Sexy, funny, painful, and wise—The Stepman probes a broken family and a modern marriage. At its unusual and disturbing conclusion, it pins an ordinary man in the trap of his own personality.

Jobs are critical to poverty reduction and inclusive growth in Sierra Leone, where more than half the population is poor and most are dependent on labor earnings. Adding to the jobs challenge is the young and growing population and therefore the need for substantial job creation, coupled with low labor intensity in the mining sector, which has been driving recent growth. Beyond job creation, in a context where most workers are engaged in low productivity jobs, improving the quality of jobs...

Who better to write about the Covid pandemic than a retired physician, a prime target for the deadly virus?Dr. David Margolis wrote these tales during the worst time of the pandemic, cooped up in a house with only his imagination as a guest. He has produced a remarkable collection of stories, combining sadness and loss with medical knowledge and distinctive humorThe protagonist of the first story is a superstitious old woman who believes that Covid was sent by the devil and...

This is an assortment of short stories about Jewish people who want to believe in a God but like many of us, they just can’t take that leap of faith. As they stumble through their lives making one mistake after another, they wonder if their souls will reach heaven—if such a place exists. And then what? In “God’s Sabbatical,” a poor autistic soul arrives in the afterworld and is bunked in a five by five-inch cubicle. He’s told that God is on vacation, and there’s an inexperienced bureaucrat...

The Greek god Zeus is depressed for no one has worshiped him for almost two thousand years. At the same time, he suffers from gastrointestinal maladies which have not been remedied by the mythological methods of the physician-god Asclepius and his four physician daughters. He subsequently sends Hercules and King Midas to earth in to attempt to bring Greek mythology to modern man but they are miserable failures and convert to Christianity. At the Supreme God’s yearly checkup, Asclepius tell...

Howard Studt is a beefy, awkward kid: not handsome, not brilliant, not popular, but a good-natured boy. He believes that there is a benevolent Almighty watching over him who will guarantee his happiness. Unfortunately his path to manhood is strewn with one calamity after another. His father deserts the family, his best friend dies, and Howard is diagnosed with a rare genetic disease. As he reaches manhood, he realizes that the God he is seeking resides within himself, just before the next ...

Can you become more creative? British author David Margolis answers emphatically, “Yes! I can’t promise that you will—but I assure you that you can.” In The Billion-Dollar Creative, Margolis shows you how to build the best environment and conditions to nurture creativity, reduce unproductive team meetings, and generate better ideas naturally—and, of course, so much more—all in a style that’s highly entertaining and thought-provoking."Regardless of whether you’re Sir Jonathan Ive, t...

A collection of stories and poems based on the life of gastroenterologist and award-winning humorist David Margolis MD, Looking Behind include vignettes from his early years growing up in Canada, his experiences in training, and his years as a practicing gastroenterologist both at home and at the office. Some stories are true, others more imaginative, some will elicit a laugh, and some may cause a tear to be shed. The book is infused with the author's humility, humor and humanity as well a...

Buddy Jones is a redneck baby boomer, from Middleberg MO, a fictitious hamlet south of St Louis. He’s an alcoholic, a liar, a misogynist and a bigot; and yes, he’s a Donald Trump supporter. Buddy sets out for Atlanta to visit his estranged daughter, April, whom he has not seen for twenty-five years. On his journey, he meets an African American exterminator, a Sikh waiter, a Mexican hotel clerk, and a big momma bus driver, but not the white America that he prefers. When he arriv...

AS FEATURED ON RICHARD & JUDY'S 'KEEP READING AND CARRY ON''This is one of his best' - The TimesJack Reacher is back in a brand new white-knuckle read from Lee Child.It's a random universe, but once in a blue moon things turn out just right.In a nameless city, two rival criminal gangs are competing for control. But they hadn't counted on Jack Reacher arriving on their patch....

Here are more scathingly funny tales from the wild side! Laurie Notaro survived the debauched ride of her twenties and the bumpy road to matrimony. Now she’s ready to take on the thirtysomething years . . . and almost middle age has never been more hilarious.Laurie is married, mortgaged, and now—miraculously—employed in the corporate world, discovering that bosses come in all shapes, sizes, and degrees of mental stability. After maxing out her last good credit card at Bana...

Longlisted for the 2014 National Book AwardNever has there been a book of poems quite like Gabriel, in which a short life, a bewildering death, and the unanswerable sorrow of a father come together in such a sustained elegy. This unabashed sequence speaks directly from Hirsch’s heart to our own, without sentimentality. From its opening lines—“The funeral director opened the coffin / And there he was alone / From the waist up”—Hirsch’s account is poignantly direct and open to the st...