Frank Carlson Library

It is 1936 and Kate Merritt, the middle child of Victor and Nadine, works hard to keep her family together. Her father slowly slips into alcoholism and his business suffers during the Great Depression. As her mother tries to come to grips with their situation and her sisters seem to remain blissfully oblivious to it, it is Kate who must shoulder the emotional load. Who could imagine that a dirty, abandoned little girl named Lorena Birdsong would be...

"Bad boy Cameron Murphy said farewell to Eternity Springs from the back of a sheriff's van 20 years ago, also leaving behind Sarah Reese, the town darling he believed would be better off without him. But when a vacationing Sarah walks into Cam's dive shop in Australia, along with the daughter he never knew he had, Cam wonders whether some things are just meant to be. Sarah returns home accompanied by a flood of feelings for Cam and the worrisome truth...

For Rebecca Macklin, an ordinary summer brings about an extraordinary change of heart when she discovers that her aging father has been wandering the Dallas streets alone, and his wife, Hanna Beth, has landed in a nursing home. Now Rebecca must put aside old resentments and return to her childhood home. In this moving story of separation and forgiveness, two women will unravel the betrayals of the past and discover the true meaning of family.

"Emotionally wounded single mom Sarah Price has come home to Serenity, South Carolina, for a fresh start. With support from her two best friends -- the newest generation of the Sweet Magnolias -- she can face any crisis. But sometimes a woman needs more than treasured friends can provide. Sexy Travis McDonald may be exactly what Sarah's battered self-confidence requires. The newcomer is intent on getting Sarah to work at his fledgling radio station...

A fascinating novel of the friendship and creative partnership between two of Hollywood's earliest female legends--screenwriter Frances Marion and superstar Mary Pickford--from the New York Times bestselling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue and The Aviator's Wife It is 1914, and twenty-five-year-old Frances Marion has left her (second) husband and her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live independently...

"Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness. The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother's former nurse, the little half-brother isn't allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there's Merit. Merit Voss...

"Set in the years 1950-1970 in a changing America and London, follow[s] two married couples - ministers and academics - whose intricate bonds of faith and friendship, jealousy and understanding, are tested by the birth of an autistic child"-- Charles and Lily, James and Nan. They meet in Greenwich Village in 1963 when Charles and James are jointly hired to steward the historic Third Presbyterian Church through turbulent times. Their personal differences...

"Centers on Abel and Vera Paisley, a working-class Jamaican couple striving to build a better life for their children. Abel travels to London in the early 1960s in search of fortune. Instead, he sees an opportunity to escape the drudgery of his life by faking his death and assuming a new identity. Vera, now a widow, is racked with guilt over her husband's "death" and takes out her grief on her children, Irene and Vincent. The effects of Abel's decision...

The arrival of a new family of rabbits in the village causes one of Mrs. Cottontail's Thanksgiving pies to disappear but provides the opportunity fo4r everyone to show forgiveness and generosity.

"The one summer Faith will never forget is the time she fell in love as an enamored teenager. She thought their love was forever, only for her younger sister, Casey, to steal the man of her dreams. Faith and Casey have been estranged ever since, but at the request of her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Faith agrees to a family reunion. Both sisters will spend the summer holidays at their childhood beach house, the place where their feud began....