Books

BIOGRAPHY / MEMOIR | NONFICTION

Hippie Boy: A Girl's Story

by Ingrid Ricks

“Ricks’ absorbing true story of an adolescence spent traveling the country with her hard-luck salesman father should be a movie—but it’s also utterly compelling on the page.” - Reader’s Digest | In her gripping NYT-bestselling memoir, Ricks captures a tumultuous home life riddled with poverty, oppression, and the suffocating brand of Mormon religion she is desperate to escape. She flees to the road with her free-wheeling dad but soon learns the lesson that will change her life: no one can save her but herself.

Unrequited: A Gay Memoir

by Jonathan Lindstrom

In 1980s New England, Johnny is growing up working-class in an affluent town and inside a closet he doesn’t yet know exists. His feelings for other boys inspire private theories, outsized hopes, and very little he can say aloud. By turns tender and darkly funny, Jonathan Lindstrom’s Unrequited: A Gay Memoir explores self-discovery inside your own head, before you’re ready to let anyone else in. Special low price for National Coming Out Day.

I’ll Be Awesome Tomorrow: A Memoir of Chasing Perfection and Letting Go

by Marian Sandmaier

I’ll Be Awesome Tomorrow is a searingly honest account of one woman’s relentless struggle to be flawless—and to finally feel worthy of love. For anyone who has ever sought to be exemplary—in one’s career, body, personality, or relationships—to the point of exhaustion, this memoir shows that you can choose a gentler, more self-embracing path.

The Unstoppable Eddie Fugate: A Feel-Good Story of Life on The Spectrum

by Geoffrey Steele

Little Eddie Fugate is diagnosed with autism during a time when few people even know what that means. At just six years old, he is sent to the Orient State Institute—which sounds fancy, but it is just a big farm out in Ohio with a bunch of folks like Eddie. Now, Eddie's a natural mischief-maker, and soon he catches the eye of a young worker named Susan Armstrong. She sees that Eddie possesses unique gifts—not supernatural, but everyday gifts in super-abundance. With Susan's help and Eddie's determination, he pursues the simplest of dreams: to be like everyone else, nothing more. As Eddie forges his extraordinary life of independence and connectedness, those he meets along the way can either help him or get out of the way. One thing's for sure, Eddie is going to live on his own terms, with some help from his friends.

Sick & Wrong

by Kevilina Burbank

A Memoir of MCAS, EDS, POTS, EBV, CMV and PCOS, Medical Gaslighting and Missed Diagnoses. How A.I. Helped Uncover the Conditions Doctors aren't Trained to See. When a dozen doctors sent her home to "drink tea and see a shrink," an A.I. found what they missed. A memoir of chronic illness, medical gaslighting and the machine that out-diagnosed the experts.

Unmapped: Solo Women Travelers on Bold Journeys of Healing, Resilience, and Self-Discovery

by Lizbeth Meredith

Real women—most in midlife or beyond—step out of their comfort zones and into the world, one bold journey at a time. From camping in the next county to navigating a foreign city alone, these stories prove transformation doesn’t require luxury or perfect planning—just the courage to say yes. Born from survival, reinvention, and resilience, Unmapped captures the laughter, friendships, quiet bravery, and freedom found when women travel on their own terms. Half the royalties support the YWCA’s mission to help women and families escape violence and reclaim their futures—because sometimes the most dangerous place is the one we’re told is safest: home. Let this collection be your compass, your permission slip, your invitation to take the next step—wherever it leads.

This book contains scenes of: sexual violence

Three Women and a Boy

by Sean Aita

Forget the nuclear family, this is the matriarchal explosion! In 1962, three women fled the artistic circles of London for the West Country, bringing along a one-year-old Sean. Their destination was Muchelney, a hamlet on the Somerset levels in England, a region so flat it makes the Netherlands look like the Swiss Alps. In a cottage so cramped you had to leave your legs in the hallway to sit on the toilet, Sean was raised by a ‘matriarchal triumvirate’ of fierce, eccentric women. Behind them were lives that they were running away from: a ballerina grandmother mourning the love of her life, an actress great-aunt escaping a menage a trois, and a former Bunny Girl mother who blamed the ‘sultry atmosphere’ of a Bermudan beach for the disastrous one-night stand that produced her son.

Between Love and Loss: A Search for Happiness

by Cecilia Raj

How do you learn to love yourself when your family never did? This raw, deeply moving memoir offers and unforgettable look inside and unloved childhood. It is a gripping survival story and a quick read. Deeply moving and sad yet uplifting.

