Religious & Spiritual Fiction Books

Book Synopsis“Fans of Christian romance will laugh and cry while reading this heartfelt Christmas story,” says USA Today bestselling author, Laura Scott. All Samantha Williams wants to do is to use her teaching degree to instruct a classroom of second graders. But, after a breast cancer diagnosis at the age of twenty-three and failed reconstruction surgery, Sam finds herself without a job and temporarily living with her parents. This isn’t the life Sam expected. When a family friend dies and leaves Sam a house and land in Whispering Creek, Tennessee, Sam must decide if leaving Wisconsin for Southern living is in her lesson plans. Nashville native Cole Donoven left his family’s electrical business to write country music. When Cole’s song-writing partner and girlfriend dumps him for a country music star, Cole abandons Nashville to hole up in Whispering Creek and compose one more song. The last thing Cole expects to find in the sleepy small town is a deceased friend, estate squabbles, and a Northern beauty. Will the chaos in Whispering Creek help create a bestselling song for Cole and possibly help him find a life-long collaborator?

Read more less

Book SynopsisCarlotta Hartman's life is falling apart.Although Carlotta desperately wants a child, her journalist husband just wishes their marriage would go back to the way things used to be before infertility treatments took over their schedule. While volunteering at an animal shelter to fill the void, Carlotta stumbles upon dead animals and a human body. Days later, Jake confesses to an affair with a co-worker. Hurt and confused, Carlotta moves in with her sister. And then things go from bad to perilous.As Jake receives counsel from a pastor, he pledges to woo Carlotta again and piece together their shattered marriage. But as Carlotta rushes out of Jake's arms, she runs straight into danger. Like the articles Jake writes and holds for release, a psychopath, bent on revenge, vows to hang onto Carlotta until the time is right.In the end, a secret from the past threatens to kill all hopes of a happy future.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDanica Lara hasn't been seeing clearly. Blinded by the lure of profit in a partnership with her best friend's ex, she's also battling changes in her vision, which prompts a visit to Dr. Grady Urban, the new optometrist in town. Yet the hunky doctor who looks deep into her eyes senses that she needs more than glasses. Trying to make a name for himself in a small town, Grady offers more than just optometry expertise as he plays armchair psychiatrist to clients who need some quiet hand-holding. With Danica, Grady finds himself attracted not only to helping her but also to partnering with her in a public school charity outreach. But mixing business and pleasure results in blurred vision for them both.Can Danica and Grady see clearly enough to make the right decision with their time and talents but still find love in the process?

Read more less

Book SynopsisSHE HAS A DEADLY SECRET. IF ONLY SHE KNEW WHAT IT WAS.Madeline Baxter has kept other secrets for seventeen years. Now God has called her back to Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin to face her fears. She obeys and mysterious threatening messages begin. Everyone she loves could be in danger. Including her first love—Parker. Parker has loved Madi for twenty years. As graduating high school sweethearts, they planned to marry, but the girl of his dreams vanished without a trace. He went on with life, wed and widowed, but Madi’s back, more beautiful than ever, and his heart is twisted in knots. What is Madi hiding? How can Parker trust her when he doesn’t understand why she left? And why does his heart still beat for her?

