“Choices were easy to make until you realized how long life could be.” – Modern Lovers
FICTION
All Adults Here by Emma Straub ★
When Astrid Strick witnesses a school bus accident in the center of town, it jostles loose a repressed memory from her young parenting days decades earlier. Suddenly, Astrid realizes she was not quite the parent she thought she’d been to her three, now-grown children. But to what consequence?
Astrid’s youngest son is drifting and unfocused, making parenting mistakes of his own. Her daughter is intentionally pregnant yet struggling to give up her own adolescence. And her eldest seems to measure his adult life according to standards no one else shares. But who gets to decide, so many years later, which long-ago lapses were the ones that mattered? Who decides which apologies really count? It might be that only Astrid’s thirteen-year-old granddaughter and her new friend really understand the courage it takes to tell the truth to the people you love the most.
In All Adults Here, Emma Straub’s unique alchemy of wisdom, humor, and insight come together in a deeply satisfying story about adult siblings, aging parents, high school boyfriends, middle school mean girls, the lifelong effects of birth order, and all the other things that follow us into adulthood, whether we like them to or not.
Description from Goodreads.
“Straub etches in the comforting, often funny truths readers love her for. Like us, her characters are always getting older but never feeling quite old enough to do the right thing, to be the people they want to be, to let go of the past, and they’re certainly never ready to die. An all-out celebration of the life force in ourselves and in our families… Straub’s novels are dearly beloved, and this might be her best yet.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Emma Straub’s All Adults Here will make you question your entire childhood, and how much your parents influenced it as you learn one mother’s perspective of what went right and what went wrong with her own family.” – Marie Claire
“No one writes family drama like Straub, and in her new novel All Adults Here, she brings the Strick family to life with her unique wit and wisdom… It’s a heartfelt, grounded story about family dynamics, forgiveness, and the unavoidable effects we have on those we love.” – Buzzfeed
“As per usual, Straub’s writing is heartfelt and earnest, without tipping over the edge. There are a lot of issues at play here (abortion, bullying, IVF, gender identity, sexual predators) that Straub easily juggles, and her strong and flawed characters carry the day. This affecting family saga packs plenty of punch.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
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The Book of V. by Anna Solomon ★
Lily is a mother and a daughter. And a second wife. And a writer, maybe? Or she was going to be, before she had children. Now, in her rented Brooklyn apartment, she’s grappling with her sexual and intellectual desires while also trying to manage her roles as a mother and a wife.
Vivian Barr seems to be the perfect political wife, dedicated to helping her charismatic and ambitious husband find success in Watergate-era Washington D.C. But one night he demands a humiliating favor, and her refusal to obey changes the course of her life—along with the lives of others.
Esther is a fiercely independent young woman in ancient Persia, where she and her uncle’s tribe live a tenuous existence outside the palace walls. When an innocent mistake results in devastating consequences for her people, she is offered up as a sacrifice to please the king, in the hopes that she will save them all.
Following in the tradition of The Hours and The Red Tent, The Book of V. is a bold and contemporary investigation into the enduring expectations and restraints placed on women’s lives.
Description from Goodreads.
“Thought-provoking fiction… The Book of V. asks complicated questions about power, desire, and the evolution of women’s roles.” – Real Simple
“Finely written and often vividly imagined… A bold, fertile work lit by powerful images.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Solomon connects these stories in a way that’s fresh and tantalizing, with fascinating intergenerational discussions about desire, duty, family, and feminism, as well as a surprising, completely believable twist. This frank, revisionist romp through a Bible tale is a winner.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[An] evocative novel… each story line is captivating.” – Booklist
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Hello, Summer by Mary Kay Andrews
It’s a new season…
Conley Hawkins left her family’s small town newspaper, The Silver Bay Beacon, in the rearview mirror years ago. Now a star reporter for a big-city paper, Conley is exactly where she wants to be and is about to take a fancy new position in Washington, D.C. Or so she thinks.
For small town scandals…
When the new job goes up in smoke, Conley finds herself right back where she started, working for her sister, who is trying to keep The Silver Bay Beacon afloat—and she doesn’t exactly have warm feelings for Conley. Soon she is given the unenviable task of overseeing the local gossip column, “Hello, Summer.”
And big-time secrets.
Then Conley witnesses an accident that ends in the death of a local congressman—a beloved war hero with a shady past. The more she digs into the story, the more dangerous it gets. As an old heartbreaker causes trouble and a new flame ignites, it soon looks like their sleepy beach town is the most scandalous hotspot of the summer.
