Adult

Jess and her 10-year-old son, William, set off to spend the summer at Château de Roussignol, deep in the rich, sunlit hills of the Dordogne. There, Jess’ ex-boyfriend --- and William’s father --- Adam, runs a beautiful hotel in a restored castle. Jess is bowled over by what Adam has accomplished, but she’s in France for a much more urgent reason: to make Adam fall in love with his own son. But Adam has other ideas, and another girlfriend --- and he doesn’t seem inclined to change the habits of a lifetime just because Jess and William have appeared on the scene. Jess, though, can’t allow Adam to let their son down; she is tormented by a secret of her own, one that nobody --- especially William --- must discover.

One of five lively children born to two Texas natives --- Beverly, a proper Dallas lady, and Thad, a young naval officer --- Marcia Gay Harden always had a knack for storytelling, role-playing and adventure. As a military family, the Hardens moved often, and their travels eventually took them to Yokohama, off the coast of Japan, during the Vietnam War era. It was here that Beverly found her own self-expression in ikebana, the ancient Japanese art of flower arranging. Using the philosophy of ikebana as her starting point, Marcia intertwines the seasons of her mother’s life with her own journey from precocious young girl to budding artist in New York City to Academy Award-winning actress.

The heist was legendary, still talked about 20 years after the priceless paintings disappeared from one of Boston's premier art museums. Most thought the art was lost forever. But when paint chips from the most valuable piece stolen, Gentlemen in Black by a Spanish master, arrives at the desk of a Boston journalist, the museum finds hope and enlists Spenser's help. Soon the cold art case thrusts Spenser into the shady world of black market art dealers, aged Mafia bosses and old vendettas. A five-million-dollar-reward by the museum's top benefactor sets Spenser and pals Vinnie Morris and Hawk onto a trail of hidden secrets, jailhouse confessions and decades-old murders.

After winning the presidency by a razor-thin victory on November 8, 1960 over Richard Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s former vice president, John F. Kennedy, became the 35th president of the United States. But beneath the stately veneers of both Ike and JFK, there was a complex and consequential rivalry. In RISING STAR, SETTING SUN, John T. Shaw focuses on the intense 10-week transition between JFK’s electoral victory and his inauguration on January 20, 1961. In just over two months, America would transition into a new age, and nowhere was it more marked than in the generational and personal difference between these two men and their dueling visions for the country they led.

Lucy has been writing her dissertation on Sappho for nine years when she and her boyfriend break up in a dramatic flameout. After she bottoms out in Phoenix, her sister in Los Angeles insists Lucy dog-sit for the summer. But Lucy can find little relief from her anxiety --- not in the Greek chorus of women in her love addiction therapy group, not in her frequent Tinder excursions, not even in Dominic the foxhound's easy affection. Everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer while sitting alone on the beach rocks one night. But when Lucy learns the truth about his identity, their relationship, and Lucy’s understanding of what love should look like, take a very unexpected turn.

They call themselves the May Mothers --- a group of new moms whose babies were born in the same month. Twice a week, they get together in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for some much-needed adult time. When the women go out for drinks at the hip neighborhood bar, they are looking for a fun break from their daily routine. But on this hot Fourth of July night, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but her fellow May Mothers insisted everything would be fine. Now he is missing. What follows is a heart-pounding race to find Midas, during which secrets are exposed, marriages are tested and friendships are destroyed.

On a ski vacation in the Swiss Alps, Alex Hawke and his young son, Alexei, are thrust into danger when the tram carrying them to the top of the mountain bursts into flames. Before he can reach Alexei, the boy is snatched from the burning cable car by unknown assailants in a helicopter. Meanwhile, high above the skies of France, Vladimir Putin is aboard his presidential jet after escaping a bloodless coup in the Kremlin. When two flight attendants collapse and slip into unconsciousness, the Russian leader realizes the danger isn’t over. Killing the pilots, he grabs a parachute, steps out of the plane…and disappears. Hawke has led his share of dangerous assignments, but none with stakes this high.

Framed by the oil shale bust and the real estate boom, by protests against Reagan and against the Gulf War, THE OPTIMISTIC DECADE takes us into the lives of five unforgettable characters and is a sweeping novel about idealism, love, class and a piece of land that changes everyone who lives on it. There is Caleb Silver, the beloved founder of the back-to-the-land camp Llamalo, who is determined to teach others to live simply. There are the ranchers, Don and his son, Donnie, who gave up their land to Caleb and now want it back. There is Rebecca Silver, determined to become an activist like her father and undone by the spell of both Llamalo and new love. And there is David, a teenager who has turned Llamalo into his personal religion.

Maud Drennan is a dedicated caregiver whose sunny disposition masks a deep sadness, as a tragic childhood event left her haunted. She keeps to herself, finding solace in her work and in her humble existence --- until she meets Mr. Flood. The lone occupant of a Gothic mansion, Cathal Flood has been waging war against his son’s attempts to put him into an old-age home. Maud is this impossible man’s last chance: if she can help him get the house in order, he just might be able to stay. So the unlikely pair begins to cooperate. Still, shadows are growing in the cluttered corners of the mansion, hinting at buried family secrets, and reminding Maud that she doesn’t really know this man at all.

In her late 30s, when her friends are asking when they will become mothers, the narrator of MOTHERHOOD considers if she will do so at all. In a narrative spanning several years, casting among the influence of her peers, partner and her duties to her forbearers, she struggles to make a wise and moral choice. After seeking guidance from philosophy, her body, mysticism and chance, she discovers her answer much closer to home.