Read more less

Book SynopsisA former beauty queen faces the secrets of her past—for herself and the sake of her family’s future—in a heartfelt novel about fate, choices, and second chances. Everything seemed possible in the summer of 1951. Back then Betty Stern was an eighteen-year-old knockout working at her grandparents’ lakeside resort. The “Catskills of the Midwest” was the perfect place for Betty to prepare for bigger things. She’d head to college in New York City. Her career as a fashion editor would flourish. But first, she’d enjoy a wondrous last summer at the beach falling deeply in love with an irresistible college boy and competing in the annual Miss South Haven pageant. On the precipice of a well-planned life, Betty’s future was limitless. Decades later, the choices of that long-ago season still reverberate for Betty, now known as Boop. Especially when her granddaughter comes to her with a dilemma that echoes Boop’s memories of first love, broken hearts, and faraway dreams. It’s time to finally face the past—for the sake of her family and her own happiness. Maybe in reconciling the life she once imagined with the life she’s lived, Boop will discover it’s never too late for a second chance.Trade Review“This novel of first loves and second chances will resonate with fans of historical fiction authors such as Beatriz Williams or Lauren Willig.” —Library Journal “The Last Bathing Beauty is a pitch-perfect summer read, starring Betty ‘Boop’ Stern, a plucky heroine with a tackle box full of secrets and enough regret for a lifetime. Using dual timelines, Nathan expertly unravels the events that derailed Betty’s sparkling future in 1951 and continue to haunt her even as an eighty-four-year-old woman. Full of characters that shine and told with compassion and humor, this is women’s fiction at its best.” —Sonja Yoerg, Washington Post bestselling author of True Places “Amy Sue Nathan is a true storyteller, and The Last Bathing Beauty is her best book. It’s an epic tale of family, secrets, loss, marriage, betrayal, friendships, laughter, and regrets.” —Cathy Lamb, author of Julia’s Chocolates and All About Evie “The Last Bathing Beauty is a gorgeous story about how life doesn’t always work out the way we want it to, but if we’re willing, we can still make it a great life. This book ripped at my heart in the best possible way, and I won’t forget it. Told across three generations of smart, determined, compassionate women, The Last Bathing Beauty is the loveliest of stories about the sacrifices and triumphs that come from being a daughter, wife, mother, and friend.” —Juliet McDaniel, author of Mr. & Mrs. American Pie “For those who believe in happily ever after, Amy Sue Nathan’s The Last Bathing Beauty is a real winner. She has spun a heartfelt tale about romance, heartbreaks, friendship, and the wisdom that comes from living a life with no regrets. Told with tenderness and humor, readers will love this journey back in time with Boop and the girls.” —Renée Rosen, bestselling author of Park Avenue Summer “In this reimagining of Dirty Dancing, Nathan demonstrates expert storytelling when we meet the charismatic Betty ‘Boop’ Stern as a young woman, and also as an eighty-four-year-old as she looks back on a difficult choice that altered the path of her glittering future. Told with empathy and lyrical prose, The Last Bathing Beauty is a winning tale of friendship, regret, and second chances with a ring of endearing and spirited women at its heart.” —Heather Webb, USA Today bestselling coauthor of Meet Me in Monaco “A thoroughly enjoyable, past-and-present tale of a life-changing summer and its echoes decades later. This story has it all—great characters, sensory-rich settings, and a sweet salute to believing in second chances. The finale will have you cheering.” —Susan Meissner, bestselling author of The Last Year of the War “The Last Bathing Beauty is an emotionally gripping story that captivated me from page one. Amy Sue Nathan knows how to thread the past and present together in a way that readers won’t soon forget. A moving tale about second chances and the fathomless depths of true love.” —Tina Ann Forkner, author of Waking Up Joy

Read more less

Book SynopsisTwo strangers—generations and oceans apart—have a chance to save each other in this moving and suspenseful novel about family secrets and the ineffable connections that attach us. In a small Northern Italian village, nine-year-old Luca Taviano catches a stubborn cold and is subsequently diagnosed with leukemia. His only hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant. After an exhaustive search, a match turns up three thousand miles away in the form of a most unlikely donor: Joseph Neiman, a rabbi in Brooklyn, New York, who is suffering from a debilitating crisis of faith. As Luca’s young nurse, Nina Vocelli, risks her career and races against time to help save the spirited redheaded boy, she uncovers terrible secrets from World War II—secrets that reveal how a Catholic child could have Jewish genes. Can inheritance be transcended by accidents of love? That is the question at the heart of This Magnificent Dappled Sea, a novel that challenges the idea of identity and celebrates the ties that bind us together.Trade Review“Plenty of heart and compassion. Biro’s ambitious dive into the mysteries of family origins will move readers.” —Publishers Weekly “Physician and author Biro examines the secrets that people carry and how they shape and distort the ways one sees the world. A story of interconnection and the boundaries that too often keep us apart.” —Booklist “David Biro has written a glorious novel about connections over time, through war and displacement, to life affirming twists of fate that change the course of the lives of Luca Taviano, an Italian boy and Joseph Neiman, a rabbi. Grief and love are intertwined in the experience of Italian Jews and this beautiful novel tells that story weaving in and out of time as secrets are revealed and redemption is lost and found. Brava!” —Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife “David Biro’s fine novel is a page-turner of old secrets, new medicine and unexpected connections, in which lives in New York become entwined with lives in a small town in northern Italy. Most of all, it’s a novel of rich humanity.” —Matthew Kneale, Booker Prize shortlisted author of English Passengers “This Magnificent Dappled Sea is a superb read. It has fascinating, original characters you care about and a masterful plot that will captivate you as it slowly unfolds. But it’s more than just entertainment. On a deeper level, it’s an important novel with a beautiful beating heart. It’s the kind of book the world desperately needs right now. You’ll be a better person for having read it.” —Julianne MacLean, USA Today bestselling author “David Biro’s novel This Magnificent Dappled Sea is the beautifully rendered tale of Luca Taviano, a boy in a small Italian village who is diagnosed with leukemia, and his devoted nurse Nina Vocelli, who leads a Herculean effort to find a bone marrow donor that could save Luca’s life. This is a captivating, well-crafted story of family secrets, love, loss and forgiveness, and our inherent human connectedness.” —Jane Healey, bestselling author of The Beantown Girls

