Remember Us

When an estranged mother reappears after thirteen years, a dysfunctional family is forced to confront the past in this absorbing novel of love and forgiveness. When twenty-five-year-old Ben Hamilton calls his twin sister, Reese, to tell her their father has cancer, she drops everything and races back to their childhood home in Nebraska. A few days later―and thirteen years since walking out of their lives without a word―their estranged mother, Bernice, arrives on the doorstep. She has three suitcases, Rocky the Chihuahua sitting in her fuchsia purse, and mascara running down her cheeks. Over the following months, the Hamiltons begrudgingly grow reacquainted with each other, confront their past and explore a possible future, with a little help from Guru Carl, J. R. R. Tolkien, and a rusty VW van named Ernie. As Reese cares for her father and grapples with her feelings for the woman formerly known as Mom, she must also make a choice between two talented men, as well as a decision about her next step in her photography career. This hilarious and heartbreaking novel pulls no punches in its exploration of forgiveness, love, loss, and the unexpected beauty of the people who share the same DNA.

Remember Us is a look back at the lost world of the shtetl: a wise Zayde offering prophetic and profound words to his grandson, the rich experience of Shabbos, and the treasure of a loving family. All this is torn apart with the arrival of the Holocaust, beginning a crucible fraught with twists and turns so unpredictable and surprising that they defy any attempt to find reason within them. From work camps to the partisans of the Nowogródek forests, from the Mauthausen concentration camp to life as a displaced person in Italy, and from fighting the Egyptian army in a tiny Israeli kibbutz in 1948 to starting a new life in a new world in New York, this book encompasses the mythical “hero’s journey” in very real historical events. Through the eyes of ninety-one-year-old Holocaust survivor Martin Small, we learn that these priceless memories that are too painful to remember are also too painful to forget.

Charlie Wilkins had everything he wanted -- a husband, a daughter, a house that was his home. He still has his husband, but William has forgotten who he is. He still has his daughter, but the roles have switched, and Ann is now the one taking care of them. There is only one thing Charlie wants, and that is to spend the rest of his days with William by his side. But William is living in a nursing home, and Charlie is living ... somewhere. Ann says she will fix it; she’ll make sure they’ll get to live together again. Charlie hopes she will before William either escapes or figures out Charlie has left him in someone else’s care. He promised William they’d stay together till death did them part, and he meant it, but what was he to do when he no longer could take care of William?

At a time of sweeping nationalism in the Balkans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the characters ... survive pogroms, ethnic cleansing and guerilla warfare. Escaping war, they leave homes and loved ones to forge new lives in America ... [where] the immigrants find that they must rely on their culture and enduring family ties in the face of loss of place, poverty, death and scandal.

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson brings readers a powerful story that delves deeply into life’s burning questions about time and memory and what we take with us into the future. It seems like Sage’s whole world is on fire the summer before she starts seventh grade. As house after house burns down, her Bushwick neighborhood gets referred to as “The Matchbox” in the local newspaper. And while Sage prefers to spend her time shooting hoops with the guys, she’s also still trying to figure out her place inside the circle of girls she’s known since childhood. A group that each day, feels further and further away from her. But it’s also the summer of Freddy, a new kid who truly gets Sage. Together, they reckon with the pain of missing the things that get left behind as time moves on, savor what’s good in the present, and buoy each other up in the face of destruction. And when the future comes, it is Sage’s memories of the past that show her the way forward. Remember Us speaks to the power of both letting go . . . and holding on.

Frankie Desimone is born into a violent world. He is growing up on the dangerous streets of Larimer, outside Pittsburgh. He lives in an apartment with his mother, two sisters, and his mother's abusive and drug-fueled boyfriend, Joe. Joe routinely locks Frankie in his room, beats and demoralizes him, and denies Frankie food. Frankie's hatred for Joe consumes him, which frequently causes him to start fights and seek out trouble. The irony is that he is becoming more like Joe without realizing it. Then, Frankie befriends an old hobo named Honeymarmo. Honeymarmo saves Frankie's life twice. Once from some boys who had violently attacked him, and then from a treacherous hobo named Grub. With Honeymarmo's help, Frankie, for the first time, develops a sense of hope, self-worth, faith, and a moral compass through a growing relationship with God that starts to change him. He begins to understand the consequences of choices and learns the power of forgiveness. Then, unexpectedly, he betrays his new friend and becomes consumed with regret and guilt. Still, those Christian values he learned bears fruit. As Frankie struggles to rise above his circumstances, he is faced with his greatest test when forced to protect his mom at home by confronting Joe with a gun.

This collection of stories describe the struggle of the people who settled the Blue Ridge Mountains as they undergo the transition from plowshares to bulldozers.

A selection of poems from the author's previous books, "A Little Sidewalk Cafe at the End of Time," "Until We Dream No More", and "Wild Roses", together with some things written since their publication, over the last five years. The book moves from the innumerable small miracles of the natural world to the incidental, precarious, and nevertheless occasionally wonderful participation of the human in that world.