When her college-bound daughter leaves home, Lynn Darling, widowed over a decade earlier, finds herself alone and utterly lost, with no idea of what she wants or even who she is. Searching for answers, she leaves New York for the solitary woods of Vermont. Removed from the familiar, cocooned in the natural world, her only companions a new dog and a compass, she hopes to develop a sense of direction --- both in the woods and in her life.

In 1960s California, Rebecca Madden and her friend Alex dream of lives beyond their mothers' narrow expectations. Their struggle to define themselves against the backdrop of an American cultural revolution unites them early on, until a single act of betrayal changes everything. Decades later, Rebecca’s haunting meditation on the past reveals the truth about that night, the years that followed, and the friendship that shaped her.

How many ways can two people wound each other? In James Whitfield Thomson's debut novel, LIES YOU WANTED TO HEAR, Lucy's husband, Matt, has taken their children and fled. This seems 100% unforgivable, until we read the backstory of terrible wrongs committed by wife against husband, and mother against child. Then we're left wondering.

In this conclusion to Adriana Trigiani's Valentine trilogy, Valentine Roncalli is marrying Gianluca Vechiarelli, the love of her life. However, she hasn't truly considered the cultural and age differences between an American businesswoman and a native Italian who's 18 years her senior. The repercussions lead to a rollercoaster love story with a powerful emotional payoff.

Nora de Jong returns home from work one day to find her mother has been murdered. Her infant daughter is missing. And the only clue is the body of an unknown man on the living-room floor, clutching a Luger in his cold, dead hand. The contents of a locked metal box Nora finds in her parents' attic leave her with as many questions as answers --- and suggest the killer was not a stranger.

In this delightful and nuanced tale, young single mom Shandi Pierce stumbles into the middle of a mini-mart robbery. Although her main concern is for her three-year-old son, Natty, the actions of a stranger named William Ashe cause her to plunge irrevocably in love with him. Considering that Shandi has issues with her parents and with circumstances surrounding the birth of Natty, and that William has considerable baggage of his own, the hopeful romantic is in for quite the ride.

There was an accident. Ember knows at least that much. She was driving. The car was totaled. She suffered back injuries and brain trauma. But she is alive. That's the only thing left she can cling to. She can't even remember the six weeks of her life leading up to the accident. Where was she going? Who was she with? And what happened during those six weeks that her friends and family won't talk about?

During World War I, a woman with an American accent who was found dressed in a British nurse's aide uniform awakens in a French field hospital, with no memories of how she got there and no idea of who she might be. Tentatively dubbing herself "Stella Bain," she is compelled to head for London where she believes she'll find clues to unravel the mystery of her identity.

THIS IS THE STORY OF A HAPPY MARRIAGE takes us into the very real world of Ann Patchett’s life. Stretching from her childhood to the present day, from a disastrous early marriage to a later happy one, it covers a multitude of topics, including relationships with family and friends, and charts the hard work and joy of writing, and the unexpected thrill of opening a bookstore.

Seventeen-year-old Morgan Monetti shocks her parents and her community with one simple act: She chooses to stand by the man everyone else believes has exploited her --- popular high school teacher TJ Hill. Quietly walking across a crowded courtroom to sit behind TJ, and not beside her parents, she announces herself as the adult she believes herself to be.