There are little strokes that fell great oaks and often unattended cracks in a diversity of our socio-economic and political institutions can ultimately lead to a total collapse of systems. Cracks and Other Short Stories is an anthology that offers readers an insight into some of the major cracks in our personalities and institutions as a subtle means of encouraging everyone to investigate them further and seek lasting solutions for the good of humanity. Cracks signal that things are out of sorts and need timeous repair, healing and mending before systems become dysfunctional and torturous to humanity. Thus, each story in this impeccable collection deals with specific metaphorical cracks which require problem solving for the betterment of society.

There are little strokes that fell great oaks and often unattended cracks in a diversity of our socio-economic and political institutions can ultimately lead to a total collapse of systems. Cracks and Other Short Stories is an anthology that offers readers an insight into some of the major cracks in our personalities and institutions as a subtle means of encouraging everyone to investigate them further and seek lasting solutions for the good of humanity. Cracks signal that things are out of sorts and need timeous repair, healing and mending before systems become dysfunctional and torturous to humanity. Thus, each story in this impeccable collection deals with specific metaphorical cracks which require problem solving for the betterment of society.

An “eerie, elliptical masterpiece set in a South African boarding school in the early 1960s. . . . First-rate psychological suspense . . . played out flawlessly” (Kirkus Reviews). The members of an elite girls swim team are the reigning queens at their South African boarding school. And then Italian student Fiamma Coronna joins their ranks. Beautiful, athletic, and suddenly commanding all the coach’s attention, Fiamma is the envy of every girl on the team—until the summer she walks into the rural grasslands surrounding the school and disappears. Forty years later, the former teammates return to the school for a reunion, and the memory of that summer emerges like a long buried secret, the shocking, violent truth of what really happened to Fiamma no longer able to be contained . . . “Riveting . . . while evocative of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Picnic at Hanging Rock, Kohler’s writing is so smoothly confident and erotic that she has produced a tale resonant with a chilling power all its own.” —Elle “A stunning and singular tale of the passion and tribalism of adolescence, Cracks lays bare the violence that lurks in the heart of even the most innocent. Shocking, reminiscent of Lord of the Flies . . . conjures up the wildness of the veld and the passion and drama of adolescence . . . peculiarly satisfying.” —The Times Literary Supplement “A disturbing, note-perfect novel. Dissection of evil has rarely been so extravagantly executed.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Polished, compact and chilling . . . Powerful.” —Publishers Weekly A Library Journal and Newsday Best Book of the Year, now a major motion picture starring Eva Green

"Run. Keep running. You're doing the right thing. Lay low. Head down. Don't look back. Just keep running. And whatever you do, don't tread on the cracks..." Leo's world has been turned upside down. Her parents are gone and her bird-loving uncle is getting too close for comfort. She is only sure of one thing...she must get out. In a desperate bid to find the grandparents she never knew, Leo jumps on a train to Glasgow, penniless and stealing food to survive. A nationwide hunt for her begins. Will she track down her grandparents, or will her uncle get to her first?

Sixteen-year-old Alaric discovers how to travel to an alternate reality, where his mother is alive and his place in the family is held by a girl named Naia.

In a small Southern town in 1944, two girls secretly help a seriously ill army deserter, a decision that changes their perceptions of right and wrong. Issues of moral ambiguity and accepting consequences for actions are thoughtfully considered in this deftly crafted story.