Elsa is seven years old; her grandmother is seventy-seven years old. She is Elsa's best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother's stories, in the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal. When Elsa's grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, the letters lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters,...

At the age of 31, Betty Eadie died after routine surgery. The events that followed can only be described as the most profound and extensive near-death experience ever recorded. During the time she was clinically dead, Betty was given knowledge of the afterlife that would make even the greatest skeptic think twice. As she traveled through the spiritual realm, she learned more about the laws and history of the universe than perhaps anyone before her....

Includes entries by Jacquelyn Mitchard, Kenny Loggins, Catherine Oxenberg, Jim MacLaren, Malachy McCourt, Lou Holtz, Mark Victor Hansen, Christiane Northrup, Bernie Siegel, Dave Barry, Earl Hamner, Nancy Pearl, Jack Canfield, Debbie Macomber, Stephen Covey, Mo Siegel, Granny D, among others.

"A new collection of electric, searing stories from award-winning, bestselling author Juan Gabriel Vasquez. The characters in Songs for the Flames are men and women touched by violence -- sometimes directly, sometimes only in passing--but whose lives are changed forever, consumed by fire, and by unexpected encounters and unyielding forces. A photographer becomes obsessed with the traumatic past that an elegant woman, a fellow guest staying at a countryside...

"After the death of her mother, Lydia moves in with her aunts and learns to find a new family of inspiring women and loving dogs"--

Edward Lannion is to marry the lovely Marian Fox. But on the eve of the wedding, Marian's note leaves everyone in a tizzy and full of questions: Where is Marian? And who is Jackson? In this intricately plotted novel, a mysterious, charismatic English butler derails the marriage of his master, a young aristocrat, and his fiancé, sending them both off on strange, dark, and amusing paths.

"Liv Green barely scrapes by to make ends meet, often finding escape in a good book. She can't believe her luck when she lands a job housekeeping for her hero, bestselling author Essie Starling. The last thing Liv expected was to be the only person Essie talks to, which leads to a tenuous friendship. When Essie passes away suddenly, Liv is astonished to learn that her dying wish was for Liv to complete her final novel. To do so, Liv will have to step...

Tony Webster has always made the very reasonable assumption that he could trust his memories, but when he's forced to revisit his past, everything he believes about himself and his life is challenged. The fact is that Tony Webster, a middle-aged man, never gave much thought to his past at all until his closest childhood friends' return with a vengeance -- one of them from the grave and another maddeningly present. Tony thought he'd left all this uncertainly...

Tell me your best story: Anne McWilliams has lost everything. Her marriage fell apart so she turned to photography, only to have her world turned upside down again when a hurricane destroyed her home and all of her beloved photos. In the aftermath of the storm, Anne takes to the road to ask long-lost family, friends, and strangers a simple question: "What's your best story?" Can the funny, tragic, inspirational tales she hears on her journey help...

"An intimate, revelatory book exploring the ways we can care for and repair ourselves when life knocks us down. Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding...