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

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#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

brand new and never read! also has a beautiful dusky light purple spine 

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Kentucky

This Time Next Year

Michael Conant

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

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#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

Joe Biden

A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose

The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller “Promise Me, Dad is a brisk, often uplifting read, a consequence of its author’s congenital jollity and irrepressible candor.” - Vanity Fair A deeply moving memoir about the year that would forever change both a family and a country. In November 2014, thirteen members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past forty years; it was the one constant in what had become a hectic, scrutinized, and overscheduled life. The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed respite, a time to connect, a time to reflect on what the year had brought, and what the future might hold. But this year felt different from all those that had come before. Joe and Jill Biden's eldest son, Beau, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor fifteen months earlier, and his survival was uncertain. "Promise me, Dad," Beau had told his father. "Give me your word that no matter what happens, you’re going to be all right." Joe Biden gave him his word. Promise Me, Dad chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Joe Biden’s extraordinary life and career. Vice President Biden traveled more than a hundred thousand miles that year, across the world, dealing with crises in Ukraine, Central America, and Iraq. When a call came from New York, or Capitol Hill, or Kyiv, or Baghdad—“Joe, I need your help”—he responded. For twelve months, while Beau fought for and then lost his life, the vice president balanced the twin imperatives of living up to his responsibilities to his country and his responsibilities to his family. And never far away was the insistent and urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016. The year brought real triumph and accomplishment, and wrenching pain. But even in the worst times, Biden was able to lean on the strength of his long, deep bonds with his family, on his faith, and on his deepening friendship with the man in the Oval Office, Barack Obama. Writing with poignancy and immediacy, Joe Biden allows readers to feel the urgency of each moment, to experience the days when he felt unable to move forward as well as the days when he felt like he could not afford to stop. This is a book written not just by the vice president, but by a father, grandfather, friend, and husband. Promise Me, Dad is a story of how family and friendships sustain us and how hope, purpose, and action can guide us through the pain of personal loss into the light of a new future.

Promise Me, Dad

7368e5b5-edc5-45c1-8046-52156354b5c2-1

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

1173d23c-dfa7-471c-9d3a-afcc88bd1755-1

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

Debbie Macomber

A standalone novel by the best-selling author of the Blossom Street series traces the reunion of three disparate sisters, one responsible, one rebellious and one free-spirited, who reveal imperfections in their respective lives while mourning their mother's death.

Last One Home

c282b93f-5683-403c-8349-ea622cec84cc-1

Cathleen Schine

There was a time when the family Künstler lived in the fairy-tale city of Vienna. Circumstances transformed that fairy tale into a nightmare, and in 1939 the Künstlers found their way out of Vienna and into a new fairy tale: Los Angeles, California, United States of America.

For years Mamie Künstler, ninety-three-years-old, as clever and glamorous as ever, has lived happily in her bungalow in Venice, California with her inscrutable housekeeper and her gigantic St. Bernard dog. Their tranquility is upended when Mamie's grandson, Julian, arrives from New York City. Like many a twenty-something, he has come to seek his fortune in Hollywood. But it is 2020, the global pandemic sweeps in, and Julian's short visit suddenly has no end in sight.

Mamie was only eleven when the Künstlers escaped Vienna in 1939. They made their way, stunned and overwhelmed, to sunny, surreal Los Angeles where they joined a colony of distinguished Jewish musicians, writers and intellectuals also escaping Hitler. Now, faced with months of lockdown and a willing listener, Mamie begins to tell Julian the buried stories of her early years in Los Angeles: her escapades with eminent émigrés like Arnold Schoenberg, Christopher Isherwood, Thomas Mann. Oh, and Greta Garbo. While the pandemic cuts Julian off from the life he knows, Mamie's tales open up a world of lives that came before him. They reveal to him just how much the past holds of the future.

Cathleen Schine's captivating and comedic twelfth novel explores exile, émigrés, movie stars, musicians, family bonds and the power of stories--both those we hand down and the ones held secretly in the heart.

