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Before he was Mark Twain, he was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. After establishing himself as a journalist, satirist and lecturer, he settled in Hartford with his wife and three daughters, where he went on to write THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER and ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN. Twain threw himself into the hurly-burly of American culture and emerged as the nation’s most notable political pundit. At the same time, his madcap business ventures eventually bankrupted him. To economize, Twain and his family spent nine eventful years in exile in Europe. In this richly nuanced portrait of Mark Twain, acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow brings his considerable powers to bear on a man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune, and crafted his persona with meticulous care.

On an ordinary summer morning, the world is changed by the appearance of seven mysterious doors that seemingly lead to another world. People are, of course, mesmerized and intrigued: A new dimension filled with beauty and resources beckons them to step into an adventure. But, perhaps inevitably, people soon learn that what looks like paradise may very well be filled with danger. Ayanna and Olivia, two Black midwestern teens --- and twin sisters --- have different ideas of what may lie in the world beyond. But will their personal bond endure such wanton exploration? When one of them goes missing, will the other find solace on her own? And will she uncover the circumstances of what truly happened to her once constant companion and best friend?

Zoe, the daughter of an MIT professor, can envision her future anew at Harvard. Jack, a boy in Zoe’s organic chemistry class, matches her intellect and curiosity with every breath. When Jack refers Zoe for a position in a prestigious professor’s lab, the two become entwined as colleagues. They find themselves on the cusp of a breakthrough: the promise of immortality through a novel anti-aging drug. Zoe and Jack set off on their new project in secret. Finding encouraging results, they bring their work to an investor, drop out of Harvard, and form a startup. But after the money, the magazine covers, and the national news stories detailing their success, Zoe and Jack receive a startling accusation that threatens to destroy both the company they built and their partnership.

The daughter of Korean bodega owners, Jia Song has just made junior partner at her prestigious Manhattan law firm, and she is about to score the ultraluxe gold-on-gold Birkin bag of her dreams. So when her boss asks her to sit in on the hush-hush family implosion of a high-level client, she accepts without hesitation --- only to find out that it is one of the most famous Korean families in the world. The Park family’s net worth is estimated at a billion dollars, and their mega-successful Korean beauty brand has shaped the culture for the past two decades. But the patriarch is filing for divorce while his wife is dying, and their three children can’t stop snapping at one another. With both the family fortune and legacy under threat from the worst kind of scandal, it’s up to Jia to set things right --- and she only has a month to do it.

Puck is the nonbinary mastermind behind “Homewreckers,” a dating show that puts troubled couples through hell --- with a little help from their exes. Used to being the one pulling the strings, it shocks Puck when their life undergoes a plot twist of its own, and their college roommate, Mia, announces her engagement to her ex’s best friend, Damon. Having only recently broken up with longtime boyfriend Zander, and never having had much in common with Damon, Mia’s news leaves her friend group reeling. When they arrive for a week of wedding festivities at an upscale resort in the Appalachian forest, Puck immediately sees that Mia’s marriage will lead to misery and takes it upon themself to save their friends by rearranging the couples --- without anyone finding out.

Chief of Police Kate Burkholder arrives on scene to find the dismembered body of 21-year-old Samuel Eicher, a local Amish man who owned a successful landscaping business. The investigation has barely begun when, miles away, a second body is found. The deceased is 21-year-old Aaron Shetler, Samuel’s best friend. What could these two young Amish men have been involved in that led to such violent ends? Kate learns quickly that, for reasons she doesn’t understand, no one is willing to talk about what happened to the men. Just as she begins to fear the case may be hopeless, a mystery woman comes forward and reveals that fun-loving Aaron and Samuel had recently befriended some very unsavory characters --- individuals who may have ties to a larger, more sinister, black market.

After a failed relationship and an unsettled teaching career, Sara Barlow returns to her childhood home in Arlington, Virginia, hoping for a fresh start. But when she applies for a job at her old high school, she spots in the gymnasium the man she suspects was involved in a classmate’s violent death a decade earlier. Haunted by the past, Sara confronts the memories she’s spent years trying to suppress: her sister Suzanne’s fatal car crash, her secret summer with the reckless Devlin Barrie, and the anonymous 911 call she made after witnessing what she believes was a murder. As the construction of Interstate 66 physically fractures her community, Sara grapples with emotional fault lines of her own --- guilt, silence and buried truth.

SONGS OF NO PROVENANCE tells the story of Joan Vole, an indie folk singer forever teetering on the edge of fame, who flees New York after committing a shocking sexual act onstage that she fears will doom her career. Joan seeks refuge at a writing camp for teenagers in rural Virginia, where she's forced to question her own toxic relationship to artmaking --- and her complicated history with a friend and mentee --- while finding new hope in her students and a deepening intimacy with a nonbinary artist and fellow camp staff member.

