Cecilia Galante

When her grandmother takes fourteen-year-old Agnes, her younger brother, and best friend Honey and escapes Mount Blessing, a Connecticut religious commune, Agnes clings to the faith she loves while Honey looks toward a future free of control, cruelty, and preferential treatment.

The Patron Saint of Butterflies

Unable to maintain a low profile after a schoolmate blames her for her own mental breakdown, Marin, a girl who possesses the ability to see pain in others, teams up with the classmate's brother to unlock the mystery behind the girl's illness. Simultaneous eBook.

Be Not Afraid

"We'll choose to remain invisible. To everyone except each other . . . " Brought together by chance as teenagers at Turning Winds, a home for girls, Nora, Ozzie, Monica, and Grace quickly bond over their troubled pasts and form their own family, which they dub The Invisibles. With a fierce loyalty to each other, the girls feel that they can overcome any obstacle thrown their way. Though the walls they've built around themselves to keep out the rest of the world are thick, they discover one night, when tragedy strikes, that there are cracks in their tight-knit circle. While Ozzie, Monica, and Grace leave after graduation to forge a fresh start, Nora decides to stay behind in Willow Grove. Now, fifteen years later, she's content living a quiet, single life working in the local library and collecting "first lines"—her favorite opening lines from novels. But when Ozzie calls out of the blue to let her know Grace has attempted suicide and is desperate for them to reconvene, Nora is torn between elation at seeing the women who were once her most cherished, trusted friends and anxiety over the unresolved conflicts that will most certainly surface. As the women gather and reminisce, the truth about their lives comes to light. And when The Invisibles decide to take the road trip they always dreamed of, they will be forced to reveal their deepest secrets and confront the night that changed them forever.

A Novel

The Invisibles

In the vein of Meg Donohue and Sarah Jio, Cecilia Galante’s second novel delivers the powerful story of one young woman who’s faced with an impossible choice—one that could have her making the biggest mistake of her life. Thirteen days. That’s all Bernadette, “Bird,” Sincavage has left to go until she’s done with her probation and can be free again. Free from making payments to the supermarket she wrote bad checks to. Free from living at home with her overzealous mother who’s constantly nagging her about attending church again. Free to give her four-year-old son, Angus, the normal life he deserves. Her impending freedom and move to Moon Lake, where she’s plunked down a deposit on a brand new apartment, is so close she can almost taste it. What trouble could she possibly get into in just thirteen days? But trouble does follow in the form of James Rittenhouse—someone she worked with a few years ago. At first, Bird is stunned to see James make the evening news when he’s arrested for assaulting someone in a local bar. But that’s nothing compared to the shock she gets when she discovers James hiding out in an abandoned church choir loft. Somehow he escaped police custody, broke his leg, and got his hand on a gun, which he’s now pointing at her. Although Bird doesn’t tell anyone she saw James, there’s no way she’s helping him. She can’t screw up her probation or her second chance for a new future. And she has her son’s welfare to think about. Still. If only she could stop thinking about the terrified look in James’ eyes and the fact that he’s hurt. If only she could forget that once, long ago, James helped her out, and she owes him a debt like no other. Will Bird jeopardize her future for someone who helped her out in the past? A past that holds secrets she’s not quite sure she’s ready to face? Or will she turn a blind eye and learn to live with the consequences?

The Odds of You and Me

When Pippa and Jack's mother died of cancer their world seemed to fall apart: Pippa stopped talking altogether, and Jack started picking fights, and neither of them knows how to cope with the painful and awkward sympathy from their friends and classmates--but when they learn that their father's business is failing and he is growing desperate for money they realize that there is a possibility that they will lose another parent, this time to jail.

Stealing Our Way Home

The Summer of May is a moving new novel from the author of Willowood and Patron Saint of Butterflies, Cecilia Galante.

