Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life -- having nothing but his own wits to help him along.

"When twenty-seven-year-old Joan Bergstrom sends a fan letter--as well as a gift of saffron--to fifty-nine-year-old Imogen Fortier, a life-changing friendship begins. Joan lives in Los Angeles and is just starting out as a writer for the newspaper food pages. Imogen lives on Camano Island outside Seattle, writing a monthly column for a Pacific Northwest magazine, and while she can hunt elk and dig for clams, she's never tasted fresh garlic--exotic...

The inspiration for the film starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly, this resonant story of a mother’s unsettling quest to understand her teenage son’s deadly violence, her own ambivalence toward motherhood, and the explosive link between them remains terrifyingly prescient.
Eva never really wanted to be a mother. And certainly not the mother of a boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker,...

A professor in Denmark and a grandmother in England begin a correspondence, and a friendship, that develops into something extraordinary.

A letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born--a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam--and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is...

Fresh out of college, Penelope Edgewood is awarded a paid internship to help save a historic theater on the island of Skymar. She jumps at the chance: a crumbling theater needs the special touch of someone who reveres all things vintage and adores the stage. Unfortunately, at Darling House Theatre finances are in a shambles, the local theater group is disenchanted, and brothers Matt and Alec Gray are arguing about how to run their theatrical business....

When an anonymous benefactor offers to put Samantha Moore through school, with the stipulation that she write frequent letters to him on her progress, Sam finds safety in the letters as her program and her peers force her to confront her past.

Life is good on the Pennsylvania Amish farm of newlyweds Vic and Eleanor Lapp-- until a tragic event occurs. Vic turns to alcohol to numb the pain; he loses his job, and his marriage is falling apart. Eleanor writes to her friend, Doretta, in Indiana, asking for advice. Their exchange of letters helps both women through the challenges of their lives. -- Adapted from back cover.

Doretta Schwartz used to be so happy and passed her positive attitude along to friends in several letters she wrote each month. But that all changed the day she learned of her fianč's death and a heavy weight of depression fell upon her. Feeling empty, she puts away her letter writing and won't even respond to calls from friends. William's twin brother, Warren, is also grieving his loss, while at the same time, trying to be supportive to his parents...

Ollie, who has seizures when near electricity, lives in a backwoods cabin with his mother and rarely sees other people, and Moritz, born with no eyes and a heart defect that requires a pacemaker, is bullied at his high school, but when a physician who knows both suggests they begin corresponding, they form a strong bond that may get them through dark times.