“Wider ranges of normal make the world a better place for everyone.” – Laurie Frankel, This Is How It Always Is
Big Bites: Wholesome, Comforting Recipes That Are Big On Flavor, Nourishment, and Fun by Kat Ashmore
nonfiction / food / cooking.
Kat Ashmore’s mission is to empower hungry readers everywhere to feed themselves and their loved ones well and have fun doing it. Rather than focusing on restriction or deprivation, she asks: What can we add to our plates? After she turned to TikTok for a creative outlet, her series of big, meal-in-a-bowl salads, known affectionately as “Hungry Lady Salads,” went viral on social media, and she found a likeminded community of home cooks who wanted to fall in love with cooking again.
In Ashmore’s debut cookbook, she shares 110 wholesome, comforting mostly gluten-free recipes that are full of flavor, nourishment, and fun—and meant to be devoured in big bites! With her signature personality and joy, this cookbook is a celebration of nature and seasonality and encourages home cooks to rethink familiar ingredients. From Hungry Lady Salads and weeknight dinners to snacks and desserts, Big Bites shares recipes for
• Breakfasts: Avocado Toast with Hot Honey; Goat Cheese Fried Eggs
• Snacks: Burrata with Roasted Grapes; 5-Minute Tzatziki
• Hungry Lady Salads: Shaved Caesar Salad with Fennel and Crispy Chickpeas; Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Sesame Date Dressing
• Weeknights: Honey Mustard Roasted Salmon; One-Pot Pasta with Chicken Sausage + Broccoli
• Sunday Suppers: The Ultimate Beef Meatloaf with Caramelized Onions and Horseradish; Crispy Cod Cakes with Tartar Sauce
• Veggies + Sides: Salt and Vinegar Smashed Potatoes; Parmesan Roasted Zucchini
• Desserts: Orange Ricotta Company Cake; Extra Fudgy Avocado Brownies
• Secret Weapons: Quick Pickled Red Onions; Any-Green Sauce
Bring joy back into your kitchen with Kat Ashmore and Big Bites!
“Nourishing, healthy recipes sound extra appealing this time of year, and Kat Ashmore has a fresh slate of wholesome, comforting dishes that are full of flavor and nutrients [in] her new cookbook.” – Kelly McCarthy, Good Morning America
Broughtupsy by Christina Cooke
fiction.
Tired of not having a place to land, twenty-year-old Akúa flies from Canada to her native Jamaica to reconnect with her estranged sister Tamika. Their younger brother Bryson has recently passed from sickle cell anemia—the same disease that took their mother ten years prior—and Akúa carries his remains in a small wooden box with the hope of reassembling her family.
Over the span of two fateful weeks, Akúa and Tamika visit significant places from their childhood, but time spent with her sister only clarifies how different they are, and how years of living abroad have distanced Akúa from her home culture. “Am I Jamaican?” she asks herself again and again. Beneath these haunting doubts lie anger and resentment at being abandoned by her own blood. “Why didn’t you stay with me?” she wants to ask Tamika.
Wandering through Kingston with her brother’s ashes in tow, Akúa meets Jayda, a brash stripper who shows her a different side of the city. As the two grow closer, Akúa confronts the difficult reality of being gay in a deeply religious family, and what being a gay woman in Jamaica actually means.
By turns diasporic family saga, bildungsroman, and terse sexual awakening, Broughtupsy is a profoundly moving debut novel that asks: what do we truly owe our family, and what are we willing to do to savor the feeling of home?
“Vivid, emotionally intense, and unafraid of the dark.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…moving… the book’s themes of family, regret, and who and what make a home are ever present.” – Kathy Sexton, Booklist
“[An] assured debut… stirring… Cooke successfully evokes the temerity and rebellious intelligence of Françoise Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse.” – Publishers Weekly
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James ★
fiction / historical fiction / western / fantasy.
In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He’s good with his gun and is drawn to trouble but he’s also out of money and out of options. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children, and so when he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it—with his younger brother Hugo in tow. But when the heist goes awry and Hugo is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a quest for revenge that endangers not only his life and his family, but his eternal soul.
