Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction

Book SynopsisFinalist for the Midland Authors AwardFates and Furies meets Melancholia in this ominous and absorbing debut novel about marriage and motherhood in a time of ecological collapse, as mothers around the world begin to mysteriously vanish from their homesAda—a woman from Montreal living reluctantly in Michigan—vanishes from her bed one night while her husband Danny is asleep beside her, her young son, Gilles, in the next room. Desperate to locate Ada before Gilles understands what has happened, Danny begins a search. But the feds are already involved: across the country and around the world, mothers are vanishing from their homes.Where did Ada go? What has she gone through? And how does the mystery relate to the forest that she seemed magnetically drawn to?Confronting the role of motherhood and the meaning of home in the wreckage of capitalism and climate change, The Forbidden Territory of a Terrifying Woman is that rare, dazzling debut that is both thrilling and profound. It is a mystery, a play on myths of metamorphosis, and above all, a story of love—between husband and wife, mother and child—deeply troubled by the future we face.

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Book SynopsisA thrilling and propulsive novel of an Antarctica expedition gone wrong and its far-reaching consequences for the explorers and their families leaves the reader moved and subtly changed, as if she had become part of the story (Hilary Mantel). “McGregor’s depiction of speechlessness, both metaphorical and physical, makes the novel much more interesting than if he had provided a page-turner about a botched expedition in Antarctica . . . McGregor’s carefully composed dialogue, filled with the repetition of so few words, had an eerie effect on me: for several days my own inner dialogue was often composed of the same words, as though I, too, was discovering how they could express drastically different emotions yet remain unreadable to the world. —Yiyun Li, New York Review of BooksRemember the training: find shelter or make shelter, remain in place, establish contact with other members of the party, keep moving, keep calm. Robert 'Doc' Wright, a veteran of Antarctic surveying, was there on the ice when the worst happened. He holds within him the complete story of that night—but depleted by the disaster, Wright is no longer able to communicate the truth. Instead, in the wake of the catastrophic expedition, he faces the most daunting adventure of his life: learning a whole new way to be in the world. Meanwhile Anna, his wife, must suddenly scramble to navigate the sharp and unexpected contours of life as a caregiver.From the Booker Prize-longlisted, American Academy of Arts & Letters Award-winning author of Reservoir 13, this is a novel every bit as mesmerizing as its setting. Tenderly unraveling different notions of heroism through the rippling effects of one extraordinary expedition on an ordinary family, Lean Fall Stand explores the indomitable human impulse to turn our experiences into stories—even when the words may fail us.

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Book SynopsisA desperate woman. An irresistible invitation. An escalating nightmare of secrets, lies, and murder. Bree’s new home is luxurious and private, with a fancy Beverly Hills address. What a shame it’s not hers. Widowed, penniless, living in her car, and out of options, she’s climbed the fence and crashed in the pool house. All she wants is a good night’s sleep. But when Sophie, the absentee owner, finds her, she gets a whole lot more. Sophie invites Bree back for a party. When it winds down, Bree can’t resist sneaking upstairs to sleep in a real bed. But the next morning, she wakes to find Sophie’s dead body floating in the pool. As the resident vagabond, she’s both the only witness and the prime murder suspect. Bree knows she shouldn’t run, but her husband’s death was mysterious, too. If she’s going to clear her name, she’s going to have to work fast. Because the killer is still out there, and she’s next.Trade Review“The most fun I’ve had reading a thriller in a long time! Lie by The Pool is a delicious page-turner you will finish in one sitting. Full of juicy twists, a wildly original plot, and nerve-shredding tension, Lie by the Pool catapults Susan Walter into the top echelon of thriller writers.” —David Ellis, New York Times bestselling author of Look Closer “A thriller that thrills, crime fiction that is criminally good and feels like the real thing. A rich ensemble of characters, and protagonists that you hope don't wind up dead… because danger lurks around every twisty corner.” —Ken Pisani, author of the Los Angeles Times best-selling novel AMP'D “Susan Walter has a knack for writing thoroughly entertaining stories that keep you flipping pages. Fun and fast and full of surprising revelations. What a pleasure to read!” —Bruce Cameron, New York Times bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose and Love, Clancy “Wow. What a terrific read! Walter's