“It interests me how we find ways to feel superior to another person, another group of people. It happens everywhere, and all the time. Whatever we call it, I think it’s the lowest part of who we are, this need to find someone else to put down.” – Elizabeth Strout, My Name Is Lucy Barton
By the Fire We Carry: The Generations Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle ★
nonfiction / history / true crime.
Before 2020, American Indian reservations made up roughly 55 million acres of land in the United States. Nearly 200 million acres are reserved for National Forests—in the emergence of this great nation, our government set aside more land for trees than for Indigenous peoples.
In the 1830s Muscogee people were rounded up by the US military at gunpoint and forced into exile halfway across the continent. At the time, they were promised this new land would be theirs for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran. But that promise was not kept. When Oklahoma was created on top of Muscogee land, the new state claimed their reservation no longer existed. Over a century later, a Muscogee citizen was sentenced to death for murdering another Muscogee citizen on tribal land. His defense attorneys argued the murder occurred on the reservation of his tribe, and therefore Oklahoma didn’t have the jurisdiction to execute him. Oklahoma asserted that the reservation no longer existed. In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court settled the dispute. Its ruling that would ultimately underpin multiple reservations covering almost half the land in Oklahoma, including Nagle’s own Cherokee Nation.
Here Rebecca Nagle recounts the generations-long fight for tribal land and sovereignty in eastern Oklahoma. By chronicling both the contemporary legal battle and historic acts of Indigenous resistance, By the Fire We Carry stands as a landmark work of American history. The story it tells exposes both the wrongs that our nation has committed and the Native-led battle for justice that has shaped our country.
“Rebecca Nagle delivers a true life legal thriller with rare ambition and scope… one of the best books of the year.” – Michael Giltz, Parade
“[A] gripping legal thriller… This is essential reading on American history.” – Jenna Zarzycki, 425
“…thrilling… Combining impeccable research with rich detail and scintillating prose, Nagle tells a story that is two hundred years in the making and enormously relevant today… [readers] will be transfixed.” – Colleen Mondor, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] brilliant, kaleidoscopic debut… Nagle’s narrative is lucid and moving, especially as she uses archival sources to recreate the mounting terror experienced by Native peoples in the Southeast as violent mobs of outsiders swarmed onto their land. It’s a showstopper.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Countess by Suzan Palumbo
fiction / science fiction / fantasy.
Virika Sameroo lives in colonized space under the Æcerbot Empire, much like her ancestors before her in the British West Indies. After years of working hard to rise through the ranks of the empire’s merchant marine, she’s finally become first lieutenant on an interstellar cargo vessel.
When her captain dies under suspicious circumstances, Virika is arrested for murder and charged with treason despite her lifelong loyalty to the empire. Her conviction and subsequent imprisonment set her on a path of revenge, determined to take down the evil empire that wronged her, all while the fate of her people hangs in the balance.
“[A] satisfying story of revenge and revolution that stokes the fire in readers.” – Matthew Galloway, Library Journal
“Palumbo’s post-colonial space opera take on Dumas’s novel moves at a whiplash-inducing pace… fans of speculative revamps of classics will find plenty to enjoy.” – Publishers Weekly
“Suzan Palumbo’s Countess is an exceptional science fiction remix of The Count of Monte Cristo. It explores the same themes, but takes them in new and exciting directions. Between this and last year’s nearly perfect short story collection The Skin Thief, she has quickly proven herself a force to be reckoned with in speculative fiction.” – Alex Brown, Reactor
The Deaf Girl: A Memoir of Hearing Loss, Hope, and Fighting Against the Odds by Abigail Heringer
nonfiction / memoir.
Abigail Heringer made her television debut as an instant fan-favorite on season 25 of The Bachelor. Stepping out of the limousine, she approached her bachelor with a playful declaration: she would be staring at his lips all night for two compelling reasons—her profound deafness since birth and because he had some nice lips!
But Abigail’s journey wasn’t always marked by such confidence. Growing up deaf and introverted, she dreaded being the center of attention, fearing her disability would burden those around her. Among her hearing peers, she felt like an outsider, simply labeled as “the deaf girl.” And after receiving a cochlear implant at the age of two, she subsequently struggled to find her place in the Deaf community too. Caught in between two worlds and grappling to define her identity as a deaf woman, Abigail felt like she belonged in neither.
Supported by her family, particularly her deaf older sister Rachel, Abigail has come to understand that while being deaf is part of her identity, it doesn’t define her. Throughout her journey, marked by challenges and adversity, Abigail has grown into her own strongest advocate, discovering a new voice that is confident, fearless, and empowered—a voice that enables her to proudly reclaim the title of “the deaf girl” she once resisted and rewrite it as a testament to her resilience and strength.
