Showing results by narrator "Laural Merlington" in All Categories

Rebecca Morland had a rosy future. She and her husband, Ryan, were making plans to start a family; he was a partner at a prestigious LA law firm; and her own work, at a city legal clinic, was very satisfying. Then one night at a party, on a yacht owned by a wealthy and politically ambitious businessman, Ryan vanishes. And Rebecca's life is turned irrevocably upside down.

Written as a series of journal entries, Heaven Help Helen Sloane is refreshingly honest, poignant, and often hilarious, documenting - in Helen’s own words - the daily struggles a young Christian woman must face. Helen’s new job as a social worker keeps her busy all day in a whirlwind of case notes and court papers, and at home she’s a house group leader for Frenton-on-Sea’s New Wave Christian Fellowship. She loves her church but she struggles with faith and doubt, exposed to the religious extremes of both hyper-spiritual friends and her New Age mom.

In 1836, Kiowa and Comanche raiders massacred Silas Stone's wife and two of his sons and took his two grandsons, John and Jamie, and one granddaughter, Sarai Stone. After 10 years, agents hired by Silas Stone found the boys, always hoping and praying to find Sarai. Six years later, Sarai Stone walked into a trading post and told the two men to search for her no more. She was now more Comanche than white woman and would not leave her Indian family.

Books on Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss abound, as countless scholars have labored to uncover the facts behind Chambers's shocking accusation before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the summer of 1948---that Alger Hiss, a former rising star in the State Department, had been a Communist and engaged in espionage.

Finally Shannon Raine decides to stop speculating about her dark, brooding neighbour on California's rugged Mendocino coastline - and just introduce herself. But the last thing she expects to find in this enclave of artists and writers is a Silicon Valley mogul. Garth Sheridan is cool, sensual and intriguing. And immediately Shannon knows the passion that flares between them will become intense and all-consuming.

"Mackie dreaded the mail." From the simple beginning, Peter Abrahams opens the curtains on a mesmerizing world down on the Mexican border, a world of complex and passionate people whose ambitions will lead them on a relentless collision course, a desert world that rises to the mythic in Their Wildest Dreams. The suspense will grab you and not let you go, the surprises will shock you, but in the end it will be the wonderful characters who remain in your mind.

Since the first Christmas, angels have been delivering messages of God's extravagant love. They watched over the Christ Child so long ago, and they are watching over us all today. We Hear the Christmas Angels presents inspiring, personal stories of angels still delivering tidings of comfort, protection and joy, particularly at Christmas time.

A bear wakes to wonderful smells that lead him to the house of Bubba Brayna. Bubba Brayna makes the best latkes in the village, but at 97, she doesn't hear or see well. When the bear arrives at her door, she believes he is her rabbi. Bubba Brayna and the bear light the menorah, play the dreidel game, and eat all the latkes. The mix-up is revealed, Bubba Brayna has a laugh about it, and everyone works together to make more latkes.

When Stalina Folskaya flees her native Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, she sets out for America with her dreams - and her painful past - firmly in tow. In St. Petersburg, Stalina was a trained chemist, but in America, disillusioned with her profession, she takes a job as a maid at the Liberty, a seedy, “short-stay” motel on the outskirts of Hartford, Connecticut. Even here, gutsy Stalina sees opportunity, convincing the owner to let her transform the motel into a destination with fantasy settings.

Reba Farrall was lost - until a kindly old gentleman took her under his wing and helped heal her shattered spirit. Now her dearest friend is gone, leaving her with a doubting, broken heart...and half-interest in a California gem mine. But Chance Walker has burst into Reba's life - a daring adventurer who believes in nothing except the priceless uncut stones for which he searches the earth.

While Lilly digs into a town beautification project, her friend Tamara O’Connor has greater concerns than well-pruned geraniums. The real-estate-firm owner hasn’t been shy about blaming perennial grouch Gladys Preston for thwarting her many attempts to sell off a beautiful beachside property. But accusations fly when Gladys is suddenly found dead - and Tamara is caught standing over the body with a bloody weapon in her hand. As Tamara becomes the prime murder suspect, Lilly and the Garden Squad ladies set out to prove that someone planted the evidence.

In the magical lands of Noland and Ix, two regions adjacent to Oz, the fairies of the forest of Burzee have made an incredible magic cloak that grants its wearer one wish. Queen Zixi, who is now 683 years old but appears just 16, covets the cloak in the hopes of reversing a curse that makes mirrors reflect her true age.

Few topics have as many myths, stereotypes, and misperceptions surrounding them as that of poverty in America. The poor have been badly misunderstood since the beginnings of the country, with the rhetoric only ratcheting up in recent times. Our current era of fake news, alternative facts, and media partisanship has led to a breeding ground for all types of myths and misinformation to gain traction and legitimacy. Poorly Understood is the first book to systematically address and confront many of the most widespread myths pertaining to poverty.

How often have you seen a teenage girl pretend to be perturbed, but secretly smile, when she is told that she acts or looks just like her mother? Fathers, brothers, and friends sometimes shake their heads in wonder as girls "turn into their mothers". This new collection from Chicken Soup represents the best stories from Chicken Soup's library on the special bond between mothers and daughters, and the magical, mysterious similarities between them.

When Megan Sawyer gives up her big-city law career to care for her grandmother and run the family's organic farm and cafe, she expects to find tranquility in her scenic hometown of Winsome, PA. Instead, her goat goes missing, rain muddies her fields, the town denies her business permits, and her family's Colonial-era farm sucks up the remains of her savings. Just when she thinks she's reached the bottom of the rain barrel, Megan and the town's hunky veterinarian discover the local zoning commissioner's battered body in her barn.

Melanie McLaughlin desperately wants to adopt two orphaned siblings and give them a real home for Christmas. A just-for-the-holiday marriage to Bryce Landry fits her plan perfectly...until unexpected sparks have Melanie dreaming of forever by his side....

Patented in 1917, Piggly Wiggly was by far the most influential self-service store of the early twentieth century. Before 1940 it was the only self-service chain with a national distribution network, but it was neither the first nor the only version. Beyond Piggly Wiggly reveals the importance of Piggly Wiggly in the invention of self-service and goes beyond the history of a single firm to explore the role of small business entrepreneurs who invented the first self-service stores in a grassroots social process.

Analyzing the meanings of masculinity in contemporary culture, this book examines specific cultural male icons like Mohammad Ali, Harvey Keitel, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dan Quayle, and Newt Gingrich and explodes the male stereotypes such as the cowboy, the father, the homosexual, and the Black terror. Written by cultural studies scholars from departments of film, media studies, English, women's studies, and sociology, the discussions touch on almost every conceivable issue concerning the complex meanings of masculinity and contemporary society.

For many Americans, the birth certificate is a mundane piece of paper, unearthed from deep storage when applying for a driver's license, verifying information for employers, or claiming state and federal benefits. Yet as Donald Trump and his fellow "birthers" reminded us when they claimed that Barack Obama wasn't an American citizen, it plays a central role in determining identity and citizenship. The Birth Certificate: An American History traces the document's two-hundred-year history to explain when, how, and why birth certificates came to matter so much in the United States.

With only one sleep left before Christmas Eve, Dasher can’t contain her excitement for her favorite holiday. With the sound of Christmas carols on the breeze and twinkling lights radiating from a nearby city, she sneaks off to visit the festivities. But as night deepens and snow starts to fall, Dasher realizes she can no longer spot the North Star in the sky to lead her home. Will the kindness of a child, an unexpected gift, and a dose of Christmas spirit get her back in time to help guide Santa’s sleigh?