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The Pillsburys of Minnesota
by Lori Sturdevant George S. PillsburyThe Pillsburys of Minnesota "Pillsbury" is a household word in many parts of the world, but in Minnesota it has carried a special import ever since the arrival of John S. Pillsbury, his brother George, and nephews Charles and Fred at the Falls of st. Anthony in the mid-nineteenth century. Here Star Tribune columnist Lori Sturdevant chronicles the family's pioneering role in making Minneapolis the milling capitol of the world. she explores the career of Minnesota governor "Honest John "Pillsbury, and also highlights the instrumental part he played in the growth of the University of Minnesota. Alfred Pillsbury's impact on the Minneapolis Institue of Arts, Philip's remarkable success at reviving a moribund milling giant through the introduction of new food products and George's efforts to fashion a more inclusive Republican Party, are only a few of the many strands woven into the Pillsbury story. From mining camps and insurance companies to arts organizations and charitable concerns, the family's imprint on Minnesota runs deep and wide. Book jacket.
Letters Never Sent
by Sandra MoranThree women, united by love and kinship, struggle to conform to the social norms of the times in which they lived. In 1931, Katherine Henderson leaves behind her small town in Kansas and the marriage proposal of a local boy to live on her own and work at the Sears & Roebuck glove counter in Chicago. There she meets Annie--a bold, outspoken feminist who challenges Katherine's idea of who she thinks she is and what she thinks she wants in life. In 1997, Katherine's daughter, Joan, travels to Lawrence, Kansas, to clean out her estranged mother's house. In an old suitcase she finds a wooden box containing trinkets and a packet of sealed letters to a person identified only by a first initial. Joan reads the unsent letters and discovers a woman completely different from the aloof and unyielding mother of her youth--a woman who had loved deeply and lost that love to circumstances beyond her control. Now Joan just has to find the strength to use the healing power of empathy and forgiveness to live the life she's always wanted to live.
Nudge
by Sandra MoranNew York advertising executive and lifelong atheist Sarah Sheppard is highly successful, in line for a partnership, and feeling on top of the world. When she's visited by a mysterious client who offers her a job to write and market a comprehensive addition to the world's religious texts, she thinks it's an elaborate joke and turns him down. But God works in mysterious ways and she quickly finds she has no choice but to take the assignment. Isolated at a remote estate in upstate New York, Sarah joins a group of scholars and theologians to compile The Addendum, but soon discovers that nothing and no one are what they appear to be. As more questions than answers mount up, Sarah has to decide whether to deny her natural skepticism or embrace that illusive idea of faith before she's nudged onto a path of no return.
The Addendum
by Sarah Sheppard Sandra MoranWhen advertising executive Sarah Sheppard was commissioned by God, also known as Infinity, to write and market a universal addendum to the world's religious texts, she was convinced the entire plan was an elaborate hoax. But as anyone who has read Sandra Moran's novel, Nudge, knows, the real story is much more complicated. Now for the first time, the actual text of The Addendum is available for anyone to read. And what exactly is The Addendum? It's a universal document that ties together history, religion, and the commonality of the human experience through stories of famous figures who, regardless of their belief systems, stand as testament to the ideals of living one's faith and making the world a better place. Its purpose is to help humanity celebrate and accept our differences, even as we embrace that which is common to all.
All We Lack
by Sandra MoranIt begins with a bus crash. Maggie is a funeral director from Indiana who lives a double life. Bug is a ten-year-old boy in the Pennsylvania foster care system who is sent to live with an aunt he doesn't know. Jimmy is a former paramedic and prescription drug addict on his way to meet a woman he met online who thinks he's a successful doctor. Helen is a Chicago insurance investigator who is leaving her marriage in search of the woman she wants to be. Four strangers, all traveling to Boston in search of better lives, are tied together in ways they don't even realize. Each are trying to fill the void of what's missing in their lives. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to overcome all that we lack.