motherless families

In a London apartment, two young boys grieve their mother's sudden death. Their scholarly father, a scruffy romantic, envisions a future of well-meaning visitors and loneliness. During this time of despair they encounter Crow who antagonizes them, tricks them, heals them, and watches over them. The sentimental bird draws nearer to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him. As weeks turn to months and their pain eventually lessens, the family finally begins to heal.

In early-1970s Detroit, African-American teenager Rae Dodson struggles to care for her ill father, who suffers debilitating migraines, after the departure of her mother and tries to make sense of her parents' dysfunctional relationship and her own future.

Cammie lives with her father, the warden, in an apartment above the entrance to the county jail - so most of the mother figures she's got her eye on are inmates. There's a flamboyant shoplifter named Boo Boo, who dreams of hot fudge sundaes. And a sullen reformed arsonist named Eloda, who works as their housekeeper. Not ideal candidates maybe, but Cammie's nickname isn't Cannonball for nothing. She's a girl who decides what she wants and launches herself at it.

Cammie lives with her father, the warden, in an apartment above the entrance to the county jail - so most of the mother figures she's got her eye on are inmates. There's a flamboyant shoplifter named Boo Boo, who dreams of hot fudge sundaes. And a sullen reformed arsonist named Eloda, who works as their housekeeper. Not ideal candidates maybe, but Cammie's nickname isn't Cannonball for nothing. She's a girl who decides what she wants and launches herself at it.

"Rory Miller thought her life was over when a notorious serial killer set his sights on her, forcing her family into witness protection. But her new home, a remote island with azure blue skies and white-sand beaches, seems like heaven on earth...at least at first. Juniper Landing isn't like other islands. And the truth about the swirling fog that rolls in each morning is even more terrifying than being hunted by Steven Neil. Now that Rory knows about the real Juniper Landing, she must face the most painful truth of all: she can never go home again. From the best-selling author of the Private and Privilege series comes the second novel in a gripping trilogy about a girl who must leave behind the only life she's ever known -- without looking back."--from the back cover.

Anne Elliot, persuaded by family and friends that the charming and handsome Frederick Wentworth is not worthy of her regard, questions her decision to send him away until he returns seven years later, his circumstances much improved.

Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is more delighted than scared when a dead bird is found on the doorstep of her family's decaying mansion with a postage stamp pinned to its beak, and a short time later she comes across a man in the cucumber patch just as he is taking his dying breath.