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Week of February 26, 2024

New in Paperback

Week of February 26, 2024

Paperback releases for the week of February 26th include WEYWARD by Emilia Hart, an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world that weaves together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries; Tom Rob Smith's COLD PEOPLE, a fast-paced thriller about an Antarctic colony of global apocalypse survivors seeking to reinvent civilization under the most extreme conditions imaginable; THE EXCEPTIONS, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Kate Zernike's inspiring account of the 16 female scientists who forced MIT to publicly admit that it had been discriminating against its female faculty for years --- sparking a nationwide reckoning with the pervasive sexism in science; and ONCE UPON A TOME by Oliver Darkshire, the colorful story of life in one of the world’s oldest bookshops and a love letter to the benign, unruly world of antiquarian bookselling, where to be uncommon or strange is the best possible compliment.

All That Is Hidden: A Molly Murphy Mystery by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles - Historical Mystery

February 27, 2024

Former private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan and her policeman husband, Daniel, have built quite a life for themselves in Greenwich Village. They have a good marriage, a true partnership where they value each other’s opinions in all things. So when he tells her they’re moving to a fancy home on Fifth Avenue --- and that he’s running for the sheriff of New York --- Molly is left reeling. Daniel begs Molly to trust him. But why would he run for sheriff on the Tammany ticket? A party known more for kickbacks and quid pro quo than anything else, it used to be everything Daniel despised. So what’s changed? And why didn’t he discuss it with her beforehand? Molly can’t help but wonder what Daniel has gotten himself tangled up in…and if he needs her help to get out.

American Mermaid by Julia Langbein - Fiction/Humor

February 27, 2024

Broke English teacher Penelope Schleeman is as surprised as anyone when her feminist, eco-warrior novel American Mermaid becomes a bestseller. But when Hollywood insists she convert her fierce, androgynous protagonist into a teen sex object in a clamshell bra, strange things start to happen. Is Penelope losing her mind, or has her fictional mermaid come to life, enacting revenge against society’s limited view of what a woman can and should be? AMERICAN MERMAID follows a young woman braving the casual slights and cruel calculations of a winner-take-all society and discovering a beating heart in her own fiction: a new kind of mermaid who will fight to keep her voice and choose her place.

Blank by Zibby Owens - Fiction

March 1, 2024

Pippa Jones is a fortyish former literary sensation who fears she will be a one-hit wonder. After the follow-up book she was almost done writing, Podlusters, had to be tossed, she couldn’t write a thing. Months of staring at a blank page made her confidence vanish like a one-night stand. When she finds out that she has only five days left to finish (or rather, start) or repay an advance she’s already spent, Pippa has a brilliantly original idea. Okay, fine, her 12-year-old son came up with it as a joke, but Pippa and her teenage daughter approved. Pippa is not only going to make a bold statement, she’ll change the book world while she’s at it! Can she pull it off? At this point, she doesn’t have a choice. When Pippa’s publisher gets intimately involved, it unlocks a series of plot twists she never saw coming.

Cold People by Tom Rob Smith - Dystopian Thriller/Science Fiction

February 27, 2024

The world has fallen. Without warning, a mysterious and omnipotent force has claimed the planet for their own. There are no negotiations, no demands, no reasons given for their actions. All they have is a message: humanity has 30 days to reach the one place on Earth where they will be allowed to exist --- Antarctica. COLD PEOPLE follows the perilous journeys of a handful of those who endure the frantic exodus to the most extreme environment on the planet. But their goal is not merely to survive the present. Because as they cling to life on the ice, the remnants of their past swept away, they also must confront the urgent challenge: Can they change and evolve rapidly enough to ensure humanity’s future? Can they build a new society in the sub-zero cold?

Don't Forget Me by Rea Frey - Domestic Thriller

March 1, 2024

All Ruby wanted was a fresh start. But after an early retirement and a relocation to a tight-knit community with her husband, Tom, and her daughter, Lily, her new beginning takes a turn. First her troubled daughter and then her husband disappear without a trace. Unsure how to cope, grief-ridden Ruby turns to her neighborhood friends to find a way forward with new hobbies, including a murder club where they try to solve cold cases. But just as unexpectedly as her family vanished, a body floats to the surface of the nearby lake. And everyone is sure the body belongs to Tom...everyone except Ruby. Determined to find out what happened to her family once and for all, Ruby digs into her neighbors’ lives, and her own, only to uncover secrets that raise more questions than they answer.

The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science by Kate Zernike - History

February 27, 2024

In 1999, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology admitted to discriminating against women on its faculty, forcing institutions across the country to confront a problem they had long ignored: the need for more women at the top levels of science. Written by the journalist who broke the story for The Boston Globe, THE EXCEPTIONS is the untold story of how 16 highly accomplished women on the MIT faculty came together to do the work that triggered the historic admission. It centers on the life of Nancy Hopkins, a reluctant feminist who became the leader of the 16 and a hero to two generations of women in science.

Ghost Island: A Ghosts of the Past Novel by Max Seeck - Mystery

February 27, 2024

Jessica Niemi is put on leave after a violent altercation between her and a belligerent man makes headlines. To escape the unwanted scrutiny, Jessica travels to a remote island in the Åland archipelago and rents a room at a small seaside inn. There she meets three elderly visitors who are the remaining “birds of spring,” former refugees who fled Finland as children during World War II and lived together for a few months in an orphanage on the island. The orphanage no longer exists, but the local legend about one of its inhabitants still haunts the surviving orphans. Every evening a girl named Maija would stand on the pier, but one night she disappeared and was never seen again. When one of the “birds of spring” is found dead, drowned alongside the same pier, Jessica tries to put the pieces of this terrifying mystery together.

Homestead by Melinda Moustakis - Historical Fiction

February 27, 2024

Anchorage, 1956. When Marie and Lawrence first lock eyes at the Moose Lodge, they are immediately drawn together. But when they decide to marry, days later, they are more in love with the promise of homesteading than anything. For Lawrence, his parcel of 150 acres is an opportunity to finally belong in a world that has never delivered on its promise. For Marie, the land is an escape from the empty future she sees spinning out before her, and a risky bet is better than none at all. But over the next few years, as they work the land in an attempt to secure a deed to their homestead, they must face everything they don’t know about each other. As the Territory of Alaska moves toward statehood and inexorable change, can Marie and Lawrence create something new, or will they break apart trying?

Hypnotized by Love by Sariah Wilson - Romantic Comedy

March 1, 2024

Hypnotist Savannah Sinclair is known for helping clients overcome their deep-rooted issues. But her nontraditional approach also attracts plenty of skeptics --- including her high school nemesis and rival, Mason Beckett, who just so happens to be the boy who broke her heart. Mason’s life hasn’t gone according to plan, and the only gig he can land is writing a scathing exposé of his hometown hypnotist, Savannah. But in order to write an authentic article, he has to be a willing participant. Hypnosis is the last thing he expected. When a fire alarm interrupts their session, Mason walks out into the real world entranced and sporting a sunny disposition. Hypnotized Mason reveals things he’s never told a soul and leads Savannah on a frantic chase to keep him safe. He likes his new self. The problem is, so does Savannah.

Marvelous by Molly Greeley - Historical Fiction

February 27, 2024

1547: Pedro Gonzales, a young boy living on the island of Tenerife, understands that he is different from the other children in his village. He is mercilessly ridiculed for the hair covering his body from head to toe. When he is kidnapped off the beach near his home, he finds himself delivered by a slave broker into the dangerous and glamorous world of France’s royal court. Catherine de’ Medici is fascinated by Pedro and determined to find him a bride. Catherine Raffelin is a beautiful 17-year-old girl whose merchant father has fallen on hard times and offers up his daughter to Queen Catherine. The queen will pay his debts, and his daughter will marry Pedro. Catherine must learn to navigate this strange new world and the unusual man who is now her husband.

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley - Fiction

February 27, 2024

Twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. Since she has no credit or money to speak of, her options are limited. So when an opportunity to work as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman falls into her lap, she takes it. One slip on the rug. That’s all it took for Louise Wilt’s daughter to demand that Louise have a full-time nanny living with her. The two start off their living arrangement happily ignoring each other until Tanner starts to notice things. Why does Louise keep her garden shed locked up tighter than a prison? Why is the local news fixated on the suspect of one of the biggest jewelry heists in American history who looks eerily like Louise? And why does Louise suddenly appear in her room, with a packed bag at 1 a.m., insisting that they leave town immediately?

Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller by Oliver Darkshire - Memoir

February 27, 2024

Some years ago, Oliver Darkshire stepped into the hushed interior of Henry Sotheran Ltd to apply for a job. Allured by the smell of old books and the temptation of a management-approved afternoon nap, Darkshire was soon unteetering stacks of first editions and placating the store’s resident ghost (the late Mr. Sotheran, hit by a tram). A novice in this ancient, potentially haunted establishment, Darkshire describes Sotheran’s brushes with history (Dickens, the Titanic), its joyous disorganization, and the unspoken rules of its gleefully old-fashioned staff. As Darkshire gains confidence and experience, he shares trivia about ancient editions and explores the strange space that books occupy in our lives --- where old books often have strong sentimental value, but rarely a commercial one.

