A Life For A Life

“Five Stars! The tale immediately drew me in, into the town, into the intriguing mystery, and into the people. A real treat to read." ~Deb, Top 100 Reviewer on major retailer Laurel Falls, N.C., 1985: I was done with being a crime reporter in Washington, D.C., tired of all the violence. So I packed up and moved to the small town of Laurel Falls, N.C. It looked like heaven to me—ancient mountains brimming with tall trees and songbirds, peace and quiet. Until I found the body. The sheriff took the easy path, calling it a suicide. No way. I’d found that young woman, and I just knew she hadn’t taken her own life. I’d spent my whole career searching for the truth, and I wasn’t about to stop now. Trouble was, without my usual sources, how much of a murder investigation could I pull off? But a special kid lived next door. Abit Bradshaw, a teenager struggling to find his rightful place in the world. Hey, I knew all about that. I’d never fitted in either, but eventually I’d found something I was good at. I figured he just needed a chance too. And he got one when we teamed up to solve that crime. Along the way, we sure met some interesting characters—both bad and good. We had a plan, and we worked it hard to find that killer before we became the next victims. Looking back, I should’ve known plans rarely pan out the way you think. ~Della Kincaid You'll enjoy this suspenseful story because who doesn't dream of second chances? If you love Jacqueline Winspear, Sue Grafton, and Cheryl Bradshaw (no relation to Abit Bradshaw that we know of), you're sure to enjoy the Appalachian Mountain Mysteries series. Get it now—for the rich natural setting, colorful characters, and suspenseful investigations. A Life for a Life is the first novel in the Appalachian Mountain Mysteries series by award-winning author Lynda McDaniel. Look for the latest book in the Appalachian Mountain Mysteries series, After Dusk, coming soon! Interview with Lynda McDaniel Q: What makes the Appalachian Mountain Mysteries Series so special? A: In addition to the suspense of a good mystery, each book includes people and stories from the years I spent on my "back to the land" farm in Appalachia. You'll meet a cantankerous laundromat owner who was just as weird as she's portrayed, a gentle giant of a beekeeper with an abiding love for his family, and Cleva Hall, who's based on a woman who taught me how to put food by. But especially Abit Bradshaw, one of the amateur sleuths along with Della Kincaid, a former journalist. Abit started in a supporting role, but I listened to my readers and gave him a starring role in the rest of the series. This book and the next two—The Roads to Damascus and Welcome the Little Children—are coming-of-age stories for Abit. Q: Why should readers give these books a try? A: Readers who prefer suspense without over-the-top violence will enjoy this series. I write in the British style, where the dastardly deed is done off stage; (similar in that way to cozy mysteries). I don't like mounting body bags, but I do enjoy the chase for justice. In addition to the crimes, readers will find vivid mountain settings, colorful characters, sharp wit, good food, and a touch of romance. Q: In what order were the books written? A: A Life for a Life The Roads to Damascus Welcome the Little Children Murder Ballad Blues Deep in the Forest Up the Creek Unwrapped After Dusk Waiting for You (free prequel) What readers are saying: "REMINDS ME OF To Kill a Mockingbird. You are a treasure of a writer." ~J. M. Grayson "THIS WAS MY FIRST BOOK BY LYNDA McDANIEL, WON'T BE MY LAST. Love a book that can hold my interest to the point I don't want it to end." ~M. Ballard "McDANIEL DELIVERS A PAIR OF UNFORGETTABLE CRIME-SOLVING CHARACTERS. She lured me into her story and kept me there." ~Virginia McCullough, award-winning author of Amber Light.

Explores the unlikely relationship that develops between young D'Ray Reid and the father of another man he kills in a violent armed robbery gone bad.

So many of us postpone pursuing our goals and dreams because we think we'll get to them later, when we have more time or feel we're worthy of them. As a result, many of us go through life feeling weighed down by daily responsibilities and our own self-doubts, entirely disconnected from a sense of real purpose. Based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and powerful mindfulness practices,Your Life on Purpose is about doing what matters to you every day instead of waiting for the perfect time to feel fulfilled and alive. With this book as your guide, you'll learn to move past daily distractions, fear of failure, and self-judgment, and zero in on the passions that connect you with your true self. You deserve to live a life of purpose, aligned with your deepest values. It's time. With this book, you'll discover how to: • Find and do what you are passionate about • Keep mental obstacles, fears, and daily demands from blocking your path to fulfillment • Find your way when values conflict • Focus on what truly matters to make your dreams a reality • Make a lasting impact on the world So what are you waiting for? Start changing your life today.

'Most people spend their whole lives asleep and then wake up a few days before they're about to die.' – Olivia Bareham, Sacred Crossings Death has a 100 per cent success rate. We can't escape its inevitability nor can we deny its existence. So, when someone close to us dies or we are confronted by our own mortality, why are we utterly unprepared? In Do Death, social activist Amanda Blainey seeks to transform our lives through our relationship with death. By inviting us to accept death as a natural part of life, she encourages us to think about what really matters – and live more consciously. With uplifting wisdom from leaders and visionaries, Do Death will: • Help us rediscover the power of human connection • Inspire us to think and talk about death more openly • Offer sage advice on how to navigate grief, and talk to children • Empower us to be better prepared, both practically and emotionally Death can be our greatest teacher. This book is a manual for living, at any stage in life.

