I love a novel that provokes me to think hard about what it means to be human.
I’ll be forever haunted by this story about a troubled man who commits an unspeakable act of violence, and the mother of the woman he murdered, who invites him into her home. The story made me rethink everything about the boundaries of love and forgiveness and whether it’s really possible to be at peace with events you can’t change.
Equally haunting is the spare, poetic prose of Em Strang’s writing. From time to time, I open the book just to ruminate on a few of its most stunning sentences.
* A New Statesman Most Anticipated Title for 2023 *
From an award-winning Scottish poet, an unforgettable novel about memory and radical forgiveness
How far would you go to overcome the limits of your own forgiveness?
Quinn is serving a life sentence for a crime he's convinced he hasn't committed. Surely the authorities have got it wrong, and when they find his childhood sweetheart, Andrea, his name will be cleared. His parole is drawing near when he receives an unexpected letter from Andrea's mother, who invites Quinn to share her home.
I grew up in an alcoholic home. To me, my father’s addiction felt like an attachment to an outside lover that threatened the stability of our family. I think this is what motivated me, as a Marriage and Family Therapist, to have a special heart to help couples salvage their marriages from the destructive, outside influence of infidelity, when they so desired. I read every book I could get my hands on about affair recovery, for my clinical knowledge as well as for clients to read. Each of the books I included in this list are among my favorites from my 33 years of experience helping couples.
This is my favorite book on the challenging task of why and how to forgive “unforgivable” offenses. Beverly Flanagan was involved in the Stanford Forgiveness Project and is an expert on the subject of forgiveness. I liked this book because it honors the depth of the pain of wounded persons, including from spousal infidelity, in a way that I seldom see in the “forgiveness” literature. My copy is highlighted on nearly every page. Highly recommended for those who still feel stuck in the mire of pain after a wayward partner’s affair or were deserted by an unremorseful, straying spouse. She offers no clichés or trite solutions. Good for both religious and non-religious readers.
"A clearheaded study of what life can do to us and possible ways to begin again." --Carl A. Whitaker, M.D., author of Midnight Musings of a Family Therapist and coauthor of The Family Crucible Women and men who have been deeply hurt by someone they love often experience a pain that spirals out to undermine their work, relationships, self-esteem, and even their sense of reality. In Forgiving the Unforgivable, author Beverly Flanigan, a leading authority on forgiveness, defines such unforgivable injuries, explains their poisonous effects, and then guides readers out of the paralyzing anger and resentment. As a Fellow of…
Jim Tamm was a Senior Administrative Law Judge for the State of California with jurisdiction over workplace disputes. In that role, he mediated more school district labor strikes than any other person in the United States. Ron Luyet is a licensed psychotherapist who has worked with group dynamics pioneers such as Carl Rogers and Will Schutz. He has advised Fortune 500 companies for over forty years specializing in building high-performance teams. Together they wrote Radical Collaboration and are excited to share this list with you today.
The author provides evidence that treating one another with dignity, encourages people to become more connected and more capable of creating meaningful and collaborative relationships. Drawing on her extensive experience in international conflict resolution along with insights from evolutionary biology, psychology, and neuroscience, she explains what the elements of dignity are and how violating them triggers defensiveness. Defensiveness makes cooperation and collaboration unlikely in any situation often leading to resistance, aggression, sabotage and even violence.
The first comprehensive exploration of dignity, its role in human conflict, and its power to improve relationships of all kinds
"This book is a must read for those who want to experience peace in their everyday lives and peace in the world around them. Without an understanding of dignity, there is no hope for such change. If you want to find the weak links in a democracy, look for where people are suffering. You will most likely see a variety of violations. If you want peace, be sure everyone's dignity is intact."-Archbishop Desmond Tutu
I am a published author, memoir-writing instructor, and retired clinical psychologist. I wrote an initial memoir as a chronological account of my dysfunctional marriages and recovery from them, but lately, I have become very interested in what is termed “hybrid memoirs.” Hybrid memoirs combine personal memoirs with major incidents and research into issues similar to those in the memoir or the culture and laws surrounding them. Since my new book combines my memoir with an account of a crime that affected all the citizens in the country village where I grew up, I have gravitated to memoirs featuring crime as part of the story.
This is both a memoir and the story of a crime. I was interested in this book because the crime happened in the town where I went to university. A crime so close to home seems more frightening, more real.
