Imagines the life story of Christina Olson, the subject of Andrew Wyeth's painting "Christina's World," describing the simple life she led on a remote Maine farm, her complicated relationship with her family, and the illness that incapacitated her.

A son returns home to look after his mother, abandoned by his stepfather. The novel follows him as he handles the chores, gets drunk and has a romance on the side. The mother, in a wheel chair and incontinent, extracts a promise that he will kill her if she gets worse. In the background hovers the stepfather, unable to decide whether to return. The setting is a wealthy suburb in Connecticut. By the author of The Ice Storm.

"Four sisters rely on each other--and a bit of mysterious magic--to cope with their mother's illness"--

Rising sophomore Travis and his best friend, Creature, spend a summer in a Eugene, Oregon, trailer park dealing with cancer, basketball, first love, addiction, gang violence, and a reptilian infestation.

"When Honey's family decides to get away from the world to avoid a spreading illness, they drive off in their converted ice cream truck, stumbling upon the valley of horses. Once there, Honey's family can't find the bridge they used to enter, trapping them in the tranquil valley. Seven years pass, and Honey's family has been perfectly self-sufficient, until her father falls ill. To save her father, Honey must find a way to escape the valley of horses."--...

"The magic of the Sunlit Lands has been reset, but that doesn't mean all is well. Unrest and discord are growing by the day, and Hanali is positioning himself as ruler of the Sunlit Lands. But, in order for Hanali to seize control, there must be a sacrifice, one that very few are willing to make. Jason, Shula, Baileya, and others must work together to save the lives of those Hanali would sacrifice for his own gain"--

"The Survivors, their members known only by the order in which they joined, live alone in a rural Colorado mansion. They believe that sickness bears honesty, and that honesty bears change. Fueled by the ritualized Cytoxan treatments that leave them on the verge of death, they instigate the Day of Gifts, a day that spells shocking violence and the group's demise. Enter Mason Hues, formerly known as Thirty-Seven, the group's final member and the only...

"On November 9, 1989, Bernd Zeiger, a Stasi officer in the twilight of his career, is deteriorating from a mysterious illness. Alarmed by the disappearance of Lara, a young waitress at his regular caf�e with whom he is obsessed, he chases a series of clues throughout Berlin. The details of Lara's vanishing trigger flashbacks to his entanglement with Johannes Held, a physicist who, twenty-five years earlier, infiltrated an American research institute...