Description from Goodreads.
“Andrews can be counted on for beach-worthy depictions of southern women with chutzpah and a talent for finding trouble with humor and romantic interest mixed in. Fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Kristy Woodson Harvey shouldn’t miss it.” – Booklist
“[A]nother great story with interesting characters that you root for, a mysterious story involving the Congressman and how he died and a great setting off the Florida coast. The book is a perfect Memorial Day read.” – Red Carpet Crash
“[A] terrific read.” – Writers & Readers
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Summer Longing by Jamie Brenner
Ruth Cooperman arrives in beautiful beachside Provincetown for her retirement, renting the perfect waterfront cottage while she searches for her forever home. After years of hard work and making peace with life’s compromises, Ruth is looking forward to a carefree summer of solitude. But when she finds a baby girl abandoned on her doorstep, Ruth turns to her new neighbors for help and is drawn into the drama of the close-knit community.
The appearance of the mystery baby has an emotional ripple effect through the women in town, including Amelia Cabral, the matriarch who lost her own child decades earlier; Elise Douglas, owner of the tea shop who gave up her dream of becoming a mother; and teenage local Jaci Barros who feels trapped by her parents’ expectations. Ruth, caring for a baby for the first time in thirty years, even reaches out to her own estranged daughter, Olivia, summoning her to Provincetown in hopes of a reconciliation.
As summer unfolds and friends and family care for the infant, alliances are made, relationships are tested, and secrets are uncovered. But the unconditional love for a child in need just might bring Ruth and the women of Provincetown exactly what they have been longing for themselves.
With heartfelt storytelling, Summer Longing is Jamie Brenner’s eagerly anticipated return to Provincetown; another unforgettable tale about motherhood, friendship, and finding your way home.
Description from Goodreads.
“Fans of Elin Hilderbrand, beaches, summer, and family are sure to enjoy this perfect-for-your-vacation read.” – Booklist
“Summer Longing is Jamie Brenner at her best: an emotionally honest story about motherhood, friendship, and belonging.” – PopSugar
“This touching, nuanced summer yarn delivers the goods.” – Publisher’s Weekly
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Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella
Cadence Archer arrives on Harvard’s campus desperate to understand why her brother, Eric, a genius who developed paranoid schizophrenia took his own life there the year before. Losing Eric has left a black hole in Cady’s life, and while her decision to follow in her brother’s footsteps threatens to break her family apart, she is haunted by questions of what she might have missed. And there’s only one place to find answers.
As Cady struggles under the enormous pressure at Harvard, she investigates her brother’s final year, armed only with a blue notebook of Eric’s cryptic scribblings. She knew he had been struggling with paranoia, delusions, and illusory enemies—but what tipped him over the edge? With her suspicions mounting, Cady herself begins to hear voices, seemingly belonging to three ghosts who walked the university’s hallowed halls—or huddled in its slave quarters. Among them is a person whose name has been buried for centuries, and another whose name mankind will never forget.
Does she share Eric’s illness, or is she tapping into something else? Cady doesn’t know how or why these ghosts are contacting her, but as she is drawn deeper into their worlds, she believes they’re moving her closer to the truth about Eric, even as keeping them secret isolates her further. Will listening to these voices lead her to the one voice she craves—her brother’s—or will she follow them down a path to her own destruction?
Description from Goodreads.
“Those who like novels by Joe Hill and Pat Conroy will also enjoy this first novel… The book begins as a thriller and ends as a story of personal growth and redemption. The writing is vivid and engaging, and it works for adults as well as for mature young adult readers.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“It’s tight, it’s fresh, and it’s a very accomplished debut novel.” – Bookreporter
“[Francesca] Serritella steps forward with a many-faceted first novel… Serritella makes keen use of quantum theories about time and simultaneity in this busily plotted, emotionally astute, thoughtfully paranormal, witty, and suspenseful drama involving historical figures, academic ruthlessness, and the tragic riddles of mental illness. Serritella has also created a sensitive and searching tale about the courage and fortitude of a smart young woman in mourning and in peril. Cady is a compelling narrator.” – Booklist
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The Index of Self-Destructive Acts by Christopher Beha
The day Sam Waxworth arrives in New York to write for The Interviewer, a street-corner preacher declares that the world is coming to an end. A sports statistician, data journalist, and newly minted media celebrity who correctly forecasted every outcome of the 2008 election, Sam’s familiar with predicting the future. But when projection meets reality, things turn complicated. Sam’s editor sends him to profile disgraced political columnist Frank Doyle. To most readers, Doyle is a liberal lion turned neocon Iraq war apologist, but to Sam he is above all the author of the great works of baseball lore that sparked Sam’s childhood love of the game—books he now views as childish myth-making to be crushed with his empirical hammer. But Doyle proves something else in person: charming, intelligent, and more convincing than Sam could have expected. Then there is his daughter, Margo, to whom Sam becomes desperately attracted—just as his wife, Lucy, arrives from Wisconsin. The lives of these characters are entwined with those of the rest of the Doyle family—Frank’s wife, Kit, whose investment bank collapsed during the financial crisis; his son, Eddie, an Army veteran just returned from his second combat tour; and Eddie’s best childhood friend, hedge funder Justin Price. While the end of the world might not be arriving, Beha’s characters are each headed for apocalypses of their own making.
