Carola dropped off her two daughters at her ex's family farm."If there were an idyllic summer of childhood, it was that summer on the Iowa farm. Yet, if I had to choose a time when I felt most forsaken by my mother, it was also that summer. Even back then, I was acutely aware of the paradox. On the outside, by day, I was like the morning glory vine twining around the back fence. Every day opened to a life I loved on the land. I reveled in and relished the absolute freedom and abandon of being turned loose in Eden.      "But then, each evening, after the sun set and the dinner dishes had been hand-washed and dried, I became like the moonflower vine climbing up the weathered boards on the side of the garage. The moonflower opens its large fragrant blooms at night; they shimmer like moonlight and sweeten the night air.     "I evolved a ritual at bedtime before crawling into my bed . . . I held Mama's Polaroid picture to my heart. I love you. Please come get us soon. I want to be with you more than I want to be anywhere else. These were my prayers, my blooms that opened to the night. Then I pursed my lips against the cool glass and kissed her smiling face goodnight."There were good times too: Carola made fudge for the girls during rainstorms, helped Teresa's cat deliver kittens, and taught her to play "You Are My Sunshine" on a toy piano. But when her husband was out working on the oil fields, Carola, who had married at fourteen, began to fill her time with men she met in the various towns her roving family moved to. She referred to her secret dating life as "going to Timbuktu," leaving Teresa in charge of her siblings. As Carola roamed and eventually developed crippling migraines, Teresa became a replacement mommy before her own childhood was fully in swing. Stress, guilt, and recurring nightmares marked her days and nights."In addition to the amphetamines [for weight loss], Mama was now taking barbiturates for her migraines. Her moods began to yo-yo. She became as hard to predict as the weather. When Daddy was out of town and Mama was in one of her fogs, I learned to fend for myself. And, being the oldest, I learned to fend for my sisters, too . . . It was around this time I came to realize a hard truth. Once your sisters begin looking up to you, as if you really could save them from being poisoned, as if you know a way out of a dark cave, there's no going back. You'll draw your last breath, trying to find that door to the Lost City of Enchantment, because you can't bear to let them down."Yet, even in the face of adversity, Teresa found beauty in the small moments: resting in the boughs of her favorite oak tree, savoring the freedom she found on her grandparents’ farm, and gleefully discovering the joys of dating and dancing. While Carola struggled for an exciting and satisfying life, Teresa faced adolescence and young adulthood, increasingly burdened by Carola's dysfunction. Finally, as the family splintered between colleges, homes, stepfathers, and their mother's disintegrating mental health, Teresa drove Carola to a mental hospital--where at last the mother of five found some peace and order.Upon leaving the hospital, sadly Carola continued in a downward spiral: more men, a drug addiction, a toddler son's death, and finally her own accidental overdose death in 1974. Though Carola's unhappy life meant Teresa's was marked by hardship and tragedy, Teresa found redemption in writing her mother's story and discovering empathy for the woman continually harmed by her own bad choices. The bonds of sisterhood helped sustain her, and today the girls are still close, still savoring the good in a childhood pocked with pain. Teresa, now a counselor and mother of a daughter, was able to conclude, after visiting her mom's grave and asking her blessing on the book, I believe joy and sorry rest together, the two sides of love. I have repeatedly uncovered places of joy inside my own heart tucked within the folds of sorrow.  With enormous skill and sensitivity, Teresa deftly explores the history she shared with Carola and the relentless love of a child for her mother.

Let It Shine


Josephine Cox - 1999
    But now she is all alone except for her greedy son Peter, who waits only for the day he will inherit her fortune. Ada, however, has a different plan altogether.A few miles away in Blackburn, the Bolton family may be poor - but the love they share means they can overcome almost any adversity. But no one could foresee the shocking events of Christmas night, 1932, which split the family asunder, leaving Larry crippled and the twins, Ellie and Betsy, in a foster home. Events that began many years ago, when Ada Williams was young and foolish.

A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun: The Autobiography of a Career Criminal


Razor Smith - 2004
    An extraordinarily vivid account of how a tearaway kid from South London became a career criminal, it is both a searing indictment of a system that determinedly brutalized young offenders and a frank, unsentimental acknowledgement of the thrills of the criminal life. Shocking, fascinating and frightening by turns, it also reveals Razor Smith to be a remarkably talented writer.

