The Hawthorne family has it all: great jobs, a beautiful house in one of the most affluent areas of northern California, and three charming kids. Then comes eldest daughter Angela’s senior year of high school. Suddenly, everyone is floundering. As Angela writes and rewrites her application for Harvard and struggles to maintain her position as valedictorian, Nora Hawthorne’s career hits a rough patch. As the secrets everyone has been keeping will come to light, it sets the family on a final collision course that will force them to reevaluate the value of achievement.

Jack Shanley is a well-known New York artist who doesn’t mean to plunge his family into crisis. His wife, Deb, gladly left behind a difficult career as a dancer to raise the two children she adores. In the ensuing years, she has mostly avoided coming face-to-face with the weaknesses of the man she married. But then an anonymously sent package arrives in the mail: a cardboard box containing sheaves of printed emails chronicling Jack’s secret life. The package is addressed to Deb, but it’s delivered into the wrong hands: her children’s.

DEAR MR. YOU renders the singular arc of a woman’s life through letters Mary-Louise Parker composes to the men, real and hypothetical, who have informed the person she is today. Beginning with the grandfather she never knew, the letters range from a missive to the beloved priest from her childhood to remembrances of former lovers to an homage to a firefighter she encountered to a heartfelt communication with the uncle of the infant daughter she adopted.

THE POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF THE PICKWICK CLUB, featuring the fat and lovable Mr. Pickwick and his Cockney manservant, Sam Weller, began as a series of whimsical sketches, the brainchild of the brilliant, erratic, misanthropic illustrator named Robert Seymour. When Seymour's publishers settled on a young storyteller using the pen name Boz, THE PICKWICK PAPERS went on to become a worldwide phenomenon. And Boz became, in the eyes of many, the most important writer of his time. The fate of Robert Seymour, Mr. Pickwick's creator, is a very different story --- one untold before now.

When Major Colcombe, a family friend and war veteran, dies under mysterious circumstances, Lady Frances Ffolkes discovers that he was working on a manuscript about South Africa’s bloody Boer War, which reportedly revealed a scandalous mistake that cost many innocent lives. Now, it’s up to Frances and her loyal lady's maid, June Mallow, to track down the missing manuscript and bring the killer to justice. Despite kerfuffles with Scotland Yard and the British Secret Service, Frances never backs down and finds herself in several very unfortunate positions --- and one very fortunate love triangle.

Dexter Morgan --- blood-spatter analyst, husband, father and serial killer --- knew that he couldn’t burn the candle at both ends forever, and now, his dark deeds have finally ensnared him. He is in prison on multiple homicide charges, although, ironically, he did not commit any of the murders of which he is accused. His sole, small shot at redemption may come from his brother, Brian, a homicidal maniac who makes Dexter look like the angel in the family. By helping Brian through some serious trouble of his own making, Dexter sees a potential path to proving himself innocent.

From identity theft to the hazards of bicycling to college reunions and eating on the beach, Lisa Scottoline and her daughter, Francesca Serritella, tackle the quirks, absurdities and wonders of everyday life with wit and warmth. As Lisa says, "More and more, especially in the summertime when I'm sitting on the beach, I'm learning not to sweat it. To go back to the child that I used to be. To see myself through the loving eyes of my parents. To eat on the beach. And not to worry about whether every little thing makes me look fat. In fact, not to worry at all."

In a Sussex town on the south coast of England, a widely disliked art teacher at a posh private girls’ school disappears without explanation. Meanwhile, a Sussex detective has been suspended for failing to link DNA evidence of a relative to a seven-year-old murder case. When detective Peter Diamond realizes that the suspended officer is an old friend who is not known to make such mistakes, he begins to notice unsettling connections between the cold case and the missing art teacher. Could the two mysteries be connected?

When President Sally Allworth decides to reestablish America's Mogadishu embassy in Somalia weeks before Election Day, her challenger says she is playing politics with American lives. That turns out to be true when the embassy is attacked and hostages are taken. Embassy station chief Gunter Conner and Marine captain Brooke Grant end up the unlikely survivors of this Benghazi-style attack. Suddenly, they are the only hope for saving their captured colleagues.

Evelyn Beegan has long felt like an outsider to her privileged peers, but when she lands a job at a social-network startup aimed at the elite, she has no choice but to infiltrate their world. Soon she finds herself navigating the promised land of Adirondack camps, Hamptons beach houses and the island of Manhattan itself. Intoxicated by the wealth, access and influence of her new set, Evelyn can’t help but try to pass as old money herself. But when the lies become more tangled, she grasps with increasing desperation as the ground beneath her begins to give way.

