Thomas Hardy (2nd June 1840 – 11th January 1928), celebrated poet and writer, was born in a modest thatched cottage near Dorchester in the West country, to a builder father. His mother came from a line of intelligent, lively and ambitious women so ensured her son had the best formal education available for their modest means although this ended when he was 16. He became a draughtsman specialising in the building of churches was able to give

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Anne Davis has returned to the house where she grew up, trading her glamorous Manhattan lifestyle for a harsh winter on a wind-whipped New England island. Her marriage has crumbled in the wake of a tragic accident. Now she has returned to the home on Salt Whistle Raod that has always meant shelter, security, family, and love. When she awakens one snowy night to a fire that roars through the old house, Anne escapes-but runs back into the blaze to save...

Fifteen-year-old Emily has six siblings, but she was also close to her best friend, Lizzie Porter, who died nearly a year ago, and she is still grieving; but Lizzie's family are also grieving, so much so, that they use Lizzie's younger sister, Chloe, as a lure and kidnap Emily, forcing her to dress, talk, and act like Lizzie, and threatening to go after Emily's family if she does not become the replacement for the daughter they lost--and Emily is...

A series of letters reveals the emotional odyssey and evolution of one couple's relationship as they fall in love, confront the loss of an adult child, and struggle to rediscover who they each are and what they mean to each other in the wake of the tragedy.

Life is rewarding for Samuel Truelove. He's a gifted surgeon, he's married to the love of his life, and he has a beautiful daughter. But when he's called to perform an emergency surgery, a deadly cascade of events is set in motion, and his picture-perfect life begins to unravel.... Annie Truelove, hoping to escape painful reminders of her grief, leaves her beloved home in the mountains of North Carolina and begins a new life in faraway Seattle. But...

"On the morning of December 26, 2004, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, Sonali Deraniyagala lost her parents, her husband, and her two young sons in the tsunami she miraculously survived. In this brave and searingly frank memoir, she describes those first horrifying moments and her long journey since. She has written an engrossing, unsentimental, beautifully poised account: as she struggles through the first months following the tragedy, furiously...

"Parents who suffer the death of a child are overwhelmed, often immobilized by the depth and scope of their grief. When a Child Dies is written in a simple, straightforward manner, offering information, comfort and hope for those who believe that none is possible. Claire Aagaard has written this book from a unique perspective-that of a professional grief counselor and as a parent with her own history of child loss. It is an honest yet gentle guide,...

Thomas and Theresa Hammonds believe in tough love and old-fashioned discipline. They do not believe in doctors. When their controversial beliefs lead to personal tragedy, the Hammonds face heartbreaking loss, a crisis of faith-and a charge of negligent homicide by a relentless prosecutor. Defending Thomas and Theresa is freewheeling lawyer Charles Arnold. He believes in grace and mercy, but nothing in his colorful past has prepared him for the challenges...

Well-known Christian philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff has authored many books that have contributed significantly to scholarship in several subjects. In Lament for a Son, he writes not as a scholar, but as a loving father grieving the loss of his son. In brief vignettes, Wolterstorff explores with a moving honesty and intensity, all the facets of his experience of this irreversible loss. Though he grieves "not as one who has no hope," he finds no...

When a car accident kills two teens from opposite sides of the tracks, the aftermath threatens to tear a community apart. Readers emotions are torn between two sympathetic characters as each fights her way through grief and pain--sometimes wisely and sometimes with choices that have the power to divide family, church, and even their small seaside town.