No great loss, but Jenny Mae might just be a suspect. Can Fern clear her name and find the real culprit? More importantly, will Gumbo get his carrot cake?

    A new memoir from the author of Irish bestseller Staring at Lakes, which was received the Book of the Year Award at the BGE Irish Book Awards 2013

    

    street cop Bryan Vila’s hilarious road to cultural enlightenment as a police chief in the remote Pacific islands of Micronesia.Through lively narrative laced with wry humor, it chronicles his adventures and misadventures on Saipan, Ponape (now Pohnpei), Truk (now Chuuk), Palau, Yap, Kosrae, and Kwajalein.Trial and error was the name of the game in this dubious paradise, where Bryan had to learn the rules—or make them up—as he went. Yet he embraced island life, succeeded in his new role, and ultimately found himself profoundly changed by his experiences in Micronesia and the lessons he learned there.

    Her father, an ardent moonshiner when he wasn't in prison, and her mother, often showing mental illness from an earlier brain injury, raised their four children in some of the grimmest circumstances that you will ever read about. Messer eventually escaped her extreme living conditions by going to live with a family as their mother's helper outside of Washington, DC. She then moved to New York City to join her oldest sister who had fled an abusive arranged marriage when she was fifteen and left behind a young son. These two teenage girls, uneducated but determined, found freedom from their Appalachian abuse yet encountered a culture and some inhabitants who provided scars even so. Messer's memoir is told through the eyes and with the words of a barely educated child and young woman yet their meaning and her descriptions are clear as a mountain stream. Messer changed the names of many people and places she wrote about to protect her still living family members and herself as well. In the final chapter, Messer shares one legacy from her father....he even taught the infamous "Popcorn" Sutton of Maggie Valley how to be a moonshiner when Popcorn was a teenager. The moonshiner's daughter did survive and ultimately thrive. This is her story. You won't be able to put it down.

    Book by Schmich, Mary

    This is Sansoneas unique aWoman Firsta philosophy.Sansone provides the real-life wisdom, insight, and confidence a woman needs to battle the inevitable stresses of daily life. Such advice includes setting aside time to get personally grounded and refreshed, writing alove lettersa to her children, dealing effectively with school administrators, making sure her husband knows how important he is to the kids, and vice versa.As a mother of 10, Sansone inspires and motivates women to honor their own needs, overcome obstacles, and experience a more fulfilling, balanced life.A holistic approach to strengthening the mind, body, and spirit that includes tips in achieving emotional balance, nurturing the spirit, creating a fulfilling marriage, taking care of the body, and raising well-adjusted children.Sansone speaks to women in a sensible tone with the right balance of warmth, understanding, and humor for todayas harried mother.Self, Marriage, Family, and Children sections offer quick-read achatsa combined with practical tips and examples from Kathrynas own busy life.

    Highly intelligent, athletic and a gifted musician, she was destined to excel in whichever field she chose to pursue. At the age of 16, Emily was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2) and less than a month later, she was in hospital and fighting for her life. Over the coming years, NF2 would steal her education, her smile, her hearing, her ability to walk. With her life plans in ruins, Emily struggled to find meaning and identity. Good things in her life weren't good any more. Because they were no longer there. With gentle humour and heart-breaking honesty, Emily shares her story. Slowly and painfully, she discovers value in new places, seeing the rainbows in the silence.

    The book follows the author's death-defying 200-mile journey in his antique Thomas Crapper bath - not just across the Channel, but around Kent - right up to the tremendous reception and huge media attention which awaited him under Tower Bridge. Tim met the Queen, and his bath now resides in the National Maritime Museum of Great Britain.

    With nothing to lose, he left everything he knew behind and set out on an epic international adventure. For the next seven years, Dave trudged across glaciers and frozen wastelands and through dense, dangerous forests. He communed with penguins and elephants, kept company with cannibals and gunrunners, and spoke with the dead. And though he'd never been a climber, he ended up joining history's courageous few when he ascended into the clouds to stand at the summit of Mt. Everest.Drawn from Dave's personal diaries, The Altitude Journals is the poignant, inspiring, and endlessly exciting true story of a remarkable midlife crisis. It is an unforgettable tale of one man who went to amazing extremes to repair a shattered life--and how he regained the powers to love and forgive, and to believe in himself once again.

