“Never let anyone make you feel ordinary.” – Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
FICTION
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris ★
Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.
Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.
It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than just her career.
A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace, The Other Black Girl will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist.
Description from Goodreads.
“A can’t-miss title for 2021.” – Harper’s Bazaar
“Filled with twists both unsettling and unexpected… such a timely read.” – TIME
“[A] brilliant debut… The novel takes some bold stylistic risks that pay off beautifully, leaving the reader longing for more of Harris’s words and unique view on the world.” – Vogue
“A dazzling, darkly humorous story… the novel overflows with witty dialogue and skillfully drawn characters, its biggest strength lies in its penetrating critique of gatekeeping in the publishing industry and the deleterious effects it can have on Black editors. This insightful, spellbinding book packs a heavy punch.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
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Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid ★
Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over–especially as the offspring of the legendary singer Mick Riva.
The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud–because it is long past time for him to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.
Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.
And Kit has a couple secrets of her own–including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.
By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come bubbling to the surface.
Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them… and what they will leave behind.
Description from Goodreads.
“One of the most anticipated [books] of the year—and rightfully so… It’s a must-read.” – Parade
“[Taylor Jenkins] Reid has once again crafted a fast-paced, engaging novel that smoothly transports readers between decades and story lines.” – Washington Post
“Reid unfurls a fast-paced and addictive story… This page-turning indulgence hits the spot.” – Publishers Weekly
“A compulsively readable story about the bonds between family members and the power of breaking free.” – Kirkus Reviews
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One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston ★
For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.
But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.
Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.
Description from Goodreads.
“Bursting with heart, snappy banter and a deep respect for queer history and community, One Last Stop isn’t just another surefire hit for McQuiston. It also might be the best read of the summer.” – BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“One Last Stop is an earnest reminder that home ― whether that means a time, a place, or a person ― is worth fighting for.” – New York Magazine
“To say that Casey McQuiston’s latest novel is so electrifyingly fun and swoon-worthy that you’ll miss your subway stop while reading it is probably a little on the nose, but whatever… One Last Stop is a heart-thawing ode to the impossible magic of New York, and will even leave you feeling somehow wistful for the MTA (yes, really).” – O, the Oprah Magazine
“McQuiston’s joyful sophomore romp mixes all the elements that made Red, White & Royal Blue so outstanding―quirky characters, coming-of-age confusion, laugh-out-loud narration, and hilarious pop-cultural references―into something totally its own… With all the fun and camp of a drag show (of which this novel features more than one) but grounded in the tenderness of first love, this time-slip rom-com is an absolute delight.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
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With Teeth by Kristen Arnett ★
If she’s being honest, Sammie Lucas is scared of her son. Working from home in the close quarters of their Florida house, she lives with one wary eye peeled on Samson, a sullen, unknowable boy who resists her every attempt to bond with him. Uncertain in her own feelings about motherhood, she tries her best–driving, cleaning, cooking, prodding him to finish projects for school–while growing increasingly resentful of Monika, her confident but absent wife. As Samson grows from feral toddler to surly teenager, Sammie’s life begins to deteriorate into a mess of unruly behavior, and her struggle to create a picture-perfect queer family unravels. When her son’s hostility finally spills over into physical aggression, Sammie must confront her role in the mess–and the possibility that it will never be clean again.
Blending the warmth and wit of Arnett’s breakout hit, Mostly Dead Things, with a candid take on queer family dynamics, With Teeth is a thought-provoking portrait of the delicate fabric of family–and the many ways it can be torn apart.
Description from Goodreads.
“Candid, gorgeous, and written in Arnett’s signature style, this is a must-read.” – Real Simple
“Through alternating laughs and audible gasps of horror, readers will come away from Kristen Arnett’s darkly comic story with a new appreciation for the mysteries and puzzling perspectives each person we cross paths with holds inside.” – PopSugar
“Complicated, fearless and confidently messy, With Teeth should resonate with any reader who has ever felt like a stranger in their own life.” – Shelf Awareness
“Arnett writes movingly… [She] deftly examines the psychological dynamics of a family, raising complicated questions about whether mothers can ever truly understand how to raise sons and whether our children, too often, are mirrors of our own worst tendencies.” – Kirkus Reviews
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The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
Life is short. No-one knows that better than seventeen-year-old Lenni living on the terminal ward. But as she is about to learn, it’s not only what you make of life that matters, but who you share it with.
