On the cusp of World War II, Ranie Foster buries her beloved grandmother and flees impending marriage. She forges a new life intertwined with three strangers. Their lie-sealed odyssey encounters love, racism, natural disaster and murder.
All the stars come out in Angel Island in this charming, inspirational novel from New York Times bestselling authors Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer. A movie crew arrives to shoot a film in Cape Light, and Angel Island provides a perfect backdrop. Liza’s inn welcomes the cast and crew, including the famous actress Charlotte Miller. Charlotte is surprisingly down to earth and is totally charmed by the island, especially the inn, where she chooses to stay instead of at more lavish accommodations. But one day, Charlotte nearly drowns and is saved by local fisherman Colin Doyle. Their attraction is instant and undeniable—even though they come from completely different worlds. As Charlotte spends more time on the island, the relationship seems meant to be. They keep meeting up, by accident at first, then on purpose. But Colin believes he has little to offer this celebrated beauty. He doesn’t realize that Charlotte would give up her glamorous life for him and Angel Island, if only she knew his true feelings. It seems only a miracle could bring them together. Then again, with faith and love on their side, Angel Island is just the sort of place where miracles can happen.
Despite being one of the most popular writers of her day, Hayashi Fumiko (1903–1951) has remained virtually unknown outside of Japan. Describing her life and literature, author Susanna Fessler weaves together major events in Fumiko's life and the effect they had on her writing by using a thematical narrative including translations of key passages, critical commentary, and full translations of three essays (My Horizon, Literature, Travel, Etc., and My Work). Particular focus is given to Fumiko's imagery, the centrality of longing and loneliness in her writing, the influence of travel on her life and work, the non-political nature of her narratives, and the importance of free will in her world view
The third in Sven Hedin's Central Asia trilogy, The Wandering Lake is arguably his most famous work and a rare account of a now-vanished world. The lake of Lop Nur, the 'heart of the heart of Asia', is one of the world's strangest phenomena. Situated in the wild Chinese province of Xinjiang, Lop Nur - 'the wandering lake'- has for millennia been in a perpetual state of flux, drifting north to south, often tens of kilometres in as many years. It was once the lifeblood of the great Silk Road kingdom of Loulan, which flourished in this otherwise barren region 2,000 years ago, and its peculiar movements confused even Ptolemy, who marked the lake twice on his map of Asia. Following 'the pulse-beats of Lop Nur as a doctor examines a patient's heart', Sven Hedin became captivated by its peripatetic movements and for forty years his destiny was inextricably linked with that of this mysterious lake and the region surrounding it. His last journey to Lop Nur was in 1934, just days after he was released as a prisoner of General Ma Chung-yin (the rebel leader of Xinjiang). Travelling the length of the Konche-daria and Kum-daria rivers by canoe, Hedin embarked on his last Central Asian expedition and proved what he had always suspected - that Lop Nur did indeed shift position - and why. When he camped on its vast banks at night, Lop Nur was deep and full. Today, this once great lake - a mighty reservoir in the desert - is nothing but windblown sand and salty marsh. A gripping story of adventure and discovery, The Wandering Lake is a masterpiece by one of history's last great explorers.
Fleeing a failed marriage and haunted by ghosts of his past, Luis Alberto Urrea jumped into his car several years ago and headed west. Driving cross-country with a cat named Rest Stop, Urrea wandered the West from one year's Spring through the next. Hiking into aspen forests where leaves "shiver and tinkle like bells" and poking alongside creeks in the Rockies, he sought solace and wisdom. In the forested mountains he learned not only the names of trees—he learned how to live. As nature opened Urrea's eyes, writing opened his heart. In journal entries that sparkle with discovery, Urrea ruminates on music, poetry, and the landscape. With wonder and spontaneity, he relates tales of marmots, geese, bears, and fellow travelers. He makes readers feel mountain air "so crisp you feel you could crunch it in your mouth" and reminds us all to experience the magic and healing of small gestures, ordinary people, and common creatures. Urrea has been heralded as one of the most talented writers of his generation. In poems, novels, and nonfiction, he has explored issues of family, race, language, and poverty with candor, compassion, and often astonishing power. Wandering Time offers his most intimate work to date, a luminous account of his own search for healing and redemption.
