List

Category
Audience
Tags

How Do You Live?

Genzaburo Yoshino

The first English translation of the classic Japanese novel that has sold over 2 million copies—a childhood favorite of anime master Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle), with an introduction by Neil Gaiman.
 
First published in 1937, Genzaburō Yoshino’s How Do You Live? has long been acknowledged in Japan as a crossover classic for young readers. Academy Award–winning animator Hayao Miyazaki has called it his favorite childhood book and announced plans to emerge from retirement to make it the basis of his final film. 
 
How Do You Live? is narrated in two voices. The first belongs to Copper, fifteen, who after the death of his father must confront inevitable and enormous change, including his own betrayal of his best friend. In between episodes of Copper’s emerging story, his uncle writes to him in a journal, sharing knowledge and offering advice on life’s big questions as Copper begins to encounter them. Over the course of the story, Copper, like his namesake Copernicus, looks to the stars, and uses his discoveries about the heavens, earth, and human nature to answer the question of how he will live.
 
This first-ever English-language translation of a Japanese classic about finding one’s place in a world both infinitely large and unimaginably small is perfect for readers of philosophical fiction like The Alchemist and The Little Prince, as well as Miyazaki fans eager to understand one of his most important influences.

View Details >>

A Magic Steeped in Poison

Judy I. Lin

A #1 New York Times Bestseller!

Judy I. Lin's sweeping debut A Magic Steeped in Poison, first in a duology, is sure to enchant fans of Adrienne Young and Leigh Bardugo.


I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, "These are the hands that buried my mother."

For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.

When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.

But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

Praise for A Magic Steeped in Poison:

A USA Today Bestseller
A Publishers Weekly Bestseller
An ABA Indie Bestseller
An ABA Indies Introduce Selection
An ABA Indies Next Pick


"Beautifully written, from the setting to the magic system, A Magic Steeped in Poison is sure to enchant both fantasy lovers and cdrama aficionados. I’ll be inhaling whatever Judy I. Lin brews up next." —Joan He, New York Times-bestselling author of The Ones We're Meant to Find

"Ning’s unforgettable voice and the lush, atmospheric settings will enchant readers in this high-stakes story of deadly magic. ... Lin blends Chinese folklore with a thrilling mystery. It's the perfect recipe for a page-turner." —Booklist, starred review

View Details >>

If You Could See the Sun

Ann Liang

"Utterly unique, thought-provoking, and wonderfully written... a thrilling ride that hooked me from start to finish." --Gloria Chao, author of American Panda and Rent a Boyfriend



In this genre-bending , speculative YA debut, a Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmates' most scandalous secrets.

Alice Sun has always felt invisible at her elite Beijing international boarding school, where she's the only scholarship student among China's most rich and influential teens. But then she starts uncontrollably turning invisible--actually invisible.

When her parents drop the news that they can no longer afford her tuition, even with the scholarship, Alice hatches a plan to monetize her strange new power--she'll discover the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, for a price.

But as the tasks escalate from petty scandals to actual crimes, Alice must decide if it's worth losing her conscience--or even her life.

View Details >>

Romancing Mister Bridgerton

Julia Quinn

Penelope Featherington has secretly adored her best friend's brother for . . . well, it feels like forever. After half a lifetime of watching Colin Bridgerton from afar, she thinks she knows everything about him, until she stumbles across his deepest secret . . . and fears she doesn't know him at all.

Colin Bridgerton is tired of being thought nothing but an empty-headed charmer, tired of everyone's preoccupation with the notorious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, who can't seem to publish an edition without mentioning him in the first paragraph. But when Colin returns to London from a trop aboard he discovers notyhing in his life is quite the same—especially Penelope Featherington! The girl haunting his dreams. But when he discovers that Penelope has secrets of her own, this elusive bachelor must decide . . . is she his biggest threat—or his promise of a happy ending?

View Details >>

America the Beautiful?

Blythe Roberson

The author of How to Date Men When You Hate Men examines Americans' obsession with freedom, travel, and the open road in this funny, entertaining travelogue that blends the humorous observations of Bill Bryson with the piercing cultural commentary of Jia Tolentino.

For writer and comedian Blythe Roberson, there are only so many Mary Oliver poems you can read about being free, and only so many times you can listen to Joni Mitchell's travel album Hejira, before you too, are itching to take off. Canonical American travel writers have long celebrated the road trip as the epitome of freedom. But why does it seem like all those canonical travel narratives are written by white men who have no problems, who only decide to go the desert to see what having problems feels like?

To fill in the literary gaps and quench her own sense of adventure, Roberson quits her day job and sets off on a Great American Road Trip to visit America's national parks.

America the Beautiful? is a hilarious trip into the mind of one of the Millennial generation's funniest writers. Borrowing her Midwestern stepfather's Prius, she heads west to the Loop of mega-popular parks, over to the ocean and down the Pacific Coast Highway, and, in a feat of spectacularly bad timing, through the southwestern desert in the middle of July. Along the way she meets new friends on their own personal quests, learns to cope with abstinence while missing the comforts of home, and comes to understand the limits--and possibilities--of going to nature to prove to yourself and your Instagram followers that you are, in fact, free.

The result is a laugh-out-loud-while-occasionally-raging-inside travelogue, filled with meditations and many, many jokes on ecotourism, conservation, freedom, traffic, climate change, and the structural and financial inequalities that limit so many Americans' movement. Ultimately, Roberson ponders the question: Is quitting society and going on the road about enlightenment and liberty--or is it just selfish escapism?

View Details >>

Fly Girl

Ann Hood

An entertaining and fascinating memoir of “gifted storyteller” (People) Ann Hood’s adventurous years as a TWA flight attendant.

 

In 1978, in the tailwind of the golden age of air travel, flight attendants were the epitome of glamor and sophistication. Fresh out of college and hungry to experience the world—and maybe, one day, write about it—Ann Hood joined their ranks. After a grueling job search, Hood survived TWA’s rigorous Breech Training Academy and learned to evacuate seven kinds of aircraft, deliver a baby, mix proper cocktails, administer oxygen, and stay calm no matter what the situation.

 

In the air, Hood found both the adventure she’d dreamt of and the unexpected realities of life on the job. She carved chateaubriand in the first-class cabin and dined in front of the pyramids in Cairo, fended off passengers’ advances and found romance on layovers in London and Lisbon, and walked more than a million miles in high heels. She flew through the start of deregulation, an oil crisis, massive furloughs, and a labor strike.

As the airline industry changed around her, Hood began to write—even drafting snatches of her first novel from the jump-seat. She reveals how the job empowered her, despite its roots in sexist standards. Packed with funny, moving, and shocking stories of life as a flight attendant, Fly Girl captures the nostalgia and magic of air travel at its height, and the thrill that remains with every takeoff.

View Details >>

A First Time for Everything

Dan Santat

A middle grade graphic memoir based on bestselling author and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat's awkward middle school years and the trip to Europe that changed his life.

Dan's always been a good kid. The kind of kid who listens to his teachers, helps his mom with grocery shopping, and stays out of trouble. But being a good kid doesn't stop him from being bullied and feeling like he's invisible, which is why Dan has low expectations when his parents send him on a class trip to Europe.

At first, he's right. He's stuck with the same girls from his middle school who love to make fun of him, and he doesn't know why his teacher insisted he come on this trip. But as he travels through France, Germany, Switzerland, and England, a series of first experiences begin to change him—first Fanta, first fondue, first time stealing a bike from German punk rockers... and first love.

Funny, heartwarming, and poignant, A First Time for Everything is a feel-good coming-of-age memoir based on New York Times bestselling author and Caldecott Medal winner Dan Santat's awkward middle school years. It celebrates a time that is universally challenging for many of us, but also life-changing as well.

Praise for After the Fall

“The author gives wings to both his protagonist and his message about the importance of getting back up after a fall and the realization that recovering from a trauma takes time.” —Booklist, starred review

Santat’s precise illustrations and sensitive text combine for more emotional depth than the typical nursery rhyme remix. A terrific redemptive read-aloud for storytime and classroom sharing.” —School Library Journal, starred review

View Details >>

This Time It's Real

Ann Liang

Get ready to fall in love in this hilarious romcom about a girl who begins a fake relationship with the famous actor in her class, perfect for fans of Meg Cabot and Jenny Han.

When seventeen-year-old Eliza Lin's essay about meeting the love of her life unexpectedly goes viral, her entire life changes overnight. Now she has the approval of her classmates at her new international school in Beijing, a career-launching internship opportunity at her favorite magazine...and a massive secret to keep.

Eliza made her essay up. She's never been in a relationship before, let alone in love. All good writing is lying, right?

Desperate to hide the truth, Eliza strikes a deal with the famous actor in her class, the charming but aloof Caz Song. She'll help him write his college applications if he poses as her boyfriend. Caz is a dream boyfriend -- he passes handwritten notes to her in class, makes her little sister laugh, and takes her out on motorcycle rides to the best snack stalls around the city.

But when her relationship with Caz starts feeling a little too convincing, all of Eliza's carefully laid plans are threatened. Can she still follow her dreams if it means breaking her own heart?

 

 

 

 

View Details >>

Soul Lanterns

Shaw Kuzki

The haunting and poignant story of a how a young Japanese girl's understanding of the historic and tragic bombing of Hiroshima is transformed by a memorial lantern-floating ceremony.

Twelve-year-old Nozomi lives in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. She wasn't even born when the bombing of Hiroshima took place. Every year Nozomi joins her family at the lantern-floating ceremony to honor those lost in the bombing. People write the names of their deceased loved ones along with messages of peace, on paper lanterns and set them afloat on the river. This year Nozomi realizes that her mother always releases one lantern with no name. She begins to ask questions, and when complicated stories of loss and loneliness unfold, Nozomi and her friends come up with a creative way to share their loved ones' experiences. By opening people's eyes to the struggles they all keep hidden, the project teaches the entire community new ways to show compassion.

Soul Lanterns is an honest exploration of what happened on August 6, 1945, and offers readers a glimpse not only into the rich cultural history of Japan but also into the intimate lives of those who recognize--better than most--the urgent need for peace.

View Details >>

The Lying Life of Adults

Elena Ferrante

A NEW YORK TIMES & NATIONAL BESTSELLER

A BEST BOOK OF 2020
The Washington Post・O, The Oprah Magazine・TIME Magazine・NPR・People Magazine・The New York Times Critics・The Guardian・Electric Literature・Financial Times・Times UK・Irish Times・New York Post・Kirkus Reviews・Toronto Star・The Globe and Mail・Harper's Bazaar・Vogue UK・The Arts Desk

A POWERFUL NEW NOVEL set in a divided Naples by ELENA FERRANTE, the New York Times best-selling author of My Brilliant Friend and The Lost Daughter. Soon to be a NETFLIX Original Series.

"Another spellbinding coming-of-age tale from a master."--People Magazine, Top 10 Books of 2020

Giovanna's pretty face is changing, turning ugly, at least so her father thinks. Giovanna, he says, looks more like her Aunt Vittoria every day. But can it be true? Is she really changing? Is she turning into her Aunt Vittoria, a woman she hardly knows but whom her mother and father clearly despise? Surely there is a mirror somewhere in which she can see herself as she truly is.

Giovanna is searching for her reflection in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves from one to the other in search of the truth, but neither city seems to offer answers or escape.

Named one of 2016's most influential people by TIME Magazine and frequently touted as a future Nobel Prize-winner, Elena Ferrante has become one of the world's most read and beloved writers. With this new novel about the transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, Ferrante proves once again that she deserves her many accolades. In The Lying Life of Adults, readers will discover another gripping, highly addictive, and totally unforgettable Neapolitan story.

"There's no doubt [the publication of The Lying Life of Adults] will be the literary event of the year."--ELLE Magazine

View Details >>

Women Talking

Miriam Toews

National Bestseller
Winner of the Brooklyn Public LIbrary Literary Prize for Fiction
Shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for Fiction
Shortlisted for the Reading Women Award

“This amazing, sad, shocking, but touching novel, based on a real-life event, could be right out of The Handmaid's Tale.” --Margaret Atwood, on Twitter

"Scorching . . . Women Talking is a wry, freewheeling novel of ideas that touches on the nature of evil, questions of free will, collective responsibility, cultural determinism, and, above all, forgiveness." --New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice

One evening, eight Mennonite women climb into a hay loft to conduct a secret meeting. For the past two years, each of these women, and more than a hundred other girls in their colony, has been repeatedly violated in the night by demons coming to punish them for their sins. Now that the women have learned they were in fact drugged and attacked by a group of men from their own community, they are determined to protect themselves and their daughters from future harm.

