Gone Away Lake - When Portia sets out for a visit with her cousin Julian, she expects fun and adventure, but of the usual kind: exploring in the woods near Julian's house, collecting stones and bugs, playing games thoughout the long, lazy days. But this summer is different. On their first day exploring, Portia and Julian discover an enormous bolder with a mysterious message, a swamp chocked with reeds and quicksand and on the far side of the swamp...a ghost town.



From the spring day in 1962 when Willis Merrill and his pet raccoon arrive in Maywood, Indiana, they are nothing but trouble for Lydia Carson. Lydia nicknames Willis "Ratboy" and wonders why he can't be more like his handsome older brother, Elliot. Life gets more complicated when Lydia alienates Elliot by insulting Willis and comes to a standoff with her mother. In her struggle to make amends with all, Lydia finds an ally in Willis and discovers the good in herself.








Home of the Brave-
A deeply poetic and affecting novel about the contemporary immigrant experience.