'Happy to be Here' is Berg's third collection of Facebook posts. Her first, 'Make Someone Happy,' was written in response to her many fans' requests that she put her posts together in a book that they could take on the plane, to the beach, or give to others. The book did indeed make people happy and so she followed up with a second book, 'Still Happy.' Her fans encouraged her to write still another one. The 'Happy' books exemplify, as the Boston Globe wrote, Berg's 'ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, the remarkable in the everyday.'
A life-affirming novel about an unforgettable character, a wise and loving man whose humor and unconditional love create for himself and others second chances at happiness. Three people find their way back from loss and loneliness to a different kind of belonging, in this deeply moving novel. Arthur, an old widower struggling to overcome his grief, meets Maddy, a troubled teenage girl who avoids school by hiding out where Arthur goes every day for lunch. The two strike up a friendship that draws them out of isolation. Maddy gives Arthur the name Truluv for his positive responses to every outrageous thing she says or does. When Arthur's nosy neighbor Lucille horns in on their friendship, they create an unconventional family, sometimes bickering, but most often believing that life's most precious moments are sweeter when shared.
This is a collection of Elizabeth Berg's most-loved Facebook posts. She was asked by many to put these short essays into book form, to create, as one reader said, something to "take to the beach, or bed, or on an airplane." Elizabeth and her friend, the book's designer Phyllis Florin, happily complied, and they hope that their offering will be as welcome as flowers in a mailbox.
A passionate and powerful novel based on the scandalous life of the French novelist George Sand, her famous lovers, untraditional Parisian lifestyle, and bestselling novels in Paris during the 1830s and 40s This major departure for bestseller Berg is for listeners of Nancy Horan and Elizabeth Gilbert.George Sand was a 19th century French novelist known not only for her novels but even more for her scandalous behavior. After leaving her estranged husband, Sand moved to Paris where she wrote, wore men’s clothing, smoked cigars, and had love affairs with famous men and an actress named Marie. In an era of incredible artistic talent, Sand was the most famous female writer of her time. Her lovers and friends included Frederic Chopin, Gustave Flaubert, Franz Liszt, Eugene Delacroix, Victor Hugo, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and more. In a major departure, Elizabeth Berg has created a gorgeous novel about the life of George Sand, written in luminous prose, with exquisite insight into the heart and mind of a woman who was considered the most passionate and gifted genius of her time.
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. . . . Full of the joys, anguish, and innocence of American adolescence, Until the Real Thing Comes Along is a story sure to make readers remember and reflect on their own moments of discovery and self-definition.
Katie Nash - the beloved heroine of Elizabeth Berg's previous novels Durable Goods and Joy School - is thirteen years old in 1961, and she's facing a summer full of conflict. Her father has enlisted her in two care-taking jobs -- baby-sitting for the rambunctious Wexler boys and, equally challenging, looking after Mrs. Randolph, her elderly, bedridden neighbor. To make matters worse, Katie has been forcibly inducted into the "loser" Girl Scout troop, compliments of her only new friend Cynthia's controlling mother. Her only saving grace is a trip to her childhood hometown in Texas, to visit her best friend Cherylanne. But people and places change - and Cherylanne is no exception. When an act of betrayal leaves Katie wondering just what friends are really for, she learns to rely on the only one left she can trust: herself. Full of the joys, anguish, and innocence of American adolescence, True to Form is a story sure to make readers remember and reflect on their own moments of discovery and self-definition.
