Akron Public Library

Ten-year-old Ada has never left her family's one-room apartment. Her bitter mother is too humiliated by Ada's twisted foot to let her outside. But when her little brother, Jamie is going to be shipped out of London to escape World War II, Ada doesn't waste a minute: she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure for Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take in two kids. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read,...

"Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call. Mavis, Alison's estranged mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother's alcoholism and violent abuse and...

That was the day I met Gus, the day I grew a family as if from magic beans, the day she died. That's the point, see? It was the very same day…

Jessie Constable has learned the hard way to always keep herself safe. But meeting Gus King changes everything. Before she knows it, Jessie is sleeping at Gus's house, babysitting his kids, becoming a part of his family. And yet, she can't ignore the unsettling questions. Who does

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When you were a child...-Did your parents tell you you were bad or worthless?-Did your parents use physical pain to discipline you?-Did you have to take care of your parents because of their problems?-Were you often frightened of your parents?-Did your parents do anything to you that had to be kept secret?Now that you're an adult...-Do your parents still treat you as if you were a child?-Do you have intense emotional or physical reactions after spending...

"Allison is drowning under the weight of her manipulative stage magician father. When he brings home the family's first computer, she escapes into a thrilling new world where she meetings Samir, a like-minded new online friend who has just agreed to run away from home with her. After moving to a new town and leaving all of his friends behind, Richard receives a mysterious note in his locker with instructions on how to connect to 'Evol BBS,' a dial-in...

"A riveting and emotionally harrowing debut about two young brothers and their physically and psychologically abusive father. The three of them--a twelve-year-old boy, his older brother, their father--have won the war: the father's term for his bitter divorce and custody battle. They leave their Kansas home and drive through the night to Albuquerque, eager to begin again, united by the thrilling possibility of carving out a new life together. The...

From the bestselling author of The Kiss comes a riveting account of true crime-- the murder of a family in a small Midwestern town-- and the gripping exploration of its haunting aftermath. The Gilley family murders ended a lifetime of physical and mental abuse suffered by Billy and Jody at the hands of their parents. And it required each of the two survivors-- one a convicted murderer, the other suddenly an orphan--to create a new identity, a new...

After the murder of their mother by their father, Lulu and Merry grow up living tenuous lives where Lulu denies he ever existed and Merry dutifully visits him in prison, only to find their lives on the brink of collapse when they learn that their unrepentant and manipulative father is about to be paroled