Hard working and honest to the core Ricky Richardson, taught by one of the best, is injured in a freak horse accident that leaves him in the hospital and the horse dead. After six weeks of recovery and without work he is desperate for a job. An offer comes with a catch, he must show up with a horse to ride and the only horse in his price range is a mistrusting black with a history of having been mistreated. He is cheap for a reason as Ricky would soon learn. Both stubborn, one will have to give. Which one will it be?A tender and emotional story of the bond that develops between a horse and his owner. That bond is tested as the young man and his horse endure an almost unbearable hardship. It will take all the fortitude Ricky can muster and all the help his friends can give as he faces the possibility of losing his favorite horse forever.If you’ve ever owned a horse, or ever wanted to, this book is for you.

    In the hilly village of pathri Aali, where legends appear true, Aslam and ashwar, two young lovers, dream of marriage and of good things of life. But that is not to be. Unable to cope, Aslam leaves pathri Aali forever. Years later, as men migrate to Saudi Arabia for employment, pathri Aali is populated mostly by women and children. Soon they realize the mujahedeen, who guise themselves as their liberators, are the worst perpetrators, and misery seems inescapable. Ashwar refuses to be cowed down by this reign of terror and is determined not to let it devastate the once-peaceful village. The only one she can Bank on is aslam—and she calls out to him across the distance of time and space, to return and live up to the legends of their village. Snakes in the meadows is a saga of the onset of militancy, and the suffering and the resilience of pir panjal—the ‘and’ of Jammu and Kashmir.

    As single mother Sidney Walker struggles to save her troubled young son, she finds she is not as alone as she thinks when help comes from the most unexpected person.

    But it is Stella’s voice, the amazing way that she tells her story, that makes this Holocaust story so unique, powerful and endearing. The reader listens to Stella’s stunning simplicity of expression, her use of Polish and Yiddish phrases, her humor, her all-so-frequent grammatical errors – and is charmed. It is a story that only Stella Yollin can tell, and it can only be told in Stella’s sweet and incomparable way.

    In this distinct selection of stories marked by struggle and compassion, Pieces Like Pottery is a powerful examination of the sorrows of life, the strength of character, the steadfast of courage, and the resiliency of love requisite to find redemption. Filled with graceful insight into the human condition, each linked story presents a tale of loss and love mirroring themes from each of the five Sorrowful Mysteries. In Expect Dragons, James Hinri learns that his old high school teacher is dying. Wanting to tell Mr. Smith one last time how much his teaching impacted him, James drives across the country revisiting past encounters with his father's rejection and the pain of his youth. Disillusioned and losing hope, little did James know that Mr. Smith had one final lesson for him. In The Gravesite, Lisa and Mike's marriage hangs in the balance after the disappearance of their only son while backpacking in Thailand. Mike thinks the authorities are right--that Chris fell to his death in a hiking accident--but Lisa has her doubts. Her son was too strong to die this young, and no one can explain to her why new posts continue to appear on her son's blog. Twenty-Two looks in on the lives of a dock worker suffering from the guilt of a life not lived and a bartender making the best of each day, even though he can see clearly how his life should have been different. The two find their worlds collide when a past tragedy shockingly connects them. A collection of nine stories, each exquisitely written and charged with merciful insight into the trials of life, Pieces Like Pottery reminds us of the sorrows we all encounter in life and the kindness we receive, oftentimes from the unlikeliest of places.

    But when Eliza sweeps her school and district spelling bees in quick succession, Saul takes it as a sign that she is destined for greatness. In this altered reality, Saul inducts her into his hallowed study and lavishes upon her the attention previously reserved for Aaron, who in his displacement embarks upon a lone quest for spiritual fulfillment. When Miriam's secret life triggers a familial explosion, it is Eliza who must order the chaos.Myla Goldberg's keen eye for detail brings Eliza's journey to three-dimensional life. As she rises from classroom obscurity to the blinding lights and outsized expectations of the National Bee, Eliza's small pains and large joys are finely wrought and deeply felt.Not merely a coming-of-age story, Goldberg's first novel delicately examines the unraveling fabric of one family. The outcome of this tale is as startling and unconventional as her prose, which wields its metaphors sharply and rings with maturity. The work of a lyrical and gifted storyteller, Bee Season marks the arrival of an extraordinarily talented new writer.

