Best Selling Books by Sue Miller

This "New York Times" Notable Book by the bestselling author of "While I Was Gone" is a haunting novel that exposes the nerves that lie hidden in marriages, families, and the lives of two women.

The "New York Times" bestseller called "quietly gripping" by "USA Today" demonstrates how impulses can fracture even the most stable family. Despite her loving family and beautiful home, Jo Becker is restless. Then an old roommate reappears, bringing back Jo''s memories of her early 20s. Jo''s obsession with that period in her life--and the crime that ended it--draws her back to a horrible secret.

For nearly two decades, since the publication of her iconic first novel, The Good Mother, Sue Miller has distinguished herself as one of our most elegant and widely celebrated chroniclers of family life, with a singular gift for laying bare the interior lives of her characters. In each of her novels, Miller has written with exquisite precision about the experience of grace in daily life–the sudden, epiphanic recognition of the extraordinary amid the ordinary–as well as the sharp and unexpected motions of the human heart away from it, toward an unruly netherworld of upheaval and desire. But never before have Miller’s powers been keener or more transfixing than they are in Lost in the Forest, a novel set in the vineyards of Northern California that tells the story of a young girl who, in the wake of a tragic accident, seeks solace in a damaging love affair with a much older man. Eva, a divorced and happily remarried mother of three, runs a small bookstore in a town north of San Francisco. When her second husband, John, is killed in a car accident, her family’s fragile peace is once again overtaken by loss. Emily, the eldest, must grapple with newfound independence and responsibility. Theo, the youngest, can only begin to fathom his father’s death. But for Daisy, the middle child, John’s absence opens up a world of bewilderment, exposing her at the onset of adolescence to the chaos and instability that hover just beyond the safety of parental love. In her sorrow, Daisy embarks on a harrowing sexual odyssey, a journey that will cast her even farther out onto the harsh promontory of adulthood and lost hope. With astonishing sensuality and immediacy, Lost in the Forest moves through the most intimate realms of domestic life, from grief and sex to adolescence and marriage. It is a stunning, kaleidoscopic evocation of a family in crisis, written with delicacy and masterful care. For her lifelong fans and those just discovering Sue Miller for the first time, here is a rich and gorgeously layered tale of a family breaking apart and coming back together again: Sue Miller at her inimitable best.

A Masterful, Engrossing Novel About The Life Of A Large Family That Is Deeply Bounded By The Stranger In Their Midst -- An Autistic Child The whole world could not have broken the spirit and strength of the Eberhardt family of 1948. Lainey is a wonderful if slightly eccentric mother. David is a good father, sometimes sarcastic, always cool-tempered. Two wonderful children round out the perfect picture. Then the next child arrives -- and life is never the same again. Over the next forty years, the Eberhardt family struggles to survive a flood tide of upheaval and heartbreak, love and betrayal, passion and pain...hoping they can someday heal their hearts.

Meet Billy Gertz: a fiercely independent playwright, whose newest drama imagines the story of a man waiting to hear if his estranged wife has survived a cataclysmic event. As her life touches three other unforgettable characters, Billy’s play—the emotion behind its genesis and its powerful performance—forms the thread that binds them all together. A moving love story and a tale of connection and loss, The Lake Shore Limited is Sue Miller at her dazzling best.

Recently divorced, Anna Dunlap has two passionate attachments: her daughter, four-year-old Molly, and her lover, Leo, the man who makes her feel beautiful -- and sexual -- for the first time. Swept away by happiness and passion, Anna feels she has everything she''s ever wanted. Then come the shocking charges that would threaten her new love, her new "family" ... that force her to prove she is a good mother.

