Adult

Based on her popular class at Yale, Sarah Ruhl’s essay collection is a testament to the singular impact of teachers across every stage of our lives. Drawing on Sarah’s experiences with her parents and children, with schoolteachers, creative influences and beyond, LESSONS FROM MY TEACHERS offers an uplifting perspective on our basic human need to teach and learn from each other as we navigate the surprising paths that shape our lives. Meant to be shared with loved ones and role models alike, and perfect for marking important seasons and milestones, the book provides an opportunity to reflect on the human connection between teacher and student and the times in which we ourselves have assumed each role.

New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown Corby Ledbetter’s marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that’s before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart. Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness and elemental kinship with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model. Buoyed by them and by his mother’s enduring faith in him, Corby begins to transcend the boundaries of his confinement, sustained by his hope that mercy and reconciliation still might be possible. Can his crimes ever be forgiven by those he loves?

Vivian Yin is dead. The first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, the trailblazing ingénue rose to fame in the ’80s, only to disappear from the spotlight to live out the rest of her life as a recluse. Now her remaining family members are gathered for the reading of her will, and her daughters expect to inherit their childhood home: Vivian’s grand, sprawling, Southern California garden estate. But due to a last-minute change to the will, the house is passed on to another family instead --- one that has suddenly returned after decades of estrangement. In hopes of staking their claim, both families move into the mansion. As Vivian’s daughters race to piece together what happened in the last weeks of their mother’s life, disturbing visions and bizarre behaviors start to take hold of everyone in the house.

After an emergency leaves her short on rent, 30-year-old Freya Arnalds bails on her lackluster life as bartender in Maine and returns to her suburban hometown of Somers, New York, to live in the house she inherited from her estranged parents. Despite attempts to lay low, Freya encounters childhood friends, familial enemies and old flames --- as well as her 15-year-old niece, Aubrey, who is secretly living in the derelict home. As they reconnect, Freya and Aubrey lean on each other, working to restore the house and come to terms with the devastating events that pulled them apart years ago.

I REGRET ALMOST EVERYTHING is a memoir by the legendary proprietor of Balthazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern and Morandi. Keith McNally takes us from his gritty London childhood in the ’50s to his serendipitous arrival in New York, where he founded the era-defining establishments the Odeon, Cafe Luxembourg and Nell’s. Eloquent and opinionated, McNally writes about the angst of being a child actor, his lack of insights from traveling overland to Kathmandu at 19, the instability of his two marriages and family relationships, his devastating stroke, and his Instagram notoriety.

When Erika Simpson was growing up, her mother loomed large, almost biblical in her life. A daughter of sharecroppers and the middle child of 10, her origin story served as a Genesis. Her departure from home and a cheating husband, pursuing higher education along the way, a kind of Exodus. Her rules for survival, often repeated like the Ten Commandments, guided Erika’s own journey into adulthood. And the most important rule? Throughout her life, Sallie Carol preached the power of a testimony --- which often proved useful in talking her way out of a bind with bill collectors. But where does a mother’s story end and a daughter’s begin? In THIS IS YOUR MOTHER, Erika offers a joint recollection of their lives as they navigate the realities of destitution often left undiscussed.

Wyatt Riggins, the boyfriend of rising Maine artist Zetta Nadeau, has gone missing, leaving behind a cell phone containing a single-word message: RUN. Private investigator Charlie Parker is hired to find out why Riggins has fled, and from whom. Parker discovers that Riggins, an ex-soldier, has been involved in the abduction of four children from Mexico, all belonging to the cartel boss Blas Urrea --- except Urrea’s family is safe and well in Mexico, which means the abductees cannot be his children. Yet whoever they are, Urrea wants them back and has dispatched his agents to secure them, even if it means butchering everyone who stands in their way. Every child has a mother. Now Parker will face one unlike any other and learn the terrifying truth about the Children of Eve.

Most people don’t even notice them --- three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that unexpectedly will be placed into 18-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it.

Mrs. Korthaus has always been ahead of her time --- an educator who inspired her students to dream bigger, think deeper, and live boldly. For decades, she led an English classroom with caring and conviction, but it’s not until she’s retired, and then fighting cancer, that she begins to share her story: long ago marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., building a corporate career, and overcoming heartbreak before “accidentally” becoming a teacher and forever shaping the lives of countless young adults --- including bestselling author Kristine Gasbarre. In SHOW, DON'T TELL, Kristine reflects on her 30-year friendship with this extraordinary teacher who shaped her life so significantly.

PLAY IT FORWARD features 25 inspirational stories of badass women from all corners of the sports universe, curated by TOGETHXR, a sports media company founded by legends Sue Bird, Alex Morgan, Simone Manuel and Chloe Kim. From profiles of professional athletes and Olympians at the top of their game to everyday women putting in the work without a crowd, these are true tales of fierce competitors, dedicated teammates and passionate advocates who are all too accustomed to hearing the word “no.” Each story highlights an inspiring athlete or team who is defying expectations and rebelling against inequality in big and small ways.