If You Knew Suzy


Book Description

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson Born with severe brain defects, Suzy was sentenced to a life of “nevers.” With the unwavering support of her mother, Jane, and extended family, Suzy’s miraculous journey has given many experts reason to question the medical textbooks that have been written. From predictions that she would never walk, talk, or function in society, Suzy overcame all these obstacles with determination and perseverance—not even allowing final-stage renal failure at the age of twenty-four to deter her. This book is not just a tribute to Suzy, but a roadmap for all parents experiencing the challenges of raising a child with disabilities and/or medical issues. Never a victim, Suzy proceeded through infant stimulation, studies in public and specialized schools, and summer programs geared to the disabled community. Her achievements include winning medals during the Tournament of Champions, performing in a dance recital, celebrating a Bat Mitzvah, living independently, and holding a position as a classroom assistant for the past twenty-three years. Her joy of life to this day, offers us hope while showing us that giving up is not a choice. While her IQ score identifies Suzy with severe intellectual disabilities, she never ceases to show kindness, empathy, selflessness, and compassion for others. Told with the hope that other parents will learn from her successes, and failures, this is also a story of the power of perseverance, courage, and love.




What to Do When I'm Gone


Book Description

A mother's advice to her daughter--a guide to daily living, both practical and sublime--with full-color illustrations throughout. One sleepless night while she was in her early twenties, illustrator/writer Hallie Bateman had a painful realization: her mom would die, and after she died she would be gone. The prospect was devastating, and also scary--how would she navigate the world without the person who gave her life? She thought about all the motherly advice she would miss--advice that could help her through the challenges to come, including the ordeal of losing a parent. The next day, Hallie asked her mother, writer Suzy Hopkins, to record step-by-step instructions for her to follow in the event of her mom's death. The list began: "Pour yourself a stiff glass of whiskey and make some fajitas" and continued from there, walking Hallie through the days, months, and years of life after loss, with motherly guidance and support, addressing issues great and small--from choosing a life partner to baking a quiche. The project became a way for mother and daughter to connect with humor, openness, and gratitude. It led to this book. Combining Suzy's wit and heartfelt advice with Hallie's quirky and colorful style, What to Do When I'm Gone is the illustrated instruction manual for getting through life without one's mom. It's also a poignant look at loss, love, and taking things one moment at a time. By turns whimsical, funny, touching, and above all pragmatic, it will leave readers laughing and teary-eyed. And it will spur conversations that enrich family members' understanding of one another.




Wasted


Book Description

A drug-fueled lesbian love triangle leads to murder in this New York Times–bestselling true crime—updated with shocking revelations and a second trial! In 1995, Austin, Texas was rocked by the brutal murder of Regina Hartwell. Even though Regina's body was burned beyond recognition, police had two suspects within days. One was the beautiful ex-cheerleader who was the object of Regina's desire. The other was a man who would take the fall for murder . . . In this new edition of her bestselling book Wasted, true crime master Suzy Spencer chronicles a fatal love triangle as three lives are driven out of control by sexual desire, drugs, and shocking childhood demons. Four years after Regina Hartwell's murder, a new charge was brought against one of her suspected killers. Now, Suzy Spencer adds a new chapter to Wasted—detailing a killer gone wild, a nerve-wracking legal standoff, the shocking twists that would take place in a second, explosive trial . . . Sixteen pages of shocking photos!




Breaking Point


Book Description

The author explores the case of Andrea Yates, the Houston, Texas, mother suspected in the deaths of her five children, ages six months to seven years, whom she allegedly drowned in the family home's bathtub in June 2001.







Godsigns


Book Description

This big-hearted wife, mother and grandmother worried that she didn't have much time left to enjoy the relationships that defined her life. Fear. Weakness. Facing death. These are life's deepest spiritual challenges, Suzy discovered. Searching for solutions, Suzy also found that America's wealth of medical expertise is equaled by our wealth of spiritual resources. Like millions of Americans, Suzy searched for the best doctors-but she also called on her colorful circle of friends and tried everything from psychotherapy to contemplating angels, from ancient prayers to a hope in miracles. Her warm, suspenseful and often funny journey of mixed disciplines is far from a dead end! Suzy realized that God reaches out to us through all of these resources-from doctors to spiritual teachers.




