Family First Life

Helen and Ben parted as heartbroken 18-year-olds and went their very separate ways. Twenty years later, mother-of-two-teenagers Helen is still in Manchester, a part-time primary teacher, stunned by the behaviour of her love-rat husband. In an old T shirt and scruffy jeans, she feels at the lowest point in her life. And suddenly, impossibly, Ben is standing on her doorstep. Tired maybe, lonely even, but clearly still the world-famous, LA-based multi-millionaire rockstar he has become. Can you ever go back?

Philip Ardagh's Unlikely Exploits chart the extraordinary changes in fortune of the downtrodden McNally family beginning with The Fall of Fergal. The setting is an unidentified country suffering from an unexpected breakout of large holes.

This is the true story of a man, Earle Vincent Meanor who was pushed aside and down by people whose only reason was they just did not like him. He could have been successful and powerful and wealthy but instead was broke and ostracized and pushed into the corner and mocked. Somehow, he kept his family together, and now his son can tell everyone the truth about what happened. You need to read this to motivate you to never give up no matter the obstacles thrown in your way.

Today is Stanley’s first day of school—and he really doesn’t want to go. Stanley would rather dawdle in bed and dither over which collar to wear than get on the school bus. With his stomach turning into tighter knots by the minute, Stanley’s worried whether a bulldog like him will ever fit in with the other pups at school.

Katy and Steven never imagined their happily ever after could go so wrong, but six months in and this newlywed couple’s carefully crafted future is crumbling. Even after the couple overcome the distance, the secrets and a divided family could have Steven walking away. The couple is faced with their biggest challenge yet when a shocking disappearance and the questions being asked could lead to answers that could ultimately destroy this family.

Otis, Willie, and Hibernia are three children with a lot in common: they've all lost a loved one, they each have secret dreams, and they won't stop fighting for what they want. And they're also a lot like their hero, famed boxer Joe Louis. Throughout this moving novel, their lives gradually converge to form friendship, family, and love. Their trials and triumphs echo those of Joe Louis, as he fights to become the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion.

Nate's 11 and has just finished primary school. After a challenging final year, life is looking up. His brother has recovered from a life-threatening heart condition, he's got the love of his mum, brothers and Auntie San, and he's off to secondary school with his two best mates. But while he's making new friends and avoiding the fists of Turner, his old nemesis, and struggling to come to terms with a strict new teacher and a sense of isolation from his brothers, a sudden surprise appearance in Nate's life threatens to throw him completely off course.

Family relationships can be complicated, even during the best of times. And under the worst, amid loss, as family dynamics change, those relationships also change. Old relationships can be comfortable to fall back into, or they can feel oppressive and claustrophobic. Childhood memories revisited from an adult perspective offer different, and often humorous, glimpses into the past, and can help form new relationships with a deeper understanding.

There is nothing like the first experience of having a child, a life-changing experience that completely transforms the meaning of love. While all babies in the family are special, a new sibling can be an especially challenging emotional transition for the firstborn, and this unique story addresses those insecurities head-on in a most gentle and lyrical way.

Known as the town tomboy, Alexis Le Blanc enjoys her simple life in Crystal Cove, Maine and devotes all her time to running her family’s winery, Coastal Vines. She wants to keep it small and traditional, but her parents have other ideas - hence why they hire some big-shot marketing executive from Napa Valley to rev up business. When Benito Martelli shows up in her family’s tasting room with his slick style and movie star good looks, she’s more than stunned to discover he’s the man who wined and dined her the night before.

From the author of The Rope Walk, the story of a woman's life in its twilight, as she looks back on both a harrowing childhood and the unaccountable love and happiness that emerged from it. As the novel opens we see the Derry School in all its glorious New England fall colors and witness the loosening of the aging Peter's grasp - he will soon have to retire, and Ruth is wondering what they will do in their old age, separated from the school into which they have poured everything, including their savings.

He should have known there’d be consequences. Former Army Ranger Ridge Romano doesn’t have time for fun. He’s laser focused on his Consortium's groundbreaking Veterans bill which will change the lives of soldiers and their families. While in D.C., he follows a beautiful woman into an auditorium packed with enthusiastic attendees who mistake him for a professional model. Now, a “harmless” stunt is about to blow his plans sky high. Famous model and photographer, Lana Maisel Calloway, is at the romance convention to find the “face” of her casting agency. With one look she knows ...

Set amid the deep, wild woods of the Yukon, First Light tells the story of Daniel Albrecht and Kerry Egan, young lovers leaving a work trip in Alaska to plan their wedding back home in Chicago. Not long into their trip, both engines of their plane catch fire and send them careening into a mountainside in the middle of a terrible snowstorm. Kerry is seriously injured in the accident, and it soon becomes clear that search-and-rescue teams aren't going to find the survivors in time to save her.

Developed by experts in the fields of early childhood and activism against injustice, this topic-driven board book offers clear, concrete language that young children can grasp and adults can leverage for further discussion.

Home; such a beautiful word, but not something everyone wants, needs, or desires. For Taylor and Bree Moore, having their own home was the ultimate plan. They scrimped and saved for years, and now they are going to have to work even harder than they could have ever imagined to achieve it. They might have had their dream home years earlier if life hadn’t gotten in the way. Taylor and Bree Moore aren’t poor, but they are bursting at the seams in the apartment they rent.

With the outbreak of War, the fishing fleet is confined to port, bringing hardship to the families and businesses of Fishers Wharf. Ruth Evans awaits the safe return of her father’s last trawler carrying her wayward brother Henry, the future of the family business. But unbeknown to their father, Henry sees war as a chance to break free from the constraints of his privileged background and follow his heart. Much is expected of Ruth. Her marriage to Arthur Marshall will help realise her father’s dream uniting two of the largest trawler companies in Grimsby.

The First Breath is the first popular science book about the pioneering fetal and neonatal medicine bringing a new generation into the world - a generation of babies without precedent, who would not have lived if they had been born only a few decades ago. Olivia Gordon explores the female experience of medicine through her own personal story and sensitive, intimate case histories of other mothers’ high-risk births. She details the relationship mothers develop with doctors who hold not only life and death in their hands but also the very possibility of birth.

How can Ann find a grandfather who's just right? With so many aunts and uncles, why doesn't Ann Riley have a grandfather? Her friend, Katie Murphy, has a special grandfather who tells stories and remembers all the things he did at home in Ireland. When Katie's little sister tells Ann that everyone has to have a grandfather, Ann decides to find one of her own. She asks all her neighbors around Boltonville to be her grandfather.

It is Chu's first day of school. Chu is nervous. He hopes the other boys and girls will be nice. Will they like him? What will happen at school today? Will Chu do what Chu does best?

JoJo and Daddy are busy baking a cake. They've mixed the batter, put the cake in the oven, and frosted it—but who is the cake for? Shh . . . it's a surprise!