Künstlers in Paradise

3ae97f66-e5d5-4340-bfe3-1982d7981631-1

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

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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

eb5f798e-1106-4428-b233-26a17253274d-1

Arkansas

Growing Together Through Life's Changes

In this refreshing and inspiring memoir, Lauren Akins, the wife of country music star Thomas Rhett, shows what it's really like to be "the perfect couple" fans imagine, and reveals what it actually takes to live in love, stay in love, and grow together. When country music star Thomas Rhett won the ACM Award for Single of the Year with "Die a Happy Man," his wife, Lauren Akins, was overjoyed. Her childhood best friend and now husband was being anointed the hottest new star in country music--for a song he had written about her. He was living his dream. Lauren was elated, but she was also wrestling with some big questions, not the least of which was, How can I live my own life of purpose? Lauren Akins never wanted to be in the spotlight, but as Thomas Rhett made his relationship with Lauren the subject of many of his hit songs, she was tossed into the role of one of America's sweethearts. Revered by fans for her down-to-earth ease and charm, her commitment to humanitarian work, and the pure love she exudes for her family, Lauren has never shared her side of their story--full as it's been with deep love, painful loss, tremendous joy, and a struggle to stay grounded in faith along the way--until now. In Live in Love, Lauren shares details about her childhood friendship with Thomas Rhett, explaining how they reconnected as young adults. She offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of being married to her best friend, who just happens to be a music star, and the struggle to find her own footing in the frenzy of her husband's fame. And in heart-wrenching detail, she opens up about her life-changing experiences doing mission work in Haiti, and then in Uganda, where she met the precious baby who would become their first daughter. From sharing the romance of their handwritten wedding vows to the challenges they faced as they adjusted to the reality of becoming first-time parents, Live in Love takes an intimate look at one couple's life--and opens a window into all of our journeys on the path to self-discovery. Live in Love is a deeply personal memoir that offers inspiring guidance for anyone looking to keep romance alive, balance children and marriage, express true faith, and live a life of purpose.

Live in Love

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Nevada Barr

North Dakota

In New York Times bestselling author Nevada Barr's gripping standalone, a grandmother in her sixties emerges from a mental fog to find she's trapped in her worst nightmare Rose Dennis wakes up in a hospital gown, her brain in a fog, only to discover that she's been committed to an Alzheimer's Unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up in this position, Rose is sure that something is very wrong. When she overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she's "not making it through the week," Rose is convinced that if she's to survive, she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her medication, putting on a show for the aides, then stages her escape. The only problem is—how does she convince anyone that she's not actually demented? Her relatives were the ones to commit her, all the legal papers were drawn up, the authorities are on the side of the nursing home, and even she isn't sure she sounds completely sane. But any lingering doubt Rose herself might have had is erased when a would-be killer shows up in her house in the middle of the night. Now Rose knows that someone is determined to get rid of her. With the help of her computer hacker/recluse sister Marion, thirteen-year old granddaughter Mel, and Mel's friend Royal, Rose begins to gather her strength and fight back—to find out who is after her and take back control of her own life. But someone out there is still determined to kill Rose, and they're holding all the cards.

What Rose Forgot

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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

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David Chariandy

A Letter to My Daughter

In the tradition of Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, acclaimed novelist David Chariandy's latest is an intimate and profoundly beautiful meditation on the politics of race today.

When a moment of quietly ignored bigotry prompted his three-year-old daughter to ask "what happened?" David Chariandy began wondering how to discuss with his children the politics of race. A decade later, in a newly heated era of both struggle and divisions, he writes a letter to his now thirteen-year-old daughter. David is the son of Black and South Asian migrants from Trinidad, and he draws upon his personal and ancestral past, including the legacies of slavery, indenture, and immigration, as well as the experiences of growing up a visible minority within the land of one's birth. In sharing with his daughter his own story, he hopes to help cultivate within her a sense of identity and responsibility that balances the painful truths of the past and present with hopeful possibilities for the future.

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Anne Tyler

Clock Dance

Rich Shapero

Dreams of Delphine

Zondervan Staff

You're the Best Mom

Michelle Falkoff

Questions I Want to Ask You

Sophie Cousens

This Time Next Year

Michael Conant

Mother's Child

Emma Donoghue

Akin

Alexander McCall Smith

Pianos and Flowers

Welleran Poltarnees

A Bridal Blessing NEW

Joe Biden

Promise Me, Dad

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

Debbie Macomber

Last One Home

Cathleen Schine

Künstlers in Paradise

Mary Beth Keane

Ask Again, Yes

Jenny Gardiner

Winging It

Nancy Thayer

All the Days of Summer

Lauren Akins; Mark Dagostino

Live in Love

Nevada Barr

What Rose Forgot

Jami Attenberg

All This Could Be Yours

David Chariandy

I've Been Meaning to Tell You