""Julia Vann has a new identity after being forced to leave town because of her twin brother's terrible crime. Julia is the only survivor but she can't remember what happened--at least, that's what she tells the police"--

"All Amanda Jetté Knox ever wanted was to enjoy a stable life. She never knew her biological father, and while her mother and stepfather were loving parents, the situation was sometimes chaotic. At school, she was bullied mercilessly, and at the age of fourteen, she entered a counselling program for alcohol addiction and was successful. While still a teenager, she met the love of her life. They were wed at 20, and the first of three children followed...

"An acclaimed author reflects on his upbringing in a post-World War II blue-collar family and comes to terms with the racism, sexism, and other toxic values he inherited. Love & Fury tells a story that comprises five generations of an American family, examining the continuing impact of history as it shapes the lives of people struggling with the complexities of contemporary life. From the author's grandfather, a "breaker boy" sent down into the anthracite...

"From a child's-eye view, Travis Dandro recounts growing up with a drug-addicted birth father, alcoholic step-dad, and overwhelmed mother. As a kid, Dandro would temper the tension of his every day with flights of fancy, finding refuge in toys and animals and insects rather than the unpredictable adults around him. Dandro perceptively details the effects of poverty and addiction on a family while maintaining a child's innocence for as long as he can....

Frank Falenczyk loves his job. He is a hit-man for his Polish mob family in Buffalo, New York. But Frank has a drinking problem and when he messes up a critical assignment that puts the family business in peril, his uncle sends him to San Francisco to clean up his act. Frank is not the touchy-feely kind of guy, but he starts going to AA meetings, gets a sponsor and a job at a mortuary where he falls for the tart-tongued Laurel, a woman who is dangerously...

Jeannette Walls tells the story about her childhood. She talks about living like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains, retreating to the dismal West Virginia mining town---and the family----her father, Rex Walls, had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfuncion of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves,...

As a sniper with the elite Massachusetts State Police SWAT Team, Bobby Dakota saved a woman and her young son by shooting her armed husband. But vicious rumors begin to circulate the next morning when Bobby loses his gun and his privileges. It turns out the dead man was the son of a prominent Boston judge and had accused his wife of poisoning their son. Facing awkward stares and a crippling wrongful death lawsuit, Bobby begins his own investigation...