“Above all, in my anger, I was sad. Isn’t that always the way, that at the heart of the fire is a frozen kernel of sorrow that the fire is trying — valiantly, fruitlessly — to eradicate.” – Claire Messud, The Woman Upstairs
All Fours by Miranda July ★
fiction.
A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, checks into a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in an entirely different journey.
Miranda July’s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic, and domestic life of a forty-five-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.
“…gutsy, funny, wise, chaotic, dirty, panic-inducing… One of the pleasures of All Fours is surprise. Another is July’s ability to take familiar, everyday experiences and return them strange and new and precisely voiced… July’s novel is hot and weird and captivating and one of the most entertaining, deranged, and moving depictions of lust and romantic mania I’ve ever read.” – Christine Smallwood, Vulture
“[A] frank novel about a midlife awakening, which is funnier and more boldly human than you ever quite expect… the bravery of All Fours is nothing short of riveting.” – Taylor Antrim, Vogue
“The frankness with which the narrator delves into perimenopause and menopause is a revelation… at once hilarious and dead serious. Girls who grew up in the ’80s passing around Judy Blume’s Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, now midlife women, should share All Fours for its attention to many of the same questions.” – Jenny Shank, Star Tribune
“Miranda July may be one of the most interesting writers working today… All Fours announces itself as a scream and an uncontrollable laugh, shining a light on the absurdity of the left turns one takes on their way to midlife. But underneath the strangeness and irreverence rests a notable sense of vulnerability that will leave readers awe-struck of July’s daring.” – Michael Welch, Chicago Review of Books
Blood on the Tide by Katee Robert
fiction / romance / fantasy / adventure.
As a bloodline vampire, Lizzie has never had a problem taking what she wants, and right now what she wants are the family heirlooms that were stolen from her and a portal home. Too bad even that short list is impossible to accomplish on her own—and her allies have bigger things to worry about.
When they rescue a selkie from captivity, it’s the perfect solution to her problem. Lizzie needs a guide through Threshold and the selkie needs someone to help her get her skin back. Maeve didn’t choose to give up her skin—it was stolen from her. Now she’s in an uneasy partnership with a dangerous woman who seems more apt to kill than to share a kind word. It’s terrifying… and a bit alluring. Even though she knows it will end in heartbreak, Maeve can’t help being drawn to Lizzie and her all-too-pleasurable vampire bite.
Unfortunately, the danger to Maeve’s heart is the least of her worries. The ship Lizzie’s chasing belongs to the Cŵn Annwn, and they don’t take kindly to people who steal from them. Not even Lizzie’s viciousness or Maeve’s selkie strength will be enough to save them if the Cŵn Annwn seek retribution…
“How can we join this ship?!” – Tamara Fuentes, Cosmopolitan
“Lizzie and Maeve’s story is sure to satisfy new and return readers, especially for romance fans who enjoy morally gray protagonists…” – Maria Martin, Library Journal
“[A] sizzling tale of swashbuckling adventure… Robert makes it easy to dive into this installment as a standalone… the heroines’ sexy seafaring antics will be more than enough to please Robert’s fans.” – Publishers Weekly
Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru
fiction.
Once, Jay was an artist. After graduating from art school in London, he was tipped for greatness, a promising career taking shape before him. That was not to happen. Now, undocumented in the United States, having survived Covid, he lives out of his car and barely makes a living as an essential worker, delivering groceries in a wealthy area of upstate New York. One day, as Jay attempts to make a delivery at a house surrounded by acres of woods, he is confronted by his destructive past: Alice, a former lover from his art school days, and the friend she left him for. Recognizing Jay’s dire circumstances, Alice invites him to stay on their property—where an erratic gallery owner and his girlfriend are isolating as well—setting in motion a reckoning that has been decades in the making.
Gripping and brilliantly orchestrated, Blue Ruin moves back and forth through time, delivering an extraordinary portrait of an artist as he reunites with his past and confronts the world he once loved and left behind.
