Janet Fitch

The unforgettable story of a young woman's odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes on her journey to redemption.
Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery - but their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother falls apart over a lover. Deranged...

"Marina Makarova is a woman of privilege who aches to break free of the constraints of her genteel life. Swept up on the tides of the Russian Revolution, Marina joins the marches for workers' rights, falls in love with a radical young poet, and betrays everything she holds dear, before being betrayed in turn. As her country goes through tremendous upheaval, Marina's own coming-of-age unfolds, marked by deep passion, devastating loss, and the private...

Pregnant and adrift in the countryside amid the devastation of the Russian Civil War, Marina returns to a decimated Petrograd, where her work caring for war orphans inspires her emergence as a poet. -- Marina Makarova finds herself -- pregnant and adrift amid the devastation of the Russian Civil War. She finds new strength and self-reliance to fortify her in her sojourn, and to prepare her for the hardships and dilemmas still to come. Returning to...

Ingrid, a smart, free-spirited, and somewhat narcissistic artist kills her deceitful lover in a crime of passion. Even while serving a prison sentence, she exerts control over her adoring teenage daughter, Astrid, who's forced to spend her teenage years in a series of foster homes before becoming her own person. Explores the strange relationship of Ingrid and Astrid, and includes Astrid's relationship with her foster mothers. At first merely an appendage...