“The more you give, the more you have, the more new things you are a part of, the more you are truly alive.” – Jenny Slate, Little Weirds
Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer ★
fiction / science fiction / horror / fantasy.
When the Southern Reach trilogy was first published a decade ago, it was an instant sensation, celebrated in a front-page New York Times story before publication, hailed by Stephen King and many others. Each volume climbed the bestseller list; awards were won; the books made the rare transition from paperback original to hardcover; the movie adaptation became a cult classic. All told, the trilogy has sold more than a million copies and has secured its place in the pantheon of twenty-first-century literature.
And yet for all this, for Jeff VanderMeer there was never full closure to the story of Area X. There were a few mysteries that had gone unsolved, some key points of view never aired. There were stories left to tell. There remained questions about who had been complicit in creating the conditions for Area X to take hold; the story of the first mission into the Forgotten Coast—before Area X was called Area X—had never been fully told; and what if someone had foreseen the world after Acceptance? How crazy would they seem?
Structured in three parts, each recounting a new expedition, there are some long-awaited answers here, to be sure, but also more questions, and profound new surprises. Absolution is a brilliant, beautiful, and ever-terrifying plunge into unique and fertile literary territory. It is the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time.
“…eerie and evocative… provokes, mystifies, and challenges readers in turn. VanderMeer’s horrifying declaration of the impossibility of knowing the other is a knockout.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“…some of Jeff’s best writing yet: flat-out hilarious at times and also utterly unnerving at others… Not unlike David Lynch going back to Twin Peaks, Absolution is simultaneously unlike anything else VanderMeer has done and also perfectly in line with the works that came before it.” – Drew Broussard, Literary Hub
“…VanderMeer understands that the mystery is the point, and, as told in beautiful prose infused with bizarre and disturbing images, Area X remains as fascinating and unknowable as ever.” – Krista Hutley, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Absolution is a novel that walks between many worlds with scenes that elicit Florida’s natural beauty alongside otherworldly sights and sounds that lurk just beyond the darkness or beneath the swampy surface, and fuel the imagination to the point of terror. The novel, like its subjects, blends and morphs, from the imaginative writing of science-fiction to the grotesqueness of horror and the paranoia of the best spy thrillers out there. All of this is by design and masterfully done by VanderMeer…” – Urban Waite, San Francisco Chronicle
Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!) by Bethany Joy Lenz
nonfiction / memoir / television / religion.
In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and determination to breakthrough as an actor, Bethany Joy Lenz was finally cast as one of the leads on the hit drama One Tree Hill. Her career was about to take off, but her personal life was slowly beginning to unravel. What none of the show’s millions of fans knew, hidden even from her costars, was her secret double life in a cult.
An only child who often had to fend for herself and always wanted a place to belong, Lenz found the safe haven she’d been searching for in a Bible study group with other Hollywood creatives. However, the group soon morphed into something more sinister—a slowly woven web of manipulation, abuse, and fear under the guise of a church covenant called The Big House Family. Piece by piece, Lenz began to give away her autonomy, ultimately relocating to the Family’s Pacific Northwest compound, overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge. Family “minders” assigned to her on set, “Maoist struggle session”–inspired meetings in the basement of a filthy house, and regular counseling with “Leadership” were just part of the tactics used to keep her loyal.
Only when she became a mother did Lenz find the courage to leave and spare her child from a similar fate. After nearly a decade (and with the unlikely help of a One Tree Hill superfan), she finally managed to escape the family’s grip and begin to heal from the deep trauma that forever altered her relationship with God and her understanding of faith.
Written with powerful honesty and dark humor, Dinner for Vampires is an inspiring story about the importance of identity and understanding what you believe.
“[A] tart, refreshing book.” – New York Times
The Heartbeat Library by Laura Imai Messina
fiction.
On the peaceful Japanese island of Teshima there is a library of heartbeats, a place where the heartbeats of visitors from all around the world are collected. In this small, isolated building, the heartbeats of people who are still alive or have already passed away continue to echo.
Several miles away, in the ancient city of Kamakura, two lonely souls meet: Shuichi, a 40-year-old illustrator, who returns to his hometown to fix up the house of his recently deceased mother, and eight-year-old Kenta, a child who wanders like a shadow around Shuichi’s house.
