This powerful first novel tells a story of fierce cruelty and fierce yet redeeming love. Both transform the life of Amir, the privileged young narrator, who comes of age during the last peaceful days of the monarchy, just before his country's revolution and its invasion by Russian forces....  more

This powerful first novel tells a story of fierce cruelty and fierce yet redeeming love. Both transform the life of Amir, the privileged young narrator, who comes of age during the last peaceful days of the monarchy, just before his country's revolution and its invasion by Russian forces. But political events, even as dramatic as the ones that are presented in The Kite Runner, are only a part of this story. Hosseini gives us a vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence, forces that continue to threaten them even today.

From her sensational sleeper hit Patty Jane's House of Curl to her heartwarming novel Welcome to the Great Mysterious, Landvik has won the hearts of readers everywhere. Now she returns to her beloved, eccentric stomping ground of small-town Minnesota where a most eclectic, and engaging group of...  more

From her sensational sleeper hit Patty Jane's House of Curl to her heartwarming novel Welcome to the Great Mysterious, Landvik has won the hearts of readers everywhere. Now she returns to her beloved, eccentric stomping ground of small-town Minnesota where a most eclectic, and engaging group of women share love, loss, and laughter. Sometimes life is like a bad waiter -- it serves you exactly what you don't want. The women of Freesia Court have come together at life's table, fully convinced that there is nothing good coffee, delectable desserts, and a strong shoulder can't fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together -- the foundation of a book group they call AWEB -- Angry Wives Eating Bon Bons -- an unofficial "club" that becomes much more. It becomes a lifeline. The five women each have a story of their own to tell. There's Faith, the newcomer, a lonely housewife and mother of twins, a woman who harbors a terrible secret that has condemned her to living a lie; big, beautiful Audrey, the resident sex queen who knows that good posture and an attitude can let you get away with anything; Merit, the shy, quiet doctor's wife with the face of an angel and the private hell of an abusive husband; Kari, a thoughtful, wise woman with a wonderful laugh as "deep as Santa Claus's with a cold" who knows the greatest gifts appear after life's fiercest storms; and finally, Slip, activist, adventurer, social changer, a tiny, spitfire of a woman who looks trouble straight in the eye and challenges it to arm wrestle. Holding on through forty eventful years -- through the swinging Sixties, the turbulent Seventies, the anything-goes Eighties, the nothing's-impossible Nineties -- the women will take the plunge into the chaos that inevitably comes to those with the temerity to be alive and kicking. Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons depicts a special slice of American life, of stay-at-home days and new careers, children and grandchildren, bold beginnings and second chances, in which the power of forgiveness, understanding, and the perfectly timed giggle fit is the CPR that mends broken hearts and shattered dreams.

Set in a small Alabama train stop town in the 1930s, this gem of a book almost could have been shelved as just another light romantic comedy. Various women's voices tell anecdotes of Whistle Stop, as the chapters jump back and forth through time. We hear from Mrs. Threadgoode, reminiscing...  more

Set in a small Alabama train stop town in the 1930s, this gem of a book almost could have been shelved as just another light romantic comedy. Various women's voices tell anecdotes of Whistle Stop, as the chapters jump back and forth through time. We hear from Mrs. Threadgoode, reminiscing fondly from her nursing home in the 1980s, and the chatty Dot Weems, editor of the gossipy town newsletter (1929-1969), and then listen in on spirited dialogue set in the town of Whistle Stop itself. The storytellers never find use for the label "lesbian," nor do they see fit to take us behind closed doors, but this is nevertheless the irresistible story of a fierce and true love between two women, Idgie and Ruth. After Idgie saves Ruth from an abusive marriage, these two friends become partners in running the Whistle Stop Cafe, where no one, "not even hobos and colored," is turned away for inability to pay. Readers are set down in the corner booth to eavesdrop on the comings and goings of an array of eccentric, ragtag characters who drop in for buttermilk biscuits, Big George's barbecue, and, eventually, news about their own hometown murder mystery. Among revelations big and small, Fannie Flagg mixes direct and empowering confrontations with racism, sexism, and ageism with the colorful and endearing language of the depression-era South and the cafe's recipes for grits, collard greens, and, of course, fried green tomatoes.

Lily is haunted by memories–of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness. In nineteenth-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and...  more

Lily is haunted by memories–of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness. In nineteenth-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and lived in almost total seclusion, the women in one remote Hunan county developed their own secret code for communication: nu shu (“women’s writing”). Some girls were paired with laotongs, “old sames,” in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. With the arrival of a silk fan on which Snow Flower has composed for Lily a poem of introduction in nu shu, their friendship is sealed and they become “old sames” at the tender age of seven. As the years pass, through famine and rebellion, they reflect upon their arranged marriages, loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their lifelong friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of Chinese history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. With the period detail and deep resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, this lyrical and emotionally charged novel delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationships: female friendship.

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond...  more

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival. 

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women: Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace...  more

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women: Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken. Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own. Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed. In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women -- mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends -- view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

Four mothers, four daughters, four families... In 1949, four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, meet weekly to play mahjong and tell stories of what they left behind in China. United in loss, and with new hope for their daughters' futures, they call themselves the Joy Luck...  more

Four mothers, four daughters, four families... In 1949, four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, meet weekly to play mahjong and tell stories of what they left behind in China. United in loss, and with new hope for their daughters' futures, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Their daughters, who have never heard these stories, think their mothers' advice is irrelevant to their modern American lives... until their own inner crises reveal how much they've unknowingly inherited of their mothers' pasts. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties.

Tells a story about the strange relationship of two migrant workers, who are able to realize their dreams of an easy life until one of them succumbs to his weakness for soft, helpless creatures and strangles the farmer's wife. Tragic tale of a retarded man and the friend who loves and tries to...  more

Tells a story about the strange relationship of two migrant workers, who are able to realize their dreams of an easy life until one of them succumbs to his weakness for soft, helpless creatures and strangles the farmer's wife. Tragic tale of a retarded man and the friend who loves and tries to protect him.

Set in South Carolina in 1964, "The Secret Life of Bees" tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the town's...  more

Set in South Carolina in 1964, "The Secret Life of Bees" tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the town's fiercest racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina -- a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love -- a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.

It is the 1930s, and hard times have hit Harveyville, Kansas, where the crops are burning up, and there's not a job to be found. For Queenie Bean, a young farm wife, a highlight of each week is the gathering of the Persian Pickle Club, a group of local ladies dedicated to improving their minds,...  more

It is the 1930s, and hard times have hit Harveyville, Kansas, where the crops are burning up, and there's not a job to be found. For Queenie Bean, a young farm wife, a highlight of each week is the gathering of the Persian Pickle Club, a group of local ladies dedicated to improving their minds, exchanging gossip, and putting their quilting skills to good use. When a new member of the club stirs up a dark secret, the women must band together to support and protect one another. In her magical, memorable novel, Sandra Dallas explores the ties that unite women through good times and bad.

When theatre director Siddalee Walker inadvertently reveals some of the less-savory facts of her Louisiana childhood to the New York Times, the article brands her mother, Vivi, a tap-dancing child abuser. Vivi virtually disowns Sidda, but Vivi's intrepid gang of lifelong friends, the Ya-Yas,...  more

When theatre director Siddalee Walker inadvertently reveals some of the less-savory facts of her Louisiana childhood to the New York Times, the article brands her mother, Vivi, a tap-dancing child abuser. Vivi virtually disowns Sidda, but Vivi's intrepid gang of lifelong friends, the Ya-Yas, sashay in and conspire to bring everyone back together. The Ya-Yas persuade Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of their girlhood mementos entitled Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Through a series of flashbacks from Sidda's current crisis to Vivi's youth and early motherhood, the "Divine Secrets" reveal themselves through Rebecca Wells' vibrant, irresistible voice, and provide an incisive look a the tangled and emotional relationship between mother and daughter.

A pregnant teenager abandoned by her boyfriend in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, finds a new home with the eccentric and caring people of the community. Talk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she...  more

A pregnant teenager abandoned by her boyfriend in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, finds a new home with the eccentric and caring people of the community. Talk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with just $7.77 in change. But Novalee is about to discover hidden treasures in this small Southwestern town - a group of down-to-earth, deeply caring people who will come to love her more than she loves herself, and start her on a moving, warmhearted and unforgettable jourey to.....Where the Heart Is.

No writer captures the seasons of our lives better than Judy Blume.  Now, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wifey and Smart Women, comes an extraordinary novel of reminiscence and awakening--an unforgettable story of two women, two families, and the friendships that shape a...  more

No writer captures the seasons of our lives better than Judy Blume.  Now, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wifey and Smart Women, comes an extraordinary novel of reminiscence and awakening--an unforgettable story of two women, two families, and the friendships that shape a lifetime.When Victoria Leonard answers the phone in her Manhattan office, Caitlin's voice catches her by surprise.  Vix hasn't talked to her oldest friend in months.  Caitlin's news takes her breath away--and Vix is transported back in time, back to the moment she and Caitlin Somers first met, back to the casual betrayals and whispered confessions of their long, complicated friendship, back to the magical island where two friends became summer sisters.Caitlin dazzled Vix from the start, sweeping her into the heart of the unruly Somers family, into a world of privilege, adventure, and sexual daring.  Vix's bond with her summer family forever reshapes her ties to her own, opening doors to opportunities she had never imagined--until the summer she falls passionately in love.  Then, in one shattering moment on a moonswept Vineyard beach, everything changes, exposing a dark undercurrent in her extraordinary friendship with Caitlin that will haunt them through the years.As their story carries us from Santa Fe to Martha's Vineyard, from New York to Venice, we come to know the men and women who shape their lives.  And as we follow the two women on the paths they each choose, we wait for the inevitable reckoning to be made in the fine spaces between friendship and betrayal, between love and freedom.Summer Sisters is a riveting exploration of the choices that define our lives, of friendship and love, of the families we are born into and those we struggle to create.  For every woman who has ever had a friend too dangerous to forgive and too essential to forget, Summer Sisters will glue you to every page, reading and remembering.Judy Blume's twenty-one books have sold over sixty-five million copies worldwide and have been translated into twenty languages.  She spends summers on Martha's Vineyard with her family.

Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired...  more

Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places. Available for the first time in mass-market, this edition of Barbara Kingsolver's bestselling novel, The Bean Trees, will be in stores everywhere in September. With two different but equally handsome covers, this book is a fine addition to your Kingsolver library.

Loudmouthed, redheaded Cee Cee Bloom has her sights set on Hollywood. Bertie White, quiet and conservative, dreams of getting married and having children. In 1951, their childhood worlds collide in Atlantic City. Keeping in touch as pen pals, they reunite over the years ... always near the...  more

Loudmouthed, redheaded Cee Cee Bloom has her sights set on Hollywood. Bertie White, quiet and conservative, dreams of getting married and having children. In 1951, their childhood worlds collide in Atlantic City. Keeping in touch as pen pals, they reunite over the years ... always near the ocean. Powerful and moving, this novel follows Cee Cee and Bertie's extraordinary friendship over the course of thirty years as they transform from adolescents into adults. A bestselling novel that became a hugely successful film, Beaches is funny, heartbreaking, and a tale that should be a part of every woman's library.

Their husbands were gone, their families were grown, and the future stretched out before them like an unfulfilled promise... Tired of always dreaming and never doing, Cici, Lindsay, and Bridget make a life-altering decision. Uprooting themselves from their comfortable lives in the suburbs,...  more

Their husbands were gone, their families were grown, and the future stretched out before them like an unfulfilled promise... Tired of always dreaming and never doing, Cici, Lindsay, and Bridget make a life-altering decision. Uprooting themselves from their comfortable lives in the suburbs, the three friends buy a run-down mansion, nestled in the picturesque Shenandoah Valley. They christen their new home "Ladybug Farm,"  hoping that the name will bring them luck. As the friends take on a home improvement challenge of epic proportions, they encounter disaster after disaster, from renegade sheep and garden thieves to a seemingly ghostly inhabitant. Over the course of a year, overwhelming obstacles make the three women question their decision, but they ultimately learn that sometimes the best things can happen when everything goes wrong.

In the tradition of Jackie Collins, Olivia Goldsmith gives us this sexy, savvy, wickedly funny novel about three first wives who band together to take their due from the men who used them, abused them, then dumped them. Elise, Brenda, and Annie were all first wives inhabiting the headier...  more

In the tradition of Jackie Collins, Olivia Goldsmith gives us this sexy, savvy, wickedly funny novel about three first wives who band together to take their due from the men who used them, abused them, then dumped them. Elise, Brenda, and Annie were all first wives inhabiting the headier spheres of New York society. Then in their forties, with their husbands at the pinnacle of success, they were abandoned for "trophy wives"--younger, blonder, and more decorative models. Now, they form "The First Wives Club" with the mission of getting even. How they discover the sweetness of revenge, return in kind what they have been dealt by their exes, and reclaim their own identities, ambitions, and abilities to love again, makes this an original, exhilarating, and unforgettable stow.

In Winter Solstice Rosamunde Pilcher brings her readers into the lives of five very different people....Elfrida Phipps, once of London's stage, moved to the English village of Dibton in hopes of making a new life for herself. Gradually she settled into the comfortable familiarity of village...  more

In Winter Solstice Rosamunde Pilcher brings her readers into the lives of five very different people....Elfrida Phipps, once of London's stage, moved to the English village of Dibton in hopes of making a new life for herself. Gradually she settled into the comfortable familiarity of village life -- shopkeepers knowing her tastes, neighbors calling her by name -- still she finds herself lonely. Oscar Blundell gave up his life as a musician in order to marry Gloria. They have a beautiful daughter, Francesca, and it is only because of their little girl that Oscar views his sacrificed career as worthwhile. Carrie returns from Australia at the end of an ill-fated affair with a married man to find her mother and aunt sharing a home and squabbling endlessly. With Christmas approaching, Carrie agrees to look after her aunt's awkward and quiet teenage daughter, Lucy, so that her mother might enjoy a romantic fling in America.Sam Howard is trying to pull his life back together after his wife has left him for another. He is without home and without roots, all he has is his job. Business takes him to northern Scotland, where he falls in love with the lush, craggy landscape and set his sights on a house.It is the strange rippling effects of a tragedy that will bring these five characters together in a large, neglected estate house near the Scottish fishing town of Creagan. It is in this house, on the shortest day of the year, that the lives of five people will come together and be forever changed. Rosamunde Pilcher's long-awaited return to the page will warm the hearts of readers both old and new. Winter Solstice is a novel of love, loyalty and rebirth.

It began with Benny Hogan and Eve Malone, growing  up, inseparable, in the village of Knockglen.  Benny -- the only child, yearning to break free from  her adoring parents... Eve -- the orphaned offspring  of a convent handyman and a rebellious...  more

It began with Benny Hogan and Eve Malone, growing  up, inseparable, in the village of Knockglen.  Benny -- the only child, yearning to break free from  her adoring parents... Eve -- the orphaned offspring  of a convent handyman and a rebellious blueblood,  abandoned by her mother's wealthy family to be  raised by nuns. Eve and Benny -- they knew the sins  and secrets behind every villager's lace  curtains... except their own. It widened at Dublin,  at the university where Benny and Eve met  beautiful Nan Mahlon and Jack Foley, a doctor's handsome  son. But heartbreak and betrayal would bring the  worlds of Knockglen and Dublin into explosive  collision. Long-hidden lies would emerge to test the  meaning of love and the strength of ties held within  the fragile gold bands of a... Circle of Friends.

Meet Georgia, SuSu, Teeny, Diane, and Linda--five women who've been best friends through thirty years since high school. Sit in when they don their red hats and purple outfits to join Atlanta's Ladies Who Lunch for a delicious monthly serving of racy jokes, iced tea and chicken salad, baskets of...  more

Meet Georgia, SuSu, Teeny, Diane, and Linda--five women who've been best friends through thirty years since high school. Sit in when they don their red hats and purple outfits to join Atlanta's Ladies Who Lunch for a delicious monthly serving of racy jokes, iced tea and chicken salad, baskets of sweet rolls, the latest Buckhead gossip, and most of all--lively support and caring through the ups and downs of their lives. When Diane discovers her banker husband has a condo (with mistress) that he bought with their retirement funds, the Red Hats swing into action and hang him with his own rope in a story that serves up laughter, friendship, revenge, high school memories, long-lost loves, a suburban dominatrix, and plenty of white wine and junk food. From the 1960s to the present, The Red Hat Club is a funny, unforgettable novel that shows the power women can find when they accept and support each other.

THURSDAYS AT EIGHT, New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber's new hardcover novel from MIRA Books, is the story of four friends, each at a turning point in her life. Each woman's story is unique, told with the warmth and compassion that demonstrates why the author has become one of the...  more

THURSDAYS AT EIGHT, New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber's new hardcover novel from MIRA Books, is the story of four friends, each at a turning point in her life. Each woman's story is unique, told with the warmth and compassion that demonstrates why the author has become one of the leading voices in women's fiction today.Four women come to a journal-writing class with different needs and goals. What they found was friendship -- a closeness that they wanted to sustain long after the last day of class. Though they were very different in their ages, careers and life choices, the four developed a companionship that answered a shared need for acceptance, nurturing and support. To maintain their newly found relationship, these four formed a breakfast club, promising to meet, without fail, on THURSDAYS AT EIGHT. Clare is recovering from the devastating divorce that resulted when her husband left her for a woman young enough to be their daughter. Driven by anger and the need for revenge, she attempts to restart her life and regain her self-respect. But an unexpected turn of events will force her to look deep inside for forgiveness and compassion -- and for the woman she used to be. Elizabeth is a successful professional in her late fifties. She's struggling with the loss of her husband when both of her grown children relocate to other parts of the country. Knowing she must find a way to overcome her feelings of abandonment, she vows not to waste another moment of her life, and will's herself to find fulfillment in her work and her friends -- and if her future should include the possibility of romance, even better! Karen is a twenty-something aspiring actress. She provides the sparkle in the group as she relates the humorous incidences of her as-yet-unsuccessful quest for stardom. Beneath her upbeat attitude, though, she suffers from her mother's disapproval and negative comparisons with her very respectable married sister. As she endeavors to find her own identity and decide her life's true course, she discovers that, even in one's own family, things are not always what they seem. Julia is turning forty this year. Her husband's career is established; her children are growing up and she has just started her own knitting shop. Finally past her "mothering" years, she feels that her life is on schedule -- until she discovers she's pregnant! While her husband is delighted at the news, Julia is devastated and her teenage children are embarrassed and outraged at the inconvenience a new baby will mean for them! As these women deal with the changes fate has thrown at them, their Thursday mornings at the Mocha Moments Café take on even greater importance in their lives. Their meetings are a time for emotional sustenance, unconditional acceptance and the true kindness offered by friends and confidants.

With bridal magazine covers to her credit, Mackensie "Mac" Elliot is most at home behind the camera -- ready to capture the happy moments she never experienced while growing up.  Her father replaced his first family with a second, and now her mother, moving on to yet another man,...  more

With bridal magazine covers to her credit, Mackensie "Mac" Elliot is most at home behind the camera -- ready to capture the happy moments she never experienced while growing up.  Her father replaced his first family with a second, and now her mother, moving on to yet another man, begs Mac for attention and money.  Mac's foundation is jostled again moments before an important planning meeting when she bumps into the bride-to-be's brother... an encounter that has them both seeing stars. Carter Maguire is definitely not her type:  he's stable, and he's safe.  He's even an English teacher at their high school alma mater.  There's something about him that makes Mac think a casual fling is just what she needs to take her mind off dealing with bridezillas and screening her mother's phone calls.  But a casual fling can turn into something more when you least expect it.  And with the help of her three best friends -- and business partners -- Mac must learn how to make her own happy memories....

