Central Kansas Library System

An imprisoned man seeking redemption for his role in a terrible act of harm writes letters to a woman who would start over, protect loved ones and attempt forgiveness after fleeing an abusive marriage.

"When she was just five years old, Melissa Braxton watched her father take her mother's life. Separated from her sister, Lola, at that time, Melissa grew up with a strong desire to help those stuck in abusive relationships. It's why she became a family therapist and opened a domestic abuse shelter.After losing a leg to a gunshot wound in the line of duty, Phil Osbourne has felt like a man without a purpose--until he hears Melissa's story and decides...

The New York Times–bestselling novel "deftly capturing the hidden thoughts" of a child in an abusive home is "haunting" and "not soon forgotten." (Booklist) In many ways, Carrie Parker is like any other eight-year-old girl-playing make-believe, going to school, dreaming of faraway places. But even in her imagination, she can't pretend away the hardships of her impoverished North Carolina home or protect her younger sister, Emma. As the big...

"For fans of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, BABY DOLL is the most tense thriller you will read this year. Held captive for eight years, Lily has grown from a teenager to an adult in a small basement prison. Her daughter Sky has been a captive her whole life. But one day their captor leaves the deadbolt unlocked. This is what happens next ... to her twin sister, to her mother, to her daughter ... and to her captor."-- "You've been held captive in...

"In this unforgettable debut novel, twenty-seven-year-old Tessa, pregnant with her third child and living in a trailer on her mother-in-law's property, encounters the woman she used to love--leading Tessa to question the very foundations of the life she's built. Abandoned by first her father and then her mother, as a girl Tessa is left to live with her abusive stepfather and stepbrother. She survives by finding reserves of strength in herself, and...

"The 1960s have come to a close --it's 1972, and America is changing. So is Deidi's world; she's seven, and her family is moving. As she packs her room and unearths precious objects from her past, her thoughts begin to stray to the years before --to her first memories in 1968, and all that followed. From these reveries unfolds a story of terrible abuse and incredible survival. Through her vivid recollections, the stark landscape of rural America,...