The 1914-18 conflict narrated through the voices of the men whose combat was in the air. 'This moving book uses letters and diaries to evoke the terrible cost of such warfare...Sleepless nights, separated lovers and grieving parents are recalled with painful immediacy in this meticulously researched tribute to those who died or were lucky enough to survive' DAILY MAIL The empty chairs belonged, all too briefly, to the doomed young First World War airmen who failed to return from the terrifying daily aerial combats above the trenches of the Western Front. The edict of their commander-in-chief was the missing aviators were to be immediately replaced. Before the new faces could arrive, the departed men's vacant seats at the squadron dinner table were sometimes poignantly occupied by their caps and boots, placed there in a sad ritual by their surviving colleagues as they drank to their memory. Life for most of the pilots of the Royal Flying Corps was appallingly short. If they graduated alive and unmaimed from the flying training that killed more than half of them before they reached the front line, only a few would for very long survive the daily battles they fought over the ravaged moonscape of no-man's-land. Their average life expectancy at the height of the war was measured only in weeks. Parachutes that began to save their German enemies were denied them. Fear of incarceration, and the daily spectacle of watching close colleagues die in burning aircraft, took a devastating toll on the nerves of the world's first fighter pilots. Many became mentally ill. As they waited for death, or with luck the survivable wound that would send them back to 'Blighty', they poured their emotions into their diaries and streams of letters to their loved ones at home. Drawing on these remarkable testimonies and pilots' memoirs, Ian Mackersey has brilliantly reconstructed the First Great Air War through the lives of its participants. As they waited to die, the men shared their loneliness, their fears, triumphs - and squadron gossip - with the families who lived in daily dread of the knock on the door that would bring the War Office telegram in its fateful green envelope.

In this story of family, love, and interwoven connections, the McDowells struggle to survive on their family farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Joe, the youngest sibling, steals coins from his mother's purse, knowing he can never have things he really wants. After his older brother is drafted to World War II, Joe and his family must confront an avalanche of crises, learning what means most in each of their lives. Joe will have to choose whether to become the man on the farm, or to follow his dreams. In a surprise turn of events, the women in his family show strength they didn't know was theirs. Love and tolerance become the keys to overcome the challenges facing Joe and his family.

Synopsis coming soon.......

The Incredible Story of a Country Music Legend Few artists have left a more indelible mark on America’s musical landscape than Charlie Daniels. Readers will experience a soft, personal side of Charlie Daniels that has never before been documented. In his own words, he presents the path from his post-depression childhood to performing for millions as one of the most successful country acts of all time and what he has learned along the way. The book also includes insights into the many musicians that orbited Charlie’s world, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette and many more. Charlie was officially inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016, shortly before his 80th birthday. He now shares the inside stories, reflections, and rare personal photographs from his earliest days in the 1940s to his self-taught guitar and fiddle playing high school days of the fifties through his rise to music stardom in the seventies, eighties and beyond. Charlie Daniels presents a life lesson for all of us regardless of profession: “Walk on stage with a positive attitude. Your troubles are your own and are not included in the ticket price. Some nights you have more to give than others, but put it all out there every show. You're concerned with the people who showed up, not the ones who didn't. So give them a show and…Never look at the empty seats!”

The popular mother-daughter team behind the hit website TheCatholicCatalogue.com helps readers to discover, rediscover, and embrace the holidays and seasons of Catholic life through this collection of prayers, crafts, devotionals and recipes. This beautifully designed book will help readers celebrate Catholicism throughout the years, across daily practice and milestones. The Catholic Catalogue is a field guide, a list of far ranging topics, that should aid any Catholic, whether steeped in the tradition or just discovering spirituality for the first time, to understand the daily acts that make up a Catholic life. And like the most useful field guides, it is divided into user-friendly sections and covers such topics as the veneration of relics, blessing your house, discovering a vocation, raising teenagers, getting a Catholic tattoo, planting a Mary garden, finding a spiritual director, and exploring your own way in the tradition. With more than 75 inspiring chapters, this book promises to be a resource that individuals and families will turn to again and again, helping to make room in their busy lives for mystery and meaning, awe and joy.