While the men of the colony are off in the city, attempting to raise enough money to bail out the rapists and bring them home, these women—all illiterate, without any knowledge of the world outside their community and unable even to speak the language of the country they live in—have very little time to make a choice: Should they stay in the only world they’ve ever known or should they dare to escape?

Based on real events and told through the “minutes” of the women’s all-female symposium, Toews’s masterful novel uses wry, politically engaged humor to relate this tale of women claiming their own power to decide.

Named a Best Book of the Year By
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (Notable Books of the Year) * NPR.ORG* THE WASHINGTON POST * REAL SIMPLE * THE NEW YORK TIMES (PARUL SEHGAL'S TOP BOOKS OF THE YEAR) * SLATE * STAR TRIBUNE (MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL) * LITHUB * AUSTIN CHRONICLE * GOOP* ELECTRIC LITERATURE * KIRKUS REVIEWS * JEZEBEL* BUSTLE * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * TIME* LIBRARY JOURNAL * THE AV CLUB * MASHABLE * VOX *

View Details >>

The Witching Hour

Anne Rice

SOON TO BE A MAJOR TV SHOW, FROM THE NETWORK BEHIND THE WALKING DEAD

' W hen I found Rice's work I absolutely loved how she took that genre and (...) made it feel so contemporary and relevant' Sarah Pinborough, bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes

' Rice wrote in the great tradition of the gothic' Ramsey Campbell, bestselling author of The Hungry Moon

On the veranda of a great New Orleans house, now faded, a mute and fragile woman sits rocking. And the witching hour begins...

Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling and the creation of legend, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of witches - a family given to poetry and incest, to murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being.

A hypnotic novel of witchcraft and the occult across four centuries, by the spellbinding, bestselling author of The Vampire Chronicles.

View Details >>

The Cabin at the End of the World

Paul Tremblay

NATIONAL BESTSELLER!

BEST BOOK OF 2018 (Library Journal, NPR, Buzzfeed)

LOCUS RECOMMENDED READING LIST - 2018

JULY 2018 INDIE NEXT PICK!

SUMMER 2018 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY PICK!

“A tremendous book―thought-provoking and terrifying, with tension that winds up like a chain. The Cabin at the End of the World is Tremblay’s personal best. It’s that good.”  — Stephen King

“A clinic in suspense, a story that opens with high-wire tension and never lets up from there.”  — Michael Koryta

"I tore through it in record time. I just couldn’t wait to see where Tremblay was going to take me next.”  — Victor LaValle

The Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts adds an inventive twist to the home invasion horror story in a heart-palpitating novel of psychological suspense that recalls Stephen King’s Misery, Ruth Ware’s In a Dark, Dark Wood, and Jack Ketchum’s cult hit The Girl Next Door.

Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road.

One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, "None of what’s going to happen is your fault". Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: "Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world."

Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. The Cabin at the End of the World is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay.

“Read Paul Tremblay's new novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, and you might not sleep for a week. Longer. It will shape your nightmares for months – that's pretty much guaranteed.” — NPR

“Gripping, horrifying, and mesmerizing.” — GQ

“A tour-de-force of psychological and religious horror.” — BN.com

“A blinding tale of survival and sacrifice.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Tremblay has a real winner here.” — Tor.com

View Details >>

Dear Edward

Ann Napolitano

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • “Make sure you have tissues handy when you read [this] sure-footed tearjerker” (NPR) about a young boy who must learn to go on after surviving tragedy, from the author of the Oprah’s Book Club pick Hello Beautiful.

Now streaming as an Apple TV+ series starring Connie Britton, written and executive produced by Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights and Parenthood)

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Parade, LibraryReads

What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?
One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them are a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured veteran returning from Afghanistan, a business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.

Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a part of himself has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery—one that will lead him to the answers of some of life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything, how do you find the strength to put one foot in front of the other? How do you learn to feel safe again? How do you find meaning in your life?

Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again.

Praise for Dear Edward

Dear Edward is that rare book that breaks your heart and stitches it back together during a reading experience that leaves you profoundly altered for the better.”—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Mad Honey
 
“Will lead you toward something wonderous, something profound.”—Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Now Is Not the Time to Panic

View Details >>

Daisy Jones & The Six

Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD! A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup—from the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, and Carrie Soto Is Back

REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • IN DEVELOPMENT AS AN ORIGINAL STREAMING SERIES EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY REESE WITHERSPOON
 
“An explosive, dynamite, down-and-dirty look at a fictional rock band told in an interview style that gives it irresistible surface energy.”—Elin Hilderbrand

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, The Washington Post, Esquire, Glamour, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, Parade, Paste, Shelf Awareness, BookRiot

Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

 

View Details >>

Tiny Beautiful Things (10th Anniversary Edition)

Cheryl Strayed

REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK An anniversary edition of the bestselling collection of "Dear Sugar" advice columns written by the author of #1 New York Times bestseller Wild—featuring a new preface and six additional columns. NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES

For more than a decade, thousands of people have sought advice from Dear Sugar—the pseudonym of bestselling author Cheryl Strayed—first through her online column at The Rumpus, later through her hit podcast, Dear Sugars, and now through her popular Substack newsletter. Tiny Beautiful Things collects the best of Dear Sugar in one volume, bringing her wisdom to many more readers. This tenth-anniversary edition features six new columns and a new preface by Strayed. Rich with humor, insight, compassion—and absolute honesty—this book is a balm for everything life throws our way.

View Details >>

The Last Thing He Told Me

Laura Dave

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BLOCKBUSTER * REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK * SOON TO BE AN APPLE TV+ LIMITED SERIES STARRING JENNIFER GARNER * MORE THAN 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD

The “page-turning, exhilarating” (PopSugar) and “heartfelt thriller” (Real Simple) about a woman who thinks she’s found the love of her life—until he disappears.

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.

Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated.

With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a “page-turning, exhilarating, and unforgettable” (PopSugar) suspense novel.

View Details >>

Dracula

Bram Stoker

A rich selection of background and source materials is provided in three areas: Contexts includes probable inspirations for Dracula in the earlier works of James Malcolm Rymer and Emily Gerard. Also included are a discussion of Stoker's working notes for the novel and "Dracula's Guest," the original opening chapter to Dracula. Reviews and Reactions reprints five early reviews of the novel. "Dramatic and Film Variations" focuses on theater and film adaptations of Dracula, two indications of the novel's unwavering appeal. David J. Skal, Gregory A. Waller, and Nina Auerbach offer their varied perspectives. Checklists of both dramatic and film adaptations are included.

Criticism collects seven theoretical interpretations of Dracula by Phyllis A. Roth, Carol A. Senf, Franco Moretti, Christopher Craft, Bram Dijsktra, Stephen D. Arata, and Talia Schaffer.

A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.

View Details >>

Are You There God? It's Me Margaret.

Judy Blume

Overview: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. No one ever told Margaret Simon that eleven-going-on- twelve would be such a hard age. When her family moves to New Jersey, she has to adjust to life in the suburbs, a different school, and a whole new group of friends. Margaret knows she needs someone to talk to about growing up-and it's not long before she's found a solution. Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. I can't wait until two o'clock God. That's when our dance starts. Do you think I'll get Philip Leroy for a partner? It's not so much that I like him as a person God, but as a boy he's very handsome. And I'd love to dance with him-just once or twice. Thank you God.

View Details >>

The End of the World Running Club

Adrian J. Walker

The #1 International Bestseller!

A Science Fiction & Fantasy Book to Keep on Your Radar by io9 and Gizmodo

A fast-paced, literary, dystopian thriller for fans of fiction like Andy Weir's The Martian, Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, and Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

Asteroids are striking Earth, the end of the world is near, and Edgar Hill is on the wrong side of the country.

Over five hundred miles of devastated wastelands stretch between him and his family, and every second counts. His only option is to run--or risk losing everything he loves. He'll have to be ingenious and push himself to the very limit if he wants to see them again. Can he reach them in the race against time, or will the end of the world defeat him?

The End of the World Running Club is where the beautifully imagined post-apocalyptic world of The Salt Line meets the deep humanity of A Man Called Ove.

A dystopian page-turner about the endurance of the human body and spirit--perfect for lovers of apocalyptic science fiction, running books, and anyone who knows that true strength comes from love.

Praise for The End of the World Running Club:

Harrowing and heartrending, this is a novel that is almost impossible to put down.--Library Journal

Walker's ability to imagine a post-apocalyptic world in crisp detail is on full display in the early pages of The End of the World Running Club.--Maximum Shelf

...a beautifully written postapocalyptic tale of a flawed man's struggle for survival and redemption.--Booklist

View Details >>

The Light Pirate

Lily Brooks-Dalton

Set in the near future, this hopeful story of survival and resilience follows Wanda--a luminous child born out of a devastating hurricane--as she navigates a rapidly changing world: A "symphony of beauty and heartbreak" (Associated Press).



A Good Morning America Book Club pick · #1 Indie Next pick · LibraryReads pick · Book of the Month Club selection · Marie Claire #ReadWithMC book club selection · 2022 NPR "Book We Love" · New York Times Editors' Choice



Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels wreak gradual havoc on the state's infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker, his pregnant wife, Frida, and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds in search of his children. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.



As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.



Told in four parts--power, water, light, and time--The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.
 

View Details >>

The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin

"Intricate and extraordinary." - New York Times on The Fifth Season (A New York Times Notable Book of 2015)

WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL 2016

This is the way the world ends...for the last time.
A season of endings has begun.

It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun.

It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter.

It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.

This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.


For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out:

The Inheritance Trilogy
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
The Broken Kingdoms
The Kingdom of Gods

The Inheritance Trilogy (omnibus edition)
Shades in Shadow: An Inheritance Triptych (e-only short fiction)
The Awakened Kingdom (e-only novella)

Dreamblood Duology
The Killing Moon
The Shadowed Sun

The Broken EarthThe Fifth SeasonThe Obelisk Gate

View Details >>

Wanderers

Chuck Wendig

A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world's last hope. From the mind of Chuck Wendig comes "a magnum opus . . . a story about survival that's not just about you and me, but all of us, together" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

NOMINATED FOR THE BRAM STOKER AWARD - NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post - NPR - The Guardian - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - Library Journal - Polygon

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other "shepherds" who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

For as the sleepwalking phenomenon awakens terror and violence in America, the real danger may not be the epidemic but the fear of it. With society collapsing all around them--and an ultraviolent militia threatening to exterminate them--the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart--or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

Praise for Wanderers

"This career-defining epic deserves its inevitable comparisons to Stephen King's The Stand."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A suspenseful, twisty, satisfying, surprising, thought-provoking epic."--Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Run Away

"A true tour de force."--Erin Morgenstern, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus

"A masterpiece with prose as sharp and heartbreaking as Station Eleven."--Peng Shepherd, author of The Book of M

"A magnum opus . . . It reminded me of Stephen King's The Stand--but dare I say, this story is even better."--James Rollins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Crucible

"An inventive, fierce, uncompromising, stay-up-way-past-bedtime masterwork."--Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World

"An American epic for these times."--Charles Soule, author of The Oracle Year

View Details >>

The Salt Line

Holly Goddard Jones

"Great, near-future sci-fi...A propulsive, character-driven thriller...I really love this book."--Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble and Magic for Beginners

In the spirit of Station Eleven and California, award-winning novelist Holly Goddard Jones offers a literary spin on the dystopian genre with this gripping story of survival and humanity about a group of adrenaline junkies who jump "the Salt Line."

How far will they go for their freedom--once they decide what freedom really means?

In an unspecified future, the United States' borders have receded behind a salt line--a ring of scorched earth that protects its citizens from deadly disease-carrying ticks. Those within the zone live safe, if limited, lives in a society controlled by a common fear. Few have any reason to venture out of zone, except for the adrenaline junkies who pay a fortune to tour what's left of nature. Those among the latest expedition include a popstar and his girlfriend, Edie; the tech giant Wes; and Marta; a seemingly simple housewife.

