Editorial Content for Summer
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
If you’ve read the other three entries in the Seasonal Quartet that Ali Smith began in 2017, your only regret when you finish SUMMER will be that there aren’t more seasons in the year. As vibrant and warm as the time whose title it bears, the novel doesn’t sacrifice either Smith’s intellectuality or her playfulness. And though it can be fully appreciated by newcomers to the Smithian calendar who start the annual cycle here, those who have followed her through the year will delight in the subtle linkage of themes and characters from the other novels. Read More
Teaser
In the present, Sacha knows the world is in trouble. Her brother, Robert, just is trouble. Their mother and father are having trouble. Meanwhile, the world is in meltdown --- and the real meltdown hasn’t even started yet. In the past, a lovely summer. A different brother and sister know they’re living on borrowed time. This is a story about people on the brink of change. They’re family, but they think they’re strangers. So: Where does family begin? And what do people who think they have nothing in common have in common? Summer.
Promo
In the present, Sacha knows the world is in trouble. Her brother, Robert, just is trouble. Their mother and father are having trouble. Meanwhile, the world is in meltdown --- and the real meltdown hasn’t even started yet. In the past, a lovely summer. A different brother and sister know they’re living on borrowed time. This is a story about people on the brink of change. They’re family, but they think they’re strangers. So: Where does family begin? And what do people who think they have nothing in common have in common? Summer.
About the Book
The fourth novel in the Seasonal Quartet by Man Booker Prize Finalist Ali Smith is “a prose poem in praise of memory, forgiveness, getting the joke, and seizing the moment” (The New York Times)
In the present, Sacha knows the world is in trouble. Her brother, Robert, just is trouble. Their mother and father are having trouble. Meanwhile, the world is in meltdown --- and the real meltdown hasn’t even started yet. In the past, a lovely summer. A different brother and sister know they’re living on borrowed time.
This is a story about people on the brink of change. They’re family, but they think they’re strangers. So: Where does family begin? And what do people who think they have nothing in common have in common?
Summer.
Audiobook available, read by Juliette Burton
Editorial Content for Winter Counts
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
David Heska Wanbli Weiden has given us a remarkable debut novel with the publication of WINTER COUNTS. This Native noir gem introduces an interesting and complex protagonist in Virgil Wounded Horse, who refuses to conform to the expectations of what is and what is not a 21st-century Native American. Add a right-now, real-world problem as an anchor for the plot, and the result is a one-sit read that will leave you wanting more. Read More
Teaser
Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop. They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity.
Promo
Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop. They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity.
About the Book
A groundbreaking thriller about a vigilante on a Native American reservation who embarks on a dangerous mission to track down the source of a heroin influx.
Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.
They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the 21st century comes at an incredible cost.
WINTER COUNTS is a tour-de-force of crime fiction, a bracingly honest look at a long-ignored part of American life, and a twisting, turning story that’s as deeply rendered as it is thrilling.
Audiobook available, read by Darrell Dennis
Editorial Content for Sisters
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Daisy Johnson’s new novel, SISTERS, is a rich, strange and darkly sensuous tale of autonomy and sorority. Read More
Teaser
Born just 10 months apart, July and September are thick as thieves, never needing anyone but each other. Now, following a case of school bullying, the teens have moved away with their single mother to a long-abandoned family home near the shore. In their new, isolated life, July finds that the deep bond she has always shared with September is shifting in ways she cannot entirely understand. A creeping sense of dread and unease descends inside the house. Meanwhile, outside, the sisters push boundaries of behavior --- until a series of shocking encounters tests the limits of their shared experience, and forces shocking revelations about the girls’ past and future.
Promo
Born just 10 months apart, July and September are thick as thieves, never needing anyone but each other. Now, following a case of school bullying, the teens have moved away with their single mother to a long-abandoned family home near the shore. In their new, isolated life, July finds that the deep bond she has always shared with September is shifting in ways she cannot entirely understand. A creeping sense of dread and unease descends inside the house. Meanwhile, outside, the sisters push boundaries of behavior --- until a series of shocking encounters tests the limits of their shared experience, and forces shocking revelations about the girls’ past and future.
About the Book
From a Booker Prize finalist and international literary star: a blazing portrait of one darkly riveting sibling relationship, from the inside out.
