When eight-year-old Vinni Stewart disappears from a Jersey shore town, Maddy, her distraught single mother, begins a desperate search for her daughter. Maddy’s five-year journey leads her to a bakery in Brooklyn, where she stumbles upon something terrifying. Ultimately, her artist neighbor Evelyn reconnects Maddy to her passion for painting and guides her to a life transformed through art. Detective John D’Orfini sees more than a kidnapping in the plot-thickening twists of chance surrounding Vinni’s disappearance, but his warnings to stay away from the investigation do not deter Maddy, even when her search puts her in danger. When the Russian Mafia warns her to stop sniffing into their business, Maddy must make a choice whether to save one child—even if it might jeopardize saving her own.

Modern, original fiction for learners of English. Paul Morris's happy life in Italy changes when his wife dies suddenly. He develops a relationship with Sandra, a friend at work, but everything is not as it seems. How can Sandra afford such an expensive car? And why does she keep making mysterious phone calls? Soon Paul is involved in international crime and a thrilling car chase across Europe.

Paul Morris's happy life in Italy changes when his wife dies suddenly. He develops an exciting relationship with Sandra, a friend at work. But all is not as it seems and Paul finds himself involved in a world of international crime and a car chase across Europe.

WAS SHE IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME? Cressida had lost her parents and badly needed a new focus. So going to Holland to help an elderly Dutch doctor with a book he was writing, giving up her own nursing job for a while, seemed ideal. Her new employer had two partners. One was elderly and friendly, like himself, while the other was younger and…not quite so friendly. Giles van der Tiele always seemed to be snubbing Cressida, putting her in her place. But when he wanted to, he could be extremely charming—too much so for her peace of mind!

“Pemberton’s beautifully told story is a rags to riches journey—beginning in a place and with a jarring set of experiences that could have destroyed his life. But Steve’s refusal to give in to those forces, and his resolve to create a better life, shows a courage and resilience that is an example for many of us to follow.” —Stedman Graham, author, educator Home is the place where our life stories begin. A Chance in the World is the astonishing true story of a boy destined to become a man of resilience determination and vision. Down in the dank basement, amidst my moldy, hoarded food and beloved worm-eaten books, I dreamed that my real home, the place where my story had begun, was out there somewhere, and one day I was going to find it. Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives a terrifying existence. Caught in the clutches of a cruel foster family and subjected to constant abuse, Steve finds his only refuge in a box of books given to him by a kind stranger. In these books, he discovers new worlds he can only imagine and begins to hope that one day he might have a different life, that one day he will find his true home. A fair-complexioned boy with blue eyes, a curly Afro, and a Polish last name, he is determined to unravel the mystery of his origins and find his birth family. Armed with just a single clue, Steve embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, only to find that nothing is as it appears. Through it all, Steve’s story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, no matter how great our misfortunes, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a place where love awaits.

"In an intense tale of psychological suspense, a San Francisco psychiatrist becomes sexually involved with a female patient who suffers from multiple personality disorder, and whose pathological ex-husband is an Oakland homicide detective--from a Los Angeles Times Book Prize-winning author. Dr. Eldon Chance is a brilliant, lonely, forensic neuropsychologist with a long track record of getting involved with damaged, complicated women. While apartment hunting after separating from his wife, a series of bad decisions leads to Chance sleeping with a patient named Jaclyn Blackstone. Unfortunately her ex-husband is an Oakland homicide detective and the jealous type. Meanwhile, Dr. Chance meets a young man who goes by "D"; Chance believes he is a war-veteran, but he is in fact a deranged loner and self-styled Samurai skilled in the art of the blade. D is fascinated by Chance's tales of his tormented and increasingly dangerous affair with Jaclyn and advises him that her ex-husband will find a way to destroy Chance. As Detective Blackstone does indeed threaten the doctor, Chance and D plan a counter-strike. Meanwhile Chance continues his steamy affair with Jaclyn Blackstone (or is it one of her multiple personalities?) But the sexually voracious "Jackie Black" has a story that is far more complex and darker than he could have ever imagined ... Gritty, twisted, and impossible to put down, the surprises keep coming in Chance until the final page has been turned"--