Read more less

Book Synopsis“A heartfelt, delicious story.” —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Palace From the author of Husbands and Other Sharp Objects comes a witty, bighearted novel about the happy accidents that lead to love and second chances. Forty-one years old, the last of her friends to marry, and down to a size 12, Lauren Leo is in her gown and about to tie the knot. There’s just one thing missing: the groom. With one blindsiding text, Lauren is unceremoniously dumped at the altar. In the aftermath, her mother is an endless well of unsolicited advice (Stay on your diet and freeze your eggs). Her sisters only add to the Great Humiliation: one is planted on Lauren’s couch while the other is too perfect. Picking her heart up off the floor, Lauren turns to her work in advertising as she gathers courage to move on and plan her next step. She should know by now that nothing in life goes according to plan. What lies ahead is the road to self-acceptance and at long last feeling worthy. With a new way to measure love and success, Lauren chucks her scale—and finds a second chance in the most unexpected place.Trade Review“A fun, well-paced jaunt.” —Kirkus Reviews “This fast-paced and entertaining story will appeal to those who like tales of women succeeding on their own terms.” —Booklist “Poignant and funny, Crazy To Leave You is chock full of Rothstein’s signature fast-paced, smart dialogue and brimming with wit. A heartfelt, delicious story.” —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Palace “Crazy to Leave You is the funniest book I’ve read in practically forever. Lauren Leo, who’s been jilted at the altar at forty-one, is sarcastic, lovable, brave, and drop-dead hilarious—in other words, perfect. As she makes her way through the humiliation of her postwedding world, not only does she have to deal with some pretty rough dieting decisions, but she’s also got some needy sisters, a judgmental mom, a crazy work life, and waaay too many wedding presents. Plus, there’s the really big question on everyone’s mind: Is anybody ever going to love her again? Trust me: this book will have you snort-laughing from page one. Do not be drinking hot liquids while you read.” —Maddie Dawson, author of The Magic of Found Objects “I’ve been eagerly awaiting Marilyn Simon Rothstein’s next novel, and Crazy to Leave You exceeded my expectations. From some of the funniest one-liners I’ve read in years to a cast of all-too-relatable characters, this witty, heartfelt story of one woman’s attempt to live on her own terms after her fiancé leaves her lifted my spirits and reminded me of what a gift it is to have choices—even the kind that take some warming up to. This is exactly the book we all need right now.” —Camille Pagán, bestselling author of I’m Fine and Neither Are You “With her trademark wit and wisdom, Marilyn Simon Rothstein brings us her most delightful and disarming heroine yet in Lauren Leo, a jilted fortysomething bride who finds her superpower. Fun, funny, and smart, Crazy to Leave You will keep you turning the pages and aching to offer your own shoulder to cry on as Lauren turns her tale of woe into a tower of strength. If you haven’t yet experienced the sheer joy of a Marilyn Simon Rothstein novel, this is a perfect place to start.” —Jamie Brenner, author of Blush “Marilyn Simon Rothstein does it again with another star, hilarious heart-warmer about a girl who is driven from her current location of heartbreak to her final destination of love and sanity. You’d be crazy not to love Crazy to Leave You.” —Jennifer Belle, bestselling author of Going Down and High Maintenance “Marilyn Simon Rothstein’s heartwarming new page-turner, Crazy to Leave You, has all the feels. Enter Lauren Leo—a brilliant advertising exec on top of her professional game who can’t get a break in her personal life. Over forty and jilted at the altar, Lauren berates herself and allows the critical, fat-shaming voice of her mother to echo relentlessly inside her head. Lauren’s journey is to stop weighing everything against a vicious scale, and instead to finally embrace who she is by learning that self-love and acceptance are truly the gifts that keep on giving. Rothstein’s genius lies in her keen observations, richly developed characters, razor-sharp ability to expose family dysfunction at its rotten core—and most of all, her unparalleled laugh-out-loud humor through love, loss, hope, and healing.” —Lisa Barr, author of Woman on Fire “On the surface, Crazy to Leave You is a funny, lighthearted story. But underlying Rothstein’s signature humor and wry, engaging voice is the shattering dilemma of every woman who has ever believed that she is not enough—not thin enough, not successful enough, not loved enough. Lauren’s journey to loving herself is one to which we can all relate. I think every book club is going to want this one!” —Kerry Anne King, bestselling author of Other People’s Things “Reading a book by Marilyn Simon Rothstein is like sitting at the fun table at a wedding, listening to all an insider’s funny stories about the blessed event’s guests, and those she unsparingly tells on herself. Marilyn Simon Rothstein makes me laugh—and reminds me that even in a comic novel, the emotional dynamics in a nosy, tight-knit Jewish family with three competitive daughters can be as twisted as they are laughable. In Rothstein’s third hilarious novel, we follow the victim of a brutal hit-and-runaway groom, a bride with a ticking biological clock and a brilliant Manhattan advertising career. Despite her bona fides, this abandoned singleton has no way to spin the mortifying situation she finds herself in—dumped at the altar by a weakling who announces his plan by texting her sister. Will she ever love again? Will she ever stop eating to fill the hole he left? You’ll find out, and if you’re like me, you’ll be waiting for this author’s next book.” —Thelma Adams, author of The Last Woman Standing and Bittersweet Brooklyn “Heartfelt, captivating, and beautifully written. This is one of those rare books that leaves you feeling as if you’ve spent the day with a best friend. Rothstein is a master at creating flawed characters that make you laugh, cry, and fall in love with them.” —Bette Lee Crosby, USA Today bestselling author “Marilyn Simon Rothstein returns with her inimitable blend of heartache, romance, and hilarity. Crazy to Leave You is five stars all the way.” —Patricia Sands, author of Drawing Lessons “If you don’t laugh out loud while reading a book by Marilyn Simon Rothstein, you’re dead inside. Filled with everything I love in a story: a well-meaning, insanity-inducing family, gut-busting laughs, and a heroine who feels like a friend. Crazy to Leave You will be an instant classic.” —Kristan Higgins, New York Times bestselling author of Pack Up The Moon