"One of her generation's most intriguing authors" (Entertainment Weekly), Daisy Johnson is the youngest writer to have been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Now she returns with SISTERS, a haunting story about two sisters caught in a powerful emotional web and wrestling to understand where one ends and the other begins.
Born just 10 months apart, July and September are thick as thieves, never needing anyone but each other. Now, following a case of school bullying, the teens have moved away with their single mother to a long-abandoned family home near the shore. In their new, isolated life, July finds that the deep bond she has always shared with September is shifting in ways she cannot entirely understand. A creeping sense of dread and unease descends inside the house. Meanwhile, outside, the sisters push boundaries of behavior --- until a series of shocking encounters tests the limits of their shared experience, and forces shocking revelations about the girls’ past and future.
Written with radically inventive language and imagery by an author whose work has been described as "entrancing" (The New Yorker), "a force of nature" (The New York Times Book Review), and "weird and wild and wonderfully unsettling" (Celeste Ng), SISTERS is a one-two punch of wild fury and heartache --- a taut, powerful and deeply moving account of sibling love and what happens when two sisters must face each other’s darkest impulses.
Audiobook available, read by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anna Koval
Editorial Content for The Queen of Tuesday: A Lucille Ball Story
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
“I Love Lucy.” Fiery red hair, big blue eyes and an unparalleled comic sensibility. What’s not to love? America adored Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the housewife and the bandleader who came into our homes once a week and made us forget our troubles with their hilarious portrayal of familiar marital squabbles. Lucy embroiled herself in the impossible: commercials for the fictitious alcoholic Vitameatavegamin, grape-stomping for an Italian movie, and --- my personal favorite --- a job working a conveyor belt in a chocolate factory. And Desi was her straight man. Read More
Teaser
THE QUEEN OF TUESDAY begins with a daring conceit --- that the author’s grandfather may have had an affair with Lucille Ball. The most powerful woman in the history of Hollywood was part of America’s first high-profile interracial marriage. She owned more movie sets than did any movie studio. She more or less single-handedly created the modern TV business. And yet Lucille’s off-camera life was in disarray. While acting out a happy marriage for millions, she suffered in private. Her partner couldn’t stay faithful. She struggled to balance her fame with the demands of being a mother, a creative genius, an entrepreneur and, most of all, a symbol.
Promo
THE QUEEN OF TUESDAY begins with a daring conceit --- that the author’s grandfather may have had an affair with Lucille Ball. The most powerful woman in the history of Hollywood was part of America’s first high-profile interracial marriage. She owned more movie sets than did any movie studio. She more or less single-handedly created the modern TV business. And yet Lucille’s off-camera life was in disarray. While acting out a happy marriage for millions, she suffered in private. Her partner couldn’t stay faithful. She struggled to balance her fame with the demands of being a mother, a creative genius, an entrepreneur and, most of all, a symbol.
About the Book
From the award-winning, bestselling author of CHANG & ENG and HALF A LIFE, a new novel about Lucille Ball, a thrilling love story starring Hollywood’s first true media mogul.
This indelible romance begins with a daring conceit --- that the author’s grandfather may have had an affair with Lucille Ball. Strauss offers a fresh view of a celebrity America loved more than any other.
Lucille Ball --- the most powerful woman in the history of Hollywood --- was part of America’s first high-profile interracial marriage. She owned more movie sets than did any movie studio. She more or less single-handedly created the modern TV business. And yet Lucille’s off-camera life was in disarray. While acting out a happy marriage for millions, she suffered in private. Her partner couldn’t stay faithful. She struggled to balance her fame with the demands of being a mother, a creative genius, an entrepreneur and, most of all, a symbol.
THE QUEEN OF TUESDAY --- Strauss’ follow-up to HALF A LIFE, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award --- mixes fact and fiction, memoir and novel, to imagine the provocative story of a woman we thought we knew.
