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Small Sacrifices: A True Story Of Passion And Murder
by Ann RuleA true story about Diane Downs who shot her 3 children in cold blood.
Small Steps
by Peg KehretIn a riveting story of courage and hope, Peg Kehret tells of months spent in a hospital when she was twelve, first struggling to survive a severe case of polio, then slowly learning to walk again. Her powerful account is also full of the humor that she and four spunky roommates found in daily hospital life.
Small Steps: A Physio in Ethiopia
by Julie SpriggThis heartfelt memoir and travel story is about an idealistic young womanforced to confront the limitations of how much difference she can make in acountry rich in culture but stark in its deprivations. Julie Sprigg spent threeyears in Ethiopia, volunteering at a convent clinic and then teaching the firstphysiotherapy cohort to ever graduate from Gondar University. In Ethiopiashe falls in love, and learns as much about herself as she does about thiscomplex, magnificent country and its people.
Small Talk: Learning From My Children About What Matters Most
by Amy Julia BeckerAlmost every day, one of Amy Julia’s children says something or asks something that prompts her to think more carefully: “Why Mommy crying?” (Marilee, when the family learned a young boy had died of cancer); “Booful, Mommy” (“Beautiful, Mommy,” as Penny proclaimed just as Amy Julia was looking in the mirror and critiquing her post-pregnancy body in her head); “What lasting mean?” (William, when he heard a song in church about God being an everlasting God). These conversations deepen her relationships with her children, but they also deepen and refine her own understanding of what she believes, why she believes it, and what she hopes to pass along to the next generation. Small Talk is a narrative based upon these conversations. It is not a parenting guide. It does not offer prescriptive lessons about how to talk with children. Rather, it tells stories based upon the questions and statements Amy Julia’s children have made about the things that make life good (such as love, kindness, beauty, laughter, and friendship), the things that make life hard (such as death, failure, and tragedy), and what we believe (such as prayer, God, and miracles). Amy Julia explores three parts—body, mind, spirit—as she moves in rough chronological order through the basic questions her kids asked when they were very young to the intellectual and then spiritual questions of later childhood. It invites other parents into these same conversations, with their children, with God, and with themselves. Moving from humorous exchanges to profound questions to heart-wrenching moments, Amy Julia encourages parents to ask themselves—and to talk with their children about—what matters most.
Small Town England: And How I Survived It
by Tim BradfordTim Bradford is growing up in a small town in Lincolnshire in the 1970s. Market Rasen is not the most exciting place, but to his teenage mind it was the centre of the universe. Tim is at that in-between phase between childhood and adolescence, where you are trying to be grown up and get your first snogs whilst at the same time still playing with airfix models and making dens.Tim takes us through his first crushes, falling in love with the local beauty queen and an elusive Gallic beauty on a French exchange. His first attempts at getting drunk and trying to impress girls, forming bands which churned out endless numbers of rubbish songs and trying to avoid deckings by the local hards. Tim and his equally hapless friends are gradually working towards breaking free of their childhoods and moving away from their roots. Life in this small town was a rollercoaster of mundane happenings. Small Town paints a portrait of the energy and melancholy at the heart of our generation, the inability to live for now and the feeling that something better is just around the corner. Too young (just) to be baby boomers and too English and uncool to call itself Generation X. It's a universal tale about dreams, ambitions, brass bands, cubs, rugby songs, football stickers, tractors, young love and valve amplifiers connected up to cheap distortion pedals, set at a time of political change and pudding basin hair.