Dodging doctor’s orders, she joins an art class where she bumps into fellow patient Margot, a rebel-hearted eighty-three-year-old from the next ward. Their bond is instant as they realize that together they have lived an astonishing one hundred years.
To celebrate their shared century, they decide to paint their life stories: of growing old and staying young, of giving joy, of receiving kindness, of losing love, of finding the person who is everything.
As their extraordinary friendship deepens, it becomes vividly clear that life is not done with Lenni and Margot yet.
Fiercely alive, disarmingly funny and brimming with tenderness, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot unwraps the extraordinary gift of life even when it is about to be taken away, and revels in our infinite capacity for friendship and love when we need them most.
Description from Goodreads.
“This multi-generational novel about friendship is something special: moving, joyful, and life-affirming.” – Good Housekeeping
“A beautiful debut, funny, tender, and animated by a willingness to confront life’s obstacles and find a way to survive… It celebrates friendship, finds meaning in difficulty and lets the reader explore dark places while always allowing for the possibility of light. Lenni and Margot are fine companions for all our springtime journeys.” – Harper’s Bazaar
“Marianne Cronin’s first novel brims with so much life… With love and tenderness on every page, this imaginative novel is a joy to read.” – BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
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Palace of the Drowned by Christine Mangan
It’s 1966 and Frankie Croy retreats to her friend’s vacant palazzo in Venice. Years have passed since the initial success of Frankie’s debut novel and she has spent her career trying to live up to the expectations. Now, after a particularly scathing review of her most recent work, alongside a very public breakdown, she needs to recharge and get re-inspired.
Then Gilly appears. A precocious young admirer eager to make friends, Gilly seems determined to insinuate herself into Frankie’s solitary life. But there’s something about the young woman that gives Frankie pause. How much of what Gilly tells her is the truth? As a series of lies and revelations emerge, the lives of these two women will be tragically altered as the catastrophic 1966 flooding of Venice ravages the city.
Suspenseful and transporting, Christine Mangan’s Palace of the Drowned brings the mystery of Venice to life while delivering a twisted tale of ambition and human nature.
Description from Goodreads.
“Against the grim backdrop of off-season Venice, literary rivalry can be menacing.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…an elegantly elegiac thriller… more than lives up to the promise of her debut.” – Publishers Weekly
“…Mangan taps into the pervasive fear belonging to people insecure in their accomplishments, especially when a seemingly more confident youngster comes along.” – Historical Novel Society
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Double Blind by Edward St. Aubyn
When Olivia meets a new lover just as she is welcoming her best friend, Lucy, back from New York, her dedicated academic life expands precipitously. Her connection to Francis, a committed naturalist living off the grid, is immediate and startling. Eager to involve Lucy in her joy, Olivia introduces the two—but Lucy has received shocking news of her own that binds the trio unusually close. Over the months that follow, Lucy’s boss, Hunter, Olivia’s psychoanalyst parents, and a young man named Sebastian are pulled into the friends’ orbit, and not one of them will emerge unchanged.
Expansive, playful, and compassionate, Edward St. Aubyn’s Double Blind investigates themes of inheritance, determinism, freedom, consciousness, and the stories we tell about ourselves. St. Aubyn’s major new novel is as compelling about ecology, psychoanalysis, genetics, and neuroscience as it is about love, fear, and courage. Most of all, it is a perfect expression of the interconnections it sets out to examine, and a moving evocation of an imagined world that is deeply intelligent, often tender, curious, and very much alive.
Description from Goodreads.
