Fiction: literary and general non-genre

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Unusual and gripping. . . .Fans of successful reimaginings of literary classics. . .will be entertained.” — Publishers Weekly “It takes chutzpah to revive one of the most vivid yet most unknowable characters in all literature, let alone to place him in a story that celebrates its own essential pulpiness. . . . Jeffrey Ford has that chutzpah . . .[M]arvelous.” — SciFi Magazine (”A” rating) “[A]n imaginary sequel to an imaginative work, a virtual or alternate vision. … Primed for adventure, Harrow guides [Ahab] through New York’s seething underworld on his quest and perchance to find fresh material. Of that, readers are dealt a-plenty.” — Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star “Ford knows how to tell a story, whatever the genre, and how to get out of its way and when to stop, and here that makes for a great few hours between the covers. … Sign on for this one; it’s well worth the trip.” — Washington Independent Review of Books “This is an adventure worthy of the captain. … This fast-paced, occasionally acerbic, often bloody, but always entertaining story is an homage to Moby-Dick and a fitting continuation/conclusion of Ahab’s story.” — New York Journal of Books Praise for The Shadow Year: “Jeffrey Ford is one of the few writers who uses wonder instead of ink in his pen.” — Jonathan Carroll, author of The Wooden Sea “Properly creepy, but from time to time deliciously funny and heartbreakingly poignant, too. For those of you—and you know who you are—who think the indispensable element for good genre fiction is good writing, this is not to be missed.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Superb, heartbreaking, and masterfully written. . . . It’s proof of Jeffrey Ford’s narrative power that, ultimately, the distinction [between real and invented] doesn’t much matter. His made-up world trumps ours.” — Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy “A work of episodic beauty and mercurial significance.” — Locus “Think Ray Bradbury’s “Green Town” stories, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Stephen King’s The Body (made into the film Stand by Me) and you get an idea of the tone of Ford’s latest fine work. Grade: A” — Denver Rocky Mountain News

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“A very strong collection. . . . Oates is a master of many different kinds of story.” — New York Times Book Review “In Beautiful Days, the prolific author once again delivers a selection of skillfully written stories as powerful as any she has produced in her long and distinguished career.” — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Perceptive, unmissable work.” — Library Journal (starred review)

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Book Synopsis“The perfect winter heart-warmer.”—Cathy Kelly, bestselling author of Between Sisters and Secrets of a Happy MarriageFrom beloved author Felicity Hayes-McCoy, an enchanting, cozy novel perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan, Nina George, and Nancy Thayer. It’s Christmas in Ireland, and when Cassie Fitzgerald arrives from Toronto to visit her grandparents, she learns that it’s never too late to come home.The days are turning colder, preparations are under way for the Winter Fest, and everyone is hoping for a little holiday magic on the Finfarran peninsula. And as Cassie Fitzgerald, fresh from Toronto, is about to discover, there’s more to the holidays on the west coast of Ireland than mistletoe and mince pies.Enchanted by the small town where her dad was born, Cassie makes friends and joins local librarian Hanna Casey’s writing group in Lissbeg Library. But the

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Book SynopsisDon’t miss the TV series premiering on PBS MASTERPIECE Mystery October 16th!A double puzzle for puzzle fans, who don’t often get the classicism they want from contemporary thrillers. —Janet Maslin, New York TimesNew York Times Bestseller  Winner of the Macavity Award for Best Novel  NPR Best Book of the Year  Washington Post Best Book of the Year  Esquire Best Book of the YearFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Moriarty and Trigger Mortis, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery.When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of

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Book SynopsisA food truck from a famous New York City brand is roving around the island, selling goodies—and threatening her business.Lu Trusdale is spending the summer on her in-laws’ dime, living on Block Island with her two young sons while her surgeon husband commutes to the mainland hospital.Trade Review“Meg Mitchell Moore fills [Maeve Binchy’s] big shoes....If you’re feeling landlocked and water-deprived, The Islanders is the ticket to the getaway you need.” — New York Times Book Review “Moore’s narrative is fast-paced, and her lead characters are flawed and believable. Readers looking for an emotional tale will find much to enjoy.” — Publishers Weekly “A beautifully in-depth novel chronicling the intersection of the lives of three strangers during one fateful summer. [Moore’s] characters are strong, and the realistic situations are both heartfelt and heartbreaking. An excellent combination of character exploration and intrigue.” — Booklist “With complex characters and vivid landscape descriptions, this fun beach read from Moore has just enough drama to keep readers wondering how the story will unfold. For fans of women’s fictions such as the works of Elin Hilderbrand and Nancy Thayer.” — Library Journal "This fast-paced, witty beach read has all the elements of a great drama, including a Greek chorus of second-grade moms providing color commentary. Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere." — Booklist on Two Truths and a Lie

