Showing titles in Homelessness, Runaways & Poverty

Pen's life is about secrets: the secret of the city's spirits, deities and monsters, living just beyond the notice of modern Londoners; the secret of Pen's intricate scars that disfigure her so cruelly; and the most closely guarded secret of all: Parva, her mirror-sister, forged from her reflections in a school bathroom mirror.

On a night of wild storms, two troubled figures escape from captivity. One is a 15-year-old boy, Samuel Miles, a.k.a. "Smiler", wrongly convicted of theft and sent to a young offenders institution. The other is a cheetah, Yarra, a restless resident of Longleat Wildlife Park. Both are in danger from the outside world—and each other—but somehow their lives become inextricably bound up as they fight for survival on the edge of Salisbury Plain.

Seventeen-year-old Amelia Gannon (just "Gannon" to her friends) is invisible to almost everyone in her life. To her parents, to her teachers - even her best friend, who is more interested in bumming cigarettes than bonding. Some days the only way Gannon knows she is real is by carving bloody lines into the flesh of her stomach. Then she meets Michael Brooks, and for the first time she feels like she is being seen to the core of her being.

When a black South American soccer star signs on to a team in the country’s racist south, headlines blare. And when he falls for the sensual Desmerelda, a stunning white pop singer and daughter of a wealthy politician, their sudden and controversial marriage propels the pair to centre stage, where they burn in the media spotlight. But celebrity attracts enemies; some very close to home. And its dazzle reaches into the city’s hidden corners, exposing a life of grit and desperation the glitterati could never imagine.

When her best guy friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, 16-year-old Cat sets out to discover who in her small town did it. Richly atmospheric, this daring mystery mines the secrets of a tightly knit Southern community and examines the strength of will it takes to go against everyone you know in the name of justice.

Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait - for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster - all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.

Two boys. One identity. He can change his life if he says yes. An explosive new mystery from the award-winning author Jenny Valentine, The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight is the story of a boy who assumes the identity of a missing teenager and in-so-doing unearths a series of shattering family secrets – and the truth about who he really is.

James Patterson presents a bold new heroine -- a cross between Katniss Everdeen and Annie Oakley: Serendipity Jones, the fastest sharpshooter in tomorrow's West. Seventeen-year-old Serendipity "Pity" Jones inherited two things from her mother: a pair of six shooters and perfect aim. She's been...

It starts with a plane crash. There are survivors: a teenage girl and her little brother. They are running from something. But what? Then the men arrive. They are hunting the girl and boy. And...and that's all we can tell you.... A thrilling story of survival, hope and a love beyond all understanding, from the award-winning author of Satellite.

Determined to escape suffocating expectations and menacing families, two desperate teens fake their own deaths in this queer contemporary thriller perfect for fans of The Twin and Five Survive.​ In one week, Maude will be dead. At least, that’s what she wants everyone to think. After years...

Pendant la semaine de relâche de mars, Sam Tellier convainc son bon ami Fred de quitter leur patelin pour vivre la vraie liberté. Sam refuse de renoncer à l’idée de retrouver sa mère biologique, supposément décédée à sa naissance. Comme il n’habite qu’avec son père, la bisbille qu’il entretient avec lui n’aide en rien à apaiser sa pulsion de partir pour réaliser son rêve. Sur leur chemin, les deux jeunes rencontreront des embûches, mais également des personnes aussi passionnées qu’eux de hockey. Est-ce que le sport et le travail leur épargneront la tromperie et la délinquance ?

AN ODYSSEY AWARD FOR AUDIOBOOK EXCELLENCE HONOREE AN AUDIOFILE EARPHONES AWARD WINNER A raw, gripping, authentic, and boldly original novel about a fifteen-year-old Texas girl set to stand trial for murder—and the one person who might be able to help her clear her name. A wealthy businessman...

From debut author Katharyn Blair comes a heart-stopping fantasy novel, perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and The Young Elites, about a teenage runaway who enters a dangerous tournament with an impossible prize. Vesper Montgomery can summon your worst fear and turn it into a reality—but...

A high-stakes story of star-crossed lovers from Simone Elkeles, the New York Times bestselling author of the Perfect Chemistry series To escape his abusive stepdad, bad boy Ryan Hess runs from his tiny Texas border town to Mexico. But his plans to keep his head down and stay out of trouble are...

Thirteen-year-old Hadi Toma and his family are displaced. At least that's what the Lebanese government calls them and the thousands of other Syrian refugees that have flooded into Beirut. But as Hadi tries to earn money to feed his family by selling gum on the street corner, he learns that many people who travel the city don't think they're displaced - they think that they don't belong in this country either. Each day he hears insults, but each day he convinces himself they don't matter, approaching the cars again and again. He hardly dares to dream anymore that this might change.

Her name is Odd. Twelve-year-old Audrey Wyatt bears the unfortunate nickname "Odd", a name even her bar-hopping, alcoholic mother uses when she's sober enough to recognize the girl. Cowed by life, Odd doesn't protest, not when she's deformed as she is. Born with a combination of rare birth defects, Odd's eyes are a startling and dreadful red. Demon eyes is the first thought that springs to mind. The little girl takes care to hide them behind dark sunglasses, something her mother insists on, except when she's trading freak-show peeks for dollars or drinks.

Following a devastating betrayal, Beth Bradley, a sixteen-year-old graffiti artist, is suspended from school. Running from a home that she shares with her father who has never recovered after Beth's mother's death, Beth stumbles into the hidden city and meets Filius Viae, London's asphalt-hued crown prince. And her timing couldn't have been more perfect.

Fifteen-year-old Kane Alexander is growing up in a single-parent home after her mother abandons the family. Her father is forced to take on two jobs to support his family, and the responsibility of caring for her two younger siblings is placed on Kane. She loves her family, but can’t help but feel like she’s missing out on life as a teenager. Kane shares her feelings with her father, but he insists that she should put her family ahead of her social life. When the pressure in her home becomes too much to bear, Kane decides to run away; however, she doesn’t make it far.

Love can be a very dangerous thing. After her sister left, Caitlin felt lost. Then she met Rogerson. When she’s with him, nothing seems real. But what happens when being with Rogerson becomes a larger problem than being without him? “Another pitch-perfect offering from Dessen.” —Booklist...

Fourteen-year-old Terry has parents who never paid him much attention. So when they both disappear after one of their all-too-frequent arguments, Terry isn’t exactly eager for them to come home. On his own, he occupies himself by assembling a car kit that’s been collecting dust in the garage for years. When the car is finished, Terry is pleased to discover it actually runs. Though he doesn’t know much about driving, he gets behind the wheel and heads west, with the notion of visiting an uncle in Oregon. But Terry’s plan takes a detour when he meets Shakespeare-quoting wanderer Waylon Jackson....