"Set in South Carolina during the tumultuous summer of 1964, The Secret Life of Bees also ushered young Lily Owens, a girl transformed by the power and divinity of the female spirit, into the canon of modern-day heroines. Lily and her fierce-hearted black 'stand-in mother escape the racism of their hometown and find refuge with an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, whose world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna is mesmerizing."--Publisher's...

The Age of Innocence centers on an upper-class couple's impending marriage, and the introduction of a woman plagued by scandal whose presence threatens their happiness. Though the novel questions the assumptions and morals of 1870's New York society, it never devolves into an outright condemnation of the institution. In fact, Wharton considered this novel an "apology" for her earlier novel, The House of Mirth, which was more brutal and critical. Not...

When Auden impulsively goes to stay with her father, stepmother, and new baby sister the summer before she starts college, all the trauma of her parents' divorce is revived, even as she is making new friends and having new experiences such as learning to ride a bike and dating.

Rudyard Kipling's epic rendition of the imperial experience in India is also his greatest long work. Born in India and growing into early manhood, Kim is the son of an Irish soldier born under British Imperial rule in 19th century India. Left in the care of a half-caste woman, Kim is free to explore the back allies and bazaars of Lahore. But when he meets with his father's old regiment he trades his native clothes for European suits and abandons his...

Jill goes along with the rest of the fifth-grade class in tormenting a classmate and then finds out what it is like when she, too, becomes a target.

Stolen From Home and sold into a harsh life as a sled dog in northern Canada, Buck must quickly learn to survive. He soon takes his place as leader of the hardworking team, and his strength and courage become legendary among men. But the call of the wild is strong, awakening primal feelings of a life among wolves... One of the greatest of all wildlife stories, The Call of the Wild will enthrall today's readers as it has since its first publication...

Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters--each more beautiful, brilliant, and eccentric than the next--dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes. Though they've weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister's lead all the way to Munich, inciting rumors that she's become Hitler's mistress. As the Nazis rise in power,...

In 1910, orphaned Maia, sent with her governess to live with eccentric relatives in Manaus, Brazil, endures many hardships before fulfilling her dream of exploring the Amazon River.

A marked departure from Edith Wharton's usual ironic contemplation of the fashionable New York society to which she herself belonged, Ethan Frome is a sharply etched portrait of the simple inhabitants of a nineteenth-century New England village. The protagonist, Ethan Frome, is a man tormented by a passionate love for his ailing wife's young cousin. Trapped by the bonds of marriage and the fear of public condemnation, he is ultimately destroyed by...

Gr 5-7-Luke, a third child, hides quietly in his house, eluding the Population Police because he lives in a society in which families are only allowed two children. Now he has a chance to come out of the shadows by taking on an assumed identity and leaving home. This sequel to Among the Hidden (S & S, 1998) has Luke, now Lee, entering the Hendricks School for boys and a completely new existence where he feels lost and confused by his surroundings....