“Not everybody wants to get out and see the world. Nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you just want to figure out how to fit yourself into the world you already know.” – John Darnielle, Universal Harvester
The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz
Fiction / Mystery / Suspense.
Owen Mann is charming, privileged, and chronically dissatisfied. Luna Grey is secretive, cautious, and pragmatic. Despite their differences, they begin forming a bond the moment they meet in college. Their names soon become indivisible–Owen and Luna, Luna and Owen–and stay that way even after an unexplained death rocks their social circle.
Years later, they’re still best friends when Luna finds Owen’s wife brutally murdered. The police investigation sheds some light on long-hidden secrets, but it can’t penetrate the wall of mystery that surrounds Owen. To get to the heart of what happened and why, Luna has to dig up the one secret she’s spent her whole life burying.
The Accomplice examines the bonds of shared history, what it costs to break them, and what happens when you start wondering if you ever truly knew the only person who truly knows you.
Description from Goodreads.
“[An] atmospheric, well-plotted, and brilliantly narrated story, which is at once mysterious, suspenseful, and witty.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Quirky characters, humor in unexpected places, and a twisty but plausible plot keep the pages turning. Readers will be torn between eagerness to get to the bottom of the novel’s mysteries—and reluctance for the adventure to end.” – Publishers Weekly
“Given [her] stellar track record I had high hopes for The Accomplice, and Lutz delivers a humdinger.” – CrimeReads
At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp
Fiction / Young Adult.
The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center is ironically named. No one has hope for the delinquent teenagers who have been exiled there; the world barely acknowledges that they exist.
Then the guards at Hope start acting strange. And one day… they don’t show up. But when the teens band together to make a break from the facility, they encounter soldiers outside the gates. There’s a rapidly spreading infectious disease outside, and no one can leave their houses or travel without a permit. Which means that they’re stuck at Hope. And this time, no one is watching out for them at all.
As supplies quickly dwindle and a deadly plague tears through their ranks, the group has to decide whom among them they can trust and figure out how they can survive in a world that has never wanted them in the first place.
Description from Goodreads.
“This timely, action-packed tale told from multiple points of view will have readers tearing through the pages.” – B&N Buzz
“Palpable fear and paranoia contribute to breathless pacing, while Nijkamp employs a clever setup and keenly wrought characters to sensitively explore topics of ableism, racism, transphobia, and juvenile justice reform.” – Publishers Weekly
“A stomach-churning thriller that delivers prudent social commentary on the complicated reality of being a teen with mental health issues, and what it means to survive when no one cares if you live.” – Shelf Awareness
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk
Fiction / Mystery.
What holds more secrets in the library: the ancient books shelved in the stacks or the people who preserve them?
Liesl Weiss has been (mostly) happy working in the rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she’s left to run things, she discovers that the library’s most prized manuscript is missing.
Liesl tries to sound the alarm and inform the police about the missing priceless book but is told repeatedly to keep quiet to keep the doors open and the donors happy. But then a librarian goes missing as well. Liesl must investigate both disappearances, unspooling her colleagues’ pasts like the threads of a rare book binding as it becomes clear that someone in the department must be responsible for the theft. What Liesl discovers about the dusty manuscripts she has worked among for so long—and about the people who preserve and revere them—shakes the very foundation on which she has built her life.
Description from Goodreads.
“The perfect gift for librarians and those who love them—and doesn’t that include just about every reader?” – Kirkus Reviews
“…written for book lovers who will no doubt dive in and devour it just like real a bookworm… informative, readable, and enjoyable, a keeper that could easily end up in someone’s private special collection.” – New York Journal of Books
“[An] unflinching appraisal of the personal and professional effects of a woman’s aging into invisibility.” – Publishers Weekly
Devil House by John Darnielle ★
Fiction / Horror / Mystery.
Gage Chandler is descended from kings. That’s what his mother always told him.
Now, he is a true crime writer, with one grisly success–and movie adaptation–to his name, along with a series of subsequent lesser efforts that have paid the bills but not much more. But now he is being offered the chance for the big break: To move into the house–what the locals call “The Devil House”–in which a briefly notorious pair of murders occurred, apparently the work of disaffected 1980s teens. He begins his research with diligence and enthusiasm, but soon the story leads him into a puzzle he never expected–back into his own work and what it means, back to the very core of what he does and who he is.
Description from Goodreads.
