Sonja Yoerg

"True Places is a beautiful reminder that though we may busy ourselves seeking what we want, what we need has an uncanny way of finding us." --Camille Pagán, bestselling author of Life and Other Near-Death Experiences A girl emerges from the woods, starved, ill, and alone...and collapses. Suzanne Blakemore hurtles along the Blue Ridge Parkway, away from her overscheduled and completely normal life, and encounters the girl. As Suzanne rushes her to the hospital, she never imagines how the encounter will change her--a change she both fears and desperately needs. Suzanne has the perfect house, a successful husband, and a thriving family. But beneath the veneer of an ideal life, her daughter is rebelling, her son is withdrawing, her husband is oblivious to it all, and Suzanne is increasingly unsure of her place in the world. After her discovery of the ethereal sixteen-year-old who has never experienced civilization, Suzanne is compelled to invite Iris into her family's life and all its apparent privileges. But Iris has an independence, a love of solitude, and a discomfort with materialism that contrasts with everything the Blakemores stand for--qualities that awaken in Suzanne first a fascination, then a longing. Now Suzanne can't help but wonder: Is she destined to save Iris, or is Iris the one who will save her?

True Places

From the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of True Places comes an emotional novel of love, secrets, and obsession. Psychology professor Jackie Strelitz thinks she's over Harlan Crispin, her ex-lover and colleague. Why should she care if Harlan springs a new "friend" on her? After all, Jackie has everything she ever wanted: a loving husband and a thriving career. Still, she can't help but be curious about Harlan's latest. Nasira Amari is graceful, smart, and appallingly young. Worse, she's the newest member of Jackie's research team. For five years, Harlan enforced rules limiting his relationship with Jackie. With Nasira, he's breaking every single one. Why her? Fixated by the couple, Jackie's curiosity becomes obsession. But she soon learns that nothing is quite what it seems and that to her surprise--and peril--she may not be the only one who can't let go.

Stories We Never Told

From the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of True Places comes a disarming and emotional novel about a family in distress and a daughter's mission to keep it from going under. Chesapeake Bay, 1980. Eighteen-year-old Verity Vergennes is the captain of the USS Nepenthe, and her seven younger siblings are her crew. The ship--an oyster boat transformed into a make-believe destroyer--is the heart of the Vergennes family, a place both to play and to learn responsibility. But Verity's had it with being tied to the ship and secretly applies to a distant college. If only her parents could bear to let her go. Maeve and Arthur Vergennes already suffered one loss when, five years earlier, their eldest son, Jude, stormed out and never returned. Now Maeve is pregnant again and something's amiss. Verity yearns to follow her dreams, but how can she jump ship now? The problem, and perhaps the answer, lies with Jude. When disaster strikes and the family unravels, Verity must rally her sibling crew to keep the Nepenthe and all it symbolizes afloat. Sailing away from home, she discovers, is never easy--not if you ever hope to find your way back.

A Novel

The Family Ship

An intricately crafted story of madness, magic and misfortune across three generations from the author of The Middle of Somewhere and House Broken... Vermont, 1972. Carole LaPorte has a satisfying, ordinary life. She cares for her children, balances the books for the family's auto shop and laughs when her husband slow dances her across the kitchen floor. Her tragic childhood might have happened to someone else. But now her mind is playing tricks on her. The accounts won't reconcile and the murmuring she hears isn't the television. She ought to seek help, but she's terrified of being locked away in a mental hospital like her mother, Solange. So Carole hides her symptoms, withdraws from her family and unwittingly sets her eleven-year-old daughter Alison on a desperate search for meaning and power: in Tarot cards, in omens from a nearby river and in a mysterious blue glass box belonging to her grandmother. An exploration of the power of courage and love to overcome a damning legacy, All the Best People celebrates the search for identity and grace in the most ordinary lives. CONVERSATION GUIDE INCLUDED

All the Best People

A veterinarian must take care of her self-destructive mother after she is injured during a DUI and uncovers answers to painful family secrets as she tries to repair their relationship. A first novel. Original.

House Broken

Animal Intelligence And What It Can Teach Us About Ourselves

Clever As a Fox 

A troubled, young widow hikes from Yosemite Valley deep into the wilderness on the John Muir Trail to elude her shameful past in this emotionally gripping story from the author of House Broken. With her thirtieth birthday looming, Liz Kroft is heading for the hills--literally. Her emotional baggage weighs her down more than her backpack, but a three-week trek promises the solitude she craves--at least until her boyfriend, Dante, decides to tag along. His broad moral streak makes the prospect of confessing her sins more difficult, but as much as she fears his judgment, she fears losing him more. Maybe. They set off together alone under blue skies, but it's not long before storms threaten and two strange brothers appear along the trail. Amid the jagged, towering peaks, Liz must decide whether to admit her mistakes and confront her fears, or face the trail, the brothers and her future alone.

The Middle of Somewhere

A troubled, young widow hikes from Yosemite Valley deep into the wilderness on the John Muir Trail to elude her shameful past in this emotionally gripping story from the author of House Broken. With her thirtieth birthday looming, Liz Kroft is heading for the hills—literally. Her emotional baggage weighs her down more than her backpack, but a three-week trek promises the solitude she craves—at least until her boyfriend, Dante, decides to tag along. His broad moral streak makes the prospect of confessing her sins more difficult, but as much as she fears his judgment, she fears losing him more. Maybe. They set off together alone under blue skies, but it’s not long before storms threaten and two strange brothers appear along the trail. Amid the jagged, towering peaks, Liz must decide whether to admit her mistakes and confront her fears, or face the trail, the brothers and her future alone.

Sonja Yoerg

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