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Book SynopsisOne of Real Simple’s Best Books of 2019“I loved this book. . . .Funny, heartbreaking and clever with a mystery at its heart.” —Jojo Moyes“With an eye as keen for human idiosyncrasies as Miranda July’s, and a sense of humor as bright and surprising as Maria Semple’s, this is a novel of pure velocity.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)?The adult debut from bestselling, award-winning young adult author Jaclyn Moriarty—a frequently hilarious, brilliantly observed novel—that follows a single mother’s heartfelt search for greater truths about the universe, her family and herself.Twenty years ago, Abigail Sorenson’s brother Robert went missing one day before her sixteenth birthday, never to be seen again. That same year, she began receiving scattered chapters in the mail of a self-help manual,

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Book SynopsisDon’t miss the TV series, Dark Winds, based on the Leaphorn, Chee, & Manuelito novels, now on AMC and AMC+!  The sixth installment in New York Times bestselling author Tony Hillerman''s Leaphorn and Chee series—an electrifying thriller of revenge, secrets, and murder.“One of the best of the series.”—New York Times Book ReviewOld Joseph Joe sees it all. Two strangers spill blood at the Shiprock Wash-O-Mat. One dies. The other drives off into the dry lands of the Big Reservation, but not before he shows the old Navajo a photo of the man he seeks.This is all Tribal Policeman Jim Chee needs to set him off on an odyssey that moves from a trapped ghost in an Indian hogan to the seedy underbelly of L.A. to an ancient healing ceremony where death is the cure, and into the dark heart of murder and revenge.

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Book SynopsisNew York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan returns to the setting of her beloved Little Beach Street Bakery series for a timely and heartfelt novel set in a Cornish seaside village.Marisa Rossi can?t understand why everyone else is getting on with their lives as she still struggles to get over the death of her beloved grandfather, back home in Italy. Everyone loses grandparents, right? Why is she taking it so badly?Retreating further and further from normal life, she moves to the end of the earth?the remote tidal island of Mount Polbearne, at the foot of Cornwall, hoping for peace and solitude, whilst carrying on her job as a registrar, dealing with births, weddings, and deaths, even as she feels life is passing her by.Unfortunately?or fortunately??the solitude she craves proves elusive. Between her noisy Russian piano-teaching neighbor, the bustle and community spirit of the tiny village struggling back to life after the quarantine, and the pressing need to help save the local bakery, can Marisa find her joy again at the end of the world?

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Book Synopsis“This story of the unlikely meeting of two vulnerable women is a beautifully woven page turner. The battle-weary woman and the pin-up girl who meet, connect, separate: each changed by the brief union.” --Heather Morris, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Tattooist of AuschwitzA dazzling work of historical fiction, based on true events, about two women who seem the most unlikely to ever meet: Alice, a Korean war survivor and translator for the American forces in Seoul and Marilyn Monroe, who is visiting Korea on a four-day USO tour.February 1954. Although the Korean War armistice was signed a year ago, most citizens of Seoul still battle to return to some semblance of normalcy. Conditions are dismal. Children beg for food, and orphanages are teeming. Alice J. Kim, a Korean translator and typist for the American forces still sanctioned in the city, yearns for the life she used to live before her

