At three months pregnant, eighteen year old Tara is forced to leave her home and the love of her life under the threat of being killed. She escapes to the Hawaiian Islands where she starts a new life and keeps her identity a secret. Years later her past resurfaces and the mysteries of her life unfold in this modern day love story.

It all began when James Peterson was a camp counselor and two children, watching him meditate, described the colors they saw around his form: “…we saw colors coming out of his stomach. And the outside was purple, then it was blue, then it was yellow, then reddish and light yellow in the middle.” Studies indicate that almost seven percent of young children have such psychic experiences. For the most part, they don’t tell anybody about them for fear of being ridiculed. But the author believes it would be psychologically healthy for them to relate such occurrences to adults if they feel the need. In this book Peterson has put together a charming collection of case-histories about such psychic episodes. He believes they should be accepted as factual: that frequently they emanate from the “wisdom of innocence” present in youngsters. The question of the secret life of kids is examined by Peterson from the point of view of philosophy, occultism, and child psychology. He suggests why and how such experiences manifest, and their potential value to the child’s growth pattern.

From its arrival on earth to the vast areas it traverses before emptying into the sea, water holds all the knowledge and experience it has acquired. As phenomenal as it may seem, water carries its whole history, just as we carry ours. It carries secrets, too. In The Secret Life of Water, bestselling author Masaru Emoto guides us along water’s remarkable journey through our planet and continues his work to reveal water’s secret life to humankind. He shows how we can apply its wisdom to our own lives, and how, by learning to respect and appreciate water, we can better confront the challenges that face the twenty-first century—and rejuvenate the planet.

He was a brilliant teller of tales, one of the most widely read authors of the twentieth century, and at one time the most famous writer in the world, yet W. Somerset Maugham’s own true story has never been fully told. At last, the truth is revealed in a landmark biography by the award-winning writer Selina Hastings. Granted unprecedented access to Maugham’s personal correspondence and to newly uncovered interviews with his only child, Hastings portrays the secret loves, betrayals, integrity, and passion that inspired Maugham to create such classics as The Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage. Portrayed in full for the first time is Maugham’s disastrous marriage to Syrie Wellcome, a manipulative society woman who trapped Maugham with a pregnancy and an attempted suicide. Hastings also explores Maugham’s many affairs with men, including his great love, Gerald Haxton, an alcoholic charmer. Maugham’s work in secret intelligence during two world wars is described in fascinating detail—experiences that provided the inspiration for the groundbreaking Ashenden stories. From the West End to Broadway, from China to the South Pacific, Maugham’s remarkably productive life is thrillingly recounted as Hastings uncovers the real stories behind such classics as Rain, The Painted Veil, Cakes & Ale, and other well-known tales.

Citing a high percentage of Americans who routinely experience sleep problems or shortages, the award-winning author of The Alchemy of Illness draws on a wide range of disciplines to reveal the healing benefits of sleep and argue for its prioritizing.--Publisher information.

Words are essential to our everyday lives. An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do we stop to think about the origins of the words we use? Have you ever thought about which words in English have been borrowed from Arabic, Dutch, or Portuguese? Try admiral, landscape, and marmalade, just for starters. The Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging account not only of the history of English language and vocabulary, but also of how words witness history, reflect social change, and remind us of our past. Henry Hitchings delves into the insatiable, ever-changing English language and reveals how and why it has absorbed words from more than 350 other languages—many originating from the most unlikely of places, such as shampoo from Hindi and kiosk from Turkish. From the Norman Conquest to the present day, Hitchings narrates the story of English as a living archive of our human experience. He uncovers the secrets behind everyday words and explores the surprising origins of our most commonplace expressions. The Secret Life of Words is a rich, lively celebration of the language and vocabulary that we too often take for granted.