“Living everyday in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage.” – Min Jin Lee, Pachinko
Ahead of All Parting: On Learning to Live with an Open Heart by Barry Michels
nonfiction / memoir.
At the peak of his career, Barry Michels was a psychotherapist who treated Hollywood’s creative and power elite. Along with his colleague Phil Stutz, he went on to write The Tools, a buzzy New York Times bestseller. Michels was driven, a type A personality who found his work tremendously rewarding. And then he was blindsided by a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia, a degenerative disease that would, in a matter of years, erode his physical and intellectual abilities. The same illness that had taken his father’s life would take his own.
At first, he was plunged into an abyss of despair, finding respite only in his practice and on long, defiant hikes. And then Stutz gave him life-changing advice: He told Michels to walk the karmic path before him, to write in order to find meaning, and to fight like hell. He challenged him to transform pain into purpose and claim inner freedom.
In the weeks and months that followed, Michels reached out to friends and patients about his diagnosis. And in this process of making himself vulnerable, he activated community. In his persistence, he found inspiration, even joy. His heart opened, his relationships grew deeper, his creativity was unleashed. He connected with his Life Force. He began writing poetry—an unstoppable outpouring from his soul. His capacity to love was unfettered. Beauty—in nature, in a piece of music or art—could move him to tears. And most surprising of all, this lifelong atheist embraced the divine.
Ahead of All Parting is the inspiring story of Michels’s spiritual, emotional, and creative transformation. It offers lessons on living a more meaningful life, written with the exquisite clarity conferred as the end comes into focus.
“A fascinating testament to one man’s struggle with mortality.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[A] frank and moving memoir… Readers will be inspired by Michels’s perseverance.” – Publishers Weekly
American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee ★
fiction / historical fiction.
In schools and churches, hotel rooms and nail salons, law firms and fried-fish shops; in cramped, dingy apartments and luxury, gated communities, the men, women, and children in American Hagwon struggle to find satisfaction and meaning in a world that seems to grow less forgiving with each passing year. Once comfortably middle class in Korea, John and Helen Koh and their three children―Bo, DH, and Mido―find their lives upended, first by a shocking betrayal by John’s oldest friend, then by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Desperately striving to regain their footing, they leave Seoul for Sydney and eventually settle in Southern California―where new vistas of opportunity open up for the children as their parents, strangers in a strange land, must adjust to a new life in which their experience and education mean little, and they set their sights on whatever it takes to provide for their children’s futures. The Kohs, their friends, relatives, and even their foes move in and out of each other’s lives as they navigate new courses across the years, always nursing the almost all-consuming faith that education will lead the next generation to success and security.
In American Hagwon, Min Jin Lee has crafted an unforgettable, panoramic novel where the smallest of gestures can have enormous repercussions, where the bonds of family and of memory twist and fray but rarely break, and where willful self-sacrifice―for the benefit of loved ones and even strangers―is a kind of prayer.
“The author’s wisdom is a gift to her readers.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“[An] immersive masterpiece… Beyond irresistible storytelling, Lee expertly confronts broken systems, familial expectations, and peripatetic identities with empathy and brilliance.” – Terry Hong, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[Min Jin] Lee delivers a masterpiece of contemporary intergenerational storytelling… From Seoul to Sydney to Southern California, the storyline explores the intimate, familial, and cultural changes that affect a family and its communities… Intensely compelling with lovingly crafted character arcs, Lee’s latest cements her place in the literary pantheon.” – Julie Kane, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Well worth the wait… Lee brings a precise scalpel to the Korean diaspora, both questioning its desperate pursuit of getting ahead and putting forth a new vision of nuanced characters fitting into a diversity of archetypes not often afforded to Asian characters in Western literature… With an exacting pen, Lee creates an automaton of intricate detail, where each character plays a vital role in staking out a path in a world marred by globalization, socioeconomic upheaval, and competition.” – Mina Leazer, Boston Globe
The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic by Malcolm Gladwell ★
nonfiction / politics / history / sociology / psychology / true crime.
The United States has far more homicides than any of its peers around the world. Why?
In this groundbreaking book, Malcolm Gladwell explores the American “peculiarity”―how the world’s wealthiest country came to suffer from a problem typically only seen in the world’s poorest countries.
Drawing on original interviews, archival and social science research, and his trademark insight, Gladwell approaches the American paradox through a series of stories. What can we learn from the miracle of a young gunshot victim in Washington, D.C.? How have the legal troubles of a seventeenth-century English knight influenced American attempts at gun control? Why would a European police chief be baffled by the graduation ceremony at any American police academy?
In a sweeping narrative, Gladwell travels from a shooting range in North Carolina, to the South Side of Chicago, to an old plantation house in Alabama, painting a picture of a country that does not understand its most pressing social problem, and as result, does not understand how to fix it.
“…eye-opening… At every turn in this arresting, informative, and invaluable inquiry, Gladwell reveals hidden realities and contrasts honest versus dishonest discourse.” – Donna Seaman, Booklist
“A lucid argument for rethinking our approach to firearms.” – Kirkus Reviews
Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness by Lars Anderson
nonfiction / biography / sports.
New York Times bestselling author and former Sports Illustrated journalist Lars Anderson plunges into Tom Brady’s childhood to discover the origins of what Brady later described as his “sickness”: his category-five obsession with the game. The obsession dictated every choice Brady made, from what foods he ate to how he managed his day-to-day schedule to how he viewed his role as father to his three children and husband to supermodel Gisele Bündchen.
From more than 350 original interviews with people who know the quarterback on and off the field, Anderson paints a detailed psychological portrait of Tom Brady, a self-described loner whose life is defined by discipline, resilience, a fascination with preparation, an intolerance for wasted time, and a relentless pursuit of the extraordinary. What he finds is a man riddled with contradiction, defined by both a prolific career of unmatched success on the field and the agonizing cost of greatness in his personal life.
Brady is a comprehensive view of the life of the most accomplished player in the history of America’s game. Anderson digs deep behind the headlines to provide a richly detailed answer to one of the most vexing questions in sports: Who, really, is Tom Brady?
“…surprisingly intimate… [it] reads like Scenes from a Marriage with a lot more blitzing.” – Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker
“…captivating… Expect deservedly strong demand for this page-turner.” – Alan Moores, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…transform[s] one of sports’ most familiar success stories into a study of ambition, sacrifice, and the difficulty of deciding how much achievement is enough… Anderson balances genuine admiration for Brady’s accomplishments with an unsparing account of their cost. The result is a humanizing portrait of a champion who conquered nearly every opponent except his own appetite for victory.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
The City Without Jews: Life and Death in Nazi Vienna by Douglas Smith
nonfiction / history.
In 1922, Hugo Bettauer published the novel The City Without Jews, a satirical critique of Austrian antisemitism. Three years later he would be killed by an early follower of the Nazi Party. More than a decade later, in March 1938, the novel’s terrifying vision of a Vienna emptied of Jews would begin to be realized. German troops poured into the glittering city, marking the beginning of seven years of unfathomable state-sanctioned violence against the Jewish population.
