IN THE WAKE OF THE CONFEDERATE VICTORY AT GETTYSBURG, Britain declares war on the United States and invades from Canada. Seizing opportunity, Irish patriots in the Union Army ally themselves with the Confederacy and the British in exchange for a promise of Irish freedom following the war. Can Lincoln and the Union hold out against this powerful alliance? Success or failure rests on the shoulders of an unlikely but well-known figure.

 

 

 

Stalked by Demons, Guarded by Angels: The Girl with the Eating Disorder is a window into the depths of dysfunction as experienced through bulimia, binge-eating disorder, self-harm, and suicidality. Carrying messages of self-loathing and inadequacy from her childhood, Simone explores key relationships and how they shape her-for better and for worse-over the decades.

Stalked by Demons, Guarded by Angels offers vulnerable insight into an oft-hidden world. It doesn’t pretend to answer all the questions or solve all the problems but instead attempts to elicit an understanding of behaviors many people might find inexplicable.

Simone’s journey into the world of psychological recovery is raw and personal, as full of relapse and regret as it is hope for the future. Her road to recovery is not a destination; it comprises learning a new way of being. She leaves the reader with a vision of freedom from disordered eating-as she imagines it to be.

 

 

 

Can Lyn reclaim her sanity in the midst of chaos and confusion? A happy wife and mother who loved nothing more than taking care of her brood, Lyn Barrett was knocked off course by a family crisis that triggered her inner world to crumble. Her diagnosis of multiple personality disorder, now known as dissociative identity disorder, threatened her life as she knew it, her family, and her future. With the knowledge that DID is a coping strategy young children use to protect themselves from chronic trauma, Lyn embarked on a journey to discover her true self.

 

 

 

Lizbeth Gordon, a school counselor and master at facilitating conflict resolution in everyone’s life but her own, returns home to South Carolina after her husband’s sudden death.

Seeking solace at the ramshackle family cottage, she walks the winter beach, but the quiet life doesn’t last. An elderly aunt has troubling family stories: a blockade runner hunted as a traitor after the fall of Charleston, and ancestors who disappeared during Civil War Reconstruction. Curiosity drives Lizbeth into roots research that dead ends.

Tentacles of the past reach across the continents when Lizbeth takes a job at an international school in Rio de Janeiro. She meets a multiethnic descendant of Confederate exiles, with the Gordon surname and nineteenth-century documents. Robert Gordon’s letters describe bold escapes from Federal blockaders and Civil War intrigue in Scotland. Laurette Gordon’s diary shares a heart-wrenching story of sacrifice.

Can the keys to generations-long secrets open a path to family reconciliation and healing?

 

 

 

Burdened by a troubled history with her mother, Elizabeth struggles to raise her own teenage daughter differently. She wants to celebrate when Belle receives a fabulous opportunity miles away in New York City, but is concerned that this move will prolong the estrangement between them. Even worse, it would entail Belle being raised by her grandmother-the person from whom Elizabeth has purposefully distanced herself.

Belle is certain that everything will be better once she gets to the big city, and Grandmother Lillian intends to vicariously enjoy Belle’s success. Left back home, Elizabeth focuses her energy on a young girl who has been removed from her home by social services and, unlike Belle, wants nothing more than to be mothered.

While the individual journeys of these women lead them back to one another, the sudden disclosure of a long-buried secret threatens to keep them apart forever.

Caroline Goldberg Igra’s From Where I Stand explores the challenge of being a mother, the frustration of being a daughter, and the heart-wrenching complexity of being both.

 

 

 

 

When reputed criminal Theo Jackson proposes a donation to the city for a new youth center, the mayor sends Theo’s childhood friend, police officer Denton Jones, to negotiate the terms.

Denton’s efforts inexplicably make him a target for a corrupt city official, but a dishonest bureaucrat is the least of the city’s problems. Theo uncovers evidence of an international criminal organization facilitating human trafficking in the city. Repulsed by the crime, Theo enlists an unlikely coalition of clergy, law enforcement, and criminals to try to stop it.

Follow the characters to the uncomfortable gray areas of life where the wrong thing sometimes seems a better choice than the right thing; where a little bad turns into almost good; and where dark white and light black become the same color.

 

 

 

 

Is it possible to find meaning in life after the death of a child? This is the question that steered Linda Kolsky to a quest for answers after she lost her son to “undetermined, natural causes” at the age of eighteen. While her journey started as a process of grieving, it soon evolved into much more than that. Linda found herself exploring ancient metaphysics, quantum science, electromagnetism, and epigenetics, all in the hope of finding ultimate answers to the biggest questions about who we are and why we are here. In Heavenly Hindsights, the author shares the surprising insights and wisdom she gained along the way.

 

 

 

 

LET YOURSELF BE LOVED EXPLORES THE HEART of a mother carrying a baby to term with the certainty of death. Diagnosed with trisomy 18, John Paul Raphael Leon lived only twenty-eight hours and ten minutes. Elizabeth Leon writes with unflinching honesty about the tsunami of grief and the exquisite agony of choosing to live and love in its wake. With vulnerability and courage, she surrenders to God’s plan and learns to embrace the fragility of life and the nearness of death. In the depression that follows her son’s death, Elizabeth Leon is forced to examine her own brokenness and confront the holy mystery of John Paul Raphael’s short and shining life: in the light of faith, our deepest sufferings are an invitation to joy. Let Yourself Be Loved is a road map to find that joy in the shadow of the valley of death.

 

 

 

 

Everyone has secrets, but the skeletons in Jen’s closet are bigger than most: by day, she writes fanfiction for her favorite TV show, Gemini Divided, but by night, she works as an assassin to pay her mother’s chemotherapy bills. Her world tilts on its axis the day she is assigned to kill Will Bryant-the handsome and charming star of Gemini Divided, and her celebrity crush. What could Will have done to land on someone’s hit list?

The assignment gets Jen up close and personal with Will, who is just as kind in person as he is in the media coverage she obsesses over. When she stumbles onto the reason Will ended up as her target, she must make a life-altering choice: kill Will and keep her mother alive, or save Will and put herself in danger, leaving no way to fund her mother’s treatments in the future. She has to decide quickly, because in two days, the choice will be made for her.

 

 

 

 

Often, to build ourselves up after a terrible physical or mental setback, we must start with our bodies. Gaining confidence in our physical selves can provide the space to find our inner resilient athlete. Saved by Sport shares the stories of ordinary individuals who have suffered significant traumas and discovered sport as the vehicle to heal their minds, bodies, and spirit. Each story’s psychological commentary adds a dimension that will help those who also have undergone profound life-changing experiences, providing hope to parents and children alike, even in the darkest of times.

These individuals take you on a journey from near disaster to incredible victory. Get inspired to uncover your inner athlete and become more resilient and confident on the playing field of life!

 

 

 

 

Securing an organization’s assets and understanding the cybersecurity blueprint goes beyond the technical scope. Hackers are sharing information and gaining an informational advantage. It’s time to modernize our defensive tactics and deploy a “Cybersecurity Mindset.”

The Cybersecurity Mindset: A Virtual and Transformational Thinking Mode is a first-ever coverage of the mental engagement and proactive strategies required to secure business assets and technologies; and can further serve as a resource guide or playbook. The Cybersecurity Mindset provides a layered approach to thinking holistically about cybersecurity and engineering protection standards for data, applications, information, and cloud services. The information discussed in The Cybersecurity Mindset is transferrable for technology and non-technology professionals involved with the security industry, and it provides application-based knowledge to further certification or academic requirements.