"ThisBeautiful Life is a gripping, potent and blisteringly well-written story offamily, dilemma, and consequence. . . . I read this book with white-knuckledurgency, and I finished it in tears. Helen Schulman is an absolutely brilliantnovelist." —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love Theevents of a single night shatter one family’s sense of security and identity inthis provocative and deeply affecting domestic drama from Helen Schulman, theacclaimed author of A Day at the Beach and Out of Time. In thetradition of Lionel Shriver, Sue Miller, and Laura Moriarty, Schulman crafts abrilliantly observed portrait of parenting and modern life, cunningly exploringour most deeply-held convictions and revealing the enduring strengths thatemerge in the face of crisis.

Lisa and Stedman Stevens lived a prosperous life with a great marriage, three daughters, many friends and an entrepreneurial career mirroring the American Dream. That dream was interrupted when a small stomach pain turned out to be pancreatic cancer, resulting in Lisa's death forty-two days after diagnosis. Follow the tumultuous journey of a single father and his three daughters as they navigate the emotions around their mother's sudden death, and the shared grief that comes with the traumatic loss of a loved one. Unlike any book in print today, A Beautiful Life shows what little things people can do or say to help in the present moment and throughout a decade of life for the entire family.A Beautiful Life:· Offers a pathway for emotional survival, a message of hope, resilience and understanding during the darkest times. · Empowers friends and family with thoughts, actions and deeds that are helpful for a grieving family today and tomorrow.· Illuminates the perspectives of a bereaved father and three teenage daughters providing 10 years of key learnings in a summary chapter.

The pop singer explores her life and career.

Eating. Sleeping. Bathing. Chores. These are the things we do every day, yet few of us stop to consider how we perform the routines that occupy 95 percent of our lives: in chaos or serenity, with irritation or with joy. Here, in one elegant, copious and forever rereadable book, Alexandra Stoddard shows how to live a more beautiful, more ordered life, every single day. Drawing on the wisdom of Emerson, Samuel Johnson, Rilke and many others and warmed by Alexandra Stoddard's personal anecdotes, this book deals with life both philosophically and practically -- from discovering the sources of your well-being to buying the right stationery or sheets; from using solitude to replenish your spirit to using fabrics, ribbon, paper and your own five senses to transform your daily life. Living a Beautiful Life demonstrates how to use the ordinary in extraordinary ways, suggesting hundreds of techniques for turning dull, irritating routines into life-enhancing rituals; hundreds of simple ways to transform your days -- or your bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and desk -- into delights of beauty and efficiency. There's a marvelous trick for locating the perfect psychological spot for your bed, a quick way to use "remembrance of things past" to choose color schemes that suit you, suggestions for how to turn a fifteen-minute lunch break into a restorative experience. And throughout, Alexandra Stoddard shows how taking care of "the little things" can ultimately add up to a change in the big things. Most of all, Living a Beautiful Life reveals how a beautiful life can be achieved; how daily motions become truly satisfying patterns of pleasure; and how these patterns of pleasure can add up to a lifelived deeply and well, transforming even the most cluttered and hectic existence.

The book, A Beautiful Life, is meant for people of all ages and across all stages or roles of one's life, whether one is a man or woman, son or daughter, brother or sister, husband or wife, grandfather or grandmother, maternal grandfather or grandmother, among others. As its name suggests, this book teaches the art of living. True to its title, this book will inspire people to live life to the fullest. This book is important for all people, be it a child learning the nuances of life and living or a person entering their twilight years.

A gripping story of grace, faith, and triumph for a woman whose world shattered hours after her husband's suicide. Becky Powell faced the unthinkable on May 16, 2013. Her husband Mark called and said, "I've done something terrible." Within hours, she learned that he had taken his own life and, over a period of several years, millions of dollars from friends and colleagues. Everything she believed to be true, the very fiber of her marriage, was called into question. Within a week, rather than planning carpool runs and volunteer fundraisers, she owed almost one hundred creditors millions of dollars and had her own team of ten lawyers. She was also the subject of open FBI, SEC and DOJ investigations--and faced potential criminal charges. And, although she instantly denounced every cent of Mark's $15M in life insurance and promised to repay every penny taken, her lawyers knew that in reality she faced years of court battles and lawsuits, and possible jail time. Yet from that first horrific moment, God was there. He showed up in His Word, in Becky's friends, in her lawyers and in the generosity of those around her. He worked miracles. CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and others covered the first moment, but what about the last? What about the story in which God gives your next breath because you can't find it on your own? What about the story of a mom and three kids trying to make sense of their pasts, present and future while living under a microscope? Awful Beautiful Life is Becky's journey through the two years surrounding Mark's death and how she overcame. It came down to a loving God who surrounded her, a present and dedicated family, and friends, who made her life, offered her sanctuary and showed up for her and her kids in tangible ways. This is a story of remarkable grit, strength, and what the Body of Christ in action looks like.

"I have never met a person whose goal was to ruin his or her life. We all want to be happy, and we want it all of the time." So begins James Bryan Smith in The Good and Beautiful Life. The problem is, he tells us, we have bought into false notions of happiness and success. These self-centered decisions lead us further into the vices that cause ruin: anger, lust, lying, worry, and judging. Eventually we find ourselves living a beautifully packaged life of self-destruction. Following the Sermon on the Mount, this follow-up to The Good and Beautiful God guides us to look behind these character flaws and to replace our false beliefs with Jesus' narratives about life in the kingdom of God. The Good and Beautiful Series includes four essential discipleship books from James Bryan Smith. Work through these proven Bible study resources individually or with a group to learn who God is, what it means to be a Christian, how to live in community, and how to address toxic self-narratives that hinder spiritual growth.