Akron Public Library

Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesnt know her mother? Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya,...

When Farmer Brown's cows find a typewriter in the barn they start making demands, and go on strike when the farmer refuses to give them what they want.

This powerful new novel by the bestselling author of Black and Blue, One True Thing, Object Lessons, and A Short Guide to a Happy Life begins when a teenage couple drives up, late at night, headlights out, to Blessings, the estate owned by Lydia Blessing. They leave a box and drive away, and in this instant, the world of Blessings is changed forever. Richly written, deeply moving, beautifully crafted, Blessings tells the story of Skip Cuddy, caretaker...

Little Duck celebrates his first birthday with the other animals on the farm by copying their examples, from shearing off all his feathers to taking a mudbath, before enjoying Farmer Brown's yummy frosted maple cake.

Jack, terminally ill and preparing to say goodbye to his family, has a miraculous recovery after his wife is killed in a car accident and struggles to reunite his family at her childhood home on the South Carolina oceanfront.

Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have long been aware of each other, if not exactly friends; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louiss wife. His daughter, Holly, lives hours away in Colorado Springs; her son, Gene, even farther away in Grand Junction. What Addie has come to ask--since she and Louis have been living alone for so long...

The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married--and that the groom will remain a secret until...

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret, something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all; she is an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of...

Father Timothy Kavanagh, married for the first time at the age of sixty-something, struggles to deal with the upheaval and delight of having a wife, while also presiding over the triumphs and troubles of the people of the small town of Mitford, North Carolina.

Coco Barrington is a young and beautiful daughter of privilege. Much to her domineering mother's shock, Coco not only drops out of law school but also rejects her family's wealthy LA lifestyle. She chooses, instead, to pursue a semi-hippie existence in an artsy Northern California beach town. After her equally footloose boyfriend dies in a hang-gliding accident, she finds herself bereft but still choosing to live apart from her family, existing on...