This collection of stories includes: The Smell of Money, A Night to Remember, Morning Socials, Matchmaker and Great Goalkeepers of Our Time. John B. Keane is the author of Durango, The Contractors, A High Meadow, Letters of a Love-Hungry Farmer and The Chastitute.

A widow returns to Boston to aid a family plagued by death Gillian stopped being a Decker when her husband, Stuart, died, and she considers herself lucky to have escaped. The Deckers are ruthless, a family of power-hungry backstabbers who live for profit and sneer at love. Stuart was different, but even he obeyed his older brother Raymond like he was a god. Since she lost her husband, Gillian has tried to forget his family, until a notice in the paper brings it all rushing back. Raymond is dead, and the Decker empire is being washed away by blood. When Raymond’s widow begs Gillian to come to Boston and help her prove that her husband was murdered, Gillian can’t deny her. Raymond was the fourth Decker to die in the last few months, just a few years after his son was kidnapped and killed. Someone is trying to wipe out the Deckers, and if Gillian doesn’t tread lightly, she may join her husband in death.

Crossing both generations and genders, the anecdotal stories in this collection are tinged with a Southern flavor that encourages reflection on and amusement about life.

In Australia in 1971-72, there were 10,000 adoptions. In NSW in 1969, roughly 2,000 young women, most of them unmarried, gave up their children for adoption. Helen Armstrong, aged 17, fell pregnant that year and was persuaded to have her baby son Simon adopted out. This theme is closely based on Kathleen James’ own story. Helen still carries a buried grief. Birth mothers had no contact with their children, and only minimal initial information was ever provided. Years later when Helen is divorced and beginning a new phase of life, with a 19-year-old son Nick, she hopes for a reunion with Simon when he turns 21. At this time Helen falls in love with single parent Marco Lucini, and the family secrets of both the Armstrongs and the Lucinis gradually come to light. Helen learns a lot about her beloved Uncle Mick (a gambler and a ‘ladies’ man,’) who together with her Auntie Vera ran the Armstrong’s Family Hotel in Katoomba back in the 1930s. Finding out about Mick’s all too human failings and his troubled past helps her to come to terms with her own. Marco also learns how complicated families can be, when he discovers a whole new family of ‘outlaws’ in Italy, (‘outlaws’ being those parenting or born outside of marriage). The story takes us from a Sydney waterway to the NSW South Coast and Blue Mountains, and to Parma and Venice in Italy. The three narrators: Helen, Marco and Mick span two generations, in alternating chapters, giving the reader three different points of view. In its extensive exploration of adoption this novel gives a voice to the many women who, under the influence of others, gave up their babies and feel silenced by a sense of loss and shame. ‘Kathleen James deals with the issues of adoption with grace, sensitivity and sincere compassion. This is a wonderful read and personally it touched me on so many levels…. To bring to others the dilemma that is adoption with such understanding is a huge achievement.’ Penelope Wise, representative of the Adoptive Parents Association (APA) on the NSW Standing Committee on Adoption from 1977 to 1990.

The five compelling tales comprising Lolita at Leonard’s of Great Neck and Other Stories from the Before Times will take you on an immersive journey from 1974 to the 2000s. Eighteen-year-old Anna, a Jewish college student, meets a German businessman at a Greek diner on Queens Boulevard. Claire Seltzer of Great Neck has the honeymoon from hell in Paris. Rebecca, a spunky eighth grader, is in love with Mr. Miller, her math teacher. Sarah Reinhardt, the wife of a celebrity doctor living in Central Park West, finds herself in a complicated love triangle. Rachel Rosensweig awakens one morning to find that her husband of thirty years, a Columbia professor, has become a dangerous radical. The characters of this unforgettable collection inhabit the golden era of the postwar, pre-pandemic world. Age-old power struggles—between lovers, between friends, between parents and children—are illuminated and analyzed. Heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious, their stories disclose and document what it meant to be American, Jewish, and female. Rich with cultural touchstones and reference points, they are suffused with self-awareness, longing, and sensual awareness. Will Anna accept the invitation of the German businessman? Can Claire’s honeymoon be saved? Will Rebecca’s love for Mr. Miller remain secret? How will Sarah fix the mess she has made? And how will Rachel protect herself from the threat that has suddenly become very personal? You are invited to fall in love with these characters and their long-gone world.