    Trouble is, no one gets my jokes. And Breaks-it isn’t helping. Ha! You get it, don’t you? Brexit means everyone’s falling out and breaking up.Huxley is growing up in the suburbs of London at a time of community tensions. To make matters worse, a gang of youths is targeting isolated residents. When Leonard, an elderly newcomer chats with Huxley, his parents are suspicious. But Huxley is lonely and thinks Leonard is too. Can they become friends?Funny and compassionate, this contemporary novel for adults explores issues of belonging, friendship and what it means to trust.“Read this and feel young again” – Joe Siple, author of THE FIVE WISHES OF MR. MURRAY McBRIDE 'Moving and ultimately upbeat” – Christopher Wakling, author of WHAT I DID“A joy of a novel, with a wonderfully exuberant character in Huxley” – Sara Gethin, author of NOT THOMAS

    All Millie Rose can do at first is stare into the blinding lights of the NICU and hear doctors demanding answers about the burns on Claire’s body. Nurses panic, they cry and shout “she’s bradying down!” because, Lord help them, they’ve never seen anything like this.Neither has Millie. Although she died in childbirth in 1922, she still has a purpose. Her afterlife is filled with missions lasting anywhere from ten minutes to ten years, and she views her newest assignment as a second chance at motherhood. But she's got to act fast because Claire's lungs are weak, her heart rate keeps tanking, and her pH levels are low. The hospital has never had a 26-weeker pull through. Millie also tries to counsel Claire’s troubled parents, Mick and Manda, through the emotional fallout. They see marriage as the best “band-aid,” but Claire’s birth always haunts them, to the point Manda becomes a chain-smoking pill-popper who paints her house completely white. Mick becomes a reclusive binge-eater who sleeps in the barn. And Claire comes-of-age wondering about it all-- why she’s so sick, why she has scars on her skin, and what’s the secret her parents are keeping?Finally, there’s a good reason why Millie nudges Claire to find true love years later with the geeky guy down the street. True, Charlie Vance may build his own batteries and dissect dead animals, but his love for Claire drives his decision to attend medical school so he can take care of her the rest of her life. NEED TO BREATHE takes an unthinkable crisis and turns it into a gripping story filled with sensitivity, hope, beauty…even humor. From the opening chapter, readers will root for Claire’s chance at happiness, for the Harpers to heal, and for Millie’s reconciliation with her own lost motherhood.

    In fact, Panning’s last collection of short stories, Super America, was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice. Enter this exciting new novel, the best work yet from a writer whose astute observations of American life are as honest as they are engaging.Butter is a coming of age tale set against the backdrop of small-town Minnesota during the 1970s and told from the perspective of an eleven-year-old girl, Iris, who learns from her parents that she is adopted. The story of Iris’s childhood is at first beguiling and innocent: hers is a world filled with bell-bottoms and Barbie dolls, Shrinky Dinks and Shaun Cassidy records, TV dinners and trips to grandma’s. But as her parents’ marriage starts to unravel, Iris grows more and more observant of disintegration all around her, and the simple cadences of her story quickly attain an unnerving tension as she wavers precariously between girlhood and adolescence. In the end, Iris’s story represents a profound meditation on growing up estranged in small town America—on being an outsider in a world increasingly averse to them. Passionate, lyrical, and disquieting, this intensely moving novel is a rich exploration of a crucial theme in American literature that will confirm Anne Panning’s place as a major figure in the world of contemporary fiction.