Please join me at A Good Yarn! It's a wonderful little knitting shop in downtown Seattle -- a place of welcome and warmth, of friends old and new. Come and discover how knitting a pair of socks can change your life! Debbie Macomber Lydia Hoffman owns the shop on Blossom Street. In the year...  more

Please join me at A Good Yarn! It's a wonderful little knitting shop in downtown Seattle -- a place of welcome and warmth, of friends old and new. Come and discover how knitting a pair of socks can change your life! Debbie Macomber Lydia Hoffman owns the shop on Blossom Street. In the year since it opened, A Good Yarn has thrived -- and so has Lydia. A lot of that is due to Brad Goetz. But when Brad's ex-wife reappears, Lydia is suddenly afraid to trust her newfound happiness. Three women join Lydia's newest class. Elisa Beaumont, retired and bitterly divorced, learns that her onetime husband is reentering her life. Bethanne Hamlin is facing the fallout from a much more recent divorce. And Courtney Pulanski is a depressed and overweight teenager, whose grandmother's idea of helping her is to drag her to seniors' swim sessions -- and to the knitting class at A Good Yarn.

There's a new shop on Seattle's Blossom Street -- a flower store called Susannah's Garden, right next door to A Good Yarn.  Susannah Nelson, the owner, has just hired a young widow named Colette Blake.  A couple of months earlier, Colette had abruptly quit her previous job...  more

There's a new shop on Seattle's Blossom Street -- a flower store called Susannah's Garden, right next door to A Good Yarn.  Susannah Nelson, the owner, has just hired a young widow named Colette Blake.  A couple of months earlier, Colette had abruptly quit her previous job -- after a brief affair with her boss.  To her dismay, he's suddenly begun placing weekly orders for flower arrangements! Susannah and Colette both join Lydia Goetz's new knitting class.  Lydia's previous classes have forged lasting friendships, and this one is no exception.  But Lydia and her sister, Margaret, have worries of their own.  Margaret's daughter, Julia, has been the victim of a random carjacking, and the entire family is thrown into emotional chaos. Then there's Alix Townsend.  Her wedding to Jordan Turner is only months away -- but she's not sure she can go through with it.  Her love for Jordan isn't in question; what she can't handle is the whole wedding extravaganza engineered by her mentor, Jacqueline, with the enthusiastic cooperation of her future mother-in-law.  A reception at the country club and hundreds of guests she's never even met -- it's just not Alix. Like everyone else in Lydia's knitting class, Alix knows there's a solution to every problem... and that another woman can usually help you find it!  

Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970), was acclaimed as the work of an important talent, written--as John Leonard said in The New York Times--in a prose "so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry." Her new novel has the same...  more

Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970), was acclaimed as the work of an important talent, written--as John Leonard said in The New York Times--in a prose "so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry." Her new novel has the same power, the same beauty. At its center--a friendship between two women, a friendship whose intensity first sustains, then injures. Sula and Nel--both black, both smart, both poor, raised in a small Ohio town--meet when they are twelve, wishbone thin and dreaming of princes. Through their girlhood years they share everything--perceptions, judgments, yearnings, secrets, even crime--until Sula gets out, out of the Bottom, the hilltop neighborhood where beneath the sporting life of the men hanging around the place in headrags and soft felt hats there hides a fierce resentment at failed crops, lost jobs, thieving insurance men, bug-ridden flour...at the invisible line that cannot be overstepped. Sula leaps it and roams the cities of America for ten years. Then she returns to the town, to her friend. But Nel is a wife now, settled with her man and her three children. She belongs. She accommodates to the Bottom, where you avoid the hand of God by getting in it, by staying upright, helping out at church suppers, asking after folks--where you deal with evil by surviving it. Not Sula. As willing to feel pain as to give pain, she can never accommodate. Nel can't understand her any more, and the others never did. Sula scares them. Mention her now, and they recall that she put her grandma in an old folks' home (the old lady who let a train take her leg for the insurance)...that a child drowned in the river years ago...that there was a plague of robins when she first returned... In clear, dark, resonant language, Toni Morrison brilliantly evokes not only a bond between two lives, but the harsh, loveless, ultimately mad world in which that bond is destroyed, the world of the Bottom and its people, through forty years, up to the time of their bewildered realization that even more than they feared Sula, their pariah, they needed her.

What do you want most in the world? Anne Marie Roche wants to find happiness again. At 38 her life's not what she'd expected--she's childless, a recent widow, alone. She owns a successful bookstore on Seattle s Blossom Street, but despite her accomplishments, there's a feeling of...  more

What do you want most in the world? Anne Marie Roche wants to find happiness again. At 38 her life's not what she'd expected--she's childless, a recent widow, alone. She owns a successful bookstore on Seattle s Blossom Street, but despite her accomplishments, there's a feeling of emptiness. On Valentine's Day, Anne Marie and several other widows get together to celebrate...what? Hope, possibility, the future. They each begin a list of twenty wishes, things they always wanted to do but never did. Anne Marie's list starts with: Find one good thing about life. It includes learning to knit, doing good for someone else, falling in love again. She begins to act on her wishes and when she volunteers at a local school, an eight-year-old girl named Ellen enters her life. It s a relationship that becomes far more involving than Anne Marie intended. It also becomes far more important than she ever imagined. As Ellen helps Anne Marie complete her list of twenty wishes, they both learn that wishes can come true--but not necessarily in the way you expect. As millions of women know, Debbie Macomber understands their lives and writes the stories they want to read.

Hennie Comfort is eighty-six and has lived in the mountains of Middle Swan, Colorado since before it was Colorado. Nit Spindle is just seventeen and newly married. She and her husband have just moved to the high country in search of work. It's 1936 and the depression has ravaged the country...  more

Hennie Comfort is eighty-six and has lived in the mountains of Middle Swan, Colorado since before it was Colorado. Nit Spindle is just seventeen and newly married. She and her husband have just moved to the high country in search of work. It's 1936 and the depression has ravaged the country and Nit and her husband have suffered greatly. Hennie notices the young woman loitering near the old sign outside of her house that promises "Prayers For Sale". Hennie doesn't sell prayers, never has, but there's something about the young woman that she's drawn to. The harsh conditions of life that each have endured create an instant bond and an unlikely friendship is formed, one in which the deepest of hardships are shared and the darkest of secrets are confessed. Sandra Dallas has created an unforgettable tale of a friendship between two women, one with surprising twists and turns, and one that is ultimately a revelation of the finest parts of the human spirit.

Good humor, tender moments, and life lessons abound in this heartwarming portrait of small-town Southern life that is anything but simple and quiet. Five churchgoing women from Hope Springs, North Carolina, animate this humorous, poignant tale of coming to terms with one's weaknesses,...  more

Good humor, tender moments, and life lessons abound in this heartwarming portrait of small-town Southern life that is anything but simple and quiet. Five churchgoing women from Hope Springs, North Carolina, animate this humorous, poignant tale of coming to terms with one's weaknesses, honoring the fragility of life, loving passionately, laughing through tears, and thinking with the heart. The cast of colorful characters includes: freshman pastor Charlotte Stewart, who experiences a crisis of faith; no-nonsense Margaret Peele, a widow and town confidante; sharp-tongued Louise Fisher, who has loved another woman, Roxie, for over forty years and finally gets to show it by caring for her in the last stages of Alzheimer's; Jessie Jenkins, the only African American in an all-white church; and busybody Beatrice Newgarden, who turns out to be the most solid friend to them all. As these five very different women come together to create a church cookbook, they quickly become a source of solace, support, and strength for each other. Each struggling to make sense of her life -- her past, her relationships, her faith -- the women share much more than recipes; they share their passions, loves, heartbreaks, and hopes. Celebrating together and mourning together, they develop a deeper understanding of and compassion for each other and a genuine appreciation for the softness of heart and toughness of spirit that joins them as women. Just as surely as delectable Southern foods such as sweet potato casserole, prune cake, pecan pie, banana pudding, and corn relish sustain the body, it becomes evident that friendship nourishes the soul. The women end up with renewed faith, rekindled spirits, and the ingredients for true and lasting friendship. Here are timeless truths -- about the complexities of faith, the virtues of friendship, the resilience of the human spirit, and good living in the face of a changing world. A homespun tale sprinkled with grace and peppered with humor, Friendship Cake serves up comfort food for the soul.

In this rich and deeply satisfying novel by the beloved author of The Art of Mending, and Open House, a resilient woman embarks upon an unforgettable journey of adventure, self-discovery, and renewal. Betta Nolan moves to a small town after the death of her husband to try to begin anew....  more

In this rich and deeply satisfying novel by the beloved author of The Art of Mending, and Open House, a resilient woman embarks upon an unforgettable journey of adventure, self-discovery, and renewal. Betta Nolan moves to a small town after the death of her husband to try to begin anew. Pursuing a dream of a different kind of life, she is determined to find pleasure in her simply daily routines. Among those who help her in both expected and unexpected ways are the ten-year-old boy next door, three wild women friends from her college days, a twenty-year-old who is struggling to find his place in the world, and a handsome man who is ready for love. Elizabeth Berg's The Year of Pleasures is about acknowledging the solace found in ordinary things: a warm bath, good food, the beauty of nature, music, friends, and art. "Berg writes with humor and a big heart about resilience, loneliness, love, and hope. And the transcendence that redeems," said Andre Dubus about Durable Goods. And the same could be said about The Year of Pleasures.

Knitting and life.  They're both about beginnings -- and endings.  That's why it makes sense for Lydia Goetz, owner of A Good Yarn on Seattle's Blossom Street, to offer a class called "Knit to Quit."  It's for people who want to quit something -- or...  more

Knitting and life.  They're both about beginnings -- and endings.  That's why it makes sense for Lydia Goetz, owner of A Good Yarn on Seattle's Blossom Street, to offer a class called "Knit to Quit."  It's for people who want to quit something -- or someone! -- and start a new phase of their lives. First to join is Phoebe Rylander.  She recently ended her engagement to a man who doesn't know the meaning of faithful, and she's trying to get over him.  Then there's Alix Turner.  She and her husband, Jordan, want a baby, which means she has to quit smoking.  And Bryan Hutchinson joins the class because he needs a way to deal with the stress of running his family's business -- not to mention the lawsuit brought against him by an unscrupulous lawyer. Life can be as complicated as a knitting pattern.  Just ask Anne Marie Roche.  She and her adopted daughter, Ellen, finally have the happiness they wished for.  And then a stranger comes to her bookstore asking questions. Or ask Lydia herself.  Not only is she coping with her increasingly frail mother, but she and Brad have unexpectedly become foster parents to an angry, defiant twelve-year-old. But as Lydia already knows, when life gets difficult and your stitches are snarled, your friends can always help!