In the fall of 1988, Sue Miller found herself caring for her father as he slipped into the grasp of Alzheimer''s disease. She was, she claims, perhaps the least constitutionally suited of all her siblings to be in the role in which she suddenly found herself, and in The Story of My Father she grapples with the haunting memories of those final months and the larger narrative of her father''s life. With compassion, self-scrutiny, and an urgency born of her own yearning to rescue her father''s memory from the disorder and oblivion that marked his dying and death, Sue Miller takes us on an intensely personal journey that becomes, by virtue of her enormous gifts of observation, perception, and literary precision, a universal story of fathers and daughters. James Nichols was a fourth-generation minister, a retired professor from Princeton Theological Seminary. Sue Miller brings her father brilliantly to life in these pages-his religious faith, his endless patience with his children, his gaiety and willingness to delight in the ridiculous, his singular gifts as a listener, and the rituals of church life that stayed with him through his final days. She recalls the bitter irony of watching him, a church historian, wrestle with a disease that inexorably lays waste to notions of time, history, and meaning. She recounts her struggle with doctors, her deep ambivalence about many of her own choices, and the difficulty of finding, continually, the humane and moral response to a disease whose special cruelty it is to dissolve particularities and to diminish, in so many ways, the humanity of those it strikes. She reflects, unforgettably, on the variable nature of memory, the paradox of trying to weave a truthful narrative from the threads of a dissolving life. And she offers stunning insight into her own life as both a daughter and a writer, two roles that swell together here in a poignant meditation on the consolations of storytelling. With the care, restraint, and consummate skill that define her beloved and best-selling fiction, Sue Miller now gives us a rigorous, compassionate inventory of two lives, in a memoir destined to offer comfort to all sons and daughters struggling-as we all eventually must-to make peace with their fathers and with themselves.

Meri is newly married, pregnant, and standing on the cusp of her life as a wife and mother, recognizing with some terror the gap between reality and expectation. Delia—wife of the two-term liberal senator Tom Naughton—is Meri''s new neighbor in the adjacent New England town house. Tom''s chronic infidelity has been an open secret in Washington circles, but despite the complexity of their relationship, the bond between them remains strong. Soon Delia and Meri find themselves leading strangely parallel lives, as they both reckon with the contours and mysteries of marriage: one refined and abraded by years of complicated intimacy, the other barely begun. With precision and a rich vitality, Sue Miller—beloved and bestselling author of While I Was Gone—brings us a highly charged, superlative novel about marriage and forgiveness.

The moving story of a mother and son that touches the deepest concerns about love, art, family, and life Lily Maynard is proud, chilly, difficult, and has become a famous writer at age seventy-two. Now, stricken with Parkinson''s disease and staying with her architect son Alan, Lily must cope with her fading powers as well as with disturbing memories of the events that estranged her from her children and ended her marriage. For Alan, her visit raises old questions about his relationship with her, about the choices he has made in his own life, and about the nature of love, disappointment, and grief. Profound and moving, The Distinguished Guest reveals a family trying to understand the meaning of its life together, while confronting inevitable loss and the vision of an immeasurably altered future.

Headed straight for bestseller lists everywhere, Miller''s graceful and passionate writing explores the many dimensions of love as she reunites three childhood friends who, having grown up together, now learn that complicated adult lives can offer opportunities to find great love--and to suffer great loss.

Isn''t parenting wonderful? Okay, maybe on sleepless nights, it doesn''t feel wonderful. But you have to agree that parenting can certainly be full of wonder. Also, it can leave you wondering some things you''ve never wondered before.Parenting Is Wonder-full is for those beginning their parenting journey (or beginning again for the second or third times). It has one simple goal: to let parents know they are not alone. In these pages, new parents will find themselves identifying with other parents who have shared similar moments while also being reminded of the things that will matter the most.This paperback book is a perfect gift for new parents, and a great companion piece to Baby D, the baby dedication resource from Orange.

Fleeing the end of an affair, and troubled by the feeling that she belongs nowhere after working in East Africa for fifteen years, Frankie Rowley comes home to the small New Hampshire town of Pomeroy and the farmhouse where her family has always summered. On her first night back, a house up the road burns to the ground. Is it an accident? Over the weeks that follow, as Frankie comes to recognise her father''s slow failing and her mother''s desperation, and she tentatively gets to know the new owner of the local newspaper, another house burns, and then another. These frightening events open the deep social fault lines in the town and raise questions about how and where one ought to live, and what it really means to lead a fulfilling life.