“A dark, smart, provocative tale of the perils of art making.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Kunzru’s [Blue Ruin] is a triumph of beauty and a true ode to the artist.” – Oprah Daily
“…dazzling… The gripping tension between Jay and the rest of the cast gives way in the graceful final scene to a feeling as melancholy as watching a beloved painting get auctioned off in a beige room at Sotheby’s. This is immensely satisfying.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
nonfiction / history / science / technology.
On January 28, 1986, just seventy-three seconds into flight, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all seven people on board. Millions of Americans witnessed the tragic deaths of the crew, which included New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Like the assassination of JFK, the Challenger disaster is a defining moment in twentieth-century history—one that forever changed the way America thought of itself and its optimistic view of the future. Yet the full story of what happened, and why, has never been told.
Based on extensive archival research and meticulous, original reporting, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space follows a handful of central protagonists—including each of the seven members of the doomed crew—through the years leading up to the accident, and offers a detailed account of the tragedy itself and the investigation afterward. It’s a compelling tale of ambition and ingenuity undermined by political cynicism and cost-cutting in the interests of burnishing national prestige; of hubris and heroism; and of an investigation driven by leakers and whistleblowers determined to bring the truth to light. Throughout, there are the ominous warning signs of a tragedy to come, recognized but then ignored, and later hidden from the public.
Higginbotham reveals the history of the shuttle program and the lives of men and women whose stories have been overshadowed by the disaster, as well as the designers, engineers, and test pilots who struggled against the odds to get the first shuttle into space. A masterful blend of riveting human drama and fascinating and absorbing science, Challenger identifies a turning point in history—and brings to life an even more complex and astonishing story than we remember.
“The definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger disaster based on fascinating new archival research and in-depth reporting—a riveting history that reads like a thriller.” – Panio Gianopoulos, Next Big Idea Club
“Higginbotham’s comprehensive and affecting recounting and explanation illuminates a tragedy that was entirely preventable.” – Tony Miksanek, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…gripping… [Higginbotham’s] account of the engineering issues is lucid and meticulous, and his evocative prose conveys both the extraordinary achievement of rocket scientists in harnessing colossal energies with delicate mechanisms and the sudden cataclysms that erupt when the machinery fails. The result is a beguiling saga of the peril and promise of spaceflight.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
The Devil’s Best Trick: How the Face of Evil Disappeared by Randall Sullivan
nonfiction / history / religion.
How we explain the evils of the world – and the darkest parts of ourselves – has preoccupied humans throughout history. A sweeping and comprehensive search for the origins of belief in a Satanic figure across the centuries, The Devil’s Best Trick is a keen investigation into the inescapable reality of evil and the myriad ways we attempt to understand it. Instructive, riveting, and unnerving, this is a profound rumination on crime, violence, and the darkness in all of us.
In The Devil’s Best Trick, Randall Sullivan travels to Catemaco, Mexico, to participate in the “Hour of the Witches” — an annual ceremony in which hundreds of people congregate in the jungle south of Vera Cruz to negotiate terms with El Diablo. He takes us through the most famous and best-documented exorcism in American history, which lasted four months. And, woven throughout, he delivers original reporting on the shocking story of a small town in Texas that, one summer in 1988, unraveled into paranoia and panic after a seventeen-year-old boy was found hanging from the branch of a horse apple tree and rumors about Satanic worship and cults spread throughout the wider community.
Sullivan also brilliantly melds historical, religious, and cultural conceptions of evil: from the Book of Job to the New Testament to the witch hunts in Europe in the 15th through 17th centuries to the history of the devil-worshipping “Black Mass” ceremony and its depictions in 19th-century French literature. He brings us through to the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s and the story of one brutal serial killer, pondering the psychology of evil. He weaves in writings by John Milton, William Blake, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and many more, among them Charles Baudelaire, from whose work Sullivan took the title of the book.
