<b><b>#1 <i>NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, </i>AND<i> BOSTON GLOBE </i>BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY <i>THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW</i> • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES<b>’S HOLIDAY READING LIST</b> • <b>FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE’S AWARD IN AUTOBIOGRAPHY • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE’S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK </b>• FINALIST FOR THE PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD <br /><br />NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY <i>The Washington Post</i> •<i> O: The Oprah Magazine</i> • <i>Time</i> • NPR • <i>Good Morning America </i>• <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i> • <i>The Guardian </i>•<i> The Economist </i>• <i>Financial Times</i> • <i>Newsday</i> • <i>New York Post</i> • <i>theSkimm</i> • <i>Refinery29</i> • <i>Bloomberg</i> • <i>Self</i> • <i>Real Simple</i> •<i> Town & Country</i> • <i>Bustle</i> • <i>Paste</i> • <i>Publishers Weekly</i> • <i>Library Journal</i> • <i>LibraryReads</i> • <i>BookRiot</i> • Pamela Paul, KQED • New York Public Library</b><br /><br /><b>An unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University</b><br /></b><br />Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.<br /><b><br />“Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Tara Westover’s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?”—<i>Vogue</i></b><br /><br /><b>“Westover has somehow managed not only to capture her unsurpassably exceptional upbringing, but to make her current situation seem not so exceptional at all, and resonant for many others.”—<i>The New York Times Book Review</i></b>

<b>An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States</b><br />  <br /> In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. <br />  <br /> In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, <i>Becoming</i> is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER • The little-known true story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the woman who headed the largest spy network in occupied France during World War II, from the bestselling author of <i>Citizens of London</i> and <i>Last Hope Island</i></b><br /><br />“<b>Fast-paced and impressively researched</b> . . . <b>Olson writes with verve and a historian’s authority</b>.”<b>—<i>The New York Times Book Review</i></b><br /><br /> In 1941 a thirty-one-year-old Frenchwoman, a young mother born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization—the only woman to serve as a <i>chef de résistance</i> during the war. Strong-willed, independent, and a lifelong rebel against her country’s conservative, patriarchal society, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was temperamentally made for the job. Her group’s name was Alliance, but the Gestapo dubbed it Noah’s Ark because its agents used the names of animals as their aliases. The name Marie-Madeleine chose for herself was Hedgehog: a tough little animal, unthreatening in appearance, that, as a colleague of hers put it, “even a lion would hesitate to bite.”<br /><br /> No other French spy network lasted as long or supplied as much crucial intelligence—including providing American and British military commanders with a 55-foot-long map of the beaches and roads on which the Allies would land on D-Day—as Alliance. The Gestapo pursued them relentlessly, capturing, torturing, and executing hundreds of its three thousand agents, including Fourcade’s own lover and many of her key spies. Although Fourcade, the mother of two young children, moved her headquarters every few weeks, constantly changing her hair color, clothing, and identity, she was captured twice by the Nazis. Both times she managed to escape—once by slipping naked through the bars of her jail cell—and continued to hold her network together even as it repeatedly threatened to crumble around her.<br /><br />Now, in this dramatic account of the war that split France in two and forced its people to live side by side with their hated German occupiers, Lynne Olson tells the fascinating story of a woman who stood up for her nation, her fellow citizens, and herself.<br /><br /><b>Praise for </b><i><b>Madame Fourcade’s Secret War</b></i><br /><br /> “In <i>Madame Fourcade’s Secret War</i>, Lynne Olson tells one of the great stories of the French Resistance, a story of one woman’s courage amid great danger, a story of heroism, defiance, and, ultimately, victory.”<b>—Alan Furst, author of <i>A Hero of France</i></b>

<p><b>Sometimes all that it takes to start over is the courage to say you will.</b></p><p>In Kathleen’s home, red jeans were a sin. Parties were punishable with violence. Fear was part of the daily norm. Growing up in a Catholic cult, under the unforgiving eye of her abusive father, Kathleen knew from an early age that if she were to survive, she’d have to do it on her own.</p><p>But when the time came to escape, she found herself in a damaging spiral of self-destruction. At rock bottom, and with nowhere to go, Kathleen stepped off a bus in the last place she ever thought she’d find peace: a remote community in rural Canada. Spending a year in almost complete silence, Kathleen feared this experience would prove to be just another step in her unraveling. Instead, with her demons quieted, she emerged with a fresh understanding of self, an empowering new purpose, and a sense of worthiness that she would never let be challenged again.</p><p><i>Wholly Unraveled</i> is Keele Burgin’s gripping and inspiring journey of self-discovery and of finally finding her voice against nearly insurmountable odds.</p>

