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The Teacher of Auschwitz

Wendy Holden

From the bestselling author of Born Survivors, a novel inspired by the powerful true story of a man who risked everything to protect children in Auschwitz.

Fredy built a wall against suffering in their hearts . . .

Amid the brutality of the Holocaust, one bright spot shone inside the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz. In the shadows of the smokestacks was a wooden hut where children sang, staged plays, wrote poetry, and learned about the world. Within those four walls, brightly adorned with hand-painted cartoons, the youngest prisoners were kept vermin-free, received better food, and were even taught to imagine having full stomachs and a day without fear. Their guiding light was a twenty-seven-year-old gay, Jewish athlete: Fredy Hirsch.

Being a teacher in a brutal concentration camp was no mean feat. Forced to beg senior SS officers for better provisions, Fredy risked his life every day to protect his beloved children from mortal danger.

But time was running out for Fredy and the hundreds in his care. Could this kind, compassionate, and brave man find a way to teach them the one lesson they really needed to know: how to survive?

The Teacher of Auschwitz shines a light on a truly remarkable individual and tells the inspiring story of how he fought to protect innocence and hope amid depravity and despair.

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My Beautiful Sisters

Khalida Popal

Argo meets The Bookseller of Kabul in this incredible memoir from the Afghan women’s soccer pioneer turned activist and feminist icon who has helped save more than 350 female soccer players from the dangerous rule of the Taliban.

“Riveting, heart-wrenching and incredibly important . . . an inspirational story for girls and women everywhere.” —MALALA YOUSAFZAI, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

A story of survival, sisterhood and the fight for feminism in the age of the Taliban.

In August 2021, Kabul fell under the control of the Taliban, a militant political and fundamentalist religious faction. For Khalida Popal, it signaled the beginning of the most important battle of an already extraordinary young life—to get female soccer players out of a city where they faced imminent threat of execution simply for playing sports.

Khalida first began playing soccer in a refugee camp in Pakistan after her parents fled Taliban rule. Returning to Afghanistan, she fell deeper in love with the freedom and comradeship soccer provides. As co-founder and first captain of the Afghan women’s soccer team, Khalida began using sports to empower young women, and was subjected to intensifying death threats in return.

Hounded out of her own country, she continued to support the Afghan women’s team, founding the organization Girl Power and exposing widespread sexual abuse of players. From her new home in Denmark, she watched Kabul fall and immediately knew the risk to the players still there. Assembling a small but mighty network of international allies, she began evacuating women whose lives were at risk simply for loving the sport she had done so much to promote. Her teammates. Her sisters.

My Beautiful Sisters is a gripping, important memoir, and a compulsively readable one—a harrowing yet ultimately heartening story of survival and sisterhood.

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The Surf House

Lucy Clarke

An Apple Best Book of the Month

Welcome to The Surf House

Where everyone's escaping something . . .

Praised as "the queen of the destination thriller" (Claire Douglas), million-copy and internationally bestselling author Lucy Clarke writes intoxicating, unsettling novels of suspense, deception, and the pleasure and danger of travel. Her daring new novel, The Surf House, is a sun-soaked thriller set in an expat community of surfers in Morocco where deadly secrets threaten to breach the surface.

High on the cliffs of Morocco, far from the city lights and the souks, stands The Surf House: a sanctuary for travelers chasing sunshine and waves. But the idyll hides a dark mystery. And when Bea washes in, seeking refuge after a dangerous encounter in Marrakesh, she soon gets caught in the current. A woman her age--who stayed in the same area, walked the same beaches, met the same guests--disappeared one year earlier, vanishing without trace. Somewhere inside The Surf House lies the truth--but there'll be a price for uncovering it.

In this darkly seductive and compulsive tale, The Surf House's warm and comforting refuge increasingly takes on the paranoid aspect of a house of mirrors. As Lucy Clarke's authoritative voice guides us through its shifting sands, The Surf House reaffirms her as a novelist at the height of her powers and announces her excellence to new readers who have not yet embarked on one of her searing thrillers.

 

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Taste of Home Ultimate Outdoor Cookbook

Taste of Home

Take your outdoor cooking to the next level with the Taste of Home Ultimate Outdoor Cookbook. Packed with 394 incredible recipes, this must-have guide is your ultimate companion for all things summer. From smoky grilled entrees to fresh picnic appetizers and crowd-pleasing desserts, every page inspires a new way to enjoy al fresco dining with friends and family. 

 

  • 394 mouthwatering recipes for grilling, picnics, and backyard barbecues.
  • Includes quick-prep meals with 3-minute and 5-ingredient icons for busy schedules.
  • Enjoy expert tasting notes and cooking timelines with every recipe.
  • Features sections for campfire cooking, party ideas, and summer desserts.
  • Includes a handy grilling guide with essential tips and cook times.



Effortless Cooking Made Simple

Whether you’re hosting a backyard BBQ or planning a camping adventure, our collection has you covered. Special 3-minute and 5-ingredient icons highlight quick-prep meals perfect for busy days. Each recipe comes with expert tasting notes and prep timelines to streamline your efforts and maximize your time.

The Ultimate Grilling Guide

Never worry about overcooking again. A clip-and-keep grilling guide provides essential tips, from meat doneness to cook times, ensuring juicy and flavorful results every time.

Celebrate Every Occasion

Explore chapters that inspire themed celebrations, including Fourth of July fireworks parties, Juneteenth festivities, and tailgate treats. You’ll also find sections dedicated to campfire cooking, frosty treats, and refreshing summer drinks.

Designed for You

This 320-page hardcover is beautifully organized, featuring vibrant photos and easy-to-follow instructions. And detailed nutrition information included with each recipe makes it simple to keep your family’s health in mind while enjoying each dish.

Celebrate the flavors of summer with the Taste of Home Ultimate Outdoor Cookbook and create unforgettable memories around every meal. From sizzling steaks to frosty desserts, this book has everything you need for your next outdoor feast.

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Hollywood High

Bruce Handy

From a longtime Vanity Fair writer and editor, a delightfully entertaining, intelligent, and illuminating history and tribute to teen movies—from Rebel Without a Cause to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and on to John Hughes, Mean Girls, The Hunger Games, and more.

What influence did Francis Ford Coppola have on George Lucas’s American Graffiti? And Lucas on John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood? How does teenage sexuality in Fast Times at Ridgemont High compare to Twilight? Which teen movies pass the Bechdel test? Why is Mean Girls actually the last great teen film of the 20th century?

In the same way that Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls connects the films of the 1970s to the period’s cultural upheaval, and David Hadju’s Positively 4th Street tells the story of the sixties through the emergence of folk music, Bruce Handy’s Hollywood High situates iconic teen movies within their times and reveals the intriguing stories, artists, and passions behind their creation. These films aren’t merely beloved stories; they reflect teens’ growing economic and cultural influence, societal panics, and shifting perceptions of youth in America.

Much more than a nostalgia trip, Hollywood High is a lively, provocative, and affectionate cultural history, spanning nearly one hundred years. Handy, an acclaimed journalist and critic who spent two decades at Vanity Fair, examines the defining films of each generation and builds connections between them. From the Andy Hardy classics (1937–1946) to the iconic Rebel Without a Cause (1955); Beach Party series (1963–1968); American Graffiti (1973); Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982); the John Hughes touchstones Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1984–1986); Boyz N the Hood (1991); Mean Girls (2004); the Twilight saga (2008–2012); and The Hunger Games series (2012–2015); this is a captivating deep dive into the world of teen movies that captures their sweeping history and influence. We’ll hear from icons James Dean, Annette Funicello, George Lucas, Amy Heckerling, John Hughes, Molly Ringwald, John Singleton, Tina Fey, and Kristen Stewart, and discover why the most timeless teen movies resonate across generations.

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Days of Light

Megan Hunter

"A sweeping, sensual historical novel about one woman's unconventional life lived in search of an answer by the award-winning author of The End We Start From and The Harpy. In 2017, Megan Hunter burst onto the literary scene with her debut novel, The End We Start From, a startlingly beautiful story of climate change and motherhood that is now a feature film starring Jodie Comer. Her second book, The Harpy, fiercely explored marriage and power through a dark, imaginative tale of revenge. A writer of remarkable range, Hunter now delivers her first historical novel, a gorgeous exploration of art, desire, and faith set against the backdrop of a changing England. Easter Sunday, 1938. Ivy is nineteen and ready for her life to finally begin. Her sprawling, bohemian family and their friends gather in the idyllic English countryside for lunch, arranging themselves around well-worn roles. They trade political views and artistic arguments as they impatiently await the arrival and first sight of Frances, the new beau of Ivy's beloved older brother, Joseph. In this auspicious atmosphere of springtime, Ivy's world feels on the cusp of something grand-but neither she nor those closest to her predicts how a single, enchanted evening will alter the rest of their lives. A radiant, philosophical, and intimate journey through time, Days of Light chronicles six pivotal days across six decades to tell the story of Ivy's pursuit of answers-to the events of this fateful Easter Sunday and to the shifting desires of her own heart. Moving through the Second World War up to the close of the twentieth century, Hunter captures the galvanic love and transformative moments that define a winding, beautiful life"--

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When the Moon Hits Your Eye

John Scalzi

New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi flies you to the moon with his most fantastic tale to date: When the Moon Hits Your Eye

The moon has turned into cheese.

Now humanity has to deal with it.

For some it’s an opportunity. For others it’s a moment to question their faith: In God, in science, in everything. Still others try to keep the world running in the face of absurdity and uncertainty. And then there are the billions looking to the sky and wondering how a thing that was always just there is now... something absolutely impossible.

Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and terminal patients at the end of their lives -- over the length of an entire lunar cycle, each get their moment in the moonlight. To panic, to plan, to wonder and to pray, to laugh and to grieve. All in a kaleidoscopic novel that goes all the places you’d expect, and then to so many places you wouldn’t.

It’s a wild moonage daydream. Ride this rocket.

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Windhall

Ava Barry

A stunning literary thriller in which an investigative journalist in modern Los Angeles attempts to solve the Golden Age murder of a Hollywood starlet.

1940s Hollywood was an era of decadence and director Theodore Langley was its king. Paired with Eleanor Hayes as his lead actress, Theo ruled the Golden Age of Hollywood. That ended when Eleanor’s mangled body was discovered in Theo’s rose garden and he was charged with her murder. The case was thrown out before it went to trial and Theo fled L.A., leaving his crawling estate, Windhall, to fall into ruin. He hasn’t been seen since.

Decades later, investigative journalist Max Hailey, raised by his gran on stories of old Hollywood, is sure that if he could meet Theo, he could prove once and for all that the famed director killed his leading lady. When a copycat murder takes place near Windhall, the long reclusive Theo returns to L.A., and it seems Hailey finally has his chance.

When Hailey gets his hands on Theo’s long-missing journals, he reads about Eleanor’s stalkers and her role in Theo’s final film, The Last Train to Avalon, a film so controversial it was never released to the public. In the months leading up to her death, something had left her so terrified she stopped coming to work. The more Hailey learns about Avalon, the more convinced he becomes that the film could tell him who killed Eleanor and why she had to die. But the implications of Avalon reach far beyond Eleanor’s murder, and Hailey must race to piece together the murders of the past and present before it’s too late.

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All of Us

A. F. Carter

All of Us is a riveting thriller with six compelling protagonists--who all share one body. Though legally she is Carolyn Grand, in practice she is Martha, a homemaker who cooks and cleans for her "family," Victoria, a put-together people person, Serena, a free spirit, Kirk, a heterosexual man, Eleni, a promiscuous risk-taker, and Tina, a manifestation of what is left of Carolyn after years of childhood sexual abuse.

As they jockey for control of their body, all the personalities also work together to avoid being committed to a psychiatric facility. But Carolyn's tenuous normal is shattered when Hank Grand, the man who abused her and leased her out to pedophiles, is released from prison. Soon he begins stalking her, bringing back painful memories for all of the personalities.

When Hank is murdered in a seedy hotel room, Carolyn is immediately a prime suspect. But the man has other shady dealings, and the burden of proof weighs heavy on the police--especially when, propelled by demons of his own, one of the detectives assigned to the case finds his way into Carolyn's very solitary life.

The police and the reader are left wondering: are any of Carolyn's personalities capable of murder? A deeply suspenseful novel, with a truly unique cast of characters.

*Optioned by Sony for a six-part limited series.*

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Woman Who Spoke to Spirits

Alys Clare

A clever plot, two engaging sleuths, plenty of period ambience, and a satisfying ending make this a fine choice for all mystery collections Booklist

Introducing private investigators Lily Raynor and Felix Wilbraham in the first of the brand-new World's End Bureau Victorian mystery series.

London, 1880. "I'm dreadfully afraid someone is threatening to kill my wife ..." When accounts clerk Ernest Stibbins approaches the World's End investigation bureau with wild claims that his wife Albertina has been warned by her spirit guides that someone is out to harm her, the bureau's owner Lily Raynor and her new employee Felix Wilbraham are initially sceptical. How are the two private enquiry agents supposed to investigate threats from beyond the grave?

But after she attends a séance at the Stibbins family home, Lily comes to realize that Albertina is in terrible danger. And very soon so too is Lily herself ...

 

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Missing Persons

Michael Brandman

MISSING PERSONS is the first book in the new Buddy Steel mystery series by New York Times best selling author, Michael Brandman.

Steel...smart, aggressive, ironic, spare and cynical...has been content working homicide at the LAPD until his father, the legendary Sheriff Burton Steel, falls ill with Lou Gehrig's disease. Sheriff Steel is headquartered in Freedom, a privileged coastal community located a hundred miles north of Los Angeles. His health failing, he asks his son Buddy to come home to cover his back and to groom him to be his successor.

Buddy reluctantly agrees. He returns to Freedom despite having outgrown its small town limits, wary of his father's authoritarianism.

No sooner does he hit town than Buddy learns the wife of the high-flying star of a Freedom based world-renowned television ministry has gone missing. A visit to the woman's home leads to a hostile confrontation with her husband's family and Buddy's realization that something greater than simply a missing person is at stake.