Day by day, the trust between Shuichi and Kenta grows, until they discover they share a bond that will tie them together for life. Their journey will lead them to Teshima and to the library of heartbeats…
Enchanting, touching, and emotionally riveting, The Heartbeat Library is a story about loss and hope, pain and joy, reality and imagination, and the promise of healing and overcoming the odds thanks to the relationships we build and rediscover. Inspired by Les Archives du Cœur, an art installation in Japan that permanently houses recordings of the heartbeats of people throughout the world, Laura Imai Messina returns in this novel to the themes and atmospheres of her internationally bestselling novel The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World, combining a real-life pilgrimage site of healing with an unforgettable and heartwarming story.
“Where does our love go for those who’ve passed? This profound novel of an unlikely friendship and a life-changing pilgrimage has answers…” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“…moving and tender… [a] fascinating novel, which is a beautiful meditation on grief and healing. A devastating must-read.” – Cari Dubiel, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…masterful… from the richly drawn characters to the slow unveiling of the story to the constant presence of the ocean, nature, and the steep hill that Shūichi lives on—reading this lovingly drawn story is an immersive experience. A powerful, unforgettable tale of love that is made more poignant by the loss that preceded it.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
In Too Deep by Lee Child & Andrew Child
fiction / suspense / mystery.
Reacher had no idea where he was. No idea how he had gotten there. But someone must have brought him. And shackled him. And whoever had done those things was going to rue the day. That was for damn sure.
Jack Reacher wakes up alone, in the dark, handcuffed to a makeshift bed. His right arm has suffered some major damage. His few possessions are gone. He has no memory of getting there.
The last thing Reacher can recall is the car he hitched a ride in getting run off the road. The driver was killed.
His captors assume Reacher was the driver’s accomplice and patch up his wounds as they plan to make him talk.
A plan that will backfire spectacularly…
“…has perhaps the most kick-ass opening of all the Reachers… Explosively violent and written in the familiar unadorned prose that drives the reader through the story, the book is sure to appeal to the Reacher series’ many fans.” – David Pitt, Booklist
“The 29th installment of the Reacher series feels fresh, with a mid-book twist that keeps the pages turning.” – Becky Meloan, Washington Post
“…Reacher fans old and new will be perfectly satisfied by the familiar bone-crunching and world-saving in this fast-paced adventure. The series is in good hands.” – Publishers Weekly
Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway
fiction / historical fiction / mystery / suspense.
It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West’s spy war against the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only for a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumor that George Smiley might almost be happy.
But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Szusanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead.
But in his absence, the shadows of Moscow have lengthened. Smiley soon finds himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come and set him on a collision course with the greatest enemy he will ever make.
Set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in John le Carré’s George Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Karla’s Choice marks a momentous return to the world of spy fiction’s greatest writer.
“…note-perfect… written with the brilliance of le Carré at his best… Readers will respond to Karla’s Choice with pure gratitude.” – Jake Kerridge, The Telegraph
“…terrific… Longtime Smiley fans will delight in the enormous cast of familiar characters, the thoughtful meditations on the morality of espionage, and the lived-in tradecraft. Harkaway brilliantly channels his late father’s voice, and in the process delivers an essential new chapter for Smiley and Karla.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“…absolutely first rate, as both a homage to le Carré and as a work in its own right… It is difficult to encapsulate what a remarkable achievement this novel is… In a way, forget about le Carré and Harkaway, maybe even Alec Guinness: what matters is that this is Smiley.” – Stuart Kelly, The Scotsman
Lifeform by Jenny Slate
nonfiction / ESSAYS / memoir / comedy / parenting.
What happened was this: Jenny Slate was a human mammal who sniffed the air every morning hoping to find another person to love who would love her, and in that period there was a deep dark loneliness that she had to face and befriend, and then we are pleased to report that she did fall in love, and in that period she was like chimes, or a flock of clean breaths, and her spine lying flat was the many-colored planks on the xylophone, but also she was rabid with fear of losing this love, because of past injury. And then what happened was that she became a wild-pregnant-mammal-thing and then she exploded herself by having a whole baby blast through her vagina during a global plague and then she was expected to carry on like everything was normal—but was this normal, and had she or anything ever been normal?
