Franny Parker

Franny Parker
Author: Hannah Roberts McKinnon
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2009-05-26
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1429947624

"Rings on a tree tell a story," Franny Parker tells Lucas Dunn. "They tell you about its seasons, if they've been plentiful or not." So far, the rings of Franny's life have been marked by her family, their farm, their dusty little Oklahoma town – all of it so familiar. But in the summer of her thirteenth year, the Dunns move in next door, harboring painful secrets. From the moment Franny meets Lucas, the two begin a friendship that introduces Franny to the large world beyond her barnyard fence. As their town endures one of the harshest droughts in decades, Franny learns that those in need are not just those others you hear about in church or school; they can be injured wildlife or even the family next door. When her own family suffers a loss, Franny must find the courage to look beyond her sadness to aid a friend in need. This tender, beautifully written debut novel is the story of a summer full of promises and pain, a season that, although one of the hardest in Franny Parker's life, turns out to be plentiful.

The Darlings

The Darlings
Author: Hannah McKinnon
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2023-05-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1982195533

On a secluded stretch of Cape Cod, a wedding is being planned at a beloved beach house—only for a long kept secret to emerge that hurtles both the wedding and the family off course, in this fresh, lyrical new novel from the acclaimed author of the “charming and warmhearted” (PopSugar) The Summer House. At age ninety-two, Tish Darling is the matriarch and protector of what’s left of the Darling family fortune, including the decades-old beach house, Riptide. Located on the crook of Cape Cod, it’s a place she once loved but has not returned to in decades, since a tragic family accident one perfect summer day. Still, she is determined to keep Riptide in the family. Even if that means going back there on the cusp of her granddaughter’s wedding. Even if it means revealing someone else’s truth. Her daughter-in-law Cora has her own complicated feelings surrounding Tish’s return as well as doubts about her place within the Darling family. After all, Cora came into the family carrying a secret that her husband promised to keep for her forever. Tish’s sudden return to Riptide may force everything they’ve worked so hard to protect out into the light. Meanwhile, Cora’s eldest daughter, Andi isn’t exactly looking forward to her little sister’s wedding so soon after her own divorce. To make matters worse, her ex has arrived on the Cape with his insufferable new girlfriend. Andi has no idea how she’ll be able to survive this family reunion…until she bumps into an old friend from the past. A friend who may just offer her a second chance. As the three distinct generations of Darling women arrive at Riptide, they have no idea that this summer will forever change them. One old secret, kept with the best of intentions, threatens to not only divide the family, but shatter each member’s sense of who they really are. Can the ties that bind survive, when the history you’ve always been told turns out to be untrue?

The Lake Season

The Lake Season
Author: Hannah McKinnon
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2015-06-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1476777640

Includes reader's guide questions for discussion.

The Summer Club

The Summer Club
Author: Hannah McKinnon
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2024-07-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1668025183

Hannah McKinnon, the acclaimed author of the “charming and warm-hearted” (PopSugar) The Summer House, returns with a fresh beach read about a group of outsiders threatening the status quo at an exclusive New England beach club. Mayhaven is the best keep secret in Massachusetts. Tucked between old cedars and a spring-fed lake, the Mayhaven beach club has long been the ultimate escape to understated exclusivity. It’s the place where Darcy Birch is supposed to be experiencing the best summer of her life, but there are a few things standing in her way. Her high-strung mother won’t stop hovering over her, her father is consumed by his job as president of Mayhaven, where she works as a summer camp counselor and things are not as rosy as they seem, and her neurodivergent little brother is struggling to live with a measure of independence not everyone is ready for. Then there is the matter of the new neighbors. Flick Creevy, his mother, and stepfather have arrived in town, parking their enormous RV, not to mention all-night music and clouds of marijuana, in the Birches’s perfectly landscaped backyard. Flick is not interested in the perfect summer or the girl next door. Pushed to get a job at Mayhaven by his mother, who has her eyes on a new life for their family, his own eyes have been opened to the ways of the upper crust. Even though Mayhaven prides itself on being an inclusive association of good New England families with good New England values, the fact remains: either you’re on the inside or the outside. As the heat of summer increases, it’s soon clear that the members of Mayhaven will have to struggle to stay cool in this sharply written and refreshing new novel that is perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Jennifer Weiner.

