Frederica Wagman writes of family, of passing generations, of love and striving, and of grief, loss, and renewal. Her narrator begins with a day blurred in memory and concludes many all-too-fleeting years later, when she meets the woman her son would marry and realizes who she has become. Her son is marrying Marty Fish, born poor and abused, and the world of Mrs. Hornstien is one of triple strands of pearls and vaulted ceilings.

Kate Talkingtree, an African-American feminist writer who has made it big, decides to join an all-female rafting trip down the Colorado. There she has an epiphany, and when she returns home she eschews sex with her lover, eventually signing on for another trip, this one down the Amazon. There she encounters The Grandmother, who helps her see that all life is one, even extraterrestrials. Back home, Kate and her lover find a way to remain together, and to incorporate in their lives the wisdom of the spirit world.

Kate Talkingtree, an African-American feminist writer who has made it big, decides to join an all-female rafting trip down the Colorado. There she has an epiphany, and when she returns home she eschews sex with her lover, eventually signing on for another trip, this one down the Amazon. There she encounters The Grandmother, who helps her see that all life is one, even extraterrestrials. Back home, Kate and her lover find a way to remain together, and to incorporate in their lives the wisdom of the spirit world.

Four longtime friends meet, as they do periodically, at a cottage on a lake, where they compare and discuss the events of their lives--most recently, a divorce, a mastectomy, an overbearingly ambitious husband, and a new love.

Yangtze is what Nancy and her friends call their secret play area where wild raspberries grow--and where the girls spend the summer exploring and imagining what goes on in the house of their strange neighbor, Sandra.

Jack Carmine rescues Linda Lobo from her life as a stripper in Minnesota and takes her to his ranch in Texas. Each must face past wounds--particularly Jack's Vietnam experiences--before happiness is possible.

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, the highly romantic tale of a roaming photographer and a lonely housewife, was Robert James Waller's first novel. Its sensitive exploration of a four-day encounter between star-crossed lovers touched hearts everywhere, and gallons of tears were shed at the sad ending. By the time its popularity began to ebb, the book had set astounding records, with 162 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, 38 at number one (in hardcover). It has been translated into 25 languages and sold over 12 million copies. It was also made into a highly successful 1995 movie starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood (who also directed).

Jack Carmine rescues Linda Lobo from her life as a stripper in Minnesota and takes her to his ranch in Texas. Each must face past wounds--particularly Jack's Vietnam experiences--before happiness is possible.