Nimble and expertly researched, The Devil’s Best Trick brilliantly melds cultural and historical commentary and a suspenseful true-crime narrative. Randall Sullivan, whose reportage and narrative skill has been called “extraordinary” and “enthralling” by Rolling Stone, takes on a bold task in this book that is both biography of the Devil and a look at how evil manifests in the world.
“[This] well-argued book will intrigue both skeptics and true believers.” – Michael Cart, Booklist
“A compelling journey into the heart of darkness with an articulate, capable guide.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[A] gonzo and sometimes chilling account… a dizzying plunge into darkness in search of moral clarity.” – Publishers Weekly
I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle
fiction / fantasy / comedy.
Dragons are common in the backwater kingdom of Bellemontagne, coming in sizes from mouse-like vermin all the way up to castle-smashing monsters. Gaius Aurelius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax (who would much rather people call him Robert) has recently inherited his deceased dad’s job as a dragon catcher/exterminator, a career he detests with all his heart in part because he likes dragons, feeling a kinship with them, but mainly because his dream has always been the impossible one of transcending his humble origin to someday become a prince’s valet. Needless to say, fate has something rather different in mind…
“[A] rip-roaring standalone fantasy… offers surprises and humor aplenty alongside a hefty dose of classic dragon lore.” – Publishers Weekly
“Nothing goes as planned as these three young adults experience a riveting adventure shaped by an old enemy and their own self-discovery. Beagle’s latest coming-of-age tale will charm readers.” – Frances Moritz, Booklist
“Beagle’s cozy novel embraces over-the-top fantasy tropes, and the effect is a tale that’s as hilarious as it is endearing. Evocative of Terry Pratchett, the writing grows beyond its charming aesthetic to deliver a deceptively serious narrative.” – Andy Myers, Library Journal
The Klansman’s Son: My Journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism by R. Derek Black
nonfiction / memoir.
Derek Black was raised to take over the white nationalist movement in the United States. Their father, Don Black, was a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and started Stormfront, the internet’s first white supremacist website—Derek built the kids’ page. David Duke, was also their close family friend and mentor. Racist hatred, though often wrapped up in respectability, was all Derek knew.
Then, while in college in 2013, Derek publicly renounced white nationalism and apologized for their actions and the suffering that they had caused. The majority of their family stopped speaking to them, and they disappeared into academia, convinced that they had done so much harm that there was no place for them in public life. But in 2016, as they watched the rise of Donald Trump, they immediately recognized what they were hearing—the spread and mainstreaming of the hate they had helped cultivate—and they knew that they couldn’t stay silent.
This is a thoughtful, insightful, and moving account of a singular life, with important lessons for our troubled times. Derek can trace a uniquely insider account of the rise of white nationalism, and how a child indoctrinated with hate can become an anti-racist adult. Few understand the ideology, motivations, or tactics of the white nationalist movement like Derek, and few have ever made so profound a change. When coded language and creeping authoritarianism spread the ideas of white nationalists, this is an essential book with a powerful voice.
“[An] astonishing memoir of a childhood built on fear, of breaking from a community of hate.” – Panio Gianopoulos, Next Big Idea Club
“Of interest to students of cults, to say nothing of contemporary politics.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…poignant and significant… oddly compelling in its flat-toned ordinariness, a necessary warning that hatred can be comfortable as much as violent, that family warmth can nurture the worst as much as the best… this almost eerie calm allows the reader to understand the way in which Black, as a child, would have simply accepted the belief system in which they were raised… The reader can be impatient with Black as they equivocate in an attempt to delay the inevitable. But in the end, the author does the right thing. The example, in an age of often punitive polarisation, is an important one.” – Erica Wagner, Financial Times
Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris
fiction.
“Don’t let the white man take the house.”
