In 1900, Addie, an American missionary in China, goes missing during the Boxer Rebellion. Her sister Louisa anticipates tragedy, certain that Addie’s fate is intertwined with her own legacy of loss. In 1958, Louisa’s daughter Hazel has her world upended by the untimely death of her husband. Yet even while she learns to enjoy her independence, Hazel realizes that the tradeoff for some freedoms is more precious than expected. Nearly half a century later, Juanlan has returned to her parents’ home in Heng’an. Her father is ill, and her sister-in-law is soon to give birth. Frustrated by obligation and the smallness of her own dreams, Juanlan at last dares to follow desire, only to discover an anger that cannot be contained.
At the doors of a charming country church, an unspeakable act destroys a wedding party. A huge manhunt ensues. The culprit is captured. The story is over. Except it isn't. For Alan Banks, still struggling with a tragic loss of his own, there's something wrong about this case --- something unresolved. Reteaming with profiler Jenny Fuller, the relentless detective dives deeper into the crime...deep enough to unearth long-buried secrets that reshape everything Banks thought he knew about the events outside that chapel. And when at last the shocking truth becomes clear, it's almost too late.
Lucy Durant was only 14 years old when she lost her older brother. First to his paranoid delusions as he became increasingly obsessed with UFOs and government conspiracies. Then, permanently, when he walked into the desert outside Bishop, California, and never returned. Now on the 10th anniversary of Nolan's mysterious disappearance, Lucy is still struggling with guilt and confusion --- her memories from that period are blurry and obscured by time, distance and alcohol. But when a series of unsettling events leads Lucy back to Bishop, she is forced to reconcile with her estranged mother and come to terms with the tangled memories of her past to discover what really happened to her brother all those years ago.
Mauro Larrea’s fortune, the result of years of hardship and toil, comes crashing down on the heels of a calamitous event. Swamped by debt and uncertainty, he gambles the last of his money in a daring play that wins him an abandoned house and a vineyard an ocean away. Mauro travels to Andalusia de Jerez in Spain with every intention of selling the property and returning to Mexico. That is, until he meets the unsettling Soledad Montalvo, the wife of a London wine merchant, who bursts into his life unannounced, determined to protect her family’s legacy. Before long, Larrea finds himself immersed in the rich culture of the sherry trade. As his feelings for Soledad ripen into a consuming passion, he seeks to restore the vineyard to its former glory.
For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the ’60s, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. From the start, she sets down rules for them, the most important of which is to never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Yet the children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart.
Anna Kerrigan accompanies her father to visit Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. She is mesmerized by the sea beyond the house and by some charged mystery between the two men. Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that once belonged to men, now soldiers abroad. She becomes the first female diver, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. One evening at a nightclub, she meets Dexter Styles again, and begins to understand the complexity of her father’s life and the reasons he might have vanished.
Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson weaves a narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy. He produced the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and technology.
M.J. Stark’s life is picture-perfect, but there is a debilitating sense of loneliness behind her success. So when her boss betrays her and her boyfriend offers her a completely new life in California, she decides to give it a try. Once there, M.J. is left to fend for herself in a small beach town, with only the company of her elderly neighbor, Gloria. One afternoon, M.J. discovers that Gloria has suddenly moved to Paris. In lieu of a goodbye, she’s left a mysterious invitation to a secret club --- one that only reads erotic books. Curious, M.J. accepts and meets the three other hand-selected club members. As they bond over naughty bestsellers and the shocking letters they inherited from the original club members, the four strangers start to divulge the intimate details of their own lives.
Sent away from his native Australia to Canada due to his radical preaching against the Vietnam War, apartheid and other hot-button issues, Father Frank Docherty made for himself a satisfying career as a psychologist and monk. When he returns to Australia to lecture on the future of celibacy and the Catholic Church, he is unwittingly pulled into the lives of two people, both of whom claim to have been sexually abused by a prominent monsignor. As a member of the commission investigating sex abuse within the Church, and as a man of character and conscience, Docherty decides he must confront each party involved. What follows will shake him to the core and call into question many of his own choices.
It's been too long since the entire Quinn family has been able to celebrate the holidays under the same roof, but that's about to change. With Bart back safe and sound from Afghanistan, the Quinns are preparing for a holiday more joyous than any they've experienced in years. And Bart's safe return isn't the family's only good news. Kevin is enjoying married life with Isabelle; Patrick is getting back on his feet after paying his debt to society; Ava thinks she's finally found the love of her life; and Kelley is thrilled to see his family reunited at last. But it just wouldn't be a Quinn family gathering if things went smoothly.
Tell us about the books you’ve finished reading with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from April 25th to May 9th at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman and MY NAME IS EMILIA DEL VALLE by Isabel Allende.
Our major goal for 2025 is to redesign Bookreporter and the rest of the sites in The Book Report Network. How can you help? We have launched a GoFundMe campaign and are asking for donations. Any level of donation that you would be comfortable with is sincerely appreciated. If you would prefer donating via check, please send to:
The Book Report, Inc.
16 Mt. Bethel Road, Suite 365
Warren, NJ 07059
Click here to read more about our plans and to donate.
Coming Soon
Curious about what books will be released in the months ahead so you can pre-order or reserve them? Then click on the months below.
April's Books on Screen roundup includes the series finales of "Bosch: Legacy" on Prime Video and "Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light" on PBS "Masterpiece"; the season premieres of Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale" and Netflix's "You"; the season finales of "The Wheel of Time" on Prime Video and "Dark Winds" on AMC; the series premieres of The CW's "Sherlock & Daughter" and Netflix's "Ransom Canyon"; the films The Amateur, The King of Kings, That They May Face the Rising Sun and On Swift Horses; and the DVD/Blu-ray releases of A Complete Unknown, The Unbreakable Boy, Dog Man and Paddington in Peru.