We Are All Welcome Here

'Elizabeth Berg writes with humour and a big heart about resilience, loneliness, love and hope. And the transcendence that redeems.' Andre Dubus II

Elizabeth Berg is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Never Change and Open House, which was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000. Joy School was selected as American Library Association Best Book of the Year. Elizabeth Berg won the 1997 New England Bookseller's Award for her novels. A former nurse, she lives in Chicago.

The stunning new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Open House and Never Change. 
 
Three women demonstrate the power of love and the importance of freedom in this unique new novel by the author of The Art of Mending, Open House, and The Year of Pleasures. 
 
Paige Dunn is a woman whose beauty, intelligence, and free spirit are such that two men in town are pursuing her despite the fact she has been handicapped by polio and is raising her daughter with just the help of her carer Peacie. Her daughter, Diana, longs to please her mother, and also escape her, yet when the precarious independence of this household is threatened, Diana makes a radical move which changes everything... 
 
In this extraordinary novel about the resilience of the human spirit, Berg demonstrates her ability to be both poignant and amusing and captures the special relationship which these three women share.

The Year Of Pleasures

'What a lovely writer. Clever, compassionate and superbly skilled, she writes about her characters so poignantly and perceptively that few can match her.' Elizabeth Buchan, bestselling author of Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman

Praise for Elizabeth Berg: 
'Berg oozes warmth, wisdom and generosity of spirit. Her writing is quite brilliant, as soft as a kiss, as sharp as a knife. An American Maeve Binchy, a modern-day Jane Austen, whatever praise you heap on Elizabeth Berg, she probably deserves it.

Berg knows her characters intimately-she gets under their skin and leaves the reader with an indelible impression of lives challenged and changed.

Heartwrenching and hilarious. Berg sits somewhere between Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman.

Maybe Freud didn't know the answer to what women want, but Elizabeth Berg certainly does.

We loved this American family tale with its well drawn characters. It gripped like the best of thrillers

The author gets us to believe in her characters thereby making their ghastly dilemma seem all the more real. The result is a novel that, while staying just on the right side of sentimentality, is unafraid of dealing with strong emotions

Elizabeth Berg is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Never Change and Open House, which was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000. Joy School was selected as American Library Association Best Book of the Year. Elizabeth Berg won the 1997 New England Bookseller's Award for her novels. A former nurse, she lives in Chicago.

A woman rediscovers meaning in life - a rich and deeply satisfying novel by the bestselling author of The Art of Mending and Open House. 
 
When Betta Nolan's husband dies, she honours a promise she made to him to move to a small town and start a new life. Without minimizing her great sorrow, she nevertheless attempts to find pleasure on a daily basis. The Year of Pleasures is about deliberately acknowledging the solace found in ordinary things: a warm bath, good food, the beauty of nature, music, art found in museums and in gardens. Above all, it is about the various kindnesses people can and do offer one another. Betta's journey from grief to joy is an inspiring reminder of what is available to us all, regardless of our life circumstances. It suggests that no matter who we lose, life can still give bountifully to those who will receive.

The Art Of Mending

Elizabeth Berg is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Never Change and Open House, which was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000. Joy School was selected as American Library Association Best Book of the Year. Elizabeth Berg won the 1997 New England Bookseller's Award for her novels. A former nurse, she lives in Chicago.

Is it ever too late to make up for the past? 
 
 
Laura Bartone looks forward to her annual family reunion with a mixture of excitement and wariness. Every year, she and her siblings return to their parents' home outside Minneapolis to attend the state fair. This year, things are different. As soon as she arrives, Laura realizes that something is not right with her sister Caroline. On their first evening together, Caroline confronts Laura and their brother Steve with devastating allegations about their mother. Taken aback and incredulous, the siblings are unable to reconcile their perception of their childhood. A sudden tragedy forces them to face the past, their own culpability and their need for love and forgiveness.

Say When

'Berg oozes warmth, wisdom and generosity of spirit. Her writing is quite brilliant' Anna Maxted

Elizabeth Berg is the award-winning author of nine previous novels. A former nurse, she lives in Chicago.

