Jean Pence

Dear Lily, It’s me, Joy, your older sister. I thought I’d start a new tradition of letter writing - now that we’re long distance. On the plane over here, I began to cry. I think the magnitude of it finally hit me, after everything that happened. I’m sorry for abandoning you - I’ve always been a buffer in your shouting matches with Mum. But I had to leave, Lily, I had to. Anyway, I’m here now. I want to learn to laugh again and to find someone to love who will love me back. Wish me luck, little sister. Love, Joy x

The summer she's 12, the same year that Cabbage Patch dolls are popular, that Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space, that El Niqo affects weather patterns worldwide and causes disasters on almost every continent of the planet Earth, Margaret Rose Kane must confront a catastrophe brewing in her own backyard.

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is 77 years old and crazy, standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-men-who-want-to-talk-about-Jesus crazy. She is also Elsa's best and only friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother's stories, in the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

Following the revelation of her fiancé’s philandering ways, high-powered New York attorney Shannon Turney’s wedding is off. At a time like this, the last thing she can handle is family drama. But when she learns how far her brother and sister-in-law’s lives have spiraled out of control, the only thought in her mind is the safety of her young niece and nephew. After Shannon is granted custody, she and the children are eager to run long and far from their problems. In tiny Sugar City, Shannon gets much more of a change than she bargained for.

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor in rural Oxfordshire. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins. Over 150 years later, Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London, uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items.