Skip to main content

Week of May 6, 2024

New in Paperback

Week of May 6, 2024

Paperback releases for the week of May 6th include THE BREAKAWAY by Jennifer Weiner, a warmhearted and empowering novel about love, family, friendship, secrets and a life-changing journey; THE GUEST, a stunning novel from Emma Cline in which a young woman pretends to be someone she isn’t; Megan Abbott's BEWARE THE WOMAN, a harrowing psychological thriller that offers a nightmarish glimpse at every pregnant woman’s fears about their vulnerabilities; LITTLE MONSTERS by Adrienne Brodeur, a riveting novel about Cape Cod, complicated families and long-buried secrets; Angie Kim's HAPPINESS FALLS, an indelible tale of a family who must go to remarkable lengths to truly understand one another; and CAMERA GIRL by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, an illuminating biography of the young Jackie Bouvier Kennedy that covers her formative adventures abroad in Paris; her life as a writer and photographer at a Washington, DC, newspaper; and her romance with a dashing, charismatic Massachusetts congressman who shared her intellectual passion.

The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever by Jack Curry - Sports

May 7, 2024

The visiting clubhouse in San Diego was soggy, sweaty and sticky after the 1998 Yankees swept the Padres in four games and celebrated winning their 24th World Series title. The players raised bottles of champagne, sprayed the bubbly on each other, and reveled in a baseball season that might have been more memorable than any in history. Jack Curry was part of that unforgettable scene as a reporter, navigating around the clubhouse to ask the same, pertinent question. After winning an unprecedented 125 games and pummeling teams along the way, were these Yankees the best team ever? Twenty five years later, Curry revisits that season to discuss how that team was built and why the Yankees were such a talented, refreshing and successful club.

The Apology by Jimin Han - Fiction/Magical Realism

May 7, 2024

In South Korea, a 105-year-old woman receives a letter. Ten days later, she has been thrust into the afterlife, fighting to head off a curse that will otherwise devastate generations to come. Hak Jeonga has always shouldered the burden of upholding the family name. When she sent her daughter-in-law to America to cover up an illegitimate birth, she was simply doing what was needed to preserve the reputations of her loved ones. How could she have known that, decades later, this decision would return to haunt her --- threatening to tear apart her bond with her beloved son, her relationship with her infuriatingly insolent sisters, and the future of the family she has worked so hard to protect?

Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum - Domestic Thriller/Humor

May 7, 2024

None of them would claim to be a particularly good person. But who among them is actually capable of murder? Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker rule the town of Salcombe, Fire Island, every summer. They hold sway on the beach and the tennis court, and are adept at manipulating people to get what they want. Their husbands, Sam and Jason, have summered together on the island since childhood, despite lifelong grudges and numerous secrets. Their one single friend, Rachel Woolf, is looking to meet her match, whether he’s the tennis pro --- or someone else’s husband. But even with plenty to gossip about, this season starts out as quietly as any other. Until a body is discovered, face down, off the side of the boardwalk.

The Best Life Book Club by Sheila Roberts - Fiction

May 7, 2024

Karissa Newcomb is ready for a new start in a new neighborhood, as far away as she can get from Seattle, where her husband cheated on her with the neighbor who was supposed to be her best friend. She and her nine-year-old daughter are moving on to the city of Gig Harbor on the bay in Puget Sound. She even has a new job as an assistant at a small publishing company right in Gig Harbor. Her new boss seems like a bit of a curmudgeon, but a job is a job, and she loves to read. Meanwhile, her new neighbors, Alice and Margot, are dealing with their own crises. Alice is still grieving her late husband and hasn’t been able to get behind the wheel of a car since a close call after his death. Margot is floundering after getting divorced and laid off in quick succession. They all could use a distraction, and a book club seems like just the ticket.