These are the last words King Solomon says to his son before he dies. Now all four Solomon siblings must return to North Carolina to save the Kingdom, their ancestral home and 200 acres of land, from a development company, who has their sights set on turning the valuable waterfront property into a luxury resort.
While fighting to save the Kingdom, the siblings must also save themselves from the secrets they’ve been holding onto. Junior, the oldest son and married to his wife for eleven years, is secretly in love with another man. Second son Mance can’t control his temper, which has landed him in prison more than once. CeCe, the oldest daughter and a lawyer in New York City, has embezzled thousands of dollars from her firm’s clients. Youngest daughter Tokey wonders why she doesn’t seem to fit into this family, which has left an aching hole in her heart that she tries to fill in harmful ways. As the Solomons come together to fight for the Kingdom, each of their façades begins to crumble and collide in unexpected ways.
Told in alternating viewpoints, Long After We Are Gone is a searing portrait on the power of family and letting go of things that no longer serve you, exploring the burden of familial expectations, the detriment of miscommunication, and the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children.
“…moving… An engaging and satisfying read, featuring believable, complex characters.” – Monica McAbee, Library Reads
“[A] heartrending story… Delving into themes of race and generational trauma, Shelton Harris’ latest offers book clubs plenty to discuss in this emotional novel full of complex characters striving to do the right thing but stumbling along the way.” – Halle Carlson, Booklist
My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen
fiction / horror / romance / fantasy / mystery.
Spirits are drawn to salt, be it blood or tears.
Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth—strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries—is the light of Roos’ life. That is, until the wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop visits one of Roos’ backroom seances, and the two strike up a connection.
Soon, Roos is whisked away to the crumbling estate Agnes inherited upon the death of her husband, where an ill woman haunts the halls, strange smells drift through the air at night, and mysterious stone statues reside in the family chapel. Something dreadful festers in the manor, but still, the attraction between Roos and Agnes is undeniable.
Then, someone is murdered.
Poor, alone, and with a history of ‘hysterics’, Roos is the obvious culprit. With her sanity and innocence in question, she’ll have to prove who—or what—is at fault or lose everything she holds dear.
“If you’re in the mood to read an atmospheric, sapphic murder mystery with a supernatural twist, My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen is the book for you.” – Rachael Conrad, Polygon
“My Darling Dreadful Thing exists in shades of grey. It is at once classic and modern, naive and mature, grounded and unhinged. Johanna van Veen paid homage to the gothic romances she loves, but she modernized them a touch.” – Cat, The Fandomentals
Oye by Melissa Mogollon ★
fiction / comedy.
“Yes, hi, Mari. It’s me. I’m over my tantrum now and calling you back… But first—you have to promise that you won’t tell Mom or Abue any of this. Okay? They’ll set the house on fire if they find out…”
Structured as a series of one-sided phone calls from our spunky, sarcastic narrator, Luciana, to her older sister, Mari, this wildly inventive debut “jump-starts your heart in the same way it piques your ear” (Xochitl Gonzalez). As the baby of her large Colombian American family, Luciana is usually relegated to the sidelines. But now she finds herself as the only voice of reason in the face of an unexpected crisis: A hurricane is heading straight for Miami, and her eccentric grandmother, Abue, is refusing to evacuate. Abue is so one-of-a-kind she’s basically in her own universe, and while she often drives Luciana nuts, they’re the only ones who truly understand each other. So when Abue, normally glamorous and full of life, receives a shocking medical diagnosis during the storm, Luciana’s world is upended.
When Abue moves into Luciana’s bedroom, their complicated bond intensifies. Luciana would rather be skating or sneaking out to meet girls, but Abue’s wild demands and unpredictable antics are a welcome distraction for Luciana from her misguided mother, absent sister, and uncertain future. Forced to step into the role of caretaker, translator, and keeper of the devastating family secrets that Abue begins to share, Luciana suddenly finds herself center stage, facing down adulthood—and rising to the occasion.