Read more less

Book SynopsisNew York Times and USA Today bestselling author Courtney Walsh returns with a hopeful and emotional new book about seizing second chances, finding yourself, and forging your own path. Beth Whitaker isn’t supposed to be a small-town girl. She’s always dreamed of leaving Willow Grove, Illinois, for the big city, but she feels trapped, struggling to make up for a mistake that’s haunted her for years. Just when Beth is finally ready to break free, her sister impulsively buys a beloved but run-down farm on the outskirts of town, and she begs Beth to help with the restoration. Reluctantly, Beth agrees to help—and puts her own dreams on hold once again. Drew Barlow hasn’t been back to Fairwind Farm since he was a boy, and he’s spent all these years trying to outrun the pain of a past he thought he buried long ago. When he learns that the owner has passed away, his heart knows it’s finally time to do the right thing. Returning to Willow Grove, Drew revisits the old farm, where he attempts to piece together his memories and the puzzle of the crime he witnessed so long ago. Both on a journey to find peace, Beth and Drew are surprised when they begin to experience a restoration of their own. But when long-buried secrets break through the soil and the truth unfurls, will it threaten their budding relationship—and the very future of the farm?

Read more less

Book SynopsisKelsey is on her way to a life do-over. And it’s not the first time. Abandoned by her drug-addict mother as a teen, she landed in a foster-care group home where she experienced faith and community—and met her best friends, Jazz and Theadora. The trio stuck together like sisters and vowed to make their lives mean something. Now Kelsey’s pushing thirty, and her life has taken a wrong turn. Pregnant and alone after loving the wrong man, she’s on her way to making another life-changing decision when a wicked blizzard strands her outside the sleepy town of Wishing Bridge. After being rescued from a snowbank by handsome cop, she’s embraced by the welcoming village, but she still feels upside down. Fortunately, her frantic SOS brings her besties rushing to help sort things out. They soon find that Wishing Bridge has as many secrets as Kelsey does—and she’s connected to it in ways she couldn’t have imagined.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA literary approach to the Word of the Lord, this collection of short fiction deals with—in one way or another—the overarching concept of redemption. This anthology demonstrates how God appears again and again in the lives of priest, pastors, nuns, and Pentecostals. However He appears, He appears again and again in the lives of priests, nuns, and Pentecostals in these great stories of a kind never collected before—those by Jacques Ferron, Morley Callaghan, Hugh Hood, Gloria Sawai, Mavis Gallant, Leon Rooke, Barry Callaghan, Séan Virgo, Kenneth J. Harvey, Claire Dé, Marie-Claire Blais, Hugh Garner, and more. Not only is the religious material presented in an approachable manner, but it also fosters reflection and discussion and is perfect for courses on short fiction or general symposium teaching material.

