Noplace Like Home

Liza Barclay, aged 10, shot her mother while trying to protect her from her violent stepfather, ex-FBI agent Charley Foster. Despite her stepfather's claim that it was a deliberate act, the Juvenile Court ruled the death an accident. Many people, however, agreed with Foster and tabloids compared Liza to the infamous murderess, Lizzie Borden, pointing even to the similarity in name. Growing up with adoptive parents who tried to erase every trace of her past, her name is changed to Celia. Always, though, the fear hung over her and the family - that someday, her vengeful stepfather would reappear to harm her. Aged 25, a successful interior designer, she marries a childless sixty-year old widower and they have a son. Before their marriage, she had confided her earlier life to her husband. Two years on, on his deathbed, he tells her that he would want her to re-marry, but makes her swear never to reveal her past to anyone, so that their son would not carry the burden of this family tragedy - a promise that plunges her into a new cycle of violence. Three years later, happily re-married, Celia is shocked when her second husband presents her with a gift -- the house where she killed her mother. When the real estate agent who has made the sale recognises her and, soon after, is murdrered, Celia is accused of the crime. Once again, she is home -- the place where she is stamped as a murderess.

Humorous, poignant, and honest, No Place Like Home is the story of one woman’s journey to feel settled without settling, and her realization that home is much more than an address. Brooke Berman moved to New York as a wide-eyed eighteen-year-old eager to call the big city home. Candid, funny, and thoughtful, in No Place Like Home, we follow Brooke’s adventures as she crisscrosses town trying to make ends meet and make her dreams of a life in the theater come true. With each apartment, from the heavenly to the horrible, she learns more about how to heal the past, let go of excess, and keep a sense of humor while trying to stay flexible in the search for stability. No Place Like Home reminds everyone of the age-old struggle not just to find a house, but to build a true home.

The first book from renowned Hollywood-based interior designer Madeline Stuart, whose elegant decorating is predicated on timeless design, be it modernist or traditional in inspiration. Stuart is hailed as an icon in Los Angeles for her exceptional work. Architectural Digest wrote, "In a city driven by artifice and spectacle, Madeline Stuart celebrates understatement, authenticity, and elegance without affectation." The daughter of director Mel Stuart (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) and a decorator mother whose interiors were favored by actors and entertainers, Stuart grew up as a Hollywood insider. Today, her wide-ranging clientele comes from the entertainment industry as well as the world of business and finance. In No Place Like Home, Stuart herself writes eloquently about her recent work. With insight and wit, she walks the reader through her design process, from initial vision to execution. From her meticulous renovation of Cedric Gibbons's Streamline Moderne house to a newly built Montana ranch to a Mediterranean-inspired residence on the California coast, each project is informed by Stuart's keen understanding of history and craftsmanship as well as her skill with scale, proportion, and balance. These, along with her unexpected combinations of furniture and fine-art and decorative elements, result in richly layered interiors that feel authentic to their period and place, while remaining always relevant, modern, and beautiful.

A hilarious story about finding your place in the world George is a bit of a grump. He doesn’t like ice cream, his tiny house, or the crowded city he lives in. Perhaps he would be happier if he could find a place that truly feels like home. And so George decides to go exploring… Young children will delight in this fun, inviting story about discovering where you really belong.

After her brilliant run on Broadway and surviving the harsh concrete jungle of New York City, seventeen-year-old Hollywood "It Girl" Kaitlin Burke is back in LA starring in a sitcom with her former-nemesis-now-BFF, Sky. The show is a huge success! In fact, maybe a little too huge, Kaitlin realizes, after a bad run-in with aggressive paparazzi that puts her boyfriend Austin in danger. Once again, she wishes that she could have a normal life. But what Kaitlin doesn't realize is that her Hollywood life has had a positive influence on just about everyone she loves, and it takes a minor car accident and a nasty concussion to truly grasp how lucky she is. In Jen Calonita's sixth and final Secrets of My Hollywood Life novel, Kaitlin learns at last about the price of fame, the unending upside of friendship, and that there really is no place like home - even if it's Tinseltown.