Girlchild

In her debut novel, Tupelo Hassman channels the brash but vulnerable voice of Rory Dawn Hendrix, a young girl growing up in a seedy Reno trailer park. Determined not to follow the going-nowhere path prescribed for her -- the one her Mama is currently on -- Rory checks out the Girl Scout Handbook from her school library over and over again, even though she isn't in a troop. Will advice on subjects like "Finding Your Way When You Get Lost" help her escape?

June 19: On this day in 1816, the Shelleys, Lord Byron, and entourage gathered at the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva to tell the ghost stories that would trigger Frankenstein. This most legendary of storm-tossed evenings inspired…

Very few debut novels exhibit the charm, assurance, emotional depth and bravura fabulation which the lucky reader will discover in Helene Wecker's

advertisement