The Talk-Funny Girl

The Talk-Funny Girl by Roland Merullo

Seventeen-year-old Marjorie Richards is frightened. Teenage girls have gone missing in her rural New Hampshire town, never to be seen alive again. But her fear that she harbors runs deeper than what is currently making the headlines. She lives in constant worry and fear at home as well.

Marjorie's parents live deep in isolation from normal society. So isolated that they've developed their own dialect, which they've passed onto their daughter. They have also fallen under the seduction of a sadistic cult leader who has his own ideas about how to discipline sinners.

After being sent out on a job search (the check that her father receives each month for a fake back injury isn't covering their monthly expenses), failing and then being physically abused by her family's minister, a kind aunt steps in and finds Marjorie work with a young man who is building a cathedral in town, stone by stone.

As Marjorie learns and develops the skill of working with stone, her self-confidence develops as well and she soon realizes that hope does exist and that she can eventually break free from a life of torment and bleakness.

The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs writes straight from the heart about the bonds between mother and daughter.

The Goodbye Quilt is the perfect read for any woman who's had to let go of someone special.

Linda Davis's local fabric shop is a place where women gather to share their creations: quilts commemorating important events in their lives. Wedding quilts, baby quilts, memorial quilts - each is bound tight with dreams, hopes and yearning.

Now, as her only child readies for college, Linda is torn between excitement for Molly and heartache for herself. Who will she be when she is no longer needed in her role as mom? What will become of her days? Of her marriage?

Mother and daughter decide to share one last adventure together-a cross-country road trip to move Molly into her dorm. As they wend their way through the heart of the country, Linda stitches together the scraps that make up Molly's young life. And in the quilting of each bit of fabric-the hem of a christening gown, a snippet from a Halloween costume-Linda discovers that the memories of a shared journey can come together in a way that will keep them both warm in the years to come.