Showing results by narrator "Christine Williams" in All Categories

Laure Dugas is a champagne baby, born into a family of winemakers from two storied regions of France: Champagne and the Rhône Valley. But Laure wants little to do with the family business. It is only at age 23, when her uncle offers to send her to New York City to learn English and represent his wines to the American market, that Laure bids adieu to her boyfriend and begins her journey of discovery.

Caroline Pembroke is a lovely young woman, attempting a dangerous transatlantic ocean crossing on her own. As she sails away from France, toward the Delecroix plantation in Louisiana, she has no idea how far the journey will take her. When pirates intent on plunder attack the ship, she unwittingly becomes part of the plunder herself. For a brief, dizzying moment she finds herself at the mercy of the swashbuckling captain of the privateer Black Eagle. Although Caroline arrives in Louisiana safe and sound, she realizes that the captain has stolen more than just gold and jewels...he also has her heart!

In this semiautobiographical portrait of a young artist, Willa Cather takes us into the heart of a woman coming to know her deepest self. Thea Kronborg, a minister’s daughter in a provincial Colorado town, has dreams and gifts that her hometown will not satisfy. With the support of a few allies who recognize her rare qualities, she follows her ambitions to the city, determined to be an opera diva. As she moves through a series of music teachers in Chicago, Thea finds that the attitudes and standards of those around her rarely match her own.

Masuo Yasui arrived in America in 1903 with big dreams and empty pockets. He worked on the railroads, in a cannery, and as a houseboy before settling in Oregon to open a store, raise a large family, and become one of the area's most successful orchardists. But his family's life changed forever on December 7, 1941, when they were forced from their homes into vast inland camps. Although shamed and broken, the Yasui family would yet endure to claim their place as Americans.

The debate between science and religion is never out of the news: Emotions run high, fueled by polemical best sellers like The God Delusion and, at the other end of the spectrum, high-profile campaigns to teach "Intelligent Design" in schools. Yet there is much more to the debate than the clash of these extremes. As Thomas Dixon shows in this balanced and thought-provoking introduction, many have seen harmony rather than conflict between faith and science.

Catriona Goodlund was born to be a warrior. Now, after years on the road to knighthood, protecting and saving her friends, it’s time for Cat to face the secrets of her past and finally decide her future.But when she returns to her hometown, she finds the Heart of Purespring gone and destruction all around. With everything she’s ever loved lost to her, Catriona must make her choice: revenge or redemption?

When Sadie Harlan visits her daughter, Lauren, at her summer internship in Yosemite National Park, it seems like the perfect way to forget about her empty nest and failing marriage back home. But when the two women get lost on what’s meant to be a short hike, they suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives. As they search for food, water, and civilization, they battle injury, exhaustion, and natural predators. Sadie, however, is assaulted by more than just the unforgiving elements.

Pastry chef Mary Ryan has sunk a lot of time and talent into the American Fare, San Francisco’s hottest spot, while grieving over her broken marriage. Then, arriving at work very early one day, she discovers a laundry bag stuffed with the dead body of one of her employees. The ensuing investigation soon exposes all of the dirty secrets that the food industry would like to keep hidden - philandering chefs, illegal aliens, and subsistence-level pay scales.

Penny Sayres' red hair, freckle-splashed skin, and fierce independence drew the attention of some of the region's most eligible bachelors. One by one, they've been disappointed - because romance and marriage are the last things on Penny's mind! Since her childhood, she has sensed an unknown destiny beckoning from the horizon. When Penny's brother, Brad, invites her to join his family on their wagon train to California, Penny's dream of adventure comes true.

San Francisco pastry chef Mary Ryan is back teaching at her old alma mater, trying to straddle the worlds of both her original mentors and her contemporaries. To make matters worse, Homicide Detective O'Connor has enrolled as a student, claiming to be on disability from the San Francisco Police Department.

The sky has always held significance for humanity, in both cultural and scientific terms. And yet we persistently pollute it with sometimes unnecessary light in our obsessive desire to chase away the darkness. This effectively switches off the stars, hampering our ability to enjoy one of the most inspiring sights nature has to offer to humankind. In addition, too much light is hazardous to both our health and that of the fauna and flora of this planet.

Career criminal Vic Doloro isn’t the kind of guy you’d send a card to on Father’s Day. Layla Shawn never has. She’s spent most of her 32 years estranged from her father and haunted by the mysterious death of her mother. Then Vic dies, leaving Layla - an unemployed artist - a tempting inheritance of ill-gotten money. Urging her to take the money is Vic’s other daughter, Bette, with whom Layla shares a troubled past.

Thirty-five years ago, when they were in their 20s, Niall Williams and Christine Breen made the impulsive decision to leave their lives in New York City and move to Christine’s ancestral home in the town of Kiltumper in rural Ireland. In the decades that followed, the pair dedicated themselves to writing, gardening and living a life that followed the rhythms of the earth.

Tucked into the majesty of Pennsylvania's Allegheny Mountains is a garden Sarah King has been nurturing for years. She never feels more alive than when she is alone with her thoughts and her Creator among the delicate rows of plants. But then duty calls her away from her beloved garden and into a world she knows little about. Grant Williams, a handsome young veterinarian, has left the city to open a rural practice among the Amish. Within minutes of meeting shy but feisty Sarah King, he is captivated by her.

When Grace Beiler was only a girl, she was married off to an older Amish man in order to save her family’s farm. Years later, she finds herself newly widowed and a mother to a young son. She has finally fled her sad past and plans to settle into a quiet life in Pennsylvania. As soon as she arrives, she captures the attention of Seth Wyse, the most eligible bachelor in Pine Creek. Seth is candid about his feelings for her and for her son, Abel, but Grace is determined to protect her heart.

While Lilly Lapp has loved handsome, headstrong Jacob for years, she wouldn’t compete with Sarah King, the woman Jacob was determined to marry. But when Sarah marries another, Jacob spontaneously agrees to wed Lilly. Lilly divides her time between teaching the local Amish children and caring for her widowed mother who suffers from depression. Lilly’s faith comforts her, but her heart still longs to be the sole object of Jacob’s affection. As the days slip by, Lilly decides that hoping is too risky and vows to protect her heart. But God is subtly at work.

Silver Screen Kisses is a collection of stories inspired by movies that are on every favorite-movie list. Written by award-winning and best-selling authors, these contemporary romances take the listener back to Echo Ridge in the spring, when the promise of new love is budding just like the tulips around the Emerald Inn Bed & Breakfast.

A sweltering July in Chicago, 1923. Edna Ferber, now a famous short-story writer, is supposed to be researching the novel that will become So Big, her Pulitzer-Prize winner. With her mother, Julia, she spends the week visiting her mother's old childhood friend, Esther Newmann, who lives with her family on the edge of the bustling Maxwell Street Jewish marketplace. But the awful specter of a scandalous murder 15 years before suddenly haunts Edna.

Born to Create is an inspirational autobiography chronicling Dr. Rosalie H. Contino's professional transition from successful seventh-grade English teacher to a newfound career in the arts. While most 40-year-old professionals are busy building upon the foundation that several years of hard work produced, Contino made the bold decision to quench the burning desire within to pursue the passion to create.

In 1656, a planter in colonial Maryland tortured and killed one of his slaves, an Angolan man named Antonio who refused to work the fields. Over three centuries later, a Detroit labor organizer named Simon Owens watched as strikebreakers wielding bats and lead pipes beat his fellow autoworkers for protesting their inhumane working conditions. Antonio and Owens had nothing in common but the color of their skin and the economic injustices they battled - yet the former is what defines them in America’s consciousness.