A journey of exploration, transformation and awakening." Melissa Wyld once lived an irreproachably normal and comfortable life – successful career, loving husband, large suburban house: the full conventional happiness package. Her life was perfect … except for the restlessness clawing at her heart and her obsessive need for fresh air. Crazy free is the vivid and intimate story of the author’s leap of faith to unplug and awaken. Her quest for ultimate freedom leads her to leave her "normal life" behind, walk the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, kayak the Yukon River, explore the path of yoga in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas, survive her greatest love, and embrace a full-time off-the-grid life in the back of her beloved Toyota truck. And, at each step, she must choose: surrender to the path of magic and unconventionality or shrink back to a world of debts, jobs, fears and social expectations. Praise for Crazy Free "Many of us dream of giving up comfort and security for absolute freedom but lack the courage or confidence to really give it a go. If your mind ever goes there, this book will strike you to the core. If not, it might just take you there." ~ Evan J. Larsell, world traveler and big-wall climber “Crazy Free is a sort of Eat Pray Love with dirt under the fingernails, an Into the Wild type of story where, thankfully, the heroine returns safe and sound from the wilderness, having learned, grown and transformed." ~ Christopher Loren, author of Unspirituality – Permission to be human “Melissa Wyld is an original, expressive, and provocative writer, honest, vulnerable, wide open, intellectually curious, with a huge spiritual hunger and a courage to seek it out of life.” ~ C.M. Evans, author of The Oak Park Taoist Primer "I have read both Wild by Cheryl Strayed and Crazy Free by Melissa Wyld. Completely different experiences. Cheryl struggled with the miles, the men and her pack, Melissa had a charmed experience on a magical trail. ~ Brian Miyakusu, comment on a "hiking the Pacific Crest Trail" online discussion. Private comments on www.crazyfreebook.com - west coast book tour 2015 “I’m on page 71…can’t put your book down…loving it… Your writing is absolutely heartfelt, open and beautiful” [later] “Your writing is so profound…I just love it and recommend your book every chance I get. I’m on page 299 now…I feel your joys and energy through your physical book and writing..so glad your thumbprint is on it!!” [still later] “On pg 354… Such a great read… Only 13 pgs left… Don’t want it to end.” [and finally] “I finished your book and it was amazing…loved every word, every story; the way you describe each event made me feel like I was there.” ~ Moana “I LOVE YOUR BOOK!! I keep re-reading the section on the energy of how one sees their own reflection in the person they are looking at. Your book is helping guide me in my own spiritual journey. It was meant to be ; )” ~ Ashley “Page 3 and I’m already hooked. Your prologue is beautiful and tears come freely.

    With her children gone and her husband John in the army, Rene Morgan misses her family terribly. When she learnsthat John has become a prisoner of war, she has to take on the highly dangerous job of firewatcher. Meanwhile, Hazel and Peter are desperate to go backhome. Returning to the city, they are overjoyed to be reunited with their mother and Gran. But their father is still far away and the worst of the waris yet to come. As the air raids increase, the Morgans must face the terror of the Blitz together...

    

    When she decided to take up running in her thirties, she had grand hopes for a blissful runner’s high and immediate physical transformation. After eating three slices of toast with honey and spending ninety minutes on iTunes creating the perfect playlist, she hit the streets—and failed miserably. The stories of her first runs turn the common notion that we are all “born to run” on its head—and expose the truth about starting to run: it can be brutal.Running Like a Girl tells the story of how Alexandra gets beyond the brutal part, makes running a part of her life, and reaps the rewards: not just the obvious things, like weight loss, health, and glowing skin, but self-confidence and immeasurable daily pleasure, along with a new closeness to her father—a marathon runner—and her brother, with whom she ultimately runs her first marathon.But before that, she has to figure out the logistics of running: the intimidating questions from a young and arrogant sales assistant when she goes to buy her first running shoes, where to get decent bras for the larger bust, how not to freeze or get sunstroke, and what (and when) to eat before a run. She’s figured out what’s important (pockets) and what isn’t (appearance), and more.For any woman who has ever run, wanted to run, tried to run, or failed to run (even if just around the block), Heminsley’s funny, warm, and motivational personal journey from nonathlete extraordinaire to someone who has completed five marathons is inspiring, entertaining, prac­tical, and fun.

