Beloved author Elizabeth Berg tells the story of the recently widowed Helen Ames and of her twenty-seven-year-old daughter Tessa. Helen is shocked to discover that her mild-mannered and loyal husband had been leading a double life. The Ames's had saved money for a happy retirement, planned in minute detail, but that money has disappeared in several big withdrawals spent by Helen's husband before he died.

"A clear-eyed, optimistic guide for parents with adult children who need help navigating the challenges to launching an independent life. Times were already tough for young adults looking for ways to start living independent lives after high school and college: rents were up, wages were down, then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and a generation of young people were forced out of classrooms and routines, and back home living with their parents. Now many...

"After almost fifty years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease, and their children have long since flown the family nest to the catastrophes of their own lives. The oldest, Gary, a once-stable portfolio manager and family man, is trying to convince his wife and himself, despite clear signs to the contrary, that he is not clinically depressed. The...

"Helen Grant, known to her acquaintances as Hen, is a mystery to her daughter. An extrovert with few friends who has sought intimacy in the wrong places; a twice-divorced mother of two now living alone surrounded by her memories, Helen has always haunted Bridget. Now Bridget sees Helen once a year, and considers the problem to be contained. As she looks back on their tumultuous relationship- the performances and small deceptions- she tries to reckon...

"The day after her 56th birthday, Caroline MacAfee, a skilled carpenter, is told the network wants her architect daughter Jamie to replace her as host on their family-based home construction TV show. The resulting rift couldn't come at a worse time. Soon after, Jamie's father and his new wife die in a car accident. Now Jamie is struggling with their orphaned toddler while Caroline cares for his aging father, and both need to rebuild their relationship"--Amazon.com....

Annie Ferguson was a bright young Manhattan architect. Talented, beautiful, just starting out with her first job, new apartment and boyfriend, she had the world in the palm of her hand, until a single phone call altered the course of her life forever. Overnight, she became the mother to her sister's three orphaned children, keeping a promise she never regretted making, even if it meant putting her own life indefinitely on hold.

At eighty-four, Leota Reinhardt is alone, all of her efforts to reconcile with her adult children hadn't worked in the past, until she meets her estranged grandaughter, Annie, and confides to her the silent sacrifice she had made as a young mother of two, while her husband was gone during World War II.

"Do you have a parent who is invalidating, critical, demanding, or hateful? In this important and much-needed guide, you'll learn how to set boundaries; uncover the hidden motives behind your parent's behavior; put a stop to repetitive, hurtful interactions; and foster healthier relationships. If you've had it up to here with a parent who makes you feel as though you're just not good enough, this invaluable guide can help you put an end to toxic interactions...

This richly textured novel tells a story of love and loss, sex and longing, and of the deceit that can lie at the heart of family relationships. Set in California, Liars and Saints follows four generations of the Catholic Santerre family from World War II to the present. In a family driven as much by jealousy and propriety as by love, an unspoken tradition of deceit is passed from generation to generation. When tragedy shatters their precarious domestic...

A young man travels to Trinidad to reconnect with a transgender parent, uncovering the complex realities of love and family.