Between Two Moons by Aisha Abdel Gawad - Fiction

May 7, 2024

It’s the holy month of Ramadan, and twin sisters Amira and Lina are about to graduate high school in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. On the precipice of adulthood, they plan to embark on a summer of teenage revelry, trying on new identities, and testing the limits of what they can get away with while still under their parents’ roof. But the twins' expectations of a summer of freedom collide with their older brother's return from prison, whose mysterious behavior threatens to undo the delicate family balance. Meanwhile, a storm is brewing in Bay Ridge. A raid on a local business sparks a protest that brings the Arab community together, and a senseless act of violence threatens to tear them apart. Everyone’s motives are called into question as an alarming sense of disquiet pervades the neighborhood.

Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott - Psychological Thriller

May 7, 2024

Newly married and with a baby on the way, Jacy and her husband, Jed, embark on their first road trip together to visit his father, Dr. Ash. The moment they arrive at the cottage, snug within the lush woods, Jacy feels bathed in love by the warm and hospitable Dr. Ash. But their Edenic first days take a turn when Jacy has a health scare. Swiftly, vacation activities are scrapped, and all eyes are on Jacy’s condition. Suddenly, whispers about Jed’s long-dead mother seem to eerily impinge upon the present, and Jacy begins to feel trapped in the cottage. But are her fears founded? Or is it paranoia, or cabin fever, or --- as is suggested to her --- a stubborn refusal to take necessary precautions? The dense woods surrounding the cottage are full of dangers, but are the greater ones inside?

Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash - Historical Fiction

May 7, 2024

As German bombs fall over London in 1940, working-class parents Millie and Reginald Thompson make an impossible choice: they decide to send their 11-year-old daughter, Beatrix, to America. Bea arrives in Boston to meet the Gregorys. Mr. and Mrs. G, and their sons William and Gerald, fold Bea seamlessly into their world. As Bea comes into herself and relaxes into her new life, the girl she had been begins to fade away…until she is called home to London when the war ends. Desperate as she is not to leave this life behind, Bea dutifully retraces her trip across the Atlantic back to her new, old world. As she returns to post-war London, the memory of her American family stays with her, always pulling on her heart as she tries to move on and pursue love and a life of her own.

The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner - Fiction

May 7, 2024

Thirty-three-year-old Abby Stern is mostly at peace with her plus-size body and is on track to marry her childhood sweetheart, Mark. Yet Abby can’t escape the feeling that something isn’t right…or the memories of one mind-blowing night spent with a man named Sebastian two years ago. So when Abby gets a last-minute call to lead a group bike trip, she’s happy to have time away from Mark and a chance to make up her mind. But on the first day, Abby is shocked to see Sebastian in the tour group. And then there’s a last-minute addition to the trip --- Abby’s mother, Eileen, whom Abby blames for a lifetime of insecurities she’s still trying to undo. Over the next two weeks, strangers become confidantes, hidden truths come to light, and a teenage girl with a secret will unite all the riders in surprising ways.

Camera Girl: The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy by Carl Sferrazza Anthony - Biography

May 7, 2024

CAMERA GIRL brings to cinematic life Jackie Bouvier Kennedy’s years as a young, single woman trying to figure out who she wanted to become. Chafing at the expectations of her family and the societal limitations placed on women in that era, Jackie pursued her dream career as a writer. Set primarily during the years of 1949 to 1953, when Jackie was in her early 20s, the book recounts in heretofore unrevealed detail the story of her late college years and her early adulthood as a working woman.

Central Park West by James Comey - Legal Thriller

May 7, 2024

When a years-long case against a powerful mobster finally cracks and an unimpeachable witness takes the stand, federal prosecutor Nora Carleton is looking forward to putting the defendant away for good. The mobster, though, has other plans. As the witness’s testimony concludes, a note is passed to the prosecution offering up information into the assassination of a disgraced former New York governor, murdered in his penthouse apartment just days before. It’s enough to blow the case wide open, and to send Nora into a high-stakes investigation of conspiracy, corruption and danger.

