Coming Soon

In early 1985, Michael J. Fox’s days were already dedicated to rehearsing and taping the hit sitcom “Family Ties,” but then the chance of a lifetime came his way. Soon, he committed his nights to a new time-travel adventure film being directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg --- Back to the Future. Fox’s nightly commute from a soundstage at Paramount to the back lot at Universal Studios, from one dream job to another, would become his own space-time continuum. In FUTURE BOY, Fox tells the remarkable story of playing two landmark roles at the same time. Using new interviews with the cast and crew of both projects, the result is a vividly drawn and eye-opening story of creative achievement by a beloved icon.

Georgie and Jo are sisters, but they aren’t close. The situation seems worse once Jo goes off to college, making it obvious that she’s happy about leaving Curtisville and Georgie and their disabled father behind. Then Gary Clemmons dies in the Iraq War. Gary --- the son of their pastor, the hero of their hometown, and the brother of Georgie’s secret girlfriend --- was famous for being a good guy. But Georgie stumbles on a dark secret about Gary, and once Jo finds out, things begin to spiral out of control. The fallout will change both sisters' lives forever.

Jane Birkin was synonymous with chic. Her effortless style and artistic legacy have been immortalized through her music and film career. And, of course, she was the inspiration behind one of the world’s most coveted bags, the Hermès Birkin. But who was the real woman behind the it girl? Now, Marisa Meltzer sheds new light on Birkin’s enigmatic life and explores her profound influence on generations in a rigorously reported biography unlike any other. IT GIRL paints a vivid portrait of Birkin and her profound legacy, from her early years in 1960s London to her rise as a beloved celebrity in France, detailing personal challenges, her relationships with creative powerhouses, and the duality of her public and private selves.

Ella Chambers didn’t kill Liam Montgomery. If she had, she certainly wouldn’t have done it outside his family’s mansion during the Christmas party of the year. But now Liam is missing, and Ella is the only person who knows he’s still alive. So it’s up to her to prove it. Liam Montgomery didn’t want to die. But, it turns out, when you’re the sole heir to a billionaire, someone might want you dead. Luckily for Liam, being dead works for him. Now he’s on the hunt for a killer. Unfortunately, Ella is on the hunt for him. She’ll have to prove he’s still alive to clear her name, but that’s easier said than done in a quaint mountain town where everyone knows your story, but no one knows the truth. As the storm of the century blows in, every step will bring these two childhood rivals closer to a killer --- and each other.

Lucy McKenzie’s life has always been a disaster. So it should come as no surprise when one day she is hit by an inconveniently timed bus --- and dies. Unfortunately for the handsome grim reaper who shows up to take her to the afterlife, Lucy is not about to go quietly. Daniel is tired of his job collecting souls. While working for the Agency beats the heck out of going to Hell, he’s been doing this for literal ages. The drudgery has him yearning for more. Touched by Lucy’s plea for more time on earth, he convinces the Agency to make a deal: Lucy can have six more weeks of life if Daniel can observe her and report back on humanity. But as Lucy and Daniel navigate the chaos of life and afterlife together, they discover that a second chance at living might be their real chance at love.

When Lucy Libertine, the namesake of the charming old-school department store Libertines, unexpectedly dies, the store goes to her deceased sister's three children: businessmen twins Francis and Tom, and their younger sister, Fleur. Despite Fleur and the local community protesting, the twins are excited to sell up. They hold all the cards as the majority shareholders --- that is, until Lucy Libertine herself decides to even the playing field, haunting the twins out of house and home (and department store). While the twins call in Melody Bittersweet's ghost-hunting ex to defend them, Lucy goes to Melody to represent Fleur and the deceased Libertine family. Melody is all too happy to take another job, save a beloved local store, and maybe knock her ex down a paranormal peg or two.

