Anne Barschall

After his father disappeared during a mass shooting on Christmas Day one year earlier, 10-year-old, precocious Jesse Genesis creates a "12 Days of Christmas List" of tasks. If he completes them all, including teaching himself to become a karate black belt, he believes his father will return on Christmas. Jesse's sophisticated, workaholic mother, Abby, believes her husband was lost in the shooting, but has a glimmer of hope through visions that Jesse reports to her. After Abby enlists the aid of an eccentric psychic-turned-law professor, a roller coaster thriller ensues, where the trio unravel a mystery that no one expected - and maybe, just maybe witness the delivery of a miracle that can only happen on Christmas.

On a school trip to Chinatown, New York, three French students find themselves followed by two Chinese men, but have no idea why.

Claire is a young artist and puppet-maker in New York. One day, she suffers a rupture in her creativity, leading to depression. She becomes convinced the only cure is the art of another: Thibaut, a figure skater in Paris. Fixated on the artistry of this athlete she only knows from TV, Claire impulsively goes to Paris herself. There, she discovers the unexpected: Thibaut, too, is suffering from creative block. Now it's up to Claire to find the road back to her own creativity: a road strewn with disappointments, revelations - and balloons.