A work of great power and urgency, The City Without Jews: Life and Death in Nazi Vienna tells the dramatic story of these seven years as they have never been told before. Drawing on hundreds of sources, many of which have lain untouched for decades, the historian Douglas Smith captures with novelistic immediacy the intertwined lives of those who experienced this age of extremes. And of all these voices, one stands out: a middle-aged nurse named Mignon Langnas, a Jewish woman who would see all her friends and family, and her entire world, disappear. The only Jew who spent the entire seven years in Nazi Vienna and left behind such a detailed record of her life, Mignon, in her letters and diaries, shows herself to be a woman of exceptional strength, compassion, and dignity, seeking to make sense of the once-vibrant city that had now turned against her.
By turns heartbreakingly intimate and dazzlingly epic, The City Without Jews tells the story of the destruction of Jewish Vienna in previously untapped breadth and detail. Even more than a work of history, it is a reminder and a warning―of the consequences of forgetting a past whose legacy refuses to die.
“A magnificent history of Vienna’s antisemitic past, told through the voices of those who lived and died there.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“A poignant and harrowing account of survival and a nation’s complicity.” – Rebekah Kati, Booklist
“Douglas Smith, an award-winning American historian, recounts the grim story of the destruction of Viennese Jewry with insight and empathy, keeping the human story to the fore. This is an important and deeply researched book. By focusing in depth on one key city, it substantially adds to our understanding of how the Nazi system of genocide and plunder operated… Smith carefully examines the most problematic aspect of any history of the Holocaust―the Jewish organisations’ relations with the Nazis―with sensitivity and insight.” – Adam LeBor, The Times
Darkness Becomes Bright: On the Brief Life and Immortal Art of Edgar Allen Poe by Emily Ogden
nonfiction / biography / history / literature.
Since Edgar Allan Poe’s mysterious death in 1849, his stories and poems have captivated millions of readers around the world. Nearly two centuries later, why do we continue to descend into the darkness of his imagination—and of the genres, from horror to crime, that he pioneered?
In this spellbinding and singular book, Guggenheim Fellow and Whiting grant recipient Emily Ogden plumbs the darkness within Poe and enters it alongside him. She interweaves stories from his mysterious and tragic life—from his strange disappearances and tortured romances to his nearly fatal use of opium—with those of his most famous readers and translators, including poet Charles Baudelaire, writer Julio Cortázar, and psychoanalyst Marie Bonaparte, a descendant of Napoleon and a patient of Sigmund Freud.
Tracing their passionate attachments to Poe—and Ogden’s own, unexpectedly sparked when she taught an introductory Poe course at the University of Virginia, where Poe himself was once a student—Darkness Becomes Bright makes a different case for literature from the one we most often hear. This exquisite volume shows how Poe’s vision echoes across the generations, allowing us to make peace with our own flawed humanity.
“An inventive melding of biography, personal essay, and literary history.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Emily Ogden’s powerful, transgressive biography of Edgar Allan Poe celebrates the author’s ability to uncover the murky, infrequently acknowledged darkness within us—and invite it to the table.” – BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“…Ogden argues for the utility of horror in coming to terms with life’s uncertainties and for Poe’s literary immortality… consistently insightful…” – Sara Shreve, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Dodge City by Patrick deWitt
fiction / historical fiction / comedy.
It’s 1967 in Los Angeles and Lee Clarke has received his draft notice, calling him up to fight in the Vietnam War. A straitlaced, apolitical twenty-three-year-old from Concrete, Washington, Lee is studying at UCLA until a fistfight leads to his expulsion—and his removal from the deferment list. The draft notice forces him to make the first political decision of his life, and though he’s happy in California and loves his girlfriend, he will leave the country and head for the border.
He signs up at a drive-away car-delivery service, chancing into a showroom-new Jaguar bound for the East Coast. Bringing only a single suitcase and a bag of amphetamines, he makes his stimulated progress against the width of the country, pining for the life he’s left behind and wondering what his decision will mean for his future.
But he is not just saying goodbye to the country of his birth. In four different towns strung out along the northern United States, Lee visits each member of his immediate family: his father, a World War II veteran in a state of degradation; his mother, engaged in a buoyantly manic and never-ending performance with her shut-in sibling; his heartbroken, misanthropic brother, Harry; and finally his twin sister, Grace, a brash, young nurse-in-training mired in romantic drama at a Manhattan psychiatric hospital.
An arresting portrait of a country in flux and a family in disarray, Dodge City represents a signal achievement in an already illustrious body of work by the “twenty-first-century Mark Twain” (Slate). Witty, moving, and delightfully off-kilter, Patrick deWitt’s sixth novel is a brilliant and raucous exploration of family, country, division, and war, from an elegant humorist who never shies from the stranger aspects of human behavior.
“…decadent and daring…” – Sophia June, Marie Claire
“…absolute brilliance… DeWitt has the lightest touch, and every line is a joy. Pure pleasure.” – Anthony Cummins, The Daily Mail
“[A] keenly observed and wryly humorous road novel… This elegiac tale is good company for dark days.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
The Dying Light by Ann Cleeves
fiction / mystery / suspense.
A scorching heatwave marks the start of the summer in Devon. Detective Matthew Venn is called in to investigate a puzzling death, when the body of a young woman, Lottie, is found in the swimming pool of a luxurious holiday home. The girl’s best friend, Hannah, whose family owns the house, is missing. The girls had arrived a few days earlier to celebrate the end of their school exams, quickly stirring unrest in the small community with incendiary social media videos mocking the place as parochial.
When further tragedy strikes, Venn and his team begin questioning a community filled with secrets. The fact that Hannah’s father, Paul Armstrong, is a rising political star with powerful enemies draws intense media scrutiny to the case.
With the summer heat come holidaymakers, and it emerges that some of them may have stronger connections with the Armstrong family than first thought. Venn knows all too well that the real answers lie not in what people say, but in the silences that they keep.
Taut, atmospheric, and brimming with suspense, this searing new novel finds DI Matthew Venn caught between a powerful family’s secrets and a powder keg of local tensions.
“A sophisticated, fast-moving novel that many readers will relish.” – Brian Kenney, firstCLUE
“A surprising denouement and profoundly interesting characters add up to a superior read.” – Kirkus Reviews
“As always, Cleeves is strong on atmosphere, and she crafts well-rounded characters whose overlapping secrets form an engrossing puzzle—developments in the personal lives of Venn’s investigators land with the same sense of occasion as bombshells about the victims’ lives. By the time Cleeves has narrowed her large list of suspects to a guilty few, readers will be eager to see where Venn goes next.” – Publishers Weekly
Escape Me by Tahereh Mafi
fiction / young adult / fantasy / romance.
James Anderson needs a new plan. He’s ready to make real moves to destroy the looming threats against their world, but no one is taking him seriously. James is tired of being underestimated by his own family. He wants five uninterrupted minutes alone with Rosabelle. He wants to kill Sebastian.
