"Jesmyn Ward's universally acclaimed memoir shines a light on the community she comes from, in the small town of DeLisle, Mississippi, a place of quiet beauty and fierce attachment. Here, in the space of four years, she lost five young men dear to her, including her beloved brother--to accidents, murder, and suicide. Their deaths were seemingly unconnected, yet their lives had been connected, by identity and place, and as Jesmyn dealt with these losses,...

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. When Zeena's young cousin Mattie Silver is left destitute, and only place she can go is Ethan's farm. An embittered and man and an enchanting young woman meeting in such circumstances unleash predictable consequences as passions are aroused between the three protagonists.

Shuggie Akins is a lonely, overweight thirteen-year-old boy. Glenda, his mother, is the one person who loves him. His purported father is a brutal man and despises the boy. Into this small-town Ozarks mix comes Jimmy Vin Pearce, with his shiny green T-bird and his smart city clothes. When he and Glenda begin a torrid affair, a series of violent events is inevitably set in motion. The outcome will break your heart--Cover p. [4].

Enduring a hardscrabble existence as the children of alcoholic and absent parents, four siblings from a coastal Mississippi town prepare their meager stores for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina while struggling with such challenges as a teen pregnancy and a dying litter of prize pups.

Ethan Frome is the story of a handsome and capable man who is tied to a hardscrabble farm and a monstrous wife. Summer charts the sexual awakening of young Charity Royall from her carefree life in June through her affair in July and August, ending in autumn with her de facto abandonment and marriage of convenience to the man who raised her.

"Still reeling from the scandal that cost him his badge, Randy Mayhill -- fallen lawman, dog rescuer, Dr Pepper enthusiast -- sees a return from community exile in the form of a dead hog trapper perched on a fence. The fence belongs to the late Van Woods, Mayhill's best friend and the reason for his spectacular fall. Determined to protect Van's land and family from another scandal, Mayhill ignores the sheriff who replaced him and investigates the...

"John, an impoverished Scottish minister, has accepted a job evicting the lone remaining occupant of an island north of Scotland--Ivar, who has been living alone for decades, with only the animals and the sea for company. Though his wife, Mary, has serious misgivings about the errand, he decides to go anyway, setting in motion a chain of events that neither he nor Mary could have predicted. Shortly after John reaches the island, he falls down a cliff...

"Salgado's stunning photographs of Brazil's landless rural population (estimated at nearly five million) includes an impassioned and biting preface by Saramago, three poems by Chico Buarque, and extensive captions. Ably translated. A beautiful and disturbing book"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.

Katherine Paterson is back - A new novel from the author of Bridge to Terabithia - based on a completely true historical event. A historical novel about a young Cuban teenager who volunteers for Fidel Castro's national literacy campaign that taught those throughout the impoverished countryside to read.

When small town drifter Sammy Barlach drives into town on the search for his next cold beer and the bunch that'll have him, he gets a lot more than he bargained for. Food, lodging, and the possibility of a better future thanks to redheaded Jamalee and her brother Jason who dream of hitting the big time. But breaks aren't easy to come by if you live in Venus Holler.