third novel is a vivid suspense-thriller that's filled with surprises. An involving character study with a touching love story at its center. Great work, extremely enjoyable!” —Gary Goldstein, award-winning author of The Last Birthday Party and The Mother I Never Had “Susan Walter, in her signature shifty thriller style, weaves a story of blind ambition and intersecting lies as four people and their secrets collide in Beverly Hills. Sit by the pool with her and turn the pages. But keep an eye on who’s in the cabana.” —Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell, New York Times bestselling authors of the Jessie Teska mysteries and Working Stiff “Get ready for a sleepless night! Lie by The Pool is a blistering, fast-paced thriller, confidently plotted and executed. Walter’s trademark verve for cinematic, propulsive storytelling shines in this L.A. story that will hold you in thrall until the very last page. Fiendishly clever!” —Paulette Kennedy, bestselling author of The Witch of Tin Mountain “I decided to forgo all of the movies on an international flight and read an advance copy of Susan Walter's Lie by The Pool instead. What a good choice! This book is better than any on-screen thriller. A seamless, exhilarating plot that draws you in so immediately and completely, you feel like you're living Bree's nightmare instead of just reading it. In a genre that can seem glutted by stale ideas and stock characters, Walter brings us something fresh, fast-paced, and utterly fantastic.” —Lindsay Moran, bestselling author of Blowing my Cover “A page-turning Beverly Hills tale with characters to root for and suspect all at once. Susan Walter is simply the master at luring readers in with breezy prose and then walloping with a killer twist. Dive in and enjoy the ride!” —Wendy Walker, bestselling author of What Remains “With alternating perspectives told by compelling characters, you'll find yourselves turning the pages to get to the bottom of this skillfully rendered mystery. The perfect summer read!” —Katie Sise, Amazon Charts bestselling author of Open House and The Break

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Book Synopsis“Amina Akhtar’s Almost Surely Dead is a witty, fresh psychological thriller that’s part stalker thriller, part ghost story. This book took turns I never saw coming. I was up all night, tearing through the pages as the mysterious pieces came together, leading to an explosive conclusion.” —Mindy Kaling A psychological thriller with a twist, Almost Surely Dead is a chilling account of how one woman’s life spins out of control after a terrifying—and seemingly random—attempt on her life. Dunia Ahmed lives an ordinary life—or she definitely used to. Now she’s the subject of a true crime podcast. She’s been missing for over a year, and no one knows if she’s dead or alive. But her story has listeners obsessed, and people everywhere are sporting merch that demands “Find Dunia!” In the days before her disappearance, Dunia is a successful pharmacist living in New York. The daughter of Pakistani immigrants, she’s coping with a broken engagement and the death of her mother. But then something happens that really shakes up her world: someone tries to murder her. When her would-be killer winds up dead, Dunia figures the worst is over. But then there’s another attempt on her life…and another. And police suspect someone close to her may be the culprit. Dunia struggles to make sense of what’s happening. And as childhood superstitions seep into her reality, she becomes convinced that someone—or something—is truly after her.Trade ReviewPraise for Amina Akhtar Almost Surely Dead “Akhtar’s novel has one foot set firmly in folklore and the other in fast-paced action as Dunia questions whom she can trust and what she will have to do to survive. Though the suspense is real, Akhtar deftly weaves in levity with the campiness of the podcast, and the earnestness of Dunia’s voice keeps the reader rooting for her to outrun her demons. A nimble and eerie thriller.” —Kirkus Reviews “Amina Akhtar delivers a surprising and suspenseful ride. This is a winner.” —Publishers Weekly “Twisty, chilling, and original, Almost Surely Dead is an absolutely addictive page-turner. I couldn’t put it down.” —Meg Gardiner, #1 New York Times bestselling author “A shocking act of violence opens the door to a terrifying mystery in this eerie, addictive thriller from Amina Akhtar.” —Chuck Wendig, bestselling author of The Book of Accidents “I didn’t think Amina Akhtar could get better, but she has—crafting a wholly unique and mesmerizing novel that is impossible to categorize or forget. Part thriller, part family saga, part supernatural horror, Almost Surely Dead will surprise you in the best way possible and leave you thinking about this magnificent book for a long time after you’re done. A powerhouse.” —Alex Segura, bestselling author of Secret Identity “Full of energy, suspense, and the frightening possibility of the supernatural, Almost Surely Dead is a spine-chilling thrill of a book that will grip you from the