When is a marriage worth saving, and when is it worth letting go?'He felt his stomach tighten, his heart begin to race. The coffeemaker beeped, signalling its readiness, and Ellen got up and poured two mugs. She set one in front of Griffin, one in front of herself. Griffin watched the steam rise up and curl back on itself, then dissipate. He said quietly, "I'm not going anywhere." "Pardon?" "I said, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not moving." She nodded. "I see. Well, I can't. I have to be here to take care of Zoe." Griffin pictured his daughter, a redheaded beauty who would knock the stuffing out of any man who crossed her. "All right, you can stay, too," he told Ellen. "Griffin. One of us has to go." In Say When, Elizabeth Berg negotiates perfectly the fine balance between humour and poignancy as she charts the days and nights of a family whose normal life has been shattered. Told from the point of view of a man who goes overnight from being a husband to becoming his wife's roommate, this is a gripping and heartfelt story. Praise for Elizabeth Berg'Heartwrenching-Hilarious-Berg sits somewhere between Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman.' Chicago Sun-Times 'Maybe Freud didn't know the answer to what women want, but Elizabeth Berg certainly does.' USA Today

True To Form

'Berg oozes warmth, wisdom and generosity of spirit. Her writing is quite brilliant.' Anna Maxted

Elizabeth Berg is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Never Change and Open House, which was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000. Joy School was selected as American Library Association Best Book of the Year, and Talk Before Sleep, another New York Times bestseller, was shortlisted for the ABBY award in 1996. She is also the author of The Pull of the Moon, Range of Motion, What We Keep and Until the Real Thing Comes Along which were all bestsellers in the United States. A former nurse, she lives in Chicago.

In this warm and engaging novel, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Berg revisits the heroine she so lovingly brought to life in Durable Goods and Joy School. It is 1961, and thirteen-year-old Katie is facing a summer full of conflict. First, instead of letting her find her own work for the season, Katie's father has arranged for two less than ideal baby-sitting jobs. Worse, Katie has been forcibly inducted into the 'loser' Girl Scout troop organized by her only friend Cynthia's controlling and clueless mother. A much anticipated visit to her former home in Texas and ex-best friend Cherylanne proves disappointing. And then comes an act of betrayal that leaves Katie questioning her views on friendship, on her ability not to take those she loves for granted, and most important, on herself. Full of anguish and the joys of adolescence in a much more innocent time, True to Form is sure to make readers remember and reflect upon their own moments of discovery and self-definition.

Talk Before Sleep

Elizabeth Berg is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Never Change and Open House, which was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000. Joy School was selected as American Library Association Best Book of the Year, and Talk Before Sleep, another New York Times bestseller, was shortlisted for the ABBY award in 1996. The winner of the 1997 New England Bookseller's Award for her body of work, she is also the author of The Pull of the Moon, Range of Motion, What We Keep and Until the Real Thing Comes Along which were all bestsellers in the United States. A former nurse, she lives in Chicago.

'Until that moment, I hadn't realized how much I'd been needing to meet someone I might be able to say everything to.'They met at a party. It was hate at first sight. Ruth was far too beautiful, too flamboyant. Not at all Ann's kind of person. Until a chance encounter in the bathroom led to an alliance of souls. Soon they were sharing hankies during the late showing of Sophie's World, wolfing down sundaes sodden with whipped cream, telling truths of marriage, mortality and love, secure in a kind of intimacy no man could ever know. After years of shared secrets, guilty pleasures, family life and divorce, they face a crisis that redefines the meaning of friendship and unconditional love. This is the story of Ruth. Of Ann. And of all of us who wonder what we'd say if we knew we didn't have forever.

