The Good Left Undone

Viola doesn't want to go to boarding school, but somehow she ends up at Prefect Academy, an all-girls school in South Bend, Indiana, far faraway from her home in Brooklyn, New York. Now Viola is stuck for a whole year in what seems to be the sherbet-coloured-sweater capital of the world. Ick. There's no way Viola's going to survive the year - especially since she has to replace her BFFAA (best friend forever and always) Andrew with three new roommates who, disturbingly, actually seem to likebeing at Prefect. She resorts to viewing the world (and hiding) behind the lens of her video camera. But boarding school, her roommates and even Indiana, are nothing like Viola thought they would be, and she soon realises that she may be in for the most incredible year of her life. But first she has to put the camera down and let the world in.

Women have come a long way over the past century. They have gained the right to vote, entered the workplace in vast numbers, become elected members of government, even gone into space. Why, then, after so much progress do some talented women achieve and gain prominence or eminence while others who had as much or more potential fail to achieve the dreams they had as young girls? Why do some bright girls begin to underachieve in school and why do some women who excelled in school remain in unchallenging jobs?In Work Left Undone, Dr. Sally Reis explores these questions and the internal and external barriers facing talented girls and women in today's society. She points out that many girls and women downplay accomplishments in order to maintain relationships and blend into the crowd. Perfectionism and the desire to be the best in all areas of life can drain energy and time away from focusing on special interests. Family and the urge to care for others often takes precedence over developing talents. Likewise, a myriad of external barriers (stereotyping, lack of support from families, conflicting messages from parents, and others) cause some girls and women to give up their dreams and aspirations.Dr. Reis also investigates the different patterns of how females develop and use their talents, various types of creative productivity in females, and the characteristics of successful girls and women including risk-taking, perseverance, and a sense of purpose. She specifically addresses special populations such as talented women in mathematics and science, girls from culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, female artists, and talented women who have chosen a traditionally female career (teaching).Written for gifted and talented girls and women as well as their teachers and parents, this highly readable book presents a large body of research and a number of case studies, offering insight into specific incidents of success or failure. Not only does Dr. Reis expose barriers to success, she also proposes solutions and suggestions for overcoming barriers. She lists specific ideas for girls, parents, and teachers, along with programs and resources that can help girls succeed. Work Left Undone provides readers of any gender and any age with food for thought. Dr. Reis inspires readers to put her suggestions to use, working for change in our society to help women reach their full potential.

Meet Dolores Price. She's thirteen, wise-mouthed but wounded. Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the chocolate, crisps and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally rolls into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before really going belly up. In his extraordinary coming-of-age odyssey, Wally Lamb invites us to hitch an incredible ride on a journey of love, pain, and renewal with the most heartbreakingly comical heroine to come along in years. At once a fragile girl and a hard-edged cynic, so tough to love yet so inimitably loveable, Dolores is as poignantly real as our own imperfections.

New York Times Bestseller • People’s Book of the Week “A heartfelt tale of love too stubborn to surrender to human frailties." — Kirkus Reviews Set in the lush Big Band era of the 1940s, this spellbinding saga from beloved New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani tells the story of two talented working class kids who marry and become a successful singing act, until time, temptation, and the responsibilities of home and family derail their dreams. Shortly before World War II, Chi Chi Donatelli and Saverio Armandonada meet one summer on the Jersey shore and fall in love. Both are talented, and dream of becoming singers for the legendary orchestras of the time: Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman. They’re soon married, and it isn’t long before Chiara and Tony find that their careers are on the way up as they navigate the glamorous worlds of night clubs, radio, and television. All goes well until it becomes clear that they must make a choice: Which of them will put their ambitions aside to raise a family and which will pursue a career? And how will they cope with the impact that decision has on their lives and their marriage? From the Jersey shore to Las Vegas to Hollywood, and the dance halls in between, this story is vivid with historical color and steeped in the popular music that serves as its score. Tony’s Wife is a magnificent epic of life in a traditional Italian family undergoing seismic change in a fast paced, modern world. Filled with vivid, funny, and unforgettable characters, this richly human story showcases Adriana Trigiani’s gifts as a storyteller and her deep understanding of family, love, and the pursuit of a dream.