“Devil House is terrific: confident, creepy, a powerful and soulful page-turner. I had no idea where it was going, in the best possible sense… It’s never quite the book you think it is. It’s better.” – New York Times
“Suspenseful, brilliant and chaotically addicting, Devil House triumphs as a page-turning metafictional treatise on the power of narratives cloaked in the trappings of a certifiable true crime classic.” – San Francisco Chronicle
“Darnielle has an affection for the dark side of pop culture and the way fans of supposedly gloom-and-doom genres like heavy metal and horror are more sophisticated than they get credit for. So this smart, twisty novel about true-crime books and the 1980s ‘Satanic panic’ is a fine fit for him and his best so far… An impressively meta work that delivers the pleasures of true-crime while skewering it.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“This masterwork of suspense is as careful with its sharp takes as it is with the bread crumbs it slowly drops on the way to its stunning end. It operates perfectly on many levels, resulting in a must-read for true crime addicts and experimental fiction fans alike.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi
Fiction / Science Fiction.
In the 2050s, Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and the privilege have departed the great cities of the United States for the more comfortable confines of space colonies. Those left behind salvage what they can from the collapsing infrastructure. As they eke out an existence, their neighborhoods are being cannibalized. Brick by brick, their houses are sent to the colonies, what was once a home now a quaint reminder for the colonists of the world that they wrecked.
A primal biblical epic flung into the future, Goliath weaves together disparate narratives—a space-dweller looking at New Haven, Connecticut as a chance to reconnect with his spiraling lover; a group of laborers attempting to renew the promises of Earth’s crumbling cities; a journalist attempting to capture the violence of the streets; a marshal trying to solve a kidnapping—into a richly urgent mosaic about race, class, gentrification, and who is allowed to be the hero of any history.
Description from Goodreads.
“Harrowing, visionary… it’s urgent, gorgeous work.” – Publishers Weekly
“[A] towering look at a dismal future… exciting and daunting… It stands on its own, and Onyebuchi is so creative in his exploration of a very real future…” – The Quill to Live
“…wry and au courant. In a lesser writer’s hands, it could lead to lazy and cynical caricatures, but Onyebuchi uses it only as a jumping off point into a deeper examination of the idea of home, and what we will do to get there.” – New Scientist
Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier ★
Fiction / Suspense.
Lyla has always believed that life is a game she is destined to win, but her husband, Graham, takes the game to dangerous levels. The wealthy couple invites self-made success stories to live in their guesthouse and then conspires to ruin their lives. After all, there is nothing worse than a bootstrapper.
Demi has always felt like the odds were stacked against her. At the end of her rope, she seizes a risky opportunity to take over another person’s life and unwittingly becomes the subject of the upstairs couple’s wicked entertainment. But Demi has been struggling all her life, and she’s not about to go down without a fight.
In a twist that neither woman sees coming, the game quickly devolves into chaos and rockets toward an explosive conclusion.
Because every good rich person knows: in money and in life, it’s winner take all. Even if you have to leave a few bodies behind.
Description from Goodreads.
“With writing that truly embodies the raw evil of greed, Brazier crafts cunning characters whom readers will be so excited to hate.” – Shondaland
“A jaw-dropping twist right out of the gate.” – PopSugar
“Full of fast cars, designer clothes, and pulse-racing cinematic thrills, this is a sharp-edged look into the lives of zip code 90210 residents.” – Library Journal
“Fiendish… Readers with a taste for the idiosyncratic and the macabre will find much to relish.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner
Fiction / Suspense / Mystery.
Helen’s idyllic life—handsome architect husband, gorgeous Victorian house, and cherished baby on the way (after years of trying)—begins to change the day she attends her first prenatal class and meets Rachel, an unpredictable single mother-to-be. Rachel doesn’t seem very maternal: she smokes, drinks, and professes little interest in parenthood. Still, Helen is drawn to her. Maybe Rachel just needs a friend. And to be honest, Helen’s a bit lonely herself. At least Rachel is fun to be with. She makes Helen laugh, invites her confidences, and distracts her from her fears.
But her increasingly erratic behavior is unsettling. And Helen’s not the only one who’s noticed. Her friends and family begin to suspect that her strange new friend may be linked to their shared history in unexpected ways. When Rachel threatens to expose a past crime that could destroy all of their lives, it becomes clear that there are more than a few secrets laying beneath the broad-leaved trees and warm lamplight of Greenwich Park.
Description from Goodreads.