Secret Missions of the Suffragettes

Secret Missions of the Suffragettes
Author: Jennifer Godfrey
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2024-07-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1399013971

Over two evenings in March 1912, more than 250 women – old and young, rich and poor, strong and delicate – were arrested and charged with using hammers and stones to smash the windows of shops and offices across London. The youngest amongst them was 19-year-old teenager glass-breaker and Kent working maid, Ethel Violet Baldock, while the eldest was 79-year-old Mrs Hilda Eliza Brackenbury, owner of suffragette safe house, Mouse Castle, in Campden Hill Square. These two evenings would later become known as the Women’s Social and Political Union’s window smashing Great Militant Protest. The protest, driven by WSPU leader Emmeline Pankhurst, was against the government and their refusal to include women in their reform bill, which would give women the right to vote. Secret Missions of the Suffragettes examines these two evenings in great detail, before going on to explore 'behind the scenes' of the movement; the safe houses and rest homes used by the history-shaping women involved, together with stories of the women themselves, as well as their self defense training and use of disguises and alias names, all of which were needed to be a part of such a militant campaign. Discover their stories, motives, plans, tactics and antics as Jennifer Godfrey explores the connections, friendships and collaborations that would help change the course of history for women in Britain.

Coming of Age

Coming of Age
Author: Robert L. Fisher
Publisher:
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2003
Genre: Earth scientists
ISBN:

Positively Morbid

Positively Morbid
Author: Cara Johns
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press Inc
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2023-05-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1509248854

Parker came to the West Coast seeking peace—but the murders in her past are catching up with her. Now a meditation instructor, Parker wants two things: to run on the Oregon beaches with her dog Mouse, and to leave behind the murders that threw her life off track. She’s practicing a positive mindset when her new outlook is shaken by a voice from the past—a once-beloved man who betrayed her in a time of suspicion and murder. When she discovers a client’s body on the beach, she begins to understand—her tainted history is repeating itself, and the danger is only beginning.

Bows and Piccolos

Bows and Piccolos
Author: T. Sunshine
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2018-11-28
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 154627006X

When Grace Dawson and Mason Hamilton meet, sparks fly. Grace meets the love of her life the day he is leaving for basic training. The feeling is mutual and is just as deep for Mason. They write letters to one another, getting to know each other on a whole new intensity and neither knowing this kind of love existed until it was theirs. It’s 1972, and the Vietnam War is still raging on, full of danger and sorrow. Mason promises he’ll be back, and Grace promises she’ll be waiting. But is it a promise Mason can keep? Grace never believed in love at first sight, but she now knows, without a doubt, it’s real. It’s strong, and it’s pure. Her heart will never be the same, and she wouldn’t have it any other way—for true-love stories never end.

How to Behave in a Crowd

How to Behave in a Crowd
Author: Camille Bordas
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2018-08-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0451497554

A witty, heartfelt novel that brilliantly evokes the confusions of adolescence and marks the arrival of an extraordinary young talent. Isidore Mazal is eleven years old, the youngest of six siblings living in a small French town. He doesn't quite fit in. Berenice, Aurore, and Leonard are on track to have doctorates by age twenty-four. Jeremie performs with a symphony, and Simone, older than Isidore by eighteen months, expects a great career as a novelist—she's already put Isidore to work on her biography. The only time they leave their rooms is to gather on the old, stained couch and dissect prime-time television dramas in light of Aristotle's Poetics. Isidore has never skipped a grade or written a dissertation. But he notices things the others don't, and asks questions they fear to ask. So when tragedy strikes the Mazal family, Isidore is the only one to recognize how everyone is struggling with their grief, and perhaps the only one who can help them—if he doesn't run away from home first. Isidore’s unstinting empathy, combined with his simmering anger, makes for a complex character study, in which the elegiac and comedic build toward a heartbreaking conclusion. With How to Behave in a Crowd, Camille Bordas immerses readers in the interior life of a boy puzzled by adulthood and beginning to realize that the adults around him are just as lost.

AT THE CORNER OF LOVE AND HEARTACHE

AT THE CORNER OF LOVE AND HEARTACHE
Author: Curtiss Ann Matlock
Publisher: Harlequin
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2013-04-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1460361970

Life is just about as good as it gets in Valentine, Oklahoma…. In this funny and poignant sequel to Cold Tea on a Hot Day, Valentine’s own Marilee James is engaged to Tate Holloway, the new editor of the Valentine Voice, a man whose sweet Southern sensibilities and melting kisses have convinced her to take a leap of faith. But marriage is a nerve-racking proposition—especially when she’s got a special-needs son and an abandoned niece to care for. As she stands at life’s crossroads, Marilee needs a push in the right direction. That push, ironically, comes from Stuart James, Marilee’s ex-husband and her son’s father. Gone these two years, he’s come back at the most inopportune time, pushing Marilee to think long and hard about the road she’s taking. But Stuart, with his charm, his talent and his own secrets, is exactly what Marilee’s heart needs to move into the arms of the right man…and into the happiness that’s waiting right around the corner.