Short Family

As we age, memories can fade, affecting not only recall but also connections with loved ones. Engaging in brain-stimulating activities like reading can slow cognitive decline, as noted by the American Academy of Neurology. This book offers an enjoyable way to exercise your memory and bring details back into focus. With short stories set in familiar outdoor settings, you’ll be transported into the great outdoors from the first chapter.

A moving, inspiring and thought-provoking collection of 50 coming-out stories from around the world. From the good, the sad, the surprising and the funny, no two stories are the same, yet all are by people who share the courage to be vulnerable, take huge risks to find love and acceptance and are brave enough to be their authentic selves. Whether you have any experience of coming out or not, these stories are incredibly powerful and moving.

The premise is simple; the execution is passionate: 13 short stories of fiction from eight emerging women writers. This anthology is a wonderful example of women lifting up other women, of writers supporting writers, of a community coming together to fulfill ambitions and dreams.

This powerful collection of short stories traces an emotional arc inspired by Madeleine L'Engle's early life and career, from her lonely childhood in New York to her life as a mother in small-town Connecticut. In a selection of 18 stories discovered by one of L'Engle's granddaughters, we see how L'Engle's personal experiences and abiding faith informed the creation of her many cherished works.

A candid, ultimately buoyant debut story collection about the realities of the "baby years", whether you're having one or not.

Fifteen linked stories chart a true course through the lives of families, farmers, loggers, former classmates, and the occasional stripper. In the richly imagined town of Renata, Oregon, a man watches his neighbor's big-screen TV through binoculars, an errant son paints himself silver, mysterious electrical humming emanates from an enormous barn. In A Simplified Map of the Real World, intimate boundaries are loosened by history - and high above the strife and the hope and the often hilarious, geese seek the perfect tailwind. Stevan Allred's stunning debut deftly navigates the stubborn geography of the human heart.

In It's All Love, black writers celebrate the complexity, power, danger, and glory of love in all its many forms: romantic, familial, communal, and sacred.

The son of Maya Angelou, Guy Johnson is a critically acclaimed author and poet in his own right. Echoes of a Distant Summer is the story of Jackson St. Clair Tremain, a San Francisco civil servant who thought he had left his old life far behind. In 1982, Jackson is summoned to Mexico to confer with his dying grandfather, the brutal hustler King Tremain. When King dies, Jackson inherits $50 million - and the unwanted attentions of a malevolent bayou crime lord named Pug DuMont.

Die Heldinnen in Jane Campbells Debüt lassen sich nicht aussortieren und kaltstellen, nur weil sie »alt« sind und ihre Familien keine Verwendung mehr für sie haben. Susan verliebt sich zunächst heimlich, dann mit fliegenden Fahnen in ihre schöne, fünfzig Jahre jüngere Pflegerin und stellt gleich mehrere Leben auf den Kopf. Martha findet einen Weg, ihren Hausroboter mit Aufpassfunktion zu manipulieren und Rache an denen zu nehmen, die sie kontrollieren wollen. Und eine rüstige Herzensbrecherin wirft ihre jüngste Eroberung gleich seinem eigenen Hund zum Fraß vor.

Ein besonderes Jahr mit Lotta und Luis. Im Kindergarten gehören die Zwillinge Lotta und Luis schon zu den Großen, denn im Sommer kommen sie in die Schule. Davor passiert aber noch eine ganze Menge: Luis verliert sein Lieblings-Spielzeugauto, die Geschwister finden einen Hund im Park und das Zelten mit Papa auf dem Bauernhof ist besonders aufregend. Nach einem tollen Urlaub in den Bergen kommen sie in die Schule. Wie gut, dass ihre besten Freunde in derselben Klasse sind. So richtig Spaß macht es auch, im Herbst Drachen steigen zu lassen und im Advent Plätzchen zu backen.

Marie and Simone, friends for decades, were once immigrants to the city after they survived World War II in Europe. Now widows living alone in Chelsea, they remain robust, engaged, and adventurous, even as the vistas from their past interrupt their present. Helen is an art historian who takes a painting class with Marie and Simone.

This collection of short fiction from Elizabeth Harrower features a number of previously unpublished works and 'Alice', which was published for the first time in The New Yorker in 2015. Internationally acclaimed for her five brilliant novels, Elizabeth Harrower is also the author of a small body of short fiction. A Few Days in the Country & Other Stories brings together for the first time her stories published in Australian journals in the 1960s and 1970s along with those from her archives.

Peter Herring was the center of Anne's universe in college, and now, a few years later, he's become the center of Anna's, and merely a minor player in his ex-girlfriend's world. That is, until Peter and Anna are invited into Anne's parents' home to visit with her dying mother, and he finds himself drawn back into her orbit. Years later, when her own mother is dying, Anna will find herself yearning to reach out to Anne, with whom she had shared such a brief but intimate bond, and find solace in that moment from long ago.

Sam Hunter is a bit of an animal. He's a former Twin Cities cop who lost his badge because of excessive force. Abusive husbands, child molesters, and other lowlifes wound up looking like they'd been mauled by dogs...or wolves. Now Sam's a low-rent PI in Philadelphia. He takes the kinds of cases no one wants. His clients are usually on the fringes of society. The kind who are prey for all manner of predators--human and otherwise.

Eugeena Patterson is marrying her neighbor and companion Amos Jones. Her family and friends are happy to finally see the couple walk down the aisle. But there’s something missing. Since his wife’s death, Amos has been estranged from his two daughters. Eugeena encourages Amos to reach out to his daughters by inviting them to spend Christmas with him.

Celebrate the joys of the holiday season with a trio of exquisitely crafted, richly romantic tales by three of the brightest stars in contemporary fiction. Filled with passion, drama, and a touch of magic, this festive gathering of classic Christmas stories—available for the first time in ten years—tells about the lives and loves of one unforgettable family and the enchanted heirloom that links one generation to the next.

When a snowstorm pummels the western half of the country, three couples find once off-limits love just in time for Christmas. An unforgettable holiday anthology from best-selling authors Jennifer Ryan, Maisey Yates, and Lia Riley.

In Slipstream, Leslie Larson traces the intertwining paths of five characters as each struggles to stay afloat in the face of major setbacks, minor failures, and a reckless pursuit of elusive second chances. When Rudy loses his job cleaning jets at the airport, his sanity and his marriage threaten to follow. While his wife, Inez, secretly saves her pennies and plots an escape, his coworker Wylie, a bartender at LAX, is about to receive the surprise of his life.

Through Their Lenses is a collection of 29 award-winning short stories by tweens. These stories encompass a wide range of genres, inviting listeners to explore a wealth of important themes passionately crafted by these young writers, from a girl going on a quest to release a curse bestowed on her by a witch to a guy trying to escape after being stranded in a different time.

When Sonia, the prominent wife of a local cemetery owner, is killed in the worst accident anyone can remember, Hartley Nolan, a lifelong teetotaler, is hardly the person that police expect to find behind the wheel. After all, Hartley is something of an inspiration in a town that hasn't seen much luck in decades-he's the local boy who made it big in Chicago without ever forgetting his struggling family back home. But Tower Hill, Illinois, is a close-knit community that's alive with old rivalries, making it fertile ground for resentments.