Clive Cussler Condor's Fury: A Novel from the NUMA Files by Graham Brown - Thriller/Adventure

May 7, 2024

On a NUMA training mission in the Caribbean, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala catch a distress call from a nearby freighter. Leaping into action, they locate a damaged vessel and a dead captain clutching a shotgun. While searching the freighter for clues, Kurt and Joe are ambushed by crew members who seem terrified and disoriented, almost brainwashed. The trawler they were hauling has vanished, taken --- the men say --- by baffling lights that circled the ship. Kurt and Joe deduce that the men are suffering from Havana Syndrome, which deepens the mystery and raises the stakes. Soon they’re confronting Cuban mercenaries who plan to use magnificent modern airships to hijack a nuclear submarine --- culminating in a life-or-death showdown in the skies.

The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up by Andy Cohen - Memoir/Humor

May 7, 2024

One of Andy Cohen’s most momentous years starts off with a hangover the morning after an epic New Year’s Eve broadcast. But Andy doesn’t have time to dwell on the drama, as his role as media mogul is now matched with the responsibilities, joys and growing pains of parenthood. With a three-year-old son, Ben, and a daughter, Lucy, born in May, stories of late-night parties are replaced by early mornings with Ben, drama at the playground, and the musings of a single dad trying to navigate having it all. All this is set against the backdrop of constant "Housewives" drama, hijinks behind the scenes at "Watch What Happens Live," a revolving door of famous faces, and a worried mother (and newly minted grandmother) in St. Louis.

The Daydreams by Laura Hankin - Fiction

May 7, 2024

Back in 2004, The Daydreams had it all: a cast of innocent-seeming teenagers acting and singing their hearts out, amazing ratings, and a will-they-or-won’t-they romance that steamed up fan fiction forums. Then, during the live season two finale, it all imploded, leaving everyone scrambling to understand why. Afterward, the four stars went down very different paths. Now, though, the fans are demanding a reunion special. The stars all have private reasons to come back. But as they tentatively rediscover the magic of the original show, old secrets threaten to resurface --- including the real reason behind their downfall. Will this reunion be a chance to make things right? Or will it be the biggest mess the world has ever seen? No matter what, the ratings will be wild.

Death Valley by Melissa Broder - Fiction/Magical Realism

May 7, 2024

A woman arrives alone at a Best Western seeking respite from an emptiness that plagues her. She has fled to the California high desert to escape a cloud of sorrow --- for both her father in the ICU and a husband whose illness is worsening. What the motel provides, however, is not peace but a path, thanks to a receptionist who recommends a nearby hike. Out on the sun-scorched trail, the woman encounters a towering cactus whose size and shape mean it should not exist in California. Yet the cactus is there, with a gash through its side that beckons like a familiar door. So she enters it. What awaits her inside this mystical succulent sets her on a journey at once desolate and rich, hilarious and poignant.

A Disappearance in Fiji by Nilima Rao - Historical Mystery

May 7, 2024

1914, Fiji: Akal Singh would rather be anywhere but this tropical paradise. After a promising start to his police career in Hong Kong, Akal has been sent to Fiji as punishment for a humiliating professional mistake. Lonely and grumpy, Akal plods through his work and dreams of getting back to Hong Kong or his native India. When an indentured Indian woman goes missing from a sugarcane plantation and Fiji’s newspapers scream “kidnapping,” the inspector-general reluctantly assigns Akal the case. Akal, eager to achieve redemption, agrees --- but soon finds himself far more invested than he ever could have expected. Not only is he now investigating a disappearance, he is confronting the brutal realities of the indentured workers’ existence and the racism of the British colonizers in Fiji.

Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons - Historical Fiction

May 7, 2024

The first time Romeo Montague sees young Rosaline Capulet, he falls instantly in love. Rosaline, headstrong and independent, is unsure of Romeo's attentions, but with her father determined that she join a convent, this handsome and charming stranger offers her the chance of a different life. Soon, though, Rosaline begins to doubt all that Romeo has told her. She breaks off the match, only for Romeo's gaze to turn towards her cousin, 13-year-old Juliet. Gradually Rosaline realizes that it is not only Juliet's reputation at stake, but her life. With only hours remaining before she will be banished behind the nunnery walls, will Rosaline save Juliet from her Romeo? Or can this story only ever end one way?