“This is a novel with heart… Double Blind is both clever and compassionate, confirming St Aubyn as among the brightest lights of contemporary British literature.” – The Spectator
“St. Aubyn expounds on epigenetics, rewilding, art, neuroscience, and philosophy in this sublime character-driven novel. With his usual elegant prose, St. Aubyn follows three friends―Francis, Olivia, and Lucy―through a transformative year… St. Aubyn brings off a seemingly effortless and provocative examination of the mind and its refractions. This one’s not to be missed.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[An] elegant, carefully plotted tale… More humorous but just as intellectually inclined as Richard Powers… St. Aubyn explores human foibles even as he brilliantly takes up headier issues of the human brain in sickness and in health… Thought-provoking, [and] smartly told.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
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Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. She ascends to the Beyond where she’s assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi also is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo currently “off again” with his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them.
From the Beyond, Vivi watches “The Chief” Ed Kapenash investigate her death, but her greatest worry is her final book, which contains a secret from her own youth that could be disastrous for her reputation. But when hidden truths come to light, Vivi’s family will have to sort out their past and present mistakes—with or without a nudge of help from above—while Vivi finally lets them grow without her.
With all of Elin’s trademark beach scenes, mouth-watering meals, and picture-perfect homes, plus a heartfelt message—the people we lose never really leave us—Golden Girl is a beach book unlike any other.
Description from Goodreads.
“It’s not officially summer until Elin Hilderbrand drops her annual page-turner… In this touching, scenic story, we learn what it is to let go and let life go on.” – Good Housekeeping
“It’s almost summer, which means Hilderbrand’s legions of fans will be anxious for her latest… This is classic Hilderbrand… hopefully, she has many more Nantucket tales in store.” – Booklist
“It has suspense, beautiful beach scenes and inspirational anecdotes. You really can’t do better than that.” – Cosmopolitan
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The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin
Orphaned young, Ming Tsu, the son of Chinese immigrants, is raised by the notorious leader of a California crime syndicate, who trains him to be his deadly enforcer. But when Ming falls in love with Ada, the daughter of a powerful railroad magnate, and the two elope, he seizes the opportunity to escape to a different life. Soon after, in a violent raid, the tycoon’s henchmen kidnap Ada and conscript Ming into service for the Central Pacific Railroad.
Battered, heartbroken, and yet defiant, Ming partners with a blind clairvoyant known only as the prophet. Together the two set out to rescue his wife and to exact revenge on the men who destroyed Ming, aided by a troupe of magic-show performers, some with supernatural powers, whom they meet on the journey. Ming blazes his way across the West, settling old scores with a single-minded devotion that culminates in an explosive and unexpected finale.
Written with the violent ardor of Cormac McCarthy and the otherworldly inventiveness of Ted Chiang, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu is at once a thriller, a romance, and a story of one man’s quest for redemption in the face of a distinctly American brutality.
Description from Goodreads.
“Infused with magic realism, Lin’s beautifully imagined first novel is an extraordinary epic with page-turning, often cinematic action that transcends the parameters of genre fiction. A brilliant debut, impossible to put down.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Lin displays remarkable skill in maneuvering his plot and characters… Ming is a unique figure. He’s a murderer with a strange personal code… but he’s also a score-settling outlaw worthy of True Grit… This is a major work that enlarges our view of the Wild West and marks Lin as a writer to watch.” – BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“Lin creates a wild, wild west hero who, in the name of true love, embarks on an epic quest for gruesome revenge… With dexterous agility, Lin showcases Ming’s multi-faceted identity… Ming’s story of denial becomes Lin’s ingenious assertion of his own Chinese American heritage, his fiction a literal projection of the Chinese American experience onto the page.” – Shelf Awareness
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Catch the Rabbit by Lana Bastašić
Sara hasn’t seen or heard from Lejla in years. She’s comfortable with her life in Dublin, with her partner, their avocado plant, and their naturist neighbour. But when Lejla calls and demands she come home to Bosnia, Sara finds that she can’t say no.
What begins as a road trip becomes a journey through the past, as the two women set off to find Armin, Lejla’s brother who disappeared towards the end of the Bosnian War. Presumed dead by everyone else, only Lejla and Sara believed Armin was still alive.
Confronted with the limits of memory, Sara is forced to reconsider the things she thought she understood as a girl: the best friend she loved, the first experiences they shared, but also the social and religious lines that separated them, that brought them such different lives.
