Liberated from home and hearth by World War I, politically enfranchised and ready to work, women arrived to take their place in the dazzling new skyscrapers of Manhattan. But they did not want to stay in uncomfortable boarding houses. They wanted what men already had --- exclusive residential hotels with daily maid service, cultural programs, workout rooms and private dining. Built in 1927 at the height of the Roaring Twenties, the Barbizon Hotel was intended as a safe haven for the “Modern Woman” seeking a career in the arts. It became the place to stay for any ambitious young woman hoping for fame and fortune. THE BARBIZON weaves together a tale that, until now, has never been told.

Liberated from home and hearth by World War I, politically enfranchised and ready to work, women arrived to take their place in the dazzling new skyscrapers of Manhattan. But they did not want to stay in uncomfortable boarding houses. They wanted what men already had --- exclusive residential hotels with daily maid service, cultural programs, workout rooms and private dining. Built in 1927 at the height of the Roaring Twenties, the Barbizon Hotel was intended as a safe haven for the “Modern Woman” seeking a career in the arts. It became the place to stay for any ambitious young woman hoping for fame and fortune. THE BARBIZON weaves together a tale that, until now, has never been told.

From award-winning author Paulina Bren comes the “captivating portrait” (The Wall Street Journal) of New York’s most famous residential hotel --- The Barbizon --- and the remarkable women who lived there.

Liberated from home and hearth by World War I, politically enfranchised and ready to work, women arrived to take their place in the dazzling new skyscrapers of Manhattan. But they did not want to stay in uncomfortable boarding houses. They wanted what men already had --- exclusive residential hotels with daily maid service, cultural programs, workout rooms and private dining.

Built in 1927 at the height of the Roaring Twenties, the Barbizon Hotel was intended as a safe haven for the “Modern Woman” seeking a career in the arts. It became the place to stay for any ambitious young woman hoping for fame and fortune. Sylvia Plath fictionalized her time there in THE BELL JAR, and, over the years, its almost 700 tiny rooms with matching floral curtains and bedspreads housed Titanic survivor Molly Brown; actresses Grace Kelly, Liza Minnelli, Ali MacGraw, Jaclyn Smith, Phylicia Rashad and Cybill Shepherd; writers Joan Didion, Diane Johnson, Gael Greene and Meg Wolitzer; and many more. Mademoiselle magazine boarded its summer interns there, as did Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School its students and the Ford Modeling Agency its young models. Before the hotel’s residents were household names, they were young women arriving at the Barbizon with a suitcase and a dream.

Not everyone who passed through the Barbizon’s doors was destined for success --- for some it was a story of dashed hopes --- but until 1981, when men were finally let in, the Barbizon offered its residents a room of their own and a life without family obligations or expectations. It gave women a chance to remake themselves however they pleased; it was the hotel that set them free. No place had existed like it before or has since.

“Poignant and intriguing” (The New Republic), THE BARBIZON weaves together a tale that has, until now, never been told. It is both a vivid portrait of the lives of these young women looking for something more and a “brilliant many-layered social history of women’s ambition and a rapidly changing New York through the 20th century” (The Guardian).

Audiobook available, read by Andi Arndt

It is the early spring of 2016, and Queen Elizabeth is at Windsor Castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations. But the preparations are interrupted when a guest is found dead in one of the Castle bedrooms. The scene suggests the young Russian pianist strangled himself, but a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play was involved. The Queen leaves the investigation to the professionals --- until their suspicions point them in the wrong direction. Unhappy at the mishandling of the case and concerned for her staff’s morale, the monarch decides to discreetly take matters into her own hands. The resolute Elizabeth will use her keen eye, quick mind and steady nerve to bring a murderer to justice.

It is the early spring of 2016, and Queen Elizabeth is at Windsor Castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations. But the preparations are interrupted when a guest is found dead in one of the Castle bedrooms. The scene suggests the young Russian pianist strangled himself, but a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play was involved. The Queen leaves the investigation to the professionals --- until their suspicions point them in the wrong direction. Unhappy at the mishandling of the case and concerned for her staff’s morale, the monarch decides to discreetly take matters into her own hands. The resolute Elizabeth will use her keen eye, quick mind and steady nerve to bring a murderer to justice.

