Confessions of a Falling Woman


Book Description

This collection of short stories by Debra Dean, author of the critically acclaimed novel 'The Madonnas of Leningrad', explores turning points in lives on the brink of change. Each of the characters she brings to vivid life in these pages is either facing up to, or coming to terms with, a significant moment in their lives.




Confessions of an Angry Girl


Book Description

After the death of her father, Rose Zarelli struggles to contol her feelings and manage her life as a freshman in high school.




Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady


Book Description

Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady is Florence King's classic memoir of her upbringing in an eccentric Southern family, told with all the uproarious wit and gusto that has made her one of the most admired writers in the country. Florence may have been a disappointment to her Granny, whose dream of rearing a Perfect Southern Lady would never be quite fulfilled. But after all, as Florence reminds us, "no matter which sex I went to bed with, I never smoked on the street."




Falling Women and Other Stories


Book Description

Award-winning short stories about families in turmoil and children in peril, from a homeless mother forced to put her son in foster care to a suburban mother afraid of passing her water phobia to her son. Braxton, North Carolina is the where in these stories, an imaginary coastal town adjacent to Camp Corregidor, a stopover for recruits on their way to Vietnam and later to Iraq. Braxton is the home front, where citizens battle alcoholism, marital breakups, and scandal. In Braxton, when a sister or father does wrong, the whole family shares the blame. Even Braxton's babysitters are dangerous, snooping, stealing secrets - and husbands. But love abounds. Sisters driven apart by scandal reunite when their father remarries. The babysitter who ran off with the mayor is welcomed back into her family when she returns to Braxton pregnant. A woman on the verge of being committed to an asylum for alcoholism is pulled back from the brink by a devoted friend. "The World As I Know It" won a PEN Syndicate Fiction Prize; "The Yellow Sneakers" won a Dexter Review Short Story Prize; "Jazzland" won the Lip Service Prose Prize; and an earlier version of "Falling Women" won a Virginia Fiction Fellowship for Ms. Herbert.




The Madonnas of Leningrad


Book Description

In this sublime debut novel, set amid the horrors of the siege of Leningrad in World War II, a gifted writer explores the power of memory to save . . . and betray.




Confessions of a Proverbs 32 Woman


Book Description

"For Christians who love a bit of sass, this delightful guide poignantly explains how to praise God while accepting the messiness that life brings."—Publisher's Weekly God is Crazy About You—Hot Mess and All! If you’re anything like Kerri Pomarolli, you’ve read Proverbs 31 and thought, “Who is this woman? And what kind of magic unicorn, Energizer Bunny juice does she have on IV?” And you thought social media standards were hard to live up to! As a sought-after comedian living in LA, Kerri knows about impossible standards. “I don’t plow, and I don’t rise early. When it says she gathers her food from afar, does that mean takeout…?” In Confessions of a Proverbs 32 Woman, Kerri fearlessly shares the messiness of her own life with wit and honesty. Join her as she delves into the struggles of the modern woman tired of trying and failing to live up to Pinterest-looking, air-brushed, and insta-filtered “real life” role models telling her she’s not quite good enough. And learn the two things you can hold onto for longer than your smartphone: genuine self-awareness and humble God-awareness. Kerri is a self-proclaimed hot mess for Jesus who has learned that God never said our lives would be mess-less, but He also never intended for us to wallow forever without a way through. When you’re at your most hopeless, God and His Word will meet you there, where you’ll find, as Kerri has, that this #hotmess4Jesus thing really can be the best possible life to live.




Have Him at Hello


Book Description

There’s a reason the media has dubbed matchmaker Rachel Greenwald as “The Wife Maker.” Yes, she’s responsible for over 750 marriages, but more importantly, she has solved perhaps the biggest dating mystery of all time: when you finally meet Mr. Right (or even Mr. Potential), what really compels him to call back (or not) after a date? Armed with her Harvard MBA, Rachel embarked on a fascinating ten-year research project to decipher this puzzle. In Have Him at Hello, she applies her business savvy to the dating world by conducting in-depth “exit interviews” with 1,000 single men, asking why they called back one woman, but not another. By refusing to accept the post-date brush-off like “There wasn’t any chemistry…” or the excited, but equally vague evening recap, “We hit it off!” Rachel extracted unabashedly honest and raw details. It turns out there are clear, tangible, consistent reasons why marriage-minded men either fall for you or disappear. The surprising “Top 5 Date Makers” and “Top 10 Date Breakers” revealed in this book can actually change your fate when Mr. Right finally comes along. Rachel’s goal isn’t for you to pretend to be someone you’re not, but rather to keep the ball in your court. By using her innovative research and tips as a guide, more men will ask to see you again ; then you can do the selecting, rather than wondering if they’ll call. Because information is power, this book will make your first hello a lasting one.