Herein lies an account of this journey, told in five phases—Single, True Love, Pregnancy, Baby, and Ongoing—through luminous, laugh-out-loud funny, unclassifiable essays that take the form of letters to a doctor, dreams of a stork, fantasy therapy sessions, gossip between racoons, excerpts from an imaginary olden timey play, obituaries, theories about post-partum hair loss, graduation speeches, and more.
No one writes like Jenny Slate.
“…imaginative, funny, affecting, and hard-to-classify… another wonderfully weird, incomparable, and utterly enjoyable book that readers will be glad simply exists.” – Annie Bostrom, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Delightfully offbeat and unexpectedly moving.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…endearing… Funny, lyrical, and sometimes strange, these essays pulse with life.” – Publishers Weekly
Lightborne by Hesse Phillips
fiction / historical fiction.
Christopher Marlowe: playwright, poet, lover. In the plague-stricken streets of Elizabethan England, Kit flirts with danger, leaving a trail of enemies and old flames in his wake. His plays are a roaring success; he seems destined for greatness.
But in the spring of 1593, the queen’s eyes are everywhere and the air is laced with paranoia. Marlowe receives an unwelcome visit from his one-time mentor, Richard Baines, a man who knows all of Marlowe’s secrets and is hell-bent on his destruction.
When Marlowe is arrested on charges of treason, heresy, and sodomy—all of which are punishable by death—he is released on bail with the help of Sir Thomas Walsingham. Kit presumes Walsingham to be his friend; in fact, the spymaster has hired an assassin to take care of Kit, fearing that his own sins may come to light.
Now, with the queen’s spies and the vengeful Baines closing in on the playwright, Marlowe’s last friend in the world is Ingram Frizer, a total stranger who is obsessed with Kit’s plays, and who will, within ten days’ time, first become Marlowe’s lover—and then his killer. Richly atmospheric, emotionally devastating, and heartrendingly imagined, Lightborne is a masterful reimagining of the last days of one of England’s most famous literary figures.
“…dazzling… The novel is a hugely impressive, visceral and moving portrait of one of the era’s most captivating and mysterious characters.” – Suzi Feay, The Financial Times
“With spies and romance and an absolutely devastating denouement, Lightborne is as bloody and beautiful as the great Marlowe’s plays… an incredibly rewarding experience. Lightborne is so much more than its details, no matter how outrageously entertaining, for the soul of this work comes from its clear-eyed portrait of humanity: the best, the worst, and the somewhere-in-between.” – Molly Odintz, CrimeReads
“Other works of fiction have been written about the turbulent life and still not fully explained death of the Elizabethan dramatist Christopher Marlowe… none has demonstrated the erudition and intensity of Hesse Phillips’s debut novel… Phillips’s Marlowe is a haunted, driven man, more involved in the dangerous world of espionage than the theatre… Told in vivid, punchy prose, Lightborne is a brilliantly original take on a familiar story.” – Nick Rennison, The Times
Matty Matheson: Soups, Salads, Sandwiches by Matty Matheson
nonfiction / food / cooking.
The acclaimed chef, New York Times bestselling author, and executive producer and actor on The Bear redefines cooking’s iconic trinity: soups, salads, and sandwiches.
Chances are you’ve eaten a soup, salad, or sandwich in the past day (or maybe all three). This trio makes up so many of our meals but is rarely given the attention it deserves–until now. Matty Matheson, known for his bold, innovative flavors, has created a cookbook that will revolutionize how you think of these kitchen basics. This book is for anyone and everyone, offering up Matty’s signature twists on the classics, delivered with minimal effort for maximum flavor.
Find your favorite combination by mixing and matching dishes like:
- Soups: Giant Meatball Soup in Beefy Tomato Broth; Crab Congee; Creamy Sausage Soup with Rapini and Tortellini; Caldo de Pollo
- Salads: Everyone’s Mom’s Macaroni and Tuna Salad; Griddled Salami Panzanella Salad; Peaches with Goat Cheese, Mint, Honeycomb, and Olive Oil
- Sandwiches: Cubano; Italian Combo; Sun Warmed Tomato; Banana Bread French Toast with Fried Egg, Peameal Bacon, and Maple Syrup
Packed with character, personal stories, 126 scrumptious recipes, and vivid photographs of a day-in-the-life with Matty and his family, Soups, Salads, Sandwiches will have you fearlessly whipping up your own combinations in the kitchen.
