The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh's backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul-de-sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again. Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul-de-sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy's presence keep appearing in Ethan's backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle? The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night, a quest that reunites him with former friends and neighbors and leads him into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Woods where Billy claimed ghosts roamed and where a mysterious institute does clandestine research on a crumbling estate. The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place--be it quiet forest or suburban street--is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.

Eileen Merriweather knows a thing or two about romance. As a professor of literature, she teaches prestigious courses on history's greatest romantics, but one week out of the year she abandons her dusty textbooks and makes a pilgrimage to the Hudson Valley with her best friend Pru to meet their Super Smutty Book Club in person, and celebrate the romance series that brought them together--Quixotic Falls. But Pru bails at the last minute, and Elsy winds up lost in Hudson Valley--alone. In a thunderstorm. When she takes shelter in a bookstore, she immediately gets on the bad side of its grumpy (and infuriatingly sexy) owner, and finds herself in a quaint town that feels like it's right out of a book... Because it is. Eloraton can't be real, and yet... she's here. The town is everything she imagined from her favorite series, where the candy store's honey taffy is always sweet, and the local bar's burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It's perfect. A place built on meet-cutes and storybook endings. Except, there's something off in Eloraton. Because nothing changes, nothing moves, trapped in the last place the late author of Quixotic Falls left them. Which must be why Elsy is here: to find an ending to this last story, the one the author never finished. The only problem? The bookstore owner never wants the story to end, and he might be the one person who can help her imagine this final happily-ever-after. And maybe find one for herself.

Finder’s latest is a combination spy story, financial mystery, and survival-evasion tale, with the propulsive plot set in motion by one man’s costly mistake. This breakneck thriller marries the dynastic opulence of Succession with the tense and disorienting spy-craft of The Americans. Paul Brightman is a man on the run, living under an assumed name in a small New England town with a million-dollar bounty on his head. When his security is breached, Paul is forced to flee into the New Hampshire wilderness to evade Russian operatives who seem to be able to predict his every move. Flash to six years earlier, when Paul was a rising star on Wall Street who fell in love with a beautiful photographer named Tatyana-unaware that her father was a Russian oligarch, the object of considerable interest from several US intelligence agencies. In order to save his own life, Paul must unravel a decades-old conspiracy that extends to the highest reaches of the government.

Michael and Ola are a young, beautiful Black power couple in London getting married in 30 days—or are they? Just as the wedding countdown begins, "the List " appears on social media sites, accusing several men of harassing women, and Michael is among them; it's also alleged that someone has a restraining order against him. Adegoke delivers a thought-provoking account of the power of social media to amplify and to silence, as well as the devastating effects of online pileups that catch innocent bystanders in their wake.

Reims, France, 1805: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot has just lost her husband but is determined to pursue their dream of creating a premier champagne house in France, now named for her new identity as a widow: Veuve Clicquot. With the Russians poised to invade, competitors fighting for her customers, and she must set herself apart if she, and her business, are to survive. In present day Chicago, divorced Natalie Taylor runs away to Paris. In a book stall, she finds a collection of the Widow Clicquot’s published letters and uses them as inspiration to create a new, empowered life for herself. But when her Parisian escape takes a shocking and unexpected turn, she’s forced to make a choice.

Harriet's garden is special. It's a wild place full of twisting ivy, vibrant plums, and a quiet power that buzzes like bees. Caring for this place, and keeping it from running rampant through the streets of her London suburb, is Harriet's purpose. But a woman alone in the world is vulnerable. Soon, a sinister plot involving her father's disappearance begins to take shape, with Harriet herself at its center. To save herself, Harriet will have to unearth her past, discover the secrets of her garden, and finally embrace the wild magic inside of her.

The moving and surprising story of a lifelong friendship and the forces that bring it to the breaking point. Zahra and Maryam have been best friends since childhood in Karachi, even though--or maybe because--they are unlike in nearly every way. Yet they never speak of the differences in their backgrounds or their values, not even after the fateful night when a moment of adolescent impulse upends their plans for the future. Three decades later, Zahra and Maryam have grown into powerful women who have each cut a distinctive path through London. But when two troubling figures from their past resurface, they must finally confront their bedrock differences--and find out whether their friendship can survive. Thought-provoking, compassionate, and full of unexpected turns, Best of Friends offers a riveting take on an age-old question: Does principle or loyalty make for the better friend?