The first book in a highly original and delightfully clever crime series in which Queen Elizabeth II secretly solves crimes while carrying out her royal duties.

“[A] pitch-perfect murder mystery… If 'The Crown' were crossed with Miss Marple… the result would probably be something like this charming whodunnit.” – Ruth Ware, author of ONE BY ONE

It is the early spring of 2016, and Queen Elizabeth is at Windsor Castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations. But the preparations are interrupted when a guest is found dead in one of the Castle bedrooms. The scene suggests the young Russian pianist strangled himself, but a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play was involved. The Queen leaves the investigation to the professionals --- until their suspicions point them in the wrong direction.

Unhappy at the mishandling of the case and concerned for her staff’s morale, the monarch decides to discreetly take matters into her own hands. With help from her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a British Nigerian and recent officer in the Royal Horse Artillery, the Queen secretly begins making inquiries. As she carries out her royal duties with her usual aplomb, no one in the Royal Household, the government or the public knows that the resolute Elizabeth will use her keen eye, quick mind and steady nerve to bring a murderer to justice.

SJ Bennett captures Queen Elizabeth’s voice with skill, nuance, wit and genuine charm in this imaginative and engaging mystery that portrays Her Majesty as she’s rarely seen: kind yet worldly, decisive, shrewd and, most importantly, a great judge of character.

Audiobook available, read by Jane Copland

Isaiah Quintabe is no longer IQ, the genius of East Long Beach. Instead, he’s a man on the road and on the run, hiding in a small Northern California town when his room is broken into by a desperate young man on the trail of the state’s most prolific serial killer. His old partner, Juanell Dodson, must go straight or lose his wife and child. His devil’s bargain? An internship at an LA advertising agency, where it turns out the rules of the street have simply been dressed in business casual, but where the aging company’s fortunes may well rest on their ability to attract a younger demographic. Dodson --- ”the hustler’s hustler” --- just may be the right man for the job.

Isaiah Quintabe is no longer IQ, the genius of East Long Beach. Instead, he’s a man on the road and on the run, hiding in a small Northern California town when his room is broken into by a desperate young man on the trail of the state’s most prolific serial killer. His old partner, Juanell Dodson, must go straight or lose his wife and child. His devil’s bargain? An internship at an LA advertising agency, where it turns out the rules of the street have simply been dressed in business casual, but where the aging company’s fortunes may well rest on their ability to attract a younger demographic. Dodson --- ”the hustler’s hustler” --- just may be the right man for the job.

Isaiah Quintabe --- an unlicensed detective for all seasons --- and his best friend and masterful sidekick, Juanell Dodson, are at a crossroads in this latest installment of the "aggressively entertaining" IQ series (New York Times). This time, their lives may never be the same.

Isaiah Quintabe is no longer IQ, the genius of East Long Beach. Instead, he’s a man on the road and on the run, hiding in a small Northern California town when his room is broken into by a desperate young man on the trail of the state’s most prolific serial killer.
 
His old partner, Juanell Dodson, must go straight or lose his wife and child. His devil’s bargain? An internship at an LA advertising agency, where it turns out the rules of the street have simply been dressed in business casual, but where the aging company’s fortunes may well rest on their ability to attract a younger demographic. Dodson --- ”the hustler’s hustler” --- just may be the right man for the job.
 
Ide is the crime writer’s crime writer, and he’s filled his best novel yet with desperate souls, courageous outcasts, an ex-stripper who’ll do anything to protect her son, and wild half-brothers who may be the very incarnation of evil.
 
With deft plotting, lacerating humor, and a keen eye for the ways in which characters rise or fall based on their ties to one another, SMOKE is Joe Ide’s crowning achievement.

Audiobook available, read by Zeno Robinson

When Katharine “Kay” Swift --- the restless but loyal society wife of wealthy banker James Warburg and a serious pianist who longs for recognition --- attends a performance of Rhapsody in Blue by a brilliant, elusive young musical genius named George Gershwin, her world is turned upside down. Transfixed, she’s helpless to resist the magnetic pull of George’s talent, charm and swagger. Their 10-year love affair, complicated by her conflicted loyalty to her husband and the twists and turns of her own musical career, ends only with George’s death from a brain tumor at the age of 38.

