A compassionate portrait of an elderly - and frustrated - woman adjusting to new town life and finding a new purpose in living. Illness forces Sylvia Calvert to live with her son Harold, a headmaster in Carshall New Town. At first, Sylvia cannot adjust to the jungle of supermarkets, 10-pin bowling alleys and recreation areas; to the committees and purposeful entertaining involved in the creation of a new society. Above all, Sylvia can't understand Harold's odd, thrusting idealism and the strange behaviour of her grandchildren. But a chance meeting and a family crisis give her the chance to fulfil herself ...
"I had a vision of a faith community where people could have a wider understanding of God and our relationship to him/her. I wanted to create a place where people could state what they believe and what they struggle with--freely. I wanted a community of people who know we don't all have to agree on everything." Jerry Herships, former altar boy who had dreamed of making it big in show biz, tended bar to make ends meet as he worked gigs in comedy and game shows, looking for his big break. After giving up the dream and leaving Los Angeles, he found his way back to the church and discovered God calling him to ministry--but not just any ministry. Now he leads AfterHours Denver, a bar church where people worship with a whiskey in their hand and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to serve Denver's homeless. Last Call is a story of having and giving up on dreams, finding yourself, and finding how God can use you in unexpected ways.
Having descended from a long line of indomitable, good-humored Scots, Hayden MacBride sees no reason to take his own death lying down. In fact, he now spends his days crashing funerals for the free food and insight into the Great Beyond. Then he meets Rosamond, a nun playing hooky from the Holy Orders. Hayden is smitten the instant her heavy silver cross smacks him in the face when she leaps up to do the wave at a ball game. Luckily, Rosamond has picked the right person to teach her how to live . . . and to love–because nobody does both better than Hayden MacBride. However, Rosamond’s years in the convent have not prepared her for the oddball characters of Hayden’s world. There’s his ever-fretful, vigilant daughter, Diana, the “Dutchess o’ the Sidelong Glance”; his sweet grandson Joey, struggling to break free of his mother’s overprotective embrace; Hayden’s bagpipe-blowing cronies; the Greyfriars Gang; neighbor Bobbie Anne, a “working girl” full of good advice and tender mercies; and Hank, the sexy architect contemplating the priesthood–a big mistake in Hayden’s book. For Hayden thinks that Hank should be married to his daughter and raising Joey. And he has an elaborate plan to make Hank see things his way. . . . In an uproariously funny novel of love, laughter, and one man’s final call at the riotous watering hole called life, Laura Pedersen proves that miracles are all around us–when we open our eyes and our hearts to embrace them.
A collection of linked stories spanning three generations of one Texas family follows events that are both tender and tragic, such as a daughter's elopement and a lightning strike that provokes a mother of five to abandon her children. Winner of the Pairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction.
“I knew about drunk, but did not know anything about living sober. I hadn’t really been sober for fifteen years. It wasn’t enough that I stopped drinking. I had to learn how to live.” The journey from alcoholic insanity to sobriety—and the pivotal role of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in navigating that transition—is the focus of Last Call. Using powerful first-person narratives like the one above (composites of many anonymous speakers), psychotherapist Jack H. Hedblom provides compelling insights into the minds and hearts of addicted drinkers, from bizarre behavior and denial to the moment of “hitting bottom” and seeking change. Hedblom covers the process of getting sober, from diagnosis to detox to sobriety. He focuses on the challenge of learning to live without drinking—a long-term goal, Hedblom asserts, that is best achieved by regular participation in AA. Hedblom’s vivid descriptions reveal AA meetings as gatherings of fellowship, compassion, tears, and laughter. In relating the history of the organization, he describes the role of sponsors, elaborates on the Twelve Steps and the Promises, emphasizes the importance of spiritual development in recovery, and refutes the common misconceptions that equate spirituality with organized religion. Through the stories of people who have escaped the tyranny of alcoholism with the help of AA, Hedblom shows that the road to recovery is a journey of self-discovery, change, and hope.
