National Network for Equitable Library Service

Easter is a devout Pentecostal, while Anneth is headstrong and restless. The two live in the heart of coal mining country, surrounded by the ghosts of their loved ones. One night, Easter meets El, the man that will become her husband. But their marriage drives a wedge between the sisters and soon Anneth heads to Nashville with a new husband of her own. As time passes, the two sisters struggle to forgive past transgressions, and love one another despite their differences.

It's 1983, and 17-year-old Edward Zanni wants to study acting at Juilliard, but his newly remarried father--who earns too much for Edward to claim scholarship money--refuses to pay. So, Edward enlists the aid of his creative theater pals to swindle the money from his father.

Clay Sizemore loves his home in Free Creek, but he longs for more. Since the death of his mother when he was four, he has felt the absence of family. His father left, and he has no siblings. But finally, through the love of others, he is able to create a place of his own.

Tony faces the daunting prospect of growing up amidst constant religious and cultural uncertainty. His mother is a devoted Catholic, but her influence is challenged by Ultima--a woman with magical healing powers. As Tony follows his own path toward adulthood, he relies on Ultima's wisdom. With her guidance, he is able to forge his unique identity.

Ten-year-old Vivien Leigh wants more than anything to understand the adult world. But when two black nuns come to teach at her all-white Catholic elementary school, everything begins to change. Her father leads a "Concerned Citizens" group aiming to replace the new nuns, and her mother's relationship with their black housekeeper deteriorates.

A lifestyle correspondent for a New York morning television program, Lucinda Trout is tired of reporting on thong underwear, so she heads to the Midwest. There she begins a series of dispatches called "The Quality of Life Report." The reports are intended to feed city slickers' appetites for anecdotes about a simpler life. But as Lucinda finds out, the heartland isn't quite the paradise it seems.

It was more than a century ago that Mark Twain left the notoriously violent Finn, Huckleberry Finn's father, dead, surrounded by such oddities as a wooden leg and women's undergarments. But just exactly how did Finn end up in that room? Clinch takes us on a journey through the mysterious life of an unusual man. Along the way, he introduces us to characters like the Judge--Finn's own frightening father--as well as Finn's sickly brother Will, the hermit Bliss, and former slave Mary, who becomes Finn's lover.

When Walter Burke's army buddy dies in a blood-soaked Vietnamese jungle, Walter finds himself writing a letter to the young man's parents. But as he struggles to put words on paper, all the trauma of his years growing up middle class and black in Birmingham, Alabama floods back into his mind.

Nellie, whose black skin and blonde hair have always made her feel like an outsider, feels more out of place than when she was younger. Her parents are working on a divorce. She's stuck in a car on a road trip with her dark-skinned dad and her white, sassy cousin Jess. Things couldn't be worse--then the Volvo catches fire. As Nellie struggles to come to terms with her parents' separation, she is finally able to define herself in her own terms, finding both friendship and love in places least expected.

At 17, Fay Jones leaves her family's squalid home with $3 in her bra and ragged sneakers on her feet. As she heads for Biloxi,people befriend her, but her impact on their lives is seductive and unpredictable. Beautiful and naive, Fay becomes the catalyst in a chain reaction of desire and violence.