On a frigid January night in 1937, a fierce windstorm arrives in an already ravaged western Kansas, bringing with it the most tragic of Deborah Nelson's experiences with the Depression and Dust Bowl on her western Kansas farm.

Deborah has already seen more than her share of hardship in the years since her husband, Christian, disappeared and left her a single mother in charge of their farm. For six years, Deborah and her neighbors, Victor Whitesong and the Goodmans, have valiantly battled relentless windstorms with limited success.

Now, as a new year of drought and dust begins, Deborah rides out to check her fences and finds a neighbor's child dead in a drift of dirt. Sadly, it is only the beginning of more challenges. Measles hits the community's children, including Deborah's son. Desperate for help, Deborah must send her remaining children away. Emotional and health problems worsen in the community. In the meantime, she must deal with Sheriff Stoddel, who hates her because he believes she is Indian. He is convinced she and Victor have killed Christian. The only saving grace is her loving relationship with Victor, as she hopes for rain and prays that a world war is not imminent.

Sky Bird continues the saga of one woman's struggle to endure adversity and find joy in the uncertainty pervading America in the late 1930s.

While running along the seawall that borders Nipe Bay in the sugar mill town of Preston, Cuba, three Cuban children, Lina, Emilio, and Angela find a waterlogged suitcase. They soon learn the bag is debris from a tragic plane crash a failed hijacking. Two months later, thousands of Fidel Castro s supporters are shouting

On her fourteenth birthday, Holly gets her wish: a horse all her own. Shabang is a striking mare with a sleek, mahogany coat and white stockings. For four years, Shabang is Holly's beloved pet and proud show horse. The young woman and her equine companion have a tremendous respect for and deep understanding of one another. Both are devastated when they are torn apart. Shabang and another horse, Nitro, are taken from their homes and left in the harsh wilderness of Arizona, where food and water are scarce. The wild herd that gallops across the area shuns the two lost horses as intruders, leaving them to fend for themselves. The horses face hardship and danger more dreadful than either one of them ever imagined, and they long for the days when they had owners who loved them and treated them with dignity and kindness. As a grieving Holly dreams of being reunited with Shabang and does everything in her power to find the horses, Shabang does all she can to ensure Nitro's survival in the wild, as well as her own. "Shabang's Story" is the inspiring tale of the unbreakable bond between a girl and her horse and how love can help conquer all obstacles.

An epic novel of breathtaking scope, "The Lords of Navarre" is skillfully conceived and masterfully written. It traces a Basque family's history from the last Ice Age to the present, an untold story of a people still speaking the haunting voices of its Cro-Magnon ancestors.

Lacambra-Loizu weaves a compelling chronicle of successive generations of Basque warlords who settle in the western Pyrenean uplands. Over the course of centuries, their destinies and fortunes become intertwined with those of Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart, the Black Prince, Sancho "el Fuerte," Cesare Borgia, and Ferdinand and Isabel of Castile.

"The Lords of Navarre" is an authoritative, meticulously researched account of the Basques, their lives as early hunters and farmers, the dawning of Christianity in their land, their fierce battles to fend off Celts, Romans, Franks, Moors and Castilians from their beloved highlands.

Dr. Milton Stafford had nothing but love and support for his wife; charismatic, outspoken talk show host Meredith Nicholson, when she announced her intentions of running for President of the United States. If he had known what dark forces were at work against Meredith, their family and the country's survival, he might not have been so eager. will ultimately face in the race, however, has a past filled with dark secrets. He's a ruthless Gulf War Veteran with a taste for blood, yet he's charmed the American voters with his tough talk and charisma. But he has an Achilles heel; he's afflicted with an illness, that baffles both science and government and only Meredith's husband Milton can develop the antidote to save him. the life of his family, but the existence of America as a free nation. before the November election, Milton puts his horrible plan into effect. In the turmoil that ensues, Gerald Revo dies of a mysterious medical condition and his chief advisor is horrifically maimed. Stafford becomes the country's First Gentleman.

After years of self-destructive behavior and hard luck, former publicist James "J.R." Cronyn finds love with the talented and graceful Kate Winfield. Her support and his newfound faith in God give him the strength to reunite with his estranged daughter, Elizabeth, and his son, Bobby, the owner and CEO of a successful computer company. As J.R. builds bonds with his children, things are finally looking up in his life.