Improvising Sabor: Cuban Dance Music in New York begins in 1960s New York and examines in rich detail the playing styles and international influence of important figures in US Latin music. Such innovators as José Fajardo, Johnny Pacheco, George Castro, and Eddy Zervigón dazzled the Palladium ballroom and other Latin music venues in those crucible years. Author Sue Miller focuses on the Cuban flute style in light of its transformations in the US after the 1959 revolution and within the vibrant context of 1960s New York. While much about Latin jazz and salsa has been written, this book focuses on the relatively unexplored New York charangas that were performing during the chachachá and pachanga craze of the early sixties. Indeed, many accounts cut straight from the 1950s and the mambo to the bugalú’s development in the late 1960s with little mention of the chachachá and pachanga’s popularity in the mid-twentieth century. Improvising Sabor addresses not only this lost and ignored history, but contends with issues of race, class, and identity while evaluating differences in style between players from prerevolution Cuban charangas and those of 1960s New York. Through comprehensive explorations and transcriptions of numerous musical examples as well as interviews with and commentary from Latin musicians, Improvising Sabor highlights a specific sabor that is rooted in both Cuban dance music forms and the rich performance culture of Latin New York. The distinctive styles generated by these musicians sparked compelling points of departure and influence.

NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2020! NPR BEST BOOK OF 2020 PEOPLE MAGAZINE TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR BOOKPAGE BEST BOOK OF 2020 GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BEST BOOK OF 2020 “A sensual and perceptive novel. . . . With humor and humanity, Miller resists the simple scorned-wife story and instead crafts a revelatory tale of the complexities—and the absurdities—of love, infidelity, and grief.” —O, the Oprah Magazine A brilliantly insightful novel, engrossing and haunting, about marriage, love, family, happiness and sorrow, from New York Times bestselling author Sue Miller. Graham and Annie have been married for nearly thirty years. Their seemingly effortless devotion has long been the envy of their circle of friends and acquaintances. By all appearances, they are a golden couple. Graham is a bookseller, a big, gregarious man with large appetites—curious, eager to please, a lover of life, and the convivial host of frequent, lively parties at his and Annie’s comfortable house in Cambridge. Annie, more reserved and introspective, is a photographer. She is about to have her first gallery show after a six-year lull and is worried that the best years of her career may be behind her. They have two adult children; Lucas, Graham’s son with his first wife, Frieda, works in New York. Annie and Graham’s daughter, Sarah, lives in San Francisco. Though Frieda is an integral part of this far-flung, loving family, Annie feels confident in the knowledge that she is Graham’s last and greatest love. When Graham suddenly dies—this man whose enormous presence has seemed to dominate their lives together—Annie is lost. What is the point of going on, she wonders, without him? Then, while she is still mourning Graham intensely, she discovers a ruinous secret, one that will spiral her into darkness and force her to question whether she ever truly knew the man who loved her.

Sue Miller''s stories from a chapter in the moral history of our time Like Sue Miller''s bestselling novels, this collection of short stories explores the treacherously shifting ground of erotic and family relationships with deftness and depth. The title story is about a young man who takes up successively with three daughters of the most fashionable family in town. In other stories, whose characters range from a young girl in the first blush of sexual curiosity to a stricken dowager whose seizures release a brutal and sometimes obscene candor, Sue Miller presents a compelling gallery of contemporary men and women with hungry hearts and dismayed consciences.

Richard Egües and José Fajardo are universally regarded as the leading exponents of charanga flute playing, an improvisatory style that crystallized in 1950s Cuba with the rise of the mambo and the chachachá. Despite the commercial success of their recordings with Orquesta Aragón and Fajardo y sus Estrellas and their influence not only on Cuban flute players but also on other Latin dance musicians, no in-depth analytical study of their flute solos exists. In Cuban Flute Style: Interpretation and Improvisation, Sue Miller—music historian, charanga flute player, and former student of Richard Egües—examines the early-twentieth-century decorative style of flute playing in the Cuban danzón and its links with the later soloistic style of the 1950s as exemplified by Fajardo and Egües. Transcriptions and analyses of recorded performances demonstrate the characteristic elements of the style as well as the styles of individual players. A combination of musicological analysis and ethnomusicological fieldwork reveals the polyrhythmic and melodic aspects of the Cuban flute style, with commentary from flutists Richard Egües, Joaquín Oliveros, Polo Tamayo, Eddy Zervigón, and other renowned players. Miller also covers techniques for flutists seeking to learn the style—including altissimo fingerings for the Boehm flute and fingerings for the five-key charanga flute—as well as guidance on articulation, phrasing, repertoire, practicing improvisation, and working with recordings. Cuban Flute Style will appeal to those working in the fields of Cuban music, improvisation, music analysis, ethnomusicology, performance and performance practice, popular music, and cultural theory.

