As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

Maddy Donaldo, homeless at twenty, has made a family of sorts in the dangerous spaces of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. She knows whom to trust, where to eat, when to move locations, and how to take care of her dog. It's the only home she has. When she unwittingly witnesses the murder of a young homeless boy and is seen by the perpetrator, her relatively stable life is upended. Suddenly, everyone from the police to the dead boys' parents want to...

When an ex-baseball player discovers he has been used as a political pawn in a fake goodwill drive, he attempts suicide.

Marlena Wenger, a young aunt from the Beachy Amish caring for her infant niece, finds comfort and hope from an Old Order Amish mother and her family who extend friendship to a homeless man, whose few possessions include a collection of love letters

They call them Travelers. They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes-they just like to stay on the move. And now somebody is killing them. Lucas Davenport's adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman Traveler she'd befriended in San Francisco. The woman thinks somebody's killing her friends, she's afraid she knows who it is, and now her male companion has gone missing. She's hiding out...

An angry mob, fed up with a deadly virus that has wiped out most of the population, attack a school to rid their city of those they suspect are spreading the disease. One man must rescue his sister and fight his way out, against the armed militia.

No place is a permanent home for Lydia. But then one day, everything changes when her mom takes her somewhere new that sparkles with spectacular joy: the library.

Police Detective Harry Lyon is caught in a whirlwind of terror that threatens to sweep away not only him but his partner and everyone he loves.

Lee Gulliver never thought she'd find herself living on the streets--no one ever does--but when her restaurant fails, and she falls deeper into debt, she leaves her old life behind with nothing but her clothes and her Toyota Corolla. In Seattle, she parks in a secluded spot by the beach to lay low and plan her next move--until early one morning, she sees a sobbing woman throw herself into the ocean. Lee hauls the woman back to the surface, but instead...