Hopeful, vulnerable, and uplifting, The Deaf Girl shares Abigail’s journey of navigating life with a profound hearing loss and her transformation from merely accepting her disability to embracing it wholeheartedly. This memoir serves as an inspiring reminder for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or struggled to embrace their differences, showcasing that every voice is worthy of being heard.
“[A] memorable memoir… Readers will be moved and enlightened by Heringer’s story, candor, and mission.” – Karen Springen, Booklist
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
fiction / mystery / suspense.
Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.
Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.
How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.”
Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.
A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.
If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?
Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.
“Everything we loved about Moriarty’s Big Little Lies—the pacing, the twists, the taut energy—is here, in a high-flying exploration of free will and destiny.” – Lizz Schumer, Good Housekeeping
“…brilliant, charming, and invigorating… A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Moriarty’s meticulously plotted tale—which follows each of the doomed passengers as they reckon with their alleged fate—rivets even as it thoughtfully contemplates free will, determinism, and the value of living passionately. The exquisitely rendered characters earn readers’ full investment as they contemplate how much credence to give the Damoclean sword hanging over their heads, and the pinwheeling narrative maintains near-constant tension. Moriarty has outdone herself.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari ★
nonfiction / history / science / philosophy.
For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive?
Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence.
Information is not the raw material of truth; neither is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity.
“Confronting the avalanche of books on the prospects of AI, readers would do well to begin with this one.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…memorable, pithy and, dare I say it, wise… [Harari] sticks the world together in a gleaming shape that inspires and excites… readers should feel themselves well served.” – Simon Ings, The Telegraph
“[Harari] elegantly guides readers through the earliest examples of written records on stone tablets all the way through the advent of social media and the increasing concerns over AI… An important and timely must-read as our survival is at the mercy of information.” – Bill Kelly, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“In an impressive feat of temporal sharpshooting, a historian whose arguments operate on the scale of millennia has managed to capture the zeitgeist perfectly… Mr Harari’s writing is confident, wide-ranging and spiced with humour… [his] narrative is engaging, and his framing is strikingly original.” – The Economist
Reagan: His Life and Legend by Max Boot
nonfiction / biography / history / politics.
In this “monumental and impressive” biography, Max Boot, the distinguished political columnist, illuminates the untold story of Ronald Reagan, revealing the man behind the mythology. Drawing on interviews with over one hundred of the fortieth president’s aides, friends, and family members, as well as thousands of newly available documents, Boot provides “the best biography of Ronald Reagan to date” (Robert Mann).
The story begins not in star-studded Hollywood but in the cradle of the Midwest, small-town Illinois, where Reagan was born in 1911 to Nelle Clyde Wilson, a devoted Disciples of Christ believer, and Jack Reagan, a struggling, alcoholic salesman. Boot vividly creates a portrait of a handsome young man, indeed a much-vaunted lifeguard, whose early successes mirrored those of Horatio Alger. And contextualizing Reagan’s life against American history, Boot re-creates the world in which Reagan transitioned from local Iowa sportscaster to budding screen actor.
The world of Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1950s would prove significant, not only in Reagan’s coming-of-age in such classics as Knute Rockne and Kings Row but during the twilight of his film career, when he played opposite a chimpanzee in Bedtime for Bonzo, and then his eventual emergence as a television host of General Electric Theater, which established his bona fides as one of the leading conservative voices of the time. Indeed, the leap to California governor in 1966 seemed almost preordained, in which Reagan became a bellwether for a nation in the throes of a generational shift.
Reagan’s 1980 presidential election augured a shift that continues into this century. Boot writes not as a partisan but as a historian seeking to set the story straight. He explains how Reagan was an ideologue but also a supreme pragmatist who signed pro-abortion and gun control bills as governor, cut deals with Democrats in both Sacramento and Washington, and befriended Mikhail Gorbachev to end the Cold War. A master communicator, Reagan revived America’s spirits after the traumas of Vietnam and Watergate. But Boot also shows how Reagan was armored in obliviousness. He traces Reagan’s opposition to civil rights over forty years, reveals how he neglected the exploding AIDS epidemic, and details how America experienced a level of income inequality not seen since the Gilded Age.
With its revelatory insights, Reagan: His Life and Legend is no apologia, depicting a man with a good-versus-evil worldview derived from his moralistic upbringing and Hollywood westerns. Providing fresh examinations of “trickle-down economics,” the Cold War’s end, the Iran-Contra affair, as well as a nuanced portrait of Reagan’s family, this definitive biography is as compelling a presidential biography as any in recent decades.