In 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico’s most renowned actor and singer. But his comfortable life is disrupted when he discovers a book that purports to tell the entire history of his family beginning with Cain and Abel. In its ancient pages, Jaime learns about the multitude of horrific crimes committed by his ancestors. And when the same mysterious figure from Antonio’s timeline shows up in Mexico City, Jaime realizes that he may be the one who has to pay for his ancestors’ crimes, unless he can discover the true story of his grandfather Antonio, the legendary bandido El Tragabalas, The Bullet Swallower.
A family saga that’s epic in scope and magical in its blood, and based loosely on the author’s own great-grandfather, The Bullet Swallower tackles border politics, intergenerational trauma, and the legacies of racism and colonialism in a lush setting and stunning prose that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors, and whether it is possible to be better than our forebears.
“Mesmerizing and important.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] magical realist tour de force…” – Thane Tierney, BookList, STARRED REVIEW
“Based on stories passed down through her family, the author weaves a shimmering tale of a bandido on a mission to avenge his brother’s death. The Bullet Swallower invites us to consider how we — and our families — can repay our karmic debts.” – Victoria Ford, Indie Next
“This is a Western full of classic tropes, but it also surprises with its philosophical examination of generational trauma, justice and retribution, and racism and politics. The supernatural element ties together the timelines and the themes, adding resonance. With a powerfully drawn setting and viscerally convincing characters, James’s novel is a strong addition to any general fiction collection.” – Melanie Kindrachuk, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan
fiction / mystery.
“I tell other people’s stories for a living… I nip and tuck their excesses, soften their hard edges, polish whatever an armada of editors and publicists deem unsightly till it sparkles.”
It’s a dream assignment. Former Senator Dorothy Gibson, aka that woman, is the most talked-about person in the country right now, though largely for the wrong reasons. As an independent candidate for President of the United States, Dorothy split the vote and is being blamed for the shocking result. After her very public defeat, she’s retreated to her home in rural Maine, inviting her ghostwriter to join her.
Her collaborator is impressed by Dorothy’s work ethic and steel-trap mind, not to mention the stunning surroundings (and one particularly gorgeous bodyguard). But when a neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Dorothy is determined to find the killer in their midst. And when Dorothy Gibson asks if you want to team up for a top secret, possibly dangerous murder investigation, the only answer is: “Of course!”
The best ghostwriters are adept at asking questions and spinning stories… two talents, it turns out, that also come in handy for sleuths. Dorothy’s political career, meanwhile, has made her an expert at recognizing lies and double-dealing. Working together, the two women are soon untangling motives and whittling down suspects, to the exasperation of local police. But this investigation—much like the election—may not unfold the way anyone expects…
“Readers will love this witty, fast-moving story that ends with the typical Christie gathering of subjects.” – Barbara Bibel, Booklist
“Fans of David Handler’s equally entertaining Stewart Hoag series or those in search of a modern take on classic crime fiction will snap up this stellar mystery debut, which delivers an addictive mix of Dorothy Parker’s waspish wit and Agatha Christie’s deft hand at ingenious plotting.” – John Charles, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“This crazy caper will keep you eagerly turning the pages until the mystery is solved. The funky cast of characters are all-too relatable and their exploits keep getting nuttier until the final reveal. This is a fun, truly entertaining read.” – Sarah Badger, Indie Next
The Clinic by Cate Quinn
fiction / suspense / mystery / horror.
Meg works for a casino in LA, catching cheaters and popping a few too many pain pills to cope, following a far different path than her sister Haley, a famous actress. But suddenly reports surface of Haley dying at the remote rehab facility where she had been forced to go to get her addictions under control.
There are whispers of suicide, but Meg can’t believe it. She decides that the best way to find out what happened to her sister is to check in herself—to investigate what really happened from the inside.
Battling her own addictions and figuring out the truth will be much more difficult than she imagined, far away from friends, family—and anyone who could help her.
“…twisty and riveting… [an] engrossing and unsettling thriller…” – Pam Guynn, Mystery & Suspense
“[A] superior, creeping psychological thriller taut with tension and drama.” – Jordan Snowden, Seattle Times
“Themes of addiction, trauma, and grief set this apart from other thrillers, and readers can sense Quinn’s personal rehab experience, which she writes about in her acknowledgements… this is a fine thriller that’s hard to put down.” – Stephanie Howes, Booklist
Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz by József Debreczeni; translated by Paul Olchváry
nonfiction / memoir / history.
