Adult

It is 30 years from now, and we have colonized the moon. American Fred Fredericks is making his first trip, his purpose to install a communications system for China's Lunar Science Foundation. But hours after his arrival, he witnesses a murder and is forced into hiding. It is also the first visit for celebrity travel reporter Ta Shu. He has contacts and influence, but he too will find that the moon can be a perilous place for any traveler. Finally, there is Chan Qi. She is the daughter of the Minister of Finance, and without doubt a person of interest to those in power. She is on the moon for reasons of her own, but when she attempts to return to China, in secret, the events that unfold will change everything.

Donna Weaver has put everything she has into restoring The Breakers, an old bed and breakfast on a remote stretch of beach in Galloway. Donna's guests, a contentious group of estranged cousins, soon realize that they’ve been here before, years ago. Decades have passed, but that night still haunts them: a 16th birthday party that started with peach schnapps and ended with a girl walking into the sea. Each of them had made a vow of silence: “lock it in a box, stitch my lips, and go to my grave.” But now someone has broken the pact. Amid the home-baked scones and lavish rooms, someone is playing games, locking boxes, stitching lips. And before the weekend is over, at least one of them will go to their grave.

It has been years since Helen Franklin left England. In Prague, working as a translator, she has found a home of sorts --- or, at least, refuge. That changes when her friend Karel discovers a mysterious letter in the library, a strange confession and a curious warning that speaks of Melmoth the Witness, a dark legend found in obscure fairy tales and antique village lore. As such superstition has it, Melmoth travels through the ages, dooming those she persuades to join her to a damnation of timeless, itinerant solitude. To Helen, it all seems the stuff of unenlightened fantasy. But, unaware, as she wanders the cobblestone streets, Helen is being watched. And then Karel disappears.

A woman grieves a miscarriage, haunted by the Buddha’s birth. An artist with schizophrenia tries to survive hatred and indifference in small-town India by turning to the beauty of sculpture and dance. Orphans in India get pulled into a strange “rescue” mission aimed at stripping their mysterious powers. A brief but intense affair between two women culminates in regret and betrayal. And fragments of history, from child brickmakers to slaves in Renaissance Portugal, are held up in brief fictions, burnished, made dazzling and unforgettable. In 16 remarkable stories, Chaya Bhuvaneswar spotlights diverse women of color facing sexual harassment and racial violence, and occasionally inflicting that violence on each other.

Beth has always known there was something strange about her daughter, Hannah --- the lack of emotion, the disturbing behavior, the apparent delight in hurting others. Sometimes Beth is scared of her and what she could be capable of. Luke comes from the perfect family, with the perfect parents. But one day, he disappears without a trace, and his girlfriend, Clara, is desperate to discover what has happened to him. As Clara digs into the past, she realizes that no family is truly perfect, and uncovers a link between Luke's long-lost sister and a strange girl named Hannah. Now Luke's life is in danger because of the lies once told and the secrets once kept. Can Clara find him before it's too late?

The lower classes must give 10 years in service to Britain’s powerfully gifted rulers. With one uprising crushed by the glittering elite, commoners and aristocrats alike now take sides for a final confrontation. At the center of it all are Abi Hadley and her brother, Luke. Each has reason to hate the ruling Jardine family. Abi, who was once their servant, now seeks revenge for a terrible wrong. Luke was imprisoned on their whim --- but his only hope may be an alliance with the youngest and most powerful of the clan, the cold and inscrutable Silyen Jardine. Risking everything to end a bright and shining tyranny, Abi, Luke and Silyen find themselves bound by a single destiny. Their actions will change their fates --- and the world --- but at a cost almost too terrible to contemplate.

Football is the heartbeat of Brownwood, Texas. Every Friday night, for as long as assistant principal Tylene Wilson can remember, the entire town has gathered in the stands, cheering their boys on. But the war has changed everything. Most of the Brownwood men over 18 and under 45 are off fighting. Could this mean a season without football? No one counted on Tylene, who knows more about the game than most men and does the unthinkable, convincing the school to let her take on the job of coach. Faced with extreme opposition, Tylene remains resolute. And when her boys rally around her, she leads the team --- and the town --- to a Friday night and a subsequent season they will never forget.

Firefighter Anne Ashburn was fearless and loved the thrill of fighting fires, pushing herself to be the best. But when one risky decision at a warehouse fire changes her life forever, she must reinvent not only her job, but her whole self. Now an arson investigator, Anne doesn't believe she will ever feel that same all-consuming passion for her job again --- until she encounters a string of suspicious fires setting her beloved city ablaze. Danny McGuire is the best fireman in the county, but is in the midst of a personal meltdown. He is taking risks like never before and seems to have a death wish, until he teams up with Anne to find the fire starter. But Danny may be more than a distraction, and as Anne narrows in on her target, the arsonist begins to target her.

Nicole Chung was born severely premature, placed for adoption by her Korean parents, and raised by a white family in a sheltered Oregon town. From childhood, she heard the story of her adoption as a comforting, prepackaged myth. She believed that her biological parents had made the ultimate sacrifice in the hope of giving her a better life, that forever feeling slightly out of place was her fate as a transracial adoptee. But as Nicole grew up --- facing prejudice her adoptive family couldn’t see, finding her identity as an Asian American and as a writer, becoming ever more curious about where she came from --- she wondered if the story she’d been told was the whole truth.

Allyson Worthy, daughter of the renowned homicide detective Christopher Worthy, has landed a dream internship with the Venice police. On her first day, she is assigned to assist with a bizarre case --- the apparent suicides of two wealthy Americans in the city. Linking the two persons are their similar cancer diagnoses and strange incisions on their bodies. The family of the second victim doubt the suicide verdict and hire Christopher Worthy to look into the death. After speaking at a conference in Rome, Father Nicholas Fortis is asked by the Vatican to look into the recent theft of relics, bones of saints, from Venetian churches. As clues fall into place, Allyson is unexpectedly put in danger as she unknowingly agrees to rendezvous with the killer.