William Cobb's first novel in nine years is a brilliant, quirky, highly readable story as compelling as it is original. Its main characters journey on parallel quests: Lester Ray, a fourteen-year-old boy who was deserted by his mother when he was a baby and has now escaped his abusive alcoholic father, and Minnie, a woman who was abandoned by her Gypsy family of migrant fruit pickers when she was eleven. The novel interweaves their searches for families they never really knew. It ranges from the Great Depression to the mid-1960s, and from the panhandle of Florida, where much of the novel is set, to New York City during World War II, to the Georgia and Carolina coasts, to Fort Myers and south Florida. Lester Ray finds work with a carnival as he looks for his mother, accompanied by all the odd and strange and wonderful people who make up that world. Minnie moves from the dry sandy heat of central Florida in 1933, to a brothel in Cedar Key, to New York, to the little town of Piper, to the winter camps of the Gypsies near Fort Myers. She is--first as a girl, then as a woman--a person of immense fortitude and strength, as engaging and unforgettable as Scarlett O'Hara.

The war was over, but Captain Geordie Venables was not leaving Spain just yet-not until he discovered the truth behind his commanding officer's death. Colonel Merryfield didn't deserve the cloud that was hanging over his good name, and Geordie has finally unearthed a promising lead-a gypsy troop, traveling by stealth along the River Tagus. With any luck, he can bribe them for some answers, and unravel the web of deception that seems to have led to the Colonel's death. It looked to be no easy task, though; he was fast running out of money, and everyone kept stealing his horse. . .

The book interweaves the stories of its main characters, Lester Ray, a fourteen-year-old boy who was deserted by his mother when he was a baby and has now escaped his abusive alcoholic father, and Minnie, a woman who was abandoned by her Gypsy family of migrant fruit pickers when she was eleven while they journey on parallel quests to find families they never really knew. It ranges from the Great Depression to the new millennium, and from the panhandle of Florida, where the novel is basically set, to New York City during WWII, to the Georgia and Carolina coast, to Fort Myers and south Florida.

“In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines the smallest one was Madeline.” Nothing frightens Madeline—not tigers, not even mice. With its endearing, courageous heroine, cheerful humor, and wonderful, whimsical drawings of Paris, the Madeline stories are true classics that continue to charm readers, even after 75 years. Join Madeline in another adventure when she and Pepito run off to join the carnival with a band of traveling gypsies! Ludwig Bemelmans (1898-1962) was the author of the beloved Madeline books, including Madeline, a Caldecott Honor Book, and Madeline's Rescue, winner of the Caldecott Medal.