Willa Drake can count on one hand the defining moments of her life. In 1967, she is a schoolgirl coping with her mother's sudden disappearance. In 1977, she is a college coed considering a marriage proposal. In 1997, she is a young widow trying to piece her life back together. And in 2017, she yearns to be a grandmother but isn't sure she ever will be. Then, one day, Willa receives a startling phone call from a stranger. Without fully understanding why, she flies across the country to Baltimore to look after a young woman she's never met, her nine-year-old daughter, and their dog, Airplane. This impulsive decision will lead Willa into uncharted territory - surrounded by eccentric neighbors who treat each other like family, she finds solace and fulfillment in unexpected places. 

A bewitching novel of hope and transformation, Clock Dance gives us Anne Tyler at the height of her powers.



Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Indiana

A Novel

Willa Drake can count on one hand the defining moments of her life. In 1967, she is a schoolgirl coping with her mother's sudden disappearance. In 1977, she is a college coed considering a marriage proposal. In 1997, she is a young widow trying to piece her life back together. And in 2017, she yearns to be a grandmother, yet the prospect is dimming. So, when Willa receives a phone call from a stranger, telling her that her son's ex-girlfriend has been shot, she drops everything and flies across the country to Baltimore. The impulsive decision to look after this woman and her nine-year-old daughter will lead Willa into uncharted territory--surrounded by eccentric neighbors, plunged into the rituals that make a community a family, and forced to find solace in unexpected places.

Clock Dance

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Rich Shapero

Texas

How might immersion in a sea of dreams impact a waking nightmare of traumatic loss?Presden is a lone twin whose fearless sister, Delphine, perished in a horrific accident on the Louisiana bayou when they were eight. The tragic loss destroyed his family, forcing him to grieve in isolation.Now grown and working as a hydrological engineer, Presden meets Merle, a Dutch woman with a deep affinity for the water-and for family. The two marry and repair to her homeland, where they find a house in a small fishing village alongside a dike that Presden has been hired to fortify. And there, Merle learns she is pregnant.On discovering he's to be a father, Presden is hurled into conflict with Merle, and into a series of dream encounters with Delphine that dare him to confront the guilt and shame of his loss, and to prepare for the unimaginable . . .

Dreams of Delphine

1be83603-4a17-48e4-aabf-5735ff11eee9-1

#hardcover #keepsake #journal #family #christian

A fantastic gift for Mother's Day, You're the Best Mom! is a great keepsake with fun activities for kids to enjoy and Mom to treasure at any point in the year.

Whether with scrapbooks, artwork on the fridge, or albums full of pictures, moms try to hold onto as many memories of their growing children as they can. Using this book, kids can fill out the pages and present the book as a gift for Mom. The four-color interior and case contain bright colors that appeal to young children and moms alike.

You're the Best Mom! has kid-friendly prompts such as quizzes, short answer questions, and fill-in-the-blank questions that children can use to engage with their mother. Mom will love having a precious memory book that their young children have "created" just for them.

Sample content:

 * If your mom really did have a superpower, what would it be?
 * When Mom dances and sings, I think she is: a) good  b) really good  c) a real star  d) well...she might need a few pointers from me

This memory book is a lasting keepsake that Mom will cherish for a lifetime.

 

You're the Best Mom

6a259c3d-390b-453c-a84c-8606b2ae1c97-1

Michelle Falkoff

Colorado

A mystery about family, secrets, and how to move forward when the past keeps pulling you back, perfect for fans of David Arnold and Jeff Zentner. Patrick “Pack” Walsh may not know where he’s going in life, but he’s happy where he is. Then, on his eighteenth birthday, a letter from his past changes everything. As Pack begins a journey to uncover the truth about the parents he thought he knew, the family he didn’t know he had, and the future he never realized he wanted, he starts to have a whole different understanding of his life—and where he wants to go from here. Praise for Michelle Falkoff: “Twists and turns abound. Will keep readers turning pages.” —School Library Journal on Pushing Perfect “Truly powerful moments.” — Kirkus Reviews on Playlist for the Dead

Questions I Want to Ask You

c863f89b-8f60-4085-8ee1-bc9e604519a8

Michael Conant

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

New York

In just over two months, June Gallagher's life has turned upside down; it will take a lifetime to resemble "normal" again. This is her story about overcoming the mystery of an undiagnosed disease, accusations of child abuse, and keeping her young family on an even keel while battling school and hospital officials. Her son's life is on the line--she is determined to save him.