Once out of zone, the group find themselves at the mercy of deadly ticks--and at the center of a murderous plot. They become captives in Ruby City, a community made up of outer-zone survivors determined to protect their hardscrabble existence. As alliances and friendships shift amongst the hostages, Edie, Wes, and Marta must decide how far they are willing to go to get to the right side of the salt line.

View Details >>

Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel

 

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST • Set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. • Now an original series on HBO Max. • Over one million copies sold!
Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.

Look for Emily St. John Mandel’s bestselling new novel, Sea of Tranquility!

 

View Details >>

Severance

Ling Ma

Maybe it’s the end of the world, but not for Candace Chen, a millennial, first-generation American and office drone meandering her way into adulthood in Ling Ma’s offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire, Severance.

"A stunning, audacious book with a fresh take on both office politics and what the apocalypse might bring." Michael Schaub, NPR.org

“A satirical spin on the end times-- kind of like The Office meets The Leftovers.” --Estelle Tang, Elle

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: NPR * The New Yorker ("Books We Loved") * Elle * Marie Claire * Amazon Editors * The Paris Review (Staff Favorites) * Refinery29 * Bustle * Buzzfeed * BookPage * Bookish * Mental Floss * Chicago Review of Books * HuffPost * Electric Literature * A.V. Club * Jezebel * Vulture * Literary Hub * Flavorwire

Winner of the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award * Winner of the Kirkus Prize for Fiction * Winner of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award * Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel * A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 * An Indie Next Selection

Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she’s had her fill of uncertainty. She’s content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend.

So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies cease operations. The subways screech to a halt. Her bosses enlist her as part of a dwindling skeleton crew with a big end-date payoff. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.

Candace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?

A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma’s Severance is a moving family story, a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale, and a hilarious, deadpan satire. Most important, it’s a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive.

View Details >>

Mexican Gothic

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “It’s Lovecraft meets the Brontës in Latin America, and after a slow-burn start Mexican Gothic gets seriously weird.”—The Guardian
 
IN DEVELOPMENT AS A HULU ORIGINAL LIMITED SERIES PRODUCED BY KELLY RIPA AND MARK CONSUELOS • WINNER OF THE LOCUS AWARD • NOMINATED FOR THE BRAM STOKER AWARD

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, NPR, The Washington Post, Tordotcom, Marie Claire, Vox, Mashable, Men’s Health, Library Journal, Book Riot, LibraryReads
 
An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets. . . . From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes “a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror” (Kirkus Reviews) set in glamorous 1950s Mexico.


After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.   
 
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.
 
Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness. 
 
And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.

“It’s as if a supernatural power compels us to turn the pages of the gripping Mexican Gothic.”—The Washington Post

“Mexican Gothic is the perfect summer horror read, and marks Moreno-Garcia with her hypnotic and engaging prose as one of the genre’s most exciting talents.”Nerdist

“A period thriller as rich in suspense as it is in lush ’50s atmosphere.”Entertainment Weekly

View Details >>

The Road

Cormac McCarthy

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive, this "tale of survival and the miracle of goodness only adds to McCarthy's stature as a living master. It's gripping, frightening and, ultimately, beautiful" (San Francisco Chronicle).

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

Look for Cormac McCarthy's new novel, The Passenger, coming October '22.

View Details >>

The Girl with All the Gifts

M. R. Carey

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her our little genius. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they do not like her. She jokes that she will not bite, but they do not laugh. Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favourite teacher all the things she will do when she grows up. Melanie does not know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

View Details >>

Annihilation

Jeff VanderMeer

A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM ALEX GARLAND, STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC

The Southern Reach Trilogy begins with Annihilation, the Nebula Award-winning novel that "reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had warped through into a Kafkaesque nightmare world" (Kim Stanley Robinson).

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

View Details >>

What Moves the Dead

T. Kingfisher

An Instant USA Today & Indie Bestseller
A Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Finalist
A Goodreads Best Horror Choice Award Nominee

From T. Kingfisher, the award-winning author of The Twisted Ones, comes What Moves the Dead, a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher."

*A very special hardcover edition, featuring foil stamp on the casing and custom endpapers illustrated by the author.*

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

View Details >>

This Is How You Lose the Time War

Amal El-Mohtar

Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange letters—and fall in love in this thrilling and romantic book from award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

In the ashes of a dying world, Red finds a letter marked “Burn before reading. Signed, Blue.”

So begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents in a war that stretches through the vast reaches of time and space.

Red belongs to the Agency, a post-singularity technotopia. Blue belongs to Garden, a single vast consciousness embedded in all organic matter. Their pasts are bloody and their futures mutually exclusive. They have nothing in common—save that they’re the best, and they’re alone.

Now what began as a battlefield boast grows into a dangerous game, one both Red and Blue are determined to win. Because winning’s what you do in war. Isn’t it?

A tour de force collaboration from two powerhouse writers that spans the whole of time and space.

View Details >>

Run on Red

Noelle W. Ihli

"A rural country road. No cell signal for miles. A terrifying game of cat-and-mouse. By the time Laura and Olivia notice the headlights tailing them through the hills, it's too late. What seems, at first, like a case of road rage quickly unfolds into a heart-pounding chase--and a battle for survival. Who are the men in the truck? What do they want? And can Laura and Olivia outrun--and outsmart--them long enough to call for help, even if it means taking their chances in the hills on foot? As their situation grows more perilous, the girls realize that the real terror has only just begun. But flight won't save them from their pursuers. If they're going to make it home alive, they'll have to fight"--Provided by publisher.

View Details >>

The Spanish Love Deception

Elena Armas

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A TikTok sensation, this rom-com about a young woman who agrees to fake date a colleague and bring him to her sister’s wedding has “everything you could want in a romance” (Helen Hoang, New York Times bestselling author).

Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiralled out of control. Now everyone she knows—including her ex and his fiancée—will be there and eager to meet him.

She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool.

Enter Aaron Blackford—her tall, handsome, condescending colleague—who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man.

But Catalina is desperate, and as the wedding draws nearer, Aaron looks like her best option. And she begins to realize he might not be as terrible in the real world as he is at the office.

View Details >>

The Priory of the Orange Tree

Samantha Shannon

The New York Times bestselling "epic feminist fantasy perfect for fans of Game of Thrones" (Bustle).

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY:
AMAZON (Top 100 Editors Picks and Science Fiction and Fantasy) * CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY * BOOKPAGE * AUTOSTRADDLE

A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.


The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction--but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

View Details >>

These Silent Woods

Kimi Cunningham Grant

A father and daughter living in the remote Appalachian mountains must reckon with the ghosts of their past in Kimi Cunningham Grant's These Silent Woods, a mesmerizing novel of suspense.

No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world.

For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the northern Appalachian woods. And that's exactly the way Cooper wants it, because he's got a lot to hide. Finch has been raised on the books filling the cabin’s shelves and the beautiful but brutal code of life in the wilderness. But she’s starting to push back against the sheltered life Cooper has created for her—and he’s still haunted by the painful truth of what it took to get them there.

The only people who know they exist are a mysterious local hermit named Scotland, and Cooper's old friend, Jake, who visits each winter to bring them food and supplies. But this year, Jake doesn't show up, setting off an irreversible chain of events that reveals just how precarious their situation really is. Suddenly, the boundaries of their safe haven have blurred—and when a stranger wanders into their woods, Finch’s growing obsession with her could put them all in danger. After a shocking disappearance threatens to upend the only life Finch has ever known, Cooper is forced to decide whether to keep hiding—or finally face the sins of his past.

Vividly atmospheric and masterfully tense, These Silent Woods is a poignant story of survival, sacrifice, and how far a father will go when faced with losing it all.

View Details >>

Honey and Spice

Bolu Babalola

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * A TIKTOK BOOK CLUB PICK

"Sexy, messy and wry, Honey and Spice more than delivers." -- New York Times Book Review

"A vibrant debut novel . . . Babalola is incisively funny, capturing the kick and sweetness of her title with her words." -- Entertainment Weekly

Named a Best Book of the Year by Time * Esquire * Vanity Fair * Oprah Daily * Cosmopolitan * Elle * Harper's Bazaar * Southern Living * Buzzfeed * Women's Health Magazine * AudioFile * Popsugar * and more!

Introducing internationally bestselling author Bolu Babalola's dazzling debut novel, full of passion, humor, and heart, that centers on a young Black British woman who has no interest in love and unexpectedly finds herself caught up in a fake relationship with the man she warned her girls about

Sweet like plantain, hot like pepper. They taste the best when together...

Sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo has just made a huge mistake. As an expert in relationship-evasion and the host of the popular student radio show Brown Sugar, she's made it her mission to make sure the women of the African-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University do not fall into the mess of "situationships", players, and heartbreak. But when the Queen of the Unbothered kisses Malakai Korede, the guy she just publicly denounced as "The Wastemen of Whitewell," in front of every Blackwellian on campus, she finds her show on the brink.

They're soon embroiled in a fake relationship to try and salvage their reputations and save their futures. Kiki has never surrendered her heart before, and a player like Malakai won't be the one to change that, no matter how charming he is or how electric their connection feels. But surprisingly entertaining study sessions and intimate, late-night talks at old-fashioned diners force Kiki to look beyond her own presumptions. Is she ready to open herself up to something deeper?

A gloriously funny and sparkling debut novel, Honey and Spice is full of delicious tension and romantic intrigue that will make you weak at the knees.

"A smart, sexy summer read, which hits your brain and your romance buttons in one shot." -- Los Angeles Times

"The ultimate summer romance . . . It's got all the juiciest, most satisfying romance tropes, but in Babalola's capable hands, the story feels fresh and unique." -- The Cut, New York magazine

"Divine summer reading. Hilarious, hot, and heartfelt. " -- Meg Cabot, #1 New York Times bestselling author

View Details >>

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Holly Jackson

The New York Times No.1 bestselling YA crime thriller that everyone is talking about. Soon to be a major BBC series!



THE WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS' CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020



SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE 2020

'A fiendishly-plotted mystery that kept me guessing until the very end.' - Laura Purcell, bestselling author of The Silent Companions



A debut YA crime thriller as addictive as Serial as compelling as Riverdale and as page-turning as One of Us Is Lying



The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.



But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the crime, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth ... ?



Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying, Gone Girl, We Were Liars and Riverdale



Holly Jackson started writing stories from a young age, completing her first (poor) attempt at a novel aged fifteen. She lives in London and aside from reading and writing, she enjoys playing video games and watching true crime documentaries so she can pretend to be a detective. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is her first novel. You can follow Holly on Twitter and Instagram @HoJay92

View Details >>

The Atlas Six

Olivie Blake

"The much-acclaimed BookTok sensation, Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six--now newly revised and edited with additional content. The tag #theatlassix has millions of views on TikTok A dark academic debut fantasy with an established cult following that reads like THE SECRET HISTORY meets THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY The first in an explosive trilogy The Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity, are the foremost secret society of magical academicians in the world. Those who earn a place among the Alexandrians will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams, and each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiation. Enter the latest round of six: Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, unwilling halves of an unfathomable whole, who exert uncanny control over every element of physicality. Reina Mori, a naturalist, who can intuit the language of life itself. Parisa Kamali, a telepath who can traverse the depths of the subconscious, navigating worlds inside the human mind. Callum Nova, an empath easily mistaken for a manipulative illusionist, who can influence the intimate workings of a person's inner self. Finally, there is Tristan Caine, who can see through illusions to a new structure of reality-an ability so rare that neither he nor his peers can fully grasp its implications. When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they will have one year to qualify for initiation, during which time they will be permitted preliminary access to the Society's archives and judged based on their contributions to various subjects of impossibility: time and space, luck and thought, life and death. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. The six potential initiates will fight to survive the next year of their lives, and if they can prove themselves to be the best among their rivals, most of them will. Most of them."--

View Details >>

Books Promiscuously Read

Heather Cass White

The critic and scholar Heather Cass White offers an exploration of the nature of reading

Heather Cass White’s Books Promiscuously Read is about the pleasures of reading and its power in shaping our internal lives. It advocates for a life of constant, disorderly, time-consuming reading, and encourages readers to trust in the value of the exhilaration and fascination such reading entails. Rather than arguing for the moral value of reading or the preeminence of literature as an aesthetic form, Books Promiscuously Read illustrates the irreplaceable experience of the self that reading provides for those inclined to do it.