When Katharine “Kay” Swift --- the restless but loyal society wife of wealthy banker James Warburg and a serious pianist who longs for recognition --- attends a performance of Rhapsody in Blue by a brilliant, elusive young musical genius named George Gershwin, her world is turned upside down. Transfixed, she’s helpless to resist the magnetic pull of George’s talent, charm and swagger. Their 10-year love affair, complicated by her conflicted loyalty to her husband and the twists and turns of her own musical career, ends only with George’s death from a brain tumor at the age of 38.

In the vein of the New York Times bestseller LOVING FRANK, this fascinating and compelling novel “will have you humming, toe-tapping, and singing along with every turn of the page” (Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author) as it explores the decade-long relationship between the celebrated composer George Gershwin and gifted musician Katharine “Kay” Swift.

When Katharine “Kay” Swift --- the restless but loyal society wife of wealthy banker James Warburg and a serious pianist who longs for recognition --- attends a performance of Rhapsody in Blue by a brilliant, elusive young musical genius named George Gershwin, her world is turned upside down. Transfixed, she’s helpless to resist the magnetic pull of George’s talent, charm and swagger. Their 10-year love affair, complicated by her conflicted loyalty to her husband and the twists and turns of her own musical career, ends only with George’s death from a brain tumor at the age of 38.

Set in Jazz Age New York City, this stunning work of fiction explores the timeless bond between two brilliant, strong-willed artists. George Gershwin left behind not just a body of work unmatched in popular musical history, but a woman who loved him with all her heart, knowing all the while that he belonged not to her, but to the world.

Audiobook available, read by Tavia Gilbert

In the first scene of this provocative gut-punch of a novel, our unnamed narrator meets a magnetic writer named Ciaran and falls, against her better judgment, completely in his power. After a brief, all-consuming romance, he abruptly rejects her, sending her into a tailspin of jealous obsession and longing. If he ever comes back to her, she resolves to hang onto him and his love at all costs, even if it destroys her. ACTS OF DESPERATION renders a consciousness split between rebellion and submission, between escaping degradation and eroticizing it, between loving and being lovable. Author Megan Nolan dissects one of life’s most elusive mysteries: Why do we want what we want, and how do we want it?

In the first scene of this provocative gut-punch of a novel, our unnamed narrator meets a magnetic writer named Ciaran and falls, against her better judgment, completely in his power. After a brief, all-consuming romance, he abruptly rejects her, sending her into a tailspin of jealous obsession and longing. If he ever comes back to her, she resolves to hang onto him and his love at all costs, even if it destroys her. ACTS OF DESPERATION renders a consciousness split between rebellion and submission, between escaping degradation and eroticizing it, between loving and being lovable. Author Megan Nolan dissects one of life’s most elusive mysteries: Why do we want what we want, and how do we want it?

Heralding the arrival of “a huge literary talent” (Karl Ove Knausgaard), Megan Nolan’s riveting debut is “a blistering anti-romance” (Catherine Lacey) about love addiction and what it does to us.

Wouldn’t I do anything to reverse my loss, the absence of him?

In the first scene of this provocative gut-punch of a novel, our unnamed narrator meets a magnetic writer named Ciaran and falls, against her better judgment, completely in his power. After a brief, all-consuming romance he abruptly rejects her, sending her into a tailspin of jealous obsession and longing. If he ever comes back to her, she resolves to hang onto him and his love at all costs, even if it destroys her.

Part breathless confession, part lucid critique, ACTS OF DESPERATION renders a consciousness split between rebellion and submission, between escaping degradation and eroticizing it, between loving and being lovable. With unsettling, electric precision, Nolan dissects one of life’s most elusive mysteries: Why do we want what we want, and how do we want it?

Combining the intellectual excitement of Rachel Cusk with the emotional rawness of Elena Ferrante, ACTS OF DESPERATION interrogates the nature of desire, power and toxic relationships, challenging us to reckon honestly with our own insatiability.

