In Englander's amazingly taut and ambitious "The Twenty-seventh Man," a clerical error lands earnest, unpublished Pinchas Pelovits in prison with twenty-six writers slated for execution at Stalin's command, and in the grip of torture Pinchas composes a mini-masterpiece, which he recites in one glorious moment before author and audience are simultaneously annihilated. In "The Gilgul of Park Avenue," a Protestant has a religious awakening in the back of a New York taxi. In the collection's hilarious title story, a Hasidic man incensed by his wife's interminable menstrual cycle gets a dispensation from his rabbi to see a prostitute. The stories in For the Relief of Unbearable Urges are powerfully inventive and often haunting, steeped in the weight of Jewish history and in the customs of Orthodox life. But it is in the largeness of their spirit-- a spirit that finds in doubt a doorway to faith, that sees in despair a chance for the heart to deepen--and in the wisdom that so prodigiously transcends the author's twenty-eight years, that these stories are truly remarkable. Nathan Englander envisions a group of Polish Jews herded toward a train bound for Auschwitz and in a deft imaginative twist turns them into acrobats tumbling out of harm's way; he takes an elderly wigmaker and makes her, for a single moment, beautiful. Again and again, Englander does what feels impossible: he finds, wherever he looks, a province beyond death's dominion.For the Relief of Unbearable Urges is a work of stunning authority and imagination--a book that is as wondrous and joyful as it is wrenchingly sad, and that heralds the arrival of a profoundly gifted new storyteller.

    (Nancy Pearl)

     After finding out that his wife is pregnant, his bond with her strengthens, while leaving Maddie alone again. But, Maddie refuses to just give up without a fight. How far is Maddie willing to go to sustain her relationship with Lincoln? Would she really stoop so low as to do the unthinkable? Find out just how crazy love can make you in the first episode of Mad Woman: Love Drove Her Crazy...

    Lindy has arranged a pre-wedding holiday week, Phoebe included, as a reunion for Alex and his two Best Men. Phoebe loves weddings and hopes for her own happily ever after.Brady Winters reluctantly leaves his luxury charter yacht company in the Mediterranean for a flying trip to Australia to be Best Man. A week is all he can spare and, as a confirmed and cynical bachelor, spending time with an overexcited group of women preparing for a wedding is the last thing he wants. But as Lindy's meticulous plans go awry, Phoebe's sense of duty almost halts the wedding, and a dental crisis forces Brady to stay on long enough for him to discover a wedding of his own might not be too bad after all. But will Phoebe have him?

    He silently shares the family home with his sister Daze, who is nearly blinded by bitterness, obsessed with her mother's reputation as a loose, lustful woman. Since his angry teenage years as a scholarship student at a posh, segregated school, Ned's life has been marred by a violence that erupts loudly and quickly disappears, leaving him filled with secrets and regret. When one last hope for deliverance emerges, however, both brother and sister are forced to come to terms with their heritage.

    But what sets Belle Haven apart is its especially strong sense of community, which is both strengthened and tested by the uncontrollable mine fire that burns below the town.  Sometimes it breaks through the earth's surface to swallow somebody's garden or a garbage can, even a beloved pet, or to threaten a house.        Those Who Favor Fire is the love story of Rachel Hearn, who has lived in Belle Haven all her life, and the man everyone calls Just Joe, who has arrived only recently--and the story of their love for the town that has brought them together. But as the fire intensi-fies, endangering Belle Haven and its people, it also threatens what Joe and Rachel have found together. Though some reluctantly consider relocating, Rachel refuses to leave the only place she's ever called home, the place that holds her richest memories. But Joe knows the danger of becoming too firmly rooted in a place. Ultimately, Rachel and Joe must decide whether to abandon their beloved town.        In her wonderful debut novel, Lauren Wolk has created a town every bit as real as the Mitford of Jan Karon's novels and populated it with characters as quirky, lively, and endearing as Fannie Flagg's.From the Hardcover edition.

