Adult

On the surface, Henry Hayden seems like someone you could like or even admire. But his past is a secret, his methods more so. No one besides him and his wife know that she is the actual writer of the novels that made him famous. For most of Henry’s life, it hasn’t been a problem. But when his hidden-in-plain-sight mistress becomes pregnant and his carefully constructed facade is about to crumble, he tries to find a permanent solution, only to make a terrible mistake.

In the summer of 1966, Christina Hardcastle (“Tiny” to her illustrious family) stands on the brink of a breathtaking future. Together she and her husband, Frank, make the ultimate power couple. But as the season gets underway at the family estate on Cape Cod, three unwelcome visitors appear in Tiny’s perfect life: her volatile sister, Pepper; an envelope containing an incriminating photograph; and the intimidating figure of Frank’s cousin, Vietnam war hero Caspian, who knows more about Tiny’s rich inner life than anyone else.

In the near future, the U.S. has deployed the Remote Infantry Corps: thousands of robots remote-piloted by soldiers whose bodies lie hidden in underground bases. But the worst occurs when anarchists set off a global pulse that shorts out electrical connections. In Damascus, Private Danny Kelso, Corporal Kate Wade and their platoon realize they are trapped inside the Tin Men. In Athens, the G20 Summit comes under fire, and a band of security soldiers and advisors risk everything in an effort to shepherd the President to safety.

Catherine de' Medici was a ruthless pragmatist and powerbroker who dominated the throne for 30 years. Her youngest daughter, Marguerite, was a passionate free spirit, the only adversary whom her mother could neither intimidate nor control. When Catherine forces the Catholic Marguerite to marry her Protestant cousin Henry of Navarre against her will, and then uses her opulent Parisian wedding as a means of luring his followers to their deaths, she creates not only savage conflict within France but also a potent rival within her own family.

Human society continues to evolve on Datum Earth as the spread of humanity progresses throughout the many Earths beyond. Lobsang suffers a breakdown and attempts to live a “normal” life on one of the millions of Long Earth worlds. His old friend, Joshua, searches for his father and discovers a heretofore unknown family history. But an alien planet has somehow become “entangled” with one of the Long Earth worlds. As Lobsang and Joshua learn, its voracious denizens intend to capture, conquer and colonize the new universe they have inadvertently discovered.

From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, Monsieur Perdu prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened. After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story.

Pandy "PJ" Wallis is a renowned writer whose novels about a young woman making her way in Manhattan have spawned a series of blockbuster films. After the success of the Monica books and movies, Pandy wants to attempt a historical novel based on her ancestor Lady Wallis. But Pandy's publishers and audience only want her to keep cranking out more Monica, as does her greedy husband. When her marriage crumbles and the boathouse of her family home in Connecticut goes up in flames, Pandy suddenly realizes she has an opportunity to reinvent herself.

Set in Paris today, THE FESTIVAL OF INSIGNIFICANCE follows four friends who run into each other in the Luxembourg Gardens, attend parties, and conduct a long-running exchange on sex, desire, history, art, even the meaning of human existence. Alain, one of the friends, is fascinated by the exposed belly buttons of passing women --- the latest fashion --- and takes navel-gazing to imaginative, erotic heights. Another, who has just been told that he does not have cancer, tells a friend that his case is terminal.

Life is anything but perfect for Hallie Hartley, a young physical therapist who has given up nearly everything for her beautiful blonde stepsister, Shelly. Though Shelly’s acting career has never taken off, she has certainly perfected the crocodile tears to get what she wants --- which all too often means Hallie’s boyfriends. When Hallie arrives home early from work one fateful day, she makes two startling discoveries that will turn her life upside down: Not only has a mysterious relative left Hallie a house on Nantucket, but Shelly has been trying to steal it.

THE POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF THE PICKWICK CLUB, featuring the fat and lovable Mr. Pickwick and his Cockney manservant, Sam Weller, began as a series of whimsical sketches, the brainchild of the brilliant, erratic, misanthropic illustrator named Robert Seymour. When Seymour's publishers settled on a young storyteller using the pen name Boz, THE PICKWICK PAPERS went on to become a worldwide phenomenon. And Boz became, in the eyes of many, the most important writer of his time. The fate of Robert Seymour, Mr. Pickwick's creator, is a very different story --- one untold before now.