“Boot’s clear-headed biography brims with insightful anecdotes and clears away myth to give a more solid portrait of a remarkable politician.” – Mark Knoblauch, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…gripping… stands out for its deep research, lucid prose and command of its subject’s broad political and social context.” – Jennifer Burns, New York Times
“[Max Boot’s] Reagan: His Life and Legend aims to be the definitive biography, and it succeeds. It’s a thoughtful, absorbing account.” – Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker
The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World by Ben MacIntyre
nonfiction / history / true crime / suspense.
As the American hostage crisis in Iran boiled into its seventh month in the spring of 1980, six heavily armed gunmen barged into the Iranian embassy in London, taking twenty-six hostages. What followed over the next six days was an increasingly tense standoff, one that threatened at any moment to spill into a bloodbath.
Policeman Trevor Lock was supposed to have gone to the theater that night. Instead, he found himself overpowered and whisked into the embassy. The terrorists never noticed the gun hidden in his jacket. The drama that ensued would force him to find reserves of courage he didn’t know he had. The gunmen themselves were hardly one-dimensional—all Arabs, some highly educated, who hoped to force Britain to take their side in their independence battle against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Behind the scenes lurked the brutal Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who had bankrolled the whole affair as a salvo against Iran.
As police negotiators pressed the gunmen, rival protestors clashed violently outside the embassy, and as MI6 and the CIA scrambled for intelligence, Britain’s special forces strike team, the SAS, laid plans for a dangerous rescue mission. Inside, Lock and his fellow hostages used all the cunning they possessed to outwit and outflank their captors. Finally, on the sixth day, after the terrorists executed the embassy press attaché and dumped his body on the front doorstep, the SAS raid began, sparking a deadly high-stakes climax.
A story of ordinary men and women under immense pressure, The Siege takes readers minute-by-thrilling-minute through an event that would echo across the next two decades and provide a direct historical link to the tragedy on 9/11. Drawing on exclusive interviews and a wealth of never-before-seen files, Macintyre brilliantly reconstructs a week in which every day minted a new hero and every second spelled the potential for doom.
“[A] masterly account… [the event] has never been recounted so pleasurably as it has been here.” – Azadeh Moaveni, New York Times
“A capable work of true-crime writing that connects many subsequent geopolitical dots.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Macintyre’s narrative is cinematic in its bloody climax and even more so in its tense buildup. He paints the embassy occupation as a psychological pressure cooker… Without demonizing those involved, Macintyre provides a nuanced, perceptive analysis of the intense emotions roiling a high-stakes standoff.” – Publishers Weekly
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell
fiction / science fiction / fantasy.
One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charlie Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he’s now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from someone he wasn’t even sure existed: his daughter Sidney, a nineteen-year-old left behind by her white mother and step-family.
Traumatized by the event, and terrified of the outside world, Sidney has spent a year in isolation in Wisconsin. Desperate for help, she turns to the father she never met, a man she has always resented. Sidney and Charlie meet for the first time as they embark on a journey across a truly “post-racial” America in search for answers. But neither of them are prepared for this new world and how they see themselves in it.
Heading south toward what is now called the Kingdom of Alabama, everything Charlie and Sidney thought they knew about themselves, and the world, will be turned upside down. Brimming with heart and humor, Cebo Campbell’s astonishing debut novel is about the power of community and connection, about healing and self-actualization, and a reckoning with what it means to be Black in America, in both their world and ours.
“A bold, high-concept premise brought into sharp focus by Cebo Campbell’s lively and vibrant prose… a fascinating ‘what-if’ scenario that shines a necessary light on the unvarnished realities of the country and who controls the levers of power and influence in our society.” – The Speculative Shelf
“The thought experiment of the novel is fascinating, and the jump into a space without the many racist systems in place—and the people who benefit from them—is illuminating. This will be an uncomfortable novel for some, but it’s a truly powerful and riveting story that could make for some very interesting book-discussion conversations. ” – Emily Whitmore, Booklist
“…captivating… Campbell’s depiction of their trek across an altered and occasionally nightmarish Southern landscape evokes Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and he caps the narrative with fascinating revelations about the cause of the event. This stunning allegory will spark much discussion.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune ★
fiction / fantasy.
A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.
Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.
He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.
Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.
But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.
And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.
Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.
