When April and Leo’s house burns in the middle of the night, they escape with their two young children. They retreat to April’s childhood home in Dallas, where her spirited parents and siblings provide both comfort and complication. As the family reckons with the aftermath, the fire exposes the cracks already forming in April and Leo’s marriage. The novel unfolds in alternating perspectives: from April, who feels the crushing weight of motherhood, marriage and self-blame; from Leo, a high school history teacher shaped by a lonely, fractured childhood; from Deb, April’s generous and no-nonsense mother who has to contend with her husband’s recent Alzheimer’s diagnosis; and from flashbacks that trace April and Leo’s relationship from its earliest days of connection to the devastating decisions that led them here.

Oxford, Mississippi, 1933. Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, 11-year-old Meg Lefleur is now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum. Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she's left behind. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers that her sister's seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies. Then Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose. When their fates --- and Meg’s --- converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan to claim what's rightfully theirs. But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women's freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences. 

In 1870, three Chinese women arrive in the small, dusty and violent pueblo of Los Angeles. Dove, the bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar, is entrancing and innocent. These characteristics should bring her great rewards, beginning with her arranged marriage to a much older merchant. Petal, the big-footed daughter of peasants, has grown up hungry. In a moment of desperation, Petal’s father sells her to buy money for rice seed, and she is loaded onto a ship to the Gold Mountain --- America --- where she is once again sold. Moon is married to a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, but her failed footbinding as a child has left her with a limp that lessens her value in the eyes of many. Anti-Chinese sentiment is strong in Los Angeles, and this eventually leads to the Night of Horrors during which all three women are challenged in ways they could not have imagined.

Reeling from a breakup and overlooked at her job as a lighting designer, Iris Sunnegren finds herself stuck, disconnected and lonely in crowded New York City. Then a mysterious neighbor, an older Frenchwoman, makes her a gift: a bespoke perfume. One spritz, a dab behind the ears, and Iris feels like a different woman. Suddenly, she is the object of every man’s desire. She can cast off her inhibitions and use her newfound allure to dazzle the high-profile client, attract a man who excites her like no other, and access all the rarified spaces that once excluded her. Invigorated by the perfume, Iris embodies her maximum power --- a flower fully bloomed. But there is danger in connecting to our primal emotions. Scent awakens buried memories, and nightmares of the childhood house fire Iris barely survived return to haunt her.

When Pixie Nolan first came to Bramble, Kentucky, the abandoned and desperate young single mother found hope, healing and a fresh start. With the loving support of her best friends, she is now happily raising her toddler son in a cozy cottage. She never expected to make an electrifying connection with a summer renter, a retired Navy SEAL with his own complicated past. Brogan Rafferty arrives with an adorable baby girl in tow and settles into the lake house next door. But it’s no coincidence that Brogan has found Pixie, and his startling revelations make it clear she’s the key to healing old regrets and building new dreams. And when a hostile stranger turns up with shocking accusations against Bramble’s new hometown hero, Pixie must put her own fears and heartbreak away for good.

It’s been a life-changing year since Maddie moved to the picturesque, historic fishing village of Menemsha on Martha’s Vineyard, where her late mother was born. Maddie has rediscovered her grandmother, as well as her own Indigenous roots as half Wampanoag. She’s also found an unexpected second chance at love with restauranteur Rex Winsted. And then she spots a vacant shop right on the harbor. Maddie boldly decides to end her days as a college journalism professor and open a bookshop that also will serve teas her grandmother makes from island herbs. For Maddie, it’s all too good to be true…until the threats begin. An unexpected incident makes the situation worse, and just as the shop is about to open, revelations from the past erupt.

Song is a nobody --- just a food delivery worker from a village in Northeastern China --- but her son, River, is a little wonder. At the age of four, he toddled to a piano and tapped out his favorite song. At eight, he mastered Liszt's three Liebestraume. At 10, he blazed through the complete set of Chopin's études. And at every step, Song is there to light his way --- until finally, at the age of 11, River is invited to study with a preeminent teacher in Beijing. But in the chaos of Beijing Railway Station, Song faces every mother's nightmare. She loses her grip on River’s little hand and is unable to find him after a desperate, harrowing search. Over the next days, weeks and, eventually, years, Song and River fight to forge a path back to each other as they carve out new lives that carry them farther apart.

Fall 2008. The Waldorf Astoria New York. Two armed men storm the hotel’s famed bar and hold the occupants hostage: an American corporate raider, a Chinese tycoon, a British hedge fund manager, a Japanese housewife-turned-celebrity, a Mexican undocumented worker, a Wall Street bond salesman, and a Norwegian environmentalist. Who are these terrorists? What do they want? And what ties them to their captives? MERRY-GO-ROUND BROKE DOWN is a genre-breaking novel that explores globalization’s “butterfly effect”: how choices made in one corner of the world ignited an unstoppable chain of consequences that upended lives across continents.

