Lost Souls

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Peggy Hesketh

Octogenarian Albert Honig's most constant companions have always been his bees. Deeply acquainted with the workings of hives, Albert is less versed in the ways of people, especially his friend Claire, whose presence and absence in his life have never been reconciled. When Claire is killed during a burglary gone wrong, Albert is haunted by the loss and by the secrets and silence that hovered between them for so long. Piecing together their shared history, Albert will come to learn both painful truths and the redemptive power of laying the past to rest.

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Gerard Collins

In this gothic, adult fairytale, Finton Moon is a child who feels like an alien within his own family and community. Growing up in the rough town of Darwin, Finton lives with his strict Catholic mother and grandmother, his lawless, faithless father and his two older brothers. While his grandmother has him "right ready for the seminary," Finton's interest lies in books, nature and solitude. Finton's parents quickly discover that he is extraordinary--for he has been born with the ability to heal with his hands. While Finton Moon wants nothing more than to belong, he lives in a world that sees him as other, and his greatest fear is that he will be trapped forever with these people who both misunderstand and abuse him.--Cover, p. [4].

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Leslie Stella

Being yourself can be such a bad idea. For sixteen-year-old Badi Hessamizadeh, life is a series of humiliations. After withdrawing from public school under mysterious circumstances, Badi enters Magnificat Academy. To make things "easier," his dad has even given him a new name: Bud Hess. Grappling with his Iranian-American identity, clinical depression, bullying, and a barely bottled rage, Bud is an outcast who copes by resorting to small revenges and covert acts of defiance, but the pressures of his home life, plummeting grades, and the unrequited affection of his new friend, Nikki, prime him for a more dangerous revolution. Strange letters to the editor begin to appear in Magnificat's newspaper, hinting that some tragedy will befall the school. Suspicion falls on Bud, and he and Nikki struggle to uncover the real culprit and clear Bud's name. Permanent Record explodes with dark humor, emotional depth, and a powerful look at the ways the bullied fight back.

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John Gregory Brown

"Fleeing New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approaches, Henry Garrett is haunted by the ruins of his marriage, a squandered inheritance, and the teaching job he inexplicably quit. He pulls into a small Virginia town after three days on the road, hoping to silence the ceaseless clamor in his head. But this quest for peace and quiet as the only guest at a roadside motel is destroyed when Henry finds himself at the center of a bizarre and violent tragedy. As a result, Henry winds up stranded at the ramshackle motel just outside the small town of Marimore, and it's there that he is pulled into the lives of those around him: Latangi, the motel's recently widowed proprietor, who seems to have a plan for Henry; Marge, a local secretary who marshals the collective energy of her women's church group; and the family of an old man, a prisoner, who dies in a desperate effort to provide for his infirm wife."--Provided by publisher.