“Returning to Marsyas island is like coming home after a long trip — you are immediately enveloped in warmth and comfort.” – Jody Hardy, Indie Next
“The follow-up to The House in the Cerulean Sea is another heart-wrenching tale of being perceived as different, finding acceptance, and having a place in the world.” – Kristi Chadwick, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] powerful story of self-determination and the importance of love… a triumphant vision of a marginalized community given space to live peacefully, which will be a balm to many readers.” – Regina Schroeder, Booklist
“[A] sweet, satisfying sequel… bursts with charm, wit, and endearing scenes of magical found family, complete with timely messages on acceptance and fighting oppression. Fans will be gratified by this heartfelt return.” – Publishers Weekly
So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison
fiction / horror / fantasy.
Sloane Parker is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life. Her husband surprises her with a birthday-weekend getaway—not with him, but with Sloane’s longtime best friend, troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi. Sloane anticipates a weekend of wine tastings and cozy robes and strategic avoidance of issues she’d rather not confront, like her husband’s repeated infidelity.
But when they arrive at their rental cottage, it becomes clear Naomi has something else in mind. She wants Sloane to stop letting things happen to her, for Sloane to really live. So Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers, only for it to take a horrifying turn that changes Sloane’s and Naomi’s lives literally forever. The friends are forced to come to terms with some pretty eternal consequences in this bloody, seductive novel about how it’s never too late to find satisfaction, even though it might taste different than expected.
“There’s much to love in Harrison’s tale.” – Emily Whitmore, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] bloody good time… brilliant… trust us when we say, you’re gonna want to pick this up ASAP!” – Tamara Fuentes, Cosmpolitan
“…addictive… rage-inducing, eerie, melancholy, and hopeful… a distinctive treatise on the transformational power of friendship… a smart, scary, and occasionally sexy page-turner.” – Publishers Weekly
Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race That Will Change the World by Parmy Olson
nonfiction / technology / science.
In November of 2022, a webpage was posted online with a simple text box. It was an AI chatbot called ChatGPT, and was unlike any app people had used before. It was more human than a customer service agent, more convenient than a Google search. Behind the scenes, battles for control and prestige between the world’s two leading AI firms, OpenAI and DeepMind, who now steers Google’s AI efforts, has remained elusive – until now.
In Supremacy, Parmy Olson, tech writer at Bloomberg, tells the astonishing story of the battle between these two AI firms, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the hazardous direction they could go as they serve two tech Goliaths whose power is unprecedented in history. The story focuses on the continuing rivalry of two key CEOs at the center of it all, who cultivated a religion around their mission to build god-like super intelligent machines: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Demis Hassabis, the CEO of DeepMind.
Supremacy sharply alerts readers to the real threat of artificial intelligence that its top creators are ignoring: the profit-driven spread of flawed and biased technology into industries, education, media and more. With exclusive access to a network of high-ranking sources, Olson uses her 13 years of experience covering technology to bring to light the exploitation of the greatest invention in human history, and how it will impact us all.
“An accessible, insightful exploration of the history and evolving impact of AI technologies.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…Olson’s punchy prose and eye for detail brings her subjects to vivid life… attests to how quickly humanitarian ideals devolve into brazen profit-seeking in Silicon Valley.” – Publishers Weekly
“[A] frankly terrifying exposé of the dangers posed by the current, unregulated technology market.” – John Keogh, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout ★
fiction / mystery.
With her remarkable insight into the human condition and silences that contain multitudes, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?”
It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known—“unrecorded lives,” Olive calls them—reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.
Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everything is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, “Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love.”
“Tell Me Everything offers readers an abundance of the searing and plain-spoken insights for which Strout is beloved… [she] is a master at conjuring emotion with a simple palette, at bringing a reader to tears without feeling the least bit manipulated… Strout looks, she sees. And when we read her books — oh! — so do we.” – Alexis Schaitkin, New York Times
“[A] masterly meditation on storytelling… The narrative threads make for dishy small-town drama, but even more satisfying are the insights Strout weaves into the dialogue… Longtime fans and newcomers alike will relish this.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“…Strout reminds us that storytelling can be powerful; that most people’s lives go unrecorded; and that paying witness to everyday events is a gift. With tenderness, honesty, intimacy, and compassion, Strout uses her cunning powers of observation to draw readers beyond the mundane to the miraculous complexities where true friendship lies.” – Carol Haggas, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Tell Me Everything reads like the stories that Lucy Barton shares with Olive throughout the novel. Simple. Relatable. Elegant… Strout’s gift is making readers stop and think about lives — from the exciting to the mundane — and that’s what makes this book so appealing.” – Rob Merrill, AP
Vilest Things by Chloe Gong
fiction / fantasy / romance.
Calla Tuoleimi has succeeded in the impossible. Despite the odds, she has won San-Er’s bloody games and eliminated King Kasa, her tyrant uncle and the former ruler of Talin. She now serves as royal advisor to Kasa’s adopted son, August Shenzhi, who has risen to the throne.