And he’s done waiting for permission.
Rosabelle Wolff needs to stick to the plan. Which means she needs to stay away from James and the dangerous feelings he brings out in her. When she’s near him she loses control, and she’ll need absolute control if she has any hope of convincing Sebastian—and through him, Klaus—that she’s still carrying out the original plan to destroy the rebel regime.
In the meantime, Warner needs to stay out of her business.
Aaron Warner Anderson is trying not to kill Rosabelle. They might be reluctant allies, but that doesn’t mean they get along. Every day is a new kind of hell for Warner. He’s worried about his wife; he’s worried about his world. He can’t decide what to do about James until he understands Rosabelle’s true motives—and when he’s finally delivered the answers he needs, the stakes prove astronomical. All roads lead to heartbreak and destruction, no matter what choice he makes.
Gut-wrenching discoveries, blistering romance, non-stop explosive action, and a world determined to control their thoughts and actions:
When the eyes of the world are upon you, who do you hope is watching?
“Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me series continues to absolutely mesmerize us and it has no plans on slowing down thanks to its incredible series two.” – Tamara Fuentes, Cosmopolitan
Fictional Selves: A Memoir by Kyle MacLachlan
nonfiction / memoir / film / television.
Everywhere I go I am followed by a mystery man. He looks like me but—not quite. On talk shows, I sip coffee on couches and pretend to be him; on social media, I put on his mask to engage in suburban silliness. And of course, we work together. But for him, the movies and TV shows never end. Where does this guy—this Kyle MacLachlan—end and where do I begin? And is he even real? And, holy mackerel… am I?
To be in the black suit, or not to be? Kyle MacLachlan’s funny, moving, and playfully self-aware memoir charts a career that could belong to no other. Plucked from obscurity to star in David Lynch’s Dune, the Hollywood blockbuster that never was, MacLachlan rebounded with a startling performance in Lynch’s provocative masterpiece Blue Velvet, which would mark him as a master of the unusual and ultimately lead to his career-defining role as Agent Dale Cooper on the TV sensation Twin Peaks.
Fictional Selves is a book of doppelgangers, with MacLachlan mirrored by his own prodding ego (“Other Kyle”), the iconic characters he inhabited, and the ones that eluded his grasp but gave him a profound and surprising lens onto himself as a person and a performer. Taking us from the heights of critical success for Blue Velvet to the depths of the backyard pool in his infamous (and delightful) Showgirls love scene, MacLachlan brings us into the mind of one of the most distinctive actors of his generation, offering profound insights on collaborators like David Lynch, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper, Anthony Hopkins, and more. Featuring lessons learned the hard way about ambition, love, and fatherhood, this memoir is an honest look into the remarkable—and often unpredictable—life of an enduring and endearing Hollywood icon.
“An entertaining and enlightening look at the sausage-making side of the film biz.” – Kirkus Reviews
“One of the book’s many pleasures is its portrayal of [director David] Lynch, who speaks in a relaxed all-capitals drawl and made on his sets an atmosphere of trust and creativity… There’s much more in Fictional Selves, and Sex and the City fans will particularly enjoy reading his stories of playing Trey MacDougal… But the real treasure in this book is getting inside the head of a thoughtful working actor, learning the craft alongside him as he analyzes his many roles.” – Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times
“…Fictional Selves charts MacLachlan’s path from young theater aficionado to the freaked-out men he’s played in everything from Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet to Sex and the City, Desperate Housewives, Portlandia, and Fallout. And it doesn’t pull punches.” – CT Jones, Rolling Stone
The French Illusion by John Grisham
fiction / suspense / mystery.
After Paul and Chelsea Tanner’s fairytale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would target them, and why?
It turns out this is not the first crime of its kind. The search for clues soon stretches across borders, with the FBI, CIA, and French Intelligence trying to work together to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Struggling to find answers, a young lawyer is recruited to be the bait in an elaborate CIA operation.
Propulsive and surprising, The French Illusion is an unmistakable Grisham thrill ride—gripping and impossible to put down.
“The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“[The] parallel storylines of Paul and Chelsea trying to escape captivity and the FBI, CIA, and French authorities working together to nail the kidnappers generate crackerjack suspense. It’s a blast.” – Publishers Weekly
“…classic Grisham without the courtroom: fast-paced and suspense-driven, with multiple storylines that eventually converge… a mesmerizing read.” – Lisa Harvey, Blue Stocking Reviews
Galinda: A Charmed Childhood by Gregory Maguire
fiction / fantasy.
Who was Glinda the Good Witch before she floated down in her bubble to greet Dorothy? Who was Glinda before she became Elphaba Thropp’s magnetic and popular roommate at Shiz University?
Well, before then, she was Galinda. With a “ga.”
The youngest of four children in a high-born family down on their luck, Galinda is both pampered and ignored. Her natural grace promises to elevate her in the district dance competitions—but these efforts distract her from seeing the growing resentments of local merchants who disapprove of her family’s business strategies. Enmired in the self-satisfactions and unnamed timidities of childhood, Galinda finds in herself neither canniness nor the need to cultivate it. However, as her father deftly pivots around the snares and nets laid for him by his competitors, Galinda begins to dance toward a life that might lift her above her proud, if hardscrabble, childhood.
Galinda reveals the girl behind the bubbly, shallow cliché—offering fans of Wicked their first richer glimpse into the life of a beloved and iconic character.
“Maguire’s best Wicked book yet.” – Luna Gauthier, Movies We Texted About
“…fans of the Wicked Years series will enjoy this insight into an iconic character, as will new fans of the Wicked films.” – Leah von Essen, Booklist
Hawking: His Life and Work by Graham Farmelo
nonfiction / biography / science / history.
“When one is faced with the possibility of early death, it makes one realise that life is worth living.” – Stephen Hawking
An insatiable curiosity and appreciation for life powered Stephen Hawking to the furthest reaches of the universe and human achievement: during his remarkable lifetime he shed light on many of the mysteries of black holes and made key contributions to our understanding of the beginnings of the universe, all while captivating the world and selling more than twenty-five million copies of A Brief History of Time.
A brilliant theoretical physicist, Hawking lived one of the most extraordinary lives of the past century. And yet none of this should have been possible. Diagnosed with ALS at age twenty-one, he was given only a few years to live—and spent the next fifty-five showing what can be achieved despite near-hopeless odds.
Drawing on his parents’ previously unseen letters and diaries, and exclusive interviews with Stephen’s family, friends, and closest colleagues, Costa Award-winning biographer and physicist Graham Farmelo reveals the complex man behind the theories and global celebrity—and the resilience, fortitude and support that enabled him to defy his life-limiting diagnosis.
Vividly told and rigorously researched, Hawking is the definitive portrait of an exceptional man and an extraordinary intellect.