Finding Myself


Book Description

A single mom of newborn twins seeks a path through post-natal depression—while also trying to keep her beauty salon afloat—in this powerful, emotional novel. Kat’s life has become a blur of dirty nappies and sleepless nights. She has moved into the flat above the salon she owns—without Max, the father of her children. To make matters worse, Max has revealed he plans to remarry. With her twin babies taking up all of her time and Max never around to help, Kat feels constantly on edge—and when she’s diagnosed with post-natal depression, she feels more alone than ever . . .This conclusion to the trilogy that began with Holding Myself and Losing Myself is an emotional, uplifting novel about a woman searching for the light at the end of the tunnel and the strength she finds in the people in her life—and in herself. “An amazing character.” —Gemma’s Book Reviews




The History Book


Book Description

Kathleen "Kat" Polinski--burglar, hacker, undercover agent--returns home from a deadly mission at the Kazakh Embassy in Washington, DC, to find a cryptic message from her sister. Soon after, she learns that her sister Suzy has been murdered--shot with a highpowered rifle in a desolate spot 100 miles outside of London. What was Suzy doing there? Did it have anything to do with the controversial Project Peace? An international security agreement, Project Peace allows constant surveillance and loss of individual freedom in the name of stability and order. Kat must use every weapon at her disposal, from martial arts to computer hacking, to bring her sister's killer to justice. But in her search for answers, she discovers an increasingly plausible threat that could destroy the world as we know it....




Suzy's Case


Book Description

This wild ride of a debut thriller is packed with insider details that reveal the fascinating world of a New York lawyer who’ll stop at nothing to secure justice. Introducing Tug Wyler, a dogged and irreverent New York City personal injury and medical malpractice attorney. He is as at home on the streets as he is in the courtroom, and larger than life in both places. Once you’ve met him, you won’t ever forget him. When Henry Benson, a high-profile criminal lawyer known for his unsavory clients, recruits Tug to take over a long-pending multimillion-dollar lawsuit representing a tragically brain-damaged child, his instructions are clear: get us out of it; there is no case. Yet the moment Tug meets the disabled but gallant little Suzy Williams and June, her beautiful, resourceful mother, all bets are off. With an offbeat, self-mocking style, Tug Wyler’s a far cry from your ordinary lawyer. Unswerving in his dedication to his mostly disadvantaged clients, he understands only too well how badly they need him with the system stacked against them. Tug is honest about his own shortcomings, many of them of the profoundly politically incorrect variety, and his personal catchphrase, handy in all situations, is “At least I admit it.” When his passionate commitment to Suzy’s case thrusts him into a surreal, often violent sideshow, the ensuing danger only sharpens his obsession with learning what really happened to Suzy. Blending razor-sharp intuition, intellectual toughness, and endlessly creative legal brinkmanship, Tug determinedly works his way through a maze of well-kept secrets—encountering a cast of memorably eccentric characters along the way—to get to the truth. Among the many fresh-to-the-genre pleasures of Suzy’s Case is its eye-opening portrait of the brutally tough world of medical malpractice law in New York City, an aggressive, very-big-bucks, winner-takes-all game in which lawyers relentlessly cut corners, deals—and throats. With Andy Siegel as the expert guide to his daily home turf, that largely unseen medicolegal universe, where life—and death—always have a price, you’ll experience its addictive, risk-taking reality. The result is a stunning debut as gripping as it is unexpected, as rollicking as it is compassionate, revealing Andy Siegel to be a bright new voice of remarkable energy, wit, and style.




Together We Stand


Book Description

This book is a historical drama beginning in Liverpool in 1911. It follows the lives of three children, Dave, 16, Sam, 14 and Mary Anne, aged 6. When Dave accidentally kills a man in self-defence while trying to steal a few bottles of whisky to sell for food, he is terrified of the consequences of his actions. He knows the friends of the man he killed will find him. Badly injured after having his face slashed with a broken bottle, Dave was further traumatized when on arriving home he finds his mother dead. When he and Sam found the cache of guinea coins she secreted away for them, they knew they could get away. They chose America. Gradually from small beginnings as bookies runners, they drift into a life of crime. With the introduction of prohibition, Sam and Dave become rumrunners and when with the help of a ship's captain and Albert Rothwell one of the richest men in America they acquire a distillery, their fortunes are made. Their lives follow a path of revenge when Suzy, Sam's wife is murdered. But when Dave meets up with his past, life for the brother's take a horrific turn.