New York simmers with heat and unrest as Wyeth, a painter, finds himself at an impasse in his own work. After attending a dubious show put on by a collective of careerist artists, he retreats to a bar in the West Village where he meets Keating, a former seminarian. Over the long summer, as the two get to know each other, they talk and argue about God, sex and art. Meanwhile, at his job working for an art restorer, Wyeth begins to investigate the life and career of a forgotten, minor Black artist. His search yields potential answers to questions that Wyeth is only now beginning to ask about what it means to be a Black artist making Black art amid the mess and beauty of life itself.

When former CIA operative Meg Dalton finds a shocking clue that suggests her long-missing daughter might still be alive, she’s forced into a desperate, high-stakes search for the truth. Fifteen years after little Ivy vanished without a trace at a Texas fair, Meg has built a career as a covert “operator” --- a soldier-for-hire who takes on dangerous black ops missions for the government. But during a botched assignment in Los Angeles, Meg encounters a woman wearing her daughter’s distinctive butterfly necklace, and everything she believes unravels. As Meg defies her handlers and goes rogue to chase the lead, she’s thrust into a deadly conspiracy linking global espionage, human trafficking and her own past sins.

A woman invests in a series of sex robots to get her off and comes to terms with the limitations --- and real threat --- of automated companionship. A knowing young student pursues an affair with an older man, the poet in residence at the university where she studies writing, and weighs the benefits and costs of their arrangement. A mother moves to a farm with her family and must come to terms with the violence simmering beneath her skin. NEAR FLESH is the first and only collection of short fiction by Katherine Dunn, the author of the bestselling novel GEEK LOVE. These 19 stories are attuned to the spit and grit of tough living. They pulse with yearning for a more prosperous life, for sexual satisfaction, to escape abusive husbands and the disappointments of convention.

Anne Bishop seems like a typical Vassar sophomore --- one of a popular group of privileged WASP friends. None of the girls in her circle has any idea that she’s Jewish, or that her real first name is Miriam. Pretending to be a Gentile has made life easier. As Anne, she no longer suffers the snubs, snide remarks and daily restrictions Jews face. But her secret life is threatened when she becomes fascinated by a girl not in her crowd. Delia Goldhush is sophisticated, stylish, brilliant and unashamedly Jewish. Knowing that her growing closeness with Delia would be social suicide if it were discovered, Anne keeps their friendship quiet. Delia seems to understand --- until a cruelty on Anne’s part drives them apart and sends them scattering to other corners of the world, alone and together. 

The Chapmans do Christmas the way they do everything: impeccably, expensively, and with the unshakable belief that good lighting can conceal bad blood. Their annual Christmas card may look picture-perfect, but behind the polite smiles there’s a storm brewing. This year, at their grand lakefront cottage on Mackinac Island, a snowstorm traps generations of Chapmans --- and their schemes --- under one roof. As the snow piles up, so do the grievances. Chris and Kat’s children --- fiercely liberal Leah and conservative golden-boy Chip --- are locked in a battle of wits; Chris’ vaguely corrupt brother, Cormac, and his calculating trophy wife are stirring the pot; and Kat’s mother is holding onto a secret that could upend the entire game. 

It’s the summer of 1976, and Alice and Tom set out on the remote Canadian highways in their new RV, hoping to heal their broken hearts after a devastating tragedy. They’ve planned the trip perfectly and taken care of every detail. Then they meet two young hitchhikers down on their luck and offer them a ride. But Simon and Jenny aren’t what they seem. They’ve left a trail of blood, destruction and madness behind them. Now Alice and Tom are trapped, prisoners in a deadly game, with nowhere to turn. As the tension builds, the lines blur, and the question becomes: In whose heart does evil truly lie? What secrets are Jenny and Simon hiding? And who will live another day? 