In this superb collection of short stories, Elizabeth Berg takes us into pivotal moments in the lives of women, when memories and events come together to create a sense of coherence, understanding, and change. In “Ordinary Life,” Mavis McPherson locks herself in the bathroom for a week, shutting out her husband and the realities of their life together — and, no, she isn’t contemplating a divorce. She just needs some time to think, to take stock of her life, and to arrive, finally, at a surprising conclusion. In “White Dwarf” and “Martin’s Letter to Nan,” the secrets of a marriage are revealed with the sensitivity and “brilliant insights about the human condition” (Detroit Free Press) that have become a trademark of Berg’s writing. The Charlotte Observer has said, “Berg captures the way women think as well as any writer.” Those qualities of wisdom and perception are everywhere present in Ordinary Life. “Elizabeth Berg’s gift as a storyteller lies most powerfully in her ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, the remarkable in the everyday.” — The Boston Globe “Berg’s...deftly drawn pictures of ordinary life can help remind us of its oft-unheeded charms.” — Los Angeles Times
On the hot Texas army base she calls home, Katie spends the lazy days of her summer waiting: waiting to grow up; waiting for Dickie Mack to fall in love with her; waiting for her breasts to blossom; waiting for the beatings to stop. Since their mother died, Katie and her older sister, Diane, have struggled to understand their increasingly distant, often violent father. While Diane escapes into the arms of her boyfriend, Katie hides in her room or escapes to her best friend’s house — until Katie’s admiration for her strong-willed sister leads her on an adventure that transforms her life. Written with an unerring ability to capture the sadness of growth, the pain of change, the nearly visible vibrations that connect people, this beautiful novel by the bestselling author of Open House reminds us how wonderful — and wounding — a deeper understanding of life can be.
"A story that tugs at the heartstrings... Thirteen-year-old Katie is new to her Missouri town, living alone with a stern, inaccessible father following her mother’s death. Unable to fit in at school, she forges alliances where she can: with her housekeeper, with a pimply fellow misfit named Cynthia, and with the gorgeous Taylor, who gets her kicks out of shoplifting. Most frustrating of all is Katie’s imperfect friendship with the proprietor of a local gas station, a handsome twenty-three-year-old who shares her love of checkers but doesn’t return her crush. With humor and an eye for telling detail, Berg conveys the way each unpromising element of Katie’s life ultimately offers her more than she had anticipated.” — People
“[A] painfully accurate tale of first love...Berg can conjure character with a minimum of words and a rainbow of nuance. The reader misses Katie as soon as the book ends.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
What do you say when you know you don’t have forever? Ruth has been Ann’s closest friend for years — her confidante, her solace, her comic relief, her tutor in life’s mysterious ways. So when Ruth becomes ill, Ann is there for her without question. After all, it is Ruth who encouraged Ann to become who she is, Ruth whose rebellious, eccentric spirit provided the perfect counterpoint to Ann’s conventional, safe outlook. And so the friends go on as they always have . . . gossiping, consoling, and sharing intimate secrets — but with the knowledge that each shared evening could be their last. Acclaimed author Elizabeth Berg has created a searing novel about the strength and salvation of women’s friendships. Deeply moving and surprisingly funny, Talk Before Sleep is an intimate, uncensored portrait of love and loss, struggle and resilience.
“Tender and irreverent by turns, [Talk Before Sleep] offers mature, intelligent and buoyant spirit, like a very good friend.” — Houston Post
“Entertaining, finely crafted . . . Berg tackles serious issues with grace.” — San Francisco Chronicle
In this exquisite, emotionally rich novel, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Berg offers a deeply satisfying story about the bonds of love and the balm of friendship. A young man named Jay lies in a coma after suffering a freak accident, and his wife, Lainey, is the only one who believes he will recover. She sits at his bedside, bringing him reminders of the ordinary life they shared: fragrant flowers, his children’s drawings, his own softly textured shirt. When Lainey’s faith in his recovery falters, she is sustained by two women, Alice and Evie, who teach her about the endurance of friendship — and the genuine power of hope. Filled with beautiful writing and truths about life, Range of Motion is hard to put down and impossible to forget.
“A stunning, believable, funny novel that celebrates the unassuming invincibility of the human spirit.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A luminous, bittersweet, almost mystical meditation on the unexpected, often hidden, joys found in the least likely of places.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“The terrifically talented Berg at her best.” — People
A self-anointed spinster at fifty-one, Myra Lipinski is reasonably content with her quiet life, her dog, Frank, and her career as a visiting nurse. But everything changes when Chip Reardon, the golden boy she adored in high school, is assigned as her new patient. Choosing to forgo treatment for an incurable illness, Chip has returned to his New England hometown 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.
