Danny Murphy is going to meet his brother, Jimmy. They haven't seen each other in more than twenty years, and Danny is nervous. On the way to the pub, Danny begins to remember the good times and the bad times, the humor, the fights and the pivotal argument that finally drove them apart. Can they turn back the clock and become the pals they used to be? Or does bad blood go on? Danny doesn't know. From the bestselling author and screenwriter comes a story about family, jealousy, passion and redemption. Written in Roddy Doyle's distinctive, intimate style, here is a poignant observation of...

Billy is an average-looking sixteen-year-old who lives in an ordinary house in an ordinary neighborhood on the north side of Dublin. Jesus, on the other hand, is a beautiful boy with continental manners, from the most sophisticated part of Barcelona. As an exchange student, Jesus comes to live with Billy's family for three weeks during the summer. At the end of his stay - according to The Plan - Billy will go back with Jesus on a return visit to Spain. And then, the best laid plans go awry. A riveting look at growing up in two cultures by the author of nine critically acclaimed novels. The...

Original short fiction by a beloved bestselling author on her best topic -- relationships. This charming novella from a masterful writerexpresses the power of family secrets. Nan Ryan lives by herself at 14 Chestnut Road. When builders arrive to fix a deserted house next door, everyone expects the worst. But when the handsome workman looks to Nan to help unravel the mystery of the previous residents' disappearance, a strange relationship develops. With family dynamics and crooked developers in the wings, things are about to get very messy..."

An original short fiction by a popular writer of novels for young women Witty novella from a seasoned storyteller on competition between sisters. Elsie and Maisie live on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Regular letter writers, they tend to boast about their respective families. Over time, the gulf between fact and fiction grows immense, until a letter arrives from Chicago saying that Maisie's granddaughter is coming to stay with her Irish family. With no fancy house and little in the way of luxury, Elsies working-class family sets to work on inventive interior design.and the truth.

A family drama between rival daughters that reveals a mothers passion. Larry is an 87-year-old widow. Old and frail, she remembers her youth as if it were yesterday and longs for her past vigor. Larry lives with her daughters. Martha, the good daughter, waits on her mothers every whim. Mary has a career, takes exotic vacations and is mothers favorite, though she never lifts a finger to help. Something has to give. One embarrassing evening, Father Jimmy comes to supper, and pent up feelings emerge. High drama follows, and Larry is nowhere to be found...

What do you do when Fate shows up in your rose bed with three-inch canines and retractable claws? Robert not Bob Stevenson wakes up one morning in his Vermont home to find a Bengal tiger sitting in his rose garden. Is the tiger real? Or has the illness that has invaded every other part of Robert s body finally and quite literally gone to his head?"

In 1878, two years after the Greasy Grass Fight that some called Custer's Last Stand, U.S. soldiers and government contractors rounded up 270 Arapaho people. From the very young to the very old, they were forced to walk from Fort Robinson in western Nebraska across half of what is now the state of Wyoming. Their destination: the Shoshone Indian Reservation. The new home of the Northern Arapaho was a wilderness, but it was theirs and they were glad. Then came a second and tragic event.

Within weeks, the Takers arrived to capture confused and terrified Indian children. The young were...

Training for adulthood is not for wimps.

If you are eleven years old, is there anything more humiliating, or bound to cause a fight, than shopping with your mother when your body is in full-throttle warp? Yes, there is: picking out the school-required underwear. Or worse, your mother's male co-worker shows up at the scene. Or even worse: your brother wants to TALK about it at the dinner table.

Rites-of-passage are difficult for any young girl, and Jun-li Chiu is no exception. The grown-ups in her life are completely unpredictable, and probably out of control. She knows it will take...