Small Town Girl: Love, Lies and the Undercover Police
by Donna McLean"You live with someone for two years and then . . . they simply don't exist."Over 40 years, two British police units acted undercover to infiltrate activist groups. At least 20 of those officers deliberately targeted women and entered relationships with them. One of those women was me. This is my story.Men wrote the police files. They wrote the scripts and the headlines. Men wrote the court orders to make us anonymous and they will sit in judgement at the coming public inquiry. In a system that doesn't see women, you have to fight to be heard. When they take your identity, you have to find your voice.Learning the truth nearly destroyed me - but an accidental activist was born.A voice at the centre of the Spy Cops scandal. The great love story of Donna McLean's life wasn't just built on lies, it was one. With an inquiry underway, Small Town Girl is a reclamation of a truth that was ruthlessly buried.REVIEWS"Mind-blowing, gut-wrenching, shocking and beautifully written." - Chris Atkins"Utterly compelling from the first page." - Kerry Hudson"Donna McLean experienced the stuff of nightmares. But this profoundly compelling memoir reclaims the truth with eloquence and guts." - Wendy Erskine"Bold and brave, Donna McLean's courageous and vivid Small Town Girl is both a timely exposure of corruption and a searing story of emotional betrayal' - Catherine Taylor"Small Town Girl is a revelation, it is a brilliant and brave quest for truth, I found it deeply moving and brutally frank and honest." - Salena Godden"Donna suffered horrifically but it is a testament to her immense courage that she was able to take these deeply disturbing events and channel them into confronting the state and its diabolical abuses towards women." - Maxine Peake"This is a thoughtful and intimate account of the lived experience of state sanction betrayals. Donna and the other victims of the Spycops disgrace shine through with wit, kindness and resilience. This should be mandatory reading for all in the Met police, indeed everyone." - Siobhan McSweeney
Small Town Girl: Love, Lies and the Undercover Police
by Donna McLean"You live with someone for two years and then . . . they simply don't exist."Over 40 years, two British police units acted undercover to infiltrate activist groups. At least 20 of those officers deliberately targeted women and entered relationships with them. One of those women was me. This is my story.Men wrote the police files. They wrote the scripts and the headlines. Men wrote the court orders to make us anonymous and they will sit in judgement at the coming public inquiry. In a system that doesn't see women, you have to fight to be heard. When they take your identity, you have to find your voice.Learning the truth nearly destroyed me - but an accidental activist was born.A voice at the centre of the Spy Cops scandal. The great love story of Donna McLean's life wasn't just built on lies, it was one. With an inquiry underway, Small Town Girl is a reclamation of a truth that was ruthlessly buried.REVIEWS"Mind-blowing, gut-wrenching, shocking and beautifully written." - Chris Atkins"Utterly compelling from the first page." - Kerry Hudson"Donna McLean experienced the stuff of nightmares. But this profoundly compelling memoir reclaims the truth with eloquence and guts." - Wendy Erskine"Bold and brave, Donna McLean's courageous and vivid Small Town Girl is both a timely exposure of corruption and a searing story of emotional betrayal' - Catherine Taylor"Small Town Girl is a revelation, it is a brilliant and brave quest for truth, I found it deeply moving and brutally frank and honest." - Salena Godden"Donna suffered horrifically but it is a testament to her immense courage that she was able to take these deeply disturbing events and channel them into confronting the state and its diabolical abuses towards women." - Maxine Peake"This is a thoughtful and intimate account of the lived experience of state sanction betrayals. Donna and the other victims of the Spycops disgrace shine through with wit, kindness and resilience. This should be mandatory reading for all in the Met police, indeed everyone." - Siobhan McSweeney
Small Town Girl: Love, Lies and the Undercover Police
by Donna McLean"You live with someone for two years and then . . . they simply don't exist."Over 40 years, two British police units acted undercover to infiltrate activist groups. At least 20 of those officers deliberately targeted women and entered relationships with them. One of those women was me. This is my story.Men wrote the police files. They wrote the scripts and the headlines. Men wrote the court orders to make us anonymous and they will sit in judgement at the coming public inquiry. In a system that doesn't see women, you have to fight to be heard. When they take your identity, you have to find your voice.Learning the truth nearly destroyed me - but an accidental activist was born.A voice at the centre of the Spy Cops scandal. The great love story of Donna McLean's life wasn't just built on lies, it was one. With an inquiry underway, Small Town Girl is a reclamation of a truth that was ruthlessly buried.(P) 2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Small-Town Renaissance: Bridging Technology, Heritage and Planning in Shrinking Italy (Research for Development)
by Brent D. Ryan Giovanna Fossa Carmelo IgnaccoloCan digital innovation revitalize rural communities and preserve cultural heritage at the same time? This book dives into the transformative power of digitization in rural regions—where technology isn&’t just a tool, but a lifeline for local culture, economic resilience, and future development. Born from a unique research collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Politecnico di Milano, supported by the Roberto Rocca Foundation and MIT Italy, this book brings together cutting-edge data-driven scholarly work on shrinking towns, economic development, and digital innovation. Together with local authorities, small business owners, and community leaders in Sicily and Lombardy, the project tackled some of the most pressing challenges facing rural Italy—from population decline to economic stagnation—all through the lens of digital transformation. But this story isn&’t just about Italy. Similar struggles play out in rural communities across Japan, Korea, Spain, the United States, Germany, and beyond. Amid the global acceleration of digital technologies sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, this volume offers a bold roadmap for blending innovation with tradition, proposing smart platforms to amplify local voices, promote heritage-based economies, and design collaborative workspaces that anchor rural resilience. Whether you&’re a policymaker, urban planner, designer, tech innovator, or heritage advocate, this book offers fresh insights, actionable strategies, and a compelling vision for the future of rural development in the digital age.
