Young Trevor McKinney, troubled by his mother's alcoholism and fears of his abusive but absent father, is caught up by an intriguing assignment from his new social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet, i.e., to think of something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor's efforts to make good on his idea bring a revolution not only in the lives of himself, his mother and his physically and emotionally scarred teacher, but in those of an ever-widening...

"Raymond Jaffe feels like he doesn't belong. Not with his mother's new family. Not as a weekend guest with his father and his father's wife. Not at school, where he's an outcast. After his best friend moves away, Raymond has only two real connections: to the feral cat he's tamed and to a blind ninety-two-year-old woman in his building who's introduced herself with a curious question: Have you seen Luis Velez? Mildred Gutermann, a German Jew who narrowly...

1941. Steven Katz is the son of prosperous landowners. Although his parents don't approve, he's found true friends in Nick, Suki, and Ollie, sons of field workers. But Steven is in turmoil as he begins to acknowledge feelings for Nick amount to more than friendship. When the bombing of Pearl Harbor draws the US into World War II, bonds deepen and the fear of being different falls away. But after Nick unexpectedly disappears one day, Steven's life...

"Lewis Madigan is young, gay, out of work, and getting antsy when he's roped into providing end-of-life care for his insufferable homophobic neighbor, Chester Wheeler. Lewis doesn't need the aggravation, just the money. The only requirements: run errands, be on call, and put up with a miserable old churl no one else in Buffalo can bear. After exchanging barbs, bickering, baiting, and pushing buttons, Chester hits Lewis with the big ask. Lewis can't...

"Out there is chaos, the collapse of society, and so much to be afraid of. All that matters is freedom. That's what Remy Blake has been taught by his survivalist father. Raised off the grid in the middle of nowhere, his own survival skills not yet honed, Remy is days shy of his eighth birthday when his father unexpectedly dies ... He is found--near feral, silent, and terrified--in the small rural town of Blaire. To Anne, a nurturing mother of two...

No longer tolerating her husband's borderline abuse, Faith escapes to her parents' California beach house to plan her next move. She befriends Sarah, a fourteen-year-old on the run from her father and reeling from her mother's sudden and suspicious death. While Sarah's grandmother scrambles to get custody, Sarah implores Faith to take her to Falkner's Midnight Sun, the prized black mare that her father sold out from under her. As they follow Midnight...

Michael Steeb is an aimless twenty-one-year-old pot farmer in Central California in the 1980s. He has no real plans or interests . . . until the day he connects with memories of a life that seems to belong to someone else. That "spirit" is Walter, a young American soldier killed in World War II. Michael's task is the near impossible: to lead Walter's family to closure and peace, to deliver the real truth behind Walter's Purple Heart, and to somehow...

From the bestselling author of Pay It Forward comes a provocative and unlikely love story that starts on a New York subway car and blossoms under the windmills of the Mojave Desert.Both Sebastian and Maria live in worlds ruled by fear. Sebastian, a lonely seventeen-year-old, is suffocating under his dominant father's control; Maria, a young mother of two, is trying to keep peace at home despite her boyfriend's abuse. When their eyes meet across a...

Elle is a loner. She doesn't need people. Which is a good thing, because she's on her own: she had to move into her own apartment so her mother's boyfriend won't have to deal with her.Then she meets Frank, the guy who lives next door. He's older and has a girlfriend, but Elle can't stop thinking about him. Frank isn't like anyone Elle has ever met. He listens to her. He's gentle. And Elle is falling for him, hard. But Frank is different in a way that...