Shadow Child

Can you ever escape from the shadows of your past? 'I couldn't put it down!' Sam Blake 'The narrative is multi-layered and bound by emotional integrity.' Candis 'A compelling story of love, relationships, and the grief of two families suffering traumatic losses.' Peterborough Evening Telegraph ____________ Eighteen-year-old Emma has loving parents and a promising future ahead of her. So why, one morning, does she leave home without a trace? Her parents, Cath and Jim, are devastated. They have no idea why Emma left, where she is - or even whether she is still alive. A year later, Cath and Jim are still tormented by the unanswered questions Emma left behind, and clinging desperately to the hope of finding her. Meanwhile, tantalisingly close to home, Emma is also struggling with her new existence - and with the trauma that shattered her life. For all of them, reconciliation seems an impossible dream. Does the way forward lie in facing up to the secrets of the past - secrets that have been hidden for years? Secrets that have the power to heal them, or to destroy their family forever . . . ____________ Readers can't get enough of The Shadow Child . . . 'Make sure you have plenty of tissues nearby, you are going to need them.' Bunnys Pause 'A touching and engaging read.' Sharon Beyond the Books 'A compelling, complex book about the twisting paths of life, loss and hope.' Bookmarks and Stages 'Beautifully written and I can't recommend it enough, it's just so brilliant!' Two Ladies and a Book 'I loved this book.' Varietats 'Overall I thought this was an excellent read, and one I couldn't put down!' Books Cats Etc 'It kept me turning the pages as I was drawn into all their lives.' LibcReads 'A book full of emotion, and a really great read.' Curling up with a coffee 'A truly lovely story that I would absolutely recommend.' Kim's Reading Adventure

Fact and fiction combine in a classic that scared Vermonters out of the woods.

For fans of Tayari Jones and Ruth Ozeki, from National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Rizzuto comes a haunting and suspenseful literary tale set in 1970s New York City and World War II-era Japan, about three strong women, the dangerous ties of family and identity, and the long shadow our histories can cast. Twin sisters Hana and Kei grew up in a tiny Hawaiian town in the 1950s and 1960s, so close they shared the same nickname. Raised in dreamlike isolation by their loving but unstable mother, they were fatherless, mixed-race, and utterly inseparable, devoted to one another. But when their cherished threesome with Mama is broken, and then further shattered by a violent, nearly fatal betrayal that neither young woman can forgive, it seems their bond may be severed forever--until, six years later, Kei arrives on Hana's lonely Manhattan doorstep with a secret that will change everything. Told in interwoven narratives that glide seamlessly between the gritty streets of New York, the lush and dangerous landscape of Hawaii, and the horrors of the Japanese internment camps and the bombing of Hiroshima, SHADOW CHILD is set against an epic sweep of history. Volcanos, tsunamis, abandonment, racism, and war form the urgent, unforgettable backdrop of this intimate, evocative, and deeply moving story of motherhood, sisterhood, and second chances.

In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke, an illegal third child, has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm in this start to the Shadow Children series from Margaret Peterson Haddix. Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside. Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows—does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?

A young girl forms an unforgettable friendship with an elderly neighbor while searching for answers about her family's past in this national bestseller and Pulitzer Prize nominee. Eleven-year-old Clara is struggling to find the truth about her missing father and grandfather and her twin sister, dead at birth, but her mother steadfastly refuses to talk about these people who are lost to her daughter. When Clara begins interviewing Georg Kominsky, a lone old man, for a school biography assignment, she finds that he is equally reticent about his own concealed history. Precocious and imaginative, the girl invents version upon version of Mr. Kominsky's past, just as she invents lives for the people missing from her own shadowy past. The journey of discovery that these two oddly matched people embark upon is at the heart of this beautiful story about friendship and communion, about discovering what matters most in life, and about the search to find the missing pieces of ourselves. McGhee's prose glistens with shrewd truth and wild imaginings, creating a novel that will reverberate in the hearts and minds of readers long after the book is finished.

A desperate child escapes from hiding only to face new dangers in the New York Times–bestselling author’s near future YA adventure series. In a world where the Population Police wield terrifying power, Luke Garner is an illegal third child. After spending his entire life in hiding, he’s found a way to escape—by assuming the identity of a deceased child. But living among other people isn’t going at all how he imagined. Luke now attends Hendricks School for Boys, a windowless building with cruel classmates and oblivious teachers. He knows he has to blend in, but he lives in constant fear that his behavior will betray him. Then one day Luke discovers a door to the outside. He knows that beyond the walls of Hendricks lie the secrets he is desperate to uncover. What he doesn’t know is whom he can trust—and where the answers to his questions may lead him.

In the third installment of Haddix's series about a futuristic society in which families are forbidden to have more than two children, Nina, a secondary character in Among the Impostors, is falsely accused of treason and imprisoned by the Population Police. Her interrogator gives her an ultimatum: either she can get three other child prisoners, illegal third-borns like Nina, to reveal who harbored them and where they got their fake identification cards, or she will be executed. Nina sees a chance to escape the prison and, taking the prisoners with her, quickly discovers their street smarts. But when their food supply runs out, Nina seeks the boy she knew as Lee.

National Bestseller Like many young women, Beth Powning faced decisions of whether and when to start a family. Ambivalence gave way to dreams for a baby, and at age twenty-four she became pregnant. But eleven days past her due date, she delivered a perfect, stillborn son. In this beautifully wrought exploration of motherhood and loss, the acclaimed New Brunswick writer takes us on a powerful journey into the heart of grief and renewal.