“…meticulously researched and highly readable… It tells the fascinating story of how Hawking surmounted his physical limits to make groundbreaking contributions to science and then popularize them… Farmelo’s candid, calm and objective tone is a welcome antidote to the hysteria that characterized much of the reporting about Hawking during his lifetime.” – Neil Turok, Nature
“[A] comprehensive and accessible portrait of a brilliant scientist and an extraordinarily determined man who also possessed deep personal flaws to which the scientific community and the public mostly turned a blind eye.” – Philip Ball, The Guardian
Holding Lightning: The Life, Loves, and Art of Whitney Houston by Emily Lordi
nonfiction / biography / music.
We remember Whitney Houston for her soaring voice on songs that defined a generation and kicked open the door to Black women in pop music. Her trademark stance was a picture of elegance and power: head thrown back, arms flung straight out. Then there was her sound. One producer recalled Whitney’s otherworldly ability to hold notes, comparing it to “holding lightning in your hand, holding lightning in your throat.” She tried to hold the lightning as she bathed us all in the glow.
But since her death in 2012, the woman known as “The Voice” has been reduced to just that. Whitney’s critics have slotted her memory into a tired genre of famous doomed women whose success owed more to their labels and their producers than to any agency of their own. Yet a closer look reveals a serious artist and woman of conviction striving to be who she was. She said it best: “There would be no ‘Whitney Houston’ without Whitney Houston.”
In Holding Lightning, leading cultural critic and professor Emily Lordi has gained unique access to Houston’s innermost circle to show us the Whitney we’ve been unwilling to see—her fluid sexuality, her unapologetic love of her own talent, her insistence that she be the architect of her own career. And, crucially, Lordi positions Houston’s pivotal life in the long history of Black celebrity. Before “rooting for everybody Black” became the norm, Whitney worked as a relentless advocate for Black female talent across the entertainment industry.
Now, finally, in Holding Lightning, we have the essential, up-close portrait of the icon we thought we knew.
“A top-notch biography of a generational talent.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…excellent… a humanizing and wonderfully nuanced reexamination of a misunderstood musical icon.” – Publishers Weekly
“…Lordi dispels the reduction of Houston’s exceptional life to the notion that it was all tragedy and that her talent was all one-note. ‘To define Whitney’s legacy in strictly musical terms is to miss her reach across the culture as well as the subtle, expansive ways her spirit continues to act in the world.’ A vivid biography of a luminous talent.” – Allison Escoto, Booklist
The House of Gardenias by Isabel Cañas
fiction / young adult / horror / historical fiction.
Growing up in a city wracked by political violence and a home where she’s more likely to receive a beating than a meal, Minerva Treviño’s cowardice has kept her alive for sixteen years. But even she has a limit. Hungry and desperate, she musters enough courage to run away and take a job as lady’s maid to a wealthy widow who supports the deposed viceroy.
Minerva is happy serving Encarnación del Valle. She has food in her belly and the safety of a warm house lit by magical chispa. Why should she care who runs the country or how her employer affords the magic?
When the viceroy sweeps back into power, Minerva retreats with her gleeful employer to the family’s mountainside stronghold to wait out the inevitable rebel slaughter. At la Casa de las Gardenias, Minerva faces new threats in the haughty servants and cruel, scheming del Valles.
But the living residents of the house are the least of her worries. As Minerva quickly discovers, the ancient estate is home to forces far older and more bloodthirsty than anything she could have imagined.
“A gripping historical horror novel sure to please both teens and adults. Highly recommended.” – Pearl Derlaga, School Library Journal
“A brilliant novel with characters that linger long after the screams fade.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…immersive and mesmerizing… Elegant depictions of a nation’s struggle for democracy and chilling portrayals of class inequality result in a page-turning novel that exhilarates from start to finish.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
How Bright the Path Grows: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the March on Washington by Marcia Chatelain
nonfiction / history / biography.
There is no shortage of footage immortalizing the men who spoke at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, when 250,000 Americans gathered beneath the Lincoln Memorial to call for an end to segregation. There were reverends and rabbis, activists and Rat-Pack icons—and of course the day’s headliner, whose prophetic dream of a post-Jim Crow world has forever defined the Civil Rights Movement. But there is no “class photo” of the Black women who helped organize the march, performed on its main stage, or were honored during its “Tribute to Negro Women Fighters for Freedom.”
In How Bright the Path Grows, Marcia Chatelain weaves a gleaming group portrait of these singular women. Among this cohort were several household names: vaudeville icon Josephine Baker; civil rights activist Rosa Parks gospel legend Mahalia Jackson, and Daisy Bates, champion of the Little Rock Nine. But many were relative unknowns, including Eva Jessye, the choir director who designed the day’s musical program, and Anna Hedgeman, the coordinator who pushed in the eleventh hour for a tribute to Black women’s work.
How Bright the Path Grows is a scintillating group biography, rendering the lives of thirteen Black women visionaries—some famous, others soon to be—in novelistic detail and like never seen before.
“A potent, emboldening expansion of what it looks like to fight for justice.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Chatelain shares these women’s stories and their important contributions to the history of civil rights social activism, granting well-deserved credit and offering inspiration for future generations.” – Kathleen McBroom, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Chatelain’s narration has a riveting, cinematic quality: when these tenacious fighters’ stories culminate on the day of the march, it’s anticlimactic, as so little is made of their sacrifices—but a triumphant epilogue explains all that each later went on to achieve. Readers will be utterly engrossed.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Kneel Before Me by Lindsay Straube
fiction / fantasy / romance.
Daphne never meant to want him―
the monster who could destroy her…
and the only one who never would.
Now they’re both caught between
Their duties and their love.
Daphne Verus never planned to compete for the prince.
Now she’s expected to trade the safety of her village for the caves beneath the mountain and be trained by Kronos Seneca―a basilisk who could overpower her, bite her, turn her to stone… but who also sees her better than anyone ever has and wants her despite himself.
The only rule between them is the one she sets: no sex.
She’s spent her whole life giving herself to men who didn’t deserve it. Kronos is a monster by nature. But he honors her word when no one else ever has, and that is the most dangerous thing about him.
Because if Daphne lets herself feel, she might discover she’s capable of love after all.
And if Kronos claims her, he risks destroying everything―including his own chance at the crown.
“A super spicy tale that is not for the faint of heart.” – Carissa Mosness, Woman’s World
London Station by David McCloskey
fiction / suspense / mystery.
A new US administration has taken office, installing a brash and unconventional CIA director skeptical of old alliances and determined to disrupt the Agency. When the axe falls on the chief of London Station, the agency veteran decides to spy for the Brits―a betrayal uncovered by his replacement, Artemis Aphrodite Procter. Caught between a turncoat spymaster and a ruthless new boss back at Langley, Procter must now navigate a tense environment as old friends become adversaries and no one knows whom to trust.
Adding to the chaos is a new breed of private intelligence agency: a secretive and powerful company run by a reclusive billionaire with a very different agenda than the two old allies who are suddenly at each other’s throats.
