In 1970s Cincinnati, Kim's overwhelmed, financially stressed parents dragged her and her four younger siblings into swimming-starting with a nearby motel pool-as a way to keep them occupied and out of their way. When Kim was eleven, they began leaving the kids at home with a sitter while they traveled the Midwest, where they sold imported wooden ornaments from their motorhome. But when Kim's six-year-old brother crashed his new Cheater Slick bike...

"Beverly Tapinski has run away from home plenty of times, but that was when she was just a kid. By now, she figures, it's not running away. It's leaving. Determined to make it on her own, Beverly finds a job and a place to live and tries to forget about her dog, Buddy, now buried underneath the orange trees back home; her friend Raymie, whom she left without a word; and her mom, Rhonda, who has never cared about anyone but herself. Beverly doesn't...

Leora, a juvenile court judge, wife, mother, and daughter, is caught in the routine of work, taking care of her family and aging parents. But she's also a second-generation Holocaust survivor. It's an identity she didn't understand was hers until she accidentally discovered a secret file of handwritten notes addressed to her father. A further discovery of a seemingly random WWII postcard in a thrift store sets her on a collision course with the past...

When Alison Wilson's husband Alec dies, a mysterious woman appears claiming to be Alec's real wife, and Alison must try to find out Alec's true identity; when a recently-widowed elderly woman announces her love for another man and her plans to sell the house and go travelling with him, her three adult children become increasingly suspicious of the newcomer and their own lives are thrown into disarray; teenage Louise Brooks aspires to study dance at...

It was Devin Galaudet's job to take the ashes and pour them into the waters of Cadiz, Spain after his father's death. Carrying them across Spain by car, train, and backpack, this was their swan song, their "buddy picture" come to life. Half a mile from the Mediterranean, though, Devin lost his father's ashes. Standing in the middle of a windy cobblestone street in Old Town Cadiz, he wondered what the hell just happened-not just in that moment, but...

It's 1953 in Southern California, Patty is five years old, and her mother hasn't been home in two days. A police officer eventually arrives and takes Patty and her brothers to juvenile hall-their mother has been drinking again. Twenty-eight years later, Patty herself is an alcoholic mother to three children. Divorced and homeless, she soon realizes that she can't support her children with her job cleaning houses, so she accepts the offer of a man...

In this jaw-dropping, darkly comedic memoir, a young woman comes of age in a dysfunctional Asian family whose members blamed their woes on ghosts and demons when in fact they should have been on anti-psychotic meds. Lindsay Wong grew up with a paranoid schizophrenic grandmother and a mother who was deeply afraid of the "woo-woo"-Chinese ghosts who come to visit in times of personal turmoil. From a young age, she witnessed the woo-woo's sinister...

"The house was supposed to be a fresh start. That's what Libby's mom said. And after Libby's recent bipolar III diagnosis and the tragedy that preceded it, Libby knows she and her family need to find a new normal. But Libby's new home turns out to be anything but normal. Scores of bugs haunt its winding halls, towering stained-glass windows feature strange, insectile designs, and the garden teems with impossibly blue roses. And then there are the...

Eight years ago, Ethan and Rebecca met, two troublemaking kids sharing secrets and first kisses in a tree house, until Ethan's mom returned to take him away. Each and every visit, his only goodbye was a flower on Rebecca's windowsill. Four years ago, Ethan left for the last time to take care of his mother, who has struggled with addiction his whole life. Two years ago, Rebecca was in a car accident that killed her father. She's been learning to...

Addiction is a stealth predator. Unrecognized, it will grow and flourish. Unchecked, it destroys. Marilea Rabasa grew up in post-WWII Massachusetts in a family that lived comfortably and offered her every advantage. But they were also haunted by closely guarded family secrets. Alcoholism reached back through several generations, and it was not openly discussed. Shame and stigma perpetuated the silence. And Marilea became part of this ongoing tragedy. From...