A Human Love Story

“An archive of real-life stories about all aspects of human relationships” curated by a man traveling on foot throughout Scotland (BBC Arts). Matt Hopwood set off with just a small bag and a walking stick, no possessions and an open mind to walk many hundreds of miles the length and breadth of the country. He relied entirely on the generosity of strangers for shelter and asked people to tell him their transforming stories. They did. All of these deeply enthralling, profoundly honest stories weave a web of tenderness, connection, compassion and community. For some people their love story will span decades and tell a tale of romantic love evolving through the passing years. Others’ stories express fleeting moments of connection, care, concern. Most love stories are marked by sadness and loss. Some stories are concerned with maternal and paternal love, others with a love of place, a visceral connection with spirit through landscape. Love stories also connect deeply with our identities, in how we belong and how we are welcomed in society. Each story is different. Each beautiful. Each valuable. “A delicately woven tapestry of human life, collected by a stranger who offered an ear to listen without judgment and who has the depth of soul to interpret the complicated layers of love.” —from the foreword by Clare Balding “This thoughtfully presented lexicon of love contains honest accounts from men and women of all ages and offers an antidote to a life where it can be surprisingly hard to say ‘I love you.’”—The Wee Review

Hopwood set off with just a small bag and a walking stick to walk the length and breadth of Scotland. He relied entirely on the generosity of strangers for shelter and asked people to tell him their transforming stories. They did. All of these deeply enthralling, profoundly honest stories weave a web of tenderness, connection, compassion and community. Whether it's a tale of romantic love evolving through the passing years, or fleeting moments of connection, care, concern, love stories connect deeply with our identities, in how we belong and how we are welcomed in society. Each story is different. Each beautiful. Each valuable. -- adapted from front flap of cover.

Compassion, nurturing and pain are at the heart of everyone's story of mothers and motherhood. In this book, Matt Hopwood presents a selection of deep, powerful stories of and by mothers which were told openly and bravely to him. Women, men, children, teenagers and centenarians tell their experiences of childhood, motherhood, birth, loss, yearning, fear, contentment, love and divinity. They tell of connection with Mother and the Mother instincts that reside in every human being. Together, these stories, from as far afield as the USA, Russia, Taiwan, and Europe as well as the UK, are a gift that help bring us to a deeper understanding of our humanity and the role of the intuitive feminine Mother that is so needed by every one of us.

In this “raw and well-crafted (Kirkus Reviews)” romance, Bea learns that some things just can’t be controlled. When Bea meets Beck, she knows instantly that he’s her kind of crazy. Sweet, strong, kinda-messed-up Beck understands her like no one else can. He makes her feel almost normal. He makes her feel like she could fall in love again. But despite her feelings for Beck, Bea can’t stop thinking about someone else: a guy who is gorgeous and magnetic…and has no idea Bea even exists. But Bea spends a lot of time watching him. She has a journal full of notes. Some might even say she’s obsessed. Bea tells herself she’s got it all under control. But this isn’t a choice, it’s a compulsion. The truth is, she’s breaking down…and she might end up breaking her own heart.

While Bannen had every intention of finding adventure, being yanked through a magical portal two continents away isn't quite what he imagined happening. For that matter, being magically bound to a mage-in-training hadn't ever crossed his mind. Being the first human familiar ever summoned in Corcoran? Not on his to-do list.Rena certainly needs all of the help that she can get, as her magic is very different, inhibiting her of the normal shields and protections. Everyone says her summoning a human familiar is a mistake, that she needs to break the bond and send Bannen back.But Bannen doesn't like this idea, not one iota. Renata Rocci has the magic of a Grim Reaper, the heart of a lion, and a body too frail to keep up with either. She can face assassins; meddlesome mages; politicians; and legendary, nightmarish monsters without flinching. Without losing and that's sexy as sin. This is definitely not the adventure he signed up for. It's far, far better.

An anthology of literary love stories—in a beautiful hardcover Pocket Classics edition—perfect for Valentine’s Day. Here are nineteen stories from a rich array of writers, and here is every kind of romantic entanglement: from the raw, erotic passion of D. H. Lawrence and Colette to the wickedly cynical comedy of Dorothy Parker and Roald Dahl, from the yearning of unrequited romantic illusions in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams” to the agonizing madness of jealousy in Vladimir Nabokov’s “That in Aleppo Once . . .” The objects of passion in these stories range from a glamorous silent-movie starlet in Elizabeth Bowen’s haunting “Dead Mabelle” and a faithful ghost in Yasunari Kawabata's "Immortality" to a heart surgeon in Margaret Atwood’s “Bluebeard’s Egg” who spends his days penetrating the mysteries of the human heart but who seems oddly emotionally opaque himself. Jhumpa Lahiri plumbs the despair of a husband and wife sundered by tragedy while Lorrie Moore movingly portrays a couple brought together by it. Katherine Mansfield, Tobias Wolff, and William Trevor explore the intricacies of long-term relationships, while Guy de Maupassant, Italo Calvino, and T. C. Boyle portray the elemental force of love in extremely different ways. As alluring, moving, and intoxicating as its timeless theme, this collection makes an enticing gift for lovers at any stage of life.

This collection asks whether literary works that interrogate and alter the terms of human-nonhuman relations can point to new, more sustainable ways forward.