Lorna Landvik

"No one steps up to life's banquet, holds out her tray, and orders, "Grief, please!" Yet as a child, Candy Pekkala was served a heaping helping of it. But every buffet line has a dessert section, and when a cousin calls with a Hollywood apartment to sublet, it seems though Candy is finally offered something sweet. It's good-bye to Minnesota and hello to California, where a girl who has always lived by her wits has a real chance of making a living...

"Newly installed at All Souls Lutheran, Mallory "Pastor Pete" Peterson soon realizes that her church isn't merely going through turbulent waters, but is a sinking ship. With the help of five loyal members of the Naomi Circle, the young, bold minister brainstorms fundraising ideas. They all agree that the usual recipe book won't add much to the parish coffers, but maybe one with all the ingredients on how to heat up relationships rather than casseroles...

The curmudgeon who wrote the column “Ramblins by Walt” in the Granite Creek Gazette dismissed his successor as “puking on paper.” But when Haze Evans first appeared in the small-town newspaper, she earned fans by writing a story about her bachelor uncle who brought a Queen of the Rodeo to Thanksgiving dinner. Now, fifty years later, when the beloved columnist suffers a massive stroke and falls into a coma, publisher Susan McGrath fills...

"The world sees Fletcher Weschel as a mild-mannered insurance man, but it could be the world has vision problems. In his fantasies, Fletcher returns the call of the wild with a bellowing,"Here I come!" In reality, no one hears his whispered, "Me, too." - except for some unlikely visitors who descend upon him one cold November night. With their help, Fletcher experiences mystery and wonder far beyond his daydreams, and the adventures he's about to...

Set adrift when her mother sells the salon that has been a neighborhood institution for decades, Nora Rolvaag takes a camping trip, intending to do nothing more than roast marshmallows over an open fire and under a starry sky. Two chance encounters, however, will have enormous consequences, and her getaway turns out to be more of a retreat from her daily life than she ever imagined. But Nora is the do-or-die-trying daughter of Patty Jane, who now...

Reluctantly agreeing to take care of her nephew, Rich, a thirteen-year-old boy with Down syndrome, while his parents take a vacation, actress Geneva Jordan finds her life turned upside down by the youngster.

Centering around a Minneapolis beauty parlor that also functions as a women's support group, this novel explores the loves, losses, hopes, and victories experienced by Patty Jane and Harriet, two eccentric sisters.

Familiar traditions echo across the years in funny, poignant, and surprising ways: a family welcomes a Swedish traveler to their cozy sod house on the prairie; a schoolgirl is frightened by her role in the spotlight for the annual pagaent; a stranger makes Christmas possible for a family after the fathers untimely death in the 1930s; a Civil War drummer boy prepares for a makeshift holiday while on duty with the First Minnesota. These stories...