Adult

With tenderness and grace, Ann Shorey invites readers back to the town of Noble Springs, Missouri, for an engrossing story of love's tentative first steps and fragile future in the face of opposition. Readers will find in Rosemary a sympathetic but strong woman determined to thrive in a world that doesn't always understand.

When Chicky Starr decides to take an old, decaying mansion set high on the cliffs overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, everyone thinks she is crazy. Helped by Rigger, a bad boy turned good, and her niece, Orla, Chicky is finally ready to welcome the first guests to Stone House’s big warm kitchen, log fires, and understated elegant bedrooms.

Utina, Florida is a small, down-at-heels southern town about to meet the tide of an economic growth that it hasn't seen in decades. The Bravos, a local family held together in equal measure by love, unspoken blame, and tenuously brokered truces, have been complacent with the stagnant ways of the sleepy town. So when opportunity knocks, tempers ignite, secrets are unearthed, and each of the Bravos is forced to confront the tragedies of their shared past.

Christa Parravani and her identical twin, Cara, were linked by a bond that went beyond sisterhood or friendship. But haunted by childhood experiences with father figures and further damaged by being raped as a young adult, Cara descended into depression, drugs and a shocking early death. A few years later, Christa read that when an identical twin dies, 50 percent of the time the surviving twin dies within two years. First, Christa fought to stop her sister's downward spiral; suddenly, she was struggling to keep herself alive.

Three years ago, John Schwartz received a call: his son, Joe, was in the hospital following a failed suicide attempt. After coming out to his classmates, Joe’s disclosure was greeted with dismay and confusion. Hours later, he overdosed on pills. ODDLY NORMAL is Schwartz’s personal attempt to address his family’s own struggles within a culture that is changing fast, but not fast enough.

A richly imagined novel of family, love, and science set in modern-day London.