József Debreczeni, a prolific Hungarian-language journalist and poet, arrived in Auschwitz in 1944; had he been selected to go “left,” his life expectancy would have been approximately forty-five minutes. One of the “lucky” ones, he was sent to the “right,” which led to twelve horrifying months of incarceration and slave labor in a series of camps, ending in the “Cold Crematorium”—the so-called hospital of the forced labor camp Dörnhau, where prisoners too weak to work awaited execution. But as Soviet and Allied troops closed in on the camps, local Nazi commanders—anxious about the possible consequences of outright murder—decided to leave the remaining prisoners to die in droves rather than sending them directly to the gas chambers.
Debreczeni recorded his experiences in Cold Crematorium, one of the harshest, most merciless indictments of Nazism ever written. This haunting memoir, rendered in the precise and unsentimental style of an accomplished journalist, is an eyewitness account of incomparable literary quality. The subject matter is intrinsically tragic, yet the author’s evocative prose, sometimes using irony, sarcasm, and even acerbic humor, compels the reader to imagine human beings in circumstances impossible to comprehend intellectually.
First published in Hungarian in 1950, it was never translated into a world language due to McCarthyism, Cold War hostilities and antisemitism. More than 70 years later, this masterpiece that was nearly lost to time will be available in 15 languages, finally taking its rightful place among the greatest works of Holocaust literature.
“An extraordinary memoir of the Holocaust by an unlikely survivor… …superb… An unforgettable testimonial to the terror of the Holocaust and the will to endure.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…superbly human, harsh and uncompromising…” – Julian Evans, The Telegraph
“…offers a cleareyed view of the Nazi death machine with shades of gallows humor, tragedy and anthropological insight.” – New York Times
Dead in Long Beach, California by Venita Blackburn ★
fiction / mystery / suspense.
Coral is the first person to discover her brother Jay’s dead body in the wake of his suicide. There’s no note, only a drably furnished bachelor pad in Long Beach, California, and a cell phone with a handful of numbers in it. Coral pockets the phone. And then she starts responding to texts as her dead brother.
Over the course of one week, Coral, the successful yet lonely author of a hit dystopian novel, Wildfire, becomes increasingly untethered from reality. Blindsided by grief and operating with reckless determination, she doubles —and triples—down on posing as her brother, risking not only her own sanity but her relationship with her precocious niece, Khadijah. As Coral’s swirl of lies slowly closes in on her, the quirky and mysterious alien world of Wildfire becomes enmeshed in her own reality, in the process pushing long-buried memories, traumas, and secrets dangerously into the present.
A form-shifting and soul-crunching chronicle of grief and crisis, Venita Blackburn’s debut novel, Dead in Long Beach, California, is a fleet-footed marvel of self-discovery and storytelling that explores the depths of humankind’s capacity for harm and healing. With the daring, often hilarious imagination that made her an acclaimed short-fiction innovator, Blackburn crafts a layered, page-turning reckoning with what it means to be alive, dead, and somewhere in between.
“An astonishing debut novel from a remarkably creative writer.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Venita Blackburn’s prose is stunning, sensitive and that-made-me-snort funny. Richly layered and ambitiously structured, this unconventional novel about death and denial is bizarre in the best way.” – Lucy Tu, Scientific American
“…bold and formally inventive… Blackburn is an excellent prose stylist… This ambitious effort is worth a look.” – Publishers Weekly
“…built with the same meticulous craftsmanship of her shorter works. Her sentences zing with lively precision… Told by machines from the future, Blackburn’s idiosyncratic grief novel is as freshly devastating as they come.” – Megan Milks, New York Times
Diva by Daisy Goodwin
fiction / historical fiction / romance.
In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she was the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. But her fame was hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her golden voice, she learned early in life to protect herself from those who would use her for their own ends.
When she met the fabulously rich Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, for the first time in her life, she believed she’d found someone who saw the woman within the legendary soprano. She fell desperately in love. He introduced her to a life of unbelievable luxury, showering her with jewels and sojourns in the most fashionable international watering holes with celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
And then suddenly, it was over. The international press announced that Aristotle Onassis would marry the most famous woman in the world, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, leaving Maria to pick up the pieces.
