Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon’s insular world–and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life.

Pulitzer Prize winner and American master Anne Tyler brings us an inspired, witty and irresistible contemporary take on one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies Kate Battista feels stuck. How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and uppity, pretty younger sister Bunny? Plus, she's always in trouble at work – her pre-school charges adore her, but their parents don't always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner. Dr. Battista has other problems. After years out in the academic wilderness, he is on the verge of a breakthrough. His research could help millions. There's only one problem: his brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported. And without Pyotr, all would be lost. When Dr. Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that will enable Pyotr to stay in the country, he's relying – as usual – on Kate to help him. Kate is furious: this time he's really asking too much. But will...

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Anne Tyler's The Beginner's Goodbye. "A book that should join those few that every literate person will have to read." --THE BOSTON GLOBE Pearl Tull is nearing the end of her life but not her memory. Ever since 1944 when her husband left her, she has raised her three very different children on her own. Now grown, they have gathered together--with anger, with hope, and with a beautiful, harsh, and dazzling story to tell....

"An almost flawless story of love...Morgan emerges as a true hero." LOS ANGELES TIMES Morgan Gower works at Cullen's hardware store in north Baltimore. He has seven daughters and a warmhearted wife, but as he journeys into the gray area of middle age, he finds his household growing tedious. Then Morgan meets two lovely young newlyweds under some rather extreme circumstances--and all three discover that no one's heart is safe.... From the Paperback edition.

Saint Maybe is the rich and absorbing story of a young man's guilt over his brother's death and his struggle to atone for the wrong he feels he has done. On a quiet street in Baltimore in 1965, seventeen-year-old Ian Bedloe lives with his family in an "ideal, apple-pie household," enjoying the comfort of family traditions and indulging in all the usual dreams of the future. Until one night, when Ian's stinging words to his brother bring tragedy -- and from that careless moment on nothing can ever be the same. Anne Tyler takes us along Ian's painful and poignant quest for forgiveness, from the Church of the Second Chance to Ian's gratifying, solitary work as a carpenter. Raising the three children that are thrust on him, he finds himself amazed, drowning in family and duty. Then, out of the very heart of the domestic clutter, a light begins to flash. From the Hardcover edition.

In what is perhaps her richest and most deeply searching novel, Anne Tyler gives us a story about what it is to be an American, and about Maryam Yazdan, who after thirty-five years in this country must finally come to terms with her “outsiderness.” Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport—the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam’s fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian American wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate with an “arrival party,” an event that is repeated every year as the two families become more deeply intertwined. Even independent-minded Maryam is drawn in. But only up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by one of the Donaldson clan, a good-hearted man of her vintage, recently widowed and still recovering from his wife’s death, suddenly all the values she cherishes—her traditions, her privacy, her otherness—are threatened. Somehow this big American takes up so much space that the orderly boundaries of her life feel invaded. A luminous novel brimming with subtle, funny, and tender observations that cast a penetrating light on the American way as seen from two perspectives, those who are born here and those who are still struggling to fit in.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Anne Tyler's *The Beginner's Goodbye.* "Tyler is steadily raising a body of fiction of major dimensions." THE NEW YORK TIMES Thirty-eight-year-old Jeremy Pauling has never left home. He lives on the top floor of a Baltimore row house where he creates collages of little people snipped from wrapping paper. His elderly mother putters in the rooms below, until her death. And it is then that Jeremy is forced to take in Mary Tell and her child as boarders. Mary is unaware of how much courage it takes Jaremy to look her in the eye. For Jeremy, like one of his paper creations, is fragile and easily torn--especially when he's falling in love....

