Fran Orenstein: 16 books

In 1685, sixteen-year-old Jean-Claude Dubois and his younger brothers escape from the violent terror against the Huguenots in France, sailing to his uncle, a spice trader in Prussia. On the voyage, Jean-Claude falls in love with Marie and they eventually marry and have a daughter, Katy. At thirteen,...

Set in Lithuania in 1897, this historical romance is the tale of a young woman conflicted by the traditions and laws of her religion and a need for her own identity. Along the way, she meets Eli, a young flute player, also running away from Russian conscription. Hannah’s dream of love and life in...

Bad things are happening in Gillian Sandler’s life. Just after her ninth birthday her parents announce that they are getting divorced. If that wasn’t enough, her dad is leaving for a younger woman named Amber whom he intends to marry. Even worse, Gilly, the star goalie for the school soccer team,...

The human journey from childhood to the early middle years begins in the cradle and molds the person you become. You evolve from memories of places, family and friends, the angst of adolescence, first love and a glimpse of the future. You emerge in the adult years of work and play, love and loss,...

Behind the doors of Hull House lurk many shadowy secrets of love, anger, betrayal, and death that have haunted the Hull family for generations. Laura Hull thought she had escaped when she married a gentle poet and could pursue her love of music. Then the unthinkable happens and Laura returns to Hull...

A mysterious lost land deed and a missing map hidden somewhere in Grandma’s attic can save Ellen and Troy Baron. The twelve-year-old twins live with their mother in a falling-down house with no hot water or a working toilet, and most nights they all go to bed hungry and dirty. Troy is bullied by...

Peer into the bubbling, black cauldron at a simmering stew of restless spirits, creatures of the night, murder, mayhem, and pure evil. Add a smattering of sci-fi and you have a Danse Macabre of chilling stories, seasoned with a dash of happy endings and touching tales of the many faces of love. An...

Meet Danny West, a talented young artist who has trouble reading, especially aloud when he starts to stammer. Kids laugh at him, and bullies sometimes beat him up after school, so he has to cut through the desert to get home. Danny’s dad was a police detective who died trying to stop a robbery at...

THE BOOK OF MYSTERIESEnter The Book of Mysteries at your own risk with Tyler Trent and his best friend, Zack Vander. Tyler and Zack live in an apartment house in New York City. Tyler’s uncle sends him to a find a disappearing bookstore, an ancient bookseller, and The Book of Mysteries, where...

Frederic (Freddy) Gold is smart, talented, funny and overweight. She hates her name, her body and the school bully. As if that weren’t enough, her parents are newly divorced and her dad has a young girlfriend. Excited about turning twelve and starting middle school, Freddy meets Dolly, an African-American...

Lily Aaron, alias Lilyann Allon, mystery writer in Murder in Duplicate, reappears in this sequel, Murder in Disguise. As Lily Cooper, a happy wife and mother living in Florida, she secretly writes best-selling romance novels as L.A. Cooper. Still living with the nightmare events in New York, Lily...

Everyone wanders through a world of light and darkness, seeking a place in the sun to spend the final decades of life. Winding Ways is every person’s journey through the middle years into the elder years, with a few tweaks here and there. It is a trip from funny and ridiculous to woeful and introspective...

Huby as in the red ruby, the strange boy who sees the future, mysteriously materializes out of nowhere to return in this exciting sequel to The Mystery Under Third Base. It’s Halloween and Alex Cooper, age 11, is wearing a green goblin costume. On mischief night, Alex’s hated math teacher falls...

Gillian’s future stepmother, Amber just won’t go away no matter what Gillian tries to do. Now Amber is planning her wedding, and Gillian hates the junior bridesmaid’s dress Amber has chosen for her to wear. Gillian thinks the color looks like something she smears on a bologna sandwich or worse....