Description from Goodreads.
“Its breadth, ambition, and command are refreshing. An admirably big-picture, multivalent family saga.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Beha’s earlier work has been rightfully compared to the work of Graham Greene, and in this new novel Beha does what only Greene and a handful of other novelists have been able to accomplish: make God, belief, and doubt the stuff of serious fiction―even down to the probing dialogue of his characters.” – The Millions
“Filled with stunning acts of hubris and betrayal, Beha’s deliciously downbeat novel picks apart the zeitgeist, revealing a culture of schemers and charlatans. This cutting send-up of New York progressive elitism should do much to expand Beha’s audience.” – Publishers Weekly
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Four by Four by Sara Mesa
Set entirely at Wybrany College—a school where the wealthy keep their kids safe from the chaos erupting in the cities—Four by Four is a novel of insinuation and gossip, in which the truth about Wybrany’s “program” is always palpable, but never explicit. The mysteries populating the novel open with the disappearance of one of the “special,” scholarship students. As the first part unfolds, it becomes clear that all is not well in Wybrany, and that something more sordid lurks beneath the surface.
In the second part—a diary written by an imposter who has infiltrated the school as a substitute teacher—the eerie sense of what’s happening in this space removed from society, becomes more acute and potentially sinister.
An exploration of the relationship between the powerful and powerless—and the repetition of these patterns—Mesa’s “sophisticated nightmare” calls to mind great works of gothic literature (think Shirley Jackson) and social thrillers to create a unique, unsettling view of freedom and how a fear of the outside world can create monsters.
Description from Goodreads.
“A meticulously constructed and chilling study of desire and influence.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Mesa presents a painful exploration of inequity, cruelty, and the immeasurable cost of belonging.” – Booklist
“Sara Mesa. Don’t forget that name. The finalist for the 30th Premio Herralde de Novela. Read it. Share it. Talk about it. Open the book and begin. You won’t be able to put it down.” – Un libro al día
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SUSPENSE
A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call. Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily. Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. That job and her brilliant, devoted husband Sam—she had everything she’d ever wanted. And then, suddenly, it all fell apart.
No. That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden, was it? Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s marriage had started to show. She was just good at averting her eyes.
The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking for help—even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. But Zach is desperate: his wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone. And Zach’s the primary suspect.
As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed—and that their friends, a close-knit group of fellow parents at the exclusive Grace Hall private school, might be protecting troubling secrets of their own. In the end, she’s left wondering not only whether her own marriage can be saved, but what it means to have a good marriage in the first place.
Description from Goodreads.
“Expertly blends domestic drama with a gripping murder mystery… Filled with credible plot twists and realistically flawed characters, McCreight’s page-turner presses readers to question everything they think makes a ‘good’ marriage. This will stay with the reader long after the finish.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“McCreight expertly weaves multiple plot threads with a few sly red herrings, paving the way to a series of surprising, and satisfying, reveals. A smartly plotted and altogether successful union of legal thriller and domestic suspense.” – Kirkus Reviews
“McCreight’s storytelling is fantastic as she weaves multiple storylines together and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat from the first page to the last… You’ll gasp, you may blush, you may cry, and you may cheer, but you will still not be able to stop reading!” – The Nerd Daily
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HISTORICAL FICTION
The Paris Hours by Alex George
One day in the City of Lights. One night in search of lost time.
Paris between the wars teems with artists, writers, and musicians, a glittering crucible of genius. But amidst the dazzling creativity of the city’s most famous citizens, four regular people are each searching for something they’ve lost.