Mother's Child

5b8871f6-1a34-4fd8-a500-0283eedbaab7-0

Emma Donoghue

South Dakota

A retired New York professor's life is thrown into chaos when he takes a young great-nephew to the French Riviera, in hopes of uncovering his own mother's wartime secrets in the next masterpiece from New York Times bestselling author Emma Donoghue. Noah Selvaggio is a retired chemistry professor and widower living on the Upper West Side, but born in the South of France. He is days away from his first visit back to Nice since he was a child, bringing with him a handful of puzzling photos he's discovered from his mother's wartime years. But he receives a call from social services: Noah is the closest available relative of an eleven-year-old great-nephew he's never met, who urgently needs someone to look after him. Out of a feeling of obligation, Noah agrees to take Michael along on his trip. Much has changed in this famously charming seaside mecca, still haunted by memories of the Nazi occupation. The unlikely duo, suffering from jet lag and culture shock, bicker about everything from steak frites to screen time. But Noah gradually comes to appreciate the boy's truculent wit, and Michael's ease with tech and sharp eye help Noah unearth troubling details about their family's past. Both come to grasp the risks people in all eras have run for their loved ones, and find they are more akin than they knew. Written with all the tenderness and psychological intensity that made Room an international bestseller, Akin is a funny, heart-wrenching tale of an old man and a boy, born two generations apart, who unpick their painful story and start to write a new one together.

Akin

a5cf5274-df9b-4172-b182-7e1e5612299a-1

#hardcover #life #fiction #family #general #romance #ove #stories 

California

Brief Encounters of the Romantic Kind

"In Pianos and Flowers we are invited, through the medium of sepia images, to glimpse a world long departed. In these stories, inspired by long-lost photographs, the lives of the people in the frame are imagined and then explored, layer by layer. What must have it like to be them? We hold our breath for them. Our heart beats faster for them. We look again at the photograph in a new light, and say Yes, it might have happened just like that. This journey of exploration takes us to some exotic places. We share the lives of three sisters, brought up in Penang. We read of what happened to them, and to their Chinese neighbors caught in the tides of war. We see a group of small boys in a Glasgow slum, their young lives stunted by poverty, and hear how life worked out in contrasting ways for them. We follow a young woman's search for love in the unlikely realm of Egyptian antiquities. And through all of these photographs, and all of these stories, there runs the same refrain: the possibilities of love, of friendship, of happiness lie before us. There are big stories in these simple pictures. At first glance the photographs may seem unexceptional: the mere freezing of a moment in time. But delve deeper and you will realize that these photographs speak volumes"--

Pianos and Flowers

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#hardcover #marriage #wedding #weddinggifts #Adult #family #love #romance

Florida

Wedding

In A Bridal Blessing, Poltarnees traces a bride from her engagement through the planning for her marriage to the ceremony itself, and out into life to establish a new household and a joint future. He manages to find the essence of each stage, so that brides of all kinds will likely find themselves in this blessing. As in the other books in this series, the illustrations, which are from a variety of sources and many eras, give the words added life and power.

A Bridal Blessing NEW

0fef7147-8551-4346-8808-77ffd376c618-1

Alabama

Struggling with a fatalistic view about aging and friends who desperately cling to youth, Gabby recklessly forges a long-distance friendship with a younger man in spite of her happy family life and finds the relationship threatening everyone she loves. By the best-selling author of Another Piece of My Heart. 125,000 first printing.

Tempting Fate

2e3f849c-111b-418b-a722-88135dd7ceae-1

Erika Swyler

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Virginia

The Book of Speculation

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Nancy Thayer

A woman's second act on the beautiful island of Nantucket delivers much more than she expected in this hopeful novel by New York Times bestselling author Nancy Thayer.

Heather Willette has a good life in Concord, Massachusetts-complete with a husband who runs his own business and a son to take up his mantle one day. But now that her marriage has fizzled out and Ross, her only child, is graduating from college and getting serious with his girlfriend, Heather wonders if that life is the one, she really wants. Ready to seek out her own happiness and discover herself again, Heather decides to leave her husband and rent a cottage on Nantucket. And her plan is going perfectly-until Ross announces he's moving to Nantucket to work at his girlfriend's family's construction business instead of going back home to work with his own father, like he'd promised. Worst of all for Heather, this means having to get along with her.