Allegiance between father and son provides the backdrop for Buddy's complex investigation of twisted families, avaricious con artists, violent gangs, drugs, corruption, and murder. And added to the mix is an enigmatic femme fatale who succeeds in upending Buddy's tenets regarding contemporary relationships.

MISSING PERSONS is its own book, yet crime fiction fans will find it a joy to trace its literary lineage from Raymond Chandler and Robert B. Parker through to Sue Grafton and Michael Connelly.

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Crow Mary

Kathleen Grissom

The New York Times bestselling author of the book club classics The Kitchen House and Glory Over Everything returns with a sweeping and “richly detailed story of a woman caught between two cultures” (Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author) inspired by the real life of Crow Mary—an Indigenous woman in 19th-century North America.

In 1872, sixteen-year-old Goes First, a Crow Native woman, marries Abe Farwell, a white fur trader. He gives her the name Mary, and they set off on the long trip to his trading post in Saskatchewan, Canada. Along the way, she finds a fast friend in a Métis named Jeannie; makes a lifelong enemy in a wolfer named Stiller; and despite learning a dark secret of Farwell’s past, falls in love with her husband.

The winter trading season passes peacefully. Then, on the eve of their return to Montana, a group of drunken whiskey traders slaughters forty Nakota—despite Farwell’s efforts to stop them. Mary, hiding from the hail of bullets, sees the murderers, including Stiller, take five Nakota women back to their fort. She begs Farwell to save them, and when he refuses, Mary takes two guns, creeps into the fort, and saves the women from certain death. Thus, she sets off a whirlwind of colliding cultures that brings out the worst and best in the cast of unforgettable characters and pushes the love between Farwell and Crow Mary to the breaking point.

From “a tremendously gifted storyteller” (Jim Fergus, author of The Vengeance of Mothers), Crow Mary is a “tender, compelling, and profoundly educational and satisfying read” (Sadeqa Johnson, author of The Yellow Wife) that sweeps across decades, showcasing the beauty of the natural world, while at the same time probing the intimacies of a marriage and one woman’s heart.

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Dungeon Crawler Carl

Matt Dinniman

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition.

You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what.

Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.


Includes part one of the exclusive bonus story “Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.”

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Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

Heather Fawcett

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.

“A darkly gorgeous fantasy that sparkles with snow and magic.”—Sangu Mandanna, author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones—the most elusive of all faeries—lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all—her own heart.

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The Rose Bargain

Sasha Peyton Smith

*An instant New York Times bestseller!

Vying for the hand of one brother.

Falling in love with the other.

A new Victorian-inspired romantasy, perfect for fans of Bridgerton, The Selection, and The Cruel Prince.

"If you're looking for the next YA sensation, here it is." --Adalyn Grace, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Belladonna

London, 1848--For four hundred years, England has been under the control of an immortal fae queen who tricked her way onto the throne. To maintain an illusion of benevolence, Queen Mor grants each of her subjects one opportunity to bargain for their deepest desire.

As Ivy Benton prepares to make her debut, she knows that not even a deal with the queen could fix what has gone wrong: Her family's social standing is in shambles, her sister is a shadow of her former self, and Ivy's marriage prospects are nonexistent. So when the queen announces a competition for Prince Bram's hand, Ivy is the first to sign her name in blood. What a bargain can't fix, a crown certainly could.

Ivy soon finds herself a surprising front-runner--with the help of an unexpected ally: Prince Bram's brother, the rakish Prince Emmett, who promises to help Ivy win his brother's heart...for a price. But as the season sweeps Ivy away, with glittering balls veiling the queen's increasingly vicious trials, Ivy realizes there's more at stake than just a wedding. Because all faerie bargains come with a cost, and Ivy may have discovered hers too late.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Haven comes a tale that will leave readers eager to bargain for a sequel.

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The Umbrella Maker's Son

Tod Lending

"This powerful, heart-wrenching novel follows a young Polish Jew through his incredible journey to escape the Nazis. Reuven's story typifies that of millions of others experiencing the horrors and deprivations suffered by Jews in WWII and those who tried to help them. And yet, it is also an ultimately uplifting and inspiring tale of one man's coming of age in horrific times."--Heather Morris, #1 bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz

For fans of Heather Morris and Lisa Barr, a powerful and unforgettable novel of survival against all odds and the remarkable power of love, in which a Jewish teenager in World War II Poland fights to save his life and find the young woman who holds his heart.

Born to a secure, middle-class Polish Jewish family, seventeen-year-old Reuven works alongside his father, an artisan businessman whose shop creates the finest handmade umbrellas in Poland. But the family's peaceful life shatters when the Nazis invade their homeland, igniting World War II. With terrifying brutality, the Nazis confiscate their business, evict them from their home, and strip away their rights, threatening the lives of the city's Jewish population, including Reuven and Zelda, the girl he loves.

Shortly after the Nazi occupation, Zelda and her family disappear, and Reuven and his father are forced into backbreaking physical labor that nearly kills them. For the young man and his family, the only chance to survive is escape--and some of them will die trying.

Fleeing a Nazi ambush through the surrounding forest, shot and wounded, Reuven is found by a local farmer who has never met a Jew--and agrees to help because he needs the boy to work the farm with him. The farmer's wife, however, is not as kind. Her betrayal forces a desperate Reuven to escape. He embarks on a perilous journey through the Polish countryside, determined to reach the Kraków ghetto where he hopes to reunite with Zelda, whose life has also been forever changed by the horrors of occupation and war.

A love story and a story of family, The Umbrella Maker's Son is a riveting, heartfelt, and beautiful tale of survival and unexpected hope in the face of terror and violence. A chronicle of triumph, it joins the ranks of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and other memorable works of modern Holocaust literature.

 

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There Is No Place for Us

Brian Goldstone

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • Through the “revelatory and gut-wrenching” (Associated Press) stories of five Atlanta families, this landmark work of journalism exposes a new and troubling trend—the dramatic rise of the working homeless in cities across America

“An exceptional feat of reporting, full of an immediacy that calls to mind Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s Random Family and Matthew Desmond’s Evicted.”—The New York Times Book Review

The working homeless. In a country where hard work and determination are supposed to lead to success, there is something scandalous about this phrase. But skyrocketing rents, low wages, and a lack of tenant rights have produced a startling phenomenon: People with full-time jobs cannot keep a roof over their head, especially in America’s booming cities, where rapid growth is leading to catastrophic displacement. These families are being forced into homelessness not by a failing economy but a thriving one.

In this gripping and deeply reported book, Brian Goldstone plunges readers into the lives of five Atlanta families struggling to remain housed in a gentrifying, increasingly unequal city. Maurice and Natalia make a fresh start in the country’s “Black Mecca” after being priced out of DC. Kara dreams of starting her own cleaning business while mopping floors at a public hospital. Britt scores a coveted housing voucher. Michelle is in school to become a social worker. Celeste toils at her warehouse job while undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer. Each of them aspires to provide a decent life for their children—and each of them, one by one, joins the ranks of the nation’s working homeless.

Through intimate, novelistic portraits, Goldstone reveals the human cost of this crisis, following parents and their kids as they go to sleep in cars, or in squalid extended-stay hotel rooms, and head out to their jobs and schools the next morning. These are the nation’s hidden homeless—omitted from official statistics, and proof that overflowing shelters and street encampments are only the most visible manifestation of a far more pervasive problem.

By turns heartbreaking and urgent, There Is No Place for Us illuminates the true magnitude, causes, and consequences of the new American homelessness—and shows that it won’t be solved until housing is treated as a fundamental human right.

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The Story She Left Behind

Patti Callahan Henry

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Indie Next April 2025 Pick • LibraryReads March 2025 Pick

“Brilliant, riveting, so beautifully written, impossible to put down.” —Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Inspired by a true literary mystery, New York Times bestselling author of the mesmerizing The Secret Book of Flora Lea returns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both.

In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just twelve years old. Her departure leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for something far deeper and more insatiable: her beautiful mother.

By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical. Compelled by the tragedy of her mother’s vanishing, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters—the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson’s family retreat nestled in the Lake District. It is there that Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.

Told in Patti Callahan Henry’s lyrical, enchanting prose, The Story She Left Behind is a captivating novel of mystery and family legacy that captures the profound longing for a mother and the evergreen allure of secrets.

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The Hidden Book

Kirsty Manning

From bestselling author Kirsty Manning comes a stunning novel based on a true story of clandestine courage in World War II as prisoners of war risk their lives to secure evidence of Nazi atrocities--and how one man concealed it for decades before passing it on to his family who struggle to understand their inherited legacy of trauma.

Austria, 1940s: Yugoslavian Nico Antonov is just one of more than 200,000 people imprisoned in the Mauthausen concentration camp near the Danube River. Malnourished and forced into hard labor in a quarry, he still defies his captors any way he can. When fate brings him into contact with Lena Lang, a young woman living with her family in fear of their Nazi occupiers, he finds an ally.

SS officers have charged Spanish POW and photographer Mateo Baca with recording the events and prisoners of Mauthausen and to make five copies of the collected photo book for the Third Reich's leaders. But Mateo also creates a sixth book to be smuggled out of the camp--where Nico entrusts Lena to hide it and protect their secret.

Australia, 1980s to present day: When teenager Hannah Campbell discovers her grandfather Nico's mysterious photo album, filled with horrific visions of suffering and cruelty, the barbarities of World War II no longer feel like ancient history. Haunted by the images for years, as a university student and a married young mother, she pursues the truth behind her grandfather's incarceration. As Hannah experiences love and loss in her own life, she comes to understand how the photos not only capture history but reflect a shared humanity that must never be forgotten.

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The Last Session

Julia Bartz

From the instant New York Times bestselling author of The Writing Retreat, a white-knuckled locked-room thriller about a social worker who, after coming face-to-face with her dark past, must infiltrate a mysterious wellness center in the deserts of New Mexico.

When a catatonic woman shows up at the psychiatric unit, social worker Thea swears she knows her from somewhere. She’s shocked to discover the patient holds a link to a traumatic time in her past. Upon regaining lucidity, the patient claims she can’t remember the horrific recent events that caused her brain to shut down. Thea’s at a loss—especially when the patient is ripped away from her as suddenly as she appeared.

Determined to find her, Thea follows a trail of clues to a remote center in Southwestern New Mexico, where a charismatic couple holds a controversial monthly retreat to uncover attendees’ romantic and sexual issues. Forced to participate in increasingly intimate exercises, Thea finds herself inching closer not only to her missing patient, but also to tantalizing answers about her harrowing past. However, time is running out, and if she stays for the last session, she too might lose her mind…or worse.

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The Herbal Dog

Rita Hogan

A hands-on guide to holistic canine herbalism

“Even if skeptical readers don’t come away completely convinced, they’ll be enormously educated—Hogan imparts a huge amount of biological information about dogs, and does it all with an easy readability that will make quite a bit of it stick. An informative and sometimes eye-opening examination of natural remedies for helping your dog.”—Kirkus Reviews

• Teaches the tenets of holistic herbalism for the individual dog

• Presents safe, clinically proven, and effective protocols for common canine conditions, from acid reflux to allergies to itching, scratching, and yeast

• Lays out a comprehensive materia medica of canine-specific herbs, including what conditions they are good for, their energetics, internal and external use, safe dosages, and contraindications

In this comprehensive guide to holistic care for dogs, clinical canine herbalist Rita Hogan explains that by looking at dogs as individual ecosystems with unique personalities, physiology, and needs, we can select effective and personalized herbal remedies to support their constitutions and provide relief from many different ailments.

Hogan, who has spent more than two decades working with canines, uses energetic principles (cool, warm, dry, damp) to reveal how herbs are not "one size fits all" and how to find the root cause of chronic imbalances. She discusses in depth how a dog’s main organ systems work, how they are connected to each other, and why we need to understand them when choosing specific herbs and foods.

Presenting safe, clinically proven, and effective protocols for common canine conditions—from acid reflux to allergies to itching, scratching, and yeast—Hogan presents a wide variety of holistic and herbal remedies: from herbal tinctures, glycerities, and phytoembryonics to flower essences, essential oils, medicinal mushrooms, and homeopathy. Her comprehensive materia medica of canine-specific herbs that she uses in her practice details what herbs are good for which conditions and why, what types of energetics are involved, safe dosage recommendations for each herbal remedy, and when to discontinue an herb.

Allowing each of us to take a hands-on approach to our canine companions’ health and longevity, this herbal guide outlines how to help them live their best lives by our sides.

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33 Place Brugmann

Alice Austen

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Alice Austen uses her considerable gifts to remind us that the past and the present are more connected than we wish to believe, and that vigilance, loyalty and art hold the key to survival. This is a beautiful and deeply engaging novel." -- Ann Patchett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake

An outstanding debut novel--a love story, mystery, and philosophical puzzle, told in the singular voices of the residents of a Beaux Arts apartment house in Belgium during World War II.

On the eve of the Nazi occupation, in the heart of Brussels, life for the residents of 33 Place Brugmann is about to change forever.

Charlotte Sauvin, an art student raised by her beloved architect father in apartment 4L, knows all the details of the building and its people: how light falls on wood floors and voices echo off the marble staircase, the distinct knock of her dear friend, Julian Raphaël, the son of the art dealer's family across the hall. Then the Raphaëls disappear, leaving everything behind but their priceless art collection, which has simply vanished.

All else that's familiar fractures when whispers of German occupation become reality, and the lives of the residents grow increasingly intertwined. Charlotte's godmother Masha, a beautiful seamstress living upstairs, deepens her risky affair with a wartime compatriot of Colonel Warlemont in 3L--a man far more calculating than his neighbors believe. When a Nazi functionary with an interest in the Raphaëls moves into the building, knowing who can and cannot be trusted becomes a matter of life and death.

In the face of their perilous new reality, every member of this accidental community will discover they are not the person they believed themself to be. When confronted with a cruel choice--submit to the regime or risk their lives to save one another--each learns the truth about what, and who, matters to them the most.

