Everybody says that the owner of Sal's Diner is a former Mafioso, but nine-year-old Joanna, whose mom has worked for him as long as she can remember, has a hard time believing he's a Mafia retiree. But one day, when two fat, toothless men who look like the Godfather's brothers show up at the diner, she wonders if maybe the rumor is true. And when Sal is arrested a few days later, Joanna's mother not only runs the diner while he's in jail, she also leads the charge to save him. Can the women who frequent his diner--the League of Women Who Live in Coffee Shops--save Sal from doing hard time in prison? Set against an urban backdrop of seedy motels and dilapidated houses next to industrial buildings and railroad tracks, Stella Pope Duarte's award-winning stories follow characters who make up the city's underbelly. Some strut through the lethal streets, flamboyant and hard to miss--flashy divas, transvestites, and prostitutes, like Valentine, "one of the girls who decorated Van Buren Street like ornaments dangling precariously on a Christmas tree." Others remain hidden, invisible to those who don't seek them out--bag ladies, illegals, and addicts.

Analyn Sanchez can handle the long hours and arrogant clients that come with her job as a crisis management associate at Denver’s largest publicity firm. The high-powered job, expensive condo, and designer wardrobe are all part of her plan to prove to her family that her life choices haven’t been in vain. But when she’s asked to cover up a client’s misdeeds with serious moral and legal ramifications, she can no longer sacrifice her conscience for her career . . . and the cost is no less than her job. Ever since a devastating climbing accident in South America eight months ago, and a bad decision that dried up his sponsorships, professional rock climber Bryan Shaw has found himself at similar loose ends. When the opportunity to buy a coffee farm in Colombia arises, he jumps on it—only to discover his wandering ways have left him utterly unprepared to run a business. When Bryan returns home and offers Ana a role in his company as a solution to both their problems, she’s desperate enough to consider working with the far-too-flippant and far-too-handsome climber, even though he’s the polar opposite of her type A nature. As they delve deeper into the business, however, she begins to suspect there’s much more to Bryan than she’s given him credit for . . . and that sometimes the best plans are the ones you never see coming.

Irresistible stories of love and fidelity, mystery and unexpected lives from some of the bestselling authors writing today. Published in conjunction with Woman & Home and Breast Cancer Care, this collection of terrific short stories includes many of the top names in fiction writing today: Fanny Blake, Fern Britton, Elizabeth Buchan, Tracy Chevalier, Jenny Colgan, R J Ellory, Julia Gregson, Tessa Hadley, Maeve Haran, Veronica Henry, Victoria Hislop, Eowyn Ivey, Cathy Kelly, Erin Kelly, Deborah Lawrenson, Kathy Lette, Lesley Lokko, Jill Mansell, Val McDermid, Kate Mosse, Jojo Moyes, Adele Parks, Nicky Pellegrino, Ian Rankin, newcomer Cara Ross, Penny Vincenzi and Katherine Webb.

Bethany: This coffee shop is going to kill me. Sure, it's my dad's dream. If he hadn't died eight months ago, I wouldn't be here, a college drop out, trying not to drown in debt. Nor would I be staring into the muddy eyes of a viking-sized man that's telling me everything I'm doing wrong-as if he knows so much about business in a small mountain town. Except he does. And when the biggest, most unexpected surprise of all falls in my lap, I'll have no choice but to ask for his help. Time for some power lipstick. Maverick This girl is drowning. She might have eyes like glacier pools and hair so black it's glossy, but that doesn't mean she knows how to run a coffee shop. She's drowning in more than debt, interest, and credit card payments. She'll never make it. But I kind of want her to. Because underneath that bright lipstick and those sun dresses is a woman that I have an uncomfortable feeling is about to rock. my. world. This is a clean, standalone (first in series) contemporary romance with sizzle and spice-but no sex scenes. Guaranteed bantering and happily ever after.

Angelou the firebrand has opened a coffee shop for women, where they can gather to drink and gossip like the men. These days, the hot topic of conversation is a macabre one: Angelou has just discovered her close friend Avraam Salih, shadow theatre master extraordinary, dead of a knife wound outside his house. Who killed him? Tensions between Christians and Moslems are high, and the dead man was of mixed parentage - could it have been a political murder? He also led a complex life - might the motive have been passion, money, professional envy? Angelou has some ideas, and she and the women of the coffee shop swing into action.....This offbeat whodunit will keep you turning the pages and entertain you with a vivid cast of unforgettable characters.

A must-have for anyone who loves diners and coffee shops. Taylor travels more than 26,000 miles throughout the United States collecting stories of lifer waitresses. Their compelling stories are complemented by Taylor's striking color photographs of them at work.

First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Traditional Storytelling Today explores the diversity of contemporary storytelling traditions and provides a forum for in-depth discussion of interesting facets of comtemporary storytelling. Never before has such a wealth of information about storytelling traditions been gathered together. Storytelling is alive and well throughout the world as the approximately 100 articles by more than 90 authors make clear. Most of the essays average 2,000 words and discuss a typical storytelling event, give a brief sample text, and provide theory from the folklorist. A comprehensive index is provided. Bibliographies afford the reader easy access to additional resources.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE “A must-read about modern Britain and womanhood . . . An impressive, fierce novel about the lives of black British families, their struggles, pains, laughter, longings and loves . . . Her style is passionate, razor-sharp, brimming with energy and humor. There is never a single moment of dullness in this book and the pace does not allow you to turn away from its momentum.” —Booker Prize Judges Bernardine Evaristo is the winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and the first black woman to receive this highest literary honor in the English language. Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women that paints a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain and looks back to the legacy of Britain’s colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean. The twelve central characters of this multi-voiced novel lead vastly different lives: Amma is a newly acclaimed playwright whose work often explores her Black lesbian identity; her old friend Shirley is a teacher, jaded after decades of work in London’s funding-deprived schools; Carole, one of Shirley’s former students, is a successful investment banker; Carole’s mother Bummi works as a cleaner and worries about her daughter’s lack of rootedness despite her obvious achievements. From a nonbinary social media influencer to a 93-year-old woman living on a farm in Northern England, these unforgettable characters also intersect in shared aspects of their identities, from age to race to sexuality to class. Sparklingly witty and filled with emotion, centering voices we often see othered, and written in an innovative fast-moving form that borrows technique from poetry, Girl, Woman, Other is a polyphonic and richly textured social novel that shows a side of Britain we rarely see, one that reminds us of all that connects us to our neighbors, even in times when we are encouraged to be split apart.

Heralded as a prairie writer and best known for As For Me and My House and for his stories of the bleak dust bowl Prairies of the Great Depression, Sinclair Ross has also written of urban life and, briefly, of army life, as the stories in this collection demonstrate. The Race and Other Stories includes previously uncollected short stories and a chapter from Whir of Gold, here title "The Race," which stands on its own as a short story. Furthermore, "Spike," published in French in Liberté in 1969, appears here for the first time in English. Ross's taut, economical, rhythmic prose reflects the bleak, spare landscape of the prairie. The concerns of his novels are equally evident in his stories: loneliness and alienation, the sense of entrapment, the imaginative and artistic struggle. This collection of stories will be of interest to those who wish to better understand one of Canada's most respected writers and the diversity that can be found in his writings.