Having lived in a dozen different towns due to her husband's frequent corporate relocations, Joanna leaves her husband to return to the coastal South Carolina community she loves, while Paul, distraught by Joanna's abandonment, endeavors to win her back.

As midwife Martha Cade readies to pass on her role as midwife, her decision to marry Thomas Dillon when he returns, as well as her daughter's new love interest, leaves Martha searching for courage to carry on in the face of all the challenges she faces.

"Judy never intended to start wearing the dog. But when she stumbled across her son Teddy's old baby sling during a halfhearted basement cleaning, something in her snapped. So: the dog went into the sling, Judy felt connected to another living being, and she's repeated the process every day since. Life hasn't gone according to Judy's plan. Her career as a children's book author offered a glimpse of success before taking an embarrassing nose dive....

"As a young girl, Katya Geller learned from her mother that math was the answer to everything. Now, approaching forty, she finds this wisdom tested: she has lost the love of her life, she is in the middle of a divorce, and has just found out that her mother is dying. Half-mad with grief, Katya turns to the unfinished notes for her mother's last textbook, hoping to find guidance in mathematical concepts.With humor, intelligence, and unfailing honesty,...