Audiobook available, read by Lauren Coe

Of all the women and men Noni Blake has pleased in her life, there’s one she’s often overlooked --- herself. After the end of a decade-long relationship, Noni decides it’s time for that to change. She’s finally going to prioritize her wants and desires and only do things (and people) that feel good in the moment. As she embarks on a pleasure-seeking quest that takes her halfway around the world, she discovers that maybe she can have everything --- and everyone --- she’s ever wanted.

Of all the women and men Noni Blake has pleased in her life, there’s one she’s often overlooked --- herself. After the end of a decade-long relationship, Noni decides it’s time for that to change. She’s finally going to prioritize her wants and desires and only do things (and people) that feel good in the moment. As she embarks on a pleasure-seeking quest that takes her halfway around the world, she discovers that maybe she can have everything --- and everyone --- she’s ever wanted.

A sparkling, feel-good tale about starting over, for anyone who's spent too much of their own life making other people happy.

What if you made yourself your number one priority?

Of all the women and men Noni Blake has pleased in her life, there’s one she’s often overlooked --- herself. After the end of a decade-long relationship, Noni decides it’s time for that to change. She’s finally going to prioritize her wants and desires and only do things (and people) that feel good in the moment.

As she embarks on a pleasure-seeking quest that takes her halfway around the world, she discovers that maybe she can have everything, and everyone, she’s ever wanted.

Effortlessly hilarious and relatable, Claire Christian spins a fresh, uplifting story about starting over as a thirtysomething woman who’s been living life for everyone else. A story of self-discovery for the ages, Noni’s journey serves as a reminder that life is what we make of it --- so why not enjoy it?

Audiobook available, read by Ione Butler

Sloan McPherson and the Underwater Investigation Unit have discovered a van at the bottom of a murky Florida pond. Sealed inside the watery tomb are the bodies of four teenagers who disappeared 30 years ago after leaving a rock concert. To authorities, it looks like a tragic accident. To Sloan, it looks like murder. Every piece of evidence is starting to connect to a string of cold case vanishings throughout Florida. But when a fresh young kill is found in the Everglades, Sloan fears that her investigation has reawakened a monster. How can she catch someone who’s a genius at hiding in plain sight? By acting as prey. The dangerous gambit is working --- only too well. She’s being lured into a deception of the madman’s own design. Has Sloan set a trap for a serial killer? Or has he set one for her?

Sloan McPherson and the Underwater Investigation Unit have discovered a van at the bottom of a murky Florida pond. Sealed inside the watery tomb are the bodies of four teenagers who disappeared 30 years ago after leaving a rock concert. To authorities, it looks like a tragic accident. To Sloan, it looks like murder. Every piece of evidence is starting to connect to a string of cold case vanishings throughout Florida. But when a fresh young kill is found in the Everglades, Sloan fears that her investigation has reawakened a monster. How can she catch someone who’s a genius at hiding in plain sight? By acting as prey. The dangerous gambit is working --- only too well. She’s being lured into a deception of the madman’s own design. Has Sloan set a trap for a serial killer? Or has he set one for her?

June is a brilliant but difficult girl with a gift for mechanical invention who leaves home to begin grueling astronaut training at the National Space Program. Six years later, she has gained a coveted post as an engineer on a space station but is haunted by the mystery of Inquiry, a revolutionary spacecraft powered by her beloved late uncle’s fuel cells. The spacecraft went missing when June was 12 years old, and she alone has evidence that makes her believe the crew is still alive. As June and her uncle’s former protégé, James, work to solve the fuel cell’s fatal flaw, the relationship that develops between them threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create --- and any chance of bringing the Inquiry crew home alive.

June is a brilliant but difficult girl with a gift for mechanical invention who leaves home to begin grueling astronaut training at the National Space Program. Six years later, she has gained a coveted post as an engineer on a space station but is haunted by the mystery of Inquiry, a revolutionary spacecraft powered by her beloved late uncle’s fuel cells. The spacecraft went missing when June was 12 years old, and she alone has evidence that makes her believe the crew is still alive. As June and her uncle’s former protégé, James, work to solve the fuel cell’s fatal flaw, the relationship that develops between them threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create --- and any chance of bringing the Inquiry crew home alive.

A young, ambitious female astronaut’s life is upended by a fiery love affair that threatens the rescue of a lost crew in this brilliantly imagined novel, in the tradition of STATION ELEVEN and THE MARTIAN.