Striker isn’t entirely sure she should be on this luxury Antarctic cruise. A Black film scout, her mission is to photograph potential locations for a big-budget movie about Ernest Shackleton’s doomed expedition. Along the way, she finds amusement in the behavior of both the native wildlife and the group of wealthy, mostly white tourists who have chosen to spend Christmas on the Weddell Sea. But when a kayaking excursion goes horribly wrong, Striker and a group of survivors become stranded on a remote island along the Antarctic Peninsula, a desolate setting complete with boiling geothermal vents and vicious birds. As the polar ice thaws in the unseasonable warmth, the group’s secrets, prejudices and inner demons will also emerge, including revelations from Striker’s past that could irrevocably shatter her world.

The Moment, the brief joining of minds that awakened compassion across Bracat, is fading from memory. Some still remember, but many have forgotten, while others never experienced it at all. As old fears return, the Great Council of Wizards resumes its relentless search for the Golden Tree, while the ruthless Thurmore embraces forbidden powers in pursuit of his dream. Haunted by the destruction he once caused, Malzus seeks redemption as he searches for the truth behind his father's death. Elsewhere, Alitheia and Rogi, separated by distant lands yet guided by the stars, seek one another --- and the Golden Tree --- not for power, but for the peace that comes through true understanding. As Thurmore's influence spreads, two futures emerge: one built on fear, the other on compassion.

When Maricarmen meets Rey el Cantante, the beloved small-time Robin Hood and local musician on the rise, she begins to envision a life beyond the tight-knit community of el Caserío, Puerto Rico. But breaking free proves more difficult than she imagined, and she soon finds herself struggling to make a home for herself; Rey; his young brother, Tito; and, eventually, their daughter, Nena. Until one fateful day changes everything. Fifteen years later, Maricarmen and Nena find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation as the community that once rallied to support Rey turns against them. Now Nena, a teenager haunted by loss and betrayal and exploring her sexual identity, must learn to fight for herself and her family in a world not always welcoming.

Words are the currency of culture --- and never more than today. From selfie to doomscrolling to rizz, our hyper-connected digital world coins and spreads new words with lightning speed and locks them into mainstream consciousness with unprecedented influence. Journalist and bestselling author Stefan Fatsis embedded as a lexicographer-in-training at America’s most famous dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster, to learn how words get into the dictionary, where they come from, who decides what they mean, and how we write and think about them. As he recounts in UNABRIDGED, he discovered the history and fascinating subculture of the dictionary and of those who curate and revere “one of the most basic features of our collective humanity.”

At the turn of the millennium, Editorial Assistant Clodagh “Clo” Harmon wants nothing more than to rise through the ranks at the world’s most prestigious fashion magazine. There’s just one problem: she doesn’t have the right pedigree. Instead, Clo is a “workhorse” surrounded by beautiful, wealthy, impossibly well-connected “show horses” who get ahead without effort, including her beguiling cubicle-mate, Davis Lawrence, the daughter of a beloved but fading Broadway actress. Harry Wood, Davis’ boarding school classmate and a reporter with visions of his own media empire, might be Clo’s ally in gaming the system --- or he might be the only thing standing between Clo and her rightful place at the top.

Elle Fielding is floundering. Her once-perfect marriage is falling apart, and she’s on the verge of losing her book deal --- and, by extension, the dream home she’s poured her savings into. As her finances dwindle, Elle decides to rent out her Cornish home on Airbnb. Just this once. But when she returns home after a writer’s retreat away, nothing feels right. There’s a new coldness. A shift in the atmosphere. The prickling feeling that someone is watching her every move from the shadows. Maybe it’s all in Elle’s mind? And yet every threat seems personal. As if someone has discovered the secrets that keep her awake at night. As fear and paranoia close in, Elle’s own home becomes a prison. Someone is unlocking her past --- and she’s given them the key.

Nineteen-year-old undocumented immigrant Hee-Jin lies on the floor of her cramped Seoul apartment, listening for footsteps. But the knock on the door isn’t the police finally coming to deport her to North Korea. Instead, sprawled on the doorstep is a disfigured, bird-like corpse --- and it has her eyes. Her younger sister, artist Hee-Young, is meant to be on an art program in America, not dead of a strange overdose. But in Hee-Young’s pocket is a plane ticket and US passport. Seeing her chance for freedom, Hee-Jin steals her sister’s identity and takes her place, determined to uncover what really happened to her. But the deeper she dives into the program’s strange workings, the closer she gets to the monstrous secret at its heart.