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Anne Tyler's *The Beginner's Goodbye.* "Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered that she had turned into the wrong person." So Anne Tyler opens this irresistible new novel. The woman is Rebecca Davitch, a fifty-three-year-old grandmother. Is she an impostor in her own life? she asks herself. Is it indeed her own life? Or is it someone else’s? On the surface, Beck, as she is known to the Davitch clan, is outgoing, joyous, a natural celebrator. Giving parties is, after all, her vocation—something she slipped into even before finishing college, when Joe Davitch spotted her at an engagement party in his family’s crumbling nineteenth-century Baltimore row house, where giving parties was the family business. What caught his fancy was that she seemed to be having such a wonderful time. Soon this large-spirited older man, a divorcé with three little girls, swept her into his orbit, and before she knew it she was embracing his extended family plus a child of their own, and hosting endless parties in the ornate, high-ceilinged rooms of The Open Arms. Now, some thirty years later, after presiding over a disastrous family picnic, Rebecca is caught un-awares by the question of who she really is. How she answers it—how she tries to recover her girlhood self, that dignified grownup she had once been—is the story told in this beguiling, funny, and deeply moving novel. As always with Anne Tyler’s novels, once we enter her world it is hard to leave. But in Back When We Were Grownups she so sharpens our perceptions and awakens so many untapped feelings that we come away not only refreshed and delighted, but also infinitely wiser.

Liam Pennywell, who set out to be a philosopher and ended up teaching fifth grade, never much liked the job at that run-down private school, so early retirement doesn’t bother him. But he is troubled by his inability to remember anything about the first night that he moved into his new and spare condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore. All he knows when he wakes up the next day in the hospital is that his head is sore and bandaged. His effort to recover the moments of his life that have been stolen from him leads him on an unexpected detour. What he needs is someone who can do the remembering for him. What he gets is . . . well, something quite different.

In this, her fourteenth novel--and one of her most endearing--Anne Tyler tells the story of a lovable loser who's trying to get his life in order. Barnaby Gaitlin has been in trouble ever since adolescence. He had this habit of breaking into other people's houses. It wasn't the big loot he was after, like his teenage cohorts. It was just that he liked to read other people's mail, pore over their family photo albums, and appropriate a few of their precious mementos. But for eleven years now, he's been working steadily for Rent-a-Back, renting his back to old folks and shut-ins who can't move their own porch furniture or bring the Christmas tree down from the attic. At last, his life seems to be on an even keel. Still, the Gaitlins (of "old" Baltimore) cannot forget the price they paid for buying off Barnaby's former victims. And his ex-wife would just as soon he didn't show up ever to visit their little girl, Opal. Even the nice, steady woman (his guardian angel?) who seems to have designs on him doesn't fully trust him, it develops, when the chips are down, and it looks as though his world may fall apart again. There is no one like Anne Tyler, with her sharp, funny, tender perceptions about how human beings navigate on a puzzling planet, and she keeps us enthralled from start to finish in this delicious new novel.

Her innocent switch could cost her life...When Riley Stone stands in for her identical twin sister at Desmond Nash's party, she's just doing her a favor. But that night lands Riley in a mysterious tangle of danger. With someone gunning for the twins, Riley turns to the mysterious Desmond, who has experience dealing with abductors. The intrepid cowboy is determined to keep Riley safe...but only together can they figure out a way to survive.

"To read a novel by Anne Tyler is to fall in love." PEOPLE Charlotte Emory has always lived a quiet, conventional life in Clarion, Maryland. She lives as simply as possible, and one day decides to simplify everything and leave her husband. Her last trip to the bank throws Charlotte's life into an entirely different direction when a restless young man in a nylon jacket takes her hostage during the robbery--and soon the two are heading south into an unknown future, and a most unexpected fate....

Looking for answers...they uncover a deadly plan. When he takes a job to prove himself, fate introduces Deputy Marco Rossi to Bella Greene—a small-town beauty terrorized by a mysterious stalker. By nature the handsome lawman is a professional loner working 24/7 with armor around his heart. But as they discover clues leading to the truth, crucial evidence must take priority over the feelings suddenly breaking through his walls.From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.Discover more action-packed stories in The Saving Kelby Creek Series. All books are stand-alone with uplifting endings but were published in the following order: Book 1: Uncovering Small Town SecretsBook 2: Searching for EvidenceBook 3: Surviving the Truth

Daisy Coble had been a good mother, and so she was ashamed to find out from Donny's teacher that he had been misbehaving. He was noisy, lazy, disruptive, and he was caught smoking. At night, she lay awake wondering where she had gone wrong, and how she could have failed as a parent. Unsure of herself, Daisy follows the advice of professionals, and hires Donny a tutor with some unusual ideas to set the boy straight. But, has the gap between them grown too wide to bridge? First appearing in the pages of Seventeen Magazine, "Teenage Wasteland" has become one of Anne Tyler's most widely beloved short stories—an affecting and masterful portrait of a life interrupted and a family come undone. A Vintage Short.