Camille was the maid of Marcel Proust, and she has a secret: when she was asked to burn her employer’s notebooks, she saved one for herself. Now she is desperate to find it before her betrayal is revealed. Souren, an Armenian refugee, performs puppet shows for children that are nothing like the fairy tales they expect. Lovesick artist Guillaume is down on his luck and running from a debt he cannot repay—but when Gertrude Stein walks into his studio, he wonders if this is the day everything could change. And Jean-Paul is a journalist who tells other people’s stories, because his own is too painful to tell. When the quartet’s paths finally cross in an unforgettable climax, each discovers if they will find what they are looking for.
Told over the course of a single day in 1927, The Paris Hours takes four ordinary people whose stories, told together, are as extraordinary as the glorious city they inhabit.
Description from Goodreads.
“Exquisite… A testimony to the life-changing power of a single day, the book reads like a Jazz Age Les Miserables.” – Columbia Tribune
“An artist, a writer, a puppeteer, and an author’s intimate―the stories of these characters move back and forth in a beautiful dance. And how they come together in the final movement is très belle! George has captured the ethos of 1920s Paris.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“What makes this tale work so well?… George knows his way around the world… He writes with a keen edge… [He takes] readers through the streets of Paris–not the Paris that tourists flock to but the Paris that houses real Parisians.” – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin
When the dean of Lovegood Junior College for Girls decides to pair Feron Hood with Merry Jellicoe as roommates in 1958, she has no way of knowing the far-reaching consequences of the match. Feron, who has narrowly escaped from a dark past, instantly takes to Merry and her composed personality. Surrounded by the traditions and four-story Doric columns of Lovegood, the girls–and their friendship–begin to thrive. But underneath their fierce friendship is a stronger, stranger bond, one comprised of secrets, rivalry, and influence–with neither of them able to predict that Merry is about to lose everything she grew up taking for granted, and that their time together will be cut short.
Ten years later, Feron and Merry haven’t spoken since college. Life has led them into vastly different worlds. But, as Feron says, once someone is inside your “reference aura,” she stays there forever. And when each woman finds herself in need of the other’s essence, that spark–that remarkable affinity, unbroken by time–between them is reignited, and their lives begin to shift as a result.
Luminous and literary, Old Lovegood Girls is the story of a powerful friendship between talented writers, two college friends who have formed a bond that takes them through decades of a fast-changing world, finding and losing and finding again the one friendship that defines them.
Description from Goodreads.
“Godwin, a word-perfect novelist of exceptional psychological refinement… infuses this tale of intrepid women with a profound inquiry into the ethics of storytelling and how literature can chart a way through tragedies… Secret traumas are slowly revealed, adjacent characters are magnetizing, and Godwin, as fluent in humor as in sorrow, sagely illuminates matters of faith, art, ambition, and generosity while celebrating change and steadfastness, friendship and love… Godwin’s mastery and following grow with each book, and literary fiction lovers will seek out this intricately structured and emotionally rich tale.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Godwin tracks a half-century friendship between two very different yet oddly compatible women… [unfolding] their stories in a meditative, elliptical fashion, circling back to reveal defining moments that include tragic losses, unexpected love, and nurturing friendships… Intelligent, reflective, satisfying fiction from an old master.” – Kirkus Reviews
“What is it that holds us together, through years and big changes? It can feel indescribable-unless someone like Gail Godwin gets her hands on it. An award-winning, powerhouse storyteller who has brought us so many smart, heartfelt novels like Grief Cottage and Flora, Godwin delivers a glimpse into the bond sustained by two women ever since they first became friends in college.” – Bookpage
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NONFICTION
Officer Clemmons: A Memoir by François Clemmons ★
Details the incredible life story of François Clemmons, beginning with his early years in Alabama and Ohio, marked by family trauma and loss, through his studies as a music major at Oberlin College, where Clemmons began to investigate and embrace his homosexuality, to a chance encounter with Fred Rogers which changed the whole course of both men’s lives, leading to a deep, spiritual friendship and mentorship spanning nearly forty years.
When he earned the role as “Officer Clemmons” on the award-winning television series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Clemmons made history as the first African American actor to have a recurring role on a children’s program. A new, wide world opened for François — but one which also required him to make painful personal choices, and sacrifices.
From New York to the Soviet Union, Berlin to California, Clemmons has performed for audiences around the world, and remains a beloved figure. Evocative and intimate, and buoyed by its author’s own vivacious, inimitable energy, Officer Clemmons chronicles a historical and enlightening life and career of a man who has brought joy to millions of adults and children, across generations and borders.
Description from Goodreads.