“A palpable sense of menace [hangs] over the story, which packs punch after shocking punch. An original and highly imaginative plot, combined with complex characters and a stunning conclusion, will shock even the most seasoned crime-fiction aficionado. An outstanding debut thriller.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Faulkner offers a clever spin on an expanding subcategory of psychological thrillers set during maternity leave… A twisty, fast-paced read.” – The Sunday Times
“[A] suspenseful thriller… with constantly growing levels of menace, this tension-filled novel will keep you guessing through its final revelations.” – Kirkus Reviews
The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning by Ben Raines
Nonfiction / History.
Fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed, the Clotilda became the last ship in history to bring enslaved Africans to the United States. The ship was scuttled and burned on arrival to hide evidence of the crime, allowing the wealthy perpetrators to escape prosecution. Despite numerous efforts to find the sunken wreck, Clotilda remained hidden for the next 160 years. But in 2019, journalist Ben Raines made international news when he successfully concluded his obsessive quest through the swamps of Alabama to uncover one of our nation’s most important historical artifacts.
Traveling from Alabama to the ancient African kingdom of Dahomey in modern-day Benin, Raines recounts the ship’s perilous journey, the story of its rediscovery, and its complex legacy. Against all odds, Africatown, the Alabama community founded by the captives of the Clotilda, prospered in the Jim Crow South. Zora Neale Hurston visited in 1927 to interview Cudjo Lewis, telling the story of his enslavement in the New York Times bestseller Barracoon. And yet the haunting memory of bondage has been passed on through generations. Clotilda is a ghost haunting three communities—the descendants of those transported into slavery, the descendants of their fellow Africans who sold them, and the descendants of their American enslavers. This connection binds these groups together to this day. At the turn of the century, descendants of the captain who financed the Clotilda’s journey lived nearby—where, as significant players in the local real estate market, they disenfranchised and impoverished residents of Africatown.
From these parallel stories emerges a profound depiction of America as it struggles to grapple with the traumatic past of slavery and the ways in which racial oppression continue to this day. And yet, at its heart, The Last Slave Ship remains optimistic – an epic tale of one community’s triumphs over great adversity and a celebration of the power of human curiosity to uncover the truth about our past and heal its wounds.
Description from Goodreads.
“An evocative and informative tale of exploitation, deceit, and resilience.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“A highly readable, elucidating narrative that investigates all the layers of a traumatic history.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
Fiction / Historical Fiction / Mystery.
Eight months since losing her mother in the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, twenty-one-year-old Lillian Carter’s life has completely fallen apart. For the past six years, under the moniker Angelica, Lillian was one of the most sought-after artists’ models in New York City, with statues based on her figure gracing landmarks from the Plaza Hotel to the Brooklyn Bridge. But with her mother gone, a grieving Lillian is rudderless and desperate—the work has dried up and a looming scandal has left her entirely without a safe haven. So when she stumbles upon an employment opportunity at the Frick mansion—a building that, ironically, bears her own visage—Lillian jumps at the chance. But the longer she works as a private secretary to the imperious and demanding Helen Frick, the daughter and heiress of industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick, the more deeply her life gets intertwined with that of the family—pulling her into a tangled web of romantic trysts, stolen jewels, and family drama that runs so deep, the stakes just may be life or death.
Nearly fifty years later, mod English model Veronica Weber has her own chance to make her career—and with it, earn the money she needs to support her family back home—within the walls of the former Frick residence, now converted into one of New York City’s most impressive museums. But when she—along with a charming intern/budding art curator named Joshua—is dismissed from the Vogue shoot taking place at the Frick Collection, she chances upon a series of hidden messages in the museum: messages that will lead her and Joshua on a hunt that could not only solve Veronica’s financial woes, but could finally reveal the truth behind a decades-old murder in the infamous Frick family.
Description from Goodreads.
“Bestselling author Fiona Davis builds upon the secrets of the Frick Collection in a delightful blend of emotion and adventure… Davis knows exactly how to structure a story and how to switch between timelines… A captivating story whose characters are richly drawn, The Magnolia Palace pays particular attention to those who might go unnoticed: the deaf private secretary, the museum intern, the organ player. We discover their private lives and public exposures, which reveal the daily messiness of human lives, the construction of the self and the truths we try so hard to hide.” – BookPage
“Davis smoothly combines fact with fiction and offers beautiful descriptions of the family’s art collection. The colliding narratives and comprehensive descriptions of the historic mansion make for Davis’s best work to date.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Davis adeptly interweaves two compelling story lines to shine a light on another NYC landmark… This is historical fiction at its best, with well-developed characters, detail, art history, and mystery.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Maybe It’s Me: On Being the Wrong Kind of Woman by Eileen Pollack
Nonfiction / Memoir.