Through three sections—Play, Transgression, and Insight—which focus on three ways of thinking about reading, Books Promiscuously Read moves among and considers many poems, novels, stories, and works of nonfiction. The prose is shot through with quotations reflecting the way readers think through the words of others.

Books Promiscuously Read is a tribute to the whole lives readers live in their books, and aims to recommit people to those lives. As White writes, “What matters is staying attuned to an ordinary, unflashy, mutely persistent miracle; that all the books to be read, and all the selves to be because we have read them, are still there, still waiting, still undiminished in their power. It is an astonishing joy.”

View Details >>

The Art of the Board

Olivia Carney

With Olivia Carney’s friendly guidance, you’ll go from hopeless host to host with the most—one salami rose at a time.

With over 75 seasonally inspired, approachable snack boards, recipes, and cocktails, The Art of the Board has all you need for fun, stress-free entertaining year-round. Packed with tips, tricks, and ideas, you’ll be inspired to whip up your next snack board masterpiece—whether it’s creatively plating your Thanksgiving leftovers to impress your family or wowing your friends with your knowledge of fancy cheese and charcuterie.

Not sure where to start? No problem! The in-depth introduction walks you through equipment and ingredients, and the Hopeless Hostess Appendix covers everything from Board Care 101 to step-by-step explanations and photographs that show how to bring your skills to the next level. There’s even helpful suggestions to make your cheese plates travel-friendly so you never arrive empty-handed. And since each board is labeled with difficulty level, approximate cost, and dietary accommodations, you’ll always find a showstopper to fit your lifestyle and budget.

View Details >>

Welcome to Wine

Madelyne Meyer

From food pairings to the art of wine tasting, this charmingly illustrated guide makes the world of wine more welcoming than ever!

Calling all wine newbies and wine nerds: This illustrated guide is refreshing as a rosé and flavorful as a merlot. Growing up in a family that's been in the wine business for five generations, Madelyne Meyer would be the first to tell you, you don’t need a book to enjoy wine . . . but knowing more about your favorite glassful can be a pleasure all its own.

In Welcome to Wine, Meyer pairs her expert knowledge with 200 witty, whimsical illustrations that make all the essentials crystal clear—so you can get to the good part sooner!

  • Food pairings and the art of wine tasting
  • Serving temperature (without getting hung up on precision!)
  • Key wine regions and exactly how wine is made

From choosing wine fora date night to training your nose to pickup “notes,” this is the friendliest guide to wine.

View Details >>

Charcuterie

Michael Ruhlman

An essential update of the perennial bestseller.

 

Charcuterie exploded onto the scene in 2005 and encouraged an army of home cooks and professional chefs to start curing their own foods. This love song to animal fat and salt has blossomed into a bona fide culinary movement, throughout America and beyond, of curing meats and making sausage, pâtés, and confits. Charcuterie: Revised and Updated will remain the ultimate and authoritative guide to that movement, spreading the revival of this ancient culinary craft.

 

Early in his career, food writer Michael Ruhlman had his first taste of duck confit. The experience “became a fascination that transformed into a quest” to understand the larger world of food preservation, called charcuterie, once a critical factor in human survival. He wondered why its methods and preparations, which used to keep communities alive and allowed for long-distance exploration, had been almost forgotten. Along the way he met Brian Polcyn, who had been surrounded with traditional and modern charcuterie since childhood. “My Polish grandma made kielbasa every Christmas and Easter,” he told Ruhlman. At the time, Polcyn was teaching butchery at Schoolcraft College outside Detroit.

Ruhlman and Polcyn teamed up to share their passion for cured meats with a wider audience. The rest is culinary history. Charcuterie: Revised and Updated is organized into chapters on key practices: salt-cured meats like pancetta, dry-cured meats like salami and chorizo, forcemeats including pâtés and terrines, and smoked meats and fish. Readers will find all the classic recipes: duck confit, sausages, prosciutto, bacon, pâté de campagne, and knackwurst, among others. Ruhlman and Polcyn also expand on traditional mainstays, offering recipes for hot- and cold-smoked salmon; shrimp, lobster, and leek sausage; and grilled vegetable terrine. All these techniques make for a stunning addition to a contemporary menu.

Thoroughly instructive and fully illustrated, this updated edition includes seventy-five detailed line drawings that guide the reader through all the techniques. With new recipes and revised sections to reflect the best equipment available today, Charcuterie: Revised and Updated remains the undisputed authority on charcuterie.

View Details >>

The Bright Book of Life

Harold Bloom

America's most original and controversial literary critic writes trenchantly about forty-eight masterworks spanning the Western tradition—from Don Quixote to Wuthering Heights to Invisible Man—in his first book devoted exclusively to narrative fiction.

In this valedictory volume, Yale professor Harold Bloom—who for more than half a century was regarded as America's most daringly original and controversial literary critic—gives us his only book devoted entirely to the art of the novel. With his hallmark percipience, remarkable scholarship, and extraordinary devotion to sublimity, Bloom offers meditations on forty-eight essential works spanning the Western canon, from Don Quixote to Book of Numbers; from Wuthering Heights to Absalom, Absalom!; from Les Misérables to Blood Meridian; from Vanity Fair to Invisible Man. Here are trenchant appreciations of fiction by, among many others, Austen, Balzac, Dickens, Tolstoy, James, Conrad, Lawrence, Le Guin, and Sebald.
 
Whether you have already read these books, plan to, or simply care about the importance and power of fiction, Harold Bloom is your unparalleled guide to understanding literature with new intimacy.

View Details >>

Read Until You Understand

Farah Jasmine Griffin

A PBS NewsHour Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year in Nonfiction

A brilliant scholar imparts the lessons bequeathed by the Black community and its remarkable artists and thinkers.

 

Farah Jasmine Griffin has taken to her heart the phrase "read until you understand," a line her father, who died when she was nine, wrote in a note to her. She has made it central to this book about love of the majestic power of words and love of the magnificence of Black life.

 

Griffin has spent years rooted in the culture of Black genius and the legacy of books that her father left her. A beloved professor, she has devoted herself to passing these works and their wisdom on to generations of students.

Here, she shares a lifetime of discoveries: the ideas that inspired the stunning oratory of Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X, the soulful music of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, the daring literature of Phillis Wheatley and Toni Morrison, the inventive artistry of Romare Bearden, and many more. Exploring these works through such themes as justice, rage, self-determination, beauty, joy, and mercy allows her to move from her aunt’s love of yellow roses to Gil Scott-Heron’s "Winter in America."

Griffin entwines memoir, history, and art while she keeps her finger on the pulse of the present, asking us to grapple with the continuing struggle for Black freedom and the ongoing project that is American democracy. She challenges us to reckon with our commitment to all the nation’s inhabitants and our responsibilities to all humanity.

View Details >>

Dear Reader

Cathy Rentzenbrink

A memoir of a life spent immersed in the comfort and joy of books

For as long as she can remember, Cathy Rentzenbrink has lost and found herself in stories. Growing up, she was rarely seen without her nose in a book and read in secret long after lights out. When tragedy struck, books kept her afloat. Eventually they lit the way to a new path, first as a bookseller and then as a writer. No matter what the future holds, reading will always help.

Dear Reader is a moving, funny and joyous exploration of how books can change the course of your life, packed with recommendations from one reader to another.

View Details >>

The Toni Morrison Book Club

Juda Bennett

In this startling group memoir, four friends--black and white, gay and straight, immigrant and American-born--use Toni Morrison's novels as a springboard for intimate and revealing conversations about the problems of everyday racism and living whole in times of uncertainty. Tackling everything from first love and Soul Train to police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, the authors take up what it means to read challenging literature collaboratively and to learn in public as an act of individual reckoning and social resistance.

Framing their book club around collective secrets, the group bears witness to how Morrison's works and words can propel us forward while we sit with uncomfortable questions about race, gender, and identity. How do we make space for black vulnerability in the face of white supremacy and internalized self-loathing? How do historical novels speak to us now about the delicate seams that hold black minds and bodies together?

This slim and brilliant confessional offers a radical vision for book clubs as sites of self-discovery and communal healing. The Toni Morrison Book Club insists that we find ourselves in fiction and think of Morrison as a spiritual guide to our most difficult thoughts and ideas about American literature and life.

View Details >>

Sparkling Wine for Modern Times

Zachary Sussman

This is the definitive guide to sparkling wine today, complete with profiles of exemplary producers, bottle recommendations, colorful infographics, and illustrated guides.

Sparkling Wine for Modern Times considers sparkling wine traditions and offerings from around the world. This approachable book explores our perpetual fascination with sparkling wine and places each regional expression within the wider wine zeitgeist—from the radical grower revolution reshaping the highly conservative area of Champagne to Prosecco's overnight transformation into a multi-million-dollar brand to the retro appeal of natural wine's cult-hit pétillant naturel to the next generation of "real wines" from Lambrusco, and beyond.

The book covers the essential information for each growing region and highlights up-and-coming areas such as Jura in France, as well as can't-miss trends including traditional-method Sicilian sparklers and Califorinian pét-nat. For each region, renowned wine writer Zachary Sussman gives expert bottle recommendations to seek out—wines that truly capture the style and spirit of the place. Fun and informative illustrated timelines, color charts, and production-method breakdowns from illustrator Nick Hensley appear throughout for quick learning. For anyone who's ever wondered why bubbles are confined to birthdays and holidays, Sparkling Wine for Modern Times is your go-to guide to enjoying sparkling wine all year long.

View Details >>

Little Tarts

Meike Schaling

The book for bakers everywhere, from beginners to experts.

Discovering the joy of homemade tarts has never been easier. In this book, celebrated European pastry chef Meike Schaling equips even the most rudimentary of bakers with the skills to create beautiful tarts in an endless variety of colors and flavors, all with just one core recipe. Chapters include how to make the perfect dough and exploring the best fillings for tarts. Learn how to create the perfect creamy layer and delicious toppings. From apples and pears to pineapple and rhubarb, the book teaches the reader how to make fruit the perfect texture and sweetness for their creations. It also includes fifteen different types of ganache, as well as other chocolate fillings and toppings to help create the ultimate chocolate sensations.

View Details >>

Cheese Boards to Share

Thalassa Skinner

Providing everything you need to know in order to present and feast upon your perfect cheeseboard, this book features 25 themed boards as well as accompaniments and essential practical information on cheese.

Cheese boards are the ideal fuss-free, yet delicious and visually impressive meal option. Though traditionally thought of as just a festive treat, impressive modern incarnations have recently taken social media by storm, as people discover that they can be a show-stopping option for entertaining at any time of year. The 25 themed boards in this book offer the perfect cheese board for any occasion, from lively boards themed around wine, beer, and cocktail pairings, to a wholesome kids’ board and a picnic board. No matter the size of your crowd or your budget, there is a themed board here to suit it—from small romantic boards for two, to more extravagant aspirational boards suitable for a wedding. Each cheese included in the book is followed by a detailed description and ideas for suitable alternatives. Suggestions for store-bought accompaniments are included, or if you are feeling more creative, try the simple recipes such as Italian Herb Flatbread, Rainbow Pepper Oatcakes, or Tomato and Smoked Pepper Jam. Essential practical information in the front section includes tips on buying, storing and cutting cheese plus much more.

View Details >>

A Field Guide to Cheese

Tristan Sicard

“We officially declare this the book of cheese. . . . The stunningly realistic illustrations are reason alone to buy the guide.”
Saveur, Our Favorite Cookbooks to Gift This Year


“A cheese lover’s dream, educating aficionados through gorgeous pictures and fun, colorful graphics.”
—BookPage

Everything you need to know about the world’s great cheeses, including how they’re made, their universe of flavors, origins, and terroir. Organized by type, the book features more than 400 cheeses worth knowing—from fresh cheese and pressed cheese to blue cheese, soft cheese, and spreadable cheese. Each includes an an identifying illustration, nuts and bolts like the type of milk and fat content, and a brief, memorable description. Readers will find unexpected cheeses that are best for melting (Hushållsost), best for serving solo (Bovški Sir), and even the stinkiest (pick up some Allgäuer Weisslacker and see what company thinks). Includes dozens of maps; an aroma wheel to help refine your palate; a guide to composing cheese boards; tips for pairing with wine, beer, whiskey, cider; and so much more.

