Summer Light

New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice has inspired the devotion of readers everywhere with her moving novels of love and family. She has been hailed by critics for her unique gifts--a rare combination of realism and romance, according to The New York Times Book Review. Summer Light is Luanne Rice at her most magical, an entrancing story of love at first sight, the true meaning of family, and angels right here on earth. May Taylor works as a wedding planner with her best friend and great-aunt, passing on the timeless traditions established by her grandmother and mother. The Taylor women have always believed in the presence of magic in everyday life--especially the simple magic of true love and family. Yet May's own faith in true love was destroyed years ago when she was abandoned by the father of her child. Still, she has found joy in raising her daughter Kylie--a special five-year-old who sees and hears things that others cannot. Her unique visions will lead May to a love she never expected and a life she never imagined. Martin Cartier is a professional hockey player and sports legend. But celebrity has never been enough for Martin. His father, Serge, a hockey champion, taught him to play the game ... and to win at all costs. Now his handsome, polished exterior barely hides a core of rage, heartache and isolation. It is Kylie who first glimpses the role Martin will play in May's life and her own. May and Martin feel an immediate attraction, but each fears being hurt again. Yet the intensity of their connection leads them to begin to believe in a shared future. But just as happiness as a family seems within reach, Martin's past threatens to tear them all apart. Only Kylie sees the way home--and only May can lead them there, if she can somehow finally believe that miracles can come true.... Deftly illuminating the everlasting bonds among mothers, daughters, fathers, and sons, Luanne Rice celebrates life's simple pleasures and the joy of meeting the one person you are destined to love forever. Summer Light is a moving tribute to the enduring power of love and an exhilarating testament to the magic always at work in the world for those with the courage to see it.

A Maine vacation forces a young woman to challenge her own understanding of the world in a sharply insightful first novel

A NEW YORK TIMES GLOBETROTTING PICK! Sometimes, in small places, life becomes bigger. SUMMER LIGHT AND THEN COMES THE NIGHT is a profound and playful masterwork from one of Iceland’s most beloved authors that explores the dreams and desires of ordinary people in a rural town. In a village of only four hundred inhabitants, life could seem unremarkable. Yet in this remote town, a new road to the city has change on everyone’s minds. There is the beautiful, elusive Elisabet who cuts a surprisingly svelte path at The Knitting Company. Neighbors Kristin and Kjartan who seem…normal, but for their explosive passion that bewilders even themselves (and ignites the spectacular revenge of Kjartan’s wife). And then the most successful businessman in town decides to ditch his Range Rover and glamorous wife in exchange for Latin books and stargazing. Unexpected, warm, and humorous, Stefansson explores the dreams and desires of these everyday people, and reveals the magic of life in all of its progress, its complacency, its ugliness and, ultimately, beauty. AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AND WINNER OF THE ICELANDIC LITERATURE PRIZE

From the Christy Award-winning Author of Levi's Will "You never know what the day will bring..." Mick Brannigan, a construction worker, loses a good-paying job because of some freak accident, sort of his fault but not his fault. Adding insult to injury, he finds himself playing nursemaid to his three kids. "Mick's whole life felt like an accident..." Even more flustered is his wife, Layne, now forced to get a job to keep a paycheck coming in. Mick isn't the stay-at-home-dad type, she's sure. He's a good dad--when she is there to supervise it all...the unrelenting daily stuff. Keeping the house clean, food in the fridge. Attacking the ever-mounting laundry. Supervising their five acres of land and the menagerie of animals.... "It wasn't his idea to stay home with the kids..." A lot is on the line, and just how the Brannigan family will survive--that is, without anyone getting seriously hurt or killed, the kids not ending up psychologically and emotionally damaged, the laundry not undoing their marriage--all remains to be seen.... Packed with humor, true-to-life characters, and themes to enlighten the soul, Summer of Light is altogether poignant, witty, entertaining, and delightfully down-to-earth.

Charlie's plans to build a clubhouse are changed by arrival of Aunt Essie.