<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER • <b>Maya Angelou’s classic memoirs have had an enduring impact on American literature and culture. Her life story is told in the documentary film <i>And Still I Rise, </i>as seen on PBS’s <i>American Masters</i>.</b><br /><br /></b>This Modern Library edition contains <i>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Gather Together in My Name, Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas, The Heart of a Woman, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, </i>and <i>A Song Flung Up to Heaven</i>.<br /><br /> When <i>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings </i>was published to widespread acclaim in 1969, Maya Angelou garnered the attention of an international audience with the triumphs and tragedies of her childhood in the American South. This soul-baring memoir launched a six-book epic spanning the sweep of the author’s incredible life. Now, for the first time, all six celebrated and bestselling autobiographies are available in this handsome one-volume edition.<br /><br /> Dedicated fans and newcomers alike can follow the continually absorbing chronicle of Angelou’s life: her formative childhood in Stamps, Arkansas; the birth of her son, Guy, at the end of World War II; her adventures traveling abroad with the famed cast of <i>Porgy and Bess; </i>her experience living in a black expatriate “colony” in Ghana; her intense involvement with the civil rights movement, including her association with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X; and, finally, the beginning of her writing career.<br /><br /> <i>The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou </i>traces the best and worst of the American experience in an achingly personal way. Angelou has chronicled her remarkable journey and inspired people of every generation and nationality to embrace life with commitment and passion.<br /><br /><br /><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>

<p><em>Fox & Friends</em> meteorologist Janice Dean explains how she purposefully finds the silver lining in every cloud, no matter what challenge she faces.<br /><br />Janice is well-known for the infectious joy she brings to segments on <em>Fox & Friends,</em> no matter the weather. Yet many of her fans know there’s more to her story than blizzards that are brewing or National Pancake Day celebrations.</p><p>In this honest yet optimistic book, Janice reveals obstacles she’s faced that could have severely impacted any professional woman’s career, from online trolls to health issues to abusive and sexist bosses. In <em>Mostly Sunny,</em> she talks about it all, including the fateful path meeting her firefighting husband after he lost his colleagues on 9/11; the day she had to talk to her two small children about her multiple sclerosis; and how the pressure on women in television led her to a cosmetic procedure that could have ended her career.</p><p>But no matter what storms life throws at her, Janice refuses to let setbacks and challenges rain on her parade or cloud her outlook. Thanks to supportive coworkers and an upbeat attitude, she’s mastered turning countless would-be losses into victories. Now, she shares her stories, alternately funny, heartwarming, and touching, in the hopes that they will help others make it through their rainiest days.</p>

<p><b>An emotional and sweeping memoir of love and survival—and of a committed and desperate family uprooted and divided by the violent, changing landscape of Afghanistan in the early 1980s.</b></p><p>Before the Soviet invasion of 1980, Enjeela Ahmadi remembers her home—Kabul, Afghanistan—as peaceful, prosperous, and filled with people from all walks of life. But after her mother, unsettled by growing political unrest, leaves for medical treatment in India, the civil war intensifies, changing young Enjeela’s life forever. Amid the rumble of invading Soviet tanks, Enjeela and her family are thrust into chaos and fear when it becomes clear that her mother will not be coming home.</p><p>Thus begins an epic, reckless, and terrifying five-year journey of escape for Enjeela, her siblings, and their father to reconnect with her mother. In navigating the dangers ahead of them, and in looking back at the wilderness of her homeland, Enjeela discovers the spiritual and physical strength to find hope in the most desperate of circumstances.</p><p>A heart-stopping memoir of a girl shaken by the brutalities of war and empowered by the will to survive, <i>The Broken Circle</i> brilliantly illustrates that <i>family</i> is not defined by the borders of a country but by the bonds of the heart.</p>

<div><b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER<br /><i></i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div><b><i>Evicted </i>meets <i>Nickel and Dimed</i> in Stephanie Land's memoir about working as a maid, a beautiful and gritty exploration of poverty in America. Includes a foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich. <br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>At 28, Stephanie Land's plans of breaking free from the roots of her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to chase her dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer, were cut short when a summer fling turned into an unexpected pregnancy. She turned to housekeeping to make ends meet, and with a tenacious grip on her dream to provide her daughter the very best life possible, Stephanie worked days and took classes online to earn a college degree, and began to write relentlessly. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>She wrote the true stories that weren't being told: the stories of overworked and underpaid Americans. Of living on food stamps and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) coupons to eat. Of the government programs that provided her housing, but that doubled as halfway houses. The aloof government employees who called her lucky for receiving assistance while she didn't feel lucky at all. She wrote to remember the fight, to eventually cut through the deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Maid</i> explores the underbelly of upper-middle class America and the reality of what it's like to be in service to them. "I'd become a nameless ghost," Stephanie writes about her relationship with her clients, many of whom do not know her from any other cleaner, but who she learns plenty about. As she begins to discover more about her clients' lives-their sadness and love, too-she begins to find hope in her own path. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Her compassionate, unflinching writing as a journalist gives voice to the "servant" worker, and those pursuing the American Dream from below the poverty line. <i>Maid</i> is Stephanie's story, but it's not her alone. It is an inspiring testament to the strength, determination, and ultimate triumph of the human spirit.</div>

