Adult

In the ancient world of Aligaea, Laurel serves the Anima’s army, wielding plant magic, potions and powerful artifacts in the ongoing Task to restore ecological balance. Across centuries, she witnesses empires rise and fall, magical forces evolve, and the fragile order of the natural world begins to collapse. As a master of botanical magic, she crafts deadly charms, invisibility tinctures, and Birch Skin armor --- magical tools shaped by the pressures of war. But as the Imperium rises --- the greatest threat Aligaea has ever faced --- Laurel begins to question the ethics of everything to which she has devoted her life. If saving the world requires endless war, sacrifice and manipulation, is it a mission worth completing? Is the Task truly restoring balance? 

The Fairway Players return with Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald as committee cochairs. This year, they have chosen to stage Agatha Christie’s THE HOLLOW. But auditions aren’t their only problem: Sarah-Jane’s sister is suddenly back in town under mysterious circumstances, having sold her home in Barbados and moved back into their mother Carol’s house. As always, they’re short on men and new Player Fran Elroy-Jones enlists a young married couple and the husband’s cousin to join. But no one wants to play the part of the hated Gerda, leaving Kevin and Sarah-Jane with no option but to reach out to an old member. As with any production, tensions run high and our intrepid lawyers Femi and Charlotte are tasked with uncovering exactly what happened on the opening night of The Hollow --- and whether the correct person has taken the blame.

Four children from wealthy families are sent to a strict prestigious boarding school. Haunted by the horrors they experience, they vow to disrupt the status quo. Years later, Tyler is a private investigator hired by James Arthur Knight Jr. to find his runaway daughter, Chana. At a seaside hotel in Turkey, he finds Chana lounging with her three wealthy friends. Enthralled by Chana, Tyler decides to keep his discovery to himself, accepting Mr. Knight’s payments while feeding him elusive information. One night, when Tyler lets slip his relationship with the American consul, Chana lights up with interest and asks if he can orchestrate a meeting. With a backdrop of of glitzy ex-pat parties and the gritty underworld of Istanbul, Chana conjures a plot involving the consul that sets into motion a dark chain of events.

Cork O’Connor, preparing for a family trip into the Boundary Waters, is troubled by ominous visions about his future. Ignoring the warnings, he uncovers signs of violence while searching for his missing friend, Cordell Bishop. Soon, he is forced to negotiate with dangerous criminals, the Kennedy brothers, who are seeking their late father’s hidden stash. Facing escalating danger and difficult choices, Cork grapples with his darkest instincts as he helps others escape and eventually takes justice into his own hands.

1919: Frankie has always been the black sheep of isolated Boone’s Ferry, Vermont. Her uncle has been training her in the science of medicine, something the townspeople are wary of. When a mysterious illness strikes the town and the community suspects supernatural forces, the two desperately search for a logical explanation. Patient zero seems to be the town’s knackerman. 2016: Siblings Ashley and Malcolm lost their mother two years ago. When their grandmother dies, they inherit a property in Boone’s Ferry and embark on a trip to their ancestral home. The idyllic town is full of autumnal décor and small-town charm. But some of the townspeople aren’t very welcoming and they have some unsettling traditions, like leaving offerings to a vengeful spirit.

When Patrick is invited by his girlfriend to join her and her family on a luxury holiday, he has no idea that he is about to be plunged into a nightmare and a plot to murder the patriarch’s younger fiancée. Arriving at the house, Patrick meets Holly’s dad, along with her brother Lewis and older sister Miranda. Also on the trip is the widowed father’s bride-to-be, Jasmine, who is around the same age as the three siblings. To make things worse, Jasmine is an almost exact doppelganger of their mother before she got sick and died. Patrick finds himself in the middle of this viper’s nest, trying to keep out of the family crosshairs. He starts to suspect that Lewis has dark plans for Jasmine --- putting himself in peril as a potential witness who could mess up his scheme. 

War beckons in the kingdom of Talin. On one side sits Calla Tuoleimi and Anton Makusa, and on the other, the recently dethroned August Shenzhi and Calla's own predecessor Sinoa Tuoleimi. Calla assumed victory would be easy. Then the provinces start to whisper of the old gods returning to earth, and suddenly the game board is flipped upside-down. Anton thought he aligned himself with victory. But he fears Calla is no longer herself with the crown. Rather, he fears that Calla is returning to who she once was. August would sacrifice anything for victory. He has waited his entire life for the throne, and surrender is not an option. In the face of age-old immortals challenging his terrain and the possibility of betrayal from his closest and most cherished guard, he must be careful who he trusts.

Tired of the daily drama in his emergency room, Dr. Langdon Blaque is in search of a place where he can leave the world behind. He loves his job, but he wants peace and quiet. His wife Josephine, a lawyer, prefers the city. Still, she agrees to move with the caveat that they stay for a year and reassess. The tight-knit, predominantly white group of neighbors in Majestic Hills initially welcomes them with open arms. But beneath the veneer of privileged harmony, tensions simmer. When a horrifying crime rocks the community, the illusion of safety is shattered, and Josephine and Langdon find themselves at the heart of a brewing storm that pits neighbor against neighbor. As their experiment in suburban living ticks toward the one-year mark, the Blaques are pushed to a breaking point. Can they find a way to make a home in Majestic Hills?

Set in a fictional country in the present day, this is a story told through the eyes of an ex-military dog, Etna. After surviving years of a devastating war, Etna decides one night to leave the men he has fought alongside for years and return home --- to the place where he was taken from when he was young, in the thin but persistent hope that if a home exists for him, it might be there. Thus begins an exhilarating odyssey told through the eyes of a dog as he traverses across ruined landscapes and fights to survive in a world that, even in peacetime, proves to be just as precarious. Along the way, he encounters other animals and humans who are attempting to figure out how to start again. What makes a life when there is no home to go back to? How do we begin to trust each other again after such profound loss?

AD 60. Rome stands at the height of its power. On Palatine Hill, Nero Claudius Caesar rules as Emperor, a young man adored for his beauty and brilliance, feared for his temper, intoxicated by his own power. His empire stretches from the wilds of Britain to the deserts of Parthia, yet his enemies are never far: generals who command legions, senators who whisper in corridors, people who cheer him in the circus but curse him on the streets. Nero has learned that power is never shared, only seized. He has seen off enemies before, not least his mother, Agrippina. Yet now, Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, leads a revolt in the north. Closer to home, Gaius Julius Vindex --- Roman by office but Gallic by blood --- denounces Nero’s corruption and declares open rebellion against the Emperor from Gaul.