Uprooted by circumstance from city to deep countryside, a woman lives in temporary limbo, visited by memories of all she’s left behind. The most insistent are those of Xavier, who has always been certain he knows her better than anyone, better than she knows herself. Xavier, whom she still loves but no longer desires, a displacement he has been unable to accept. An unexpected letter from an old acquaintance brings back a torrent of others she’s loved or wanted. The ephemera left by their passage --- a spilled coffee, an unwanted bouquet, a mind-blowing kiss --- make up a cabinet of curiosity she inventories, trying to divine the essence of intimacy. What does it mean to connect with another person? What impels us to touch someone, to be touched by them, to stay in touch? How do we let them go?

Mira and Kieran Carpenter are moving into their first home together, a run-down fixer-upper. It’s an opportunity for them to forget the betrayals of the past and restore their marriage along with this new home. But then a strange delivery is left by the front door. Neither Mira nor Kieran remember ordering it. There is no sender. No acknowledgment of its origin. Inside the package is an old wooden box. Then the messages start arriving. Anonymous texts, late-night phone calls and distorted voicemails: “Did you get the package?” Things start to go wrong. Around their new house. At work. In their personal relationships. Are they victims of some kind of horrific prank? Are they being tormented because of something they’ve done? Or are they gaslighting themselves into some kind of psychosis? 

As a financial crisis looms, Jamal “Jack” Shaban is trying to save his neighbors from bankruptcy. 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 --- adulterer, devoted husband, fixer, community leader, liar, and the survivor of human and cosmic cruelty in the past and the novel’s present --- Jack is a paragon of both desire and hope.

Lady Georgiana “Georgie” Rannoch absolutely despises the strict nanny who was foisted upon her by her meddlesome sister-in-law. In search of a new nanny, Georgie travels to London to see her old friend, ZouZou, only to find her about to depart for a funeral, after the unexpected death of a young man in her social circle. It quickly becomes clear there’s more than one mysterious death around town. But when word arrives that the son of a family friend has also died tragically and unexpectedly, Georgie is certain it can’t be a coincidence. ZouZou shares Georgie’s suspicions that the deaths were not an accident and begs Georgie to solve the case. As Georgie delves deeper, she can’t help worrying that her own husband, Darcy, may be next. It seems likely there is a serial killer at work, and Darcy fits the bill to be their next victim.

Ensconced in a fabulous apartment overlooking the Eiffel Tower, Cécile Duval is anxious for a post-divorce makeover. Who is Nina Berry, an on-the-rise personal stylist in America, to say no to a career-making proposal from an older, wealthy étranger? Except Cécile has secrets. She already knows Nina. Nina was her husband’s mistress, or so she believes. And Cécile doesn’t want a glow-up. She wants revenge. Arriving in Paris with her fiancé, Jean, Nina is ready to absorb all the city has to offer and transform her new client’s closet, confidence and entire life. But she has no idea what’s coming. Neither does Cécile. Because she’s not the only one keeping secrets. As the line between predator and prey disappears, a guessing game of deadly deceptions has only just begun.

Rachel Holloway has built a quiet life in London. She has a daughter, a partner and a steady job at the local paper. Then the paper launches a true-crime podcast, and their first case is the disappearance of 12-year-old Molly Forster, missing since her family's brutal murder 12 years ago. But Rachel knows exactly what happened to Molly. Because Rachel is Molly. She's spent years hiding from the killer who destroyed her family, and now her own podcast is about to expose her and the truth she's buried. As the story goes viral, new evidence emerges that confirms what Rachel has known all along: The wrong man was convicted. The real killer is still free. And he's coming for Rachel.