At the Carter boardinghouse for rich teenaged girls who are interested in fashion, the race for high school homecoming queen turns friends and roommates against one another, and, as the votes roll in, some of the girls grow smarter and closer to God, while others seem to make the same mistakes over again.

"When the Duke and Duchess of Kent rent neighboring Woolbrook Cottage for the winter, the Summers sisters are called upon to host three of the royal couple's male staff in their seaside house. But they soon realize they've invited mysterious secrets and the sweet possibility of romance into their home. Meanwhile, Emily Summers approaches a local publisher in hopes of fulfilling her dream of becoming an author. When he turns her down, his dashing...

"As winter deepens in snowbound Pollard, Illinois, thirty-something Francis Falbo is holed up in his attic apartment, recovering from a series of traumas: his mother's death, his beloved wife's desertion, and his once-ascendant rock band's irreconcilable break-up. Francis hasn't shaved in months, hasn't so much as changed out of his bathrobe-"the uniform of a Life in Default"-for nine days. Other than the agoraphobia that continues to hold him hostage,...

In 1937 Alabama, eleven-year-old Brother helps with his mother's boardinghouse, gains insight into prejudice when he befriends the nephew of the family's maid, and dreams of riding a train one day with the railroadmen who serve as his substitute fathers.