Showing results by narrator "Laural Merlington" in All Categories

Books on Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss abound, as countless scholars have labored to uncover the facts behind Chambers's shocking accusation before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the summer of 1948---that Alger Hiss, a former rising star in the State Department, had been a Communist and engaged in espionage.

When Elizabeth Mooney escaped the shame of her "white trash" family to marry the crown prince of her small town, Howell Whittington, she never dreamed that 30 years later she'd end up trapped in a loveless marriage to the cruel banker who's foreclosing on all her friends. Then Howe has a stroke in church, and when he wakes up, he's transformed. He wants to be a real husband - which scares proper, repressed Elizabeth to death - and sets out to right past wrongs....

With nothing but her shattered pride and wedding dress, Jill Barton flees town after the heartbreak and humiliation of being left at the altar. While a charming country retreat in Washington State offers her sanctuary, its hard-bitten owner, Logan Matthews, does not. And soon Jill realizes that nothing is safe around Logan - not her secrets, not her desires, and especially not her heart.

Melanie McLaughlin desperately wants to adopt two orphaned siblings and give them a real home for Christmas. A just-for-the-holiday marriage to Bryce Landry fits her plan perfectly...until unexpected sparks have Melanie dreaming of forever by his side....

Twelve-year-old Mary Hayes can't stand her orphanage. But when an attempted escape doesn't go quite as well as she'd hoped, Mary fears she'll be stuck in the Buffalo Asylum for Young Ladies forever. The very next day, a mysterious woman named Madame Z appears at the orphanage requesting to adopt Mary. The matron's all too happy to get the girl off her hands. Soon Mary is fed a hearty meal, dressed in a clean, new nightgown, and shown to a soft bed with blankets piled high.

They were best friends, four talented and charismatic young men who lived charmed lives among the evergreens of Washington state: Kevin, the artist; Steve, the sculptor; Scott, the nature lover and unabashed ladies' man; and Mark, the musician and poet. With their stunning good looks, whip-sharp minds, athletic bodies - and no lack of women who adored them - none of them seemed slated for disaster. But few knew the reality behind the leafy screen that surrounded Seven Cedars, Scott's woodland dream home....

Some would kill to know what Caitlin Vasaro knows. For the secrets she's kept hidden all her life are the kind the rich and powerful will do anything to possess. But not even Caitlin knows how much danger she is in - or how far someone will go to hunt her down. But she is about to find out when she enters a business deal with the mysterious and charismatic Alex Karazov and joins the hunt for one of the world's most coveted treasures, the Wind Dancer, an ancient statue of legendary beauty and power.

It has been 20 years since the publication of How to Defend Yourself Against Alien Abduction by Ann Druffel. This new book by UFO researcher Kathleen Marden is the handbook for this generation. It is the essential reference guide for those who have experienced contact with nonhuman intelligent entities, families and friends of those "experiencers," and anyone interested in alien abduction/contact and UFOs. Wide-ranging, informative, and helpful, this is a book that will find a place as an essential component of anyone fascinated by visitations from other worlds.

Ellie Dwyer, 61, is convinced bad luck comes in threes, and not just garden-variety, oh-well bad luck. How many people have to flee not one, but two natural disasters? And in between the wildfire and the hurricane, her husband of nearly 40 years suddenly up and left her for no reason she could fathom, disappearing from her life without a clue to his whereabouts. Determined to reinvent her life, Ellie sets out on a journey across the country. Along the way to nowhere in particular, she buys a camper, becomes friends with a remarkable octogenarian, and starts to believe that good luck might also come in threes. Or does it?

With yet another assignment behind them, the ladies have enjoyed a break together and celebrated the wedding of Myra and Charles. But then they get some exciting but unsettling news. It seems their dear ally Lizzie Fox is rumored to be near the top of the short list for a soon to be vacated seat on the Supreme Court. While the Sisters are thrilled for Lizzie, they are concerned about her being ripped to shreds in the approval process, partly due to her connections with the Sisterhood.

Finally Shannon Raine decides to stop speculating about her dark, brooding neighbour on California's rugged Mendocino coastline - and just introduce herself. But the last thing she expects to find in this enclave of artists and writers is a Silicon Valley mogul. Garth Sheridan is cool, sensual and intriguing. And immediately Shannon knows the passion that flares between them will become intense and all-consuming.

This stimulating collection of essays in an autobiographical framework encompasses Gerda Lerner's theoretical writing and her organizational work in transforming the history profession and in establishing Women's History as a mainstream field.

Newland Archer, Wharton's protagonist, is charming, tactful, enlightened - a thorough product of this society. He accepts its standards and abides by its rules, but he also recognizes its limitations. His engagement to the impeccable May Welland assures him of a safe and conventional future, until the arrival of May's cousin Ellen Olenska.

From village feasts and rustic tavernas to ancient piazzas and moonlit balconies, the smells, tastes, sounds, and soul of Umbria come alive in Marlena de Blasi's evocative memoir. By turns romantic and sensual, joyous and celebratory, touching and humorous, Marlena de Blasi's account of moving with her husband, Fernando, to Orvieto, the largest city in Italy's Umbria, will appeal to anyone who delights in travel and shares the fantasy of beginning a new life in a very different place.

Paige Winterbourne is a witch. Not that you'd notice - no warts, no green skin, no cute little wiggle of the nose whenever she casts a spell. No, most of the time she's just a normal 23-year-old girl; works too hard, worries about her weight, wonders if she'll ever find a boyfriend. Okay, so she does have an adopted teenage daughter, Savannah, who wants to raise her black witch of a mother from the dead. And who is being stalked by a telekinetic half-demon and an all-powerful cabal of sorcerers.

Nevada is home to Hope Gardener, its rugged, majestic beauty a balm for the aches of her heart and spirit. But the cattle ranch she owns and loves is dying, thanks to the worst drought the area has ever seen. Hope needs a miracle or she will lose the land that has been in her family for generations. And then, the miracle appears on horseback.

An American aristocrat - a descendant of founding father John Jay - Susan Mary Alsop (1918–2004) with husband, Joe Alsop, brought together the movers and shakers of not just the United States, but the world. Henry Kissinger remarked that more agreements were concluded in her living room than in the White House. Born in Rome, brought up in Argentina and the United States, Susan Mary arrived in Paris in 1945 to join her first husband, Bill Patten. There she witnessed "history on the boil" at dinners with Winston Churchill, Duff Cooper (the British ambassador and the love of her life), FDR, Greta Garbo, and many others.

In 1939, the families in a remote Jewish village in Romania feel the war close in on them. Their tribe has moved and escaped for thousands of years, but now, there is nowhere else to go. At the suggestion of an 11-year-old girl and a mysterious stranger who has washed up on the riverbank, the villagers decide to reinvent the world: deny any relationship with the known and start over from scratch. And for years, there is boundless hope. But the real world continues to unfold alongside the imagined one....

The Opioid Epidemic: What Everyone Needs to Know is an accessible, nonpartisan overview of the causes, politics, and treatments tied to the most devastating health crisis of our time. Its comprehensive approach and Q&A format offer listeners a practical path to understanding the epidemic from all sides: the basic science of opioids; the nature of addiction; the underlying reasons for the opioid epidemic; effective approaches to helping individuals, families, communities, and national policy; and common myths related to opioid addiction.

Caring for someone with dementia means devotedly and patiently doing a hundred little things each day. Few care providers are trained to meet the challenges of dementia, however - and that is where A Loving Approach to Dementia Care can help. The book offers practical, compassionate advice on overcoming caregiving obstacles and maintaining meaningful relationships with loved ones who have dementia and memory loss.