Jessica Keebler, director of the Los Angeles County Bureau of Adoptions in 1955, faces an almost insurmountable crisis. There's a logjam of unadoptable babies and a severe lack of adequate foster homes for these children. The crux of this issues rests with a statute in California's adoption law stating ..". an interracial child is a non-white and may be given only to a Negro family."Since Negro family applications to adopt are as rare as rain in the Mojave desert, the backlog of interracial babies threatens the structure of Keebler's department and her mental health. When Paul and Anne Barlin, a white family, say they will adopt a child "of any color, any national origin," Keebler believes she may have found a way to resolve this backlog of babies.To make this unusual adoption a reality, she must have the courage to flaunt the law or stand up to the state legislature and ask them to repeal the law. Her actions will determine if one at-risk child will be placed in a loving home. This one case has the potential to change the landscape of adoption forever.

In 1903 in oppressive Russia, fifteen-year-old Yussel Reinerman must masquerade as a Christian to be accepted as an apprentice shoemaker. Despite shearing his Orthodox earlocks, isolating himself from his family, and denying his culture, his guise is ultimately discovered. Desperate and on the run for his life, Yussel boards a ship for America, where he seeks the freedom to live fully, practice his religion, and pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. As the ship docks in Ellis Island, New York, after a hellacious two-week voyage, Yussel is anxious to put his newfound shoemaker skills to work. Despite knowing no one in America, Yussel still feels immensely relieved to have escaped the Russian madness. As he changes his name to Joseph and slowly begins building his new life in a country where he finally feels acceptance, he falls in love and marries Hannah, an Orthodox Jew who bears him two sons. Joseph can hardly believe his success as he and his family revel in the frenzied prosperity of the 1920s-but all of that is about to change. In the compelling sequel to "The Yellow Line, " Joseph must attempt to bring his family back together again after tragedy shatters their seemingly perfect life.

Born in 1916 to Jewish immigrants, Paul Barlin graduates from high school and is dumped into the Depression. From that point on, his life is interwoven with historical events of Depression era America. In his own words, Barlin tells of coping with "Christian Only" notices in the scarce want ads, unfair treatment from union busting industries, and his own personal struggles with male-female relationships. He hitchikes across the country to see what he can of America, following closely the progress of the Spanish Civil War and Hitler's aggressive takeover of Europe. He finds his voice when he joins a theater group formed with Works Progress Administration funds and, later, when he discovers self-expression through dance. In Los Angeles, he makes history of his own with a landmark change in California's adoption law.

In 1903 in oppressive Russia, fifteen-year-old Yussel Reinerman must masquerade as a Christian to be accepted as an apprentice shoemaker. Despite shearing his Orthodox earlocks, isolating himself from his family, and denying his culture, his guise is ultimately discovered. Desperate and on the run for his life, Yussel boards a ship for America, where he seeks the freedom to live fully, practice his religion, and pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. As the ship docks in Ellis Island, New York, after a hellacious two-week voyage, Yussel is anxious to put his newfound shoemaker skills to work. Despite knowing no one in America, Yussel still feels immensely relieved to have escaped the Russian madness. As he changes his name to Joseph and slowly begins building his new life in a country where he finally feels acceptance, he falls in love and marries Hannah, an Orthodox Jew who bears him two sons. Joseph can hardly believe his success as he and his family revel in the frenzied prosperity of the 1920s-but all of that is about to change. In the compelling sequel to "The Yellow Line, " Joseph must attempt to bring his family back together again after tragedy shatters their seemingly perfect life.

Jessica Keebler, director of the Los Angeles County Bureau of Adoptions in 1955, faces an almost insurmountable crisis. There's a logjam of unadoptable babies and a severe lack of adequate foster homes for these children. The crux of this issues rests with a statute in California's adoption law stating ..". an interracial child is a non-white and may be given only to a Negro family."Since Negro family applications to adopt are as rare as rain in the Mojave desert, the backlog of interracial babies threatens the structure of Keebler's department and her mental health. When Paul and Anne Barlin, a white family, say they will adopt a child "of any color, any national origin," Keebler believes she may have found a way to resolve this backlog of babies.To make this unusual adoption a reality, she must have the courage to flaunt the law or stand up to the state legislature and ask them to repeal the law. Her actions will determine if one at-risk child will be placed in a loving home. This one case has the potential to change the landscape of adoption forever.

Even the streetwise detectives in King County, Washington, are baffled by the death of fourteen-year-old Andrew Waterford. On the surface, the case is just another teenage suicide, but the police can find no trace of Andrew's fingerprints on the gun. Then the forensic lab discovers the fingerprints of all four remaining Waterford family members on what could now be labeled a murder weapon. But this is not the last shocking Waterford secret to be revealed as a result of their son's death.

In "From Andrew, With Love" we are introduced to sensitive, tormented young Andrew in vivid flashbacks through his short, troubled life. An awkward loner lacking the natural charm and athleticism of his two siblings, Andrew suffers the sting of being an outsider in his own home. The question is, did a member of the family commit a crime to keep the Waterford reputation intact?

Will Andrew's death finally force the Waterford family to face their problems, or will it shatter their bonds forever as the final, sinister secret is exposed? A thrilling novel filled with suspense and intrigue, "From Andrew, With Love" portrays in chilling detail the lengths to which a family will go to hide their darkest dysfunction.

Three generations of the Reinerman family desperately search out ways to survive the anti-Semitism of the Czarist Empire. Grandparents Elihu and Sarah flee the massacre of the Jews in the Novgorod ghetto in 1865. They head north to Riga where the Holy Host has not yet painted the yellow line around Riga's Jewish ghetto. They save their young sons, Herschel and Duvvid, but lose their lives. The boys are raised in foster homes. Thirty years later Herschel runs a successful brokerage in Riga to support his wife and two children. Fifty miles from Riga, Duvvid works on Count Levidov's estate to support his wife and three sons. Approaching Easter, the Holy Host inflames the Christian population against the Jews. Duvvid's family's Passover visit to Herschel's house has to be postponed because Jews are subject to attacks on the road to Riga. Only Christians are allowed to serve the three-year apprenticeship to learn a trade. Herschel, allied with Reverend Vilitsin, trains Jewish boys to masquerade as Christians. The Holy Host paints the yellow line around the Riga ghetto further restricting the lives of Jews. Herschel changes his nephew Yussel's name to Joseph and rushes him to Reverend Vilitsin to be trained as a Christian. The Riga ghetto is torched. Their homes destroyed, the Reinerman families scatter to find any measure of safety. Igor, a rabid activist for the Holy Host uncovers Joseph's masquerade and Joseph flees for his life to America.

Fifteen year-old Jill is a talented dancer but a failing student, yet pretends to her mother Ellen that "school is fine." She continues to spend her time with parties and dating rather than study. One date goes too far and Jill is panicked about possible pregnancy. Jill continues her downhill slide until Ellen receives a letter from school that Jill will be suspended if she doesn't turn her grades around.

Shocked, Ellen grounds Jill big time; no dance, no dates, no parties; only study until she passes her finals. But can that work with a teen-ager? Jill tries hard to get her life back on track but an old boyfriend tricks her away for an overnight. That's no way to study for a test. Will she ever get to pass her finals and dance again?