In Catch the Rabbit, Lana Bastašic tells the story of how we place the ones we love on pedestals, and then wait for them to fall off, how loss marks us indelibly, and how the traumas of war echo down the years.
Description from Goodreads.
“This intense, dreamlike, gorgeously-realized descent into history and memory is deserving of its Ferrante comparisons.” – Literary Hub
“The narrative reaches a greatly satisfying climax, built on themes of rediscovering the past, memories, women’s friendships, language, and identity. This unforgettable tour de force surprises at every turn.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Bastašić’s intense examination of female friendship provides a portal into the tumultuous recent history of the former Yugoslavia. Awarded the 2020 European Union Prize for Literature, Bastašić’s compelling and enlightening first novel arrives in the US in her own agile translation, sure to engage urbane anglophone readers.” – Booklist
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The Portrait of a Mirror by A. Natasha Joukovsky
Wes and Diana are the kind of privileged, well-educated, self-involved New Yorkers you may not want to like but can’t help wanting to like you. With his boyish good looks, blue-blood pedigree, and the recent tidy valuation of his tech startup, Wes would have made any woman weak in the knees—any woman, that is, except perhaps his wife. Brilliant to the point of cunning, Diana possesses her own arsenal of charms, handily deployed against Wes in their constant wars of will and rhetorical sparring.
Vivien and Dale live in Philadelphia, but with ties to the same prep schools and management consulting firms as Wes and Diana, they’re of the same ilk. With a wedding date on the horizon and carefully curated life of coupledom, Vivien and Dale make a picture-perfect pair on Instagram. But when Vivien becomes a visiting curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art just as Diana is starting a new consulting project in Philadelphia, the two couples’ lives cross and tangle. It’s the summer of 2015 and they’re all enraptured by one another and too engulfed in desire to know what they want—despite knowing just how to act.
In this wickedly fun debut, A. Natasha Joukovsky crafts an absorbing portrait of modern romance, rousing real sympathy for these flawed characters even as she skewers them. Shrewdly observed, whip-smart, and shot through with wit and good humor, The Portrait of a Mirror is a piercing exploration of narcissism, desire, self-delusion, and the great mythology of love.
Description from Goodreads.
“A richly-layered portrait of two couples caught a crossroads… Joukovsky’s prose, like the best parts of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom or Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, demands the reader’s fullest attention. Clever and witty and intricate, Joukovsky’s voice emphasizes her characters’ best features, like candlelight in a luxurious hotel bar.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Gossip Girl meets The Secret History… Joukovsky’s ability to both skewer and sympathize with her characters would impress Edith Wharton herself.” – Vulture
“This delightful, perfectly rendered novel is filled with gossip and charged exchanges, bad decisions made by rich people, but also some pretty interesting questions about art and value, all of it filtered through the legend of Narcissus… I was beyond charmed.” – Literary Hub
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HISTORICAL FICTION
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo ★
Immigrant. Socialite. Magician.
Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society—she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s also queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.
But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.
Nghi Vo’s debut novel The Chosen and the Beautiful reinvents this classic of the American canon as a coming-of-age story full of magic, mystery, and glittering excess, and introduces a major new literary voice.
Description from Goodreads.
“Vo has crafted a retelling that, in many ways, surpasses the original, adding logic and depth to characters’ motivations while still―uncannily―unspooling the familiar story. Astonishingly crafted, with luscious prose and appeal for both fans of the original and those who always felt The Great Gatsby missed the mark.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Extraordinary… Vo’s immersive prose never ceases to captivate. The Gatsby-related details and hints of magic will keep readers spellbound from start to finish.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“An utterly captivating series of speakeasies, back-seat trysts, parties both grand and intimate and romances both magical and mundane… Vo is a remarkable writer whose talent for reviving Fitzgerald’s style of prose is reminiscent of Susanna Clarke channeling Jane Austen in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. But it is Vo’s additions to Gatsby’s original plot that truly shine… [She] has transformed The Great Gatsby utterly.” – BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“Vo’s resuscitation of Gatsby suggests comparisons with Jean Rhys’s celebrated Wide Sargasso Sea… [both] brilliantly elevate less-central characters, adding depth and gravitas to women underdeveloped, overlooked… Vo creates an extraordinary multi-layered literary experience that both enriches and eclipses the overexposed original.” – Shelf Awareness
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Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams
In the autumn of 1948, Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her American diplomat husband and their two children. The world is shocked by the family’s sensational disappearance. Were they eliminated by the Soviet intelligence service? Or have the Digbys defected to Moscow with a trove of the West’s most vital secrets?