The Girl Who Fell


Book Description

In this “invaluable addition to any collection” (School Library Journal, starred review) high school senior Zephyr Doyle is swept off her feet—and into an intense and volatile relationship—by the new boy in school. His obsession. Her fall. Zephyr Doyle is focused. Focused on leading her team to the field hockey state championship and leaving her small town for her dream school, Boston College. But love has a way of changing things. Enter the new boy in school: the hockey team’s starting goaltender, Alec. He’s cute, charming, and most important, Alec doesn’t judge Zephyr. He understands her fears and insecurities—he even shares them. Soon, their relationship becomes something bigger than Zephyr, something she can’t control, something she doesn’t want to control. Zephyr swears it must be love. Because love is powerful, and overwhelming, and…terrifying? But love shouldn’t make you abandon your dreams, or push your friends away. And love shouldn’t make you feel guilty—or worse, ashamed. So when Zephyr finally begins to see Alec for who he really is, she knows it’s time to take back control of her life. If she waits any longer, it may be too late.




Hidden Tapestry


Book Description

Hidden Tapestry reveals the unforgettable story of Flemish American artist Jan Yoors—childhood vagabond, wartime Resistance fighter, and polyamorous New York bohemian. At the peak of his fame in the 1970s, Yoors’s photographs and vast tapestries inspired a dedicated following in his adopted Manhattan and earned him international acclaim. Though his intimate friends guessed the rough outline of his colorful life, Hidden Tapestry is first to detail his astonishing secrets. At twelve, Jan’s life took an extraordinary and unexpected turn when, lured by stories of Gypsies, he wandered off with a group of Roma and continued to live on-and-off with them and with his own family for several years. As an adult in German-occupied France, Yoors joined the Resistance and persuaded his adoptive Roma family to fight alongside him. Defying repeated arrests and torture by the Gestapo, he worked first as a saboteur and later escorted Allied soldiers trapped behind German lines across the Pyrenees to freedom. After the war, he married childhood friend Annabert van Wettum and embarked on his career as an artist. When a friend of Annabert’s, Marianne Citroen, modeled for Yoors, the two began an affair, which led the three to form a polyamorous family that would last for the rest of their lives. Moving to New York, the trio became part of the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in the 1950s. Told in arresting detail by Debra Dean, best-selling author of The Madonnas of Leningrad, Yoors’s story is a luminous and inspiring account of resilience, resourcefulness, and love.




Confessions of a Serial Songwriter


Book Description

Confessions of a Serial Songwriter is an amusing and poignant memoir about songwriter Shelly Peiken's journey from young girl falling under the spell of magical songs to working professional songwriter writing hits of her own. It's about growing up, the creative process – the highs and the lows, the conflicts that arise between motherhood and career success, the divas and schemers, but also the talented and remarkable people she's found along the way. It's filled with stories and step-by-step advice about the songwriting process, especially collaboration. And it's about the challenge of staying relevant in a rapidly changing and youth-driven world. As Shelly so eloquently states in Confessions of a Serial Songwriter: “If I had to come up with one X factor that I could cite as a characteristic most hit songs have in common (and this excludes hit songs that are put forth by an already well-oiled machine...that is, a recording artist who has so much notoriety and momentum that just about anything he or she releases, as long as it's 'pretty good ' will have a decent shot at succeeding), I would say it would be: A universal sentiment in a unique frame.” Peiken has tapped the universal sentiment again and again; her songs have been recorded by such artists as Christina Aguilera, Natalie Cole, Selena Gomez, Celine Dion, the Pretenders, and others. In Confessions of a Serial Songwriter, she pulls the curtain back on the music business from the perspective of a behind-the-scenes hit creator and shares invaluable insight into the craft of songwriting.