<b>Best Nonfiction Books to Read in 2019—<i>Woman’s Day</i></b><BR> <b>The Best Nonfiction Books Coming Out This Year—<i>BookBub</i></b><BR> <b>“A nonfiction thriller.”—<i>Wall Street Journal</i></b><BR> <BR> <b>From internationally bestselling author of the “gripping” (Michael Connelly, #1 <i>New York Times </i>bestselling author) <i>Into the Lion’s Mouth </i>comes the extraordinary true story of Odette Sansom, the British spy who operated in occupied France and fell in love with her commanding officer during World War II—perfect for fans of <i>Unbroken</i>, <i>The Nightingale</i>, and <i>Code Girls</i>. </b><BR><BR>The year is 1942, and World War II is in full swing. Odette Sansom decides to follow in her war hero father’s footsteps by becoming an SOE agent to aid Britain and her beloved homeland, France. Five failed attempts and one plane crash later, she finally lands in occupied France to begin her mission. It is here that she meets her commanding officer Captain Peter Churchill.<BR> <BR> As they successfully complete mission after mission, Peter and Odette fall in love. All the while, they are being hunted by the cunning German secret police sergeant, Hugo Bleicher, who finally succeeds in capturing them. They are sent to Paris’s Fresnes prison, and from there to concentration camps in Germany where they are starved, beaten, and tortured. But in the face of despair, they never give up hope, their love for each other, or the whereabouts of their colleagues.<BR> <BR> In<i> </i><i>Code Name: Lise</i><i>, </i>Larry Loftis paints a portrait of true courage, patriotism, and love—of two incredibly heroic people who endured unimaginable horrors and degradations. He seamlessly weaves together the touching romance between Odette and Peter and the thrilling cat and mouse game between them and Sergeant Bleicher. With this amazing testament to the human spirit, Loftis proves once again that he is adept at writing “nonfiction that reads like a page-turning novel” (<i>Parade</i>).

<b>From the <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>The Good Lord Bird</i>, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction, <i>Five-Carat Soul</i>, and <i>Kill 'Em and Leave</i>, a James Brown biography.<br /><br /><b>The incredible modern classic that <b>Oprah.com calls one of the best memoirs of a generation and </b> launched James McBride’s literary career.<br /><br />Over two years on <i>The New York Times</i> bestseller list</b><br /><br /></b> Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A self-declared "light-skinned" woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her twelve black children. James McBride, journalist, musician, and son, explores his mother's past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, <i>The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother</i>.<p>The son of a black minister and a woman who would not admit she was white, James McBride grew up in "orchestrated chaos" with his eleven siblings in the poor, all-black projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn. "Mommy," a fiercely protective woman with "dark eyes full of pep and fire," herded her brood to Manhattan's free cultural events, sent them off on buses to the best (and mainly Jewish) schools, demanded good grades, and commanded respect. As a young man, McBride saw his mother as a source of embarrassment, worry, and confusion—and reached thirty before he began to discover the truth about her early life and long-buried pain.</p><p>In <i>The Color of Water</i>, McBride retraces his mother's footsteps and, through her searing and spirited voice, recreates her remarkable story. The daughter of a failed itinerant Orthodox rabbi, she was born Rachel Shilsky (actually Ruchel Dwara Zylska) in Poland on April 1, 1921. Fleeing pogroms, her family emigrated to America and ultimately settled in Suffolk, Virginia, a small town where anti-Semitism and racial tensions ran high. With candor and immediacy, Ruth describes her parents' loveless marriage; her fragile, handicapped mother; her cruel, sexually-abusive father; and the rest of the family and life she abandoned.</p><p>At seventeen, after fleeing Virginia and settling in New York City, Ruth married a black minister and founded the all- black New Brown Memorial Baptist Church in her Red Hook living room. "God is the color of water," Ruth McBride taught her children, firmly convinced that life's blessings and life's values transcend race. Twice widowed, and continually confronting overwhelming adversity and racism, Ruth's determination, drive and discipline saw her dozen children through college—and most through graduate school. At age 65, she herself received a degree in social work from Temple University.</p><p>Interspersed throughout his mother's compelling narrative, McBride shares candid recollections of his own experiences as a mixed-race child of poverty, his flirtations with drugs and violence, and his eventual self- realization and professional success. <i>The Color of Water</i> touches readers of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son.<br /><br />  </p>