Poverty Fiction

Through 23 connected short stories, the author looks into the lives of the inhabitants of a small town in the American heartland. In a simple and intense style, these psychological portraits of the sensitive and imaginative of Winesburg's population are seen through the eyes of a young reporter-narrator, George Willard. Their stories are about loneliness and alienation, passion and virginity, wealth and poverty, thrift and profligacy, carelessness and abandon.

Celebrated author Jim Harrison, whose robust, tender, and deeply felt books have made their mark on the American literary landscape, here delivers a collection of three novellas infused with all the wisdom and generous spirit that his readers have come to expect.

One of the earliest novels in English, Moll Flanders is the purported autobiography of a heroine who is undoubtedly one of the most lively, convincing, and delightful rogues in literature. Born in Newgate Prison and orphaned soon after, Moll is provided with no opportunities in life, yet she is propelled by an unrelenting drive to overcome her background of impoverishment.

Biltmore House, a palatial mansion being built by the Vanderbilts, American “royalty,” is in its final stages of construction in North Carolina. The country’s grandest example of privilege, it symbolizes the aspirations of its owner and the dreams of a girl, just as driven, who lives in its shadow. Kerry MacGregor’s future is derailed when, after two years in college in New York City, family obligations call her home to the beautiful Appalachians.

Однажды шестнадцатилетняя Марта решает сделать шаг в неизвестность и навстречу свободе. Выскользнув из окна своей комнаты в школе-интернате, она отправляется в, казалось бы, увлекательное путешествие. Марта верит, что знает дорогу и сможет справиться со всем сама. Но лес, в котором она оказывается, гораздо темнее, больше и страшнее любых ее ожиданий. Ей предстоят две недели одиночества, отчаяния, надежды и борьбы за жизнь, которые навсегда изменят не только ее саму, но и случайных людей, оказавшихся втянутыми в эту историю. Мотоциклист, подобравший ее на трассе.

Lei è una ragazza forte che non si arrende agli ostacoli. E' un viaggio nel viaggio, che inizia quando pensa che se non fugge da un destino scritto da altri, la libertà è perduta; un viaggio dentro se stessa e fisico verso esperienze e posti incredibili. Tutto parte da una crisi interiore e da una dura critica alla società occidentale, per arrivare a conoscere la libertà, i sentimenti più nascosti, ritrovare un percorso, e in un abbraccio con culture lontane, creare ponti percorribili da tutti.

Is Justine crazy? Everyone thinks so… Her mother. The kids at school, and the teachers and administrators too. Even the police who pick her up from her night rambles. Maybe them most of all. Justine’s therapist says she is ‘troubled’, but it means the same thing. He thinks that her vivid, reoccurring nightmares and atrocious behavior point to some trauma in her past; but Em, Justine’s mother, can’t explain it. Justine used to have Christian, her best friend and skateboard partner. He was the only one who accepted her.

What do you do with your last day on Earth? There are 27 hours and 15 minutes left until a meteor strikes North America, and for Emerson and everyone else who didn't leave, the world will end. But Emerson's world already ended when she ran away from home last year. Since then she has lived on the streets, relying on her wits and her friend, Vince, to help her find places to sleep and food to eat.

Set in London's backstreet slums, Oliver Twist is the story of a workhouse orphan captured and thrust into a den of thieves, where some of Dickens' most depraved villains preside: the incorrigible Artful Dodger; the barbarous bully Bill Sikes; and the terrible Fagin, whose knavery threatens to send them all to the gallows. This was the first of Dickens' works to depict realistically London's impoverished underworld, and to illustrate his belief that poverty leads to crime.

When home is a car, life is unpredictable. School, friends, and three meals a day aren't guaranteed. Not every town has a shelter where a family can sleep for a night or two, and places with parking lots don't welcome overnight stays. Opin, his brother Emjay, and their mother are trying to get to Los Angeles, where they hope an uncle and a new life are waiting. Emjay has taken to disappearing for days, slowing down the family's progress and adding to their worry.