Small-town Boy, Small-town Girl: Growing Up in South Dakota, 1920-1950
by Eric B. Fowler Sheila Delaney Molly Patrick Rozum(front flap) Dissimilar in size and separated by more than two hundred miles, the two towns have more in common than might appear at first glance. Elsewhere in the country, they would be considered small towns, but in South Dakota, they are urban population centers. In the first half of the twentieth century, when many more South Dakotans lived on farms and ranches than do today, towns such as Milbank and Mitchell formed hubs for commerce, social activities, and culture. Eric Fowler and Sheila Delaney looked at their communities from different viewpoints, but their childhood and young adult memories of South Dakota share common themes of life away from the farm. Fowler dealt with the hardships of a low-income, single-parent family in Milbank. Delaney experienced the wealth and occasional grandeur of Mitchell's social elite. Both found respite and youthful joy in mid-century South Dakota urban life. Despite the differences in Fowler and Delaney's circumstances, these two contrasting memoirs bring forth commonalities in the authors' early experiences of small-town life, even while they followed differing paths to adulthood.
Small: On motherhoods
by Claire Lynch"Original, important, moving, funny - quite a feat." - BERNARDINE EVARISTO"Incredible... beautiful and funny and humane." - EMILIE PINE"Babies who are this small, he says, have a good chance of survival. Small is not good for babies. It is not whimsical or cute or the cause of admiration. It is the first time it occurs to us that they might not survive.Babies die from smallness."Claire Lynch knew that having children with her wife would be complicated but she could never have anticipated the extent to which her life would be redrawn by the process. This dazzling debut begins with the smallest of life's substances, the microscopic cells subdividing in a petri dish in a fertility treatment centre. She moves through her story in incremental yet ever growing steps, from the fingernail-sized pregnancy test result screen which bears two affirmative lines to the premature arrival of her children who have to wear scale-model oxygen masks in their life-saving incubators. Devastatingly poignant and profoundly observant - and funny against the odds - Claire considers whether it is our smallness that makes our lives so big.(p) 2021 Octopus Publishing Group
Small: On motherhoods
by Claire Lynch"Original, important, moving, funny - quite a feat." - BERNARDINE EVARISTO"Incredible... beautiful and funny and humane." - EMILIE PINE"Babies who are this small, he says, have a good chance of survival. Small is not good for babies. It is not whimsical or cute or the cause of admiration. It is the first time it occurs to us that they might not survive. Babies die from smallness."Claire Lynch knew that having children with her wife would be complicated but she could never have anticipated the extent to which her life would be redrawn by the process. This dazzling debut begins with the smallest of life's substances, the microscopic cells subdividing in a petri dish in a fertility treatment centre. She moves through her story in incremental yet ever growing steps, from the fingernail-sized pregnancy test result screen which bears two affirmative lines to the premature arrival of her children who have to wear scale-model oxygen masks in their life-saving incubators. Devastatingly poignant and profoundly observant - and funny against the odds - Claire considers whether it is our smallness that makes our lives so big.
Smalltime: A Story Of My Family And The Mob
by Russell ShortoOne of Newsweek's Most Highly Anticipated New Books of 2021 Family secrets emerge as a best-selling author dives into the history of the mob in small-town America. Best-selling author Russell Shorto, praised for his incisive works of narrative history, never thought to write about his own past. He grew up knowing his grandfather and namesake was a small-town mob boss but maintained an unspoken family vow of silence. Then an elderly relative prodded: You’re a writer—what are you gonna do about the story? Smalltime is a mob story straight out of central casting—but with a difference, for the small-town mob, which stretched from Schenectady to Fresno, is a mostly unknown world. The location is the brawny postwar factory town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The setting is City Cigar, a storefront next to City Hall, behind which Russ and his brother-in-law, “Little Joe,” operate a gambling empire and effectively run the town. Smalltime is a riveting American immigrant story that travels back to Risorgimento Sicily, to the ancient, dusty, hill-town home of Antonino Sciotto, the author’s great-grandfather, who leaves his wife and children in grinding poverty for a new life—and wife—in a Pennsylvania mining town. It’s a tale of Italian Americans living in squalor and prejudice, and of the rise of Russ, who, like thousands of other young men, created a copy of the American establishment that excluded him. Smalltime draws an intimate portrait of a mobster and his wife, sudden riches, and the toll a lawless life takes on one family. But Smalltime is something more. The author enlists his ailing father—Tony, the mobster’s son—as his partner in the search for their troubled patriarch. As secrets are revealed and Tony’s health deteriorates, the book become an urgent and intimate exploration of three generations of the American immigrant experience. Moving, wryly funny, and richly detailed, Smalltime is an irresistible memoir by a masterful writer of historical narrative.
