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On the island of Sicily amid the Peloponnesian War, the Syracusans have figured out what to do with the surviving Athenians who had the gall to invade their city: they’ve herded the sorry prisoners of war into a rock quarry and left them to rot. Looking for a way to pass the time, Lampo and Gelon, two unemployed potters, head down into the quarry to feed the Athenians if, and only if, they can manage a few choice lines from their great playwright Euripides. Before long, the two mates hatch a plan to direct a full-blown production of "Medea." But as opening night approaches, what started as a lark quickly sets in motion a series of extraordinary events. Our wayward heroes begin to realize that staging a play can be as dangerous as fighting a war, with all sorts of risks to life, limb and friendship.
Lauren Oyler has emerged as one of the most trenchant and influential critics of her generation, a talent whose judgments on works of literature have become notorious. But what is the significance of being a critic and consumer of media in today’s fraught environment? How do we understand ourselves, and each other, as space between the individual and the world seems to get smaller and smaller, and our opinions on books and movies seem to represent something essential about our souls? And, to put it bluntly, why should you care what she --- or anyone --- thinks? In her first collection of essays, Oyler writes about topics like the role of gossip in our exponentially communicative society, the rise and proliferation of autofiction, why we’re all so “vulnerable” these days, and her own anxiety.
Cameron Leann is new to Washington, D.C. An Iowa farm boy without a penny to his name, Cam has joined a group of affluent junior staffers working for a powerful cohort of U.S. senators known as The Gang of Six. All of them have one thing in common: They hate their bosses. As they take up the rushed nomination of the first Black chief justice to the Supreme Court, Cam and his friends are plotting against them. But in the game of politics, one’s motivations are never as they seem --- especially true for Cam, the enigmatic figure at the center of it all. When a bombshell revelation threatens to sink the President's Supreme Court pick, the Gang of Six fractures, pitting senator against senator in a confirmation battle for the ages.
Bhikkhuni Dhammananda defied convention to become the first woman fully ordained in the Thai Theravada Buddhist tradition. Dubbed “Rebel Monk” by the Thai press, she faced enormous opposition from the media, the public and senior orthodox Thai monks. She has given a fresh existence to the ancient tradition. American author Cindy Rasicot became her student and disciple in 2005. This compelling book tells the story of Venerable Dhammananda’s remarkable path from TV personality, author, academic, wife and mother to ordained bhikkhuni. Cindy Rasicot writes beautifully of their relationship and shares Bhikkhuni Dhammananda’s gentle wisdom and direct insights about how to live a more powerful and compassionate life.
For a 16-year-old, a summer internship working for a private investigator seems like a dream come true --- particularly since the PI is investigating the most shocking crime to hit Bloomington, Indiana, in decades. A local woman has vanished, and the last time anyone saw her, she was in the backseat of a police car driven by a man impersonating an officer. Marshall Miller’s internship puts him at the center of the action, a position he relishes until a terrifying moment that turns public praise for his sharp observations and uncanny memory into accusations of lying and imperiling the case. His detective mentor withdraws, friends and family worry and whisper, and Marshall alone understands that the darkness visiting his town this summer goes far beyond a single crime. Now his task is to explain it --- and himself.
One dark evening on New York City’s Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed their families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect plan: If you kill for me, I’ll kill for you. In another part of the city, Ruth is home alone when the beautiful brownstone she shares with her husband, Scott, is invaded. She’s attacked by a man with piercing blue eyes, who disappears into the night. Will she ever be able to feel safe again while the blue-eyed stranger is out there?
As Ballina prepares for its biggest weekend of the year, introspective loner Dev answers his door on Friday night to find Doll English --- the younger brother of small-time local dealer Cillian English --- bruised and in the clutches of Gabe and Sketch Ferdia, County Mayo’s fraternal enforcers and Dev’s cousins. Dev’s quiet homelife is upturned as he is quickly and unwillingly drawn headlong into the Ferdias' frenetic revenge plot against Cillian. Meanwhile, Doll’s girlfriend, 17-year-old Nicky --- reeling from a fractious Friday and plagued by ghosts and tragedy of her own --- sets out on a feverish mission to save Doll, even as she questions her future in Ballina.
A village hall, a primary school play, a beautiful Lake District town in England. Into this idyllic scene steps a lone gunman whose actions set off a train of events that will have devastating consequences for the close-knit community of Stonesmere. In the weeks following the cataclysm, conspiracy theorists start questioning what happened. Two young people find themselves at the epicenter of the uproar: Marty, the town’s golden girl and daughter of a teacher killed that day, and Trent, whose memories of his brief time trying to fit into Stonesmere fuel his attachment to the conspiracies. But what really happened at the Day One assembly? What secrets is Marty keeping, and what blindspots does Trent miss? In this world where news travels fast, and videos and gossip travel faster, how does a community move forward together?
The idea for Britain’s first female rock band, The Liverbirds, started one evening in 1962, when 16-year-old Mary McGlory saw The Beatles play live at The Cavern Club in Liverpool. Then and there, she decided she was going to be just like them --- and be the first girl to do it. Joining ranks in 1963 with three other working-class girls from Liverpool --- drummer Sylvia Saunders and guitarists Valerie Gell and Pamela Birch --- The Liverbirds went on to tour alongside the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and Chuck Berry, and were on track to hit international stardom. That is, until life intervened, and the group was forced to disband just five years after forming in 1968. Now, Mary and Sylvia, the band’s two surviving members, are ready to tell their stories.
Professor William Dresden has found solitude in the south of France to grapple with his troubled past --- a neglected upbringing, failed romances, the recent demolition of his life’s work in academia, and even witnessing genocide. But he soon learns that he has much larger problems when an adrift MI6 officer, Adeline Parker, insists on a meeting, revealing shocking information about his family. Then a bomb explodes. William and Adeline narrowly escape the attempt on their lives and find themselves battling a group of neofascists and extreme nationalists who are inciting violent divisions across Europe. They are pulled into a shadowy war against a cabal called the Strasbourg Executive and pushed to the brink by family betrayals, corrupt institutions and the Executive’s subversive plots against the fabric of Western society.
