orphans

"1980: Beth Soames is fourteen years old when a kind couple finds her playing the violin at her orphanage's yearly fund-raiser. The Averills take her home with them to Raven Hall, a rambling manor on the Norfolk coast. There she runs wild with their daughter, Nina, and they become fast friends. At times, Beth even dreams she's truly part of the family--until she's asked to take part in what seems like a harmless game--and nothing is ever the same. Present day: Sadie Langton is an actress struggling to make ends meet when she lands a well-paying gig attending a weekend party. Her anonymous employer sends her a suitcase of clothing, a dossier of the role she is to play, and instructions--it's strange, but she needs the money, and when she sees the stunning manor she'll be staying at she can't resist the chance. In person, Raven Hall is even grander than she'd imagined--even with the damage from a fire decades before--but the walls seem to have eyes. As the game she is meant to be leading begins, it becomes . . . apparent their unseen host has plans for all of them--including her"--Provided by publisher.

After his father's death, seventh-grader Sam West is whisked from Louisiana to Oklahoma, where he discovers a mysterious tree trunk that leads to a world where Pa is still alive.

In London during World War II, Alice enters quarantine with her boyfriend Alfred, whose tuberculosis doctors think might kill him by morning. She reads him their favorite story--"Alice in Wonderland"--and soon has difficulty separating reality from the story. Eventually Alice is forced to choose between the comfort of the story and the pain of real life.

Elizabeth, eleven, spends Christmas break at Winterhouse hotel under strange circumstances, where she discovers that she has magic, and her love of puzzles helps her solve a mystery.

In 1939, after cruel treatment at her orphanage renders her mute, Lucy runs away and joins the circus, working with the elephants and unaware that the orphanage matrons are hunting for her.

"Who will be the first to discover the secret of flight! Yesterday, Magpie was one of the best thieves in all of France. But an encounter with a boy dangling from the sky will change her life forever. And even though it ends in disaster, Magpie becomes enthralled by the idea of flying over the rooftops of Paris like the dangling boy. His family, the Montgolfiers, are desperate to be the first to discover the secret of flight. And Magpie has some ideas of her own. As the shadow of her thieving past looms over her, she'll realize that flight may be her only escape. In a test of bravery, imagination, science, and friendship -- Magpie, Pierre, and their pet birds are in a race against time. It'll take two children, a chicken, a duck, and a sheep to help them find the answers. But others, too, are determined to discover the Montgolfiers' invention..."--Provided by publisher.

"After their death, Spindrift's parents leave behind one keepsake--a glass orb containing a magical orchid that has the power to make all her wishes come true, but the allure of this extraordinary orchid puts Spindrift's life in danger, leaving her to wonder whether a wish is just a curse in disguise"--Provided by publisher.

"A mysterious gothic Christmas tale set in a frost-bound Victorian country mansion. When orphaned Seren Rees is given a mysterious package by a strange and frightened man on her way to her new home, she reluctantly takes it with her. But what is in the parcel? Who are the family who must not be spoken of, and can the Crow help Seren find Tom, before the owner of the parcel finds her?"--Provided by publisher.

Fleeing abusive relatives and extreme poverty in Mexico, young Santiago endures being detained by ICE while crossing the border into the United States.

"Twelve-year-old Elfina lives with her grandmother in in Paraguay. When a distant relative offers to have Elfina come live with her in the city so she can attend school, Elfina's grandmother sends her off for a better life. But life with her relatives isn't what Elfina thought it would be, and soon Elfina finds herself far away from home, living in Canada, and kept as a domestic servant by the family" -- Amazon.