When assets begin dying, Procter and her team in London Station must find out who is leaking the sources’ identities―and why―before both agencies go blind. Soon they will have to decide whether loyalty to the Mission means disobeying the Agency they serve. Immersing readers in the technological revolution upending intelligence tradecraft, London Station explores the changing nature of the spy business and what happens when politics threaten to destroy the special relationship between America and Britain.
“It’s time to stop quibbling and say out loud that David McCloskey is the best spy thriller writer working today… McCloskey’s plot is built like a Swiss watch and just when you think he can’t throw another ball in the air, he does and he keeps them all ticking and overlapping for 400 excellent pages.” – Tim Shipman, Spybrary
“Fully immersive and brimming with insider knowledge, London Station is the leader in the clubhouse for this year’s most authentic espionage thriller. David McCloskey has crafted a propulsive, thought-provoking novel, using his firsthand experience to infuse every page with a level of realism few authors can match.” – Steven Netter, The Best Thriller Books
“For years, I have called McCloskey the most exciting spy novelist to emerge since Daniel Silva. Five books into his career, the evidence has become impossible to ignore: along with Silva, David McCloskey is America’s John le Carré… And London Station is his best novel yet.” – Ryan Steck, The Real Book Spy
No Land to Stand On: Notes from Detention by Mahmoud Khalil
nonfiction / memoir / politics / history / current events.
“Are you Mahmoud Khalil?” The question marked the start of a politically charged odyssey that took the Palestinian graduate student and legal resident from his pregnant wife and home in New York City, transported him across the country, and locked him up in a Louisiana detention camp under threat of deportation. His “crime”: exercising his right to free speech at Columbia University, where he emerged as a leading voice against the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. No Land to Stand On is his indelible account, the story of a man confronting the reality that he had become target number one for a lawless regime shredding basic rights.
Drawing on his prison diary and writing in vivid, page-turning detail, Mahmoud Khalil conjures the despair and cruelty of ICE detention, where prisoners can vanish overnight and visiting families risk their own deportation. There is humanity, too, in the men’s acts of care―their mutual help with documents, the prison cake they make after Mahmoud can only follow the birth of his son on the public payphone. In tandem, he tells the multi-generational story of a family expelled from Palestine to a Syrian refugee camp, of flight from Assad’s regime to Lebanon, of arrival in an America that promised permanence and protection, and of the enduring struggle for Palestine.
A work of courage and resistance, No Land to Stand On is a call to integrity, to staying true to one’s life’s mission, and to defending the inalienable right to safety, freedom, and a land to stand on.
“A poignant political read… this memoir unflinchingly shows the cruelty of ICE detention…” – Chelsey Sanchez, Harper’s Bazaar
“Khalil chronicles his forced journey from protest to prison in clear and unambiguous terms… While he exposes the deprivations he and his fellow detainees experienced, he nevertheless maintains a sincere reverence for the ideals of the U.S., and navigates the fragile balance between hope and despair while affirming his innocence and unwavering commitment to fight for justice. It is a sad fact that there will be many more stories to be written by ICE victims; Khalil sets the gold standard with grace and humility.” – Carol Haggas, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“In his plainspoken memoir, No Land to Stand On, Khalil seeks to reestablish sovereignty over his own life story, at least, and re-center the underlying reason he ended up in this position… This is as much a tale about the other detainees as it is about Khalil… [his] story is one of personally discovering the Kafkaesque nature of the U.S. immigration system… This is not a story of stoic heroism but of constant estimation (and sometimes underestimation) of risk and the decision to accept it as the price of doing the right thing in a world of despots and cowards. It’s marked by fear, second-guessing, and frustration, all with no guarantee that things will actually get better. Khalil does not want to be shot at, or sought by the secret police, or detained in some for-profit gulag. He wants to live a normal life in his home with his wife and son, something that the world around him has decided is impossible, and so he struggles on.” – Felipe De La Hoz, The New Republic
Ply by Hernan Diaz ★
fiction / science fiction / fantasy.
Centuries from now, at the dawn of a historical epoch filled with both uncertainty and promise, an orphan is adrift in a city on the brink of a great transformation. The state has been dismantled, and humans are reinventing social bonds and learning new ways to coexist with nature. Following a childhood defined by loss, survival, and found family, the orphan grows up to become a “pincher,” someone who steals electricity from the grid to sell it on the black market. It’s a high-risk life, one that brings her into a rich art and music scene where she powers underground concerts. It also leads her to a colossal scientific invention that could change the very fabric of reality.
After rewriting America’s past with his two previous novels, Hernan Diaz defies expectations with his third and gives us a breathtaking glimpse into the future. A major achievement from a major contemporary writer, Ply questions the place of technology in the American experiment with a plot that grabs both heart and mind. It is a novel of ideas built from a story of people. Combining Dickensian odyssey, family drama, and scientific thriller, Ply poignantly charts the tenuous boundaries of selfhood and the distance that inevitably stands between us and those we love.
“A brainy, challenging, and engrossing trek into a battered but unbeaten future.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Diaz brilliantly envisions how love, trust, and loyalty can remain when freedom and justice have collapsed and makes every page exhilarating and meaningful.” – Barbara Conaty, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Diaz is juggling an ambitious plot and thorny philosophical questions, yet the novel remains compulsively readable, carried along by intricate worldbuilding and strangely gorgeous evocations of ruin…. by the novel’s end you will believe, like our heroine, ‘that the cracks and fissures in every building and street [are] the sign of something wonderful hatching.’” – Oprah Daily
“Ply is a big, ambitious novel. Some elements will appeal to avid science fiction readers and others to those who prefer fiction that illuminates character and human interaction. It’s a radical departure in subject matter and style from Trust but unquestionably the product of a fertile imaginative intelligence.” – Harvey Freedenberg, Shelf Awareness
The Radiance by Ayad Akhtar ★
fiction.
When a hit-and-run shatters more than his body, a writer is plunged into a spiritual awakening he can’t tell from madness. In its grip, he’s drawn to a brilliant campus colleague by an uncanny pull, and into a scandal that threatens to destroy them both. What begins as a provocative portrait of academic and cultural warfare deepens into erotic entanglement, the exposure of a family secret, and the mystery surrounding the narrator’s accident—both the violence and its aftermath.
Moving between rural America and Europe, Islam and Christianity, the intimate and the metaphysical, The Radiance is of our American moment and beyond it—asking not only what has broken, but what radiance remains.
“[A] powerful campus novel for the post-pandemic years that asks big questions, as pressing now as they ever were, about the connections between pleasure, knowledge, spirituality, and the body.” – Brendan Driscoll, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[An] engrossing combo of campus novel and whodunit that thoughtfully parses contemporary society by exploring the evolution — and devolution — of our politics, education systems, and cultural literacy.” – Cory Oldweiler, Boston Globe
“[An] intense and transcendent philosophical novel about the limits of words… This is profound.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“This is a writer in love with ideas… and The Radiance is full to bursting with them… this book serves readers a dissertation’s worth of food for thought, but ultimately its power derives from that seemingly tossed-off notion of knowledge as pleasure: Akhtar has written a stunning novel of ideas that is simultaneously a pure delight to read.” – Lorraine Glennon, Columbia Magazine
The Siren by Tomi Adeyemi
fiction / young adult / fantasy / suspense.