Audiobook available, read by Tavia Gilbert
Editorial Content for The Less Dead
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
For many adoptees, the circumstances of their birth and their birth parents are foundational mysteries at the heart of their identities. In Denise Mina’s latest novel, THE LESS DEAD, a combination of factors has led Margo Dunlop to investigate her birth mother. Her adoptive mother has recently passed away, and Margo herself is pregnant, though she has yet to tell the baby’s father, her ex-boyfriend. Read More
Teaser
Dr. Margo Dunlop’s adoptive mom just passed away, and she can't begin to empty the house --- or, it seems, get her brother on the phone. Not to mention she's newly single, secretly pregnant and worried about her best friend's dangerous relationship. In an effort to cheer herself up, she goes in search of her birth mother. Instead she finds Nikki, her mother's sister. Aunt Nikki isn't what Margo expects, and she brings upsetting news: Margo's mother is dead. Worse, she was murdered years ago, and her killer is still at large --- and sending Nikki threatening letters. Then Margo receives a letter, too. Someone out there has been waiting and watching, and in Margo sees the spitting image of her mother.
Promo
Dr. Margo Dunlop’s adoptive mom just passed away, and she can't begin to empty the house --- or, it seems, get her brother on the phone. Not to mention she's newly single, secretly pregnant and worried about her best friend's dangerous relationship. In an effort to cheer herself up, she goes in search of her birth mother. Instead she finds Nikki, her mother's sister. Aunt Nikki isn't what Margo expects, and she brings upsetting news: Margo's mother is dead. Worse, she was murdered years ago, and her killer is still at large --- and sending Nikki threatening letters. Then Margo receives a letter, too. Someone out there has been waiting and watching, and in Margo sees the spitting image of her mother.
About the Book
In this shocking new thriller from the author of the "blazingly intense" Reese Witherspoon book club pick and national bestseller CONVICTION, a woman in crisis finds herself on the hunt for her own mother's murderer (A. J. Finn).
She thought she was finding her birth mother.
Now she's searching for a killer.
Dr. Margo Dunlop is at a crossroads. Her adoptive mom just passed away, and Margo misses her so much she can't begin to empty the house --- or, it seems, get her brother on the phone. Not to mention she's newly single, secretly pregnant and worried about her best friend's dangerous relationship. In an effort to cheer herself up she goes in search of her birth mother. Instead she finds Nikki, her mother's sister. Aunt Nikki isn't what Margo expects, and she brings upsetting news: Margo's mother is dead. Worse, she was murdered years ago, and her killer is still at large --- and sending Nikki threatening letters.
Margo is torn. Should she stay out of this mess, or try to find justice? But then Margo receives a letter, too. Someone out there has been waiting and watching, and in Margo sees the spitting image of her mother.
Darkly funny and deeply affecting, THE LESS DEAD is a sharply modern new thriller from the bestselling author of CONVICTION, and a surprisingly moving story of daughters and mothers, secrets and choices, and how the search for the truth --- and a long-hidden killer --- will lead one woman to find herself.
Audiobook available, read by Katie Leung
Editorial Content for Imperfect Women
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
From Araminta Hall, the author of OUR KIND OF CRUELTY, comes IMPERFECT WOMEN, a tautly plotted tale of domestic suspense centered on three women and the lies they have told and built up about one another. Read More
Teaser
When Nancy Hennessy is murdered, she leaves behind two best friends, an adoring husband and daughter, and a secret lover whose identity she took to the grave. Nancy was gorgeous, wealthy and cherished by those who knew her --- from the outside, her life was perfect. But as the investigation into her death flounders, and Eleanor and Mary wrestle with their grief, dark details surface that reveal how little they knew their friend, each other and maybe even themselves.
Promo
When Nancy Hennessy is murdered, she leaves behind two best friends, an adoring husband and daughter, and a secret lover whose identity she took to the grave. Nancy was gorgeous, wealthy and cherished by those who knew her --- from the outside, her life was perfect. But as the investigation into her death flounders, and Eleanor and Mary wrestle with their grief, dark details surface that reveal how little they knew their friend, each other and maybe even themselves.
About the Book
When Nancy Hennessy is murdered, she leaves behind two best friends, an adoring husband and daughter, and a secret lover whose identity she took to the grave. Nancy was gorgeous, wealthy and cherished by those who knew her --- from the outside, her life was perfect. But as the investigation into her death flounders and her friends Eleanor and Mary wrestle with their grief, dark details surface that reveal how little they knew their friend, each other and maybe even themselves.