Four years later, Ruth Macallister receives a postcard from the twin sister she hasn’t seen since their catastrophic parting in Rome in the summer of 1940, as war engulfed the continent and Iris fell desperately in love with an enigmatic United States Embassy official named Sasha Digby. Within days, Ruth is on her way to Moscow, posing as the wife of counterintelligence agent Sumner Fox in a precarious plot to extract the Digbys from behind the Iron Curtain.
But the complex truth behind Iris’s marriage defies Ruth’s understanding, and as the sisters race toward safety, a dogged Soviet KGB officer forces them to make a heartbreaking choice between two irreconcilable loyalties.
Description from Goodreads.
“This is Williams at the top of her game.” – Historical Novel Society
“Fans will be riveted by the complex family relationships and the intriguing portrayal of espionage.” – Publishers Weekly
“Williams has a sure hand in this deceptively quiet novel, told from the perspective of three different women. She expertly shifts between family drama and a suspenseful espionage plot, and makes every word and note count.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
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Ridgeline by Michael Punke
In 1866, with the country barely recovered from the Civil War, new war breaks out on the western frontier–a clash of cultures between a young, ambitious nation and the Native tribes who have lived on the land for centuries. Colonel Henry Carrington arrives in Wyoming’s Powder River Valley to lead the US Army in defending the opening of a new road for gold miners and settlers. Carrington intends to build a fort in the middle of critical hunting grounds, the home of the Lakota. Red Cloud, one of the Lakota’s most respected chiefs, and Crazy Horse, a young but visionary warrior, understand full well the implications of this invasion. For the Lakota, the stakes are their home, their culture, their lives.
As fall bleeds into winter, Crazy Horse leads a small war party that confronts Colonel Carrington’s soldiers with near constant attacks. Red Cloud, meanwhile, seeks to build the tribal alliances that he knows will be necessary to defeat the soldiers. Colonel Carrington seeks to hold together a US Army beset with internal discord. Carrington’s officers are skeptical of their commander’s strategy, none more so than Lieutenant George Washington Grummond, who longs to fight a foe he dismisses as inferior in all ways. The rank-and-file soldiers, meanwhile, are still divided by the residue of civil war, and tempted to desertion by the nearby goldfields.
Throughout this taut saga–based on real people and events–Michael Punke brings the same immersive, vivid storytelling and historical insight that made his breakthrough debut so memorable. As Ridgeline builds to its epic conclusion, it grapples with essential questions of conquest and justice that still echo today.
Description from Goodreads.
“A thrilling and heartbreaking read…” – Saturday Evening Post
“Punke is brilliant… [Ridgeline] confirms his mastery as a writer… The day of the battle is described in unflinching detail. The devastation feels real. Punke deeply respects Native American tribal history, and explains how an uneasy tribal allegiance led to battle victory… Ridgeline transcends genre categorization―any sophisticated reader would appreciate this novel.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[An] engrossing account of the violence and horror of a Wyoming massacre… Punke makes the battle vivid, and draws deep characterizations of individuals on both sides, exploring Crazy Horse’s fear of impending change, U.S. soldiers’ indifference to fighting, and a captain’s lament of the breakdown of discipline and reason within the battalion’s leadership. This is historical fiction at its best.” – Publisher’s Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
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An Unlikely Spy by Rebecca Starford
Evelyn Varley has always been ambitious and clever. As a girl, she earned a scholarship to a prestigious academy well above her parents’ means, gaining her a best friend from one of England’s wealthiest families. In 1939, with an Oxford degree in hand and war looming, Evelyn finds herself recruited into an elite MI5 counterintelligence unit.
