The Usual Auntijies

An aunt is not just another mother—and aunts defy any sort of archetypal image. Like humanity, they span the spectrum, from down-home Auntie Em to the uninhibited Auntie Mame. Some aunts are smart, others are crazy. Some act bravely, others downright foolish. Now in Ingrid Sturgis’s marvelous Aunties, she gives these extraordinary women their due, sharing a wonderful, eclectic collection of thirty personal essays that explore the complex, seldom-profiled bond between aunts and their nieces and nephews. Profiling a variety of aunts from different cultures, temperaments, and walks of life—the surrogate mother, the wild aunt, the eccentric aunt, the mentor—the essays are written by well-known journalists and authors such as Pearl Cleage and M.J. Rose, as well as everyday people . . . all of whom bring their subjects to stirring life in their own unique ways. “Tia Sonia” made her living as an old-world witch in Honduras, providing her niece, Beverly James, with a tenuous connection to the country of her birth—and imparting a valuable lesson after she fails to predict her own tragic demise; the dramatic and glamorous “Tropical Aunts”—also known as Aunt Debs and Aunt Ava—ventured north from Florida only twice, but left an indelible mark on Enid Shomer’s ideas about being an independent woman; in the heartwarming “Bloodsense,” Mark Holt-Shannon’s magical Aunt Lolly, a woman with a heart as big as the ocean, provided unconditional love—and a bridge between three boys and the father who left them all behind. A wonderful celebration of family, Aunties is a labor of the heart and a show of reverence to the women whose intangible gifts of love and respect often pass without recognition. Through the vivid memories of real relationships, these narratives pay tribute to aunts everywhere.

The coauthor and publisher of "Girlfriends" unite once again to bring readers the perfect gift for a cherished aunt or godmother--an affectionate tribute to the unique and wonderful who have earned the moniker "auntie".

The aunties are back, fiercer than ever and ready to handle any catastrophe—even the mafia—in this delightful and hilarious sequel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Dial A for Aunties. Meddy Chan has been to countless weddings, but she never imagined how her own would turn out. Now the day has arrived, and she can't wait to marry her college sweetheart, Nathan. Instead of having Ma and the aunts cater to her wedding, Meddy wants them to enjoy the day as guests. As a compromise, they find the perfect wedding vendors: a Chinese-Indonesian family-run company just like theirs. Meddy is hesitant at first, but she hits it off right away with the wedding photographer, Staphanie, who reminds Meddy of herself, down to the unfortunately misspelled name. Meddy realizes that is where their similarities end, however, when she overhears Staphanie talking about taking out a target. Horrified, Meddy can’t believe Staphanie and her family aren’t just like her own, they are The Family—actual mafia, and they're using Meddy's wedding as a chance to conduct shady business. Her aunties and mother won’t let Meddy’s wedding ceremony become a murder scene—over their dead bodies—and will do whatever it takes to save her special day, even if it means taking on the mafia.

You should have known our Aunt – what a funny person she was! She could easily have acted in any play, and with good reason: she lived only for the theatre! Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author, poet and artist. Celebrated for children’s literature, his most cherished fairy tales include "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Little Mermaid", "The Nightingale", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "The Snow Queen", "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Little Match Girl". His books have been translated into every living language, and today there is no child or adult that has not met Andersen's whimsical characters. His fairy tales have been adapted to stage and screen countless times, most notably by Disney with the animated films "The Little Mermaid" in 1989 and "Frozen", which is loosely based on "The Snow Queen", in 2013. Thanks to Andersen's contribution to children's literature, his birth date, April 2, is celebrated as International Children's Book Day.

This book concerns life in the twenty-five years before and during the second world war. Born in 1922, my first ten years were very happy years. Things changed with the sudden death of my father. Because he was a vicar, the family had to leave the vicarage in six weeks with no home to go to and very little money. To help my mother, her three widowed sisters (the aunts) came on the scene. The only security, away from this merry-go-round of our family life, was in boarding school and then the services. My brother in the Army and I in the WRNS. I was a plotter and worked in operations rooms at several naval bases. The last one was shortly before the invasion began. I was sent to Fort Southwick, near Portsmouth. I worked here, in the underground, steel lined, plotting room of 'combined headquarters' as 'Operation Overlord' unfolded in miniature on the plotting table in front of me. When the invasion was safely under way, I was posted to 'tactical anti-submarine training' in Scotland.

Australia's public broadcaster, 'Aunty', is about to turn 90, yet your ABC has seldom been in this much trouble: budget cuts, ferocious political pressure, sagging staff morale, leadership chaos and hostile commercial rivals. Meanwhile audiences are deserting broadcast TV and radio. What is the ABC's place in this era of media disruption? Can it reach a younger audience on new platforms while still satisfying its loyal fans?

Ruby-Jane Ryan is a hardworking and widely travelled freelance journalist in Christchurch, New Zealand. She has friends who are prone to gossip and although Ruby-Jane is fond of them, they also annoy the heck out of her. One of them is constantly trying to woo her, without success, into ascending new spiritual heights with him, preferably in his spa pool. Another stretches their friendship with his complaints as well as his problems with various women he discovers on dating dates online. Additional work for Ruby-Jane is as an advice columnist, written by an 'agony aunt' and who is kept secret from her gossipy friends. It's through her column that she's able to exact a form of revenge on her persistently annoying pals who write to her column, not knowing she is, in fact, 'Aunty Jane'. For relaxation and a good laugh, Ruby-Jane loves to watch old movies, amusing documentaries and old, cheesy ads on TV...

"Two Maiden Aunts" by Mary H. Debenham. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.