View Details >>

That Cheese Plate Will Change Your Life

Marissa Mullen

WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER • A how-to guide for crafting beautiful and delicious cheese boards for entertaining and self-care, from the creator of the Cheese by Numbers method and the Instagram phenomenon That Cheese Plate

“[Marissa Mullen] takes the guesswork out of the coolest, most solid thing to bring to any party or potluck: the cheese platter.”—Rachael Ray

With her gorgeous, showstopping cheese and charcuterie boards, Marissa Mullen takes cheese to a whole new level. Her simple, step-by-step Cheese by Numbers method breaks the cheese plate down into its basic components—cheese, meat, produce, crunch, dip, garnish—allowing you to create stunning spreads for any occasion.
 
This beautifully designed book goes beyond preparation techniques. According to Mullen, cheese plates can be an important form of artistic self-care, like flower arranging or meditative coloring books—but you can eat the results! That Cheese Plate Will Change Your Life celebrates the ways in which cheese brings people together, and how crafting a cheese plate can be a calming, creativity-bolstering act.

With fifty exquisite, easy-to-make cheese and charcuterie plates, this book will teach you how to relax, enjoy, and indulge— to find your cheesy bliss.

View Details >>

The New Rules of Cheese

Anne Saxelby

A fun and quirky guide to the essential rules for enjoying cheese 
 
The New Rules of Cheese will empower you to choose a more flavorful future, one that supports the small dairies and cheesemakers that further the diverse and resilient landscape we so desperately need.”—Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill 

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

This richly illustrated book from a lauded cheesemonger—perfect for all cheese fans, from newcomers to experts—teaches you how to make a stylish cheese platter, repurpose nibs and bits of leftover cheese into something delicious, and expand your cheese palate and taste cheeses properly. Alongside the history and fundamentals of cheese-making, you’ll even learn why cheese is actually good for you (and doesn’t make you fat!), find enlightenment on the great dairy debate—pasteurized versus not pasteurized—and improve your cheese vocabulary with a handy lexicon chart.

View Details >>

On Board Inspiration, Ideas & Recipes for Exceptional Entertaining

Derek Bissonnette

With On-Board, there’s no better place for loved ones to gather than a board featuring charcuterie, cheese, and other delicious bites.

On Board shows you how to ensure that you never make a misstep when the time comes to deliver, providing thorough, detailed breakdowns of each board. This book cuts through any confusion, breaking down one artfully arranged spread after another so you always know exactly where you’re headed.

Inside, you will find:

- 25 beautiful boards built around popular and festive themes, each one examined in depth
- Over 50 simple, inventive preparations that will lift your boards to the next level
- Seasonally focused recipes so you always keep things fresh
- Tips on charcuterie, cheese, and more

There’s also recipes for homemade dips, sauces, condiments, and more, guaranteeing that every board is well balanced and bears your personal touch. Featuring beautiful photos of thoughtfully curated and aesthetically pleasing boards, you’re sure to find endless inspiration among these platters

View Details >>

Vegetarian Appetizers

Paulette Mitchell

Everyone loves party food! But in today's busy world who has time to prepare sensational, healthy hors d' oeuvres to please every palate? Thanks to the creative ideas in Vegetarian Appetizers it's never been easier--or more delicious. Over 70 innovative recipes ideal for any festive event, large or small, take advantage of fresh, seasonal ingredients. So dip, dunk, spear, or munch, Vegetarian Appetizers is a great reason to eat your veggies.

View Details >>

Big Boards for Families

Sandy Coughlin

Create lovely and delicious food boards that bring everyone around the table and spark meaningful family-time meals.

Through stunning recipes and hosting tips from Sandy Coughlin, founder of the recipe and hospitality blog, Reluctant Entertainer, Big Boards for Families shows you how to artfully craft and serve food boards to your close friends and family. Piece together these bountiful spreads with a variety of ingredients and options that allow you and your guests to customize every dish.

Whether it’s for a morning brunch or movie-night get-together, you and your family will find over 50 splendid food boards to create and enjoy together, including:
 

  • European Breakfast Charcuterie Board
  • Tea Party Brunch Board
  • PB&J Snack Board
  • Mediterranean Chopped Salad Board
  • Pistachio Lemon Salmon Board
  • Sheet Pan Pizza Board
  • Perfect Party Crostini Board
  • Cake Bites Dessert Board


Big Boards for Families shows you how to casually host in style with minimum effort and maximum impact, allowing you to focus on spending time together, rather than being stuck in the kitchen. Everyone will feel comfortable digging in and helping themselves to their own personalized portion.

These plentiful charcuterie boards will impress your guests and delight your family, even those picky eaters! Choose the right spread for your family from a selection of food boards for dinner, lunch, after-school snacks, breakfast, or brunch. They’re also perfect for special occasions and game days too.

Invite friends, neighbors, and family over to your home and discover a new way of bringing those dearest to you around the table with Big Boards for Families.

View Details >>

Home Charcuterie

Paul Thomas

An accessible and expert guide to the age-old craft of preparing meat and fish products by home curing, salting and drying. The air-dried products include hams, lomo, lardo, coppa, bresaola, and salami - Milano, Toscano, Felino, Finnochiona, piccante, venison - as well as chorizo, sobrasada, and kielbasa. There are brine-cured hams, chine, salt beef and pastrami, pressed tongue, confit duck, pates, terrine, haggis, and faggots. There are sausages, of course, including black and white puddings, dry- and brine-cured bacons, guanciale, pancetta, lamb and mutton bacon, and dry-cured rack of lamb. There is jerky and biltong, and cured gravadlax and rollmops, and smoked foods including salmon, bacon and ham. Shown in clear, step-by-step photographs, the techniques are straightforward to follow: the author ensures safe practise at every stage for quality results, and his love of these traditional products shines through, describing home charcuterie as an almost magical process, and one to be enjoyed.

View Details >>

Pâté, Confit, Rillette

Brian Polcyn

The best-selling team behind Charcuterie and Salumi further deepens our understanding of a venerable craft.

 

In Pâté, Confit, Rillette, Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman provide a comprehensive guide to the most elegant and accessible branch of the charcuterie tradition. There is arguably nothing richer and more flavorful than a slice of pâté de foie gras, especially when it’s spread onto crusty bread. Anyone lucky enough to have been treated to a duck confit, poached and preserved in its own fat, or a pâté en croute, knows they’re impossible to resist.

 

And yet, pâtés, confits, rillettes, and similar dishes featured in this book were developed in the pursuit of frugality. Butchers who didn’t want to waste a single piece of the animals they slaughtered could use these dishes to serve and preserve them. In so doing, they founded a tradition of culinary alchemy that transformed lowly cuts of meat into culinary gold.

Polcyn and Ruhlman begin with crucial instructions about how to control temperature and select your ingredients to ensure success, and quickly move on to master recipes, offering the fundamental ratios of fat, meat, and seasoning, which will allow chefs to easily make their own variations. The recipes that follow span traditional dishes and modern inventions, featuring a succulent chicken terrine embedded with sautéed mushrooms and flecked with bright green herbs; modern rillettes of shredded salmon and whitefish; classic confits of duck and goose; and a vegetarian layered potato terrine.

Pâté, Confit, Rillette is the book to reach for when a cook or chef intends to explore these timeless techniques, both the fundamentals and their nuances, and create exquisite food.

View Details >>

Ollie's Easter Eggs

Olivier Dunrea

Ollie's gosling friends are all dyeing Easter eggs. Ollie wants Easter eggs too, and he has a plan on how he'll get them!

From Ollie's wiggly impatience to be included to the pure joy of the older goslings discovering that Ollie has arranged the best Easter egg hunt of all, Ollie's Easter Eggs gets the preschooler emotions exactly right, capturing a range of holiday-inspired feelings.

Spring is here! Grass is growing, flowers are blooming, and the goslings are dyeing Easter eggs. All except Ollie! He is sneaking off on an Easter egg hunt of his own....

Humor and vibrant ink-and-watercolor illustrations fill Olivier Dunrea's holiday follow-up to Merry Christmas, Ollie.

View Details >>

Pick a Perfect Egg

Patricia Toht

The creators of Pick a Pine Tree and Pick a Pumpkin return with another seasonal celebration, one that deserves a spot in every Easter basket.


Pick a perfect egg with care—
Choose a white one nestled there.
Gather more and softly stack them.
Just be cautious not to crack them!

Pairing Jarvis’s joyous illustrations with Patricia Toht’s wonderfully rhythmic text, this holiday ode hops through a busy springtime day all the way to Easter Sunday. From the farm where you’ve carefully selected your eggs—eggs perfect for drawing on with crayon, for plopping into dyes and bejeweling—follow along as preparations continue for the much-awaited festivities. Then on Sunday, open your door and search for eggs of a different kind, filled with foil-wrapped chocolate, spinning tops, and jelly beans. This cheerful Easter-time read-aloud captures all the excitement of the holiday and is sure to become part of a new treasured tradition.

View Details >>

Beautiful Eggs

Alice Lindstrom

This intricately illustrated board book offers a kid-friendly introduction to the long history of egg decoration, which spans several cultures and countries: the Czech Republic, Greece, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Slovakia, and Ukraine. On each page, die cut--style capital letters announce the name of the specific culture's practice, while Lindstrom offers a few lines of free verse detailing the decorations ("Colorful paper cut to the right size./ Snip out a zig zag on opposite sides./ Glue the paper onto the egg/ and fold it carefully into place," reads Japan's entry on washi). Beneath those lines, a brief paragraph explains a few more facts, including the country of origin and pronunciation (although the proffered Japanese pronunciation, "wah-shay," is incorrect). Each right-hand page presents a multilayered, cut-paper illustration of the eggs and figures clad in traditional cultural attire. An informative book that may provide further inspiration for Easter festivities. Ages 5--7

View Details >>

Easter Traditions Around the World

M. J. Cosson

Explores Easter traditions from around the world, including Easter eggs, the Easter bunny, food, and religious celebrations. Additional features to aid comprehension include a table of contents, a phonetic glossary, informative captions, detailed maps, sources for further research, an index, and introductions to the author and illustrator.

View Details >>

Easter Babies

Joy N. Hulme

NEW IN BOARD!
“When signs of spring are in the air, we look for babies everywhere!” Joy N. Hulme and Dan Andreasen, who created the beautiful Stable in Bethlehem, now capture the spirit of a holiday and a season--with a counting concept worked right in. From one newborn foal walking on wobbly legs and five open-billed nestlings eager for food to 11 children playing in the park and 12 church bells ringing, this lovely board book celebrates spring, Easter, and new life. Hulme's gentle rhyme and Andreasen's softly hued, charming pictures work in perfect harmony, and the adorable bunnies, fuzzy yellow chicks, and frolicking lambs will enchant children.

View Details >>

The Easter Story

Patricia A. Pingry

To Parents: This little book, which contains only about 200 words, can be used to gently introduce a young child to the meaning of Easter and to Christ's death and resurrection. Its bright and colorful illustrations, rendered in a simple style, make this a perfect book for toddlers.

View Details >>

What Is Easter?

Michelle Medlock Adams

An engaging introduction to the true meaning of Easter, now in a new, convenient size. Michelle Medlock Adams' warm, humorous text lists all of the things that Easter might be about, only to conclude that it is truly about celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus, our Savior. Through the whimsical art and rhyming, fun-to-read verse, even the youngest child will come to understand what Easter is. Ages 2-5.

View Details >>

Easter

Rebecca Pettiford

In Easter, early readers will learn about the Christian holiday of Easter and the ways people celebrate it. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text will engage emergent readers as they explore this unique holiday. A labeled diagram helps readers understand the symbols of Easter, while a picture glossary reinforces new vocabulary. Children can learn more about Easter online using our safe search engine that provides relevant, age-appropriate websites. Easter also features reading tips for teachers and parents, a table of contents, and an index. Easter is part of the Holidays series.

