When Marie-Grace learns that the orphan dropped at her father's doorstep may be in terrible danger, she and her friend Cécile devise a plan to protect the child--and help the other orphans, as well. Simultaneous.

Two girls. Two stories. One amazing adventure! This keepsake boxed set includes all six illustrated books about historical characters Cécile and Marie-Grace, friends who are growing up in 1850s New Orleans. The box opens up to reveal a fun-filled mini board game - girls will love earning points as they move around the board collecting cards. Board game and pieces tuck into a storage pouch that folds up with an elegant ribbon closure. Includes Meet Marie-Grace, Meet Cécile, Marie-Grace and the Orphans, Troubles for Cécile, Marie-Grace Makes a Difference, and Cécile's Gift.

Marie-Grace can't believe what she finds on her doorstep one rainy night: a sweet little baby! More than anything, Marie-Grace hopes her father will let the child stay with them. Then a stranger comes looking for the little boy, and Marie-Grace realizes the baby is in terrible danger. Together, she and her friend Cécile come up with a plan to protect the child - and to help the other orphans, too. But when rumors of a terrible sickness begin to swirl in New Orleans, Marie-Grace begins to worry - will anyone truly be safe? Includes an illustrated "Looking Back" essay about orphanages in the 1800s. The story continues in the fourth book in the series, Troubles for Cécile.

Marie-Grace has just arrived in New Orleans and she begins to make friends and enjoys singing but she is shy.

Cecile is anxious for Mardi Gras and a new costume and she also makes a new friend named Marie-Grace Gardner.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A powerfully imagined novel . . . [a] profoundly moving book that engages the heights and depths of human experience.”—Los Angeles Times It is September 8, 1943, and fourteen-year-old Claudette Blum and her father are among the thousands of Jewish refugees scrambling over the Alps toward Italy, where they hope to find safety now that the Italians have broken from Germany and made a separate peace with the Allies. The Blums will soon discover that Italy is anything but peaceful, as it quickly becomes an open battleground for the Nazis, the Allies, Resistance fighters, Jews in hiding, and ordinary Italian civilians trying to survive. Tracing the lives of a handful of fascinating characters—a charismatic Italian Resistance leader, a priest, an Italian rabbi’s family, a disillusioned German doctor—Mary Doria Russell tells the little-known story of the vast underground effort by Italian citizens who saved the lives of 43,000 Jews during the final phase of World War II. A Thread of Grace puts a human face on history. Praise for A Thread of Grace “An addictive page-turner . . . [Mary Doria] Russell has an astonishing story to tell—full of action, paced like a rapid-fire thriller, in tense, vivid scenes that move with cinematic verve.”—The Washington Post Book World “Hauntingly beautiful, utterly unforgettable.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Rich . . . Based on the heroism of ordinary people, [A Thread of Grace] packs an emotional punch.”—People “[A] deeply felt and compellingly written book . . . The progress of each character’s life is marked or measured by acts of grace. . . . Russell is a smart, passionate and imaginative writer.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer “A feat of storytelling . . . an important book [that] needs to be widely read.”—Portland Oregonian “Mary Doria Russell’s fans (and aren’t we all?) will rejoice to see her new novel on the shelves. A Thread of Grace is as ambitious, beautiful, tense, and transforming as any of us could have hoped.”—Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club “A story of love and war, A Thread of Grace speaks to the resilience and beauty of the human spirit in the midst of unimaginable horror. It is, unquestionably, a literary triumph.”—David Morrell, author of The Brotherhood of the Rose and First Blood

An affluent black family fights against illness and death when a terrible outbreak of yellow fever strikes New Orleans in the summer of 1853.