A ruthless secret society seeks an alliance with Germany and, posing as a Nazi sympathizer, Evelyn must build a case to expose their treachery. But as she is drawn deeper into layers of duplicity—perhaps of her own making—some of those closest to her become embroiled in her investigation. With Evelyn’s loyalties placed under extraordinary pressure, she’ll face an impossible choice: save her country or the people who love her. Her decision echoes for years after the war, impacting everyone who thought they knew the real Evelyn Varley.
Beguiling and dark, An Unlikely Spy is a fascinating story of deception and sacrifice, based on the history of real people within the British intelligence community.
Description from Goodreads.
“A fast paced tale with plenty of plot twists and enough complexity to place it somewhere between a historical genre novel and a literary thriller.” – The Guardian
“[A] subtle yet moving story of personal and professional camouflage, of hidden selves fearing the light.” – Booklist
“Class and ideologies collide in Starford’s consummate debut, a clever combination of home front drama and espionage thriller… The author does an excellent job of recreating London before, during, and after the war, and in Evelyn has created a complex heroine whose sense of duty gets her in way over her head. With suspense worthy of Hitchcock and a moral reckoning straight out of Le Carré or Graham Greene, this is a winner.” – Publishers Weekly
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ROMANCE
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
What if the end of the road is just the beginning?
Four years ago, Dylan and Addie fell in love under the Provence sun. Wealthy Oxford student Dylan was staying at his friend Cherry’s enormous French villa; wild child Addie was spending her summer as the on-site caretaker. Two years ago, their relationship officially ended. They haven’t spoken since.
Today, Dylan’s and Addie’s lives collide again. It’s the day before Cherry’s wedding, and Addie and Dylan crash cars at the start of the journey there. The car Dylan was driving is wrecked, and the wedding is in rural Scotland–he’ll never get there on time by public transport.
So, along with Dylan’s best friend, Addie’s sister, and a random guy on Facebook who needed a ride, they squeeze into a space-challenged Mini and set off across Britain. Cramped into the same space, Dylan and Addie are forced to confront the choices they made that tore them apart–and ask themselves whether that final decision was the right one after all.
Description from Goodreads.
“As with her surprise hit, The Flatshare, O’Leary expertly balances humor and heart while introducing a zany cast of 20-somethings… Readers won’t want this crazy road trip to end.” – Publishers Weekly
“The Road Trip is the perfect escape. It has characters to love, quotes to remember, and a plot to truly get lost in.” – Chapters of May
“[The] story is full of fun: quirky behavior, witty Briticisms, and gleeful slapstick humor.” – Kirkus Reviews
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Neon Gods by Katee Robert
He was supposed to be a myth. But from the moment I crossed the River Styx and fell under his dark spell… he was, quite simply, mine.
Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.
With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth… a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.
Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her—for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close…
A modern retelling of Hades and Persephone that’s as sinful as it is sweet.
Description from Goodreads.
“Unspeakably hot.” – Entertainment Weekly
“Deliciously inventive… This red-hot romance is a winner.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Steamy, sexy and surprisingly sweet, Neon Gods is the scandalous and flawless Hades and Persephone retelling of your dreams and it’s a mesmerising first installment in what promises to be an unputdownable series!” – The NERD Daily
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YOUNG ADULT
Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon
Evie Thomas doesn’t believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began… and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually.
As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything–including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he’s only just met.
Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it’s that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?
Description from Goodreads.
“A remarkable, irresistible love story that will linger long after readers turn the final page.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“An endearing, affecting exploration of the journey of love. Everything Yoon touches turns to gold and this cinematic supernatural romance will be no exception.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Yoon delivers this captivating story of first love with beautiful prose, clever dialogue that swings between laugh-out-loud funny and wildly insightful, clear respect for the complexity and nuance of her teen characters’ perspectives and emotions—and just enough magic to make it all truly unforgettable.” – BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
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NONFICTION
Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir by Ashley C. Ford ★
For as long as she could remember, Ashley has put her father on a pedestal. Despite having only vague memories of seeing him face-to-face, she believes he’s the only person in the entire world who understands her. She thinks she understands him too. He’s sensitive like her, an artist, and maybe even just as afraid of the dark. She’s certain that one day they’ll be reunited again, and she’ll finally feel complete. There are just a few problems: he’s in prison, and she doesn’t know what he did to end up there.