Mrs. Pamela Evans lives a lonely new widowhood outside of Baltimore, with only a house full of ticking clocks for company. Then she hires eccentric Elizabeth Abbott as a handyman and both discover that parts don't have to be a perfect match to work. "Anne Tyler is a magical writer." LOS ANGELES TIMES From the Paperback edition.

Dodging bullets isn't the homecoming he expected. When Detective Foster Lovett's pretty next door neighbor, Millie Dean, begs him to help her find her missing brother, the other deputies warn him not to investigate the case. But Foster's gut says something is off, particularly once Millie becomes a target. Foster will do whatever it takes to keep her safe, but can he solve the most dangerous case of his career? From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.Discover more action-packed stories in theThe Saving Kelby Creek Series series. All books are stand-alone with uplifting endings but were published in the following order: Book 1: Uncovering Small Town SecretsBook 2: Searching for EvidenceBook 3: Surviving the Truth

Guarded hearts.Unspeakable danger.Detective Caleb Nash's childhood kidnapper has never been caught, and not even reuniting with his family has healed the scars. Then he meets guarded, beautiful Nina Drake. Damaged by her own past and living in self-imposed isolation, Nina tries to keep her distance from the cowboy lawman. But when she's the target of mysterious attacks, only Caleb can keep her safe. Will his vow to protect resurrect his own childhood torments?

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Anne Tyler's *The Beginner's Goodbye.* Maggie and Ira Moran have been married for twenty-eight years–and it shows: in their quarrels, in their routines, in their ability to tolerate with affection each other’ s eccentricities. Maggie, a kooky, lovable meddler and an irrepressible optimist, wants nothing more than to fix her son’s broken marriage. Ira is infuriatingly practical, a man “who should have married Ann Landers.” And what begins as a day trip to a funeral becomes an adventure in the unexpected. As Maggie and Ira navigate the riotous twists and turns, they intersect with an assorted cast of eccentrics–and rediscover the magic of the road called life and the joy of having somebody next to you to share the ride . . . bumps and all.

From the inimitable Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Breathing Lessons comes a rich and compelling novel--a New York Times bestseller--about a mismatched marriage, and its consequences spanning three generations.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Anne Tyler's *The Beginner's Goodbye.* A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK BALTIMORE WOMAN DISAPPEARS DURING FAMILY VACATION, declares the headline. Forty-year-old Delia Grinstead is last seen strolling down the Delaware shore, wearing nothing more than a bathing suit and carrying a beach tote with five hundred dollars tucked inside. To her husband and three almost-grown children, she has vanished without trace or reason. But for Delia, who feels like a tiny gnat buzzing around her family's edges, "walking away from it all" is not a premeditated act, but an impulse that will lead her into a new, exciting, and unimagined life . . . . "TYLER DETAILS DELIA'S ADVENTURE WITH GREAT SKILL . . . As so often in her earlier fiction--Celestial Navigation, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, The Accidental Tourist, and her nine other novels--[she] creates distinct characters caught in poignantly funny situations. . . .Tyler writes with a clarity that makes the commonplace seem fresh and the pathetic touching." --The New York Times "UTTERLY COMPELLING. . .WONDERFULLY SATISFYING. . .Ladder of Years is virtually flawless." --Chicago Tribune "A 'PAGE-TURNER' IN THE BEST SENSE . . . One wants to lightly caress the pages of the story because one cares for Ms. Tyler's touchingly flawed characters. . . . Both madcap and genteel, Anne Tyler knows as well as anyone that 'human beings lead many lives.' Casually, delightfully, Ladder of Years will tell you just how we humans manage this trick." --The Baltimore Sun

Guarded Hearts. Unspeakable Danger.Detective Caleb Nash's childhood kidnapper has never been caught, and not even reuniting with his family has healed the scars. Then he meets guarded, beautiful Nina Drake. Damaged by her own past and living in self-imposed isolation, Nina tries to keep her distance from the cowboy lawman. But when she's the target of mysterious attacks, only Caleb can keep her safe. Will his vow to protect resurrect his own childhood torments? 

