"Sasha's father sells magic potions. There's only one problem-- his potions don't work. Sasha knows they don't work-- they can't work! Magic isn't real! But everyone in town buys Papa's potions, so Sasha has to take magic into her own hands. When greedy Vadim Gentry asks for a potion of persuasion, Sasha is suspicious. But it's not until he slips it into Papa's tea and orders him to sell the shop that Sasha sees the problem: If Papa says no, everyone...

For Marit Olsen, magic is all about strategy: it flows freely through her blood, but every use leaves behind a deadly ice-like build-up within her veins called the Firn. Marit knows how dangerous it is to let too much Firn build up--after all, it killed her sister--and she has vowed never to use her thread magic. But when Eve, a fellow orphan whom Marit views like a little sister, is adopted by the wealthy Helene Vestergaard, Marit will do anything...

"Heartfelt, fast-paced, and utterly absorbing, The Gilded Girl is Alyssa Colman's sparkling debut novel about determination, spirit, and the magic of friendship. Any child can spark magic, but only the elite are allowed to kindle it. Those denied access to the secrets of the kindling ritual will see their magic snuffed out before their thirteenth birthday. In 1906 New York City, Miss Posterity's Academy for Practical Magic is the best kindling school--and...

"Hesitating to accept James' marriage proposal out of fear of losing her independence, Mary watches over a dying prisoner whose criminal wife holds a deadly grudge against James at the same time an unsettlingly familiar Chinese prizefighter arrives in London." --

With Mom too busy and Dad away much of the time, Belle finds companionship with a household employee who after each day's work takes Belle "hand in hand" to the beach.

In 1650, while Robert, a young medical student, steels himself to assist with her dissection, twenty-two-year-old housemaid Anne Green recalls her life as she lies in her coffin, presumed dead after being hanged for murdering her child that was, in fact, stillborn.

Overview: Young and orphaned, Tom Pippin has just been sold by his greedy uncle to the captain of a great sailing ship bound for America. Although Tom has been sold into slavery, no one can buy or sell his unwavering spirit. Tom longs to be free on the shores of America, but when a pirate's ship captures his boat, the young boy's life changes forever. Pirate Captain Land and his motley crew of men reveal to Tom all of the secrets - and dangers - of...

In 1899, a fifteen-year-old orphan named Hannah obtains employment as a servant in the home of one of Boston's wealthiest families, where she meets a noted portrait painter who seems to know things about her that even she is not aware of, and when she accompanies the family to their summer home in Maine, she feels an undeniable pull to the sea.

While traveling to Bethlehem with his beloved dog, a young servant to one of the Magi worries about finding a gift to give the baby Jesus.