"Melissa Henderson is leading a quiet life. Once a bestselling author, she now pours all her energy into renovating a Victorian house nestled in the foothills of rural New England. Six years ago, she lost her young son to cancer and her marriage dissolved. She stopped writing. It was only when she bought the old house that Melissa found a purpose, and came alive as she made it beautiful again. After a wildfire that threatens her home appears on the...

"Moving and thought-provoking and informative and imaginative and beautifully executed. What a wonderful story!"
—Mary Jane Clark

"This book is a must for anyone touched by adoption, or India, or the delicate dynamic between adolescent girls and their mothers."
—Sujata Massey, author of Shimura Trouble

Secret Daughter, a first novel by Shilpi Somaya Gowda, explores powerfully and poignantly the

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After learning that she is the daughter of accused serial killers Todd and Pamela Larsen, privileged 24-year-old Olivia Taylor ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, to prove her birthparents' innocence. But as she and Gabriel, her mother's lawyer, start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable...

Secretly planning to become her country's first Royal Guardswoman, Kunigunde de Heusch, on a mission in London to prove herself worthy, encounters Graham Wynchester, a man who believes in her dream, making her want to open her heart.

"The residents of Santa Claus Lane do their best to stay out of each other's way, but desire, fury, and mischief too often propel these suburban neighbors to collide. Precocious Korean American sisters Mira and Rosemary find their world rocked by a suicide, and they must fight to keep their home; a charismatic and creepy drama teacher grooms his students; a sardonic gay horror novelist finds that aging is more terrifying than any monster; and a white...

Jessica Chamberlain, newly separated and living with her two sons in a small Iowa town, can't believe that a tragedy in another state could have anything to do with her. But when her phone rings one quiet morning, her world is shattered. As she tries to pick up the pieces and make sense of what went wrong, Jess begins to realize that a tragic death is just the beginning. Soon she is caught in a web of lies and half-truths--and she's horrified to learn...

Centers around Leah, an orphan who suffered daily horrors growing up, and now struggles to integrate into society as a gay woman. She confronts her trauma by trying to volunteer at the orphanage, and to adopt a young girl—a choice that is frustrated over and over by bureaucracy and the pervasive stigma against gay women.

"Harlow Smith thought she had finally achieved the quiet life she wanted--a little bookstore on Cape Cod, an apartment in her grandpa's house, a more or less happily single life--when the biggest secret from her past walked into town and changed everything. A kid walks into your bookstore and says to you, Guess what? I'm your son. The one you put up for adoption seventeen years ago. The one you never told anyone about. Surprise! His name is Matthew...

Twelve years ago, Glory abandoned her two daughters-four-year-old Ruby and baby Aurora-at a fire station, running off to a man who promised love and protection. Though the refuge she hoped for turned out to be a sham, she believes Ruby and Aurora are better off without her. But Glory has since given birth to another daughter, who's clamoring for a life beyond their close-knit, tightly controlled world. Sixteen-year-old Ruby loves her adoptive parents,...