Inspirational Fiction

Charles Bukowski turns to the bottle in this revelatory collection of poetry and prose that includes some of the writer’s best and most lasting work. A self-proclaimed “dirty old man”, Bukowski used alcohol as muse and as fuel, a conflicted relationship responsible for some of his darkest moments, as well as some of his most joyful and inspired. In On Drinking, Bukowski expert Abel Debritto has collected the writer’s most profound, funny, and memorable work on his ups and downs with the hard stuff.

In the deepest, most enchanting part of the forest, a creature hands you a seed. Within the seed is your soul, ready to be grown again. From internationally bestselling author Courtney Peppernell comes her new book of poetry and prose, Watering the Soul. In true Peppernell style, the book is divided into sections, this time following a step-by-step recipe, to heal your soul.

Young Noah has found life good and wholesome, until he steps outside his village and discovers a world of temptation. Drawn by a beautiful woman, yet repulsed by the pagan practices of her tribe's dark worship, his inner struggle keeps him in torment.

In 1882, Daisy Creek was a small town with a dwindling economy, but for Jill Graythorn, it whispered a promise of hope. Raised in a Boston orphanage, Jill continues to have nightmares about the fire that killed her family, and she still has the scars to remind her of her troubled past. Desperate for a brighter future, she responds to a mail-order bride ad, and soon, the deputy of Daisy Creek is her shimmer of light in the darkness.

Tessa Heyns het die perfekte lewe; haar man Altus se besighede doen goed en haar seuns is goeie kinders. Sy woon in 'n pragtige huis in 'n spogbuurt. Tessa het van kleins af tuin gemaak; tot vandag is haar tuin steeds haar stukkie hemel, haar skuilplek, die plek waar sy troos soek en kry. Die laaste tyd begin Altus se stiltes haar pla. Wie of wat sit daaragter? En beteken dit dat sy haar tuin sal moet prysgee?

Greg and Diana Tillman, dedicated missionaries, are contemplating leaving the field because of a lack of fruit. Approaching their final six months before furlough, they go on a retreat with their local colleagues to share their concerns and plan an exit transition. The partners are not convinced the couple should leave, so the four of them decide to spend the retreat time studying the Bible and praying, seeking some answers together.

There is a gift so simple that it requires no ribbons for wrapping yet which is so miraculous, it has the power to transform our lives. This is The Gift of Story, a tale of love and wisdom from Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, eminent psychoanalyst and author. When an old woman flees to a hut in a lonely forest, begins Dr. Estés, she seeks safety from the savage war that has devastated her village. What sustains her is the greatest of all gifts: a story.

Author Carol Umberger combines her love of history, romance, and God in a quartet of powerful stories set in 14th-century Scotland during the reign of Robert the Bruce, Scotland's great hero king.

NHL Hockey Goalie Wyatt Marshall has everything - fame, money, and a thriving career. But he’s hiding the two things that matter most...a career-ending injury and his broken heart. He’s been in love with Coco Stanley since she walked into his life at age 14, a foster child for the Marshall family. She stole his heart years later, when, after a secret tryst, she returned to her home country of Russia. But she won’t let him back into her life — and he can’t figure out why.

What would you do to save a loved one? Robert’s mother, Helen, is ravaged with cancer. Every day could be her last, and Robert dreads losing the last member of his family. Robert’s friend and Holocaust survivor, Josef, tells him an unholy story and leaves him a way to save his dying mother. But, as with everything in life, the salvation comes with a steep price.

The only thing more beautiful than Beyoncé is God, and God is a black woman sipping rosé and drawing a lavender bath, texting her mom, belly laughing in the therapist's office, feeling unloved, being on display, daring to survive. Morgan Parker stands at the intersections of vulnerability and performance, of desire and disgust, of tragedy and excellence. Unrelentingly feminist, tender, and ruthless, these poems are an altar to the complexities of black American womanhood in an age of non-indictments and déjà vu.

Over the past two decades, Jessica Care moore has become a cultural force as a poet, performer, publisher, activist, and critic. Reflecting her transcendent electric voice, this searing poetry collection is filled with moving, original stanzas that speak to both Black women’s creative and intellectual power, and express the pain, sadness, and anger of those who suffer constant scrutiny because of their gender and race.

Kahlil Gibran’s reflections on the wistful beauty, lofty majesty, and abiding peace of Eastern wisdom revolutionized Arab literature. This collection of dramatic poems uses the dialogue between age and youth as a platform to discuss deep subjects such as freedom, death, and the eternal soul. From “Of Life and Sorrow” to “Of Science and Knowledge”, Gibran’s vision transcends boundaries of religion and culture, finding beauty and wisdom in the universal struggles of everyday life.

With propulsive, intimate stylings and an eye toward Black liberations, pop culture, sports, and familial fractures, Wires that Sputter meets the world with the posture of a portraitist and the deftness of a poet-as-acrobat, as seeker. Here in these wondrous poems is an attentiveness toward that which harrows as well as that which heals, toward the power of space-giving and fragmentation. Rupture and recovery, tribute and tribulation, a revivifying musicality, and room to breathe—all dapple within, where electricity manifests in every line.

We’re all faced with challenges in our lives which in the moment often seem unsurmountable and hopeless. That was the case for Sophie, a high school student who found herself sitting on a park bench one torturous autumn day, ready to end her life and her struggle. In Sophie’s moment of truth, a stranger suddenly appeared next to her, offering his handkerchief which was embroidered with these words: “If you want your life to change, you must change.”

In the wake of WWII, a grieving fisherman submits a poem to a local newspaper: a rallying cry for hope, purpose...and rocks. When the poem spreads farther than he ever intended, Robert Bliss's humble words change the tide of a nation. Boxes of rocks inundate the tiny coastal Maine town, and he sets his calloused hands to work, but the building halts when tragedy strikes. Decades later, Annie Bliss is summoned back to Ansel-by-the-Sea when she learns her Great-Uncle Robert, the man who became her refuge during the hardest summer of her youth, is now the one in need of help.

A recent Civil War widow, Charity Burk must find a man to plow the tough prairie sod. When she discovers Beau Claxton - mauled by a ravenous wolf - she believes he's the answer to her prayers. She drags the dying man to her cabin, convinced God wants them to marry. But does this unconscious stranger have room in his heart for God or for her?

Jonathan Landry está cada vez más agobiado por su trabajo y por su matrimonio fracasado. Un día su madre le pide que se reúna urgentemente con su tío, Julian Mantle, a quien casi no conoce. Hace años Julian, un abogado de gran éxito, decidió vender todas sus posesiones, incluido su flamante Ferrari, y se refugió en un monasterio del Himalaya. Ahora Julian necesita la ayuda de Jonathan.

En las circunstancias más inesperadas, Heather vive un encuentro que cambiará el rumbo de su vida. Aunque ella no lo sepa, a otras mujeres ya les ha pasado lo mismo. Un hombre muy singular le descubrirá todas las cosas que se ha empeñado en mantener a oscuras en un rincón de su memoria, arrojando sobre ella la luz de la ternura.

A wildly original poetry collection written and read by one of the UK’s most exciting young comics. A poet who favours dark suits, lager and long hot baths, he works on BBC Four in Charlie Brooker's Newswipe and on Radio 4, doing his late night poetry show. In 2009 he won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for his poetical recital The Slutcracker and has filmed some of his verse in black and white to overwhelming critical approval.