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin - Dystopian Thriller/Science Fiction

May 7, 2024

The islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean, in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity --- or whatever remains of it. Citizens of the main island enjoy privileged lives. They are attended to by support staff who live on a cramped neighboring island, where whispers of revolt are brewing. But for the Prosperans, life is perfection. And when the end of life approaches, they’re sent to a mysterious third island, where their bodies are refreshed, their memories are wiped away, and they return to start life anew. Proctor Bennett is a ferryman, whose job it is to enforce the retirement process when necessary. He never questions his work, until the day he receives a cryptic message: “The world is not the world.” These simple words unlock something he has secretly suspected. They give him the unshakable feeling that someone is trying to tell him something important.

Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker, 1965-2000 written by Alice Walker, edited by Valerie Boyd - Literary Collection

May 7, 2024

For the first time, the edited journals of Alice Walker are gathered together to reflect the complex, passionate, talented and acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winner. In an unvarnished and singular voice, she explores an astonishing array of events: marching in Mississippi with other foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement; her marriage to a Jewish lawyer; an early miscarriage; writing her first novel; the trials and triumphs of the Women’s Movement; erotic encounters and enduring relationships; the ancestral visits that led her to write THE COLOR PURPLE; winning the Pulitzer Prize; being admired and maligned, sometimes in equal measure, for her work and her activism; and burying her mother.

The Glass Château by Stephen P. Kiernan - Historical Fiction

May 7, 2024

One month after the end of World War II, there are throngs of people in France stunned by the recovery work ahead. Asher lost his family during the war, and in revenge he served as an assassin in the Resistance. Burdened by grief and guilt, he wanders through the blasted countryside, stunned by what has become of his life. When he arrives at le Chateau Guerin, all he seeks is a decent meal. Instead he finds a sanctuary, an oasis despite being filled with people every bit as damaged as him. But they are calming themselves, and recovering inch by inch, by turning sand into glass, and glass into windows for the bombed cathedrals of France. As the secrets of the chateau’s residents become known one by one, they experience more heated conflict and greater challenges.

The Guest by Emma Cline - Psychological Thriller

May 7, 2024

Summer is coming to a close on the East End of Long Island, and Alex is no longer welcome. A misstep at a dinner party, and the older man she’s been staying with dismisses her with a ride to the train station and a ticket back to the city. With few resources and a waterlogged phone, but gifted with an ability to navigate the desires of others, Alex stays on Long Island and drifts like a ghost through the hedged lanes, gated driveways and sun-blasted dunes of a rarefied world that is, at first, closed to her. Propelled by desperation and a mutable sense of morality, she spends the week leading up to Labor Day moving from one place to the next, a cipher leaving destruction in her wake.

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim - Mystery/Thriller

May 7, 2024

Mia, the irreverent, hyperanalytical 20-year-old daughter of a biracial Korean American family in Virginia, has an explanation for everything --- which is why she isn’t initially concerned when her father and younger brother, Eugene, don’t return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia’s brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak. What follows is both a ticking-clock investigation into the whereabouts of a father and an emotionally rich portrait of a family whose most personal secrets just may be at the heart of his disappearance.

Hell If We Don't Change Our Ways: A Memoir by Brittany Means - Memoir

May 7, 2024

Brittany Means’ childhood was a blur of highways and traumas that collapsed any effort to track time. Riding shotgun as her mother struggled to escape abusive relationships, Brittany didn’t care where they were going as long as they were together. But every so often, her mom would surprise her --- and leave. As Brittany grew older and questioned her own complicated relationships and the poverty, abuse and instability that enveloped her, she began to recognize that hell wasn’t only the place she read about in the Bible; it was the cycle of violence that entrapped her family. While untangling the web of her most painful memories, Brittany crafts a tale of self-preservation, resilience and hope with a unique narrative style --- a sparkling example of the human ability to withstand the most horrific experiences and still thrive.