"... And Ladies of the Club" is a novel about a group of women in Waynesboro, Ohio, who begin a study club, which evolves through the years into a significant community service organization in the town. The books spans decades in the lives of the women involved in the club, between 1868 and...  more

"... And Ladies of the Club" is a novel about a group of women in Waynesboro, Ohio, who begin a study club, which evolves through the years into a significant community service organization in the town. The books spans decades in the lives of the women involved in the club, between 1868 and 1932. Many characters are introduced in the course of the novel, but the primary characters are Anne Gordon and Sally Rausch, who in 1868 are new graduates of the Waynesboro Female Seminary who soon marry, and the decades that follow chronicle their marriages and those of their children and grandchildren. Santmyer focuses not just on the lives of the women in the Club, but also their families, friends, politics, and developments in their small town and the larger world. Originally published by the Ohio State University Press in 1982 and only selling a few hundred copies, the book was chosen as a Book of the Month Club selection in 1984, making it a best-seller that year. The recognition earned its 88-year-old author critical acclaim and literary recognition; according to the back cover of the 1985 paperback edition, the novel took Santmyer more than 50 years to write.

Josie, Perri, and Kat have been inseparable best friends since third grade--the athlete; the brilliant, acerbic drama queen; and the popular beauty with a heart that is open to all around her. They live in an affluent suburb of Baltimore and enjoy privileges many teenagers are denied. But on the...  more

Josie, Perri, and Kat have been inseparable best friends since third grade--the athlete; the brilliant, acerbic drama queen; and the popular beauty with a heart that is open to all around her. They live in an affluent suburb of Baltimore and enjoy privileges many teenagers are denied. But on the final day of school, one of them brings a gun with her. And when the police break down the door of the high school girls' bathroom, locked from the inside, they find two of the friends wounded, one of them critically--and the third girl is dead. From one of the most acclaimed authors of crime fiction writing today comes a novel breathtaking in its emotional depth--a riveting, powerful, provacative, and consistently surprising tale of secrets, friendship, and betrayal that brilliantly illuminates a dark and chilling event with startling clarity and unique empathy.

A whorehouse madam, a bank robber, a mail-order bride and a former slave romp around 1860s New Mexico in this fifth novel from the author of The Persian Pickle Club. As she has before, Dallas weaves a beguiling plot and creates engaging characters and dialogue. The first part of the book is...  more

A whorehouse madam, a bank robber, a mail-order bride and a former slave romp around 1860s New Mexico in this fifth novel from the author of The Persian Pickle Club. As she has before, Dallas weaves a beguiling plot and creates engaging characters and dialogue. The first part of the book is narrated by Addie French, a madam at the Chili Queen whorehouse, whose language is salted with colorful metaphors. "Some men liked scrawny women," she explains, "just as some men picked chicken wings over drumsticks." In the second section, the central figure is Ned Partner, a hunky bank robber and would-be rancher whose emotional innocence contrasts with his smooth ways in the bedroom and behind a gun. Next, there is Emma Roby, a mail-order bride with a secret past who is temporarily boarding at the Chili Queen, and finally Welcome, a former slave turned whorehouse cook. Because Emma and Welcome are not as well drawn, the closing chapters lose momentum; they are also glutted with backstory. When Dallas tries to cover subjects like sexual abuse and other types of violence, her light tone can't support the heavier themes. Still, the zesty, offbeat charm of life among these undesirables in the seedy West keeps this tale moving smartly. -- Publishers Weekly

Annabelle has finally made peace with the loss of her beloved husband. Until she finds out he wasn't alone when he died... Since a plane crash killed her husband two years ago, Annabelle Murphy has found solace in raising her two children. Just when she thinks the grief is behind her, she...  more

Annabelle has finally made peace with the loss of her beloved husband. Until she finds out he wasn't alone when he died... Since a plane crash killed her husband two years ago, Annabelle Murphy has found solace in raising her two children. Just when she thinks the grief is behind her, she receives the news that the wreckage of the small plane has been discovered--and that her husband did not die alone. He was with another woman. Suddenly, Annabelle is forced to question everything she once held true. Sophie Parker knows the woman who was on that plane. A dolphin researcher who has lived a quiet life, Sophie has never let anyone get too close. But when Annabelle shows up on Sophie's doorstep full of painful questions, both women must confront their intertwining pasts--and find the courage to face the truth.

Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two...  more

Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world. A bestseller for more than thirty years, A Separate Peace is John Knowles's crowning achievement and an undisputed American classic.

'Cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers of the town because he was idle, and lawless, vulgar, and bad - and because all their children admired him so', Huckleberry Finn, the fourteen-year-old son of the town drunkard, joins runaway slave Jim on an exciting journey down the mighty...  more

'Cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers of the town because he was idle, and lawless, vulgar, and bad - and because all their children admired him so', Huckleberry Finn, the fourteen-year-old son of the town drunkard, joins runaway slave Jim on an exciting journey down the mighty Mississippi River on a raft.

Some Pig These are the words in Charlotte's web, high in the barn. Her spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, as well as the feelings of a little girl named Fern ... who loves Wilbur, too. Their love has been shared by millions of readers.

Little Women is one of the  best loved books of all time. Lovely Meg, talented  Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons  of poverty and of growing up in New England during  the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays,  pranks, letters,...  more

Little Women is one of the  best loved books of all time. Lovely Meg, talented  Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons  of poverty and of growing up in New England during  the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays,  pranks, letters, illnesses, and courtships, women of all  ages have become a part of this remarkable family  and have felt the deep sadness when Meg leaves the  circle of sisters to be married at the end of Part  I. Part II, chronicles Meg's joys and mishaps as a  young wife and mother, Jo's struggle to become a  writer, Beth's tragedy, and Amy's artistic pursuits  and unexpected romance. Based on Louise May  Alcott's childhood, this lively portrait of  nineteenth-century family life possesses a lasting vitality  that has endeared it to generations of readers.

Eighty-year-old George Castor promised he would never let his best friend Ralph die alone at the Silver Gardens Nursing Home--but Ralph passed on while George was away fishing. Distraught, guilt-stricken and seeking redemption, George buys a broken-down mansion in Looking glass, Oregon, paints...  more

Eighty-year-old George Castor promised he would never let his best friend Ralph die alone at the Silver Gardens Nursing Home--but Ralph passed on while George was away fishing. Distraught, guilt-stricken and seeking redemption, George buys a broken-down mansion in Looking glass, Oregon, paints it fire-engine red, and begins searching for other old folks to share it with him. Because George has made a new promise that will alter the course of the rest of his life. And, with the help of a miraculous old woman named Grace, he assembles a ragtag bunch of aging strangers, determined to make their last days on earth--and his own--an adventure.

"Remarkable...An affirmation of the strength and power of individual lives, and the way they cannot help fitting together."THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWAn extraordinay and moving reading experience, HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT is an exploration of women of yesterday and today, who join...  more

"Remarkable...An affirmation of the strength and power of individual lives, and the way they cannot help fitting together."THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWAn extraordinay and moving reading experience, HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT is an exploration of women of yesterday and today, who join together in a uniquely female experience. As they gather year after year, their stories, their wisdom, their lives, form the pattern from which all of us draw warmth and comfort for ourselves.A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE COMING OUT FALL 1995-- with Maya Angelou, Winona Ryder, and Rip Torn

A world of possibilities opens up for Joy Harkness when she sets out on a journey that?s going to show her the importance of friendship, love, and what makes a house a home Coming-of-age can happen at any age. Joy Harkness had built a university career and a safe life in New York, protected...  more

A world of possibilities opens up for Joy Harkness when she sets out on a journey that?s going to show her the importance of friendship, love, and what makes a house a home Coming-of-age can happen at any age. Joy Harkness had built a university career and a safe life in New York, protected and insulated from the intrusions and involvements of other people. When offered a position at Amherst College, she impulsively leaves the city, and along with generations of material belongings, she packs her equally heavy emotional baggage. A tumbledown Victorian house proves an unlikely choice for a woman whose family heirlooms have been boxed away for years. Nevertheless, this white elephant becomes the home that changes Joy forever. As the restoration begins to take shape, so does her outlook on life, and the choices she makes over paint chips, wallpaper samples, and floorboards are reflected in her connection to the co-workers who become friends and friendships that deepen. A brilliant, quirky, town fixture of a handyman guides the renovation of the house and sparks Joy?s interest to encourage his personal and professional growth. Amid the half-wanted attention of the campus?s single, middle-aged men, known as ?the Coyotes,?and the legitimate dramas of her close-knit community, Joy learns that the key to the affection of family and friends is being worthy of it, and most important, that second chances are waiting to be discovered within us all.

The lives of a suddenly jobless corporate executive, a teacher navigating a difficult relationship with her daughter and a young lavender farmer intertwine in Cook's straightforward novel. When a generous compensation package gives Noreen "Nora" Kelly-whose career defined her...  more

The lives of a suddenly jobless corporate executive, a teacher navigating a difficult relationship with her daughter and a young lavender farmer intertwine in Cook's straightforward novel. When a generous compensation package gives Noreen "Nora" Kelly-whose career defined her identity-18 months salary to forge a new path, she realizes she has little in common with her former work companions and strikes up a friendship with next-door neighbor Tess Tabares, who's struggling to connect with her college-bound daughter. The women begin taking daily walks and soon Rosemary "Rosie" Stockton, who owns her family's lavender farm, joins in. Despite their very different-yet all very prickly-personalities, the three women soon form a tight bond.