View Details >>

More Than Enough

April Halprin Wayland

A family's Passover celebration is equal parts warmth and charm in this cozy picture book, with the traditional seder song “Dayenu” as the grateful refrain.
 
In this story told in spare, lyrical prose, a Jewish family prepares for their Passover seder, visiting the farmer's market for walnuts, lilacs, and honey (and adopting a kitten along the way!), then chopping apples for the charoset, and getting dressed up before walking to Nana's house. The refrain throughout is “Dayenu”—a mind-set of thankfulness, a reminder to be aware of the blessings in each moment. At Nana's, there's matzo ball soup, chicken, coconut macaroons, and of course, the hidden afikomen. After opening the door for Elijah and singing the verses of “Chad Gadya,”Nana tucks the children in for a special Passover sleepover.
 
This warm, affectionate story embraces Passover in the spirit of dayenu, and offers a comprehensive glossary—it’s a perfect read for the entire family in anticipation and celebration of the holiday.

View Details >>

Is It Passover Yet?

Chris Barash

It's time to clean the house, set out our best dishes, and fill our homes with food and family to celebrate the joyous holiday of Passover! In this sweet story, join one family as they gather with loved ones to share the joy of togetherness and freedom that Passover brings.

View Details >>

The Story of Passover

David A. Adler

On Passover, Jewish people all over the world celebrate their freedom from slavery and their beginnings as a great nation. 

This simple introduction to the Passover story pairs an engaging retelling with bold illustrations, perfect for young readers.

One of the most significant holidays in Jewish tradition, Passover commemorates Moses leading his people out of slavery in Egypt.  The Story of Passover recounts the major events of the story in dramatic but accessible language, from Jacob settling in Egypt to the miraculous parting of the Red Sea. 

The text and images have been vetted for accuracy by a rabbinical authority, and the book includes an author's note about the modern Passover celebration, the seder, and how the different parts of the meal symbolize elements of the story.

View Details >>

Passover

Monique Polak

During Passover, Jews are reminded of how, more than three thousand years ago, their ancestors emerged from slavery to become free men and women. Bestselling author Monique Polak explores her own Jewish roots as she tells the Passover story, which reminds us that the freedom to be who we are and practice our religion, whatever it may be, is a great gift. It also teaches us that if we summon our courage and look out for each other, we can endure and overcome the most challenging circumstances. Enlivened by personal stories, Passover reminds us that we can all endure and overcome the most challenging circumstances.Passover is the first in a series of books called Orca Origins that will examine ancient traditions kept alive in the modern world. Other books in the series will cover Ramadan, Chinese New Year and Diwali.

View Details >>

The Longest Night

Laurel Snyder

 

A perfect picture book for the whole family this Passover.
Unlike other Passover picture books that focus on the contemporary celebration of the holiday, or are children's haggadahs, this gorgeous picture book in verse follows the actual story of the Exodus. Told through the eyes of a young slave girl, author Laurel Snyder and illustrator Catia Chien skillfully and gently depict the story of Pharoah, Moses, the 10 plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea in a remarkably accessible way. 

This dramatic adventure, set over 3,500 years ago, of a family that endures hardships and ultimately finds freedom is the perfect tool to help young children make sense of the origins of the Passover traditions.


"Evocative and beautiful... flawlessly evokes the spirit of the Old Testament story." —Publishers Weekly, Starred.

 

View Details >>

The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah

Leslie Kimmelman

A classic tale gets a Jewish twist, when Little Red Hen asks her friends for help making Passover matzah. 

Before she knows it, Little Red Hen tells herself, it will be time for Passover. So she decides to plant some grain.  But when she asks her friends to help, they're too busy for her.  "Sorry, bub," says the Horse.  "Think again," barks the dog. 

Oy gevalt!  "Friends, shmends," she says.  "I'll just do it myself."

But when the wheat is grown and harvested, when the flour is milled and the matzah baked and the Seder table set-- all by Red on her own--who should come to her door but her not-so-helpful friends?  Though she's tempted to turn them away, Little Red is a mensch-- and a mensch forgives.

Like her Haggadah says: Let all who are hungry come and eat.  But who will do all these dishes?

Filled with Yiddish phrases and a healthy dose of humor, this Passover tale of hard work, friendship, and forgiveness is not to be missed.  Bright cartoon illustrations add humor and detail to the story. 

Backmatter includes a glossary of Yiddish phrases, an author's note about the holiday, and a recipe for making your own Passover matzah.

View Details >>

The Passover Guest

Susan Kusel

Sydney Taylor Award Winner

A girl's kindness to a mysterious magician leads to a Passover miracle.


Beautifully illustrated and deftly told, this story full of hope, tradition-- and just a touch of magic-- is a new Passover classic in the making.

It's the Spring of 1933 in Washington D.C., and the Great Depression is hitting young Muriel's family hard. Her father has lost his job and her family barely has enough food most days-- let alone for a Passover Seder. They don't even have any wine to leave out for the prophet Elijah's ceremonial cup.

With no feast to rush home to, Muriel wanders by the Lincoln Memorial, where she encounters a mysterious magician in whose hands juggled eggs become lit candles. After she makes a kind gesture, he encourages her to run home for her Seder, and when she does, she encounters a holiday miracle: a bountiful feast of brisket, soup, and matzah, enough for their whole community to share.

But who was this mysterious benefactor? When Muriel sees Elijah's cup is empty, she has a good idea.

Sean Rubin's finely-detailed, historically-accurate illustrations, with a color pallete inspired by Marc Chagall, bring a strong sense of setting to this fresh retelling of the I.L. Peretz story best known through Uri Shulevitz's 1973 adaptation The Magician.

A perfect gift for those celebrating Passover, or to introduce the holiday traditions to young readers, The Passover Guest is sure to enchant readers of all ages.

Brief essays at the end of the story detail author Susan Kusel's inspiration for this retelling, artist Sean Rubin's influences and research, and introduce the traditions associated with Passover celebrations.

An Association of Jewish Libraries Spring Holiday Highlight
A CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book
A Booklist Editors' Choice
A CCBC Choice
A CSMCL Best Multicultural Children's Book of the Year

View Details >>

Who Left the Light On?

Richard Marnier

From French author-illustrator duo Richard Marnier and Aude Maurel comes a captivating picture book about creativity, diversity, and self-expression.

This is my town,
simple and typical.


Each house has a door,
two windows, a red roof
—all so predictable

But then one night… someone leaves on their light!
And in the morning, what a shock!
The shutters are sealed tight!

Who is that who lives next door?
We’ve never seen anything like this before!


In a town where everyone follows the rules, one neighbor’s decision to leave the light on at night completely disrupts the neighborhood, sparking a creative revolution. Vibrant, poetic, and fun, Who Left the Light On? playfully teaches the powerful lesson that diversity, creativity, and individuality should be celebrated.

View Details >>

My Grandma and Me

Mina Javaherbin

In a true tale of a young girl in Iran and her grandmother, this beautiful ode to family celebrates small moments of love that become lifelong memories.

In this big universe full of many moons, I have traveled and seen many wonders, but I have never loved anything or anyone the way I love my grandma.

While Mina is growing up in Iran, the center of her world is her grandmother. Whether visiting friends next door, going to the mosque for midnight prayers during Ramadan, or taking an imaginary trip around the planets, Mina and her grandma are never far apart. At once deeply personal and utterly universal, Mina Javaherbin's words make up a love letter of the rarest sort: the kind that shares a bit of its warmth with every reader. Soft, colorful, and full of intricate patterns, Lindsey Yankey's illustrations feel like a personal invitation into the coziest home, and the adoration between Mina and her grandma is evident on every page.

View Details >>

Salma the Syrian Chef

Danny Ramadan

Newcomer Salma and friends cook up a heartwarming dish to cheer up Mama.

All Salma wants is to make her mama smile again. Between English classes, job interviews, and missing Papa back in Syria, Mama always seems busy or sad. A homemade Syrian meal might cheer her up, but Salma doesn’t know the recipe, or what to call the vegetables in English, or where to find the right spices! Luckily, the staff and other newcomers at the Welcome Center are happy to lend a hand—and a sprinkle of sumac.

With creativity, determination, and charm, Salma brings her new friends together to show Mama that even though things aren’t perfect, there is cause for hope and celebration. Syrian culture is beautifully represented through the meal Salma prepares and Anna Bron’s vibrant illustrations, while the diverse cast of characters speaks to the power of cultivating community in challenging circumstances.

View Details >>

Once Upon an Eid

S. K. Ali

Now in paperback, a joyous short story collection by and about Muslims, edited by New York Times bestselling authors Aisha Saeed and S. K. Ali

Eid! The short, single syllable word conjures up a variety of feelings and memories for Muslims. Maybe it's waking up to the sound of frying samosas or the comfort of bean pie, maybe it's the pleasure of putting on a new outfit for Eid prayers, or maybe it's the gift giving and the holiday parties, or carnival rides to come that day. Whatever it may be, for those who cherish this day of celebration, the emotional responses may be summed up in another short and sweet word: joy.
Contributors include G. Willow Wilson, Hena Khan, N. H. Senzai, Hanna Alkaf, Rukhsana Khan, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Ashley Franklin, Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, Candice Montgomery, Huda Al-Marashi, Ayesha Mattu, Asmaa Hussein, and Sara Alfageeh.

 

View Details >>

Ramadan

Ausma Zehanat Khan

The month of Ramadan offers the opportunity to improve one's personal and spiritual behavior. By focusing on positive thoughts and actions, Muslims build a closer connection with God and come away from the month feeling spiritually renewed. Ramadan: The Holy Month of Fasting explores the richness and diversity of the Islamic tradition by focusing on an event of great spiritual significance and beauty in the lives of Muslims. Rich with personal stories and stunning photographs, Ramadan demystifies the traditions and emphasizes the importance of diversity in a world where Islamophobia is on the rise.

View Details >>

Rashad's Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr

Lisa Bullard

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and text highlighting for an engaging read aloud experience!

For Muslims, Ramadan is a time for fasting, prayer, and thinking of others.

Rashad tries to be good all month. When it's time for Eid al-Fitr, he feasts and plays! Find out how people celebrate this special time of year.

Learn the history behind the days people celebrate in the Holidays and Special Days series. Each book follows a young narrator through the process of preparing for and celebrating a special event.

View Details >>

Red Shoes

Karen English

Red shoes glowing--Perched on a pedestal in the shop windowas if on a throne."I want those, Nana," Malika says, as they pass the shop."We'll see," Nana says with a wink. "Looks like you could use a new pair."

 

Malika is delighted when Nana surprises her with a beautiful new pair of red shoes! And with a click-clack-click and a swish, swish, swish, Malika wears her wonderful new shoes everywhere she goes. But one day, the shoes begin to pinch Malika's toes. And alas, they don't let her forget that her feet have grown! Soon Malika and Nana are off to the Rare Finds Resale Shop, where the shoes can be resold -- so somebody else can enjoy them!Who will be the next to wear the red shoes? Malika wonders.Then Inna Ziya buys the shoes, and readers follow the shoes all the way across the world to Ghana in Africa, where Amina, another little girl, who has fasted her first time for Ramadan is about to get an amazing gift!Karen English and Ebony Glenn have crafted a satisfying and heartwarming story about a pair of shoes, two girls, and a connection they share across continents.

View Details >>

The Gift of Ramadan

Rabiah York Lumbard

Sophia wants to fast for Ramadan this year. Her grandma tells her that fasting helps make a person sparkly—and Sophia loves sparkles. But when her attempt at fasting fails, Sophia must find another way to participate. This lovely multigenerational family story explores the many ways to take part in the Ramadan holiday.

View Details >>

Our Favorite Day of the Year

A. E. Ali

“Gorgeously inviting illustrations and a joyful theme…the consummate first day read.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

A heartwarming picture book following a group of boys from different backgrounds throughout the school year as they become the best of friends.

Musa’s feeling nervous about his first day of school. He’s not used to being away from home and he doesn’t know any of the other kids in his class. And when he meets classmates Moisés, Mo, and Kevin, Musa isn’t sure they’ll have much in common. But over the course of the year, the four boys learn more about each other, the holidays they celebrate, their favorite foods, and what they like about school. The more they share with each other, the closer they become, until Musa can’t imagine any better friends.

