'In her moving and sympathetic book, Paula Knight charts the emotional cost of the pursuit of motherhood and thoughtfully challenges the societal notion that to live a life without children is to live a lesser life.'— Aminatta Forna A clarion call to recognise that parenting isn't the be-all and end-all of family life, Paula Knight's extraordinarily powerful graphic memoir is a beautifully drawn, funny and sometimes painful exploration of what it takes to be a woman, and a mother—or not. In 1970s Northeast England, best friends Polly and April are sitting up a tree, whispering about periods and swapping their hazy knowledge of the facts of life. They both expect to have families one day—it's the normal script to follow, isn't it? But, as Polly grows up, education and career become important too, and she believes that she can have it all. When, some years later, Polly settles with Jack, her career has taken off and she feels torn over whether or not to try for a baby. Has she left it too late? Did she have any control over that choice? They go ahead, but, after repeated miscarriage and chronic illness take their toll, Polly and Jack have to face a very tough decision. As Polly looks back to discover the origins of her own expectations, she has to confront what family means in a society where 'family' usually means 'children'.

As Blair Warner on The Facts of Life, Lisa Whelchel matured from a snobby prep schooler to a responsible adult. Now the actress recounts the journey she's made in real life, from a shy, small-town girl in Texas to the glamorous life of fame and fortune in Hollywood -- and finally to suburban life as a pastor's wife and homeschooling mother of three. Poignant autobiographical stories reveal the developing trust in God that has enabled Lisa to grow in grace through seasons of pressure, pain, and prosperity.

Three generations of a British family struggle through war, intolerance, infidelity, and illness in this “extraordinary blockbuster” (Time Out London). In the Roundel, an odd, secluded, eight-sided house in the English countryside, Edward Pepper and Sally Banks build a life. Hoping they’ve left hardship behind—they met when Sally, a doctor, treated Edward for tuberculosis after he escaped from Nazi Germany to England—they raise a family together. The German-Jewish composer has his devoted wife’s support—though he is sidetracked by the temptations of the movie industry. But for Edward and Sally, their children, and their children’s children, tragedy and joy will always go hand-in-hand, as they maneuver through a world of often bitter and brutal realities. And as the decades pass, a family shaped in equal measure by love and human failing will find itself sorely tested by mistrust, tyranny, misunderstanding, and an AIDS diagnosis. It will take more than the strength they found in their wartime romance to fight the battles of everyday life. The critically acclaimed novels of Patrick Gale have been compared to the writings of literary giants from Iris Murdoch to Gabriel García Márquez. Powerful, moving, and magnificent, this multigenerational family saga is one of Gale’s most compassionate and memorable works, a truly masterful fiction that Armistead Maupin, author of Tales of the City, calls “achingly true and beautiful.”

This remarkable book reveals in breathtaking three-dimensional illustrations the miraculous story of life before birth. The human male and female reproductive systems, the fertilization of the egg and the subsequent development of the baby are described in outstanding detail.

Six accurately detailed, movable three-dimensional models and dozens of instructive drawings accompany a text that explains the process of human reproduction from the moment of conception through birth.

Winner of the 2003 World Fantasy Award Graham Joyce chronicles a haunting, war-torn terrain in this heartrending novel of one family's quest to begin again -- without forgetting the lives they left behind. The Facts of Life Set in Coventry, England, during and immediately after World War II, The Facts of Life revolves around the early years of Frank Arthur Vine, the illegitimate son of young, free-spirited Cassie and an American GI. Because Cassie is too unreliable and unstable to act as his proper guardian -- and is prone to blue periods in which she wanders off without warning or recollection -- Frank is brought up in the care of his strong-willed, stout-drinking grandmother, Martha Vine, who has, among other homemaking talents, the untoward ability to communicate with the dead. So begins the first decade of Frank's life, one in which ghosts have a place at the table and divine order dictates the outcome of his days. Along the way there are brief stays with each of his six eccentric aunts, visits to the local mortuary, and voices inside of his own head that suggest that he, too, has the gift of supernatural intuition. An affecting tale of family and history, war and peace, love and madness, The Facts of Life will leave readers spellbound with its resounding expression of magic realism.