A propulsive and exquisitely written tour de force, 33 Place Brugmann champions the restorative power of love, courage, and art in times of great threat.

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One Pot One Portion

Eleanor Wilkinson

100 simple, comforting, and special one-pot recipes that yield the perfect single serving for people who cook, eat, or live alone and want to eat well.

Cooking for one just got easier and more delicious--no more eating leftovers or washing multiple pots and pans. Here you’ll find 100 easy recipes for everything you’re craving, even dessert. And to solve the solo cook’s dilemma of what do with the rest of that butternut squash or a half-can of coconut milk, each recipe references another that uses one or more of the same ingredients. If you’ve used an egg white to make the Crispy Chili Beef, you can use the leftover egg yolk to make a cozy Lemon Bread and Butter Pudding for a sweet treat. The chapters include: 

  • COMFORT recipes for ultimate warmth: Risotto Carbonara, Pumpkin Curry, and Meatball and Mozzarella Orzo.
  • FRESH recipes packed with color and vibrancy: Ginger Chicken Rice Bowl, Peanut Noodle Salad, and Pork and Ginger Lettuce Wraps.
  • SIMPLE recipes for satisfaction without stress: Tortellini and Sausage Soup, Brothy Pasta with Beans and Greens, and Chorizo, Potato and Feta Frittata.
  • SPECIAL recipes for next-level joy: Lobster Spaghetti with Lemon and Tomatoes, Salami and Hot Honey Pizza, and Tuna Tostadas with Avocado, Jalapeños, and Pickled Ginger.
  • SWEET recipes to add extra sweetness to your day: Cardamon and Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango, Apple Tarte Tatin, and Self-Saucing Chocolate Mug Cake.


One Pot, One Portion also includes an index of all the ingredients and the recipes that use them to help make grocery shopping easier, plan your meals ahead of time, and minimize waste. Cooking for one has never felt easier, more practical, or more satisfying.

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The Library of Lost Dollhouses

Elise Hooper

"This beautiful page-turner kept me reading all night." --Janet Skeslien Charles, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library

"This one's an absolute gem." --Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Queen

When a young librarian discovers historic dollhouses in a hidden room, she embarks on an unexpected journey that reveals surprising secrets about the lost miniatures.

Tildy Barrows, Head Curator of a beautiful archival library in San Francisco, is meticulously dedicated to the century's worth of inventory housed in her beloved Beaux Art building. She loves the calm and order in the shelves of books and walls of art. But Tildy's life takes an unexpected turn when she, first, learns the library is on the verge of bankruptcy and, second, discovers two exquisite never-before-seen dollhouses.

After finding clues hidden within these remarkable miniatures, Tildy sets out to decipher the secret history of the dollhouses, aiming to salvage her cherished library in the process. Her journey introduces her to a world of ambitious and gifted women in Belle Époque Paris, a group of scarred World War I veterans in the English countryside, and Walt Disney's bustling Burbank studio in the 1950s. As Tildy unravels the mystery, she finds not only inspiring, hidden history, but also a future for herself--and an astonishing familial revelation.

Spanning the course of a century, The Library of Lost Dollhouses is a warm, bright, and captivating story of secrets and love that embraces the importance of illuminating overlooked women.

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The 5-Minute Gardener

Nicole Johnsey Burke

Nurture a year-round gardening habit with just 5 minutes a day, from the author of Kitchen Garden Revival and Leaves, Roots & Fruit.

Do you find joy in seeing a plant grow from seed to flower? Has your main setback for maintaining a successful garden been finding enough time to tend it?

Whether you have a windowsill garden or a backyard full of flora, finding time to garden can seem impossible. But with just 5 minutes a day, you can be sure your plants have all they need to go from seed to delicious harvest. Nicole Johnsey Burke, author of Kitchen Garden Revival and Leaves, Roots & Fruit and founder of Gardenary, Inc., guides you through the different planting seasons and shares:

  • Quick, actionable tasks: minimal methods to keep your garden thriving
  • Seasonal gardening plans: detailed schedules broken down into days, weeks, and months
  • Habit-building techniques: proven ways to integrate gardening into your daily routine
  • Garden-to-table benefits: easy, delicious dishes you can quickly pull together with your fresh-picked produce


Nicole equips you with the knowledge you need to transform 5 minutes a day into a year-round gardening habit. Experience the joy and mindfulness that comes from being more connected to nature and the food you eat.

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Firstborn

Lauren Christensen

“An achingly beautiful testament to fierce loss, fierce love and fierce resilience.” —People Magazine

“You will find yourself rationing out pages to spend more time in the glow of Christensen’s luminous prose and inextinguishable love. A triumph.” —Oprah Daily (best new books to read this spring)

A lapidary memoir of losing a child before she can be born, which the author began writing the day she came home from the hospital—an intimate story about our most searing losses and brightest hopes

“Some days I still think this is all just a sad story I’ll tell Simone one day.”

Lauren Christensen is a thirtysomething editor in New York City when she meets her future husband, Gabe, a writer with whom she falls in love right away. Her beloved grandfather is dying, but the young couple is bringing new life into the family: Lauren and Gabe joyfully discover she is pregnant with their daughter, Simone.

As Lauren faces the prospect of becoming a parent, she learns to let go of the fear of abandonment and need for control instilled in her by growing up with a largely absent father and a high-powered mother who was often away on business. Lauren and Gabe are incandescently happy in their exuberant, messy, beautiful shared world. But just weeks after their wedding, they learn that their worst nightmare has come true: Simone is dying in the womb.

In fierce, tender, spellbinding prose, Firstborn brings us to the very heart of the human paradox: How do we live when everyone who makes up our world will someday be gone? And how can we mourn when the cosmic order has been turned upside down—when a child dies before she is born?

As she comes up against the brutal limits of maternal healthcare and the limitlessness of her love for her daughter, Lauren Christensen finds a key, generous and brave, in which to share her loss, a testimony whose diamond-like brilliance refracts a universal light.

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The Mailman

Andrew Welsh-Huggins

Mercury Carter is a deliveryman and he takes his job very seriously. When a parcel is under his care, he will stop at nothing to deliver it directly to its intended recipient. Not even, as in the current case, when he finds a crew of violent men at the indicated address that threaten his life and take the woman who lives there hostage. That's because Carter has special skills from his former life as a federal agent with the postal inspection service, skills that make him particularly useful for delivering items in circumstances as dangerous as these.

After Carter dispatches the goons sent to kill him, he enters a home besieged by criminals--but the leader of the gang escapes with attorney Rachel Stanfield before the mailman can complete his assignment. With Rachel's husband Glenn in tow, Carter takes off in pursuit of the kidnapper and his quarry, hunting them across Indiana, up to Chicago, and into small-town Illinois. Along the way, he slowly picks off members of the crew and uncovers a far-reaching conspiracy and a powerful crime syndicate, all in service of his main objective: to hand the package over to Rachel. Carter has never missed a delivery and isn't about to start now.

Introducing a new lone-wolf protagonist to rival Lee Child's Jack Reacher, Steve Hamilton's Nick Mason, and Gregg Hurwitz's Evan Smoak, The Mailman is a pulse-pounding series opener with captivating action and enough thrills to leave readers anxiously awaiting the next installment.

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The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds

Jennifer Moorman

Now a USA TODAY bestseller!

"The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds drips with lush Jazz Age detail, a vivid cast of characters, and a protagonist whose future literally depends on her ability to navigate the past." --Barbara Davis, bestselling author of The Echo of Old Books

A captivating tale of family bonds and unexpected chances, threaded with the thrilling magic of time travel, by the author of The Baker's Man and The Magic All Around.

Can one thoughtless wish erase a life?

Widowed at thirty-five, Josephine Reynolds wishes she could disappear, but her concerned sister convinces her to buy their ancestral home, a Craftsman bungalow in disrepair and foreclosure. It's a welcome distraction, and Josephine can't believe her luck when she finds the home's original door in a salvage yard.

When she installs the door and steps through it, Josephine is transported into 1927, where she meets her great-grandmother Alma, a vivacious and daring woman running an illegal speakeasy in the bungalow's basement. Immersed in the vibrant Jazz Age, Josephine forms a profound bond with Alma, only to discover upon her return to the present that history has been altered. Alma's life was tragically cut short in a speakeasy raid just a week after their fateful meeting.

Josephine has a chilling revelation--her own existence is unraveling/vanishing--and she must race against time to rewrite history. Josephine is desperate to not only save Alma but save her own future in a time-bending journey where past and present intertwine in a desperate battle for survival.

Infused with Jennifer Moorman's signature blend of magical detail and heartfelt storytelling, The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds is a tale of resilience in the face of loss and a testament to the timeless bond of family.

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With This Ring

Amy Clipston

Say "I do" to this sweet romance from bestselling author Amy Clipston, who "writes with warmth and heart" (RaeAnne Thayne). Dakota Jamison spends her days making brides' dreams come true. But when will the time finally come for her own storybook ending?

Dakota thought she had left her dreams of happily-ever-after behind, along with the pain of a broken engagement to her high school sweetheart, Hudson. Now, as the proud owner of Fairytale Bridal Shop in the picturesque town of Flowering Grove, she's built a life and a business on helping brides find their perfect dress for their own fairytale weddings. But running a small business is not for the faint of heart, and when her ex-fiancé unexpectedly returns to town with a mission--to put a stop to his sister's wedding--Dakota's problems go from bad to worse.

Hudson Garrity should be living his dream. After selling his software company, he's single, handsome, and rich, but an unexpected call from his baby sister has him flying down to his hometown, determined to protect Layla from yet another big mistake. Though he's single-minded in his effort to derail the nuptials, he instead finds himself thrown into family chaos and roped into helping his sister with her plans . . . bringing him once more into contact with Dakota Jamison, the one who got away.

For Hudson, coming home means revisiting his painful childhood, repairing a strained relationship with his sister, and coming face-to-face with the woman he never stopped loving. For Dakota, it means confronting the tender memories she buried deep within her heart. As Layla's wedding date draws close, the two reunited lovers begin to question if what went wrong between them really happened the way they remembered it at all. Will they continue believing the lies they've told themselves, or will they remain forever entangled in the threads of what could have been?

With This Ring by bestselling novelist Amy Clipston is a heartwarming story that weaves together rekindled romance, rediscovery, and the transformative power of forgiveness. You're going to love this standalone novel, which features a second-chance romance storyline, a billionaire hero, and a charming small-town setting--think The Wedding Planner meets a tale of reunited lovers. What sets this one apart is its sweet, clean romance; it delivers all the emotions and butterflies, leaving out the explicit scenes. And it comes with engaging discussion questions, making it a fantastic choice for your next book club pick!

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Nothing Ever Happens Here

Seraphina Nova Glass

"A charming cast of characters, a twisty mystery, and a diabolical killer make Nothing Ever Happens Here impossible to put down. A riveting page-turner with a sly sense of humor." --Robyn Harding, internationally bestselling author of The Haters

From the Edgar-award nominated author of ON A QUIET STREET and THE VACANCY IN ROOM 10, Seraphina Nova Glass is back with NOTHING EVER HAPPENS HERE...

Nothing ever happens in small towns...

When Shelby Dawson survives a harrowing attack that should have left her dead, she tries to move past it--for herself, and for her family. Fifteen months later, with the help of her best friend, Mackenzie, she finally feels safe again in the snowy Minnesota town she calls home. But when an anonymous note appears on her windshield bearing the same threats her attacker made, Shelby realizes that her nightmare has only just begun.

As new evidence surfaces, and a group of well-meaning senior citizens accidentally makes the case go viral online, the situation quickly goes from bad to worse. And with suspicious accidents targeting those closest to her happening all over town, Shelby can't shake the feeling that she's being watched. Fighting to stay one step ahead of disaster, she finds herself asking the question on everyone's lips: Who attacked her that night?

But Shelby isn't the only one with questions. Mackenzie's husband, Leo, vanished without a trace on that terrible night, and over a year later, no one knows why. Until a deep dive into his finances reveals a history of debts, mismanaged funds, and hidden accounts--one of which is still active. Their suspicion that Leo is still alive only complicates things further, though, and when another person connected to Shelby goes missing, she's caught in a race against time before her attacker becomes a killer.

Other thrillers from Seraphina to keep you up all night:

  • The Vacancy in Room 10
  • The Vanishing Hour
  • On a Quiet Street
  • Such a Good Wife
  • Someone's Listening
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A Brief Atlas of the Lighthouses at the End of the World

José Luis González Macías

A unique illustrated exploration of our favorite oceanic beacons and their haunted histories.

There is something beautiful and wild in the impossible architecture of lighthouses. These precariously perched structures have been the homes and workplaces of keepers whose romantic guardianship has saved countless lives from cruel seas. While that way of life may have faded away, as the lights go out and the buildings crumble, we still have their stories.

This collection of more than thirty tales spans the heights and depths of human experience: the blind lighthouse keeper tending a light in the Arctic Circle, the intrepid young woman saving ships from wreck beginning at just age twelve, the desperate plight of a crew cut off for forty days with meager supplies, the lighthouse haunted by the clacking sound of a long-passed keeper''s ghostly typewriter.

Interweaving literary inspiration and elements from Jules Verne, Virginia Woolf, and Edgar Allan Poe and accompanied by beautiful illustrations, nautical charts, maps, architectural plans, and curious facts, these illuminating stories will transport the reader in a book as full of wonder as the far-flung lighthouses themselves.

QUIRKY STORIES AND A LITERARY APPROACH: Fascinating stories and anecdotes about each lighthouse include such features as notable inhabitants (Virginia Woolf), tantalizing on-site discoveries (Edgar Allen Poe''s unfinished writings), and weird twists, such as a never-before-seen species made extinct by a lighthouse keeper''s cat (Tibbles).

UNIQUELY ILLUSTRATED: The gorgeous pointillistic full-page illustrations, equally beautiful location maps, and detailed building diagrams make this a distinctive celebration of these fascinating structures and their places in the world.

