I'm forty now. I'm not sure I'm recovered. I still feel like an outsider sometimes, looking in on the world from a strange vantage point. Like I went to an alien planet and have come back, but no one understands what I saw. I suppose I will always be like that.' Growing up in a working-class family in the 1960s and '70s, with her narcissistic and neglectful mother, Lizette, and her stepfather, Piet, a construction worker who spends much of his time away from home, Terry learns early on that childhood, at least for her, is a matter of survival. Those who are meant to protect and care for her increasingly exploit her, and as she watches her mother drag herself to and from her job at Harry's Dry Cleaner's each day, then sink into alcoholism and eventually relinquish all parental responsibility, it is left to Terry to become the caregiver and protector of her four younger siblings. The only affection she is shown comes from the family's nanny Sophie, with whom she forms a strong bond, and from Piet who, while proving to be the more attentive parent, nevertheless exacts a high price for his favours. At twelve years old, Terry is unwittingly drawn into the student unrest of June 1976 when Sophie's son Rex disappears in the political tumult of the time and she tries to help her find out what has happened to him. At the same time she finds herself on a treacherous and terrifying journey of her own that she is powerless to control, and as she watches her family disintegrate around her, she has to dig deep to find the strength to cope. Terry's intelligence, resilience and fortitude make her the irresistible, heartbreaking heroine of Jelly Dog Days. Despite everything that the universe throws at her, she retains a passion for life and an innate optimism that are truly remarkable. Erica Emdon's debut novel is a story of trust and betrayal but, more importantly, it is about survival and, to some extent, redemption.

Do you believe in spirits? A series of strange happenings force Valley View guesthouse manager - and sceptic - Bella Jordan to question her beliefs in the new instalment of New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub's heart-warming cozy mystery series set in Lily Dale, New York's Spiritualist home. After attending a family wedding in Chicago, young widow Bella Jordan is returning to the guesthouse she runs in Lily Dale - the quirky upstate New York lakeside village famous for its spiritual mediums - when she catches a glimpse of the impossible at the airport: her late husband Sam. A former science teacher, Bella is grounded in facts and logic. She doesn't believe in ghosts. But even when she's back home with the competing distractions of her quirky guests, small son Max, resident pet cats and a very unexpected litter of puppies, Bella can't find a good explanation for what she's seen. The situation gets even stranger when her psychic friend Odelia tells her that she made contact with Sam's spirit and he shared a significant name: Kevin . . . Bacon! Bella doesn't know what to think, but when she glimpses Sam again and things start to vanish around her, she knows she has to get to the bottom of the strange happenings - even if that means letting go for good . . . Readers of the Crystal Cave series by Susan Wittig Albert, the Harper Connelly mysteries by Charlaine Harris and the Bailey Ruth ghost novels by Carolyn Hart will love this charming, characterful cozy mystery series, which invites readers to draw their own conclusions on whether ghosts are real.

Charlie thinks his dog, Norman, has got it good: he gets to spend his days lounging on the couch or playing fetch, and he never has to do any homework. But when Charlie makes a wish to be a dog instead of a boy, things get a little topsy-turvy! New York Times best-selling author Kelly DiPucchio's signature humor and Brian Biggs's bold, playful illustrations come together in a hilarious tale that proves that the grass always does look greener on the other side (even if that side involves drinking from the toilet!).

After rescuing Ze, a stray white German Shepherd, during a storm, Jessica Sheldon and Ze are hit by lightning and the unbelievable happens--they switch bodies. OWatson's rendering of the inner life of a dog is pitch perfect.O--Susan Wilson, "New York Times"-bestselling author of "One Good Dog." Original.

This is your guidebook to celebrating April’s well-known and wacky holidays! Featured days include National Unicorn Day and National Superhero Day.

In Losing the Plot, well-known scholar and writer Leon de Kock offers a lively and wide-ranging analysis of postapartheid South African writing which, he contends, has morphed into a far more flexible and multifaceted entity than its predecessor. If postapartheid literature’s founding moment was the ‘transition’ to democracy, writing over the ensuing years has viewed the Mandelan project with increasing doubt. Instead, authors from all quarters are seen to be reporting, in different ways and from divergent points of view, on what is perceived to be a pathological public sphere in which the plot – the mapping and making of social betterment – appears to have been lost. The compulsion to detect forensically the actual causes of such loss of direction has resulted in the prominence of creative nonfiction. A significant adjunct in the rise of this is the new media, which sets up a ‘wounded’ space within which a ‘cult of commiseration’ compulsively and repeatedly plays out the facts of the day on people’s screens. This, De Kock argues, is reproduced in much postapartheid writing. And, although fictional forms persist in genres such as crime fiction, with their tendency to overplot, more serious fiction underplots, yielding to the imprint of real conditions to determine the narrative construction.

A woman reluctantly takes on the responsibility of putting her eccentric rebellious mother into a retirement home, and managing her care. She has her own daughter to raise and nurture, a marriage and a business to hold together, and her own psychological troubles due in good part to how she was mothered. my mother, my madness is Colleen Higgss diary of her mothers last ten years. It is at once funny, harrowing, mundane, chaotic, and full of insight. It is a rich and moving story which unfolds through its characters like a novel.

How many jelly beans are enough? How many are too many? Aiden and Emma can't decide. Is 10 enough? How about 1,000? That's a lot of jelly beans. But eaten over a whole year, it's only two or three a day. This giant picture book offers kids a fun and easy way to understand large numbers. Starting with 10, each page shows more and more colorful candies, leading up to a big surprise—ONE MILLION JELLY BEANS! With bright illustrations, How Many Jelly Beans? makes learning about big numbers absolutely scrumptious!

Dog Days In The Fortunate Islands is an ideal read for those contemplating retirement, moving to the Canary Islands or an extended trip through Spain. The book will also appeal to any dog lovers and holidaymakers who enjoy an interesting story.

The Dog Days of September is the story of two generations of an American family at the beginning of the new millennium. Out of work attorney Harold Abner has become the typical 21st century alienated American employee trapped in a greed driven, hi-tech business world where hard work, education, and experience no longer merit company loyalty or continued employment. Abner has endured months of depression, desperation, and resentment toward his plight as a result of the restructuring of his Boca Raton Internet startup. His severance pay has just run out and he has no prospects for employment. The tropical Florida summer has become a constant irritating factor in his life, capturing him in a personal hell of disappointment and failure. Abner reaches his peak of frustration one scorching Sunday morning in early September. That particular Dog Day summer morning, Abner reflects on various incidents in his life and his thoughts and actions lead to a life changing solution to his desperate plight. Eventually, that resolution sadly leads to his son David becoming entrapped in his own personal hell as a sharp shooter in Iraq. A soldier driven by the lust of battle and revenge, David is on a sniper mission and his subsequent tragic actions on another scorching September morning lead to his own introspective examination of his life and human existence. Both father and son learn in this story that middle class life in 21st Century America is now one of new struggles and disappointments not suffered by other generations of Americans. Steven H. Kurlander was born and raised in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. He graduated from Cornell University and the University of Buffalo Law School. Kurlander is a political and small business blogging consultant and publishes a blog called Kurly's Kommentary, which can be found at www.stevenkurlander.com. He lives with his wife Jodi and their two children in Lake Worth, FL.