The Last Honest Woman

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts, a cynical reporter’s relentless pursuit of the truth turns into an obsession with his subject—a young widow shadowed by secrets—in The Last Honest Woman, the first O’Hurleys novel. Abigail O’Hurley Rockwell’s husband was a racing car legend behind the wheel, winning championships with a fearless skill and speed that claimed his life in a tragic and—some would say—reckless crash. Heartbroken, Abby wants nothing more than to raise her two sons in peace, but journalist Dylan Crosby is penning a book about her infamous husband’s life, determined to expose the man’s hidden past. But Abby is not a spoiled trophy wife Dylan can easily charm. She is a woman of integrity and mystery desperate to keep him at arm’s length—even as their desires for one another are on an unalterable collision course.

Abby O'Hurley, the widow of a notorious race car champion, hides her past from arrogant biographer Dylan Crosby, and professional dancer Maddy O'Hurley shows ruthless businessman Reed Valentine the importance of love.

AVAILABLE DIGITALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME Disillusioned spy Trace O'Hurley has nothing left to lose or prove. Recovering in Mexico from a case that almost killed him, all he wants is sun, whiskey and solitude. But scientist Gillian Fitzpatrick has other ideas. She knows Trace is the only man who can help rescue her kidnapped brother. He may be unshaven, drunk and arrogant, but one look in his eyes and Gillian knows that Trace O'Hurley is a very capable, very dangerous man. And beneath that bitter, tough exterior, she's caught a glimpse of someone else - someone worth getting to know. Someone who is missing the life - and loving family - he left behind all those years ago... Without a Trace can be read as a thrilling standalone novel. It is also the final book in The O'Hurleys series, which features triplets Abigail, Maddy and Chantel, and their brother Trace. The series begins with The Last Honest Woman and continues with Skin Deep and Dance to the Piper - all now available as eBooks for the first time. Includes a preview of Whiskey Beach, published in April 2013.

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE® IN LITERATURE 2013 The only novel from Alice Munro-award-winning author of The Love of a Good Woman--is an insightful, honest book, "autobiographical in form but not in fact," that chronicles a young girl's growing up in rural Ontario in the 1940's. Del Jordan lives out at the end of the Flats Road on her father's fox farm, where her most frequent companions are an eccentric bachelor family friend and her rough younger brother. When she begins spending more time in town, she is surrounded by women-her mother, an agnostic, opinionted woman who sells encyclopedias to local farmers; her mother's boarder, the lusty Fern Dogherty; and her best friend, Naomi, with whom she shares the frustrations and unbridled glee of adolescence. Through these unwitting mentors and in her own encounters with sex, birth, and death, Del explores the dark and bright sides of womanhood. All along she remains a wise, witty observer and recorder of truths in small-town life. The result is a powerful, moving, and humorous demonstration of Alice Munro's unparalleled awareness of the lives of girls and women.

Meet the O'Hurleys in these two classic stories about romance and family secrets... The Last Honest Woman As the widow of an infamous race car champion, Abby O'Hurley is left with two sons and lots of secrets. Cynical journalist and biographer Dylan Crosby plans to uncover everything Abby is hiding about her former life, no matter what it takes. Living with Abby to observe her everyday life, Dylan is surprised to find that she's not the entitled person he expected her to be. She's a kind woman and a loving mother, and though she has no reason to protect her late husband, there are certain truths she won't give up--no matter how charming Dylan is. But if Dylan is willing to open up first, he just might get the story he's looking for...and a connection he wasn't expecting. Dance to the Piper Maddy O'Hurley has been in the spotlight since she was five years old. Now she's a dancer on Broadway, and her passionate performances have made her a much-admired artist--and have captured the interests of recording mogul Reed Valentine. Reed's always had careful control over his emotions and he's never been interested in much past his business. But something about Maddy intrigues Reed, and Maddy can feel their connection, too. The two agree to be friends, only tempting the romantic tension between them. Reed's wary of romance thanks to his painful past, but can companionship really be enough?

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FEATURING AN EXCLUSIVE NEW CHAPTER GoodReads Choice Awards Semifinalist "Moving . . . a plot that surprises and devastates."—New York Times Book Review "A masterful epic."—People magazine "Mesmerizing . . . The Women in the Castle stands tall among the literature that reveals new truths about one of history’s most tragic eras."—USA Today Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined—an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Hazards of Good Breeding. Amid the ashes of Nazi Germany’s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband’s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband’s brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance widows. First Marianne rescues six-year-old Martin, the son of her dearest childhood friend, from a Nazi reeducation home. Together, they make their way across the smoldering wreckage of their homeland to Berlin, where Martin’s mother, the beautiful and naive Benita, has fallen into the hands of occupying Red Army soldiers. Then she locates Ania, another resister’s wife, and her two boys, now refugees languishing in one of the many camps that house the millions displaced by the war. As Marianne assembles this makeshift family from the ruins of her husband’s resistance movement, she is certain their shared pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she quickly discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of her privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually, all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined their lives before, during, and after the war—each with their own unique share of challenges. Written with the devastating emotional power of The Nightingale, Sarah’s Key, and The Light Between Oceans, Jessica Shattuck’s evocative and utterly enthralling novel offers a fresh perspective on one of the most tumultuous periods in history. Combining piercing social insight and vivid historical atmosphere, The Women in the Castle is a dramatic yet nuanced portrait of war and its repercussions that explores what it means to survive, love, and, ultimately, to forgive in the wake of unimaginable hardship.

Kirton's feminist poetry offers candid views on sex, love, and marriage from the perspective of a mixed-race woman.

If there ever was a time and place to explore the territory of mature women and their journeys this would be the time. The subjects of sex, passion, confidence in JoAnn McCaig's An Honest Woman are beautifully played out against society's stereotypes of women as they age and as they confront the truths of themselves outside the societal frameworks in which they have been boxed. There are metafictional elements turned loose in this novel. First, there is an intensely self-conscious narrator and second, there are characters who live inside fictional worlds and travel outside those worlds for intense real-life encounters. Their storytelling draws attention to themselves as both living, breathing people but also fleshed-out fictional world characters. The structure of the novel is complex, layered, and interwoven. There are several narrators, stories within stories, and writers making things up and fantasizing while living real (albeit fictional) lives. There are literary allusions galore and cameo appearances by thinly disguised famous authors. It can all get a little crazy, so McCaig has provided a few support materials: an infographic that maps out the different characters, and relationships and authorships, a fairly detailed table of contents, a few postscripts, and a couple of appendices. Watch for symbols that indicate that the narrator has lapsed into fantasy and for when she returns to her "real" life, such as it is. That said, An Honest Woman has enough grounded familiar plot lines to keep a general reader interested and layered ambiguities to keep the well-read interested. While there is some undermining of traditional literary conventions, there is nothing lost in McCaig's exploration of the relationship between literature and life. The novel is humorous, and sometimes really funny; it is also a smart and warm and moving read.