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Book SynopsisFrom the international bestselling author of Secret Daughter and The Golden Son comes a poignant, unforgettable novel about a family's growing apart and coming back together in the wake of tragedy. A profoundly moving exploration of the ways we all seek belonging.Trade Review"Gowda renders even the worst decisions made by the Olanders with compassion and insight, so much so that rooting for them — despite and because of their fragility — becomes a pleasure. I know these characters, and I love them, and for some unnameable hours in this uneasy spring, their journey from life, to death, to life was also mine. What a gift, to be that transported, and, eventually — blessedly — transformed." — San Francisco Chronicle “This beautifully written, poignant novel explores how one loving family deals with an unspeakable tragedy. It's a novel about race and culture, parents and siblings, marriage and love, but most of all, it's about finding hope after darkness. Shilpi Somaya Gowda is a compassionate and wise storyteller who keeps us riveted from beginning to end.” — Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Translation “A moving exploration of how loss can change the contours of a life. Gowda deftly examines the forces that can make and remake a family in this engrossing page turner of a novel.” — Thrity Umrigar, author of The Secrets Between Us "Not simply a story about tragedy or even the dangers of fervent devotion, but a story about mourning in all its myriad forms." — San Diego Union-Tribune "In prose of quiet beauty, Shilpi Somaya Gowda drills down into the American Dream and comes up with pure gold. You will cry, rage, worry, and come to love the members of the Olander family." — Tatjana Soli, author of The Lotus Eaters "A deeply involving story of a family falling apart, THE SHAPE OF FAMILY rings so true." — Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room “An unforgettable portrait of a family’s loss, longing, and reconstruction. Haunting and beautiful, THE SHAPE OF FAMILY takes hold of you from the first page and does not let go.” — Lawrence Hill, author of Someone Knows My Name “Thought-provoking to the core, The Shape of Family is both a warning about how our lives can change in an instant and a testament to the strength we must summon to keep a family whole.” — Washington Independent Review of Books "Gowda traces the fallout lines with compassion and a keen eye for the lies we tell ourselves to avoid facing our own demons...A deft, patient portrait of grief." — Kirkus Reviews “Rendered with compassion, this is a compelling testament to a family’s struggle to find solace.” — Booklist “Gowda’s descriptions of their grief, coping mechanisms and bad decisions are as compassionate as they are profound. This is clearly a writer who has studied the full spectrum of human emotion, but even more impressive is her ability to render it so beautifully on the page.” — Book Reporter “Sympathetic and inspiring, this intimate story is bound to stick with you.” — Ms. Magazine “A moving story that reflects the trials of families everywhere … The result is a rich and engrossing novel about normal people trying to live their lives.” — BookTrib

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of the “sophisticated and erudite” Peculiar Ground (Boston Globe) comes a collection of classic, witty fables, elegantly updated for our modern times.It''s in the nature of myth to be infinitely adaptable.Each of these startlingly original stories is set in modern Britain. Their characters include a people-trafficking gang-master and a prostitute, a migrant worker and a cocksure estate agent, an elderly musician doubly befuddled by dementia and the death of his wife, a pest-controller suspected of paedophilia and a librarian so well-behaved that her parents wonder anxiously whether she’ll ever find love.They’re ordinary people, preoccupied, as we all are now, by the deficiencies of the health service, by criminal gangs and homelessness, by the pitfalls of dating in the age of #metoo. All of their stories, though, are inspired by ones drawn from Graeco-Roman myth, from the Bible

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Book SynopsisWhen Louisa finds herself waltzing with the heartless Thorndale, she’s unnerved by his handsome looks—and surprising charm.“The Duke of Christmas Present” by Sarah MacLean Rich and ruthless, Eben, Duke of Allryd doesn’t care for the holidays.

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Book SynopsisTwenty-five beautifully written stories, penned in exile, evocatively depicting life on a manor in feudal Russia and examining the conflicts between serfs and landlordsA Sportsman’s Notebook, Ivan Turgenev’s first literary masterpiece, is a sweeping portrayal of the magnificent nineteenth-century Russian countryside and the harsh lives of those who inhabited it. In a powerful and gripping series of sketches, a hunter wanders through the vast landscape of steppe and forest in search of game, encountering a varied cast of peasants, landlords, bailiffs, overseers, horse traders, and merchants. He witnesses both feudal tyranny and the submission of the tyrannized, against a backdrop of the sublime and pitiless terrain of rural Russia.These exquisitely rendered stories, now with a stirring introduction from Daniyal Mueenuddin, were not only universally popular with the reading public but, through the influence they exerted on importa