very first page and refuse to let go. A gripping gothic of the true crime podcasting era.” —S. C. Lalli, international bestselling author of Are You Sara? “What’s a girl to do when the universe seems to want you dead? The answer is nothing you’d expect—but everything you’d want from one of the most exciting thriller writers in the business. Almost Surely Dead is a sparkling, twisted gem of a book, a riotously funny and deeply unsettling examination of the ways in which we are—and in which we refuse to be—defined by our pasts. This is Akhtar’s best work yet, and I loved every word.” —Elizabeth Little, bestselling author of Dear Daughter “Amina Akhtar isn’t a writer; she’s a word magician, a wonderful comedian who juggles the darkest themes and the ugly things that make us human, the young, smart, fashion-savvy auntie who knows where the bodies are buried and reminds you to call your mom. And she keeps getting better with every book. Almost Surely Dead is a witty, wildly entertaining novel that dips its toes in the supernatural while delivering social commentary, highlighting the realities of the Pakistani diaspora, and dancing with the ghosts and superstitions we all carry in our blood. Don’t miss it.” —Gabino Iglesias, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of The Devil Takes You Home “Akhtar coils constant paranoia, flash-forward dread, and family tragedy into an electric threat of a novel. This book will have you glancing over your shoulder. A unique thriller.” —Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of No Gods for Drowning “Almost Surely Dead is such a masterful slow burn of a mystery it’ll singe your fingertips. Amina Akhtar creeps you out, keeps you guessing, and forces you to the edge of your seat, constructing a story that, in the end, is as surprising as it is deeply human.” —Rob Hart, author of Paradox Hotel Kismet “An amusing takedown of influencer culture.” —Kirkus Reviews “Akhtar turns her sharp wit on the wellness community and its dark secrets in a thriller [that is] equal parts vicious and funny.” —USA Today “Akhtar brings to her second novel…a gimlet-eyed view of Sedona, Arizona’s wellness pretensions and a wicked way with one-liners…the surprises Akhtar has in store upend assumptions about trauma, healing, and the motivations of those who helicopter into lands they claim to hold sacred.” —Los Angeles Times “Twisty, sardonic.” —Oprah Daily “The alluring world of wellness gets a fatal awakening in Amina Akhtar’s darkly humorous thriller Kismet.” —PopSugar “[Kismet] skewers the wellness industry of Sedona (Amina Akhtar is now based in Arizona) and also includes a light supernatural touch that’s perfectly integrated into the thriller arc as a whole.” —CrimeReads “Amina Akhtar weaves a wickedly smart tale.” —Desi News “With Kismet, Amina Akhtar invites us into the foxhole with Ronnie Khan, a New Yorker stationed in Sedona, just in time for Wellness World War. I loved this book—the claustrophobia of wide ‘open’ exclusive spaces. Amina teleports us to the passive-aggressive front lines in this dry landscape where caftans and corpses are equally foreboding. You want Ronnie to make a run for it, but she’s a real hero—she wants to make a go for it. Lucky for us, she stays. Kismet is wicked and smart, a fly-on-the-wall humdinger where a light social gathering spikes your blood pressure. Amina deftly intertwines the earthly with the otherworldly. Read it now so you can be the one telling your friends about Kismet.” —Caroline Kepnes, New York Times bestselling author of You “Amina Akhtar had me at ravens! Then she kept me turning the pages with her colorful cast of characters, keen insights, and layered, engaging heroine. Kismet is darkly funny, sharply observant, and full of surprises. Don’t miss this utterly original and wildly entertaining thriller.” —Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Last Girl Ghosted “The twists just keep coming in Kismet, Amina Akhtar’s dark and delicious thriller. I can’t imagine a better companion around these nail-biting curves than the novel’s protagonist, Ronnie Khan, who is wide eyed yet smarter than she lets on, naive yet world weary. In a nutshell: she’s the perfect heroine. I’d follow her anywhere.” —Jess Lourey, Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things “Dead bodies are turning up in Sedona’s upscale wellness community? Sign me up! I loved everything about Kismet, Amina Akhtar’s sharply observant, funny thriller. Gleeful and gripping, Akhtar has knocked it out of the park with this wickedly entertaining, twisty novel.” —Jennifer Hillier, bestselling author of Little Secrets “A chilling tale that lures in the reader with a seductive blend of friendship and tranquility, then transforms it into something evil and deliciously twisted.” —A. R. Torre, New York Times bestselling author of Every Last Secret “Kismet is funny, sharp, twisty, and spot on. Whether she’s dealing with toxic relationships or everyday racism, Ronnie Khan is a character that you can’t help but root for. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun reading a novel. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is going to be talking about those ravens.” —Kellye Garrett, Agatha, Anthony, and Lefty Award–winning author of Like a Sister “Wickedly smart and outrageously entertaining, Kismet grabs hold and doesn’t let go until a final twist that will have even the savviest readers gasping. Just like the clever, scene-stealing ravens, Akhtar skewers those who deserve it with her trademark wit while also layering in emotional nuance as compelling as the captivating mystery. At once atmospheric, chilling, and thought provoking, Kismet will surely be this summer’s must-read thriller.” —Brianna Labuskes, bestselling author of A Familiar Sight “Gaspingly original. Kismet is brilliant and twisty—a knockout page-turner about guilt, revenge, and the toxicity of family and friendships. The oh-so-talented Amina Akhtar unleashes her keen eye and mordant wit—and exquisite understanding of human emotions—to reveal the dark side of the wellness industry and the terrifying reality behind the glam exteriors. Wow! This gripping, heartbreaking, and constantly surprising thriller is not to be missed!” —Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of Her Perfect Life “Amina Akhtar yet again brings her wickedly wicked style to this twisty thriller about a woman who’s finally taken charge of her life—only to find dead bodies piling up around her in the wellness community where she’s starting over. Kismet is a page-turner populated by eerie ravens and people who aren’t what they seem in a perfectly unsettling desert setting.” —Gigi Pandian, USA Today bestselling author of Under Lock and Skeleton Key “Kismet is the twistiest, most delicious take on wellness and self-care gone wrong. With a cast of unforgettable characters, a point of view you’ll never guess, and an ending that leaves you breathless, you’ll be busting down doors to join me as copresident of the Amina Akhtar fan club!” —Yasmin Angoe, author of Her Name Is Knight “Kismet is a gleeful (and at times literal) skewering of influencer culture and clout chasing, as well as a deeply relevant look at how easily and often the white wellness world intersects with racism and cultural appropriation—and how blind we can be to that and to the stain it leaves on the world around us. A bold and insightful whodunnit that ensures you’ll never look at ravens the same way again.” —Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, bestselling authors of The Royal We and The Heir Affair “Unsettling from the very first page, Kismet takes its readers on a wild ride set in Sedona’s wellness community, featuring a serial killer, crystals, and kick-ass ravens. It’s strange and smart and spellbinding, with sharp social commentary and huge surprises. Another eerie gem from Amina Akhtar.” —Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot “A mystery thriller just the way I like them—full of secrets and karma. Amina Akhtar creeps us out and keeps us guessing all the way!” —Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and Ararat “Kismet is as atmospheric as it is dark and twisted. An unsettling read with wholly original protagonists, this is one thrilling story I won’t be forgetting soon.” —Hannah Mary McKinnon, international bestselling author of Never Coming Home “A remarkably original, terrifying read that seized me from the first line. Kismet is an astonishing, expertly structured thriller. Akhtar’s signature creepy tone, suffused with dread and laced with wicked humor, is riveting. Her characters make you blur the lines of morality and justice. With brilliantly shifting points of view, a touch of magic, and a jaw-dropping ending, this is a stand-out suspense.” —Samantha M. Bailey, international bestselling author of Woman on the Edge and Watch Out for Her “A desert setting, crystals to ward off evil, cunning ravens, and murder. Amina Akhtar has whipped up a creepy mystery that will have you second-guessing what you know about the wellness industry, not to mention what to think the next time you see ravens!” —Wanda Morris, Lefty-nominated author of All Her Little Secrets “One of the most original, chilling, and startlingly honest thrillers I’ve ever read, Amina Akhtar plunges readers into an altogether fresh flavor of hell in Kismet. Balancing nail-biting terror with razor-sharp wit, Akhtar interrogates the feral side of the human heart with a rare fearlessness that is certain to make Kismet one of the year’s hottest titles and an absolute must-read. Period.” —P. J. Vernon, acclaimed author of Bath Haus