In this remarkable novel, Daisy Goodwin brings to life a woman whose extraordinary talent, unremitting drive and natural chic made her a legend. But it was only in confronting the heartbreak of losing the man she loved that Maria Callas found her true voice and went on to triumph.
“Brava! Historical-fiction enthusiasts, fans of La Callas, and others will relish this view into the tumultuous love affair of a power couple; they’ll offer a standing ovation when, in the novel’s ‘Final Curtain,’ the opera singer discovers her true voice.” – Mary Todd Chesnut, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] well-researched portrait of an international superstar.” – Sandra Meyers, Library Reads
“[Goodwin] vividly evokes mid-century celebrity culture in Maria’s encounters with Richard Burton, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, and others. Readers will enjoy stepping into the heels of the famous opera performer.” – Publishers Weekly
Family Family by Laurie Frankel ★
fiction.
India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actor. Armed with a stack of index cards (for research/line memorization/make-shift confetti), she goes from awkward sixteen-year-old to Broadway ingenue to TV superhero.
Her new movie is a prestige picture about adoption, but its spin is the same old tired story of tragedy. India is an adoptive mom in real life though. She wants everyone to know there’s more to her family than pain and regret. So she does something you should never do — she tells a journalist the truth: it’s a bad movie.
Soon she’s at the center of a media storm, battling accusations from the press and the paparazzi, from protesters on the right and advocates on the left. Her twin ten-year-olds know they need help – and who better to call than family? But that’s where it gets really messy because India’s not just an adoptive mother…
The one thing she knows for sure is what makes a family isn’t blood. And it isn’t love. No matter how they’re formed, the truth about family is this: it’s complicated.
“…hilarious, heartwarming and heartbreaking…” – Leandra Beabout, Reader’s Digest
“Frankel’s latest is a novel that challenges society’s long-held definitions of family… Frankel finds the truth of modern family within the sparkly, funny characters.” – Cari Dubiel, Booklist
“…very unusual, and very Frankel… Full of warmth, humor, and sound advice.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[A] funny, heart-wrenching, deeply personal story… Highly recommended for fans of Frankel and those who enjoy literary fiction featuring witty dialogue and thought-provoking topics.” – Carmen Clark, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
The Friendship Club by Robyn Carr
fiction / romance.
Celebrity cooking show host Marni McGuire has seen it all. She’s been married—twice—and widowed and divorced. Now in her midfifties, she’s single. Happily so. She just needs to convince her pregnant daughter, Bella, of this fact. And maybe convince herself, too. Especially after Marni’s efforts to humor her determined daughter result in a series of disastrous dates that somehow prompt Marni to wonder if maybe the right man for her is still out there after all.
Similarly single, Marni’s best friend and colleague is confident she’s content without a man, but both older women soon find themselves leading by example as the young intern on their show appears caught in a toxic relationship—and Bella reveals her own marriage maybe isn’t built to withstand the stresses of the baby on the way.
Suddenly, all four women find themselves at a crossroads, each navigating the challenges of dating, marriage, loneliness and love. Thankfully, they have each other to lean on. The realities of modern love are far from easy, but there’s no better group to have in your corner than friends who will lift you up, no matter what, and hold fast in the face of any storm.
“Readers looking for a good story with relatable characters will be well pleased.” – Diana Tixier Herald, Booklist
“If you like books about strong female friendships this was really wonderful.” – Novel Gossip
Harbor Lights: Stories by James Lee Burke
fiction / suspense.
Harbor Lights is a story collection from one of the most popular and widely acclaimed icons of American fiction, featuring a never-before-published novella. These eight stories move from the marshlands on the Gulf of Mexico to the sweeping plains of Colorado to prisons, saloons, and trailer parks across the South, weaving together love, friendship, violence, survival, and revenge.
As an atmosphere of suspicion pervades their Louisiana town, a boy and his father watch a German submarine sink an oil tanker. A girl is beaten up outside a bar as her university-professor father navigates new love and threats from a group of neo-Nazis. A pair of undercover union organizers are hired to break colts for a Hollywood actor, whose “Western hero” façade hides darkness. An oil rig worker witnesses a horrific attack on a local village while on a job in South America and seeks justice through one final act of bravery.