A fascinating saga based on the true story of a famous 19th-century racehorse. In 2019, Theo Northam, a Black graduate student in Washington, D.C., finds a discarded equestrian painting that he decides to research for a Smithsonian magazine article. Meanwhile, Jess, a bone specialist at the Smithsonian, gets a call about an old horse skeleton that’s been stored in the museum’s attic. Jess and Theo end up meeting, but first Brooks takes the story to 1850s Lexington, Ky., where Jarret Lewis, an enslaved boy, is the groom for a promising colt that his father, Harry, a freedman, has trained. But then the horse, Lexington, is sold and the new buyer sends him along with Jarret to a Mississippi plantation with ruinous consequences. In 1853, Lexington and Jarret end up in New Orleans, where the horse thrills the racing world, and Jarret hopes to buy his freedom, while back in contemporary D.C., a romance blossoms between Jess and Theo.

After thirty-six years of marriage, recently divorced Suresh and Lata Raman find themselves starting new paths in life. Suresh is trying to navigate the world of online dating on a website that caters to Indians and is striking out at every turn until he meets a mysterious, devastatingly attractive younger woman named Malika, who seems to be smitten with him. Meanwhile, Lata is enjoying her newfound indepedence after decades in an arranged marriage, but she's caught off guard when a professor in his early sixties starts to flirt with her. Priya, the former couple's unmarried daughter, thinks her father's online pursuits are distasteful but hides a secret affair of her own, while their son Nikesh pretends at a seemingly perfect marriage with his law-firm colleague and their young son, but hides the truth of what his relationship really entails.

A stunning literary devotional that follows the creatures and plants in the author's backyard over the course of the year, tracing the passing of the seasons, personal and natural. In fifty-two short essays, one for each week of the year, she travels through the seasons, finding joy and gratitude for everything from the smallest seed pod to the largest crow. Wary yet hopeful about what the future holds for her beloved, radiant world, her words serve as a balm and also an alarm to pay attention. Listen. Look. Notice. Good for fans of Annie Dillard or nature writing in general.

Darcy Clipper, prodigal daughter, nearly thirty, has returned home to Murbridge, Massachusetts, after her life takes an unwelcome left turn. Murbridge, Darcy is convinced, will welcome her home and provide a safe space in which she can nurse her wounds and harbor grudges, both real and imagined. But Murbridge, like so much else Darcy thought to be fixed and immutable, has changed. And while Darcy's first instinct might be to hole herself up in her childhood bedroom, subsisting on Chef Boy-R-Dee and canned chickpeas, it is human nature to do two things: seek out meaningful human connection and respond to anonymous internet postings. As Murbridge begins to take shape around Darcy, both online and in person, Darcy will consider the most fundamental of American questions: What can she ask of her community? And what does she owe it in return?

In 1992, on his thirtieth birthday, Artie Anderson meets the man who will change his life. Artie spends his days at a tedious advertising job, finding relief in the comfort of his friends and the corner of New York City he can call his own, even as the queer community is still being ravaged by HIV. But when his birthday celebration brings Artie and his friends to his favorite bar, a chance encounter with Abe, an uptight lawyer and Artie's opposite in almost every way, pushes Artie to want, and to ask for, more for himself. Thirty years later, Artie is stunned when Halle and Vanessa, Abe's daughter and ex-wife, announce they are moving across the country. Artie has built a lovely, if small, life, but their departure makes Artie realize that he might be lonelier than he previously thought. When a surprising injury pushes Artie into the hands of GALS, the local center for queer seniors, a rambunctious group of elders insist on taking him under their wing. What follows will open up Artie's world in ways unimaginable.

In the fall of 1863, the Union army is in control of the Mississippi River. Much of Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is occupied. The Confederate army is in disarray, corrupt structures are falling apart, and enslaved men and women are beginning to glimpse freedom. When Hannah Laveau, an enslaved woman working on the Lufkin plantation, is accused of murder, she goes on the run with Florence Milton, an abolitionist schoolteacher, dodging the local constable and the slavecatchers that prowl the bayous. Wade Lufkin, haunted by what he observed--and did--as a surgeon on the battlefield, has returned to his uncle's plantation to convalesce, where he becomes enraptured by Hannah.