FOUR VERY DIFFERENT FRIENDS. ONE PAIR OF MAGICAL PANTS. AND A SUMMER APART ... We, the Sisterhood, hereby instate the following rules to govern the use of the Traveling Pants: 1. You must never wash the Pants. 2. You must never double-cuff the Pants. It's tacky. There will never be...  more

FOUR VERY DIFFERENT FRIENDS. ONE PAIR OF MAGICAL PANTS. AND A SUMMER APART ... We, the Sisterhood, hereby instate the following rules to govern the use of the Traveling Pants: 1. You must never wash the Pants. 2. You must never double-cuff the Pants. It's tacky. There will never be a time when this will not be tacky. 3. You must never say the word "phat" while wearing the Pants. You must also never think "I am fat" while wearing the Pants. 4. You must never let a boy take off the Pants (although you may take them off yourself in his presence). 5. You must not pick your nose while wearing the Pants. You may, however, scratch casually at your nostril while really kind of picking. 6. Upon our reunion, you must follow the proper procedures for documenting your time in the Pants. 7. You must write to your Sisters throughout the summer, no matter how much fun you are having without them. 8. You must pass the Pants along to your Sister according to the specifications set down by the Sisterhood. Failures to comply will result in a sever spanking upon our reunion. 9. You must not wear the Pants with a tucked-in shirt and belt. See rule #2. 10. Remember: Pants = love. Love your pals. Love yourself.

A bestselling sensation when it was first published by Viking in 1978, A Woman of Independent Means has delighted millions of readers and was the inspiration for the television miniseries starring Sally Field. At the turn of the century, a time when women had few choices, Bess Steed Garner...  more

A bestselling sensation when it was first published by Viking in 1978, A Woman of Independent Means has delighted millions of readers and was the inspiration for the television miniseries starring Sally Field. At the turn of the century, a time when women had few choices, Bess Steed Garner inherits a legacy--not only of wealth but of determination and desire, making her truly a woman of independent means. From the early 1900s through the 1960s, we accompany Bess as she endures life's trials and triumphs with unfailing courage and indomitable spirit: the sacrifices love sometimes requires of the heart, the flaws and rewards of marriage, the often-tested bond between mother and child, and the will to defy a society that demands conformity. Now, with this beautiful trade paperback edition, Penguin will introduce a new generation of readers to this richly woven story. . .and to Bess Steed Garner, a woman for all ages.

A charming and moving novel about female friendship and the experiences that knit us together - even when we least expect it. Walker and Daughter is Georgia Walker's little yarn shop, tucked into a quiet storefront on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The Friday Night Knitting Club was...  more

A charming and moving novel about female friendship and the experiences that knit us together - even when we least expect it. Walker and Daughter is Georgia Walker's little yarn shop, tucked into a quiet storefront on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The Friday Night Knitting Club was started by some of Georgia's regulars, who gather once a week to work on their latest projects and to chat - and occasionally clash - over their stories of love, life, and everything in between. Georgia has her hands full, juggling the demands of running the store and raising her spunky teen daughter, Dakota, by herself. Thank goodness for Anita, her mentor and dear friend, and the rest of the members of the knitting club - who are just as varied as the skeins of yarn in the shop's bins. There's Peri, a pre-law student turned handbag designer; Darwin, a somewhat aloof feminist grad student; and Lucie, a petite, quiet woman who's harboring some secrets of her own. However, unexpected changes soon throw these women's lives into disarray, and the shop's comfortable world gets shaken up like a snow globe. James, Georgia's ex, decides that he wants to play a larger role in Dakota's life - and possibly Georgia's as well. Cat, a former friend from high school, returns to New York as a rich Park Avenue wife and uneasily renews her old bond with Georgia. Meanwhile, Anita must confront her growing (and reciprocated) feelings for Marty, the kind neighborhood deli owner. And when the unthinkable happens, they realize what they've created: not just a knitting club, but a sisterhood

This is the story of four people in late middle-age - Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia - whose chief point of contact is that they work in the same office and they suffer the same problem - loneliness. Lovingly, poignantly, satirically and with much humour, Pym conducts us through their small...  more

This is the story of four people in late middle-age - Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia - whose chief point of contact is that they work in the same office and they suffer the same problem - loneliness. Lovingly, poignantly, satirically and with much humour, Pym conducts us through their small lives and the facade they erect to defend themselves against the outside world. There is nevertheless an obstinate optimism in her characters, allowing them in their different ways to win through to a kind of hope. Barbara Pym's sensitive wit and artistry are at their most sparkling in "Quartet in Autumn".  

Shouldn't life be more than simply showing up? Is it enough to be part of a family, make another family, earn your living, and then exit stage left? Or should you engage and be engaged in a bit of purposeful shaking and shoving along the way? These are questions that Kit Bakke urgently needs...  more

Shouldn't life be more than simply showing up? Is it enough to be part of a family, make another family, earn your living, and then exit stage left? Or should you engage and be engaged in a bit of purposeful shaking and shoving along the way? These are questions that Kit Bakke urgently needs answered. Tired of self-proclaimed gurus and self-help books, she turns to her childhood role model -- Louisa May Alcott -- for direction. She sends an e-mail to Louisa, and is amazed when she receives a reply. Their correspondence becomes a dance of ideas and tales bridging the mid-1800s and the twenty-first century. But why Louisa? "Her abolitionist zeal, her women's rights advocacy, her hospital work, her crazy commune days, her heartfelt desire to leave the world a better place, her humor and her energy all materialized in front of me," writes Bakke. "Louisa was serious when she signed her letters, 'Yours for reforms of all kinds.' She made her life, she didn't just live it." When Kit Bakke came of age in the late 1960s, America was going through major social and political turmoil. She and many of her generation elected to pursue radical ways to protest the Vietnam War and civil rights injustices at home, and Bakke joined the notorious Weather Underground. Eventually she left the movement to become a wife, a mother, and a professional nurse, but the persistent questions about the best way to live her life, make her contribution, and find satisfaction remained. By initiating her extraordinary correspondence with Louisa May Alcott, Kit hopes to "pick up some clues for my friends and myself about how better to live the thirty or so years that might be remaining to us. And besides, we would be giving Louisa a treat that couldn't be beat -- a peek into the future."

At age seventy-five, Sarah thought that her life was settled and assured: she and Charles would live out their days in the quiet comfort of their rural Vermont home. But now, with Charles gone, Sarah is unable to find peace. That is, until her home unforeseeably becomes an unruly refuge for...  more

At age seventy-five, Sarah thought that her life was settled and assured: she and Charles would live out their days in the quiet comfort of their rural Vermont home. But now, with Charles gone, Sarah is unable to find peace. That is, until her home unforeseeably becomes an unruly refuge for wayward souls. First comes her teenage granddaughter Lottie, who can't abide living with her mother. She's soon joined by two similarly displaced young friends; an Israeli soldier who needs a retreat; a young mother and son who've lost their home to a fire; and a woman and her infant fleeing a violent partner. In the tradition of Jane Smiley and Sue Miller, author Kate Maloy has crafted a wise and gratifying novel about a woman who finds the most rewarding role of her life just when she thought the best years were over.

"I've been to many combat zones, so I know a real fight when I see one?and the characters in this book pull no punches. But what surprised me is how their conflict is just as engaging as their crazy humor and deep affection for each other. This book perfectly combines my two favorite things...  more

"I've been to many combat zones, so I know a real fight when I see one?and the characters in this book pull no punches. But what surprised me is how their conflict is just as engaging as their crazy humor and deep affection for each other. This book perfectly combines my two favorite things in the world: fiction and food. It's a great read."?Bob Woodruff, ABC News Anchor and journalist ?Food and love without the schmaltz and warm fuzzies is what kept me turning the pages of this book. Yes, there are recipes, nostalgic and good ones, but the fascination is in how they mark the years of a childhood friendship struggling to become a life long one. If you?re lucky enough to have that one true best friend, you?ll find all the love, prickliness, laughter, blood curdling honesty, and joy here.??Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of The Splendid Table®, public radio's food show from American Public Media ?The Recipe Club, a moving story about two close friends connecting and reconnecting through food and cooking, contains one of my favorite lines written to date: 'So, how do you fix a broken heart? Maybe with ricotta cheese.'??Tanya Steel, editor of Epicurious.com and co-author of Real Food for Healthy Kids Lilly and Val are lifelong friends, united as much by their differences as by their similarities. Lilly, dramatic and confident, lives in the shadow of her beautiful, wayward mother and craves the attention of her distant, disapproving father. Val, shy and idealistic?and surprisingly ambitious?struggles with her desire to break free from her demanding housebound mother and a father whose dreams never seem to come true. In childhood, ?LillyPad? and ?Valpal? vow to form an exclusive two-person club. Throughout the decades they write intimate letters in which they share hopes, fears, deepest secrets?and recipes, from Lilly?s ?Lovelorn Lasagna? to Valerie?s ?Forgiveness Tapenade.? Readers can cook along as the girls travel through time, facing the challenges of independence; the joys and heartbreaks of first love; and the emotional complexities of family relationships, identity, mortality, and goals deferred. But no matter what different paths they take or what misunderstandings threaten to break them apart, Lilly and Val always find their way back together through their Recipe Club . . . until the fateful day when an act of kindness becomes an unforgivable betrayal. Now, decades later, while trying to recapture the trust they?ve lost, Lilly and Val reunite once more?only to uncover a shocking secret. Will it destroy their friendship, or bring them ever closer? Andrea Israel is a producer/writer for ABC?s Focus Earth. She was a producer/writer on Anderson Cooper 360, Dateline, and Good Morning America (which garnered her an Emmy Award). Her story In Donald?s Eyes was recently optioned for a film. Ms. Israel is the author of Taking Tea. Her writing has appeared in many publications. Nancy Garfinkel is co-author of The Wine Lover?s Guide to the Wine Country: The Best of Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino (Chronicle Books, 2005). A creative strategist, design consultant, writer, and editor for magazine, corporate, and non-profit clients, she has won a host of graphic arts and editorial merit awards. She has written extensively about food and graphic arts.

