Karen E. Bender

Nina de Gramont

A collection of twenty-four essays on topics related to women's reproductive decisions, from using birth control and giving up a child for adoption to overcoming infertility and deciding not to have any children.

True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, & Abortion

Choice

A collection by the author of Like Normal People explores the profound ways in which money and the estimation of value affect an octogenarian swindler, the creator of a reality show and a pair of artists in post-September 11 Manhattan.

Stories

Refund

"[A] new collection of stories that boldly examines the changes in American culture over the last two years through the increasing presence of violence, bigotry, sexual harassment, and the emotional costs of living under constant threat. In the title story, the competition between two middle school cellists is affected by a shooting at their school, and it is only years later that they realize how the intrusion of violence affected the course of their lives. In "This Is Who You Are," a young girl walks the line between Hebrew school and her regular school, realizing that both are filled with unexpected moments of insight and violence. In "Three Interviews," an aging reporter must contend with her dwindling sense of self and resources, beleaguered by unemployment, which sets her on a path to three increasingly unhinged job interviews. In "Mrs. America," a candidate for local office must confront a host of forces that threaten to undermine her campaign and expose her own role in the dissonance between what America is and what it should be"--Provided by publisher.

The New Order

The Cell Phones

Estranged and grieving separately after painful losses, Serena and Dan Shine are forced away from their New York City home and resettle in a North Carolina community where Serena becomes enmeshed with a small Jewish congregation and Dan and their young son are drawn into the Boy Scouts by a mysterious neighbor who possesses a dark agenda. 15,000 first printing.

A Town of Empty Rooms

*A beautifully told story about three generations of very different women* A tour de force of literary craft and emotional resonance, Like Normal People charts a family constellation that revolves around an off-kilter centre: Lena. Although Lena is forty-five, she remains locked in childhood, with a mental age of 12 years old. Moving deftly between past and present, the novel follows Lena's day-long escape from her residential home with her troubled eleven-year-old niece Shelley. While this odd couple takes refuge on a southern California beach and have their own adventures and profound experiences, Lena's mother, in desperate search of the young runaways, finds herself reliving her own life's dreams and disappointments. Karen Bender brilliantly enters into the consciousness of three women at different stages of life, each on a private search for love and acceptance. Like Normal People is a tender, often hilarious and thoroughly unforgettable family drama.

Like Normal People

"Like Normal People charts a family constellation that revolves around an off-kilter center: Lena, who is forty-eight but mentally locked in childhood. Moving deftly between present and past, the novel follows Lena's day-long escape from her residential home with her troubled twelve-year-old niece. While this odd couple takes refuge on a honky-tonk southern California beach, Lena's widowed mother, Ella, goes in search of them. In the process, Ella relives her own life's dreams and disappointments: her marriage to a sweet, loving shoe salesman; her discovery of Lena's handicap and her aching attempts to give her daughter a "normal" childhood. For so long, Lena has been the focus of Ella's world. When Lena at last finds approximate normalcy -- by marrying a man much like herself -- Ella must contend with letting her daughter go..." -- Publisher's website.

John Jeremiah Sullivan

Michael White

Jason Mott

Kevin Maurer

Wiley Cash

Philip Gerard

Virginia Holman

Jean Jones

Dana Sachs

Wendy Brenner

Melodie Homer

Marlon Rachquel Moore

Susan Taylor Block

Sheila Webster Boneham

Jason Frye

Robert Anthony Siegel

Emily A. Colin

Emily Louise Smith

Rhonda Bellamy

Gwenyfar

Hannah Dela Cruz Abrams

Ashley Wahl

Nan Graham

Bertha Boykin Todd

James R. Leutze

Daniel Ray Norris

27 Views of Wilmington: The Port City in Prose & Poetry is the latest in Eno's popular series of local anthologies. The book showcases the literary life of one of North Carolina's most popular cities by featuring the works of more than two dozen hometown writers. The result is a mosaic of perspectives about life in the Port City in a variety of genres--journalism, history, fiction, poetry, and more. To date, contributors include Wiley Cash, Nan Graham, Jason Mott, Gwenyfar Rohler, Melodie Homer, Kevin Mauer, Virginia Holman, Dana Sachs, Rhonda Bellamy, Susan T. Block, Hannah Dela Cruz Abrams, Emily Smith, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Bertha Boykin Todd, Philip Gerard, and more.