As Luciana chronicles the events of her disrupted senior year of high school over the phone to Mari, Oye unfolds like the most fascinating and entertaining conversation you’ve ever eavesdropped on: a rollicking, heartfelt, and utterly unique novel that celebrates the beauty revealed and resilience required when rewriting your own story.
“[A] smart, wildly inventive, and funny tale that’s both heartbreaking and heartwarming.” – Lillian Dabney, Booklist
“Readers get to ‘listen in’ as Luciana and Mari engage in a sometimes laugh-out-loud, sometimes tear-jerking conversation about family, life and love.” – Leandra Beabout, Reader’s Digest
“Mogollon wows with tenderness and uproarious profanity.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Mogollon’s book is a swoon-worthy family saga that will make you fall in love with the characters. It’s bursting with heart on every page and it is so warm and alive. It’s a reminder that though life can drag you down, there is hope lurking around every corner.” – Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
fiction / romance.
Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.
Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.
Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.
But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.
“Lauren’s fans will be swept away.” – Publishers Weekly
“Witty banter and a well-paced plot make this novel an enjoyable must-read… Lauren’s best to date.” – Whitney Kramer, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“…breathes new life into a classic trope. The stakes set upon Anna and Liam’s relationship create juicy tension, and their chemistry is great. Both are charming and compelling romantic leads; their dual narration only reinforces that these two people should be together.” – Jillian Law, Booklist
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna ★
nonfiction / memoir / music.
Hey girlfriend I got a proposition goes something like this: Dare ya to do what you want.
Kathleen Hanna’s band Bikini Kill embodied the punk scene of the 90s, and today her personal yet feminist lyrics on anthems like “Rebel Girl” and “Double Dare Ya” are more powerful than ever. But where did this transformative voice come from?
In Rebel Girl, Hanna’s raw and insightful new memoir, she takes us from her tumultuous childhood to her formative college years and her first shows. As Hanna makes clear, being in a punk “girl band” in those years was not a simple or safe prospect. Male violence and antagonism threatened at every turn, and surviving as a singer who was a lightning rod for controversy took limitless amounts of determination.
But the relationships she developed during those years buoyed her, including with her bandmates Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, JD Samson, and Johanna Fateman. And her friendships with musicians like Kurt Cobain, Ian MacKaye, Kim Gordon, and Joan Jett reminded her that, despite the odds, the punk world could still nurture and care for its own. Hanna opens up about falling in love with Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys and her debilitating battle with Lyme disease, and she brings us behind the scenes of her musical growth in her bands Le Tigre and The Julie Ruin. She also writes candidly about the Riot Grrrl movement, documenting with love its grassroots origins but critiquing its exclusivity.
In an uncut voice all her own, Hanna reveals the hardest times along with the most joyful—and how they continue to fuel her revolutionary art and music.
“An impressively perspicacious memoir from one of feminism’s most influential artists.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Hanna’s visceral prose captivates… It’s a raw and revealing portrait of a vital figure in the feminist punk scene.” – Publishers Weekly
“A vivid, funny, and powerful memoir that will appeal to rock lovers and music historians.” – Leah K. Huey, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Road Home by Rex Ogle
nonfiction / young adult / memoir.
When Rex was outed the summer after he graduated high school, his father gave him a choice: he could stay at home, find a girlfriend, and attend church twice a week, or he could be gay—and leave. Rex left, driving toward the only other gay man he knew and a toxic relationship that would ultimately leave him homeless and desperate on the streets of New Orleans.
Here, Rex tells the story of his coming out and his father’s rejection of his identity, navigating abuse and survival on the streets. Road Home is a devastating and incandescent reflection on Rex’s hunger—for food, for love, and for a place to call home—completing the trilogy of memoirs that began with the award-winning Free Lunch.
