Tells the story of three generations of a prominent small-town Virginia family headed by matriarch Mary Bernadette, as the clan's women chafe against Mary Bernadette's influence, until a scandal arrives that tests their loyalty.

Three far-flung sisters come home to Martha's Vineyard one last time. Their mother's beach house is the only place any of them ever found true happiness and they need to begin the difficult process of letting go. Memories of their grandmother, mother, and their Irish father, who sailed away the year Dar turned twelve, rise up and expose the fine cracks in their family myth--especially when a cache of old letters reveals enough truth to send them back...

Refusing to settle for anything less than a romantic relationship that pleases God, Faith O'Connor steels her heart against her desire for the roguish Collin McGuire. But when Collin tries to win her sister Charity's hand, Faith isn't sure she can handle the jealousy she feels. To further complicate matters, Faith finds herself the object of Collin's affections, even as he is courting her sister. The Great War is raging overseas, and a smaller war...

Graced with physical beauty, though shallow of heart, Charity O'Connor is a woman who knows what she wants. She sets her sights on the cantankerous Mitch Dennehy, editor at the Irish Times, who has unwittingly stolen her heart. And although the sparks are there, Mitch refuses to fan the coals of a potential relationship with his ex-fiancée's sister. But Charity has a plan to turn up the heat and she always gets what she wants--one way or another....

*Celebrating the Twentieth Anniversary with a brand new audiobook recording* *Winner of the 1998 National Book Award for Fiction** Program includes a bonus conversation between Alice McDermott and Matthew Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of the critically-acclaimed novel, We Are Not Ourselves. Alice McDermott's striking audiobook, Charming Billy, is a study of the lies that bind and the weight of familial love, of the way good intentions...

Life after divorce for Sarah Hurlihy consists of juggling her job as a preschool teacher and the demands of her interfering family. Then her bossy big sister decides to place a personal ad for her, and the unexpected becomes a daily event. Everybody wants Sarah to put the past behind her and take a bold step towards a fresh start. But when Sarah winds up with a lot of new men and rambunctious dogs in her life, she wonders whether those mindless evenings...

Eleven years ago, Honor thought she had the perfect home, the perfect love, the perfect life. Then her husband, John, broke her heart--and tore their little family apart. Now, John has returned to the family. What he finds is one daughter still hurting over his abandonment, another who barely remembers him, and a third who may be in more trouble than anyone knows. And then there is Honor herself--and a passion that may have been interrupted but that...

An account of the author's trip across America from Phoenix to Chicago with his eccentric elderly parents in an RV describes how they revisited significant places, people, and events in their lives.