Hartnett, Sonya

Twelve-year-old Andrej, nine-year-old Tomas, and their baby sister Wilma flee their Romany encampment when it is attacked by Germans during World War II, and in an abandoned town they find a zoo where the animals tell their stories, helping the children understand what has become of their lives and what it means to be free.

A young woman, looking back on her childhood, recounts her farm family's poverty, her father's cowardice, and her younger brother's obsession for digging tunnels and living underground.

This is a novel that explores the many varieties of love, by one of the very best contemporary writers.This magical story, told in the elevated tone of a fable, begins with a visit by a teenage boy to the home of 75-year-old Matilda. She tells him the story of her life with Feather, a man who lived by the sea and had a great affinity for birds and wild creatures. She speaks of her love for him and how, long ago, she had become pregnant but miscarried, and he left her. Her grief was inconsolable for a very long time and she longed to find Feather to ask him, "How can you know love, and lose it, and go on living without it, and not feel the loss for ever?" She eventually finds Feather and he answers her question, and in doing so helps her to deal with her overwhelming loss.

Sent to the English countryside for safety during World War II, Cecily and Jeremy find themselves in the company of a young refugee named May, with whom they encounter two mysterious boys in the ruins of a nearby castle.

Rex and Tabby Jenson and their sons, Colt and Bastian, arrive in Freya Kiley's Australian neighborhood with little fanfare, but their presence sends fissures throughout their modest community.

Hannah and her hands, named Sadie and Ratz, regularly get into trouble, especially when younger brother Baby Boy is around.

"Cecily and Jeremy have been sent to live with Uncle Peregrine in the English countryside, safe from the war, along with a young refugee named May. But when Cecily and May find two mysterious boys hiding out in the ruins of a nearby castle, their extraordinary adventures are just beginning."--Dust jacket.

In 1980s Australia, nearly fourteen-year-old Ariella "Plum" Coyle fears the disapproval of her friends, feels inferior to her older brothers, and hates her awkward, adolescent body but when her glamorous neighbor befriends her, Plum starts to become what she wants to be -- until she discovers her neighbor's ulterior motive.