Through poverty, puberty, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley returns to her image of her father for hope and encouragement. She doesn’t know how to deal with the incessant worries that keep her up at night, or how to handle the changes in her body that draw unwanted attention from men. In her search for unconditional love, Ashley begins dating a boy her mother hates; when the relationship turns sour, he assaults her. Still reeling from the rape, which she keeps secret from her family, Ashley finally finds out why her father is in prison. And that’s where the story really begins.
Somebody’s Daughter steps into the world of growing up a poor Black girl, exploring how isolating and complex such a childhood can be. As Ashley battles her body and her environment, she provides a poignant coming-of-age recollection that speaks to finding the threads between who you are and what you were born into, and the complicated familial love that often binds them.
Description from Goodreads.
“Somebody’s Daughter will leave readers gasping for air.” – Boston Globe
“This remarkable, heart-wrenching story of loss, hardship, and self-acceptance astounds.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Her writing shines with extraordinary insight and grace, and Somebody’s Daughter is a book so many of you will want to read.” – Electric Literature
“In this beautiful, delicate memoir, writer Ashley C. Ford recounts a childhood defined by her incarcerated father’s absence… and she starts a journey toward true and powerful selfhood.” – Elle
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How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith ★
Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks-those that are honest about the past and those that are not-that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history, and ourselves.
It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving over 400 people on the premises. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving the experience of the enslaved people whose lives and work sustained it. It is the story of Angola Prison in Louisiana, a former plantation named for the country from which most of its enslaved people arrived and which has since become one of the most gruesome maximum-security prisons in the world. And it is the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers.
In a deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country’s most essential stories are hidden in plain view-whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods—like downtown Manhattan—on which the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women and children has been deeply imprinted.
Informed by scholarship and brought alive by the story of people living today, Clint Smith’s debut work of nonfiction is a landmark work of reflection and insight that offers a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in understanding our country.
Description from Goodreads.
“[A] powerful and diligent exploration of the realities and ongoing consequences of slavery in America.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“In reexamining neighborhoods, holidays and quotidian sites, Smith forces us to reconsider what we think we know about American history.” – TIME
“Smith tells his stories with the soul of a poet and the heart of an educator. Smith’s ambitious book is fueled by a humble sense of duty: he sought the wisdom of those who tell of slavery’s legacy ‘outside traditional classrooms and beyond the pages of textbooks’; public historians who ‘have dedicated their lives to sharing this history with others.’ Smith channels the spirit of Toni Morrison here; the writer as one to pass on the word so that it is never forgotten.” – The Millions
“A moving and perceptive survey of landmarks that reckon, or fail to reckon, with the legacy of slavery in America… this is an essential consideration of how America’s past informs its present.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
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House of Sticks: A Memoir by Ly Tran
Ly Tran is just a toddler in 1993 when she and her family immigrate from a small town along the Mekong river in Vietnam to a two-bedroom railroad apartment in Queens. Ly’s father, a former lieutenant in the South Vietnamese army, spent nearly a decade as a POW, and their resettlement is made possible through a humanitarian program run by the US government. Soon after they arrive, Ly joins her parents and three older brothers sewing ties and cummerbunds piece-meal on their living room floor to make ends meet.
As they navigate this new landscape, Ly finds herself torn between two worlds. She knows she must honor her parents’ Buddhist faith and contribute to the family livelihood, working long hours at home and eventually as a manicurist alongside her mother at a nail salon in Brownsville, Brooklyn, that her parents take over. But at school, Ly feels the mounting pressure to blend in.
A growing inability to see the blackboard presents new challenges, especially when her father forbids her from getting glasses, calling her diagnosis of poor vision a government conspiracy. His frightening temper and paranoia leave an indelible mark on Ly’s sense of self. Who is she outside of everything her family expects of her?
