Digger is an astonishing story, beautifully written, full of suspense, and threaded with the insight and wisdom of the author who has devoted her life to finding the truth of a family secret – whether or not she had a twin. Thrilling, inspiring, and deeply poignant, this is also a story about the search for wholeness, that longing of the heart which is universal. Words cannot convey the power of this memoir – its dramatic momentum, mystical threads, and profound understanding of human nature and familial relationships. Digger is a landmark book, a remarkable achievement which deserves the highest possible recommendation. OLIVIA AMES HOBLITZELLE Author of Ten Thousand Joys & Ten Thousand Sorrows: a Couple’s Journey Through Alzheimer’s and Aging with Wisdom: Reflections, Stories & Teachings. In Digger, Barbara McCollough brings clarity and immediacy to a very complex, layered story. A gifted observer of people in relationships; she knows what they show and what they hide; she knows what they know but refuse to acknowledge. In Digger we see how people give themselves away, but of course, what we really see is McCollough giving us these people giving themselves away — through gestures, dialogue, silences — in other words, through ART. Brava! RICHARD HOFFMAN Author of Half the House and Love & Fury. With as much rich compassion as compelling investigation, Barbara McCollough has given us a gorgeously wrought memoir that you won’t want to put down, one that you’ll never forget. RACHAEL HERRON Internationally Bestselling Author of Splinters of Light, A Life in Stitches, and Pack Up the Moon.

    Read about: the grandma who attended her granddaughter’s wedding …even after she’d ‘passed away’! the angel who saved three people from drowning …before mysteriously disappearing the teenager who was dramatically rescued from a soon-to-be demolished building and the mysterious ‘angel on a plane'.

    She was always different and others sensed this. Her accurate insight into those around her left her friendless. As she matured, she learnt to hide her special connection to the Spirit world and endeavoured to lead a normal life as best she could. Later, spurred on by Spirit and turbulent experiences, she began to use her talents to help those around her. Eventually her abilities attracted wider acclaim while re-examining unsolved murder cases in the highly successful television series, Sensing Murder.Sue Nicholson continues to help create a communication link between those who have passed over to the Spirit world and the living. Through this interaction Sue is able to help others reach a sense of peace and understanding of why they are here.This book is a biography of Sue Nicholson's life, as told to and written by Sue Murray.

    The following are simply a set of 'Life Experiences' I have decide to share with you. Each chapter appears in no set order so don't think in terms of a timeline. Some chapters may make you feel happy, some sad, and even some may make you angry, but that is what life is all about; growing spiritually. Evelyn Adams

    Fought over a fierce five months, the battle began in March and lasted into September. During this time, author Eraldo Lucero was serving in the 101st Airborne. This is his story. Lucero’s story of the courageous men who fought is a microcosm that sheds light on the reality of war. Bracingly honest, Lucero accurately depicts the horrors of war and its psychological effects long after the battles are over, revealing the unseen wounds of the soldiers who risked their lives to win a war most Americans tried to forget. Thirty-five years after the war’s end, the author reconnects with fellow Vietnam veterans and in a sobering commentary on the effects of war, illustrates its lingering presence in the combat veteran’s daily life. Inspired by his own battles with post-traumatic stress disorder and the fact that the battle of Hills 714 and 882 during Operation Texas Star has never been fully covered, Lucero leads us into the hell of the jungles of Vietnam and the infamous A Shau Valley. The A Shau Valley and its environs are as much a character as the men themselves, an unrelenting quagmire of violence and death that forever changed any man involved in its brutality. Echoes of a Distant Past: Screaming Eagles—A Vietnam War Memoir gives readers a firsthand look at the Vietnam War as only the combat infantrymen experienced it.

    In January, 1967, at the age of twenty, I left my home in Tennessee, and was on my way to Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. I knew I was destined to join the party in Vietnam. I had been married for five days before I jumped on the bus and became US government property. I was about to embark on a walking tour through the jungles and muck of southern Asia. This book is about those jungles, that muck and the realities of what had been pitched as a brave and glamorous life of a soldier in combat. There is nothing glamorous in humping the brush, a backpack containing your whole life on your back, an M-16 to keep you warm at night. Red ants, trip wires, flooded rice paddies, leeches and being soaked for a year in either sweat or monsoons aren’t what they show on the movies, and the John Waynes were to be avoided; those guys were part of the ten-percent factor. Among the casualties of war are the truth and common sense. A glamorous life? No, not at all. It was a grunt's life... and this grunt had only one goal in mind – to do his tour and get home to his bride. There were times where it seemed even that was an unachievable goal.This is the story of November Platoon, Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry, 1st Division – The Big Red One – in Vietnam. This is my story… completely unvarnished.

