Adult

On the outskirts of Baghdad, Lieutenant Emma Fowler’s platoon unwittingly rolls into a buried maze of IEDs --- and their Humvee is blasted into a shrapnel-torn wreck. From this catastrophic moment, THE GOOD LIEUTENANT unspools backward in time as Fowler and her platoon are guided into disaster by suspicious informants and questionable intelligence, their mission the result of a previous snafu in which a soldier was kidnapped by insurgents. The novel unfolds from points of view that are not customarily included in war coverage --- a tenacious female officer, jaded career soldiers, and Iraqis both innocent and not so innocent.

Joy Bergman is not slipping into old age with the quiet grace that her children, Molly and Daniel, would prefer. Her marriage to their father, Aaron, has lasted through health and dementia, as well as some phenomenally lousy business decisions. The Bergman clan has always stuck together, growing as it incorporated in-laws, ex-in-laws and same-sex spouses. But families don't just grow, they grow old. Cathleen Schine's novel is an intergenerational story about searching for where you belong as your family changes with age.

A concubine at the palace learns quickly that there are a number of ways to capture the Emperor's attention. Many paint their faces white and style their hair attractively. Some present him with fantastic gifts, such as jade pendants and scrolls of calligraphy, while others rely on their knowledge of seduction to draw his interest. Young Mei knows nothing of these womanly arts, yet she will give the Emperor a gift he can never forget. But just as she is in a position to seduce the most powerful man in China, divided loyalties split the palace in two, culminating in a perilous battle that Mei can only hope to survive.

One day, elderly, demented Harry Eide steps out of his sickbed and disappears into the brutal, unforgiving Minnesota wilderness that surrounds his hometown of Gunflint. It's not the first time Harry has vanished. Thirty-odd years earlier, in 1963, he'd fled his marriage with his 18-year-old-son Gustav in tow. He'd promised Gustav a rambunctious adventure, two men taking on the woods in winter. With Harry gone for the second (and last) time, unable to survive the woods he'd once braved, his son Gus, now grown, sets out to relate the story of their first disappearance to Berit Lovig, an old woman who shares a special, if turbulent, bond with Harry.

En route from Lisbon to Buenos Aires in 1928, Max and Mecha meet aboard a luxurious transatlantic cruise ship. A steamy affair ignites at sea and continues as the seedy decadence of Buenos Aires envelops the secret lovers. Still drawn to one another a decade later, Max and Mecha rekindle their dalliance. In the wake of a perilous mission gone awry, Mecha looks after her charming paramour until a deadly encounter with a Spanish spy forces him to flee. In 1966, Max once again runs into trouble --- and Mecha. She offers him temporary shelter from the KGB agents on his trail, but their undeniable attraction offers only a small glimmer of hope that their paths will ever cross again.

In the summer of 1850, Herman Melville finds himself hounded by creditors and afraid his writing career might be coming to an end. His last three novels have been commercial failures, and the critics have turned against him. In despair, Melville takes his family for a vacation to his cousin’s farm in the Berkshires, where he meets Nathaniel Hawthorne at a picnic --- and his life turns upside down. THE WHALE chronicles the fervent love affair that grows out of that serendipitous afternoon. The two develop a deep connection marked by tensions and estrangements, and feelings both shared and suppressed.

Catherine West has spent her entire life surrounded by beautiful things. Yet, despite all this, she still feels empty. One night, at an art opening, Catherine meets William Stockton, a handsome man who shares her impeccable taste and love of beauty. He is educated, elegant, and even has a personal connection --- his parents and Catherine's parents were friends years ago. But as he and Catherine grow closer, she begins to encounter strange signs, and her mother, Elizabeth (now suffering from Alzheimer's), seems to have only bad memories of William as a boy. Is William lying about his past? If so, is Catherine willing to sacrifice their beautiful life in order to find the truth?

After years out in the academic wilderness, Dr. Battista is on the verge of a breakthrough. His research could help millions. There’s only one problem: His brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported. And without Pyotr, all would be lost. When Dr. Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that will enable Pyotr to stay in the country, he’s relying on his daughter, Kate, to help him. Kate is furious: this time he’s really asking too much. But will she be able to resist the two men’s touchingly ludicrous campaign to bring her around?

In 1919, the Turner sisters and their parents are barely scraping by. Their father is a low-paid boot-stitcher in Johnson City, New York, and the family is always one paycheck away from eviction. When their father’s hand is crushed and he can no longer work, their irrepressible mother decides that the vaudeville stage is their best --- and only --- chance for survival. Traveling by train from town to town, recent widow Nell and teenagers Gert, Winnie and Kit soon find a new kind of freedom in the company of performers who are as diverse as their acts. There is a seamier side to the business, however, and the young women face dangers and turns of fate they never could have anticipated.

Jack Ryan, Jr., is on his own. He's been ousted from his position at the Campus, the off-the-books intelligence agency that was set up by his father, the President. As if that's not bad enough, someone is out for Jack‘s blood. The police think that he was just the victim of a mugging, but he knows a professional assassin when he kills one. Using clues found on his would-be dispatcher, Jack launches his own shadow campaign to uncover the brutal truth about a world-renowned philanthropist and human rights advocate --- and a long-running false-flag war of terror that has claimed thousands of lives.