Books published by publisher Harcourt Brace and Company

Uninhabited and remote, Sweet Friday Island rises out of the Sea of Cortez, the flattened top of an ancient mountain. Its rugged terrain makes it the perfect place for fifteen-year-old Peg Toland and her adventurous dad to take their favorite kind of vacation. But its idyllic isolation and wild landscape ultimately turn Sweet Friday Island into a terrifying and deadly trap. Inexorably forced into fighting for their lives Peg and her father are suddenly struggling as well with a question many of us pose but need never answer: Are we really capable of killing another human to protect someone we love?

In Washington, D.C., President Lincoln has just been assassinated & the city is reeling with suspicion, fear, & confusion. But for fourteen-year-old Emily, the Union's turmoil is nothing compared to her own dire struggles. Sent to live with her uncle Valentine after her mother's untimely death, Emily discovers that one of her best friend's parents was an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's murderer. Worse yet, on the night of her mother's burial, Emily realizes her uncle is involved in what may be an even uglier business, one that she cannot ignore if she is to be true to herself & her mother's memory. WARNING: This is a historical novel. Read at your own risk. The writer feels it necessary to alert you to the fact that you might actually enjoy it! Grades 7-9.