Adult

Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique and Nakia are in their early 20s, and together, they are finding their way through the wilderness, that period of life when the reality of contemporary adulthood swoops in. Desiree and Danielle, sisters whose shared history has done little to prevent their estrangement, nurse bitter family wounds in different ways. January has a relationship with a “good” man she feels ambivalent about, even after her surprise pregnancy. Monique, a librarian and aspiring blogger, finds unexpected online fame after calling out the university where she works for its plans to whitewash history. And Nakia is trying to get her restaurant off the ground, without relying on her upper-middle-class family. These friends must also figure out what they mean to one another --- amid political upheaval, economic and environmental instability, and the increasing volatility of modern American life.

For Buddy, a low-level mob wise guy, and Lillian, a charming pickpocket, the criminal underworld is the only life they’ve ever known. When they’re forced to flee the glittering Babylon of Las Vegas, they end up opening a club in Oklahoma City --- a town that quickly feels like a gold mine of fresh marks and easy new money. Along for the ride are their five children, all of them raised into the family business of crime --- until the day comes when they each have a chance to make their own way in the world, even if they can never completely escape the family’s long, dark shadow.

Anne Bishop seems like a typical Vassar sophomore --- one of a popular group of privileged WASP friends. None of the girls in her circle has any idea that she’s Jewish, or that her real first name is Miriam. Pretending to be a Gentile has made life easier. As Anne, she no longer suffers the snubs, snide remarks and daily restrictions Jews face. But her secret life is threatened when she becomes fascinated by a girl not in her crowd. Delia Goldhush is sophisticated, stylish, brilliant and unashamedly Jewish. Knowing that her growing closeness with Delia would be social suicide if it were discovered, Anne keeps their friendship quiet. Delia seems to understand --- until a cruelty on Anne’s part drives them apart and sends them scattering to other corners of the world, alone and together. 

Boston Bearcats rookie Robbie Corrigan has made it to the NHL. Life is sweet. That is, until he meets Skylar Paige --- a division 1 softball pitcher, the girl least likely to take anyone’s bull…and the one member of the opposite sex immune to his charms. When he discovers she’s carrying a serious torch for her brother’s best friend, Robbie knows he should just go back to clubbing and whipped cream bikini parties, but he can’t seem to leave Skylar to flounder on her romantic quest to land another man. Nor can he miss out on the opportunity to spend time with her and hopefully redeem himself. Before Robbie knows it, he’s agreed to be Skylar’s fake boyfriend/love coach at an upcoming family wilderness competition where her crush will be in attendance. What could go wrong?

Twenty-eight-year-old Kiki Banjo hosts the popular podcast “The HeartBeat,” solving romantic conundrums and dishing out life advice. Behind the scenes, though, career setbacks and a devastating breakup have left her hanging on by a thread. As she’s preparing to be the Maid of Honor in her best friend’s wedding, everything starts to unravel, and Kiki is left wondering if she ever had the answers. Then Kiki finds herself face-to-face with the Best Man, her ex-boyfriend, Malakai. While Kiki is approaching rock bottom, Malakai has been on the rise as a filmmaker. Both are hell-bent on ignoring the smoldering chemistry between them, but they can’t ignore the spark that’s only getting hotter. They just have to get through the summer. So why does it feel like they're playing with fire?

Two Black writers are trying to find peace and belonging in a world that is riven with gun violence. One is on a global book tour after a big prize win; the other is set to give a speech at a school that has suffered a shooting. As their two storylines merge, truths and antics abound in equal measure: characters drink booze out of an award trophy; menaces lurk in the shadows; tiny French cars putter around the countryside; handguns seem to hover in the air; and dreams endure against all odds.

Surrey, England, 1938. After 30 devoted years of marriage, Ellie Endicott is blindsided by her husband’s appeal for divorce. It’s Ellie’s opportunity for change too. The unfaithful cad can have the house. She’s taking the Bentley. Ellie, her housekeeper Mavis, and her elderly friend Dora --- each needing escape --- impulsively head for parts unknown in the South of France. With the Rhône surging beside them, they have nowhere to be and everywhere to go. Until the Bentley breaks down in the inviting fishing hamlet of Saint Benet. Here, Ellie rents an abandoned villa in the hills, makes wonderful friends among the villagers, and finds herself drawn to Nico, a handsome and enigmatic fisherman. But fates soon change when the threat of war encroaches.

Chef Liv Kuo’s star is on the rise…until a traumatic incident leaves her emotionally unable to venture outside her Manhattan apartment. But an unexpected reason to break free comes from Ah-Ma, Liv’s beloved grandmother in Taiwan. Ah-Ma needs Liv’s help in finding her fourth daughter, taken from her when the girl was an infant. After all these years, it seems impossible. It’s also a mystery: Ah-Ma’s fourth daughter is an aunt Liv never even knew existed. After landing in Taiwan, Liv hears the heartbreaking story of her grandmother’s plight in a country once under martial law, of choices made for her, and of the hopeful search for a lost girl that has endured for more than 60 years. Their journey for answers turns up both a precious old cookbook and a tale of fatal betrayal that shakes everything Liv believed about her family.

In first-century Rome, Flavia Albia is once again faced with uncovering the truth. Quite literally. Only 10 years earlier, Mount Vesuvius erupted and rained ash down about the Roman cities and towns along the Bay of Naples. But while some cities were destroyed, others were merely badly damaged. And the uncle of Flavia Albia’s husband seizes the opportunity to buy a villa…cheap! It just has to be dug out of the ash and restored. Oh, and any bodies uncovered, including the previous owner, given a proper burial. As the Villa is being renovated, there are indeed bodies found. But one is not like the others. Instead of buried in the ash, the previous owner’s body is found in a locked storeroom, and Albia is immediately suspicious that he didn’t die in the eruption.

A man and a woman walk into a restaurant. The woman expects a lovely night filled with endless plates of samosas. Instead, she finds out her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie. A short while after, her chest starts to ache. She walks into an examination room, where she finds out the pain in her breast isn’t just heartbreak --- it’s cancer. She decides to call the tumor Maggie. Unfolding in fragments over the course of the ensuing months, MAGGIE; OR, A MAN AND A WOMAN WALK INTO A BAR follows the narrator as she embarks on a journey of grief, healing and reclamation.