Victoria Zackheim

In this upbeat, poignant, and sometimes hysterically funny collection, we are reminded of this: As much as we like to believe that we have full control of the circumstances of our lives—love, health, relationships—we do not. No matter how successful we are, how many books we have written or children we have launched, no matter how many business deals we’ve closed and illnesses or injuries we’ve overcome, life continues to remind us that the control we have fought so hard to attain can quickly slip away. And while many of us are able to regain that control, we cannot ignore the message that hovers out there, just beyond the coast of consciousness: Our bodies are for keeps. No matter what life brings us, we must forge ahead and celebrate life.

When you were in your youth -- riding your bicycle, playing stickball, learning how to knit, sitting too close to that old black-and-white television, attending the senior prom -- did you look in the mirror and imagine yourself in any way close to the person you are today? And now that you are here, in this place, at this age, do you look back with longing at the old dreams and expectations? Perhaps you are delighted, even surprised, by what you have achieved.

Did those dreams come true? Perhaps a more important question: Was your future defined by your own dreams, or by the dreams and expectations of others? Some authors in this collection were encouraged by the people in their lives, while others have succeeded despite them. Authors include Malachy McCourt, Eileen Goudge, Joyce Maynard, Leon Whiteson, Sandra Gulland, Christine O’Hagan, Alan Dershowitz, and more.

From some of America's top writers comes a groundbreaking, compulsively readable and bestselling anthology about that taboo subject -- women who steal husbands and lovers from other women, the consequences for those left behind, and the impact made by the vixen, the Lorelei, the Jezebel ... the bitch ... on families and our futures. Contributing authors include Jane Smiley, Susan Cheever, Lynn Freed, Caroline Leavitt, Dani Shapiro, Pam Houston, Mary Jo Eustace, and more.

Following the death of her lifelong friend, Mimi sets off on a journey to discover how she came to this lonely place in her life, and why she runs from the opportunity to love. The Bone Weaver is a blend of history and fiction created around three generations of women and their struggles to survive pogroms, illness and the violence of shtetl life in nineteenth-century eastern Europe. Taking apart the family tapestry thread by thread, studying these women and their lives of uncertainty, tragedy and joy, Mimi learns about courage and the will to survive. As she discovers what makes these women remarkable, she discovers herself.