Beautiful Memoir

Recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, Sven talks candidly about his extraordinary successes (as well as overcoming his failures). He shares the lessons he has learned on the way – about life, leadership and love. It is a story of lives touched and connections made in the dogged pursuit of excellence. But for Sven the true journey he wants to share is the one he’s made on the inside – the man he has become.

Ann Hedreen's story of what it was like to become a mom just as her own beautiful, brainy mother began to lose her mind to an unforgiving disease. Arlene was a copper miner’s daughter who was divorced twice, widowed once, raised six kids singlehandedly, survived the turbulent ‘60s, and got her BA and MA at 40 so she could support her family as a Seattle schoolteacher - only to start showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease in her late 50s, taking Ann and her siblings on a long descent they never could have anticipated or imagined.

Chicago, 1924. There was nothing surprising about men turning up dead in the Second City. Life was cheaper than a quart of illicit gin in the gangland capital of the world. But two murders that spring were special - worthy of celebration. So believed Maurine Watkins, a wanna-be playwright and a "girl reporter" for the Chicago Tribune, the city's "hanging paper".

A memoir of the haunting and redemptive events of the acclaimed writer's life - the betrayal of a con-man father; a murder-suicide in his family's house; the presence of an oyster catcher - each one, as the saying goes, stranger than fiction. In the hands of Howard Norman, author of The Bird Artist and What Is Left the Daughter, life's arresting strangenessis made into a profound, creative, and redemptive memoir.

Lene Fogelberg is dying - she is sure of it - but no doctor in Sweden, her home country, believes her. Love stories enfold her, with her husband, her two precious daughters, her enchanting surroundings, but the question she has carried in her heart since childhood - will I die young? - is threatening all she holds dear, even her sanity. When her young family moves to the US, an answer, a diagnosis, is finally found: She is in the last stages of a fatal congenital heart disease. But is it too late?

This transparently told, brave personal story will resonate with anyone who suffers from depression, whether postpartum or not, or loves someone who does. A Beautiful War highlights the hope that comes from Jesus, the faith that casts out fear, and love that always wins.

A memoir of second chances, healing, and how rescuing a dog rescued me Having never had a dog of his own before, Don was not prepared for what it meant to adopt one of the most behaviorally difficult rescues in the shelter. But something about Barbie, a mutt that everyone had given up on and so fearful and unresponsive that she was within days of being put down, convinced Don to open his home and his heart for the first time to a canine companion, changing both of their lives forever.

This is the true story of each of the spiritual "Gang of four" and their master and deep inspiration Neem Karol Baba.

When Brooke Axtell was seven years old, her nanny subjected her to sex trafficking. Today, she is a champion and advocate for women around the world who have experienced sexual violence and trauma. Beautiful Justice shares Brooke's own gripping story, both the trauma of sex trafficking and also her pathway through healing, moving on, and reclaiming power. Along the way, she imparts warm wisdom for others who have experienced similar violence, providing lessons from her own life and from the thousands of women, advocates, and lawmakers she's spoken with.

Octavio Cesar Martinez writes on the subject of forgiveness with engaging honesty, humility, and depth. His deeply personal story is raw, inviting us into his suffering and struggle as he recounts his painful and abusive childhood, growing into a life of rage. But he also leads us into his experience of freedom and joy, without denial or sugar-coating. As Octavio learns to forgive, so do we. If you have been hurt or betrayed, this audiobook is for you. If you have thought about revenge, or imagined punishing someone for their misdeeds, this audiobook is for you.

We all know the fairy-tale. An everyday girl meets her Prince Charming, they get married, have children and ride off into the sunset. Sadly, this isn't always the case and Christine McGuinness is keen to change the stereotype that marriage, fame and fortune brings an easy and blissful life. This is Christine's first audiobook, where she tells the world her life story for the very first time. While telling her story, Christine was diagnosed with autism, as revealed in this book for the very first time.

When Katie Piper was 24, her life was near perfect. Young and beautiful, she was well on her way to fulfilling her dream of becoming a model. But then she met Daniel Lynch on Facebook and her world quickly turned into a nightmare.... After being held captive and brutally raped by her new boyfriend, Katie was subjected to a vicious acid attack. Within seconds, this bright and bubbly girl could feel her looks and the life she loved melting away.

Through the transformational, real-life journey of a suburban family in Tennessee, we get a view through the eyes of a loving father witnessing his once joyful and carefree daughter enduring a season of destructive rebellion. In the same neighborhood, a Rwandan family, who immigrated to America after escaping the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, seeks answers to questions about their home country. In a search for restoration and reconciliation, the two families find themselves halfway around the world in Murambi, Rwanda.

In 2018, I didn’t merely come out MtF transgender, I discovered I was trans in the first place - as much news to me as it became to the world. On December 31, 2017, to quote the movie, Hot Fuzz, I had "a great big bushy beard". A year later, I was growing breasts! What's it like to be a trans woman? Even crazier, what's it like to not know you're trans for your first 50+ years? It's a roller-coaster of joy, heartbreaking sadness, difficult trials and transformations, and tons of comic relief - like any life...

Qian Julie Wang's memoir is an unforgettable account of what it means to live under the perpetual threat of deportation and the small joys and sheer determination that kept her family afloat in a new land. Told from a child's perspective, in a voice that is intimate, poignant and startlingly lyrical, Beautiful Country is the story of a girl who learns first to live - and then escape - an invisible life.

Mike Hanrahan, cook and teacher, songwriter and musician, takes us back stage and into the kitchens of a bohemian, international and surprisingly foodie group of Irish household names, including Ronnie Drew, Finbar Furey, Maura O’Connell, Leslie Dowdall, Pat Shortt, Eleanor Shanley and Sharon Shannon. Mike penned hit singles ‘Beautiful Affair’ and ‘Walk Away’ for Stockton’s Wing, from which a world of touring and behind-the-scenes escapades began.

In her first book, A Beautiful Spiral, Dr. Ashanna Sevin tells her extraordinary story of healing from nine brain tumors caused by the life-threatening disease, cerebral cysticercosis. For seven years, she struggled to survive the devastating physical and psychological effects of the worms growing in her brain due to a parasite she contracted while serving in a remote African village for the U.S. Peace Corps. These creatures were first her torture and then her teachers, and through this experience a healer was born. However, death called again when she was violently attacked in her home.

Barbara Pamplin’s life was changed by 50, 3, and 3. That's 50 days in intensive care, 3 open heart surgeries, and 3 deaths and resuscitations - all in the fall of 2017. Barbara is a passionate storyteller, committed to inspiring Black women and others to celebrate and engage in the soul work of personal transformation, to confront the health crisis among Black women at its root level.

What happens when an ordinary teenager has to turn into a warrior just to survive? And can the journey through post-traumatic stress disorder really become an “adventure"? Amy had ambitious plans for college and a Broadway career, until her stomach exploded a week before senior prom. As a survivor - and “thriver” - of abuse and extensive medical, she creates a tapestry made from each thread of her journey, empowering others to find gratitude in every setback and discover their own infinite inner strength.

Carey Perloff, Artistic Director of San Francisco's legendary American Conservatory Theater, pens a lively and revealing memoir of her 20-plus years at the helm and delivers a provocative and impassioned manifesto for the role of live theater in today's technology-infused world. Perloff's personal and professional journey - her life as a woman in a male-dominated profession, as a wife and mother, a playwright, director, producer, arts advocate, and citizen in a city erupting with enormous change.