Adult

As a financial crisis looms, Jamal “Jack” Shaban is trying to save his neighbors from bankruptcy. But who is Jack, really? For his flight attendant colleagues, he’s an object of desire, even love, particularly for his sweetly bawdy Wisconsinite best friend, Birdy. Birdy knows nothing about Dimra, Jack’s traditional Muslim wife, with whom Jack is desperate to have a child. Nor does Dimra know about Jack’s attraction to Marcia: an angry single mom new to the building. The resulting tangle of love, desire and conflict returns Jack to the violence of 1980s Gaza, where a taboo affair nearly destroyed his life. A man of many sides, Jack is a paragon of both desire and hope, someone who has committed to love because the alternative is utter darkness.

Ruth and her wife, Wyn, are living with their four children on their small farm in Radclyffe, New York. It’s a sweet life, but there’s a secret at its center, one that not even Ruth’s best friend, Caroline, knows. What Caroline does know is that she loves and depends on Ruth, and on the bond between their families. More than anything, she wants her tenderhearted son not to grow up lonely the way she did. Unfortunately, no one can assure her of that, especially not her husband. He just wants things to be easy and drama-free --- which is impossible, as he has donated his sperm to his cousin, Tobi, and her wife so that they could have kids of their own. Now those children are asking unanswerable questions. After an unexpected death in their community, all three couples are forced to confront the tensions that have long been buried beneath the surfaces of their lives.

Dr. Alexander Gregory, a psychologist recovering from the collapse of a high-profile criminal profiling unit, wants nothing more than a quiet life to finally sit and think things through. But his rare ability to understand the minds of violent offenders makes him hard to ignore --- especially when a small town is shaken by a brutal murder. Reluctantly pulled into the case, Gregory finds himself confronting not only a cunning predator, but the darker corners of his own mind.

Leigh is the last of the Wildes. She knows this because she watched them all die. Grief never truly fades, and even as the tragedy haunts her, Leigh carries on. So when the transport bus taking her to prison careens off the road, killing everyone onboard except her, she does what's in her nature. She survives. While searching for a place to hide, Leigh stumbles upon an unexpected sanctuary: a flower farm in rural Alabama tucked away from the world. What Leigh doesn't expect is the found family there who have built something from the wreckage of their own lives. Slowly, Leigh finds peace with the hard pace and soft nature of the farm, taking comfort in the life blooming around her. But the past isn't so easily buried. No matter how far she runs, the truth of who she is and the ghosts of the Wildes follow.

Klara never wanted the house with the white picket fence. Troy never wanted anything else. Nothing is quite right with this happy couple, but isn't every home hiding something? Mary, the mother in the blue house, is cleaning out her son's old room before she sells, haunted by the mistakes of her past and afraid of what her home has become. Henry, freshly laid off and back living with his parents, has plenty of time to watch everyone --- especially wives. He knows something is wrong with the couple across the street. But then, nothing is quite what it seems and sometimes you miss what's right in front of you. Murder will soon thread its way through this world in ways no one will see coming --- unless you've been the one plotting it all along.

Meet the sorority sisters of Theta Gamma Mu. Roxy Callahan Gentry, the ruthless former sorority president and current hostess who has choreographed every detail of this weekend. Amelia Dell, the widow drenched in old money and alcohol. Jamie Vale, the double-legacy pledge, now a top cardiologist. Beth Harrison, the scholarship student who never quite fit in and was only admitted because her best friend Sunny insisted that the two were a package deal. Sunny Spencer, the carefree and beloved friend to all, until she wasn't. They've been summoned to celebrate the engagement of Roxy's son to Beth's daughter. But the refurbished 1920s estate is eerily reminiscent of the hotel where tragedy struck 25 years ago. Long-simmering tensions and shocking secrets begin bubbling to the surface like bodies.

1961, England. The Queen is spending a night on board the royal train with her entourage and her sister, Princess Margaret. But before they reach their destination, an unreliable witness claims to have seen a brutal murder from one of the carriages. The Queen and her assistant private secretary, Joan McGraw, get to work on their second joint investigation. No one else saw the crime. If there is a victim, could he be the missing photographer friend of Margaret’s new husband, Tony Armstrong Jones? This time, the Cold War threatens to undermine the Queen’s upcoming visit to Italy. She and Joan must tackle dark forces that follow them all the way, in a tale of spies, lies and treachery.

Lucy Gardiner felt like she was put on earth to dance. Amid the chaos of her Massachusetts upbringing --- her loving, erratic brothers; her overburdened mother --- 12-year-old Lucy is discovered and cast on a new dance reality show. When its pop star judge, Bruise, takes an obsessive interest in her raw talent, Lucy’s life suddenly becomes what she’s always wanted. Or has it? In the whirlwind of talk shows, movie sets and extravagant Hollywood parties of her teenage years, Lucy slowly grows more alienated from her family. And when a series of youthful mistakes comes back to haunt her, she finds she must free herself from Bruise’s world of fame and all its trappings, and decide where her home truly is.

Oliver has become a TikTok/BookTok sensation for the way he’s candidly documented his decision to learn to read as an adult and his struggles and triumphs along the way. Here, he tells the full story behind his journey for the first time through the 21 key books that shaped and informed his experience. His story reveals the ways in which reading can teach each of us how to be better, more empathetic people. In just 365 days, Oliver went from barely being able to read a restaurant menu to closing in on his goal of finishing 100 books in a year. UNREAD is a moving reminder to all of us that words and stories have power, and that, no matter our past, it's never too late to grow.

Mr. Keating is an extraordinary teacher: brilliant, dedicated and possibly a few pages ahead in a book no one else is reading. He’s a magician able to enchant 14-year-olds into a love of writing and literature. Yet no student has lived up to the promise of their potential more than Clara Hightower. Over the course of three decades, Clara is a kindergarten thief, a high school genius, a Silicon Valley celebrity, and an animal rights activist turned terrorist. To tell Clara’s story, Mr. Keating must tell his own, including his courtship and marriage, his dreams of writing and comedy, his days in the classroom in lower Manhattan, along with the rivalry and friendship with his Head of School, and his eventual stroke and the isolation that follows.