Sixty-five short interconnected chapters portray humanity and all its suffering and resiliency.

After leaving her young daughter unattended for a few minutes only to discover her gone, Ellis Abbey leaves her husband and sons, convinced that she can only do more harm to her family, and treks alone into the mountain wilderness.

Mukesh lives a quiet life in the London Borough of Wembley after losing his beloved wife. He worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries. Aleisha is a bright teenager working at the local library for the summer. She discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird; it is a list of novels that she has never heard of, and she impulsively decides...

Joel Vargas can't believe he's lost his older brother in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains after surviving their harrowing voyage across the Atlantic. And he can't shake the feeling that Adam--his only living relative is in dire trouble. No matter what the cost, he and his band of friends won't stop until Adam is found. He's not sure if two Indian women they meet on the way will be a help or hindrance. After the devastating loss of her daughter and...

"Lauren Cress teaches writing in the international program at a small college outside of Washington, D.C. In the classroom, she is poised, smart, and kind, well-liked by her students and colleagues. But in her personal life, Lauren is troubled and isolated. Still grappling with the sudden death of her parents ten years earlier, she exists at a remove from everyone around her, frozen in time as a grieving teenager. But one day, a new student joins...