Meet Faye, Marilyn, Alice, and Shirley. The four founding members of the Hot Flash Club, where the topics of motherhood, sex and men are discussed with double servings of chocolate cake... Faye is an artist and a determinedly cheerful widow. Now she's got a tricky problem to bring to...  more

Meet Faye, Marilyn, Alice, and Shirley. The four founding members of the Hot Flash Club, where the topics of motherhood, sex and men are discussed with double servings of chocolate cake... Faye is an artist and a determinedly cheerful widow. Now she's got a tricky problem to bring to the club's table: how can they catch her perfect son-in-law cheating on her daughter? Shirley is a healer. Though her yoga-slender body belie her years, dating one too many losers and the strain of being broke make her feel her age. Shirley has a secret dream: to own a spa. But first she needs to believe in herself, in her abilities, and in her friends at the club. Marilyn is a palaeontologist who has spent so many years looking at dried-up fossils, she feels she's in danger of becoming one herself. Worried that her son is about to marry the wrong woman, she gets some help from her friends, who transform her from a caterpillar to a butterfly... Alice, the executive, has soared to the top of the corporate ladder. Now her shoes are killing her and the younger jackals are circling in for the kill. But as the inspiration behind the Hot Flash Club, she's about to discover something extraordinary: contentment. From the bestselling author of Between Husbands and Friends and Custody, comes a wise, wonderful and hilarious coming of (middle) age novel about four intrepid women -- ready to face the best years of their lives.

Known in Nantucket as the crazy woman who lives in the rambling house atop the bluff, Nan doesn't care what people think. At sixty-five-years old, her husband died twenty years ago, her beauty has faded, and her family has flown. If her neighbors are away, why shouldn't she skinny dip in their...  more

Known in Nantucket as the crazy woman who lives in the rambling house atop the bluff, Nan doesn't care what people think. At sixty-five-years old, her husband died twenty years ago, her beauty has faded, and her family has flown. If her neighbors are away, why shouldn't she skinny dip in their swimming pools and help herself to their flowers? But when she discovers the money she thought would last forever is dwindling and she could lose her beloved house, Nan knows she has to make drastic changes. So Nan takes out an ad: Rooms to rent for the summer in a beautiful old Nantucket home with water views and direct access to the beach. Slowly, people start moving into the house, filling it with noise, with laughter, and with tears. As the house comes alive again, Nan finds her family expanding. Her son comes home for the summer, and then an unexpected visitor turns all their lives upside-down.

Twenty-five years ago three friends grew from girls to women on the sandy shores of Hubbard's Point, Connecticut, forging a bond they swore would last always. Then time and distance drew them apart- and one was lost forever. Now her nine-year old daughter has returned to the Point with her...  more

Twenty-five years ago three friends grew from girls to women on the sandy shores of Hubbard's Point, Connecticut, forging a bond they swore would last always. Then time and distance drew them apart- and one was lost forever. Now her nine-year old daughter has returned to the Point with her widowed father, longing to find the "beach girls" of her mother's stories. But after years of heartbreak, artist Stevie Moore has withdrawn into a self-imposed exile. And for Maddie Kilvert, Hubbard's Point has become a place where innocence and tragedy forever intertwine. Can memories of blue skies and laughter bring them together again to embrace a lonely girl and a wounded man? If they can believe once more in the power if the past and the magic of a new summer, it may light the way toward a new chance at love for them all....

Friendship sustains and enriches women's lives in way's no romantic or family relationship ever can. A source of solace, support, and nourishment, it is a tie that powerfully connects woman to woman in unforgettable, joyous, sometimes painful ways. In this wonderfully warm, humorous, and moving...  more

Friendship sustains and enriches women's lives in way's no romantic or family relationship ever can. A source of solace, support, and nourishment, it is a tie that powerfully connects woman to woman in unforgettable, joyous, sometimes painful ways. In this wonderfully warm, humorous, and moving novel, Patricia Gaffney paints a rich portrait of this delicate yet resilient bond through the lives of four charming. vividly real women. For ten years, Emma, Rudy, Lee. and Isabel have shared a deep affection that has helped them deal with husbands, lovers, careers, children -- the ebb and flow of expectations and disappointments common to us all. Calling themselves the Saving Graces, the quartet is united by understanding, honesty, and acceptance--an ephemeral connection that has grown stronger as the years go by... Emma, a sharp-tongued. soft-hearted skeptic, doesn't believe in love -- until she meets the one man she can't have. For her, the Saving Graces are fall-breakers extraordinaire. She believes that "bad news doesn't hurt as much if you hear it in good company." A beauty with an extraordinary gift for love and a shaky, dysfunctional past, Rudy is desperately trying to hold on to her deeply troubled marriage. She's not sure where she'd be without the Saving Graces. "I don't know why my friends bother with me, I'm so high-maintenance. I would run if I saw me coming. But they're always so patient and supportive." Lee, whom they all are sure is "the normal one," longs for a baby. But her overwhelming desire for motherhood threatens to destroy an idyllic marriage. The Saving Graces are the sounding board on which she unburdens her hopes and fears. "I know I'm consumed by our infertility, and that's nor fair to Henry....He says I blame everything that's wrong with my whole life, on the fact that we can't have children. It's true, I know.I'm driving him away." Isabel, the oldest, is a survivor whose wisdom and strength were forged by the worst trials life can offer. Divorced and free, she's falling for her single, attractive neighbor -- a man she's sure must be gay. Hers is the guiding insight that propels and grounds the Saving Graces. "We're all productive, tolerably sane, functioning adults, we Graces, with no more emotional baggage -- well, except for Rudy -- than you would expect in a random sampling of aging yuppie women. And yet our childhoods were disasters. Occasionally we four play the intriguing `What keeps us together?' game, and the fact that we all survived our childhoods is mentioned early and often." Though these sisters of the heart and soul have seen it all, talked through it all, Emma, Rudy, Lee, and Isabel will not be prepared for a crisis of astounding proportions that will put their love, loyalty, and courage to the ultimate test. Captivating from first page to last, this mesmerizing story illuminates the emotional links that define and join us as women. While men, jobs, and crises may come and go, nothing lasts like true friendship. Funny, inspirational, joyous, and oh-so-true, The Saving Graces is a novel no reader will forget -- a story to be passed from friend to friend.

The women of a small town’s bird watching society secretly plan to "eliminate" the husband of one of their members in this new novel—a modern spin on the classic film Arsenic and Old Lace—written by the beloved author of Sophie and the Rising Sun. In a story replete with...  more

The women of a small town’s bird watching society secretly plan to "eliminate" the husband of one of their members in this new novel—a modern spin on the classic film Arsenic and Old Lace—written by the beloved author of Sophie and the Rising Sun. In a story replete with coconut cake, grits, and poisoned turtle stew, it’s easy to see why Augusta Trobaugh has been heralded as having "a voice from and for the South, as complex and resonant as the region itself"(Anne Rivers Siddons). With her latest novel, Trobaugh displays that distinctly Southern charm and beckons new readers to her work. Founding members of the Tea-Olive Bird Watching Society in tiny Tea-Olive, Georgia, are Beulah, Sweet, Wildwood, and Zion, each named after a hymn. Pillars of the community, seemingly beyond reproach, two of these ladies are nonetheless conspiring to murder retired Judge L. Hyson Breed, a newcomer to Tea-Olive. It all begins when the judge tricks Sweet into marriage, steals her land for a development project, and sweet- talks his way right onto the town council. By the time Beulah and Zion discover his evil plans—and realize that Sweet has endured personal harm, with more to come—the judge is already a permanent fixture in town. Or is he? When Beulah and Zion attempt to do away with the judge—while always remaining unfailingly polite—the novel takes a wild turn. The result is a delightful black comedy from a novelist at the peak of her powers.

From bestselling author Anne Rivers Siddons comes a bittersweet and finely wrought story of friendship, family, and Charleston society. At twelve, Emily Parmenter knows alone all too well. Left mostly to herself after her beautiful young mother disappeared and her beloved older brother died,...  more

From bestselling author Anne Rivers Siddons comes a bittersweet and finely wrought story of friendship, family, and Charleston society. At twelve, Emily Parmenter knows alone all too well. Left mostly to herself after her beautiful young mother disappeared and her beloved older brother died, Emily is keenly aware of yearning and loss. Rather than be consumed by sadness, she has built a life around the faded plantation where her remote father and hunting-obsessed brothers raise the legendary Lowcountry Boykin hunting spaniels. It is a meager, narrow, masculine world, but to Emily it has magic: the storied deep-sea dolphins who come regularly to play in Sweetwater Creek; her extraordinary bond with the beautiful dogs she trains; her almost mystic communion with her own spaniel, Elvis; the dreaming old Lowcountry itself. Emily hides from the dreaded world here. It is enough. And then comes Lulu Foxworth, troubled daughter of a truly grand plantation, who has run away from her hectic Charleston debutante season to spend a healing summer with the quiet marshes and river, and the life-giving dogs. Where Emily's father sees their guest as an entrée to a society he thought forever out of reach, Emily is at once threatened and mystified. Lulu has a powerful enchantment of her own, and this, along with the dark, crippling secret she brings with her, will inevitably blow Emily's magical water world apart and let the real one in -- but at a terrible price. Poignant and emotionally compelling, Anne Rivers Siddons's Sweetwater Creek draws you into the luminous landscape of the Lowcountry. With characters that linger long after you've turned the last page, this engaging tale is destined to become an instant classic.

It's a long way from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Bern, Connecticut, yet it only takes a day in the charming Yankee town to make Evelyn Dixon realize she's found her new home. The abrupt end of her marriage was Evelyn's wake-up call to get busy chasing her dream of opening a quilt shop....  more

It's a long way from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Bern, Connecticut, yet it only takes a day in the charming Yankee town to make Evelyn Dixon realize she's found her new home. The abrupt end of her marriage was Evelyn's wake-up call to get busy chasing her dream of opening a quilt shop. Finding a storefront is easy enough; starting a new life isn't. Little does Evelyn imagine it will bring a trio like Abigail Burgess, her niece Liza, and Margot Matthews through her door... Troubled and angry after her mother's death, Liza threatens to embarrass her Aunt Abigail all over town unless she joins her for quilting classes. A victim of downsizing at the peak of her career, Margot hopes an event hosted by the quilt shop could be a great chance to network -- and keep from dying of boredom... As they stitch their unique creations, Evelyn, Abigail, Liza, and Margot form a sisterhood they never sought -- but one that they'll be grateful for when the unexpected provides a poignant reminder of the single thread that binds us all...