Told in a spare, evocative voice that, with flashes of humor, weaves together her family’s immigration experience with her own fraught and courageous coming of age, House of Sticks is a timely and powerful portrait of one girl’s struggle to reckon with her heritage and forge her own path.
Description from Goodreads.
“In her phenomenal debut, House of Sticks, Ly Tran mines both trauma and love from her coming of age as a young Vietnamese immigrant to the United States… Her vivid, unadorned narration yields a painful but powerful exploration of the struggle to find a sense of self within a family at the cross-section of cultures, and Tran’s story is impossible to forget.” – Shelf Awareness
“[An] emotional experience in the form of beautifully heartbreaking prose.” – Off the Shelf
“Tracing the paths of immigration and poverty, Tran’s moving and exceptionally readable memoir is at once heartbreaking, shocking, and hopeful… Tran is exceptional at telling her story with honesty and without judgment. Readers who loved Tara Westover’s Educated will find a similarly compelling memoir of resilience in a not-often-seen America.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
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A Ghost in the Throat: A Memoir by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
A true original. In this stunningly unusual prose debut, Doireann Ní Ghríofa sculpts essay and autofiction to explore inner life and the deep connection felt between two writers centuries apart.
In the 1700s, an Irish noblewoman, on discovering her husband has been murdered, drinks handfuls of his blood and composes an extraordinary poem. In the present day, a young mother narrowly avoids tragedy. On encountering the poem, she becomes obsessed with its parallels with her own life, and sets out to track down the rest of the story.
A devastating and timeless tale about one woman freeing her voice by reaching into the past and finding another’s.
Description from Goodreads.
“One of the best books of this dreadful year… Billed as a genre-busting blend of ‘autofiction, essay, scholarship, sleuthing and literary translation’, the book is an extraordinary feat of ventriloquism delivered in a lush, lyrical prose that dazzles readers from the get-go… When you write like this there is almost nothing a writer cannot get away with.” – Sunday Times
“A fascinating hybrid work in which the voices of two Irish female poets ring out across centuries. ‘When we first met, I was a child, and she had been dead for centuries,’ writes Ní Ghríofa in her first work of prose―and what a debut it is. Earning well-deserved accolades abroad, the book merges memoir, history, biography, autofiction, and literary analysis… Lyrical prose passages and moving introspection abound in this unique and beautiful book.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Ní Ghríofa is a poet through and through: in this prose work she writes lyrical sentences that make the physical world come alive… It was around Ní Chonaill’s time that a new poetic form was invented: the aisling, a dream vision of Ireland revealing itself to the poet as a beautiful woman in need of saving. Ní Ghríofa certainly gives us a new, feminist vision of a woman saving another woman, righting a historical imbalance that persists in women’s continued sacrifices.” – New York Review of Books
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Kennedy’s Avenger: Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby by Dan Abrams & David Fisher
No crime in history had more eyewitnesses. On November 24, 1963, two days after the killing of President Kennedy, a troubled nightclub owner named Jack Ruby quietly slipped into the Dallas police station and assassinated the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Millions of Americans witnessed the killing on live television, and yet the event would lead to questions for years to come.
It also would help to spark the conspiracy theories that have continued to resonate today.
Under the long shadow cast by the assassination of America’s beloved president, few would remember the bizarre trial that followed three months later in Dallas, Texas. How exactly does one defend a man who was seen pulling the trigger in front of millions? And, more important, how did Jack Ruby, who fired point-blank into Oswald live on television, die an innocent man?
Featuring a colorful cast of characters, including the nation’s most flamboyant lawyer pitted against a tough-as-Texas prosecutor, award-winning authors Dan Abrams and David Fisher unveil the astonishing details behind the first major trial of the television century. While it was Jack Ruby who appeared before the jury, it was also the city of Dallas and the American legal system being judged by the world.
Description from Goodreads.
“A fresh, detailed look at Jack Ruby and his trial… Followers of all things regarding the JFK assassination will be fascinated by this account of one of the most unique trials of the twentieth century.” – Booklist