The Summer of May

After graduating from high school, class valedictorian Julia travels to Poultney, Vermont, to visit her older sister, and while she is there she learns about long-held family secrets that have shaped her into the person she has grown up to be.

The Sweetness of Salt

World from up Here

Eleven-year-old Lily has trouble leaving her best friend behind and moving to the city when her mother changes jobs, but she makes some very unlikely friends that soon become like family members.

Willowood

Willa Bean, who wants to master flying before starting school at Cupid Academy, celebrates her unconventional looks and unique personality, but struggles to accept that cupids learn how to fly at different times.

Willa Bean's Cloud Dreams

From the award-winning author of The Patron Saint of Butterflies and The World from Up Here comes a story of a girl who finds friendship where she least expects it.

Strays Like Us

In the vein of Meg Donohue and Jennifer Close, comes Cecilia Galante’s adult debut about the complicated and powerful bonds of female friendship—a compelling, moving novel that is told in both the present and the past. Thrown together by chance as teenagers at Turning Winds Home for Girls, Nora, Ozzie, Monica, and Grace quickly bond over their troubled pasts and form their own family which they dub The Invisibles. But when tragedy strikes after graduation, Nora is left to deal with the horrifying aftermath alone as the other three girls leave home and don’t look back. Fourteen years later, Nora is living a quiet, single life working in the local library. She is content to focus on her collection of “first lines” (her favorite opening lines from novels) and her dog, Alice Walker, when out-of-the-blue Ozzie calls her on her thirty-second birthday. But after all these years, Ozzie hasn’t called her to wish a happy birthday. Instead, she tells Nora that Grace attempted suicide and is pleading for The Invisibles to convene again. Nora is torn: she is thrilled at the thought of being in touch with her friends, and yet she is hesitant at seeing these women after such a long and silent period of time. Bolstered by her friends at the library, Nora joins The Invisibles in Chicago for a reunion that sets off an extraordinary chain of events that will change each of their lives forever. The Invisibles is an unforgettable novel that asks the questions: How much of our pasts define our present selves? And what does it take to let go of some of our most painful wounds and move on?

Marin spends a lot of time avoiding things. She avoids thinking about her mother’s suicide and what she could have done to prevent it. She avoids looking at people directly—because she can see their pain as bright, colorful shapes. And she avoids Cassie Jackson, who used her in a sinister ritual months ago, although Marin’s not exactly sure why. When Cassie stands up at school, screaming, raking her nails down her cheeks, and pointing a finger at Marin, whispering “YOU,” Marin’s days of avoidance come to an abrupt end. Cassie’s older brother believes that Marin holds the secret to Cassie’s illness. So they team up to solve the mystery of what Cassie has unleashed. But as they look deeper into the darkness, can Marin trust what she sees? Cecilia Galante, author of The Patron Saint of Butterflies, presents a chilling story with horror-movie thrills and nail-biting suspense. Perfect for fans of American Horror Story, Paranormal Activity, and The Exorcist, and readers who love to feel goose bumps. Praise for Be Not Afraid: "Galante crafts a chilling atmosphere in this slowly simmering horror story."--Publishers Weekly "Recommended for fans of the author and Katherine Howe's Conversion and Danielle Vega's The Merciless." --SLJ "Well-executed and decorated with some top-notch horror elements; readers who don't love this sort of suspense will find refuge in the romantic [subplot]. . . . A quick, freaky read." --Kirkus Reviews

Twelve-year-old Hershey tries to cope after she and her mother and baby sister flee to a women's shelter to escape the abuse of her mother's boyfriend, as she worries about competing in the town talent show with her best friend, wonders who is taking care of her cat, and rides the bus with a sworn enemy.

Hershey Herself

Kristi Valiant

Willa Bean is having a moody Moonday. School is closed, Harper's not around, and Mama can't do anything now, only later. Then Daddy whispers to her - she can go down to Earth with him! Willa Bean has never been to Earth before! She just has to promi

Cecilia Galante

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