AN ARMCHAIR TOUR OF LIGHTHOUSES AROUND THE WORLD: The thirty+ stunning lighthouses featured include:

  • Adziogol Lighthouse: Rybalche, Kherson Oblast (Ukraine)
  • Amédée Lighthouse: Amédée, Nouméa, New Caledonia (France)
  • Bell Rock Lighthouse: Inchcape Rock, Arbroath, Scotland (UK)
  • Buda Lighthouse: Buda Island, San Jaime de Enveija, Tarragona (Spain)
  • Eddystone Lighthouse: Eddystone Rocks, Rame Head, Plymouth (UK)
  • Evangelistas Lighthouse: Evangelistas Islets, Natales, Última Esperanza (Chile)
  • Great Isaac Cay Lighthouse: Great Isaac Cay, Bimini Islands (Bahamas)
  • Grip Lighthouse: Grip, Kristiansund, Nordmøre, Møre og Romsdal (Norway)
  • Guardafui Lighthouse: Cape Guardafui, Bari, Puntland (Somalia)
  • Klein Curaçao Lighthouse: Klein Curaçao, Curaçao (Netherlands)
  • Lime Rock Lighthouse: Lime Rock, Newport, Rhode Island (USA)
  • Maatsuyker Lighthouse: Maatsuyker Island, Tasmania (Australia)
  • Robben Island Lighthouse: Robben Island, Cape Town (South Africa)
  • Rocher aux Oiseaux Lighthouse: Rocher aux Oiseaux (Bird Rock), Madeleine Islands, Quebec (Canada)
  • Rubjerg Knude Lighthouse: Rubjerg, Hjørring, Jutland (Denmark)
  • San Juan de Salvamento Lighthouse: Isla de los Estados, Patagonia (Argentina)
  • Smalls Lighthouse: Smalls Rocks, Marloes, Pembrokeshire, Wales (UK)
  • Stephens Island Lighthouse: Takapourewa or Stephens Island, Marlborough (New Zealand)
  • Svyatonossky Lighthouse: Svyatoy Nos, Múrmansk Oblast (Russia)
  • Wenwei Zhou Lighthouse: Wenwei Zhou or Gap Rock, Wanshan Archipelago, Hong Kong (China)


Perfect for:

  • Readers of quirky history
  • Fans of nautical tales
  • Coastal residents and visitors
  • Armchair travelers
  • Anyone who has ever dreamed of life as a lighthouse keeper
  • Gift giving for Father''s Day, Mother''s Day, birthday, graduation, or housewarming
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More Or Less Maddy

Lisa Genova

A breathless, riveting novel about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who rejects the stability and approval found in a traditionally “normal” life for a career in stand-up comedy.

Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out freshman at NYU. Between schoolwork, exams, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it’s normal to be feeling overwhelmed. It doesn’t help that she’s always felt like the odd one out in her picture-perfect Connecticut family. But Maddy’s latest low is devastatingly low, and she goes on an antidepressant. She begins to feel good, dazzling in fact, and she soon spirals high into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

As she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects bipolar has on her identity, her relationships, and her life dreams, Maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough.

With her signature “deep empathy and insight” (Booklist), Harvard-trained neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova has crafted another profoundly moving novel that makes complicated mental health issues accessible and human. More or Less Maddy is destined to become another classic like Still Alice.

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The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book

Lee Svitak Dean

A fresh batch of deliciously distinctive recipes from the Star Tribune's beloved annual cookie contest--with even more recipes, enticing photographs, and bakers' stories

Cold winters call for warm kitchens and cookie baking, especially around the holidays. The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book, a compendium of Minnesota's rich baking traditions and innovative recipes, stirs up winning treats from twenty years of the Star Tribune's popular holiday cookie contest.

Significantly expanding and updating its 2018 predecessor, The Great Minnesota Cookie Book, this collection features thirty-five new recipes, including Grasshoppers and Dark Chocolate Fig Rolls, Tiramisu Twists and Cardamom Cherry Buttons, Diablo Snowballs, Spumoni Squares, and Maple-Roasted Walnut Delights. This sweet-tooth treasure trove of cookie recipes will inspire bakers to discover how many ways flour, sugar, butter, and eggs (plus several unexpected ingredients) can be combined to create new favorites for the holidays--or any time of year.

The best of the best, these contest-winning cookies are accompanied by beautiful photographs and baking tips, insights, and essays. Indulge in these delightful, mouth-watering recipes while Minnesota's best bakers share stories of cherished holiday traditions, recall memorable cookie moments, and celebrate how baking brings us together.

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The Resurrectionist

A. Rae Dunlap

In the tradition of The Alienist and Anatomy: A Love Story, a decadently macabre, dark and twisty gothic debut set in 19th century Scotland – when real-life serial killers Burke and Hare terrorized the streets of Edinburgh – as a young medical student is lured into the illicit underworld of body snatching.

Historical fiction, true crime, and dark academia intertwine in a harrowing tale of murder, greed, and the grisly origins of modern medicine for readers of Lydia Kang, ML Rio, Sarah Perry, and C.E. McGill.

"With wit as sharp as a scalpel, and a plot as dark and twisted as the Edinburgh alleys in which it is set, The Resurrectionist is a thrilling debut that will have readers turning pages deep into the night." —Hester Fox, author of The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

Library Reads Selection for December 2024 | Aardvark Book Club Pick for December 2024 | Paste Magazine Most Anticipated Historical Fiction Books of Fall 2024 | Buzz Book Selection for Spring/Summer 2025 | BookBub Best New Horror for January 2025 | The Strand January Mystery Pick of the Month | Criminal Element Most Anticipated Reads: December 2024 | The Escapist Best New Horror Books Coming in December 2024 | A/V Club Books You Should Read in December 2024 | BookRiot Most-Anticipated New Queer Books Out in December 2024

Edinburgh, Scotland, 1828. Naïve but determined James Willoughby has abandoned his posh, sheltered life at Oxford to pursue a lifelong dream of studying surgery in Edinburgh. A shining beacon of medical discovery in the age of New Enlightenment, the city’s university offers everything James desires—except the chance to work on a human cadaver. For that, he needs to join one of the private schools in Surgeon’s Square, at a cost he cannot afford. In desperation, he strikes a deal with Aneurin “Nye” MacKinnon, a dashing young dissectionist with an artist’s eye for anatomy and a reckless passion for knowledge. Nye promises to help him gain the surgical experience he craves—but it doesn’t take long for James to realize he’s made a devil’s bargain . . .

Nye is a body snatcher. And James has unwittingly become his accomplice. Intoxicated by Nye and his noble mission, James rapidly descends into the underground ranks of the Resurrectionists—the body snatchers infamous for stealing fresh corpses from churchyards to be used as anatomical specimens. Before he knows it, James is caught up in a life-or-death scheme as rival gangs of snatchers compete in a morbid race for power and prestige.

James and Nye soon find themselves in the crosshairs of a shady pair of unscrupulous opportunists known as Burke and Hare, who are dead set on cornering the market, no matter the cost. These unsavory characters will do anything to beat the competition for bodies. Even if it’s cold-blooded murder . . .

Exquisitely macabre and delightfully entertaining, The Resurrectionist combines fact and fiction in a rollicking tale of the risks and rewards of scientific pursuit, the passions of its boldest pioneers, and the anatomy of human desire.

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Better Than Friends

Jill Shalvis

Old flames reignite in Sunrise Cove in this charming enemies-to-lovers, second-chance, small-town, forced-proximity love story about family, friendships, and true love from New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis.

When Olive Porter's off-the-grid parents go missing, she reluctantly seeks out Noah Turner, her ex and the only person she both trusts implicitly and not at all.

As a special investigative agent for the National Park Service, Noah's used to living under intense pressure. Or he was until he got injured on the job. Now unhappily recuperating at home while being smothered by his loving but nosy family, he'd love nothing more than a good distraction.

So when Olive shows up looking like a million bucks, he has to do a gut and heart check. Because nope, no matter what, he can't fall for her again, the woman who once blew up his entire life and never looked back. How ironic then that his own personal hell (Olive) is also his ticket out of town. The question is, will the risk be worth the reward?

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Taylor Swift by the Book

Rachel Feder

From a Robert Frost poem on her debut album to the myth of Cassandra on The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift’s lyrics are filled with literary connections.

Make sure you're catching them all with this expert guide to the novels, poems, and plays that influence her songwriting.

Let a literature professor and a musical theater artist guide you through the Taylor Swift canon—from Shakespeare to the Brontë sisters to Daphne du Maurier!

  • Learn what "New Romantics" has to do with the old Romantics
  • Get to know the Gothic monsters haunting Midnights
  • Spot Taylor's many Great Gatsby references
  • Discover what Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson have in common
  • And find your new favorite tortured poet!


Packed with fun facts, entertaining analysis, and literary-themed playlists that fans will love, Taylor Swift by the Book will turn anyone from a Taylor Swift lover into a Taylor Swift scholar.

With full-color illustrations highlighting the literary eras of Dr. Swift (yes, she has an honorary PhD), it’s a perfect gift for the Swiftie in your life.

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The Three Lives of Cate Kay

Kate Fagan

REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK!
“This story swept me away with its big dreams, love, and unexpected twists.” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club January ’25 Pick)

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past. 

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.

As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.

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The Inheritance

Trisha Sakhlecha

“Insanely readable with a brilliant setting and characters that jump off the page. I absolutely loved The Inheritance!” —Lisa Jewell

Most family reunions end in tears. This one will end in murder.

Meet the Agarwals, who have gathered on a private, luxury island off the west coast of Scotland for a much-anticipated family reunion.

Raj, the patriarch and a business tycoon, is about to announce to his wife and three children the succession plan for his multimillon-dollar Delhi-based company. Shalini, the fragile matriarch, is ready to have her husband to herself after years of sacrifice to the family business. Myra, the golden child, owner of the island and host of the reunion, is, unbeknownst to her family, on the brink of bankruptcy. Aseem, the son and supposed heir, is torn between his love for his wife and his duty to family. Aisha, the youngest, a party girl whose antics are legendary, can’t pass up an opportunity to wreak havoc. And then there’s Zoe, Aseem’s wife, the outsider whose #InstaPerfect life is built on a foundation of lies.

They’ve all got secrets they would die to protect. Who will survive this high-stakes reunion, and who will become a victim of their own greed? One thing is certain: this family gathering will shatter more than just their illusions of unity.

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Dinner for Vampires

Bethany Joy Lenz

*NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
*A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF 2024*
*NAMED ONE OF PEOPLE’S BEST CELEBRITY MEMOIRS OF 2024*

A deliciously witty and inspiring memoir by One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lenz about her decade in a cult and her quest to break free. 

In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and determination to breakthrough as an actor, Bethany Joy Lenz was finally cast as one of the leads on the hit drama One Tree Hill. Her career was about to take off, but her personal life was slowly beginning to unravel. What none of the show’s millions of fans knew, hidden even from her costars, was her secret double life in a cult. 

An only child who often had to fend for herself and always wanted a place to belong, Lenz found the safe haven she’d been searching for in a Bible study group with other Hollywood creatives. However, the group soon morphed into something more sinister—a slowly woven web of manipulation, abuse, and fear under the guise of a church covenant called The Big House Family. Piece by piece, Lenz began to give away her autonomy, ultimately relocating to the Family’s Pacific Northwest compound, overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge. Family “minders” assigned to her on set, “Maoist struggle session”–inspired meetings in the basement of a filthy house, and regular counseling with “Leadership” were just part of the tactics used to keep her loyal. 

Only when she became a mother did Lenz find the courage to leave and spare her child from a similar fate. After nearly a decade (and with the unlikely help of a One Tree Hill superfan), she finally managed to escape the family’s grip and begin to heal from the deep trauma that forever altered her relationship with God and her understanding of faith. 

Written with powerful honesty and dark humor, Dinner for Vampires is an inspiring story about the importance of identity and understanding what you believe.

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Water Moon

Samantha Sotto Yambao

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical quest when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike fantasy novel.

FEATURES A UNIQUE ORIGAMI JACKET that folds into a boat, joining the characters in an enchanting way. The jacket artwork is also printed directly onto the hardcover case underneath.

“Race through a lush world of pure wonder and romance—kites made of wishes that become stars, origami that holds time in its folds, and a night market in the clouds—in this lovely, cozy fantasy reminiscent of Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea.”—Booklist (starred review)

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.

Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.

“Highly recommended . . . Readers who have been swept up in the cozy charm of Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee will fall hard for the mix of magical realism, fantasy mystery, and star-crossed romance.”—Library Journal (starred review)

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Penitence

Kristin Koval

For readers of Ann Patchett and Celeste Ng, Penitence is a poignant exploration of love and forgiveness. It’s a suspenseful, addictive page-turner filled with literary insight that compels readers to consider whether the worst thing we’ve ever done is all that defines us.

When a shocking murder occurs in the home of Angie and David Sheehan, their lives are shattered. Desperate to defend their family, they turn to small-town lawyer Martine Dumont for help, but Martine isn’t just legal counsel—she’s also the mother of Angie’s first love, Julian, a now-successful New York City criminal defense attorney. As Julian and Angie confront their shared past and long-buried guilt from a tragic accident years ago, they must navigate their own culpability and the unresolved feelings between them.

Spanning decades, from the ski slopes of rural Colorado to the streets of pre-9/11 New York City and back again, Kristin Koval’s debut novel Penitence is an examination of the complexities of familial loyalty, the journey of redemption, and the profound experience of true forgiveness.

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Written in the Waters

Tara Roberts

For fans of Cheryl Strayed's Wild and Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reaped, this searing memoir by a National Geographic explorer recounts one woman's epic journey to trace the global slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean--and find her place in the world.

