Adult

It's rare for a room to open up in London’s storied Columbia Mansions, and lonely Gwen is thrilled when her neighbor’s new subletter, Pixie, brings a friendly breath of fresh air to its stuffy halls. Their unexpected bond soon becomes the bright spot in Gwen’s quiet life. But Gwen can’t help noticing cracks beneath Pixie's cheerful surface --- especially when it comes to her questionable financial arrangement with her live-in landlord, Alec. As suspicions mount, Gwen’s protective instincts go into overdrive, triggering a dangerous chain of events no one is prepared for.

Cricket Dib, born on the American prairie, has no particular prospects or ambitions until, in grade school, he realizes he can draw. He soon meets a girl, Olympia Argyros, who is captivating and brilliant and far more worldly. Recognizing his talent, she convinces him to deface, with profound vulgarity, a popular playground. Under her direction, he does it willingly, already in love. Thus begins a 65-year entwining between Cricket and Olympia, encompassing friendship, working partnership and love affair. Together they go to art school --- an experience of dubious value --- and then navigate the art world for the next 50 years, together and apart.

Held at Fairmount Park, in Philadelphia, the Great Centennial Exhibition of 1876 attracted 10 million Americans and visitors from around the world. On display were inventions that signaled the changing landscape of American life, from the typewriter to the telephone to Heinz Tomato Ketchup. This celebration of America’s first century came at a moment when its future seemed more precarious than ever. Looming over the fair was the presidential race of 1876 --- a highly contested election that would determine the fate of Reconstruction and permanently shape the Republican party as we know it today. Fergus Bordewich animates these converging crises through the lives of four protagonists: Rutherford B. Hayes, Alexander Graham Bell, railroad magnate Tom Scott, and sculptor Edmonia Lewis.

An aspiring archivist determined to begin a “serious” life after an undistinguished undergraduate career takes up residence in the Italian countryside. Here, he becomes the all-purpose assistant to the Baronessa, known to her friends as Coco, a defiantly youthful and naturally flamboyant woman of 92. He does his best to catalog the villa’s extensive collection of art and antiques --- although he notices that things seem to go missing from right under his nose. Despite himself, he tumbles into an affair with a married man, complicating his future plans considerably. And when the Baronessa loses someone close to her, he becomes an unwitting accomplice in the acceleration of Coco’s great and final plan: to locate the love of her life and be reunited before it’s too late.

Artie Dam is living a double life. He spends his days teaching history to 11th graders. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbors, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation. He looks out at a world gone mad --- at himself and the people around him --- and turns a question over and over in his mind: How is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us? And then, one day, Artie learns that life has been keeping a secret from him, one that threatens to upend his entire world. Once he learns it, he is forced to chart a new course, to reconsider the relationships he holds most dear --- and to make peace with the mysteries at the heart of our existence.

Batter Gray is worried about his future. Even when he was 11, his classmates seemed to have settled on a goal: doctor, lawyer, broker, engineer. Good jobs that automatically command respect, security, 401Ks. Now Batter is in his early 20s, living in New York City, and he wants something different; something that alienates some readers and bores most. Poetry. And yet --- to him and exactly 39 editors at a company called Peck & Peck --- poetry not only represents the power of humanity but holds the key to its survival. Batter is named after his mother’s heroic dog. An identical twin who lost his brother at birth, he finds himself confronted by the everyday dualities that make up life. It’s almost as if his dead brother is a reminder: there are always two sides to every story. No, wait. Make that three.

In the winter of 1967, the official account of the Kennedy assassination was beginning to unravel. A scattered group of Americans had pointed to major problems with the report prepared by President Johnson’s handpicked Warren Commission. Many of the most serious criticisms of the government’s work came from a source that surprised some: women who, within the community of critics, outnumbered the men two to one. Politicians and reporters dismissed these women, referring to them as “scavengers” and suggesting they were eccentrics with murder-mystery fixations or crushes on the deceased President Kennedy. But Kaitlyn Tiffany resurrects the story of Maggie Field, Shirley Martin and Sylvia Meagher, whose collaboration and friendship reshaped both their own lives and our national memory.

Dusty Baker walked with baseball legends and became one himself. After he signed with the Braves in 1968 at the age of 19 against his father’s wishes, no less than the great Hank Aaron promised to take Baker under his wing. Mentored by Aaron, Orlando Cepeda and Willie Mays, Baker became a premier hitter and helped take the Dodgers to a World Series victory in 1981. He would bookend this with another championship in 2022, this time as a manager helping to guide and redeem a Houston Astros team humbled by a cheating scandal. Respected by generations across the game, Baker has come to embody the spirit of the sport. CROSSROADS will bring readers into the mind of one of baseball’s mavericks.

Joe is a golf reporter who has missed more Father’s Days than he cares to count because that’s when he has to cover the US Open. But his son, Buddy, has counted every single one. Their relationship is fractured at best. Then one day, at a garage sale, Buddy finds a woefully obsolete set of golf clubs that supposedly belonged to Jack Nicklaus and decides to give them to his father as an olive branch. When Joe takes the clubs out on a whim, he discovers something unbelievable: he’s hitting 400 yards. Max “Hard Way” Mitchell used to be one of the best caddies on the PGA Tour, but now he’s the owner of a run-down driving range. When Joe is laid off, and Hardway realizes that with this magical set of golf clubs he is better than anyone on the tour, he convinces Joe to do the seemingly impossible --- win the Masters as an amateur. To do this, they'll need each other.

As a nine-year-old schoolgirl, Franca tells Gino that she will marry him one day. Against all the odds, her prophecy comes true. Set in a mountain village in Abruzzo in the early 2000s, DARK IS THE MORNING is the story of two ordinary young people who fall in love and seem destined for a life of happiness. But there is something in Franca’s past that haunts Gino. His curiosity gradually turns into obsession --- an obsession that will have heartbreaking consequences.