"A work of art as rich and subtle and unnerving as anything its author has ever done" (New Yorker), The Loved One is Evelyn Waugh's cutting satire of 1940s California and the Anglo-American cultural divide. Following the death of a friend, the poet and pets' mortician Dennis Barlow finds himself entering the artificial Hollywood paradise of the Whispering Glades Memorial Park. Within its golden gates, death, American-style, is wrapped up and sold like a package holiday--and Dennis gets drawn into a bizarre love triangle with Aimée Thanatogenos, a naïve Californian corpse beautician, and Mr. Joyboy, a master of the embalmer's art. Waugh's dark and savage satire depicts a world where reputation, love, and death cost a very great deal.
Set in France and America, News of Our Loved Ones is a haunting and intimate examination of love and loss, beauty and the cost of survival, witnessed through two generations of one French family, whose lives are all touched by the tragic events surrounding the D-Day bombings in Normandy. What if your family’s fate could be traced back to one indelible summer? Over four long years, the Delasalle family has struggled to live in their Nazi occupied village in Normandy. Maman, Oncle Henri, Yvonne, and Françoise silently watched as their Jewish neighbors were arrested or wordlessly disappeared. Now in June 1944, when the sirens wail each day, warning of approaching bombers, the family wonders if rumors of the coming Allied invasion are true—and if they will survive to see their country liberated. For sixteen-year-old Yvonne, thoughts of the war recede when she sees the red-haired boy bicycle past her window each afternoon. Murmuring to herself I love you, I love you, I love you, she wills herself to hear the whisper of his bicycle tires over the screech of Allied bombs falling from the sky. Yvonne’s sister, Geneviève, is in Paris to audition for the National Conservatory. Pausing to consider the shadow of a passing cloud as she raises her bow, she does not know that her family’s home in Normandy lies in the path of British and American bombers. While Geneviève plays, her brother Simon and Tante Chouchotte, anxiously await news from their loved ones in Normandy. Decades later, Geneviève, the wife of an American musician, lives in the United States. Each summer she returns to her homeland with her children, so that they may know their French family. Geneviève’s youngest daughter, Polly, becomes obsessed with the stories she hears about the war, believing they are the key to understanding her mother and the conflicting cultures shaping her life. Moving back and forth in time, told from varying points of view, News of Our Loved Ones explores the way family histories are shared and illuminates the power of storytelling to understand the past and who we are.
Deborah Heneghan was fifteen when her seventeen-year-old sister died of cancer. A few weeks later, she woke in the middle of the night to a faint whisper summoning her. That was the beginning of Heneghan’s communication with her dead sister, one that continues to this day. In Closer Than You Think, Heneghan shows how she began to recognize the signs and messages from her sister. She shows readers how to get back in touch with deceased loved ones and find guidance and a helping hand from their big-picture perspective in the beyond. Filled with tips, tools, strategies, and stories to help the reader make contact, Closer Than You Think will give you hope, comfort and peace that your loved ones do ‘live on’ and are engaging you in a very real way. Readers learn how to connect and communicate with their deceased loved ones and remain close to them in a natural, healing way. Closer Than You Think shows how to: Recognize the signs, dreams, or other messages from your loved onesOpen the dialogue with your loved one for a lifetime of continued communicationTransform your anger and grief into hope and actionTune-in to healing guidance For anyone who has lost a loved one and is trying to develop a clearer connection with them, Closer Than You Think provides hope, comfort and peace that loved ones do live on and are engaging us in a very real way.
In this masterful novel of inheritance and loss, Sonya Chung (Long for This World) proves herself a worthy heir to Marguerite Duras, Hwang Sun-won, and James Salter. Spanning generations and divergent cultures, The Loved Ones maps the intimate politics of unlikely attractions, illicit love, and costly reconciliations. Charles Lee, the young African American patriarch of a biracial family, seeks to remedy his fatherless childhood in Washington, DC, by making an honorable choice when his chance arrives. Years later in the mid-1980s, uneasy and stymied in his marriage to Alice, he finds a connection with Hannah Lee, the teenage Korean American caregiver whose parents' transgressive flight from tradition and war has left them shrouded in a cloud of secrets and muted passion. A shocking and senseless death will test every familial bond and force all who are touched by the tragedy to reexamine who their loved ones truly are--the very meaning of the words. Haunting, elliptical, and powerful, The Loved Ones deconstructs the world we think we know and shows us the one we inhabit.
Death is not the end. In fact, your loved ones who have passed are watching you, helping you, and healing you-though you may not know it. In this highly emotional book, lifelong intuitive Sue Frederick takes you through the process of connecting with the other side to: - Use your intuition to understand that your loved ones are at peace - See into the other side to feel and release your pain - Help loved ones cross over - Use your own birth path number to discover what obstacles you might have on this journey and how to overcome them - Understand a bigger view of spirituality and what happens after life -And so much more Filled with heartwarming, reassuring stories of Sue's own experiences and those of others, Bridges to Heaven is a landmark book about grief, death, and life.