Lina and her father arrive at an enclave called The Sea, a staging post between migrations, with only a few possessions. In this mysterious and shape-shifting place, a building made of time, pasts and futures collide. Lina befriends her neighbors: Bento, a Jewish scholar in 17th-century Amsterdam; Blucher, a philosopher in 1930s Germany fleeing Nazi persecution; and Jupiter, a poet of Tang Dynasty China. Memory, political revolution, generational change and the ethical imagination are at the heart of Lina’s illuminating conversations with her fellows in the Sea. Through their guidance, Lina equips herself to reckon with difficult questions of guilt, responsibility and the possibility of redemption when her ailing father begins to reveal his role in their family’s tragic past.

In 1957, newly orphaned Aria Jones is sent to live with her aunt, a fading star who hides away in Hollywood’s infamous Chateau Marmont. There, two aspiring actresses, Calliope and Flitter, take the grieving Aria under their wing. But her first few nights reveal an insidious secret that continues to haunt her as she grows up in the hotel’s halls. If Aria can just stay invisible and invite no trouble as she saves money, then she can leave the Marmont and live life on her own terms. However, her carefully laid plans fall apart when the hotel is bought by Theo Winchester, a reclusive rock star turned unexpected caretaker of his daughter, Adele. To earn the last bit of money she needs to escape, Aria becomes Adele’s tutor, which brings Aria closer to Theo and ignites a passion she never expected.

Lily --- a bored, beautiful twentysomething --- wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside 19 other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home. Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave. Why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur.

Paige Mahoney is outside the Republic of Scion for the first time in more than a decade, but she has no idea how she got to the free world. Half a year has been wiped from her memory. Her journey back to the revolution soon takes her to Venice, where the Domino Programme has uncovered evidence of a secret Scion plan. Before Paige can return to London, she must help the network unravel the sinister Operation Ventriloquist, which threatens to bring Europe to its knees in weeks. And it soon becomes clear that the one person who could recover her memories --- Arcturus Mesarthim --- also might hold the key to thwarting Scion, allowing the revolution to strike an unprecedented blow.

Brandon is a hopeless romantic. So when a handsome stranger named Jon checks in at the hotel he works at and invites Brandon to his room, Brandon ignores the advice of his crew --- a group of loveable and messy queer twenty-somethings --- and accepts. What follows is a tale as old as time: they hook up, Jon promises to text, Brandon falls in love, and Jon ghosts. Case closed. Or is it? When Jon checks out early, leaving behind a bag of belongings and his cell phone, Brandon takes the phone and sets out to find him. But he gets more than he bargained for when he witnesses a murder --- and sees Jon fleeing the scene. Brandon, Ollie, Nicole and Ian decide to solve the mystery of the murder and uncover Jon's true identity. They just have to figure it out before a target falls on their own backs.

In the wake of a catastrophic two-year relationship, Melissa Febos decided to take a break. For three months she would abstain from dating, relationships and sex. Ever since her teens, Febos had been in one relationship after another with men and women. Finally, she would carve out time to focus on herself and examine the patterns that had produced her midlife disaster. Over those first few months, Febos gleaned insights into her past. She decided to extend her celibacy, not knowing it would become the most fulfilling and sensual year of her life. No longer defined by her romantic pursuits, she learned to relish the delights of solitude, the thrill of living on her own terms, the distinct pleasures unmediated by lovers, and the freedom to pursue her ideals without distraction or guilt.

When Osric Mordaunt, member of the Fyren Order of assassins, falls ill, he realizes he needs the expertise of a very specific healer. As fate would have it, that healer belongs to an enemy faction, the Haelan Order. Aurienne Fairhrim and her fellow Haelan are inundated by sick children suffering from an outbreak of a long-forgotten Pox. Unable to get the funding needed to launch an immunization program, the Haelan Order is desperate for money --- so desperate that when Osric breaks into their headquarters to bribe Aurienne to heal him, she is forced to accept. As Osric and Aurienne work together to solve not only his illness but the mysterious reoccurrence of the Pox, they find themselves ardently denying their attraction, which only fuels the tension between them.

The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles. Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile. June has never met a guest she couldn’t delight, but the diplomats are different. Without firing a single shot, they have brought the war directly to her. As clashing loyalties crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, June must calculate the true cost of luxury.