Once a believer in a happily ever after, struggling romance writer Zoe Knight curbs her loneliness with the help of the best book boyfriends in literature --- and there is no better man than Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy. So when she stumbles into a classic London bookshop and argues with the annoyingly attractive store owner, Nick, who refuses to sell romance novels, she decides to liberate him of a dusty copy of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE abandoned on a top shelf. But this is no ordinary book. After reading from the pages, Zoe finds herself in a remarkable situation: she has accidentally summoned the Mr. Darcy to the real world. Now, she's face to face with the man she's loved forever, and he's everything she dreamed he would be. But even in all his regency perfection, can he ever be as good as in the novel?

Rose Dearling’s life changed forever when her brother was imprisoned for the murder of his high school sweetheart. Now, a decade after the crime ripped her family and Florida hometown apart, Rose is the only one who still believes he didn’t do it. So much so that she wrote a bestselling book about the case to cement his innocence. This may have gained her a bad reputation, but it also bought her a new life in Manhattan, far away from where it all began. Then Rose gets a call that shatters her world for a second time: her younger sister has gone missing. Back home and under the same roof as her family for the first time in years, Rose begins the search for her sister. But when connections between both past and present cases emerge, Rose realizes that her own book could hold all the answers.

Sisters Maeve and Therese Dunigan have been estranged for years. They could not be more opposite: Maeve is the rule follower, and Therese is the rebel. But when their mother’s death brings the family back together, the two find that they have inherited a painting --- one that could be worth millions and save them from the wolves at their door. The only issue is whether it’s real or a fake --- and the only way they can prove that theirs is the real McCoy is to solve the mystery of how this portrait of an Anglo-Irish aristocrat made its way to their childhood home in Savannah, Georgia. This means a road trip --- to Ireland, to their family roots, and to a mysterious crime that occurred generations ago. With tensions simmering, the two hit the road. Can they survive the journey without killing each other?

Colin Eames recalls his late mother’s tales of a faraway place called the Sapphire Sea, where happiness forever is a way of life. When Colin is accepted into the Outer Banks Academy for the Gifted, it's his chance to slip out from under his father’s control, chart his own course, and embark on a quest for the one thing that eludes him: love. As the years pass and Colin’s freedom offers dream opportunities, his yearning to make a connection grows stronger. Then he meets Mira, an empathetic girl weathering tragic losses of her own. She’s there for him, supporting each new step he takes. For Colin, maybe the promise of the Sapphire Sea wasn’t a bedtime story after all, but rather a true and genuine place in the heart --- one worth searching and waiting for.

Elegy Ahn did not ask for destiny to find her. She is happy with her life as a soldier, defending her small country from the Talusar, a powerful nation who worships a deadly Fever. A fever that blesses half of its victims with mysterious gifts. But then she’s summoned to hear a prophecy --- her, and the most ruthless of Talusar generals, Rava Vidar. Brought face to face, they learn that one of them will lead their people to victory over the other…but they don’t know which. And at the center of both of their fates: a man. A man with whom, Elegy is told, she will fall in love. In just one day, Elegy’s old life --- her job, her purpose and her future --- is over. She and Rava are destined to collide, with the fate of their nations hanging in the balance. And when they do, only one will be left standing.

As a child, Phoebe Manigault developed the gift of premonition after she was struck by lightning in the creek near her Charleston home. Plagued throughout her life by mysterious dreams, Phoebe eventually moves to the West Coast. Now, years later, she is summoned back to South Carolina to help her sister, Addie, care for their ailing mother. As Phoebe’s return lures her back into deep-rooted tensions and conflicts, she is drawn to Celeste, whose granddaughter went missing years ago. Their connection brings comfort to Phoebe, while Celeste’s adult grandson, Liam, resurrects complicated emotions tied to Phoebe’s past. But the longer Phoebe spends in her childhood home, the more her recurring nightmares intensify --- bringing her closer to the shocking truth that irrevocably will change everything.

Julia Pritzker loves her new life as a wife and mother in beautiful Tuscany --- except that she misses her best friend, Courtney, back in the States. One night, Julia calls Courtney and reaches her as she’s arriving at her grandmother’s farm in Pennsylvania. Then the unthinkable happens. A dreadful premonition overwhelms Julia as Courtney is entering the house. But it’s too late to stop Courtney, who makes a heartbreaking discovery. Her beloved grandmother has been murdered. Julia flies home the next morning to support Courtney in her grief. The local police believe the murder was a botched burglary, but the women suspect something much more sinister. They call in hotshot Philly lawyer Bennie Rosato, but events take a deadly turn, and Julia becomes the target of a murderous conspiracy.

Beckett Bowery never thought she’d return to Wyatt Valley, a picturesque college town in the Virginia mountains steeped in tradition. Her roots there were strong: Beckett’s parents taught at the college, and she never imagined studying anywhere else --- until a tragedy her senior year ended with two local men dead and her roommate on the run, never to be seen again. For the last two decades, Beckett has done her best to stay away. But when her daughter, Delilah, secretly applies to Wyatt College and earns a full scholarship, Beckett can only hope that her fears are unfounded. Deep down she knows that Wyatt Valley has a long memory, and that both the past and present timelines hold dangers --- and that some secrets never stay buried.