Born in East Berlin, Julia is eight when her actress mother uproots her family of four girls, by different fathers, in search of a better life. Their eventual landing in the remote countryside of Schleswig-Holstein solves no problems for this fractured household.Desperate to escape a childhood of rural poverty, neglect and shame, the lonely child becomes addicted to writing. Aged 13, she leaves her family. At school in West Berlin, she finally encounters love.In this grippi...

It’s 1939, and the federal government has sent USDA agent Virginia Furman into the North Carolina mountains to instruct families on modernizing their homes and farms. There she meets farm wife Irenie Lambey, who is immediately drawn to the lady agent’s self-possession. Already, cracks are emerging in Irenie’s fragile marriage to Brodis, an ex-logger turned fundamentalist preacher: She has taken to night ramblings through the woods to escape her husband’s bed, storing strange keepsakes in a...

Before humankind could talk, tell stories, or build collective endeavours, it was 'rhythmic movement in time' that gave the first spark to the human instinct to collaborate. Dance supported a massive switch in human orientation which set the stage for our extraordinary evolutionary journey.Dance made settlement and survival, belonging and language, ultimately possible. In dance, shared movement, energy exchanges, spontaneous patterns, and communal spaces are forged. Thus, fears and...

It’s 1939, and the federal government has sent USDA agent Virginia Furman into the North Carolina mountains to instruct families on modernizing their homes and farms. There she meets farm wife Irenie Lambey, who is immediately drawn to the lady agent’s self-possession. Already, cracks are emerging in Irenie’s fragile marriage to Brodis, an ex-logger turned fundamentalist preacher: She has taken to night ramblings through the woods to escape her husband’s bed, storing strange keepsakes in a...

From the award-winning author of Over the Plain Houses, comes a major novel about two young women contending with unplanned pregnancies in different eras.Edie Carrigan didn't plan to "get herself" pregnant, much less end up in a home for unwed mothers. In 1950s North Carolina, illegitimate pregnancy is kept secret, wayward women require psychiatric cures, and adoption is always the best solution. Not even Edie’s closest friend, Luce Waddell, understands wh...

Hailed as one of the year's top five novels by Time, and selected as one of the best books of the year by nearly all major newspapers, national bestseller Peace Like a River captured the hearts of a nation in need of comfort. "A rich mixture of adventure, tragedy, and healing," Peace Like a River is "a collage of legends from sources sacred and profane -- from the Old Testament to the Old West, from the Gospels to police dramas" (Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor). In "lyrical, op...

A national bestseller. "A riveting tale of the American past and a brilliantly realized journey into the heart of darkness." — The Boston GlobeWinner of the Chicago Tribune Heartland Literary PrizeWhen Robey Childs's mother has a premonition about her husband, a soldier fighting in the Civil War, she does the unthinkable: she sends her only child to find his father on th...

The Devil is known by many names: Serpent, Tempter, Beast, Adversary, Wanderer, Dragon, Rebel. His traps and machinations are the stuff of legends. His faces are legion. No matter what face the devil wears, Sympathy for the Devil.

The dystopian epic of World Made by Hand continues in a novel hailed as "Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove, set in the dystopian world of The Road" ( New York Journal of Books).A new age has begun on Earth. Oil is no longer a resource. Some parts of America are nuclear wastelands. Civilization has devolved into a constant struggle for food, water, and shelter.In the tiny hamlet of Union Grove, New York, the US government is l...

A heartwarming Harmony tale for the holiday season from a master storytellerFor once Sam Gardner will not be unprepared. Determined to redeem a dreadful history of gift-giving, Sam decides to go all out this year. He enrolls in a scrap-booking class, convinced that this will be a Christmas Barbara will never forget. However, Sam’s absence from their home every Wednesday night, coupled with his fishy alibi of a men’s group he’s now attending, raises Barbara’s suspicions. She knows S...

When New and Selected Poems, Volume One was originally published in 1992, Mary Oliver was awarded the National Book Award. In the fourteen years since its initial appearance it has become one of the best-selling volumes of poetry in the country. This collection features thirty poems published only in this volume as well as selections from the poet's first eight books.Mary Oliver's perceptive, brilliantly crafted poems about the natural landscape and the fundamental questio...

In this inspiring memoir, Jenna Woginrich reflects on the joys, sorrows, trials, and blessings discovered through a year of homesteading. With eloquent prose, delightful illustrations, and inspiring snippets of poetry, Woginrich revels in the unique charms of each season on the land. Full of poignant observations and fascinating tidbits of farming lore, this book is a heartfelt testament to the deep fulfillment one can find in the practical tasks and timeless rituals of an agricultural lif...