Southern Family Mystery

Something dark lurks in the swamp behind Emily’s new home. When twelve-year-old Emily moves into her late grandfather’s house in Whispering Pines, she expects the usual new-kid struggles. Instead, she finds herself caught in a decades-old mystery surrounding her grandmother’s disappearance. Her mother’s desperate warnings to stay away from the swamp only fuel Emily’s curiosity about what really happened all those years ago. But as strange events begin to unfold, Emily discovers an ancient presence watching from the shadows—one that has been patiently waiting for her family’s ...

Constantly moving, from South Africa to the Persian Gulf, to Rhodesia, to England, and ultimately to suburban New Jersey, the Laments are a quirky and lovable family who live by the motto "anywhere but here." The main character, Will Lament, whom the Laments take home from the hospital as a result of a bizarre mix-up, grows up feeling that he doesn't belong.

Thirteen-year-old Dove Boone has always known there was something different about her talent with plants. But on an island where old magic is forbidden and ancient family rifts run deep, some secrets are better left buried. When her aunt's elaborate society wedding brings the divided island families together, Dove's carefully hidden gift becomes harder to control. Something dark is stirring on the forbidden side of Knot Island, where Dove's father vanished nine years ago. As the summer solstice approaches, Dove and her cousins uncover an ancient journal that hints at the truth: the three ...

Ella Black seems to live the life most other 17-year-olds would kill for.... Until one day, telling her nothing, her parents whisk her off to Rio de Janeiro. Determined to find out why, Ella takes her chance and searches through their things. And realises her life has been a lie. Unable to comprehend the truth, Ella runs away, to the one place they'll never think to look - the favelas. But there she learns a terrible secret - the truth about the deepest, darkest side of herself....