Inara Erickson is exploring her deceased aunt's island estate when she finds an elaborately stitched piece of fabric hidden in the house. As she peels back layer upon layer of the secrets it holds, Inara's life becomes interwoven with that of Mei Lein, a young Chinese girl mysteriously driven from her home a century before. Through the stories Mei Lein tells in silk, Inara uncovers a tragic truth that will shake her family to its core -- and force...

"For Ingrid Rojas Contreras, magic runs in the family. Growing up in the Colombia of the 1980s and 1990s in a house where "what did you dream?" was asked in place of "how are you?" her world was laced with prophecy and violence. Her maternal grandfather, Nono, was a renowned curandero, a community healer gifted with the ability to talk to the dead, tell the future, treat the sick, and move the clouds. As a young girl, Rojas Contreras eavesdropped...

"On the day they are born, every Swift child is brought before the sacred Family Dictionary. They are given a name, and a definition. A definition it is assumed they will grow up to match. Meet Shenanigan Swift: Little sister. Risk-taker. Mischief-maker. Shenanigan is getting ready for the big Swift Family Reunion and plotting her next great scheme: hunting for Grand-Uncle Vile's long-lost treasure. She's excited to finally meet her arriving relatives...

“Gripping, straight-up, no-nonsense stories about American soldiers and their families. . . simple, tough, and true.”—The New York Times
“Prose that's brave and honest.”—People
“Terrific. . . and terrifically illuminating.”—The Washington Post

An award-winning story collection from the author of The Confusion of Languages.
Through...

It is nearly midnight when the enormous bell in the belfry of All Faith Chapel -- silent for decades -- peals, startling awake the entire town of Eastport. Upon inspection of the steeple, the police uncover the body of local teenager Karen Hansen, who had climbed the belfry's dark, rickety stairs for a midnight rendezvous. But instead of an exciting new life, Karen met her death. Meanwhile, as an epic nor'easter bears down on the idyllic island town,...

"Fieseler chronicles the ... event that claimed the lives of thirty-one men and one woman on June 24, 1973, at a New Orleans bar, the largest mass murder of gays until 2016. Relying on ... access to survivors and archives, Fieseler creates [a] ... portrait of a closeted, blue-collar gay world that flourished before an arsonist ignited an inferno that destroyed an entire community"--Amazon.com.

1922. Six months after Matthew's tragic death, his loss is still felt throughout Downton Abbey. Mary struggles to face a new future with her fatherless child, and is encouraged by the family to pick up the pieces. Accepting a new role on the estate, the now-eligible Mary also finds herself the reluctant object of attention from a number of eager suitors. With the twenties in full swing and the tides of change sweeping through Downton, Rose's continued...

"Violet Shrink doesn't like parties. Or bashes, or gatherings. Lots of people and lots of noise make Violet's tummy ache and her hands sweat. She would much rather spend time on her own, watching the birds in her backyard, reading comics or listening to music through her purple headphones. The problem is that the whole Shrink family loves parties with loud music and games and dancing. At cousin Char's birthday party, Violet hides under a table and...

A phenomenon at a luxury lodge in Zambia has the world's elephant experts stumped. Every year, tourists flock to witness an extraordinary event: six wild elephants, led by a matriarch called Wonky Tusk, climb the stairs of the lodge and enter the foyer. Their destination is a 100-year-old mango tree growing in the courtyard and the fruit that falls from its branches. Nathan Pilcher, a wildlife cameraman follows this family for five years and discovers...

Funny stories. Make-you-cry stories. And all of them show us something about ourselves and our Savior we can never forget. Kids have a way of saying things adults would never say and revealing profound-even biblical-truths in their unfiltered, unedited commentary on the world. In this inspiring book, Jon Guager shares important lessons he learned about God by observing kids. Like the story of Joslynn's tumble. When Joslynn was camping she falls...