“Revolutionize your dinner table with Matheson’s take on culinary classics.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“…written in an irreverent, familiar style…” – Jonathan Zavaleta, Rolling Stone
“[Matheson] shares recipes any home cook can use every day and insights only he would deliver… His Turkey Drumstick and Barley recipe could make a soup person of just about anybody.” – Kathleen Squires, Wall Street Journal
Memorials by Richard Chizmar
fiction / horror / historical fiction / suspense / mystery.
1983: Three students from a small college embark on a week-long road trip to film a documentary on roadside memorials for their American Studies class. The project starts out as a fun adventure with long stretches of empty road and nightly campfires where they begin to open up with one another.
But as they venture deeper into the Appalachian backwoods, the atmosphere begins to darken. They notice more and more of the memorials feature a strange, unsettling symbol hinting at a sinister secret. Paranoia sets in when it appears they are being followed. Their vehicle is tampered with overnight and some of the locals appear to be anything but welcoming. Before long, the students can’t help but wonder if these roadside deaths were really random accidents… or is something terrifying at work here?
“A pulpy, peek-between-your-fingers look at small-town America, powered by real grief.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…unsettling; there’s a palpable sense of dread here, the kind of creeping terror that burrows its way under your skin and makes you shiver and twitch… [Chizmar] could easily snag a [Bram Stoker Award] nomination for this absolutely terrifying novel.” – David Pitt, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[An] immersive and über-creepy novel that pays subtle homage to horror classics ranging from the works of H.P. Lovecraft to The Blair Witch Project… Chizmar gradually ratchets up a palpable feeling of unease through an accumulation of small unsettling moments… Chizmar pulls no punches on the way to a thoroughly satisfying finale, creating a literate horror novel that will remind some of T.E.D. Klein’s The Ceremonies. It’s a tour de force.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
My Good Bright Wolf: A Memoir by Sarah Moss
nonfiction / memoir.
A girl must watch her figure but never be vain. She must be intelligent but never a know-it-all. She must be ambitious, if she is clever, but not in a way that shows. She must cook and sew and make do and mend. She must know (but never say) that these skills are, in some fundamental way, flawed and frivolous—feminine. Girls must stay small, even as they grow. Women must show restraint.
And yet. In books, in the landscape of imagination, a girl can run free.
Here, with My Good Bright Wolf, Sarah Moss takes on these rules, these lessons from the fables of girlhood, and uses them to fearlessly investigate the nature of memory, the lure of self-control, the impact of privilege, scarcity, parents, love. Through narratives of women and food, second-wave feminism and postwar puritanism, and her own challenges with a health care system that discounts the experiences of those it ought to serve, Moss seeks truth in the stories we tell ourselves and others. Harm can become power. Attention can become care. A body and a mind, though working hard together, can be at odds.
And yet. In books, in the landscape of imagination, a girl can run free.
Beautiful and sharp, moving and unapologetic, erudite and very funny, My Good Bright Wolf is a memoir that breaks the rules.
“[A] dark, revelatory and an observational masterpiece, littered with sentences you want to read again and again.” – Chloe Gray, iNews
“Moss masterfully evokes the insidiousness of self-doubt in this poetic account of growing up with an eating disorder in 1980s Scotland… This is a stirring and singular achievement.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“…brings to mind the work of the Nobel prize-winning French author Annie Ernaux, who interrogates her memory as she commits her life’s story to the page… a book so full of workings that its bleak subject matter is turned warm – and revelatory.” – Ellen Peirson-Hagger, The Guardian
Patriot: A Memoir by Alexei Navalny
nonfiction / memoir / history / politics.
Alexei Navalny began writing Patriot shortly after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020. It is the full story of his life: his youth, his call to activism, his marriage and family, his commitment to challenging a world super-power determined to silence him, and his total conviction that change cannot be resisted—and will come.
In vivid, page-turning detail, including never-before-seen correspondence from prison, Navalny recounts, among other things, his political career, the many attempts on his life, and the lives of the people closest to him, and the relentless campaign he and his team waged against an increasingly dictatorial regime.
