Newly divorced and penniless, Sally is desperate to support herself and her teenage daughter. Forced into a criminal world of pornography and drugs, she and her sister --- who has a crippling secret that dates back 20 years --- struggle to keep a grip on reality.

One morning in picture-perfect Bath, England, a teenage girl’s body is found on the towpath of a canal. Lorne Wood --- beautiful, popular, and apparently the victim of a brutal murder. Why was she on the towpath late at night alone? Zoe Benedict --- Harley-riding police detective, independent to a fault --- is convinced the department head needs to look beyond the usual domestic motives to solve the case. Meanwhile Zoe’s sister Sally --- recently divorced and supporting a daughter who was friends with the dead girl --- has begun working as a housekeeper for a rich entrepreneur who quickly begins to seem less eccentric than repugnant, and possibly dangerous. When Zoe’s investigation uncovers evidence that Lorne’s attempts to break into modeling had delivered her into the world of webcam porn, a crippling secret from Zoe’s past seems determined to emerge.

Although Franklin D. Roosevelt later called Chief Justice Hughes the best politician in the country, the two men fiercely collided at a pivotal moment in history --- during the initial stages of FDR’s New Deal.

Although Franklin D. Roosevelt later called Chief Justice Hughes the best politician in the country, the two men fiercely collided at a pivotal moment in history --- during the initial stages of FDR’s New Deal.

The author of acclaimed books on the bitter clashes between presidents and chief justices --- Jefferson and Marshall, Lincoln and Taney --- over the character of the nation, constitutional power, slavery, secession and the president’s war powers, James F. Simon tells the dramatic story of the struggle between FDR and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes that decided the fate of the New Deal.

The collision of Roosevelt and Hughes, like those of Jefferson and Marshall, Lincoln and Taney, occurred at a pivotal moment in American history. Roosevelt came to office in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression. He bombarded Congress with a fusillade of legislative initiatives that included shutting down insolvent banks, regulating stocks, imposing industrial codes, and rationing agricultural production. Major New Deal statutes, which Roosevelt considered critical to the nation’s economic recovery, were struck down by the Hughes Court as unconstitutional.

In 1936, FDR was reelected by a landslide and the exasperated president proposed legislation to relieve, he said, the overburdened and elderly justices of their heavy workload. He proposed the appointment of an additional justice for each sitting member over 70 years old. Six of the justices on the Hughes Court, including the Chief Justice, were over 70. The proposal would have permitted the president to stack the Court with justices favorable to the New Deal. The Chief deftly rebutted the claim that the Court was not abreast of its work, and the proposal was defeated. In grudging admiration, FDR later said that the Chief Justice was the best politician in the country.

Despite the defeat of his plan, Roosevelt never lost confidence and, like Hughes, never ceded leadership. He outmaneuvered isolationist senators to expedite aid to Great Britain as the Allies hovered on the brink of defeat. He then led his country through the Second World War to become the greatest president of the 20th century.

At a once-vibrant communal-living property in the British countryside, back-to-basics fervor has given way to a vague discontent. With his family falling apart, founder Don Riley convinces himself that the only way to save the world he’s created is to throw the biggest party of his life. 

At a once vibrant communal-living property in the British countryside, back-to-basics fervor has given way to a vague discontent. A place that once buzzed with activity, from the polytunnels to the pottery shed, now functions with a skeleton crew. Founder Don Riley surveys his domain with the grim focus of someone who knows what’s best for everyone --- and isn’t afraid to let them know. Especially when those people are related to him. 

Don’s wife, Freya, can’t quite decide whether not liking someone anymore is enough reason to end a twenty-year marriage. So she decamps to a mud yurt in the woods to mull it over. Their seventeen-year-old daughter, Kate, enrolls in school for the first time in her life: the exotic new world of fellow teenagers and surprisingly tasty cafeteria food beckons, and she is quickly lured into the arms of a “meathead” classmate. In his sister’s absence, eleven-year-old Albert falls under the spell of an outlandish new visitor to the community who fills his head with strange notions of the impending end of the world. 

Faced with the task of rescuing his son from apocalyptic fantasies, his daughter from the clutches of suburbia, and his wife from her increasingly apparent desire to leave him, Don convinces himself that the only way to save the world he’s created is . . . to throw the biggest party of his life. Will anyone show up? 

After her husband’s unexpected death, Natalie has erected a fortress around her emotions; and Markus, clumsy and unassuming, will never be her knight in shining armor. Yet slowly but surely, an offbeat romance begins between these two complex souls.

After her husband’s unexpected death, Natalie has erected a fortress around her emotions; and Markus, clumsy and unassuming, will never be her knight in shining armor. Yet slowly but surely, an offbeat romance begins between these two complex souls.

Reminiscent of Nick Hornby, Muriel Barbery, and Jonathan Tropper, internationally acclaimed novelist David Foenkinos delivers a heartfelt and deftly comedic tale of new love brightening the dark aftermath of loss --- and of wounded hearts finding refuge in the strangest of places. After her husband’s unexpected death, Natalie has erected a fortress around her emotions; and Markus, clumsy and unassuming, will never be her knight in shining armor. Yet slowly but surely, an offbeat romance begins between these two mismatched, complex souls, and contrary to everything Natalie knows of affection, her perfect suitor may turn out to be love’s most unlikely candidate: the fool, not the hero, who is finally able to reach her heart.