Greed. Envy. Sex. Property. In her subversively funny and genuinely moving new novel, Jane Smiley nails down several American obsessions with the expertise of a master carpenter. Forthright, likable Joe Stratford is the kind of local businessman everybody trusts, for good reason. But it's 1982, and even in Joe's small town, values are in upheaval: not just property values, either. Enter Marcus Burns, a would-be master of the universe whose years with...

Birmingham real estate agent and former Miss Alabama Maggie Fortenberry learns valuable lessons about the nature of friendship, the challenges of modern life, and the dangers of impossible dreams as she struggles to keep Red Mountain Realty afloat and bury the heartbreaking secrets of her past.

Meg Mogrin sells pricey houses, belongs to the mayor's inner circle, and knows more than she's letting on about her sister's death. Isaac Samson lives in a tent and believes Thomas Edison invented the Reagan presidency. When their town attracts a game-changing development, Isaac is displaced by the town's crackdown on vagrancy. As Isaac struggles to regain stability, Meg contends with conflicting roles of assisting the developer while serving on the...

Questions abound in James's gripping 10th Cat in the Stacks mystery (after Claws for Concern). Widowed librarian Charlie Harris isn't looking forward to the Christmas open house his flirtatious new neighbor, Gerry Albritton, has invited him to attend. But even though she has offended half the town of Athena, Miss., everyone shows up at Gerry's party out of curiosity. Who is this woman who claims to have grown up in Athena, but no one remembers? At...

In Shark Tales, Barbara shares her hilarious stories about growing up, getting into trouble, failing miserably, and then starting over again. In each chapter, she comes back to one of her mom’s unconventional lessons, and how it applies in the real world of business. Whatever your calling, the homespun lessons that work for Barbara will help you use what you’ve got to create success in your life. Whether you’re just starting out, fighting...

In this visionary sequel to The Sportswriter, Ford deepens his portrait of one of the most indelible characters in recent American fiction. In the aftermath of his divorce and the ruin of his career, Frank Bascombe now sells real estate, as he masters the high-wire act of "normalcy". But during the Fourth of July weekend, Frank is called into sudden, bewildering engagement with life.

Frank Bascombe's story resumes, in the fall of 2000, with the presidential election still hanging in the balance and Thanksgiving looming before him with all the perils of a post-nuclear family get-together. He's now plying his trade as a realtor on the Jersey shore and contending with health, marital and familial issues that have his full attention: "all the ways that life seems like life at age fifty-five strewn around me like poppies."