Features

Week of August 25, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of August 25th include FRAMED, John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction since THE INNOCENT MAN, in which he teams up with Jim McCloskey of Centurion Ministries to share 10 harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions; THE GREY WOLF, the 19th installment in Louise Penny's series starring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, who must figure out who he can trust in a frantic hunt for clues in a terrifying case; OPEN SEASON, a riveting thriller featuring psychologist Alex Delaware and Homicide Detective Milo Sturgis, who race against time to track down a twisted killer; A GREAT MARRIAGE, a poignent novel from Frances Mayes that finds two people and their families reeling when a perfect wedding is called off just days before the big event; and the genre-defying QUESTION 7, a reckoning with Richard Flanagan's life and family, and the role of fiction in our times.

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Clare Leslie Hall, author of Days You Were Mine

Luke and Hannah live a happy and stable life in London as they prepare for the arrival of their first child, Samuel. All his life, Luke has known he was adopted, but he’s never felt the need to seek out his birth mother --- until he becomes a father himself. His first encounter with Alice is surreal, a sharp prick that barely scratches the surface of a painful past that neither of them has fully confronted. Alice sinks into memories of her life as a young artist in 1970s London, and of her tragic whirlwind romance with an enigmatic musician who would become Luke’s father. Meanwhile, Luke spirals as he comes face to face with his feelings of abandonment that he worked so hard to bury. But at least Alice seems keen to make up for lost time by looking after Samuel --- until her doting grandmother act takes a sinister turn for the worse.

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Days You Were Mine by Clare Leslie Hall

October 2025

There is something lovely about enjoying an author’s latest book and then going back to read his or her previous work. Earlier this year, I read BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall. I, like many other readers, loved it. I enjoyed the plotting, the storytelling and the characters. There were reveals, questions about what was right --- and wrong --- and great pacing. It’s one of the most talked-about books of the year, and I venture that it will appear on many “Best of 2025” lists.

So it was lovely to see that Clare’s publisher repackaged and released for the first time in the US two of her backlist titles: DAYS YOU WERE MINE (published in late August) and PICTURES OF HIM (published in late September). These books originally released in the UK under the pseudonym Clare Empson, and one can see the emotional writing chops that are at the core of BROKEN COUNTRY. Here I am going to look at DAYS YOU WERE MINE.

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