When Bobby tells J.R. that God has asked him to give a percentage of his money away, J.R. knows exactly what Bobby should do. He convinces Bobby to buy a large quantity of a particular drug that cures women and babies who are stricken with the HIV/AIDS virus. Bobby consents and agrees to join his father on a humanitarian mission to South Africa.

Father and son journey through the startling, yet beautiful landscape of South Africa with two fully equipped mobile clinics and two highly trained and experienced medical teams. Together, they deliver medical aid to hundreds, even thousands, of women and children. Often, when J.R. and Kaila, an extraordinary native woman, visit neighboring villages in search of women and babies in need of HIV/AIDS testing, they are confronted by angry young males who - because they refuse to accept the truth about the dreaded disease - curse and threaten them with physical harm. On his journey, J.R. meets Natasha, a beautiful and talented orphan, whom he wants to adopt, but they all face great danger when she is kidnapped and held ransom for $1 million.

J.R. never dreamed he and his son would venture down such a hazardous path, but he will do whatever it takes to save Bobby and Natasha, even if it costs him his own life.

It is the year 2021 and Kaela is twenty-three years old when her father shares his secret about an extraordinary event that changed his very existence fifteen years earlier. She was taught many lessons in moral principles growing up, but it's rare that the most profound of them would be put to the test. A convergence of events gives her father the opportunity to teach her one of the greatest lessons of all.

Thirty-seven-year-old script supervisor Jared Dunkin, called J., is camping in the corner of his inherited house above Hollywood's Sunset Strip. In his move, he brought only his autograph collection and his Barcelona chairs. Orphaned and disconsolate, J. is doing nothing with his love of film and very little with his history degree.

Out of the blue, he meets thirty-year-old Mary Ellen Higgen?called Emmy?while at a voting precinct on a February Tuesday and decides she might be the girl for him. But when he raves to his grandmother about Emmy, she warns him not to see the girl again?although she doesn't say why.

Everyone in Hollywood has a personal celebrity. For J., it's his grandmother, who came to Hollywood in the late forties as Miss South Dakota and third runner-up to Miss America. She made movies and married the head of make-up as he started the successful line of Ingenue Cosmetics. Emmy's celebrity is her late, swashbuckling, movie star grandfather who had made a film with J.'s Grandstar. Although they?re in love, J. and Emmy may have too much in common. Just as he finds a career, J. finds his personal life spiraling out of control in a spectacular fashion worthy of a soap opera.

He's a hulking six-foot-four Irishman, who comes to America with his wife, Maggie, and wants nothing more than to make a decent living for his family of seven children. But fate has other things in store for Patrick O'Connor. His body is crushed, his family values are questioned, and his integrity is tested beyond belief. Can any man even one built like a "blooming oak tree" withstand the onslaught of the relentless adversity that this one man must face? He has only the love of his devoted family to help him. Will they be strong enough to support this giant of a man a man they affectionately call Dada, a man known as

The United States is invaded by thousands of immigrants each year, who arrive by air, boat and by individuals crossing our very porous borders. Most are illegal.

Are you a person who likes to walk in new places when no one knows where you are or what you re doing, and your choices are exactly yours alone?

If so, you will understand Sarah, who was never able to do this until one day, at an Alabama truck stop, she escapes from Joseph, her oppressive husband, by asking for a ride from a stranger. She survives no, thrives on spunk, ingenuity, and a deep need for freedom. She does her best to change her identity and to hide from Joseph, but it 's not clear that he won t find her and exact a fearsome punishment.

Dessie Harper faces a crossroads in her life. She's lost her cousin and lover, gained a brother, and carries an unborn child. During a tropical getaway to Montego Bay, Jamaica, Dessie meets a captivating man named Daniel-but even the prospect of romance can't deter her from what she needs to do. She reveals her situation to her faithful friends, Vicki, Sharon, and Debra. With their help, she formulates a plan to begin the next phase of her life. That plan involves quitting her job, moving to New York, and keeping her pregnancy a secret from her mother, Ruthie, who Dessie feels would be ashamed of her daughter. In addition to the trouble of looking for work to support herself, however, Dessie fears for her life. Her lover, Ray, threatened to kill her when she demanded financial support for her child. She'll do anything to protect herself and her baby. In this sequel to Junie Boy's Funeral, Dessie navigates the many twists and turns that life throws at her as she seeks to improve herself and find love and acceptance.