    Heiress Elena Marks needs proof of her layabout husband's infidelity before she can begin divorce proceedings. When the undercover work Stone sets up turns dirty - and catastrophic - leaving the errant husband dead and the mystery woman gone without a trace, Stone must clear his own good name and find a killer hiding among the glitterati of New York's high society. Reckless Abandon: Stone Barrington is, once again, right at home in New York City; but this time he is joined by the tenacious Holly Barker from Orchid Blues, the lady police chief of Orchid Island, Florida. In Reckless Abandon, Holly finally makes it to Manhattan, hot on the trail of an evil fugitive from her jurisdiction. Stone is, well, glad to see her, right up until the moment when her presence creates a great danger to both of them - and to their surprise, she becomes the pursued, not the pursuer.

    Chronicling the last few raucous years in American politics, Lithgow takes readers verse by verse through the history of Donald Trump's presidency.- Lampoons the likes of Betsy DeVos, William Barr, Rudy Giuliani, and dozens more.- Illustrated from cover to cover with Lithgow's never-before-seen line drawings.- Draws inspiration from A. A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, and even Mother Goose.- Great for fans of A Very Stable Genius by Mike Luckovich, Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter by Scott Adams, and The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.The poems collected in Dumpty draw inspiration from A. A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Mother Goose, and many more. A feat of laugh-out-loud lyrical storytelling, this timely volume is bound to bring joy to poetry lovers, political junkies, and Lithgow fans alike.

    

    He knows exactly why they are there and he knows that the world he has carefully constructed over twenty deliberately uneventful years is about to fall apart. He could lose everything.A story of a toxic love gone wrong, with a setting that moves easily between present day London and 1990s Cambridge, Stronger Than Skin is compulsively readable, combining a gripping narrative with a keen eye for the absurdities of the way we live now.

    When her mother dies, Melissa is offered a home by wealthy Lilian Winterton, but she soon realises Lilian wants an unpaid seamstress. Treated as a servant by the Wintertons, Melissa is befriended by Reenie, a kitchen maid, and they enjoy dressing up in Lilian’s cast-off clothes. Wearing finery, Melissa meets handsome young artist James Pennington, but she runs away, frightened he will guess her true status. Scandal follows and Melissa is unfairly thrown out on to the streets. Can the rags of her life be sewn into riches...?

    Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in this country, limiting everyday activities for more than seven million Americans. Drugs, surgeries, and steroids can alleviate some of the discomforts, but study after study has shown that exercise is most beneficial to most forms of arthritis, specifically low-impact, flexibility-enhancing exercises—hence, yoga. In this comprehensive and thoroughly illustrated guide, Loren Fishman and Ellen Saltonstall, who between them have seven decades of clinical experience, help readers understand arthritis and give a spectrum of exercises for beginners and experts. Broken down into chapters focusing on each major joint, there are 100 classical yoga poses and numerous imaginative and physiologically sound adapted poses, all with step-by-step instructions and easy-to-follow photo demonstrations. The authors welcome readers into the philosophy and principles of yoga and show how to use yoga to find lasting relief from arthritis.

    This was a nation on the eve on independence, a land scorched by sun, by years of bitter war. In these perilous circumstances, Peter Capstick commences what is surely the most thrilling safari of his stories career. He takes the reader to the stark landscape that makes up the Bushmen's tribal territories. There, facing all kinds of risks, members of the chase pursue their quarry in a land of legend and myth. the result is an exciting big-game adventure whose underlying themes relate directly to the international headlines of today.In this first person adventure, Capstick spins riveting tales from his travels and reports on the Bushmen's culture, their political persecution, and the Stone Age life of Africa's original hunter-gatherers. In addition, the author explains the economic benefits of the sportsman's presence, and how ethical hunting is a tool for game protection and management on the continent.Not since Peter Capstick's Africa has the author taken the reader along on safari. In this superbly illustrated book, Capstick returns to the veld with an ace video cameraman and leading African wildlife photographer Dr. M. Philip Kahl. one hundred of Dr. Kahl's striking color photos capture perfectly life and death in the "land of thirst."