    And with G-d's help, he saved not only himself but also his parents and a host of friends, relatives, and strangers from almost certain death. If Ludvik Wieder's adventures were fiction, they would seem too contrived. But everything told is the unembellished truth. At the age of 26, Ludvik had it all—health, wealth, good looks, popularity, and a growing business in one of Europe's brightest capitals. Then, one dreadful Sunday in the spring of 1943, the Nazis marched into Budapest and imposed a series of repressive measures that threatened the life of every Jew in Hungary. From that day on, all that mattered was survival. Suddenly, life hung by a shred of paper— the proper “Aryan” identification. Determined to survive, Ludvik boldly entered the black market to buy those precious scraps of false identity that might save him and his loved ones from disaster. Soon he was living a double life, outwardly forsaking his Orthodox Jewish upbringing to pose as a gentile, at the same time clinging steadfastly to his beliefs, never for a moment forgetting who he was and where he came from. Soon he became a master of deception— whether it was posing as a trusted “gentile” factory employee, disguising himself as a drunken peasant, or assuming the dress and manner of a member of the Hungarian S.S. Somehow, he had the capacity to enlist the aid of an unlikely assortment of non-Jews, who helped him at the peril of their lives—among them, a peasant woman who befriended him in prison and offered her home as his haven for the duration of the war… a Hungarian Air Force officer, who “adopted” Ludvik's niece as his own illegitimate child, lent him his apartment as a hiding place and smuggled a series of vital ID papers to him… the Skid Row derelict who saved the life of Ludvik's nephew by pretending to be the boy's uncle. The book traces Ludvik's life, beginning with his placid, essentially easygoing boyhood in Czechoslovakia. Then, in 1940, after the Hungarian takeover, he was inducted into forced labor. It describes the cruelty and black humor of the labor camp, which helped him to develop the cunning and ingenuity that enabled him to sharpen his survival skills and avoid being sent to fatal service on the Russian front. The story then focuses on the Nazi occupation, culminating in Ludvik's near-execution at the hands of his Russian liberators. Armed with optimism, unswerving faith in the Almighty, and his own resourcefulness, Ludvik never let fear keep him from doing whatever was necessary to save himself and his fellow Jews. Throughout his heart-stopping adventures —and even in the darkest moments of despair, when events propelled him to the brink of suicide—Ludvik was motivated to go on by consummate devotion to his beloved mother. He knew he had to survive, for he had promised her he would.

    Her world was shattered when she discovered that she had the rare gene BRCA1, meaning a 50% chance of developing ovarian cancer and an 85% chance of developing breast cancer. To reduce the risk, Emma had a double mastectomy and both ovaries removed. But in 2007 she received the devastating news that cancer had struck anyway.Now, twelve years later, Emma Hannigan is battling cancer for the tenth time.With her trademark warmth and wisdom, Emma shares her journey and her advice on everything from skincare and hair loss to how to keep a sense of humour through it all.All to Live For is a story of one woman's determination not to let cancer win; a story of strength and inspiration, hope and love. And of never giving up.

    The death of the author's mother sparks a series of reflections on the secret roles mothers play in the lives of troubled adolescents.

    Mukerjee was one of the first Indian followers of Maharaj-ji Westerners met in the late 60s and early 70s when they came seeking this Neem Karoli Baba that Ram Dass wrote about. Dada was fluent in English. He?d been a professor of economics at Allahabad University, editor of a prestigious economics journal, and a political activist. It was the women in his family who were interested in religion and spiritual matters until Maharaj-ji moved into Dada?s home. Dada gave up all his worldly activities then to follow Maharaj-ji. Westerners learned surrender from their acquaintance with Dada, that is did not enslave but frees. They saw there was no space between when Maharaj-ji spoke and Dada acted. His level of service to his Baba while hard for Westerners to understand was beautiful in its simplicity and acceptance of the moment.After Maharaj-ji?s death Westerners began gathering at Dada?s house, eager to hear his stories about Maharaj-ji. They couldn?t get enough and would keep Dada up late talking about his Baba. Now we have this delightful book containing Dada?s stories of the great Indian saint Neem Karoli Baba. Readers will find themselves captivated by Dada?s remembrances, informed, and challenged. Dada opens wide for us a window into Indian spiritual culture as you begin to understand what it is that happens when Guru calls and the devotee replies ?yes.? ? Paperback, 224 pages. Published by the Hanuman Foundation, 1990. The story of one of Neem Karoli Baba?s Indian devotees about his time living in Maharaj-ji?s shadow. Rich with numerous photos of Neem Karoli Baba and Mukerjee and Indian ashram life. Mukerjee often served as Neem Karoli Baba?s translator and writes in a manner easily understood by Westerners, as he leads readers into an understanding of Indian spiritual values.