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They're looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the woman gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them. When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years, and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town--and that horrible stretch of road--to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls, the late-night live comedy show that airs each Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she's long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life. But when Sally's friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show--and in society at large--who've gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the Danny Horst Rule, poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman. Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week's show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder if there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn't a romantic comedy--it's real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her... right?

When Tara Connelly is released from prison after serving eighteen months on a drug charge, she knows rebuilding her life at thirty years old won't be easy. With no money and no prospects, she returns home to live with her siblings, who are both busy with their own problems. Her brother, a single dad, struggles with the ongoing effects of a brain injury he sustained years ago, and her sister's fragile facade of calm and order is cracking under the burden of big secrets. Life becomes even more complicated when the cop who put Tara in prison keeps showing up unannounced, leaving her to wonder what he wants from her now. While she works to build a new career and hold her family together, Tara finds a chance at love in a most unlikely place. But when the Connellys' secrets start to unravel and threaten her future, they all must face their worst fears and come clean or risk losing one another forever.

For most of the last hundred years, Biloxi was known for its beaches, resorts, and seafood industry. But it had a darker side. It was also notorious for corruption and vice, everything from gambling, prostitution, bootleg liquor, and drugs to contract killings. The vice was controlled by small cabal of mobsters, many of them rumored to be members of the Dixie Mafia. Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends, as well as Little League all-stars. But as teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith's father became a legendary prosecutor, determined to "clean up the Coast." Hugh's father became the "Boss" of Biloxi's criminal underground. Keith went to law school and followed in his father's footsteps. Hugh preferred the nightlife and worked in his father's clubs. The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom. Life itself hangs in the balance in The Boys from Biloxi, a sweeping saga rich with history and with a large cast of unforgettable characters.

When a young man’s girlfriend mysteriously vanishes, he sets his heart on finding the imaginary city where her true self lives. His search will lead him to take a job in a remote library with mysteries of its own. When he finally makes it to the walled city, a shadowless place of horned beasts and willow trees, he finds his beloved working in a different library--a dream library. But she has no memory of their life together in the other world and, as the lines between reality and fantasy start to blur, he must decide what he’s willing to lose.

A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand's South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last. But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place: he has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker, or so he tells Birnam's founder, Mira, when he catches her on the property. He's intrigued by Mira, and by Birnam Wood; although they're poles apart politically, it seems Lemoine and the group might have enemies in common. But can Birnam trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust one another?

I was mostly a Good Dog until they sold me out to animal control, okay? But if it's a choice between Oz, with its creepy little singing dudes, and being behind bars in gray old Kansas, I'll choose the place where animals talk and run the show for now, thanks. It's not my fault that the kid is stuck here too, or that she stumbled into a tug-of-war over a pair of slippers that don't even taste good. Now one witch in good eyeliner calls her pretty and we're off on a quest? Teenagers. I try to tell her she's falling in with the wrong crowd when she befriends a freaking hedge wizard made of straw, that blue jay with revolutionary aspirations, and the walking tin can. Still, I'm not one to judge when there's the small matter of a coup in the Forest Kingdom.... Look, something really stinks in Oz, and this Wizard guy and the witches positively reek of it. As usual, it's going to be up to a sensible little dog to do a big dog's job and get to the bottom of it. And trust me: Little dogs can get away with anything.

It takes a village...just not this one. Annie Lewin is at the end of her rope. She's a mother of three young children, her workaholic husband is never around, and the vicious competition for spots in New York City's kindergartens is heating up. A journalist-turned-parenting-advice-columnist for an internet start-up, Annie can't help but judge the insanity of it all--even as she finds herself going to impossible lengths to secure the best spot for her own son. As Annie comes to terms with the infinitesimal odds of success, her intensifying rivalry with hotshot lawyer Belinda Brenner--a deliciously hateful nemesis, what with her perfectly curated bento box lunches and effortless Instagram chic--pushes her to the brink. Of course, this newly raw and unhinged version of Annie is great for the advice column: the more she spins out, the more clicks and comments she gets. But when she commits a ghastly social faux pas that goes viral, she's forced to confront the question: is she really any better than the cutthroat parents she always judged?

