"Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman's only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she...

A collection of short fiction explores the complexities of human relationships and emotions in stories about a housekeeper entering old-maidhood whose life is transformed by a practical joke and a lifelong philanderer who finds the tables turned.

Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry Clifton, hoping to escape the consequences of long-buried family secrets, and forced to accept that his desire to marry Emma Barrington will never be fulfilled, has joined the Merchant Navy. But his ship is sunk in the Atlantic by a German U-boat, drowning almost the entire crew. An American cruise liner, the SS Kansas Star, rescues a handful of sailors, among them Harry and the third officer,...

While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen- year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolf pack.

"While Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous Wilds, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland."--

The self-interested disregard of a dying woman's bequest, an impulsive girl's attempt to help an impoverished clerk, and the marriage between an idealist and a materialist — all intersect at a Hertfordshire estate called Howards End. The fate of this beloved country home symbolizes the future of England itself in E. M. Forster's exploration of social, economic, and philosophical trends, as exemplified by three families: the Schlegels, symbolizing...

Bossy, impulsive, yet hopelessly romantic, Agatha Raisin is dreading the upcoming marriage of her ex-husband, James Lacey. Although she has set her sights on a handsome and beguiling Frenchman, she can't quite stop obsessing about James. But Agatha's best intentions to move on with her life are put on hold when James's young bride is shot to death just minutes before saying "I do" and Agatha is named the prime suspect.

The tragic story of Lily Bart, a beautiful young lady caught up in the glittering but shallow and corrupt world of New York society at the turn of the 20th century.

At age 20, in the summer of 1929, Honora marries Sexton Beecher, a traveling typewriter salesman. Although the first months of their marriage are idyllic, Honora begins to lose respect for her husband when she realizes that he plays fast and loose with the truth in both his business dealings and with her. After Sexton loses his sales job, he finds work at a local New Hampshire mill, where he becomes involved with a group of union organizers protesting...

Book editor Pauline becomes increasingly agitated when it appears that her daughter Teresa's husband Maurice is a philanderer, and disturbed that Teresa's love for Maurice--an echo of the self-destructive love Pauline felt for Teresa's father--is blinding her to the truth.