After her sojourn in England, vivacious Francie Nelson strikes out on her own—but this time she’s not reluctant to do it. Her goal? To become a famous artist. Unfortunately, after she unexpectedly ends up spending a year in Portugal, she is required to serve as companion to her ailing Aunt Lollie. Alas, the art lessons she so longed for must be set aside. Oh, but wait! Maybe there’s hope. Not to be thwarted, the headstrong and impetuous Francie manages to go to an art school after all. And while she’s developing her skills—and her Portuguese—she soaks up the seductive European culture and, oh yes, indulges in a bit of romance along the way.

A New York Times Notable Book: A luminous, deeply affecting story of divorce, remarriage, and parenthood. Peter and Emma, two single parents who have found love again after failed first marriages, dream of a peaceful and happy blended family with each of their daughters under one roof. They navigate this treacherous territory with the best of intentions, but face resistance from the girls, who, like many children of divorce, find their relationships tinged by grief, anger, and resentment. Emma’s three-year-old daughter, Tess, takes to the arrangement while Amanda, Peter’s sullen and unhappy seven-year-old, views it as a disaster rather than a fresh start. Over the course of this emotional powerhouse of a novel, Amanda becomes increasingly hostile and alienated—until one night she commits an act that threatens the already fragile bonds of the fledgling family. Set on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, This Is My Daughter is a skillful and sensitive portrayal of the challenges facing modern families from master of the contemporary novel Roxana Robinson, whose acute observations of domestic life invite comparison to John Cheever and Henry James.

Every winter, a young girl flies to Haiti to visit her Auntie Luce, a painter. The moment she steps off the plane, she feels a wall of heat, and familiar sights soon follow — the boys selling water ice by the pink cathedral, the tap tap buses in the busy streets, the fog and steep winding road to her aunt’s home in the mountains. The girl has always loved Auntie Luce’s paintings — the houses tucked into the hillside, colorful fishing boats by the water, heroes who fought for and won the country’s independence. Through Haiti’s colors, the girl comes to understand this place her family calls home. And when the moment finally comes to have her own portrait painted for the first time, she begins to see herself in a new way, tracing her own history and identity through her aunt’s brush. Includes an author’s note and a glossary.

A distinctive new voice in children's fiction Francie lives with her mother and younger brother, Prez, in rural Alabama, where all three work and wait. Francie's father is trying to get settled in Chicago so he can move his family up North. Unfortunately, he's made promises he hasn't kept, and Francie painfully learns that her dreams of starting junior high school in an integrated urban classroom will go unfulfilled. Amid the day-to-day grind of working odd jobs for wealthy white folks on the other side of town, Francie becomes involved in helping a framed young black man to escape arrest -- a brave gesture, but one that puts the entire black community in danger. In this vivid portrait of a girl in the pre--Civil Rights era South, first-time novelist Karen English completes Francie's world using lively vernacular and a wide array of flesh-and-blood characters. Francie is a 2000 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book.

A delightful novel about alien invasions, conspiracies, and the incredibly silly things people are willing to believe—some of which may actually be true—from the Nebula and Hugo award-winning author of Blackout and All Clear “An absolute blast with abundant humor, copious references to old westerns, and . . . a delightful, intergalactic twist on the romantic comedy.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding—complete with a true-believer bridegroom—she can’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one. Odder still, her abductor is far from what the popular media have led her to expect, with a body like a tumbleweed and a mass of lightning-fast tentacles. Nor is Francie the only victim of the alien’s abduction spree. Before long, he has acquired a charming con man named Wade, a sweet little old lady with a casino addiction, a retiree with a huge RV and a love for old Westerns, and a UFO-chasing nutjob who is thoroughly convinced the alien intends to probe them and/or take over the planet. But the more Francie gets to know the alien, the more convinced she becomes that he’s not an invader. That he’s in trouble and she has to help him. Only she doesn’t know how—or even what the trouble is. Part alien-abduction adventure, part road trip saga, part romantic comedy, The Road to Roswell is packed full of Men in Black, Elvis impersonators, tourist traps, rattlesnakes, chemtrails, and Close Encounters of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth kind. Can Francie, stuck in a neon green bridesmaid’s dress, save the world—and still make it back for the wedding?

Three years ago Francie Hampton shocked the ton by jilting Sir Thomas Spencer at their bethrothal ball when she discovered that he kept several lightskirts. How dare Sir Thomas now ask to marry her sister! Gentle Mary should not be married to a proud, tyrannical rake. But Francie protested too much against the man who long ago had won her heart...though not her hand. Regency Romance by Fran Baker; originally published by Belgrave House/Regency Reads