Read more less

Book SynopsisYael Gold is in love with her boss, Rabbi Judah Loeb, but when the rabbi’s wife is found murdered, Yael goes from love-addled naïf to panicky murder suspect overnight. Set in a desert suburb in the Southwest, this brilliant, tense murder mystery keeps readers constantly guessing “whodunit.” Was it Yael’s husband, an insecure Klezmer musician with a savant’s gift for musical trivia or one of Judah Loeb’s many mistresses? Or is the culprit the ethically-challenged senior rabbi whose “open marriage” scandal rocks his desert community—or is it the mysterious former mafia hitman known only as “The Scumbag?” With humour and suspense it follows Yael through the shocking murder as her troubled past—a philandering rabbi father, her Cuban gangster relatives, and scarring childhood abuse—provides scope to her difficult but triumphant journey to becoming a spiritual leader.Trade Review“A brilliant and deceptively complex story.”—Laura Blumenfeld, author, Revenge: A Story of Hope“A wonderful, readable novel that embraces both the spiritual and the real world with grace and tenderness.”—Thane Rosenbaum, author, The Golems of Gotham and Second Hand Smoke“If Woody Allen were a fortyish rabbi with a Talmudic bent, he’d write like Phil Graubart.”—Barry Werth, author, The Scarlet Professor

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Final Book in Bestselling Amish Writer Linda Byler's Lancaster Burning Trilogy Who is responsible for setting the barn fires that continue to keep the Amish of eastern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on edge? Who is responsible for seeing that they are stopped? In this third and final novel in the Lancaster Burning series, author Linda Byler takes us inside the home of Davey Beiler, the leader of this Amish district. He clearly feels the heat in more ways than one. Some of the younger members of his church are ready to testify against the man who has allegedly started at least several of the fires. Davey counsels patience and forgiveness. But when Sarah, Davey’s daughter, spots flames late one night in the widow Lydia’s barn, Sarah refuses to let the fire win. She gets the horses out just in time, but not before a beam explodes overhead, knocking her to the ground as the barn rages in flames all around her. In that moment, Sarah’s life “turned darker than black.” Gone were her lovely good looks, her life as a teacher, and perhaps the attention of the two young men who had been so drawn to her. No one suffers more torment than Davey, who wonders if he was really responsible for Sarah's accident. If he had agreed to have police guard the Amish farms, as some wanted, Sarah would not have been hurt. The Amish may be peace-loving, but they are not without their tensions. Author Byler, who is herself a member of the Amish, writes a tautly told story, full of dark fears, difficult dilemmas, and deep love.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this teaching fable, mega-author, Richard Bach returns to his main themes: love of flight and a profound interest in metaphysics. In the course of this slim volume, Bach tells the story of a no-nonsense veteran pilot, James Forbes, and his encounters with a woman named Maria trapped in a plane without a pilot, a flamboyant hypnotist and the hypnotist''s deceased wife. Like his previous books, the story is a vehicle to explore various spiritual and philosophical issues. In a sense, Bach asserts, our world is a result of one hypnotic suggestion after another and the secret of a meaningful life is learning to control those suggestions.This is what Bach says about the significance of this work:"We''ve had the power all along to change our hallucinations and therefore the real world! This power has been known by many labels: Positive Thinking, The Law of Attraction, The Secret . . . We do not create our own reality, it suggests, we create our own appearances, and this book shows how every one of us does it, and has done it, every day of our lives.""While it mines the same territory as The Secret, Bach''s book is far richer, raising provocative questions and striking the perfect balance, providing answers without implying that they are the only - or necessarily the right - ones." Publishers'' Weekly