Nothing is more intoxicating than power…
When Emery steps foot onto Dartmouth’s campus, she knows what she has to do: keep her scholarship, take her meds, and pray no one ever finds out about the past she left behind.
But that all changes when Emery meets an intoxicating girl named Roux, her disarming stepbrother named Eli, and the mystical band of girls Roux calls “The Sirens.” Each Siren is as beautiful as the last, and their lives on campus are shrouded in extravagance and secret parties. Before the girls became Sirens, they were outcasts, yet under Roux, their wildest dreams come true. When Roux offers Emery the chance to join them, Emery will do whatever it takes to make it in.
Even if it costs Emery her life.
“A forceful, strikingly poetic narrative that looks trauma, grief, and death in the face without flinching.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“While this begins as a take on dark academia with overtones of cultlike tropes, Adeyemi takes readers to a much more sinister and interesting place, with a twist that will leave readers reeling.” – Tara Peace, School Library Journal
“The Siren understands something unsettling about what gets called ‘coming undone’ [and] enters the haunted territory where beauty, ambition, grief, mental illness and power converge.” – Magrira, Los Angeles Sentinel
Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latiné Horror edited by Cynthia Pelayo
fiction / short stories / horror / suspense.
Something followed us home. It crawled in with our prayers, slipped into our beds, watched from mirrors, waited in water, and learned our names.
Gathering chilling work from some of today’s most acclaimed Latiné voices, this horror anthology moves through haunted households, brutal landscapes, sacred spaces turned dangerous, and bodies claimed by forces both ancient and intimate. The dead murmur behind locked doors. Bones rebuild themselves under merciless suns. Love becomes a doorway for demonic hunger. Blood, devotion, and memory intertwine as the past presses back with teeth.
Something Followed Us Home is an unnerving, visceral, and impossible-to-shake collection that proves that what is carried forward does not remain quiet, and what follows us rarely leaves without taking something in return.
Featuring stories by: Agustina Bazterrica, Isabel Cañas, Gerardo Sámano Córdova, Zoraida Córdova, Ann Dávila Cardinal, Mariana Enriquez, Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro, Xochitl Gonzalez, Leopoldo Goût, Ananda Lima, Juan Martinez, Mónica Ojeda, Daniel José Older, Cynthia Pelayo, Lilliam Rivera, Diana Rodriguez Wallach, Alex Segura
“Start your Halloween story early with this fantastic anthology of Latiné horror… with each story delivering a viscerally unsettling reading experience.” – Michael Welch, Chicago Review of Books
“The tales here might stem from an inherited legacy of the horrors of colonialism, narco-violence, immigration, dictatorships, and gender violence, but the universal fear they describe reverberates loudly, screams into readers’ ears, ringing with their unsettling truth, lingering and forcing readers to reckon with what they have just experienced, long after the final page is turned.” – Becky Spratford, Booklist
“These aren’t just spooky tales, these are the dreams and nightmares of an entire culture, and this is the best place to start in exposing yourself to rich history, myth… and terror. Every single entry in this collection delivers…” – Kevin Lucia, Horror DNA
Sophie, Standing There by Meg Mason
fiction.
Sophie Pattison loves books. And as well as a dream job at a local book festival, she has a husband she adores, a lifelong best friend, Emma, and a brother she’s always been close to. Which makes you wonder why since Christmas Sophie has been living alone, estranged from Emma, avoiding her brother, and about to be fired.
Now it feels like the only thing she has left is reading. When Sophie re-discovers an author she first read in her twenties, the words on the page reach her in a new way—becoming both solace and company. Sophie devours every one of the author’s novels and begins to dream of meeting her, but knows they never will. But what if she did? What if, by then, the author feels like a friend? What if, for Sophie, it feels almost like love?
In this much anticipated novel, Meg Mason captures the heartache and dark humor of our relationships in all their complexity, with a story about the power of connection and an ode to the inexplicable nature of the human heart.
“…smart and heartwarming… a moving tale of a book lover’s search for her own happy ending.” – Publishers Weekly
“…perfect for Sally Rooney and Naoise Dolan fans who revel in moments of sorrow and bliss.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Deeply witty and hard to put down, Sophie, Standing There is a piercing, achingly human novel about the enormous courage required to step out of the wings and into your own life.” – Stephanie Turza, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
The Steps: A Memoir by Sylvester Stallone ★
nonfiction / memoir / film.
In the fifty years since Sylvester Stallone ran up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, he and those steps have become symbols of resilience and determination, and have inspired millions from all over the world to pursue their dreams. In The Steps, Stallone recounts how he pursued his own dreams. A culmination of decades of reflection, Stallone shares where he came from—a difficult birth, an even more difficult childhood, years of struggle in school being misunderstood—and he explains how the real story of a successful life is built by facing, embracing, and ultimately overcoming our challenges. It’s found in the distances we are willing to go and the steps we must take to get from where we are to where we want to go.
In a narrative framed between his arrival in New York City in 1969 and the triumph of Rocky at the 1977 Academy Awards, Stallone weaves a vivid and propulsive portrait of struggle, subsistence, and ultimately success. He writes of his early days and later years, too, and the persistence, creativity, and resilience that led not only to the creation of Rocky but to a career filled with remarkably iconic roles. The Steps is a testament to Stallone’s extraordinary life and a profound meditation on the importance of vision and willpower and hard work.
“A lively memoir in which long-cherished dreams are the real star.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“A heartfelt, revealing, and inspiring memoir with behind-the-scenes anecdotes that Rocky fans will enjoy.” – Rosellen Brewer, Library Journal
“…breezy and insightful… a sobering reminder of just how far Stallone had to go to make it. It’s also a primer on perseverance and tenacity, both of which the movie icon needed in abundance to find his way.” – Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times
Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros
fiction / short stories / fantasy / romance.
Welcome to Threshing Day, the brutal, high-stakes trial where would-be riders at Basgiath War College fight to earn the bond of a dragon or die trying. Amid ruthless competition and dragon fire, these thirteen cadets must survive a battlefield where desperate rivals will do anything to gain an advantage and dragons decide one’s ultimate fate—and where a single choice can forge a rider… or destroy them.
Xaden Riorson, the powerful leader. Rhiannon Matthias, the clever friend. Dain Aetos, the dutiful rule-follower. Liam Mairi, the kindhearted protector. Ridoc Gamlyn, the jokester. Sawyer Henrick, the underdog. Garrick Tavis, the dependable aide. Imogen Cardulo, the impulsive fighter. Bodhi Durran, the second-in-command. Mira Sorrengail, the fearless rider. Brennan Sorrengail, the brilliant tactician. Aaric Graycastle, the restless royal. Sloane Mairi, the determined sister.
On Threshing Day, there’s only one rule: don’t die.
