Adult

In September 1890, the academic year begins at the Carlisle School, a military-style boarding school for Indians in Pennsylvania, founded and run by Captain Richard Henry Pratt. Pratt considers himself a champion of Native Americans. His motto, “To save the man, we must kill the Indian,” is severely enforced in both classroom and dormitory. As the young students navigate surviving the school, they begin to hear rumors of a “ghost dance” amongst the tribes of the west --- a ceremonial dance aimed at restoring the Native People to power and running the invaders off their land. As the hope and promise of the ghost dance sweeps across the Great Plains, cynical newspapers seize upon the story to whip up panic among local whites. The US government responds by deploying troops onto lands that had been granted to the Indians. It is an act that seems certain to end in slaughter.

Amy Wilson believed it was her destiny to be a people pleaser. She learned to put others first, do what she was told, finish what she started, and look like she had everything under control, even when she very much did not. Along the way, Amy started to wonder why doing it all had been her job. Still, when she tried to hand over some of her to-dos, no one was particularly interested in taking them. And when she asked for help, in return, she got advice: have a sense of humor, quit nagging and stop trying to be perfect. Amy dutifully took on these goals --- with varying degrees of failure --- until the day she started to question if something else needed to be fixed besides herself. HAPPY TO HELP is a collection of essays about how you can be the one everyone else depends on and still be struggling --- how you can be “happy to help,” even when, for your own sake, you shouldn’t.

1957, England. Young Queen Elizabeth II is finding her way in postwar Europe, trying to repair friendships with foreign governments. Advised by her father's old courtiers, the Queen suspects that they may not have her best interests at heart. One of them is trying to sabotage her public appearances. That much she is sure of. When two bodies turn up in Chelsea, the Queen finds herself unwillingly used as the alibi for somebody very close to her. With the reputation of the monarchy at stake, Elizabeth knows she can't face these challenges alone. She needs support from someone she can trust. Therefore, she enlists the help of an ex-code breaker, Joan McGraw, to uncover the truth. But as Elizabeth and Joan are uncovering secrets from the past, the clock is ticking, and they are in more danger than they know.

Cora Valentine has her whole life --- and a shot at the Olympics --- ahead of her. But when she’s kidnapped on Halloween, her name is splashed across headlines not as an athlete but as a victim. Not even her safe return changes that, especially since no one is caught for the crime. Hounded by the public, Cora’s time as a missing girl and member of the Magnificent Eight has its consequences. Years later, when Cora has her own daughter, she’s determined to leave the past behind for a better life. Her daughter will never face those fears. And Cora will never face them again. But four years later, on Halloween, the past comes knocking. Now, Cora’s daughter is gone, and to get her back, Cora must take someone else’s child.

A teenager returns home from work and finds her parents shot to death in their bed. Responding to the call, Sheriff Bree Taggert realizes the crime wasn’t a burglary gone wrong. The couple was executed. The sole survivor: their traumatized teenage daughter, Claire Mason. Bree teams up with investigator Matt Flynn to work the case, but together they uncover more questions than answers. When Claire is stalked at the park, it’s clear the killer isn’t finished --- and she’s the next target. As Bree and Matt sift through the past --- suspect by suspect --- a tangled web of deception emerges, and the truth becomes harder to see. Because the victims’ entire lives were a lie. And the only way to protect the vulnerable girl is to unravel her parents’ secrets.

Hollywood, 1955. As head costume designer for Lux Pictures, Lena Taylor hears startling confessions from the biggest movie stars. Lena was once Elsie Gruner, the daughter of an Ohio dressmaker. Her gift for fashion design helped her win a coveted spot at an art academy in Rome. While in Italy, she became enthralled by the charismatic Julia, who drew her into a shadowy world of jazz clubs, code words and mysterious deliveries. When one of Julia’s intrigues ended in murder, Elsie found herself in the middle of a bewildering sinister international plot. So she ran. After fleeing to LA, Elsie became Lena --- but she’s never stopped looking over her shoulder. Now, as her engagement to a screenwriter throws her into the spotlight, she’s terrified her façade won’t hold up. Will she figure out the truth about her past before everything falls apart?

Sisters Nadia and Cass Brenner are heirs to Ocean House, a decades-old empire that builds superyachts for the rich and powerful. They’re a next-generation success with the design of their soon-to-be-commissioned megayacht for a Chinese billionaire. But the sisters’ entrée into the coveted Asian market is tragically cut short when Cass falls from a 40th-floor hotel balcony. A Singapore detective rules suicide. Nadia has been in the yacht business too long not to be suspicious. Especially when she discovers Cass’ involvement in dangerously illicit activities. Pulled into the same web of betrayal, lies and secrets that trapped her sister, Nadia is on the most perilous mission of her life. Because uncovering the truth behind her sister’s death could tear the Brenner family apart --- and it just might get her killed.

Aspiring investigative journalist Shannon Gibbons and her family have moved into a beautiful house in the Fabulous Forties of East Sacramento, where Shannon finds a fast connection with a new neighbor. Renowned journalist Rosella Marlow appears to have a genuine interest in giving Shannon’s own career a boost --- as personal assistant on Rosella’s new project. Appearances are deceiving. Bitter, resentful and consumed by excruciating grief, Rosella is obsessed with wiping the smiles off her contented neighbors’ faces. Now she’s watching closely, ready to expose their secrets. Secrets dark enough to destroy lives. In Shannon, Rosella has a trusting and unwitting accomplice. But Rosella is being watched, too. And when someone is found murdered, everyone on this quiet block is a suspect. Because everyone has a motive.

BRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY recasts the birth of jazz, unearthing vibrant narratives of New Orleans musicians to reveal how early jazz was inextricably tied to the mass mobilization of freedpeople during Reconstruction and the decades that followed. Benjamin Barson presents a "music history from below," following the musicians as they built communes, performed at Civil Rights rallies and participated in general strikes. Perhaps most importantly, Barson locates the first emancipatory revolution in the Americas --- Haiti --- as a nexus for cultural and political change in 19th-century Louisiana. In dialogue with the work of recent historians who have inverted traditional histories of Latin American and Caribbean independence by centering the influence of Haitian activists abroad, this work traces the impact of Haitian culture in New Orleans and its legacy in movements for liberation.

In THE LOVES OF MY LIFE, legendary author Edmund White recounts the 60-plus years of sexual escapades that have inspired his many masterpieces. He explores the sex he had with other closeted boys of the ’50s Midwest, with women as a young man trying to be straight, the sex he has paid for and been paid for, sex during the Stonewall and HIV eras, and in the age of the apps. Through tales of transactional sex, mutual admiration, open relationships, domination, submission, love and loss, he paints an indelible portrait of queer history in America and abroad in a way only someone who has lived through it can.