Covering all the key themes, different theoretical views and approaches to studying childhood and early childhood, this book guides you through your course, telling you exactly what is expected of you throughout your studies. It will ensure you develop the skills you need to become successful, and key areas covered include: making the transition from personal experience of children, to studying childhood making the most of your lectures writing good assignments learning how to study independently developing your critical thinking drawing on the full range of student resources (people, services, research visits) getting a job in the early years sector. The new edition has been thoroughly updated and now contains: a new chapter on placements and visits detailed advice on how to avoid plagiarism full consideration of multi-agency working, throughout every chapter advice on career opportunities and further study. Designed to support students in their studies and beyond, this book is an essential purchase for anyone studying childhood or early childhood. SAGE Study Skills are essential study guides for students of all levels. From how to write great essays and succeeding at university, to writing your undergraduate dissertation and doing postgraduate research, SAGE Study Skills help you get the best from your time at university. Visit the SAGE Study Skills website for tips, quizzes and videos on study success!

An illustrated guide to grooming, fashion, and etiquette for women.

"This is the essential textbook for anyone working with parents. Sue Miller makes the theory come alive with real-life examples. Her long experience in this field and in-depth understanding make the subject accessible even to newcomers to the field. I strongly recommend that if you read only one textbook on work with parents, it should be this one." Mary Crowley OBE, former Chief Executive Parenting UK The importance of supporting parents is increasingly being recognised in research and policy, and there are continuing concerns about the consequences of failing to provide adequate support for parents. This timely book provides practical advice on how to set up and deliver parenting services that support parents and improve outcomes for children. It: Explores the latest research, policies and practices Includes reflective questions to encourage the reader to develop their own perspectives Considers changes to how modern families function Looks at providing support for fathers and male carers It is valuable reading for students, lecturers, practitioners, service managers and policy-makers and anyone working with children and their parents.

photographs by Gerald Cubitt Once part of an ancient supercontinent, New Zealand was isolated by the sea to form its present-day raft of islands stretching from the sub-tropical to the sub-Antarctic. This superbly illustrated book offers a tour of this diverse, wild "land of the long white cloud," capturing in text and over 400 full-color photographs New Zealand''s untamed areas and the wildlife that inhabits them. The journey begins in the rugged northern peninsula, with its rocky coastline and impressive stands of kauri forests, continues through the length and breadth of North and South Islands, and then leaves the mainland for the islands beyond. Much of New Zealand''s beauty is preserved in an extensive system of national parks, within which the natural diversity is almost endless. High peaks and meadows of alpine flowers give way to dense rainforest. Geysers and hot springs bubble and fume in the thermal regions. Long sleek beaches and quiet bays offer peace and seclusion. In this land are found creatures that exist nowhere else on earth: the shy kiwi that makes its home in the dense beech forests; the many rare birds that have a last refuge in the offshore islands; and the tuatara - a reptile that has existed since the age of dinosaurs and now clings precariously to survival. Wild New Zealand also offers a view of the country''s ancient origins, its cultural heritage, and the conservation efforts that seek to preserve the awesome beauty of this wondrous land. Gerald Cubitt is one of the world''s leading natural history photographers. and is particularly well known for his sensitive portrayals of the wildlife and wilderness areas of Africa and South-east Asia. Specially commissioned to provide the photographs for Wild New Zealand, he and his wife, Janet, travelled extensively through the islands, seeking to capture the astonishing variety of landscapes and the unique fauna and flora to be found there. He is deeply committed to providing an evocative record of the natural world that will encourage awareness of our environment''s increasing fragility.

A stunning collection of short stories from the bestselling author of The Good Mother, each exploring the shifting ground of erotic and family relationships today.

"When the Paper Moon girls attend a weekend women''s conference, the last thing on their agenda is murder. However, it isn''t long before the Bible Study Buddies are drawn into another investigation"--Back cover.