In this book, Charles Ritchie looks back at some of the characters that peopled his childhood and youth, in the years before his brilliant career in Canada’s diplomatic corps began. In these essays we are introduced to his uncles, Harry “Bimbash” Stewart and the dashing, doomed Charlie Stewart; to his indomitable mother; to his mad cousin Gerald; to the newspaper tycoon Lord Beaverbrook; to his college friend Billy Coster, who threw away wealth and a secure future; and to a host of others. With his usual unerring eye and elegant prose, Charles Ritchie brings them all to life again, with affection and wit.

After a prank lands him in serious trouble, Malcolm Hernandez, a sixteen-year-old boy, is shipped off to live with his grandparents while his mother attempts to save him from expulsion and criminal charges. Malcolm believes the stay will be easy-a vacation with milk and cookies and tales from the past. His hopes, however, are shattered when he bumps heads with his grandfather, Ronald O'Donnell-a stern, violent man with a sinister past. Ronald plans on disciplining his grandson in order to 'save' him from himself. He is not afraid of abusing him, either. He will physically, emotionally, and mentally break him. Jon Athan, the author of The Abuse of Ashley Collins, invites you to stay at grandfather's house to witness true human horror. WARNING: This book contains scenes of graphic violence, including violence towards children. This book is about abuse-emotional, physical, and mental. This book does not contain any explicit sex scenes, but it does discuss sexual abuse. This book is not intended for those easily offended or appalled.

In the tradition of Augustine's "Confessions", Robert Clark tells the story of his return to the Catholic Church through the prism of the religious history of his ancestors.

Keiko is not happy to be staying in her great grandfather's house while her parents are away. But she discovers that there is far more to life in the countryside than she first thought: walnut sailboats, straw snowboots, great grandfather's stories and the magic of New Year.

The author recounts his youth in the Big Thicket region of eastern Texas during the 1940s and 1950s, and describes the distinctive way of life in the area and some of the people that lived there.

The poems in this first poetry book by a Cuban American writer explore a variety of contemporary and historical themes that combine to create a modern immigrant consciousness, not only immigration from nation state to nation state but also from states of culture and spirit. Beginning with poems that harken back over 40 years of lived experience in the mountains of Cuba, the hills of Galicia, Spain, and the paved streets of Brooklyn and Harlem to poems of love and loss, of life in the military and the high seas, the book grapples with the complex conflicts and tensions of identity, displacement, and autonomy while seeking beauty in all her forms. From the evocative lyricism of the delicately constructed décimas to the sprawling long lines and semantic plays of the free verse, this is a work by a poet writing in the full measure of his powers.

Maurice Sendak illustrates his father's words.