    After being fired from his job as the clandestine stooge on hit TV show Ghostbusters UK, Elliott returns home to find his girlfriend missing. To make matters worse, Hapkido Valentine, the legendary 1980s wrestler, has returned from the dead and taken up residency in Elliott’s flat. Despite a voracious appetite for sausage sandwiches, Hapkido is convinced he has finally become the mystical Japanese warrior he once portrayed in the ring.Together they must undertake a dangerous journey to find out why the Universe created this most unlikely of partnerships. All that stands in their way is a medallion wearing TV psychic, a train-spotting assassin and the murderous intentions of the local over 75’s women’s group. If Elliott thought the day started badly, things are about to get a whole lot worse.

    She must prove to Anders Sæterdal, her trapping partner who makes no secret of his disdain, that a woman is fit for the task. Over the course of a Svalbard winter, Wanny and Sæterdal will confront polar bears, traverse glaciers, withstand blizzards and the dangers of sea ice, and hike miles to trap Arctic fox, all in the frigid darkness of the four-month polar night. For Wanny, the darkness hides her own deceptions that, if exposed, speak to the untenable sacrifice of a 1930s woman longing to fulfil a dream. Alongside the raw, confronting nature of the trappers’ work, is the story of a young blue Arctic fox, itself a hunter, who must eke out a living and navigate the trappers’ world if it is to survive its first Arctic winter.

     THE LONG DEAD When a routine archaeological dig turns up bodies on the site of a WWII prisoner of war camp, it should be an open and shut case for detective John Blizzard. But forensics discover one of the deaths is more recent and the force have a murder investigation on their hands. STRANGE LITTLE GIRL When a family is brutally murdered, one child is never found. It still troubles DCI John Blizzard to this day. But new clues emerge that will take him deep into the criminal underworld and into conflict with the powers that be. Cracking the case will take all of the detective’s skills, and more. Coming out unscarred will be impossible. THE RAILWAY MAN Few tears are shed when an ex-boxer and local hard man turns up dead. Perhaps only Blizzard is unhappy as the incident interrupts the celebration of the unveiling of the steam locomotive he has lovingly helped restore. There is no shortage of people who might have wanted the boxer dead. But with suspicion of the police and fear of recriminations high, getting any information at all will prove difficult. All three of these books are also available separately on Kindle and in paperback. This box set is available FREE with Kindle Unlimited. The next three books in the series are also available in a box set and separately on Kindle and in paperback. They are: THE SECRETS MAN A BREACH OF TRUST DEATH LIST If you enjoy mysteries that have you guessing until they end, you’ll love these books about hard-hitting detective John Blizzard and his team.

    

    Strong, dark, and flavorful. However, while most women were trying to drink the entire coffee pot, Mac was more of a Keurig kind of girl, opting to have frivolous casual flings as opposed to meaningful relationships. While attending one of her best friends’ weddings—in a moment influenced by too many mojitos—the Feng-Shui consultant foolishly agrees to a pact; to marry within the next year. Her friends don’t think she’s going to go through with it. Honestly, Mac is uneasy about the entire idea. But she doesn’t mind cuddling up with the most mouth-watering cup of coffee she sees in the meantime… the best man, Alexander Carter. Alex is successful, talented, devastatingly handsome, and surprisingly celibate. At least, he was, until a beautiful bombshell rocked his world before leaving him with nothing more than a piece of paper with a kiss on it in her wake. It’s not that the CEO of an environmental engineer firm minds being used, but typically, if a woman wants him for only sex, he at least takes her to dinner first. Imagine his surprise when that same feisty vixen is placed into his life again, and as expected, she seems to be wearing her running shoes. Yet, this time, Alex is ready for the temptress. A little fun and games never hurt anyone, right? Unless fun and games starts looking a whole lot like promises and forever.

    But when they finally track down who was behind a brutal beating of a priest, not everything turns out to be as it seems.