“…exhilarating… filled with intense battles with venin, fierce dragons, unique magic, and delicate love stories.” – On the Same Page
“[The] perfect blend of humour, action and steaminess to get anyone out of a reading rut.” – Daisy Lester, The Standard
Trad Wife by Sarah Langan
fiction / horror / suspense / mystery.
Every day, millions watch Mia Wright, the “trad wife” queen, on her idyllic three-hundred-acre farm. With her handsome husband, seven well-behaved children, and a life of from-scratch meals and pastoral bliss, she’s an icon of modern femininity. But behind every perfect image is a secret. And in this case, the secret is a horror.
Desperate to save her tarnished career, journalist Jenny Kaplan arrives at Black Swan Farm to profile Mia. Jenny is ready to write a scathing exposé, determined to expose the deception behind Mia’s curated life. But soon, Jenny has more to contend with than staged videos and camera-ready poses. There’s something wrong at the farmhouse. Something slithers through Jenny’s dreams, and at night, the children sing strange nursery rhymes.
She’s losing time. She’s losing her hair. She starts to worry that she’s losing her mind.
There is a horror at the heart of Black Swan, and it’s waiting just for Jenny. Trad Wife will make you question what’s real and what’s just a perfectly curated deception…
Will you see the lie?
“Langan’s modern-day gothic narrative seethes with taut menace and scathing critiques of social media subterfuge and the pressure on women to meet a moving-target definition of perfection… A subtle callback to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s classic short horror story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ cements the feminist lineage of this smart, chilling look at a polarizing trend.” – Jaclyn Fulwood, Shelf Awareness
“…as addictive as a social media rabbit hole… an eerie, nuanced look at trad wives’ lives, [readers] will be entranced by the empathetic writing of Mia’s complex character.” – Sara Shahein, Booklist
“[A] slick, eerie horror outing… Langan’s deep empathy for both Jenny and Mia adds impressive nuance to thorny questions about gender, autonomy, oppression, and complicity on the way to a devastating ending. It’s a memorable entry in the recent slew of horror novels and thrillers sending up the trad wife phenomenon.” – Publishers Weekly
Traumatized: The New Politics of Public Suffering by Catherine Liu
nonfiction / politics / philosophy / sociology / psychology.
What happens when an idea born of genuine suffering is weaponized as a tool of social control? Traumatized is the story of how shell shock became PTSD, how Oprah turned pain into profit, and how “authenticity” became the ultimate brand. It is a history of surveillance capitalism’s greatest coup: convincing us that wounds define us and that accommodating each other’s trauma is more important than challenging the powerful.
Catherine Liu delivers an unflinching diagnosis of our current crisis, rooted as it is in the collapse of liberal politics, the ascendance of performance fragility, and the rise of emotional display as a surrogate for political action. Sharp, provocative, and urgently necessary, Traumatized argues that we must reject a politics of permanent victimhood since it destroys solidarity and leaves us defenseless against the systems that cause real harm.
“The book I’ve been yearning for someone to write for more than a decade… you need a cultural theorist of Liu’s standing to go this deep into victim culture… will have you gasping with recognition.” – Celia Walden, The Telegraph
“[A] stimulating critique… a thought-provoking call to reconsider how trauma is publicly discussed.” – Publishers Weekly
“A toxic admixture of 1960s rebellion and 1980s entrepreneurialism, trauma culture is, for Liu, a perniciously pseudo-political, anti-intellectual, anti-scientific and ahistorical American export… Traumatized, its title dripping with sarcasm, sets out to portray those whose suffering has been made public without a hint of sentimentality… Where others might let the revelation of atrocity absolve a victim of further political responsibility, Liu presses them to speak in an objective and historically informed way, particularly when they have the public’s ear.” – Jenny Wu, ArtReview
The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw ★
fiction / comedy.
From the moment Scharisse Freeman ditched her humble roots and married a megachurch pastor fifteen years her senior, she’s been labeled too brash and too “of the world” by church folks who grudgingly accepted her into their fold, and too holy by her estranged childhood bestie Petra. Schar doesn’t have many allies, but that hasn’t stopped her from building an enviable business empire spanning books to clothing to branded products, and living the comfortable life her husband’s power affords her.
On the eve of her 40th birthday, Schar gets the final bit of validation she’s always dreamt of: a coveted invitation to participate in the First Lady USA pageant. This is her chance to be accepted by the other pastors’ wives—First Ladies—who are “like Jesus’ disciples if they had been a group of mean girls.” Finally, blissfully, the ice between Schar and the other First Ladies begins to thaw.
But as the pageant nears, a sensational scandal breaks with Schar at its center, and her carefully curated life implodes. Schar faces down shame and terrible secrets from her childhood and is reminded that in the eyes of the church, optics can matter more than the truth.
Unflinchingly funny, frank, and splendidly unruly, The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman exults in the luscious, messy pleasure of finally feeling free.
“[A] cheeky, hilarious and endearing romp that cements Philyaw as one of our most exciting contemporary authors.” – Karla J. Strand, Ms.
“[A] gleefully over-the-top satire about an invented pageant for the wives of megachurch pastors… Fierce, fabulous, and very funny.” – Oprah Daily
“Misogyny, classism, colorism, hypocrisy: begone! A fierce, fabulous, and very funny truth-teller cometh to take you down.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Freeman proves Philyaw is one of the best living writers. Her stories already let the world know that, but I’m happy to say her novel is somehow better than her collection. She is a master of creating the most memorable characters that leap from the page.” – Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful
Trust Fall by Lynn Painter ★
fiction / young adult / romance / comedy.
Julia is just a small-town girl from Nebraska who loves her peaceful life. But when her elderly next-door neighbor—who just happens to be a secret multi-millionaire—leaves everything to Julia and her family after his passing, Julia is swept away to live in a historic brownstone in New York City and attend an elite private school for the super-rich.
It should be a dream come true. Wrong. Julia doesn’t fit in at her new school; worse, she’s failing. Enter Damion, the mysterious and handsome tutor who will get Julia back on track. Except Damion has a secret. He is the great-nephew of the man who left everything to Julia’s family. Damion doesn’t buy for a second that the person who was like a father to him would leave his home to strangers. And he’s determined to prove it.
To uncover the truth, Damion schemes to earn Julia’s trust. Not an easy task with Julia unsure about this rich boy with a rebellious personality. But the more time Damion spends with Julia, the more his plan begins to backfire. Because he is falling for the enemy—and the enemy is falling for him.
As Damion and Julia figure out where they belong, can they see past their differences and act on their feelings, or will the trust Damion has worked so hard to gain fall apart?