“Clemmons, who played Officer Clemmons on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, tells of his life as a gay African-American in the postwar era, in this uplifting memoir… Clemmons’s thoroughly delightful, inspiring story will speak particularly to artists in marginalized communities.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“The extraordinary story of one of Mister Rogers’ most groundbreaking and endearing ‘neighbors,’ Officer Clemmons… A dear friend of Rogers for three decades, Clemmons offers a firsthand account of his work on Rogers’ show, a story intertwined with the author’s remarkable career as an operatic singer, actor, playwright, and choir director… A heartwarming story that explores the power of friendship as well as race, sexuality, talent, and identity.” – Kirkus Reviews
“François Clemmons played Officer Clemmons on Mister Rogers (making him the first African American with a recurring role on a children’s program), which would be reason enough for me to want to read his memoir. But Clemmons’s life beyond his work on the show, and his friendship with Fred Rogers (who, unfortunately, advised him to marry a woman rather than accept that he was gay) was fascinating, as well.” – Literary Hub
“…quite a good book, full of resonant moments and artistic insights… Clemmons’ memoir is often disarming in its intimacy and honesty… In the book, he doesn’t ask you to be his neighbor, but rather just to hear his story: One of a man of profound strength and talent who stood up, sang out, and, after great struggle, was heard.” – NPR
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Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French Cooking by Bill Buford
Bill Buford turns his inimitable attention from Italian cuisine to the food of France. Baffled by the language, but convinced that he can master the art of French cooking–or at least get to the bottom of why it is so revered– he begins what becomes a five-year odyssey by shadowing the esteemed French chef Michel Richard, in Washington, D.C. But when Buford (quickly) realizes that a stage in France is necessary, he goes–this time with his wife and three-year-old twin sons in tow–to Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France. Studying at L’Institut Bocuse, cooking at the storied, Michelin-starred La Mère Brazier, enduring the endless hours and exacting rigeur of the kitchen, Buford becomes a man obsessed–with proving himself on the line, proving that he is worthy of the gastronomic secrets he’s learning, proving that French cooking actually derives from (mon dieu!) the Italian. With his signature humor, sense of adventure, and masterly ability to immerse himself–and us–in his surroundings, Bill Buford has written what is sure to be the food-lover’s book of the year.
Description from Goodreads.
“Buford delivers a vivid and often laugh-out-loud account of the tribulations, humblings, and triumphs he and his family endured in the five years they lived in France… [He] is a delightful narrator, and his stories of attending a pig slaughter, befriending the owner of a local bakery, and becoming gradually accepted by the locals are by turns funny, intimate, insightful, and occasionally heartbreaking. It’s a remarkable book, and even readers who don’t know a sabayon from a Sabatier will find it endlessly rewarding.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[T]his book may well be an even greater pleasure than its predecessor… a delightful, highly idiosyncratic exploration of how, as Buford puts it, ‘a dish is arrived at not by following a set of instructions but by discovering everything about it: the behavior of its ingredients, its history and a quality that some chefs think of as its soul.'” – New York Times
“A lively, passionate homage to fine food.” – Kirkus Reviews
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Pelosi by Molly Ball
She’s the iconic leader who puts Donald Trump in his place, the woman with the toughness to take on a lawless president and defend American democracy. Ever since the Democrats took back the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Nancy Pelosi has led the opposition with strategic mastery and inimitable elan. It’s a remarkable comeback for the veteran politician who for years was demonized by the right and taken for granted by many in her own party—even though, as speaker under President Barack Obama, she deserves much of the credit for epochal liberal accomplishments from universal health care to gays in the military. How did a 79-year-old Italian grandmother in four-inch heels become the greatest legislator since LBJ—and how will she manage her greatest challenge yet, impeachment?
Ball’s nuanced, page-turning portrait takes readers inside the life and times of this historic and underappreciated figure. Based on exclusive interviews with the Speaker and deep background reporting, Ball shows Pelosi through a thoroughly modern lens to explain how this extraordinary woman has met her moment.
Description from Goodreads.
“A top-notch political biography.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“A lively and detailed portrait… Ball’s accessible review of recent legislative history and behind-the-scenes coverage of congressional matters provide valuable insights for political junkies. Even readers who don’t entirely agree with Pelosi’s agenda will gain respect for her accomplishments and tenacity.” – Publishers Weekly
“An entertaining and balanced biography of Nancy Pelosi… Ball offers plenty of insightful anecdotes, presenting events within historical perspective so that readers can fully appreciate their import.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
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