In mystery writer Nesbø's first foray into horror, 14-year-old Richard Elauved, sent to live with his aunt and uncle after his parents' deaths, feels trapped in sleepy, rural Ballantyne. He quickly earns a reputation as the angry city kid who lashes out at the slightest provocation. When a classmate goes missing, all eyes are on Richard, who was the last person to see him alive. What Richard can't get anyone to believe is that Tom was sucked into the receiver while making a prank call in a telephone booth on the edge of the woods. After another classmate disappears, Richard discovers a house in the forest that holds a dark past. With help from his friend Karen and the local librarian, Richard must prove his innocence—though he may not be as reliable a narrator as he seems. Nesbø deftly guides readers on a journey much larger than many will expect from the slim volume.

Welcome to Apex City, formerly Bangalore, where everything is decided by the mathematically perfect Bell Curve. With the right image, values and opinions, you can ascend to the glittering heights of the Twenty Percent – the Virtual elite – and have the world at your feet. Otherwise you risk falling to the precarious Ten Percent, and deportation to the ranks of the Analogs, with no access to electricity, running water or even humanity. The system has no flaws. Until the elusive “Ten Percent Thief” steals a single jacaranda seed from the Virtual city and plants a revolution in the barren soil of the Analog world.

One night Mary Pat's teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn't come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances. The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched--asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don't take kindly to any threat to their business.

Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living. As Seattle's former poet laureate, that's how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental breakdowns into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter, Annabel, exhibits the same behavior and begins remembering things and events she has never experienced, Dorothy believes the past has truly come to haunt the present. If she doesn't take radical steps, her daughter will be doomed to face the same debilitating depression that has marked her life. Through epigenetic therapy--an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma--Dorothy intimately connects with the past generations of women in her family. Through reliving their painful stories, Dorothy comes to understand the true cost of inherited pain. As the past bleeds into the present, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn't the only thing she's inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who's loved her through all of her genetic memories.

In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California, where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction--to the city of New York.

It is an unseasonably warm Sunday in November 1957. Katheen, a college tennis champion turned Delaware housewife, decides not to join her flagrantly handsome life insurance salesman husband, Virgil, or their two young boys, at church. Instead, she takes a dip in the kidney-shaped swimming pool of their apartment complex. And then she won't come out. Set over the course of eight hours, The Most breaches the shimmering surface of a seemingly idyllic mid-century marriage, immersing us in the unspoken truth beneath. As Sputnik 2 orbits the earth carrying Laika, the doomed Soviet dog, Kathleen and Virgil hurtle towards each other until they arrive at a reckoning that will either shatter their marriage, or transform it, at last, into something real.

Fledgling actress Amelia Grant is at rock bottom when offered the opportunity of a lifetime: to star in a biopic about the world-renowned romance author Gloria Diamond, who used her own tragic love story as inspiration for her bestselling books. To prepare for the role, she'll spend a week with Gloria at her secluded Washington estate. It's a chance to get out of LA, away from her cheating ex-boyfriend, and to make her recently deceased mother proud. Amelia's excitement is short-lived, however, once she actually meets Gloria, who is cold, verging on rude and mostly unavailable. If not for Gloria's frustratingly handsome son Will, the visit might be a complete waste of her time. But when Amelia stumbles upon a secret from Gloria's past, she realizes Gloria's life story is more fiction than fact. And as the movie's filming date draws nearer, Amelia must decide how much she's willing to sacrifice to uncover the truth.

Amy Lin never expected to find a love like the one she shares with her husband, Kurtis, a gifted young architect who pulls her toward joy, adventure, and greater self-acceptance. But on a sweltering August morning, only a few months shy of the newlyweds' move to Vancouver, thirty-two-year-old Kurtis heads out to run a half-marathon with Amy's family. It is the last time she sees her husband alive. Ten days after this seismic loss, Amy is in the hospital, navigating her own shocking medical crisis and making life-or-death decisions about her treatment. What follows is a rich and unflinchingly honest accounting of her life with Kurtis, the vortex created by his death, and the ongoing struggle Amy faces as she attempts to understand her own experience in the context of commonly held "truths" about what the grieving process looks like.

