THE GRAVITY OF BIRDS is a debut novel that combines an unimaginable betrayal and a complicated plot involving two sisters, their relationships with a charming, self-centered artist, and a missing painting. A tangled web of continual lies and lives drastically altered by those lies finally unravels with many surprises.

Rose Kennedy was the daughter of a state senator and the mayor of Boston, wife of an ambassador, and mother of nine children, including one U.S. president and two U.S. senators. She led a life of wealth, celebrity, privilege and power, yet suffered great personal tragedy. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at one of America's most influential mothers of the 20th century.

The American astronauts have been the subject of many books and movies. For their dedication and bravery, they earned a well-deserved place in American history. As the men blasted off into space, left back on terra firma were the wives who kept the homes running and the children cared for. This is a fly-on-the wall look at the lives of those astronaut wives, who became celebrities because of their spouses.

While Dustin, a Navy pilot, is overseas in Africa on a year-long deployment, his wife and three young sons invite strangers into their home to fill his empty chair at Sunday dinner. Each week brings new experiences for the Smiley family. Sarah introduces her boys to role models while counting down the months and weeks until her husband returns. It is an ambitious and challenging family project filled with discoveries and surprises for both the host family and their special guests.

Hannah, a conservative young Quaker living on Nantucket, leads a quiet and orderly life with her father and twin brother, repairing the chronometers that whaling vessels use to keep time at sea. Edward, a bit of a rebel, joins a whaling expedition, leaving behind only a note. Nathaniel feels betrayed by his son and loses interest in the night sky. A dark-skinned whaler seeking to advance his occupation by learning astronomy turns Hannah's orderly world upside down.

Greyson Todd is a successful Hollywood studio executive who leaves his wife and young daughter, and for a decade travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to keep hidden for almost 20 years. This novel intricately weaves together three timelines: the story of Greyson's travels; the progressive unraveling of his own father seen through Greyson's eyes as a child; and the intimacies and estrangements of his marriage.

This is the inspiring true story of a son and his mother, who start a “book club” that brings them together as her life comes to a close. Over the next two years, Will and Mary Anne carry on conversations that are both wide-ranging and deeply personal, prompted by an eclectic array of books and a shared passion for reading.

Budo is the imaginary friend of eight-year-old Max Delaney. He loves Max and is charged with protecting him from the class bully, from awkward situations in the cafeteria, and even in the bathroom stalls. But he can’t protect Max from Mrs. Patterson, who kidnaps him. It is up to Budo and a team of imaginary friends to save him --- and Budo must ultimately decide which is more important: Max’s happiness or Budo's very existence.

Daniel Smith articulates what it is like to live with anxiety, defanging the disease with humor, traveling through its demonic layers, and evocatively expressing its self-destructive absurdities and painful internal coherence. He exposes anxiety as a pudgy, weak-willed wizard behind a curtain of dread and tames what has always seemed to him a terrible affliction.

The author of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS journeys across the country and into the psyche of his son and traveling companion, where he finds not only the remarkable skills and debilities known as savantism, but a host of admirable qualities as well.