Showing results by narrator "Laural Merlington" in All Categories

How would you feel if your 2-year-old child was diagnosed as autistic and mentally retarded? That he would go into his room and never come out, and would be institutionalized by age 17? This was the grim life sentence handed down to Lori and Jim Cairns regarding their son, JR. This diagnosis was made in 1996 - when little was known about autism, governments offered few helpful resources, and hope for recovery was disregarded as a myth, an urban legend.

Megan Sawyer is determined to farm year-round. She's braving a December snowstorm after pitching her greenhouse greens to Philadelphia chefs when she sees a stranger stranded on the side of the road. It's Merry Chance's niece Becca, and she's headed to Winsome to sell her love potions at holiday events - or so she thinks. Merry has an ulterior motive in inviting her niece to Winsome, but her plan to reunite Becca with her estranged father goes awry when Becca's father turns up dead.

Absolute Madness tells the disturbing true story of Joseph Christopher, a white serial killer who targeted black males and struck fear into the residents of Buffalo and New York City in the 1980s. Dubbed both the .22-Caliber Killer and the Midtown Slasher, Christopher allegedly claimed eighteen victims during a savage four-month spree across the state.

Each of the Godmothers - Toots, Ida, Sophie, and Mavis - brings her own unique strengths to their extraordinary friendship. In particular, Sophie's psychic gift has helped rescue the Godmothers from a few tight spots. But her abilities can spark trouble too. And on the eve of her first wedding anniversary, Sophie begins experiencing some very strange events in the house she shares with her beloved husband, Goebel.

In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Nebraska schoolteacher Audrey Stone wants to support the war effort in any way she can. When her community starts a canteen at the train station, Audrey spends nearly every spare moment there, offering food and kindness to the soldiers passing through. She never expected to fall for a local boy...or face the challenges of budding love in the face of war.

As Sophie De Luca has learned, many things really are better the second time around. She's celebrating a wonderful year of marriage to her sweet second husband, Goebel. Meanwhile, the rekindled bond between Sophie and her childhood friends Toots, Ida, and Mavis is stronger and more supportive than it's ever been. All four are happily settled outside of Charleston, and Toots, who'd sworn to never marry again after eight trips down the aisle.

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 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.

As the newest apprentices to Petrarch's Library, Dorrie and her brother are determined to help search for the missing key that could destroy their beloved library. On a training mission to 1912 England, Dorrie sees her chance to help. All she needs to do is get close to a lord with a connection to the Lybrarians' enemy - the Stronghold.

Gertrud and her foster sister, Hanna, used to be inseparable. But as the years pass, Hanna becomes the beautiful one while Gertrud remains plain. Their once unbreakable bond is strained by jealousy - until Gertrud is brutally murdered and Hanna disappears without a trace.

Moll Flanders, Defoe's 18th century classic novel, is at once a novel of sin and redemption and a playful and beguiling social commentary set between the Puritan age and the Age of Reason. Taking center stage in this whorl of irony, humor, pathos, and religious faith is one Moll Flanders - both the most plausible sinner and the most pious repentant in English literature. Moll is as controversial today as when she first appeared in 1722.

A novel of immense power, Wuthering Heights is filled with the raw beauty of the English moors and a deep compassion for the conflicting destinies of men and women. The novel begins with Lockwood, a tenant who takes up residence close to Wuthering Heights. His landlord, Mr. Heathcliff, proves to be surly, unfriendly, and rude. When Lockwood discovers a mildewed book with the names Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff, and Catherine Linton scratched on its cover, he begins to read, sojourning on a strange tale that proves irresistible. The heart-wrenching story he discovers about stubborn Cathy and wild-as-the-wind Heathcliff has been a favorite since its original publication in 1848.

Civility and society come head to head in Henry James’ seminal work. The heroine of this powerful novel is the spirited young American Isabel Archer. Blessed by nature and fortune, she journeys to Europe to seek her future, but what she finds may prove to be her undoing. She is courted by three men: an English aristocrat, an American gentleman, and a sensitive expatriate. Her invalid cousin becomes her benefactor and adviser.

For years, Monty Carawan has envied his sister's wealth. Spiteful and self-centered, he's convinced that her success came at the expense of his own future. But when the housing market plunges and Candace attempts to disentangle herself from Monty's mess, her brother’s malicious streak brings the family tension to a dangerous boiling point.

In these absorbing and exquisitely made novellas of relationships at home and abroad, both historical and contemporary, we meet the ferocious Simone Weil during her final days as a transplant to New York City; a vulnerable American grad student who escapes to Italy after her first, compromising love affair; the charming Irish liar of the title novella, who gets more out of life than most of us; and Thomas Mann, opening the heart of a high-school kid in America.

In a period of just three days, everything changes for young painter Eduardo “Tato” Simmone, who has never sold a painting. During the funeral of Tato’s renowned and beloved mentor, Aníbal Marsotti, Tato meets two people who will determine his fate: a beautiful young woman who may be a vampire and a major dealer of art forgeries. Tato gets caught up investigating the theft of famed Italian figurative painter Amadeo Modigliani’s tombstone, and all signs point to Curitiba, Brazil - Tato’s hometown.

From the award-winning author of A Watershed Year comes a heartrending story of unlikely bonds made under dire straits. Holly is a young widow with two kids living in a ramshackle house in the same small town where she grew up wealthy. Now barely able to make ends meet editing the town's struggling newspaper, she manages to stay afloat with help from her family. Then her mother suffers a stroke, and Holly's world begins to completely fall apart.

Artist Lexie McCain spends her days literally weaving the story of her life into a gorgeous tapestry. But on Monday nights, she walks to the Corner Bar, drinks a Killian’s, and answers the same question every week from Sam the bartender: “One thing?” She starts with her name, then her cottage, slowly moving on to the devastating tragedies that tore her life apart.

So you think you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl with the unfortunate name and the inability to tell the difference between her grandmother and a member of a different species? Well, then, try your hand at answering these questions: Which character (not including Little Red herself) is the most fashion challenged? Who (not including the wolf) is the scariest? Who (not including Granny) is the most easily scared? Who is the strangest? (Notice we’re not "not including" anyone, because they’re all a little off.) Who (no fair saying "the author") has stuffing for brains?

This book continues Chicken Soup for the Soul's focus on inspiration and hope in these difficult times. These inspirational stories remind us that each day holds something to be thankful for - whether it is having the sun shine or having food on the table. These stories of the joy of giving, attitude, and being grateful for what you have remind us of the simple pleasures of family, home, health, and inexpensive good times.