Part high-seas adventure, part examination of the Age of Exploration, this account of Captain James Cook's last voyage in 1776 charts how his overt and covert missions came to a head on the island of Hawaii and left behind a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day.

Cordelia knows her mother is... unusual. Their house doesn't have any doors between rooms--there are no secrets in this house--and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend. Unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don't force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren't evil sorcerers. When her mother unexpectedly moves them into the manor home of a wealthy older Squire and his kind but keen-eyed sister, Hester, Cordelia knows this welcoming pair are to be her mother's next victims. But Cordelia feels at home for the very first time among these people, and as her mother's plans darken, she must decide how to face the woman who raised her to save the people who have become like family.

Henry David Thoreau meets Home Improvement in Hutchison’s charming debut. Dissatisfied with his job as a copy editor in 2010s Seattle and wondering if he might be missing out on a more meaningful life, Hutchison plunked down $7,500 for a decrepit cabin in the Cascade Mountains. Though he’d never touched a power tool in his life, Hutchison and a group of friends set out to restore the building, the last house on a dirt road fittingly named Wit’s End Place. Through a sometimes bumpy series of home repairs, Hutchison discovered a surprise knack for handiwork. Now a carpenter, he chalks up the career change to the six years he and his cohorts worked on the cabin; readers who are similarly curious about the capabilities of a scroll saw will be invigorated by Hutchison’s account. With endearing directness and an infectious can-do spirit, this makes for a sturdy ode to self-discovery.

Colette "Coco" Weber has relocated to her Catalina Island home, where, twenty years before, she was the sole survivor of a deadly home invasion. All Coco wants is to see her aunt Gwen, get as far away from her ex as possible, and get back to her craft--writing obituaries. Thankfully, her college best friend, Maddy, owns the local paper and has a job sure to keep Coco busy, considering the number of elderly folks who are dying on the island. But as Coco learns more about these deaths, she quickly realizes that the circumstances surrounding them are remarkably similar...and not natural. Then Coco receives a sinister threat in the mail: her own obituary. As Coco begins to draw connections between a serial killer's crimes and her own family tragedy, she fears that the secrets on Catalina Island might be too deep to survive. Because whoever is watching her is hell-bent on finally putting her past to rest.

Gwen Turner has made a bloody mess of her life. She's recently broken up with the best man she's ever known for reasons even she can't admit to herself, and quit a lucrative job in order to pursue her dreams of opening her own coffee shop that's quickly become a bit of a dull nightmare. To top it all off, her best friend is getting married, walking down the aisle and leaving her behind. Everyone seems to be growing up, and moving on without her. Along with too much cheap wine, and bad reality TV, Gwen turns to a dating app to help fill the void in her life. Swiping left and right on what few eligible bachelors there seem to be in town, spending her evenings out on one disastrous first date after another. But when a string of murders begin to happen in her small coastal English city, each of the victims have one thing in common: they've all been on a date with Gwen. Before Gwen knows what's happening, she finds herself the main suspect in a serial killer's murderous spree, and the only way she can clear her name is to track down her former dates (even those that have ghosted her) and unmask a killer before it's too late.

In Fairhill, Vermont, a community where nothing seems to happen, a violent death exposes the cruelty hiding beneath the town’s supposedly placid surface. Diana Brewer’s body is found in a farmer’s field, and what initially seems to be a crime novel walking a well-worn path of plot points and tropes instead travels in a new direction. Lapena rolls out a story unique and timely in its telling. No one can imagine who could have killed Diana, a high school senior, and suspicion immediately turns to her possessive boyfriend, Cameron Farrell. He might have been the last person to see her alive, but the police have additional suspects. Any of them may or may not be murderers, but when their interactions with Diana are exposed, it becomes clear none of them is innocent. As much a commentary on how women’s concerns and accusations are often dismissed as it is an intense crime story, Lapena’s novel excavates the ways so-called responsible adults don’t do enough—a crime in itself—to keep young women like Diana safe.