Range Of Motion

'I can tell you how it happened. It's easy to say how it happened. He walked past a building, and a huge chunk of ice fell off the roof, and it hit him in the head. This is Chaplinesque, right? People start to laugh when I tell them-'As Jay Berman lingers in a coma, his young wife, Lainey, is the only one who believes he will recover. While he lies motionless, she hopes to reach him by offering reminders of the ordinary life they shared - sweet-smelling flowers, his softly textured shirt, spices from their kitchen. And throughout her ordeal, Lainey is sustained by her relationship with two very special women, each of whom teaches her about the enduring bond of friendship and the genuine power of hope.

Pull Of The Moon

"Dear Martin,      I'm sorry the note I left you was so abrupt. I just wanted you to know I was safe- I won't be back for a while. I'm on a trip. I needed all of a sudden to go, without saying where, because I don't know where. I know this is not like me. I know that,. But please believe me, I am safe and I am not crazy. I felt as though if I didn't do this I wouldn't be safe and I would be crazy-    And can you believe this? I love you. Nan"Sometimes you have to leave your life behind for a while to see it and really live it freshly again. In this luminous, exquisitely written novel, a woman follows the pull of the moon to find her way home. Sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking, always honest, The Pull of the Moon is a novel about the journey of one woman - and about the issues of the heart that transforms the lives of all women.

Until The Real Thing Comes Along

Her biological clock is in overdrive. But she's in love with a gay man.

Touching...a deft, sweet, and often comic novel.

Entertaining...flawless dialogue...reading it is like eavesdropping on an intimate female chat

Patty Murphy is facing that pivotal point in a woman's life when her biological clock ticks as insistently as a beating heart. Will she find Mr Right and start a family? But Patty is in love - with a man who is not only attractive and financially sound, but sensitive and warmhearted. There's just one small problem: He is also gay. Against her better judgment, and pleas from family and friends, Patty refuses to give up on Ethan. Every man she dates ultimately leaves her aching for the gentle comfort and intimacy she shares with him. But even as she throws eligible bachelors to the wayside to spend yet another platonic night with Ethan, Patty longs more and more for the consolation of loving and being loved. In the meantime she must content herself with waiting - until the real thing comes along . . .

Never Change

Elizabeth Berg is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Never Change and Open House, which was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000. Joy School was selected as American Library Association Best Book of the Year, and Talk Before Sleep, another New York Times bestseller, was shortlisted for the ABBY award in 1996. She won the 1997 New England Bookseller's Award for her novels. A  former nurse, she lives in Chicago.

'You know people like me. I'm the one who sat in the hall selling tickets to the prom but never going, the one everybody liked but no one wanted to be with.'A self-anointed spinster at fifty-one, Myra Lipinsky has endured the isolation of her middle life by immersing herself in her career as a visiting nurse and by doting on her dog, Frank. Myra considers herself reasonably content, telling herself, It's enough, work and Frank. And is has to be enough - until Chip Reardon, the too-good-to-be-true golden boy she adored from afar whilst at high school, is assigned to be her new patient. Choosing to forgo invasive treatment for an incurable illness, Chip has returned home from Manhattan to the New England home of his childhood to spend what time he has left. Now, Myra and Chip find themselves engaged in a poignant redefinition of roles, and a complicated dance of memory, ambivalence and longing.

Elizabeth Berg

Berg's narrative is agile and freshly observed.

Berg has an ability to capture the way women think, feel and speak - With her quirky characters and precise observations, Berg sits somewhere between Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman - The details and emotions in Open House are sometimes heartwrenching, sometimes hilarious.

When Samantha Morrow's husband leaves her and her eleven-year-old son she is faced with the terrifying prospect of having to recreate her whole life. After a few faltering steps she starts to put the pieces into place.  She opens her house to a series of lodgers who each in their eccentric way help her to see herself.  She fends off her mother, whose idea of getting over a failed marriage is to get a pedicure and get out there dating. And she makes a friend, King, an MIT graduate turned handyman, who shows her that she has the ability to make her own future and her own happiness . . .

Elizabeth Berg

Praise for Open House

Berg's narrative is agile and freshly observed.

Berg has an ability to capture the way women think, feel and speak - With her quirky characters and precise observations, Berg sits somewhere between Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman - The details and emotions in Open H ...

Books by Elizabeth Berg

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