The tragically human hero of this book discovers the universal experiences of love, loss, regret, and mortality as a painful surprise. At the pinnacle of his life, he's a swaggering advertising director, a fond but flawed parent, and a faithless husband. Then his life winds down to something far less comfortable. At the end, he has a daughter who adores him, but he's three-times divorced, his sons aren't speaking to him, and he's estranged from his...

Frustrated by hearing loss and his messy personal life, retired linguistics professor Desmond Bates reluctantly journeys to London to check up on his elderly father and finds his hearing problems resulting in an unintended relationship with a young woman

"Soldier, son, lover, husband, breadwinner, churchgoer, Henry Maxwell has spent his whole life trying to live with honor. A native Pittsburgher and engineer, he's always believed in logic, sacrifice and hard work. Now, seventy-five and retired, he feels the world has passed him by. It's 1998, the American century is ending, and nothing is simple anymore. His children are distant, their unhappiness a mystery. Only his wife Emily and dog Rufus...

Julian Barnes presents a collection of stories whose characters are growing old and facing the end of their lives -- some with bitterness, some with resignation and others with raging defiance.

Young Winnie Foster, stifled by the formality of her proper life and her domineering mother, escapes into the woods only to get lost. Her magical summer begins when she meets Jesse Tuck. Jesse is full of life and adventure and Winnie falls in love. The Tuck family has a powerful secret-- a spring that holds the magic of everlasting life. Now Winnie must choose whether she wants to live life as she knows it or drink from the spring.