Smallwood
by Richard GwynThe extraordinary life of Joey Smallwood is the stuff of fiction-literally: Wayne Johnston's acclaimed novel, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, draws heavily on this definitive biography. And no wonder! Set against a colorful background in stirring times it has, as its hero, a character whose career defied both convention and the odds. A one time pig farmer and ardent socialist-turned-union-buster Smallwood is best remembered as the man responsible for bringing Newfoundland into confederation with Canada.A full ten years before Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states of the union a massive British Dominion on the Eastern Seaboard was at a crossroads. Should they join the US as its 49th state? Maintain ties with the British via a British-led commission of government? Should they join Canada? Joey Smallwood, a well-known radio personality, writer and organizer at the time, led a spirited campaign in favor of joining Canada. With 52.3% of a controversial vote marred by sectarian tensions Newfoundlanders voted with Smallwood and the boundaries of Canada as we know them today were established. The first premier of Newfoundland, Smallwood ran Newfoundland virtually unchallenged for 23 years.Smallwood's work experience was checkered, at best, but included stints as a contributor to socialist newspapers in New York and London. He was self-taught, and possessed the enthusiasm and wrong-headedness of the autodidact. As Gwyn shows, however, Smallwood possessed ambition of a rare order and utterly unconquerable self-confidence.These qualities combined with unerring political instinct enabled Smallwood to drag a reluctant Newfoundland into union with Canada, and subsequently to impose his will over compliant colleagues and a vestigial opposition until he governed his island province with the near-absolute power of a despot. Like a despot, too, he countenanced corruption on a scale rarely equaled in Canada. His fall, no less than his rise to power, contains elements of pathos, farce, and pure, farfetched wonderfulness.Richard Gwyn interviewed Smallwood extensively and enjoyed his subject's full co-operation. But this is in no sense an authorized biography. It is a balanced, informed, and deeply considered life of a unique political figure.
Smallwood: An Unlikely Revolutionary
by Richard Gwyn“A masterpiece of political reporting” and an inspiring, astonishing biography of Joey Smallwood, a man who changed the face of Canada forever (Saturday Night). In 1949, ten years before Alaska and Hawaii joined the United States, the dominion of Newfoundland was at a crossroads. Should they join as America’s 49th state, maintain ties with Great Britain, or join Canada? Joey Smallwood, a well-known radio personality, writer and organizer, led a spirited campaign in favor of joining Canada. In a controversial vote, Newfoundlanders went with Smallwood, and the boundaries of Canada as we know them today were established. The first premier of Newfoundland, Smallwood continued in that position virtually unchallenged for twenty-three years. A one-time pig farmer and ardent socialist-turned-union-buster, Smallwood’s political experience was checkered at best. But with insatiable ambition and unerring political instincts, he successfully imposed his will over compliant colleagues and weak opposition. Governing his island province with nearly despotic power and fostering corruption on a grand scale, Smallwood’s eventual fall from grace was an epic event in Canadian politics. Taken from interviews with Smallwood himself, and with his subject’s approval, Richard Gwyn has crafted “a classic work of biography . . . as artfully told and as entertaining as most novels” (Wayne Johnston, author of The Colony of Unrequited Dreams).
Smart Money: The Story of Bill Gates
by Aaron BoydBill Gates and Microsoft, the company he founded in 1975, have become a driving force in the technological revolution and the world economy. Already the wealthiest man in the world, Gates is determined to control the direction of software and technological change well into the 21st century.