“Butternut Lake is so beautifully rendered, you’ll wish it was real.”—Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author Lovers of books by Debbie Macomber and Raeanne Thayne, small town stories and summertime reads will love The Light in Summer, as New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mary McNear returns to Butternut Lake. It’s summertime on Butternut Lake, where the heat of noon is soothed by the cool breezes of the evening, where the pace grows slower, and sometimes, just sometimes, the summer light makes everything clearer... For the lovely Billy Harper, Butternut Lake is the place she feels most at home, even though lately she feels the only one listening to her is Murphy...her faithful Labrador Retriever. Her teenage son, Luke, has gone from precious to precocious practically overnight. Her friends are wrapped up in their own lives, and Luke’s father, Wesley, disappeared before his son was even born. No wonder she prefers to spend time with a good book, especially ones where everything ends in perfection. But Billy is about to learn that anything is possible during the heady days of summer. Coming to terms with her past—the death of her father, the arrival of Cal Cooper, a complicated man with a definite interest in Billy, even the return of Wesley, will force her to have a little bit of faith in herself and others...and realize that happiness doesn’t always mean perfection. “This triumphant story had me reading until the wee hours of the morning.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber on The Space Between Sisters "My favorite kind of book..." New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips on Moonlight on Butternut Lake "A great emotional read for every women who must face the past before moving forward."--#1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods on Up at Butternut Lake

A fiftyish graphic designer forced into retirement discovers, via a parade of unlikely events, that it may still be a lovely day in the neighborhood, by "the master of the low-key epiphany." (The New Yorker). Wallace Webster lives alone in Kemah, Texas at Forgetful Bay, a condo development where residents are passing away at an alarming rate. As he monitors events in the neighborhood, Wallace keeps in touch with his ex-wife, his grown daughter, a former coworker for whom he has much averted eyes, and a somewhat exotic resident with whom he commences an off-beat affair. He sifts through the curious accidents that plague his neighbors, all the while reflecting on his past and shortening future. Required to reflect upon his own mortality, he wonders if "settling for" something less than he aspired to is a kind of cowardice, or just good sense. Beneath the arresting repartee and the ever-present and often satisfying banality of our modern lives -- from Google searches to real life mysteries on TV -- lies Frederick Barthelme's affection for and curiosity about our human condition. There Must be Some Mistake is warm and wry, beautifully written, and completely irresistible.

One summer morning before school, Kaoru hears an unsettling rumor--of a mysterious tunnel that can grant any wish to those who enter it, but ages them dramatically in exchange. At first, he writes it off as nothing more than an urban legend, but that very night, he happens upon the selfsame passage: the Urashima Tunnel. As he stands before its gaping maw, a thought occurs to him--if this tunnel truly does have the power to grant any wish, could he use it to bring his younger sister back from her untimely death five years prior? Yet when he returns to explore the tunnel the next day, he finds he's been followed by the new girl in class: a total enigma by the name of Anzu. She takes an interest in Kaoru, and they agree to work together to investigate the time-twisting tunnel and uncover its mysteries. Together, they might achieve their deepest desires...but are they prepared for what it may cost them?

Memoir telling of the author's experiences travelling across Norway. Describes his journey walking and cycling from the eastern capital Oslo to Bergen on the west coast. Author is a former UN economist, safari operator and adventure company owner and operator. He has previously written 'Kiwi Tracks: A New Zealand journey'.

The publishing phenomenon of summer reading, often focused on novels set in vacation destinations, started in the nineteenth century, as both print culture and tourist culture expanded in the United States. As an emerging middle class increasingly embraced summer leisure as a marker of social status, book publishers sought new market opportunities, authors discovered a growing readership, and more readers indulged in lighter fare. Drawing on publishing records, book reviews, readers' diaries, and popular novels of the period, Donna Harrington-Lueker explores the beginning of summer reading and the backlash against it. Countering fears about the dangers of leisurely reading—especially for young women—publishers framed summer reading not as a disreputable habit but as a respectable pastime and welcome respite. Books for Idle Hours sheds new light on an ongoing seasonal publishing tradition.