But now Potter’s Cove is calling her back: it’s time to make peace with the past and go home.Rosamunde’s return to the vicarage in the days before Christmas is a whirlwind of festive cheer and heartwarming reunions with friends, family and her loving father, the vicar. And while seeing the old place after all this time stirs painful memories of long-ago grief, it also reminds her of all the love she left behind. Fifteen years ago she vowed never to let herself be vulnerable again—but now that she’s back she’s not so sure. Is it possible that real happiness could strike more than once?Spanning three decades of family life, Christmas at the Vicarage is a warm, feel-good tale that examines what it means to love and to lose—and to be brave enough to try again. Revised edition: This edition of Christmas at the Vicarage includes editorial revisions.

    In the late 1960s, New York Times bestselling author Andy Andrews thought he was having a very good Christmas… until he got socks from his Aunt Ruth--unarguably a very lousy gift. How could he know that those lousy socks would change Christmas and him forever!Socks for Christmas is great for all ages and will give your family an instant Christmas tradition. This timeless holiday book:Teaches lessons on gratitude, giving, and understanding others during the seasonInspires hearts and brings families togetherStirs nostalgia, tradition, and joy in any heart at Christmas timeSocks for Christmas is a:Safe gift for a boss, co-worker, or employeeThoughtful gift for a family member or loved oneA great option for gift exchangesWhether you read it yourself or listen to Andy on the CD (included with your purchase), Socks for Christmas is a great way to kick off the season.

    He had a job, a house, a wife and kids. But something was missing. He was stuck in a routine of working, changing nappies and cleaning up cat sick. He felt like he was missing out on a lot of what the world had to offer.He then discovered that it was Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. The day after that was National Curmudgeon Day, and the day after that was Inane Answering Machine Message Day. In fact, the calendar is FULL of these quirky, weird and wonderful events. He realised that somebody somewhere had created these holidays, believing that they were important enough to warrant their own official day. Surely he should therefore be more appreciative of their existence? So he decided to try and celebrate them all. As you do. He hoped that at the end of the challenge he would be transformed into a happier, more intelligent and more content person.Follow George on his hilarious, life changing adventure as he tries to balance his normal life with a wealth of new experiences, people, facts and ridiculous situations. It’s a rip-roaring, life-affirming, roller-coaster of a ride, where every day is a holiday.

    They're just the right size, so you'll find time for love and good cheer between trimming the tree and hanging the stockings. Tidings of Love is guaranteed to put you in the mood to ring in the holidays at any time of the year. Nickolai's Noel: A chance meeting and a snowy ice storm bring together an unlikely pair - Russian hockey player Nickolai Glaznov and artisan quilt maker Noel Verden - on the most enchanting day of the year. A special connection flares between them despite his lack of roots and her overly involved family. But when the ice melts, will the magic disappear too? Her Secret Santa: Neighbors and co-workers at Morgan Confectioners, Rebecca Sinclair and Ben Redding have been best friends since grad school. When their feelings turn more than friendly, will they be able to get past their fear of ruining their friendship? A holiday gift exchange might just bring the best present of all - Christmas love. His Hawaiian Christmas: Humbug in Hawaii? When Clara O'Fallen gets a promotion to paradise, she can't help feeling homesick for her Wisconsin winters, complete with real snow, family traditions, and Christmas festivities. But smiling surfer Kai Schmitt might just show this scrooge how to hang loose and catch the spirit of the season - the aloha spirit! Gavin Fever: A sudden snowstorm unexpectedly strands Julia Winthrop with her ex, reality TV star Gavin Beckett, at a cozy mountain cabin for the holidays. Trapped till the weather lets up, their attraction resurfaces. It's not long before they realize their fling might've been the real thing and this surprise reunion might just be a Christmas miracle. A Man for All Seasons: There are crazier ways to spend a holiday. At least that's what journalist Janey Turner keeps telling herself when she agrees to spend Thanksgiving with the editor she's never met in person before. But the chemistry that flares between her and Joe Argenti is as hot and unexpected as the lightning strike that soon ignites Casper Mountain. Will her professional dreams cost her a merry Christmas? Lights, Latkes, and Love: Non-profit CEO David Shay can't get enough of the December festivities. As a manager of a large retail store, Hannah Jenkins, on the other hand, turns into a jaded Scrooge every year on Black Friday. Can a nice Jewish boy - with the help of some Christmas lights, a little girl, and a latke party - teach Hannah the true meaning of the season and guarantee them both a New Year's Eve kiss to remember? Winter Fairy: Recuperating ballerina Penelope Glazier can enchant the young girls in her Fairy Dreams class, but will her magic work on Carson Langley, the sexy but straight-laced single father of her most talented student? Or will she dance out of their lives when her big break arrives? Sensuality Level: Sensual

    Now she waits for news of her shopkeeper husband Ted, who volunteered at the outbreak of war, for the British Expeditionary Forces.Molly, intent on running the general store with the help of her retired father, Bill Keen and ex-proprietor of the business, listens to the wireless broadcasts on the D Day landings. But Ted perishes, leaving Molly a widow, her only source of income, the store they had built up together.The East End is soon subject to a horrific blitz by the Luftwaffe and unprepared for the vicious aerial attack on London timed to coincide with the tidal low point of the River Thames. Water mains are severed by the unloading of 10,000 fire bombs on the city. Swift’s General Store in Roper Street falls victim to a fierce explosion. Will Molly and her father survive the impact and is tragedy once again looming large in valiant Molly’s life?

