On a wild, windy April day in Manhattan, when Mary first meets John Keane, she cannot know what lies ahead of her. A marriage, a fleeting season of romance, and the birth of four children will bring John and Mary to rest in the safe embrace of a traditional Catholic life in the suburbs. But neither Mary nor John, distracted by memories and longings, can feel the wind that is buffeting their children, leading them in directions beyond their parents’ control. Michael and his sister Annie are caught up in the sexual revolution. Jacob, brooding and frail, is drafted to Vietnam. And the youngest, Clare, commits a stunning transgression after a childhood spent pleasing her parents. As John and Mary struggle to hold on to their family and their faith, Alice McDermott weaves an elegant, unforgettable portrait of a world in flux–and of the secrets and sorrows, anger and love, that lie at the heart of every family.

Dr. Cliff Self and his wife, Darlene, did not choose their journey; they were thrust into it. After their son, Scott, came out to them as a gay man, Dr. Self and Darlene were propelled along a confusing path that caused them to question their understanding of God and the scripture and eventually to reach deep inside to find the grit and grace to experience miraculous changes. When Scott revealed his true self, the family’s world changed. The Selfs had to come to a new understanding of their relationships with one another and to their faith, framed by the conviction that the Bible is the word of God and the authority on how to live. Darlene struggled with shattered dreams, Dr. Self strove to understand the Christian teachings on homosexuality through scripture, and Scott battled with guilt, shame, and addiction until discovering the meaning of self-love and his path to wholeness as a gay man. In this candid and revealing account, all three family members offer inspiration for handling unexpected changes without fear, resolving conflicts between scripture and real life issues, and ultimately living with peace, joy, and purpose. After This is the moving narrative of one family’s journey through the healing process of change after their son came out as a gay man.

In an exploration of the afterlife that is part personal, part prescriptive, Smith invites us on her journey into the unknown. She wonders: How do we grieve our loved ones without proof that they live on? Will we ever see them again? Can they see us now? Chronicling our steps along the path that bridges this world and the next, Smith undergoes past-life regressions and sessions with mediums and psychics and immerses herself in the ceremonies of organised religion and the rigour of scientific experiments to try and find the answers.

What if just beyond this season of turmoil is your best season yet? This book will help you understand that God is working all things for your good and that He can turn any season into a time of blessing. It would be easy to navigate life if every problem, every pain, and every setback came with a telegraph that enabled us to prepare for their arrival. But often our greatest struggles come with the least warning and feel like the greatest threat to our future. Even the most committed Christians find themselves in seasons that challenge their faith, shake their hopes, and make them fearful when thinking of the future. In Acts 8, the church experienced an unprecedented season of persecution, pain, and chaos. One of their leaders, Stephen, had been killed. The believers were being hunted. Their lives were being threatened. In addition to the fear and frenzy, Saul was wreaking havoc in the church. But following this season of being persecuted and terrorized, Acts 9:31 reveals that God changed the trajectory of their lives with two words: after this! After the pain, the fear, the loss, the misery, after the confusion and chaos, God decided it was time to change their season. The season of struggle that seemed like it would last forever had an expiration date! Like the early church, we must see that no matter how tough the situation we've walked through has been, it will not end there! There is a blessing and breakthrough coming after this! After This is an encouraging compass that points us to all that is waiting for us in the next season of our lives. It is a prophetic word revealing that this coming shift is a transition into a time of peace, multiplication, comfort, and strength. After the misery, after the mess, after the divorce, after the break up, after the bankruptcy, after the failure--even after COVID-19--there is an "after this" coming that will change everything for those who belong to God.

Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist Alice Nelson provides the introductory essay for After This, a powerful collection of narratives by fourteen Holocaust survivors. Alice worked closely with local survivors and their families to present each individual's record of those terrible years &– stories like that of Rosa Levy, whose tale of moving to Australia after the war is one of quiet triumph.