Read more less

Book SynopsisYou wept with them as they were Waiting for MorningYou shared their Moment of WeaknessNow they face the greatest struggles of their lives.Matt and Hannah Bronzan have found a new life in the face of devastating loss.  Together with Hannah’s daughter, Jenny, they are finally moving forward—toward the adoption of a little girl. A younger sister for Jenny, a daughter for them to love and raise together. But just when the dream seems to be coming true, disaster strikes. Can Hannah survive the loss of another daughter?Jade and Tanner Eastman love the Bronzans. Matt and Tanner are partners in a successful religious freedom law firm, and the two couples share a great deal. Not the least of which has been Jade and Tanner’s struggle to have children.  When they discover Jade is pregnant, their joy is boundless. Until the joyous event becomes a threat to Jade’s very life. Will Tanner come through decades of loneliness only to face losing Jade one final time?Caught in a desperate battle against all that threatens to derail their faith and sideline their futures, these four struggle together to depend daily on God, regardless of what comes against them, as they journey halfway to forever.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe protagonist in this saga of intrigue and supernatural mystery, Jonathan Ramsey, is a human geographer and specialist in the study of sacred places. He is called upon to investigate the sudden disappearance of the healing powers of a famous shrine in New Mexico. What he discovers along the way is the very meaning of Jesus''s call "to be like him." Ramsey, also, learns of his own role in fostering an epochal renewal of Christianity and readers receive a revelation about the power of place in human affairs. When Ramsey arrives at the shrine, he begins by interviewing the strange cast of eccentric characters involved with the shrine, and he learns of Adam Gwillt, the shrine''s humble caretaker. For some reason, the interviewees tell Ramsey half-truths about the shrine and its caretaker. Slowly, Ramsey pieces together the suppressed true story of Adam, who had shown up at the shrine at the same time its many spectacular healings began. To his surprise, he is able to empirically link the shrine''s almost divine powers directly to Adam. Meanwhile, three rival groups descend on the shrine to find Adam, who has now disappeared. A right-wing Christian organisation wants to destroy him, a progressive group of modern-day Christian Gnostics plans to convince Adam to lead them as a new saviour, and a third group hopes to commercialise Adam''s healing powers. Eventually the parties collide in a desperate attempt to capture Adam in a remote wilderness area of New Mexico. As the contest resolves itself, Ramsey suddenly realises he''s been a pawn in a larger drama and he begins afresh the search for Adam and the true meaning of Jesus''s teachings. What he finds is a startling revelation of his own deepest purpose, which he must bring to the world.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA New York Times Best-Seller Honeymooners Viktor and Liesel Landauer are filled with the optimism and cultural vibrancy of central Europe of the 1920s when they meet modernist architect Rainer von Abt. He builds for them a home to embody their exuberant faith in the future, and the Landauer House becomes an instant masterpiece.  Viktor and Liesel, a rich Jewish mogul married to a thoughtful, modern gentile, pour all of their hopes for their marriage and budding family into their stunning new home, filling it with children, friends, and a generation of artists and thinkers eager to abandon old-world European style in favor of the new and the avant-garde. But as life intervenes, their new home also brings out their most passionate desires and darkest secrets. As Viktor searches for a warmer, less challenging comfort in the arms of another woman, and Liesel turns to her wild, mischievous friend Hana for excitement, the marriage begins to show signs of strain. The radiant honesty and idealism of 1930 quickly evaporate beneath the storm clouds of World War II. As Nazi troops enter the country, the family must leave their old life behind and attempt to escape to America before Viktor's Jewish roots draw Nazi attention, and before the family itself dissolves.As the Landauers struggle for survival abroad, their home slips from hand to hand, from Czech to Nazi to Soviet possession and finally back to the Czechoslovak state, with new inhabitants always falling under the fervent and unrelenting influence of the Glass Room. Its crystalline perfection exerts a gravitational pull on those who know it, inspiring them, freeing them, calling them back, until the Landauers themselves are finally drawn home to where their story began.Brimming with barely contained passion and cruelty, the precision of science, the wild variance of lust, the catharsis of confession, and the fear of failure - the Glass Room contains it all.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOliver Vice, forty-one, prominent philosopher, scholar, and art collector, is missing and presumed dead, over the side of Queen Mary 2.Troubled by his friend’s possible suicide, the unnamed narrator of Lawrence Douglas’ new novel launches an all-consuming investigation into Vice’s life history. Douglas, moving backward through time, tells a mordantly humorous story of fascination turned obsession, as his narrator peels back the layers of the Vice family’s rich and bizarre history. At the heart of the family are Francizka, Oliver’s handsome, overbearing, vaguely anti-Semitic Hungarian mother, and his fraternal twin brother, Bartholomew, a gigantic and troubled young man with a morbid interest in Europe’s great tyrants. As the narrator finds himself drawn into a battle over the family’s money and art, he comes to sense that someone—or perhaps the entire family—is hiding an unsavory past. Pursuing the truth from New York to London, from Budapest to Portugal, he remains oblivious to the irony of the search: that in his need to understand Vice’s life, he is really grappling with ambivalence about his own.