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Jennifer Chiaverini, author of Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters

In May 1875, Elizabeth Todd Edwards reels from news that her younger sister Mary, former First Lady and widow of President Abraham Lincoln, has attempted suicide. Mary’s shocking act followed legal proceedings arranged by her eldest and only surviving son that declared her legally insane. Although they have long been estranged, Elizabeth knows Mary’s tenuous mental health has deteriorated through decades of trauma and loss. Yet is her suicide attempt truly the impulse of a deranged mind, or the desperate act of a sane woman terrified to be committed to an asylum? And --- if her sisters can put past grievances aside --- is their love powerful enough to save her?

Week of June 28, 2021

Paperback releases for the week of June 28th include John Grisham's latest legal thriller, A TIME FOR MERCY, in which Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid 16-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy; ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE, the 16th entry in Louise Penny's series starring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Quebec, who this time is investigating a sinister plot in the City of Light; THE EVENING AND THE MORNING, the thrilling prequel to Ken Follett's THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH, which is set in England at the dawn of a new era --- the Middle Ages; DADDY, a remarkable story collection from Emma Cline, who portrays moments when the ordinary is disturbed and daily life buckles, revealing the perversity and violence pulsing under the surface; and THE BOOK OF LOST FRIENDS by Lisa Wingate, a dramatic account of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post-Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives.