While fourteen year old Duncan is being dragged on a family trip with his mom and her overbearing boyfriend, he finds a gregarious friend at a local water park. The two form a powerful bond as Duncan learns to swim through the challenges of life, love, family and friendship, resulting in a vacation he'll never forget.

Marge Christensen is anticipating her wedding to Detective Pete Peterson in two weeks when her employer is found murdered. In addition to dealing with a less-than-enthusiastic future mother-in-law and purchasing a new home, Marge finds herself in mourning and struggling to maintain distance from the investigation. Adding to the stress are two young foster boys who might be involved in the crime. In Patricia Batta's fourth novel, our heroine expectedly...

In war torn 1980's El Salvador, Chava, an eleven-year-old boy, suddenly becomes the 'man of the house' in a time when the government's army is forcibly recruiting children for civil war. As his single mother fights to protect her children, their village becomes both playground and battlefield. This is about life, love, the hope of peace, and the ennobling power of the human spirit. Based on the true story of screenwriter Oscar Torres's embattled childhood....

Murphy's romance: In an endearing comic love story, a gutsy divorced mother eager to make it as a horse trainer on a small desert ranch is courted by the town's most eligible widower and her ne'er-do-well ex-husband. Places in the heart: It's the 1930's in Waxahachie, Texas. Against this Depression-torn background unforgettable characters meet and collide. Its emotionally gripping story centers around Edna Spalding (Sally Fields) and her unending...

The third volume of the Library of America's edition of Saul Bellow's complete novels collects three essential works: Mr. Sammler's Planet (1970), Humboldt's Gift (1975) -- and The Dean's December (1982). In each, Bellow shows himself a master of biting social commentary and bold characterization--above all through a trio of unforgettable protagonists. These novels, written in the period of Bellow's greatest literary and popular acclaim--he was awarded...

Ladies of leisure: During the flapper era, a young woman tries to ensnare her confirmed bachelor beau. Meanwhile, her brother falls for a woman with a dark past. Rain or shine: A young woman inherits her father's financially troubled circus. Miracle woman: Based loosely on the life of famed evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. After Florence Fallon's father is fired from the church where he preached for many years, she becomes embittered and loses...