Fusing an intimate memoir with an outspoken critique of organized religion's failure to welcome all into its community, The House Where the Hardest Things Happened is the moving story of one woman's search for a sense of belonging.Growing up in a small town in New Hampshire, Kate Young Caley attends a strong community church where everyone is treated like family, members selflessly help one another, and all the kids are made to feel special. Then, suddenly, everything chan...

The New York Times bestselling memoir about growing up in small-town Indiana, from the author of The Solace of Leaving Early.When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town...

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas Cheer will warm readers’ hearts and spread the wonder of the holiday season with its tales of love and joy. A fantastic holiday gift for the young and young at heart.Everyone loves Christmas and the holiday season. We reunite scattered family members, watch the wonder in a child’s eyes, and feel the joy of giving gifts. The rituals of the holiday season give a rhythm to the years and create a foundation for our lives, a...

“Lake Wobegon Days is about the way our beliefs, desires and fears tail off into abstractions--and get renewed from time to time. . . this book, unfolding Mr. Keillor's full design, is a genuine work of American history.” -The New York Times“A comic anatomy of what is small and ordinary and therefore potentially profound and universal in American life…Keillor’s strength as a writer is to make the ordinary extraordinary.” -Chicago Tribune

The inimitable Garrison Keillor spins "a Christmas tale that makes Dickens seem unimaginative by comparison" (Charlotte Creative Loafing)Snow is falling all across the Midwest as James Sparrow, a country- bumpkin-turned-energy-drink-tycoon, and his wife awaken in their sky- rise apartment overlooking Chicago. Even down with the stomach bug, Mrs. Sparrow yearns to see The Nutcracker while James yearns only to escape-the faux-cheer, the bitter cold,...

Grab your giggle box! Here comes Barbara Johnson with another helping heap of joy for women of all ages, aches, and "architecture."Author Barbara Johnson's encouraging book about a woman's adventures in aging, Living Somewhere Between Estrogen and Death, became the number-one best-selling paperback in the Christian market for the year in which it was published. Soon hordes of happy readers were flooding Barbara's mailbox with their own favorite jokes, touching stories, and...

"A deeply beautiful book, with the fierce galloping pace of a great novel."—Liz Rosenberg Boston GlobeInformed by the death of a beloved brother, here are the stories of childhood, its thicket of sex and sorrow and joy, boys and girls growing into men and women, stories of a brother who in his dying could teach how to be most alive. What the Living Do reflects "a new form of confessional poetry, one shared to some degree by other women poets such ...

Barbara Johnson reveals her hilarious anti-aging remedy. Living Somewhere Between Estrogen and Death is your wise and witty guide to the joys and challenges of aging gleefully."They say the best way to grow old is not to be in a hurry about it and Lord knows, I've put it off for as long as I could," says Barbara. But old age happens without any effort on our part. If you're alive, you're getting older. So what happens when you find yourself between menopau...

Christmas and Miracles! Two of our favorite things. There’s no better way to celebrate the season! Anyone who loves the holidays will enjoy these magical stories of joy and wonder.We’ve chosen our favorite holiday miracle stories from our past books. You’ll love these heartwarming and awe-inspiring tales of answered prayers, divine intervention, holiday angels, joyous giving, family forgiveness, and the wonders of gratitude.These true, personal stories will...

A captivating, skillfully chosen illustration communicates more, is remembered longer, and has greater impact than thousands of words that offer abstract truth but tell no story. Jesus knew the value of story. He consistently sprinkled his talks with parables, stories, and illustrations to drive home the point He was making. In the best-selling tradition of Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks and More Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks, comes a third volume of lively, effective illustrations,...

In the vein of Bill Bryson’s The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, with a dash of some of the homegrown nostalgia of The Dangerous Book for Boys and A Prairie Home Companion, humorist Philip Gulley (Front Porch Tales, Home to Harmony) tells of his coming of age in small-town Indiana.It was a time of questionable role models, half-baked schemes, and unrelieved and happy chaos.Small Town Indiana: From aggravating the police dog at the county jail t...

Amy Hempel's compassion, intensity, and illuminating observations have made her one of the most distinctive and admired modern writers. In three stunning books of stories, she has established a voice as unique and recognizable as the photographs of Cindy Sherman or the brushstrokes of Robert Motherwell. The Dog of the Marriage, Hempel's fourth collection, is about sexual obsession, relationships gone awry, and the unsatisfied longings of everyday life.In "...