In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives heroic dreams (to become the welterweight champion of the world) -- which are nothing compared to what life actually has in store for him. He embarks on an epic journey through a land of tribal superstition...

"In her first weeks at Hawthorne College, Malin is swept up into a tight-knit circle that will stick together through all four years. There's Gemma, an insecure theater major from London; John, a tall, handsome, and wealthy New Englander; Max, John's cousin and a shy pre-med major; Khaled, a wise-cracking prince from Abu Dhabi; and Ruby, a beautiful art history major. But Malin isn't quite like the rest of her friends. She's an expert at hiding her...

"The coming of age story of Rebecca Leavitt as she searches for her identity in the Northwest Territories of Canada"-- Seventeen-year-old Rebecca Leavitt has traveled by covered wagon from Utah to the Northwest Territories of Canada, where her father and brothers are now homesteading and establishing a new community with other Latter-Day Saints. Rebecca is old enough to get married, but what kind of man would she marry and who would have a girl like...

Since her mother's death, Madeline "Gwen" Hathaway has been determined that nothing in her life will change ever again. She keeps extensive lists in journals, has had only one friend since childhood, and looks forward to the monotony of working the ren faire circuit with her father. They arrive at the end-of-tour stop to find the faire is under new management and completely changed. Arthur, the son of the new owners and an actual lute-playing bard,...

"When Jeremiah arrives in Minneapolis to spend the summer with his Dad, everything feels odd. His dad's fiancé, Michael, is deep into wedding plans. Jeremiah feels out of place. Never one to make new friends easily, he starts volunteering in an English class for refugees. Here, Jeremiah finds unexpected friendship. Everything Together is about exploring your place in the world and the tangled ways we connect"--

"Just outside a hotel in Bordeaux, Philippe chances upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. What follows is a look back at the relationship he's never forgotten, a hidden affair with a gorgeous boy named Thomas during their last year of high school. Without ever acknowledging they know each other in the halls, they steal time to meet in secret, carrying on a passionate, world-altering affair."--

"Majella is happiest out of the spotlight, living a quiet life away from neighbors' stares and the gossips of the small town in Northern Ireland where she grew up during the Troubles. But underneath her seemingly predictable existence, she doesn't know where her father is, and every person in her town has been changed by the lingering divide between Protestants and Catholics. When Majella's grandmother dies, she comes to realize there may be more...

"Laguna Beach, California, 1968. The Age of Aquarius is in full swing ... Folks from all over are flocking to Laguna, seeking peace, love, and enlightenment. Matt Antony is just trying get by. Matt is sixteen, broke, and never sure where his next meal is coming from. Mom's a stoner, his deadbeat dad is a no-show, his brother's fighting in Nam --and his big sister Jazz has just gone missing. The cops figure she's just another runaway hippie chick,...

Growing up on a farm in rural Kentucky, fifteen-year-old Albertina "Bertie" Winslow knows how to do a lot, but when her mom dies after a young illness, Bertie finds herself in charge of four younger siblings and struggling to keep the family together.

A 12-year-old black girl living with a grandmother in rural Virginia is summoned by her mother to Detroit to clean house and cook while the mother has another baby. The girl is bright and becomes the protegee of a schoolteacher, but her efforts to improve herself create conflict with her mother's needs of her as a housekeeper.