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Book SynopsisA Library Journal Horror Best SellerFrom Nebula Award winner Sam J. Miller comes a frightening and uncanny ghost story about a rapidly changing city in upstate New York and the mysterious forces that threaten it.Ronan Szepessy promised himself he?d never return to Hudson. The sleepy upstate town was no place for a restless gay photographer. But his father is ill and New York City?s distractions have become too much for him. He hopes that a quick visit will help him recharge.Ronan reconnects with two friends from high school: Dom, his first love, and Dom?s wife, Attalah. The three former misfits mourn what their town has become?overrun by gentrifiers and corporate interests. With friends and neighbors getting evicted en masse and a mayoral election coming up, Ronan and Attalah craft a plan to rattle the newcomers and expose their true motives. But in doing so, they unleash something far more mysterious and uncontainable.Hudson has a rich, proud history and, it turns out, the real-state developers aren?t the only forces threatening its well-being: the spirits undergirding this once-thriving industrial town are enraged. Ronan?s hijinks have overlapped with a bubbling up of hate and violence among friends and neighbors, and everything is spiraling out of control. Ronan must summon the very best of himself to shed his own demons and save the city he once loathed.

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Book SynopsisThe USA Today bestselling author of In Another Time reimagines the pioneering, passionate life of Marie Curie using a parallel structure to create two alternative timelines, one that mirrors her real life, one that explores the consequences for Marie and for science if she''d made a different choice. In Poland in 1891, Marie Curie (then Marya Sklodowska) was engaged to a budding mathematician, Kazimierz Zorawski. But when his mother insisted she was too poor and not good enough, he broke off the engagement. A heartbroken Marya left Poland for Paris, where she would attend the Sorbonne to study chemistry and physics. Eventually Marie Curie would go on to change the course of science forever and be the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.But what if she had made a different choice? What if she had stayed in Poland, married Kazimierz at the age of twenty-four, and never attended the Sorbonne or discovered radium? What if she had chosen a life of domesticity with a constant hunger for knowledge in Russian Poland where education for women was restricted, instead of studying science in Paris and meeting Pierre Curie?Entwining Marie Curie''s real story with Marya Zorawska''s fictional one, Half Life explores loves lost and destinies unfulfilled''and probes issues of loyalty and identity, gender and class, motherhood and sisterhood, fame and anonymity, scholarship and knowledge. Through parallel contrasting versions of Marya''s life, Jillian Cantor''s unique historical novel asks what would have happened if a great scientific mind was denied opportunity and access to education. It examines how the lives of one remarkable woman and the people she loved '' as well as the world at large and course of science and history''might have been irrevocably changed in ways both great and small.