Composed of two companion novellas, The Empty Chair is a profound, heart-wrenching piece of spiritual storytelling from Bruce Wagner, the internationally acclaimed author of such novels as Dead Stars, I’m Losing You and Force Majeure. In First Guru, a fictional Wagner narrates the tale of a Buddhist living in Big Sur, who achieves enlightenment in the horrific aftermath of his child’s suicide. In Second Guru, Queenie, an aging wild child, returns to India to complete the spiritual journey of her youth. Told in ravaged, sensuous detail to the author-narrator by two strangers on opposite sides of the country, years apart from each other, both stories illuminate the random, chaotic nature of human suffering and the miraculous strength of the human spirit. A deeply affecting and meditative reading experience, The Empty Chair is an exquisitely rendered, thought-provoking, and humbling new work.

June 6, 1944 Germany -- Uncertain peace -- Crossing the border -- The gift of love -- Uncontrollable fear -- 1947, leaving Germany -- 1947, Crookston, Minnesota -- Facing new challenges -- Little Sammy -- Same holiday, different customs -- Faith of my childhood -- 1948 to 1952, we are a family -- The accident -- Coping -- 1956 to 1959 -- 1959 Ada, Minnesota -- June 1960, Off to Germany -- Return to the east/west line -- A broken heart -- The gulf between -- 1960 to 1963, The world of work -- Turbulent times -- Wedding vows -- Finally teaching -- Truth has two sides -- Briefly together, then broken forever -- Titus, Irmgard, Stefan, Liv -- 1984, A battle lost -- 1987, Mama couldn't wait -- 1988, Max, who couldn't be -- We couldn't mend it -- 1992, VA hospital becomes lifeline -- 1997, Nature's fury unleashed -- To say good-bye -- A tribute to my gentleman soldier and all the soldiers who fought in wars. Standard No:

Through eight compelling stories we get to know the Gestalt therapist Vikram Kolmannskog and some of his clients. These include the businessman Carl who is suffering from chronic burnout, the overwhelmed Marianne who believes she may have been the victim of sexual assualt, the trans woman Annette who breaks with dominant gender norms, the prisoner Jonny who is now encircled by his own self-made wall of isolation, and the beautiful Ask, who falls in love and others fall in love with - including the therapist Vikram. Through these tales of psychotherapy we see how both suffering and healing can occur. With increased awareness and through dialogue we can experience more of ourselves, the other and our world. We become more whole - and that is a good definition of health.

A spine-tingling collection of ghost stories When a boy finds himself drawn into an empty house one cold night, he enters a room in which twelve unusual-looking people sit around a table. And the thirteenth chair is pulled out for him.One by one, each of those assembled tells their ownghost story: tales of doom and death; of ghostly creatures and malevolent spirits; of revenge and reward. It is only at the end of the night that the boy starts to understand what story he must tell . . .

**A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK** In a sophisticated romp through the tribulations and joys of marriage and friendship, a group of college friends reunites two decades after graduation. After the sudden death of Douglas, once the ringleader of a clique of self-styled wits, his four best friends are summoned to his Catskills estate to mourn his passing. Responding to a mysterious sense of emergency in the call, Ned flies in from San Francisco with his wife Nina in furious pursuit; they’re at a critical point in their attempts to conceive and she won’t let a funeral get in the way. It is Nina who gives us a pointed, irreverent commentary as the men reconvene, while Ned tries to understand what it was that made this clutch of souls his friends to begin with—before time, sex, work, and the brutal quirks of history reshaped them. Filled with unexpected, funny, telling aperçus, Norman Rush’s Subtle Bodies is also a deeply moving exploration of the meanings of life.