The House on Prytania: A Royal Street Novel by Karen White - Mystery

May 7, 2024

Nola Trenholm may not be psychic herself, but she has spent enough time around people who are to know when ghosts are present, and there are definitely a few lingering spirits in her recently purchased Creole cottage in New Orleans. But with the sudden return of Sunny Ryan, Beau Ryan’s long-lost sister, Nola has plenty to distract her from her ghostly housemates. Especially when Beau, wanting to mete out justice to those he blames for Sunny’s kidnapping, asks Nola for a favor that threatens to derail her hard-won recovery and send her hurtling backward. Torn between helping Beau and protecting herself, Nola doesn’t realize until it’s almost too late why the ghosts are haunting her house --- a startling revelation that will throw her and Beau together to fight a common enemy.

Identity by Nora Roberts - Romantic Suspense

May 7, 2024

Former Army brat Morgan Albright has finally planted roots in a friendly neighborhood near Baltimore. Her friend and roommate, Nina, helps her make the mortgage payments, as does her job as a bartender. But after she and Nina host their first dinner party --- attended by Luke, the flirtatious IT guy --- her carefully built world is shattered. The back door glass is broken, cash and jewelry are missing, her car is gone, and Nina lies dead on the floor. A horrific truth soon emerges: "Luke" is actually a cold-hearted con artist named Gavin who targets a particular type of woman, steals her assets and identity, and then commits his ultimate goal: murder. It turns out that Nina wasn't his type. Morgan is. Nina was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Morgan's nightmare is just beginning.

Killingly by Katharine Beutner - Historical Mystery

May 7, 2024

Massachusetts, 1897: Bertha Mellish, “the most peculiar, quiet, reserved girl” at Mount Holyoke College, is missing. As a search team dredges the pond where Bertha might have drowned, her panicked father and sister arrive desperate to find some clue to her fate or state of mind. Bertha’s best friend, Agnes, a scholarly loner studying medicine, might know the truth, but she is being unhelpfully tight-lipped, inciting the suspicions of Bertha’s family, her classmates, and the private investigator hired by the Mellish family doctor. As secrets from Agnes’ and Bertha’s lives come to light, so do the competing agendas driving each person who is searching for Bertha. Where did Bertha go? Who would want to hurt her? And could she still be alive?

The King's Pleasure: A Novel of Henry VIII by Alison Weir - Historical Fiction

May 7, 2024

Young Henry began his rule as a magnificent and chivalrous Renaissance prince who embodied every virtue. He had all the qualities to make a triumph of his kingship, yet we remember only the violence. Henry famously broke with the pope, founding the Church of England and launching a religious revolution that divided his kingdom. He beheaded two of his wives and cast aside two others. He died a suspicious, obese, disease-riddled tyrant. His reign is remembered as one of dangerous intrigue and bloodshed --- and yet the truth is far more complex. THE KING’S PLEASURE brings to life the idealistic monarch who expanded Parliament, founded the Royal Navy, modernized medical training, composed music and poetry, and patronized the arts.

The Light at the End of the World by Siddhartha Deb - Fiction

May 7, 2024

Delhi, the near future: Bibi, a low-ranking employee of a global consulting firm, is tasked with finding a man long thought to be dead but who now appears to be the source of a vast collection of documents. Bhopal, 1984: An assassin tracks his prey through an Indian city that will shortly be the site of the worst industrial disaster in the history of the world. Calcutta, 1947: A veterinary student’s life and work connect him to an ancient Vedic aircraft that might stave off genocide. And in 1859, a British soldier rides with his detachment to the Himalayas in search of the last surviving leader of an anti-colonial rebellion. These timelines interweave, and each protagonist must come to terms with the buried truths of their times, as well as the parallel universe that connects them all.

Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur - Fiction

May 7, 2024

Ken and Abby Gardner lost their mother when they were small. Their father, Adam, is a brilliant oceanographer who raised them mostly on his own. Ken is now a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family, and Abby is a talented visual artist who depends on her brother’s goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works. As the novel opens, Adam is approaching his 70th birthday. He has always managed his bipolar disorder with medication, but he is determined to make one last scientific breakthrough. So he has secretly stopped taking his pills. Meanwhile, Abby and Ken are both harboring secrets of their own, and there is a new person on the periphery of the family --- Steph, who doesn’t make her connection known.