Lucy met Kate when they were both young wives and mothers. In the years since, the two women and their husbands and children have become inseparable, spending every August together in a house on Nantucket. Lucy and Kate, each other's most trusted confidantes, have shared their secrets, from the...  more

Lucy met Kate when they were both young wives and mothers. In the years since, the two women and their husbands and children have become inseparable, spending every August together in a house on Nantucket. Lucy and Kate, each other's most trusted confidantes, have shared their secrets, from the mundane to the shocking--but there's one explosive secret that Lucy has kept to herself.As August once again approaches, Lucy must confront the truth she has kept hidden all these years. Now, in the midst of an unexpected family crisis, she must make a decision that could shatter all of their lives.A poignant and gripping novel about friendship, family, loyalty and deceit, Between Husbands and Friends will hold you spellbound as it lays bare the desire and complexity of the human heart.

Cathy Kelly has enjoyed unprecedented success in the UK and her native Ireland. Building on the popularity of her "Dear Cathy" advice column, Kelly brings to her fiction a warmth and humor that speaks to women everywhere. Hannah, Emma, and Leonie, three women at critical turning points in...  more

Cathy Kelly has enjoyed unprecedented success in the UK and her native Ireland. Building on the popularity of her "Dear Cathy" advice column, Kelly brings to her fiction a warmth and humor that speaks to women everywhere. Hannah, Emma, and Leonie, three women at critical turning points in their lives, meet on holiday and find themselves changing in unexpected ways. Hannah, young, beautiful and reeling from the betrayal of a lover, decides to throw herself into her career and embrace the single life. Emma, married for two years and hoping to start a family, constantly questions her ability to be a parent, while still allowing her own parents to interfere in her life. Leonie, generously proportioned and equally big-hearted, wonders if she'll ever find love with three teenage children in tow. Someone Like You is a celebration of life and friendship, firmly establishing Cathy Kelly as a captivating new voice in contemporary women's fiction.

Witty, wise, and hope-filled, Five Fortunes is a large-hearted tale of five vivid and unforgettable women who know where they've been but have no idea where they're going. A lively octogenarian, a private investigator, a mother and daughter with an unresolved past, and a recently widowed...  more

Witty, wise, and hope-filled, Five Fortunes is a large-hearted tale of five vivid and unforgettable women who know where they've been but have no idea where they're going. A lively octogenarian, a private investigator, a mother and daughter with an unresolved past, and a recently widowed politician's wife share little else except a thirst for new dreams, but after a week at the luxurious health spa known as "Fat Chance" their lives will be intertwined in ways they couldn't have imagined. At a place where doctors, lawyers, spoiled housewives, movie stars, and captains of industry are stripped of the social markers that keep them from really seeing one another, unexpected friendships emerge, reminding us of the close links between the rich and the poor, fortune and misfortune, and the magic of chance.

Three women arrive at the local airport, observed by Josh, a Nantucket native home from college for the summer. Burdened with small children, unwieldy straw hats, and some obvious emotional issues, the women-- two sisters and one friend--make their way to the sisters' tiny cottage, inherited...  more

Three women arrive at the local airport, observed by Josh, a Nantucket native home from college for the summer. Burdened with small children, unwieldy straw hats, and some obvious emotional issues, the women-- two sisters and one friend--make their way to the sisters' tiny cottage, inherited from an aunt. They're all trying to escape from something: Melanie, after seven failed in-vitro attempts, learned her husband was having an affair, and then discovered she's pregnant; Brenda embarked on a passionate affair with an older student that got her fired from her prestigious job as a professor in New York; and her sister Vicki, mother to two small boys, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Soon Josh is part of the chaotic household, acting as babysitter, confidant, and, eventually, lover.

Anita Diamant whose rich portrayal of the biblical world of women illuminated her acclaimed international bestseller The Red Tent, now crafts a moving novel of contemporary female friendship. Good Harbor is the long stretch of Cape Ann beach where two women friends walk and talk, sharing...  more

Anita Diamant whose rich portrayal of the biblical world of women illuminated her acclaimed international bestseller The Red Tent, now crafts a moving novel of contemporary female friendship. Good Harbor is the long stretch of Cape Ann beach where two women friends walk and talk, sharing their personal histories and learning life's lessons from each other. Kathleen Levine, a longtime resident of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is maternal and steady, a devoted children's librarian, a convert to Judaism, and mother to two grown sons. When her serene life is thrown into turmoil by a diagnosis of breast cancer at fifty-nine, painful past secrets emerge and she desperately needs a friend. Forty-two-year-old Joyce Tabachnik is a sharp-witted freelance writer who is also at a fragile point in her life. She's come to Gloucester to follow her literary aspirations, but realizes that her husband and young daughter are becoming increasingly distant. Together, Kathleen and Joyce forge a once-in-a-lifetime bond and help each other to confront scars left by old emotional wounds.

Join a circle of friends that will never be broken -- Cassandra King’s celebrated national bestseller, The Same Sweet Girls, is now in paperback None of the Same Sweet Girls are really girls anymore, and none of them have actually ever been that sweet. But the story of this spirited group...  more

Join a circle of friends that will never be broken -- Cassandra King’s celebrated national bestseller, The Same Sweet Girls, is now in paperback None of the Same Sweet Girls are really girls anymore, and none of them have actually ever been that sweet. But the story of this spirited group of six southern women, who have been holding biannual reunions ever since they were together in college, is nothing short of compelling. On an island every summer and in the mountains every fall, the Same Sweet Girls come together to share their stories. When one of the group faces the most difficult challenge of her life, the novel builds to an almost unbearably powerful conclusion, one of the most memorable in current fiction. Without a touch of sentimentality, Cassandra King writes of the way close friends can help each other through even the most cataclysmic life events. Both heartbreaking and hilarious, The Same Sweet Girls will touch, move, and inspire readers to cherish their own lifelong friendships. Perfect for reading groups, The Same Sweet Girls is a story of friendship that readers will want to share with their special girlfriends.

Linwood Breedlove Scott's life has officially hit rock bottom. Her husband of thirty years has run off with a stripper. The IRS has taken everything but her coffee table. And her hot flashes are four-alarmers. The only thing that could make being flat-broke and fifty any worse is having to...  more

Linwood Breedlove Scott's life has officially hit rock bottom. Her husband of thirty years has run off with a stripper. The IRS has taken everything but her coffee table. And her hot flashes are four-alarmers. The only thing that could make being flat-broke and fifty any worse is having to crawl home to her parents' house in Mimosa Branch, Georgia...which is exactly where she's headed. Lin's barely prepared for the loony bin that greets her, from her controlling, eighty-year-old mother and shockingly blunt father to her long-suffering Aunt Glory and her deranged Uncle Bedford who is convinced a cannibal lives under the furniture. Nor is she ready for the instant love-hate attraction she feels for her handsome new next-door neighbor. Trying to navigate her way through the second act of her life with nothing more than a prepaid calling card, a broken heart, and plenty of Prozac, Lin's about to discover that it's never too late for old friends, new romance, the ties of family, and a second chance to survive it all on the road to becoming the person you were always meant to be...

When the going gets tough... In the Irish town of Carrickwell, with its lush, endlessly rolling hills and authentic country tranquility, three women's lives are anything but calm. There's Mel, a compulsively ambitious mother/publicity manager at a high-powered PR firm -- living proof that...  more

When the going gets tough... In the Irish town of Carrickwell, with its lush, endlessly rolling hills and authentic country tranquility, three women's lives are anything but calm. There's Mel, a compulsively ambitious mother/publicity manager at a high-powered PR firm -- living proof that balancing motherhood and a full-time job is no walk in the park. The hot-headed, indomitable Cleo, just out of college with a degree in hotel management, would like nothing better than to modernize and revive her family's dwindling hotel -- but faces a constant battle with her old-fashioned parents. And finally, there's the stylish, sweet-tempered Daisy, a self-consciously curvy fashion buyer for an upscale clothing boutique, who has been struggling -- and longing -- to have a baby with her absolutely perfect boyfriend. Although unconnected, these three women have one thing in common: they all need a break from their stressful lives. ...these tough gals hit the nearest spa! So each one sets out for a little R & R at the new Clouds Hill spa, built by an American woman with her own secret turmoil. It is there that Mel, Cleo, and Daisy meet -- their worlds and troubles colliding -- forming an intimate bond that helps them to realize what matters most in life, always and forever.

Barbara Taylor Bradford has become one of the world's most cherished storytellers, having written fourteen bestselling novels that went on to become enduring favorites. In A Sudden Change of Heart, readers are once again invited to fall under the spell of a magical weaver of tales at her most...  more

Barbara Taylor Bradford has become one of the world's most cherished storytellers, having written fourteen bestselling novels that went on to become enduring favorites. In A Sudden Change of Heart, readers are once again invited to fall under the spell of a magical weaver of tales at her most seductive. Laura Valiant and Claire Benson are best friends from childhood and have remained exceptionally close through the turmoil of adult life. They have much to celebrate: Laura is a partner in a challenging and successful art dealership in New York, and her marriage to the handsome and always amiable Doug seems to come right from a storybook. Though divorced from her French husband, Philippe Lavillard, Claire delights in her precocious daughter, Natasha. But the two friends' lives do not follow the paths we imagine they will, and when Claire is confronted with sudden tragedy, she naturally turns to Laura for help. When the long-hidden history of the Lavillard family intersects with Laura's investigation into artwork stolen by the Nazis during the war, Barbara Taylor Bradford's gripping tale reaches a dramatic and unexpected crescendo. A Sudden Change of Heart revolves around overcoming adversity as well as celebrating life's joy; ultimately, it is a moving expression of the triumph of the human spirit and the healing power of love.

