Adult

Fifteen years ago, Maia Gold attended a prestigious --- and very exclusive --- writers retreat hosted by billionaire Argos Alexander on the Greek island of Eris. But something dark happened on that island, a betrayal that has hung over her ever since. Now, Maia has been invited to return to Eris, and she’s not the only one from that first retreat who’s been invited back. Almost all of the writers from 15 years before have returned to Eris, bringing unresolved resentments with them. The guests soon learn that their illustrious host is absent, though he has left instructions for them to participate in a contest. Whoever can write the most suspenseful mystery while on the island will win a fortune and literary acclaim. But when the guests gather in the morning to share their first chapters, they find Argos Alexander dead.

In 1968, we meet six teens confined at the Good Shepherd, a dark and secretive institution controlled by Sisters of Charity nuns. They include Mairin, the free-spirited daughter of Irish immigrants, committed to keep her safe from her stepfather; Angela, who was denounced for her attraction to girls and was sent to the nuns for reform --- but instead she found herself the victim of a predator; Helen, the daughter of intellectuals detained in Communist China who saw her “temporary” stay at the Good Shepherd stretch into years; Odessa, who was caught up in a police dragnet over a racial incident --- but she found the physical and mental toughness to endure her sentence; Denise, who was sentenced for brawling in a foster home and dared to dream of a better life; and Janice, who couldn’t decide where her loyalties lie --- except when it came to her friend, Kay.

Welcome to the Poppy Fields, where there’s hope for even the most battered hearts to heal. Here, in a remote stretch of the California desert, lies an experimental and controversial treatment center that allows those suffering from the heartache of loss to sleep through their pain...and keep on sleeping. After patients awaken from this prolonged state of slumber, they finally will be healed. But only if they’re willing to accept the potential shadowy side effects. On a journey to this mystical destination are four very different strangers and one little dog. As they attempt to make their way to the Poppy Fields --- where they hope to find Ellis, its brilliant, enigmatic founder --- each of their past secrets and mysterious motivations threaten to derail their voyage.

At the age of 96, Isaac Dahl sits down to write his memoir. For Isaac, an accomplished journalist and historian, finding the right words is never a problem. But this book will be different from anything he has written before. Focusing on 12 different days, each encapsulated in a chapter, Isaac hopes to distill the very essence of his life. There are days that begin like any other, only to morph through twists of fate. An avalanche strikes Bingham, Utah, and eight-year-old Isaac and his twin sister, Agnes, survive when they are trapped in an upside-down bathtub. Other days stand apart --- including a day in 1942, when Isaac, stationed on the USS Houston in the Java Sea as a rookie correspondent, confronts the full horror of war. And there are days spent simply, with his lifelong friend, Bo, or with Danny, the younger man whose love transforms Isaac’s later years.

Gabriel Allon has been awarded a commission to restore one of the most important paintings in Venice. But when he discovers the body of a mysterious woman floating in the waters of the Venetian Lagoon, he finds himself in a desperate race to recover a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting, a portrait of a beautiful young girl, has been gathering dust in a storeroom at the Vatican Museums for more than a century, misattributed and hidden beneath a worthless picture by an unknown artist. Because no one knows that the Leonardo is there, no one notices when it disappears one night during a suspicious power outage. No one but the ruthless mobsters and moneymen behind the theft --- and the mysterious woman whom Gabriel found in a watery grave in Venice. A woman without a name. A woman without a face.

Debut author Gemma Stanton knows romance readers love a bad boy --- and she has the perfect prototype for her novel: Mason Moretti. A high school hockey god-turned-pro player, Mason was Gemma's first crush, but she couldn't forget the sting of his very public rejection. So she casts him as a hot-headed Highlander in her spicy new historical romance. She never expected readers would find out on live TV when a morning show host invites Mason for a surprise on-air reunion. An aging hockey player, Mason has an image problem. So when his meet-cute with Gemma goes viral, he proposes that they build on the momentum with a few fake dates to boost her book sales...and his sagging profile. But when the fictional flirting gets a little too real, Mason realizes Gemma actually makes him want to become a better man.

For over 150 years, Lamont Cranston, and his alter ego, The Shadow, has possessed an array of mental and physical powers: scientific skills, shape-shifting ability and mind control. When a series of deadly natural disasters strike the planet, the Shadow immediately sets out to identify who’s responsible. A disgruntled graduate student? The power-hungry president of the Americas? Or could it be Shiwan Khan, the Shadow’s fiercest enemy? The Shadow’s latest adventure is also his, Maddy’s and Margo’s most dangerous. Triumph or perish, they’ll rise or fall…together.

Los Angeles homicide detective Dinah Marino may have a complicated relationship with her family, but her psychiatrist husband, Joe, makes her feel safe, secure and happy. But throughout their 10-year marriage, she’s been keeping a secret from him --- a secret she’d take to the grave. Dr. Joe Marino loves his wife more than anything in this world, but there are things he’s learned to keep close to the chest --- including a few dead bodies. When a missing woman tied to his wife’s latest case is admitted to his hospital, doctor-patient confidentiality lands their marriage on some new and uneven ground. Now the carefully constructed lies between them don’t just simply threaten the delicate balance of their marriage. They could kill.

Jennifer Jones and her best friends spend every summer at Big Cypress Swamp, and this summer, Jennifer finally will turn 11. She hopes to gain the “second sight” foretold by family legend and fulfill her destiny. Instead, the swamp serves up dangers greater than the gators lurking on Halfway Creek. Little Francie Farrow vanishes --- and Jennifer’s father goes to prison. Twenty years later, Jennifer has almost shed the label of Paul Jones’ daughter when her past comes barreling back. “Inspired by True Events,” a TV series that solves the unsolvable, is recreating that fateful summer. As the series plays out, Jennifer wonders: Did the show finally find Francie Farrow? And is Jennifer’s father truly guilty? Someone else wants answers even more than Jennifer does, and they won’t let her forget it.

When Ali McCain, an 18-year-old from Los Angeles, is accepted at Oxford, it’s a chance to fulfill his dreams. To study English literature in England; to meet true intellectuals; and to glimpse the life he might have lived had his father --- British rock star Gel McCain, legendary frontman of the Pale Fires --- not abandoned him and his mother when he was a toddler. But not long after he arrives at the storied campus, Ali is drawn into a dark, disorienting world where events grow more and more curious by the day. Trading on his father’s name, he gains entry into one of Oxford’s oldest and most selective secret societies, the Saracens. As he immerses himself in this rarefied world, he inadvertently sets in motion a series of events that might culminate in disaster.