***Now a Netflix Original movie, starring Leighton Meester, streaming globally.*** Miles from home. Trust no one. Suspect everyone.

The only thing Gabriela and Beth have in common is that they are in LA for the weekend. Gabriela is there for frivolity, fashion and fun, Beth for lectures, learning and literature. But what neither girl knows is that they are not alone. Two angels are in LA with them. And the angels have other ideas.

Encroaching work demands—coupled with domestic chores, overbooked schedules, and the incessant pinging of our devices—have taken a toll on what used to be our free time: the weekend. With no space to tune out and recharge, every aspect of our lives is suffering: our health is deteriorating, our social networks (the face-to-face kind) are dissolving, and our productivity is down. The notion of working less and living more, once considered an American virtue, has given way to the belief that you must be “on” 24/7. Award-winning journalist Katrina Onstad, pushes back against this all-work, no-fun ethos. Tired of suffering from Sunday night letdown, she digs into the history, positive psychology, and cultural anthropology of the great missing weekend and how we can revive it. Onstad follows the trail of people, companies, and countries who are vigilantly protecting their time off for joy, adventure, and most important, purpose. Filled with personal and professional inspiration, The Weekend Effect is a thoughtful, well-researched argument to take back those precious 48 hours, and ultimately, to save ourselves.

40 vacation homes from around the world, reflecting a wide range of cultures, styles and ways of life, feature in this book. From Sweden to South Africa, New England to Mexico and Mexico to Lamu, it reveals the extraordinary variety of places where people go to get away from it all.

New York Times bestselling author Joan Anderson gives women practical advice and inspiration for building creative, independent, and fulfilling lives through discovering who they truly are and who they can be. Like Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, Joan Anderson’s bestselling A Year by the Sea revealed a far larger than expected constituency, in the form of thousands of women struggling to realize their full potential. After years of focusing on the needs of others as a wife and mother, Anderson devoted a year to rediscovering herself and reinvigorating her dreams. The questions she asked herself and the insights she gained became the core of the popular weekend workshops Anderson developed to help women figure out how—after being all things to all people—they can finally become what they need to be for themselves. A Weekend to Change Your Life brings Anderson’s techniques to women everywhere, providing a step-by-step path readers can follow at their own pace. Drawing on her own life and on the experiences of the women she meets at her workshops, Anderson shows women how to move beyond the roles they play in relationship to others and reclaim their individuality. Through illustrations and gentle instruction, she illuminates the rewards of nurturing long-neglected talents, revitalizing plans sacrificed to the demands of family life, and redefining oneself by embracing new possibilities. Wake Up, Sister. It’s Your Turn A full life requires cultivation. The minute we take our hands off the plow, fail to reseed, forget to fertilize, we’ve lost our crop. And yet, most women I know, while in the service of some greater good have let their very lives wilt on the vine. Having been taught the fine art of accommodation, most of us have developed a knack for selfless behavior. We’ve dulled our personal lives while propping up everyone else’s, and we’re no longer able even to imagine having any sort of adventure, romance, meaning, or purpose for ourselves. In short, we’ve gotten way off track and taken the wrong road to self-satisfaction, foolishly thinking that after all of the doing, giving, trying, and overworking someone will offer us a reward. But Prince Charming was a bad joke and all the fairy godmothers are dead. Instead of happy ever after, most of us end up with the ache. We wake up each day with an inner gnawing, a hunger for more, a craving for an overhaul, but we are too listless, tired, or depressed to do anything about it. We have spent the greater part of our lives pouring ourselves out like a pitcher. No wonder we feel so empty. But we lack the necessary energy, a helpful roadmap, and any type of guidance and support. Well, it’s time to change all of that. —From A Weekend to Change Your Life

Add 3 More Days to Your Weekend You want more You know there’s a better way to live your life. You have hopes and dreams. You want out of the box — the financial squeeze — living by other people’s rules. The best way to achieve your goal hasn’t been clear. Now there’s a way. 5 Day Weekend® is: • More than inspiration—It’s a plan. It shows you how to build multiple streams of passive, independent income. • More than a concept—It’s real world. People’s stories and cases give examples and guidance. • More than money—It’s purpose. It opens up your world to more and better choices. You can leave your 8 to 5 job behind and achieve your grandest goals. Is it time for you to get unstuck? Are you ready to move forward to a lifestyle rich with freedom and purpose? 5 Day Weekend® is your doorway. The strategy is to build multiple streams of income that don't require you to work 8 to 5 in a company where you have little control of your time and compensation. The core money parts — Keep More Money, Make More Money, and Grow More Money — focus on ways to tighten your finances, increase your income, and develop passive investment strategies. The goal is to build regular, independent cash flow until they match your standard of living. Then you’re no longer captive. Your independent income is enough to sustain you — to free you. The Personal Freedom chapters are Purpose, Choice, Productivity, Simplicity, Adventure, Peace, and Generosity — ways to live your life to the fullest. In Power UP! you Strengthen Your Mindset, Build Your Inner Circle, Fortify Your Habits, and Amplify Your Energy — tools to support and realize your new goals. In Push the Boundaries, Nik Halik shares his remarkable journey and challenges you to achieve your own 5 Day Weekend®. New York Times bestselling author, Garrett B. Gunderson, offers his savvy financial expertise.

#1 International Bestseller Shortlisted for the 2020 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award * Shortlisted for the Stella Prize 2020 * Longlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin Award “The Big Chill with a dash of Big Little Lies . . . Knife-sharp and deeply alive.” —The Guardian (London) “An insightful, poignant, and fiercely honest novel about female friendship and female aging.” —Sigrid Nunez, National Book Award–winning author of The Friend “Friendship, ambition, love, sexual politics and death: it’s all here in one sharp, funny, heartbreaking, and gorgeously written package. I loved it.” —Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train Three women in their seventies reunite for one last, life-changing weekend in the beach house of their late friend. Four older women have a lifelong friendship of the best kind: loving, practical, frank, and steadfast. But when Sylvie dies, the ground shifts dangerously for the remaining three. They are Jude, a once-famous restaurateur; Wendy, an acclaimed public intellectual; and Adele, a renowned actress now mostly out of work. Struggling to recall exactly why they’ve remained close all these years, the grieving women gather at Sylvie’s old beach house—not for festivities this time, but to clean it out before it is sold. Can they survive together without her? Without Sylvie to maintain the group’s delicate equilibrium, frustrations build and painful memories press in. Fraying tempers, an elderly dog, unwelcome guests, and too much wine collide in a storm that brings long-buried hurts to the surface—and threatens to sweep away their friendship for good. The Weekend explores growing old and growing up, and what happens when we’re forced to uncover the lies we tell ourselves. Sharply observed and excruciatingly funny, this is a jewel of a book: a celebration of tenderness and friendship from an award-winning writer.