Now comes a reissue of the best-selling debut novel that launched her remarkable career. St. Elizabeth's, a home for unwed mothers in Habit, Kentucky, usually harbors its residents for only a little while. Not so Rose Clinton, a beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to the home pregnant but not unwed, and stays. She plans to give up her child, thinking she cannot be the mother it needs. But when Cecilia is born, Rose makes a place for herself and her daughter amid St. Elizabeth's extended family of nuns and an ever-changing collection of pregnant teenage girls. Rose's past won't be kept away, though, even by St. Elizabeth's; she cannot remain untouched by what she has left behind, even as she cannot change who she has become in the leaving.

    But now Jen's life seems to be crumbling around her. Her husband Adam is suddenly without a job, her sister is moving far away, and people increasingly describe her two-year-old daughter as a difficult child. This is not the way Jen dreamed parenthood would be, especially with her youngest daughter.In the middle of each night, Kaye wakes up screaming. Human interactions and parental guidance have little meaning for her. Jen makes jokes about Kaye's public behavior to push away the pain. Marie, her four-year-old daughter, wants to know, "Why won't Kaye play with me?" Then Jen's new visiting teacher asks if Kaye is autistic. In Faraway Child, Amy Maida Wadsworth shares her most personal novel to date with a story about a family who faces shattered expectations, and then learns to reach out to family, ward members, and to God.

    Containing over 80 slice-of-life stories by a bestselling outdoor humorist, this collection brings together for the first time three works by McManus: A Fine and Pleasant Misery, Never Sniff a Gift Fish, and They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?.

    But Leslie isn’t the only one with a claim to Peak.Jay Davenport, Peak’s reclusive caretaker, has his own reasons for holding onto the land bequeathed to him by Leslie’s grandmother. Before she died, Maggie hinted at a terrible secret surrounding Adele Laveau, a lady’s maid who came to Peak during the 1930s and died under mysterious circumstances. Jay is haunted by Maggie’s story, yet the truth eludes him—until Leslie uncovers a cryptically marked grave on the property.As they delve into the mystery of Adele’s death, Leslie and Jay discover shocking secrets that extend deep into the roots of Leslie’s family tree—secrets that have the power to alter her life forever.

     The Fielding House Christmas Ball is for everyone, including servants. This Christmas Eve a lady’s maid, Claire Walden, plans to attend for the first time, but when Mrs. Fielding’s grandson shows up unexpectedly the dance may take a different turn. Edmund is a gentleman of the upper class, but with a questionable background. When he shows an interest in Claire, she doesn’t want to risk her heart, but over time, Claire comes to know Edmund. As the Christmas Eve ball approaches, Claire wonders if love might be able to cross the lines of servants and high society. If she saves a dance for Edmund, will he steal her heart forever?

    The magic was already there when cigar-smoking matriarch Elizabeth Calhoun established an artist’s colony on an island off the coast of Georgia and named it Whimsey. Elizabeth’s ghost still drops in from time to time to make sure things are going as she planned. There’s also a wicked pixie named Earlene who fancies tight-fitting designer clothes and Louboutin stilettos. Elizabeth’s grandniece, Emma Hamilton Foley, a once-promising jewelry designer who moved away from the island, now fears her talent has deserted her. Along with her four best childhood friends, she has been invited to be a resident artist at Whimsey’s new upscale gallery, Les étoiles. To join them, she’ll need to regain her talent, face the demons from her past and her feelings about Eli Tatnall, whom she loved as a girl. Will moving back to the Island of Whimsey bring the magic back? WHIMSEY is a story of hope and affirmation, about families and best girlfriends, connections and feelings. It’s about the things in life that make us happy and the things that scare us to death. And the people who walk through life with us.http://www.kayewilkinsonbarley.com/

     Jimmy Madden, a fiercely independent high school basketball star with big dreams for his future, sees them dim one Fourth of July when his debutante girlfriend May Tilley tells him she is pregnant. Twelve years later, Jimmy grudgingly endures the workaday drudgery of his father-in-law's tobacco warehouse; May, equally dissatisfied, wonders if love alone can make, and save, a marriage. But it is young Joey who bears the brunt of his parents' unhappy union. As he struggles to cope with his fractured family life, Joey turns to his grandfather, who explains that "a time may come when a person has to let go of what he loves in order to save himself." Set in 1950's North Carolina, rich with the windswept beauty of its Outer Banks, Ruin Creek is a major work by one of the most insightful students of family writing fiction in America today. Writing in the contrapuntal voices of Joey, May, and Jimmy, David Payne examines the early life of characters from Gravesend Light, creating a portrait of a family that breaks apart, heals, and endures. "Full of life, full of wisdom, full of words that singe, sing, and somehow console." (The Boston Globe) "Masterful.... Somewhere between Faulkner and Conroy." (The Denver Post)

    Their home. Her sanctuary. When Prue Bridgewater first glimpses the abandoned old house, it's love at first sight. Her husband Ray is not so sure. The property has been neglected for decades, and Ray can’t help wondering why. But with Prue on the brink of a nervous breakdown, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her sane, even if it means he has to live there. Once ensconced in their new home, Prue begins fixing up the place while Ray is away at work. But after a series of disturbing discoveries, she fears she's losing her mind. She hears things and sees people who couldn’t possibly be there, and she can’t shake the feeling she’s being watched. As Prue’s hold on reality begins to disintegrate, along with her marriage, she struggles to tell truth from delusion. But things go from bad to worse, and soon not just her sanity, but her survival hinges upon the long-buried secrets of THE HOUSE. This is a novella of approximately 27,287 words