Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College,...

In 1901, Mary, an accomplished sharpshooter, can't rest until the man who killed her brother is brought to justice. Journalist Christopher is immediately captivated by Mary--but getting close to someone would threaten to bring his past to light. Can they find healing from the past together? 1901. A sharpshooter in the Brookstone Wild West Extravaganza, Mary Reichert's skills are on display in every performance. But unless the man responsible for...

"Eighteen-year-old Carmen takes on a summer internship that has her reuniting with estranged family for an over-the-top quinceanera, reluctantly reconnecting to a long-lost ex-boyfriend, and finding happiness in the chaos"--

Caryl Phillips has received international acclaim for his works, including the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, and membership in the Royal Society of Literature. Dancing in the Dark brilliantly re-creates the life of Bert Williams, the first black entertainer to achieve stardom in America. In 1896, when Bert decides to perform his stage routine in blackface, he is accused of reviling his race even as he becomes a star in...

"Danny's life is falling apart. He's become a single father to eleven-year-old Will--who hasn't spoken since the death of his mother in a car crash a year earlier--and Danny has just been fired from his construction job. To make matters worse, he's behind on the rent and his nasty landlord is threatening to break his legs if he doesn't pay soon. Danny needs money, and fast. After observing local street performers in a nearby park, Danny spends his...

"Dancing chickens Marge and Lola have flown the coop to shake, wattle, and roll on tour with superstar singer Elvis Poultry. Will the hens bawk at fame and lay a rotton egg in concert? Or will they rise to the top of the pecking order and give the crowds something to crow about?"--From inside flap of dust cover.

"1902. Ella Fleming is on the run from her past and the secrets that could tear her family apart. As a member of the Brookstone Wild West Extravaganza, a wild west show comprised of all-female performers, her uncanny talent for trick riding impresses the viewers. Only while performing can she forget the truth about who she really is - the daughter of a murderer. Phillip DeShazer blames himself for his father's death and has done his best to bury his...

"In 1881, Jacci Reed is only five years old when a man attempts to kidnap her from the steamboat her mother, Irena, works on. Badly wounded during the confrontation, Irena takes Jacci aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, a showboat tied up beside them. There, Jacci's actor grandfather tends to her mother and Jacci gets a first taste of the life she will come to lead. Fifteen years later, Jacci is an actress aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, and...

To escape his offbeat family at Thanksgiving, Andrew West accepts a ride from a band of street performers who get their food and clothing from dumpsters, but as he learns more about these "Freegans" he sees that one cannot outrun the past.

JOHNSTONE COUNTRY. WHERE LEGENDS DIE HARD. Riding shotgun, Red Ryan leads a doomed stagecoach of the damned on the longest, deadliest journey of his life... 5 PASSENGERS. 400 MILES. 1,000 WAYS TO DIE. According to local legend, the stagecoach known as the Gray Ghost is either haunted, cursed, or just plain unlucky. Each of its last three drivers and three more riding shotgun came to a violent, bloody end. And, now it's Red Ryan's turn to guard...