OUT OF WORK AND OUT OF LUCK. In Don Brown's The Train Jumper Ed "Collie" Collier encounters hobos, misers, racists, and even some kindness while riding the rails during the Great Depression. Collie leaves home in search of his older brother, who has run off. Battling hunger, hostility, and wrathful weather, he meets an unlikely ally in a young drifter. They jump a freight train, joining thousands and thousands of young boys and men who try riding out the Great Depression by riding the rails.

In 1958, 19-year-old Kat Caswell loses her best friend in a brutal accident. In an attempt to flee from her past, she hops a freight train, leaving rural Indiana behind. Kat soon discovers that the extreme danger of train jumping is a welcome distraction from her pain. While aboard the grand Southern Belle Railway, she meets Hilda, an eccentric, larger-than-life woman who offers her employment at a gentlemen's club in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Kat quickly adapts to the exotic atmosphere of the Vieux Carre. During her stay in New Orleans, Kat forms a close bond with a charming young immigrant worker named Leni, who has a mischievous personality and a mysterious past. Each girl thrives in the lively environment full of colorful patrons. But when immigration comes to take Leni into custody, their lives become inextricably linked as Kat attempts to protect her friend. Once again, the railway becomes an escape route leading them on a journey of survival that requires life-changing choices. Gwen Banta's 'The Train Jumper' is "edge of your seat" with thrilling moments - a grand adventure full of laughter and pathos. The lives of the characters are woven together by railroads and the exotic places the rails connect, eventually leading Kat and Leni to their individual destinies.

A mother’s worst nightmare: the subway doors close with her baby son still on the train. In this suspenseful debut novel, a woman goes to unimaginable lengths to get her child back. A struggling, single mother, Emma sometimes wishes that her thirteen-month-old son Ritchie would just disappear. Then, one quiet Sunday evening, after a sinister encounter on the London Underground—Ritchie does just that. Emma immediately reports his abduction to the police but there she faces a much worse situation than she ever imagined. Why do the police seem so reluctant to help her? And why do they think she would want hurt her own child? If Emma wants Ritchie back, she’ll have to find him herself. With the help of a stranger named Rafe, the one person who seems to believe her, Emma sets off in search of her son. She is determined to find Ritchie no matter what it takes…but who exactly is the real enemy here? "A heart-stopper” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) with dark twists and intertwining narratives, The Stranger on the Train is an unforgettable, “first-rate debut thriller” (Washington Post) that you will keep you guessing until the shattering finale.