Серия "Open Door"

BJ, a talented college basketball player, lives and breathes the game. For BJ, life means nothing without hoops. Her mother—an abstract painter—doesn’t get it. Or at least she pretends she doesn’t. Everything changes when BJ accidentally discovers her dad, a man who’s been a shadowy presence throughout her life. As if that’s not enough of a surprise, she begins to suspect that two of her teammates, and her best friends, may actually be her half-sisters. As BJ struggles to keep her eye on the...

A family tale for new readers, from a New York Times Notable author in her stride. A young girl leaves Tokyo with her mother in 1979, carrying her pink suitcase to a new home, a new father and sister, on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Thirty-three years later, her mother's belongings are found packed into boxes, her furniture draped in white sheets. Without so much as a note, she has left the two sisters connected by history, by some idea of family, to look for her. What happens when people...

While organizing a community interfaith Thanksgiving event, a pastor discovers that people of all religious traditions laugh in the same language. He explores the connections between faith and laughter, examining his own holy heritage in dialogue with followers of other faiths. The story culminates with Interfaith Laughter Night, with an open mike that encourages participants of all the faiths gathered to laugh with each other…and at...

Poor Ken. One snide comment about hockey and Kendra, his girlfriend—or “girlfriend coach"—asks him not to call her anymore. How can he win her back? By using his rent money to buy a fortune in hockey equipment and skating with the aging Wildcats. But it’s never that simple, because all of his teammates, Ivan the terrible landlord, Mittens the stray cat, and Franka the sexy scorekeeper are out to get him—all in their own special ways.

For two years, Brother Pete has lived as a monk, in a rundown abbey on the outskirts of a big city. He has run away from his life only to find himself among a group of outcasts and oddballs – from a former child star who's seen better days, to a mean old abbot who makes no secret of his love for drink and his hatred for almost everything else.  It's not exactly what Pete had in mind. Then one day a stranger arrives and throws everything even more off...

Albert Butler once wished to be an artist, but scandal destroyed his life. Now old and sick, he takes us back through his troubled childhood, England’s Blitz, and two passionate affairs. Returning to his former London haunts, he confronts old friends who have never forgiven him his sins, and sets out on a journey along the Thames that will bring him to the final and naked truth about himself.

What do you do when Fate shows up in your rose bed with three-inch canines and retractable claws Robert–not Bob!–Stevenson wakes up one morning in his Vermont home to find a Bengal tiger sitting in his rose garden. Is the tiger real? Or has the illness that has invaded every other part of Robert's body finally and quite literally gone to his head? Real or imaginary, there is no dismounting once you get on the tiger's back.

On any given day, in any given city, countless people are arriving and departing…to visit grandma, to close a business deal, to hook up with a lover, to climb a mountain. Intrepid traveler Luis is trapped in flight delay and has many hours to see and hear and sense his fellow passengers. As he grows more invisible, the kinetic world around him takes on a life of its own. Where can all these people be going? Where in the world do we belong? Part of the prestigious Open Door Series,...

Louis's sister, Emily, is blind. She’s also in the marching band, sculpts, and has the biggest bedroom in the house to accommodate her Braille machine. Everyone thinks her accomplishments are extraordinary, and most think that she can do no wrong. The single person who doesn't feel awe–or pity–for her is Louis, who wishes people would just stop comparing them. He wants his own life. Only a family tragedy can begin to bridge the widening gap between brother and sister. Part of the Gemma...

Suddenly driven from their African home by a war in Biafra, the McCall family washes up in a small town in the San Joaquin Valley. The locals assume they must be glad to be back in the "civilized world." But life in America is lonely, desolate and dull, and the children and their  fragile mother hope that one day they will return to the life they left behind. Their father, a hardened oil man, knows better: war has destroyed any home they may have had. As the...

Sarah Holloway is a frustrated painter, sketching on the backs of shopping lists and sharing her studio with a washer and dryer. Abandoned by her mother, she has tried to hide her childhood wounds by healing others through art therapy. During her daughter’s first two years, she has faked her way through motherhood with the help of women in her neighborhood playgroup. She hopes she has gotten the hang of it when she learns she is expecting another child. Then, a routine test...

The Charles River divides Boston and Cambridge, and the Red Line ties the cities together, traveling through an expanse of class and cultures along its route. When an unlikely combination of riders share an afternoon train, they are surprised to discover what's common in their American experience. Part of the prestigious Open Door Series, originally designed for adult literacy in Ireland, these books confirm the truth that a story doesn't have to be...