The author writes a sincere, honest story about how you can be fooled by the person you most want to trust—your husband. I found this book hard to put down.
A remarkably compelling and harrowing story of love and betrayal and one woman’s pursuit of justice, redemption, and healing.
“One month into our marriage, my husband committed horrific violent crimes. In that instant, the life I knew was destroyed. I vowed that one day I would be whole again. This is my story.”
An impassioned, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful story of one woman’s pursuit of justice, forgiveness, and healing.
When Shannon Moroney got married in October 2005, she had no idea that her happy life as a newlywed was about to come crashing down around her. One month after her…
I’m a writer with two sisters very different from me in lifestyle. For example, one went into nursing (I hate blood!), and one was a bookkeeper (I also hate numbers!) I first wrote about loving but dissimilar sisters in a cozy series called The Sleuth Sisters Mysteries, under the pen name Maggie Pill. The books are fun, and readers often tell me which of the sisters they most identify with. “I’m Barb,” or “I’m the nice one.” Seven books later, I found I wanted to examine the darker side of sisterhood. What if things your sister does (or sisters do) make you uncomfortable? What wins: family loyalty or personal integrity?
I liked the premise of this one: Kit’s sister Josie was supposedly killed in a terrorist attack, but one night she sees her on a TV news report in faraway New Zealand.
We might all wonder what we would do if the chance to find and reunite with a lost loved one arose. Questions must be asked and answered: Why did she leave? How could she let us grieve all this time? What happens if I find her?
An Amazon Charts, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller.
From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth.
Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news...
Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It's what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit's world. Live coverage of…
Since I began reading seriously (albeit late in life!), I’ve been seduced by the travails of underdog protagonists trying to save their own lives through transformation. If you had told me when I was a teenager—drinking too much, racing muscle cars, and scraping by with Ds and Cs in a vocational high school—that I would end up teaching writing at a university, I would’ve said you were nuts. It wasn’t until I started college in my mid-twenties that I actually read a novel for the pleasure of it. My novel and short story collection are expressions of my cheering on the young underdogs who bravely fight to change their worlds despite all odds.
In a heartfelt story of redemption, Deanna Lambert was labeled the school slut after her father caught her having car sex with a high school boy. Unforgiven and dejected in a smothering, gossip-fueled small town, Deanna faces the people she least wants to face in a moving attempt to outlive her past, with no help offered by her dysfunctional parents and a sister overwhelmed with young motherhood. I loved the gorgeous realism of this book, fueled by the deep intimacy Zarr creates with her sincere, frank-hearted, narrator.
Sara Zarr's lyrical debut novel--a National Book Award finalist--has been adapted for TV!
I was thirteen when my dad caught me with Tommy Webber in the back of Tommy's Buick. Tommy was seventeen and the supposed friend of my brother, Darren.
I'm not sure I even liked him.
In a moment, Deanna Lambert's teenage life is changed forever. Struggling to overcome the lasting repercussions and the stifling role of "school slut," Deanna longs to escape a life defined by her past. With subtle grace, complicated wisdom, and striking emotion, Story of a Girl reminds us of our human capacity for…
I’m a teacher with passion for history and writing realistic fiction. I published my two books when I was a teenager, and I currently work as a 6th-grade educator teaching writing. I love teaching and working with kids; it keeps me young. When I’m not teaching writing, I love to read realistic fiction, listen to or watch documentaries or horror podcasts, and write short stories.
I absolutely love and recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery or twist at the end of the story. The main characters, three teenage girls, in this book are so well thought out, and every chapter shows the transition of their own thoughts and dialects. It taught me that appearances aren’t always what’s in the mirror, and how much young adults to the elderly struggle and grow throughout their lives. Overall, this book is a fantastic story and worth the read!
This emotional and evocative novel explores the lives of three young women. Madeline, Desiree, and Ariel - who narrate alternating chapters - may live in separate decades, but they struggle with issues that transcend time and place. Madeline is worn down by caring for her alcoholic mother and has been teased since childhood for being overweight. Angry, foul-mouthed Desiree will do anything to avoid her neglectful mother and the unwanted advances of her mother's boyfriend. And sensitive Ariel struggles with the pressures of taking AP classes and coping with a domineering boyfriend. As the girls' individual stories progress, the truth…
I am through and through a storytelling creature and fell in love with books as a child. I first aspired to be a librarian, then an author. Life took me in other directions, and when I found songwriting as a teen, I figured it would be the closest I would ever come to my original dreams. It was not until I escaped from my abusive family as a young adult and dove headfirst into therapy that I realized my story was far darker than I had ever let myself admit. I am now a singer-songwriter and memoirist who believes that sharing our stories with one another will change the world.
