Adult

Billionaire entrepreneur David Traynor has big dreams for fixing a broken government in his first term as president of the United States. Everyone in the capital is scrambling to adapt to the new disruptor in chief’s bold agenda, though many also want to see him fail. Unsure of whom he can trust, Traynor intends to turn to an unusual group of people to advise him, including the savvy and sometimes ruthless DC fixers Peter Rena and Randi Brooks. Though he is at the height of his career, Rena finds his world in chaos. When malicious, untraceable cyberattacks related to his past start seeping from the dark corners of the internet, his doubts overwhelm him. Then an unpredictable tragedy throws the country into crisis, and he must come out of his stupor.

One man --- visionary billionaire restaurant chain magnate T. R. Schmidt, Ph.D. --- has a Big Idea for reversing global warming, a master plan perhaps best described as “elemental.” But will it work? And just as important, what are the consequences for the planet and all of humanity should it be applied? Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, from the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, TERMINATION SHOCK brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming. Ultimately, it asks the question: Might the cure be worse than the disease?

Tiny is pregnant. Her husband is delighted. “You think this baby is going to be like you, but it’s not like you at all,” she warns him. “This baby is an owl-baby.” When Chouette is born small and broken-winged, Tiny works around the clock to meet her daughter’s needs. Left on her own to care for a child who seems more predatory bird than baby, Tiny vows to raise Chouette to be her authentic self. Even in those times when Chouette’s behaviors grow violent and strange, Tiny’s loving commitment to her daughter is unwavering. When she discovers that her husband is on an obsessive and increasingly dangerous quest to find a “cure” for their daughter, Tiny must decide if Chouette should be raised to fit in or to be herself --- and learn what it truly means to be a mother.

Fresh off her wolverine study in Montana, wildlife biologist Alex Carter lands a job studying a threatened population of polar bears in the Canadian Arctic. Embedded with a small team of Arctic researchers, she tracks the majestic bears by air, following them over vast, snowy terrain, spending days leaning precariously out of a helicopter with a tranquilizer gun, until she can get down on the ice to examine them up close. But as her study progresses, and she gathers data on the health of individual bears, things start to go awry. Her helicopter pilot quits unexpectedly, equipment goes missing, and a late-night intruder breaks into her lab and steals the samples she’s collected. Someone doesn’t want her to complete her study, but Alex is not easily deterred.

Louise Erdrich's THE SENTENCE asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading "with murderous attention," must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation and furious reckoning.

Ellice Littlejohn seemingly has it all: an Ivy League law degree, a well-paying job as a corporate attorney in midtown Atlanta, great friends, and a “for fun” relationship with a rich, charming executive who just happens to be her white boss. But everything changes one cold January morning when Ellice arrives in the executive suite and finds him dead with a gunshot to his head. And then she walks away like nothing has happened. Instead of grieving this tragedy, people are gossiping, the police are getting suspicious, and Ellice, the company’s lone Black attorney, is promoted to replace her boss. When she uncovers shady dealings inside the company, Ellice is trapped in an impossible ethical and moral dilemma.

Camille Gardener is a grieving --- and angry --- mother who, five years after her daughter’s death, is still obsessed with the privileged young man she believes to be responsible. When her rash actions draw the attention of a secret group of women --- the collective --- Camille is drawn into a dark web where these mothers share their wildly different stories of loss, as well as their desire for justice in a world where privilege denies accountability. Fueled by mutual rage, the collective members devise and act out retribution fantasies via precise, anonymous, highly coordinated revenge killings. As Camille struggles to comprehend whether this is a role-playing exercise or a terrifying reality, she must decide if these women are truly avenging angels or monsters.

Beginning with the film adaptation of BROOKLYN, Hanna Casey is starting a cinema club, showing movies based on popular novels her friends and neighbors love. But an unexpected twist leaves Hanna’s daughter, Jazz, reeling and may send her back to London. Aideen worries that her relationship with Conor won't survive the pressures of their planned double wedding with overbearing Eileen and manipulative Joe. Saira Khan throws herself into helping a troubled new arrival to Finfarran. Hanna enjoys getting closer to Brian until her ex-husband Malcolm returns, threatening her newfound contentment. As the club prepares for the first meeting of the summer, they’ll all face difficult choices. But will they get the happy endings they deserve?

Through her visibility and celebrity, Cokie Roberts was an inspiration and a role model for innumerable women and girls. A fixture on national television and radio for more than 40 years, she also wrote five bestselling books focusing on the role of women in American history. In this loving tribute, Cokie’s husband of 53 years, Steve Roberts, reflects not only on her many accomplishments, but on how she lived each day with a devotion to helping others. For Steve, Cokie’s private life was as significant and inspirational as her public one. Her commitment to celebrating and supporting other women was evident in everything she did, and her generosity and passion drove her personal and professional endeavors.

Adrift in a raft after a deadly ship explosion, nine people struggle for survival at sea. Three days pass. Short on water, food and hope, they spot a man floating in the waves. They pull him in. “Thank the Lord we found you,” a passenger says. “I am the Lord,” the man whispers. Is this strange and quiet man really who he claims to be? What actually happened to cause the explosion? Are the survivors already in heaven, or are they in hell? The story is narrated by Benji, one of the passengers, who recounts the events in a notebook that is later discovered --- a year later --- when the empty life raft washes up on the island of Montserrat. It falls to the island’s chief inspector, Jarty LeFleur, a man battling his own demons, to solve the mystery of what really happened.