She's a high class call girl. He's taking over his father's business. Seven years ago, they fell in love in Paris. They walked away at the end of the summer, never imagining they'd meet again. Now he's her client. We fell in love the way you jump from a cliff. Hard and fast with a reckless sense of abandon. The six weeks we spent together changed my life, but at seventeen, I was naive. I was a dreamer. A believer. Now I'm twenty-four and cynical. I don't believe in love. There's no place for such emotions as a high class escort. The only things I'm allowed to feel are physical - and that's why it's so damn hard when the client of a last minute job turns out to be the man I left in France seven years ago. When he buys me for six weeks at triple my rate, my agent makes it clear I have no choice but to take the job despite our previous relationship. And my heart makes it very clear I have to stay firmly on top of the cliff this time. Because for six weeks, I once again belong to Aaron Stone.
An armed, violent man escapes jail and flees police in Talon County, Maine, where a widespread chase stretches from Bangor to Portland. A torrential rainstorm hits the coast of Maine in a fury of blackouts as police canvas the area for Brad Rayon, who terrorizes a small community, killing anybody who gets in his way. Several break-ins, thefts, and arsons are reported in the area, but for Ash and his boyfriend Wally, it is a series of personal threats that heightens to life-threatening attacks. With Wally at work, Ash is alone when he hears the first of many strange noises outside his house. It starts with crank calls, a heavily obscured voice calling out his name on the other end. There are knocks at the front door. He hears footsteps in the house, somebody walking around, and a large shadow filling the corner of a room. Ash’s past is riddled with abuse and violence, and he struggles to understand what’s real and imagined. Will Ash be the fugitive’s next victim, or is the ongoing trail of dead bodies a figment of Ash’s troubled imagination?
THE LAST CALL is a compelling and gritty memoir that depicts David's story from the time he was adopted at six months old, by cop-turned NY TIMES #1 bestselling author, Joseph Wambaugh, and the colorful, but challenging, years growing up the son of a celebrity.David started drinking when he was a very young boy, and slipped into the darkness of addiction and mental illness by the time he was nine. Alcohol was the gas that fueled his countless self-imposed disasters that befell him for the next thirty years. He lived a life of lawlessness and debauchery, a convicted felon from the time he was 23, having been in several high speed car chases, fights, drugs, even accused, and turned in by his own parents, for committing a string of bank robberies. He was in and out of Institutions for the vast majority of his adult life, including drug rehabs, mental hospitals, jails, and ultimately State Prison. David had ability to stay one step ahead of the law, and, being a master manipulator, he was always able to con his way back into the good graces of his parents, with selfish motives. He was able to avoid almost all consequences his whole life, until one day his luck ran out and he got arrested for the last time. As David was sitting in the back of the cop car, He had a strange and powerful experience that was to change the course of his life forever. When he got out of prison, he had to learn to live. He was emotionally retarded, having never grown up, making his grand entrance into life at age 40. The Last Call is a story of tragedy, loss, miracles, and the Power of God.
Meg Eliot is the wife of a successful barrister and with that comes a lovely home in Westminster, cocktail parties and a round of charity committees. She is the model wife and her life is one of ease, contentment and privilege. All that changes though when she is suddenly left widowed after a senseless tragedy. Totally alone she is thrust into a struggle to reconstruct her life as she realises that she doesn't really know who she is anymore or who she is supposed to be. The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot follows Meg as she tries to make sense of the realities of life, of living and contemplates the future and its possibilites. What she finds is the ability to survive and, also, the joys of new friendships, new opportunities and perhaps even the idea of a new love. Described by the Daily Telegraph as 'one of fiction's great female creatures', Meg Eliot is a powerful heroine who inspired readers when she first appeared in 1958.
Last Call for the African-American Church revisits the commandment Jesus left his followers to proclaim the gospel worldwide until his return, one that by all accounts is no longer a priority in the contemporary African-American church. Despite the presence of euphoric praise-and-worship celebrations and the proliferation of diverse ministries it advertises as “cutting edge,” the implosion of missions has occurred in this church's pulpits and pews. Selected biblical foundations of missions are provided for those new to the parlance, and for others needing a refresher course. Along with conventional missions’ distinctions, Chester Williams logs some concepts in the glossary he himself has constructed, for readers and for collegial review. They include the feminization of missions, rummage sale missions, missions without Jesus, and window dressing missions. For the most part, these concepts represent a radical departure from apostolic missions and are viewed as biblical tinkering and convolution, most importantly, as obstructions to the Great Commission—world harvesting.