"Tara Roberts is a pioneer and an inspiration. Her work does not so much 'unearth' the past as pull it respectfully out of the depths of the sea. I am deeply moved by this book, and by her journey."--Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love

When Tara Roberts first caught sight of a photograph at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History depicting the scuba and underwater archaeology group Diving With a Purpose, it called out to her. Here were Black women and men strapping on masks, fins, and tanks to explore Atlantic Ocean waters along the coastlines of Africa, North America, and Central America, seeking the wrecks of slave ships long lost in time. Inspired, Roberts joined them--and started on a path of discovery more challenging and personal than she could ever have imagined.

In this lush and lyrical memoir, she tells a story of exploration and reckoning that takes her from her home in Washington, D.C., to an exotic array of locales: Thailand and Sri Lanka, Mozambique, South Africa, Senegal, Benin, Costa Rica, and St. Croix. The journey connects her with other divers, scholars, and archaeologists, offering a unique way of understanding the 12.5 million souls carried away from their African homeland to enslavement on other continents. But for Roberts, the journey is also intensely personal. Inspired by the descendants of those who lost their lives during the Middle Passage, she decides to plumb her own family history and life as a Black woman to help make sense of her own identity.

Complex and unflinchingly authentic, this deeply moving narrative heralds an important new voice in literature that will open minds and hearts everywhere.

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The Heart of Winter

Jonathan Evison

A Seattle Times Bestseller

One of The Washington Post’s 10 Noteworthy Books for January
One of The Los Angeles Times’ 10 Books to Add to Your Reading List in January
One of The Seattle Times’ 24 Books to Look Out for in 2025
One of Kirkus' Best 20 Books to Read in January

The extraordinary new novel by Jonathan Evison, about a married couple in their golden years, from when they met across big ups, deep downs, and survive-it-all, opposites-attract love

Abe Winter and Ruth Warneke were never meant to be together—at least if you ask Ruth. Yet their catastrophic blind date in college evolved into a seventy-year marriage and a life on a farm on Bainbridge Island with their hens and beloved Labrador, Megs. Through the years, the Winters have fallen in and out of lockstep, and from their haunting losses and guarded secrets, a dependable partnership has been forged.

But when Ruth’s loose tooth turns out to be something much more malicious, the beautiful, reliable life they’ve created together comes to a crisis. As Ruth struggles with her crumbling independence, Abe must learn how to take care of her while their three living children question his ability to look after his wife. And once again, the couple has to reconfigure how to be there for each other.

In this bighearted and profound portrait of a marriage, Jonathan Evison explores seventy years of big moments in subtle ways, elegantly braiding the Winters’ turbulent history with their present-day battles, showing us how the oddly paired college kids became parents, fell apart and back together, and grew into the Abe and Ruth of today. Endlessly heartwarming and moving, The Heart of Winter is a reminder that true love lives in small, everyday moments.

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The Rest Is Memory

Lily Tuck

First glimpsed riding on the back of a boy's motorcycle, fourteen-year-old Czeslawa comes to life in this mesmerizing novel by Lily Tuck, who imagines her upbringing in a small Polish village before her world imploded in late 1942. Stripped of her modest belongings, shorn, and tattooed number 26947 on arriving at Auschwitz, Czeslawa is then photographed. Three months later, she is dead.

How did this happen to an ordinary Polish citizen? This is the question that Tuck grapples with in this haunting novel, which frames Czeslawa's story within the epic tragedy of six million Poles who perished during the German occupation. A decade prior to writing The Rest Is Memory, Tuck read an obituary of the photographer Wilhelm Brasse, who took more than 40,000 pictures of the Auschwitz prisoners. Included were three of Czeslawa Kwoka, a Catholic girl from rural southeastern Poland. Tuck cut out the photos and kept them, determined to learn more about Czeslawa, but she was only able to glean the barest facts: the village she came from, the transport she was on, that she was accompanied by her mother and her neighbors, her tattoo number, and the date of her death. From this scant evidence, Tuck's novel becomes a remarkable kaleidoscopic feat of imagination, something only our greatest novelists can do.

"Beautifully written, all the while instilling a sense of horror" (Susanna Moore), Tuck's language swirls about, yet not a word is out of place. The subtly rotating images tumble out at us, accelerating as we learn about Czeslawa's tragic stay in Auschwitz, the lives of real people such as the barbaric Commandant Rudolf Höss; his unconscionable wife, Hedwig; the psychiatrist and child rescuer Janusz Korczak; and the mordant Polish short story writer Tadeusz Borowski. Although we are certain of Czeslawa's fate, we have no choice but to keep turning the pages, thoroughly mesmerized by Tuck's near otherworldly prose.

In Lily Tuck's hands, The Rest Is Memory becomes an unforgettable work of historical reclamation that rescues an innocent life, one previously only recalled by a stark triptych of photographs.

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Mornings with Madden

Stan Bunger

An intimate and freewheeling portrait of John Madden through the NFL legend's own words

John Madden is synonymous with football. He was the television face and voice of the nation's most popular sport, the namesake of its best-selling sports video game, and the man with the highest career winning percentage of any NFL coach.

​Despite his international fame, there was a side of Madden known only to those who listened to morning radio broadcasts in the San Francisco Bay Area. That's where Madden grew up, lived, and died. It's where for decades he found joy in a daily chat with his hometown radio station: a chance to unwind, tell stories, and impart his own brand of wit and wisdom.

In Mornings With Madden, Stan Bunger--the man most often on the other side of the mic--illuminates this larger-than-life figure, drawing upon memories of more than fifteen years of daily broadcasts, backed up by thousands of recordings of those conversations. Readers who adored Madden's football acumen and quirky personality on NFL broadcasts will get to know the father, husband, bad golfer, dog owner, lover of roadside diners, and philosopher whose personality dominated our radio chats.

Featuring moving reflections alongside Madden's own words, this is a treasure trove of wry observations, self-deprecating humor, clear-eyed thinking about sports and society, and the "Maddenisms" that endeared the legendary coach to millions.

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I Can Fix This

Kristina Kuzmic

From the author of Hold On, But Don’t Hold Still, the emotionally charged and eye-opening account of a mother who navigates the cacophony of best practices and urgent advice from parenting authorities in search of a way to support her teen as he maps his own path to mental health.

When Kristina Kuzmič started to see signs that her otherwise sunny, resilient teenage son was struggling, she was sure a few simple fixes could right the ship. But over the following months, the issues her family faced became more nuanced, complicated, and pervasive than she could've predicted—and what began as a clear to do list spiraled into an emotionally fraught and seemingly endless push and pull between signs of progress and overwhelming fear. 

Despite her best efforts, Kuzmič had internalized a set of obligations, ideas, and unrealistic standards from parenting culture and social media that left her unprepared to guide her child when he needed her most. Featuring an urgent and affirming foreword by renowned and New York Times bestselling clinician Dr. Shefali Tsabary—Kuzmič's new book debunks ten "parenting truths” that kept her in crisis, and delves into her insecurities and the mistakes she made to reveal invaluable lessons and transformative approaches that worked. 

While her family stands on the other side now stronger than ever, Kuzmič's journey calls to parents who have felt the instinct to say “I can fix this” in situations where good intentions far exceed our abilities to enact change.

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The Hidden Book

Kirsty Manning

From bestselling author Kirsty Manning comes a stunning novel based on a true story of clandestine courage in World War II as prisoners of war risk their lives to secure evidence of Nazi atrocities--and how one man concealed it for decades before passing it on to his family who struggle to understand their inherited legacy of trauma.

Austria, 1940s: Yugoslavian Nico Antonov is just one of more than 200,000 people imprisoned in the Mauthausen concentration camp near the Danube River. Malnourished and forced into hard labor in a quarry, he still defies his captors any way he can. When fate brings him into contact with Lena Lang, a young woman living with her family in fear of their Nazi occupiers, he finds an ally.

SS officers have charged Spanish POW and photographer Mateo Baca with recording the events and prisoners of Mauthausen and to make five copies of the collected photo book for the Third Reich's leaders. But Mateo also creates a sixth book to be smuggled out of the camp--where Nico entrusts Lena to hide it and protect their secret.

Australia, 1980s to present day: When teenager Hannah Campbell discovers her grandfather Nico's mysterious photo album, filled with horrific visions of suffering and cruelty, the barbarities of World War II no longer feel like ancient history. Haunted by the images for years, as a university student and a married young mother, she pursues the truth behind her grandfather's incarceration. As Hannah experiences love and loss in her own life, she comes to understand how the photos not only capture history but reflect a shared humanity that must never be forgotten.

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Hello Tiny World

Ben Newell

A friendly journey through the captivating world of terrariums--from the creator of one of the most famous terrariums ever.

Hello Tiny World will inspire a wide readership to discover the tiny wonder of a different kind of container gardening in their own homes--no outdoor space needed. How can terrariums teach us about the environment? Can working with plants improve our mental health and well-being? How do we learn to express ourselves and our creativity through these wondrous mini ecosystems?

Hello Tiny World is Ben Newell's exploration of these questions as he weaves in his own personal experiences, alongside practical projects with photographed step-by-steps allowing readers to delve into the detail of how to make various terrariums--from beginner terrariums and terrariums on a budget, to more creative and ambitious projects. Those curious to learn about ecology and living sustainably as well as those interested in how plants can help our well-being, mindfulness, and creativity will all be served by this book, alongside horticulturalists who have yet to discover terrariums.

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The Hollywood Assistant

May Cobb

Named a Most Anticipated Read of 2024 by Zibby Media ∙ Jordy’s Book Club ∙ Novel Suspects ∙ The Nerd Daily ∙ Pure Wow ∙ She Reads ∙ and more! 

Offered a dream job in Hollywood with a famous director and his actress wife, an insecure woman becomes their personal assistant where their secrets and lies place her in the crosshairs of a murder investigation.

Cassidy Foster is heartbroken, stuck in life, and getting a little too obsessed with plants. Then when a well-connected friend becomes sick of Cassidy’s moping and gets her a gig with famous Hollywood couple, Marisol and Nate Sterling, Cassidy jumps at the chance to move to sunny LA.

The Sterlings are warm and welcoming. A perfect couple. All Cassidy has to do is be available a few hours a week for errands. In return, she has access to luxury: Designer clothes. A sparkling pool. Great pay.

When Nate takes interest in her, asking her to read scripts he’s written, Cassidy thinks this could be the key to kickstarting her writing dreams. As their business relationship grows, so does their attraction. Nate is sexy and talented, and Cassidy can’t believe her luck. Clearly, Marisol doesn’t know what she has. Maybe that’s why the two are always fighting when they think Cassidy isn’t around. 

But Cassidy learns she was hired for a different purpose. The Sterlings aren’t the perfect couple. Marisol isn’t the perfect wife. And when one of them is found dead, Cassidy becomes the perfect suspect.

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Out of the Darkness

Ian O'Connor

Instant New York Times Bestseller

"A masterwork. ... O'Connor answers every question, deftly and deeply, that we've had about the most controversial person in America's biggest game." --Peter King

Four-time New York Times bestselling sport biographer Ian O'Connor pulls back the curtain on four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, delivering the definitive portrait of the legendary yet mysterious quarterback who has astonished, befuddled, yet always captivated fans of America's #1 sport.

Aaron Rodgers is among the two or three most talented players to ever hold the most important job in American team sports - quarterback. He also stands as the most mysterious and polarizing figure in the modern-day national pastime that is professional football.

From his controversial Covid stance to his methods of spiritual awakening to his estrangement from his family to his high-profile romances to his devastating Achilles injury a mere four plays into his New York Jets career, Rodgers has long dominated the NFL's news cycle.

At thirty-nine, in search of a challenge that would rejuvenate him, Rodgers divorced the iconic Green Bay Packers of Vince Lombardi fame for the Jets, who have not appeared in a Super Bowl since Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. The trade made Rodgers the biggest story in the biggest league in the biggest market. By far.

That story only got bigger when Rodgers shockingly went down on the night of 9/11, in front of a packed house that roared for him when he took the field carrying an American flag, and in front of the biggest Monday Night Football audience in ESPN history, peaking at more than 25 million viewers across all platforms. Rodgers then shocked the world by pulling off the fastest recorded comeback from an Achilles tear, returning to practice eleven weeks after surgery. Remarkably enough, he would have played again in the 2023 season, at age 40, had the Jets remained in playoff contention.

Ian O'Connor uses hundreds of original interviews to pull back the curtain and answer the most penetrating questions about the league's most enigmatic player. Just like he did in his defining bios of Bill Belichick, Mike Krzyzewski, Derek Jeter, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer, O'Connor reveals all sides of an all-time great and delivers a portrait of a complex man that will forever shape the way he is viewed.

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I Need You to Read This

Jessa Maxwell

This “super creepy” (The Washington Post) and “perfectly plotted whodunnit” (Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author) follows an advice columnist searching for answers about her predecessor’s murder—from the bestselling author of The Golden Spoon

Years ago, Alex Marks escaped to New York City for a fresh start. Now, aside from trips to her regular diner for coffee, she keeps to herself, gets her perfectly normal copywriting job done, and doesn’t date. Her quiet world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen, is brutally murdered. Francis was the woman behind the famous advice column, Dear Constance, and her words helped Alex through some of her darkest times.

When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies, never expecting to get the job. Against all odds, Alex is given the position but soon, she begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. Francis’s murderer was never identified, turning everyone around her into a threat. Including her boss, editor-in-chief Howard Dimitri, who has a habit of staying late at the office and drinking too much.

As Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor’s murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface and she suddenly finds herself trapped in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that takes her all the way from the power centers of Manhattan to Francis Keen’s summer house, where her body was found and where the killer may just be waiting for her in this “fresh and fascinating” (Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot) page-turner.