In this charming story of friendship and celebrating differences, young readers can discover how entering a new friendship with an open mind and sharing parts of yourself brings people together. And the calendar of holidays at the end of the book will delight children as they identify special events they can celebrate with friends throughout the year.

View Details >>

Amira's Picture Day

Reem Faruqi

Ramadan has come to an end, and Amira can't wait to stay home from school to celebrate Eid. There's just one hiccup: it's also school picture day. How can Amira be in two places at once?

An ALSC Notable Children's Book

Just the thought of Eid makes Amira warm and tingly inside. From wearing new clothes to handing out goody bags at the mosque, Amira can't wait for the festivities to begin. But when a flier on the fridge catches her eye, Amira's stomach goes cold. Not only is it Eid, it's also school picture day. If she's not in her class picture, how will her classmates remember her? Won't her teacher wonder where she is?

Though the day's celebrations at the mosque are everything Amira was dreaming of, her absence at picture day weighs on her. A last-minute idea on the car ride home might just provide the solution to everything in this delightful story from acclaimed author Reem Faruqi, illustrated with vibrant color by Fahmida Azim.

A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
A CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year
A CSMCL Best Multicultural Children's Book of the Year

View Details >>

Blood, Fire and Gold

Estelle Paranque

'A story told with verve and passion' The Times, Book of the Week

'An alternative and engaging biography...accessible and unpretentious' The Telegraph

'A stunning portrayal of two of the most powerful women in European history' Tracy Borman

'Exciting and compelling, packed full of tantalising details of diplomacy and court life, Paranque succeeds both in bringing history to life, but also in putting flesh on the bones of these two extraordinary women and rival queens' Kate Mosse

'A smart and stylish portrait of two of Europe's most remarkable rulers, a compelling profile of female power and - that rarest of things - a truly original book about the Tudor period' Jessie Childs

In sixteenth-century Europe, two women came to hold all the power, against all the odds. They were Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici.

One a Virgin Queen who ruled her kingdom alone, and the other a clandestine leader who used her children to shape the dynasties of Europe, much has been written about these iconic women. But nothing has been said of their complicated relationship- thirty years of friendship, competition and conflict that changed the face of Europe.

This is a story of two remarkable visionaries- a story of blood, fire and gold. It is also a tale of ceaseless calculation, of love and rivalry, of war and wisdom - and of female power in a male world. Shining new light on their legendary kingdoms Blood, Fire and Gold provides a new way of looking at two of history's most powerful women, and how they shaped each other as profoundly as they shaped the course of history. Drawing on their letters and brand new research, Estelle Paranque writes an entirely new chapter in the well-worn story of the sixteenth century.

View Details >>

The Sporty One

Melanie Chisholm

An intimate memoir from international pop star Melanie Chisholm--better known as Mel C. or Sporty Spice--chronicling her trajectory from small-town girl to overnight icon as part of the Spice Girls.

I never told my story before because I wasn't ready. Now, finally, I am.

25 years ago, The Spice Girls, a girl band that began after five women answered an ad in the paper, released their first single. 'Wannabe' became a hit and from that moment, Melanie Chisholm's life changed forever.

Almost overnight, Melanie went from small town girl to Sporty Spice, part of one of the biggest music groups in history, releasing hit after hit, performing in packed arenas, and spreading the message of Girl Power to the world. It was everything Mel had dreamed of growing up: The BRITs! A movie! Travelling the world playing iconic venues like Madison Square Garden, Wembley Stadium and the London 2012 Olympics!

When you're a woman, though, that power can be easily taken away by those around you, whether by pressure, exhaustion, shaming, bullying or a constant feeling like you aren't enough. Mel C has been known by many names -- Sporty Spice, Melanie C or just plain old Melanie Chisholm -- but what you will read within the pages of this book is who she truly is, and how she found peace with that after all these years.

Filled with enlightening and lively reminiscences, revisiting both Mel's darkest times and her highest peaks, WHO I AM will inspire, empower, and entertain readers.

View Details >>

La Duchesse

Bronwen McShea

A rich portrait of a compelling, complex woman who emerged from a sheltered rural childhood into the fraught, often deadly world of the French royal court and Parisian high society—and who would come to rule them both.

Married off at sixteen to a military officer she barely knew, Marie de Vignerot was intended to lead an ordinary aristocratic life, produce heirs, and quietly assist the men in her family rise to prominence. Instead, she became a widow at eighteen and rose to become the indispensable and highly visible right-hand of the most powerful figure in French politics—the ruthless Cardinal Richelieu.

Richelieu was her uncle and, as he lay dying, the Cardinal broke with tradition and entrusted her, above his male heirs, with his vast fortune. She would go on to shape her country’s political, religious, and cultural life as the unconventional and independent Duchesse d’Aiguillon in ways that reverberated across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Marie de Vignerot was respected, beloved, and feared by churchmen, statesmen, financiers, writers, artists, and even future canonized saints. Many would owe their careers and eventual historical legacies to her patronage and her enterprising labor and vision. Pope Alexander VII and even the Sun King, Louis XIV, would defer to her. She was one of the most intelligent, accomplished, and occasionally ruthless French leaders of the seventeenth century. Yet, as all too often happens to great women in history, she was all but forgotten by modern times.

La Duchesse is the first fully researched modern biography of Vignerot, putting her onto center stage in the histories of France and the globalizing Catholic Church where she belongs. In these pages, we see Marie navigate scandalous accusations and intrigue to creatively and tenaciously champion the people and causes she cared about. We also see her engage with fascinating personalities such as Queen Marie de Médici and influence French imperial ambitions and the Fronde Civil War. Filled with adventure and daring, art and politics, La Duchesse establishes Vignerot as a figure without whom France’s storied Golden Age cannot be fully understood.

View Details >>

No Filter

Paulina Porizkova

“A book about a rare life, profound love, profound grief, anxiety, self-assurance, empowerment, aging, loss, and joy. It is nuanced, complex, insightful, helpful, and constantly surprising.” —Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of These Precious Days

Writer and former model Paulina Porizkova pens a series of intimate, introspective, and enlightening essays about the complexities of womanhood at every age, pulling back the glossy magazine cover and writing from the heart.


Born in Cold War Czechoslovakia, Paulina Porizkova rose to prominence as a model, appearing on her first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover in 1984.  As the face of Estée Lauder in 1989, she was one of the highest-paid models in the world. When she was cast in the music video for the song “Drive” by The Cars, it was love at first sight for her and frontman Ric Ocasek. He was forty at the time, and Porizkova was nineteen. The decades to come would bring marriage, motherhood, a budding writing career; and later sadness, loneliness, isolation, and eventually divorce. Following her ex-husband’s death—and the revelation of a deep betrayal—Porizkova stunned fans with her fierce vulnerability and disarming honesty as she let the whole world share in her experience of being a woman who must start over.
 
This is a wise and compelling exploration of heartbreak, grief, beauty, aging, relationships, re-invention and finding your purpose. In these essays, Porizkova bares her soul and shares the lessons she’s learned—often the hard way. After a lifetime of being looked at, she is ready to be heard.

View Details >>

Agatha Christie

Lucy Worsley

A new, fascinating account of the life of Agatha Christie from celebrated literary and cultural historian Lucy Worsley.

"Nobody in the world was more inadequate to act the heroine than I was."

Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was “just” an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn’t? Her life is fascinating for its mysteries and its passions and, as Lucy Worsley says, "She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern." She went surfing in Hawaii, she loved fast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, which helped her through devastating mental illness.

So why—despite all the evidence to the contrary—did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure?

She was born in 1890 into a world that had its own rules about what women could and couldn’t do. Lucy Worsley’s biography is not just of a massively, internationally successful writer. It's also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class and gender, became an astonishingly successful working woman.

With access to personal letters and papers that have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley’s biography is both authoritative and entertaining and makes us realize what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christie was—truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century.

View Details >>

Miss Chloe

A. J. Verdelle

"The award-winning author of The Good Negress shares invaluable insights on the precarious journey toward creativity that is the writer's life, and tells the compelling story of her relationship with Toni Morrison, painting an illuminating portrait of this towering yet enigmatic cultural icon. With the publication of her debut novel The Good Negress in 1995, A. J. Verdelle became an overnight sensation, winning critical acclaim and competing for prestigious literature prizes. But for Verdelle, the most unexpected consequence was the friendship she formed with the legendary Toni Morrison. Receiving an advance copy of the book, the Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author-notorious for never giving early praise-called The Good Negress, "Truly Extraordinary." It was a writer's dream come true-a dream that for Verdelle would become simultaneously exhilarating and challenging. Now, twenty-five years later, Verdelle tells the story of that success and what came after. Miss Chloe begins with the story of young Verdelle's persistent aim to become an author, spending countless pre-dawn hours writing the novel that became The Good Negress. Verdelle then turns to the heady period after publication, focusing on her relationship with Toni-a precious gift that was most of the time a grace and a blessing, and at other times, confusing and too separate from literature. While Morrison continued to rise as an icon, Verdelle's writing career took a sharp turn. Verdelle's next novel-a Western featuring Black characters-is quickly bought by a young editor who leaves for another job before the manuscript is finished. Searching for direction, Verdelle moves to another publisher. Yet this second book will languish for more than fifteen years. In chronicling her journey, Verdelle offers an honest assessment of what it means to be a writer, including the expectations and let downs that famous friendships do not defray. Miss Chloe ends with the period after Morrison has passed away, when Verdelle is left to face the reality of her writing career, pondering what it means to have promise that is yet to materialize. She finds comfort in advice Morrison offered over the years, insight she shares in this wise book. "In order for Morrison to take you seriously, to have patience with you, to be interested, you had to be able to hear her," Verdelle writes. "You had to be able to sit still and listen. You had to be able to pipe up in the pauses, and prove you understood. You needed demonstrate that language was a skill you had, that Black culture was known to you and respected by you""--

View Details >>

Lady Director

Joyce Chopra

An intimate account of a seminal filmmaker's development--as a creator and as a woman--both in art and in life.

"Joyce Chopra, what a gift of an extraordinary filmmaker you are, and one of our great pioneers who forged a very difficult path. And for female filmmakers everywhere, we are so blessed to have you as a storyteller to forge the way to make it easier for others."--Laura Dern, actor

Hailed by the New Yorker as "a crucial forebear of generations," award-winning director Joyce Chopra came of age in the 1950s, prior to the dawn of feminism, and long before the #MeToo movement. As a young woman, it seemed impossible that she might one day realize her dream of becoming a film director--she couldn't name a single woman in that role. But with her desire fueled by a stay in Paris during the heady beginnings of the French New Wave, she was determined to find a way.

Chopra got her start making documentary films with the legendary D.A. Pennebaker. From her ground-breaking autobiographical short, Joyce at 34 (which was acquired for NY MoMA'S permanent collection), to her rousingly successful first feature, Smooth Talk (winner of the Best Director and Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1985), to a series of increasingly cruel moves by Hollywood producers unwilling to accept a woman in the director's role, Chopra's career trajectory was never easy or straightforward.

In this engaging, candid memoir, Chopra describes how she learned to navigate the deeply embedded sexism of the film industry, helping to pave the way for a generation of women filmmakers who would come after her. She shares stories of her bruising encounters with Harvey Weinstein and Sydney Pollack, her experience directing Diane Keaton, Treat Williams, and a host of other actors, as well as her deep friendships with Gene Wilder, Arthur Miller, and Laura Dern.

Along with the successes and failures of her career, she provides an intimate view of a woman's struggle to balance the responsibilities and rewards of motherhood and marriage with a steadfast commitment to personal creative achievement. During a career spanning six decades, Joyce Chopra has worked through monumental shifts in her craft and in the culture at large, and the span of her life story offers a view into the implacable momentum of the push for all womens' liberation.

"Joyce Chopra has written a devastatingly frank, candid, and unsparing memoir of her life as a film director--a 'woman director' in a field notoriously dominated by men. The reader is astonished on her behalf, at times infuriated, moved to laughter, and then to tears. Lady Director: Adventures in Hollywood, Television, and Beyond is one of its kind--highly recommended." --Joyce Carol Oates, author of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

 

View Details >>

The Pirate's Wife

Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos

The dramatic and deliciously swashbuckling story of Sarah Kidd, the wife of the famous pirate Captain Kidd, charting her transformation from New York socialite to international outlaw during the Golden Age of Piracy

Captain Kidd was one of the most notorious pirates to ever prowl the seas. But few know that Kidd had an accomplice, a behind-the-scenes player who enabled his plundering and helped him outpace his enemies.