Flirting with Your FBI Heartbreaker


Taylor Hart - 2020
    Even if it breaks his heart all over again.Note: This is now 3 books in one. Previously released titles: On the Run, Going Rogue, Catch me if you Can.Now all together in Flirting with Her FBI Heartbreaker. This book has been extensively re-written, re-edited, and updated to be included in the Knight Family Romances.Alexa Fulbright doesn’t expect the man she’s been trying to forget for the past 7 years to show up on assignment from the FBI…and she really doesn’t expect him to kiss her.Sam Knight doesn’t want to be on this assignment, even though he requested it. He doesn’t want to see Alexa and he definitely doesn’t want to put away the thug she calls her boyfriend…but most things in life aren’t fair when it comes to her.As Sam tries to convince Alexa that her boyfriend is a drug dealer with connections to the Columbian cartel, she doesn’t believe it, until a gun is pointed at her head and ‘said boyfriend’ puts a bullet in Sam’s shoulder.Now Sam has to get her out of dodge and Alexa has to make a choice—face the past or live a lie that could destroy her and everyone she’s ever loved.

Things I Want My Daughters to Know


Elizabeth Noble - 2007
    But how can she leave them when they still have so much growing up to do?Take Lisa, in her midthirties but incapable of making a commitment; or Jennifer, trapped in a stale marriage and buttoned up so tight she could burst. Twentysomething Amanda, the traveler, has always distanced herself from the rest of the family; and then there's Hannah, a teenage girl on the verge of womanhood about to be parted from the mother she adores.But by drawing on the wisdom in Barbara's letters, the girls might just find a way to cope with their loss. And in coming to terms with their bereavement, can they also set themselves free to enjoy their lives with all the passion and love each deserves?

Grief is the Thing with Feathers


Max Porter - 2015
    Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness.In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This self-described sentimental bird is attracted to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him. As weeks turn to months and physical pain of loss gives way to memories, this little unit of three begin to heal.In this extraordinary debut - part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief, Max Porter's compassion and bravura style combine to dazzling effect. Full of unexpected humour and profound emotional truth, Grief is the Thing with Feathers marks the arrival of a thrilling new talent.

The Duke's Secret


Allie Kensington - 2021
    Her only source of comfort is her sweet cousin for whom she acts as chaperone and companion. Enduring a London Season seems daunting, but with matrimony far from her mind, she is content to hide in the shadows until the season is over.James Berkeley, Duke of Cheshire, is the most eligible bachelor in London. At least, he would be if he had any intention to wed. Before he can think about matrimony, he has a secret and solemn duty he must fulfill. The last two London Seasons have come to naught; he is hoping a third will hold more promise, allowing him to solve a mystery and regain his freedom once and for all.James is intrigued when he meets the beautiful Miss Gray; she is elusive, mysterious, and cares little that he is a duke. But when James discovers Miss Gray could be the very woman he is honor-bound to find, he is torn between duty and desire. She might be the key to solving all of his problems, but he’d rather she be the key to his heart. And one thing is certain: she cannot be both.

Uphill Both Ways


Neta Jackson - 2018
    After decades of marriage and following God’s call to get out of their comfort zone and immerse themselves in multi-cultural friendships and ministry . . . now what? Then Maggie discovers that Coop had had plans for a cross-country trip on that motorcycle to revisit the various stops on their life journey, though she wasn’t sure why. Nostalgia? A trip down memory lane? That didn’t sound like Coop. Maybe the only way to find out was to honor her husband’s wishes and take that trip—against everybody’s advice. After all, she was sixty-five! Her kids thought she ought to just sell the bike, sell the house, and settle into a retirement village. But she knew at least two people who would say, “Go Maggie!” Her now-departed husband and her estranged youngest son. And God. Yes, Maggie had a sense God was up to something. Accompanied by her dog and an unexpected runaway, Maggie sets out on an unforgettable journey, and invites YOU to come along for the ride. “It’s okay to look behind you. Sometimes it’s the best way to get yourself home.” —An African saying