An original and thoughtful approach to a grace-filled theology of leadership. In a post-Christian culture, parish clergy can find themselves at a loss, ill-equipped to deal with a reality for which seminary did not prepare them. As a result, the Church and its clergy can seem to flounder from one “program” to the next or get enamored with secular self-help strategies. To learn to lead well in this new context, the Church needs to help clergy refocus on what both works and is true to their tradition and theology. Enter Scott Benhase, whose Done and Left Undone proposes an ascetical theology of leadership based in St. Benedict’s Promise of Stability, Obedience, and Conversion of Life. The Promise helps clergy move forward from their inward identity to their outward askesis (discipline), their inner life experience of resting in the mercy of God’s grace in harmony with their outward role in the church. Benhase believes parish clergy can lead faithfully and well without following a program or leadership style that does not fit them. Leading from ascetical grace does not require parish clergy to be something they are not. It invites them, rather, to a way of being and an askesis that will help them be both faithful and effective in parish leadership.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A heartfelt novel of the power of love across three generations of an Italian-American family, from the author of the Big Stone Gap series “[An] epic of small-town life . . . A personal saga of American history and a romance woven together with warmth and good humor.”—The Oregonian In the late 1800s, the residents of a small village in coastal Italy migrated to the promised land of America. They eventually settled in Roseto, Pennsylvania, where they re-created every detail of their former lives, including the centerpiece of Roseto’s colorful old-world tradition: the annual pageant for Our Lady of Mount Caramel—or “the Big Time,” as it’s called by the young women competing to be its Queen. The industrious Castellucas farm the land outside Roseto. Nella, the middle daughter of five, aspires to a genteel life “in town,” far from the rigors of life on the farm. But her dreams of making her own fortune shift when she meets and falls in love with Renato Lanzaro, a worldly, handsome, devil-may-care poet. When Renato disappears without explanation, Nella is shattered. Four years later, Renato’s sudden return just before Nella’s wedding to the steadfast Franco Zollerano leaves her shaken. For although Renato has chosen a path very different from Nella’s, they are fated to live and work side by side for the rest of their lives in Roseto, where the past hangs over them like a brewing storm. Etched in glorious detail in Adriana Trigiani’s trademark style, The Queen of the Big Time is the story of a determined, passionate woman who can never forget her first love.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! “If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing, you’ll love This Tender Land...This story is as big-hearted as they come.” —Parade The unforgettable story of four orphans who travel the Mississippi River on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression. In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota’s Gilead River, Odie O’Banion is an orphan confined to the Lincoln Indian Training School, a pitiless place where his lively nature earns him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee after committing a terrible crime, he and his brother, Albert, their best friend, Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own. Over the course of one summer, these four orphans journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

From the bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick One unforgettable woman. One heart and dream as big as New York City. Makers of custom wedding shoes since 1903, the Angelini Shoe Company is one of the last family businesses in Greenwich Village. Now on the brink of financial ruin, thirty-three year old Valentine Roncalli, the talented apprentice, and her grandmother Teodora, the master artisan, are trying to bring the family’s old-world craftsmanship into the twenty-first century. Juggling a romantic relationship with dashing chef Roman Falconi, her duty to her family and a design competition for a prestigious department store, Valentine accompanies her grandmother to Italy in the hope of finding inspiration. Sweeping from the streets of Manhattan to picturesque Tuscany and the Isle of Capri, she discovers her artistic voice and so much more, turning her life around in ways she never expected. ‘Charming, charismatic and addictive… an absolute treat’ Company ‘A funny, heart-warming tale of a woman looking for love, family harmony and the perfect shoe’ Heat ‘Load up on cappuccino and biscotti before getting lost in the super froth of Adriana Trigiani's romance-soaked novel, Very Valentine’ Marie Claire ‘This hymn to Italian New York is a treat’ Elle ‘Sex and the City meets Moonstruck... sly, sensual and dripping in style’ People ‘Like tucking into a plate of homemade manicotti: irresistible and delicious’ BookPage

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “This heartwarming tale is full of lessons about taking risks in life and love.”—Cosmopolitan “Funny, visual, and moving . . . A vibrant, loving, wistful portrait of a lost time and place.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch It is 1950 in glittering, vibrant New York City, and Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year-old daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village. The postwar boom is rife with opportunities for talented girls with ambition, and Lucia becomes an apprentice to an up-and-coming designer at chic B. Altman department store on Fifth Avenue. Engaged to her childhood sweetheart, the steadfast Dante DeMartino, Lucia is torn when she meets a handsome stranger who promises a life of uptown luxury that career girls like her only read about in the society pages. Forced to choose between duty to her family and her own dreams, Lucia finds herself in the midst of a sizzling scandal in which secrets are revealed, her beloved career is jeopardized, and the Sartoris’ honor is tested.

As devoted readers of Adriana Trigiani's New York Times bestselling novels know, this "seemingly effortless storyteller" (Boston Globe) frequently draws inspiration from her own family history, in particular from the lives of her two remarkable grandmothers, Lucia Spada Bonicelli (Lucy) and Yolanda Perin Trigiani (Viola). In Don't Sing at the Table, she reveals how her grandmothers' simple values have shaped her own life, sharing the experiences, humor, and wisdom of her beloved mentors to delight readers of all ages. Trigiani visits the past to seek answers to the essential questions that define the challenges women face today at work and at home. Don't Sing at the Table is a primer, grandmother to granddaughter, filled with everyday wisdom and life lessons handed down with care and built to last.