John Flanary was born in about 1756. He lived in Virginia and North Carolina. He married Phoebe Boggs and they had at least eight children. He died in about 1842. Descendants and relatives lived mainly in Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri.

Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr. offers time-tested suggestions on how to improve communication, overcome conflict, parent with grace, improve family finances, and deal with relatives. He provides real-world answers to real-world questions. This extraordinary book was written to heal and strengthen the family. It is an action plan to provide families with answers to today's obstacles facing the family unit. This is not a book of theory, but rather one full of personal illustrations that make it very readable and extremely believable. Jackson makes his points by combining revelation, practical teaching, and humor.

"The Orchard" is a sequel to "TOD", the tale about an enormous dog that made a huge impact on a New Mexico family that resides on a thirty- two -acre parcel in a settlement named "The Orchard". Located in the smack-dab center of a New Mexico City, The Orchard introduces new characters—human and animal, friend and foe—that impact the lives of the Gartenberg family. An unusual, dangerous, animal pays The Orchard a visit and provokes considerable excitement for the Gartenbergs and their neighbors. Then there's a federal government game warden that overplays his authority and is excruciatingly embarrassed by the Gartenberg's cunning attorney, Joseph Marx. Two miscreant brothers who attempt to include The Orchard in an ingenious drug-dealing conspiracy provide an element of peril and scheming. The drug venture is spoiled by Ad and Janae; JT, their son; and Tod, their ever-vigilant dog. The adult daughter of Ad and Janae, Michelle, comes to live with them when her contractor husband is awarded an overseas home-building project. Janae sees an opportunity to gain a first grandchild and tries to manipulate Michelle and her husband into taking part in the miracle of pregnancy. The couple wants to wait until Gideon completes the overseas project. Humorous mother and daughter bantering provides a waggish aspect to the tale that leaves the reader wondering what will come in the next book in this sequel, Longears.

As Long as I Remember part one and two is the autobiography of an Australian life of a first fleet descendent growing up at Shooters Hill in the Blue Mountains near Oberon during the depression and war years. After the war she marries Jack Duggan from Oberon . Her sister, Nora, married Jacks brother Dan and they lived on a farm in Oberon. Thecla and John set out to make their fortunes and establish one of the great Hotel dynasties of the Australian private sector. Part One Here We Are and Part Two My very Green Years are for publication in this volume. They cover her family background, her childhood and her years leading into young adulthood. There are many more volumes that she has written but they have not yet been edited for publication. We are currently working on her second volume. Some will not be released to me until after her death for personal reasons. Thecla Marie is a 5th Generation Australian descendent of a Catholic Irish Convict, the first Phillip Hogan, and a Protestant Irish immigrant. Hogan was transported in 1799 on HMS Friendship. His crime was his involvement in the events leading up to the uprising. He was the mounted messenger who carried orders and news between the cells. He is still remembered in Irish Folk law today in the saying going like galloping Hogan. The ongoing saga covers such detailed historical notations, but focuses mainly on Theclas own life and upbringing in the Australian bush in a hard but loving environment of small tight communities. At the age of 15 she leaves Shooters Hill and travels to teach in Sydney convents in the prewar years but her nonconformity resulted in her failing as a teacher. During this time she taught herself shorthand and typing which led to her working as a stenographer at the small arms factory in Lithgow during the war years. These years were filled with friends and lovers, and the acquisition of a stylish wardrobe, the latter often being her primary concern. Following the war she struggles to survive in Sydney working at various city offices with her girl friends and residing in lower level bed sitters in the outer suburbs of Petersham, Marickville and Redfern, commonly known as the slums. Every time she found a nice place to reside in the city she was called back to Shooters Hill for the pea harvest by an obligation she undertook with her brother, Bert, before leaving the Hill. She maintains her connection with home. In between pea harvests she was able to travel and finds work in many different and interesting environment. Her improved wardrobe and experience was leading her into a better and better lifestyle. and finally she marries at the age of 25 and begins her married life with John Patrick Duggan. Together they establish a large and famous family of publicans, graziers and transport carriers. Her stories are told in an amusing self deprecating voice as if she was writing to a friend. Her descriptions are voiced in such a way as to make the reader believe they were actually there themselves and that makes for easy reading.

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