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Gray Matters

Theodore H. Schwartz

“If you are at all curious about the brain or the surgeons who operate on it, Gray Matters is a must read and Dr. Theodore Schwartz is the perfect guide, a master brain surgeon and superbly talented writer. I have not read a better biography of our shared profession, and in Schwartz's talented hands, the most enigmatic 3 1/2 pounds of tissue in the known universe comes to light in remarkable and revelatory ways.”
—Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, and New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

A popular biography of brain surgery, by one of its preeminent practitioners

We’ve all heard the phrase “it’s not brain surgery.” But what exactly is brain surgery? It’s a profession that is barely a hundred years old and profoundly connects two human beings, but few know how it works, or its history. How did early neurosurgeons come to understand the human brain—an extraordinarily complex organ that controls everything we do, and yet at only three pounds is so fragile? And how did this incredibly challenging and lifesaving specialty emerge?
 
In this warm, rigorous, and deeply insightful book, Dr. Theodore H. Schwartz explores what it’s like to hold the scalpel, wield the drill, extract a tumor, fix a bullet hole, and remove a blood clot—when every second can mean life or death. Drawing from the author’s own cases, plus media, sports, and government archives, this seminal work delves into all the brain-related topics that have long-consumed public curiosity, like what really happened to JFK, President Biden’s brain surgery, and the NFL’s management of CTE. Dr. Schwartz also surveys the field’s latest incredible advances and discusses the philosophical questions of the unity of the self and the existence of free will.  
 
A neurosurgeon as well as a professor of neurosurgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, one of the busiest and most highly ranked neurosurgery centers in the world, Dr. Schwartz tells this story like no one else could. Told through anecdote and clear explanation, this is the ultimate cultural and scientific history of a literally mind-blowing human endeavor, one that cuts to the core of who we are.

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All the Summers In Between

Brooke Lea Foster

“Make room in your beach bag for this mesmerizing book” (Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author) about two estranged friends whose unexpected reconnection in the Hamptons forces them to finally confront the terrible event that drove them apart.

When wealthy, impulsive Margot meets hardworking and steady Thea in the summer of 1967, the unlikely pair become fast friends, working alongside one another in a record store and spending every spare moment together. But after an unspeakable incident on one devastating August night, they don’t see one another for ten years…until Margot suddenly reappears in Thea’s life, begging for help and harboring more than one dangerous secret. Thea can’t bring herself to refuse her beloved friend—but she also knows she can’t fully trust her either.

Unfulfilled as a housewife, Thea enjoys the dazzling sense of adventure Margot brings to her life, but will the truth of what happened to them that fateful summer ruin everything? Testing the boundaries of how far she’ll go for a friend, Thea is forced to reckon with her uncertain future while trying to decide if some friends are meant to remain in the past.

Set in the dual timelines of 1967 and 1977, All the Summers In Between is at once “a taut, dynamic examination” (Lynda Cohen Loigman, author of The Wartime Sisters) of a complex friendship, a delicious glimpse into a bygone Hamptons, and a powerful coming-of-age story of two young women during a transformative era.

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Love & Whiskey

Fawn Weaver

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

 

Embark on a captivating journey with Love & Whiskey. New York Times bestselling author Fawn Weaver unveils the hidden narrative behind one of America's most iconic whiskey brands. This book is a vibrant exploration set in the present day, delving into the life and legacy of Nearest Green, the African American distilling genius who played a pivotal role in the creation of the whiskey that bears Jack Daniel's name.


Set against the backdrop of Lynchburg, Tennessee, this narrative weaves together a thrilling blend of personal discovery, historical investigation, and the revelation of a story long overshadowed by time. Through extensive research, personal interviews, and the uncovering of long-buried documents, Weaver brings to light not only the remarkable bond between Nearest Green and Jack Daniel but also Daniel's concerted efforts during his lifetime to ensure Green's legacy would not be forgotten. This deep respect for his teacher, mentor, and friend was mirrored in Jack's dedication to ensuring that the stories and achievements of Nearest Green's descendants, who continued the tradition of working side by side with Jack and his descendants, would also not be forgotten.


Love & Whiskey is more than just a recounting of historical facts; it's a live journey into the heart of storytelling, where every discovery adds a layer to the rich tapestry of American history. Weaver's pursuit highlights the importance of acknowledging those who have shaped our cultural landscape; yet remained in the shadows.


As Weaver intertwines her present-day quest with the historical threads of Green and Daniel's lives, she not only pays homage to their legacy but also spearheads the creation of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey. This endeavor has not only brought Nearest Green's name to the forefront of the whiskey industry but has also set new records, symbolizing a step forward in recognizing and celebrating African American contributions to the spirit world.


Love & Whiskey invites readers to witness a story of enduring friendship, resilience, and the impact of giving credit where it's long overdue. It's an inspiring tale of how uncovering the past can forge new paths and how the spirit of whiskey has connected lives across generations. Join Fawn Weaver on this extraordinary adventure, as she navigates through the layers of history, friendship, and the unbreakable bonds formed by the legacy of America's native spirit, ensuring the stories of Nearest Green and his descendants live on in the heart of American culture.

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Just One Taste

Lizzy Dent

“I love, love, love Lizzy Dent.”—Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Olive Stone is about to spend four weeks in Italy with the most beautiful man she’s ever hated.

When Olive Stone and her Italian pseudo-celebrity chef father fell out fourteen years ago, annoyingly handsome Leo Ricci slipped right in as his surrogate son and sous-chef. No one is more surprised than Olive when her father wills her his beloved (and now failing) restaurant. Or that his dying wish was for Olive and Leo to complete his cookbook…together.

She’s determined to sell the restaurant. Leo is determined to convince her not to. As they embark on four weeks in Italy, traveling from Sicily to Tuscany to Liguria, they’ll test each other as often as they test recipes. But the more time Olive and Leo spend together, the more undeniable their attraction grows. Olive finds herself wondering whether selling the restaurant might be running away, and what it might be like to try Just One Taste of Leo Ricci. Because he isn’t who she expected, and this trip might reveal more about who Olive is than she’s ready for.

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We Are Not Alone

Marc Hartzman

We Are Not Alone . . . manages to be highly entertaining and easy to read, yet fair, balanced and thorough.”—Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence

Do you want to believe? Explore our fascination with UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence through exclusive interviews, archival photos, and strange but true stories from history. 

After decades of cover-ups and denials, in a June 2021 report, the US government finally admitted what many people already knew: yes, UFOs are real, and no, we don’t know what (or who) they are. Weird historian Marc Hartzman separates fact from fiction and provides a comprehensive tour through the skies, including:

 

  • UFO sightings, from the famous to the obscure 
  • Alien abductions, including the Betty and Barney Hill abduction and the Pascagoula abduction
  • Ancient aliens, from Biblical astronauts to the alien architects behind the pyramids
  • Scientific evidence, including the “Wow!” radio signal and the interstellar ‘Oumuamua object
  • Cover-ups and conspiracies, including the Roswell Incident and Area 51
  • Governmental and military findings, from Project Blue Book to reports of UFOs at nuclear weapons sites


Deeply researched and highly entertaining, We Are Not Alone will inform and entertain anyone who’s ever doubted that we are really alone in the universe.

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Beyond Summerland

Jenny Lecoat

The brand-new page-turning novel from the author of the breakout bestseller The Girl From the Channel Islands!

"From the explosive opening to the profound ending, Beyond Summerland is a wonder of storytelling. With a rich setting and secrets shimmering at the core of the narrative, Jenny Lecoat offers up everything we seek in historical fiction."--Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea

In her spellbinding new novel, New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lecoat explores the secrets and lies in a small community recovering from war, and the two young women at the center of a volatile mystery.

The German occupation is over. The Channel Islands, the only captured territory within the British Isles, are finally liberated. But the people of Jersey are left as scarred as the landscape. No longer a "summerland" holiday paradise, the island now boils with tension as locals seek revenge on anyone suspected of collaborating with the enemy during the war.

Nineteen-year-old Jean Parris, still adjusting to this fractious peace, is shocked to learn that Hazel, a teacher who lives over her dad's shop, may be responsible for her father's wartime arrest. Hazel denies all accusations but has reasons to conceal what really happened.

As rumors of Hazel's guilt swell to a fury, Jean discovers new clues that suggest there were other, more sinister factors at play. When Hazel learns of Jean's own ruinous secret, the women form an unexpected bond that sets them apart from the rest of Jean's family and the frenzied demands for retribution. But in the end, Jean's need to know the truth about her father may consume everything she once believed about her home, her family and herself.
 

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We the Poisoned

Jordan Chariton

As the ongoing Flint water crisis marks its tenth anniversary, Chariton reveals shocking new evidence of the major government cover-up that resulted in the poisoning of Flint--and shatters what you think you know about what caused the water crisis. Kirkus Reviews calls it an "impassioned and enlightening work of current events" and Publishers Weekly praises it as "a vital report on a horrific scandal."

From crooked Wall Street financial schemes to political payoffs, destruction of evidence, witness tampering, falsified water data, threatened whistle blowers, and panicked phone calls, We the Poisoned: Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover Up and the Poisoning of 100,000 Americans reveals, for the first time, the real story behind how the government poisoned a major American city--and how they are still getting away with it.

As the cover-up continues a decade later, innocent residents have been arrested, surveilled, threatened, and gaslit to feel like they are crazy. With more and more sick residents slowly dying every year, Flint's lead levels again on the rise, and cancer rates surging across the city, it is time for the true, sinister story of the Flint water cover-up to be told. Based on eight years of reporting, thousands of confidential documents from the criminal investigation, and the former governor of Michigan's own words under oath, Jordan Chariton takes readers on the road to crisis before the Flint River switch--when government officials blew through all stop signs and orchestrated a financial scheme that allowed a nearly bankrupt Flint to borrow $100 million for a controversial new water system. As brown, smelly water flowed through Flint homes and residents grew sick, politicians intentionally and knowingly allowed Americans to drink poison as they prioritized their own political ambitions and survival. Just when you think the levels of callousness and disregard for the people can't drop any lower, Chariton digs even deeper to expose one of the biggest government cover-ups of the twenty-first century.

We the Poisoned is a cautionary tale about "run-government-like-a-business" leaders who champion privatization and economic development at the expense of the environment, public health, and vulnerable citizens. Perhaps even more important, with water and environmental contamination surging across the US, Chariton's revelations provide a road map for how to fight back and prevent similar tragedies from happening to other communities.

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The Woman Who Lied

Claire Douglas

"So cleverly plotted and brimming with tension."--Gillian McAllister

"First-rate suspense . . . hard to put down."--Shari Lapena

A bestselling detective novelist and her family are in danger when chilling events from her novels begin happening around her in this gripping thriller from the British sensation--the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Girls Who Disappeared and The Couple at Number 9.

Emilia has a dream life. But someone knows the truth . . .

Emilia Ward lives in suburban London with her husband, their young son, and a teenager from her first marriage. Emilia is an ordinary mom--and she's also the bestselling author of the Miranda Moody detective novels.

But when writing her tenth--and most difficult--book, life takes a disturbing turn: an incident mimicking the plot of one of her novels occurs in real life. Just an unsettling coincidence, right?

Until it happens again. And again.

Then someone she knows dies in the same way as a victim in the book she's currently writing.

Why is someone doing this?

What do they want?

How could they possibly know what she's thinking--and writing?

Is Emilia and her family next?

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When Skies Are Gray

Lindsey M. Henke

Lindsey Henke is freshly married and a newly practicing psychotherapist when she finds out she is pregnant with her first child. Nine months later, on a cold Minnesota night in December 2012, after a perfect pregnancy, Lindsey goes into labor—only to be told upon arrival at the hospital that her baby has no heartbeat.

After the stillbirth of her daughter, Lindsey grapples with the unbearable agony of losing a child. Unprepared to cope with a sorrow this deep, she uses the only tools she has—her skills as a therapist—to plot her own path through grief. Over the next year and half, as Lindsey mourns the loss of one child while simultaneously trying to hold space for the joy of expecting another baby, she learns that grief can live side by side with joy.

When Skies Are Gray offers a poignant message to any mother who is grieving: Your pain is real. The sharp ache of the grief you feel will soften over time, though your love for the child you lost will always remain. And it’s okay to feel that love; it’s a mother’s love, and like lullabies, a mother’s love never dies.

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The Missing Peace

Laura Rhodes-Levin

Readers want to understand that there is life beyond anxiety. Happiness needs to be within their grasp. The Missing Peace will show them how to touch it, feel it, and nurture their natural desires, not those with which society burdens us.

Often said but true, people need to learn to love themselves, but the real question is how to love themselves. How can they understand not to take the world and the other anxious people in it personally? They must understand how fear is underneath their anger. They long for acceptance but don't know how to accept themselves. The Missing Peace will give them a roadmap to these vital concepts.

Scientifically, anxiety is not a set of pre-wired and uncontrollable buttons. This book communicates how to understand these buttons, who installed them and how to unwire them. It makes people feel better all around. It goes beyond just not feeling anxious.

Practically, The Missing Peace will show readers how to cultivate and nurture the core traits mattering most to them. They will re-parent themselves to well-being, vibrant energy, and emotional stability and be shown there is just as much to nurture as there is to nature. It is never too late.

After reading this book, the reader will understand their anxiety, learn how to harness it, shift focus to what they love, and live the life they want.

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The Spellshop

Sarah Beth Durst

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY AND INDIE BESTSELLER!
A #1 LibraryReads pick!
An Indie Next pick!


A gorgeous hardcover edition featuring lavender sprayed edges! The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.

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Chicken Soup for the Soul: Me and My Dog

Amy Newmark

Be prepared to fall in love with your dog all over again as you read these heartwarming stories of pet parenthood, and the unconditional love, companionship and amusement our dogs provide.

How do dogs do it? They brighten our days, act as our therapists, and become our best friends—without saying one word. They’re frequently hilarious, often heroic, and surprisingly human. And we learn so much from them, too.

You’ll find yourself laughing a lot, tearing up at times, and nodding your head in recognition as you read these tales, chosen from Chicken Soup for the Soul’s library, about the magical experience of sharing life with a dog. From comical to courageous, mischievous to miraculous, and everything in between, you’ll enjoy a wide variety of entertaining stories in these ten chapters:
• Meant to Be
• Miracles Happen
• My Very Good, Very Bad Dog
• Who Rescued Whom?
• What I Learned from the Dog
• Best Friends
• Natural Therapists
• Feline Friends
• A Dog’s Purpose
• Over the Rainbow

And your purchase of this book will help support the important work of American Humane, creating a better life for dogs everywhere.