Eileen is nine and too smart for the third grade, but when the clownish school psychologist tries to gain her trust with an offer of Oreos, she refuses. After all, she doesn’t accept gifts from strangers!
This is the start of a love-hate relationship with the rules as they were laid out for a girl in 1960s upstate New York—and as they persist in some form today. As she ascends from her rural public high school, where she wasn’t allowed to take the advanced courses in science and math because she was female, through a physics degree at Yale, to a post-graduate summer that leaves her “peed on, shot at, and kidnapped,” to a marriage where both careers theoretically are respected but, as the wife, she is expected to do all the housework and child-rearing, pay the taxes, and make sure the Roto-Rooter guy arrives on time, Pollack shares with poignant humor and candid language the trials of being smart and female in a world that is just learning to imagine equality between the sexes.
Maybe It’s Me is a question all smart women have asked themselves. Pollack’s autobiographical essays take us on a roller-coaster ride from gratifyingly humorous street-level stories of innocent curiosity to the calculated meanness of tweeny girls to the defensive strategies of threatened men to the 20,000-foot overview of how we all got here. In the end, Pollack’s message is one of human connection and tenacity because even in her sixth decade, still searching for love, acceptance, and equality, she is still very much in the game.
Description from Goodreads.
“[An] insightful gaggle of essays [that] underscore Pollack’s knack for wringing humor from the mundane, successfully striking at the paradoxical ways in which ‘sex and birth (and love) can be beautiful as well as ugly, wondrous as well as painful, enticing and mysterious…’ This is a hoot.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“A master of the long-form personal essay… The author’s candor, curiosity, humor, and gift for phrasemaking are engaging regardless of the topic… Yet more compelling work from a unique mind.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
Mestiza Blood by V. Castro
Fiction / Horror.
From the lauded author of The Queen of the Cicadas (which picked up starred reviews from PW, Kirkus, and Booklist who called her “a dynamic and innovative voice”) comes a short story collection of nightmares, dreams, desire and visions focused on the Chicana experience.
V.Castro weaves urban legend, folklore, life experience and heartache in this personal journey beginning in south Texas: a bar where a devil dances the night away; a street fight in a neighborhood that may not have been a fight after all; a vengeful chola at the beginning of the apocalypse; mind swapping in the not so far future; Satan who falls and finds herself in a brothel in Amsterdam; the keys to Mictlan given to a woman after she dies during a pandemic. The collection finishes with two longer tales: “The Final Porn Star” is a twist on the final girl trope and slasher, with a creature from Mexican folklore; and “Truck Stop” is an erotic horror romance with two hearts: a video store and a truck stop.
Description from Goodreads.
“…there’s plenty to recommend this female-centric collection on. Readers interested in speculative explorations of Mexican American culture and mythology—or those just looking for action-packed, cathartic narratives—should snap this up.” – Publishers Weekly
“Castro gives a loud, powerful voice to her heritage and women through stories that reflect the horrors she experienced or witnessed growing up as a Mexican American. There are strong themes of patriarchal oppression, vengeance, justice, revenge, racism, classism, and stereotypes infused into urban legends and folklore.” – Cemetery Dance
“A varied and creepy collection of stories that range from scary to funny to touching…” – The Library Ladies
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka ★
Fiction / Suspense.
Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours. He knows what he’s done, and now awaits execution, the same chilling fate he forced on those girls, years ago. But Ansel doesn’t want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood. He hoped it wouldn’t end like this, not for him.
Through a kaleidoscope of women—a mother, a sister, a homicide detective—we learn the story of Ansel’s life. We meet his mother, Lavender, a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation; Hazel, twin sister to Ansel’s wife, inseparable since birth, forced to watch helplessly as her sister’s relationship threatens to devour them all; and finally, Saffy, the homicide detective hot on his trail, who has devoted herself to bringing bad men to justice but struggles to see her own life clearly. As the clock ticks down, these three women sift through the choices that culminate in tragedy, exploring the rippling fissures that such destruction inevitably leaves in its wake.
Blending breathtaking suspense with astonishing empathy, Notes on an Execution presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it simultaneously unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer, interrogating our system of justice and our cultural obsession with crime stories, asking readers to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the psyches of violent men.
