Patricia Henley

Kate Banner is a North American midwife helping flood victims in Nicaragua in the 1980s. When she loses another patient-a young woman who gave birth only the night before in the bottom of a swamped wooden boat-Kate knows it is time to go home. But her journey home leads her first into the seething secret wars of Guatemala, where she discovers her greatest challenges, and her greatest chances to love.A finalist for the National Book Award and The New Yorker Best Book Awards when it was originally published in 1999, Patricia Henley's Hummingbird House is the devastatingly powerful and emotionally unforgettable story of a human heart unbinding itself in the most unjust of worlds. This beautiful novel of women in war delivers an ending marked by its passion, strength, substance, and beauty.This 20th anniversary edition includes a foreword by Steve Yarbrough, a Book Club Readers Guide and a new Q&A with the author.

In this collection of elegant, moving stories, Patricia Henley explores the many bonds and betrayals among women: mothers, daughters, lovers, friends. Her characters, at once familiar and surprising, make their way through grief and discovery, revealing the power of their own hearts and of the landscapes where they reside. In "Rocky Gap," June Peck and her family gather to honor their lost sister; in "Red Lily" the secrets and lies Jenny Rogers keeps and tells will change her life; in the haunting and hopeful "Ephemera," Sophie March-Gonzales faces the worst kind of loss, and through that loss, finds a future to cherish. Don't miss the first collection of new stories since 1992 from one of our most powerful writers.

Fifty-year-old Ruth Anne Bond finds her happy marriage, rich life, and firm Catholic faith--in spite of the church's disapproval of her daughter's lesbianism--turned upside down when a secret that she has kept from the family for nearly thirty years is revealed by contact from her illegitimate son. By the author of Hummingbird House. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.