The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan - Fiction

February 27, 2024

The Aylward women of Nenagh, Tipperary, are mad about each other, but you wouldn’t always think it. You’d have to know them to know that --- in spite of what the neighbors might say about raised voices and dramatic scenes --- their house is a place of peace, filled with love, a refuge from the sadness and cruelty of the world. Their story begins at an end and ends at a beginning. It involves wives and widows, gunrunners and gougers, sinners and saints. It’s a story of terrible betrayals and fierce loyalties, of isolation and togetherness, of transgression, forgiveness, desire and love. Of all the things family can be and all the things it sometimes isn’t.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden - Historical Gothic Mystery

February 27, 2024

It’s 1852, and Margaret Lennox, a young widow, attempts to escape the shadows of her past by taking a position as governess to an only child, Louis, at an isolated country house in the west of England. But Margaret soon starts to feel that something isn’t quite right. There are strange figures in the dark, tensions between servants and an abandoned east wing. Even stranger is the local gossip surrounding Mrs. Eversham, Louis’ widowed mother, who is deeply distrusted in the village. Lonely and unsure whom to trust, Margaret finds distraction in a forbidden relationship with the gardener, Paul. But as Margaret’s history threatens to catch up with her, it isn’t long before she learns the truth behind the secrets of Hartwood Hall.

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes - Historical Fiction

February 27, 2024

The only mortal in a family of gods, Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters. Unlike her siblings, Medusa grows older, experiences change and feels weakness. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know. When the sea god Poseidon assaults Medusa in Athene’s temple, the goddess is enraged. Furious by the violation of her sacred space, Athene takes revenge --- on the young woman. Punished for Poseidon’s actions, Medusa is forever transformed. Writhing snakes replace her hair, and her gaze will turn any living creature to stone. Cursed with the power to destroy all she loves with one look, Medusa condemns herself to a life of solitude. Until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon.

Take What You Need by Idra Novey - Fiction

February 27, 2024

Set in the Allegheny Mountains of Appalachia, TAKE WHAT YOU NEED traces the parallel lives of Jean and her beloved but estranged stepdaughter, Leah, who's sought a clean break from her rural childhood. In Leah’s urban life with her young family, she‘s revealed little about Jean, how much she misses her stepmother’s hard-won insights and joyful lack of inhibition. But with Jean’s death, Leah must return to sort through what’s been left behind. What Leah discovers is staggering: Jean has filled her ramshackle house with giant sculptures she’s welded from scraps of the area’s industrial history. There’s also a young man now living in the house who played an unknown role in Jean’s last years and in her art.

Under the Storm written by Christoffer Carlsson, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles - Mystery

February 27, 2024

On a cold November night, a farmhouse burns to the ground. Inside a young woman is found dead --- not from the fire but murdered. To the people in the rural community of Marbäck, this becomes a reference point: a before and after. For 10-year-old Isak Nyqvist, it sets in motion something he cannot control, igniting his future into an unpredictable inferno. The police focus their attention on Edvard Christensson, the boyfriend of the murdered woman and Isak’s beloved uncle. After a quick investigation, Edvard is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Vidar Jörgensson, the rookie officer who first responded to the fire, prides himself on helping solved the murder. Little does he know this will drive him to the brink of professional and personal disaster --- and link his fate to young Isak's.

Weyward by Emilia Hart - Historical Fiction/Magical Realism

February 27, 2024

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great-aunt. The cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great-aunt had a secret. 1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer. Her mother taught her their magic, which is rooted in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom. 1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Her mother was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood by Tanya Frank - Memoir

February 27, 2024

One night in 2009, Tanya Frank finds her 19-year-old son, Zach, in the grip of what the psychiatrists would label a psychotic break. In the years following Zach’s shifting psychiatric diagnoses, Tanya is desperate to find the right answer, the right drug, the right doctor to bring him back to reality. She struggles to navigate archaic mental healthcare systems, first in California and then in her native London during lockdown. Meanwhile, the boy she raised suffers the effects of multiple hospitalizations, powerful drugs that blunt his emotions, therapies that don’t work, and torturous nights on the streets. Holding on to startling moments of hope and seeking solace in nature and community, Tanya learns how to abandon her fears for the future and accept the mysteries of her son’s altered states.