Showing results by author "Christina Baker Kline" in All Categories

Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to "aging out" out of the foster care system. A community-service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse.... As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.

London, England, 1840: Evangeline Stokes loses her position as a governess when she finds herself pregnant out of wedlock. After being accused of assault and of theft, she is committed to Newgate Prison, then to a prison ship bound for Australia. On board, she strikes up a friendship with Hazel, sentenced to seven years for stealing a silver spoon. Hobart Town, Australia, 1840: Mathinna is the orphaned daughter of the chief of the Lowreenne tribe. Adopted by the new governor of Tasmania and brought to Hobart to live with the family, she is treated more like a curiosity than a child.

For decades Christina Olson's whole world has been a rocky, windswept point on the coast of Maine, the farmhouse her ancestors fled to from the Salem witch trials. A world she fears she will never leave. As a girl, farm life asked more of Christina than it did her family, her wasting limbs turning every task into a challenge. But the very tenacity that strengthened her may dash her chances for a life beyond her chores and extinguish her hopes for love.

Once happily married with a young son, Jess takes to the road to escape her failed relationship and the disappointment of losing touch with her son. Four years into a nomadic existence, she has learned the hacks of van life and promotes a fantasy version of it on Instagram that bears little resemblance to her eclectic community of fellow travelers. But it’s that camaraderie, and the vastness of the great outdoors, that gives Jess the space she needs to find out what really matters to her. And act on it.

It was an accident. It was dark, it was raining, Alison had only had two drinks. And the other car ran the stop sign. But Alison finds herself trapped under the crushing weight of grief and guilt, feeling increasingly estranged from her husband, Charlie, who has his own burdens. He's in a job he doesn't love so that Alison can stay at home with the kids (and why isn't she more grateful for that?); he has a house in the suburbs and a long commute to and from the city.

Molly Ayer has been in foster care since she was eight years old. Most of the time, Molly knows it's her attitude that's the problem, but after being shipped from one family to another, she's had her fair share of adults treating her like an inconvenience. So when Molly's forced to help an elderly woman clean out her attic for community service, Molly is wary. Just another adult to treat her like a troublemaker.

Entre 1854 y 1929, los llamados trenes de huérfanos partieron regularmente de las ciudades de la Costa Este de Estados Unidos hacia las tierras de labranza del Medio Oeste, llevando miles de niños abandonados cuyos destinos quedarían determinados por la fortuna o el azar. ¿Serían adoptados por una familia amable y afectuosa, o se enfrentarían a una adolescencia de trabajo duro y servidumbre?