This incredible memoir, a truly singular book about an astonishing life, changed my view of the human capacity to survive and thrive. Early on, we see young Edith’s determination of spirit as a teenager imprisoned in Auschwitz. She makes it through to the end of the war, then struggles to build a life beyond the devastation of her unspeakable experience.
She eventually became a renowned psychologist and PTSD therapist. In particular, I greatly appreciated the unique double benefit of witnessing a harrowing account of survival followed by the survivor’s later professional and expert examination of said account–stirring, epic, and endlessly wise.
THE AWARD-WINNING SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Even in hell, hope can flower
'I'll be forever changed by her story' - Oprah Winfrey
'Extraordinary ... will stick with you long after you read it' - Bill Gates
'One of those rare and eternal stories you don't want to end' - Desmond Tutu
'A masterpiece of holocaust literature. Her memoir, like her life, is extraordinary, harrowing and inspiring in equal measure' - The Times Literary Supplement
'I can't imagine a more important message for modern times. Eger's book is a triumph' - The New York Times
I’ve been fascinated with the subjects of forgiveness and reconciliation most of my life. I’ve spent years researching people of the Old Testament, and as I read their stories, I see their need for these things in their relationships. It is a universal need of humans. Because I write about people who actually lived, I read books that deal with the things we all face. Truth is, time may change, but the human heart does not. I’m an amateur theologian and avid reader of books that will help me grow as a person and allow me to understand these ancient people who walked before us.
In The Prince and the Prodigal, Joseph has suffered a huge injustice from the people who should have loved him the most. Lysa’s book deals with the subject of familial hurt and pain, and though Joseph’s situation was not exactly the same, the principles of forgiving those who have wronged us even when we can’t forget what they did is the same.
Everyone experiences hurt or pain from another person. Unfortunately, the ones who hurt us the most tend to be the ones we love the most. I’ve read other books on forgiveness because it’s a subject I’ve had to deal with most of my adult life. When I picked up Lysa’s book on forgiving what you can’t forget, I did a lot of underlining because her words resonated with deep places in my own heart.
One underlined place says, “Destructive choices always affect more people than just the…
You deserve to stop suffering because of what other people have done to you.
Have you ever felt stuck in a cycle of unresolved pain, playing offenses over and over in your mind? You know you can't go on like this, but you don't know what to do next. Lysa TerKeurst has wrestled through this journey. But in surprising ways, she’s discovered how to let go of bound-up resentment and overcome the resistance to forgiving people who aren’t willing to make things right.
With deep empathy, therapeutic insight, and rich Bible teaching coming out of…
I’m a CDQ (caffeinated drama queen) who does everything passionately, whether piping company’s initials into twice-baked potatoes or writing Christian romance. Dubbed the CBA’s “Kissing Queen,” I fell in love with romance at age twelve after reading Gone With the Wind. Today I write Irish-family sagas that evolve into 3-D love stories: the hero, the heroine, and the God that brings them together. As American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year, I’ve garnered 21+ romance awards, was Family Fiction magazine’s #1 Romance Author 2011, 2012 Reader’s Choice Awards, Best of 2014, 2015, and Essential Christian Romance Authors 2017-2021. So, I know passion—and these authors have it!
I love realistic romantic passion with an accent mark on true-to-life spiritual lessons, and believe it or not, that’s not necessarily an easy find in the Christian market. So when I judged Denise in an American Christian Fiction Writers contest, I knew she was definitely an author for me.
They thought their love story was over. They thought their divorce was final. They were wrong.
Following his divorce, Noah gave up his dream job and settled at a remote horse ranch in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia, putting much-needed distance between himself and the former love of his life. But then Noah gets a letter from the IRS claiming he and Josephine are still married. When he confronts Josephine, they discover that she missed the final step in filing the paperwork and they are, in fact, still married.
Josephine is no happier about the news than Noah.…
