gwendolyn bounds

BOOK: "LITTLE CHAPEL ON THE RIVER"
William Morrow, 2005 (Hardcover)/Harper, 2006 (Paperback)

Forced from her downtown Manhattan apartment by the terrorist attack of September 11, journalist Wendy Bounds was delivered to Guinan's doorstep -- a legendary Irish drinking hole and country store nestled along the banks of the Hudson River in the small town of Garrison, New York -- by a friend.

Captivated by the bar's charismatic but ailing owner and his charming, motley clientele, Bounds uprooted herself permanently and moved to tiny Garrison, the picturesque river town they all call home. There she became one of the rare female regulars at the old pub and was quickly swept up into its rhythm, heartbeat, and grand history -- as related by Jim Guinan himself, the stubborn high priest of this little chapel. Surrounded by a crew of endearing, delightfully colorful characters who were now her neighbors and friends, she slowly finds her own way home.

About "Little Chapel"

Read a synopsis, the prologue and a chapter excerpt and a few reviews.

Where is the Little Chapel?

Get directions

Write-Ups

More reviews, essays and author interviews about Little Chapel.

Videos & Photos

Watch videos and see photos collected from the patrons of Guinan's.

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BOOK: "BIRDS ON THE COUCH"
Crown (Hardcover), 1998

Why does my bird swear like a sailor?
Why does he torment my cat by calling her in my voice?
What's behind his obsession with mirrors?
And why does he bite the hand that feeds him?

More About Birds on the Couch

Answers to these dilemmas and more inside BIRDS ON THE COUCH: The Bird Shrink's Guide to Keeping Polly from Going Crackers and You Out of the Cuckoo's Nest.Co-written with longtime bird psychologist Ruth Hanessian, this book is a funny, endearing, and practical guide for anyone who has ever owned birds, considered bringing one home, or been touched by their remarkable personalities.
Published by Crown Publisher's Inc., 1998

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WSJ ARTICLES

HOME IMPROVEMENT

All my past home improvement and housing coverage can be found at the Web site: PURE SHELTER.

Topics include the latest technology in:

-solar hot water heaters
-low-emission outdoor equipment
-easy-to-start chainsaws
-eco-friendly kitchens
-container gardening
-snowblowers
-wood splitters
-electrical switches
-less toxic paint
-organic lawncare

FIRST PERSON ESSAYS

Move Over, Rocky Balboa --- Our Reporter Dons Gloves, Lands Jabs, Stays Up; Plus, She's A Girl!

NEW YORK -- In a sweltering warehouse gym beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, I stand clad in shorts and a tank top, plastic mouthpiece clenched between my teeth. It is a languid Friday evening in June, and instead of a glass of wine I clasp two cherry-red boxing gloves, 10 ounces each. A leather mask covers my head, and I am sweating.

Amid the Ashes, Baby Carriages, Shoes, Family Photos

NEW YORK -- We are standing at the foot of the stairs leading up to the 10th-floor apartment we share. Kathryn lights a candle, but the darkness is so deep we can't see the walls -- only reach for them, hands outstretched, groping for a landmark.
Thirty-two hours have elapsed since we fled down these same stairs, carrying only our wallets and the clothes on our backs. In the bright comfort of the blue sky on that Tuesday morning, we never imagined we wouldn't be home for dinner, resuming life as normal with Stoli, our 14-year-old cat. But our next-door neighbor is -- was -- the World Trade Center. And home is now a ghost town.

The Struggle to Learn An Old Family Secret: Put Loved Ones First

I WAS inspecting my calendar, debating whether I could cancel a lunch meeting, when my mother phoned from down south with the news
"Your father gave notice of his retirement plans," she said.
The words hung between Raleigh, N.C., and New York, not sinking in. He what? My father had been a veterinarian for three decades, but he was only 54. People don't retire in their 50s, I thought -- they get promoted or find new careers. In the media world I write about, some of the chairmen are my grandfather's age and still won't retire.

SMALL BUSINESS STORIES

A Tiny Scrap Of Fabric Wins A Huge Following -- Hanky Panky's Model 4811 Is a Thong Unto Itself; `It's Like Lace Butter'

For the last decade and a half, a little-known company called Hanky Panky has thrived making a $15 lace thong known simply by its style number, 4811. In the cutthroat world of lingerie sales, that is no small thing.

The Long Road To Wal-Mart

IT WAS 7:50 A.M. LAST NOVEMBER on one of the most important Wednesdays of Colin Roche's career, and the rain was coming down hard in Bentonville, Ark. As he and his business partner, Bobby Ronsse, navigated the slick two-lane road leading to the headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Mr. Roche began to sweat as their rental car inched along in traffic. The pair had finally scored a coveted 8 a.m. appointment with a Wal-Mart buyer -- giving them a chance to get their ergonomic pen, the PenAgain, in front of the world's largest retailer. But with only 10 minutes to spare, that chance was slipping away as the entrepreneurs sat, panicked, still a mile and a half away.

Designer's Law: If a Show Can Go Wrong...

NINE YEARS AGO, designer Cynthia Steffe experienced fashion's version of hell while producing her first runway show. Things went wrong: The designer ran out of carmel stretch suede in the final hour, so a jacket was missing a sleeve. There weren't enough shoes backstage. A crying model flung a tuft of her hair at Ms. Steffe after a harried stylist accidentally cut the unruly locks.

Move Over, Coke

The inside story of how a little-known beverage, Vitaminwater, took shelf space from the big giants.

How a Small Designer Reached for the Stars on Oscar Night

Los Angeles -- IT WAS FRIDAY afternoon, two days before the Oscars, and Lauren Merkin, a little-known New York handbag designer, waited inside her room at the swank Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel, hoping that the $31,000 she had invested in producing a collection of 65 one-of-a-kind "Red Carpet" bags for Hollywood's biggest evening was about to pay off.
Her dream: that a big-name star or her stylist would breeze through the hotel room and select a bag to carry for the Academy Awards.