June is a brilliant but difficult girl with a gift for mechanical invention who leaves home to begin grueling astronaut training at the National Space Program. Younger by two years than her classmates at Peter Reed, the school on campus named for her uncle, she flourishes in her classes but struggles to make friends and find true intellectual peers. Six years later, she has gained a coveted post as an engineer on a space station --- and a hard-won sense of belonging --- but is haunted by the mystery of Inquiry, a revolutionary spacecraft powered by her beloved late uncle’s fuel cells. The spacecraft went missing when June was 12 years old, and while the rest of the world seems to have forgotten the crew, June alone has evidence that makes her believe they are still alive.

She seeks out James, her uncle’s former protégé, also brilliant, also difficult, who has been trying to discover why Inquiry’s fuel cells failed. James and June forge an intense intellectual bond that becomes an electric attraction. But the love that develops between them as they work to solve the fuel cell’s fatal flaw threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create --- and any chance of bringing the Inquiry crew home alive.

A propulsive narrative of one woman’s persistence and journey to self-discovery, IN THE QUICK is an exploration of the strengths and limits of human ability in the face of hardship, and the costs of human ingenuity.

Audiobook available, read by Rebecca Lowman

From her downstairs apartment in suburban London, Emma has often overheard the everyday life of the seemingly perfect family upstairs --- Steph, Paul and teenage daughter Freya --- but has never got to know them. Until one day, she hears something that seizes her attention: Freya has vanished, and the police are questioning Steph and Paul about their life. Do either of you have any enemies? Anyone who might want to harm or threaten you? The effects of Freya's disappearance ripple outward, affecting not just her parents, but everyone who lives in the building, including Emma and local driving instructor Chris, who was the last person to see the teenager before she went missing.

From her downstairs apartment in suburban London, Emma has often overheard the everyday life of the seemingly perfect family upstairs --- Steph, Paul and teenage daughter Freya --- but has never got to know them. Until one day, she hears something that seizes her attention: Freya has vanished, and the police are questioning Steph and Paul about their life. Do either of you have any enemies? Anyone who might want to harm or threaten you? The effects of Freya's disappearance ripple outward, affecting not just her parents, but everyone who lives in the building, including Emma and local driving instructor Chris, who was the last person to see the teenager before she went missing.

An addicting and twisty debut about an apartment building devastated by the disappearance of a teenage girl --- and by the secrets that won't be kept behind each closed door --- that will thrill fans of Lisa Jewell and Shari Lapena.

One House. Three Families. Countless Secrets.

From her downstairs apartment in suburban London, Emma has often overheard the everyday life of the seemingly perfect family upstairs --- Steph, Paul and teenage daughter Freya --- but has never got to know them. Until one day, she hears something that seizes her attention: Freya has vanished, and the police are questioning Steph and Paul about their life. Do either of you have any enemies? Anyone who might want to harm or threaten you?

The effects of Freya's disappearance ripple outward, affecting not just her parents, but everyone who lives in the building, including Emma and local driving instructor Chris, who was the last person to see the teenager before she went missing. Each character's life is thrown into sharp focus as devastating mistakes and long-held secrets are picked apart and other crimes come to light --- including a child gone missing 25 years earlier, and a shocking murder --- that make clear that the past never stays where we leave it, and that homes can be built on foundations of lies.

Audiobook available, read by Jasmine Blackborow

INTENTION TREMOR collects prose and poetry that chronicle Tamara Kaye Sellman’s life in the five years that followed her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. She wrote the majority of these pieces next to a campfire or inside a travel trailer at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, WA. One-hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Accelerated Cure Project, which works to accelerate research and improve the quality of life for those affected by MS.

INTENTION TREMOR collects prose and poetry that chronicle Tamara Kaye Sellman’s life in the five years that followed her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. She wrote the majority of these pieces next to a campfire or inside a travel trailer at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, WA. One-hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Accelerated Cure Project, which works to accelerate research and improve the quality of life for those affected by MS.

This literary collection of eclectic poetry and prose forms chronicles life in the five years following Tamara Kaye Sellman's multiple sclerosis diagnosis.

» Visit Tamara's website for more info about her and INTENTION TREMOR.