A gripping, immersive novel about impossible expectations and secrets that fester and become lethal, IMPERFECT WOMEN unfolds through the perspectives of three fascinating women. Their enduring, complex friendship is the knot the reader must untangle to answer the question Who killed Nancy?
IMPERFECT WOMEN explores guilt and retribution, love and betrayal, and the compromises we make that alter our lives irrevocably. With the wickedly sharp insights and finely tuned suspense that has drawn comparisons to Patricia Highsmith and Paula Hawkins, Araminta Hall returns with another page-turning, thought-provoking tour de force.
Audiobook available, read by Helen Keeley
Editorial Content for The Butcher's Daughter: A Foundlings Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Amelia Crenshaw Haines has no idea who her birth parents are, a mystery that played a key role in her becoming an investigative genealogist who helps others find answers about their ancestry and lost relatives. When she’s hired by NYPD Detective Stockton Barnes to help find the daughter he walked away from years ago, she unexpectedly begins a perilous journey that will lead her to shocking truths and an unforeseen connection to her client. Read More
Teaser
Investigative genealogist Amelia Crenshaw solves clients’ genetic puzzles, while hers remains shrouded in mystery. Now she suspects that the key to her birth parents’ identities lies in an unexpected connection to a stranger who’s hired her to find his long-lost daughter. Bracing herself for a shocking truth, Amelia is blindsided by a deadly one. NYPD Detective Stockton Barnes had walked away from his only child for her own good. He’ll lay down his life to protect her if he and Amelia can find out where --- and who --- she is. But someone has beat them to it, and she has a lethal score to settle. Amelia and Stockton’s entangled roots have unearthed a femme fatale whose family tree holds one of history’s most notorious killers.
Promo
Investigative genealogist Amelia Crenshaw solves clients’ genetic puzzles, while hers remains shrouded in mystery. Now she suspects that the key to her birth parents’ identities lies in an unexpected connection to a stranger who’s hired her to find his long-lost daughter. Bracing herself for a shocking truth, Amelia is blindsided by a deadly one. NYPD Detective Stockton Barnes had walked away from his only child for her own good. He’ll lay down his life to protect her if he and Amelia can find out where --- and who --- she is. But someone has beat them to it, and she has a lethal score to settle. Amelia and Stockton’s entangled roots have unearthed a femme fatale whose family tree holds one of history’s most notorious killers.
About the Book
Editorial Content for A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Readers can be a demanding group sometimes. We find an author we enjoy and read every book that he or she has written. But after a while, their work becomes staid and predictable, so we hope that they venture outside of their comfort zone. If they eventually do undertake such an endeavor, we often become critical and wonder why they deviated from their successful formula. I discovered John Boyne two years ago, and his novel, A LADDER TO THE SKY, became one of my favorites of 2018. Since then, I have read and enjoyed several more of his books. Read More
Teaser
This story starts with a family. For now, it is a father and a mother with two sons --- one with his father’s violence in his blood, one with his mother’s artistry. One leaves. One stays. They will be joined by others whose deeds will determine their fate. It is a beginning. Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of 2,000 years. They will meet again and again at different times and in different places. From Palestine at the dawn of the first millennium and journeying across 50 countries to a life among the stars in the third, the world will change around them, but their destinies remain the same. It must play out as foretold.
Promo
This story starts with a family. For now, it is a father and a mother with two sons --- one with his father’s violence in his blood, one with his mother’s artistry. One leaves. One stays. They will be joined by others whose deeds will determine their fate. It is a beginning. Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of 2,000 years. They will meet again and again at different times and in different places. From Palestine at the dawn of the first millennium and journeying across 50 countries to a life among the stars in the third, the world will change around them, but their destinies remain the same. It must play out as foretold.
About the Book
From the bestselling author of A LADDER TO THE SKY --- “a darkly funny novel that races like a beating heart” (People) --- comes a new novel that plays out across all of human history: a story as precise as it is unlimited.
This story starts with a family. For now, it is a father and a mother with two sons --- one with his father’s violence in his blood, one with his mother’s artistry. One leaves. One stays. They will be joined by others whose deeds will determine their fate. It is a beginning.
Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of 2,000 years. They will meet again and again at different times and in different places. From Palestine at the dawn of the first millennium and journeying across 50 countries to a life among the stars in the third, the world will change around them, but their destinies remain the same. It must play out as foretold.
