Showing results by narrator "Susan Ericksen" in All Categories

Chaplain Kate Braestrup, the New York Times best-selling author of Here If You Need Me, has written a compelling new book on prayer for which her devoted fans have been clamoring. Beautifully written, with her astonishing signature stories of faith in action in real life, Beginner's Grace explains how to tap into grace with prayer - as well as how to pray, when to pray, and what to pray.

The School on Heart's Content Road spirals out from the story of Mickey Gammon, a disaffected 15-year-old dropout who has been evicted from his home by his overwrought half-brother. With the help of his new friend, Rex York, the captain of the local militia, Mickey is introduced to the secretive world of the Settlement. Run by a man known to many as "The Prophet", the Settlement is a rural cooperative in alternative energy, farm produce, and locally made goods.

In this collection of new stories, Nadine Gordimer crosses the frontiers of politics, memory, sexuality, and love with the fearless insight that is the hallmark of her writing.

Based on the popular New York Times travel column, Footsteps is an anthology of literary pilgrimages, exploring the geographic muses behind some of history's greatest writers. From the "dangerous, dirty and seductive" streets of Naples, the setting for Elena Ferrante's famous Neapolitan novels, to the "stone arches, creaky oaken doors, and riverside paths" of Oxford, the backdrop for Alice's adventures in Wonderland, Footsteps takes a fresh approach to literary tourism, appealing to book lovers and travel enthusiasts alike.

"Why do we write?" With this question Joyce Carol Oates, in this new collection of seminal essays and criticism, begins an imaginative exploration of the writing life and all its attendant anxieties, joys, and futilities. Leading her quest is a desire to understand the source of the writer's inspiration - do subjects haunt those who might bring them back to life until the writer submits? Or does something "happen" to us, a sudden ignition of a burning flame? Can the appearance of a muse-like Other bring about a writer's best work?

Foundation scientist Chayana Persad has new tech that could help defend against Ryu’s oldest enemy. But local telepaths have been vanishing, and Persad’s son is missing - and somehow at the center of these crimes. As the crew searches for answers, they’ll have to dodge Capital’s corrupt police, allies with hidden agendas, and a traitor aboard Audacity itself. Enemies will strike, guns will fail, and the team will face some tough choices. Can Kael, Ellen, and the crew pull closer together? Or will this decadent planet rip them forever apart?

Perhaps Vidal’s most outrageous novel, this is an indescribable fantasy purportedly set in the city of Duluth (which, however, is near the Mexican border) and involving a TV show also named Duluth (a parody of Dallas), a spaceship that has landed nearby, the antics of a policewoman, Darlene Ecks, and much else.

Before there was the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, Los Angeles was a rough place, building its way out to the global city of today. In the late 19th century it was a rapidly growing city filled with pimps and prostitutes, Chinese railwaymen, robbers, smugglers, and corrupt politicians. It was a city where losers and dreamers from all over the world could came to make their fortune.

To look at her, one would never think suburbanite homemaker Jane Jeffry would be interested in murder and mayhem. But given the corpses she's come across she's practically an expert on the subject. Which is why Jane's booking down to a nearby mystery writers' convention to mingle with the brightest lights of literary crime, and maybe drum up some interest in her own recently completed manuscript.

Elizabeth Gaines Ellis is an ordinary suburban wife and mother. That's what she tells herself as she flits between her Realtor job, yoga class, and caring for her daughter, Chloe. But for months now, Elizabeth has worried that she's far from normal - that she's somehow the cause of a series of brutal, horrible deaths.

Nicolette Stallings - Nick - sees an attractive stranger across a restaurant. When their eyes meet, Nick can tell he's trying to figure out a way to connect. What she doesn't know is that this time she'll meet a man who'll flaunt her rules, violate her anonymity. Pushed to the brink, he'll take Nick with him. And when he's gone, she will stand alone...suspected of murder.

In Cords of Affection: Constructing Constitutional Union in Early American History Emily Pears investigates efforts by the founding generation's leadership to construct and strengthen political attachments in and among the citizens of the new republic. These emotional connections between citizens and their institutions were critical to the success of the new nation.  

As such things are measured in Washington, Denise Burke has everything a woman of wit could want: two hip kids able to look after themselves; a marriage constructed to allow maximum mutual leeway with a husband smack in the center of Clinton's inner circle; and a high-profile lover. Plus, she's a best-selling author of several true crime books. But when death strikes close to home, Denise becomes a woman with a big-time problem.

The Life of the Author: William Shakespeare delivers a fresh and exciting new take on the life of William Shakespeare, offering listeners a biography that brings to the foreground his working life as a poet, playwright, and actor. It also explores the nature of his relationships with his friends, colleagues, and family and asks important questions about the stories we tell about Shakespeare based on the evidence we actually have about the man himself.

Before there was Johnny and June, there was Johnny and Saul. The Man Who Carried Cash chronicles a relationship that was both volatile and affectionate between Johnny Cash and his manager, Saul Holiff. From roadside taverns to the roaring crowds at Madison Square Garden, from wrecked cars and jail cells all the way to the White House, the story of Johnny and Saul is a portrait of two men from different worlds who were more alike than either cared to admit.

Danger lurks beneath the glitter of the 16th-century French court. The queen lies dying; the king has but months to live. Their two daughters, Claude and young Renee, are heiresses to the rich duchy of Brittany. Countess Louise, their guardian, schemes to steal their inheritance. For years she has envied the dying Queen Anne, the girls' mother. She plots to marry wealthy Claude to her son. Her unexpected guardianship presents a golden opportunity, but only if she can remove their protectress Baronne Michelle, who loves the princesses and safeguards their interests.

Mudgirl is a child abandoned by her mother in the silty flats of the Black Snake River. Cast aside, Mudgirl survives by an accident of fate - or destiny. After her rescue, the well-meaning couple who adopt Mudgirl quarantine her poisonous history behind the barrier of their middle-class values, seemingly sealing it off forever. But the bulwark of the present proves surprisingly vulnerable to the agents of the past.

Midwives in the United States live and work in a complex regulatory environment that is a direct result of state and medical intervention into women's reproductive capacity. In Birthing a Movement, Renee Ann Cramer draws on over a decade of ethnographic and archival research to examine the interactions of law, politics, and activism surrounding midwifery care.

Best friends Tracie and Jonny meet for coffee each Sunday night to discuss their forlorn love lives. Tracie loves boys with an affinity for leather jackets and poetry; Jonny falls for girls who never like him in that way until Jonny convinces Tracie to teach him some tricks of the trade. After a wardrobe makeover, learning to return from a dinner date with another phone number scrawled on his hand, scope for women at the airport baggage claim, and always carry a motorcycle helmet, Jonny becomes a heartbreaker.