Adult

In WILD FAILURE, characters encounter feelings of shame, desire, attachment and disconnection as they find themselves navigating their way through bad decisions, unusual situations and fraught relationships. In “Oh, El,” a dominant woman can’t stop herself from toying with the tender heart of her co-worker. The title story, “Wild Failure,” is a doomed love story between an agoraphobic and a wilderness hiker. In “Half Pipe,” a teen girl’s heterosexual ambivalence results in chaos at a skate park. A group of idealistic roommates find themselves the subject of a true crime podcast in “Murder at the Elm Street Collective House.” In “The Sex Castle Lunch Buffet,” a woman reflects on her brief stint at a ’90s strip club after she learns of the death of a former client.

Today, Irene Daria is a cognitive developmental psychologist and reading tutor to the stars. At the time of this story, she was a graduate student and “just” a mom thrilled that her son had been accepted to one of the most esteemed schools in Manhattan. Sure that he was on the path to a venerable education, she did not listen when her five-year-old told her that he --- like millions of other children --- was not being taught how to read in school. An entire, very painful school year passed before Eric got her to realize he was right. Follow along as Daria begins a perplexing but ultimately empowering journey to save his academic life. She finds herself pitted against well-intentioned teachers and administrators, people she would have loved to trust if only they weren’t so misinformed.

Dahlia de Beaumont has been the sole owner and CEO of the venerable family perfume business based in Paris since her early 20s, following the death of her parents. For 25 years, after losing her young skier husband in an avalanche, her life has centered on running Lambert Perfumes and being a devoted single mother to her four now-adult children. Now 56, she has an “arrangement” with a married French man but has been questioning that relationship. Dahlia comes to San Francisco on a routine business trip to check on her stores in the States. But shortly after her arrival, brush fires ignite in Napa Valley. Dahlia is moved to help, but doing so will bring unforeseen consequences. Forced to remain in San Francisco in the aftermath, she will make unexpected connections while also fighting to protect all she has worked for.

In this collection of 60 new poems, Billy Collins writes about the beauties and ironies of everyday experience. A poem is best, he feels, when it begins in clarity but ends with a whiff of mystery. In WATER, WATER, Collins combines his vigilant attention and respect for the peripheral to create moments of delight. Common and uncommon events are captured here with equal fascination, be it a cat leaning to drink from a swimming pool, a nurse calling a name in a waiting room, or an astronaut reciting Emily Dickinson from outer space. With his trademark lyrical informality, Collins asks us to slow down and glimpse the elevated in the ordinary, the odd in the familiar.

“Sister” Jane Arnold and her friend, Tootie Harris, are helping to lure home hunt club member Cindy Chandler’s two escaped cows, Clytemnestra and Orestes, when they discover an expensive watch carelessly abandoned on an overgrown path. The last thing Sister needs is another mystery to solve, but when one falls into her lap, she can’t help but get involved. Days later, a young man is murdered, one with seemingly no connection to the pricey jewelry or a life of crime. His mother is distraught, and Sister vows to find the murderer. But when hounds on the hunt discover a truck covered in blood --- with no body in sight --- she quickly realizes she’s in over her head with a cunning and clever adversary. Can she find the link and stop the murderer before they strike again? Only time will tell.

Silla Nordvig is running for her life. The Queen of Íseldur has sent warriors to bring Silla to Sunnavík, where death awaits her. When her father is killed, his last words set Silla on a perilous quest: travel the treacherous Road of Bones --- a thousand-mile stretch haunted by warbands, creatures of darkness and a mysterious murderer --- and go to Kopa, where a shield-house awaits her. After barely surviving the first stretch of road, a desperate Silla sneaks into a supply wagon belonging to the notorious Bloodaxe Crew. To make it to Kopa, she must win over Axe Eyes, the brooding leader of the Crew, while avoiding the Wolf, his distractingly handsome right-hand man. All the while, the queen's ruthless assassin hunts Silla obsessively. Will Silla make it safely to Kopa? Or will she fall prey to the perils of the Road of Bones?

June and Levi were best friends as teenagers --- until the day they weren’t. Now June is struggling to make rent on her beachside tea shop, Levi is living a New York cliché as a disillusioned hedge fund manager and failed novelist, and they've barely spoken in years. But after they both experience public, humiliating break-ups with their exes, they accidentally make some juicy gossip of their own --- a photo of them together has the internet convinced they're a couple. With so many people rooting for them, they decide to put aside their rocky past and make a pact to fuel the fire. Pretending to date will help June’s shop get back on its feet and make Levi’s ex realize that she made a mistake. All they have to do is convince the world they're in love, one swoon-worthy photo opp at a time.

In early 2021, popular artist Anna Marie Tendler checked herself into a psychiatric hospital following a year of crippling anxiety, depression and self-harm. Over two weeks, she underwent myriad psychological tests, participated in numerous therapy sessions, connected with fellow patients and experienced profound breakthroughs. In MEN HAVE CALLED HER CRAZY, Tendler recounts her hospital experience, as well as pivotal moments in her life that preceded and followed. As the title suggests, many of these moments are impacted by men --- unrequited love in high school; the 28-year-old she lost her virginity to when she was 16; the frustrations and absurdities of dating in her mid-30s; and her decision to freeze her eggs as all her friends were starting families.

Sent to live in her grandparents’ joyless home after her parents abandon her, Allegra Dixon finds her only solace through an escape into books. Attending boarding school, life finally takes a turn when she meets a dashing young West Point cadet named Shep Williams. Soon their friendship blossoms into something more, and they fall deeply in love. After college, Allegra has established herself as a book editor, and Shep is rising through the ranks of the military. But then Shep suddenly receives a posting to Afghanistan, and they decide to marry before he goes. Between his deployments, they cling to their brief and fraught stolen moments together. Each time he leaves, Shep promises the separations will come to an end. But soon Allegra realizes that the horrors of war have begun to change her husband into a man she no longer recognizes.

We begin with a nameless young couple: a boy and a girl, teenagers in love. One day, she disappears…and her absence haunts him for the rest of his life. Thus begins a search for this lost love that takes the man into middle age and on a journey between the real world and another world --- where unicorns roam, a Gatekeeper determines who can enter and who must remain behind, and shadows become untethered from their selves. The man leaves his life in Tokyo behind and ventures to a small mountain town, where he becomes the head librarian, only to learn the mysterious circumstances surrounding the gentleman who had the job before him. As the seasons pass and the man grows more uncertain about the porous boundaries between these two worlds, he meets a strange young boy who helps him to see what he’s been missing all along.