In the concluding novel of his epic Civil War tetralogy that began with A BLAZE OF GLORY and continued in A CHAIN OF THUNDER and THE SMOKE AT DAWN, Jeff Shaara tells the dramatic story of the final eight months of battle from multiple perspectives: the commanders in their tents making plans for total victory, as well as the ordinary foot soldiers and cavalrymen who carried out their orders until the last alarum sounded.

Set in Paris today, THE FESTIVAL OF INSIGNIFICANCE follows four friends who run into each other in the Luxembourg Gardens, attend parties, and conduct a long-running exchange on sex, desire, history, art, even the meaning of human existence. Alain, one of the friends, is fascinated by the exposed belly buttons of passing women --- the latest fashion --- and takes navel-gazing to imaginative, erotic heights. Another, who has just been told that he does not have cancer, tells a friend that his case is terminal.

On her second night of college, Aspen Matis was raped by a fellow student. Dealing with a problem that has sadly become all too common on college campuses around the country, she stumbled through her first semester --- a challenging time made even harder by the coldness of her college's "conflict mediation" process. Her desperation growing, she made a bold decision: She would seek healing in the freedom of the wild, on the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail leading from Mexico to Canada.

As Mark Douglas photographs a pod of whales stranded in the waters off Edinburgh's Portobello Beach, he is called by his son's school: His wife, Lauren, hasn't turned up to collect their son. Calm at first, Mark picks up Nathan and takes him home; but as the hours slowly crawl by, he increasingly starts to worry. We gradually learn some of the painful secrets of the couple's shared past, not least that it isn't the first time Lauren has disappeared. And as Mark struggles to care for his son and shield him from the truth of what's going on, the police seem dangerously short of leads. That is, until a shocking discovery.

Marc Morris examines afresh the forces that drove Edward I throughout his relentless career: his character, his Christian faith, and his sense of England's destiny --- a sense shaped in particular by the tales of the legendary King Arthur. He also explores the competing reasons that led Edward's opponents (including Robert Bruce) to resist him. The result is a sweeping story, immaculately researched yet compellingly told, and a vivid picture of medieval Britain at the moment when its future was decided.

Ramie Phillips has led a very successful life, but she isn't necessarily happy. On a boat with friends, she tries to fight her feelings of discontent with steel will and hard liquor. No one even notices as she goes to the diving board and dives off. Ramie finds herself back on the eve of her 18th birthday, with a second chance to see the people she's lost and change the choices she regrets. How did she get back here? Is she really back in time? Above all, she'll have to answer the question that no one else can: What it is that she really wants from the past, and for her future?

Desperate to prove himself to his politician father, Esmond Lowndes is sent to Italy to forge ties between the British Union of Fascists and Mussolini's government. In Florence, he discovers art and passion amongst the eccentric expatriates and glamorous locals. But with the coming of war, Esmond chooses to leave his past behind and joins the Florentine resistance. Finding himself closely bound to his comrades and unexpectedly in love, Esmond becomes involved in undercover operations and assassination plots, culminating in a final mission of extraordinary daring.

Lisa and Joe Stone handle less-than-glamorous cases, whether domestic disputes, personal injury settlements, or never-ending complaints from their cantankerous client Lettie VanSandt. When Lettie dies in a freakish fire, the Stones think it’s certainly possible that she was cooking meth in her trailer. But details soon emerge that lead them to question how “accidental” her demise actually was. Before long, the Stones find themselves entangled in a corporate conspiracy that will require all their legal skills for them to survive.

Sophie Stark begins her filmmaking career by creating a documentary about her obsession, Daniel, a college basketball star. But when she becomes too invasive, she finds herself the victim of a cruel retribution. The humiliation doesn’t stop her, though. Visionary and unapologetic, Sophie begins to use stories from the lives of those around her to create movies, and as she gains critical recognition and acclaim, she risks betraying the one she loves most.

Life on land is suffocating for Jess Creary, who wastes her summers flipping burgers for tourists on a fishing boat. After all, her older sister Kay died in a boating accident two years ago, her mother has disappeared, and her father isn't exactly dealing with things so well. Surfing and the handsome Captain Matthew are about the only bright spots in her life. When Jess catches the perfect wave on her 23rd birthday, she transforms into a mermaid and is reborn into a confident, powerful predator with superhuman strength. Now, she has 30 days to choose between land and sea; legs and fins; her humanity and her freedom.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN RUSSIA is the untold true story of the larger-than-life billionaire oligarchs who surfed the waves of privatization to reap riches after the fall of the Soviet regime: “Godfather of the Kremlin” Boris Berezovsky, a former mathematician whose first entrepreneurial venture was running an automobile reselling business, and Roman Abramovich, his dashing young protégé who built a multi-billion-dollar empire of oil and aluminum.

