Adult

1927. When Olivia "Livy" West learns of the Dole Air Race --- a high-stakes contest to be the first to make the 2,400-mile Pacific crossing from the West Coast to Hawaii --- she sets her sights on qualifying. But it soon becomes clear that only men will make the cut. Livy manages to be picked as a navigator for one of the pilots, before setting out on a harrowing journey that some will not survive. 1987. Wren Summers has inherited a remote piece of land on the Big Island with nothing on it but a dilapidated barn and an overgrown mac nut grove. She plans on selling it but is drawn in by the mysterious objects kept in the barn by her late great-uncle. Determined to find out what really happened all those years ago, Wren enlists the help of residents at a nearby retirement home to uncover Olivia’s story piece by piece.

At age 19, young Eton graduate Eric Blair set sail for India, dreading the assignment ahead. Along with several other young conscripts, he would be trained for three years as a servant of the British Empire, overseeing the local policemen in Burma. Navigating the social, racial and class politics of his fellow British at the same time as he learned the local languages and struggled to control his men would prove difficult enough. But doing all of this while grappling with his own self-worth, his sense that he was not cut out for this, is soon overwhelming for the young Blair. Eventually, his clashes with his superiors, and the drama that unfolds in this hot, beautiful land, will change him forever.

A legendary model and style icon, Anke Berben reveled in headline-grabbing romances with three members of the hugely influential rock band the Midnight Ramblers. The band members were as famous for their backstage drama as for their music, and Anke is the only one who fully understands the tangled relationships, betrayals and suspicions that have added to the Ramblers’ enduring appeal and mystique. That is most evident in the mystery around Anke’s role in the death of Mal, the band’s founder and Anke’s husband, in 1969. When Mari Hawthorn accepts the job to work with Anke on her memoir, she is dead set on getting to the truth of Mal’s death. As she ingratiates herself into the world of the band, she grows enchanted, against her better judgment, by these legendary rock stars.

We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and, perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human. Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else. In WHY WE READ, Reed shares surprising stories from her life as a reader and the poignant ways in which books have impacted her students.

In 16th-century New Spain, witchcraft is punishable by death, indigenous temples have been destroyed, and tales of mythical creatures that once roamed the land have become whispers in the night. Hidden behind a mask, Pantera uses her magic and legendary swordplay skills to fight the tyranny of Spanish rule. To all who know her, Leonora de las Casas Tlazohtzin never leaves the palace and is promised to the heir of the Spanish throne. The respectable, law-abiding Lady Leonora faints at the sight of blood and would rather be caught dead than meddle in court affairs. No one suspects that Leonora and Pantera are the same person. When an ancient prophecy of destruction threatens to come true, Leonora --- and therefore Pantera --- is forced to decide: surrender the mask or fight to the end.

Once a black ops government assassin known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak left the Program, went deep underground, and reinvented himself as someone who will go anywhere and risk everything to help the truly desperate. Since then, Evan has fought international crime syndicates and drug cartels, faced down the most powerful people in the world, and even brought down a president. Now struggling with an unexpected personal crisis, Evan goes back to the very basics of his mission. This time, the truly desperate is a little girl who wants him to find her missing dog. This unlikely, tiny job quickly explodes into his biggest mission yet, one that finds him battered between twisted AI technocrat billionaires, a mysterious female assassin who seems a mirror of himself, and personal stakes so gut-wrenching he scarcely can make sense of them.

Middle-class Rosie Macalister has worked for years to fit in with her wealthy friends on the Yale equestrian team. But when she comes back from her junior year abroad with newfound confidence, she finds that the group has been infiltrated by a mysterious intruder: Annelise Tattinger. A talented tarot reader and a brilliant rider, the enigmatic Annelise is unlike anyone Rosie has ever met. But when one of their friends notices money disappearing from her bank account, Annelise's place in the circle is thrown into question. As the girls turn against each other, the group’s unspoken tensions and assumptions lead to devastating consequences. It's only after graduation, when Rosie begins a job at a Manhattan hedge fund, that she uncovers Annelise's true identity --- and how her place in their elite Yale set was no accident.

WITCHCRAFT travels through 13 witch trials across history, some famous --- like the Salem witch trials --- and some lesser-known: on Vardø island, Norway, in the 1620s, where an indigenous Sami woman was accused of murder; in France in 1731, during the country’s last witch trial, where a young woman was pitted against her confessor and cult leader; in Lesotho in 1948, where British colonial authorities executed local leaders. Exploring how witchcraft was feared, then decriminalized and then reimagined as gendered persecution, WITCHCRAFT takes on the intersections between gender and power, indigenous spirituality and colonial rule, political conspiracy and individual resistance.

Born to Mexican immigrants south of the Rillito River in Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth had the world at her fingertips. She was preparing to enter her freshman year of high school as the number one student when her own country suddenly took away the most important right a child has: the right to have a family. When her parents’ visas expired and they were forced to return to Mexico, Elizabeth was left responsible for her younger brother, as well as her education. Even though her parents couldn’t stay, there was no way she could let go of the opportunities the U.S. could provide. Armed with only her passport, Elizabeth became what her school would eventually describe as an unaccompanied homeless youth, one of thousands of underage victims affected by family separation due to broken immigration laws.

Candy Wilson has forgotten to buy the paprika. Turner Davis needs to get his zinnias in. Della Dorner told her mother she was going to the Galaxy Swirl, but that's not where she's really headed on her new Schwinn five-speed. FLOAT UP, SING DOWN is the story of a single day. But in that day, how much teeming life! The residents of this rural town have their routines, preferences, joys, grudges and regrets. Gossip is paramount. Lives are entwined. Retired sheriffs climb corn bins and muse on lost love, French teachers throw firecrackers out of barn windows, and teenagers borrow motorcycles to ride the back roads. Each of these 14 stories follows one character's day in the life in one of Laird Hunt's most beloved and enduring landscapes.