NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “[Kristin] Hannah is superb at delving into her main characters’ psyches and delineating nuances of feeling.” —The Washington Post Book World From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Women comes a poignant, evocative story that celebrates the magic of motherhood, the joys of coming home, and the price we so willingly pay for love. Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria’s heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her small Pacific Northwest hometown and takes over management of her family’s restaurant. In West End, where life rises and falls like the tides, Angie’s fortunes will drastically change yet again when she meets and befriends a troubled young woman. Angie hires Lauren Ribido because she sees something special in the seventeen-year-old. They quickly form a deep bond, and when Lauren is abandoned by her mother, Angie offers the girl a place to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. Together, these two women—one who longs for a child and the other who longs for a mother’s love—will be tested in ways that neither could have imagined. “Enormously entertaining . . . Hannah has a nice ear for dialogue and a knack for getting the reader inside the characters’ heads.”— The Seattle Times “[Kristin] Hannah is superb at delving into her main characters’ psyches and delineating nuances of feeling.”  —The Washington Post Book World “Wonderful . . . enormously touching . . . The warmth and complexities of these characters grab hold of the heartstrings.” —RT Book Reviews “Wrenching, convincing . . . bittersweet.” —Publishers Weekly  "New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah "touches the deepest, most tender corner of our hearts" (Tami Hoag). Her last novel, "Between Sisters, was chosen by CBS's "The Early Show as one of the best books of the summer. Now she returns with "The Things We Do for Love--a poignant, evocative story that celebrates the magic of motherhood, the joys of coming home, and the price we so willingly pay for love. The youngest of three daughters, Angela DeSaria Malone was always "the princess" of the family, a girl who thought she knew how her life would unfold. High School. College. Marriage. Motherhood. That was how it had gone for her sisters, her cousins, her friends. But it didn't work out that way for Angie. She and her husband tried desperately to have a child; year after year, their perfectly decorated nursery remained empty. Finally, their marriage collapsed under the weight of lost dreams. After the divorce, Angie moved back to her hometown and rejoined her loud, loving, slightly crazy family. In West End, a place where life rises and falls in time with the tides, she will find the man who once again will open her heart to love . . . and meet the girl who will change Angie's life. Lauren Ribido lives in a rundown apartment in a bad part of town with a mother who cares more about her next drink than about her daughter. At seventeen, Lauren knows that her aspirations in life may never come to pass. From the moment they meet, Angie sees something special in Lauren. They form a quick connection, this woman who is desperate for a daughter and the girl who has never known a mother's love. When Lauren is abandoned by her mother, Angie doesn't hesitate to offer the girl aplace to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. In a dramatic turn of events, she and Lauren will be tested in a way that mothers and daughters seldom are. Together they will embark on an intensely moving, deeply emotional journey to the very heart of what it means to be a family. "From the Hardcover edition. Kristin Hannah is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many acclaimed novels, including The Women, The Four Winds, The Nightingale , and Magic Hour . She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest. One The streets of West End were crowded on this unex- pectedly sunny day. All across town mothers stood in open doorways, with hands tented across their eyes, watching their children play. Everyone knew that soon—probably tomorrow—a soapy haze would creep across the sky, covering the blue, obliterating the delicate sun, and once more the rain would fall. It was May, after all, in the Pacific Northwest. Rain came to this month as surely as ghosts took to the streets on the thirty-first of October and salmon came home from the sea. “It sure is hot,” Conlan said from the driver’s seat of the sleek black BMW convertible. It was the first thing he’d said in almost an hour. He was trying to make conversation; that was all. Angie should return the volley, perhaps mention the beautiful haw- thorn trees that were in bloom. But even as she had the thought, she was exhausted by it. In a few short months, those tiny green leaves would curl and blacken; the color would be d