Elena Gorokhova’s A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a Soviet girl who discovers the truths adults are hiding from her and the lies her homeland lives by. Elena’s country is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars, but a nation struggling to retain its power and its pride. Born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders, Elena finds her passion in the complexity of the English language—but in the Soviet Union of the 1960s such a passion verges on the subversive. Elena is controlled by the state the same way she is controlled by her mother, a mirror image of her motherland: overbearing, protective, difficult to leave. In the battle between a strong-willed daughter and her authoritarian mother, the daughter, in the end, must break free and leave in order to survive. Through Elena’s captivating voice, we learn not only the stories of Russian family life in the second half of the twentieth century, but also the story of one rebellious citizen whose curiosity and determination finally transport her to a new world. It is an elegy to the lost country of childhood, where those who leave can never return.

A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a young Soviet girl's discovery of the hidden truths of adulthood and her country's profound political deception. Elena, born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders, finds her passion in the complexity of the English language - but in the Soviet Union of the 1960s, such a passion verges on the subversive. Elena's home is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars. Instead, it is a nation humiliated by its first faltering steps after World War II, putting up appearances for the sake of its regime and fighting to retain its pride. In this deeply affecting memoir, Elena re-creates the world that both oppressed and inspired her. She recounts stories passed down to her about the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution and probes the daily deprivations and small joys of her family's bunkerlike existence. Through Elena's captivating voice, we learn not only the personal story of Russia in the second half of the twentieth century, but also the story of one rebellious citizen whose love of a foreign language finally transports her to a new world. 'This moving memoir made me cry' The New York Times

Finalist for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing From the bestselling author of A Mountain of Crumbs, a “brilliant and illuminating” (BookPage) portrait of mothers and daughters that reaches from Cold War Russia to modern-day New Jersey to show how the ties that hold you back can also teach you how to start over. Elena Gorokhova moves to the US in her twenties to join her American husband and to break away from her mother, a mirror image of her Soviet Motherland: overbearing, protective, and difficult to leave. Before the birth of Elena’s daughter, her mother comes to help care for the baby and stays for twenty-four years, ordering everyone to eat soup and wear a hat, just as she did in Leningrad. Russian Tattoo is the story of a unique balancing act and a family struggle: three generations of strong women with very different cultural values, all living under the same roof and battling for control. As Elena strives to bridge the gap between the cultures of her past and present and find her place in a new world, she comes to love the fierce resilience of her Soviet mother when she recognizes it in her American daughter. “Gorokhova writes about her life with a novelist’s gift,” says The New York Times, and her second memoir is filled with empathy, insight, and humor.

Story, told in beautiful poetic prose, of the training of a present-day Navajo Indian boy who feels a vocation to become a medicine man.

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2014 THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Still Life with Bread Crumbs begins with an imagined gunshot and ends with a new tin roof. Between the two is a wry and knowing portrait of Rebecca Winter, a photographer whose work made her an unlikely heroine for many women. Her career is now descendent, her bank balance shaky, and she has fled the city for the middle of nowhere. There she discovers, in a tree stand with a roofer named Jim Bates, that what she sees through a camera lens is not all there is to life. Brilliantly written, powerfully observed, Still Life with Bread Crumbs is a deeply moving and often very funny story of unexpected love, and a stunningly crafted journey into the life of a woman, her heart, her mind, her days, as she discovers that life is a story with many levels, a story that is longer and more exciting than she ever imagined.

Raised by an alcoholic mother and without a father, Jonna learned at a young age to put her needs on the back-burner. After her mother dies of cancer, she goes on a spiritual journey looking for enlightenment and a purpose for her life. Eventually, she ends up as a volunteer in the relief effort following Hurricane Ike. There she meets a man that will forever change her life. In the swamps of Louisiana and the hills of Arkansas, Jonna follows her heart to build a life with an American hero - a 20 year veteran of the Army Special Forces. Only after uprooting her whole life, leaving everything and everyone she knows behind, do the pieces of this fairytale start to unravel. Realizing the man of her dreams is actually the stuff of nightmares; Jonna must once again go within and discover why she is a woman willing to love for crumbs.

Aline Kominsky Crumb, one of the earliest female cartoonists, presents a collection of her own highly inventive and daring artwork over the last four decades, along with unusual photographs and memorabilia.

Have you ever thought about disappearing into the wild? Follow the tracks of author and adventurer Sam Ainsworth on his journey deep into the harsh reality of survival. Spending his life savings on a remote piece of land in Canada, the author confronts hungry bears, giant moose and extreme isolation. Alone in the forested mountains of Cape Breton, Sam attempts to build a wilderness cabin before the deadly cold of winter freezes the land. Call of the Mountain is a magnificent ode to the natural world, a thrilling story of resilience and a journey of a man searching for meaning. Sam writes beautifully about the struggles of the road less travelled and how we are all shaped by our aspirations and dreams. If you enjoyed Into the Wild, you will love this book! Excerpt from Chapter 7 "This was different. I was not camping for a night or two. This was my home. This was my kitchen, dining room and living room. My whole living zone had crumbs and faint traces of food everywhere. The last months of living, outdoor cooking, dishes and compost had created a buffet of smells that were going to be irresistible to Bobo. Also, he had already eaten my butter and eggs and would associate my camp with lip-smacking treats. I needed all the fuel I could eat to continue the hard physical work to build my home. Between cutting wood, building, hauling water, cooking, cleaning, and getting supplies I could not afford to pack up my whole kitchen and food three times a day. Good warm food was also the highlight of my long days. I cooked a meagre supper as night fell and the reaper held dominion over the valley. A large branch snapped out in the darkness. The entrails of clouds had cleared and a scarlet crescent moon hung over the western valley. I threw a rope over a branch of a maple and hoisted a pillowcase of dry goods and my food bucket high into the night sky. I washed my whole cooking area down with hot soapy water. I heard noises in the dark and knew Bobo was out there somewhere. I began preparing to defend myself and my home. I sharpened my long spear of rock maple and practiced throwing it a dozen times. I placed five solid heavy rounds of golden firewood, that I could grasp firmly with my hand, inside my half repaired tent. I put five more outside the door. This was going to be a very primitive defence. I was preparing for a battle I knew was coming."

In this "New York Times" bestseller, Iles probes the terrifying possibility that the next phase of human evolution may not be human at all. Alarming, believable, and utterly consuming.--Dan Brown. Now available in a tall Premium Edition. Reissue.

Rocked by his father's recent death and his mother's sudden compulsion to overeat, Jason lashes out by breaking into the abandoned mills and factories that plague his run-down town. Always by his side are his two best friends, Charlie, a fearless thrill junkie, and Cornpup, a geek inventor whose back is covered with cysts. The boys rage against the noxious pollution that suffocates their town and despise those responsible for it; at the same time, they embrace the danger of their industrial wasteland and boast about living on the edge. Then on a night the boys vandalize one of the mills, Jason makes a costly mistake--and unwittingly becomes a catalyst for change. In a town like his, change should be a good thing. There's only one problem: change is what Jason fears most of all.