Between caring for her mother and rebuilding the relationship with her estranged daughter, Emma, Rosie Lucas’ life is full. With Emma and her three-year old daughter, Olive, back home, Rosie has a partner for The Rainy Day Bookshop, the family business, and a chance to fix the past. What she doesn’t have time for is a romantic relationship. And even if she did, arrogant and reclusive writer Andrew Morgan is the last person she’d choose. Still, as an irresistible flirtation builds between them, he becomes her unexpected confidante on the distance Rosie can’t seem to overcome with Emma, a secret she can’t quite unravel. She never told Rosie what she saw all those years ago, and she never will. But some secrets refuse to stay buried, and sometimes the truth is more shocking than fiction.

Egypt, 1936: Anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered and accepts a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. But then an unbearable tragedy strikes. New York City, 1978: Nineteen-year-old Annie Jenkins lands an opportunity to work for former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala. Meanwhile, Charlotte is now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art. She’s consumed by her research on Hathorkare --- a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant. The night of the gala: One of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing, and there are signs that Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening. Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity.

In 1983, Thomas Mallon was a literature professor at Vassar College. The AIDS epidemic was beginning to surge in New York City, the ever-bustling epicenter of literary culture and gay life. Riding the success of his debut, A BOOK OF ONE’S OWN, he became a fixture within the city’s literary scene, crossing paths with cultural giants and becoming an editor at GQ. He captured it all in his daily journals. But in some ways it was the worst possible time for a gay coming-of-age in the city. One of his lovers succumbed to AIDS, and the illness of others was both a heartbreaking reality and a constant reminder of his own exposure. Tracing his own life day by day, Mallon evokes all that those years encompassed: the hookups, intensifying politics and personal tragedies, as well as his own blossoming success and eventual romantic happiness.

Late one night on a Yorkshire farm, in the midst of an illegal rave, a young man is nearly bludgeoned to death with a solid gold bar. An ambitious young journalist sets out to uncover the truth surrounding the attack, connecting the dots between an amoral banker landlord, an iconoclastic newspaper columnist, and a radical anarchist movement that has taken up residence on the farm. She solves the mystery, but her viral exposé raises more questions than it answers.

A father returns from serving in Vietnam with a strange and terrifying addiction; a man removes something horrifying from his fireplace and becomes desperate to return it; and a right-wing news channel has its hooks in people in more ways than one. From department store Santas to ghost boyfriends and salamander-worshipping nuns; from the claustrophobia of the COVID-19 pandemic to small-town Chesapeake USA, Clay McLeod Chapman takes universal fears of parenthood, addiction and political divisions and makes them uniquely his own.

It’s 1999, and Cora Belle has arrived at college ready to change her life. What she’s totally unprepared for is Lincoln, with his dark skin, charming southern drawl, and that smile. Just when Cora thinks she has things figured out, a series of surprises and secrets threaten to upend everything she thought she understood about love and loyalty. In the wake of these developments and a shocking tragedy, a new man enters Cora’s life --- Aaron --- further complicating everything. He’s the only one who seems to get her, and the letters she writes to him when the two are separated reveal the truth of their inescapable connection. Twenty years later, an unexpected reconnection and a chance encounter puts Cora right back where she started. The same two men, the same agonizing decision.

Joan Goodwin is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates. As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, she begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe. Then, in December 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.

Charles Sumner is mainly known as the abolitionist statesman who suffered a brutal caning on the Senate floor by the proslavery congressman Preston Brooks in 1856. This violent episode has obscured Sumner’s status as the most passionate champion of equal rights and multiracial democracy of his time. A friend of Alexis de Tocqueville, an ally of Frederick Douglass, and an adviser to Abraham Lincoln, Sumner helped the Union win the Civil War and ordain the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, the Freedmen’s Bureau, and the Civil Rights Act of 1875. In this comprehensive but fast-paced narrative, Zaakir Tameez presents Sumner as one of America’s forgotten founding fathers, a constitutional visionary who helped to rewrite the post–Civil War Constitution and give birth to modern civil rights law.

The villagers of Fleetcombe like to think of it as one of the most picturesque spots on England’s coast. But now, it’s a disturbingly macabre crime scene. A man is found dead, tied to a chair in the middle of the road, a stag’s antlers on his head. The gruesome scene stuns the town, especially when the victim is identified: Jim Tiernan, who ran the White Hart pub. Tiernan’s pub is at the center of village life, and he knew everyone’s secrets. Detective Nicola Bridge grew up in Fleetcombe and has now returned, for the good of her family, from a life away in Liverpool. DC Harry Ward, despite his newcomer status, is determined to earn Nicola’s trust. Because they don’t have long to find out just what the people of Fleetcombe have to hide. And now, in the place she thought she knew so well, Nicola is asking questions.