Adult

Melanie Rawn’s new high fantasy series, Glass Thorns, that began with TOUCHSTONE and ELSEWHENS blends the worlds of magic, theater, art and politics. The third installment, THORNLOST, continues the story of Cayden “Cade” Silversun, part Elf, part Fae, part human Wizard --- and all rebel.

As the nation saluted the 200th birthday of its independence in a spectacle of festivities, Major League Baseball players waged a war for their own liberties, demanding free agency. For both the nation and its national pastime, the year would turn out revolutionary, indeed. STARS AND STRIKES tracks the tumultuous year from White House to shorts-wearing White Sox, chronicling a time on the eve of the disco era, after which the sport and the nation would never be the same.

When Edna O'Brien's first novel, THE COUNTRY GIRLS, was published in 1960, it so scandalized the O'Briens' local parish that the book was burned by its priest. O'Brien was undeterred and has since created a body of work that bears comparison with the best writing of the 20th century. COUNTRY GIRL brings us face-to-face with a life of high drama and contemplation.

On November 22, 1963, the First Lady accompanied her husband to Dallas, Texas, dressed in a pink Chanel-style suit. Much of her wardrobe came from the New York boutique Chez Ninon, where a young seamstress, an Irish immigrant named Kate, worked behind the scenes to meticulously craft the memorable outfits. When the pink suit Kate created becomes iconic for all the wrong reasons, her already fragile world threatens to rip apart.

The soul is the key to our lives, binding our heart, our mind, and our spirit together --- yet what is it, really? In SOUL KEEPING, John Ortberg takes a popular, story-filled approach to the subject of what our soul is and how we can care for it in a world that often forgets it exists in each one of us, waiting to be nurtured.

When Liz Daniels discovers that her husband, Paul, has kidnapped their two children, she throws herself into the search for them. Her investigation uncovers a disturbing incident from Paul's past, and she begins receiving ominous threats, warning her to stay away. Liz digs deeper into his secrets --- only to discover that his plans are far more extreme than she ever could have imagined.

At the center of Elizabeth McCracken's stories is often a jagged space left by loss: a neighborhood is haunted by a child's ghost, a library staff grapples with the mystery of a patron's death, a corner store manager obsesses over a missing woman, a son absconds forever with his parents' savings. But equally present in this new story collection --- McCracken's first in 20 years --- are passion, charm, humor and joy.

Before she became Manhattan's most famous dominatrix, Nora Sutherlin was merely a girl called Eleanor. Eleanor's first glimpse of beautiful, magnetic Father Marcus Stearns --- Søren to her and only her --- and his lust-worthy Italian motorcycle is an epiphany. She is consumed --- yet even she knows being in love with a priest can't be right.

On the grounds of a Caribbean island resort, newlyweds Deb and Chip meet a marine biologist who says she has sighted mermaids in a coral reef. As the resort's "parent company" swoops in to corner the market on mythological creatures, the couple joins forces with other adventurous souls to save said mermaids from the "Venture of Marvels," which wants to turn their reef into a theme park.

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS: MAD PILGRIMAGE OF THE FLESH gives intimate access to the mind of one of the most brilliant dramatists of his century, whose plays reshaped the American theater and the nation's sense of itself. This astute, deeply researched biography sheds a light on Tennessee Williams' warring family, his guilt, his creative triumphs and failures, his sexuality and numerous affairs, his misreported death, even the shenanigans surrounding his estate.