What I Loved

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Danielle Steel

From her secret perch at the top of the stairs, seven-year-old Gabriella watches the guests arrive at her parents' lavish Manhattan home. The click, click click of her mother's high heels strikes terror into her heart, as she has been told that she is to blame for her mother's rage - and her father's failure to protect her. Her world is a confusing blend of terror, betrayal and pain, and Gabriella knows that there is no safe place for her to hide. When her parents' marriage collapses, her father disappears and her mother abandons her to a convent, where Gabriella's battered body and soul begin to mend amid the quiet safety and hushed rituals of the nuns. And when she grows into womanhood, young Father Joe Connors comes into her life. Like Gabriella, Joe is haunted by the pain of his childhood, and with her he takes the first steps towards healing. But their relationship leads to disaster as Joe must choose between the priesthood and Gabriella. She struggles to survive on her own in New York, where she seeks escape through her writing, until eventually she is able to find forgiveness, freedom from guilt, and healing from abuse.

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Christine Sneed

"The Virginity of Famous Men, award-winning story writer Christine Sneed's deeply perceptive collection on the human condition, features protagonists attempting to make peace with the paths they have taken thus far. In "The Prettiest Girls," a location scout for a Hollywood film studio falls in love with a young Mexican woman who is more in love with the idea of stardom than with this older American man who takes her with him back to California. "Clear Conscience" focuses on the themes of family loyalty, divorce, motherhood, and whether "doing the right thing" is, in fact, always the right thing to do. In "Beach Vacation," a mother realizes that her popular and coddled teenaged son has become someone she has difficulty relating to, let alone loving with the same maternal fervor that once was second nature to her. The title story, "The Virginity of Famous Men," explores family and fortune"--

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Robert Louis Stevenson

Rediscover the delight and innocence of childhood in these classic poems from celebrated author, Robert Louis Stevenson. From make-believe to climbing trees, bedtime stories to morning play and favourite cousins to beloved mothers. Here is a very special collection to be treasured forever.

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Susan Ralph

With her inner Amazon steaming, reliable, compliant, Agatha Marple dumps her two-timing fiancé and runs away from the small town and the eccentric family stifling her dreams. Settling in a large city, she embarks on a self-improvement plan. Desperate to keep her inner Amazon from slipping back to second place and leaving her defenseless again against her need to please, she petitions the mythical powers of the universe. But, her careful plan and her Amazon side get thrown into turmoil when her eccentric grandmother and the man of her dreams show up and keep her off balance.