William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy: his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. His skill on the basketball court earned him a scholarship to a college far away from his childhood home. Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman, surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her three younger sisters: Sylvie, the dreamer, happiest with her nose in a book and dreams...

"A woman is haunted by the Mexican folk demon La Llorona as she unravels the dark secrets of her family history in this ravishing and provocative horror novel"-- Alejandra no longer knows who she is. To her husband, she is a wife, and to her children, a mother. To her own adoptive mother, she is a daughter. But they cannot see who Alejandra has become: a woman struggling with a darkness that threatens to consume her. Nor can they see what Alejandra...

Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, is an icon of children's television, who for the last three decades has been a beacon of kindness and optimism to children and adults alike. But when his family life starts to unravel, Jeff discovers that keeping it all together isn't as easy as one-two-three. The result: a kind man in a cruel world facing a slow leak of sanity that asks the question, can one keep a good man down?

Sixteen-year-old identical twin daughters of a district court judge and a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, Kaeleigh and Raeanne Gardella desperately struggle with secrets that have already torn them and their family apart.

While confined to a mental hospital, thirteen-year-old Callie slowly comes to understand some of the reasons behind her self-mutilation, and gradually starts to get better.

In the small town of Jumbo, Texas, thirteen-year-old Merilee, who has Asperger's Syndrome, tries to live a "Very Ordered Existence, " but disruptions begin when a boy and his father arrive in town and the youngster makes himself a part of the family.

Eleven-year-old Alice is unwilling to return to live with her alcoholic mother and her stern stepfather, so she refuses to eat to the point of slowly starving herself, in order to remain in the hospital.

After growing up with her life being chronicled and monetized by her entrepreneurial step-mother, Anuri escapes as a young adult but vows to fight the cycle of abuse and save her younger sister from a similar fate.

Sixteen-year-old Caroline and her twin sister Honey know for sure that their Uncle Toddy is a vampire who comes at night to drink their blood but fear of the consequences makes them keep their terrible secret.

Striving to cope with the arguments of his parents and his feelings of not belonging, fourteen-year-old Jesse Flood struggles to find his place in a small town in Northern Ireland.