Helen and Brenda — C.D. Payne

Helen of Pepper Pike:

Suburban Cleveland housewife Helen Spall has three difficult kids and a tax-attorney husband who's inclined to be brutally frank about her shortcomings. Then she inherits a rundown house in a blue-collar town on the shores of Lake Erie, and her life begins to blossom. She investigates a once-popular, now forgotten novelist and her mysterious connections to Helen's family. With her marriage dissolving and a possible new love in her life, Helen encounters surprise after surprise as she uncovers the many secrets that lay buried in those seductive novels. The captivating story, written in diary form, will have you laughing out loud as you accompany Helen on her journey of discovery and renewal.

Brenda the Great:

Plain, overweight and friendless, 16-year-old Brenda Blatt is exiled by her parents to bleak Ferncliffe Academy, a school for troubled girls. Despised by her new roommates and scorned by the headmistress, Brenda suddenly finds her life turning around when she is befriended by the prettiest girl in the school. She experiments with dating and discovers she has a first-class singing voice. Brenda is becoming an admired leader at the school, when an apparent double betrayal sends her reeling. Will Brenda find in herself the strength to overcome this crisis? Will she continue with her singing? And which of her musical partners will win her heart? Amid the hilarity, this rollicking novel explores the nature and power of friendship, and the role of physical attractiveness in the lives of young people.