“Searingly honest text never shies away from grim details surrounding Ogle’s assault and houselessness, and an author’s note and afterword provide context and a realistic yet satisfying conclusion to this stunning addition to Ogle’s autobiographical work.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Ogle’s story, relayed in short, fast-paced chapters, is deeply personal and affecting, and readers will be anxious to learn how this period of his life ended. Raw and vulnerable; a necessary look at the realities of homelessness.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis by George Stephanopoulos with Lisa Dickey
nonfiction / history / politics.
No room better defines American power and its role in the world than the White House Situation Room. And yet, none is more shrouded in secrecy and mystery. Created under President Kennedy, the Sit Room has been the epicenter of crisis management for presidents for more than six decades. Time and again, the decisions made within the Sit Room complex affect the lives of every person on this planet. Detailing close calls made and disasters narrowly averted, The Situation Room will take readers through dramatic turning points in a dozen presidential administrations, including:
- Incredible minute-by-minute transcripts from the Sit Room after both Presidents Kennedy and Reagan were shot
- The shocking moment when Henry Kissinger raised the military alert level to DEFCON III while President Nixon was drunk in the White House residence
- The extraordinary scene when President Carter asked for help from secret government psychics to rescue American hostages in Iran
- A vivid retelling of the harrowing hours during the 9/11 attack
- New details from Obama administration officials leading up to the raid on Osama Bin Laden
- And a first-ever account of January 6th from the staff inside the Sit Room
The Situation Room is the definitive, past-the-security-clearance look at the room where it happened, and the people—the famous and those you’ve never heard of—who have made history within its walls.
“[Stephanopoulos] takes the reader on a thrilling tour of this little known but crucial facet of the United States government… A must-read for history and political wonks.” – Anthony Aycock, Booklist
“Each section emphasizes the admirable commitment to duty of Situation Room staff; even when the White House was considered at risk on 9/11, the personnel assigned there refused orders to leave their posts, and other staff remained to support them, including the White House chef. Presidential history buffs will find much of interest here.” – Publishers Weekly
“Recounting a history that might have been lost, Stephanopoulos presents an interesting package for political aficionados as well as general readers. An effective blend of political analysis and personal stories, tied together at the epicenter of crisis management.” – Kirkus Reviews
Skies of Thunder: The Deadly World War II Mission Over the Roof of the World by Caroline Alexander
nonfiction / history.
In April 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army steamrolled through Burma, capturing the only ground route from India to China. Supplies to this critical zone would now have to come from India by air—meaning across the Himalayas, on the most hazardous air route in the world. Skies of Thunder is a story of an epic human endeavor, in which Allied troops faced the monumental challenge of operating from airfields hacked from the jungle, and took on “the Hump,” the fearsome mountain barrier that defined the air route.They flew fickle, untested aircraft through monsoons and enemy fire, with inaccurate maps and only primitive navigation technology. The result was a litany of both deadly crashes and astonishing feats of survival. The most chaotic of all the war’s arenas, the China-Burma-India theater was further confused by the conflicting political interests of Roosevelt, Churchill and their demanding, nominal ally, Chiang Kai-shek.
Caroline Alexander, who wrote the defining books on Shackleton’s Endurance and Bligh’s Bounty, is brilliant at probing what it takes to survive extreme circumstances. She has unearthed obscure memoirs and long-ignored records to give us the pilots’ and soldiers’ eye views of flying and combat, as well as honest portraits of commanders like the celebrated “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell and Claire Lee Chennault. She assesses the real contributions of units like the Flying Tigers, Merrill’s Marauders, and the British Chindits, who pioneered new and unconventional forms of warfare. Decisions in this theater exposed the fault-lines between the Allies—America and Britain, Britain and India, and ultimately and most fatefully between America and China, as FDR pressed to help the Chinese nationalists in order to forge a bond with China after the war.
“[A] soaring account… A thrilling aviation adventure that also casts an assured historical lens on a lesser-known arena of WWII diplomacy, this is sure to enrapture readers.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Readers interested in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II and Asian history will enjoy Alexander’s detailed and beautifully written account.” – Chad E. Statler, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“[Alexander] vividly chronicles the interactions and agendas of Chiang Kai-shek, FDR, General Joseph Stillwell, Claire Chennault of the legendary Flying Tigers, Lord Mountbatten, and many lesser-known figures… Skies of Thunder is a vital history of an important and extremely complicated theater of WWII.” – James Pekoll, Booklist
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
fiction / historical fiction.
Over seven decades, from 1940 to 2010, the pieds-noirs Cassars live in an itinerant state—separated in the chaos of World War II, running from a complicated colonial homeland, and, after Algerian independence, without a homeland at all. This Strange Eventful History, told with historical sweep, is above all a family story: of patriarch Gaston and his wife Lucienne, whose myth of perfect love sustains them and stifles their children; of François and Denise, devoted siblings connected by their family’s strangeness; of François’s union with Barbara, a woman so culturally different they can barely comprehend one another; of Chloe, the result of that union, who believes that telling these buried stories will bring them all peace.
Inspired in part by long-ago stories from her own family’s history, Claire Messud animates her characters’ rich interior lives amid the social and political upheaval of the recent past. As profoundly intimate as it is expansive, This Strange Eventful History is “a tour de force… one of those rare novels that a reader doesn’t merely read but lives through with the characters” (Yiyun Li).
“It’s almost unbearably moving, wise and full of the most gorgeous prose.” – Alex Preston, The Guardian
“…gorgeously realized, acutely sensitive, cosmopolitan… Messud renders each inner and outer life in finely detailed, scintillating prose… Messud captures life’s wheels-within-wheels on every incandescent page.” – Donna Seaman, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[An] exquisite multigenerational saga… In her characteristically artful prose, Messud burrows inside the hearts and minds of her key players, bringing to their struggles and self-deceptions a deep-veined empathy made even more remarkable by how close she is to the story. This is a wonder.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum
fiction / suspense / mystery.
Every year, executives at the trendy tech startup Aurora gather the company’s top employees for an exclusive retreat in Miami, and this year Caitlin Levy—Aurora’s newest hire—is joining the team as head of events. The benefits are outstanding: a seven-figure salary, stock shares, a discretionary bonus, limitless vacation days—what could possibly go wrong?
When a fellow high-level executive vanishes after the first night, the disappearance has the potential to derail the future of the company’s sale and cost everyone on the team millions. Now more than ever, Caitlin and her colleagues must continue the charade—partaking in team-building exercises, group brainstorms, dinners—in order to keep the future of Aurora afloat amid all the fatal speculations.
“A fun, decadent ride.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[It] will no doubt will scratch your need for the next big summer read just like her first novel, Bad Summer People, did.” – Tamara Fuentes, Cosmopolitan
“Each person at the company gets at least one chance to tell their story, and Rosenblum is a deft storyteller, juggling these points of view with ease. Readers will delight in knowing every secret while waiting for the explosive denouement.” – Cari Dubiel, Booklist
We Were the Universe by Kimberly King Parsons
fiction.
The trip was supposed to be fun. When Kit’s best friend gets dumped by his boyfriend, he begs her to ditch her family responsibilities for an idyllic weekend in the Montana mountains. They’ll soak in hot springs, then sneak a vape into a dive bar and drink too much, like old times. Instead, their getaway only reminds Kit of everything she’s lost lately: her wildness, her independence, and—most heartbreaking of all—her sister, Julie, who died a few years ago.
When she returns home to the Dallas suburbs, Kit tries to settle in to her routine—long afternoons spent caring for her irrepressible daughter, going on therapist-advised dates with her concerned husband, and reluctantly taking her mother’s phone calls. But in the secret recesses of Kit’s mind, she’s reminiscing about the band she used to be in—and how they’d go out to the desert after shows and drop acid. She’s imagining an impossible threesome with her kid’s pretty gymnastics teacher and the cool playground mom. Keyed into everything that might distract from her surfacing pain, Kit spirals. As her already thin boundaries between reality and fantasy blur, she begins to wonder: Is Julie really gone?
Neon bright in its insight, both devastating and laugh-out-loud funny, We Were the Universe is an ambitious, inventive novel from a revelatory new voice in American fiction—a fearless exploration of sisterhood, motherhood, friendship, marriage, psychedelics, and the many strange, transcendent shapes love can take.
“Hilarious, profane, and profound all at once… [Parsons] has written one of my favorite short story collections ever, and now one of my favorite novels.” – Ruth Madievsky, Vanity Fair
“Parsons has created a character so appealing in her cheerful brokenness that you won’t want to leave her side for a minute.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Parson’s captivating novel is wholly alert to the untidiness of life, and Kit’s stream of thought is sensationally alive, a heart-wrenching foray into the complexity of loss and identity.” – Leah Strauss, Booklist
When Among Crows by Veronica Roth
fiction / fantasy.
We bear the sword, and we bear the pain of the sword.
Pain is Dymitr’s calling. His family is one in a long line of hunters who sacrifice their souls to slay monsters. Now he’s tasked with a deadly mission: find the legendary witch Baba Jaga. To reach her, Dymitr must ally with the ones he’s sworn to kill.
Pain is Ala’s inheritance. A fear-eating zmora with little left to lose, Ala awaits death from the curse she carries. When Dymitr offers her a cure in exchange for her help, she has no choice but to agree.
Together they must fight against time and the wrath of the Chicago underworld. But Dymitr’s secrets—and his true motives—may be the thing that actually destroys them.
“…taut and suspenseful.” – Natalie Zutter, Literary Hub
“Thorny family dynamics, difficult alliances, Christian imperialism, plenty of fighting, and a hint of romance keep the plot moving at breakneck speed to a denouement readers will certainly hope is not the last they hear from these characters.” – Stephanie Klose, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“This world blooms effectively and efficiently, so that Roth’s brief book can dedicate itself to the changing relationships among Ala, Dymitr, and Niko and the spookiness of Baba Jaga’s hidden magical world. This short, atmospheric book proves that less is often more.” – Kirkus Reviews
Woodworm by Layla Martínez; translated by Sophie Hughes & Annie McDermott
fiction / horror.
The house breathes. The house contains bodies and secrets. The house is visited by ghosts, by angels that line the roof like insects, and by saints that burn the bedsheets with their haloes. It was built by a smalltime hustler as a means of controlling his wife, and even after so many years, their daughter and her granddaughter can’t leave. They may be witches or they may just be angry, but when the mysterious disappearance of a young boy draws unwanted attention, the two isolated women, already subjects of public scorn, combine forces with the spirits that haunt them in pursuit of something that resembles justice.
In this lush translation by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott, Layla Martínez’s eerie debut novel is class-conscious horror that drags generations of monsters into the sun. Described by Mariana Enriquez as “a house of women and shadows, built from poetry and revenge,” this vision of a broken family in our unjust world places power in the hands of the eccentric, the radical, and the desperate.
“[A] sophisticated ghost story… Martínez breathes new life into the classic haunted house motif through her vivid exploration of generational trauma, violence, misogyny, and class. Readers won’t soon forget this striking tale.” – Publishers Weekly
“[Woodworm] will make your skin crawl… This book has everything, from witches to saints to angels that look like praying mantises to some of the most unsettling portrayals of ghosts that I’ve come across in a long time. Trust me when I say that you’ll never look at the space between the end of your bed and the floor the same way again.” – Rachael Conrad, Polygon
“Martínez bends a haunting to her will. Woodworm is an offbeat tale about intergenerational trauma, classism, and the measures we take to grasp at anything resembling justice. I could taste its righteous malevolence; I savoured every word.” – Lauren Abesames, Indie Next
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