On a poor farm near Starkfield in western Massachusetts, Ethan Frome struggles to wrest a living from the land, unassisted by his whining and hypochondrialcal wife Zeena. Zeena's young cousin Mattie Silver is left destitute, and only place she can go is to Ethan's farm. An embittered man and an enchanting young woman meet in such circumstances, unleashing predictable consequences as passions are aroused between the three protagonists.

It is 1934 and Dr. James Delaney deals with the icy grip of the Great Depression in the only way he can. With enormous compassion, he tends to his hurt, sick, and poor neighbors whether they can pay him or not. His patients include New York City's gangsters and Tammany chieftains, vertains and day laborers, prostitutes and housewives. As a doctor, he learns the most difficult secrets about people's lives--secrets he has long since learned to keep...

Jane cares for her mother and sister until her stepfather dies, leaving nothing but debts and Jane's spoiled stepsister behind, but a mysterious boy from the woods and an invitation to a royal ball are certain to change her fate.

Despite her small stature, eight-year-old Chig makes large contributions to her southern Indiana community during the Great Depression.

A thirteen-year-old Ozark boy, unloved by his father, is haunted by desires for his sexually provocative mother, a woman preoccupied with a flashy man who promises to take her away.

It's the summer after Alice's freshman year, she's survived her breakup with Patrick, and she and her friends are looking forwards to their jobs as assistant camp counselors. Alice and her friends spend three weeks working as assistant counselors at a camp for disadvantaged children and cope with all kinds of changes. Alice feels as if she's finally gotten a handle on life. But Alice soon learns that the only thing she can count on is change. Pamela's...

In the first novel, a New England farmer must choose between his duty to care for his invalid wife and his love for her cousin, and in the second novel, Charity Royall enjoys an idyllic summer romance with visiting architect Lucius Harvey.

After winning India's biggest quiz show, Ram Mohammad Thomas is put in jail as authorities question how a poor orphan who has never gone to school could win such a contest.

Country music legend Dolly Parton's rural upbringing in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee provides the backdrop for this special picture book. Using lyrics from her classic song "Coat of Many Colors," the book tells the story of a young girl in need of a warm winter coat. When her mother sews her a coat made of rags, the girl is mocked by classmates for being poor. But Parton's trademark positivity carries through to the end as the girl realizes that...

Set in Tucson's toughest neighborhoods during the late 1980s, this explosive debut follows the disintegration of the Nuñez family and the people whose paths they cross. From crooked cops to prostitutes plying their trade along the "Miracle Mile," each person's destiny is linked by crushing poverty, the brutal codes of the street, and the harsh nature of the desert. In this place of drought and flood, "civilization" is every bit as dangerous as its...