With his nuanced characters, complex prose, and ability to write shocking violence in the most evocative settings, James Lee Burke’s singular skills are on display in this superb anthology. Harbor Lights unfolds in stories that crackle and reverberate as unexpected heroes emerge.
“[This] story collection shines… These stories, while filled with dark themes, are bright with descriptive natural features, spanning from before the Civil War to more modern times, offering a look into the battlefield history of the South and how it remains alive.” – Joyce Sparrow, Library Journal
“These impressive stories establish that Burke doesn’t need a whodunit plot to catch a reader’s attention.” – Publishers Weekly
“There are so many joys in this new short-story collection… Burke is unmatched as a stylist… as richly detailed and beautifully rendered as Burke’s novels… this collection is a real treat for fans of the author.” – David Pitt, Booklist
Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton
nonfiction / history / psychology.
On a cold day in March of 1911, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of a forest in Maryland. Under the supervision of a doctor, the men were forced to clear the land, pour cement, lay bricks, and harvest tobacco. When construction finished, they became the first twelve patients of the state’s Hospital for the Negro Insane. For centuries, Black patients have been absent from our history books. Madness transports readers behind the brick walls of a Jim Crow asylum.
In Madness, Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist Antonia Hylton tells the 93-year-old history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the last segregated asylums with surviving records and a campus that still stands to this day in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She blends the intimate tales of patients and employees whose lives were shaped by Crownsville with a decade-worth of investigative research and archival documents. Madness chronicles the stories of Black families whose mental health suffered as they tried, and sometimes failed, to find safety and dignity. Hylton also grapples with her own family’s experiences with mental illness, and the secrecy and shame that it reproduced for generations.
As Crownsville Hospital grew from an antebellum-style work camp to a tiny city sitting on 1,500 acres, the institution became a microcosm of America’s evolving battles over slavery, racial integration, and civil rights. During its peak years, the hospital’s wards were overflowing with almost 2,700 patients. By the end of the 20th-century, the asylum faded from view as prisons and jails became America’s new focus.
In Madness, Hylton traces the legacy of slavery to the treatment of Black people’s bodies and minds in our current mental healthcare system. It is a captivating and heartbreaking meditation on how America decides who is sick or criminal, and who is worthy of our care or irredeemable.
“This lacerating indictment of America’s treatment of Black health is also a highly personal work of history giving face and voice to patients, employees and families.” – New York Times
“[A] thoroughgoing, often shocking exposé… profoundly unsettling… An excellent work of journalism and a strong contribution to the literature of both mental health care and civil rights.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“This well-researched title is an important chronicle of the treatment of Black Americans and their mental health during the Jim Crow era. Beyond promoting systemic change, Hylton compels readers to look within to assess how they treat and view the people around them.” – Mason Bennett, Library Journal
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar ★
fiction.
Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.
Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others.
“…electrifying… This wondrous novel will linger in readers’ minds long after the final page.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] dazzling, thrilling debut novel about identity and loss… Martyr! thrillingly depicts why we cobble selves from alloys of words and cultures.” – Hamilton Cain, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Poet Akbar is an almost deliriously adept first-time novelist… [he] creates scenes of psychedelic opulence and mystery, emotional precision, edgy hilarity, and heart-ringing poignancy as his characters endure war, grief, addiction, and sacrifice, and find refuge in art and love. Bedazzling and profound.” – Donna Seaman, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Incandescent… Akbar has created an indelible protagonist, haunted, searching, utterly magnetic. But it speaks to Akbar’s storytelling gifts that Martyr! is both a riveting character study and piercing family saga… Akbar is a dazzling writer, with bars like you wouldn’t believe… What Akbar pulls off in Martyr! is nothing short of miraculous.” – Junot Díaz, New York Times
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett ★
fiction / mystery / suspense.
Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared.
Now, true crime author Amanda Bailey is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and also on the baby’s trail.
As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realize that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they’d ever imagined, and in pursuit of the story they risk becoming part of it.
