A deadly epidemic and racial segregation at the turn of the last century causes a young woman to flee for a new life with meaning and hope, despite a sense that things will never be the same. Arriving in New York City, she encounters the latest industrial wonders and the shadows of the industrial masses left behind. A burgeoning new art world-including the impressionist work of painter Mary Cassett, a beloved relative and a kind stranger with a camera-figures in her new life.

After a fatal epidemic, a young Colette Stonethrower ­flees her village to a life as an orphanage guardian, until another tragedy changes everything. As she leaves again on faith, migrating far from the place of her birth, she meets a talented, idealistic stranger and makes a friend from a foreign land who becomes her trusted confidant. While her new life reveals her purpose—fighting for the working poor and the destitute, exposing corruption and advocating for the arts—Colette...

The quiet letting go of Autumn, the reflective stillness of Winter, the bright rebirth of Spring, and the flourishing warmth of Summer trace the natural path of grief as it grows and changes to fit the spaces left behind by those we love. Easy-to-use exercise guides and activities invite readers to explore the changeable nature of grief through the ebb and flow of the seasons.As well as contributions from diverse creative practitioners, poems from Dr. Robert Neimeyer and reflection...

A lyrical and evocative memoir from Frances Mayes, the Bard of Tuscany, about coming of age in the Deep South and the region’s powerful influence on her life.The author of three beloved books about her life in Italy, including Under the Tuscan Sun and Every Day in Tuscany, Frances Mayes revisits the turning points that defined her early years in Fitzgerald, Georgia. With her signature style and grace, Mayes explores the power of landscape, the ide...

A contemporary American masterpiece about music, race, an unforgettable man, and an unreal America during the Civil War eraAt the heart of this remarkable novel is Thomas Greene Wiggins, a nineteenth-century slave and improbable musical genius who performed under the name Blind Tom.Song of the Shank opens in 1866 as Tom and his guardian, Eliza Bethune, struggle to adjust to their fashionable apartment in the city in the aftermath of riots that had d...

Widely regarded as the "rock star" of American poetry, Mary Oliver is a writer whose words have long had the power to move countless readers. Regularly topping the national poetry best-seller list and drawing thousands to her sold-out readings across the coutnry, Oliver is unparalleled in her impact. As noted in the Los Angeles Times, so many "go to her for solace, regeneration and inspiration" that it is not surprising Vice President Joe Biden chose to read one of her poems durin...

Historians claim him as one of Americas most revered presidents. But to his rambunctious sons Abraham Lincoln was above all a playful and loving father. Here is Lincoln as seen by two of his boys: Willie thrilled to be on his first train trip when Lincoln was deciding to run for president; Willie and Tad barging into Cabinet meetings to lift Lincolns spirits in the early days of the Civil War; Tad accompanying him to Richmond just after the Souths defeat. With the war raging and the Union ...

Grace, dignity, and eloquence have long been hallmarks of Maya Angelou’s poetry. Her measured verses have stirred our souls, energized our minds, and healed our hearts. Whether offering hope in the darkest of nights or expressing sincere joy at the extraordinariness of the everyday, Maya Angelou has served as our common voice.Celebrations is a collection of timely and timeless poems that are an integral part of the global fabric. Several works have become nearly as iconic ...

Winner of the Man Booker International Prize"You read Lydia Davis to watch a writer patiently divide the space between epiphany and actual human beings by first halves, then quarters, then eighths, and then sixteenths, into infinity," says The Village Voice. Indeed, Lydia Davis is mathematician, philosopher, sculptor, jeweler, and scholar of the minute. Few writers map the process of thought as well as she, few perceive with such charged intelligence.T...

Sixteen-Year-Old Celstia spends every summer with her family at the elite resort at Lake Conemaugh, a shimmering Allegheny Mountain reservoir held in place by an earthen dam. Tired of the society crowd, Celestia prefers to swim and fish with Peter, the hotel’s hired boy. It’s a friendship she must keep secret, and when companionship turns to romance, it’s a love that could get Celestia disowned. These affairs of the heart become all the more wrenching on a single, tragic day in May, 1889. ...

"A Country Doctor" is a short story written in 1919 by Franz Kafka. The plot follows a country doctor's hapless struggle to attend a sick young boy on a cold winter's night. A series of surreal events occur in the process, including the appearance of a mysterious groom in a pig shed. (Excerpt from Wikipedia) This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

Galway Kinnell's twelfth book of poems is powerful and thrilling. Imperfect Thirst includes beautiful love poems and approaches elemental subjects with a remarkable balance of good nature and holy dread: recollections of childhood, snapshots of impassive cruelty, reflections on art and nature. This energetic collection will prove once again why Galway Kinnell was one of America's masters of the art.