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau - Romantic Comedy

May 7, 2024

Writer and barista Emily Hung is tired of hearing about the great Mark Chan, the son of her parents’ friends. He’s just a boring, sweater-vest-wearing engineer, and when they’re forced together at Emily’s sister’s wedding, it’s obvious he thinks he’s too good for her. But now that Emily is her family’s last single daughter, her mother is fixated on getting her married, and she has her sights on Mark. There’s only one solution, clearly: convince Mark to be in a fake relationship with her long enough to put an end to her mom’s meddling. He reluctantly agrees. Unfortunately, lying isn’t enough. Family friends keep popping up at their supposed dates, so they’ll have to spend more time together to make their relationship look real. With each fake date, though, Emily realizes that Mark is not quite what she assumed.

Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York’s Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist by Jennifer Wright - Biography

May 7, 2024

An industrious immigrant who built her business from the ground up, Madame Restell was a self-taught surgeon on the cutting edge of healthcare in pre-Gilded Age New York. Her bustling “boarding house” provided birth control, abortions and medical assistance to thousands of women --- rich and poor alike. Unfortunately for Madame Restell, her rise to the top of her field coincided with a campaign to curtail women’s power by restricting their access to both healthcare and careers of their own. By unraveling the misogynistic and misleading lies that put women’s lives in jeopardy, Jennifer Wright simultaneously restores Restell to her rightful place in history and obliterates the faulty reasoning underlying the very foundation of what has since been dubbed the “pro-life” movement.

The Man on the Train by Debbie Babitt - Psychological Thriller

May 7, 2024

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Linda Haley has no idea that her husband has been living a secret life. Now Guy is the prime suspect in a brutal murder that could derail Linda’s high-powered career and may be connected to a cold case. And Guy has disappeared. With a warrant out for her husband’s arrest, Linda sets out to prove his innocence accompanied by an ex-cop who harbors a secret affection for her. Together, they travel to the scene of a 40-year-old unsolved murder and a night of violence that shattered the serenity of a small fishing hamlet just past the Hamptons. But as the manhunt intensifies and she begins to uncover the shocking truth --- and the past Guy has buried deep --- Linda must decide if the stranger she married is innocent or guilty. And if he truly deserves to be saved.

The Nightingale Affair by Tim Mason - Historical Mystery/Thriller

May 7, 2024

In 1855, Britain and France are fighting to keep the Russians from snatching the Crimean Peninsula from the Ottoman Empire, and Florence Nightingale has made it her mission to improve the wretched conditions in the British military hospitals in Turkey. When young women start turning up dead, their mouths sewn shut with embroidered fabric roses, Inspector Charles Field is sent from England to find the killer among the doctors, military men, journalists and others swarming Turkey’s famous Barrack Hospital. When the prime suspect takes his own life, the case is closed. Or is it? Twelve years later, women again start turning up dead, their mouths covered by that telltale embroidered rose. Did Field suspect the wrong man before, or is he dealing with a deviant copycat?

The Overnights: An Ashe Cayne Novel by Ian K. Smith - Mystery

May 7, 2024

Someone wants Morgan Shaw dead --- or so the hugely popular evening news anchor of top-rated Chicago TV station WLTV believes. Fearing for her safety, she turns to P.I. Ashe Cayne for protection. Though he sympathizes, Ashe turns her down --- he’s not a bodyguard. But when Morgan’s car tires are slashed and she’s threatened again, he agrees to help her. Meanwhile, Morgan refuses to lose to her crosstown rival in the ratings and will risk everything to stay on top, including an audacious investigation into the suspicious shooting of an unarmed African American man by a white cop. The explosive case and her discoveries boost her ratings --- and create powerful enemies eager to protect their secrets.

Owner of a Lonely Heart: A Memoir of Motherhood and Absence by Beth Nguyen - Memoir

May 7, 2024

At the end of the Vietnam War, when Beth Nguyen was eight months old, she and her father, sister, grandmother and uncles fled Saigon for America. Beth’s mother stayed --- or was left --- behind, and they did not meet again until Beth was 19. Over the course of her adult life, she and her mother have spent less than 24 hours together. OWNER OF A LONELY HEART is a memoir about parenthood, absence and the condition of being a refugee: the story of Beth’s relationship with her mother. Framed by a handful of visits over the course of many years --- sometimes brief, sometimes interrupted, sometimes with her mother alone and sometimes with her sister --- Beth tells a coming-of-age story that spans her own Midwestern childhood, her first meeting with her mother, and becoming a parent herself.