Written with the passion, wit, candor, and bravery for which he was justly acclaimed, Patriot is Navalny’s final letter to the world: a moving account of his last years spent in the most brutal prison on earth; a reminder of why the principles of individual freedom matter so deeply; and a rousing call to continue the work for which he sacrificed his life.
“This book is a testament not only to Alexei’s life, but to his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship—a fight he gave everything for, including his life. Through its pages, readers will come to know the man I loved deeply—a man of profound integrity and unyielding courage. Sharing his story will not only honor his memory but also inspire others to stand up for what is right and to never lose sight of the values that truly matter.” – Yulia Navalnaya
“Bravery incarnate, this is the harrowing true story of one man’s unshakeable dedication to his country despite the deadly risks. It’s personal and political, offering a completely human portrait of an activist and a man.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“Against this sordid backdrop, Navalny’s indefatigable goodness is all the more poignant… Patriot reveals less about Navalny’s politics than it does about his fundamental decency, his wry sense of humor and his (mostly) cheery stoicism under conditions that would flatten a lesser person.” – David Kortava, New York Times
“At times, it reads like a beautifully crafted novel… an enjoyable read… Alexei’s style was immediately recognizable—it felt as though I could actually hear his voice… He completes the story up until his imprisonment. And at this moment, the next part of the book begins. It’s a completely different kind of literature, and a completely different Navalny. What follows is his prison diary. This part is terrifying… but impossible to stop reading… By the end of the book, instead of the daily short notes, he starts writing philosophical reflections—just one, every few months. This becomes his final testament… The book’s author, Alexei Navalny, is firmly convinced that its main character, Alexei Navalny, did not die in vain.” – Mikhail Zygar, Vanity Fair
Roman Year: A Memoir by André Aciman
nonfiction / memoir / travel.
In Roman Year, André Aciman captures the period of his adolescence that began when he and his family first set foot in Rome, after being expelled from Egypt. Though Aciman’s family had been well-off in Alexandria, all vestiges of their status vanished when they fled, and the author, his younger brother, and his deaf mother moved into a rented apartment in Rome’s Via Clelia. Though dejected, Aciman’s mother and brother found their way into life in Rome, while Aciman, still unmoored, burrowed into his bedroom to read one book after the other. The world of novels eventually allowed him to open up to the city and, through them, discover the beating heart of the Eternal City.
Aciman’s time in Rome did not last long before he and his family moved across the ocean, but by the time they did, he was leaving behind a city he loved. In this memoir, the author, a genius of “the poetry of the place” (John Domini, Boston Globe), conjures the sights, smells, tastes, and people of Rome as only he can. Aciman captures, as if in amber, a living portrait of himself on the brink of adulthood and the city he worshipped at that pivotal moment. Roman Year is a treasure, unearthed by one of our greatest prose stylists.
“An absorbing exploration of the challenges and slivers of beauty that formed life for a refugee in Rome.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…richly layered… In rapturous prose, Aciman captures the shocks of beauty he experienced during what amounted to a brief interlude on his way to the U.S. His poetic exploration of place and probing of what constitutes a home makes for exquisitely moving reading.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Fans of André Aciman’s novel Call Me by Your Name will swoon for this vivid, heartfelt account of the time he spent as a teenager in Rome… A standout memoir from a master of emotional nuance who always reminds us to ‘look for the human.’” – Jessica Olin, Oprah Daily
Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank by Justene Hill Edwards
nonfiction / history.
In the years immediately after the Civil War, tens of thousands of former slaves deposited millions of dollars into the Freedman’s Bank. African Americans envisioned this new bank as a launching pad for economic growth and self-determination. But only nine years after it opened, their trust was betrayed and the Freedman’s Bank collapsed.
Fully informed by new archival findings, historian Justene Hill Edwards unearths a major turning point in American history in this comprehensive account of the Freedman’s Bank and its depositors. She illuminates the hope with which the bank was first envisioned and demonstrates the significant setback that the sabotage of the bank caused in the fight for economic autonomy. Hill Edwards argues for a new interpretation of its tragic failure: the bank’s white financiers drove the bank into the ground, not Fredrick Douglass, its final president, or its Black depositors and cashiers. A page-turning story filled with both well-known figures like Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Jay and Henry Cooke, and General O. O. Howard, and less well-known figures like Dr. Charles B. Purvis, John Mercer Langston, Congressman Robert Smalls, and Ellen Baptiste Lubin. Savings and Trust is necessary reading for those seeking to understand the roots of racial economic inequality in America.