Kailee Essex is thrilled that Ross is willing to move to her hometown. She has big hopes for their happily ever after, especially now that her parents are finally showing interest in her career. She's less thrilled, however, about his mother living nearby. Kailee has clashed with Heather since the day they met. But anything is possible in the summer sun and sea breezes of Nantucket-even reconciliation. And when change comes sooner than either Heather or Kailee expect, they must learn to overcome their differences to fight for the future they want.

With All the Days of Summer, beloved storyteller Nancy Thayer delivers a moving novel that explores the complexity of family, and the unexpected ways fate can guide you forward.

All the Days of Summer

69a914b4-b3ee-4614-b4b6-54a39c9e8aa5-1

Rachel Hollis

Stop Believing the Lies about Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be

With wry wit and hard-earned wisdom, popular online personality and founder of TheChicSite.com Rachel Hollis helps readers break free from the lies keeping them from the joy-filled and exuberant life they are meant to have.

Girl, Wash Your Face

8aaa8155-a506-4178-a88b-1332597f3fbd-1

Megha Majumdar

"After a fiery attack on a train leaves 104 people dead, the fates of three people become inextricably entangled. Jivan, a bright, striving woman from the slums looking for a way out of poverty, is wrongly accused of planning the attack because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir, a slippery gym teacher from Jivan's former high school, has hitched his aspirations to a rising right wing party, and his own ascent becomes increasingly linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely, a spirited, impoverished, relentlessly optimistic hjira, who harbors dreams of becoming a Bollywood star, can provide the alibi that would set Jivan free--but her appearance in court will have unexpected consequences that will change the course of all of their lives. A novel about fate, power, opportunity, and class; about innocence and guilt, betrayal and love, and the corrosive media cycle that manufactures falsehoods masquerading as truths--A Burning is a debut novel of exceptional power and urgency, haunting and beautiful, brutal, vibrant, impossible to forget"--

A Burning

b1651131-940e-42f9-9172-8c63a116ebf2-1

Alison Fairbrother

Massachusetts

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE * A young woman searches for the truth about her father--and the secrets of her family--in this "big-hearted debut that absolutely crackles with smarts" (Emma Straub).

"A warm and funny debut novel . . . perceptive, wry, and witty."--The New York Times

Two years out of college, Ellie Adler has a job in journalism, an older lover, and a circle of smart friends. Her beloved father, James, who has children from three marriages, unites the family with his gentle humor and charisma, but Ellie has always believed she is her father's favorite. When he suddenly dies, she finds herself devastated by the unexpected loss. Then, at the reading of his will, she learns that instead of leaving her his prized possession--a baseball that holds emotional resonance for them both--he has left her a seemingly ridiculous, even insulting gift. Worse, he's given the baseball to someone no one in the family has ever heard of. 

In her grief, Ellie wonders who could have possibly meant more to her father than she did. Setting out to track this person down, she learns startling information about who her father really was and who she herself is becoming. Moving, witty, and unforgettable, The Catch is a story of the gifts we're given over the course of a lifetime, by family, friends, and strangers--the ones we want and the ones that catch us unawares.

The Catch

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Mary Beth Keane

New Jersey

The triumphant New York Times Bestseller * The Tonight Show Summer Reads Pick * Named one of the best books of the year by People, Vogue, Parade, NPR, and Elle “This is one beautiful book. I was wowed by Keane’s writing and narrative skill—and by what she knows about trouble.” —Stephen King How much can a family forgive? Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie NYPD cops, are neighbors in the suburbs. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come. In Mary Beth Keane's extraordinary novel, a lifelong friendship and love blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next thirty years. Heartbreaking and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes is a gorgeous and generous portrait of the daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness.

