Family Tree Fiction

In the five novellas that comprise The Orange Tree, Carlos Fuentes continues the passionate and imaginative reconstruction of past and present history that has distinguished Terra Nostra and The Campaign. From the story of Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean, to the fate of Hernan Cortes's two sons, to the destruction of the Spanish city of Numantia by the Romans and the annihilation of Hollywood by Acapulco, Fuentues couples the epic grandeur of the spiritual and the historical with the many pleasures of the flesh.

Are you ready for a presidential adventure? Jack and Annie are! They are whisked back to Washington, DC, in 1861. Jack can’t wait to meet Abraham Lincoln himself! But the new president is too busy to see them, as he is desperately trying to save a nation in crisis. It’s a race against time as Jack and Annie try to aid a president and a troubled nation!

In the small town of Larksville, the Pike family is hopelessly out of step with the daily rhythms of life. Mrs. Pike seldom speaks, while Mr. Pike maintains a forced stoicism. Only their 10-year-old, Simon, seems able to acknowledge that their world has changed. He just doesn't understand why. The Pikes may choose to stand still, to hide from an unnamable past, but the strange shroud over their home cannot be contained.

Fourteen-year-old March Wong knows everything there is to know about trees. They are his passion and his obsession, even after his recent falls - and despite the state's threat to take him away from his mother if she can't keep him from getting hurt. But the young autistic boy cannot resist the captivating pull of the Pacific Northwest's lush forests just outside his back door.

This coming of age story rides the ups and downs of Lucy's rollercoaster of emotions resulting from too many secrets and rules. Lucy has just turned 14 and is starting the eighth grade. She lives with her mom and grandmother, both free thinkers.

Little Ida is a spruce tree that grows up with a family in Appleton, Wisconsin. Planted next to the house, with a bench nearby, she watches and listens to the comings and goings of Mama Ida, Papa George, and their five daughters, all of whom are unconventional for their time, from the Depression into the early 1970s. Even though Little Ida can’t talk, she certainly has many thoughts and opinions as she observes and chronicles births, deaths, and other family milestones, bringing history to life.

Fungi and human families are the threads that tie the fabric of all these tales together. In The Freaky Fungal Family Tree, there are few things that are as they appear to be. You’ve been duly warned. Now, from this point on - listen at your own risk!

Sprout’s final adventure is about to begin and it’s his most important one yet. When there’s a mission to be undertaken, you can be sure Sprout’s at the front of the queue for a spot on the team, especially when the aim is to find the place where all those banished by hare dares have been sent. He has a very good reason for wanting to go. He needs to find out what happened to his pa. It turns out that it’s quite a long journey and involves running, magic, flying, danger, and more magic. There’s even a point at which Sprout is put in charge of a train.

In the peaceful Wiltshire valley of Essington St Mary, architect Corin Drayton stumbles upon a ghastly new building development that is set to destroy the tranquil atmosphere and Edwardian features of this quiet neighbourhood. He is horrified. For only recently has he inherited - and spent his life savings on renovating - a home for himself and his newly pregnant wife Lucia in Larch Tree Lane. From the cottages and farms to the local shop, pub and old manor house, residents' lives are set to intertwine, relationships bloom, and both romance and heartache lie ahead.

If the preacher's wife's petticoat showed, the ladies would make the talk last a week. But on July 5, 1906, things took a scandalous turn. That was the day E. Rucker Blakeslee, proprietor of the general store and barely three weeks a widower, eloped with Miss Love Simpson - a woman half his age and, worse yet, a Yankee! On that day, 14-year-old Will Tweedy's adventures began, and an unimpeachably pious, deliciously irreverent town came to life.

David Murphy never knew much about kids. But when his brother dies unexpectedly, he is granted custody of his six-year-old nephew, Troy. He already has his hands full running his business, and he has no idea how to help the grieving boy. When Troy runs off one day, David finds him at a park playing with an adorable and rambunctious dog - who leads him to Sophie.

They call Gabriela "Tree Girl". Gabi climbs trees to be within reach of the eagles and watch the sun rise into an empty sky. She is at home among the outstretched branches of the Guatemalan forests. Then one day from the safety of a tree, Gabi witnesses the sights and sounds of an unspeakable massacre. She vows to be Tree Girl no more and joins the hordes of refugees struggling to reach the Mexican border. She has lost her whole family; her entire village has been wiped out.

Gryff Morgan, a church-going Kentucky family man, hides a dark secret. Living under an assumed identity to avoid extradition to Argentina, not even his twin sons, Travis and Chase, know their comfortable lives are built on the proceeds of drug smuggling. Only his wife, Gwenna Garland—a failed singer—knows the truth of his Welsh origins.

When cousin Annie invites Henry and his big dog, Mudge to a family reunion, they can't wait to go meet lots of new relatives and hear lots of good stories. But are all those relatives on the porch, in the yard, and even in the trees at Annie's house really ready to meet Mudge-and experience sloppy kisses full of dog drool?

Maine, 1969. After losing her parents in a car accident, aspiring artist Annalisa Mancuso lives with her grandmother and their large Italian family in the stifling factory town of Payton Mills. Inspired by her mother, whose own artistic dreams disappeared in a damaged marriage, Annalisa is dedicated only to painting. Closed off to love, and driven as much by her innate talent as she is the disillusionment of her past, Annalisa just wants to come into her own.

In Beneath The Willow Tree, the eighth book in the South Carolina Sunsets series, listeners are introduced to two women who have inherited a beachfront home in Seagrove. These two women were raised by the same foster mother but despised each other. The twist is that the foster mother's will states that the two women must work together and use the home for a good cause to inherit it. They must then decide whether to keep the home and live there together or sell it and split the proceeds.

Charlotte is trying to navigate being a mother of two children on the spectrum, while suffering from her own crippling anxieties. The unique challenges that families face with one child on the spectrum are hard enough. But she has two who both have their own unique needs. She and Matthew have been together over twenty years and seem to struggle more and more with each day. Matthew is trying to be there for her, but how do you ask for help when you don't even know how to help yourself? Their love for each other and their boys is the fuel that keeps them going and fighting every step of the way.

Salam's grandpa says that olive trees are strong and that their roots run deep in their Palestinian land. They connect everyone—from the farmer who presses the olives into oil to the baker who uses the oil in his taboon. Salam plants her own seed and is eager to see it grow. She waits... she waters... she asks the seed to hurry... until finally...a sprout! But one day soldiers come and destroy everything in their path...including Salam's new olive tree. Salam is crushed—though she doesn't have to worry. Her grandpa gathers their neighbors and, together, they plant olive trees.

Everything that you’ve always loved about Ruskin Bond is back. His mesmerizing descriptions of nature and his wonderful way with words - this is Ruskin Bond at his finest. Listen in as Rusty tells the story of his grandfather’s relationship with the trees around him, who’s convinced that they love him back with as much tenderness as he loves them.

Twelve-year-old Sonnet's family has just moved across the country to live with her grandfather after her nana dies. Gramps's once-impressive apple orchard has been razed for a housing development, with only one heirloom tree left. Sonnet doesn't want to think about how Gramps and his tree are both growing old—she just wants everything to be okay. Sonnet is not okay with her neighbor, Zeke, a boy her age who gets on her bad side when he tries to choose her grandpa to interview for an oral history assignment. Zeke irks Sonnet with his prying questions.