The summer Lois and Carly May were 12 years old, they were kidnapped, driven across the country, and held in a cabin in the woods for two months by a charismatic stranger. Nearly 20 years later, Lois has become a professor, while Carly May is an actress, drinking too much and struggling to revive her career. When a movie with a shockingly familiar plot draws the two women together once more, they must face the public exposure of their secret history and confront the dark longings and unspeakable truths that haunt them still.

Mazie Phillips is the truth-telling proprietress of The Venice, the famed New York City movie theater. When the Great Depression hits, she opens the doors of The Venice to those in need, becoming the beating heart of the Lower East Side. More than 90 years after Mazie began her diary, it is discovered by a documentarian in search of a good story. Who was Mazie Phillips, really? A chorus of voices from the past and present fill in some of the mysterious blanks of her adventurous life.

Nearing 40, photographer Violet Hart is keenly aware that the time for artistic recognition is running out. When her lover, Bill, a Detroit mortician, needs a photograph of a body, she agrees to takes the picture. It’s an artistic success, and she persuades Bill to allow her to take pictures of some of his other “clients.” When Violet’s new portfolio is launched, she quickly strikes a deal, agreeing to produce a dozen pictures with a short deadline. These demands soon place Violet in the position of having to strain to meet her quota. As time runs out, how will she come up with enough subjects to photograph without losing her soul or her life in the process?

They are two sisters who couldn’t be more different. Win, organized and responsible, plans her life with care. Poppy, impulsive and undependable, leaves others to pick up the pieces. But despite their differences, they share memories of the idyllic childhood summers they spent together on the shores of Butternut Lake. Now, 13 years later, Win, recovering from a personal tragedy, has taken refuge on Butternut Lake, settling into a predictable and quiet life. Then, one night, Poppy unexpectedly shows up on her sister’s doorstep. Their blissful nostalgia soon gives way to conflict, and painful memories and buried secrets threaten to tear them apart.

Jess, Courtney and Dani Campbell live on a remote ranch in Western Canada where they work hard and try to stay out of the way of their father's temper. One night, a fight gets out of hand, and the sisters are forced to go on the run. As events spiral out of control, they find themselves in a horrifying situation and are left with no choice but to change their names and create new lives. Eighteen years later, they are still trying to forget what happened that summer. But when one of the sisters goes missing, followed closely by her niece, they are pulled back into the past.

In the summer of 1938, Layla Beck’s father, a United States senator, cuts off her allowance and demands that she find employment on the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program. Within days, Layla has been assigned to cover the history of the remote mill town of Macedonia, West Virginia. But once she secures a room in the home of the unconventional Romeyn family, she is drawn into their complex world and soon discovers that the truth of the town is entangled in the thorny past of the Romeyn dynasty.

When Nora takes the train from London to visit her sister in the countryside, she expects to find her waiting at the station, or at home cooking dinner. But when she walks into Rachel’s familiar house, what she finds is entirely different: Her sister has been the victim of a brutal murder. Stunned and adrift, Nora finds she can’t return to her former life. An unsolved assault in the past has shaken her faith in the police, and she can’t trust them to find her sister’s killer. Haunted by the murder and the secrets that surround it, Nora is under the harrow: distressed and in danger. As Nora’s fear turns to obsession, she becomes as unrecognizable as the sister her investigation uncovers.

Rachel Caine is a zoologist working in Nez Perce, Idaho, as part of a wolf recovery project. When she receives a call from the wealthy and mysterious Earl of Annerdale, who is interested in reintroducing the grey wolf to Northern England, Rachel agrees to a meeting. She is certain she wants no part of this project, but the Earl's estate is close to the village where she grew up, and where her aging mother now lives in a care facility. It has been far too long since Rachel has gone home, and so she returns to face the ghosts of her past.

Business is slow at the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency --- so slow, in fact, that for the first time in her estimable career, Precious Ramotswe has reluctantly agreed to take a holiday. The promise of a week of uninterrupted peace is short-lived, however, when she meets a young boy named Samuel, a troublemaker who is in some trouble himself. Once she learns more about Samuel’s sad story, Mma Ramotswe feels compelled to step in and help him find his way out of a bad situation.