“…dark, witty, and twisty… Fans of true-crime podcasts will find this complex and eerie novel just as satisfying, surprising and rapidly consumable as their favorite episodes.” – Jaclyn Fulwood, Shelf Awareness
“The twists never let up as Hallett barrels toward the finish, frequently undermining reader expectations along the way while staying firmly in the realm of fair play. Hallett’s fans and newcomers alike will relish this brilliantly constructed and eminently satisfying mystery.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“…many-layered, highly complex, and imaginative… Hallett shocks readers with satisfying twists and a dark, unpredictable ending… True crime tackles angels and demons in this devilishly good tale.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…riveting… The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, a modern take on the epistolary novel, is hard to put down… The book works as a juicy mystery — what really happened all those years ago? — but is equally satisfying as a story about the combative relationship between Amanda and Oliver… it’s worth the trouble to pay close attention to this highly entertaining tale as you parse the evidence, invited to be an armchair sleuth alongside the characters.” – Sarah Lyall, New York Times
No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall
fiction / suspense / mystery.
Fourteen years ago, the Palmer sisters—Emma, Juliette, and Daphne—left their home in Arden Hills and never returned. But when Emma discovers she’s pregnant and her husband loses his job, she has no option but to return to the house that she and her estranged sisters still own… and where their parents were murdered.
Emma has never told anyone what she saw the night her parents died, even when she became the prime suspect. But her presence in the house threatens to uncover secrets that have stayed hidden for years, and the sisters are drawn together once again. As they face their memories of the past, rivalries restart, connections are forged, and, for the first time, Emma starts to ask questions about what really happened that night.
The more Emma learns, the more riddles emerge. And Emma begins to wonder just what her siblings will do to keep the past buried, and whether she did the right thing staying quiet about what was whispered that night: “No one can know.”
“…propulsive… Marshall shrewdly interlaces past and present timelines, alternating perspectives between the three sisters to shed new light on old information. Even genre veterans will have trouble sussing out the culprit. Skillful misdirection and urgent plotting make this a winner.” – Publishers Weekly
“Marshall’s deft writing teases out revelations aplenty, perpetually ratcheting up the tension—and an element of violence—while keeping the story skimming along. Family connections prove both their damage and their worth in this community-focused thriller.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Marshall has penned an extremely twisty suspense novel, especially in the final portion, where a cascade of revelations could leave the reader dizzy… a well-paced and solid psychological thriller.” – Margaret Howard, Booklist
The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky by Simon Shuster
nonfiction / biography / current events.
Time correspondent Simon Shuster chronicles the life and leadership of Volodymyr Zelensky from the dressing rooms of his variety shows to the muddy trenches of Ukraine’s war with Russia. Based on four years of reporting; extensive travels with President Zelensky to the front; and dozens of interviews with him, his wife, his friends and enemies, his advisers, ministers and military commanders, Shuster tells the intimate and revealing story of the president’s evolution from a slapstick actor to a symbol of resilience.
In their most candid accounts of the war so far, members of Zelensky’s inner circle show how the president’s character changed under the strains of leadership and the horrors he witnessed each day. His wife, First Lady Olena Zelenska, describes her escape from Kyiv with their children, her life on the run, and the tensions that emerged in her marriage as she struggled to return to a meaningful role in the administration. Ukraine’s top military commander, General Valery Zaluzhny, shares the untold story of his fraught relationship with the president and the subsequent consequences.
Reflecting on their own regrets and critical decisions, Zelensky and his senior aides open up about the causes of the Russian invasion and how it may have been avoided. They describe with astonishing frankness how their peace talks with Vladimir Putin fell apart and how their faith in the U.S. faltered, both under Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
The Showman provides the first inside account of Zelensky’s life amid the invasion, offering a clear-eyed view of his failures to prepare for it and his willingness to silence dissent under martial law. What emerges is a complex picture of a man struggling to break what he sees as a historical cycle of oppression that began generations before he was born. Even as the war drags on, Zelensky lays out his vision for its future course and, through his actions, demonstrates his strategy for countering the Russians and keeping the West on his side.
The Showman, as a work of eyewitness journalism, provides an essential perspective on the war defining our age, resulting in a riveting, vivid portrait of the invasion as experienced by its number one target and improbable hero.