The Port City in Prose & Poetry

27 Views of Wilmington

This collection of stories set in contemporary America--a finalist for the National Book Award--herald a work of singular literary merit by an important writer at the height of her power. We think about it every day, sometimes every hour: Money. Who has it. Who doesn't. How you get it. How you don't. In Refund, Bender creates an award-winning collection of stories that deeply explore the ways in which money and the estimation of value affect the lives of her characters. The stories in Refund reflect our contemporary world--swindlers, reality show creators, desperate artists, siblings, parents--who try to answer the question: What is the real definition of worth? In "Theft," an eighty-year-old swindler, accustomed to tricking people for their money, boards a cruise ship to see if she can find something of true value--a human connection. In "Anything for Money," the creator of a reality show is thrown into the real world when his estranged granddaughter reenters his life in need of a new heart; and in the title story, young artist parents in downtown Manhattan escape the attack on 9/11 only to face a battle over their subletted apartment with a stranger who might have lost more than only her deposit.

“Bender's willingness to go deep, to burrow down into what's right and wrong about 21st century America and Americans, is a mirror that draws us in and does not allow us to look away." —Los Angeles Times on Refund The National Book Award finalist for Refund returns with a new collection of stories that boldly examines the changes in American culture over the last two years through the increasing presence of violence, bigotry, sexual harassment, and the emotional costs of living under constant threat. In the title story, the competition between two middle school cellists is affected by a shooting at their school, and it is only years later that they realize how the intrusion of violence affected the course of their lives. In ""This Is Who You Are,"" a young girl walks the line between Hebrew school and her regular school, realizing that both are filled with unexpected moments of insight and violence. In ""Three Interviews,"" an aging reporter must contend with her dwindling sense of self and resources, beleaguered by unemployment, which sets her on a path to three increasingly unhinged job interviews. In ""Mrs. America,"" a candidate for local office must confront a host of forces that threaten to undermine her campaign and expose her own role in the dissonance between what America is and what it should be. The New Order explores contemporary themes and ideas, shining a spotlight on the dark corners of our nature, our instincts, and our country.

This auspicious and critically acclaimed first novel follows Lena, a forty-five-year-old woman who is trapped in childish behaviors, as she searches for a normal life, and her widowed mother, Ella, who relives her own dreams and disappointments while confronting the possibility of letting her daughter go.

This “luminous, meditative novel on the boundaries between childhood, adulthood, and old age” follows one day in the lives of three generations of women (Entertainment Weekly). Like Normal People charts a family constellation that revolves around an off-kilter center: Lena is forty-eight years old, but mentally locked in childhood. Moving deftly between present and past, the novel follows Lena’s day-long escape from her residential home with her troubled twelve-year-old niece. While this odd couple takes refuge on a honky-tonk southern California beach, Lena’s widowed mother, Ella, goes in search of them. In the process, Ella relives her own life’s dreams and disappointments: her marriage to a sweet, loving shoe salesman; her discovery of Lena’s disability; and her aching attempts to give her daughter a “normal” childhood. For so long, Lena has been the focus of Ella’s world—but now, she must contemplate the prospect of letting her daughter go. Covering three entire lifetimes in the course of one day, this powerful, emotional story from the author of Refund, a National Book Award finalist, is “an uplifting and bittersweet testament to uncompromising love” (The New York Post).

A Novel

This auspicious and critically acclaimed first novel follows Lena, a forty-five-year-old woman who is trapped in childish behaviors, as she searches for a normal life, and her widowed mother, Ella, who relives her own dreams and disappointments while confronting the possibility of letting her daughter go. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.

Karen E. Bender

Books

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