But as Gill begins to send letters from her dead son to his sister, the increasingly elaborate lie threatens to prove more dangerous than the truth.A novel about family, food, grief, and hope, this gripping, lyrical story moves between Tasmania and London, exploring the many ways that a family can break down - and the unexpected ways that it can be put back together.

    With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants—otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her.

    But after Thomas' complicated birth - and his diagnosis with down syndrome - Kathryn was forced to face her deepest fears and weaknesses, her ignorance and her prejudice, and her limitations as a mother and as a human being.

    More than just a cancer book, this is a deeply affecting memoir of one woman's struggle to come to terms with everything that life throws her way.Ultimately, this is a moving celebration of the true meaning of human triumph and courage, the importance of community and the imperative of living every day with joy.

    Caroline, the novel's protagonist, returns to New York after the death of her father ostensibly to wrap things up and take care of necessary "business" where her memory and imagination conspire to lay before her all her griefs and joys in a rebellious progression. In different voices, employing a collage-like fragmentation, Maso gently unfolds The Art Lover in much the same way the fragile and prehistoric fiddlehead fern unfolds throughout the novel, bringing with subtle grace the ever-entangled feelings of grief and love into full and tender view. Various illustrations throughout.

    But playing tennis, avoiding coffee mornings and being a perfect wife and mother in the Middle East is not enough. Charlotte convinces a local veterinary clinic to employ her and throws herself into assisting the vets, overcoming her fear of birds and rehoming hundreds of stray cats and dogs. Cyclones, earthquakes, transvestites, unwanted paramours, cultural differences, tears and laughter follow as seven years flash by. Will Charlotte stay, or gather up the motley crew of pets she has collected and head for home? Charlotte was born, raised and lived in West Sussex, UK, with her children, animals, Aga and husband until 2006. She dreamed of spending time with Colin Firth, or Gordon Ramsey, and couldn't wait for Christmas to come around for Love Actually to be on the TV. But then she was dragged off to live in Oman, in the heart of the Middle East, where coffee mornings and sets of tennis soon gave way to a life of animal rescue and re-homing. Her first book, Paw Prints in Oman, is full of wonderful stories and unique insights into her life in this mystical land.

    . . A riveting and anxiety-inducing read. Mike Pond tells his story of recovery from alcoholism with a brutally honest, warts-and-all approach that makes you want cheer for him and simultaneously slap him upside the head.” – Vancouver SunPsychotherapist Michael Pond is no stranger to the devastating consequences of alcoholism. He has helped hundreds of people conquer their addictions, but this knowledge did not prevent his own near-demise. In this riveting memoir, he recounts how he lost his Penticton-based practice, his home, and his family—all because of his drinking. After scores of visits to the ER, a tour of hellish recovery homes, a stint in intensive care for end-stage alcoholism, and jail, Pond devised his own personal plan for recovery. He met Maureen Palmer and together they investigated scientific alternatives to the rigid abstinence doctrine pushed by Alcoholics Anonymous.

    Beginning with a wonderful portrait of tha author's remarkable father, the book follows Dos Passos through Harvard; through World War I as an ambulance driver in France & Italy; through the chaotic postwar Middle East; through the vast reaches of Soviet Russia; the 'Russian Experiment' & through the literary world on both sides of the Atlantic.

    Alan Severance wakes up one morning confined to a familiar hospital with no recollection of his arrival. Thus starts Recovery, Berryman's semi-autobiographical tale of "the disease called ‘alcoholism.'" This time, determined to free himself from his disease, Dr. Severance plunges into a rigorous plan for recovery. Following the clinic's advice he confesses his humiliations, defeats, and delusions in an attempt to purge himself and achieve normality. The novel is elevated above the ordinary by Berryman's sharp wit and penetrating intelligence. An alcoholic and critically acclaimed Pulitzer prize-winning poet, Berryman jumped to his death off the Washington Avenue Bridge in 1972 in Minneapolis, abandoning his own attempts to overcome alcoholism as well as the yet unfinished Recovery. The resulting novel is a powerful portrayal of Severance's eternally indefinite attempts to free himself from the grip of addiction. "What he needed for his art had been supplied by his own person, by his mind, his wit."—Saul Bellow "Recovery is a brilliantly written, masterful portrayal of man's battle with himself for survival."—Chicago Sun-Times "What distinguishes Recovery from many fine and powerful fictions about alcoholism are the steps it takes into allegory and art."—Los Angeles Times

    I suspect it may be both.” --Toby Young, New York Times bestselling author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate PeopleAn offensive, in-your-face, brutally honest and completely hilarious look at male inner life and sexual fantasy. In the course of this hilariously honest book, our narrator suffers through a relationship with his vapid wannabe-actress girlfriend until he finds the perfect girl. But when he moves into the new relationship, he slowly learns that all women are pretty much the same, that man's true desires will never be fulfilled, and the decision between living life alone or biting the marriage bullet must be made.

     With no home, or family, he heads west in pursuit of revenge. There he will not only find purpose in killing the men responsible for destroying his life but will also uncover that justice is not as simple as life or death. VENGEANCE ROAD is book one in THE WANDERER series.