Smartass: Memoir of a Mouthy Girl
by Emily Sayre SmithPerfect for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes of the ballet world, a rousing memoir of a brash young ballerina from a dysfunctional family who achieves her greatest dream only to realize—as she begins to find success—that she&’s gay.With a priest for a father and a magician for a mother, Emily Sayre Smith was always going to have an interesting life—for better and for worse. Here, she recounts what it was like coming of age in Texas and Arizona in the &’50s, &’60s, and &’70s in a decidedly dysfunctional family. To escape her turbulent family life, Emily throws herself into her ballet classes, where she can dance out the anxiety in her body and take refuge in fantasy worlds. Driven by the dream of being a ballerina, she earns scholarships and lead roles, studies in London for two years, and eventually lands back in Tucson, where she joins a fledgling ballet company and falls in love—with a woman and with marijuana. Join Emily as she survives her troubled family, hangs out with dance royalty, saves Martha Graham, meets the Queen of England, slings hash in a diner, discovers her sexuality, and tries to figure out how it&’s all going fit together in her ballerina world in this story of a brave and sometimes bumbling girl charging her way through life.
Smash Cut: A Memoir of Howard & Art & the '70s & the '80s
by Brad GoochThe author of the acclaimed City Poet returns with a searing memoir of life in 1980s New York City—a colorful and atmospheric tale of wild bohemians, glamorous celebrity, and complicated passions—with cameo appearances by Madonna, Robert Mapplethorpe, William Burroughs, and a host of others legendary artists.Brad Gooch arrived in New York in the late 1970s, yearning for artistic and personal freedom. Smash Cut is his bold and intimate memoir of this exhilarating time and place. At its center is his love affair with film director Howard Brookner, pieced together from fragments of memory and fueled by a panoply of emotions, from blazing ecstasy to bleakest despair.As both men try to reconcile love and fidelity with the irresistible desire to enjoy the freedom of the age, they live together and apart. Gooch works briefly as a model in Milan, then returns to the city and discovers his vocation as an artist. Brookner falls ill with a mysterious virus that soon has a terrifying name: AIDS. And the story, and life in the city, is suddenly overshadowed by this new demon plague that will ravage a generation and transform the creative world. Gooch charts the progress of Brookner through his illness, and writes unforgettably about endings: of a great talent, a passionate love affair, and an incandescent era.Beautifully written, full of rich detail and poignant reflection, recalling a time and a place and group of friends with affection and clarity, Smash Cut is an extraordinary memoir and an exquisite account of an epoch.Illustrated with 30 black-and-white photographs.
Smash!: Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and the '90s Punk Explosion
by Ian WinwoodA group biography of '90s punk rock told through the prism of Green Day, The Offspring, NOFX, Rancid, Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and moreTwo decades after the Sex Pistols and the Ramones birthed punk music into the world, their artistic heirs burst onto the scene and changed the genre forever. While the punk originators remained underground favorites and were slow burns commercially, their heirs shattered commercial expectations for the genre. In 1994, Green Day and The Offspring each released their third albums, and the results were astounding. Green Day's Dookie went on to sell more than 15 million copies and The Offspring's Smash remains the all-time bestselling album released on an independent label. The times had changed, and so had the music.While many books, articles, and documentaries focus on the rise of punk in the '70s, few spend any substantial time on its resurgence in the '90s. Smash! is the first to do so, detailing the circumstances surrounding the shift in '90s music culture away from grunge and legitimizing what many first-generation punks regard as post-punk, new wave, and generally anything but true punk music.With astounding access to all the key players of the time, including members of Green Day, The Offspring, NOFX, Rancid, Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and many others, renowned music writer Ian Winwood at last gives this significant, substantive, and compelling story its due. Punk rock bands were never truly successful or indeed truly famous, and that was that--until it wasn't. Smash! is the story of how the underdogs finally won and forever altered the landscape of mainstream music.