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Book SynopsisA secret admirer’s devotion turns deadly in a twisting novel of psychological suspense. Mia Anderson is an invisible woman. An unremarkable thirty-two-year-old Tennessee librarian, she’s accustomed to disappearing in a crowd, unseen and unheard. Then she receives an anonymous note: You look beautiful today. It doesn’t stop there. The attentive stranger—a secret admirer named Adam—has plans for Mia. With each new text comes a suggestion for her hair, clothes, or attitude, and for the first time in memory, Mia feels noticed. Slowly, she develops a confidence in herself she’s never had. But Adam has a surprise coming…and Mia finally sees him for who he is and what he’s prepared to do for her. Even kill. Fearing she could be implicated in the murder, Mia’s forced to turn to the stranger in the shadows watching her every move. Adam’s game of cat and mouse begins with Mia as the prey. In order to survive, she must also become the predator.Trade Review“In this devilishly twisty standalone…Jones reveals her characters’ secrets and motives slowly, expertly ratcheting up the pace before an explosive conclusion. This white-knuckler is not to be missed.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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Book SynopsisIn a small Appalachian town, an amateur detective unearths a dark conspiracy and his own haunted past, in a chilling novel about sacrifice, art, and revenge. Med school dropout Harlan Winter returns to his impoverished West Virginia hometown, where the law is scarce, arsonists are turning everything to ash, and his family’s turbulent history lingers. All he wants is to keep the peace in a community cowering from the Lighthouse, a local cult preying on people’s fears. Harlan’s own fears, too, when he’s hired to play detective and find a young couple gone missing. The vanished artist and his girlfriend have left behind a series of paintings that enrage the Lighthouse’s Pastor Logan, who believes art can have divine power. It’s not easy to believe for a rational man like Harlan. And impossible to ignore when his investigation is haunted by visions of the dead lurking in the shadows of his own violent past. Revelations about the disappearances are being unearthed. The Lighthouse’s grip on the community is tightening. And Harlan fears he’s losing control. As the threats against his town, his sanity, and his life begin to mount, Harlan doesn’t know which is more terrifying: what’s real, or what’s in his mind.Trade ReviewPraise for Jordan Farmer The Poison Flood “A near-Shakespearean snarl, a mad, seven-day action crucible set in the West Virginia wild…The Poison Flood is an ambitious saga, cockamamie and passionate. Through Hollis, Farmer produces a pocket Hillbilly manifesto.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Hollis himself is vivid…When the novel focuses on a musician’s creative struggles, it sings.” —Kirkus Reviews “Affecting…[It] combines an unconventional lead with a sobering portrayal of an environmental disaster’s impact on a small community. Readers who like their fiction to have a social conscience will want to take a look.” —Publishers Weekly “[A] bizarre and fascinating read that proves that anything is possible in the capable hands of author Jordan Farmer. The novel is immediately engrossing, its characters uniquely memorable, its prose both heartfelt and stunning. The novel takes a number of unexpected and thrilling turns…[and is] rich in compassion and empathy.” —BookPage “Darkly brilliant and beautifully written…[Farmer’s] similes, metaphors, and turns of phrase are worth underlining and rereading over and over. They are equaled, if not exceeded, by his sharply drawn characters, who you will remember long after you finish this book.” —Bookreporter “[The Poison Flood] had one of the most satisfying endings I’ve read in a while, capping what was overall one of the best novels I’ve ever read of modern-day rural America.” —Criminal Element “In his narrator, Hollis Bragg, Jordan Farmer has created a compelling character whose personal story and damaged body become emblematic of a whole region devastated by environmental destruction. The Poison Flood is a timely and important novel.” —Ron Rash, PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Serena “The Poison Flood is thrilling, poignant, and full of music, a forceful counterpunch to the usual expectations about poverty, trauma, and physical difference.” —James A. McLaughlin, author of Bearskin “Jordan Farmer’s novel is both a gripping page-turner and a stunning meditation on body and place. The Poison Flood will punch you right in the throat with its honesty and its heart. Farmer is a singular talent, with a voice I won’t soon forget.” —Nick White, author of Sweet and Low “Once again, Jordan Farmer has written a darkly urgent book. The Poison Flood is not only a story about the redemptive power of art—it is itself a redeeming and beautiful work.” —Smith Henderson, author of Fourth of July Creek “Jordan Farmer’s immense talent shines with the creation of Hollis Bragg, an indelible character at the heart of this perfect ballad to rural West Virginia.” —Devin Murphy, author of The Boat Runner and Tiny Americans “Once in a great while, a book appears that gives voice to multitudes living just beyond our everyday scope. The Poison Flood establishes Jordan Farmer as a writer whose lyricism and unflinching search for truth place him among those artists who carry our deepest concerns and very best possibilities across time. This is a profoundly good book.” —Jonis Agee, author of The Bones of Paradise “A fascinating exploration of character, with a story that captivates with suspense and heart, The Poison Flood is a book about the influence of music, the power of art, and the complexities of luck. Irresistible and original.” —Timothy Schaffert, author of The Swan Gondola

