Meredith and Nina are as different as sisters can be. When their father falls ill, they find themselves together, standing with their cold, disapproving mother, Anya. As children their only connection was the Russian fairy tale Anya often told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise: the fairy tale will be told one last time--and all the way to the end.

The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia P. Hale is a delightful collection of stories that chronicle the whimsical and often absurd adventures of the lovable Peterkin family. First published in the late 19th century, this charming book has entertained generations of readers with its humor, wit, and gentle satire. The Peterkin family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin and their children, are known for their well-meaning but hilariously misguided attempts...

"Bella Winter is homeless and jobless. The mother of a toddler by a man whose name she didn't quite catch, her once pretty face is now marred by a scar from a car accident. She's recently disentangled herself from a selfish and indifferent boyfriend and a cruel and indifferent mother. But she shares a quality common to Barbara Comyns's heroines: a bracingly unsentimental ability to carry on. It's not long before Bella has found not only a job but...

"All the Acorns on the Forest Floor tells the poignant and moving stories of multiple characters linked by their experiences as mothers, daughters, and lovers. Rife with stunning imagery, masterful character development, and heart rendering storytelling, this book will captivate readers of all walks of life"-- Provided by publisher.

"The story of a group of people who haven't seen each other since they were best friends at school. When one of them dies in a terrible tragedy, the reunited friends work through their grief together and find that each of their lives is impacted in ways they could have never foreseen.--From publisher description.

The devastating effects of work, adultery, rebellion, and self-deception slowly destroy the once successful marriage of Frank and April Wheeler, a suburban American couple.

Margaret and Patrick have been married just a few months when they set off on what they hope will be a great adventure--a year living in Kenya. While Patrick pratices equatorial medicine, Margaret works as a photojournalist, capturing a dizzying and sometimes dangerous multicultural city on film. Shuttling between tony expatriate suburbs and squalid shantytowns, Margaret quickly realizes there is a great deal she doesn't know about the complex mores...

A powerful tale that follows the lives of a black family and their friends living in a Michigan city. In 1931, Macon Dead III, later nicknamed Milkman, is prematurely brought into the world, the first black child born in Mercy Hospital, just after his mother witnesses the brief flight of a man determined to fly from the cupola of the hospital. Although the novel revolves around Milkman, the stories spun out from him embrace a wide variety of characters...

Rural Wisconsin, 1907. In the bitter cold, wealthy businessman Ralph Truitt stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who has answered his advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, but her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, then slowly poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow....

"A masterful debut that weaves together the lives of three generations of a Mexican American family bound by love, and a curse. The tight-knit Izquierdo family is grappling with misfortunes none of them can explain. Their beloved patriarch has suffered from an emotional collapse and is dying; eldest son Gonzalo's marriage is falling apart; daughter Dina, beleaguered by the fear that her nightmares are real, is a shut-in. When Gonzalo digs up a strange...