"Magic and true, dazzling and wise...It has an astounding confidence, depth and range...A wonderful, wonderful novel." THE BOSTON GLOBE Duncan Peck has a fascination for randomness and is always taking his family on the move. His wife, Justine, is a fortune teller who can't remember the past. Her grandfather, Daniel, longs to find the brother who walked out of his life in 1912, with nothing more than a fiddle in his hand. All three are taking journeys that lead back to the family's deepest roots...to a place where rebellion and acceptance have the haunting power to merge into one.... From the Paperback edition.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Anne Tyler's The Beginner's Goodbye. In the small town of Larksville, the Pike family is hopelessly out of step with the daily rhythms of life after the tragic, accidental death of six-year-old Janie Rose. Mrs. Pike seldom speaks, blaming herself, while Mr. Pike is forced to come out of his long, comfortable silence. Then there is ten-year-old Simon, who is suddenly without a baby sister -- and without understanding why she's gone. Those closest to this shattered family must learn to comfort them -- and confront their own private shadows of hidden grief. If time cannot draw them out of the dark, then love may be their only hope....

Willa Drake can count on one hand the defining moments of her life: when she was eleven and her mother disappeared, being proposed to at twenty-one, the accident that would make her a widow at forty-one. At each of these moments, Willa ended up on a path laid out for her by others. So when she receives a phone call telling her that her son’s ex-girlfriend has been shot and needs her help, she drops everything and flies across the country. The spur-of-the-moment decision to look after this woman – and her nine-year-old daughter, and her dog – will lead Willa into uncharted territory. Surrounded by new and surprising neighbours, she is plunged into the rituals that make a community and takes pleasure in the most unexpected things. A bittersweet novel of hope and regret, fulfillment and renewal, Clock Dance brings us the everyday life of a woman who decides it’s never too late to change direction, and choose your own path.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Anne Tyler's *The Beginner's Goodbye.* "Without Anne Tyler, American fiction would be an immeasurably bleaker place." --NEWSDAY Evie Decker is a shy, slightly plump teenager, lonely and silent. But her quiet life is shattered when she hears the voice of Drumstrings Casey on the radio and becomes instantly attracted to him. She manages to meet him, bursting out of her lonely shell--and into the attentive gaze of the intangible man who becomes all too real....

An unsolved murder and a cold caseare hitting too close to home... When Willa Tate presents Detective Kenneth Gray with a buried box containing evidence of a thirty-five-year-old crime, he knows his newly formed task force will leave no stone unturned to find answers. But it's Willa's life on the line when Kenneth uncovers a connection between the cold case and the unsolved murder of his wife. Protecting Willa and righting past wrongs pits the dogged cop against a killer desperate to silence the truth forever.From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.Discover more action-packed stories in The Saving Kelby Creek Series. All books are stand-alone with uplifting endings but were published in the following order: Book 1: Uncovering Small Town SecretsBook 2: Searching for EvidenceBook...

*Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize *  “It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon. . .” This is how Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she fell in love with Red that day in July 1959. The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate togetherness: an indefinable, enviable kind of specialness. But they are also like all families, in that the stories they tell themselves reveal only part of the picture. Abby and Red and their four grown children have accumulated not only tender moments, laughter, and celebrations, but also jealousies, disappointments, and carefully guarded secrets. From Red’s father and mother, newly arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to Abby and Red’s grandchildren carrying the family legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century, here are four generations of Whitshanks, their lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their anchor. Brimming with all the insight, humor, and generosity of spirit that are the hallmarks of Anne Tyler’s work, A Spool of Blue Thread tells a poignant yet unsentimental story in praise of family in all its emotional complexity. It is a novel to cherish. This eBook edition includes a Reading Group Guide.  

Who knew a man from her past...would save her from an unpredictable future?Just as innkeeper Madeline Nash is wrongly accused of a crime, former lover Julian Mercer unexpectedly shows up and lies to give her an alibi. As Julian's deceit draws him into the dangers and mysteries of Madi's troubled past, their romance rekindles. Nothing can keep him from protecting the woman he never forgot—not even bullets.