From the award-winning author of THE HEART'S INVISIBLE FURIES comes A TRAVELER AT THE GATES OF WISDOM, an epic tale of humanity. The story of all of us, stretching across two millennia. Imaginative, unique and heartbreaking, this is John Boyne at his most creative and compelling.
Audiobook available, read by Tim McInnerny
Editorial Content for Against the Loveless World
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Susan Abulhawa is a Palestinian American writer and political activist whose latest novel, AGAINST THE LOVELESS WORLD, is a remarkable story filled with lyrical prose and breathtaking humanity. Read More
Teaser
As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the ’70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she’s forced to prostitute herself, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation.
Promo
As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the ’70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she’s forced to prostitute herself, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation.
About the Book
In this “beautiful...urgent” novel (The New York Times), Nahr, a young Palestinian woman, fights for a better life for her family as she travels as a refugee throughout the Middle East.
As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the ’70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she’s forced to prostitute herself, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation.
Nahr’s subversive humor and moral ambiguity will resonate with fans of MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER, and her dark, contemporary struggle places her as the perfect sister to Carmen Maria Machado’s HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES. Written with Susan Abulhawa’s distinctive “richly detailed, beautiful, and resonant” (Publishers Weekly) prose, this powerful novel presents a searing, darkly funny and wholly unique portrait of a Palestinian woman who refuses to be a victim.
Audiobook available, read by Susan Abulhawa
Editorial Content for Jackie and Maria: A Novel of Jackie Kennedy & Maria Callas
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
JACKIE AND MARIA is an enjoyable journey through the lives of several enormous personalities who captured the attention of the world for years. It is well written, the characters are fully explored and developed, and readers will be drawn deeply into the painful experiences that marked their lives. Read More
Teaser
Jackie Kennedy was contemplating leaving her ambitious young senator husband. Life in the public eye with an overly ambitious --- and unfaithful --- man was breaking her spirit. So when she's offered a holiday on the luxurious yacht owned by billionaire Ari Onassis, she says yes. Maria Callas is at the height of her operatic career and widely considered to be the finest soprano in the world. And then she's introduced to Aristotle Onassis, the world’s richest man. Stuck in a childless, sexless marriage, she finds her life being turned upside down by this hyper-intelligent and impeccably charming man. Little by little, Maria’s and Jackie’s lives begin to overlap, and they come closer and closer until everything they know about the world changes on a dime.
Promo
Jackie Kennedy was contemplating leaving her ambitious young senator husband. Life in the public eye with an overly ambitious --- and unfaithful --- man was breaking her spirit. So when she's offered a holiday on the luxurious yacht owned by billionaire Ari Onassis, she says yes. Maria Callas is at the height of her operatic career and widely considered to be the finest soprano in the world. And then she's introduced to Aristotle Onassis, the world’s richest man. Stuck in a childless, sexless marriage, she finds her life being turned upside down by this hyper-intelligent and impeccably charming man. Little by little, Maria’s and Jackie’s lives begin to overlap, and they come closer and closer until everything they know about the world changes on a dime.
About the Book
From the #1 bestselling author of THE SECRET WIFE comes a story of love, passion and tragedy as the lives of Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas are intertwined --- and they become the ultimate rivals, in love with the same man.
The President's wife. A glamorous superstar. The rivalry that shook the world.
Jackie Kennedy was beautiful, sophisticated and contemplating leaving her ambitious young senator husband. Life in the public eye with an overly ambitious --- and unfaithful --- man who could hardly be coaxed to return from a vacation after the birth of a stillborn child was breaking her spirit. So when she's offered a holiday on the luxurious yacht owned by billionaire Ari Onassis, she says yes...to a meeting that will ultimately change her life.
Maria Callas is at the height of her operatic career and widely considered to be the finest soprano in the world. And then she's introduced to Aristotle Onassis, the world’s richest man and her fellow Greek. Stuck in a childless, sexless marriage, and with pressures on all sides from opera house managers and a hostile press, she finds her life being turned upside down by this hyper-intelligent and impeccably charming man.
Little by little, Maria’s and Jackie’s lives begin to overlap, and they come closer and closer until everything they know about the world changes on a dime.
Audiobook available, read by Lisa Flanagan





