Ridgway Public Library

A fierce debut novel about mothers and daughters, haves and have-nots, and the stark realities behind the American Dream A waitress at the Betsy Ross Diner, Elsie hopes her nickel-and-dime tips will add up to a new life. Then she meets Bashkim, who is at once both worldly and naive, a married man who left Albania to chase his dreams--and wound up working as a line cook in Waterbury, Connecticut. Back when the brass mills were still open, this bustling...

Is there ever a deal-breaker when it comes to true love? What happens to the perfect couple when they suddenly want different things? First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes--a baby carriage. Isn't that what all women want? Not so for Claudia Parr. And just as she gives up on finding a man who feels the same way, she meets warm, wonderful Ben. Things seem too good to be true when they fall in love and agree to buck tradition with a satisfying,...

Realistic fiction and as the most evocative portrayal of the opulent desolation of the American suburbs.

A respectable woman longing to be a bad girl-- just once--gets her wish and pays for it when she bears a child with cystic fibrosis. It is a genetic disease and she must name the father, thereby revealing that she slept with the husband of a close friend. By the author of An Act of Love.

Following a terrifying encounter in the quiet English countryside, a young woman flees to New York in search of a new life. Reinventing herself, she embarks on a journey that will lead her to the catwalks of Paris, where she becomes a star model. When M, as she is now known, meets the charming and handsome actor Larry Vaughan, they fall instantly in love and marry. Soon, they become the most desired couple on the international scene, appearing on...

This story chronicles the lifelong friendship between the Morgans, a young couple with talent and dreams but no prospects or connections, and the Langs, a wealthy couple generous enough to share their good fortune.

Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesnt know her mother? Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya,...

"In one of her strongest works of fiction yet, Nicole Krauss plunges fearlessly into the struggle to understand what it is to be a man and what it is to be a woman, and the arising tensions that have existed from the very beginning of time. Set in our contemporary moment, and moving across the globe from Switzerland, Japan, and New York City to Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and South America, the stories in To Be a Man feature male characters as fathers,...

The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married--and that the groom will remain a secret until...

Episcopal priest Father Tim Kavanagh, recently retired from service at Lord's Chapel in Mitford, accepts a post as interim priest at a small parish on an island off the Atlantic Coast where he and his wife Cynthia quickly become involved in the lives of a whole new community of people.