To defend Earth from violent alien races, the Colonial Defense Forces recruits the world's elderly, hoping to create an intellectual army that will outwit the aliens and preserve life on Earth.

Longing to become a doctor in spite of the realities of 1870s Oregon, herbal healer Jennie Pickett supports herself and her challenging young son by caring for a terminally ill elderly patient, a situation that is complicated when she falls for the woman's widower.

"Sloane Parker lives a small, contained life as a librarian in her small, contained town. She never thinks of herself as lonely...but still she looks forward to that time every day when old curmudgeon Arthur McLachlan comes to browse the shelves and cheerfully insult her. Their sparring is such a highlight of Sloane's day that when Arthur doesn't show up one morning, she's instantly concerned. And then another day passes, and another. Anxious, Sloane...

From the incomparable Anne Tyler, a wise, gently humorous, and deeply compassionate novel about a schoolteacher, who has been forced to retire at sixty-one, coming to terms with the final phase of his life.

"A curmudgeon and his eccentric new roommate join together to plan an epic escape in this charming, poignant tale. Joel lives in a nursing home, and he's not one bit happy about it. He hates being told when to eat, when to sleep, when to take his pills. He's fed up with life and begins to plan a way out when his new roommate, a retired soap opera actor named Frank, moves in and turns the nursing-home community upside down. Though the two men couldn't...

Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs confront their pasts in this powerful story about how rebellion ages, influence corrupts, habits turn to addictions, lifelong friendships fluctuate and turn, and how art and music have the power to redeem.

When he stumbles upon the ultra-wealthy’s newest mark—California’s Department of Corrections, Martin Hench, a self-employed forensic accountant, discovers they will stop at nothing to extract money from the government and the hundreds of thousands of prisoners they have at their mercy.

Featuring nearly 600 letters written by Ernest Hemingway over forty-five years, this collection provides an intimate portrait of one of the most original and influential American writers of all time. Throughout his correspondence, Hemingway candidly reveals himself to a wide variety of people, from friends and family to enemies and editors, as well as an impressive list of the prominent writers of his day, including Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, James...

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon-the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him "the bitter neighbor from hell." But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty...