“Love isn’t just a matter of looking at someone, I think now, but also of looking with them, of facing what they face.” – Garth Greenwell, What Belongs to You
The Accomplice by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson with Aaron Philip Clark
fiction / mystery / suspense.
In The Accomplice, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and award-winning mystery writer Aaron Philip Clark introduce readers to New York-born and Texas-bred Nia Adams, who always dreamt of becoming a Texas Ranger. She knows the dangers of the job, and as the first Black female ranger, she knows the politics, but she’s never encountered a criminal like Desmond Bell. A Vietnam vet turned thief, Desmond steals more than money; he steals the secrets of the rich and powerful and blackmails them for millions. When Desmond steals from the Duchamps, the wealthiest family in the country, Nia’s investigation into the robbery threatens to expose him and the criminal enterprise he works for. As the bodies pile up, Nia digs deeper for the truth, putting her life and career in danger. It’s a deadly cat-and-mouse game between ranger and thief, but to protect their family’s secrets, the Duchamps won’t hesitate to kill them both.
“A satisfying thriller that knows its way around the form.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Told from multiple points of view, The Accomplice reads like a television show; the action scenes are plenty, and the pace is quick… thoroughly enjoyable.” – Alejandra Santana, Booklist
“[A] dynamic fiction debut… remains gripping all the way to the bang-up finale… Fans of John Wick–style action thrillers will not be disappointed.” – Publishers Weekly
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors ★
fiction.
The three Blue sisters are exceptional—and exceptionally different. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles following a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways. They also had a fourth sister, Nicky, whose unexpected death left the family reeling. A year later, as they each navigate grief, addiction, and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment they were raised in.
But coming home is never as easy as it seems. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize that the greatest secrets they’ve been keeping might not have been from one another but from themselves.
Imbued with Coco Mellors’s signature combination of humor and heart, Blue Sisters is a story of what it takes to keep living after loss—and, ultimately, to fall in love with life again.
“A stunning sibling story for fans of Emma Straub and Lily King.” – Alicia Rogers, Library Journal
“Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors paints a beautiful portrait of grief and the world-shaping bond sisters share.” – Kristyn Kusek Lewis, Real Simple
“This intricate portrait of a family of sisters is deeply nuanced and compelling, a family drama with intimate psychological portraits within it.” – Chloe Schama, Vogue
“…frank and soulful… Mellors draws each of the characters distinctly, including Nicky, who comes to life via the others’ memories. This story of addiction and grief will resonate with readers.” – Publishers Weekly
The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers
fiction / romance.
Still reeling from a recent tragedy, Erin Connolly knows she needs to start living, but has no idea how. When she accidentally donates her favorite book—a heavily annotated copy of To Kill a Mockingbird containing a memento she can’t be without—to a local little community library, she’s devastated. But then the book turns up a week later, back in the library with fresh notes in the margins, along with an invitation in a copy of Great Expectations to meet her newfound pen pal.
A life-changing conversation, written only in the margins of beloved classic books, begins between Erin and her Mystery Man. Following each other through the pages of their favorite novels as the book exchange continues, they both begin to open up, falling into a friendship… and maybe something more.
But Erin and her pen pal have a shared history that neither of them has guessed. Faced with painful reminders of the past—and the one person she swore never to forgive—Erin finds herself at a crossroads. One that could change her life forever.
“[A] lovely and lively tale of second chances, following one’s dreams, and books… While there is a sweet romance, family and all its messy complications are at the heart of this wonderful novel. Highly recommended…” – Lynnanne Pearson, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…Bickers charms in her depiction of how James and Erin bond through literature, and how literature changes their lives. This will have bookworms swooning.” – Publishers Weekly
“English majors, librarians, and romance readers will love this book. Watching the relationship unfold between Erin and her Mystery Man over the pages of beloved books is delightful… This novel is a must read for book lovers everywhere!” – Jennifer Sullivan, Library Reads
Colored Television by Danzy Senna ★
fiction / comedy.
Jane has high hopes that her life is about to turn around. After a long, precarious stretch bouncing among sketchy rentals and sublets, she and her family are living in luxury for a year, house-sitting in the hills above Los Angeles. The gig magically coincides with Jane’s sabbatical, giving her the time and space she needs to finish her second novel—a centuries-spanning epic her artist husband, Lenny, dubs her “mulatto War and Peace.” Finally, some semblance of stability and success seems to be within her grasp.
But things don’t work out quite as hoped. Desperate for a plan B, like countless writers before her Jane turns her gaze to Hollywood. When she finagles a meeting with Hampton Ford, a hot producer with a major development deal at a streaming network, he seems excited to work with a “real writer,” and together they begin to develop “the Jackie Robinson of biracial comedies.” Things finally seem to be going right for Jane—until they go terribly wrong.
Funny, piercing, and page turning, Colored Television is Senna’s most on-the-pulse, ambitious, and rewarding novel yet.
“Colored Television is funny, foxy and fleet… the jokes are good, the punches land, the dialogue is tart… [Senna] makes you feel the joys, the discontents, the estrangements… You often feel you’re listening in on a three-bottles-into-it dinner party.” – Dwight Garner, New York Times
“…literary satire par excellence, like R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface or [Percival] Everett’s Erasure… That’s entertainment.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] no-holds-barred satire of literary ambition and Hollywood seduction with a racing human heart… With her sharp eye and take-no-prisoners humor, Senna exposes both the specific absurdities of the publishing world and the universal absurdities of trying—and inevitably failing—to have it all.” – Charley Burlock, Oprah Daily
“Senna’s humor mixes with her deep understanding of cultural foibles and the human heart to produce a novel that is simultaneously a laugh-out-loud cultural comedy and a riveting novel of ideas… The complexity of all of these issues contained in a single novel might have intimidated a lesser writer. Senna turns what could have been heavy into a celebratory triumph filled with joy and love… This is the New Great American Novel, and Danzy Senna has set the standard.” – Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner ★
fiction / mystery / suspense / science fiction.
Creation Lake is a novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics, bold opinions, and clean beauty, who is sent to do dirty work in France.
“Sadie Smith” is how the narrator introduces herself to her lover, to the rural commune of French subversives on whom she is keeping tabs, and to the reader.
Sadie has met her love, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian, by “cold bump”—making him believe the encounter was accidental. Like everyone Sadie targets, Lucien is useful to her and used by her. Sadie operates by strategy and dissimulation, based on what her “contacts”—shadowy figures in business and government—instruct. First, these contacts want her to incite provocation. Then they want more.
In this region of centuries-old farms and ancient caves, Sadie becomes entranced by a mysterious figure named Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists who communicates only by email. Bruno believes that the path to emancipation from what ails modern life is not revolt, but a return to the ancient past.
Just as Sadie is certain she’s the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Bruno Lacombe is seducing her with his ingenious counter-histories, his artful laments, his own tragic story.
Written in short, vaulting sections, Rachel Kushner’s rendition of “noir” is taut and dazzling. Creation Lake is Kushner’s finest achievement yet as a novelist, a work of high art, high comedy, and unforgettable pleasure.
“…ambitious, intelligent and gripping… Creation Lake is one of the best books of the year so far.” – Philip Womack, The Spectator
“It’s suspenseful, extremely smart and brilliantly executed.” – Jami Attenberg, New Orleans Times-Picayune
“A profound and irresistible page-turner about a spy-for-hire who infiltrates a commune of eco-activists in rural France. The prose is thrilling, the ideas electrifying.” – The Booker Prize 2024 judges
“Creation Lake bears all the hallmarks of her inquisitive mind and creative daring… a spy thriller laced with a killer dose of deadpan wit… Kushner inhabits the spy’s perspective with such eerie finesse that you feel how much fun she’s having… the real covert operative here is Kushner, who’s never felt more cunning than in this novel about the clashing ideological claims that have left us bereft at the end of time. Bore through this noir posing and wry satire of radical politics, and you feel something vital and profound prowling around in the darkness beneath.” – Ron Charles, Washington Post
Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson
fiction / mystery.
Welcome to Rook Hall. The stage is set. The players are ready. By night’s end, a murderer will be revealed.
In his sleepy Yorkshire town, ex-detective Jackson Brodie is staving off boredom and malaise. His only case is the seemingly tedious matter of a stolen painting. But Jackson soon uncovers a string of unsolved art thefts that lead him down a dizzying spiral of disguise and deceit to Burton Makepeace, a formerly magnificent estate now partially converted into a hotel hosting Murder Mystery weekends.
As paying guests, impecunious aristocrats and old friends collide, we are treated to Atkinson’s most charming and fiendishly clever mystery yet, one that pays homage to the masters of the genre—from Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers to the modern era of Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building.
“[A] treat for fans of the series.” – Connie Fletcher, Booklist
“…deliciously witty… Atkinson keeps things fast, funny, and fair, delivering a twist-filled mystery that will stump armchair sleuths and a well-sketched supporting cast that’s easy to fall in love with. This is sure to delight series fans and newcomers alike.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] charming and comforting read that feels like slipping into your favourite, well-worn cardigan – familiar, warm, and a source of quiet joy… a delicious, Agatha Christie-esque romp through the snowy Yorkshire Moors, showcasing Atkinson’s smartest, wittiest, and most playful writing yet… a testament to Atkinson’s versatility and mastery of the crime genre. It pays a heartfelt homage to the golden age of detective fiction while offering a fresh, invigorating take on the classic murder mystery.” – Sian Dennis, nb.
Guide Me Home by Attica Locke
fiction / mystery / suspense.
Texas Ranger Darren Mathews isn’t sure he’s been a good cop, but believes he’s got a shot at being a good man—if he manages to dodge the potential indictment hanging over his head and if he, from here on out, pledges allegiance to the truth. It’s a virtue the country appears to have wholly lost its grip on, but one Darren sees as his salvation. He is in the midst of remaking his life with the woman he loves, hoping for the peace of country living at his beloved farmhouse, when he is visited by someone who couldn’t hold the truth on her tongue if it was dipped in sugar, a woman who’s always been bent of tearing his life apart. His mother. Armed with a tall tale about a missing Black college student, Sera (whose white sorority sisters insist she isn’t missing at all). Darren must decide if he can trust his mother is telling the truth—and what her ulterior motive may be, and what if that motive has to do with a grand jury deciding his fate.
Darren gets his hooks into the investigation, along the way discovering things about Sera’s family and her hometown that are odd at best, vaguely sinister at worst. Hamstrung by local law enforcement and the Texas Rangers who likewise doubt the account of a missing girl, if Darren wants answers, he’ll need help from the person whom he swore to never trust again—his mother.
In this emotionally stirring conclusion to the singular Highway 59 series, Darren reckons with his life’s purpose as he’s forced to choose between his own peace and the higher call to do good.
“…gratifying and unsettling… We’ve missed Attica Locke’s deft and wise way with the crime novel. We want more.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Attica Locke’s language is precise, refreshing and often beautiful in Guide Me Home, the final installment in the literary triumph that is her Highway 59 mystery series.” – Erica Ciccarone, BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“Through exceptional writing, pivotal character evolution, and a baffling mystery, Locke confronts the injustices surrounding missing and murdered Black women and the tempting dangers of predatory business interests.” – Christine Tran, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Herscht 07769 by László Krasznahorkai; translated by Ottilie Mulzet
fiction.
The gentle giant Florian Herscht has a problem: having faithfully attended Herr Köhler’s adult education classes in physics, he is convinced that disaster is imminent. And so, he embarks upon a one-sided correspondence with Chancellor Angela Merkel, to convince her of the danger of the complete destruction of all physical matter. Otherwise, he works for the Boss (the head of a local neo-Nazi gang), who has taken him under his wing and gotten him work as a graffiti cleaner and also a one-room apartment in the small eastern German town of Kana. The Boss is enraged by a graffiti artist who, with wolf emblems, is defacing all the various monuments to Johann Sebastian Bach in Thuringia. A Bach fanatic and director of an amateur orchestra, he is determined to catch the culprit with the help of his gang, and Florian has no choice but to join the chase. The situation becomes even more frightening, and havoc ensues, when real wolves are sighted in the area…
Written in one cascading sentence with the power of atomic particles colliding, Krasznahorkai’s novel is a tour de force, a morality play, a blistering satire, a devastating encapsulation of our helplessness when confronted with the moral and environmental dilemmas we face.
“…magnificent… [a] brilliantly cacophonous novel, which conveys the sense that the end is already here, and that the trappings of civilization are easier to scrape away than paint from stone. This stands with Krasznahorkai’s best work.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Brilliant, like all of Krasznahorkai’s books—and just as challenging, though well worth the effort required.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Every novel by Krasznahorkai is immediately recognizable, while also becoming a modulation on that style only he could pull off. Herscht 07769 may be set in the contemporary world—a sort-of fable about the fascism fermenting in East Germany—but the velocity of the prose keeps it ruthilarious and dreamlike. That’s what makes Krasznahorkai a master: the world has never sounded so unreal by an author, but all the anxieities of his characters, his readers, suddenly gain clarity, as if he simply turned on the light.” – Zachary Issenberg, The Millions
Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch by Emily C. Hughes
nonfiction / film.
A smart, funny crash course in 25 iconic horror movies, from Psycho to Hereditary, for people who love getting the reference but hate being scared.
You don’t have to miss out just because you don’t like to be frightened! Stop trying to read nonsensical Wikipedia plot summaries (we know you’re doing it), and let an expert tell you everything you need to know about the most influential horror films of the past 60 years—without a single jump scare or a drop of gore.
With a rundown of the history and significance of horror cinema, explanations of common tropes, and detailed entries on 25 important movies ranging from Night of the Living Dead to The Blair Witch Project to Get Out, Horror for Weenies will turn even the scarediest of cats into a confident connoisseur.
Each entry includes:
- A detailed plot summary, with enough jokes that it won’t freak you out
- Smart, illuminating analysis of the film’s themes and cultural significance
- Descriptions of iconic scenes you definitely do not want to look at
- Talking points for impressing even the biggest scary-movie buffs
Horror for Weenies is the first installment in the Outsider’s Guide series, which offers highly readable crash courses in major cultural phenomena, so you can catch the references and understand the big deal. Never get left out of a conversation again!
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Emily Hughes is the go-to guide for all things horror… it’s a great read for lovers of the genre too, as Hughes provides a true afficionado’s insights into these classic horror films!” – Drew Broussard, Literary Hub
“[A] book best described as a conversation with a horror-fan bestie… The brilliance of the book is in how those movies are presented in seven categories… This structure gives Hughes the room to fully explain and frame each film, while also allowing readers to decide when and if a particular entry is too much for them.” – Becky Spratford, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“…Horror for Weenies is a delightful, treasure of a book for both well-versed fans of horror cinema and, well, weenies… I cannot commend Emily Hughes enough for compiling all of this information into succinct chapters on each film complete with humorous synopses, sections on why these films matter, and books you can read if you can’t bring yourself to watch them. Reading Horror for Weenies was a true delight even as someone who is only sometimes a weenie.” – Anna Dupre, FanFiAddict
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig ★
fiction / historical fiction / fantasy.
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…”
When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.
Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.
Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.
“…magnificent… spellbinding… In Haig’s sure hands, magic comes to breathtaking life.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“The Life Impossible is a wonderful, hope-filled book… reading The Life Impossible made me happy. It made me think. Grace was a compelling character who I couldn’t help but root for.” – Eric Primm, Strange Horizons
“[An] instantly engrossing, page-turning delight… part fantasy, part travel saga and part romance with one’s self. Like the bright, yearning human being at its center, it pulses with life, which makes it well worth reading for anyone who wants a hopeful, warm, very human journey that crackles with magic.” – Matthew Jackson, BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“…reading a Matt Haig novel is like discovering a secret staircase in your home. A whole new set of rooms to explore, and suddenly the layout of the rest of the house makes so much more sense… Haig’s wise and moving novel is both a mystery and a love story, a fantasy and a billet-doux to the planet. Perhaps its greatest gift lies in showing us that it is possible to dismantle the boundaries we have built, grasp the connections previously hidden, and appreciate life in all its richness. And the realisation that magic realism probably isn’t an oxymoron after all.” – Joanna Cannon, The Guardian
Lovely One: A Memoir by Ketanji Brown Jackson
nonfiction / memoir.
With this unflinching account, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson invites readers into her life and world, tracing her family’s ascent from segregation to her confirmation on America’s highest court within the span of one generation.
Named “Ketanji Onyika,” meaning “Lovely One,” based on a suggestion from her aunt, a Peace Corps worker stationed in West Africa, Justice Jackson learned from her educator parents to take pride in her heritage since birth. She describes her resolve as a young girl to honor this legacy and realize her dreams: from hearing stories of her grandparents and parents breaking barriers in the segregated South, to honing her voice in high school as an oratory champion and student body president, to graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, where she performed in musical theater and improv and participated in pivotal student organizations.
Here, Justice Jackson pulls back the curtain, marrying the public record of her life with what is less known. She reveals what it takes to advance in the legal profession when most people in power don’t look like you, and to reconcile a demanding career with the joys and sacrifices of marriage and motherhood.
Through trials and triumphs, Justice Jackson’s journey will resonate with dreamers everywhere, especially those who nourish outsized ambitions and refuse to be turned aside. This moving, openhearted tale will spread hope for a more just world, for generations to come.
“[A] great glass elevator of uplift… formally written, but quite personal… [a] billowingly triumphant American tale of early promise fulfilled.” – Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times
“The book offers a personal and relatable narrative of a prominent justice at a time when the high court as an institution is under considerable scrutiny… In thinking about her place in history, Jackson writes that the framers of the Constitution probably couldn’t have foreseen her story – her struggle and, ultimately, her successes.” – John Fritze, CNN
“…inspiring and intimate… She candidly discusses the obstacles she encountered and the strategies she employed to overcome them, offering valuable lessons for aspiring professionals, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds… Lovely One is not just a recounting of personal and professional milestones; it’s a testament to the progress made in American society and the work that still remains to be done. Jackson’s story serves as an inspiration to dreamers everywhere, especially those who nurture outsized ambitions in the face of adversity.” – Jeff Murdock, Medium
Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker ★
fiction / mystery / suspense.
The world is not made for mothers.
Yet mothers made the world…
Clove has gone to extremes to keep her past a secret. Thanks to her lies, she’s landed the life of her dreams, complete with a safe husband and two adoring children who will never know the terror that was routine in her own childhood. If her buried anxiety threatens to breach the surface, Clove (if that is really her name) focuses on finding the right supplement, the right gratitude meditation.
But when she receives a letter from a women’s prison in California, her past comes screeching into the present, entangling her in a dangerous game with memory and the people she thought she had outrun. As we race between her precarious present-day life in Portland, Oregon and her childhood in a Waikiki high-rise with her mother and father, Clove is forced to finally unravel the defining day of her life. How did she survive that day, and what will it take to end the cycle of violence? Will the truth undo her, or could it ultimately save her?
“[A] harrowing psychological thriller… Chelsea Bieker’s fierce literary style makes for a perfect match with the thriller form, and her careful plotting leads to a genuinely surprising conclusion.” – Molly Odintz, Literary Hub
“Though this novel has plenty of love, generosity, and absurdist humor—for example, the wacko nanny Clove meets by crashing into her car—what makes it so moving and so brilliant is how it unpacks the legacy of childhood abuse, when even innocent acts by another person can feel like an immediate threat to survival.” – Leigh Newman, Oprah Daily
“Bieker takes readers on an ultimate hero’s journey, one of mystery and intensely complicated characters, dripping with truth for all who have known an abuser. A masterpiece about the poison of violence, how it infects us all, and how it cannot be ignored away.” – Courtney Eathorne, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…what Bieker has always been best at is creating female characters with vivacity and precision, and she does that again in Clove, painting an indelible portrait of what living with intergenerational trauma and a legacy of abuse can look like. In the guise of a suspense story, Bieker delves into the heart of what it really means to survive violence.” – Kirkus Reviews
The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir; translated by Mary Robinette Kowal
fiction / horror / suspense / mystery.
Iðunn is in yet another doctor’s office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something’s not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven’t revealed any cause.
When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same — have you tried eating better? exercising more? establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps.
Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she’s walked over 40,000 steps in the night…
What is happening when she’s asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won’t anyone believe her?
“…masterful… [a] compelling page-turner… Knutsdottir has written an arresting novel about the intricacies and invisibility of female pain and the staggering cost of ignoring it.” – Elaine Margolin, New York Journal of Books
“This Icelandic import will have fans of Ling Ma, Paula Hawkins, and other flawed female narrators demanding more translations of Knútsdóttir’s work.” – Erin Downey Howerton, Booklist
“…surreal and spectacular… Knútsdóttir’s parenthetical asides and idiosyncratic voice create a queasy sense of vertigo as the story unfolds, and the time the narrative takes to reveal its secrets is well spent on the way to a conclusion at once grotesque and beautiful. This is psychological horror at its finest.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Safe Enough and Other Stories by Lee Child
fiction / short stories / suspense / mystery.
For the past twenty years, Lee Child has been one of the bestselling authors in the world, thanks to the popularity of his iconic and instantly recognizable hero Jack Reacher. But even at the height of Reacher’s fame, Child’s short story writing was not confined to the series; throughout the course of his career, he published tales about a range of characters on both sides of the law, including assassins, a body guard, CIA and FBI agents, gangsters, and more. Meticulously plotted and packed with Child’s trademark action and suspense, the stories show the author’s mastery of the short form, and they’ve never been collected before now.
In “Ten Keys,” a drug-dealing hit man feels that he must unburden his fears and guilt to a stranger. A rookie cop in “Normal in Every Way” is assigned to the department’s file room, where he makes connections to historic dates that could lead to solving crimes. A methodical bodyguard quits his job when he’s outsmarted. A military mission is planned to perfection. A potential worker for the Manhattan Project is carefully surveilled by an FBI agent. A killer preys on other killers. Taken together, these stories are a riotous calamity of criminals and crime fighters; individually, they are expertly crafted, piercing tales that hit hard enough to leave a mark.
These twenty intriguing, thrilling, and rapid-fire fictions are sure to please new and longtime fans of Child and to illuminate a side of the author’s work unknown to Reacher devotees. Featuring a colorful new introduction from the author, the collection stands as the first book written entirely by Child in three years.
“[A] sparkling collection of short fiction.” – David Pitt, Booklist
“…Safe Enough is your next favorite crime-fighting collection.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“Throughout, Child gleefully toys with readers’ expectations, mirroring his duplicitous characters as he performs a series of satisfying bait-and-switches… These stories prove that Child has more to offer than the head-splitting exploits of his most popular action hero.” – Publishers Weekly
Small Rain by Garth Greenwell ★
fiction.
A poet’s life is turned inside out by a sudden, wrenching pain. The pain brings him to his knees, and eventually to the ICU. Confined to bed, plunged into the dysfunctional American healthcare system, he struggles to understand what is happening to his body, as someone who has lived for many years in his mind.
This is a searching, sweeping novel set at the furthest edges of human experience, where the forces that give life value—art, memory, poetry, music, care—are thrown into sharp relief. Time expands and contracts. Sudden intimacies bloom. Small Rain surges beyond the hospital to encompass a radiant vision of human life: our shared vulnerability, the limits and possibilities of sympathy, the ideal of art and the fragile dream of America. Above all, this is a love story of the most unexpected kind.
“Greenwell—such a finely tuned, generous writer—transforms a savage illness into a meditation on a vital life.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Against a backdrop of anger and confusion—over masks and vaccines, police brutality and protests, the ‘terrible slow catastrophe’ of climate crisis—Small Rain asserts the astonishing beauty of life.” – Jessica Olin, Oprah Daily
“The virtuosic first-person narration, devoid of dialogue, places the reader front and center in the narrator’s bracing account of his grueling ordeal, serving as a palpable reminder to never take one’s health for granted, and it builds to a cathartic and unforgettable conclusion… luminous…” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Dense with attention, observation, and imagination, Greenwell’s engrossing third novel expands its own tight parameters to touch on human solitude and interdependence, art and its purpose, and life itself, in all its ordinary and extraordinary precarity.” – Annie Bostrom, Booklist
We’re Alone: Essays by Edwidge Danticat
nonfiction / essays / memoir / history.
Tracing a loose arc from Edwidge Danticat’s childhood to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent events in Haiti, the essays gathered in We’re Alone include personal narrative, reportage, and tributes to mentors and heroes such as Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, Gabriel García Márquez, and James Baldwin that explore several abiding themes: environmental catastrophe, the traumas of colonialism, motherhood, and the complexities of resilience.
From hurricanes to political violence, from her days as a new student at a Brooklyn elementary school knowing little English to her account of a shooting hoax at a Miami mall, Danticat has an extraordinary ability to move from the personal to the global and back again. Throughout, literature and art prove to be her reliable companions and guides in both tragedies and triumphs.