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Book SynopsisThe USA Today bestselling author of In Another Time reimagines the pioneering, passionate life of Marie Curie using a parallel structure to create two alternative timelines, one that mirrors her real life, one that explores the consequences for Marie and for science if she''d made a different choice. In Poland in 1891, Marie Curie (then Marya Sklodowska) was engaged to a budding mathematician, Kazimierz Zorawski. But when his mother insisted she was too poor and not good enough, he broke off the engagement. A heartbroken Marya left Poland for Paris, where she would attend the Sorbonne to study chemistry and physics. Eventually Marie Curie would go on to change the course of science forever and be the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.But what if she had made a different choice? What if she had stayed in Poland, married Kazimierz at the age of twenty-four, and never attended the Sorbonne or discovered radium? What if she had chosen a life of domesticity with a constant hunger for knowledge in Russian Poland where education for women was restricted, instead of studying science in Paris and meeting Pierre Curie?Entwining Marie Curie''s real story with Marya Zorawska''s fictional one, Half Life explores loves lost and destinies unfulfilled''and probes issues of loyalty and identity, gender and class, motherhood and sisterhood, fame and anonymity, scholarship and knowledge. Through parallel contrasting versions of Marya''s life, Jillian Cantor''s unique historical novel asks what would have happened if a great scientific mind was denied opportunity and access to education. It examines how the lives of one remarkable woman and the people she loved '' as well as the world at large and course of science and history''might have been irrevocably changed in ways both great and small.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This incisive, warm-blooded collection of stories is populated by outsiders: expatriates and repatriates, Vikings, travelling ventriloquists. . . . Whether it’s over the course of a honeymoon in Amsterdam or a day at a Texas water park, McCracken illuminates qualities of human nature through fragments of her characters’ lives.” — The New Yorker “Charming and sly, these 12 far-flung stories—from a Texas water park to a rugged Scottish island—share McCracken’s tender appreciation for flawed people (struggling lovers, a grieving mother, a puppeteer) just trying to communicate.” — People “Elizabeth McCracken’s impressive third story collection evoke moving depictions of marriage and parenthood, and love, betrayal, and loneliness…A steady stream of exquisite writing.” — The Boston Globe “The Souvenir Museum is McCracken's third story collection, and her understanding of how we stumble up against these painful realities unfurls on every page. Tuned into absurdities and disasters, she knows our losses are calamitous, our connections precarious…McCracken's prose is wry and exquisite, a good companion to her generous, comic observations.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune “You know how Aaron Sorkin tilt-shifts reality to bring idealism to the forefront? McCracken is like that but for humor. In her realm, everything is funny — to somebody, if not always to the protagonist. Even the darkest and saddest moments may be laced with sweet, tall-tale absurdity. Her new collection The Souvenir Museum has more of what made her 2019 novel Bowlaway such a hit. It’s full of stories set in the real world but just cockeyed enough to pass as apocryphal family folklore told at a Thanksgiving dinner table once everybody’s full of pie and wine.” — Philadelphia Inquirer “McCracken knows all kinds of subtle, enticing secrets of the heart and conveys them in silky, transparent language.” — San Francisco Chronicle “If you’re tired of trying to pick something to watch on one of your half a dozen streaming services, maybe it’s time to read a short story instead. They may just be the perfect antidote to binge watching. Elizabeth McCracken’s latest collection ‘The Souvenir Museum,’ is a good place to start….Do yourself a favor and read the book. McCracken has delivered a lovely collection of stories.” — Associated Press “Deftly melding tragedy and comedy, McCracken displays her signature wit while examining how the bonds of family are tested and transformed over time.” — Austin Monthly “McCracken, herself, is a hard-working performer, an acrobat who dazzles with her verbal flexibility and lands the end of each tightly composed story with incredible skill — and feeling. Her inimitable images heighten the delight…McCracken's writing is never dull…[a]fantastic collection.” — NPR.org “Elizabeth McCracken’s latest (and best, so far) collection…there is, in these stories, a kind of compulsive noticing, and the resultant prose is so plush that it may be read happily for the language alone, though there is much more at work here….a novel’s worth of humor, tension, love, sorrow, and irrationality.” — Harvard Review “Wry, emotionally complex family stories. . . . McCracken is a tremendously sharp, soulful, and witty writer, rightfully considered one of finest American short story practitioners at work today.” — Literary Hub "I love short stories, I think that we’re not reading enough of them . . . [Elizabeth McCracken] is one of my favorites . . . her stories are about family and redemption, intimacy…Dive into this collection.” — Harlan Coben (on Today) “The master stylist and author of Bowlaway rolls another strike with this magnificent array of idiosyncratic love stories.” — Oprah Daily “Elizabeth McCracken is a master of the short story and each of the stories in this gem of a collection shows a different facet of the human experience, shining all the brighter for having had McCracken's attention paid to it for a little while.” — Refinery 29 “[A]n assured collection… McCracken opens up worlds in a mere sentence, and every page is illuminated with nuanced observations of human behavior.” — Booklist “McCracken’s sly, emotionally complex collection (after Bowlaway) focuses on characters uprooted from their usual surroundings. . . . Each story opens to reveal a whole life spent within the web of a family, chosen or not. Full of gems, this collection is a winner.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “McCracken . . . proves her mastery of short fiction with these 12 tightly structured, searingly realistic stories. . . . Enduring love—along with the urge to resist it—is this volume’s common theme, whether in relationships between parents and children, lovers, ex-lovers, friends, and even in-laws. . . . An astonishingly powerful collection worth multiple readings.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “The 12 stories collected in Elizabeth McCracken's The Souvenir Museum are skillfully crafted miniatures that feature unfailingly ordinary characters whose lives she uses to illuminate truths about love, longing and the elusive search for connection…The personal discoveries unearthed by characters like these may seem inconsequential, but they are anything but that. They're the stories of choices, turning points and epiphanies that are the stuff of life itself, and of indelible moments Elizabeth McCracken preserves in these unpretentious tales…In a dozen stories, Elizabeth McCracken excels at capturing the kinds of moments that often escape our notice.” — Shelf Awareness “There’s good reason a new Elizabeth McCracken book is cause for celebration: everything she writes—her short stories, her novels, and, hey, also a memoir—is consistently brilliant. Her work is the perfect amount of odd, witty, tender, and deceptively heart-splitting. I can’t wait.” — The Millions

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