    Despite his overbearing nature, Shade delights in her new role as wife and mother. When her husband suddenly dies years later, she uncovers secrets from his past—secrets so profound they derail the lives of both her and her daughter. After tragedy strikes, thirty-six-year-old Shade gains custody of her young grandson, Tyler, and moves to a small Michigan beach town where she becomes the owner of a successful bakery and café. Shade meets and falls in love with Tyler’s baseball coach, but their love for one another is doomed. Shade’s internal struggle to honor her vow to God, while denying her own desires, throws her on a path of painful redemption.

    In search of answers, comfort, and advice, she goes on-line. And that's where she, "meets" Susan, a strong and steady, no-frills Midwesterner. No two women could be less alike. Yet from the moment they connect, it is clear that they share something deep and important, something that's nestled in the warmest corner of the heart.What begins as a chance encounter on the Internet quickly blossoms into a very special relationship. As their e-mail messages fly back and forth, Susan and Lara forge a powerful bond of trust, honesty, and understanding. And soon they are sharing their lives in full -- talking of husbands and children, dreams and desires, the daily cycle of success and setback -- and together learning to laugh uproariously over the small and large absurdities of the world. When a devastating crisis arises, they are there for each other, providing the life-affirming strength and the lightness that is needed to cope with tragedy ... and to triumph.Lara and Susan originally go on-line looking for kind words and good advice. But they find in each other the greatest gift of all: a true and forever friend.Vivid, funny, original, and profoundly moving, Laney Katz Becker's magnificent debut novel is sure to be a classic, read and reread by women everywhere, an intimate portrait of two completestrangers who become soul mates across hundreds of miles, and who discover the strength and the will to reach out and take hold of the wondrous stuff of life.

    They can stir up horrible emotions and make you want to do crazy things. But when comedian Meshel Laurie faced the end of her nineteen-year marriage, Buddhist philosophy helped her turn her biggest challenge into an opportunity for personal growth and greater happiness.Now Meshel shows readers how Buddhism can be a roadmap for navigating the fear, loneliness and grief of a broken heart. Sharing her own story with humour and honesty, she explains:* how the Buddhist concepts of Emptiness and Impermanence can free us to see things clearly (and calm the heck down!)* how to love without attachment* the difference between loneliness and aloneness* how to work through all those disturbing emotions* how to embrace change* how to harness wisdom and compassion in order to heal.Way cheaper than hours of therapy, Buddhism for Break-ups is your go-to guide for zen!

    As a man named "Ed," she had everything anyone could ever want: a soul mate's love, two beautiful daughters, a house in the best neighborhood, a successful trial lawyer's career - a "Grand Plan" life so picture-perfect it inspired a beautiful pastel drawing,But there was a problem: "Ed" was a woman born into a male body. Finding inner peace meant Ed would have to become Ellen. It also meant losing that picture-perfect life.How could anyone make that choice, pay that kind of price? Then again, how could anyone not? Through what became a "gender journey," Ellen Krug discovered her true self and the honesty it takes to make life-changing decisions."Getting to Ellen" is much more than one person's story about some things lost and others gained. It's a glimpse into the life choices that all of us make --whether or not we're transgender.

    But unlike other women their age, their conversations also turned to more serious issues, issues their “non-breast cancer” friends couldn’t have imagined or understood.Their breast cancer diagnoses came at very different phases of their young lives. Patti was 24, single, and forging her way in the corporate world. Jana was planning her wedding at age 27, and bravely walked down the aisle wearing a wig and breast prosthesis. Jennifer, also 27, was five months pregnant when she was diagnosed, and endured surgery and chemotherapy during the pregnancy. Kim found her lump at age 30 while planning her son’s second birthday party, and faced the issues of raising a toddler while she underwent treatment.Nordie’s at Noon shares the personal stories of each of these extraordinary women. A source of humor, strength, inspiration, and education, the book will speak to anyone who has ever been diagnosed with cancer or faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge. A celebration of friendship and of living life to the fullest, Nordie’s at Noon is also a book that will encourage women everywhere to be proactive with their health-and realize that no one is “too young” for breast cancer.