You Never Asked About My Medal--Profiles in Silent Courage

by Larry Setren

Part coming-of-age story, part international adventure memoir spanning Europe, Africa and Asia, You Never Asked About My Medal is driven by a simple but powerful question: who are the real heroes in our lives, and why do we so rarely recognize them? Through vivid storytelling and honest reflection, Setren traces the experiences and the unsung individuals who shaped him — people who acted with courage and decency and never asked for acknowledgment. Readers have called it a page-turner they didn't want to put down. They've also said it made them think about their own journeys, their own heroes, and their own lives. For anyone who has ever been moved by quiet courage — this is that book. Honorable Mention, 2026 Readers' Favorite Book Awards.

Sick & Wrong

by Kevilina Burbank

A Memoir of MCAS, EDS, POTS, EBV, CMV and PCOS, Medical Gaslighting and Missed Diagnoses. How A.I. Helped Uncover the Conditions Doctors aren't Trained to See When a dozen doctors sent her home to "drink tea and see a shrink," an A.I. found what they missed. A memoir of chronic illness, medical gaslighting and the machine that out-diagnosed the experts.

Losing Mom

by Peggy Ottman

When Peggy Ottman's eighty-nine-year-old mother fell, she and her two sisters returned to Ohio to begin what would become a forty-one-day vigil at their mother's hospice bedside. "Losing Mom" is an unflinching account of those six weeks-the impossible decisions, the guilt, the unexpected laughter, and the profound moments of grace that appeared even in the darkest hours. With warmth and candor, Ottman captures the complexity of watching a vibrant, independent woman slowly slip away leaving fragments of her essence scattered in memories, gestures, and the enduring bonds between daughters. This memoir offers companionship to anyone navigating the heartbreaking journey of caring for aging parents and facing their own impossible goodbye.

Pleasures of Provence: A Quest for the Secret to Joie de Vivre in La Belle France

by Gayle Smith Padgett

More than a travel memoir, this enchanting book is a heartfelt and witty journey into the soul of Provence and beyond. A celebration of la belle vie, it’s a delightful read for anyone who loves French adventures, food, and finding joie de vivre moments.

Until Five

by Mara Valle

What happens when a life built around coping, solving and carrying on suddenly stops working? For years, Mara Valle knew how to keep going. Until one day, she couldn't. Until Five follows the months in which an ordinary life comes to a halt, bringing losses, old memories, essential relationships and unfinished parts of a life into sharper focus. This is not a story about returning to who you were, nor a promise of transformation. It is an intimate memoir about identity, loss, the ties that hold us together, and learning to live differently when going back is no longer possible. Sometimes moving forward doesn't mean becoming who you were again. Sometimes, it simply means making it to five.

My Grief Jar: Still Growing After the Loss of My Daughter

by Deborah Waffle

"Once I began this book, I could not put it down." — Reader Review. What happens when the life you spent years fighting for suddenly vanishes? For Debbie, life was defined by a relentless battle to find answers for her daughter, Kelsey. But when Kelsey passed away at just 29 years old, a devastating new reality began. Debbie was left facing an unthinkable question: How do you move forward into a future you never wanted? The path toward healing turned out to have four paws. By dedicating herself to training Kelsey’s golden retriever, Brody, into a therapy dog, Debbie discovered a renewed sense of purpose. This inspirational memoir proves that even while carrying deep grief, the heart can still expand to find joy, grace, and hope again.

Beyond the Backstage Door

by Ronald Jackson

From the golden age of Motown and R&B to classic rock and smooth jazz, Beyond the Backstage Door is Ronald Jackson’s personal journey through a lifetime of music. As a teenager in Washington, D.C., he formed an R&B vocal group, later played lead guitar in a rock band, and eventually entered the world of smooth jazz as a writer, reviewer, and radio host. Along the way came unforgettable encounters with artists including Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, George Duke, Keiko Matsui, Kirk Whalum, Boney James, and many others. More than a collection of celebrity stories, this is a warm, candid memoir about the music, memories, unexpected turns, and remarkable experiences of one man who spent a lifetime just beyond the backstage door.

Nazis & Nudists

by David Haldane

''Fact-paced, devoid of filler and heavy on action.'' That’s how the Long Beach Press-Telegram described David Haldane’s award-winning memoir, Nazis and Nudists. A heartfelt, sometimes humorous, and always entertaining romp through the international counterculture of the late 1960s and early 70s, the book tells of Haldane’s long quest for a place to call home, ending in the remote Philippines in the arms of a dark-haired young woman, who, as he says in the dedication, ''came from a small island to make my life large.'' The book was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, McGrath House Independent Book Awards, and the Maxy Awards. Haldane is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer and Golden Mike - winning radio broadcaster who divides his time between homes in Joshua Tree, Ca. and Northern Mindanao, Philippines, where he writes a weekly newspaper column called Expat Eye.