Ask Again, Yes

bf99b330-2a66-49e3-acc9-673c19a67a1a-1

Jenny Gardiner

Minnesota

A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who's Determined to Kill Me

A gift from an overseas relative, Graycie, an African Gray parrot, arrives in the Gardiner home not long after the birth of their first child, adding the responsibilities of parrot-hood to their newfound parenthood. Jenny Gardiner and her husband were hoping for a docile, beautifully plumed, Polly-want-a-cracker type of companion—but patchily feathered, scrawny, ill-tempered Graycie was the furthest thing from what they envisioned.. In Winging It , Gardiner shares in vivid and hilarious detail the many hazards of parrot ownership, from endless avian latrine duty to discovering the multiple ways a beak can pierce human flesh. Whether she’s swearing at the dog, mimicking the sound of the smoke alarm, or bobbing to the beat of the kids clapping for her amusement, she brings the family joy, laughter, and, sometimes, tears. So why would the Gardiners subject themselves to the crazy behavior of this parrot for so long? Well, because, as the Gardiners realize, Graycie is a part of the family, and just like in any relationship between living creatures, things do not always go according to plan.. A mix of hilarious pet hijinks and a poignant story of family commitment, Winging It is a reminder of the importance of patience, loyalty, and humor when it comes to dealing with even the most temperamental members of the family..

Winging It

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#family #relationships #hardcover #fiction 

Pennsylvania

Census

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"From New York Times best-selling author Jami Attenberg comes a sharp, funny, and emotionally powerful novel about a family reuniting at the deathbed of its patriarch. In reckoning with his secret past, can they rebuild and begin anew?"--

All This Could Be Yours

bd0ca7dd-b1e4-482c-bb7d-cac779f2af75-1

#hardcover #crime #suspense #family #drama 

Washington

A richly compelling and deeply moving novel that traces the converging lives of a young boy who witnesses a brutal murder, the doctor who tends to him, and an elderly woman guarding her long buried past. It seems like just another night shift for Lucy, an overworked ER physician in Providence, Rhode Island, until six-year-old Ben is brought in as the sole survivor from a horrifying crime scene. He’s traumatized and wordless; everything he knows has been taken from him in an afternoon. It’s not clear what he saw, or what he remembers. Lucy, who’s grappling with a personal upheaval of her own, feels a profound, unexpected connection to the little boy. She wants to help him…but will recovering his memory heal him, or damage him further? Across town, Clare will soon be turning one hundred years old. She has long believed that the lifetime of secrets she’s been keeping don’t matter to anyone anymore, but a surprising encounter makes her realize that the time has come to tell her story. As Ben, Lucy, and Clare struggle to confront the events that shattered their lives, something stronger than fate is working to bring them together. An expertly stitched story that spans nearly a century—from the Great Depression through the Vietnam War era and into the present—The Possible World is a captivating novel about the complicated ways our pasts shape our identities, the power of maternal love, the loneliness born out of loss, and how timeless bonds can help us triumph over grief.

The Possible World

32e55183-2812-4094-829a-01a8443d7733-1

Lauren Weisberger

Wisconsin

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK • From the bestselling author of The Devil Wears Prada and When Life Gives You Lululemons comes a highly entertaining, sharply observed novel about sisters, their perfect lives . . . and their perfect lies. “Goes down like an ice-cold guilty pleasure on a hot beach-reading day.”—USA Today A seat at the anchor desk of the most-watched morning show. Recognized by millions across the country, thanks in part to her flawless blond highlights and Botox-smoothed skin. An adoring husband and a Princeton-bound daughter. Peyton is that woman. She has it all. Until . . . Skye, her sister, is a stay-at-home mom living in a glitzy suburb of New York. She has degrees from all the right schools and can helicopter-parent with the best of them. But Skye is different from the rest. She’s looking for something real and dreams of a life beyond the PTA and pickup. Until . . . Max, Peyton’s bright and quirky seventeen-year-old daughter, is poised to kiss her fancy private school goodbye and head off to pursue her dreams in film. She’s waited her entire life for this opportunity. Until . . . One little lie. That’s all it takes. For the illusions to crack. For resentments to surface. Suddenly the grass doesn’t look so green. And they’re left wondering: will they have what it takes to survive the truth?

Where the Grass Is Green and the Girls Are Pretty

43e337df-74bd-43dc-a6d8-0fdd0c78c09a-1

Love and Inspiration from Our Grandmothers, Mothers, and Friends

Kelley Paul, wife of Senator Rand Paul, celebrates lifelong friendships in a beautifully illustrated book about the female bond. Feeling blessed to be one of seven friends who met and grew close in college-and looking forward to their celebration of a milestone birthday together-Kelley Paul wanted to know more about the women who were their first sources of love and inspiration, as her own grandmother and mother have been to her. So she asked each friend to tell her the story of a woman who influenced and guided her, who fostered her sense of joy, independence and courage. As you read each one, you'll discover, as Kelley did, that they're the stories of women everywhere, for they are personal yet universal, ordinary yet extraordinary. This lovely book also features works of art by the women of HomeFront Family Preservation Center and wise words of female authors and poets.

