Eleven stories deal with marriage, suicide, grief, talk shows, and parents and their adult children

BODIES AT SEA (ISF)

Literature & Fiction

McGraw, Erin

United States

University of Illinois Press

"I couldn’t cook but I could sew. It would have been better the other way around." Trapped in Kansas at the turn of the twentieth century, Nell Plat is seventeen, unhappily married, and the mother of two baby girls. No reality could be further from her secret dreams of glamour and excitement, dreams that will tempt her to do the unthinkable and run away to the glittering wonderland of Los Angeles and the burgeoning motion picture industry. Lucky for Nell, her experience as a seamstress to the ladies of her Kansas town translates beautifully to work as a costumer to Hollywood in the Roaring Twenties. She renames herself Madame Annelle, and builds a new life for herself that looks so much more like the one she had always imagined. But a knock on the door threatens to rip apart the seams of her own carefully constructed costume, and Nell is forced to confront the legacy of her abandonment and deception. Can she rework the delicate fabric of her life?

The Seamstress Of Hollywood Boulevard

Harper-perennial

The Journey of the Terminally Ill will take you into the lives of those dying of a terminal illness. You will walk with them through their journey for the last days or months of their lives. These are heartfelt, emotional stories as you witness the disease take over the human body and the physical changes that go along with that. The emotional and spiritual struggles of these people are incredible as they try to prepare themselves and those that love them for their impeding death. You will see the strength of the human spirit, and realize what truly matters in life. One by one the stories and those lives will come to an end, and tears will be shed. Come along on this journey as it is told through the experiences of a hospice nurse as she cares for the dying and their loved ones on a daily basis.

The Journey of the Terminally Ill: Through the Eyes and Heart of a Hospice Nurse

Religion & Spirituality

iUniverse, Inc.

Erin McGraw's fiction has been hailed as "graceful . . . gratifyingly substantial" (New York Times Book Review) and "brilliant... [she's] a writer to watch" (Los Angeles Times). Wry but poignant, her new collection brims with priceless insights and fresh descriptions. The Good Life features characters battling daily demons of envy, fear, and disillusionment while somehow maintaining an abiding optimism. Here are characters trying to weather the confounding people of the world--the chronically successful, the lucky in love, the athletically gifted--characters clinging to their cynicism while admitting that real hope and passion demand a suspension of skepticism. Erin McGraw writes with charm and sweet irony, and her new collection is impossible to put down.

The Good Life: Stories

Humor & Satire

Moving to Los Angeles in 1901 to start her life anew, Nell Plat marries and begins a career as a costumer to the stars, but when a visitor from her past comes calling, everything she has worked so hard to achieve for her future is jeopardized.

The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard

Houghton, mifflin, harcourt

This classic Chronicle book remains available as a print-on-demand title. You can purchase it from an online bookseller or by order from your local bookstore.

Lies of the Saints

Chronicle Books+

Pastor Kate Gussey, with her husband Ned, provides a home for the homeless, helps build houses for the needy, and turns a willing hand and sturdy good humor wherever there is a need. But when her ex-husband moves into her small town, then into her home, the townspeople begin to question the kind of person she really is.

The Baby Tree

Story Line Pr

Better Food for a Better World: A Novel

Ideals and reality collide when six college friends band together to start an ice cream store, promising "Better Food for a Better World," but finding a worse world than they had expected. It seems like a great idea: six friends from college pool their money and energy to start an ice cream store. Natural High Ice Cream: Better Food for a Better World. It's high-minded, with a wink, like the marital self-help group they all belong to. The store finds a ready clientele in its northern California college town filled with amiable ex-hippies who are happy to contribute to a better world, even if all they have to contribute is the price of an ice cream cone. But the store, like the marriage group, turns out to be work, not fun, and rifts start to appear between the friends. Nancy, who had seemed so easygoing and sweetly sexy when they started, turns stern. Cecilia, who had wanted to be a musician, is openly bored. And flighty, excitable Vivy is crawling out of her skin. She yearns for the old days, before Natural High, when she and her husband Sam traveled around the country with countercultural musicians and dancers. She'd give anything to have those days back again. And so quietly, without telling the partners, she starts to rev up the old company, contacting her old acts--the fat contortionist, the muscle-bound juggler. She's going to save them all, and Natural High, too. But saving turns out to be harder than it looks, and Vivy isn't the only one with secrets.

Wipf & Stock Pub

Ideals and reality collide when six college friends band together to start an ice cream store, promising "Better Food for a Better World," but finding a worse world than they had expected.It seems like a great idea: six friends from college pool their money and energy to start an ice cream store. Natural High Ice Cream: Better Food for a Better World. It's high-minded, with a wink, like the marital self-help group they all belong to. The store finds a ready clientele in its northern California college town filled with amiable ex-hippies who are happy to contribute to a better world, even if all they have to contribute is the price of an ice cream cone.But the store, like the marriage group, turns out to be work, not fun, and rifts start to appear between the friends. Nancy, who had seemed so easygoing and sweetly sexy when they started, turns stern. Cecilia, who had wanted to be a musician, is openly bored. And flighty, excitable Vivy is crawling out of her skin. She yearns for the old days, before Natural High, when she and her husband Sam traveled around the country with countercultural musicians and dancers. She'd give anything to have those days back again. And so quietly, without telling the partners, she starts to rev up the old company, contacting her old acts--the fat contortionist, the muscle-bound juggler. She's going to save them all, and Natural High, too. But saving turns out to be harder than it looks, and Vivy isn't the only one with secrets.

Slant

Better Food for a Better World

Reference

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

Slant Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McGraw, Erin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by McGraw, Erin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McGraw, Erin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

BODIES AT SEA (ISF)

The Seamstress Of Hollywood Boulevard

The Journey of the Terminally Ill: Through the Eyes and Heart of a Hospice Nurse

The Good Life: Stories

The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard

Lies of the Saints

The Baby Tree

Better Food for a Better World: A Novel

Better Food for a Better World: A Novel

Better Food for a Better World