Description from Goodreads.
“This beautifully written book does overtime as a suspense-driven mediation on the true crime industry.” – Marie Claire
“[A] masterly thriller… Kukafka skillfully uses the second-person present tense to heighten the drama, and toward the end she makes devastatingly clear the toll taken by Packer’s killings. Megan Abbott fans will be pleased.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“A chilling, surprisingly tender tale of how each tragedy ripples through many lives.” – Good Housekeeping
“Unshakable, deeply compassionate… Kukafka wrings tremendous suspense out of a story that isn’t a whodunit or even strictly a why-dunit, suspense born out of a desire to see these women transcend the identities consigned to them… A contemporary masterpiece that sits alongside The Executioner’s Song and Victim: The Other Side of Murder in the library of crime literature.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf
Fiction / Suspense / Mystery.
She thought she was alone…
True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn’t mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she’s retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that decades earlier, at this very house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace.
As the storm worsens, Wylie finds herself trapped inside the house, haunted by the secrets contained within its walls—haunted by secrets of her own. Then she discovers a small child in the snow just outside. After bringing the child inside for warmth and safety, she begins to search for answers. But soon it becomes clear that the farmhouse isn’t as isolated as she thought, and someone is willing to do anything to find them.
Description from Goodreads.
“Masterful, terrible, and absolutely addicting… Tense, taut, and terrifying.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Riveting… This twisty tale builds to a satisfying conclusion.” – Publishers Weekly
“…chilling… Gudenkauf doesn’t miss a beat as her ninth terrifying mystery moves at a vigorous brisk pace.” – South Florida Sun Sentinel
Perpetual West by Mesha Maren
Fiction.
When Alex and Elana move from smalltown Virginia to El Paso, they are just a young married couple, intent on a new beginning. Mexican by birth but adopted by white American Pentecostal parents, Alex is hungry to learn about the place where he was born. He spends every free moment across the border in Juárez—perfecting his Spanish, hanging with a collective of young activists, and studying lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) for his graduate work in sociology. Meanwhile Elana, busy fighting her own demons, feels disillusioned by academia and has stopped going to class. And though they are best friends, Elana has no idea that Alex has fallen in love with Mateo, a lucha libre fighter.
When Alex goes missing and Elana can’t determine whether he left of his own accord or was kidnapped, it’s clear that neither of them has been honest about who they are. Spanning their journey from Virginia to Texas to Mexico, Mesha Maren’s thrilling follow-up to Sugar Run takes us from missionaries to wrestling matches to a luxurious cartel compound, and deep into the psychic choices that shape our identities. A sweeping novel that tells us as much about our perceptions of the United States and Mexico as it does about our own natures and desires, Perpetual West is a fiercely intelligent and engaging look at the false divide between high and low culture, and a suspenseful story of how harrowing events can bring our true selves to the surface.
Description from Goodreads.
“The author of the acclaimed Sugar Run returns with a suspenseful, seductive novel that unearths the unsettling secrets in a marriage. Elana searches for her missing husband, Alex, in an odyssey that carries her from West Virginia to Mexico, probing deeper themes, from fluidity of desire to the rigidity of racism to familial bonds. Maren’s prose is both exacting and luxurious, a thrill ride from cover to cover.” – Oprah Daily
“Maren employs a sweeping and lyrical narrative voice reminiscent of Sharon Harrigan, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Paulette Jiles and isn’t afraid to let readers sit with the discomfort of addiction, deception, and loss. Immersing readers in areas of Mexico not often seen and peppered with academic inquiries, Perpetual West is nothing short of haunting.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Exhilarating… Maren masterfully crafts flawed yet deeply empathetic protagonists… Enhancing her dynamic cast is Maren’s remarkable ability to create a sense of place with just a few phrases and sentences… An immersive experience… A chimerical storyteller, Maren writes with candor and grit.” – Shelf Awareness
The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart
Fiction / Historical Fiction.
It takes courage to save yourself…
In the dense pine forests of North Carolina, turpentiners labor, hacking into tree trunks to draw out the sticky sap that gives the Tar Heel State its nickname, and hauling the resin to stills to be refined. Among them is Rae Lynn Cobb and her husband, Warren, who run a small turpentine farm together.
Though the work is hard and often dangerous, Rae Lynn, who spent her childhood in an orphanage, is thankful for it—and for her kind if careless husband. When Warren falls victim to his own negligence, Rae Lynn undertakes a desperate act of mercy. To keep herself from jail, she disguises herself as a man named “Ray” and heads to the only place she can think of that might offer anonymity—a turpentine camp in Georgia named Swallow Hill.
