Bøger udgivet af Midtown Publishing Inc.

Julianne Lipscomb is thrilled to have her family visit for their annual gathering in the small town of Helen, Georgia. While sibling rivalries arise, it is Harvey, Julianne's husband, who is the center of attention. Harvey is fading away with age, but in the tempest that is their gathering, it is Harvey and his secret past that upset the gathering at the Lipscomb home. One morning, lost in thought, Harvey admits that he has lost a son years earlier. Harvey's confession is the beginning of many startling confessions. Harvey has other families, other demons. But in the chaos of Julianne's daughters' marital difficulties, Harvey's problems are temporarily pushed to the side. Problems never settled come back to haunt, and for the Lipscomb family, the youngest family members are the ones to suffer the greatest later on. Aaron, years older now and wandering from city to city, isn't sure if his grandfather ever did anything inappropriate, but he's positive Graham Oggy, his father's boss, has. While Aaron has learned to deal with his being a victim, he struggles to not become the victimizer. He has good people around him, supportive people, but they have their own issues, their own problems to deal with. While time has passed, nothing has healed, either for him or his parents, who have drifted apart over the course of a couple of decades of denial, twisted prerogatives, and their inability to cope with the dips in the road as they chase success. For Hadley, Aaron's cousin, life is just as difficult. Hadley's parents have divorced, due in large part to Aaron's father, who, without having intended to, was promoted to a role Hadley's father believed was rightfully his. Step in Graham Oggy. Mr. Oggy is a philanthropic man with a fondness for young boys and an ability to make business stars of middle management. Taking nothing else into consideration, Mr. Oggy promotes Michael, Aaron's father, so he can be closer to Aaron. But in the process, Mr. Oggy destroys Hadley's family; James, Hadley's father, is devastated by the loss of his next promotion, and goes into a downward spiral from which he never recovers. Yet in the end, when all hope is seemingly lost, it is Hadley, the youngest of the Lipscomb women, who seeks, and ultimately accepts, the truth of who Harvey was, and most importantly, who they, the Lipscombs, are.

The subjects are as splendid as they are varied: a talented young swimmer longs for a family and for love as he swims against his arch-rival; a young grocery worker/rock guitarist finds himself lured into a fundamentalist church by a-what else?-beautiful woman; two lonely souls drift through the city streets hoping for intimacy and settling for diversion; a group of old friends, retired firefighters, honor a dead colleague, a suicide, and face the extermination of their own dreams; the quirky wife of a rising political star suffers a breakdown on the eve of the gubernatorial election; an athletically gifted high school student escapes her wealthy adoptive parents in search of the life, the culture, and the family she was taken from.

As a winter storm bears down on the Texas Panhandle, seventy-four-year-old Willa Jackson embarks on a plan to maintain her independence and fully realize her artistic talent. Her daughter, Melanie, is determined to take charge of her mother, although her hands are full of her own problems. Willa's past, and that of Jackson's Pond, Texas, the dying town named for the pond on their ranch, provides a backdrop for Willa's determination to secure her own future and the future of her grandchildren. Willa challenges resistance from several directions, including from her own doubts, as she follows her creative heart.

Teddy Jones earlier novel, Jackson's Pond, Texas, began the saga of the Jackson family. Now, Slanted Light continues their tale. Claire Havlicek's late night call brings her brother Chris Banks from his home in New Mexico back to the town that bears their family name, Jackson's Pond. She's collapsed under the weight of threats to her thirteen year marriage that have undermined her confidence and her will. Her husband, J.D., responds to seduction by a woman in need; theft and the threat of a forced buyout jeopardize Claire's two clinics; drought imperils their ranch and cattle business; a teenage daughter turns to bulimia. When Claire admits her limits, her grandmother, Willa Jackson, and the other members of her family help her learn that being human, weaknesses and all, can be the source of strength and joy.