Melanie Dobson

"1907. On the eve of her fifth birthday, Poppy Pendleton is tucked safely in her bed, listening to her parents entertain New York's gilded society in their Thousand Islands castle; the next morning, she is gone, and her father is found dead in his smoking room. 1992. Though Chloe Ridell lives in the shadows of Poppy's castle, now in ruins, she has little interest in the mystery that still captivates tourists and locals alike. She is focused on preserving...

"In this gripping split-time novel, Grace Tonquin is an American Quaker woman who works tirelessly in Vichy France to rescue Jewish children from the Nazis. After crossing the treacherous Pyrenees, Grace returns home to Oregon with a brother and sister whose parents were lost during the war. Though Grace and her husband love Elias and Marguerite as their own, echoes of Grace's past and trauma from the Holocaust tear the Tonquin family apart. More...

When Daniel Knight was thirteen, he and ten-year-old Brigitte Berthold escaped the Gestapo agents who arrested both their parents. They survived a harrowing journey from Germany to England, only to be separated upon their arrival. For more than seventy years he has vowed to find Brigitte. Now a wealthy old man, his final hope in finding Brigitte rests with Quenby Vaughn, an American journalist working in London. Quenby is wary at the idea of teaming...

On Elise Friedman's eighth birthday, she lost her mother and any connection to her mysterious past. Raised by her loving stepfather, Elise has spent years trying to learn the truth about her mother, Catrina, and her birth family in Germany, but still knows very little. Now a young woman in college, Elise is traveling to her homeland of Germany to uncover her family's past, but what she finds is much more harrowing than she ever suspected.

As the rest of the nation is embroiled in Civil War, the Amana Colonies remain peaceful. Amalie Wiese arrives in the newly built village of Amana in 1863 only to find that her betrothed, Friedrich, has left to fight with the Union army. Amalie tries to overcome her worries as she sets up a communal kitchen. She hopes that working alongside Friedrich's best friend will provide some comfort, but Matthias is abrupt and cold. Little does Amalie know that...

When Scott and Abby Wagner welcomed their baby boy home, they envisioned their son's future-his first date, his high-school graduation, going off to college. They never dreamed that Hunter would be ripped from their hearts four months later when his birthmother wanted him back. Now, twenty years later, Abby's past still haunts her. To find some peace of mind, she returns to her family's cottage on Orcas Island only to discover a miracle in the most...

"Times are hard in 1894. Desperate for work, former banker Jacob Hirsch rides the rails west from Chicago with his four-year-old daughter, Cassie. When a life-threatening illness strands the pair in Homestead, Iowa, the local Amana villagers welcome the father and daughter into their peaceful society. Liesel, a young Amana woman, nurses Cassie back to health, and the Homestead elders offer Jacob work. But Jacob's growing interest in Liesel complicates...