The Glass Castle meets The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother in this dazzlingly honest and provocative family memoir by former child actress and current Fox Business Network anchor Melissa Francis. When Melissa Francis was eight years old, she won the role of lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, the little girl who was adopted with her brother (played by young Jason Bateman) by the Ingalls family on the world's most famous primetime soap opera, Little House on the Prairie. Despite her age, she was already a veteran actress, living a charmed life, moving from one Hollywood set to the next. But behind the scenes, her success was fueled by the pride, pressure, and sometimes grinding cruelty of her stage mother, as fame and a mother's ambition pushed her older sister deeper into the shadows. Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter is a fascinating account of life as a child star in the 1980's, and also a startling tale of a family under the care of a highly neurotic, dangerously competitive "tiger mother." But perhaps most importantly, now that Melissa has two sons of her own, it's a meditation on motherhood, and the value of pushing your children: how hard should you push a child to succeed, and at what point does your help turn into harm?

The Brussacs were rich, powerful, blessed, and envied. Yet through their lives ran a thread of tragedy and heartbreak that could not be broken, forever linking them in a hellish alliance. This epic tale soars from Nob Hill to the Barbary Coast to the Los Angeles oil fields in a stunning story of the tangled lives of an extraordinary family. "V. J. Banis outdoes himself...all-stops-out historical romance. --"Publishers Weekly "A rip-roaring romantic novel." --Library Journal

When ten-year-old Mollie Trisk disappears on her way home from school, it shakes up the small town of Petaluma, California. When she turns up deceased a week later in San Francisco’s Russian Hill it becomes a case for the SFPD to solve. After two more girls are abducted with the same signature, Captain Daniel Fritz has a serial kidnapper case to solve. Eerily, he notices a connection to the recent abductions and his fiancée Cassandra’s new job as the first woman hired by a road construction company in Sonoma and Marin. The Perfect Contractor in Russian Hill, which takes place from 1977 to 1979, is the final novel in a trilogy. This gripping psychological thriller is sure keep you guessing till the end.

Although author Gertrude Atherton was born and died in her beloved home state of California, she spent a significant amount of time touring and living in Europe. In Ancestors, she puts her experience as a world traveler to good use, spinning an entertaining yarn about several aristocratic English ladies who decide to liven up their twilight years by touring the rough-and-tumble landscape of the American frontier.

Winner of the 2020 Independent Press Award - Women's fiction What's worse than a mother like Josephine? Turning out to be just like her. Late Nineteenth Century: Wealthy and headstrong Kit Firestone chafes under the rules of the Golden City’s high society, especially the interference of her charming but overbearing mother, Josephine. Kit’s secret rebellion leads to potentially catastrophic results and keeps her from finding true happiness. When her brother nearly dies from a dangerous infection, Kit defies convention and becomes a working nurse. Through her troubled romance with a young doctor and a series of dramatic events, including a natural disaster and her mother’s own critical illness, Kit begins to understand who her mother truly is and what their relationship is all about. She may not get the chance to appreciate their bond, however, because, through no fault of her own, a madman has Kit in his crosshairs. "...the novel's fast-paced narrative and engaging dialogue will draw readers in from the start. It's full of intriguing details about San Francisco near the turn of the last century, and it also provides engaging information about the evolution of medicine-and women's health care, in particular... A solidly entertaining, feminist tale that's also well-suited for medical-history buffs." Kirkus Reviews "Michaels's...offers a vivid portrait of San Francisco's Gilded Age through the eyes of Kit Firestone, an impassioned nurse who was born into high society ... [the author] is adept at handling medical practices of the time and women's health topics, such as sexually transmitted diseases and birth control, with sensitivity and intelligence. Part family drama, part romance, Michaels's tale will satisfy both fans of the series and newcomers alike." Publishers Weekly Josephine's Daughter is Book Five in A.B. Michaels’ historical fiction series “The Golden City.” Other titles in the series include The Art of Love, The Depth of Beauty, The Promise, The Price of Compassionand The Madness of Mrs. Whittaker. All titles in this series are stand-alone reads. For more information, please visit the author's website.

Women's Rites of Passage grew out of Abigail Brenner s desire to answer some fundamental questions about the role of rites of passage in contemporary women s lives. Relying on a research study involving over 50 women, Brenner shows how women today understand the need to take responsibility for their lives and for directing their own paths, and are beginning to do so by creating their own very personal rites of passage.

The fifth installment of Fast’s bestselling Immigrants series, continuing the story of one of his most beloved characters, Barbara Lavette. Howard Fast’s immensely popular Immigrants saga spanned six novels and more than a century of the Lavette family history. The series was considered one of the crowning achievements of his long career. This New York Times bestseller is the fifth entry in the series and focuses on one of his most beloved characters, Barbara Lavette, whom Fast based on his first wife. At sixty, Barbara is living a quiet life in San Francisco, grieving after the death of a longtime male friend. However, her spirits revive when she mounts an unexpectedly competitive congressional campaign. After narrowly losing the election, Barbara begins to reconnect with her past as a journalist and human rights activist, two passions that reignite the spark of adventure in her life. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Howard Fast including rare photos from the author’s estate.

Personal memories of the sort her Chatelaine readers adored — a remarkable life story seen through the window of her relationship with her mother. Every woman’s relationship with her mother is special. Yet everyone will recognize some parts of another woman’s story, especially if it is told as honestly and as sensitively as Rona Maynard tells it here. As a little girl, Maynard soon came to see that her family was not an ordinary one. Her father, Max, was an artist and an alcoholic. Her mother was Fredelle Maynard, a brilliant academic who could not get a teaching job because she was a woman. Instead she became a writer — the author of Raisins and Almonds — and, above all, a driving, loving, ambitious, overpowering mother. In her shadow (and that of younger sister Joyce, who went off at eighteen to live with J.D. Salinger) Rona took time to blossom as a writer and editor in Toronto. This book takes us through her career, step by step, including the miseries of being accused by her son’s teachers — and her own mother — of being a bad mother, overly concerned with her own career. Rona’s strong, direct style will ring true for every working woman. Through the magic of her writing, she gives a clear-eyed and affectionate account of her relationship with a demanding, loving mother. I said to my father, "You don’t live here any more. This is Mother’s house, not yours. It’s time for you to go." My father cursed me. He shook his fist. Then he left and never came back. —From My Mother’s Daughter