This auspicious and critically acclaimed first novel follows Lena, a forty-five-year-old woman who is trapped in childish behaviors, as she searches for a normal life, and her widowed mother, Ella, who relives her own dreams and disappointments while confronting the possibility of letting her daughter go.

Like Normal People

Literature & Fiction

Bender, Karen E.

Literary

Houghton, mifflin, harcourt

G.K.Hall & Co.

Stories published from the fall of 2009 until the summer of 2010. Includes over twenty short stories, four essays about the craft from Editor in Chief, Alexis E Santi and interviews with Karen E. Bender and Dorothy Allison. This print issue also includes a special spread of photography and essay from the award winning Saint Louis artist, photographer Bob Reuter.

Best of Our Stories Volume 4

Allison, Dorothy

Santi, Mr. Alexis E.

Cheng, Jessica

Santi, Lex E

Short Stories & Anthologies

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, and Abortion

CHOICE explores the one of the most polarizing political issues of our time reproductive choice. 
CHOICE attempts to raise the discourse on reproductive choice, which often devolves to clichÃ©s and name-calling, by posing the question--what is it like to make any sort of reproductive choice? What is it truly like to use birth control, the morning after pill, use a sperm bank, have an abortion, adopt a child, give a child up for adoption, bring a pregnancy to term? 
 In these 22 stunningly honest essays, writers describe their experiences making some of these decisions, as well as many others. Established writers such as Francine Prose, Jaquelyn Mitchard, Pam Houston, Carolyn Ferrell, Ann Hood, Deborah Macdowell, and Sarah Messer contribute essays, along with emerging writers such as Kimi Faxon Hemingway, Stephanie Anderson, and Ashley Talley. 
 The essays in CHOICE explore the complexities inherent in every reproductive decision, whether it is to choose to have a child or terminate a pregnancy; the guiding philosophy of the book is that this issue is too complex and individual to be legislated, and the writers honesty about their experiences will humanize this issue, no matter what the reader s stand on it.

Parenting & Relationships

Family Relationships

MACADAM/CAGE.

A moving collection of personal essays about the real, human experiences behind the highly politicized issue of reproductive choice. At a time when a woman’s most complex decisions have been reduced to political rhetoric and impersonal theory, and political debate has been hijacked by pundits and name-callers, Choice joins the discourse with an assortment of candid voices in an effort to humanize the debate about reproductive rights. In addressing a wide range of women’s choices—from using birth control to taking the morning-after pill, from adopting a child to putting a child up for adoption, from having an abortion to bringing a pregnancy to full term—Choice explores the complexities inherent in every reproductive decision. Including twenty-four honest, heartrending essays from established writers such as Francine Prose, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Pam Houston, Ann Hood, and Sarah Messer and emerging talents such as Kimi Faxon Hemingway, Stephanie Anderson, and Ashley Talley, Choice will allow you to truly understand the meaning of the word “choice”—regardless of what side of the debate you stand on. Contributors Stephanie Andersen Karen E. Bender Janet Ellerby Carolyn Ferrell Denise Gess Nina de Gramont Katie Allison Granju Kimi Faxon Hemmingway Sandy Hingston Ann Hood Pam Houston Valina Hasu Houston Kate Maloy Deborah E. McDowell Sarah Messer Jacquelyn Mitchard K.A.C. Catherine Newman Francine Prose Ashley Talley Katherine Towler Harriette E. Wimm Susan Ito Elizabeth Larsen

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Gramont, Nina De

Women's Health

Karen E. Bender burst on to the literary scene a decade ago with her luminous first novel, Like Normal People, which garnered remarkable acclaim. A Town of Empty Rooms presents the story of Serena and Dan Shine, estranged from one another as they separately grieve over the recent loss of Serena’s father and Dan’s older brother. Serena’s actions cause the couple and their two small children to be banished from New York City, and they settle in the only town that will offer Dan employment: Waring, North Carolina. There, in the Bible belt of America, Serena becomes enmeshed with the small Jewish congregation in town led by an esoteric rabbi, whose increasingly erratic behavior threatens the future of his flock. Dan and their young son are drawn into the Boy Scouts by their mysterious and vigilant neighbor, who may not have their best intentions at heart. Tensions accrue when matters of faith, identity, community, and family all fall into the crosshairs of contemporary, small-town America. A Town of Empty Rooms presents a fascinating insight into the lengths we will go to discover just where we belong.

