Extraordinary, Ordinary Women provides an intimate portrait of twenty American expatriate women currently residing in Paris. Pulling back the veil of idealism and romanticism shrouding the women’s migrant lives, the book examines the very real pitfalls and triumphs of life after the “happily ever after.” Extraordinary, Ordinary Women examines the consequences of immigration, biculturalism, and assimilation on the individual identities of modern expatriate women.

Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom is a collection of intimate, heartfelt conversations with women spiritual teachers who live and look like ordinary people. They have kids, husbands, jobs, and bills to pay. What makes them extraordinary is that each woman has awakened to her true nature. And while that sounds like enlightenment, it doesn't look like the old stereotype of transcendence, detachment, and bliss. Quite the contrary. This is the feminine half of the spiritual journey--bringing it down to earth and embracing all of what it means to be human.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Sallis comes a wonderfully evocative novel, perfect for fans of Maeve Binchy, Fiona Valpy and Rosamunde Pilcher. READERS ARE LOVING AN ORDINARY WOMAN! "A remarkable story of love, life, pleasures and hazards. Strong characters who define this story. Excellent read and would strongly recommend Susan Sallis" -- 5 STARS "The storyline was captivating from the start..." - 5 STARS "This book held me from the first page to the last!" - 5 STARS "Very good story, loved every minute..." - 5 STARS *********************************************** WHEN NEEDED, WILL SHE BE ABLE TO RISE TO THE CHALLENGE? 1945, Connecticut. A scandal breaks which forces a baffled Rose, aged four, and her mother to leave America and return home to England. The following May, a sister is born - Joanna or 'Jon'. Rose and Jon are like chalk and cheese. Jon is vivacious, fun, impetuous, rash and persuasive. Rose is reserved, steady, sure, reliable and...ordinary. It is her lot in life to hold the family together through times of tragedy and emotional upheaval. But, when, years later, Jon sets events in motion which send Rose across the Atlantic again and into the most extraordinary event of her life, can she ever be thought of as ordinary again?

This is the story of Condoleezza Rice that has never been told, not that of an ultra-accomplished world leader, but of a little girl--and a young woman--trying to find her place in a sometimes hostile world, of two exceptional parents, and an extended family and community that made all the difference. Condoleezza Rice has excelled as a diplomat, political scientist, and concert pianist. Her achievements run the gamut from helping to oversee the collapse of communism in Europe and the decline of the Soviet Union, to working to protect the country in the aftermath of 9-11, to becoming only the second woman--and the first black woman ever--to serve as Secretary of State. But until she was 25 she never learned to swim, because when she was a little girl in Birmingham, Alabama, Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor decided he'd rather shut down the city's pools than give black citizens access. Throughout the 1950's, Birmingham's black middle class largely succeeded in insulating their children from the most corrosive effects of racism, providing multiple support systems to ensure the next generation would live better than the last. But by 1963, Birmingham had become an environment where blacks were expected to keep their head down and do what they were told--or face violent consequences. That spring two bombs exploded in Rice’s neighborhood amid a series of chilling Klu Klux Klan attacks. Months later, four young girls lost their lives in a particularly vicious bombing. So how was Rice able to achieve what she ultimately did? Her father, John, a minister and educator, instilled a love of sports and politics. Her mother, a teacher, developed Condoleezza’s passion for piano and exposed her to the fine arts. From both, Rice learned the value of faith in the face of hardship and the importance of giving back to the community. Her parents’ fierce unwillingness to set limits propelled her to the venerable halls of Stanford University, where she quickly rose through the ranks to become the university’s second-in-command. An expert in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs, she played a leading role in U.S. policy as the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union disintegrated. Less than a decade later, at the apex of the hotly contested 2000 presidential election, she received the exciting news--just shortly before her father’s death--that she would go on to the White House as the first female National Security Advisor. As comfortable describing lighthearted family moments as she is recalling the poignancy of her mother’s cancer battle and the heady challenge of going toe-to-toe with Soviet leaders, Rice holds nothing back in this remarkably candid telling.

This collection of snapshots from the lives of women of the Bible is not a reference work, but a series of Bible studies filled with personal insights and challenging applications. Each author highlights one or two women, reminding us of the rewards of faith and the consequences of sin. From Mary Magdalene to Hannah, Dorcas, and Ruth?you will see yourself in women whose destinies were transformed when their simple faith met the power of God. You will also see yourself in their flaws and gain new hope to move beyond failure to a life of victory. Reflection questions at the end of each chapter invite you to draw your own conclusions and apply biblical truth to your life. Ordinary Women, Extraordinary God will leave you longing for more of our extraordinary God!

In 1820, Phebe Orvis began a journal that she faithfully kept for a decade. Richly detailed, her diary captures not only the everyday life of an ordinary woman in early nineteenth-century Vermont and New York, but also the unusual happenings of her family, neighborhood, and beyond. The journal entries trace Orvis's transition from single life to marriage and motherhood, including her time at the Middlebury Female Seminary and her observations about the changing social and economic environment of the period. A Quaker, Orvis also recorded the details of the waxing passion of the Second Great Awakening in the people around her, as well as the conflict the fervor caused within her own family. In the first section of the book, Susan M. Ouellette includes a series of essays that illuminate Orvis's diary entries and broaden the social landscape she inhabited. These essays focus on Orvis and, more importantly, the experience of ordinary people as they navigated the new nation, the new century, and the emerging American society and culture. The second section is a transcript of the original journal. This combination of analytical essays and primary source material offers readers a unique perspective of domestic life in northern New England as well as upstate New York in the early nineteenth century.