Their story is one of hardship, violence, and cautious, heartbreaking attempts toward compassion. Lesley's fearless journey through his family history provides a remarkable portrait of hard living in the Western states, and confirms his place as one of the region's very best storytellers.

    But for years Jenna Hollenstein worried that she was using alcohol for the wrong reasons. Though it didn't cause her to spiral out of control, drinking seemed to be detracting from her life in subtler ways: missed opportunities, unaddressed fears, challenges not taken, relationships not cherished, and creativity unexplored. Rather than a series of dramatic events often associated with alcoholism, her decision to stop drinking was based on years of introspection, pros and cons lists, and conversations with friends, family, and a wise therapist. Though she never "hit bottom," Hollenstein eventually realized that drinking was not enhancing her life: it was distracting her from it.

    Charming, funny, and a great listener with a guru's insight, his success in life and business was based on his ability to connect with others, from people recovering in 12-step groups in Upstate New York to those living in the rarified air of Martha's Vineyard. But after 20+ years sober, one slip-up triggered an active addiction that threatened his relationships with his then-wife, singer-songwriter Carly Simon, his recovery friends, his severely disabled son, and even with himself as he began to confront his sexuality.

    I'm not rich or famous. I'm a hooker, a hustler and a junkie. It's not like I chose this lifestyle but something inside of me took over my entire being. I became reckless and out of control. I wanted to party and get high. I needed excitement. I thrived on it. I wanted to fit in somewhere. I wanted to belong and most of all I wanted someone to love me. Little did I know, that what I left behind would be the one thing that I longed for the most. At 18, I left the love and security of my family for a nightmare of drug addiction and crime. Struggling on the streets of Los Angeles and too ashamed to go back home, I submitted to a subculture of misfits that held me captive in more ways than one. Would I ever find my way out out this self-produced nightmare??? Was I destined to live my life in hell??? Only time would tell.........

    When British healthcare failed her ageing mother, eccentric writer Tottie decided to uproot her dysfunctional family and try again in France. But was France ready for her depressed dipsomaniac brother, her nearly nonogenarian mother who enjoyed saying “bum” and “bugger” and her elderly collie with a weak heart and his own blog?Is That Billinge Lump? continues the saga which began with Sell the Pig. With Tottie's candid style to tell a 'life in France tale' with a difference, you'll find chuckles and tears in equal measure.Did France live up to its reputation for excellence in healthcare? Did Tottie survive sharing living space with her unpredictable brother?There's only one way to find out ...

    Raped by her father from age six and pregnant at eleven and again at thirteen, he kidnapped her and went on the run as the net eventually closed in around him. Shannon's story is not an easy read; she goes into graphic detail about her sexual, physical and mental abuse, which included being burned with an iron, hit with a hammer and even stabbed. Her father told her "it was something all fathers do with their daughters," and for a time she believed him. Shannon wrote this book to start making sense of her childhood and is currently studying towards a degree in Forensic Psychology to help understand what makes people evil. "It was a painful journey," she explains, “but it was worth it because I want to help others who have been through similar experiences."

    

     Ernest Postlethwaite was a man embarking on a new life. No longer for him the routine and drudgery of the commuter... The first part of Ernest Postlethwaite's groundbreaking journal charters the course of a man on a mission to achieve cultural and linguistic integration in a small village in southern Spain. This unadulterated manuscript will bring tears to the eyes of the most hard-hearted amongst us, as we follow his footsteps into the great unknown. - 'This diary, written by my late husband, Ernest Postlethwaite, has been published expressly against his wishes, but with the full and hearty endorsement of my family and friends.' - From the introduction by Pamela Postlethwaite, Javea, Spain, December 2012 "I was captured from the first page. We've all come across expats like this, and Lowe brings together all the laughable elements into one hysterical character, Ernest. This parody of the expat diary genre had me laughing out loud. I can't wait for part two to come out. It reminded me most of Alan Ayckbourn plays in the 1980s (when I was a stage manager), and listening to the audiences leaving ... "Oh that ghastly character, wasn't he JUST like our neighbour / uncle / colleague?". They ALWAYS knew someone just like the dreadful people in the plays - they just never realised it was themselves. Let these posthumous "diaries" be a warning to expats everywhere - read it, enjoy it, and make sure it isn't about you!" - Tamara Essex review. ***** 'Part Two - Invasion' and 'Part Three - Consolidation' now available. ***** (This is a fictional diary.)