Anne Tyler gives us a wise, haunting, and deeply moving new novel in which she explores how a middle-aged man, ripped apart by the death of his wife, is gradually restored by her frequent appearances -- in their house, on the roadway, in the market. Crippled in his right arm and leg, Aaron has spent his childhood fending off a sister who wants to manage him. When he meets Dorothy, a plain, outspoken, independent young woman, she is like a breath of fresh air. Unhesitatingly, he marries her, and they have a relatively happy, unremarkable life together. But when a tree crashes into their house and Dorothy is killed, Aaron feels as though he has been erased forever. Only Dorothy's unexpected appearances from the dead help him to live in the moment and find some peace. Gradually he discovers, as he works in the family's vanity-publishing business, (turning out titles that presume to guide beginners through the trails of life) that maybe for this beginner there is a way of saying goodbye. A beautiful, subtle exploration of loss and recovery, pierced throughout with Anne Tyler's humour, wisdom, and always penetrating look at human foibles. From the Hardcover edition.

After biological terrorism rips through an Amish community,the Tactical Crime Division is called in to find out why.After a deadly anthrax attack, TCD's biological weapons expert Carly Welsh springs into action. Problem is, the Amish trust no one—especially not an FBI special agent. That's where Noah Miller comes in. Even though the rancher left the fold decades ago, the community trusts him...and so does Dr. Welsh. But even their combined courage and smarts might not be enough against sinister forces that want them both to perish.From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.Tactical Crime Division: Traverse CityBook 1: Rookie Instincts by Carol EricsonBook 2: Toxin Alert by Tyler Anne Snell

A lawman finds a new cluethat leads straight into danger.Haunted by an unsolved case involving his family, Sheriff Declan Nash had hoped his recent vacation would help clear his head. And it worked. But just as his family's abductor steps out of the shadows, Remi Hudson, a woman from his past, reveals he's going to be a dad. Now, as Remi suddenly becomes the target of repeated attacks, Declan will do anything to keep her and their unborn baby safe. Even though someone is trying very hard to make sure that doesn't happen.

Danger brought them back together.Will a secret baby tear them apart?As the newest deputy in town, Henry Ward is hoping to escape painful memories. Then a rain of bullets brings his history rising up again, throwing Cassie Gates directly into his path. He hasn't forgotten their night together, seven months ago. And now that he's seen her—pregnant with his child—Henry knows he's fighting more than his past. He's fighting for his future.The Protectors of Riker County

She knows who killed his wife...if she could only remember A woman screaming into a phone sends Riker County detective Matt Walker racing to the rescue of his onetime nemesis, Maggie Carson. Four years ago, the green-eyed journalist accused him of killing his wife. Her first solid lead in the case she can't let go just landed Maggie in the custody of the Alabama lawman who hates her. The single mother can't remember the past twenty-four hours and now there's a target on her back. As they move closer to the truth...as desire turns enemies into passionate allies, Matt will move heaven and earth to protect Maggie—and the love that's bigger than both of them. The Protectors of Riker County

Fatherhood was never in the cards...until an innocent family wrapped themselves around his heart... Mark Tranton thought his bodyguard career ended the day he watched a client die. Now Kelli Crane—the widow—needs Mark to keep her and her little girl safe. Mark swears he's not the man for the job, but when the vulnerable beauty is attacked, there's no way he can deny the woman he failed two years before. Being around Kelli again stirs something in Mark he could never admit. And spending time with her daughter makes him long to be more than just their personal protectors. But digging into the past riles someone who won't rest until Kelli pays the ultimate price. Mark refuses to allow that to happen. Even if he has to sacrifice their newly discovered happiness to keep her out of the line of fire.

NEW TO ANCHOR CANADA: In the debut novel that set her on the path to becoming an American classic, Anne Tyler's If Morning Ever Comes presents a timeless portrait of a young man's homecoming, and his ensuing journey through youth, identity, family, and love.Raised amongst a family of strong-minded women has left Ben Joe Hawkes as something of a worrier, who has always felt like an outsider in his own family. But when a combination of homesickness and complicated news reaches Ben at Columbia Law School, he is more than happy to drop his studies and head back to his small hometown in North Carolina to care for the women in his life. Except that between his grandmother, widowed mother, and six sisters, there doesn't seem to be much Ben can do in the way of help, making him feel even more out of place. As Ben faces the memories of his past and tries to find his place in the present, will he find what he's been searching for?