Penance by Eliza Clark - Fiction

May 7, 2024

On a beach in a run-down seaside town on the Yorkshire coastline, 16-year-old Joan Wilson is set on fire by three other schoolgirls. Nearly a decade after the horrifying murder, journalist Alec Z. Carelli has written the definitive account of the crime, drawn from hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, painstaking historical research and, most notably, correspondence with the killers themselves. The result is a riveting snapshot of lives rocked by tragedy, and a town left in turmoil. But how much of the story is true?

The Postcard written by Anne Berest, translated by Tina Kover - Historical Fiction

May 7, 2024

January 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques --- all killed at Auschwitz. Years after the postcard is delivered, the heroine of this novel is moved to discover who sent it and why. What emerges is a moving saga of a family devastated by the travails of the 20th century and partly restored through the power of storytelling.

The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon - Psychological Thriller

May 7, 2024

Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate town where he lives. He’s also a kidnapper and serial killer. Aidan has murdered eight women, and there’s a ninth he has earmarked for death: Rachel, who is imprisoned in a backyard shed. When Aidan’s wife dies, he and his 13-year-old daughter, Cecilia, are forced to move. Aidan has no choice but to bring Rachel along, introducing her to Cecilia as a “family friend” who needs a place to stay. As Rachel tests the boundaries of her new living situation, she begins to form a tenuous connection with Cecilia. And when Emily, a local restaurant owner, develops a crush on the handsome widower, she finds herself drawn into Rachel and Cecilia’s orbit, coming dangerously close to discovering Aidan’s secret.

Retrospective written by Juan Gabriel Vásquez, translated by Anne McLean - Fiction

May 7, 2024

Colombian film director Sergio Cabrera is in Barcelona for a retrospective of his work. It's a hard time for him: his father, actor Fausto Cabrera, has just died; his marriage is in crisis; and his home country has rejected peace agreements that might have ended more than 50 years of war. In the course of a few intense days, as his films are on exhibit, Sergio recalls the events that marked his family's unusual and dramatic lives. From the Spanish Civil War to the exile of his family to Latin America, and from the Cultural Revolution in China to the guerrilla movements of 1960s Colombia, Sergio and his family's experience is extraordinary by any standards. RETROSPECTIVE reveals the story of one man and his family, and a devastating portrait of the forces that shaped their lives and turned the world upside down.

Rouge by Mona Awad - Gothic Horror/Dark Humor

May 7, 2024

When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror --- and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.

Save What's Left by Elizabeth Castellano - Fiction/Humor

May 7, 2024

Kathleen Deane’s husband, Tom, tells her he's no longer happy with his life and their marriage. With Tom off finding himself, Kathleen starts to think about what she wants. And her thoughts lead her to a small beach community on the east coast, a town called Whitbey that has always looked lovely in the Christmas letters her childhood friend Josie sends every year. It turns out, though, that life in Whitbey is nothing like Josie’s letters. Worst of all is the Sugar Cube, the monstrosity masquerading as a holiday home that Kathleen’s absentee neighbors are building next door to her quaint (read: tiny) cottage. As Kathleen gets more and more involved in the fight against the Sugar Cube and town politics overall, she realizes that Whitbey may not be a fairy tale, but it just might be exactly what she needs.

Summer on Sag Harbor by Sunny Hostin - Fiction

May 7, 2024

Hard-working and accomplished, Olivia Jones has blazed an enviable career path in the finance world. But behind the veneer of her success, she is mourning several devastating losses and betrayals. Untethered from her life in New York City, Olivia moves to a summer home in The Hamptons. Here, she finds a close-knit community of African American elites who escape New York City for the beautiful beaches of the Hamptons. Since the 1930s, very few have known about this Historically Black Beachfront Community, and the residents like it that way. That is, until real estate developers discover the hidden gem. And now, the residents must fight for the soul of this HBBC. As the summer stretches on, Olivia teams up with her new friends to protect their community and, in doing so, discovers who she really is.