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisBy the author of Foreskin''s Lament, a novel of identity, tribalism, and mothers.Seventh Seltzer has done everything he can to break from the past, but in his overbearing, narcissistic mother''s last moments he is drawn back into the life he left behind. At her deathbed, she whispers in his ear the two words he always knew she would: Eat me.This is not unusual, as the Seltzers are Cannibal-Americans, a once proud and thriving ethnic group, but for Seventh, it raises some serious questions, both practical and emotional. Of practical concern, his dead mother is six-foot-two and weighs about four hundred and fifty pounds. Even divided up between Seventh and his eleven brothers, that''s a lot of red meat. Plus Second keeps kosher, Ninth is vegan, First hated her, and Sixth is dead. To make matters worse, even if he can wrangle his brothers together for a feast, the Can-Am people have assimilated, and the only living Cannibal who knows how to perform the ancient ritual is their Uncle Ishmael, whose erratic understanding of their traditions leads to conflict. Seventh struggles with his mother''s deathbed request. He never loved her, but the sense of guilt and responsibility he feels--to her and to his people and to his unique cultural heritage--is overwhelming. His mother always taught him he was a link in a chain, thousands of people long, stretching back hundreds of years. But, as his brother First says, he''s getting tired of chains. Irreverent and written with Auslander''s incomparable humor, Mother for Dinner is an exploration of legacy, assimilation, the things we owe our families, and the things we owe ourselves.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe definitive Philip Roth edition continues with three novels written in his late sixties and early seventies. The Dying Animal (2001) marks the final return of David Kepesh from The Breast (1972) and The Professor of Desire (1977). Now an eminent cultural critic in his sixties, Kepesh expertly seduces a beautiful twenty-four-year-old daughter of Cuban exiles only to find himself torn by sexual jealousy and the anguish of loss. As The Plot Against America (2004) begins, aviation hero Charles A. Lindbergh has defeated Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, and fear invades every Jewish household in America. Lindbergh has publicly blamed the Jews for pushing America toward a pointless war with Nazi Germany, and now in office, he negotiates a cordial “understanding” with Adolf Hitler. What follows for Jews during the Lindbergh presidency—most particularly in the Newark household of the boy Philip Roth—is the subject of an extraordinary work of historical imagination. With Exit Ghost (2007) Roth rings down the curtain on perhaps his greatest literary creation. Nathan Zuckerman returns to a radically changed New York, the city he left eleven years before, where a rash decision draws him into a vivid drama rife with implications for his future, and his past.Philip Roth is the only living American novelist to have his work published in a comprehensive, definitive edition by The Library of America. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award twice, the PEN/Faulkner Award three times, the National Medal of Arts, and the Gold Medal in Fiction, the highest award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe late novels and stories of America’s greatest myth-maker and chronicler of the Jewish American experience“Is Malamud an American Master? Of course. He not only wrote in the American language, he augmented it with fresh plasticity, he shaped our English into startling new configurations.” —Cynthia Ozick“[A] short-story writer who is better than any of them, including myself.” —Flannery O’ConnorThe long-awaited third and final volume of Library of America’s edition of Bernard Malamud’s writings brings together three novels and thirteen stories of the 1970s and 80s that reaffirm his place in the American pantheon.  The Tenants (1971) chronicles the growing tensions between two male writers—one Jewish, the other Black—who are the only inhabitants of a crumbling Manhattan tenement house. Dubin’s Lives (1976) is a fascinating portrait of a middle-aged biographer who becomes involved with a woman half his age while researching a life of D.H. Lawrence—an affair that unsettles things in expected and unexpected ways. God’s Grace (1982) is a wildly inventive, darkly humorous postapocalyptic novel whose cast includes the lone human survivor of the Day of Devastation, a group of talking chimps, and other (speechless) primates—who try to establish a New Covenant with God.  The stories in this volume confirm Malamud as a master storyteller, from the Kafkaesque unbridled fantasy of “Talking Horse” to the final “fictive biographies” of “In Kew Gardens,” about Virginia Woolf, and “Alma Redeemed,” about the Austrian composer Alma Mahler. Rounding out the volume are “Long Work, Short Life,” Malamud’s hard-to-find “casual memoir” about his writing life, and the previously unpublished “A Lost Bar-Mitzvah,” a poignant sketch of Malamud’s own childhood. This deluxe edition includes a chronology of Malamud''s life and career and detailed notes by Malamud biographer Philip Davis.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisLady Carliss faces the challenge of her life. Can she save the kingdom before it’s too late?Determined, smart and a master of both the sword and the bow, Lady Carliss has proven herself as a veteran Knight of the Prince. Returning from a mission of aid, Carliss is plunged into adventure once again as she searches for the marauders responsible for kidnapping a friends’ family. Along the way she is reunited with Sir Dalton and discovers that the struggle in her heart is far from over. When Dalton falls to the vicious attack of a mysterious, poisonous creature, Carliss finds herself in a race against time. As Dalton clings perilously to life, she must find the antidote in the distant and strange city of Moorue. While there, Carliss uncovers the master plot of a powerful Shadow Warrior that will soon overtake the entire Kingdom. Her faith in the Prince and her courage as a knight are tested as she faces evil Shadow Warriors and a swamp full of dreadful creatures. The lives of many, including Dalton’s, depend on Carliss. But she cannot save them all, for time is running out.  She faces an impossible choice: save Dalton, or let him die so that others may live.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisAt the wood’s edge cultures collide. Can two families survive the impact?   The 1757 New York frontier is home to the Oneida tribe and to British colonists, yet their feet rarely walk the same paths.   On the day Fort William Henry falls, Major Reginald Aubrey is beside himself with grief. His son, born that day, has died in the arms of his sleeping wife. When Reginald comes across an Oneida mother with newborn twins, one white, one brown, he makes a choice that will haunt the lives of all involved. He steals the white baby and leaves his own child behind. Reginald’s wife and foundling daughter, Anna, never suspect the truth about the boy they call William, but Reginald is wracked by regret that only intensifies with time, as his secret spreads its devastating ripples.   When the long buried truth comes to light, can an unlikely friendship forged at the wood’s edge provide a way forward? For a father tormented by fear of judgment, another by lust for vengeance. For a mother still grieving her lost child. For a brother who feels his twin’s absence, another unaware of his twin’s existence. And for Anna, who loves them both—Two Hawks, the mysterious Oneida boy she meets in secret, and William, her brother. As paths long divided collide, how will God direct the feet of those who follow Him?