Danticat is an irresistible presence on the page: full of heart, outrage, humor, clear thinking, and moral questioning, while reminding us of the possibilities of community. And so “we’re alone” is both a fearsome admission and an intimate invitation—we’re alone now, we can talk. We’re Alone is a book that asks us to think through some of the world’s intractable problems while deepening our understanding of one of the most significant novelists at work today.
“…powerful… an elegant commentary on injustice and the mixed feelings one’s home can engender.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[A] collection of piercing reflections… Danticat has a knack for cutting turns of phrase… [and] also excels at weaving together personal narrative and history… Danticat remains at the height of her considerable talents.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“In so few pages, Edwidge Danticat weaves language that situates us in the moment with compassion and clarity. From odes that ache and appreciate the humanity of brilliant authors, to writings about Haiti and storms to come, Danticat threads it all.” – Mari Guzman, Indie Next
What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley
fiction / mystery / historical fiction.
Flavia de Luce has taken on the mentorship of her odious moon-faced cousin Undine, who has come to live at Buckshaw following the death of her mother. Undine’s main talent, aside from cultivating disgusting habits, seems to be raising Flavia’s hackles, although in her best moments she shows potential for trespassing, trickery, and other assorted mayhem.
When Major Greyleigh, a local recluse and former hangman, is found dead after a breakfast of poisonous mushrooms, suspicion falls on the de Luce family’s longtime cook, Mrs. Mullet. After all, wasn’t it she who’d picked the mushrooms, cooked the omelet, and served it to Greyleigh moments before his death? “I have to admit,” says Flavia, an expert in the chemical nature of poisons, “that I’d been praying to God for a jolly good old-fashioned mushroom poisoning. Not that I wanted anyone to die, but why give a girl a gift such as mine without giving her the opportunity to use it?”
But Flavia knows the beloved Mrs. Mullet is innocent. Together with Dogger, estate gardener and partner-in-crime, and the obnoxious Undine, Flavia sets out to find the real killer and clear Mrs. Mullet’s good name. Little does she know that following the case’s twists and turns will lead her to a most surprising discovery—one with the power to upend her entire life.
“Bradley gives his loyal readers a story that will more than satisfy their expectations while also inviting new readers to discover an endlessly entertaining amateur young sleuth who has much to teach her elders.” – Jane Harper, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Nobody could possibly unite intelligence work, mythological monsters, and village gossip as adroitly as Bradley’s heroine.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…enchanting… Flavia’s characteristic quirky humor and unorthodox thinking are on full display, and the ending finds her taking a well-earned step forward in her maturity. This series is as fresh as ever.” – Publishers Weekly
The World She Edited: Katherine S. White at The New Yorker by Amy Reading
nonfiction / biography / history / publishing / literature.
In the summer of 1925, Katharine Sergeant Angell White walked into The New Yorker’s midtown office and left with a job as an editor. The magazine was only a few months old. Over the next thirty-six years, White would transform the publication into a literary powerhouse.
This exquisite biography brings to life the remarkable relationships White fostered with her writers and how these relationships nurtured an astonishing array of literary talent. She edited a young John Updike, to whom she sent seventeen rejections before a single acceptance, as well as Vladimir Nabokov, with whom she fought incessantly, urging that he drop needlessly obscure, confusing words.
White’s biggest contribution, however, was her cultivation of women writers whose careers were made at The New Yorker—Janet Flanner, Mary McCarthy, Elizabeth Bishop, Jean Stafford, Nadine Gordimer, Elizabeth Taylor, Emily Hahn, Kay Boyle, and more. She cleared their mental and financial obstacles, introduced them to each other, and helped them create now classic stories and essays. She propelled these women to great literary heights and, in the process, reinvented the role of the editor, transforming the relationship to be not just a way to improve a writer’s work but also their life.
Based on years of scrupulous research, acclaimed author Amy Reading creates a rare and deeply intimate portrait of a prolific editor—through both her incredible tenure at The New Yorker, and her famous marriage to E.B. White—and reveals how she transformed our understanding of literary culture and community.
“…captivating… finally shines a well-deserved spotlight on White’s remarkable career… An entertaining and expansive study of a pioneering literary editor and the era that shaped her legendary tenure.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…lucid and elegant, evoking the style White infused into the magazine… a fine portrait of one of The New Yorker’s leading lights that nails the magazine’s hothouse sensibility.” – Publishers Weekly
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