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Book SynopsisA Wall Street Journal bestselling series.The mystery of three missing teens and a traumatizing murder unearths decades of buried secrets in a shocking novel of suspense by a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author.Twenty years ago, five teenage campers disappeared. Two eventually turned up, bound and left for dead on the Columbia River’s rocky shore. Only Devin Bonner miraculously survived, but with no memories of what happened in the Oregon forest.After decades, the cold case generates heat for FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick and her husband, Police Chief Truman Daly. They’re investigating the murder of a true-crime podcaster found at the river’s edge in the same location, and with the exact same manner of death. With the discovery, Devin’s nightmares return. His only real friend is Ollie Smith, Truman’s orphaned ward, whose own search for the truth sucks Ollie into a mystery far greater and more dangerous than anyone imagined.Following a trail of fresh blood and an escalating series of murders, Mercy and Truman must work fast to unlock whatever traumas are buried in Devin’s memories before the secrets of the past claim another victim.

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Book Synopsis“A courageous novel, beautifully imagined and written.” —Elena Lappin, The Washington Post"De Cespedes' work has lost none of its subversive force”—The New York Times Book Review* "De Céspedes’s melancholy testament to a hidden life feels timeless and vital." —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)From the author of Forbidden Notebook, Alba de Céspedes, a richly told novel she called “the story of a great love and of a crime.”As she looks back on her life, Alessandra Corteggiani recalls her youth during the rise of fascism in Italy, the resistance, and the fall of Mussolini, the lives of the women in her family and her working-class neighborhood, rigorously committed to telling “her side of the story.” Alessandra witnesses her mother, an aspiring concert pianist, suffer from the inability to escape her oppressive marriage. Later, she is sent away to live with her father's relatives in the country, in the hope she’ll finally learn to submit herself to the patriarchal system and authority. But at the farm, Alessandra grows increasingly rebellious, conscious of the unjust treatment of generations of hardworking women in her family. When she refuses the marriage proposal from a neighboring farmer, she is sent back to Rome to tend to her ailing father.In Rome, Alessandra meets Francesco, a charismatic anti-fascist professor, who ostensibly admires and supports her sense of independence and justice. But she soon comes to recognize that even as she respects Francesco and is keen to participate in his struggle to reclaim their country from fascism, this respect is unrequited, and that her own beloved husband is ensnared by patriarchal conventions when it comes to their relationship. In these pages, De Céspedes delivers a breathtakingly accurate and timeless portrayal of the complexity of the female condition against the dramatic backdrop of WWII and the partisan uprising in Italy.Trade Review"Alba de Céspedes wrote novels in the 1940s and 1950s that were radically contemporary, both then and now . . . [her] fiction is written with an acute sense of responsibility to tell the truth. . . . Her Side of the Story is a courageous novel, beautifully imagined and written.”—Elena Lappin, The Washington Post"Her Side of the Story is an achievement that warrants not only a second look at this forgotten writer, but also an important place in the canon of women’s literature."—Margarita Diaz, The Chicago Review of Books ★ "De Céspedes’s melancholy testament to a hidden life feels timeless and vital."—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)"A lavishly detailed critique of romantic ideals and social constrictions."—Kirkus Reviews"De Cespedes' work has lost none of its subversive force."—The New York Times Book Review"Asks perennial questions about the value and dangers of an examined life."—Lara Feigel, The Guardian

