An intimate, lyrical look at the ancient rite of the Irish wake--and the Irish way of overcoming our fear of death Death is a whisper for most of us. Instinctively we feel we should dim the lights, pull the curtains, and speak softly. But on a remote island off the coast of Ireland's County Mayo, death has a louder voice. Each day, along with reports of incoming Atlantic storms, the local radio runs a daily roll call of the recently departed. The islanders go in great numbers, young and old alike, to be with their dead. They keep vigil with the corpse and the bereaved company through the long hours of the night. They dig the grave with their own hands and carry the coffin on their own shoulders. The islanders cherish the dead--and amid the sorrow, they celebrate life, too. In My Father's Wake, acclaimed author and award-winning filmmaker Kevin Toolis unforgettably describes his own father's wake and explores the wider history and significance of this ancient and eternal Irish ritual. Perhaps we, too, can all find a better way to deal with our mortality -- by living and loving as the Irish do.

"Into my father's wake records a solo, 5,000-mile Pacific journey aboard the 47-foot ketch Feo, in which the author attempts to put his powerful father to rest once and for all"--Back cover

A young woman is forced to question everything she thought she knew, when a family tragedy leads to a series of startling revelations ... and dark secrets. A stunning and emotive psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Cliff House and The Storm. 'Beautiful, seamless writing, Jennings has a magic warmth and addictive quality that keeps you reading on and on' Lucy Atkins 'Hauntingly beautiful' Clare Mackintosh 'Thoughtful, atmospheric and deeply immersive, it wields an almost mesmeric power over the reader' Hannah Beckerman ––––––––––––––––––– A perfect life ... until she discovered it wasn't her own. A tragic family event reveals devastating news that rips apart Bella's comfortable existence. Embarking on a personal journey to uncover the truth, she faces a series of traumatic discoveries that take her to the ruggedly beautiful Cornish coast, where hidden truths, past betrayals and a 25-year-old mystery threaten not just her identity, but also her life. Chilling, complex and profoundly moving, In Her Wake is a gripping psychological thriller that questions the nature of family – and reminds us that sometimes the most shocking crimes are committed closest to home. ––––––––––––––––––– 'A gripping concept powers this emotional, sinuous thriller in which one woman's life is played out against what might have been' Fanny Blake, Woman & Home 'Heartbreaking and emotionally stunning ... one of the most mature genre novels I've read for a long time' Scottish Herald 'This mesmerising and haunting thriller is a true literary beauty' Heat 'Delicately weaves loss and grief in a very human story with a strong heart' Sarah Hilary 'Enough twists and turns to give you whiplash' Tammy Cohen 'A writer of rare and exceptional talent' Steve Cavanagh 'A gripping and powerful read ... will keep you turning the pages' Simon Kernick 'Beautifully written and emotionally charged, Amanda Jennings has created compelling exploration of self, memory and the slippery bonds that tie a family together' Eva Dolan 'An assured, evocative, rites of passage tale that will captivate readers of psychological suspense' Mari Hannah 'I have fallen head over heels in love with this compelling and beautiful book. Already one of my favourite authors, Amanda Jennings has created something outstanding ... one of my favourite reads of all time' Louise Douglas 'Moving, perceptive and beautifully written story with a devastating conclusion that will stay with you' Howard Linskey 'Gripping and hauntingly beautiful, with a totally unexpected twist in the tail, In Her Wake is simply brilliant – I loved it' Jenny Ashcroft 'A beautifully written, emotionally charged novel that stays with you long after you read the last page' Jane Isaac 'A haunting and compelling read, charged with perfectly observed emotion and a poetic gift for language' Iona Grey 'One of those novels that you know is going to stay with you for a very long time after you finish it' Louise Voss'Mesmerising storytelling' Mel Sherratt 'Amanda Jennings propels herself into my list of favourite writers' Luca Veste

Self-initiation is killing our young men. Without strong mentors, boys are walking alone into a wilderness of conflicting messages about who they should be as men. It's no wonder that our sons are confused about what the world expects from them and what they should expect of themselves. The Intentional Father is the antidote. This concise book is filled with practical steps to help men raise sons of consequence--young men who know what they believe, know who they are, and will stand up against the negative cultural trends of our day. Jon Tyson lays out a clear path for fathers and sons that includes specific activities, rites of passage, and significant "marking moments" that can be customized to fit any family. It's not enough to hope our sons will become good men. We need them to be good at being men. This book shows how fathers, grandfathers, and other male mentors can lead the way.