Angelina and Zack couldn’t be anymore different; one lives in apparent riches and the other in poverty. They meet online and a friendship blooms, but then things in Angelina’s life take a turn for the worst and she finds herself turning to the only person she thinks loves her – Zack. With everything against them, can Zack and Angelina cross the distance to change her life before it's too late?

In the gritty underbelly of Milan, a successful car salesman's life takes an unexpected turn when he encounters a mysterious homeless musician beneath the Corvetto overpass. Drawn to the stranger's haunting melodies, he becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind the musician's fall from grace. As their worlds collide, both men must confront the dreams they've abandoned and the choices that have led them to this moment. Through richly layered prose, Buzzi explores the delicate balance between artistic passion and practical survival.

Will trägt die falschen Schuhe – das weiß er selbst, aber wie soll er es ändern? Es sind ja nicht nur die Schuhe: Auch seine Jacke und sein Haarschnitt sind falsch, er kann die Schulmaterialien nicht kaufen, und oft findet er nicht einmal etwas zu essen, wenn er nach Hause kommt. Seine Eltern haben ihre eigenen Sorgen, und Will versucht alles, um in der Schule so wenig wie möglich aufzufallen. Was ihm nicht immer gelingt. In seiner Verzweiflung gerät er kurzzeitig sogar auf die schiefe Bahn.

On the verge of her thirteenth birthday, Tess's life is falling apart. Her mother is dead. Her father is like a zombie. And now her beloved cat, Alice, has started running into the street when cars go by, trying to get run over. The only thing Tess can think of that might help? Running away. As she ventures from home, Tess stumbles upon a crew of manga-loving goth kids hiding out in the local haunted house performing seances.

One bright spring morning in the woods of France, a soldier, blinded by the war, is found by a little girl named Coco, and her older sister Marcelle. In return for their kindness, the soldier tells the sisters marvelous tales, each story connected to the keepsake he carries in his pocket: a perfect, tiny, silver donkey.

Lucy Lavender loves exploring. After Dad dies, Mom pieces jobs together and struggles to provide for Lucy. When Mom is offered a job in Sea Rock Cove, the coastal town where Dad grew up, Lucy hopes this is her chance to pursue her dream of becoming a marine biologist. On Lucy's first day at her new school, she is excited to go to Sea Rock and see Dad’s beloved sea stars. When Lucy learns the sea stars are dying, she becomes determined to save them. But as Lucy gets involved with the people of Sea Rock Cove, she learns there is a lot more beneath the surface of the town.

Abby doesn’t remember what happened the night she woke up in soot-stained clothes, lying next to a burning building with an unfamiliar boy at her side. But her connection with Sam is immediate and intense. And she has no one else: no family, no home, not even a last name. She and Sam start a new life, just the two of them, and Abby’s deliriously happy - until memories from her past begin to haunt her. And suddenly everything she’s learned to love turns sinister....

Georgie has no idea what to expect when she, Mama, and Peaches are plopped down in the middle of small-town USA - a.k.a. Bogalusa, Louisiana - where Mama grew up and Great Aunt Vie needs constant care. Georgie wants to help out at the once famous family diner that served celebrities like the Jackson 5 and the Supremes, but everyone is too busy to show her the ropes and Mama is treating her like a baby, not letting her leave her sight.

Twelve-year-old Lowen Grover is still reeling from the shooting death of his best friend, Abe, when he stumbles across an article about a small town giving away homes for just one dollar. It seems like the perfect escape from Flintlock and all of the awful memories associated with the city - and to his surprise, his mum, dad, and older brother are all onboard. Only his sister, Anneth, is reluctant to leave her friends and the familiarity (and amenities!) of Flintlock, but with the rest of the family anxious to do what’s best for grief-stricken Lowen, her protests fall on deaf ears. But is the Dollar Program too good to be true?

Now nearly a full-fledged member of the Agency, the all-female detective unit operating out of Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls, Mary Quinn is back for another action-packed adventure. Disguised as a poor apprentice builder and a boy, she must brave the grimy underbelly of Victorian London - as well as childhood memories of fear, hunger, and constant want - to unmask the identity of a murderer.