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Book SynopsisInspired by the author's own experiences and observations as a child and throughout adulthood, Crosshairs tells the story of the the implosion of the traditional Boston underworld that created a vacuum for the players left at the table. Justin McGee is a high-powered attorney who moonlights as the city's most successful and highly paid assassin. Former Irish crime family member, Darby McBride, is an aging mobster looking for a new life as a sole proprietor in the reinvented underworld. Captain Caleb Frost is a hardscrabble Gloucester fisherman who comes to a crossroads between his own sense of principles and ethics and the lure of the lucrative New England heroin trade. Crosshairs is the story of three desperate individuals grappling with a world that places money and hidden desires above all else. These players are seeking not only survival, but the ability to thrive. Their unique advantage—unlike the drones of the rest of the world—is that they are devoid of any pesky morals that could get in the way of achieving their desires. Everything comes to a head when Justin is called upon to accept the most challenging assignment of his life. Little do they know, but their worlds will all tragically collide, as readers will discover, because in Boston, politics, history, and crime are all one when caught in the crosshairs…Trade Review"There's no greater reading pleasure than to meet a new player in the field of Boston crime fiction. So allow me to introduce Matthew Fitzpatrick, and allow him to introduce you to his fictional gang of sharp-tongued, sardonic, hopeful, hopeless wise-guys and gals. His narration sings with the song of the streets, and their dialogue is so real it spits. A most promising debut. Enjoy." William Martin , New York Times Bestselling author of Back Bay and Bound For Gold" Crosshairs is a gritty story about gritty people in a city where only the strong and strategic survive." Capt. Linda Greenlaw , best-selling author of The Hungry Ocean and Bimini Twist

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Book SynopsisBy one of Colombia's most acclaimed contemporary novelists, The Storm is an atmospheric, gripping portrait of the tensions that devastate one family. Twins Mario and Jose do not know how to cope with the hatred they feel for their father, an arrogant man whose pride seems to taint everything he touches. Over the course of a fateful fishing trip straight into the heart of a storm, father and sons are confronted with the unspoken secrets and resentments that are destroying them.Trade Review"There is humor in the frequent revelation of self-delusions. There is also suspense as the storm—more interpersonal than weather-related—builds and breaks. Fabulist elements, lyrical prose, and a chorus of narrative voices give this slim novel depth and breadth." — Kirkus Reviews"Self-delusion, hallucinations, anger, volatility chafe against the soothing waters and the stars above, and González, one of South America’s most acclaimed and pitch-perfect novelists, plunges you into the brutality of man and nature alike." – Kerri Arsenault, Lit Hub"In Andrea Rosenberg’s translation, the author’s stylistic traits—short and pointed phrases, poetic descriptions and poetic monologues—shine and linger in the reader’s ear...The Storm arrives as a welcome addition to the international recognition of one Colombia’s most prolific and poetic writers." – Nicolás Llano, Asymptote Journal"A complex psychological portrait of a family on the verge of self-made disaster." --Hank Stephenson, bookseller, Flyleaf Books, in Shelf AwarenessPraise for In the Beginning was the Sea (Pushkin Press, 2014): • "Gonzalez poetically and comically captures the inevitable destruction of those who live in a world of fantasy and hubris, depicting beauty and despair by turns." -- Publishers Weekly • In the Beginning Was the Sea [is] a book that simultaneously works as a political parable, a novel, and a mournful confessional... written in a fashion meant to hold up his own grief and disorientation as its own strange flower, an emotional germination meant both to stand on its own and be inseparable from all that surrounds it, an individual "you," straining to emerge from a ceaseless body of discovery, loss, memory, and their insatiable repetition." -- Los Angeles Review of Books • "The lyrical, haunting story has the feel of a fable--a young man and his beautiful wife abandon their hectic, intellectual, night-clubbing life in the city to buy a farm on an undeveloped stretch of coast--while the spare, disquieting prose suggests the start of an art-house horror film." - Daniel Levine, Words Without Borders

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Book SynopsisSet in rural Denmark in the early 20th century, A Change of Time tells the story of a schoolteacher whose husband, the town doctor, has passed away. Her subsequent diary entries form an intimate portrait of a woman rebuilding her identity, and a small rural town whose path to modernity echoes her own path to joyful independence.Trade Review“Jessen is a talented and empathetic writer (and kudos must be given to translator Aitken, whose translation is supple and luminous), and has imbued a quiet story about a woman finding herself after her husband’s death with poignancy and stunning humanity.