In this award-winning, coming-of-age novel, ten-year-old Gracie Lee struggles to make sense out of her life as an Arkansas farm girl in the early 1970s. Wise beyond her age yet imbued with child-like innocence, Gracie focuses on the three things that keep her awake at night: Solving the mystery of the man in the gray house; Surviving another school year at Savage Crossing Elementary; and, Saving her alcoholic Daddy from himself (and thereby saving the whole family and wider world). Gracie feels certain there is more to life beyond school and dull church sermons. She worries about the soldiers in Vietnam and wonders what it must be like to have been born Lisa Marie Presley from Tennessee instead of Gracie Lee Abbott from Arkansas. Mostly, she wishes her Daddy wasn't so mean. Gracie's unchecked imagination leads to Nancy Drew-type adventure. Adventure leads to trouble. She confides in unexpected characters and seeks solace in a mysterious gray house beyond the cotton field. When Gracie faces a difficult family situation, she must make a life-altering decision, one that will test the very essence of her character. "At best, most first novels indicate potential. It would be wrong to say that, when reading Talya Tate Boerner's The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee, I was pleasantly surprised. Actually, I was amazed. There's magic here, in a wonderfully-told story that will find a special place in any reader's heart." Jeff Guinn, New York Times bestselling author. "Boerner's prose is a wonderful medium for unspooling Gracie's story, imbued with all the snark, wonder, and colorful details that characterize childhood... The author addresses real, high-stakes issues without slathering them in melodrama or saccharine sentimentality, and her book hearkens back to an older YA tradition of stories of plucky preteen girls, spooky houses, and inevitable tragedies that help mark the turning point from childhood to adolescence. A stirring novel with a distinctive young narrator." Kirkus Reviews

Ten-year-old Gracie Lee knows a few things. She knows which trees are best for climbing. She knows how to walk through the hallway without making a sound on the hardwood floor. She knows if Daddy's crop gets one more drop of rain, the whole family will pay the price. There are plenty of things Gracie doesn't know. These things keep her awake at night. Gracie longs for something bigger and grander and truer, and feels certain there is more to life beyond school and dull church sermons. She worries about the soldiers in Vietnam and wonders what it must be like to have been born Lisa Marie Presley from Tennessee instead of Gracie Lee Abbott from Arkansas. Mostly, she wishes her Daddy wasn't so mean.Gracie's unchecked imagination leads to adventure, and adventure leads to trouble. She confides in unexpected characters and seeks solace in a mysterious gray house beyond the cotton field. When Gracie faces a difficult family situation, she must make a life-altering decision, one that will test the very essence of her character.

Talya Boerner thought she had everything figured out. But on New Year's Day 2011, without making a list of pros and cons or giving the idea any real consideration, she invites her ninety-year-old father-in-law to visit. He needs a temporary place to stay. She needs something. Something permanent she can't quite name. From the moment Gene steps into her kitchen, clutching a crumpled paper bag filled with medication and grieving the loss of his independence, nothing unfolds as she expects.With the generational wisdom of Tuesdays with Morrie and the poignancy found in A Man Called Ove, this story is for every adult who wakes in mid-life to discover an unrecognizable reflection in the mirror along with aging parents who need caregiving. A human and humorous life lesson with a heartwarming reminder that an ordinary old man can have an extraordinary impact on those around him.

Bloodier than Fried Green Tomatoes! Funnier than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre! Welcome to Gil's All Night Diner, where zombie attacks are a regular occurrence and you never know what might be lurking in the freezer . . . Duke and Earl are just passing through Rockwood county in their pick-up truck when they stop at the Diner for a quick bite to eat. They aren't planning to stick around-until Loretta, the eatery's owner, offers them $100 to take care of her zombie problem. Given that Duke is a werewolf and Earl's a vampire, this looks right up their alley. But the shambling dead are just the tip of a particularly spiky iceberg. Seems someone's out to drive Loretta from the Diner, and more than willing to raise a little Hell on Earth if that's what it takes. Before Duke and Earl get to the bottom of the Diner's troubles, they'll run into such otherworldly complications as undead cattle, an amorous ghost, a jailbait sorceress, and the terrifying occult power of pig-latin. And maybe--just maybe--the End of the World, too. Gory, sexy, and flat-out hilarious, Gil's All Fright Diner will tickle your funnybone--before ripping it out of its socket! At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

"Daniel Randolph Deal is a Southern aristocrat, having the required bloodline, but little of the nobility. A man resistant to the folly of ethics, he prefers a selective, self-indulgent morality. He is a confessed hedonist, albeit responsibly so."--Back cover

Where you come from isn’t who you are “Riveting. An achingly beautiful tale told with a singularly fresh and original voice.” —Jocelyn Green, award-winning author of the Heroines Behind the Lines Civil War series Ten-year-old Pearl doesn’t understand a lot of things—why her sister’s brain doesn’t work right, why the preacher yells so much, why Jesus and the president seem to have forgotten all about Oklahoma. But she does know who she is: Pearl Spence, daughter of the esteemed town sheriff. Generous and always ready to help in a crisis, the Spences bring hope to this desolate town, and Pearl is proud of her family. She knows who she is, she knows she is loved, and even in unrelenting hardship, life feels secure. Not even the dust that sweeps incessantly across Red River can quench her hopes and dreams. But someone else seems to know who she is, too, and he makes Pearl uneasy. From the moment the mysterious hobo steps off the train and stares at her with his cold blue eyes, Pearl’s secure world begins to unravel. How does Eddie know her name? Why does he seem to hover everywhere she turns? And why does he act like he knows something about her family that she doesn’t? Pearl is determined to avoid him, but Eddie is bent on forcing his way into her life and disrupting her family’s shaky tranquility. The more he badgers Pearl, the greater her confusion, until the storm within her rivals the swirling of dust and dirt without. “The author does a great job of giving the reader a feel for those dark days in our nation’s history. Very intriguing reading!” —Virgil Dwain McNeil, a Dust Bowl survivor

From the acclaimed author of such novels as "Blood and Grits" and "Childhood" comes a wildly weird and breathtakingly original visit to the rural South that reveals the exotic subculture that erupts in all its glory at the Rattlesnake Roundup in Mystic, Georgia. "No number of adjectives in the thesaurus can do full justice to the dazzlingly bizarre nature of Crews' creations".--"Washington Post Book World".