Twelve years ago, tragedy struck the senior class of Long Acre High School. Only a small number of students survived, a group the media dubbed as The Ones Who Got Away.
Now, web designer Liv Arias, along with the rest of the survivors, have returned to the small Texas town to tell their stories for a documentary. Which means Liv seeing former star-athlete and old flame Finn Dorsey. A lot happened between them that night and Liv is ready to end their decade-long riff and move on. But when her attempt at closure turns into a steamy kiss, moving on proves much more difficult than either of them thought…
Archives
Radium Girls
As World War I raged across the globe, hundreds of young women toiled away at the radium-dial factories, where they painted clock faces with a mysterious new substance called radium. Assured by their bosses that the luminous material was safe, the women themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered from head to toe with the glowing dust. With such a coveted job, these “shining girls” were considered the luckiest alive—until they began to fall mysteriously ill. As the fatal poison of the radium took hold, they found themselves embroiled in one of America’s biggest scandals and a groundbreaking battle for workers’ rights. A rich, historical narrative written in a sparkling voice, The Radium Girls is the first book that fully explores the strength of these extraordinary women in the face of almost impossible circumstances and the astonishing legacy they left behind.
If the Creek Don’t Rise
In a North Carolina mountain town filled with moonshine and rotten husbands, Sadie Blue is only the latest girl to face a dead-end future at the mercy of a dangerous drunk. She’s been married to Roy Tupkin for fifteen days, and she knows now that she should have listened to the folks who said he was trouble. But when a stranger sweeps in and knocks the world off-kilter for everyone in town, Sadie begins to think there might be more to life than being Roy’s wife.
As stark and magnificent as Appalachia itself, If the Creek Don’t Rise is a bold and beautifully layered debut about a dusty, desperate town finding the inner strength it needs to outrun its demons. The folks of Baines Creek will take you deep into the mountains with heart, honesty, and homegrown grit.
Race the Darkness
Criminal investigator Xander Stone doesn’t have to question you—he can hear your thoughts. Scarred by lightning, burdened with a power that gives him no peace, Xander struggles to maintain his sanity against the voice that haunts him day and night—the voice of a woman begging him to save her.
Isleen Walker has long since given up hope of escape from the nightmare of captivity and torture that is draining her life, her mind, and her soul. Except…there is the man in her feverish dreams, the strangely beautiful man who beckons her to freedom and wholeness. And when he comes, if he comes, it will take all their combined fury and faith to overcome a madman bent on fulfilling a deadly prophecy.
Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet
After Kitty Hayward’s mother vanishes from their Coney Island hotel in 1904, Kitty finds herself alone, hungry, penniless, and far away from her native England. The last people she’d expect to help her are the cast of characters at Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet, a museum of oddities that is home to a handful of freaks. But even the unusual inhabitants of Magruder’s may not be a match for the insidious sickness that is plagu- ing Coney Island. . .
Pieces of My Mother
Why would a mother ever abandon her child? And is an abandoned child destined to grow up and make the same mistake? These were some of Melissa Cistaro’s questions after her mother drove off without explanation one summer. Decades later Melissa finds herself at her dying mother’s bedside with six days to find answers, fearful that she could do the same to her own little girl. Then she discovers a cache of letters her mother wrote but never sent and stumbles on the answers she’d been seeking. Haunting and ultimately uplifting, Pieces of My Mother is about the choices we make and their repercussions on others.
Ruins of Lace
Lace is a thing like hope. It is beauty; it is grace. It was never meant to destroy so many lives.
The mad passion for forbidden lace has infiltrated France, pulling soldier and courtier alike into its web. For those who want the best, Flemish lace is the only choice, an exquisite perfection of thread and air. For those who want something they don’t have, Flemish lace can buy almost anything – or anyone.
For Lisette, lace begins her downfall, and the only way to atone for her sins is to outwit the noble who now demands the impossible. To fail means certain destruction. But for Katharina, lace is her salvation. It is who she is; it is what she does. If she cannot make this stunning tempest of threads, a dreaded fate awaits.
The most lucrative contraband in Europe, with its intricate patterns and ephemeral hope, threatens to cost them everything. Lace may be the deliverance for which they all pray…or it may bring the ruin and imprisonment they all fear.
The Dog Lived (And So Will I)
Teresa Rhyne vowed to get things right this time around: new boyfriend, new house, new dog, maybe even a new job. But shortly after she adopted Seamus, a totally incorrigible beagle, vets told Teresa that he had a malignant tumor and less than a year to live. The diagnosis devastated Teresa, but she decided to fight it, learning everything she could about the best treatment for Seamus. She couldn’t have possibly known then that she was preparing herself for life’s next hurdle – a cancer diagnosis of her own.
She forged ahead with survival, battling a deadly disease, fighting for doctors she needed, and baring her heart for a seemingly star-crossed relationship. The Dog Lived (And So Will I) is the uplifting, charming, and occasionally mischievous story of how dogs come into our lives for a reason, how they steal our hearts and show us how to live.
The One-Way Bridge
Cathie Pelletier draws readers back to the beloved town of Mattagash, a seemingly quiet New England outpost in Maine. Yet Mattagash is anything but tranquil. While its citizens bicker publicly over small-town theft or their neighbors’ offensive mailboxes, they privately struggle through deeper life issues: scandal, loss, failed ambitions, and the scars of war.
Reaching across the vastness of America and into the jungles of Vietnam, The One-Way Bridge is an unforgettable portrait of loneliness, family, and community—and the kinds of changes we make for love.
Shakespeare Saved My Life
Just as Larry Newton, one of the most notorious inmates at Indiana Federal Prison, was trying to break out of jail, Laura Bates was trying to break in. Now, a decade later, her Shakespeare in Shackles program has been lauded by academics and prison communities alike. In this profound illustration of the enduring lessons of Shakespeare through the ten-year relationship of Bates and Newton, an amazing testament to the power of literature emerges. But it’s not just the prisoners who are transformed. It is a starkly engaging tale, one that will be embraced by anyone who has ever been changed by a book.