problem families

Brothers Tommy and Nathan Bishop, who are very different in nature, spend a couple weeks at their family cottage by the sea with friends and are pulled into a drama that makes them confront the legacy of their abusive father and the tragic death of their mother.

Philadelphia college student Shanna Washington, daughter of an African-American alcoholic and a white socialite, searches for something to heal her emotional wounds from childhood and enters into a damaging relationship with an ambitious track star of mixed race.

Sixteen-year-old Nomi Nickel searches for the truth when her mother and sister disappear from their Mennonite home.

Seven-year-old Callie, silent since a violent incident in her home three years earlier, is dragged off into the forest by her drunk, irrational father Griff one morning, and when her friend, Petra, disappears from her home at the same time, things begin to look very dark for Griff.

The author reflects on her father's control and abusiveness and discusses how she broke free from his rules.

In 1980s Oakland, two teenage African-American sisters named Pinch and Paige escape a violent home, move into an abandoned Victorian mansion, and fall into friendship with a group of misfits and drug dealers, leading to a difficult look at their past choices and the paths their futures could take.

Discusses why families break down and the long-term effects of this on children. Treatment methods are also discussed.

College drop-out Henry Elinsky takes a job at the Central Park Zoo, where he learns that it takes more than a weekly paycheck to make him an adult.

After Scratch and Kevin support her recovery from pills and vodka, Dani is able to face her family's severe dysfunction by getting away from the "game" forever.