One year—he'll be gone for one year and then we'll be together again and everything will be back to the way it should be. The day David left, I felt like my heart was breaking. Sure, any long–distance relationship is tough, but David was going to war—to fight, to protect, to put his life in danger. We can get through this, though. We'll talk, we'll email, we won't let anything come between us. I can be on army girlfriend for one year. But will my sweet, soulful, funny David be the same person when he comes home? Will I? And what if he doesn't come home at all...? "A tender and honest examination of love, longing, and loyalty in the face of modern war."—Laura Ruby, author of Bad Apple "While He Was Away is a wonderful love story with writing that is skillful and true."—Amy Timberlake, author of That Girl Lucy Moon

Despite the difficulties that come with every marriage, when a spouse leaves and walks away, abandoning all hope of reconciliation, the one left behind must overcome a myriad of heartaches and obstacles. Navigating these waters can leave one feeling overwhelmed with issues and in dire need of direction and healing. When there are children involved, the transition to recovery is even harder. After being married for twenty-eight years, Mary Bryant found herself adrift, praying desperately for a buoy to cling to while she collected the remnants of her life and family. She found herself at the most broken place she could have ever imagined. Shortly after her husband left her and their four young-adult children, she was in her kitchen calling out to God, desperate for an answer and someplace to put the fractured pieces of her life so that she could begin healing. It was there that she felt God impress upon her, "Write""your healing is there." For the next eighteen months, Mary wrote what you will find here, a most personal and inspirational message of what she believes is God's message for anyone who finds their life in the pit of despair. With God's guidance, she learned to put one foot in front of the other and began to live again. It's a transformation from brokenness to one of hope and certainty that all things work together for our good when we trust God to lead us. Whether your prayer is for your husband to be reconciled in relationship with you, or it is simply your desire to learn to trust God for your new season ahead, When He Walks Away is a must read. It is balm for your wounded spirit, and it will encourage you greatly on your journey back to wholeness.

From the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Once and for All Expect the unexpected. Macy’s got her whole summer carefully planned. But her plans didn’t include a job at Wish Catering. And they certainly didn’t include Wes. But Macy soon discovers that the things you expect least are sometimes the things you need most. “Dessen gracefully balances comedy with tragedy and introduces a complex heroine worth getting to know.” —Publishers Weekly Sarah Dessen is the winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her contributions to YA literature, as well as the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award. Books by Sarah Dessen: That Summer Someone Like You Keeping the Moon Dreamland This Lullaby The Truth About Forever Just Listen Lock and Key Along for the Ride What Happened to Goodbye The Moon and More Saint Anything Once and for All

From the winner of the National Book Award and the National Books Critics’ Circle Award—and one of the most original thinkers of our time—“Andrew Solomon’s magisterial Far and Away collects a quarter-century of soul-shaking essays” (Vanity Fair). Far and Away chronicles Andrew Solomon’s writings about places undergoing seismic shifts—political, cultural, and spiritual. From his stint on the barricades in Moscow in 1991, when he joined artists in resisting the coup whose failure ended the Soviet Union, his 2002 account of the rebirth of culture in Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban, his insightful appraisal of a Myanmar seeped in contradictions as it slowly, fitfully pushes toward freedom, and many other stories of profound upheaval, this book provides a unique window onto the very idea of social change. With his signature brilliance and compassion, Solomon demonstrates both how history is altered by individuals, and how personal identities are altered when governments alter. A journalist and essayist of remarkable perception and prescience, Solomon captures the essence of these cultures. Ranging across seven continents and twenty-five years, these “meaty dispatches…are brilliant geopolitical travelogues that also comprise a very personal and reflective resume of the National Book Award winner’s globe-trotting adventures” (Elle). Far and Away takes a magnificent journey into the heart of extraordinarily diverse experiences: “You will not only know the world better after having seen it through Solomon’s eyes, you will also care about it more” (Elizabeth Gilbert).

Once youthful, the days of old have moved to the present. She laid with the beauty of tender wrinkles and silvery hairs combed into its rightful place, rattling on about the concerning things of life. Her head turned as she focused. “What happened to my baby boy?” Dorothy Sutton whispers to her granddaughter Sheba. Words which she once held tight in secrecy, as come forth. She never wanted this to happen. As old memories never fade, even as new ones do, she has revealed things not forgotten. Living a richly rewarded life at the golden age of ninety-seven and has six months to live. Dorothy has shielded details concerning her past, as she saw no reason in digging up what she once left behind. Faith, love, and courage have been the foundation of her entire life. Her plans are to continue living the same till the end. Sheba encourages story time on what she knows, her past, to bring comfort to her in the present. In recording the events of yesterday, she learns of a secret her granny has held onto for seventy-three years. She did birthed twins, but only brought home one. One, a girl who was sickly at birth and survived only to pass away at thirty-two years of age, the other a boy. How could she hold on to something that had caused much pain? Without knowing, she may have given the keys to retrieve answers for the future. Together, these ladies will continue searching for miracles, signs, and wonders. Share the journey of Dorothy Sutton as God’s plan reveals missing pieces of a puzzle to find out what happened to her baby boy as ‘He Slipped Away’.

Includes articles on issues of worldwide anthropological interest.