Showing results by narrator "Julia Atwood" in All Categories

Do you ever feel strange, gross, chaotic, underappreciated, or like you don’t quite fit in? Great news: you might be a goblin! That means your imperfections and idiosyncrasies are the most awesome things about you, and you can build a more balanced, comfortable, harmonious life by accepting and honoring them—taking inspiration from the frogs, fungus, moss, rocks, and dirt that goblins love.

A Mouthful of Air is a compassionate and wrenching portrait of Julie Davis, a young wife and mother torn between the love she feels for her family and the voice in her head that insists they’d be better off without her. We meet Julie several weeks after her suicide attempt, on the eve of her son’s first birthday. Grateful to be alive, Julie tries her best to appreciate every moment — “this tree, that passing car, the pretzel guy up ahead on the corner. She has, for whatever reason, been given a second chance” — but her emotional demons are unrelenting.

In 1895, a specialist straps five-year-old Katharine Hathaway, then suffering from spinal tuberculosis, to a board with halters and pulleys in a failed attempt to prevent her from becoming a “hunchback” like the “little locksmith” who does odd jobs at her family’s home. Forced to endure her confinement for ten years, Katharine remains immobile until age fifteen, only to find that none of it has prevented her from developing a deformity of her own.

The hurricane of 1900, America’s worst natural disaster, left the island city of Galveston in ruins. Thousands perished, including all 93 children at the Sisters of the Incarnate Word orphanage—except six-year-old Hester, who miraculously survived. Oleander City is the tale of this little girl and the volatile collision between the American Red Cross, the Ku Klux Klan, and one of the most famous boxing matches in American history.

Mary Williams—faced with unexpectedly losing her job and the possibility of losing custody of her daughter as well—answers an unusual help wanted ad. When an ailing man offers her an outrageous proposal that could solve all her problems, Mary takes fate into her own hands and accepts, agreeing to the extraordinary thing this man is asking. It’s a decision that changes everything. Because what Mary thought was true is in fact a lie, and now she faces a new reality that is far more disastrous than anything she could have imagined.

Rebecca finally lives the peaceful life in Nevada that she's always dreamed of with her perfect husband Tom and two adorable boys. Until one morning an old friend shows up out of the blue. Danny disappeared the night of their high school prom. Now she's back. Danny is nothing but a reminder of everything Rebecca escaped - and all the secrets she's kept hidden from Tom. Danny claims she's just stopping by. Rebecca can't tell the truth from the lies. The only thing she can be sure of: Danny's arrival is going to ruin everything she's worked for - and she won't let that happen.

After her parents' deaths on Cape Cod, reclusive 20-something Margo Sharpe lives alone in a crap apartment in South Boston. One problem: she can't afford it. So she rents her spare bedroom to Lucy Somers, a shy, allergic-to-everything schoolteacher. At first, they peacefully coexist; Margo...

Frannie and Lexi were best friends. Sisters of the heart. Partners in crime. But when they got caught, only one of them went to prison. Five years later, ex-con Frannie is back to claim her share of the money they stole, then she’ll disappear and start a new life. Lexi agrees, with one condition: Frannie must stay in town for one month to work on their shattered friendship.

Kole Miller is the best writer at the prestigious Crystal Lake High. But no one knows it - not her creative-writing classmates, or even her academic arch nemesis Colin (a.k.a. Mr. Valedictorian). That’s because Kole’s best work is a secret fanfic based on The Space Game, her favorite show. When Kole’s fanfic wins a major contest, her readership skyrockets. Suddenly, Kole finds herself stuck in the heated ship wars, as her new readers pair characters from the show together as romantic couples.

“Dennis is in possession of hypnotic narrative gifts and a ferocious intellect. With Her Here, she has claimed her place in the literary world.” ―Rebecca Makkai, author of Music for Wartime and The Great Believers “In Her Here, Dennis has written a metaphysical investigation that is...