True and Constant Friends

d89d7054-b7b6-4a19-87e5-dad783e7fa27-1

#hardcover #thekindestlie #africanamericanwomen #paperback #family #fiction 

" The Kindest Lie is a deep dive into how we define family, what it means to be a mother, what secrets we owe to those we love, and what it means to grow up Black. This beautifully crafted debut will keep you asking these questions and more." -Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Two Ways The Kindest Lie examines the heartbreaking divide between Black and white communities and plumbs the emotional depths of the struggles faced by ordinary Americans in the wake of the financial crisis, perfectly capturing the profound racial injustices and class inequalities roiling society. A promise could betray you. It's 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He's eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to-and was forced to leave behind-when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she'd never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past. Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair. As she begins digging into the past, she unexpectedly befriends Midnight, a young white boy who is also adrift and looking for connection. Just as Ruth is about to uncover a burning secret her family desperately wants to keep hidden, a traumatic incident strains the town's already searing racial tensions, sending Ruth and Midnight on a collision course that could upend both their lives. The Kindest Lie examines the heartbreaking divide between Black and white communities and plumbs the emotional depths of the struggles faced by ordinary Americans in the wake of the financial crisis. Capturing the profound racial injustices and class inequalities roiling society, Nancy Johnson's debut novel offers an unflinching view of motherhood in contemporary America and the never-ending quest to achieve the American Dream.

The Kindest Lie

432bd712-1255-4adb-adf0-dce1bbb8431f-1

Arkansas

A Young Adult novel by Louisa Onomé, Twice As Perfect follows a Nigerian Canadian girl dealing with an estranged older brother, helping her cousin plan a big Nigerian wedding, and pressure from her parents about her future.

She thinks the only things worth doing are those that will lead to success.

For seventeen-year-old Adanna Nkwachi, life is all about duty: to school and the debate team, to her Nigerian parents, and even to her cousin Genny as Adanna helps prepare Genny's wedding to Afrobeats superstar Skeleboy. Because ever since her older brother, Sam, had a fight with their parents a few years ago and disappeared, somebody had to fill the void he left behind. Adanna may never understand what caused Sam to leave home, but the one thing she knows is that it's on her to make sure her parents' sacrifices aren't in vain.

One day, chance brings the siblings together again and they start working to repair their bond. Although she fears how their parents will react if they find out, Adanna's determined to get answers about the night Sam left--Sam, who was supposed to be an engineer but is now, what, a poet? The more she learns about Sam's poetry, the more Adanna begins to wonder if maybe her own happiness is just as important as doing what's expected of her.

Amid parental pressure, anxiety over the debate competition, a complicated love life, and the Nigerian wedding-to-end-all-weddings, can Adanna learn, just this once, to put herself first?

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Save this search

Anne Tyler

Clock Dance

Rich Shapero

Dreams of Delphine

Zondervan Staff

You're the Best Mom

Michelle Falkoff

Questions I Want to Ask You

Michael Conant

Mother's Child

Emma Donoghue

Akin

Alexander McCall Smith

Pianos and Flowers

Welleran Poltarnees

A Bridal Blessing NEW

Jane Green

Tempting Fate

Erika Swyler

The Book of Speculation

Nancy Thayer

All the Days of Summer

Rachel Hollis

Girl, Wash Your Face

Megha Majumdar

A Burning

Alison Fairbrother

The Catch

Mary Beth Keane

Ask Again, Yes

Jenny Gardiner

Winging It

Nancy Thayer

All the Days of Summer

Jesse Ball

Census

Jami Attenberg

All This Could Be Yours

Liese O'Halloran Schwarz

The Possible World

Lauren Weisberger

Where the Grass Is Green and the Girls Are Pretty

Kelley Paul; Rand Paul (Foreword by)

True and Constant Friends

Nancy Johnson

The Kindest Lie

Louisa Onome

Twice As Perfect