Akron Public Library

"Life is not lived in the long, downhill stretches of expressways, but in the obscure, perilous trails and back roads where we stumble and feel our way through the fog of our unknowing. Life is not a run. It is just one step of faith after another."Alan Christoffersen lost his heart when his wife was killed in an accident almost one year ago. He lost his trust when his business partner stole his advertising business. He lost his home when the bank...

After the death of his beloved wife, after the loss of his advertising business to his once-trusted partner, after bankruptcy forced him from his home, Alan Christoffersens daring cross-country journey-a walk across America, from Seattle to Key West, with only the pack on his back-has taught him lessons about love, forgiveness and, most of all, hope.Now Alan must again return west to face yet another crisis, one that threatens to upend his world just...

"Carol Denman divorced her husband twenty years ago and has never looked back. But on the day before her daughter's thirtieth birthday, John barges back into Carol's life with a request that threatens the fragile stability she has built. John Bowman is sick. Very sick. While he still can, he has some amends to make and some promises to fulfill. But to do that, he not only needs his ex-wife's agreement...he needs her. With the past hovering between...

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...

When Elsa's grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa's greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother's instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other. Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy--as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers...

"Amos Decker's life changed forever--twice. The first time was on the gridiron. A big, towering athlete, he was the only person from his hometown of Burlington ever to go pro. But his career ended before it had a chance to begin. On his very first play, a violent helmet-to-helmet collision knocked him off the field for good, and left him with an improbable side effect--he can never forget anything. The second time was at home nearly two decades later....

After a string of foster homes and the death of her heroin-addict mother, Lexi Baill is taken in by a newly discovered great-aunt who lives a spartan life near Seattle. Lexi soon meets Mia and her loving twin brother, Zach. The friendship flourishes, and Mia's mother draws Lexi into the family circle. A slowly growing attraction between Zach and Lexi begins, but then Lexi, Mia, and Zach collectively make a bad decision that results in a tragedy with...

Travis Parker has everthing a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life-boating, swimming, and barbecues with his close buddies. Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life--boating, swimming, and regular barbecues with his good-natured buddies--he...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the acclaimed author of The Weight of Water and The Pilot's Wife: an exquisitely suspenseful novel about an extraordinary young woman tested by a catastrophic event based on the true story of the largest fire in Maine's history. Long before Liane Moriarty was spinning her 'Big Little Lies,' Shreve was spicing up domestic doings in beachfront settings with terrible husbands and third-act twists. She still is, as effectively...

"Daughter of a cold, controlling mother and an anonymous donor, studious, obedient Elizabeth Fitch finally let loose one night, drinking too much at a nightclub and allowing a strange man's seductive Russian accent to lure her to a house on Lake Shore Drive. The events that followed changed her life forever. Twelve years later, the woman now known as Abigail Lowery lives alone on the outskirts of a small town in the Ozarks. A freelance programmer,...