     *Includes a free extract from Katherine Heiny’s debut novel, Standard Deviation* 'Just as Jane Austen believed that four people cannot comfortably walk abreast, Charlene believes that three people cannot amicably move one person's belongings. At least not when two of the people used to be married to each other, and the marriage resulted in a bitter divorce in order for one of them to marry the third person' When Forrest's ex-wife Barbara calls on him to help her move out of the home they once shared, his second wife Charlie finds herself carrying not only dozens of boxes, but also the weight of their shared past. Barbara and Charlie first met twenty years ago when they volunteered at a suicide crisis hotline, and one night in particular is seared into Charlie's memory…From the author of Standard Deviation comes a wryly tender story of crises and cardboard boxes; of marriage and moving on.

    Bombs, death threats and murder became a regular part of the day job. Working right at the heart of the conflict, police officers were often caught in the middle – heroes to some, villains to others.Now, for the first time, the men and women who policed the Troubles tell their own stories in their own words. Covering all aspects of police work, from handling informants and conducting interviews with notorious criminals to dealing with the aftermath of tragic bombings, these candid, moving and sometimes blackly comic stories show the unpredictable, brutal and surreal world in which the RUC operated.As a former police officer, Colin Breen has unparalleled access to former RUC, Special Branch and CID officers who have never spoken out before. Their stories reveal the mayhem and madness that officers dealt with every day; the psychological and personal toll of the job; and the camaraderie – and the whiskey – that helped them to cope.Raw, unsettling and frank, A Force Like No Other tells the real story of the RUC.

    Certain that this passion can transcend the complications of their relationship, they set off on a journey to walk from Canada to Mexico, 2,660 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail. Together, they brave snow-covered slopes in the Cascades of Washington, walk through lava fields in Oregon, navigate a smoky haze of wildfire in Northern California, climb eleven thousand foot mountain passes in the High Sierra and revel in the desolate beauty of the Mojave desert in fall. But just two weeks into the adventure they break up. With four months of hiking still ahead, they find that navigating the new terms of their relationship is just as hard as navigating the wilderness. As a veteran U.S. Army Ranger, Mud struggles with chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and resistance to intimacy. Bug longs for the connection she once had with her best friend. There’s no doubt that each will complete the trek, but will they finish together? A Walk with Mud is an honest, compassionate look into the physical and emotional ups and downs of an epic journey. With graceful narration, this memoir puts you right in the center of the most beautiful places on the West Coast. Moments of love, heartbreak, humor and sincerity keep the story fresh and engaging up to the very last page.

    Blonde, stick-thin Bridget is training for a triathalon. Vonn is working out her teenage rebellion at eight thousand feet, driven by family obligation and the urge to escape her mistakes. Still reeling from the tragic accident that robbed him of his best friend, Wolf Truly is the only experienced hiker among them, but he has come to the cliffs on his eighteenth birthday without food or supplies because he plans to take his own life.When a series of missteps strands this unusual group together in the wilderness, they soon realize that their only defense against the brutality of nature is one another. As one day without rescue spirals dramatically into the next, and misadventure turns to nightmare, these four broken souls begin to form an inextricable bond, pushing themselves and one another further than they ever could have dreamed possible. The three who make it home alive will be forever changed by their harrowing days on the mountain.From the New York Times bestselling author of The Girls, The Mountain Story is a fast-paced, suspenseful adventure and a gorgeous tribute to the resilience of the human spirit. Braving a landscape both unforgivingly harsh and breathtakingly beautiful, Nola, Bridget, Vonn, and Wolf find themselves faced with an impossible question: How much will they sacrifice for a stranger?