In 1815, the clever and courted Annabella Milbanke married the notorious and brilliant Lord Byron. Just one year later, she fled, taking with her their baby daughter, Ada Lovelace. Byron himself escaped into exile and died as a revolutionary hero in 1824. Brought up by a mother who became one of the most progressive reformers of Victorian England, Byron’s little girl was introduced to mathematics as a means of calming her wild spirits. As a child invalid, Ada dreamed of building a steam-driven flying horse. As an exuberant and boldly unconventional young woman, she amplified her explanations of Charles Babbage’s unbuilt calculating engine to predict the dawn of the modern computer age.During her life, Lady Byron was praised as a paragon of virtue; within ten years of her death, she was vilified as a disgrace to her sex. Well over a hundred years later, Annabella Milbanke is still perceived as a prudish wife and cruelly controlling mother. But her hidden devotion to Byron and her tender ambitions for his mercurial, brilliant daughter reveal a deeply complex but unexpectedly sympathetic personality.Drawing on fascinating new material, Seymour reveals the ways in which Byron, long after his death, continued to shape the lives and reputations both of his wife and his daughter.

Jack Wilson found himself riding in the back of a pickup truck wondering how everything could have gone so wrong. He looked up the road and caught a glimpse of the strange, enclosed city looming in the distance. His father had agreed to leave the safety of their secluded cabin in the mountains and travel hundreds of miles with him to try and find Lori. It had been over two years since he saw her last. Jack loved her desperately but had no idea how she felt toward him. They had prepared for months, planning out every detaila "or so he had thought. Now Jack's father was dead, the plan was totally shot, and he was making it up as he went along with his life in the balance. He had four days to infiltrate the city, find Lori, and escape before he would surely be discovered and killed. He couldn't have dreamed how the next four days and a mysterious letter from his father would forever change his life. Wake Up, O Sleeper is a page-turning thrill ride that you won't be able to put down. The shocking ending will leave you asking: 'Am I awake or asleep?'"

"A work that is as disturbing as it is empathetic, as beautiful as it is riveting." —Eimear McBride, New Statesman In the aftermath of the Norman Invasion of 1066, William the Conqueror was uncompromising and brutal. English society was broken apart, its systems turned on their head. What is little known is that a fractured network of guerrilla fighters took up arms against the French occupiers. In The Wake, a postapocalyptic novel set a thousand years in the past, Paul Kingsnorth brings this dire scenario back to us through the eyes of the unforgettable Buccmaster, a proud landowner bearing witness to the end of his world. Accompanied by a band of like-minded men, Buccmaster is determined to seek revenge on the invaders. But as the men travel across the scorched English landscape, Buccmaster becomes increasingly unhinged by the immensity of his loss, and their path forward becomes increasingly unclear. Written in what the author describes as "a shadow tongue"—a version of Old English updated so as to be understandable to the modern reader—The Wake renders the inner life of an Anglo-Saxon man with an accuracy and immediacy rare in historical fiction. To enter Buccmaster's world is to feel powerfully the sheer strangeness of the past. A tale of lost gods and haunted visions, The Wake is both a sensational, gripping story and a major literary achievement.

The Tyler family had the perfect life - until sixteen-year-old Leah decided she didn't want to be perfect anymore.While Leah's parents fight to save their daughter from destroying her brilliant future, Leah's younger sister, Justine, must cope with the damage her out-of-control sibling leaves in her wake. Will this family survive? What happens when love just isn't enough?Jodi Picoult fans will love In Leah's Wake - a heartbreaking, ultimately redemptive story about family, connection and our responsibility to those we love.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS In this iconic memoir of his early days, Barack Obama “guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race” (The Washington Post Book World). “Quite extraordinary.”—Toni Morrison In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance. Praise for Dreams from My Father “Beautifully crafted . . . moving and candid . . . This book belongs on the shelf beside works like James McBride’s The Color of Water and Gregory Howard Williams’s Life on the Color Line as a tale of living astride America’s racial categories.”—Scott Turow “Provocative . . . Persuasively describes the phenomenon of belonging to two different worlds, and thus belonging to neither.”—The New York Times Book Review “Obama’s writing is incisive yet forgiving. This is a book worth savoring.”—Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here “One of the most powerful books of self-discovery I’ve ever read, all the more so for its illuminating insights into the problems not only of race, class, and color, but of culture and ethnicity. It is also beautifully written, skillfully layered, and paced like a good novel.”—Charlayne Hunter-Gault, author of In My Place “Dreams from My Father is an exquisite, sensitive study of this wonderful young author’s journey into adulthood, his search for community and his place in it, his quest for an understanding of his roots, and his discovery of the poetry of human life. Perceptive and wise, this book will tell you something about yourself whether you are black or white.”—Marian Wright Edelman

Tap Your Personal Power and Thrive Have you ever hoped to recapture the powerful sense of aliveness you’ve felt at the best moments of your life? Cara Bradley can show you how. With enlightening stories and fresh practices, her book will teach you how to experience what she calls “high-definition, high-voltage living” on purpose, every day. She will expertly guide you through the process toward an indescribable sense of fulfillment and empowerment that you may not have thought possible but that was always there, on the “verge” of happening, ready to emerge. This user-friendly book also offers: • the encouragement to not be a spectator of life but to instead cultivate ways to live beyond your busy mind and be present in each moment • the coaching you need to stay consistent with transformative daily practices • the guidance to trust that, like spiritual sages and Olympic athletes, you have brilliance and strength available to you at any time