Showing results by narrator "Laural Merlington" in All Categories

Acclaimed nature writer Susan Hand Shetterly opens a window into the world of this fascinating organism by providing an elegant, often poetic, look at life on the rugged shore of the Gulf of Maine. Shetterly offers a close look at the life cycle of seaweed and introduces us to the men and women who farm and harvest it - and their increasingly difficult task of protecting this critical natural resource against forces both natural and man-made.    

In their unusual approach to justice, the seven women of the Sisterhood have stuck together through it all, including living as fugitives. But for the first time, the Sisterhood verges on falling apart after Charles Martin asks them to choose between two difficult assignments. The first job could make them more money than they could ever imagine, the second offers something even more valuable: a presidential pardon, and along with it, a chance for the ladies to finally emerge from hiding.

In Rapt, acclaimed behavioral science writer Winifred Gallagher makes the argument that the quality of your life largely depends on what you choose to pay attention to and how you choose to do it. Gallagher grapples with provocative questions - Can we train our focus? What's different about the way creative people pay attention? Why do we often zero in on the wrong factors when making big decisions? - driving us to reconsider what we think we know about attention.

Still staying at the Hill House hotel while her beloved home is being rebuilt, Jessica Fletcher finds herself sharing the space for a weekend with a dozen members of a wedding party who have gathered there for a rehearsal dinner. The families of the bride and groom can't stand each other but have agreed to put aside years of long-simmering tension to celebrate the nuptials. Unfortunately, a historic blizzard that dumps nearly five feet of snow on Cabot Cove, leaving everyone stranded. But the hotel guests have bigger things to worry about, because a murderer has shown up uninvited.

Susan Shumsky is a successful author in the new age/spirituality field, writing books on meditation, intuition, prayer, auras, chakras, and the like. But in the 1970s, she was one of only a handful of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s personal attendants and administrators, in India, Switzerland, and elsewhere. Following the teachings of Maharishi displaced Susan’s devotion to the hippie lifestyle, as she learned about meditation and grew spiritually self-aware. Maharishi founded the spiritual movement TM (Transcendental Meditation).

Nursing a broken heart, Robbie Jordan is trading in her life on the West Coast for the rolling hills of Southern Indiana. After paying a visit to her Aunt Adele, she fell in love with the tiny town of South Lick. And when she spots a "for sale" sign on a rundown country store, she decides to snap it up and put her skills as a cook and a carpenter to use. Everyone in town shows up for the grand reopening of Pans 'n Pancakes, but when the mayor's disagreeable assistant is found dead, Robbie realizes that not all press is good press.

Bayes' rule appears to be a straightforward, one-line theorem: by updating our initial beliefs with objective new information, we get a new and improved belief. To its adherents, it is an elegant statement about learning from experience. To its opponents, it is subjectivity run amok. Sharon Bertsch McGrayne here explores this controversial theorem and the human obsessions surrounding it.

When heartache and loss invade Karen Pierce's carefully ordered world, she is devastated. Her plans and dreams for the future seem distant and unattainable, and she is bound by a promise to care for two young adults who are struggling with a loss of their own. Continuing their journey north to the goldfields seems their only option, and Adrik Ivanov agrees to be their guide. With the constant threat of winter hastening their pace, Adrik wonders at the wisdom of their decision.

Upon arrival in Edmonton, Jessica is quickly outed as mystery writer J. B. Fletcher, and despite numerous protests, a hotel staffer arranges a book signing for her. This and touristy adventures arranged for the group make for a much busier trip than Jessica was expecting. When a hotel bartender, who also happens to be a stagehand for Emma’s play, turns up dead backstage at the theater, Jessica’s fun and relaxing vacation quickly becomes anything but.

Nine years ago Richard Allen fled England when his avaricious father, the Earl of Manford, betrothed him to Julia Miller, the young daughter of London’s wealthiest merchant. Having seen how his father’s ambition ruined his older brother’s prospects for happiness with an arranged marriage, free-spirited Richard takes to the sea, determined to live his own life. In the Caribbean, he joins a band of treasure-hunting pirates and adopts the persona of a Frenchman named Jean Paul.

Together, the seven fearless friends known as the Sisterhood have served sweet justice to villains who thought they were above the law. But payback has its price, and the Sisterhood's last assignment almost landed them in jail. Now the women are fugitives with a bounty on their heads, but they're not planning on hiding out for long - not when good friends need the kind of help only they can give.

In his early 20s, Mindy Greiling's son, Jim, was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder after experiencing delusions that demanded he kill his mother. At the time, and for more than a decade after, Greiling was a Minnesota state legislator who struggled, along with her husband, to navigate and improve the state's inadequate mental health system. Fix What You Can is an illuminating and frank account of caring for a person with a mental illness, told by a parent and advocate. 

When Alexis Thorn and Joe Esposito encounter a young woman sobbing alone in a restaurant, they step into action and offer their comfort and sympathy. They soon learn that the woman’s husband was recently killed in action in Afghanistan. Before he reported for duty, they took steps to preserve their chances of having children. But when Bella visits the fertility clinic, she discovers her eggs are no longer there - and the circumstances are beyond suspicious. Heartbroken at this tale of shattered hopes, Alexis recruits the Sisterhood to investigate.

For years, Paula Woodley has suffered the broken bones and shattered self-esteem caused by an abusive marriage. But what can she do? Her high-profile, Washington power-broker husband is not a man to be crossed. Or so he thinks. The Sisterhood may not be an organization found in any of his memos, but he's about to take a meeting with them - and they'll be setting the agenda.

Anne of Avonlea follows Anne Shirley from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at Avonlea School.

The book features many of the characters from Anne of Green Gables, including Marilla Cuthbert, Gilbert Blythe, and Diana Barry, and some new ones: Mr. Harrison, Miss Lavendar Lewis, Paul Irving, and the twins Dora and Davy. Anne matures slightly over time, even though she cannot avoid getting into a number of her familiar scrapes.

Just returned to their mountaintop hideaway in the wake of their latest successful mission, the seven fearless friends have barely had time to enjoy a celebratory dinner with their mentor, Charles Martin, when they're embroiled in a new adventure. In the middle of the night, the Sisters are awakened by an alarm bell. Suspecting intruders, they run to the compound, only to see Myra and Charles rushing towards a helicopter. Within seconds, the two have flown away, with no explanation.

She is a fragile innocent haunted by memories of her past and by dreams of the man who once shared her secrets...the only man she can ever truly love. Now, in the icy chill of a desert storm, they must find the way back to love together - to rekindle the fire whose healing warmth has drawn them home.

Dr. Jamie Wood and Dr. Anne Peters, two of the most respected and sought-after endocrinologists, provide an easy-to-follow narrative on all aspects of the disease. Offering practical, evidence-based, and common sense help, The Type 1 Diabetes Self-Care Manual will be the go-to reference for everyone touched by type 1 diabetes. 

Johanna Lindsey brings back her popular Malory family in this special holiday story, bringing her scandalous Malorys face-to-face with their distant gypsy kin. Fans will get a chance to see how it all started as their mysterious grandmother's gypsy kin comes to them for help, and another Malory falls head-over-heels for a member of the tribe.

Julia Webster's husband, a U.S. Senator, has used his wife's graciousness and elegance to advance his career even as he's abused her trust at every turn and left her dreams for the future in tatters. Now, on the eve of his greatest political victory, he's about to learn a serious lesson in payback. Because the senator crossed the wrong woman...and there are six more where she came from.