The Summer Swap by Sarah Morgan - Fiction

May 7, 2024

Cecilia Lapthorne always vowed she’d never go back to Dune Cottage. So no one is more surprised than Cecilia to find herself escaping her 75th birthday party to return to the remote Cape Cod cottage, which is filled with both good and bad memories. After dropping out of medical school, aspiring artist Lily is cleaning houses on the Cape to get by. Unoccupied for years, Dune Cottage seems the perfect place to hide away and lick her wounds --- until Cecilia unexpectedly arrives. Despite an awkward beginning, Lily accepts Cecilia’s invitation to stay on as her guest, and a flicker of kinship ignites. Then Todd, Cecilia’s grandson --- and Lily’s unrequited crush --- shows up, sending a shock wave through their unlikely friendship. Will Lily find the courage to live the life she wants? Can Cecilia finally let go of the past to find a new future?

Swamp Story by Dave Barry - Fiction/Dark Humor

May 7, 2024

Jesse Braddock is trapped in a tiny cabin deep in the Everglades with her infant daughter and ex-boyfriend, a wannabe reality TV star. She stumbles across a long-lost treasure that could solve all her problems. But some very bad men are also looking for the treasure, and they know Jesse has it. Meanwhile, Ken Bortle of Bortle Brothers Bait and Beer has hatched a scheme to lure tourists to his failing store by making viral videos of the “Everglades Melon Monster.” Incredibly, this plan actually works, inspiring a horde of TikTokers to swarm into the swamp in search of the monster at the same time villains are on the hunt for Jesse’s treasure. Amid this mayhem, a presidential hopeful arrives in the Everglades to start his campaign. Needless to say, it does not go as planned.

The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard - Mystery/Thriller

May 7, 2024

One year ago, Lucy’s sister, Nicki, left to meet friends at a pub in Dublin and never came home. The third Irish woman to vanish inexplicably in as many years, the agony of not knowing what happened that night has turned Lucy’s life into a waking nightmare. So she’s going to take matters into her own hands. Angela works as a civilian paper-pusher in the Missing Persons Unit, but wants nothing more than to be a fully fledged member of An Garda Síochána, the Irish police force. With the official investigation into the missing women stalled, she begins pulling on a thread that could break the case wide open --- and destroy her chances of ever joining the force. A nameless man drives through the night, his latest victim in the back seat. He’s going to tell her everything, from the beginning.

The Water Outlaws by S. L. Huang - Fantasy/Adventure

May 7, 2024

Lin Chong is an expert arms instructor, training the Emperor's soldiers in sword and truncheon, battle axe and spear, lance and crossbow. Unlike bolder friends who flirt with challenging the unequal hierarchies and values of Imperial society, she believes in keeping her head down and doing her job. Until a powerful man with a vendetta rips that carefully built life away. Disgraced, tattooed as a criminal, and on the run from an Imperial Marshall who will stop at nothing to see her dead, Lin Chong is recruited by the Bandits of Liangshan. Mountain outlaws on the margins of society, the Liangshan Bandits proclaim a belief in justice --- for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They’re also murderers, thieves, smugglers and cutthroats.

When She Was Me by Marlee Bush - Psychological Thriller

May 7, 2024

Ever since that night, twin sisters Cassie and Lenora have been inseparable. As the sole permanent residents of Cabin Two, their refuge on an isolated Tennessee campground, they manage to stay away from prying eyes, probing questions and true crime junkies. The peace and quiet is almost enough to make them forget what happened all those years ago. Almost. Until a teenage girl camping at the neighboring cabin goes missing, and the memories come rushing back. As the crime becomes ever more recognizable, each sister suspects the other knows more than she's letting on. Trapped in the isolating, claustrophobic wilderness, Cassie and Lenora must piece together the truth of what happened --- and the sinister truth lurking in their own pasts --- before it's too late.