Young Francie Nolan, having inherited both her father's romantic and her mother's practical nature, struggles to survive and thrive growing up in the slums of Brooklyn in the early twentieth century.

From the moment Ava Carson and her ten-year-old son, Toussaint, arrive at the Glenn Avenue family shelter in Philadelphia 1985, Ava is already plotting a way out. She is repulsed by the shelter's squalid conditions: their cockroach-infested room, the barely edible food, and the shifty night security guard. She is determined to rescue her son from the perils and indignities of that place, and to save herself from the complicated past that led them...

Nicholas, his mother, and his sister Kate have been left penniless by the death of Mr. Nickleby. In their poverty and desperation they seek help from Nicholas's uncle, the difficult and oppressive Ralph Nickleby who is a usurer. Nicholas's independent attitudes immediately bother his uncle and he is sent to Dotheboys Hall to teach. There he witnesses the mistreatment of orphans by the evil-hearted Wackford Squeers. Nicholas and the orphan boy, Smike,...

Los mellizos Jeanie y Julius tienen 51 años y viven con su madre, Dot, en una casa antigua en mitad de la campiña inglesa. Julius sobrevive gracias a empleos ocasionales; Jeanie apenas sabe leer ni escribir. No tienen internet, televisión ni cuentas bancarias. Ninguno de los dos tiene pareja. Tampoco tienen padre: murió cuando eran niños. Cultivan verduras en su huerto y, cuando cae la noche, tocan sus instrumentos y cantan juntos. Sobreviven...

"Dans ce roman intimiste et sensible, nous suivons quatre personnages dont les trajectoires se croisent et s'entremêlent pour créer une passionnante courtepointe de relations riches en enseignements sur la nature humaine. Il y a Pierre, l'enseignant quinquagénaire qui, depuis la mort de sa femme, élève seul une fille adolescente avec qui les atomes crochus ne sont guère au rendez-vous. Il y a Rose, une veuve misanthrope habitant une résidence...