On Bittersweet Place is the powerful coming-of-age story of Lena Czernitski, a young Russian Jew whose family flees their homeland in the Ukraine after the October Revolution. The story unfolds in Chicago during the Jazz Age of the 1920 s, where Lena s impoverished family has settled and where she must traverse the early years of adolescence. Lena s new world is large and beautiful and full of promise, but it is also cold and unwelcoming and laden with danger. Ronna Wineberg delivers a moving, universal story of family, self-discovery, young love, and the always relevant experience of the immigrant, the refugee, the outsider struggling to create a new home and a better life in an unfamiliar place.

"Sentimental, heartfelt….the exploration of Henry’s changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don’t repeat those injustices."-- Kirkus Reviews “A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war--not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today's world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel." -- Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain “Jamie Ford's first novel explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle area during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love. An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut.” -- Lisa See, bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol. This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept. Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago. Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart. BONUS: This edition contains a Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet discussion guide and an excerpt from Jamie Ford's Love and Other Consolation Prizes.

Loss and impermanence are inescapable, part of the warp and weft of our lives. They are essential to love, to growth, and to art. And yet, too often, we do not acknowledge loss, let alone honour the experience of it. Illuminating, thoughtful, and deeply necessary, Susan Cain's new book will help us to name and value the experience of loss, pointing the way toward ways of being and rituals that help us to accept it rather than bury it. Blending memoir, reportage, and social science, it will reveal that joy and loss exist in equilibrium; that vulnerability, or even a melancholy temperament, can be a strength; and that embracing our inevitable losses makes us more human and more whole.

There's a long silence. "Zach?" "Yeah?" "Are you going to make me say it first?" There's another pause and, 'if he says "say what?" I'll just die', Daniel thinks. "I've wanted to say it for a while," says Zach, and Daniel breathes again. "Let's say it together, then nobody has to be first." "Okay. Yeah. Ready?" "Ready." "I love you," they say. And they lie very still, waiting for the sky to fall. Bittersweet Place is the first book in the Courtesans series, a book about two young men and their growing commitment: to one another, and to the difficult decisions they must make. Daniel Sylvan and Zach Graham come to Chicago to find new lives. Each has darkness in his past that he would rather forget, but both young men learn that there is no future without the past; that trying to bury old pain only leads to new pain. Difficult as it may be, the past must be faced before they can grow. Daniel and Zach must find the courage to grow ... together. Sarz Maxwell, a native Chicagoan, tells Zach and Daniel's story with humor and authenticity. In Bittersweet Place the reader will meet not only two extraordinary young men, but also a very special place: Chicago's Boystown, in all its vibrant, breathing life.

Theyre smart beautiful and childless, four professional Connecticut women whove bonded in friendship to pursue truth and love TV anchor woman, Linda Cooper, gets a phone call from a woman in the middle of the night demanding to speak to Christopher as their baby is ill. Christopher admits to being the father. He and Linda argue. H storms out of the house to be with his mistress Lindas friend, Spa owner Katherine Horvath, is behind in payments for the Spas renovation, and is considering a loan from the Mafia if her boyfriends wealthy father doesnt come through with a low-interest loan. Kat has a difficult history with relationships Advertising agency proprietor, Zita Parker, is Lindas best friend. Desperate for a baby, she endured in-vitro fertilization without success. Her husband left her for a woman half his age. She has a new man who wants marriage and a family. Zita, unable to have children, is frightened of the future Margaret Dolan owns a real estate firm and is referred to as Mother Superior by her three friends because of her wisdom. Successful in marriage and in business, Margaret is distraught because her beloved nephew is risking his future lusting after Raquel Lopez; a stunner Margaret considers a gold digger.

From the author of Twenty Boy Summer, a teen pushes the limits to follow her dreams—and learns there’s a fine line between bitter and sweet.... Once upon a time, Hudson knew exactly what her future looked like. Then a betrayal changed her life and knocked her dreams to the ground. Now she’s a girl who doesn’t believe in second chances, a girl who stays under the radar by baking cupcakes at her mom’s diner and obsessing over what might have been. So when things start looking up and she has another shot at her dreams, Hudson is equal parts hopeful and terrified. Of course, this is also the moment a cute, sweet guy walks into her life—and starts serving up some seriously mixed signals. She’s got a lot on her plate, and for a girl who’s been burned before, risking it all is easier said than done. It’s time for Hudson to ask herself what she really wants, and how much she’s willing to sacrifice to get it. Because in a place where opportunities are fleeting, she knows this chance may very well be her last....

A personal memoir explores the intertwined natures of happiness and sadness, discussing how bitter experiences balance out the sweetness in life and how change can be an opportunity for growth and a function of God's graciousness.