Diane Hammond’s beautifully rendered description of life in the fictional small town of Hubbard, Oregon, won her plaudits for Going to Bend, her debut novel. In Homesick Creek, Hammond returns to Hubbard and captivates us once again with a cast of characters so vivid we feel like...  more

Diane Hammond’s beautifully rendered description of life in the fictional small town of Hubbard, Oregon, won her plaudits for Going to Bend, her debut novel. In Homesick Creek, Hammond returns to Hubbard and captivates us once again with a cast of characters so vivid we feel like we’ve known them all our lives. Anita and Bunny have been friends since high school, when Anita was a beauty queen runner-up and Bunny a sweet single mother with average looks. They were both taken by surprise when the handsome, charismatic Hack Neary chose Bunny to be his wife. A natural-born salesman, Hack now works his charms at the local car dealership, and he and Bunny enjoy a very comfortable life. But after sixteen years of excusing Hack’s white lies, Bunny is more shaken than she’d like to be by his dangerous new flirtation and her rising suspicions that Hack never meant to put down roots in Hubbard.Anita has also married, but unlike Hack and Bunny, she and her husband are barely scraping by. Bob isn’t ambitious enough to properly support his wife and daughter. He is, however, constant in his love: for Anita, still beautiful in his eyes despite the toll of age, work, and poverty; for his daughter and granddaughter, who need more than the couple can provide; and for Warren, his best friend since they were poor and unwanted children in the same trailer park.Facing a future that seems increasingly difficult, the friends turn to one another and find reserves of love and strength that help heal the wounds they inadvertently inflict on each other. At the deepest point of her grief, Bunny realizes, “If you loved somebody once, no matter how long ago, that had to be worth something.”

From the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Saving Graces and Circle of Three comes the poignant story of two women struggling to come to terms with the past that haunts them both.For sixteen years Anna has studiously avoided her Aunt Rose. Exchanging cards at holiday time -- that's as...  more

From the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Saving Graces and Circle of Three comes the poignant story of two women struggling to come to terms with the past that haunts them both.For sixteen years Anna has studiously avoided her Aunt Rose. Exchanging cards at holiday time -- that's as far as Anna is willing to go with the woman she once loved more than anyone else in the world. That love died the night Rose betrayed Anna and her mother -- Rose's own fatally ill sister -- and Anna can't forgive or forget. Years have passed since she's been back to her hometown on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where Rose still runs the aging family restaurant, the Bella Sorella. Anna has built a life elsewhere with a job she likes and a man she loves. Or so she thought.The problem, or one of them, was that circumstances had split her life down the middle. She was always of two minds, the hopeful half versus the skeptic, optimist against pessimist. Or maybe it had evened out and she was now a relativist, a contingency artist. Either way, it didn't help that at this late date a theme was taking shape -- a motif or whatever you wanted to call it, a pattern -- consisting of Anna walking in on trusted loved ones in bed with each other.Anna clearly needs an escape, but the only place for her to go is home: to the family, to the restaurant, to Rose, who has been trying for more than a decade to regain Anna's trust. And right now Rose needs her more than ever. Feelings between the two women remain as chilly as ever, even in the steamy kitchen of the Bella Sorella, where values clash and generations collide -- and outside it, where their personal lives become entangled in surprising ways. Anna is a reluctant partner in this intricate dance of forgiveness and reconciliation, insisting that her stay is only temporary. Her plan is to leave a second time, as soon as the restaurant is back on its feet and her own hurt is healed. But her determination to remain unaffected by Rose's longing to undo the past and create a future blinds Anna to a chance for human connection and she almost fails to recognize true love, even when it reaches in and grabs her by the heart.Touching, funny, poignant, and wise,Flight Lessons is a moving story of truth and loyalty, of the bonds that shape and sustain us and, ultimately, uplift us. Patricia Gaffney once again delivers a story told with grace and warmth, filled with the recognition of self and reminding us that there's no place like home.

Combining southern warmth with unabashed emotion and side-splitting hilarity, Fannie Flagg takes readers back to Elmwood Springs, Missouri, where the most unlikely and surprising experiences of a high-spirited octogenarian inspire a town to ponder the age-old question: Why are we here? Life...  more

Combining southern warmth with unabashed emotion and side-splitting hilarity, Fannie Flagg takes readers back to Elmwood Springs, Missouri, where the most unlikely and surprising experiences of a high-spirited octogenarian inspire a town to ponder the age-old question: Why are we here? Life is the strangest thing. One minute, Mrs. Elner Shimfissle is up in her tree, picking figs, and the next thing she knows, she is off on an adventure she never dreamed of, running into people she never in a million years expected to meet. Meanwhile, back home, Elner?s nervous, high-strung niece Norma faints and winds up in bed with a cold rag on her head; Elner?s neighbor Verbena rushes immediately to the Bible; her truck driver friend, Luther Griggs, runs his eighteen-wheeler into a ditch?and the entire town is thrown for a loop and left wondering, ?What is life all about, anyway?? Except for Tot Whooten, who owns Tot?s Tell It Like It Is Beauty Shop. Her main concern is that the end of the world might come before she can collect her social security. In this comedy-mystery, those near and dear to Elner discover something wonderful: Heaven is actually right here, right now, with people you love, neighbors you help, friendships you keep. Can?t Wait to Get to Heaven is proof once more that Fannie Flagg ?was put on this earth to write? (Southern Living), spinning tales as sweet and refreshing as iced tea on a summer day, with a little extra kick thrown in. From the Hardcover edition.

In rural World War II England, three very different young women from very different backgrounds find themselves thrown together, sharing an attic bedroom and laying the foundations for a friendship that would last a lifetime. Land Girls is the intelligent and often heartbreaking account of their...  more

In rural World War II England, three very different young women from very different backgrounds find themselves thrown together, sharing an attic bedroom and laying the foundations for a friendship that would last a lifetime. Land Girls is the intelligent and often heartbreaking account of their first summer together.

An essential American novel from Sandra Dallas, an unparalleled writer of our history, and our deepest emotions... During World War II, a family finds life turned upside down when the government opens a Japanese internment camp in their small Colorado town. After a young girl is murdered, all...  more

An essential American novel from Sandra Dallas, an unparalleled writer of our history, and our deepest emotions... During World War II, a family finds life turned upside down when the government opens a Japanese internment camp in their small Colorado town. After a young girl is murdered, all eyes (and suspicions) turn to the newcomers, the interlopers, the strangers. This is Tallgrass as Rennie Stroud has never seen it before. She has just turned thirteen and, until this time, life has pretty much been what her father told her it should be: predictable and fair. But now the winds of change are coming and, with them, a shift in her perspective. And Rennie will discover secrets that can destroy even the most sacred things. Part thriller, part historical novel, Tallgrass is a riveting exploration of the darkest--and best--parts of the human heart.

Back in high school, Tracy, Olivia, and Holly were known as The Godmothers, the girls everyone wanted to be and know. Unlike many friendships, their bond survived the years. But 20 years later, their glamorous leader, Olivia, whose wealthy Italian husband has died, suggests they reunite on...  more

Back in high school, Tracy, Olivia, and Holly were known as The Godmothers, the girls everyone wanted to be and know. Unlike many friendships, their bond survived the years. But 20 years later, their glamorous leader, Olivia, whose wealthy Italian husband has died, suggests they reunite on her return to the United States with a luxury sailboat crossing in the Caribbean. With Tracy's college-aged daughter and an attentive two-man crew, they sail into paradise. But then, the smallest mistake triggers a series of devastating events. Suddenly in a desperate fight for survival, they battle the elements, dwindling food and water, the threat of modern-day piracy, and their own frailties. 

More Than Friends is a moving, unforgettable story of friendship, love, and forgiveness -- a classic from New York Times bestselling author Barbara Delinsky. The Maxwells and the Popes have been friends forever. The women were college roommates, their husbands are partners in the same law...  more

More Than Friends is a moving, unforgettable story of friendship, love, and forgiveness -- a classic from New York Times bestselling author Barbara Delinsky. The Maxwells and the Popes have been friends forever. The women were college roommates, their husbands are partners in the same law firm, their kids have grown up next door to each other, and the two families share both vacations and holidays. All is beautiful and serene in their "perfect" shared suburban Eden -- until a tragic accident forces these very close friends and neighbors to look more deeply beneath the surface. And when their idyllic lives are unexpectedly shattered by a moment that can never be erased or forgotten, their faith in one another -- and in themselves -- is put to the supreme test.

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all... beauty, brains,...  more

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all... beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable. From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success... and loneliness. Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her.  How she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend. For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship... jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO REWRITE YOUR PAST? Three best friends, all with the same birthday, are about to turn forty.  They plan to share this momentous occasion together at a summerhouse in Maine, talking up a storm and taking stock of their lives and loves, their wishes and...  more

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO REWRITE YOUR PAST? Three best friends, all with the same birthday, are about to turn forty.  They plan to share this momentous occasion together at a summerhouse in Maine, talking up a storm and taking stock of their lives and loves, their wishes and choices.  But none of them expect the gift that awaits them at the summerhouse:  the chance for each of them to turn their "what-might-have-beens" into reality.... Leslie Headrick, Madison Appleby, and Ellie Abbott met nineteen years ago in the most unlikely place:  stuck in line at the New York City Department of Motor Vehicles.  Not only did they each turn twenty-one on that memorable day, but on that day, they shared with each other their past secrets and their hopes for the future.  They were three beautiful and extraordinarily talented young women with the world theirs for the taking.  But life doesn't always go according to one's youthful imaginings. Leslie, now a suburban wife and mother, is refusing to listen to what people are saying about her husband and his beautiful assistant.  Instead, she follows the career of a boy who pursued her in college:  he's now a presidential hopeful.  What would her life be like if she had chosen differently? Madison dropped a modeling career to help her high school boyfriend recover from an accident, even though he'd jilted her.  Years later, he was on his feet again and Madison had met Thomas, the man who was all she'd ever dreamed of.  But by that time Madison knew she had no right to Thomas's love.  What if she had said "no" when her old boyfriend had called? Ellie became a famous, bestselling novelist, but when she grew tired of supporting her narcissistic, philandering husband, she divorced him.  What was done to her in the divorce court cost her not only all of her earnings from her writing, but also her belief in herself.  More that anything, Ellie needed to know why she'd been so brutalized by the "justice" system, and could she prevent its happening the second time around? Now, as Leslie, Madison, and Ellie reunite at the summerhouse, each finds a puzzling card from a "Madame Zoya," offering them the chance of a lifetime:  to relive any three months from the past.  Will the road not taken prove a better path?  Each woman will have to decide for herself as she follows the dream that got away... and each must choose the life that will truly satisfy the longings that live deep inside her heart.