In these humorous and heartfelt essays, Patti See celebrates small-town life in Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley. Featuring childhood memories of supper clubs, thrift sales, and cribbage games, as well as the midlife concerns that accompany having a son in the military, a parent with Alzheimer’s, and a private onsite septic system, See’s writing praises the quirky charm of her hometown and its people. Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s as the youngest of eight children, Patti never imagined she’d stay in Chippewa Falls as an adult. Now, living on rural Lake Hallie just five miles from her childhood home, she has a new appreciation for all that comes with country living, from ice fishing and eagle sightings to pontoon rides and tavern dice. These brief essays—many of which were originally published in the Sawdust Stories column of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram—establish that, above all else, it’s friends, family, and other folks in our hometown who provide us with a sense of belonging.

"Hallie Elliot is a successful San Franciso interior designer and engaged to Peter, a brilliant young journalist. But when she stumbles upon Peter and her boss in what seems to be a compromising position, her trust in her perfect life is shaken. So Hallie escapes to Lake Como, Italy to spend time with her half-sister, Portia Tesoro, an Italian blueblood dealing with the scandal of a public estrangement from her cheating husband. But just as Hallie is beginning to find her footing on Italian soil, she uncovers a family secret that upends all the truths she believed about herself, and calls into question the new life she's built in Lake Como."--Page 4 of cover.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Kathleen Buhle shares her story of resilience and self-discovery after her marriage to Hunter Biden unraveled in the wake of substance abuse and infidelity in this “dignified and revealing” (People) memoir. “Kathleen Buhle’s brave and honest story transcends politics, division, hearsay, and judgment.”—Connie Britton This is not a story about good versus evil. Or who was right. Or who was better. For decades, Kathleen Buhle chose to play the role of the good wife, beginning when, as a naïve young woman from a working-class family on the South Side of Chicago, she met the dashing son of a senator at the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Oregon. Within months of falling in love, Kathleen found herself pregnant and engaged, living a life beyond anything she’d ever known. Determined to build her family on a foundation of love, Kathleen was convinced her and Hunter’s commitment to each other could overcome any obstacle. But when Hunter’s drinking evolved into dependency, she was forced to learn how rapidly and irrevocably a marriage can fall apart under the merciless power of addiction. When the lies became insurmountable, Kathleen was forced to reckon with the compromises she had made to try to save her marriage. She wondered if she could survive on her own. The result is a memoir that is page-turning and heart-breaking. Here Kathleen asks why she kept so much hidden—from her daughters and herself—for so many years, why she became dependent on one man, and why she was more faithful to a vow of secrecy than to her own truth. This inspiring chronicle of radical honesty and self-actualization speaks to women who have lost part of their identity and want to reclaim it.

Benjamin 'Big' Traub, young Korean War veteran, takes a job as driver at Camp Harmony expecting to spend a summer of fun and light work. Instead he encounters trouble and has conflicts with several staff members involving their cruelty, abuse of campers, bigotry and pedophilia. Despite these problems, he becomes romantically involved with the camp doctor, Lani Welch, helps a youngster, Mickey Davis, cope with the recent death of his father, and makes friendships with counselors and campers who are trying to cope in this fiercely competitive atmosphere. Big must make the choice of involving himself in these struggles and jeopardizing his position or ignoring them. His dilemma leads to an anguishing series of incidents and consequences climaxing in the events of July 29th, the anniversary of an unsolved murder committed 30 years earlier, when campers must walk down the Old Harmony Road as a test of their courage. Camp Harmony is a powerful novel of self-discovery and coming of age set in the supposedly innocent atmosphere of a boys' summer camp.

Together here for the first time, three of Anita Hughes’ beautiful and exotic novels will take readers on an incredible journey from Monarch Beach in Orange County, across the ocean to beautiful Lake Como in Italy, and end on the glamorous Cote D’Azur with French Coast. With mouth-watering descriptions of food, fashion, and romance, these are three must-reads! In French Coast, Serena is the young editor assigned to the story of a lifetime—to fly to the Cannes film festival and interview the infamous former editor of French Vogue. But when her fiancé chooses politics over their engagement, Serena must turn to the friendships she forms in the intoxicating world of the Cote D'Azur to believe in herself and in love once more. Monarch Beach is Anita Hughes' absorbing debut novel about a San Francisco mother’s journey back to happiness after an affair splinters her perfect marriage. Amanda must flee her life in order to rebuild it in this sometimes funny, always moving story that explores what it means to be loved, betrayed, and to love again. Lake Como is a heartwarming story of love, self-discovery, and the quest for truth.When Hallie Elliot finds her fiancé and her boss in a compromising position, she leaves her job in San Francisco and heads to Lake Como, Italy to heal with her half-sister who is dealing with her own public heartbreak.