    But Darien is in trouble – on the run from her emotions, and from a past that resurrects itself in acts of self-mutilation she neither understands nor cares to explore. After years of good behavior, Darien is hurting herself again. And this time it’s so brutal that her husband, Robert, cannot help but recognize the woman he adores is unraveling before his eyes.Darien has a history with therapists. She knows exactly what they want – and need – to hear. She has made a game of psychotherapy, spinning outrageous fictions, exposing her doctors’ vanities, knowing when to reveal just a little of the truth. When Robert brings her to Dr. Lindholm, she is ready. But in Dr. Lindholm Darien may have met her match: a caring psychiatrist with the patience and skill to see beneath her façade. At once intrigued and resistant, Darien engages Dr. Lindholm in a battle of wits, sure only her pride is at stake. When she stumbles instead upon a buried truth about herself the consequences are devastating, threatening her marriage, her identity, and what she understands about life and love.The Good Patient is about interiors and exteriors, knowledge and perception, the treachery and triumph of memory. Written in razor-sharp, sparkling prose, it is a story that takes dead aim at a question we all fear: how well do we really know the people we love?

    So manymemories exist for him here, including the one of being crushed by the onlywoman he's ever loved. Three years hasn't diminished his feelings for hisex-best friend and lover, Macie Shaw. And when their paths cross, the fire thatused to burn scorching hot between them reignites. His head says run, but hisheart is far more courageous. ...but she'sdetermined. Years ago, Macie made a horrible decision, causing her tolose the one person in her life who had always been real and true. TrentThatcher. Now he's back, and a winning bid just might give her the chance tomake things right. But can she rid Trent of three years of heartache in oneweek? Especially when he seems to hate her.

    Entwhistle may look like your sweet, old granny...but things happen to her: she's caught up in the witness protection program, stuck in an elevator with an assortment of strangers, her house is burglarized and her dog is kidnapped. But Mrs. Entwhistle is dauntless; she didn't get to be a fesity seventy-eight by wimping out. Come join her on her porch swing, meet her best friend, Maxine, and her dog, Roger. Maxine will probably offer you a bowl of her homemade soup. Sit a while. Come back when you can.

     Ed tells the funny and engaging story of how he wrote the book and what happened to him along the way. There are humorous stories about the couples he counseled and about his zany editor. If you are looking for a fun, engaging story with interesting characters and laugh out loud moments, you will enjoy this book.

    But all that was years ago. Now, amid growing tensions, marriage-fatigue and resentments, the tragedy of Toby's disappearance jolts his sisters and brother into making journeys, back in time and into their own hearts.

    The second shock comes when his suicide note bequeaths the family's restaurant to Charlie alone, while leaving Owen with instructions to follow his own path, wherever it may take him.Years later, the restaurant is a success. The void in Charlie's life, created by his beloved brother's absence, is finally filled when a passionate affair becomes a deeply satisfying marriage. And now prodigal son Owen is returning home, to be welcomed back into the family fold. But the cruel legacy that tore a brotherhood apart created wounds not easily healed . . . and there must be reckoning.

    They have nothing in common. Just one amazing, passionate weekend in Chicago and a desire to meet again.

    Henry Porter's summer begins when his daughter Nicole-whom he hasn't seen in five years-shows up on his doorstep. Days later his girlfriend, Elizabeth, announces that she is pregnant. That Henry is speechless at these two events throws into sharp relief his emotional landscape, and this novel charts that landscape's exact contours. Anyone who has ever wondered what a man is saying when he isn't talking will find at least a large part of the answer here. Robert Bausch deciphers with perfect economy and unstinting honesty the code embodied in this man's (and a great many men's) words and actions, and discovers there the world of family legacies, love, and abuse. A Hole in the Earth brilliantly draws the webs that attract us to and repel us from our families, as well as the enduring strength that they can provide.

    With an ear for acid dialogue and an eye for everyday ironies, Ciresi unfolds Rosa Salvatore's tale: growing up on fantasies, guilt, and fagioli in the New Haven working-class Italian neighborhood of Pizza Beach; working her way through a local college by slinging hash, while agonizing over her thighs and aching for passion; landing a job and meeting Gary Fisher, a nice Jewish lawyer from Flushing with a great butt and angst of his own. Rosa and Gary fall in love, make love, get married, fight, make up, fight again--until Gary is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and Rosa realizes the power of her love--and the crushing force of regret.Frank and warm, crackling with razor-sharp wit, Blue Italian is a love story about an ill-fated couple who almost missed realizing how much they loved each other. It establishes Rita Ciresi as a writer with a unique gift for language, character, and emotion--a novelist to read, and a novelist to watch.