Read more less

Book SynopsisHope Crossing…where Ada’s House stands as a haven for weary souls looking for kindness, faith, and second chances. The Hope of RefugeTwo very different women are pulled by their strongest desires. Deborah Mast joined the Amish church and longs to marry her fiancé, but he is changing. Cara Moore is forced to look into a life that was meant to be hers. Will Ada’s House help them realize their hearts’ desires or will it force them to accept what life has done to each of them?  The Bridge of PeaceLiving out her passion for teaching, Lena Kauffman’s work is suddenly interrupted by a series of pranks and accidents targeted toward her and her students. When tragedy strikes her dear friend Grey Graber’s family on school property, the school board begins to blame her for the trouble. As grief and confusion take their toll on Grey and Lena’s friendship, they are both forced to face a new reality that may offer the peace and love they each long for. The Harvest of GraceFleeing a terrible mistake, Sylvia Fisher dedicates herself to saving the failing Blank farm. When prodigal son Aaron returns, he is surprised by this unusual farmhand who opposes all his plans. Will Aaron and Sylvia’s unflinching efforts toward opposite futures mask the bigger picture—a path to forgiveness, grace, and the promise of love? This three-in-one collection includes the entirety of the best-selling Ada’s House trilogy, now at a new low price!

Read more less

Book SynopsisChallenging perceptions of discrimination and prejudice, this emotionally resonant drama for readers of Lisa Wingate and Jodi Picoult explores three different women navigating challenges in a changing school district—and in their lives.WINNER OF THE CHRISTY AWARD®When an impoverished school district loses its accreditation and the affluent community of Crystal Ridge has no choice but to open their school doors, the lives of three very different women converge: Camille Gray--the wife of an executive, mother of three, long-standing PTA chairwoman and champion fundraiser--faced with a shocking discovery that threatens to tear her picture-perfect world apart at the seams. Jen Covington, the career nurse whose long, painful journey to motherhood finally resulted in adoption but she is struggling with a happily-ever-after so much harder than she anticipated. Twenty-two-year-old Anaya Jones--the first woman in her family to graduate college and a brand new teacher at Crystal Ridge''s top elementary school, unprepared for the powder-keg situation she''s stepped into. Tensions rise within and without, culminating in an unforeseen event that impacts them all. This story explores the implicit biases impacting American society, and asks the ultimate question: What does it mean to be human? Why are we so quick to put labels on each other and categorize people as "this" or "that", when such complexity exists in each person?

Read more less