I was supposed to start college next year, but after being given a ticket to Cairo as a high school graduation present, I skipped the ceremony and jumped on the plane. My name is Mary Fallon. I'm 18 years old, and for as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by ancient Egypt. I could never have imagined the experiences awaiting me here in the ancient land of the pharaohs, including having my first lucid dream.

December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve-year-old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders. Jonas watches his friend Fiona named Caretaker of the Old and his cheerful pal Asher labeled the Assistant Director of Recreation. But Jonas has been chosen for something special. When his selection leads him to an unnamed man, the man called only the Giver, he begins to sense the dark secrets that underlie the fragile perfection of his world.

Mackenzie Allen Phillips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack one wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever.

The world is at war. A young man bravely kisses his weeping bride goodbye at the train station, leaving her all alone. Then the dreaded telegram, and a decision that nearly tears her apart.

In the rain forests of Peru, an ancient manuscript has been discovered. Within its pages are nine key insights into life itself - insights each human being is predicted to grasp sequentially; one insight, then another, as we move toward a completely spiritual culture on Earth. Drawing on ancient wisdom, it tells you how to make connections among the events happening in your life right now and lets you see what is going to happen to you in the years to come.

In search of adventure, 29-year-old Conor Grennan traded his day job for a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children's Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal. Conor was initially reluctant to volunteer, unsure whether he had the proper skill, or enough passion, to get involved in a developing country in the middle of a civil war. But he was soon overcome by the herd of rambunctious, resilient children.

Despite her misgivings, child psychologist Lynn McLeod can't ignore the plea to help 10-year-old Jilly Asche, the daughter of her ex-husband, Stephen. But immediately upon her return to Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, Lynn is drawn subtly into the lives of everyone in the secluded household: Stephen, now an enigmatic stranger; Julian, a mesmerizing family friend who challenges Lynn's ideas of life and death; and Jilly, the beautiful lost child burdened by a terrifying and deadly secret.

When God Wrecks Your Romance is a co-authored memoir written by a newly ordained priest and a young married mother of four children. It’s the story of two kids who fell for each other as teens, and, spoiler alert, ultimately did not end up together. It’s pretty much the opposite of a quaint and dreamy Hollywood ending. Yet, it most certainly is a happily ever after.

An extraordinary memoir about finding wonder in everyday life, from magician Nate Staniforth. Nate Staniforth has spent most of his life and all of his professional career trying to understand wonder - what it is, where to find it and how to share it with others. He became a magician because he learned at a young age that magic tricks don't have to be frivolous. Magic doesn't have to be about sequins and smoke machines - rather, it can create a moment of genuine astonishment.

Upon the passing of her beloved grandmother, Melody Bennet receives startling instructions that she is to take the ashes of Grandmama Giselle to southern Louisiana. Melody must step far outside her comfort zone in the suburbs of North Carolina to fulfill this dying wish. She finds herself blindly navigating the exotic, sometimes hostile environs of New Orleans and Bear Bayou, and immersed in a subculture based on an ancient West African religion. At this unexpected crossroad, she discovers new cultures and beliefs - and new dangers.

An American physician in rural Afghanistan faces the unimaginable. Dilip Joseph dreams of life as a medical humanitarian. In 2009 his dream comes true as he joins the staff of Colorado-based Morning Star Development, a nonprofit community and economic development organization. On December 5, 2012, Dr. Joseph and two native colleagues, en route from a medical clinic in an Afghan village to Kabul, find themselves face-to-face with four men carrying AK-47s.

Join former Navy Commander and evidential medium Suzanne Giesemann and her husband, Ty, a retired US Navy captain, on a healing journey with three other couples, brought together by their children in the spirit world. These inspiring parents serve as shining examples of those who have experienced the devastating loss of a child, but whose joy in life has been restored through the awareness that their children continue to participate actively in their lives.

In the chaos of World War II, Polish teenagers Helena and Luzyna Grabowski have lost everything. Without parents or a home, they are shipped to a refugee camp in Persia, where the days ahead hold only darkness. When they hear that orphans are being selected for relocation to New Zealand, Helena is filled with hope - until the officials say they have a place only for her younger sister. On the morning she is to be transported, Luzyna fails to join the chosen group, and Helena takes her place.

Roland Merullo's playful, eloquent, and life-affirming novel finds the Pope and the Dalai Lama teaming up for an unsanctioned road trip through the Italian countryside to rediscover the everyday joys of life that can seem, even for the two holiest men in the world, unattainable.

On the evening of her twenty-second wedding anniversary, Katherine Price can't wait to celebrate. But instead of receiving an anniversary card from her husband, she finds a note asking for a divorce. Fifty-five and suddenly alone, Katherine begins the daunting task of starting over. She has her friends, her aging mother, and her career to occupy her, but the future seems to hold little promise - until, after a winter of heartbreak, Katherine is persuaded to try a home exchange holiday in the South of France.