“Painter’s many devoted readers will be eagerly awaiting this newest novel, but it is perfect for any fans of enemies-to-lovers romances.” – Liz Overberg, School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“A classic rags-to-riches romantic comedy with irresistible chemistry and heart.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[Painter] absolutely delights us with her stunning rom-coms that truly make us believe in love again… There’s a big enemies-to-friends-to-possible-lovers thing going on here that is very exciting!” – Tamara Fuentes, Cosmopolitan
“Damion’s transformation from charismatic playboy to youth willing to embrace vulnerability, and Julia’s journey from wide-eyed newcomer toward confident young adult are gratifying. The characters’ witty humor and heartfelt chemistry round out this celebration of unexpected connections and the excitement of new possibilities.” – Publishers Weekly
Ungrateful Immigrant Daughter: A Memoir from the Child of a Mail-Order Bride by Katya Suvorova
nonfiction / memoir / biography.
Growing up undocumented in Houston, Texas, Katya Suvorova learned that keeping her family together meant dodging the police, enduring her mother’s many husbands, and babysitting her younger sister instead of finishing the third grade.
Her understanding of her life shifted dramatically at seventeen, when Katya discovered her mother’s advertisement in a forgotten Eastern European mail-order bride catalog from the 1990s. As she grew older, Katya came to better understand what her mother had risked when she smuggled herself and her then three-year-old daughter from Russia into the US.
When your parents sacrifice their lives so yours can be better, to whom do you owe your future?
Ungrateful Immigrant Daughter explores difficult questions and stories both shocking and hilarious across Katya’s childhood through to an adulthood estranged from the woman who sacrificed everything for her. Her sharp, dry wit engages readers in a deeply relatable take on the experience of being a child of immigrants and unraveling a landscape of family secrets and lies, sharing her unique story of being the undocumented daughter of a mail-order bride.
“…darkly funny and irreverent… The perfect read for fans of the jaw-dropping twists of 90 Day Fiancé and the emotional gut punch of I’m Glad My Mom Died.” – Elise Dumpleton, The Nerd Daily
“…poignant and witty… A unique story of survival and complicated parent-child relationships…” – Marie Claire
“Ungrateful Immigrant Daughter is a fascinating insight into what it’s like to live illegally in the US and a horrifying exposé of the abuse that ‘mail-order brides’ and their children suffer… It’s the worst of the reality series 90 Day Fiancé meets the best of Long Lost Family; you just can’t look away.” – Ceci Browning, The Times
The Vanishing Family: Love, Fate, and the Quest to End Dementia by Robert Kolker ★
nonfiction / science / medicine / health.
In the idyllic American town of Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, there lived a family with nine siblings, the youngest a girl named Barb. As the older children headed off to college and started their lives, only Barb was home to see their beautiful, still-young mother fall under a gothic spell, changing into someone she didn’t recognize: withdrawn, neglectful, uncaring. Thus begins The Vanishing Family, journalist Robert Kolker’s superb follow-up to Hidden Valley Road (“Deeply compassionate and chilling,” wrote The Washington Post). This family, we learn, has a genetic mutation that causes dementia, but with an especially cruel twist. As early as their forties, formerly loving parents and hard-driving executives will lose their jobs, have affairs, take up drinking—shed all inhibitions and sense of responsibility—and become people their families hardly know. Their former personalities seem to vanish—and there is a fifty-fifty chance that it will happen to their children, too.
The Vanishing Family unfolds like a heartbreaking thriller as the siblings begin to realize that what happened to their mother is happening to them: first one, then two, three, four, and more begin to change. Sue, in search of a calling, finds her place in caring for the others. Barb sets out to find a cure. Alongside their story, Kolker weaves in the dramatic scientific fight against dementia; after decades of blind alleys, this family’s rare form of FTD (frontotemporal dementia) might lead to a breakthrough in the prevention and treatment of all dementia—including the scourge of Alzheimer’s disease. Moving, intimate, unexpectedly hopeful and redemptive, The Vanishing Family is an enthralling narrative about one family’s fate, and a medical detective story that speaks to all of us who fear losing ourselves at the end.
“It’s devastating to read about a family that has been dealt such a difficult hand.” – Rebecca Shapiro, Columbia Magazine
“With his breathtaking chronicle of a family with a rare form of dementia, Robert Kolker claims his title as the Ann Patchett of nonfiction family dramas… Powerful, harrowing… A gold mine for readers, providing endless insights into the many ways individuals react to an ongoing health crisis, especially one as devastating as FTD… He infuses intimate, cataclysmic moments with emotional acuity, allowing readers to feel both embedded and invested in his subjects’ unimaginable challenges.” – BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“A compelling view of dementia and its devastating effect on victims and family alike.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Kolker’s trademark empathy is evident on every page as he brings readers into the decades-long battle for the undiagnosed siblings as they fight for the others, and the bewilderment and frustration of everyone as they try to understand what is happening. As he tracks their journey, Kolker draws in scientists and researchers seeking a cure and how all of them are fighting to bring FTD to prominence and thus gain critical funding. The Vanishing Family is an important, compelling, compassionate, and breathtaking journalistic achievement.” – Colleen Mondor, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson
fiction / young adult / mystery / suspense.
Stevie might be the greatest teenage detective Ellingham Academy and the world has ever seen, but even she can’t figure out what happened with her boyfriend, David. What she needs is a distraction: a good old-fashioned murder. Stevie is much happier dealing with dead people. They’re a lot less confusing—they don’t send cryptic texts and make out with other girls in British pubs.
But then Stevie gets exactly what she wanted when a dead body turns up in the middle of a Manhattan apartment complex, and this one is… complicated. Caught in a web of messy alive-people feelings, Stevie finds herself questioning all human connection. Is magnetism only manipulation? Can you trust anyone? Does anyone realize that they’re joining a cult—before it’s too late? And are things with David really over?
“Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Fans of Truly Devious and teen sleuth Stevie Bell are in for a treat… In signature Maureen Johnson fashion, The Velvet Knife is a personal emotional reckoning, featuring dark intrigue and dead body thrills.” – Stephanie Elliot, BookTrib.
“Another solid addition to a great series.” – Katie Patterson, School Library Journal
The Weight of Angels by John Boyne
fiction / historical fiction.
When the Marquess of Queensberry left his calling card at the Albemarle Club in February 1895, it bore only his name and five words: “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite.” The most celebrated playwright of his day famously sued for libel, which led to his arrest, criminal prosecution, and ultimately prison. From then on, his gilded existence spiraled into public disgrace, humiliation, and an early death.
But what if he had simply ignored the insult? What direction might his life have taken? This is the premise of John Boyne’s extraordinary new novel, The Weight of Angels. Rather than dying in penury in Paris at age forty-six, what if Wilde had lived to bear witness to the momentous events and cataclysmic changes of the first part of the twentieth century, and even influence some of them? What if the second half of his life were as dramatic, tumultuous, and exhilarating as the first?
In imagining the life that Oscar Wilde never had, John Boyne has written one of the great what-if stories of modern literature, giving the iconic Anglo-Irish poet and playwright a fresh new voice and the opportunity to take an entirely different path.
“…captivating…” – Chelsey Sanchez, Harper’s Bazaar
“A witty and melancholy act of literary resurrection.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…Boyne honors his subject with a steady string of witty barbs… a wry masterpiece deserving of a standing ovation.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
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