A Town of Empty Rooms

United States

Counterpoint

Karen E. Bender burst on to the literary scene a decade ago with her luminous first novel, Like Normal People, which garnered remarkable acclaim. A Town of Empty Rooms presents the story of Serena and Dan Shine, estranged from one another as they separately grieve over the recent loss of Serena’s father and Dan’s older brother. Serena’s actions cause the couple and their two small children to be banished from New York City, and they settle in the only town that will offer Dan employment: Waring, North Carolina. There, in the Bible belt of America, Serena becomes enmeshed with the small Jewish congregation in town led by an esoteric rabbi, whose increasingly erratic behavior threatens the future of his flock. Dan and their young son are drawn into the Boy Scouts by their mysterious and vigilant neighbor, who may not have their best intentions at heart. Tensions accrue when matters of faith, identity, community, and family all fall into the crosshairs of contemporary, small-town America. A Town of Empty Rooms presents a fascinating insight into the lengths we will go to discover just where we belong.

A Town of Empty Rooms: A Novel

A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST We think about it every day, sometimes every hour: Money. Who has it. Who doesn’t. How you get it. How you don’t. In Refund, Bender creates an award-winning collection of stories that deeply explore the ways in which money and the estimation of value affect the lives of her characters. The stories in Refund reflect our contemporary worldswindlers, reality show creators, desperate artists, siblings, parents who try to answer the question: What is the real definition of worth? In Theft,” an eighty-year-old swindler, accustomed to tricking people for their money, boards a cruise ship to see if she can find something of true valuea human connection. In Anything for Money,” the creator of a reality show is thrown into the real world when his estranged granddaughter reenters his life in need of a new heart; and in the title story, young artist parents in downtown Manhattan escape the attack on 9/11 only to face a battle over their subletted apartment with a stranger who might have lost more than only her deposit. Set in contemporary America, these stories herald a work of singular literary merit by an important writer at the height of her power.

Refund: Stories

“Bender's willingness to go deep, to burrow down into what's right and wrong about 21st century America and Americans, is a mirror that draws us in and does not allow us to look away." ―Los Angeles Times on Refund The National Book Award finalist for Refund returns with a new collection of stories that boldly examines the changes in American culture over the last two years through the increasing presence of violence, bigotry, sexual harassment, and the emotional costs of living under constant threat. In the title story, the competition between two middle school cellists is affected by a shooting at their school, and it is only years later that they realize how the intrusion of violence affected the course of their lives. In "This Is Who You Are," a young girl walks the line between Hebrew school and her regular school, realizing that both are filled with unexpected moments of insight and violence. In "Three Interviews," an aging reporter must contend with her dwindling sense of self and resources, beleaguered by unemployment, which sets her on a path to three increasingly unhinged job interviews. In "Mrs. America," a candidate for local office must confront a host of forces that threaten to undermine her campaign and expose her own role in the dissonance between what America is and what it should be. The New Order explores contemporary themes and ideas, shining a spotlight on the dark corners of our nature, our instincts, and our country.

The New Order: Stories

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bender, Karen E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Bender, Karen E.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bender, Karen E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Like Normal People

Like Normal People

Best of Our Stories Volume 4

Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, and Abortion

Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, and Abortion

A Town of Empty Rooms

A Town of Empty Rooms: A Novel

Refund: Stories

Refund: Stories

The New Order: Stories