Chicken Soup for the Soul books are 100% made in the USA and each book includes stories from as diverse a group of writers as possible. Chicken Soup for the Soul solicits and publishes stories from the LGBTQ community and from people of all ethnicities, nationalities, and religions.

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Fabric Stamping

Lori Wenger

Infuse your world with color, personality, and pattern!

Join artist, author, and professional stylist Lori Wenger as she expertly guides readers through two creative approaches to fabric stamping: foam stamping and block printing. Covering everything from pattern transfer to paint application to best stamping practices, no detail is overlooked.

First, Lori teaches readers how to create modern stamps using affordable foam sheets. They'll love making the 10 contemporary foam projects that range from tea towels to place mats and more. In the second part of the book, Lori delves into the timeless technique of block printing. Readers will learn how to carve intricate designs into blocks and apply this traditional method to 5 stunning projects. Finally, at the end of the book, readers will get the chance to expand their skills through 4 bonus projects that take their creativity to the next level!

- Two Creative Techniques: Readers will master foam stamping and block printing, infusing their projects with a blend of modern and traditional artistry.
- 19 Captivating Projects: 19 projects span tea towels, pillowcases, home décor, tote bags, T-shirts, and beyond, inviting creativity into every corner of readers' lives.
- Comprehensive Instructions: Equipped with full-size pattern templates, materials lists, and detailed photography, this guide ensures seamless execution for every project.

It's time for readers to add their personal STAMP to clothing, home décor, and more with this approachable book!

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Red Star Falling

Steve Berry

From New York Times bestselling authors Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood comes an action-packed adventure: in the waning days of the Cold War, Luke Daniels embarks on a quest in search of the legendary library of Ivan the Terrible--the unlikely key to ending a looming threat orbiting two hundred miles above the earth.

Wrapping up his latest assignment for the Magellan Billet, Luke Daniels receives a surprise visit from the head of a former-CIA operation named Sommerhaus -- a failed attempt to assemble an espionage network within the Ukraine on the eve of the Russian invasion. Sommerhaus ranks high on Luke's list of painful regrets for it was during this mission that his friend, CIA case officer John Vince, was captured by Russian operatives and supposedly executed. But Luke is provided some shocking news. Vince is alive, in failing health, locked behind the walls of Russia's brutal Solovetsky Island prison, and has a critical message he'll give to no one but Luke. Needing no further convincing Luke vows to bring Vince home.

However, just as he manages to extract his friend from prison Vince tragically dies and his final words are rambling and incoherent. Just bits and pieces. But enough to plunge Luke into a hunt for something lost since the 15th century. The legendary library of the first Tsar of All Russia, Ivan the Terrible.

Within that priceless collection of rare manuscripts is the key to unraveling a modern-day cipher and stopping a secret Soviet satellite program that still exists. But Luke is not the only one on the trail. Others, both inside and out of Russia, want the library for a totally different reason -- to re-start the Red Star program and finally unleash its destructive potential. Luke's mission is clear. Find the lost library, solve the puzzle, and prevent Red Star falling.
 

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The Devil Behind the Badge

Rick Jervis

"A thrilling ticktock on the borderland slayings and the effort to solve them."--Texas Monthly

 

 

The shocking true-crime story of a U.S. Border Patrol agent turned serial killer, the four sex workers whom he mercilessly killed, and the upended border town of Laredo where his heinous crimes occurred.

Twelve days is all it took.

Melissa Ramirez, Claudine Anne Luera, Guiselda Hernandez, and Janelle Ortiz were four marginalized women striving to make ends meet as sex workers. They looked out for one another. But they would soon share a connection that none of them could have imagined. When Melissa was found dead, the other three women were on edge but assumed they were safe. Twelve days later, they too were dead and police had detained an unlikely suspect--Juan David Ortiz, a ten-year veteran of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where he carried a badge, a service revolver, and was entrusted to protect the community in which he eventually killed. From September 3 through September 15, 2018, Ortiz, a husband and doting father to three children, lured his victims into his white Dodge truck and drove them to the outskirts of town where he violently executed them, leaving them dead or dying on the sides of dark, rural roads.

In this fast-paced, electrifying tick-tock, Pulitzer Prize-winning USA TODAY journalist Rick Jervis tells the gripping story of the four murders that shook the small border town of Laredo, and the quest to unmask a cold, calculated killer who was hiding in plain sight. The Devil Behind the Badge is also a deeply human portrait of the four lives lost and an attempt to uncover what motivated Ortiz's descent into darkness. Along the way, it raises serious questions about the border crisis, the abuse of law enforcement, and the challenges of a federal agency to police its own ranks.

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The Same Bright Stars

Ethan Joella

From the author of the Read with Jenna Bonus Pick A Little Hope, an uplifting and emotionally resonant novel set in a Delaware beach town about a local restaurant owner at a turning point.

Three generations of Schmidts have run their family’s beachfront restaurant and Jack has been at the helm since the death of his father. Jack puts the demands of the restaurant above all else, with a string of failed relationships, no hobbies, and no days off as proof of his commitment to the place. He can’t remember the last time he sat on the beach, or even enjoyed a moment to himself.

Meanwhile, the DelDine group has been gradually snapping up beloved eateries along this stretch of coast and are pursuing Jack with a very generous offer to take Schmidt’s off his hands.

Jack craves companionship and maybe even a family. He wonders if closing the door on the restaurant might open a new window for him. But who would he be without Schmidt’s, and can he trust DelDine’s claims that they will continue to employ his staff and honor his family’s legacy?

When he receives startling news from the past, Jack begins to reshape his life and forge unexpected new friendships. But will he really let go of the very things that have defined him?

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The Old Farmer's Almanac Container Gardener's Handbook

Old Farmer's Almanac

You can grow almost anything in a container--and do it almost anywhere! Whether you're tight for space, time, money, or other resources or just want to keep things satisfyingly simple, container gardening is the perfect way not only to explore your love of plants but also to "grow" your knowledge.

How to start? This is where the Container Gardener's Handbook comes in. Created by The Old Farmer's Almanac, America's longtime trusted gardening resource, this third book is part of a best-selling gardening series that began with the extremely popular Vegetable Gardener's Handbook (now its sixth printing!) and was followed by the beautiful and inspirational Flower Gardener's Handbook. This newest book is a one-stop guide to container gardening success. Inside is everything that you'll need to know about growing vegetables, fruit, herbs, and ornamentals in containers to produce mouthwatering harvests and stunning displays. Filled with beautiful photos that make the book itself a joy to behold, the Container Gardener's Handbook features a simple style and language that opens up a world of fun and creativity for gardeners of all experience levels.

Highlights include . . .

  • Many gardeners will agree that there's nothing as rewarding as enjoying produce that they've grown themselves. Fortunately, growing crops in containers enables just about anyone to experience this joy--with no garden plot needed! Find out how to care for and harvest flavor-packed miniature tomatoes, salad greens, peppers, basil, chives, blueberries, citruses, cantaloupes, and other favorites to serve at your next meal!
  • Looking for eye-catching displays to perk up a space? Discover sure-to-please ornamental plants for any situation, plus ideal ways to arrange them in decorative containers for the special look that you want. Let the mantra "thriller, filler, spiller" help you to design pots with a stunning focal point surrounded by complementary plants that fill in around it and trail over the edge!
  • Learn about plant care, including how to identify and control diseases and pests, select the best potting mix, apply water and fertilizer--and overcome "FOOF" (fear of overfertilizing)!
  • Wondering how big a container your plant needs? Don't know whether to use terra-cotta or plastic pots? Find out how to choose the proper container by size, type, purpose, and more.
  • Some plants, like geraniums, have lots of varieties from which to choose. If you're overwhelmed by the many options available, just check out the recommended selections for 38 specially profiled plants.
  • For added enjoyment, browse--and learn from--the insightful and entertaining anecdotes from experienced gardeners included in this helpful guide.

This third book in a best-selling Old Farmer's Almanac gardening series takes the stress out of striving for container gardening success and replaces it with fun and excitement. Whether a gardener's goal is more food, more sensational displays, better use of space, a new growing adventure, or all of the above, the Container Gardener's Handbook makes it easy for containers to be in everybody's garden--and many other spots!

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We Used to Live Here

Marcus Kliewer

Get Out meets Parasite in this eerily haunting debut and Reddit hit—soon to be a Netflix original movie starring Blake Lively—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.

As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, uncanny and inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

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A Measure of Intelligence

Pepper Stetler

In a quest to advocate for her daughter, Pepper Stetler uncovers the dark history of the IQ that leads her to question what exactly we are measuring when we measure intelligence.

 

When Pepper Stetler was told that her daughter, Louisa, who has Down Syndrome, would be regularly required to take IQ tests to secure support in school, she asked a simple question: why? In questioning the authority and relevance of the test, Stetler sets herself on a winding, often dark, investigation into how the IQ test came to be the irrefutable standard for measuring intelligence. The unsettling history causes Stetler to wonder what influence this test will have over her daughter's future, and, if its genesis is so mired in eugenics, whether Louisa should be taking it at all.

So what are we measuring when we try to measure "intelligence"? As she uncovers the history of IQ, exposing its roots in eugenics, racism, xenophobia, and ableism, Stetler realizes that the desire to quantify intelligence is closely tied to a desire to segregate society. She traces its legacy from inception to the present day, where schools and society have adopted the IQ as shorthand for an individual's aptitude--in essence, their worth. Boldly, Stetler questions how this rigid definition of intelligence has influenced who society holds up as successful and, perhaps more importantly, what it is that we miss when we judge someone solely on their measured intelligence.

Blending a mother's love and dedication to her daughter with incisive historical and cultural analysis, A Measure of Intelligence investigates the origins and influence of the IQ test on our modern education system, questions how we define and judge intelligence, challenges its flawed foundation, and argues for a fundamental reevaluation of how we understand an individual's perceived potential.

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Seven Summer Weekends

Jane L. Rosen

Named An Anticipated Summer Read by Bustle ∙ Katie Couric Media ∙ SheReads ∙ New York Live ∙ Woman’s World ∙ and more!

A woman inherits a beach house, along with a series of weekend guests, while butting heads with the irritable (and irritatingly handsome) man next door, in this sparkling new escape from Jane L. Rosen.

 
When a Zoom disaster upends Addison Irwin’s decade-long career at a posh Manhattan advertising agency, things look bleak for the thirty-something mid-western transplant. But an unexpected inheritance from an aunt she barely remembers—a property on Fire Island, complete with guest house and artist’s studio—changes everything.
 
While debating whether to stay or sell, Addison learns that she’s also inherited her aunt’s list of eclectic guests, tying her to the island for seven summer weekends. Eager to convince Addison to keep the house rather than let a new buyer build a monstrosity in its place, the neighbors welcome her to their laid-back community. Well, all except the moody guy next door, who seems intent on glowering his way through life.
 
Steadfast in her path since college, Addison is determined not to let this detour on Fire Island throw her off track. But soon, between the revolving door of weekend visitors and the up-and-down relationship with her neighbor (and his adorable dog), she finds herself in unfamiliar territory. Should she try to pick up where she left off—or embrace entirely new possibilities?

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The Genius of Judy

Rachelle Bergstein

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

An intimate and expansive look at Judy Blume’s life, work, and cultural impact, focusing on her most iconic—and controversial—young adult novels, from Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. to Blubber.

Everyone knows Judy Blume.

Her books have garnered her fans of all ages for decades and sold tens of millions of copies. But why were people so drawn to them? And why are we still talking about them now in the 21st century?

In The Genius of Judy, her remarkable story is revealed as never before, beginning with her as a mother of two searching for purpose outside of her home in 1960s suburban New Jersey. The books she wrote starred regular children with genuine thoughts and problems. But behind those deceptively simple tales, Blume explored the pillars of the growing women’s rights movement, in which girls and women were entitled to careers, bodily autonomy, fulfilling relationships, and even sexual pleasure. Blume wasn’t trying to be a revolutionary—she just wanted to tell honest stories—but in doing so, she created a cohesive, culture-altering vision of modern adolescence.

Blume’s bravery provoked backlash, making her the country’s most-banned author in the mid-1980s. Thankfully, her works withstood those culture wars and it’s no coincidence that Blume has resurfaced as a cultural touchstone now. Young girls are still cat-called, sex education curricula are getting dismissed as pornography, and entire shelves of libraries are being banned. As we face these challenges, it’s only natural we look to Blume, the grand dame of so-called dirty books. This is the story of how a housewife became a groundbreaking artist, and how generations of empowered fans are her legacy, today more than ever.

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Kill or Bee Killed

Jennie Marts

Perfect for fans of Laura Childs and Amanda Flower, this second Bee Keeping mystery takes Bailey Briggs to the brink as murders threaten the future of her granny’s Bee Festival.

The small town of Humble Hills, Colorado, is abuzz with excitement over the upcoming annual Bee Festival, sponsored by Bailey’s Granny Bee and the Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch. The long weekend of festivities includes a beauty pageant, beekeeping demonstrations, a local restaurant bake-off, and a 3K Bear Run where all the participants are dressed as bears. The bake-off brings in a television crew from California to film, so it’s the most drama-filled part of the weekend, especially when the famous celebrity host winds up dead.

Because the celebrity was holding her bracelet and had been witnessed having an altercation with Bailey’s best friend Evie shortly before his death, everyone suspects Evie of the murder—and Bailey is quickly on the hunt for clues to clear Evie’s name, alongside Granny Bee and her bunch of geriatric misfit friends. Bailey’s potential new honey, Sheriff Sawyer Dunn, is none too pleased to have Bailey buzzing around the investigation, but Bailey’s determined to uncover the truth, rescue her grannie’s beloved Bee Festival, and save her bestie.