“…timely, well-crafted… a riveting and heartbreaking read.” – Richard Kreitner, New York Times
“[A] captivating narrative that reads like a slow-burn legal thriller… a revelatory connecting-of-the-dots between the failure of Reconstruction and the birth of the Gilded Age.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Edwards illuminates the cynicism, fiscal naiveté, and racial arrogance that led to the disaster, pointing out that Black distrust of financial institutions stems from this event… Sobering and informative.” – Lesley Williams, Booklist
The Secret War of Julia Child by Diana R. Chambers
fiction / historical fiction.
Single, 6 foot 2, and thirty years old, Julia McWilliams took a job working for America’s first espionage agency, years before cooking or Paris entered the picture. The Secret War of Julia Child traces Julia’s transformation from ambitious Pasadena blue blood to Washington, DC file clerk, to head of General “Wild Bill” Donovan’s secret File Registry as part of the Office of Strategic Services.
The wartime journey takes her to South Asia’s remote front lines of then-Ceylon, India, and China, where she finds purpose, adventure, self-knowledge – and love with mapmaker Paul Child. The spotlight has rarely shone on this fascinating period of time in the life of (“I’m not a spy”) Julia Child, and this lyrical story allows us to explore the unlikely world of a woman in a World War II spy station who has no idea of the impact she’ll eventually impart.
“The celebrated chef’s zest, humor and generous spirit come through brilliantly in this captivating fictional take on her WWII work in Asia for a U.S. spy agency.” – Robin Micheli, People
“Written with flair and charm, Chambers’s novel really heats up whenever sex, danger, or dinner come into view. Any readers who enjoy fictional renderings of the private lives of famous women will want to peek into Julia Child’s psyche.” – Barbara Conaty, Library Journal
“…Chambers excels at explaining the complex geopolitics of wartime Asia and describing the landscape and delicious foods found there.” – Lynnanne Pearson, Booklist
Sound Museum by Poupeh Missaghi
fiction / nonfiction / history / horror.
In Iran, a curator has gathered foreign journalists for a VIP tour of her latest creation. As the guests sit to listen to her initial remarks, she shares the struggles she’s faced in bringing together this exhibition—especially the gender inequity she’s battled for her entire career.
But the Sound Museum is no ordinary institution. It is a museum of torture, wrought from the audio recordings pulled from interrogation rooms and prison cells. And the curator—her unbroken monologue drifting through fieldwork examples, case studies, archives, philosophy, and dreams—is only too happy to share her part in this globe-spanning industry.
With sensuous and lyrical prose, Sound Museum bears witness while calling into question the act of witnessing, underlining complicities in systems of power and drawing the reader into the uncomfortable position of confronting one woman’s psyche: evil, yet completely blind to her own depravity.
“[A] chilling look at repressive regimes and the people complicit in their atrocities… an unsettling tour of historical atrocities, as well as the theorists who have tried to understand them… the overall effect is one of a horror in which everyone is complicit. A taut, searing tour of modern atrocities.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Missaghi toes the line between dark humor and horror in this transfixing story about a museum of torture in Iran… This is as smart as it is uncompromising.” – Publishers Weekly
“Humorous enough to avoid feeling heavy-handed, Sound Museum may challenge the squeamish, but even if it takes several sessions to get through Poupeh Missaghi’s Kafka-esque tone poem, it’s well worth the effort.” – Molly Odintz, CrimeReads
We All Shine On: John, Yoko, & Me by Elliot Mintz
nonfiction / memoir / biography.
In 1972, Elliot Mintz installed a red light in his bedroom in Laurel Canyon. When it started flashing, it meant that either John Lennon or Yoko Ono—or sometimes both—were calling him. Which they did almost every day for nearly ten years, engaging Mintz in hours-long late-night phone conversations that all but consumed him for the better part of a decade.