Only Calla knows it isn’t really August.
Anton Makusa is still furious about Calla’s betrayal in the final round of the games. In an impossible feat, he took over August’s body to survive and has no intention of giving up this newfound power. But when his first love, the beautiful, explosive Otta Avia, awakens from a yearslong coma and reveals a secret that threatens the monarchy’s authority over Talin, chaos erupts. As tensions come to a boiling point, Calla and Anton must set their conflicts aside and head to the kingdom’s far reaches to prevent anarchy… even if their empire might be better off burning.
“Vilest Things is a dazzling tale of revenge, betrayal and suspense from the one and only Chloe Gong.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“The second in the Flesh & False Gods series is a fast-paced adventure, balancing each of the main characters’ dubious morality with the tension of the prior relationships Anton had with both Calla and Otta. Readers will excitedly await the next adventure.” – Frances Moritz, Booklist
Who Could Ever Love You: A Family Memoir by Mary L. Trump
nonfiction / memoir / biography.
Mary Trump grew up in a family divided by its patriarch’s relentless drive for money and power. The daughter of Freddy Trump, the highly accomplished, dashing eldest son of wealthy real estate developer Fred Trump, and Linda Clapp, a flight attendant from a working-class family, Mary lived in the shadow of Freddy’s humiliation at the hands of his father.
Fred Trump embodied the ethos of the zero-sum game and among his five children, there could only be one winner. That was supposed to be Freddy, his namesake, but Fred found him wanting—too sensitive, too kind, too interested in pursuits beyond the realm of the real estate empire he was meant to inherit. In Donald, Fred found a kindred spirit, a “killer,” who would stop at nothing to get his own way.
Even after Freddy’s short-lived career as a professional pilot for TWA came to an end, he never stopped trying to gain his father’s approval. Finally, at the age of forty-two, he succumbed to Fred’s lethal contempt and died alone in an emergency room, with no family by his side.
In Who Could Ever Love You, Mary Trump brings us inside the twisted family whose patriarch ignored, froze out, and eventually destroyed his own. Freddy Trump’s decline into alcoholism and illness, along with Linda’s suffering after their divorce, left Mary dangerously vulnerable as a very young girl.
Inadequately and only conditionally loved, there were no adults in her life except for the father she loved, but lost before she could know him; and a mother abandoned by her ex-husband’s rich and powerful family who demanded her loyalty but left her with nothing.
With searching insight, poignant detail, and unsparing prose, Mary Trump reveals the cold, selfish cruelty that has come to define the Trump family thanks in large part to her uncle, whose malignant ambition has riven our nation and threatens the world.
“[A] moving look at a sad childhood.” – Ilene Cooper, Booklist
“The material can be astonishingly bleak, but Trump’s clear and concise prose shines, and she has a well-trained eye for the melancholy that runs through her family. It’s an astute and occasionally explosive plunge into an American dynasty’s heart of darkness.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[Trump] skimp on the jarring, revelatory details of her toxic family, telling her truths with lucidity… Another scathing exposé of the enduring fallout from a poisonous, dysfunctional family dynamic.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
The Women Behind the Door by Roddy Doyle
fiction.
At sixty-six, Paula Spencer—mother, grandmother, widow, addict, survivor—has finally started to live her life. She has a job at the dry cleaners she enjoys, her boyfriend Joe is a text away when she needs him, and her four children now have the healthy families and petty dramas that Paula could have only hoped for. Despite its ghosts, Paula has started to push her past aside.
That is until her eldest, Nicola, turns up on her doorstep one day. Nicola is everything Paula wasn’t—independent, affluent, a loving wife and mother, a “success”—but now she is suddenly determined to leave it all behind. She has left her family and come to stay. As Nicola gradually confides in Paula the secret that unleashed this moment of crisis, mother and daughter must untangle past memory, trauma, and revelations to confront what they mean to each other—and who they want to be.
A timely and powerful novel of regrets, reparations, and reconciliations, The Women Behind the Door is a delicately devastating portrait of shame and the inescapable shadow it casts over families. Many readers will welcome the chance to reconnect with this strong, singular character whom we have seen in The Woman Who Walked into Doors and Paula Spencer, but all readers will be glad to have Paula in their life now.
“A riveting, indelible portrait.” – Robin Micheli, People
“A gripping, blisteringly honest examination of issues too long swept under the rug.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Doyle’s hugely influential style—colloquial Irish dialogue, realistic settings, and a focus on working-class life—continues to produce deeply evocative and rewarding fiction, and Paula continues to be a compelling, flawed, and brilliant creation.” – Alexander Moran, Booklist
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