The intertwining story of three generations of German immigrants to the Midwest-their clashes with slaveholders, the Dakota uprising and its aftermath-is seen through the eyes of young Asa Senger, named for an uncle killed by an Indian friend. It is the unexpected appearance of Asa's aunt Hazel, institutionalized since shortly after the mass hangings of thirty-eight Dakota warriors in Mankato in 1862, that reveals to him that the past is as close...

"A hefty lot for any author to manage, but Smith does it both subtly and charmingly." - Santa Fe New Mexican on THE SERVANTS

Third in the George Miles Cycle. Simultaneously deadpan and queasily raw, Try is the story of Ziggy, the adopted teenage son of two sexually abusive fathers. He turns from both of these men to his uncle, who sells pornographic videos on the black market, and to his best friend, a junkie whose own vulnerability inspires in Ziggy a fierce and awkward devotion. Terminally insecure and yet inured to sexual brutality, Ziggy questions his two fathers,...

She's seen it all, until…Head Games, a Medical Thriller from Eileen Dreyer-2004 - St. Louis, Missouri-St. Louis death investigator and trauma nurse Molly Burke has seen just about everything, until gifts begin showing up on her doorstep-gifts like human eyes and painted bones-the signature of a twisted serial killer.Complicating the dangerous situation, Molly's 16-year-old nephew unexpectedly shows up on her doorstep, with problems of his own.Now,...

"It is June 1971 and Dominick Pindle, a tender-hearted but aimless Massachusetts teenager, spends his nights driving around with his mother and dragging his wayward father out of bars. Late one evening Dominick's search puts him face-to-face with his father's seductive mistress, Edie Kramer. Instantly in lust, he begins a forbidden relationship with this beautiful, mysterious woman. Before long, though, their erotic entanglement leads to a shocking...

Victor Baxter is a loveless 12-year-old boy, won in a game of backgammon (or was it chess?) by the Captain. Victor (or Jim, as he becomes known) is educated in the ways of the world by the Captain. The drama is seen through Jim's cold eyes but the central figure is the Captain, a devious criminal but whose beliefs and convictions contrast sharply with the barrenness of Jim's existence.

"These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team--even though he can't help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident. When Jaxon's former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship. This is the first step toward his...

After being assigned to perform community service at a nursing home, sixteen-year-old Alex befriends a cantankerous old man who has some lessons to impart about jazz guitar playing, love, and forgiveness.

Buddy Pennington is headed to river country. No one in his village will miss him anyway-- not even his mom, after what he and his bad luck did. He'll be better off with his daddy, Davey Boy Pennington, a wandering soul who has the best luck of anyone Buddy knows. Pop might even teach Buddy his legendary skills at Parsnit, a mysterious card game of magic, chance, and above all, storytelling. No one tells a better story than Pop. But no sooner are Buddy...

"With six of Ramona's seven evil exes dispatched, it should be time for Scott Pilgrim to face Gideon Graves, the biggest and baddest of her former beaus. But didn't Ramona take off at the end of Book 5? Shouldn't that let Scott off the hook? Maybe it should, maybe it shouldn't, but one thing is for certain: all of this has been building to Scott Pilgrim's finest hour"--Amazon.com.