Swallow Hill is no easy haven. The camp is isolated and squalid, and commissary owner Otis Riddle takes out his frustrations on his browbeaten wife, Cornelia. Although Rae Lynn works tirelessly, she becomes a target for Crow, the ever-watchful woods rider who checks each laborer’s tally. Delwood Reese, who’s come to Swallow Hill hoping for his own redemption, offers “Ray” a small measure of protection, and is determined to improve their conditions. As Rae Lynn forges a deeper friendship with both Del and Cornelia, she begins to envision a path out of the camp. But she will have to come to terms with her past, with all its pain and beauty, before she can open herself to a new life and seize the chance to begin again.
Description from Goodreads.
“[A] story you can’t put down!… The characters became real people, and the location became a real place.” – She Just Loves Books
“The distinctive setting of the turpentine camps in the South during the Great Depression will make an imprint on readers, just as the characters of Rae Lynn and Del do. Fans of Sarah Addison Allen won’t be able to put it down.” – Booklist
“[A] gut-wrenching depression-era historical fiction novel… descriptive and atmospheric. It awakens your senses to the hardships and difficulties the characters face, as well as the beauty of the pine forest as the breeze blows the needles of the longleaf pine trees.” – Blue Stocking Reviews
South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry ★
Nonfiction / Travel / Memoir / Current Events / History.
We all think we know the South. Even those who have never lived there, who have never even been there, can rattle off a list of signifiers that define the South for them: Gone with the Wind, the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan, cotillions, plantations, football, Jim Crow, and, of course, slavery. For those who live outside the region, the South is very much about the profound difference between “us” and “them.” In South to America, Imani Perry shows in detail by infinitely careful detail that the meaning of American is inextricably linked with the South, and if we are American, we are all at least a little bit Southern.
In looking at the American South through a historic, personal, and anecdotal lens, Perry argues that the South is in fact the nation’s heartland. The formation of our country, our wealth, and our politics have always pivoted around the resource-rich region. A native of Alabama but raised in the North, Perry returns to the South—the place she has always called home—traveling through its cities and their cultural formations, studying its historical figures and institutions and the natural settings from which they sprang. Seeing the South as familiar and anew, Perry goes on a journey that brings her in contact with Southerners from all walks of life. She renders them with sensitivity and honesty, in addition to sharing her thoughts about a troubling history and the ritual humiliations and joys that characterize so much of Southern life.
This is the story of a woman going home—a Black woman and a Southern home—at a time when ideas of how the South should be are rising once again. South to America is an assertion that if we do indeed want to build a more humane future for the United States, we must center our concern below the Mason-Dixon Line.
Description from Goodreads.
“Breathtaking… Extraordinary… In the realm of Southern letters it has no real antecedent. It is that fresh, that vital, that intellectually supercharged, that incandescent.” – Garden & Gun
“[A] saturated, gorgeously written, and keenly revelatory travelogue… Perry’s southern tour is intimate and encompassing, finely laced and steely, affecting and transformative.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Provocative, perspective-shifting… Rendered in exquisite detail… In this vibrant, revelatory book, Perry proves herself to be a radiant storyteller… like Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Nina Simone before her.” – Oprah Daily
“Perry is deft and disciplined, her efforts to situate the beauty, oddity, and terror that mark southern life are critical and compelling. As a travel writer, she embraces detours with an eye toward discovery… Perry asks what it means to be tied to a ‘land of big dreams and bigger lies’ when one is committed to the pursuit of a truth that bursts the nation at its seams.” – Vulture
Violeta by Isabel Allende
Fiction / Historical Fiction.
Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family of five boisterous sons. From the start, her life will be marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth.
Through her father’s prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses all and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling…
She tells her story in the form of a letter to someone she loves above all others, recounting devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, times of both poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy. Her life will be shaped by some of the most important events of history: the fight for women’s rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, and, ultimately, not one but two pandemics.
Told through the eyes of a woman whose unforgettable passion, determination, and sense of humor will carry her through a lifetime of upheaval, Isabel Allende once more brings us an epic that is both fiercely inspiring and deeply emotional.
Description from Goodreads.
“Allende succeeds once again at making the historical feel personal.” – Publishers Weekly
“Allende’s latest novel is full of incident, variety and life…” – The Scotsman