This sexy tycoon has everything...So why is he searching for a baby?To Chief Deputy Suzy Simmons, James Callahan is the dark-haired, sexy-as-hell millionaire with abs from her past. But despite his megacharm and killer body, Suzy deeply distrusts him when he draws her into his investigation of a criminal's murder. The courageous beauty is determined to get answers, not come-ons. As they race against time, James and Suzy face unseen danger with their case—and hearts—heating up.The Protectors of Riker County

She's fighting for her life.He'll risk everything to keep her safe. When Rachel Roberts is nearly abducted, she makes a panicked call to the one man she can trust. Lawman Dane Jones will do anything to protect his best friend's widow. Plagued by the guilt he bears over the man's tragic death and his undeclared love for Rachel, Dane must confront his past in order to stop a madman. Their lives—and their futures—depend on it.The Protectors of Riker County

For this lawman, it's do or die in Riker County Bound to protect and serve, sheriff Billy Reed has tried to let his career be enough. But he could never forget Mara Copeland, the woman who left without a goodbye and hurt him without warning. Now she's back with criminals on her trail and a child in her arms. His child. Mara didn't trust the future she and Billy could've had. He's a lawman and she was born into a world of ruthless criminals. Still, he's the man she can turn to. He'll do anything to protect their daughter, but will love be reason enough to forgive Mara and bring their family back together? The Protectors of Riker County

SUMMARY:Maggie Moran's mission is to connect and unite people, whether they want to be united or not. Maggie is a meddler and as she and her husband, Ira, drive 90 miles to the funeral of an old friend, Ira contemplates his wasted life and the traffic, while Maggie hatches a plant to reunite her son Jesse with his long-estranged wife and baby. As Ira explains, "She thinks the people she loves are better than they really are, and so then she starts changing things around to suit her view of them." Though everyone criticizes her for being "ordinary," Maggie's ability to see the beauty and potential in others ultimately proves that she is the only one fighting the resignation they all fear. The book captured the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1989.

An innocent beauty looking for answers turns to a detective looking for vengeance One day. One town. Three missing women. Things like this didn't happen in Culpepper. Except that they had--once before. Eleven years ago, young Braydon Thatcher was unable to stop a tragic murder, one that hit painfully close to home. Now a detective, Braydon can't help but notice the eerie similarities between the two crimes. But he has to focus on the present and keep distractions to a minimum. Distractions like Sophia Hardwick, who crashes into town like a Florida thunderstorm, demanding to know where her missing sister is. The attraction between them is nearly his undoing. But he has to protect her, because it's clear someone is resurrecting ghosts in order to punish Braydon. And if he lets his emotions for Sophia get the best of him, she could become yet another victim...

She's always been the boss—now she's the target As the newest member of Orion Security, Jackson Fields had a lot to prove. But he never expected his first assignment would force him to break every rule in the employee handbook. Nikki Waters has always put her clients' protection first...until a nightmare from her past resurfaces. Now Jackson must protect his boss to keep her life's work from crumbling. She'd headhunted Jackson for his raw talent, and is counting on his determination to make sure she lives another day. He has every intention of keeping her safe—especially when his protective detail turns from professional to personal in the blink of an eye

The first thing I tell people is, I'm just an ordinary woman. I'm just like you. Susanna has an incredible gift: she can heal ailments with just the touch of her hand. People travel from far and wide based on their faith in her abilities. But Susanna's power only works in certain cases—it's a semi-miracle. And as she grows into a woman, and tries to build a life of her own, her calling to fix and cure becomes more of a burden than she could ever have imagined. Why is she able to take people's pain away sometimes, and not others, not when she needs to most of all? With the balm of time, and the wisdom of experience, Susanna must learn to live with the mysterious nature of her miracle. Available to readers for the first time since its initial publication, this is a wry and moving story by an American master. "Not merely good . . . she is wickedly good." —John Updike

As a bodyguard, it was his duty to protect her—not fall for her all over again... Orion Security Group's mission is to protect those in serious danger. So when Oliver Quinn's latest assignment unexpectedly brings him back into Darling Smith's life, he knows it's going to be his most challenging case yet. And from the moment he comes face-to-face with the beauty from his past, Oliver can't deny their history is going to make for some tension-filled days—and frustrating nights. But keeping her safe, even though she denies she needs his help, has to come before exploring their lingering feelings. She may not have asked for his protection, but with the killer on her trail, she can't afford not to have it... Plus a bonus short story by USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen

