A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerebeke, Avid Reader Press – After nine-year-old Aubrey Tourvel encounters a strange wooden puzzle ball and an odd well, she suddenly becomes gripped by an illness that sends her small body into spasms and gushes of blood.
Annie Bot, Sierra Greer, Mariner Books – Annie’s body and her mind were designed to be a perfect girlfriend for Doug.
Daughters of Shandong, Eve J. Chung, Berkley – Eleven-year-old Hai was the oldest in a family of girls living in rural China on the wealthy Ang family farm where her grandmother, her Nai Nai, ruled over the other females.
Holiday Country, Inci Atrek, Flatiron Books – Ada was born and raised in California with a Turkish mother and American father, but she and her mother spend their summers at her grandmother’s villa in the Turkish beach city, Ayvalik.
The Berry Pickers, Amanda Peters, Catapult – Joe and Ruthie are the youngest children in a Mi’kmaq family in Nova Scotia. While the family is on their annual trip to Maine to harvest blueberries, four-year-old Ruthie disappears.
Authorlink Chat: The Sun Sets in Singapore, Kehinde Fadipe, Grand Central Publishing – Dara has been working for years to advance to partner in her law firm in Singapore and is almost there. Amaka is a banker with an addiction for luxury goods she buys with passion. Lillian was a concert pianist before she married Warren and moved with him to Singapore.
Authorlink Chat: The River Runs South, Audrey Ingram, Alcove Press – Camille’s life as a Washington, DC lawyer with a loving husband and strong-willed young daughter is hectic but satisfying.
You Were Always Mine, Christine Pride & Jo Piazza, Atria Books – Cinnamon’s life is turned upside down when she finds a white newborn baby in the park where she usually met her friend, Daisy.
Interiew: Between Two Moons, Aisha Abdel Gawad, Doubleday – Amira and Lina are teen-age twin sisters about to graduate from high school in the Arab American enclave of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn.
Interview: The Housekeepers, Alex Hay, Graydon House – The master of the house has just died, and his daughter has taken over.