In this powerful, unforgettable memoir, acclaimed novelist Darin Strauss examines the far-reaching consequences of the tragic moment that has shadowed his whole life. In his last month of high school, he was behind the wheel of his dad's Oldsmobile, driving with friends, heading off to play mini-golf. Then: a classmate swerved in front of his car. The collision resulted in her death. With piercing insight and stark prose, Darin Strauss leads us on a deeply personal, immediate, and emotional journey—graduating high school, going away to college, starting his writing career, falling in love with his future wife, becoming a father. Along the way, he takes a hard look at loss and guilt, maturity and accountability, hope and, at last, acceptance. The result is a staggering, uplifting tour de force. Look for special features inside, including an interview with Colum McCann.

From the moment we are born, we are seekers. Our culture obsessively promotes the pursuit of money, success and self-improvement. At the end of each activity-jammed day, though, we collapse into bed discouraged by everything we have not checked off on our to-do lists, in despair that whatever we have accomplished is never enough. Worse still, when our dreams become derailed by the inherent tragedies of life—job loss, financial peril, sickness, or the death of a loved one—we feel devastated by the pain and injustice of it all. Nationally renowned author, therapist, and minister Wayne Muller offers healing for the perpetually stressed in A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough. By learning compassion and mercy for ourselves and by recognizing what is most profoundly true about who we are and what we need, we can gain the self-acceptance so that whatever we choose to do, in this moment, it is wholly enough. Muller mixes the writings of great spiritual and political leaders with inspirational anecdotes from his own life, inviting us to derive more satisfaction from less and pull gratitude out of the ashes of grief. The answer to what he describes as "authentic happiness" lies not in seeing the glass as half full instead of half empty. In reality, he writes, the glass is always half full and half empty. The world is neither broken nor whole, but eternally engaged in rhythms between joy and sorrow. With Muller's guidance, we may find ourselves on the most courageous spiritual pilgrimage of our lives.

In the face of life-threatening news, how does our view of life change—and what do we do it transform it? Remaking a Life uses the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a lens to understand how women generate radical improvements in their social well being in the face of social stigma and economic disadvantage. Drawing on interviews with nationally recognized AIDS activists as well as over one hundred Chicago-based women living with HIV/AIDS, Celeste Watkins-Hayes takes readers on an uplifting journey through women’s transformative projects, a multidimensional process in which women shift their approach to their physical, social, economic, and political survival, thereby changing their viewpoint of “dying from” AIDS to “living with” it. With an eye towards improving the lives of women, Remaking a Life provides techniques to encourage private, nonprofit, and government agencies to successfully collaborate, and shares policy ideas with the hope of alleviating the injuries of inequality faced by those living with HIV/AIDS everyday.

A pioneer in the field of behavioral science delivers a groundbreaking work that shows how finding your purpose in life leads to better health and overall happiness. Your life is a boat. You need a rudder. But it doesn’t matter how much wind is in your sails if you’re not steering toward a harbor—an ultimate purpose in your life. While the greatest philosophers have pondered purpose for centuries, today it has been shown to have a concrete impact on our health. Recent studies into Alzheimer’s, heart disease, stroke, depression, functional brain imaging, and measurement of DNA repair are shedding new light on how and why purpose benefits our lives. Going beyond the fads, opinions, and false hopes of “expert” self-help books, Life on Purpose explores the incredible connection between purposeful living and the latest scientific evidence on quality of life and longevity. Drawing on ancient and modern philosophy, literature, psychology, evolutionary biology, genetics, and neuroscience, as well as his experience in public health research, Dr. Vic Strecher reveals the elements necessary for a purposeful life and how to acquire them, and outlines an elegant strategy for improving energy, willpower, and long-term happiness, and well-being. He integrates these core themes into his own personal story—a tragedy that led him to reconsider his own life—and how a deeper understanding of purposeful living helped him not only survive, but thrive. Illuminating, accessible, and authentically grounded in real people’s experiences, Life on Purpose is essential reading for everyone seeking lasting improvement in their lives.

'This is what I really want. I want to discover ways to discriminate the important things in human life. I want to find ways of getting past this blind fumbling with existence.' - Marion Milner, from A Life of One’s Own. How often do we really ask ourselves, 'What will make me happy? What do I really want from life?' In A Life of One’s Own Marion Milner, a renowned British psychoanalyst, artist and autobiographer, takes us on an extraordinary and compelling seven-year inward journey to discover what it is that makes her happy. On its first publication, W. H. Auden found the book 'as exciting as a detective story' and, as Milner searches out clues, the reader quickly becomes involved in the chase. Using her own personal diaries, she analyses moments of everyday life that can bring surprising joy, such as walking, listening to music, and drawing. She also records, in a disarmingly clear and insightful manner, the struggle between the urge to order and control one’s thoughts and standing back to let them wander where they may. A pioneering account of lived experience that also anticipates the contemporary phenomenon of mindfulness, A Life of One’s Own is a great adventure in thinking and living whose insights remain as fresh today as they were on the book’s first publication in the 1930s. This Routledge Classics edition includes a revised Introduction by Rachel Bowlby.