An “eerie, elliptical masterpiece set in a South African boarding school in the early 1960s. . . . First-rate psychological suspense . . . played out flawlessly” (Kirkus Reviews). The members of an elite girls swim team are the reigning queens at their South African boarding school. And then Italian student Fiamma Coronna joins their ranks. Beautiful, athletic, and suddenly commanding all the coach’s attention, Fiamma is the envy of every girl on the team—until the summer she walks into the rural grasslands surrounding the school and disappears. Forty years later, the former teammates return to the school for a reunion, and the memory of that summer emerges like a long buried secret, the shocking, violent truth of what really happened to Fiamma no longer able to be contained . . . “Riveting . . . while evocative of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Picnic at Hanging Rock, Kohler’s writing is so smoothly confident and erotic that she has produced a tale resonant with a chilling power all its own.” —Elle “A stunning and singular tale of the passion and tribalism of adolescence, Cracks lays bare the violence that lurks in the heart of even the most innocent. Shocking, reminiscent of Lord of the Flies . . . conjures up the wildness of the veld and the passion and drama of adolescence . . . peculiarly satisfying.” —The Times Literary Supplement “A disturbing, note-perfect novel. Dissection of evil has rarely been so extravagantly executed.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Polished, compact and chilling . . . Powerful.” —Publishers Weekly A Library Journal and Newsday Best Book of the Year, now a major motion picture starring Eva Green

Stella greets Christopher when he shrinks and falls through the cracks in the school floor due to boredom. The two decide to look around and discover some classrooms where children are actively participating in their education and enjoying learning.

"Run. Keep running. You're doing the right thing. Lay low. Head down. Don't look back. Just keep running. And whatever you do, don't tread on the cracks..." Leo's world has been turned upside down. Her parents are gone and her bird-loving uncle is getting too close for comfort. She is only sure of one thing...she must get out. In a desperate bid to find the grandparents she never knew, Leo jumps on a train to Glasgow, penniless and stealing food to survive. A nationwide hunt for her begins. Will she track down her grandparents, or will her uncle get to her first?

America’s founders feared a president like Donald Trump. Through the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they erected a fortified but constrained government to secure the benchmarks of our democracy and established the guardrails designed to protect it. But Trump pushed almost every one of the Framers’ safeguards to its limit—most held, but some broke under the weight of presidential abuses even the Framers did not foresee. Thirteen Cracks will be the first book to expose the most vulnerable areas in our democracy, explain in historical context how President Trump uniquely and outrageously exploited these weak spots, and propose a fix for each challenge. Historian Allen J. Lichtman argues that Trump has put us at a pivot point in our history, where the survival of American democracy is at stake. But this is also an historic opportunity to shore up the vulnerabilities and to strengthen our democracy.

Cracks and Fracture consists of nine chapters in logical sequence. In two introductory chapters, physical processes in the vicinity of the crack edge are discussed and the fracture process is described. Chapter 3 develops general basic concepts and relations in crack mechanics, such as path independent integrals, stress intensity factors and energy flux into the crack edge region. Chapters 4-7 deal with elastostatic cracks, stationary or slowly moving elastic-plastic cracks, elastodynamic crack mechanics and elastoplastic aspects of fracture, including dynamic fracture mechanics. Appendices include general formulae, the basic theory of analytic functions, introduction to Laplace and Hankel transforms and description of certain basic relations, for instance for stress waves in solids. There is an extensive bibliography, containing references to both classical and recent work, and a comprehensive index. Presents an extensive bibliography containing references to both classical and recent works and a comprehensive index Appendices include general formulas, the basic theory of analytic functions, introduction to Laplace and Hankel transforms, and descriptions of certain basic relations, for instance for stress waves in solids

In a small Southern town in 1944, two girls secretly help a seriously ill army deserter, a decision that changes their perceptions of right and wrong. Issues of moral ambiguity and accepting consequences for actions are thoughtfully considered in this deftly crafted story.

Cancer disappearing without trace. A premature baby confounding the medical predictions about his prognosis. A teenager seeing her long-term debilitating illness vanish in an instant. A church receiving cash out of thin air, ensuring it survives the threat of closure. A man defying death, multiple times, following life-threatening injuries sustained in a head-on road collision. Light through the Cracks contains ten true stories, united by a common theme: All of them feature ordinary people encountering God, in extraordinary ways, in the toughest of life's circumstances. Starting with her own dramatic story of the car accident that could have left her dead or paralysed, Joanna Watson writes authentically and compellingly of how God breaks in when life turns tough. Each story raises faith, builds hope, and encourages readers to look for God's Light through the cracks in their own challenging situations.

When Bull Mastrick and Victor Konig wind up in the same psychiatric ward at age sixteen, each recalls and relates in group therapy the bullying relationship they have had since kindergarten, but also facts about themselves and their families that reveal they have much in common.

Iris Grace is a beautiful little girl who, from a very young age, barely communicated, avoided social interaction with other people, and rarely smiled. From both before her diagnosis of autism and after, she seemed trapped in her own world, unable to connect with those around her. One day, her mother brought home a Maine Coon kitten for Iris, even though cats aren’t typically thought of as therapy pets. Thula, named after one of Iris’s favorite African lullabies and meaning “peace” in Zulu, immediately bonded with Iris. Thula knew right away how to assuage Iris when she became overstimulated; when to intervene when Iris became overwhelmed; and how to provide distraction when Iris started heading toward a meltdown. Whether exploring, playing, sleeping, or taking a bath with Iris or accompanying the family on a bike ride, Thula became so much more than a therapy cat. With Thula’s safe companionship, Iris began to talk and interact with her family. This heartwarming story is illustrated with sixty of Iris’s gorgeous impressionistic paintings, works of art that have allowed her to express herself since the age of three. A gifted artist, Iris sees the natural world in a profoundly vivid and visceral way. With Thula by her side, she’ll sit and paint for hours, and the results are stunning. Inspiring and touching, Iris Grace follows the struggles and triumphs of a family—and a miracle cat—as they learn to connect with an amazing child.