What would happen if one day you decided to follow your heart? Where would it take you? Author Pia Jane Bijkerk takes us on her journey as she leaves her comfortable life in Sydney to follow, unconditionally, her instincts. Setting up home first in Paris, then on a houseboat in Amsterdam, Pia observes the serendipitous moments that only present themselves when you let go and follow your dreams. With beautiful photographs from her travels in France, Amsterdam, Belgium, Italy and Sydney, My Heart Wanders is a reflective, inspirational, tender memoir that speaks to “the wandering heart” in all of us.
Only the most naïve or tendentious among us would deny the extent and intensity of suffering in the world. Can one hold, consistently with the common view of suffering in the world, that there is an omniscient, omnipotent, perfectly good God? This book argues that one can. Wandering in Darkness first presents the moral psychology and value theory within which one typical traditional theodicy, namely, that of Thomas Aquinas, is embedded. It explicates Aquinas's account of the good for human beings, including the nature of love and union among persons. Eleonore Stump also makes use of developments in neurobiology and developmental psychology to illuminate the nature of such union. Stump then turns to an examination of narratives. In a methodological section focused on epistemological issues, the book uses recent research involving autism spectrum disorder to argue that some philosophical problems are best considered in the context of narratives. Using the methodology argued for, the book gives detailed, innovative exegeses of the stories of Job, Samson, Abraham and Isaac, and Mary of Bethany. In the context of these stories and against the backdrop of Aquinas's other views, Stump presents Aquinas's own theodicy, and shows that Aquinas's theodicy gives a powerful explanation for God's allowing suffering. She concludes by arguing that this explanation constitutes a consistent and cogent defense for the problem of suffering.
In the first entry in the Madison River Romance series, Keira Knudsen gets the traveling opportunity of a lifetime, but when she reunites with her first love, Robbie, she learns that even a wandering heart needs a home.... No one in the quaint town of West Yellowstone, Montana knows that unassuming geography teacher Keira Knudsen moonlights as sensational travel blogger Kat Wanderfull. No one, that is, except for her first love, Robbie Matthews, who has just discovered the woman he is falling for online is the same one that broke his heart five years ago. But Robbie has another problem: the mother of his daughter, Anabelle, has resurfaced after a three-year absence determined to rip Anabelle away from him. Robbie needs a steady paycheck for a chance at custody, and now, on the eve of a grand adventure that could give Keira a chance to flee her old, troubled life once and for all, she is in need of assistance. With so much broken trust between them, Keira and Robbie must keep an arms-length away to make this partnership work. But the more time they spend together, exploring majestic places and sharing new experiences, the closer they get--until their secrets and dreams threaten to cost them everything.
As the only child of troubled parents, author John Loomis was isolated from his peers and grew up shy, bookish, and knowing from an early age he was different in a seemingly serious and unacceptable way. Gradually, he made peace with being gay and continued his search for love, leading to many adventures, much happiness, and some heartbreak. He shares his story in the Wandering Heart trilogy. The first volume discussed his early years and young-adult life. In the second volume, Loomis continued his story, describing how his battle with alcoholism and recurring depression made his path more difficult, particularly after he became involved with a handsome and gifted young man who revealed he was married, a male prostitute, the son of a well-known actress, and a heroin addict. After trying to make this relationship work, Loomis admitted defeat, as the addiction was too powerful to allow space for other human beings. In this third volume, he shares how he met another more positive partner and how they have now been happily together for more than thirty-five years. Filled with an array of photographs of people and places, Wandering Heart: A Gay Mans Journey narrates how Loomis has experienced a series of rewarding relationships and additional adventuressome fantastic and others supernatural.