The Lauras

'A writer of real gravitas and potency.' Ali Smith 'An extraordinary journey ... Engrossing, original and eloquent.' Helen Dunmore 'Elegiac and beautifully observed.' Observer 'Vivid and captivating.' Stylist I didn’t realise my mother was a person until I was thirteen years old and she pulled me out of bed, put me in the back of her car, and we left home and my dad with no explanations. I thought that Ma was all that she was and all that she had ever wanted to be. I was wrong... As Ma and Alex make their way from Virginia to California, each new state prompts stories and secrets of a life before Alex. Together they put to rest unsettled scores, heal old wounds, and search out lost friends. But Alex can't forget the life they've left behind.

Laura has just three weeks to go before her Jewish becoming of age ceremony, called a Bat Mitzvah, when she is assigned a special project. She is to read the diary of Sara Gittler, a young girl her own age who was imprisoned by the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. Sara never had the chance to celebrate her coming of age, so Laura is to learn about Sara's life and then share her Bat Mitzvah with her "twin" by speaking of her at the ceremony. Reluctant to undertake the project at first, Laura quickly becomes caught up by Sara's struggle to survive. Sara's diary unfolds with the details of her daily life in the Ghetto, a world full of fear, confusion, tragedy and above all, courage. From Sara's brave story in the past, Laura learns how to find the courage to confront the possibility of a friend's current involvement in the desecration of a Jewish cemetery.

In 1990, the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks, co-created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, opened with a murder mystery when a beautiful homecoming queen, wrapped in plastic, washed up on a cold and rocky beach. Laura Palmer's character began as a plot device that triggered a small town to face its fractured self. But after three seasons and a film, Laura Palmer is no longer just a plot device. Instead of solely focusing on the murderer, like most traditional storytelling at the time, the audience gets to know the victim, a complex young woman who explores her sexuality and endures incredible abuse. Laura's Ghost: Women Speak About Twin Peaks is an examination of Laura Palmer's legacy on the 30th anniversary of Twin Peaks. Palmer's character was one of the few frank and horrific representations of sexual abuse victims which did not diminish the strength and complexity of the victim. Sheryl Lee, who played Laura Palmer, discusses the challenges of the role and how it has impacted herself as well as women she has met over the years, many of whom are survivors of sexual abuse. The role demanded Lee give all of her vulnerability as an actor to this role. This role is one she cannot escape, one with which she will forever be identified. It's a role that still haunts her today. For many women, this character represents them. Here was a woman who was not just a victim, but who was owning her sexuality as well—a woman coming into her own and discovering her sources of power. This book is a reckoning in which women from the show and community speak about grief, mischief, humor, sexuality, strength, weakness, wickedness, and survival.

CHEATING DEATH HAS MADE ME REALIZE I HAD BEEN CHEATING LIFE. DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES I DID. LET ME SHARE WITH YOU WHAT I WAS FORCED TO LEARN. MY BOOK IS ABOUT HOW WE ARE ALL CAUGHT UP IN THE RAT RACE OF LIFE, WHICH GOT ME THINKING ABOUT THE STORY OF THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE AND REMEMBERING IT WAS THE TORTOISE WHO WON THE RACE. SURE, THE TORTOISE WAS SLOW, BUT HE WAS STEADY. THAT'S WHY I ENTITLED MY BOOK "HURRY UP AND SLOW DOWN -- LAURA'S STORY". WITH A HORRIFIC YEAR IN 2010 WHEN I CAME SO CLOSE TO DEATH, I DECIDED TO WRITE MY BOOK, WHICH WAS ONE OF MY LIFE GOALS. I WANTED TO SHARE MY STORY AND WHAT I LEARNED GOING THROUGH THE MOST DIFFICULT TIME IN MY LIFE AND MY DESIRE TO SHARE THESE LEARNING WITH OTHERS TO HELP PEOPLE TO BETTER APPRECIATE GOOD HEALTH AND NOT TAKE SO MUCH FOR GRANTED.

I didn’t realise my mother was a person until I was thirteen years old and she pulled me out of bed, put me in the back of her car, and we left home and my dad with no explanations. I thought that Ma was all that she was and all that she had ever wanted to be. I was wrong. As we made our way from Virginia to California, returning to the places where she’d lived as a child in foster care and as a teenager on the run, repaying debts and keeping promises, I learned who she was in her life-before-me and the secrets she had kept – even from herself. But when life on the road began to feel normal I couldn’t forget the home we’d left behind, couldn’t deny that, just like my mother, I too had unfinished business. This enigmatic pilgrimage takes them back to various stages of Alex’s mother’s life, each new state prompting stories and secrets. Together they trace back through a life of struggle and adventure to put to rest unfinished business, to heal old wounds and to search out lost friends. This is an extraordinary story of a life; a stunning exploration of identity and an authentic study of the relationship between a mother and her child. The Lauras is the new novel from the exceptionally gifted author of The Shore, which was long listed for the Baileys Women’s Fiction Prize and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year.

Life can be tricky. Struggling to work out who she is and to find her place in the word Laura finds out exactly how tricky. Find out how easy it was for the good girl to become the good fiance and then slip down the slope from dating machine to 'good time girl'.

Keith Masterson, who has been Beth Barry's boyfriend since the sixth grade, decides that he wants to end their relationship. Not sure how to end it, he goes to Jana Morgan for help.

Laura and Sophie are best friends. They are even growing their own friendship tree! But one day, Laura's brother, Tommy, accidentally breaks the sapling. What will Sophie say? Will their friendship be ruined? Maybe Laura's special friend, the star, can help her out once more.