This is a new release of the original 1949 edition.

Rom coms, meet cutes, mystery men, courageous women, and the happy endings of today draw a direct line to the words between the covers of Emilie Loring’s romance novels. With a career spanning 40 years, Emilie Baker Loring saw millions of her books sold during her lifetime. Happy Landings: Emilie Loring's Life, Writing and Wisdom shares this best-selling author’s uplifting story for the first time. Loring’s books brimmed with intricate plot twists, intense imagery, and page-turning excitement, setting her works apart from the drugstore novels of the early- to mid-20th century. Her oft-quoted phrases are part of the American lexicon. Her readership has continued long after her passing. Now with generations of readers, Loring’s books have sold more than thirty-seven million copies in a dozen languages. And now Emilie’s own compelling life story is finally told in full. With never-before-published photographs, privileged access to the Loring family archives, and twenty years of meticulous research, Patti Bender reveals a woman who lived as she wrote, with intelligence, humor, and wisdom. "After all, living is the greatest thing we'll ever do. Why not make an art of it?" (Emilie Loring) Emilie Loring lived through two World Wars, a pandemic, the Great Depression, and deep, personal loss with her optimism intact and thirty best-selling novels to show for it. This is a woman’s story in swiftly changing times for women; a charming story with little-known anecdotes about prominent authors; and the story of a writer in the making, with advice and encouragement for aspiring authors. "I am personally grateful to Patti for filling out a dim, long-ago picture of my grandmother. Her skillful, sensitive portrait brings Emilie alive for me and adds many new dimensions--hard working, organized, feminist--with an extraordinary sense of optimism, and faith that things would turn out all right." --Valentine Loring Titus, Emilie Loring's granddaughter

Born shortly after his parents' immigration from Italy in 1920, Joseph D. Pace grew up in an Italian neighborhood in New York City. He was encouraged to learn English at an early age; and his parents learned right along with him. They loved this country and young Joseph learned this love and devotion to country as well. It seemed only natural for him to answer the call to defend the United States when World War II broke out. Enlisting in the Army and later transferring to the Army Air Corps, he hoped to become a fighter pilot. Washed out of pilot training, though, he looked for some other means to fulfill his dream of flying and managed to become a radio operator/gunner on a B-17. Stationed in England, he flew ten missions with his crew. Flying replacement with another crew on his eleventh mission, he had to bail out over a German mine field ending his participation in the war. He was awarded the Purple Heart, and following a long recovery period, was given an honorable discharge. He never talked much about his World War II service until attending an 8th Air Force reunion in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1990. Mingling with others who shared his experiences he was encouraged to tell his story so that future generations could know more about this war. As he grew older he felt compelled to get the story in book form.

In the bestselling tradition of In the Heart of the Sea, The Colony, “an impressively researched” (Rocky Mountain News) account of the history of America’s only leper colony located on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, is “an utterly engrossing look at a heartbreaking chapter” (Booklist) in American history and a moving tale of the extraordinary people who endured it. Beginning in 1866 and continuing for over a century, more than eight thousand people suspected of having leprosy were forcibly exiled to the Hawaiian island of Molokai -- the longest and deadliest instance of medical segregation in American history. Torn from their homes and families, these men, women, and children were loaded into shipboard cattle stalls and abandoned in a lawless place where brutality held sway. Many did not have leprosy, and many who did were not contagious, yet all were ensnared in a shared nightmare. Here, for the first time, John Tayman reveals the complete history of the Molokai settlement and its unforgettable inhabitants. It's an epic of ruthless manhunts, thrilling escapes, bizarre medical experiments, and tragic, irreversible error. Carefully researched and masterfully told, The Colony is a searing tale of individual bravery and extraordinary survival, and stands as a testament to the power of faith, compassion, and the human spirit.