Staples, Suzanne Fisher

Hypocrisy and prejudice twist events in such a way as to implicate two children, one from a prominent white family and the other an African-American, in a murder.

In India, a talented dancer sacrifices friends and family for her art.

An unexpected death brings Shabanu's daughter, Mumtaz, and nephew, Jameel, both aged fifteen, to the forefront of an attempt to modernize Pakistan, but the teens must both sacrifice their own dreams if they are to meet family and tribal expectations.

A young Afghan girl, Najmah, befriends an American woman, Nusrat in Peshawar, Pakistan, after Najmah flees her native Afghanistan during the 2001 war; and together they begin a long journey to locate their missing loved ones after the war ends.

Having relented to the ways of her people in Pakistan and married the rich older man to whom she was pledged against her will, Shabanu is now the victim of his family's blood feud and the malice of his other wives.