Journey Back to Self: Reclaiming the Woman Within

by Sara Jodoin

Everyone called you strong. But no one noticed how much you were carrying. Have you spent so long surviving, pleasing, proving, and holding everything together that you can no longer hear your own voice? Journey Back to Self is for the woman who has lost herself in relationships, expectations, heartbreak, or the belief that she must earn love by abandoning her own needs.

Property of the Revolution

by Ana Hebra Flaster

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with this sweeping historical, yet intimate memoir. In it, the author details her family’s transformation from pro-Castro revolutionaries in a scrappy Havana barrio to refugees in a New Hampshire mill town—a timeless and timely tale of loss and reinvention.

Honeysuckle Secrets

by Sharon Kirchner

In the quiet backwoods of Idaho, eight-year-old Sharon survives a childhood stitched together by poverty, silence, and survival. Hidden beneath the towering pines and tangled honeysuckle vines lies a world where beauty and hardship grow side by side. Through seasons of loss, resilience, and unexpected grace, she learns that even the most fragile flowers can bloom in the harshest soil. Honeysuckle Secrets is a deeply moving memoir of family, faith, and finding light in places shadowed by pain. With vivid storytelling and heartfelt reflection, Sharon Kirchner invites readers into memories filled with rural landscapes, childhood wonder, hidden wounds, and the enduring strength of the human spirit. This unforgettable journey explores how nature became both refuge and teacher—offering lessons in healing, hope, and perseverance.

Trapped In Manhattan

by Luqman Jones

Trapped in Manhattan is a deeply personal, firsthand account of surviving the attacks on September 11th in New York City. The memoir details the raw reality of navigating the immediate disaster on the ground, the struggle to escape the city, and the ongoing journey of trauma, recovery, and human resilience.

He Feeds Dinosaurs

by Daniel Dow and Kristan Dow

"Informative, insightful, heartfelt… unreservedly recommended." — Jim Cox, Midwest Book Review. Five stars across five Readers' Favorite reviews. Elijah Dow did not breathe for the first seven minutes of his life. His father stood watching the team try to keep him alive until he finally made a sound. Before his parents left the hospital, the doctors warned them that autism was possible. They warned them the day he was born — about a boy who would grow up to run toward strangers with his arms open. Elijah is nine. He draws chalk maps, runs to meet every passing golf cart, and takes archery classes on Saturday. He Feeds Dinosaurs is the story of that boy, told by his father and his mother — and a quiet, devastating argument about a word that was never big enough to hold him.

When Hope is your Only Option: One Man’s Brave Journey, Through Life’s Adversity

by Jim Stavis

Jim Stavis was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 17. Decades later, his heart, kidney, and pancreas were failing. His team at Cedars-Sinai told him a triple-organ transplant had never been attempted — and Jim said yes anyway. That transplant is only part of the story. Before it, Jim survived four separate near-death incidents and built two companies from the ground up. After it, he spent twenty years building a relationship with the family of the sixteen-year-old donor who saved his life. And in 2024, he became a caregiver himself when his wife Renee was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Her self-written eulogy, tracing her resilience back to her father's survival of the Holocaust, is reproduced in full in this newly revised edition. "Honest, moving, and an invaluable source of hope." —Kirkus Reviews Montaigne Medal Finalist Featured in USA Today and Reader's Digest

The Unseen Hand: Stories for My Grandchildren

by Jayanth "Jay" Kabad

The Unseen Hand: Stories for My Grandchildren is a kaleidoscopic memoir that weaves together people, places, and events over the author’s lifetime. It tells the life story of a four and half year old who loses his father in a tragic accident and is raised by his mother at his grandparents’ house in Bangalore, India.

Abused To Death 1

by Jessica Jackson

After my friend's grandson was murdered by his mother, I learnt that this happens more often than we realise. This book has eight heart-breaking child abuse true crime stories told in the voices of children murdered by their parents or caregivers, including Baby P and Sylvia Likens. Written to raise awareness of this horrific crime and prevent children from suffering and dying, these books are not suitable for children, nor those who find depictions of children's suffering deeply upsetting.

Pumpkins, Potatoes, and Passports: Small Farm Life and Big World Adventures

by Dan Tawczynski

Pumpkins, Potatoes, and Passports is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Green, and it's everything fans loved — and then some. Part memoir, part travelogue, part small-town chronicle, this collection of true stories moves from a mud-hut philosopher in rural Africa who outthinks anyone Dan has ever met, to a Siberian odyssey that defies every expectation, to the quiet drama of watching a 40-year potato empire rise and fall. Along the way, there are weddings gone sideways, animals that seem to know more than they should, lost souls, red necks, remarkable neighbors, and at least one very notable rat.