    Elizabeth is forced to become estranged from her father and struggles alone to create hope and meaning for her life while serving her mother like a slave. This book is a true account of a daughter's struggle to survive a mother with paranoia, schizophrenia, and manic depression.

    Robert J. Darling organizes President Bush's trip to Florida on Sept. 10, 2001, he believes the next couple of days will be quiet. He has no idea that a war is about to begin. The next day, after terrorists crash airliners into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, Maj. Darling rushes to the president's underground chamber at the White House. There, he takes on the task of liaison between the vice president, national security advisor and the Pentagon. He works directly with the National Command Authority, and he's in the room when Vice President Cheney orders two fighter jets to get airborne in order to shoot down United Flight 93. Throughout the attacks, Maj. Darling witnesses the unprecedented actions that leaders are taking to defend America. As Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and others make decisions at a lightning pace with little or no deliberation, he's there to lend his support. Follow Darling's story as he becomes a Marine Corps aviator and rises through the ranks to play an incredible role in responding to a crisis that changed the world in 9-11-01: The White House: Twenty-Four Hours inside the President's Bunker.

    Sgt. Charles Black is a 35 year veteran of the Iowa State Patrol during those years he has had many experiences and he shares his favorites in this book. In 35 years I have seen a lot of changes from the name of the organization to the primary function. From hearses to ambulances to rescue units with EMT's. From paper list of stolen cars to computers.From no recorders to body cameras. From fist fights to gun fights.But human nature and the effects of drugs and alcohol remain the same.

    Would you believe the one about the man who got stuck with half a paintbrush in a delicate area? The medical ethics of a woman using the hospital like a babysitting service? The day when two surgeons almost came to blows after a squabble over theatre space? After reading this brilliantly realised medical nonfiction collection of short stories you will no longer doubt the strange and sometimes tragic circumstances doctors face in medical diagnosis and treatment. From humourous stories about misbehaving patients to short biographies to moving medical stories with tragic ends, Dr Jay weaves a tale of over thirty years’ experience and relates some of the most interesting medical diagnosis and treatment of patients from his career. His narrative voice is rich and compelling and each of the patients’ short biographies is treated with the solid medical ethics we have come to expect from our doctors. Forthright and entertaining, this medical nonfiction collection of short stories comes directly from the horse’s mouth and includes humourous stories as well as short biographies that reveal some of the least pleasant aspects of life as a Surgeon.

    Featuring pithy, humorous, and illuminating one-on-one songwriting lessons with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Ray Davies of the Kinks, Andy Partridge of XTC, Arthur Lee of Love, Chan Marshall of Cat Power, Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, and a host of others who run the gamut from unknown muses to cult icons to superstars-including Hodgkinson's lovable crew of ne'er-do-wells first introduced in Guitar Man-Song Man is at once an investigation into the most ephemeral of arts and a highly readable journey of discovery.

    In 1964 the Ciment family left middle-class Montreal for the fringe desert communities of Los Angeles, where their always unstable father lost the last vestiges of his sanity. Terrified and broke, in a world he could neither understand nor control, he came apart. When the family finally threw him out, he lived for weeks in his car at the foot of their driveway.Ciment turned herself into a girl for whom a father is unnecessary-a tough girl who survived any way she could. She and her brother Jack helped support the family by working for a shady market researcher, quickly learning to supply their own answers to burning questions like, "Did we like Swanson TV dinners? If so, why? On a scale of one to ten, how would we rate the new Talking Barbie? Arrow wax? Dr. Ross's dog food?" She became a gang girl, a professional forger, and a Times Square porn model. Using a friend's SAT score she cheated her way into art school, and seduced and eventually married her art teacher, a married man thirty years her senior. By turns comic, tragic, and heartrending, Half a Life is a bold, unsentimental portrait of the artist as a girl from nowhere, making herself up from scratch, acting up, and finally overcoming the consequences of being the child of a father incapable of love and responsibility.

    The joys and travails of building a home in Baja California.