It’s been said that big doors swing on small hinges. For Genevieve Patterson, after her door was lifted off its hinges and carried away to the Pennsylvania hinterlands, everything she thought was important or believed she wanted was challenged. Ruby’s offer, her growing love for Matt, and the keys of joy each have left her feeling that she’s finally found the right place to hang her door. But the question remains: how?

On the outskirts of the historical Quaker town of Niederbipp, Pa, Ruby, and Lorenzo Swarovsky run a very unique farm. Every summer, for they past 56 years, six men and six women have been invited to the farm on Harmony Hill to work the land in exchange for matchmaking services. Genevieve Patterson has been dispatched by her magazine to write an article about Ruby, the elderly matchmaker.

Twelve years ago, after a botched attempt to end his misery, Paul Schafer found himself in the hospital. When a roommate’s funeral opens his eyes to hope, he realizes his life needs a serious change of direction. Over the course of the next year, Paul becomes a part-time funeral crasher in search of answers to life’s big questions.

In a town with a name like Niederbipp, you might expect the townsfolk to be a little quirky. And you’d be right. But for Jake Kimball, if the timing and circumstances were different, this would be a dream come true. As it is, he’s afraid he agreed too hastily to spend the summer working his way through the mess Isaac Bingham, the old potter - God rest his soul - left behind.

The offer of position as a social work intern has brought Kate Larsen to the opposite end of the universe—Watts, California. Though the job quickly proves to be far less that she hoped for, the curious notebook she finds in her desk compels her to seek answers.

Two little girls stand with their heads bowed in my living room. I’m told they’re my granddaughters. Daisy is nine, and Alice seven. Daisy is the spitting image of her mother. This is the first time I’ve met them since my daughter and I fell out after she married that waste of space, Vince. They’ve come to live with me because their mother — my daughter — was murdered. In her own home while they slept close by. I think Vince killed her. But the police can’t prove it. I’ve always known he was no good. He treated my daughter like dirt. I said he’d cheat on her — but she wouldn’t listen.

Who is Audrey Hoedemaker? It's a question her sister Maureen has heard more times than she can count, and she doesn't know what the short answer would be. Little sister, troubled teen, backpacker, musical theatre coach, con artist, childcare worker. Murderer. A tragic, traumatic childhood casts a long shadow on the Hoedemaker sisters. Maureen has worked hard to move beyond the violence of the past and build a good, honest life for herself. Audrey, however, just can't seem to do the same, careening from one state of chaos to another.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.