“[A] crisp snapshot of a national leader under fire.” – Publishers Weekly
“The Showman is an important work as one of the first fully researched, book-length chronicles of the ongoing war in Ukraine.” – James Pekoll, Booklist
“The opening chapter sets the tone with a gripping, hour-by-hour account of the first day of the invasion… Fascinating. Powerful. Important. This book is an illuminating profile of Zelensky’s courage and an expert study of the fraught relationship between Russia and Ukraine.” – Thomas Karel, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s by Sarah Ditum
nonfiction / culture / sociology / biography / history.
Welcome to celebrity culture in the early aughts: the reign of Perez Hilton, celebrity sex tapes, and dueling tabloids fed by paparazzi who were willing to do anything to get the shot. It was a time when the Internet was still the Wild West, and when slut-shaming, fat-shaming, and revenge porn were all considered perfectly legitimate. Celebrity was seen as a commodity to be consumed, and for the famous women of this era, they were never as popular—or as vulnerable—as when they were in crisis.
Toxic tells the stories of nine women who defined the hell of celebrity in the 2000s and explores how they were devoured by fame, how they attempted to control their own narratives, and how they succeeded or (more often) failed. These women come from all walks of fame—pop music, acting, reality TV, and WWE wrestling. Some of them you think you know already, and others will be less familiar, but Toxic reveals these women neither as pure victims nor as conniving strategists, but as complex individuals trying to navigate celebrity while under attack from a vicious and fast-changing media. Their portrayal has shaped the way that all women—famous or otherwise—are viewed today, and their experiences preempted the now-universal condition, especially thanks to social media, of living under the public gaze.
In this book, Ditum brings readers back to a time before second chances and redemption arcs, and traces the ripple effects that came in the wake of spending a decade vilifying our idols. We’ll see how these women’s stories intersect with the birth of YouTube, the rise of Internet pornography, and the emergence of Donald Trump as a political force. It’s time to come to terms with how those cultural events shaped the way we see ourselves, our bodies, our relationships, our aspirations, and our presence in the wider world. We are all products of the toxic decade.
“Top-notch pop-culture commentary—a smart and entertaining look at female celebrity during a decade of immense change.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Readers will rethink what they thought they knew about some of the most publicized celebrity stories of the early 2000s.” – Publishers Weekly
“Pop-culture fans, particularly millennials, will be drawn to Ditum’s engaging writing and thoughtful observations. Pairs well with a viewing of the 2022 Netflix docuseries The Most Hated Man on the Internet.” – Michelle Ross, Booklist
Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase
fiction / science fiction / fantasy / horror / mystery.
Nelah seems to have it all: fame, wealth, and a long-awaited daughter growing in a government lab. But, trapped in a loveless marriage to a policeman who uses a microchip to monitor her every move, Nelah’s perfect life is precarious. After a drug-fueled evening culminates in an eerie car accident, Nelah commits a desperate crime and buries the body, daring to hope that she can keep one last secret.
The truth claws its way into Nelah’s life from the grave.
As the ghost of her victim viciously hunts down the people Nelah holds dear, she is thrust into a race against the clock: in order to save any of her remaining loved ones, Nelah must unravel the political conspiracy her victim was on the verge of exposing—or risk losing everyone.
Set in a cruel futuristic surveillance state where bodies are a government-issued resource, this harrowing story is a twisty, nail-biting commentary on power, monstrosity, and bodily autonomy. In sickeningly evocative prose, Womb City interrogates how patriarchy pits women against each other as unwitting collaborators in their own oppression. In this devastatingly timely debut novel, acclaimed short fiction writer Tlotlo Tsamaase brings a searing intelligence and Botswana’s cultural sensibility to the question: just how far must a woman go to bring the whole system crashing down?
“This Afrofuturist novel’s twisty plot has a lot to say about inequality — and complicity.” – Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times
“…captivating… With both chilling precision and anguished passion, Womb City depicts a toxic future of cyber-reincarnation and authoritarian omniscience.” – Meg Nola, Foreword Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Tsamaase debuts with a mind-bending and potent blend of Afrofuturist science fiction and horror… a thrilling and thought-provoking page-turner. Tsamaase is a writer to watch.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
-
-
-
-
-