The first general consumer book ever on the powerful, award-winning, scientifically proven new system of intervention that is turning the recovery field on its head. Historically there have been few options available for individuals seeking help for treatment-resistant loved ones suffering from substance abuse. Co-author Dr. Robert Meyers spent ten years developing a treatment program that helps concerned significant others bth improve the quality of their lives and learn how to make treatment an attractive option for their partners who are substance abusers. Get Your Loved One Sober describes this multi-faceted program that uses supportive, non-confrontational methods to engage substance abusers into treatment. Called Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT), the program uses scientifically validated behavioral principles to reduce the loved one's substance use and to encourage him or her to seek treatment. Equally important, CRAFT also helps loved ones reduce personal stress and introduce meaningful, new sources of satisfaction into their life. Key Features: --CRAFT is more effective than other types of interventions.This breakthrough new system is sweeping the recovery field. This is its first introduction to the general public. --Contains simple exercises readers can practice at their own pace, with no costly or heart-breaking interventions. --Proven successful for numerous addictions, not just alcoholism.
Passed and Present is a one-of-a-kind guide for discovering creative and meaningful ways to keep the memory of loved ones alive. Inspiring and imaginative, this bona fide "how-to” manual teaches us how to remember those we miss most, no matter how long they’ve been gone. Passed and Present is not about sadness and grieving. It is about happiness and remembering. It is possible to look forward, to live a rich and joyful life, while keeping the memory of loved ones alive. This much-needed, easy-to-use roadmap shares 85 imaginative ways to celebrate and honor family and friends we never want to forget. Chapter topics include: Repurpose With Purpose: Ideas for transforming objects and heirlooms. Discover ways to reimagine photographs, jewelry, clothing, letters, recipes, and virtually any inherited item or memento. Use Technology: Strategies for your daily, digital life. Opportunities for using computers, scanners, printers, apps, mobile devices, and websites. Not Just Holidays: Tips for remembrance any time of year, day or night, whenever you feel that pull, be it a loved one’s birthday, an anniversary, or just a moment when a memory catches you by surprise. Monthly Guide: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and other special times of year present unique challenges and opportunities. This chapter provides exciting ideas for making the most of them while keeping your loved one’s memory alive. Places to Go: Destinations around the world where reflecting and honoring loved ones is a communal activity. This concept is called Commemorative Travel. Also included are suggestions for incorporating aspects of these foreign traditions into your practices at home. Being proactive about remembering loved ones has a powerful and unexpected benefit: it can make you happier. The more we incorporate memories into our year-round lives as opposed to sectioning them off to a particular time of year, the more we can embrace the people who have passed, and all that’s good and fulfilling in our present. With beautiful illustrations throughout by artist Jennifer Orkin Lewis,Passed and Present also includes an introduction by Hope Edelman, bestselling author of Motherless Daughters.
“Where Did You Go? offers deep comfort to anyone who has lost a loved one and hopes to explore what frontier science is now demonstrating: while a heart may stop beating, consciousness never dies.” —Lynne McTaggart, bestselling author of The Field From Christina Rasmussen, the much beloved and acclaimed author of Second Firsts, comes a groundbreaking exploration of the afterlife that combines spirituality with cutting edge science—and reveals we all have the power to connect with our loved ones on the other side. “Where did you go?” This was the first question Christina Rasmussen asked after the death of her husband. A young widow with two daughters, Rasmussen would go on to become an esteemed grief educator who helped countless others rebuild their lives after loss. Yet, even as she learned to thrive again, that first heartbreaking question persisted. Even as she and her clients forged new paths and discovered new joy, the same questions remained: Are we capable of connecting to those who have passed on? What really happens after we die? As a professional grounded in science, Christina was a skeptic who shied away from the conventional mystical, supernatural, and religious descriptions of the afterlife—so she turned to what seemed “provable” to unravel the mystery of life beyond life: physics. What she found was beyond anything she could have expected: not only is there life after death, but we all have the ability to connect with loved ones who have passed on. Sharing an inspiring message of hope, optimism, and love, Where Did You Go? is a transporting step-by-step guide to journeying to the other side, from one of our most trusted voices on life after loss. Bridging the gap between the metaphysical and the measurable, it will change the way we grieve, the way we live and how we define our potential—in this life and the hereafter.
“Ferocious, visceral descriptions . . . give a powerful sense not only of Suhaila’s world but also of the way we make and understand memories.”—Booklist “Often intense and lyrical.”—Kirkus Reviews This winner of the Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Literature mingles memories of the past with the shifting voices of the present when the estranged son of an Iraqi exile flies from his home in Toronto to visit her in Paris. As his ailing mother, the once-vibrant Suhaila, lies in a hospital bed, he acquaints himself with her constellation of close friends. Immediately, he becomes immersed in the complex relationships he has fought so hard to avoid: with his mother and his war-torn homeland. Alia Mamdouh weaves a magical tale of the human condition in this stunning and beautifully written novel of faith, family, and hope.
A useful guide book for persons already caring for dying relatives and friends as well as those who wish to prepare for care giving responsibilites in the future.
