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May 1899: Luska,
“almost eight,” lives with her pregnant Mama and disabled Papa in a shtetl—one
of the small villages that dot the Russian countryside. A clever and
resourceful girl, she knows why everyone in her village worries about pogroms.
But her parents’ teachings and whispered fears can’t prepare Luska for
the coming horror, when the Cossacks destroy her shtetl, and everything, and everyone in it. By luck she is spared, but left
orphaned, alone and with only a bundle of old clothes. The memory of her
parents helps her, and she finds her way to the city. But their memory can’t
truly protect her from deceit when Rabbi Hershel and Rebbetzin
Naomi Zedek
take her in.
The
grand Zedek
home provides refuge, but no relief from Luska’s nightmares, which disrupt the family.
After she clashes with the couple’s eight-year-old son, Hershel makes it clear Luska’s
stay must be temporary. Blinded by sorrow, she seeks comfort from Naomi,
unaware of the matriarch’s plan for Luska’s future, or the mystery behind the
unoccupied child’s room in which she’s staying. When she uncovers the tragic
secret behind the room and how it led to Naomi’s duplicity, Luska
must find a way to move past tragedy and deception. Otherwise she’ll drift
through life like a petal in the wind…
Clifford
Blackwell is a likable high-flyer who loves his life—he’s achieved success in
the world of offshore finance and is about to find his match in a beautiful
daredevil girlfriend, Victoria Love. Minding his own enjoyable business, he
unwittingly walks into a twenty-four hour period that knocks his life sideways
and nearly snuffs it. When his Nassau, Bahamas headquarters and
state-of-the-art security is breached, he begins to uncover a complex web of
betrayal that extends from the Chicago Outfit to a member of his own family—and
exposes an illicit operation implicating the National Security Agency (NSA) and
other corruption. When a Swiss banker turns up violently murdered on Cliff’s
super yacht “Banc Royale”, he knows things have gone too far to give up, even
if it costs him everything. And it nearly does, when he comes face to face with
the terrifying truth in the shadowy grey zone of offshore money.
Susan Krajewski
seems to have it all: career, boyfriend, strong social network. She’s even stayed
friends with her ex-husband Frank, despite the fact that he left her when he
fell in love with another man. Beneath the surface, however, you’ll find a
different Susan: a woman masking seriously damaged self esteem and great
emotional pain.
When Frank is diagnosed
with terminal cancer, Susan’s carefully structured world begins to disintegrate.
Although she’s convinced herself that she’s no longer in love with Frank, when
he and his life partner, Clayton, ask for her help, Susan can’t refuse. She
stands by Frank in his final days, juggling his needs with those of her
boyfriend Noah, and with the demands of her career. Susan pays a steep price
for her loyalty. Caught up in his own family crisis, Noah abandons her. She
loses her job. Then Frank dies, and Susan is ambushed by a riptide of grief she
can’t control. In the aftermath of Frank’s death, Susan quarrels with her best
friend Margaret, who doesn’t offer the kind of sympathy Susan wants. But how
could anyone know the depth of Susan’s loss? She’s worked hard at hiding her
feelings.
As Susan sifts
through the wreckage of her life, she wrestles with her fears and emotional
scars and comes to accept that she can’t heal without help. She acknowledges
all that she’s lost and realizes all that she still has. Along the way, she
finds love and support in unexpected places, and as she begins to heal, she
comes to understand that, painful as they can sometimes be, it’s her ties to
others that make life worth living.
Sequel to Reticence of Ravens
In the dark of night, murder strikes on Route
66, and once again Hubert James Champion III finds himself having to face
realities he’d rather run from. Indeed, within two days, Hugh finds himself embroiled
in murder on a national scale, seeking justice for petty-crimes of a local
nature—and very close to home, reviving his skills as a psychologist to help
people who have become friends.
Indeed, his friends need him.
In addition, there are troubling mysteries of
the personal kind still tucked away in the recesses of Hugh’s subconscious. He
may be still “hiding out” in the desert, but East Coast ties continue to haunt
and thwart his building hopes for the future.
Fortunately, he has
his ravens to counsel him, and through it all—the Mojave winds continue to blow…
Shanu,
a vibrant young fellow whose name means “The Watcher,” warns his best friend
Lani to look out for Ashaki, the famous and feared black leopard, as they walk
together in the wilds of the Escan Jungle. Suddenly they hear a blood-chilling roar,
and Lani disappears. Shanu’s world is torn apart, and he will not rest until he
finds his dear friend, or confronts the fierce leopard himself with just his
bow and arrows. He leaves the kind, worried people of his village and his
peaceful life behind, his heart in bitter turmoil. But soon he discovers he is being
followed by the mysterious Ima, who Shanu believes is Lani’s beloved. He tells
her sternly that this is no journey for a girl! But Ima is keeping a secret or
two, and also insists on helping. Shanu cannot change the mind of this strong-willed
young lady, and the two soon face threats and even horror in the great Escan
Jungle, set in the shadows of two looming volcanoes. But along the way, they
learn not only to remain watchful in the jungle against darkness and danger,
but also watchful for life—and its
bountiful and often surprising charms, gifts and wonders…
Shanu
the Watcher is a delightful children’s tale set along the banks of the mighty Qua
Qua River in the fantasy world of the Escan Jungle.
A
brother’s call for her presence in Palm Springs draws Margot Madison-Cross from
her beloved Chicago waterfront—to California’s uncompromising Mojave Desert.
The bright spot—an opportunity to see her niece Camille. But murder quickly rears
its head, and a monumental sand storm, a cave-like Quonset hut, past
repercussions, and a torrential rain storm conspire against her. All the while,
Graham's secret hangs over them, and so much of what Margot must do, is based
upon Lies of Convenience…