Showing titles in Family Life

Winner of the 2017 Red Hen Press Women’s Prose Prize, Like Wings, Your Hands is both a philosophical novel and a coming-of-age story, exploring a mother-son relationship in the context of disability and interdependence....

The last thing Vi Purdet wanted to do was spend Thanksgiving weekend putting a roof on her parents' house with her two asshole brothers. There was a storm headed their way: a rain storm and a shit storm.

Manhattan, 1962. Frederick Bailey is a quiet, cultured, closeted architect reluctantly drawn into the effort to save Pennsylvania Station from being demolished. But when he meets Curt, a vibrant, immature gay activist more than half his age, he is overtaken by passions he hasn't felt in years, putting everything he cares about - his friends, his family, his career and reputation - at risk. As the elegant old train station is dismantled piece by piece to make way for the crass new Madison Square Garden sports arena, Frederick must undergo a reckoning he has dreaded all his life.

Blanche McCrary Boyd’s first novel in 20 years continues the story of her protagonist Ellen Burns. When Tomb of the Unknown Racist opens in 1999, Ellen - now sober, haunted by her activist past, her failed relationships - is taking care of her demented mother in South Carolina....

You know what's best for your child. Don't you? Riley Pieterson is an adventurous girl with lots of questions. There's plenty she doesn't know yet: What a human brain looks like. All the constellations in the night sky. Why others can't see her the way she sees herself. When Riley confides in her parents - Sally and Theo - that she feels uncomfortable in her own skin, a chain of events begins that changes their lives forever. Sally wants to support her daughter by helping her be who she dreams of being. Theo resists; he thinks Riley is a seven-year-old child pushing boundaries.

Jonathan Lewis-Adey was nine when his mother, Sid, vanished entirely from his life. It’s not until he’s a grown man that Jonathan finally reconnects with his beloved lost parent, only to find, to his shock and dismay, that the woman he knew as 'Sid' in Toronto has become an elegant man named Sydney living in his native Trinidad. For nine years, Jonathan has paid regular visits to Sydney, trying with quiet desperation to rediscover the parent he adored inside this familiar stranger.

2007: at the end of a momentous day, Charlie, Stella and John cross paths under the arches of Paddington Station. As Charlie locks eyes with Stella across the platform, a brief, powerful spark of recognition flashes between them. But they are strangers...aren't they? Plunging back 30 years we watch as, unknown to them all, the lives of Stella and John, and Charlie and his girlfriend Beth, are pulled ever closer, an invisible thread connecting them across the decades and through London's busy streets.

Sunday’s father is dying of cancer. They’ve come home to Malagash, on the north shore of Nova Scotia, so he can die where he grew up. Her mother and her brother are both devastated. But devastated isn’t good enough. Devastated doesn’t fix anything. Sunday has a plan.

Jonathan Lewis-Adey was nine when his parents separated, and his mother, Sid, vanished entirely from his life. It is not until he is a grown man that Jonathan finally reconnects with his beloved lost parent, only to find, to his shock and dismay, that the woman he knew as "Sid" in Toronto has become an elegant man named Sydney living in his native Trinidad.

A young man who's afraid to come out of the closet but has no other choice in "Dad, I'm Gay". Say good-bye to Cassie in "I'll Dance at Your Wedding". Love can be deadly in "I Only Have Eyes for You".

Divorced and apart from his young daughter, Vince just can't get into the Christmas spirit. He's supposed to be free, gay, and out. His ex-wife even encourages him to date and be happy - but his heart isn't in it. Vince's younger officemate Tom is working through dark times. He can't navigate his way out of a paper bag, but his personable manner and generosity is the bright candle that lights the way for both of them. Friends, family, and the greater New York area means nobody needs to be alone.

When the revered children's book author Mort Lear dies accidentally at his Connecticut home, he leaves his property and all its contents to his trusted assistant, Tomasina Daulair, who is moved by his generosity but dismayed by the complicated and defiant directives in his will. Tommy knew Morty for more than four decades, since meeting him in a Manhattan playground when she was 12 and he was working on sketches for the book that would make him a star.

The next 24 hours may be the most important in Sascha Meyer's life. Returning with his husband Dan and their twin boys to the village of his youth to bury his mother, he'll confront more than feelings of grief and loss at her funeral. His strained relationship with his brother Mike, who is struggling in his own marriage, and the far-reaching influence of his late parents can't be ignored any longer.

Every Kind of Wanting explores the complex intersection of three unique families. Miguel Guerra, who grew up in poverty in Venezuela before his family's relocation to Chicago, could not be more different from his partner Chad Merry, a happy-go-lucky real estate mogul from Chicago's wealthy North Shore. When Chad's sister, Gretchen - struggling with the deterioration of her marriage - offers the couple her eggs, they begin scrambling for a surrogate to carry the child, finally settling on Miguel's old friend Emily, happily married to an eccentric Irish playwright.

Jack Farley, at 21 years of age, thought his life should be a dream come true. But somewhere along the way he found himself lost and alone. So, in 1983, he finds himself at the crossroads, unsure of which path will lead him back to passion and fulfillment. He returns to home, to Dallas, to old loves that broke his heart. But every step along the way is filled with mishaps, new discoveries, and, if he's lucky, a chance to not only find love but also acceptance by his estranged father.

Born into an extraordinarily talented family, 29-year-old Michael Van Allen is the gay son of a well-known concert pianist and an equally famous painter. All his life he has yearned for the talent and creativity that should have been his birthright but have somehow been denied him. When he wakes up in a mental hospital, his memory gone, his former life erased, his doctor tells him of his screaming breakdown during one of his father's performances. This is the story of Michael's journey in search of his former self.

The world of this novel moves back in time as the layers are peeled away to reveal the truth about a long-ago family tragedy that impacts the characters' lives for years after. Beginning with a young college student haunted by her own choices and ending with the surprisingly serene image of an aging woman looking back on her turbulent life, the story encompasses a panorama of events set against the changing social backdrop of the middle years of the 20th century.

After twenty-three years of marriage to Zack Ronan - and after raising the widower's three kids - Chris finds himself facing an uncertain second act. Seeking refuge in North Carolina's Outer Banks, Chris has to come to terms with his own empty nest and challenge himself to move forward with a new relationship. This is a subtle depiction of the meaning of family and motherhood, and of the search for your true soul.

In The Boomerang Kid, Maura Ostryder is coming into her own, professionally and privately, as she begins her 51st year. Maura has always been the master of her own life and has reared her son, Kai (named for the Hawaiian word for sea) to be the same way. But now a grown Kai has come home, having fled emotional attachments to both a young man and a young woman, bringing with him his addiction to painkillers.

In The Beloved Son, one family must cope with life's ever-changing moments as two sons are faced with the issue of their aging parents. Karl Preston lives an ideal American life with his wife and daughter in an affluent North Carolina suburb. At his father's request, Karl travels to Florida for a weekend visit that starts a roller coaster of family drama and heartache. Not only does Karl have to deal with his gay brother Sven, who is the primary caretaker of their parents, he must also confront his mother's growing dementia.