Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York. Especially in the summer of 1912. Somber, as a word, was better. But it did not apply to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Prairie was lovely and Shenandoah had a beautiful sound, but you couldn't fit those words into Brooklyn. Serene was the only word for it; especially on a Saturday afternoon in summer. Late in the afternoon the sun slanted down into the mossy yard belonging to Francie Nolan's house,...

"Based on true events, a young woman used to the finer things in life arrives in small town Appalachia in 1911 to help her formidable cousin combat adult illiteracy by opening moonlight schools"--!cProvided by publisher.

"Louisiana, 1875. In the tumultuous aftermath of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now-destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia's Creole half-sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head west. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother before slavery's...

In 1933, what's left of the Turner family--twelve-year-old Hallie and her two brothers--finds itself driving the back roads of rural America. The children have been swept up into a new migratory way of life. America is facing two devastating crises: the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Hundreds of thousands of people in cities across the country have lost jobs. In rural America it isn't any better as crops suffer from the never-ending drought....

Biltmore House, a palatial mansion being built by the Vanderbilts, American "royalty," is in its final stages of construction in North Carolina. The country's grandest example of privilege, it symbolizes the aspirations of its owner and the dreams of a girl, just as driven, who lives in its shadow. Kerry MacGregor's future is derailed when, after two years in college in New York City, family obligations call her home to the beautiful Appalachians....

Miles from Nowhere is the stunning debut novel from Pushcart Prize-winning author Nami Mun. Growing up in the Bronx during the '80s, Korean immigrant teen Joon is forced out on her own as her family crumbles around her. From there Joon comes of age on the streets of New York, balancing on a tightrope between living and surviving while displaying equal measures of street smarts and naivete. Over time, Joon comes to understand herself and her place...

Maren Walker dreams of finding her own little door. The doors have appeared to the people in her mountain town for as long as anyone can remember, though no one knows where they lead. Maren's mother was the last to go through, leaving nine-year-old Maren behind. Now living with her grandmother, Maren deals prescription medication to pay their bills and nurture her dream of becoming a nurse. When she faces the possibility of escaping her struggles...

Poverty and injustice test one man's relentless optimism. From one of China's foremost authors, Jia Pingwa's Happy Dreams is a powerful depiction of life in industrializing contemporary China, in all its humor and pathos, as seen through the eyes of Happy Liu, a charming and clever rural laborer who leaves his home for the gritty, harsh streets of Xi'an in search of a better life. After a disastrous end to a relationship, Hawa "Happy" Liu embarks...

After the ice cream stand where she works is robbed, seventeen-year-old Minerva Gutiérrez plans to get revenge on her predatory boss while navigating grief, anger, and dreams of escape from her dead-end hometown.

Lazarus Weathers, a high school senior from the wrong side of the tracks, seeks to protect his half-brother while pitching his way out of poverty, one strike at a time.