In We All Shine On, Mintz—a former radio and television host in Los Angeles—recounts the story of how their unlikely friendship began and where it led him over the years, revealing the ups and downs of a wild, touching, heartbreaking, and sometimes shocking relationship. Mintz takes readers inside John and Yoko’s inner sanctums, including their expansive seventh-floor apartment in New York’s fabled Dakota building, where Mintz was something of a semipermanent fixture, ultimately becoming the Lennons’ closest and most trusted confidant. Mintz was with John and Yoko through creative highs, relationship and private challenges, fascinating interactions with the other former Beatles, and the happiest moment of their lives together, the birth of their son, Sean. He was also by Yoko’s side during the aftermath of John’s assassination on the doorstep of the Dakota—not merely a witness to it all, but a key figure in the drama of John and Yoko’s extraordinary lives.
We All Shine On is a must-read for Beatles and Lennon fans, offering an up close and intimate view of one of the most celebrated artists of the twentieth century, as well as one of the most fascinating marriages. But it’s also a relationship story that just about everyone can relate to, a tale about partnership, loyalty, and trust, and most of all, the lasting legacy of a true and deep friendship.
“[A] captivating and intimate window into the complicated lives of one of rock’s most legendary couples.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“A charmingly modest tale of a long brush with stardom, with all its pleasures and frustrations.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Like any celebrity memoir worth its salt, We All Shine On makes readers feel as if they’ve spent time with the book’s subjects. A candid storyteller, Mintz reveals intimacies about the artists’ lives without being salacious… Regardless of whether you’re a superfan or an ordinary admirer of the music of Lennon, Ono and the Beatles, you’ll likely find the captivating story of this unusual friendship unduly hard to put down.” – Alice Cary, BookPage
The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke
fiction / fantasy.
“A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They’re the same thing really.”
Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scot is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees-and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods.
One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst-and the path of her life is changed forever.
Featuring gorgeous illustrations truly worthy of the magic of this story and an afterword by Susanna Clarke explaining how she came to write it, this is a mesmerizing, must-have addition to any fantasy reader’s bookshelf.
“[An] atmospheric and gently funny fable about the holiness of nature… For Clarke’s fans, fantasy-lovers, and all who crave picture books for grown-ups.” – Donna Seaman, Booklist
“The juxtaposition of thoughtful and sometimes unsettling atmospherics with quirky enjoyment delights. This is an ideal stocking stuffer.” – Publishers Weekly
“The story is brief, but what Clarke does well—conjure mood through evocative language and story suggestion—is on rich display. Highly atmospheric, this winter tale is set in a wood and navigates the line between a Grimms’ fairy tale and a feminist manifesto… illustrated with pen and ink drawings and specially designed text, giving the entire package the feeling of a manuscript found in a castle on the edge of some wild moor… Clarke’s many fans will not be disappointed…” – Neal Wyatt, Library Journal
You Have Gone Too Far by Carlene O’Connor
fiction / mystery / suspense.
After two pregnant women in Dingle who have never met each receive a chilling email warning them that they’re in grave danger, the two decide to meet each other to figure out what is going on. But when one of the mothers, Shauna, a deaf woman, arrives at their meeting place at the village Spring Festival, she fears a trap and hurries off to meet the couple who plan to adopt her baby.
Meanwhile, Dimpna Wilde has her hands full with lambing season and keeping track of her father, so she’s grateful for the help of a well-meaning ten-year-old boy, Dylan, at the veterinary clinic. But when the lad goes missing after going into a bog on a dare with two other boys to search for a “monster,” she is desperate to help find him.
After the adoptive couple are discovered tied up in their home, telling a terrifying story of a deaf pregnant woman being abducted by a man wearing a butterfly mask, Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien and Detective Sergeant Barbara Neely fear a repeat of a disturbing case from twenty years earlier, when a charismatic leader calling himself the Shepherd, lured poor pregnant girls into his enigmatic cult. Though allegations of baby smuggling were never proven, he’d been put away on other charges. But then they learn that the Shepherd has recently been released from prison.
Trapped in a cold, dark room with a frightened boy, Shauna fears for their lives as well as that of her unborn baby. If she has any chance of getting out and away from the Moth Man, as she calls her abductor, she’ll have to figure out the truth behind who she really is and how that connects to the ordeal she finds herself in now. But time is running out and her baby will be born soon…
“…chilling…” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“O’Connor’s gift for atmosphere elevates the well-oiled plot, resulting in the series’ best entry yet.” – Publishers Weekly
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