    It is isolating, painful, and confusing. Loneliness and longing are your reality. You’re consumed with guilt, self-deprecating inner dialogue, and worst of all, the fear of doing even the smallest thing wrong. You spend a lot of time alone…even when you’re not. You watch a lot of TV.Obviously, this is all your fault. Obviously, the reason you are living this way is because of something you did to warrant it. If they beat you, you deserved it. If they punish you, you asked for it. You never want to go home, but you don’t have a choice because you’ve never had a choice. This is it. This is what you have. This is all you know.And yet, you still smile when you sometimes catch a glimpse of the sweeter things and treasure the smallest kindness. Inside, you know life isn’t supposed to be like this, but it is. Your life is like a bubble of poison gas that could burst at any moment…you know that. You live that. But how are you supposed to make sense of any of this? How do you make it stop?You can’t.You are powerless.You haven’t even reached kindergarten yet.From a severely abusive childhood in the inner city of Baltimore, a string of unsatisfying relationships and several broken marriages, to a six-figure income from the multi-million dollar business I built out of my home, this is my story in my own words.I was stolen as a baby when my mother died. I was lied to by my kidnapper and used as a Cinderella punching bag by his never-ending parade of “step-mothers” and girlfriends, and much worse when he didn’t have one.This memoir covers the good, the bad, and the ugly.As this story unfolds, my hope is that you, the reader, will discover a little girl who survived that abusive childhood, healed, and empowered herself through discipline and hard work. I hope you see a girl who became a woman who learned from her mistakes and a whole human being who loves her newfound family with all her heart.I am no longer an outsider. I can go home now.

    Enjoy moments of humor, live incidents of aviation suspense and feel the sorrow of tragic times.

    

    I have no idea if it is part of the dream, a hallucination, or reality. It talks of children, bringing news of a girl called Grace who loves me very much and a new baby boy called Freddie, who apparently needs me to get better... It stirs a part of me, even in my coma, reminding me that I'm thirty-eight and in love with the most beautiful woman in the world. It tells me that one third of me is gone but what's left is enough; that the thing is, above all, to survive.' When Tom Ray put his young daughter to bed one chilly December evening, he had everything he could ever want - the house of his dreams, a beautiful wife and a second baby on the way. By the next morning all of this was in jeopardy as Tom succumbed to the devastating illness that is sepsis.Starfish tells Tom and Nic Ray's truly inspirational story of their life before, during and after the illness which claimed Tom's lower arms, legs, and a portion of his face. Heart-breakingly honest and affecting, their story charts the devastating effects of Tom's illness, Nic's heroic struggle to cope and, ultimately, the love and hope that has held their family together in the ensuing years. A tragic yet beautiful tale of a couple whose love is tested to its limit after their perfect life falls apart in a single moment.

    Now, graduating from business school, newly married, Kristin is ready to take the next step of starting a family. But when Kristin’s first pregnancy ends with a miscarriage, she is devastated. When her second pregnancy does as well, Kristin and her husband Bob turn to in vitro fertilization – and are heartbroken again after a third miscarriage. Undaunted, they turn to alternate options, including surrogacy and adoption, but face setbacks at every turn, some so unthinkable that they never could have been predicted. In the most extreme of circumstances, when all of our careful plans are thrown out the window, how do we persevere? In spite of the pain and sorrow of the many years spent trying to start their family, Kristin and Bob remain positive, loving, and driven – and learn in their ultimately rewarding journey that life’s joys come more from the unexpected than from the expected.100% of Kristin Peck’s proceeds from the sale of Perseverance will be donated to Family and Children's Agency.Kristin Peck is thrilled to be the working mother of two amazing children. She keeps herself sane by belting out her favorite pop and country songs while running and completing triathlons, and is proud to have recently completed her first marathon. She is currently EVP, Group President of Zoetis, Inc., the world's largest animal health company. Kristin received her bachelor’s from Georgetown and her MBA from Columbia Business School. Kristin, her husband, two children and their dog live in CT. Perseverance is her first book.Cover design by Hannah Perrine Mode.