Smash, Crash, Topple, Roll!: The Inventive Rube Goldberg—A Life in Comics, Contraptions, and Six Simple Machines
by Catherine ThimmeshA joyfully illustrated picture book biography of Rube Goldberg for STEM-loving children and the many people who enjoy doing simple tasks the hard way.Award-winning author Catherine Thimmesh’s irresistibly engaging text and artist Shanda McCloskey’s energetic, cartoon-style artwork introduce readers to the life and creative legacy of Rube Goldberg, the world-famous inventor of crazy contraptions. A rollicking educational kids' book that is part biography, part inspiration, and part physics how-to, Smash, Crash, Topple, Roll! posits the ultimate question … why do anything the simple way? (Especially if, for instance, there is a catapult option?) Because, of course, there are lots of things you can do the simple way: Set an alarm, flip a switch, open a door, toast some bread . . . But what if, instead, you did things the Rube Goldberg way? Endlessly entertaining, needlessly complex, and achieving a delicate balance of physics, humor, and excitement! The book includes an overview of the six simple machines that power most of Goldberg’s inventions and puts the tools for making real-life Rube Goldberg machines right into readers’ hands. It’s the perfect thing to spark the imaginations of budding inventors, artists, and thinkers of all ages—because the most promising relationships with science start not with a textbook but with the willingness to break stuff and ask silly questions!SCIENCE MADE FUN: Sure to excite students, teachers, and parents looking for a playful, hands-on way to dive into the sciences and connect to STEM and STEAM efforts in schools, where Rube Goldberg machines are already in use, this book offers a fun way to approach the sometimes-daunting subject of physics. INSPIRATIONAL AWESOMENESS: There are more and better opportunities for kids to embrace and explore a love of science and engineering today, and Rube Goldberg was an artist, too! This is the perfect book to encourage the scientist and artist in every kid. POPULAR SUBJECT FOR KIDS: There are over 1 million views of various Rube Goldberg videos on YouTube featuring overly complicated ways to turn a page, pass the salt, water a plant, and more.Perfect for: Young makers Parents, grandparents, and caregivers encouraging budding engineers and artists Classroom book or gift for teachers Rube Goldberg fans of all ages
Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood
by Koren ZailckasThe summer Koren turns 14, she is initiated into the world of drinking with a stiff sip of Southern Comfort. Eye-opening, wise, and gripping.
Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood
by Koren ZailckasThe day Koren turned fourteen she emerged from her friend's kitchen clutching a bottle of Southern Comfort. At fifteen she and Natalie sneaked out one summer night, then next morning had to piece back together forgotten fragments of drink, men and misplaced clothes. At sixteen she was carried through the hospital doors unconscious. And so it began. . . Koren was a sweet and normal teenager, from a stable home and loving parents, yet throughout her teens and twenties she regularly drank herself to the point of oblivion. This is the shocking but utterly recognisable story of a girl who used alcohol to help herself grow up. It began by making her feel better and making life seem less scary. It helped her know who she was, how she felt. Over time, though, she found herself almost unable to meet anyone new or embark on any social occasion at college and, later, in work, without being drunk. Finally, Koren's experimentation descended into a chaotic, dangerous dependency, until, one day, she decided she needed help. Smashed is a beautifully written book and a brutally honest account of just how easy it is to surrender your life to binge drinking. Sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying, it is unfailingly sympathetic. Told in a voice that compels but never preaches, this is a book that needed to be written and demands to be read.
Smashing Serendipity: The Story of One Moorditj Yorga
by Louise K. HansenLife is tough for the Connell family, growing up in a small town where racist attitudes, discrimination and violence against Aboriginal people are commonplace. Lavinia is lucky: her parents ensure her family stays together while other cousins and friends are removed from the state. But violence and adversity occur over and over, even while young Lavinia also excels at sport and at school – drawing on her own inner strength and a physical resourcefulness. In time, Lavinia will find herself a homeless young widow, stripped of hope when her own four children are taken away. But she has a way of righting herself, using education and determination to bring her small family back together, and finding love when she least expects it.Smashing Serendipity is the yarn Lavinia tells her children and her grandchildren, gathered by the fire on the banks of the river where she grew up – the story of one good woman – one moordtj yorga – that reflects the stories of so many strong, determined women of her time.
Smile at Strangers
by Susan Schorn"Eat, pray . . . kick ass. Delivered with self-deprecating candor, Schorn's life lessons learned at the dojo will resonate with anyone who's ever tried to remodel a house, raise kids, cope with a health crisis, navigate office politics or hyperventilated--essentially anyone who's ever been slammed on the mat while testing for the black belt of life. Like the fighter herself, you can't put this one down."--Mary Moore, author of The Unexpected When You're Expecting Susan Schorn led an anxious life. For no clear reason, she had become progressively paralyzed by fear. Fed up with feeling powerless, she took up karate. She learned how to say no and how to fight when you have to (even in the dark). Karate taught her how to persuade her husband to wear a helmet, best one bossy Girl Scout troop leader, and set boundaries with an over-sharing boss. Here this double black belt recounts a fighting, biting, laughing woman's journey on the road to living fearlessly--where enlightenment is as much about embracing absurdity and landing a punch as about finding that perfect method of meditation. Full of hilarious hijinks and tactical wisdom, Schorn's quest for a more satisfying life features practical--and often counterintuitive--lessons about safety and self defense. Smile at strangers, she says. Question your habits, your fears, your self-criticism: Self-criticism is easy. Self-improvement is hard. And don't forget this essential gem: Everybody wants to have adventures. Whether they know it or not. Join the adventure in these pages, and come through it poised to have more of your own.