After her boss in a high-powered Washington public relations firm is caught in a political scandal, fledgling lobbyist Dempsey Jo Killebrew is left almost broke, unemployed, and homeless. Out of options, she reluctantly accepts her father’s offer to help refurbish Birdsong, the old family place he recently inherited in Guthrie, Georgia. All it will take, he tells her, is a little paint and some TLC to turn the fading Victorian mansion into a real-estate cash cow.
But, oh, is Dempsey in for a surprise when she arrives in Guthrie. “Bird Droppings” would more aptly describe the moldering Pepto Bismol-pink dump with duct-taped windows and a driveway full of junk.
read more
Sensitive but practical, Charlotte Tradescome has come to accept the reticence of her older, work-obsessed husband Henry. Still, she hopes to create a life for their three-year-old daughter. So when Henry inherits a home on Cape Cod, she, Henry, and little Fiona move from their Manhattan apartment to this seaside community. Charlotte sells off part of Tradescome Point, inadvertently fueling the conflict between newcomers and locals. Many townspeople easily dismiss Charlotte as a “washashore.” A rare exception is Darryl Stead, an oyster farmer with modest dreams and an open heart, with whom Charlotte feels the connection she’s been missing. Ultimately he transforms the way she sees herself,
read more
In this poignant, evocative novel, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin sweeps you into the picturesque town of Ogunquit, Maine, where a family in flux explores their ties to a beautiful beach house, and to each other.
Some houses have a personality of their own. Larchmere is that kind of place—a splendid, sprawling home with breathtaking views that open to briny Atlantic air and seabirds’ calls. It’s the place where Tilda McQueen O’Connell grew up and now vacations each year, and where she and her three siblings—Adam, Hannah, and Craig—have gathered to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their mother’s passing.
read more
An award-winning journalist on a quest to save two orphans of war. Hala Jaber and her husband had spent ten years trying to conceive, only to resign themselves, finally, to a childless future.
Instead of being consumed by grief, they threw themselves into their work as journalists, making the decision to go to Baghdad to report on the coming war.
Jaber’s search for stories led her to two orphans at a children’s hospital: Zahra and Hawra. She fought passionately to help them- ultimately even trying to adopt them-before discovering that there is more than one way to love and raise a child,
read more
Not long after Rhoda Janzen turned forty, her world turned upside down. It was bad enough that her husband of fifteen years left her for Bob, a guy he met on Gay.com, but that same week a car accident left her injured. Needing a place to rest and pick up the pieces of her life, Rhoda packed her bags, crossed the country, and returned to her quirky Mennonite family’s home, where she was welcomed back with open arms and offbeat advice. (Rhoda’s good-natured mother suggested she get over her heartbreak by dating her first cousin—he owned a tractor, see.)
Written with wry humor and huge personality—and tackling faith,
read more
Neil White, a journalist and magazine publisher, wanted the best for those he loved—nice cars, beautiful homes, luxurious clothes—but his bank account couldn’t keep up. His world fell apart when the FBI discovered his check kiting scheme and a judge sentenced him to serve eighteen months in a federal prison. But it was no ordinary prison. The beautiful, isolated colony in Carville, Louisiana, was also home to the last people in the continental United States disfigured by leprosy. Amid an unlikely mix of leprosy patients, nuns, and criminals, White’s strange and compelling journey begins.
Funny and poignant,
read more