A contemporary classic and a landmark in autobiographical filmmaking, 'Sink or Swim' is an unflinching account of the highly charged relationship between a daughter and her father. Through a series of twenty-six short stories, a young girl chronicles the childhood events that shaped her ideas about fatherhood, family relations, work and play. As the stories unfold, a dual portrait emerges: that of a father who cared more for his career than for his...

"When a high-risk neurosurgery procedure results in the death of a teenager, Maggie Sullivan finds herself in the middle of a lawsuit. She knows she needs to slow down before she burns out completely, and the best place she can think to do that is Sullivan's Crossing, the land that now belongs to her eccentric father, Sully. But shortly after arriving, Maggie's world is rocked once again and she must take on more responsibility than she'd planned....

The loons are back again on Golden Pond and so are Norman Thayer, a retired professor, and Ethel who have had a summer cottage there since early in their marriage. This summer their daughter Chelsea -- whom they haven't seen for years -- feels she must be there for Norman's birthday. She and her fiance are on their way to Europe the next day but will be back in a couple of weeks to pick up the fiance's son. When she returns Chelsea is married and...

Dreaming of life in the city while caring for her alcoholic father and working in a 1960s boys' prison, a disturbed young woman is manipulated into committing a psychologically charged crime during the holiday season. The Christmas season offers little cheer for Eileen Dunlop, an unassuming yet disturbed young woman trapped between her role as her alcoholic father's caretaker in a home whose squalor is the talk of the neighborhood and a day job as...

The family routine is upset during Ramona's year in second grade when her father unexpectedly loses his job. Ramona Quimby is a character intimately known by Beverly Cleary readers. In this story of Ramona's year in second grade they will come to know Mr. Quimby equally well. As it opens he loses his job without warning, and Ramona's seven-year-old view of this all-too-frequently family crisis rings every change of mood from tears to laughter. Not...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • The bestselling author of Nobody's Fool and Straight Man delves deep into the blue-collar heart of America in a work that overflows with hilarity, heartache, and grace.
“Rich, humorous ... Mr. Russo’s most seductive book thus far.” —The New York Times
Welcome to Empire Falls, a blue-collar town full of abandoned...

"Spanning much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the novel follows the fortunes of the extraordinary Whittaker family as led by the enterprising Henry Whittaker--a poor-born Englishman who makes a great fortune in the South American quinine trade, eventually becoming the richest man in Philadelphia. Born in 1800, Henry's brilliant daughter, Alma (who inherits both her father's money and his mind), ultimately becomes a botanist of considerable...

First performed in 1905 and published in 1907, "Major Barbara" is a dramatic play by the famed Irish playwright and activist George Bernard Shaw. The story centers around its title character who, as an officer in the Salvation Army, becomes disenchanted by the increasing social problems that she sees and the willingness of her organization to accept money from armament manufacturers. Barbara is disillusioned about the good work the Salvation Army...

"Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is asked to provide security for a visiting Professor of Statistics at the nearby university. It sounds easy enough. That is until Gamache discovers an agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel the lecture. They refuse and accuse Gamache of censorship. Before long, Professor Abigail Robinson's views start seeping into conversation. Discussions become debates, debates become arguments, which turn into fights....

"At last, Helena Pelletier has the life she deserves. A loving husband, two beautiful daughters, a business that fills her days. Then she catches an emergency news announcement and realizes she was a fool to think she could ever leave her worst days behind her. Helena has a secret: she is the product of an abduction. Her mother was kidnapped as a teenager by her father and kept in a remote cabin in the marshlands of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. No...