That accomplice was his wife, Sarah Kidd, a well-to-do woman whose extraordinary life is a lesson in reinvention and resourcefulness. Twice widowed by twenty-one and operating within the strictures of polite society in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century New York, Sarah secretly aided and abetted her husband, fighting alongside him against his accusers. More remarkable still was that Sarah not only survived the tragedy wrought by her infamous husband's deeds, but went on to live a successful and productive life as one of New York's most prominent citizens.

Marshaling in newly discovered primary-source documents from archives in London, New York and Boston, historian and journalist Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos reconstructs the extraordinary life of Sarah Kidd, uncovering a rare example of the kind of life that pirate wives lived during the Golden Age of Piracy. A compelling tale of love, treasure, motherhood and survival, this landmark work of narrative nonfiction weaves together the personal and the epic in a sweeping historical story of romance and adventure.

View Details >>

Yellen

Jon Hilsenrath

"A vivid portrait of an exceptional woman and a lively history of the economic and financial crises that helped make the treasury secretary and former Fed chair who she is today." --Sylvia Nasar, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Beautiful Mind

"Captivating. . . . Part biography, part history of ideas, the book provides a fascinating window into the ways thinking on economic policy has evolved in the last 25 years. . . . A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the current economic challenges we face." --Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lords of Finance

An engrossing and deeply human chronicle of the past fifty years of American economic and social upheaval, viewed through the consequential life of the most powerful woman in American economic history, Janet Yellen, and her unconventional partnership in marriage and work with Nobel Laureate George Akerlof.

At the dawn of the 21st century, many of America's leaders believed that free trade, modern finance, technology, and wise government policy had paved the way for a new era of prosperity. Then came a cascade of disasters--a bursting tech bubble, domestic terror attacks, a housing market implosion, a financial system crisis, a deadly global pandemic. These events led to serial recessions, deepened America's political fractures and widened the divide between those best off and everyone else.

Award-winning economics writer Jon Hilsenrath examines what happened, viewing events through the experiences of two historic figures: Janet Yellen was Treasury Secretary, Federal Reserve Chairwoman and Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Her husband, George Akerlof, was an imaginative Nobel prize-winning economist.

Long before the upheaval of the past two decades, Akerlof warned of flaws in modern economic thinking; then Yellen had to fix the economy on the fly as it cracked.

In telling their story, Hilsenrath explores long-running intellectual battles over the fragile balance between unruly democratic government and unpredictable markets. He introduces readers to the cast of modern intellectuals and policy makers who deciphered, shaped, and steered these systems through prosperity, chaos, and reformation. And he explains what went wrong, why, and what might happen next.

What emerges is an absorbing examination of how humans think and behave, and how those actions shape markets, inform economic policy, and could determine the future of a now-deeply divided nation.

Hilsenrath reminds us that economics is neither science nor ideology, as some once wished or promised.

Economics is an endeavor.

Most good love stories are, too.

View Details >>

Sisters in Resistance

Tilar J. Mazzeo

In a tale as twisted as any spy thriller, find out how three women were drawn together to deliver critical evidence of Axis war crimes to Allied forces during World War II: "Mazzeo is a fascinating storyteller" (New York Journal of Books).

In 1944, the war had reached its climax in continental Europe. News of secret diaries kept by Italy's former Foreign Minister, Galeazzo Ciano, had permeated public consciousness. What wasn't reported, however, was how three women--a Fascist's daughter, a German spy, and an American socialite--risked their lives to ensure the diaries would reach the Allied forces, who would use the papers as key evidence against the Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials.

Just a year earlier, Edda Mussolini, Benito Mussolini's daughter, had given Hitler and her father an ultimatum: release her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, from prison, or risk her leaking her husband's journals to the press.

Knowing the diaries will expose Nazi lies and create a foundation for a criminal war crimes prosecution, Hitler and Mussolini vow to do everything in their power to see the diaries destroyed--even if it means liquidating Mussolini's daughter. To do this, they ordered Hilde Beetz, a German spy, to seduce Ciano in prison in order to learn the diaries' location. As the seducer becomes the seduced, however, Hilde shifts her loyalties and becomes a double agent, joining forces with Edda to save Ciano from execution. When this fails, Edda flees to Switzerland with Hilde's daring assistance to keep Ciano's final wish: to see the diaries published for use by the Allies.

When the head of United States' intelligence, Alan Dulles, learns of Edda's escape, he sends in socialite Frances De Chollet, an "accidental" spy, assigned by chance to a mission that would change her life. Her task is to find Edda, gain her trust, and, crucially, hand the diaries over to the Americans. Against all expectations, what develops is a rich and humanizing friendship between the two women. One step ahead of the Gestapo agents who are hunting Edda, together they succeed in preserving one of the most important historic documents of the Second World War.

Drawing from in-depth research and first-person interviews with people who witnessed parts of this true story, Mazzeo gives readers a riveting look into this little-known moment in cultural history and shows how, without Edda, Hilde, and Frances's involvement, certain convictions would never have been possible at Nuremberg. Sisters in Resistance is a powerful look at women's intelligence work during WWII, a moving story of unlikely wartime friendships, and an inspirational investigation into three people who, navigated the place where truth, loyalty, justice, and betrayal collide.

View Details >>

Code Name Blue Wren

Jim Popkin

*Apple Book of the Month for January*



The incredible true story of Ana Montes, the most damaging female spy in US history, drawing upon never-before-seen material and to be published upon her release from prison, for readers of Agent Sonya and A Woman of No Importance.



Just days after the 9-11 attacks, a senior Pentagon analyst eased her red Toyota Echo into traffic and headed to work. She never saw the undercover cars tracking her every turn. As she settled into her cubicle on the 6th floor of the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, FBI Agents and twitchy DIA officers were hiding in nearby offices. For this was the day that Ana Montes--the US Intelligence Community superstar who had just won a prestigious fellowship at the CIA--was to be arrested and publicly exposed as a secret agent for Cuba.



Like spies Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen before her, Ana Montes blindsided her colleagues with brazen acts of treason. For nearly 17 years, Montes succeeded in two high-stress jobs. By day, she was one of the government's top Cuba experts, a buttoned-down GS-14 with shockingly easy access to classified documents. By night, she was on the clock for Fidel Castro, listening to coded messages over shortwave radio, passing US secrets to handlers in local restaurants, and slipping into Havana wearing a wig.



Montes didn't just deceive her country. Her betrayal was intensely personal. Her mercurial father was a former US Army Colonel. Her brother and sister-in-law were FBI Special Agents. And her only sister, Lucy, also worked her entire career for the Bureau. The highlight of her distinguished 31 years as a Miami-based language specialist: Helping the FBI flush Cuban spies out of the United States. Little did Lucy or her family know that the greatest Cuban spy of all was sitting right next to them at Thanksgivings, baptisms, and weddings.



In Code Name Blue Wren, investigative journalist Jim Popkin weaves the tale of two sisters who chose two very different paths, plus the unsung heroes who had to fight to bring Ana to justice. With exclusive access to a "Secret" CIA behavioral profile of Ana, family memoirs, and Ana's incriminating letters from prison, Popkin reveals the making of a traitor--a woman labelled "one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history" by America's top counter-intelligence official.



After more than two decades in federal prison, Montes will be freed in January 2023. Code Name Blue Wren is a thrilling detective tale, an insider's look at the clandestine world of espionage, and an intimate exploration of the dark side of betrayal.

View Details >>

Mary, Founder of Christianity

Chris Maunder

Who was Mary? A radical rediscovery of the historical mother of Jesus

A radical reassessment of the role of Mary the mother of Jesus and other women in the early Church

Despite the commonly held assumption that the Bible says little about the mother of Jesus, there are many indications that Mary preceded and inspired her son in fostering the emergence of a new faith community. In the Gospel of John, Mary instigates Jesus’ first miracle, and in all four gospels she is present at the crucifixion, suggesting hers was a place of unparalleled importance in the Christian story.

Setting aside presuppositions based on doctrine, Chris Maunder returns to the New Testament to answer the question ‘Who was Mary?’ He re-examines the virgin conception of Jesus, Mary’s contribution to Jesus’ ministry, and her central role in the events of the crucifixion and the resurrection. In so doing, Maunder casts a thought-provoking new light on Mary and the women, including Mary Magdalene, who stood alongside her.

View Details >>

Sister Novelists

Devoney Looser

For readers of Prairie Fires and The Peabody Sisters, a fascinating, insightful biography of the most famous sister novelists before the Brontës.

Before the Brontë sisters picked up their pens, or Jane Austen's heroines Elizabeth and Jane Bennet became household names, the literary world was celebrating a different pair of sisters: Jane and Anna Maria Porter. The Porters-exact contemporaries of Jane Austen-were brilliant, attractive, self-made single women of polite reputation who between them published 26 books and achieved global fame. They socialized among the rich and famous, tried to hide their family's considerable debt, and fell dramatically in and out of love. Their moving letters to each other confess every detail. Because the celebrity sisters expected their renown to live on, they preserved their papers, and the secrets they contained, for any biographers to come.

But history hasn't been kind to the Porters. Credit for their literary invention was given to their childhood friend, Sir Walter Scott, who never publicly acknowledged the sisters' works as his inspiration. With Scott's more prolific publication and even greater fame, the Porter sisters gradually fell from the pinnacle of celebrity to eventual obscurity. Now, Professor Devoney Looser, a Guggenheim fellow in English Literature, sets out to re-introduce the world to the authors who cleared the way for Austen, Mary Shelley, and the Brontë sisters. Capturing the Porter sisters' incredible rise, from when Anna Maria published her first book at age 14 in 1793, through to Jane's fall from the pinnacle of fame in the Victorian era, and then to the auctioning off for a pittance of the family's massive archive, Sister Novelists is a groundbreaking and enthralling biography of two pioneering geniuses in historical fiction.

View Details >>

A Natural Woman

Carole King

Read the New York Times bestselling memoir that is "revealing, humble, and cool-aunt chatty" about the incredible life that inspired the hit Broadway musical Beautiful. (Rolling Stone)

Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of all time. A Natural Woman chronicles King's extraordinary life, drawing readers into her musical world, including her phenomenally successful #1 album Tapestry, and into her journey as a performer, mother, wife and present-day activist. Deeply personal, King's memoir offers readers a front-row seat to the woman behind the legend and includes dozens of photos from her childhood, her own family, and behind-the-scenes images from her performances.

View Details >>

Memorial Drive

Natasha Trethewey

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

A New York Times Notable Book

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020

Named One of the Best Books of the Year by: The Washington Post, NPR, Shelf Awareness, Esquire, Electric Literature, Slate, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and InStyle

A chillingly personal and exquisitely wrought memoir of a daughter reckoning with the brutal murder of her mother at the hands of her former stepfather, and the moving, intimate story of a poet coming into her own in the wake of a tragedy



At age nineteen, Natasha Trethewey had her world turned upside down when her former stepfather shot and killed her mother. Grieving and still new to adulthood, she confronted the twin pulls of life and death in the aftermath of unimaginable trauma and now explores the way this experience lastingly shaped the artist she became.

With penetrating insight and a searing voice that moves from the wrenching to the elegiac, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey explores this profound experience of pain, loss, and grief as an entry point into understanding the tragic course of her mother's life and the way her own life has been shaped by a legacy of fierce love and resilience. Moving through her mother's history in the deeply segregated South and through her own girlhood as a "child of miscegenation" in Mississippi, Trethewey plumbs her sense of dislocation and displacement in the lead-up to the harrowing crime that took place on Memorial Drive in Atlanta in 1985.

Memorial Drive is a compelling and searching look at a shared human experience of sudden loss and absence but also a piercing glimpse at the enduring ripple effects of white racism and domestic abuse. Animated by unforgettable prose and inflected by a poet's attention to language, this is a luminous, urgent, and visceral memoir from one of our most important contemporary writers and thinkers.

View Details >>