Central Kansas Library System

"Soon after her mother passes, London ladies maid, Eliza Chapman learns that her father is Ward Redfield--one of the richest men in Manhattan and he has sent a one-way ticket for her to stay with him and his family. He says his two daughters are excited to meet her but Eliza discovers they are actually far less enthused about her arrival. She feels like a fish out of water--suddenly thrust into a whole new world as she is presented to society and...

Keira Johnson, a 50-year-old mother of two grown sons, believes she lives a good Christian life without secrets -- until she discovers a life-jarring fact her late mother kept hidden all her life. Kiera was born out of wedlock, and the man she had always known as her father had adopted her as an infant. Meanwhile, Keira's beloved 17-year-old niece, Kirsten, has just discovered an unwanted pregnancy. Her boyfriend, Jose, is bound for college and Kirsten...

"A sinful act ruins the lives of three people, especially that of Hester Prynne, a young, beautiful, and dignified woman, who has conceived a child out of wedlock and receives a public punishment of having to wear a scarlet "A" on her clothing. Despite Hester's attempts through the years to distance herself from her past and repent for her sins, she continues to be rejected by society. A best-seller upon its publication in 1850, The Scarlet Letter's...

"Maggie, Eliza, and Tricia Sweeney grew up as a happy threesome in the idyllic seaside town of Southport, Connecticut. But their mother's death from cancer fifteen years ago tarnished their golden-hued memories, and the sisters drifted apart. Their one touchstone is their father, Bill Sweeney, an internationally famous literary lion and college professor universally adored by critics, publishers, and book lovers. When Bill dies unexpectedly one June...

At 18, Maggie discovers Tessa, 32, is not a sister, but her mother. Tessa's parents wanted it kept a secret, as did Tessa so she could present herself as a virgin, after being sewn, to billionaire Luke. Maggie's discovery leads to a break, but mother and daughter will reunite when Maggie becomes pregnant.

The son of an Irish immigrant mother and a Jewish peddler father, Adam Arnring grows up in turn-of-the-century America, determined to shape his own destiny, and heads west to build what is to become one of the country's great retail companies, in a richly textured novel spanning three generations and the history of twentieth-century America.