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An engaging, honest, and beautifully written look at love, loss, and self-realization.” —Kirkus Reviews “In A Change of Time, Ida Jessen has crafted a masterpiece of the epistolary novel told in diary entries. Each log is rich with detail ... Here, one-liners—beautifully translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken—are deeply felt.” —Bookforum “The text shines as an honest reckoning with the death of a spouse—but one in a deeply companionless marriage—and the life of two people who shared little but space ... Jessen, the Danish translator of Marilynne Robinson, among others, proves to have a keen Robinsonian streak of her own. She writes with the same narrative generosity, the same belief in the dignity and voice of characters that might usually be dismissed.” —The Millions “A Change of Time is a book of masterful restraint, and this restraint is a kind of tenderness. It is a book that understands that desire permeates everything - nothing human can be be cleansed of it; and that sometimes love clings most inextricably to the smallest places - misjudgment, invisibility, loneliness. It is a book that deepens and dignifies both our innocence and our fallibility.” —Anne Michaels, author of Fugitive Pieces “A masterful psychological portrait of an individual, who is set free into a new era, after many years of great loneliness.” —Jury of the Danish Writers Association's Blixen Award for A Change of Time “A successful portrait of a widow and her coming freedom. Ida Jessen is sensible and solid in her historical novel A Change in Time.” —Mikkel Krause Frantzen, Politiken “One rejoices at how clearly and precisely the book is written.” —Dagbladet Information “Once again, Ida Jessen has succeeded in creating a small masterpiece.” —Weekendavisen “Set in a rural Danish village in the early 20th century, A Change of Time is a beautiful, quiet and reflective novel told through the diary entries of a schoolteacher called Frau Bagge . . . The novel charts her response to [her husband's] death and her attempts to build herself a new life, find herself a new place and identity and discover meaning in life again. An exquisitely written novel.” —Radz Pandit, Rhadika's Reading Retreat

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Book SynopsisComplex, urgent, and fascinating, this novel about walking, memory, and writing has earned comparisons from Virginia Woolf to Karl Ove Knausgård. The narrator walks from Glebe to a central Sydney, Australia café to return a manuscript by a recently deceased writer. While she walks, the reader enters the narrator's entire world: life with family and neighbors, narrow misses with cars, her singular friendships, dinner conversations, and work. We learn of her adolescent desire for maturity and acceptance, and her struggle with religion and anorexia. Photos are provided by Bettina Kaiser. Jen Craig's first novel is Since the Accident (2009). Panthers and the Museum of Fire was long-listed for the 2016 Stella Prize.

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Book SynopsisIt was a homecoming. Aspiring novelist Elizabeth Farmer thinks all of her dreams are finally becoming a reality when she and her husband move to the quaint, seaside tourist town of Haven. But reality and fiction intertwine as Elizabeth discovers the disturbing secrets of her new home, in a haunting story that moves between past and present, examining the constructs of our most meaningful relationships, the concept of the American dream, and the murky depths of the human psyche.

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Book SynopsisIn her first novel since the Pulitzer Prize–nominated The Quick and the Dead, the legendary writer takes us into an uncertain landscape after an environmental apocalypse, a world in which only the man-made has value, but some still wish to salvage the authentic. She practices ... camouflage, except that instead of adapting to its environment, Williams’s imagination, by remaining true to itself, reveals new colorations in the ecology around her.” —A.O. Scott, The New York Times Book ReviewKhristen is a teenager who, her mother believes, was marked by greatness as a baby when she died for a moment and then came back to life. After Khristen’s failing boarding school for gifted teens closes its doors, and she finds that her mother has disappeared, she ranges across the dead landscape and washes up at a “resort” on the shores of a mysterious, putrid lake the elderly residents there call “Big Girl.” In a rotting honeycomb of rooms, these old ones plot actions to punish corporations and people they consider culpable in the destruction of the final scraps of nature’s beauty. What will Khristen and Jeffrey, the precocious ten-year-old boy she meets there, learn from this “gabby seditious lot, in the worst of health but with kamikaze hearts, an army of the aged and ill, determined to refresh, through crackpot violence, a plundered earth”? Rivetingly strange and beautiful, and delivered with Williams’s searing, deadpan wit, Harrow is their intertwined tale of paradise lost and of their reasons—against all reasonableness—to try and recover something of it.

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