The novel "follows five American expats who come to Budapest in the early 1990s to seek their fortune. They harbor the vague suspicion that their counterparts in Prague have it better, but still they hope to find adventure, inspiration, a gold rush, or history in the making."--Publisher description.

Carter University: "The Harvard of the South." Annie Stoddard was the smartest girl in her small public high school in Georgia, but now that she's at Carter, it feels like she's got "Scholarship Student" written on her forehead. Bea Powers put aside misgivings about attending college in the South as a biracial student to take part in Carter's Justice Scholars program. But even within that rarefied circle of people trying to change the world, it...

"An idyllic Nantucket summer begins like a dream for scrappy Mia from South Boston; Presley, a gorgeous Southern beauty queen; Cole, a handsome introvert; Jade, the sultry daughter of a model and music mogul; J.P., an energetic young designer; and Grant, a playful party-boy. These six are working as seasonaires-influential brand ambassadors-for the clothing line Lyndon Wyld. But like all things that look too good to be true, the darkness lurking underneath...

"Full of warmth, terror, and underhanded humor, If I Were the Ocean, I'd Carry You Home, Pete Hsu's debut story collection, captures the essence of surviving in a life set adrift. Children and young people navigate a world where the presence of violence and death rear themselves in everyday places: Vegas casinos, birthday parties, church services, and sunny days at the beach. Each story is a meditation on living in a world not made for us-the pervasive...

Andy, Claire, and Dag, each in their twenties, have quit pointless jobs in their respective hometowns to find better meaning in life. Adrift in the California desert, the trio develops an ascetic regime of story-telling, boozing, and working McJobs-"low-pay, low-prestige, low-benefit, no-future jobs in the service industry." They create their own modern fables of love and death among the cosmetic surgery parlors and cocktail bars of Palm Springs as...