"It's summertime in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a blue-collar dockside neighborhood. June and Val, two fifteen-year-olds, take a raft out onto the bay at night to see what they can see. And then they disappear. Only Val will survive, washed ashore, semi-conscious in the weeds"--Amazon.com.

The narrator of this novel is a teenage girl who, for the most part, flies under the radar. She's a marching band dropout and a terrible babysitter who fortunately, has a best friend with whom she shares her adventures in the 1970s. Then their friendship is tested by their families, by a clique of popular girls, and by the first intimations of womanhood.

It is 1936 when orphaned thirteen-year-old Evalina Toussaint is admitted to Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, a mental institution known for its innovative treatments for nervous disorders and addictions. Taken under the wing of the hospital s most notable patient, Zelda Fitzgerald, Evalina witnesses the cascading events leading up to the tragic fire of 1948 that killed nine women in a locked ward, Zelda among them.

Eden, Michigan, high school student Kate Winters strikes a bargain with Henry, Greek god of the underworld, if he'll cure her dying mother of cancer. The bargain she strikes with him is a grim one, but the full enormity of what she has undertaken--"live forever or die trying"--is not revealed until it's too late to recant.

A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school.

"[A] heartwarming and inspirational novel about a mother and daughter who face challenges, cope with celebrity, and overcome tragedy while maintaining the outward appearance of . . . A PERFECT LIFE. The epitome of intelligence, high-powered energy, and grace, Blaise McCarthy is an icon in the world of television news, asking the tough questions and taking on the emotionally charged issues of world affairs and politics with courage and insight. A single...

Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself - because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm...

"The brilliant Booker-nominated novel from one of our finest authors: How to Be Both is a daring, inventive tale that intertwines the stories of a defiant Renaissance painter and a modern teenage girl. How can one be both--near and far, past and present, male and female? In Ali Smith's new novel, two extraordinary characters inhabit the spaces between categories. In one half of the book, we follow the story of Francescho del Cossa, a Renaissance painter...

In the village of Noon Sun, Benedict Stone has settled into a predictable routine. Business at his jewelry shop has dried up; his marriage is on the rocks. His life is in desperate need of a jump start. And then a surprise arrives at his door. Gemma is Benedict's audacious niece - the daughter of his estranged brother, Charlie. The two brothers haven't spoken in almost two decades, since Charlie left for America. Reckless and stubborn, Gemma invites...