"Drive back and forth / A rush-hour tide / I strive to regain that feeling I felt / When I thought that this was worth it. / The drive is gray. / I cry." Gwendolyn Zepeda, a Houston native who has struggled to escape the inner-city barrio she grew up in, wonders why she's crying about her long commute to the suburbs. "I'm driving towards something I sure / Can't complain about, something my / Parents could never have had." Single with three sons, Zepeda made her way in corporate America, "the cold, beige womb of a money-grubbing mother," in the fight to provide them with better opportunities. Along the way, she has had to come to terms with the guilt of working in physical comfort while others work outside, trapped in dangerous jobs; the realization that the quality of her work doesn't really matter to anyone; and obnoxious male bosses who need "a wife on the side," or worse, proudly report their sons' sexual exploits. She's afraid, because "My whole life depends / On satisfying this man's needs ... My own son is my everything. He's the / Only reason I'm here now this / Afternoon listening to this man piss / Into my brain." She's an astute observer of people: her elders, full of bitterness; the stranger on the elevator, who exudes the smell of hate; the needy girl who's broken and screams like a bird in her ear so that "I turn and slip away. I've / Had my fill. I'm in the water / Where it's warm and deep and / She can't follow. / Goodbye. Good luck." She's compassionate and considerate, but Zepeda always chooses survival. She has survived, even prospered, but her innermost fears still haunt her: "I like lying safe with you / Here in the dark, but still / Keep planning in case / I'm left alone." Whether musing on dysfunctional relationships or parenthood, Gwendolyn Zepeda, the first Poet Laureate of Houston, captures the aching loneliness and vulnerability of contemporary urban life.

Inspired by the true story of a daring deception that plunges a courageous young woman deep into the horrors of a Nazi POW camp to be with the man she loves. In the dead of night, a Czech farm girl and a British soldier travel through the countryside. Izabela and prisoner of war Bill have secretly married and are on the run, with Izzy dressed as a man. The young husband and wife evade capture for as long as possible—until they are cornered by Nazi soldiers with tracking dogs. Izzy's disguise works. The couple are assumed to be escaped British soldiers and transported to a POW camp. However, their ordeal has just begun, as they face appalling living conditions and the constant fear of Izzy's exposure. But in the midst of danger and deprivation comes hope, for the young couple are befriended by a small group of fellow prisoners. These men become their new family, willing to jeopardize their lives to save Izzy from being discovered and shot. The Prisoner's Wife tells of an incredible risk, and of how our deepest bonds are tested in desperate times. Bill and Izzy's story is one of love and survival against the darkest odds.

Fresh Meat In PrisonCharley Hughes never imagined he would find himself in lockup, but when King promises that his brothers-in-arms will protect him, Charley expects his time on the inside to be easy. He doesn't factor in Scar, his mean as hell-and handsome-cellmate. Scar seems to have one goal only, to get into Charley's pants. Charley has never been with a man before and doesn't plan to start. Driven By Isolation Colton "Scar" Hebb went to prison years ago. He willingly took the fall for his motorcycle club. Scar is as loyal and brutal as they come, but he's also lonely. The moment he sets eyes on Charley, he wants him. Charley is playing hard to get, though. It's a good thing Scar enjoys a chase.Predator and PreyThe longer Charley holds out against Scar's advances, the more dangerous prison life gets for him. Between rival MC clubs and guards, he's constantly on high alert. Scar is rough and scary, but at least he's on Charley's side. The more time Charley spends with Scar, the weaker his resolve becomes to hold out against him. What will happen when Charley no longer wants to resist the attraction?

The debut novella from one of contemporary fiction's most exciting young voices, now in a new edition. Salem, Massachusetts, 1851: McGlue is in the hold, still too drunk to be sure of name or situation or orientation--he may have killed a man. That man may have been his best friend. Intolerable memory accompanies sobriety. A-sail on the high seas of literary tradition, Ottessa Moshfegh gives us a nasty heartless blackguard on a knife-sharp voyage through the fogs of recollection. They said I've done something wrong? . . . And they've just left me down here to starve. They'll see this inanition and be so damned they'll fall to my feet and pass up hot cross buns slathered in fresh butter and beg I forgive them. All of them . . . : the entire world one by one. Like a good priest I'll pat their heads and nod. I'll dunk my skull into a barrel of gin.

Unavoidable liason… Every Tuesday, Hayley Morgan drops off her six-year-old son, Max, at the baby-sitter's, then drives the deserted stretch of highway south from New Orleans to the maximum security prison where she works. Every Tuesday, Max waits out front at the baby-sitter's, eager for Hayley to return. One Tuesday, the routine isn't quite so smooth. Because Max disappears. He's been abducted. But there's one man—lawyer Slade Reeves—who can help her. He's Hayley's only link to Max. She knows she has to trust him, although he appears to be invovled with Max's kidnapping. Even worse, she starts falling for Slade…falling for the enemy.

One frantic call from the local jail catapults an entire family on a frightening journey that no family would wish to travel. Their traumatic journey encounters endless frustration and infuriating madness from which there is no escape. Millions of Americans are traumatized by the mass incarceration in this country. The Unvarnished Truth about the Prison Family Journey is an exceptional resource for prison families, as well as those serving them in the fields of criminal justice, education, ministry and mental health care. The authors have over fifty years combined personal and professional experience with the criminal justice system. They weave graphic personal, legal and emotional perspectives into a rare and boldly honest look at the realities faced by prison families. They offer encouragement and hope for successfully navigating the journey.

Simon Winchester, author of A Crack in the Edge of the World and The Professor and the Madman: "The essence of this inexpressibly beautiful story will remain with me, I believe, for the rest of my life. This exquisitely crafted account of the loves and lives of Arthur and Masa, Violet and Kiyoshi - such very ordinary names, yet names that conceal extraordinary passions and confusions - is a tone poem to duty and honour, courage and enduring passion, set against the fantastically rich recent histories of Japan and Ireland, England and France. It is a long time since I have read so moving and haunting a book" This is the true story of an extraordinary love affair. When Captain Arthur Hart-Synnot, a disciplined, conservative officer, met Masa Suzuki, a bright, beautiful Japanese girl, when the British army posted him to Tokyo, he fell for her and within weeks they were living together. Arthur told her she was the 'supreme woman in the world' and they pledged they would love each other for the rest of their lives. But he could not tell the army about her, and they faced almost insuperable barriers of race and class. When he was recalled to London the question was whether Masa had, all the time, just been what expatriates referred to as 'a temporary wife', an exploited Madam Butterfly. Though separated for years at a time, and by huge distances, they remained devoted to each other. Based on a cache of over 800 letters found in Tokyo, the story is set against the wider history and the wars of the first half of the twentieth century. This is a record of enduring love and great loss, where events beyond Arthur and Masa's control dictate the final tragic outcome.