The Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars • Biographies of the authors • Chronologies...

"Ten-year-old Zac Hutchinson collects facts: octopuses have three hearts, Usain Bolt is the fastest man on earth . But no one will tell him the one thing he wants to know most: who his father is and where he went. When Zac's mother, Juliet, inadvertently admits that his dad is the only man she's ever loved, Zac decides he is going to find him and deliver his mom the happily ever after she deserves. But Liam Jones left for a reason, and as Zac searches...

To spare the feelings of her fatherless boy, Lizzie secretly authors letters from his "father" recounting seafaring adventures around the world. Torn between exposing the truth and protecting her son, Lizzie hires a handsome stranger to play the role of a father and gets more than anyone bargained for.

Yo ho ho! Pete loves pirates, but his mom thinks they are rude and messy. Then Pete and his mom go to see the Amazing Marco, and Marco hypnotizes Pete's mom into thinking she's a pirate! Now Pete's mom won't behave. She chases the neighbors. She steals underwear off other people's clotheslines. She's even flying the Jolly Roger over the house. Pete has to find the Amazing Marco. He wants his real mom back!

Mary Beth Latham is first and foremost a mother, whose three teenaged children come first, before her career as a landscape gardener, or even her life as the wife of a doctor. Caring for her family and preserving their everyday life is paramount. And so, when one of her sons, Max, becomes depressed, Mary Beth becomes focused on him, and is blindsided by a shocking act of violence.

Ben Burns, a drug-addicted teenager, shows up unexpectedly to visit his family on Christmas Eve. His wary mother welcomes him, but after finding out he's still in danger, she must to do everything she can to help her family.

In this heartfelt mother's ode to her baby boy, she shares her hopes and dreams for him as she envisions him exploring the world and blazing his own trail.

A mother tells her son about a sea voyage they took when he was just a baby.

As he gets into bed, Timmy Bear asks his mother to play a game with him in which they remember everything he did during the day, but in reverse order.

After Mickey Scarpato's stepson Leon, is killed in a construction "accident", Mickey quickly tries to bury the bad news along with the body. But even in the gritty, blue-collar neighborhood of God's Pocket, PA, no secret can stay hidden forever. When a local columnist comes sniffing around for the truth, Mickey quickly finds himself stuck in a life-and-death struggle compounded by a body he can't bury, a wife he can't please, and a debt he can't pay....