Showing results by narrator "Jane Oppenheimer" in All Categories

Wonderfully wide-ranging, original, and enjoyable, The Emotional Embodiment of Stars contains 27 award-winning short stories like "Mortimer", in which an unwanted guest secretly follows a family through their heartbreaking sorrows, and "Crossroads", in which a budding writer is finally preparing to meet the man she happens to exchange greetings with every morning on the way to her office.

Nicole Graves, still reeling from her kidnapping in London, is struggling to balance work at L.A.’s most prestigious law firm and a long-distance romance with her English lover. Things go sideways when she tracks down a missing colleague. The murder of the firm’s in-house investigator, his mysterious wealth, and his inexplicable bequest make Nicole a target for the police, the paparazzi, and the killer.

When Nicole Graves arranges a summer-long swap of her Los Angeles condo for a London couple’s house, she thinks it’s the perfect arrangement. She’s always dreamed of seeing the real London; she’s also hopeful the time away with her husband Brad will be good for their troubled marriage. But things don’t turn out the way Nicole expects: The Londoners fail to arrive in LA and appear to be missing. Then people begin following Nicole and making threats, demanding information she doesn’t have. Soon, Nicole realizes she’s in serious trouble.

Ugarit, Syria, 1450 BCE. Eighteen-year-old Leah, the eldest daughter of a wealthy winemaker, is past the traditional age of betrothal. Vowed to wed the wealthy but cruel shipbuilder Jotham, Leah declines his offer of marriage after discovering that he and his family suffer from "the falling sickness." Enraged by her refusal and his ruined reputation, he blackmails Leah's father, a punishment forgiven only by offering Leah's hand in marriage. With no more options for another suitor and no male heir for her family, Leah must seek out the cure for Jotham's sickness.

Stan and Emily pack up the RV and head to Boston for some R & R with the grandkids and a chance to immerse themselves in colonial history. But their Fourth of July celebration comes to an abrupt halt when they stumble over a body on the Boston Esplanade and then another hanging in the tower of the Old North Church. Now the couple must unravel a tangle of forged clues and flush out the perpetrator before their own untimely epitaphs are written onto the historical landscape.

Emily and Stan Remington's maiden voyage in their newly inherited, second-hand RV goes awry when a body falls off the top of their vehicle. The retired small town police officer and her husband, a retired history professor, find themselves at the center of a murder investigation involving a politician, a corporate executive, and a maverick priest.

Janie (From Janie's Joyful Journey) is getting ready for Easter with her new family. Join her as she meets new friends, gets ready to be baptized on Easter Sunday, and learns about trusting God.

In a whirlwind romance, a lovely New York socialite marries a fêted, debonair author. But beneath the charm is a cheating husband addicted to hashish. Her dream marriage turns sour and the simplicity of her life runs amok when a handsome stranger, her husband's business partner, threatens her staunch loyalty to her wayward husband. When she faces the ugly truth about her marriage, her need to finalize her divorce sends her on a mad chase across the wilds of 19th century America.

Maternal Threads is a compelling story that weaves one woman's search of her childhood with the secrets that have been kept from her since birth. While researching her family, Frances Brown finds herself unearthing stories of flappers, prohibition, and strangers that seem to never quite materialize. It isn't until the death of her mother that she's driven to explore the details of her maternal heritage.

Firefly, one of the river people, yearns to be an inker and tattoo giants, just like her mother. But one morning a rogue giant kidnaps her mother and takes her up to the plateau, a dangerous place for all river people. Firefly attempts to rescue her mother then learns her mother harbors a secret that calls into question everything Firefly ever believed about her people, her family, and herself.

Maura Fielder looks like she has the perfect life: every expectation fulfilled. But under the illusory surface of perfection, Maura finds herself blindsided by what she discovers on her husband's computer. She has no emotional cubbyhole into which she can shove this ghost from her husband's past, so instead, Maura upends her life - thrashing her marriage, alienating her daughter, and eroding her own moral center. On the verge of sacrificing everything she holds dear to her own obsession, how does Maura manage to regain her equilibrium and reclaim her life?

Liberal democracy is in crisis around the world, besieged by authoritarianism, nationalism, and other illiberal forces. Far-right parties are gaining traction in Europe, Vladimir Putin tightens his grip on Russia and undermines democracy abroad, and America struggles with poisonous threats from the right and left. But the defenders of democracy are strong, too.

In 1968 we meet six teens confined at the Good Shepherd—a dark and secretive institution controlled by Sisters of Charity nuns—locked away merely for being gay, pregnant, or simply unruly. Wayward Girls is a haunting but thrilling tale of hope, solidarity, and the enduring strength of young women who find the courage to break free and find redemption...and justice.

At the start of a new century, a shocking murder transfixes Manhattan, forcing bitter rivals Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr to work together to save a man from the gallows. Just before Christmas 1799, Elma Sands slips out of her Quaker cousin’s boarding house—and doesn’t come home. Has she eloped? Run away? No one knows—until her body appears in the Manhattan Well. Her family insists they know who killed her. Handbills circulate around the city accusing a carpenter named Levi Weeks of seducing and murdering Elma. But privately, quietly, Levi’s wealthy brother calls in a special favor.