    Now she's a journalist with a passion for truth, more devoted to her work at the London Journal than she ever was to her ex-husband.When the newspaper is bought by media giant The Goring Group, who value sales figures over fact-checking, Thorn openly questions their methods, and promptly finds herself moved from the news desk to the midweek supplement, reporting heart-warming stories for their new segment, The Bright Side, a job to which she is spectacularly unsuited.On a final warning and with no heart-warming news in sight, a desperate Thorn fabricates a good-news story of her own. The story, centred on an angelic apparition on Hampstead Heath, goes viral. Caught between her principles and her ambitions, Thorn goes in search of the truth behind her creation, only to find the answers locked away in the unconscious mind of a stranger.Marika Cobbold returns with her eighth novel, On Hampstead Heath. Sharp, poignant, and infused with dark humour, On Hampstead Heath is an homage to storytelling and to truth; to the tales we tell ourselves, and the stories that save us.

    Having covered the war in Iraq and moved to Mexico City with two babies in nappies, he and his wife Diana thought they understood something about the subject.But when they arrived in Sydney so that Cave could establish The New York Times's Australia Bureau, life near the ocean confronted them with new ideas and questions, at odds with their American mindset that risk was a matter of individual choices. Surf-lifesaving and Nippers showed that perhaps it could be managed together, by communities. And instead of being either eliminated or romanticised, it might instead be respected and even embraced.And so Cave set out to understand how our current attitude to risk developed - and why it's not necessarily good for us.Into the Rip is partly the story of this New York family learning to live better by living with the sea and it is partly the story of how humans manage the idea of risk. Interviewing experts and everyday heroes, Cave asks critical questions like: Is safety overrated? Why do we miscalculate risk so often and how can we improve? Is it selfish to take risks or can more exposure make for stronger families, citizens and nations? And how do we factor in legitimate fears and major disasters like Cave has covered in his time here: the Black Summer fires; the Christchurch massacre; and, of course, Covid?The result is Grit meets Phosphorescence and Any Ordinary Day - a book that will change the way you and your family think about facing the world's hazards.

    To be published on the first anniversary of Kurt Vonnegut's death, Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve new and unpublished writings on war and peace, imbued with Vonnegut's trademark rueful humor.

    "There's a story behind that snow globe," the antique dealer tells her. The original owner, he explains, was a German toymaker who lost his wife and son right before Christmas. When the grieving widower received the handcrafted snow globe as a Christmas gift, he saw the image of a beautiful woman beneath the glass—a woman who would come into his life, mend his broken heart and bring him back to the world of the living. For years, the snow globe has passed from generation to generation, somehow always landing in the hands of a person in special need of a Christmas miracle.Kiley could use a miracle herself. This year, all she wants for Christmas is someone to love. A hopeful shake leads her on an adventure that makes a believer out of her. When Kylie shares the story of the snow globe with her best friends—two women with problems of their own—they don't believe it. But they're about to discover that at Christmastime, sometimes the impossible becomes possible and miracles really do come true.

    The result was usually an interview free of phoney claims or self promotion, even if it might occasionally be tricky to follow - depending on what condition Keith was in when he gave it.Now, Sean Egan has done a sterling job of organising a huge number of Richards’ published utterances drawn from GQ, Melody Maker and Rolling Stone, plus many more never before seen in print.Taken together they form a riveting commentary on Keith Richards’ half-century progression from gauche young pretender to craggy elder statesman of rock music.They also reveal an unexpectedly warm, unpretentious, articulate and honest man who occupies a unique and rarefied role in the history of rock ’n’ roll.

    Venturing inside minds and landscapes that are at once recognisable and utterly strange, these stories reaffirm Wallace's reputation as one of his generation's pre-eminent talents, expanding our ides and pleasures fiction can afford.Among the stories are 'The Depressed Person', a dazzling and blackly humorous portrayal of a woman's mental state; 'Adult World', which reveals a woman's agonised consideration of her confusing sexual relationship with her husband; and 'Brief Interviews with Hideous Men', a dark, hilarious series of portraits of men whose fear of women renders them grotesque. Wallace's stories present a world where the bizarre and the banal are interwoven and where hideous men appear in many different guises. Thought-provoking and playful, this collection confirms David Foster Wallace as one of the most imaginative young writers around. Wallace delights in leftfield observation, mining the ironic, the surprising and the illuminating from every situation. This collection will delight his growing number of fans, and provide a perfect introduction for new readers.

    But when he returns home from an evening out with his older sister, Lilia, Timmy is faced with his greatest challenge yet: the house has been ransacked, and their parents have disappeared without a trace. With the help of two detectives who take a special interest in the case, Timmy and Lilia embark on a unique investigation guided by Timmy’s photographic memory and relying on one subtle clue from the night of their parents’ disappearance: the unusual presence of an old Ford Bronco. Using that single piece of information, Timmy and Lilia are drawn into a deadly conspiracy spanning the globe and are staying just ahead of a mysterious foe who has no patience for their meddling. The success of this unlikely team of investigators rests with Timmy’s intrepid problem-solving skills as the siblings race to find their parents before time runs out.

    After decades of slacking off at low-paying dead-end jobs, blowing his cash on booze and women, and scrimping by in flea-bitten apartments, Chinaski sees his poetic star rising at last. Now, at fifty, he is reveling in his sudden rock-star life, running three hundred hangovers a year, and maintaining a sex life that would cripple Casanova.With all of Bukowski's trademark humor and gritty, dark honesty, this 1978 follow-up to Post Office and Factotum is an uncompromising account of life on the edge.

    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.