Would you deep-freeze a dying loved one in anticipation of a medical cure? Alf Kravitz makes that decision on behalf of his dying wife Tillie. He and Tillie, Polish Gentiles who survived the Nazi Holocaust and the loss of their twin daughters, both know that every day alive is precious. Little does Alf realize that the "Institute of Igloology" is nothing more than taxi-driver Sammy Fitzgerald's scheme to make money by stowing the deceased in his friend Barney Lewis' basement Frigidaire. Hold on for the wild ride as an Alliance of Strangers combine to keep Tillie from entering Heaven... until she teaches her husband that it is natural and right to Die with Dignity.

"Weaving together family history, genetic discovery, and scenes from her life, Ami McKay tells the compelling, true-science story of her own family's unsettling legacy of hereditary cancer while exploring the challenges that come from carrying the mutation that not only killed many people you loved, but might also kill you. The story of Ami McKay's connection to a genetic disorder called Lynch syndrome begins over seventy years before she was born and long before scientists discovered DNA. In 1895 her great-great aunt, Pauline Gross, a seamstress in Ann Arbor, Michigan, confided to a pathology professor at the local university that she expected to die young, like so many others in her family. Rather than dismiss her fears, the pathologist chose to enlist Pauline in the careful tracking of those in her family tree who had died of cancer. Pauline's premonition proved true--she died at 46--but because of her efforts, her family (who the pathologist dubbed 'Family G') would become the longest and most detailed cancer genealogy ever studied in the world. A century after Pauline's confession, researchers would identify the genetic mutation responsible for the family's woes. Now known as Lynch syndrome, the genetic condition predisposes its carriers to several types of cancer, including colorectal, endometrial, ovarian and pancreatic. In 2001, as a young mother with two sons and a keen interest in survival, Ami McKay was among the first to be tested for Lynch syndrome. She had a feeling she'd test positive: her mother's side of the family was riddled with early deaths and her own mother was being treated for the disease. When the test proved her fears true, she began living in "an unsettling state between wellness and cancer," and she's been there ever since. Intimate, candid, and probing, her genetic memoir tells a fascinating story, teasing out the many ways to live with the hand you are dealt."--

Weaving together family history, genetic discovery, and scenes from her life, Ami McKay tells the compelling, true-science story of her own family's unsettling legacy of hereditary cancer while exploring the challenges that come from carrying the mutation that not only killed many people you loved, but might also kill you. The story of Ami McKay's connection to a genetic disorder called Lynch syndrome begins over seventy years before she was born and long before scientists discovered DNA. In 1895 her great-great aunt, Pauline Gross, a seamstress in Ann Arbor, Michigan, confided to a pathology professor at the local university that she expected to die young, like so many others in her family. Rather than dismiss her fears, the pathologist chose to enlist Pauline in the careful tracking of those in her family tree who had died of cancer. Pauline's premonition proved true--she died at 46--but because of her efforts, her family (who the pathologist dubbed 'Family G') would become the longest and most detailed cancer genealogy ever studied in the world. A century after Pauline's confession, researchers would identify the genetic mutation responsible for the family's woes. Now known as Lynch syndrome, the genetic condition predisposes its carriers to several types of cancer, including colorectal, endometrial, ovarian and pancreatic. In 2001, as a young mother with two sons and a keen interest in survival, Ami McKay was among the first to be tested for Lynch syndrome. She had a feeling she'd test positive: her mother's side of the family was riddled with early deaths and her own mother was being treated for the disease. When the test proved her fears true, she began living in "an unsettling state between wellness and cancer," and she's been there ever since. Intimate, candid, and probing, her genetic memoir tells a fascinating story, teasing out the many ways to live with the hand you are dealt.

Princess Tillie is brave and bold, clever and curious, daring and very determined. Which is just as well because there is trouble in the Queendom of Blumenfeld. A sneaky thief has been stealing the royal roses. The Summer Harvest Festival will be a disaster! Princess Tillie sets out to trap the thief and solve the mystery, with the help of King Edwin’s latest invention. But a sassy, golden unicorn called Honey Blossom turns everything upside down. Can Princess Tillie and Honey Blossom save the day?

It is 1938 -- a year when most Americans are still coping with the Great Depression and wondering how long they can avoid the inevitable war and Nazi threat in Europe. When thirteen-year-old Orville Switzer discovers the bodies of twin sisters lying frozen beneath the snow in a St. Paul, Minnesota train yard, connections are soon linked to Germany. In their efforts to discover who murdered the twins and why, sheriff's deputy Al Freitag and his wife Tillie, a social worker for Orville's family, are suddenly plunged into a web of mystery, intrigue, mob violence, and an espionage ring involving pro-Nazi and German American Bund members. Will the truth behind the murders be discovered? At what cost?