"Just do your job—protect the witness without falling for her." Former city cop Caleb Foster hopes playing by the rules will clear his record so he can get transferred far away from small-town Carpenter, Alabama. But one look into the terrified eyes of a beautiful witness and he'll make it his mission to protect her, no matter what it takes... Alyssa Garner thought testifying against a trio of lethal bank robbers would finally end her months-long nightmare. Now Caleb is the only person she can trust when she and other witnesses become targets. She can't resist him—or the secrets he won't reveal. But someone driven by obsession is ahead of their every move...and won't stop till she's the ultimate prize.. The Protectors of Riker County

BONUS: This edition contains a Noah's Compass discussion guide.Liam Pennywell, who set out to be a philosopher and ended up teaching fifth grade, never much liked the job at that run-down private school, so early retirement doesn't bother him. But he is troubled by his inability to remember anything about the first night that he moved into his new and spare condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore. All he knows when he wakes up the next day in the hospital is that his head is sore and bandaged. His effort to recover the moments of his life that have been stolen from him leads him on an unexpected detour. What he needs is someone who can do the remembering for him. What he gets is . . . well, something quite different.Look for special features inside.Join the Circle for author chats and more.RandomHouseReadersCircle.com

Protecting a woman who claimed she didn't need a bodyguard made his final case the most interesting of his career... Before he settles down behind the desk, Orion Security bodyguard Jonathan Carmichael has one last assignment. One that might prove to be more than he bargained for. Because Kate Spears is adamant she doesn't need his protection. And a woman who doesn't want a bodyguard could be difficult, dangerous—and terribly intriguing. Kate is used to taking care of herself. Unfortunately, her most recent scientific discovery has made someone intent on taking her research and her life. Now only one man stands between her and death. And while Jonathan is more than capable of protecting her body, she fears he could be the one man to wreak havok on her very soul.

Amazon.com ReviewBarnaby Gaitlin is one of Anne Tyler's most promising unpromising characters. At 30, he has yet to graduate from college, is already divorced, and is used to defeat. His mother thrives on reminding him of his adolescent delinquency and debt to his family, and even his daughter is fed up with his fecklessness. Still, attuned as he is to "the normal quota for misfortune," Barney is one of the star employees of Baltimore's Rent-a-Back, Inc., which pays him an hourly wage to help old people (and one young agoraphobe) run errands and sort out their basements and attics. Anne Tyler makes you admire most of these mothball eccentrics (though they're far from idealized) and hope that they can stave off nursing homes and death. There is, for example, "the unstoppable little black grandma whose children phoned us on an emergency basis whenever she threatened to overdo." And then there's Barnaby's new girlfriend's aunt, who will eventually accuse him of theft--"Over her forearm she carried a Yorkshire terrier, neatly folded like a waiter's napkin. 'This is my doorbell,' she said, thrusting him toward me. 'I'd never have known you were out here if not for Tatters.'" These people are wonderful creations, but their lives are more brittle than cuddly, Barnaby knows better than to think of them as friends, because they'll only die on him. Yet his job offers at least glimpses of roots and affection. Helping an old lady set up her Christmas tree (on New Year's Eve!) gives him the chance to hang a singular ornament--a snowflake "pancake-sized, slightly crumpled, snipped from gift wrap so old that the Santas were smoking cigarettes." And Barnaby himself is sharp and impatient at painful--and painfully funny--family dinners, apparently unable to keep his finger off the auto-self-destruct button every time his life improves. As much as his superb creator, he is a poet of disappointment, resignation, and minute transformation. --Kerry FriedFrom Library JournalDavid Morse's reading in a calm, even tone reflects the unruffled attitude of the central character in this story. After getting into trouble early in his young adult life, and subsequently paying for his crime, Barney Gaitlin has achieved a level of fulfillment working with senior citizens. Unfortunately, he is perceived by most of his family and friends as a failure, not having attained a college education nor a high-paying position in a high-profile profession. In a relationship with Sophia Maynard, he tries to find a greater level of stability, partly to create a more suitable atmosphere in which to establish closer ties with his young daughter. Tyler's (The Ladder of Years, Audio Reviews, LJ 8/96) characters are real people recognizable in one's own circle of acquaintances. The bonds and tensions arising among family members are readily understandable. A definite recommendation for academic and public library fiction collections.?Catherine Swenson, Norwich Univ., VTCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.