Margaret Philbrick spent many summers playing tag in the cherry and apple orchards of northern Wisconsin. Her friend Julie grew up on one of those orchards and her life experiences of harvest and loss inspired this story. ******* Like most things it started with one. Grandma could never throw anything out. Like every Grandma in…
I’ve always loved a good story. I lived in my head a lot when I was younger, always forging stories about mysteries or romance or faraway places. From the time I was in middle school I knew that I wanted to write some of those stories. And then life interfered and, although I majored in…
Tomoe /toe-MOE-eh/ Hasegawa is an eleven-year-old girl in seventeenth-century Japan who aspires to be courageous like the samurai. After Christianity is banned and persecutions intensify, Tomoe’s Catholic community flees to a remote island. They are pursued by the regional deputy who wishes to protect the nation from the corruption of foreign ideas. Tomoe’s many attempts…
Can You See Anything Now?, a debut novel, follows a year in the small town of Trinity where the tragedy and humility of a few reveal the reality of people’s motivations and desires. ******* Chapter 1 Margie: early in the morning Of all of the ways that Margie Nethercott could kill herself, she found it…
When an old friend unexpectedly reappears, what is she to do? The chances of this happening were none. After years apart, Jordan Shaw runs into the one person she didn’t expect to see again. During college, he was the one whose friendship meant the most to her, but differences forced them to part ways. Now…
Fifteen-year-old Adriana Nicu lives in the sheltered world of Bucharest, Romania, in the year 1987. Under the rule of Communist president Nicolae Ceaușescu, citizens of Bucharest live with the eyes and ears of the government ever present. Adriana’s future, which will involve becoming an engineer, is locked in against her will. During a visit to…
Charlotte is a successful romance novelist who escapes city life and moves to the small town of Crispens Point in Blackberry County. She immediately connects with some of the quirky but friendly residents and begins to feel at home right away. When a friend invites her to attend a local community church, Charlotte is attracted…
Sugar Birds: A Novel is an evocative coming-of-age story about personal wilderness, trust, and the search for forgiveness. In this selection from the book, ten-year-old Aggie—angry with her unpredictable mother—has accidentally lit a tragic fire that drives her into the rugged Pacific Northwest forest, where suffering will compel her to grapple with the character of…