They say you get more flies with honey, but in this case, more honey may mean you end up dead. And a little competition never hurt anyone—unless it ends up killing you.

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Dolci!

Renato Poliafito

Recipes that capture the flavors of la dolce vita, from Bologna to Brooklyn—Italian and Italian American-ish cakes, cookies, pies, pastries, desserts, tarts, savories, and breads from the James Beard Award–nominated brains behind one of America’s best bakeries

A joyous celebration of Italian, American, and Italian American tastes and traditions, Dolci! is a compendium of molto delizioso baked goods from both sides of the Atlantic. In almost a hundred recipes, James Beard–nominated baker Renato Poliafito pays homage to pastries of the Old World and the New—with perfected versions of classics like Pastiera and Torta Caprese, Honey-Ricotta Black and Whites, and Butter Cookies.

Poliafito puts his own unique spin on the baking traditions of both countries with recipes of his own invention that are a mashup of Italian flavors and American innovation. Think Aperol Spritz Cake, Italian Krispie Treats, Malted Tiramisu, Panettone Bread Pudding, and Mocha Orange Whoopie Pies. In addition to the many cakes, pies, tarts, and cookies, Poliafito also shares a host of savory recipes: Sourdough Focaccias, Perfect Grissini, Cacio e Pepe Arancini—and for good measure, Italian-inflected cocktails (Amaro Root Beer Float!). A vibrant comingling of two great culinary cultures filtered through the mind of an American with the heart of an Italian, Dolci! hits the sweet spot between Italian and American baking.

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Crochet Monsters

Megan Lapp

With more than 35 Monster body options, plus myriad variations for limbs, mouths and teeth, horns, antennae, tails, scales, and so much more, you will never make the same Monster twice. Choose from wide open mouths with fangs to adorable Monsters with bunny ears and a cat tail to Monsters with hair poufs and scales. Make one-eyed spiders or three-eyed aliens, dragons with scales or little friends that don't match any known monster to date. There is nearly no limit to the variations you can combine!

All Monsters use worsted weight and/or sport weight yarn and a size G-6 (4 mm) hook. Patterns are appropriate for beginner through advanced crocheters. If a stitch is new to you, just turn to the Glossary for detailed instructions on how to work it. Photos are included for each pattern piece and any complex stitches so you can be sure you are on the right track as you work.

Choosing your next Monster's look is half the fun. Get family and friends involved in picking options for their own Monster and share the creativity! Get excited for these Monsters to skitter, galumph, stomp, and roll right off your hook!

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The Hunter

Tana French

A New York Times Bestseller • A New York Times Best Thriller of the Year (So Far) • An NPR Favorite Fiction Read of 2024 • A Parade Best Book of 2024 So Far • Named a Best Beach Read of 2024 by Entertainment Tonight and Harper’s Bazaar

“Hailed as the queen of Irish crime fiction, French spins a taut tale of retribution, sacrifice, and family.”—TIME

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Searcher and “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox), a spellbinding new novel set in the Irish countryside.


It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.

Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

From the writer who is “in a class by herself,” (The New York Times), a nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.

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The Guest

B.A. Paris

New York Times bestselling author B. A. Paris captivated psychological thriller readers everywhere with Behind Closed Doors. Now she invites you into another home full of heart-pounding secrets, in The Guest.

Some secrets never leave.

Iris and Gabriel have just arrived home from a make-or-break holiday. But a shock awaits them. One of their closest friends, Laure, is in their house. The atmosphere quickly becomes tense as she oversteps again and again: sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris' clothes, even rearranging the furniture.

Laure has walked out on her husband—and their good friend—Pierre, over his confession of an affair and a secret child. Iris and Gabriel want to be supportive of their friends, but as Laure's mood becomes increasingly unpredictable, her presence takes its toll.

Iris and Gabriel's only respite comes in the form of a couple new to town. But with them comes their gardener, who has a checkered past.

Soon, secrets from all their pasts will unravel, some more dangerous than they could have known.

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The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook

America's Test Kitchen

Best-Selling vegetarian cookbook destined to become a classic.

Everyone knows they should eat more vegetables and grains, but that prospect can be intimidating with recipes that are often too complicated for everyday meals or lacking in fresh appeal or flavor. For the first time ever, the test kitchen has devoted its considerable resources to creating a vegetarian cookbook for the way we want to eat today. The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook is a wide-ranging collection of boldly flavorful vegetarian recipes covering hearty vegetable mains, rice and grains, beans and soy as well as soups, appetizers, snacks, and salads.

More than 300 recipes are fast (start to finish in 45 minutes or less), 500 are gluten-free, and 250 are vegan and are all highlighted with icons on the pages. The book contains stunning color photography throughout that shows the appeal of these veggie-packed dishes. In addition, almost 500 color photos illustrate vegetable prep and tricky techniques as well as key steps within recipes.

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One Dark Window

Rachel Gillig

THE FANTASY BOOKTOK SENSATION!



For fans of Uprooted and For the Wolf comes a dark, lushly gothic fantasy about a maiden who must unleash the monster within to save her kingdom--but the monster in her head isn't the only threat lurking.




Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.



Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home--she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King's own nephew, Captain of the Destriers...and guilty of high treason.

He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards--the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.

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Disney's Land

Richard Snow

A propulsive history chronicling the conception and creation of Disneyland, the masterpiece California theme park, as told like never before by popular historian Richard Snow.

One day in the early 1950s, Walt Disney stood looking over 240 acres of farmland in Anaheim, California, and imagined building a park where people “could live among Mickey Mouse and Snow White in a world still powered by steam and fire for a day or a week or (if the visitor is slightly mad) forever.” Despite his wealth and fame, exactly no one wanted Disney to build such a park. Not his brother Roy, who ran the company’s finances; not the bankers; and not his wife, Lillian. Amusement parks at that time, such as Coney Island, were a generally despised business, sagging and sordid remnants of bygone days. Disney was told that he would only be heading toward financial ruin.

But Walt persevered, initially financing the park against his own life insurance policy and later with sponsorship from ABC and the sale of thousands and thousands of Davy Crockett coonskin caps. Disney assembled a talented team of engineers, architects, artists, animators, landscapers, and even a retired admiral to transform his ideas into a soaring yet soothing wonderland of a park. The catch was that they had only a year and a day in which to build it.

On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened its gates…and the first day was a disaster. Disney was nearly suicidal with grief that he had failed on a grand scale. But the curious masses kept coming, and the rest is entertainment history. Eight hundred million visitors have flocked to the park since then. In Disney’s Land, Richard Snow brilliantly presents the entire spectacular story, a wild ride from vision to realization, and an epic of innovation and error that reflects the uniqueness of the man determined to build “the happiest place on earth” with a watchmaker’s precision, an artist’s conviction, and the desperate, high-hearted recklessness of a riverboat gambler.

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Wolfsong

T. J. Klune

'Like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket' - V. E. Schwab on Under the Whispering DoorOx Matheson was twelve when his father taught him a lesson: Ox wasn't worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harbouring a secret that would change him forever. For the family are shapeshifters, who can transform into wolves at will. Drawn to their magic, loyalty and enduring friendships, Ox feels a gulf between this extraordinary new world and the quiet life he's known. He also finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy. Joe is charming and handsome, but haunted by scars he cannot heal.Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town, and tore a hole in his heart. Violence flared, tragedy split the pack and Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Three years later, the boy is back. Except now he's a man - and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them. Wolfsong is the first book in the Green Creek series by bestselling author TJ Klune. Continue the journey with Ravensong in 2023.

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Elevation

Stephen King

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The latest from legendary master storyteller Stephen King, a riveting, extraordinarily eerie, and moving story about a man whose mysterious affliction brings a small town together—a timely, upbeat tale about finding common ground despite deep-rooted differences.

Although Scott Carey doesn’t look any different, he’s been steadily losing weight. There are a couple of other odd things, too. He weighs the same in his clothes and out of them, no matter how heavy they are. Scott doesn’t want to be poked and prodded. He mostly just wants someone else to know, and he trusts Doctor Bob Ellis.

In the small town of Castle Rock, the setting of many of King’s most iconic stories, Scott is engaged in a low grade—but escalating—battle with the lesbians next door whose dog regularly drops his business on Scott’s lawn. One of the women is friendly; the other, cold as ice. Both are trying to launch a new restaurant, but the people of Castle Rock want no part of a gay married couple, and the place is in trouble. When Scott finally understands the prejudices they face–including his own—he tries to help. Unlikely alliances, the annual foot race, and the mystery of Scott’s affliction bring out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others.

From Stephen King, our “most precious renewable resource, like Shakespeare in the malleability of his work” (The Guardian), Elevation is an antidote to our divisive culture, as gloriously joyful (with a twinge of deep sadness) as “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

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Judgment Prey

John Sandford

Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers team up to crack an unsolvable case in this thrilling new novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford.

Alex Sand was spending the evening at home playing basketball with his two young sons when all three were shot in cold blood. A wealthy federal judge, there’s no short list of people who could have a vendetta against Sands, but the gruesome murders, especially that of his children, turn their St. Paul community on its head. Sand was on the verge of a major donation to a local housing charity, Heart/Twin Cities, and with the money in limbo, eyes suddenly turn to his grieving widow, Margaret Cooper, to see what she might do with the money. Margaret, distraught over the death of her family, struggles to move forward, and can’t imagine how or why anyone would target her husband.

With public pressure mounting and both the local police force and FBI hitting dead end after dead end, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to do what others could not: find answers. With each potential lead flawed, Davenport and Flowers are determined to chase every theory until they figure out who killed the Sands. But when they find themselves being stonewalled by the most unlikely of forces, the two wonder if perhaps each misdirection could lead them closer to the truth.

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Up on the Woof Top

Spencer Quinn

Chet the dog, "the most lovable narrator in all of crime fiction" (Boston Globe) and his human partner Bernie Little find themselves high in the mountains this holiday season to help Dame Ariadne Carlisle, a renowned author of bestselling Christmas mysteries, find Rudy, her lead reindeer and good luck charm, who has gone missing.

At Kringle Ranch, Dame Ariadne’s expansive mountain spread, Chet discovers that he is not fond of reindeer. But the case turns out to be about much more than reindeer after Dame Ariadne’s personal assistant takes a long fall into Devil’s Purse, a deep mountain gorge. When our duo discovers that someone very close to Dame Ariadne was murdered in that same spot decades earlier, they start looking into that long ago unsolved crime.

But as they reach into the past, the past is also reaching out for them. Can they unlock the secrets of Dame Ariadne’s life before they too end up at the bottom of the gorge? Is Rudy somehow the key?

Up on the Woof Top is a brand-new holiday adventure in Spencer Quinn's delightful New York Times and USA Today bestselling series that the Los Angeles Times called “nothing short of masterful.”

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The September House

Carissa Orlando

“Why run from a haunted house when you can stay and ignore the ghosts? Just when you thought you'd seen everything a haunted house novel could do, The September House comes along and delivers an eerie, darkly funny, and emotionally grounded book about the ghosts that haunt houses and marriages."– Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House

A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee. 

Margaret is not most people. 

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.

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Black Sheep

Rachel Harrison

A New York Times Best Horror Book of the Year 

A cynical twentysomething must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle.

 
Nobody has a “normal” family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly...something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep. 
 
Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.
 
When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.

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The Christmas Guest

Peter Swanson

"Delicious...I defy you to stop reading The Christmas Guest once you begin." -- New York Times Book Review

New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson pens a spectacularly spine-chilling novella in which an American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family's Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village's grim history.

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma's aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she'd ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.

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When I'm Dead

Hannah Morrissey

One girl murdered...another one missing...and a medical examiner desperate to uncover the truth in When I'm Dead, the latest Black Harbor mystery by acclaimed author Hannah Morrissey.

On a bone-chilling October night, Medical Examiner Rowan Winthorp investigates the death of her daughter’s best friend. Hours later, the tragedy hits even closer to home when she makes a devastating discovery—her daughter, Chloe, is gone. But, not without a trace.

A morbid mosaic of clues forces Rowan and her husband to question how deeply they really knew their daughter. As they work closely to peel back the layers of this case, they begin to unearth disturbing details about Chloe and her secret transgressions...details that threaten to tear them apart.

Amidst the noise of navigating her newfound grief and reconciling the sins of her past, an undeniable fact rings true for Rowan: karma has finally come to collect.

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Holly

Stephen King

Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King's most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.

"Sometimes the universe throws you a rope." --BILL HODGES

Stephen King's Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly's gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges's partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King's new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl's desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.

Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie's disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.

"I could never let Holly Gibney go. She was supposed to be a walk-on character in Mr. Mercedes and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart. Holly is all her." --STEPHEN KING

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The Only One Left

Riley Sager

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Named a summer book to watch by The Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today, Oprah, Paste, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, and Nerd Daily


"Propulsive ... a dizzying Gothic whodunit."
New York Times Book Review

Bestselling author Riley Sager returns with a Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier.


At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead
 
As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.

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Community Board

Tara Conklin

The New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics delivers a wise, timely, big-hearted novel of unplanned isolation and newly forged community.

 

 

Where does one go, you might ask, when the world falls apart When the immutable facts of your life--the mundane, the trivial, the take-for-granted minutiae that once filled every second of every day--suddenly disappear Where does one go in such dire and unexpected circumstances

I went home, of course.

MURBRIDGE COMMUNITY MESSAGE BOARD

FREE: 500 cans of corn. Accidentally ordered them online. I really hate corn. Happy to help load.

REMINDER: use your own goddamn garbage can for your own goddamn pet waste. I'm looking at you Peter Luflin.

REMINDER: monthly Select Board meeting this Friday. Agenda items: 1) sludge removal; 2) upkeep of chime tower; 3) ice rink monitor thank you gift. Questions Contact Hildegard Hyman, HHMurbridge@gmail.com

Darcy Clipper, prodigal daughter, nearly thirty, has returned home to Murbridge, Massachusetts, after her life takes an unwelcome left turn. Murbridge, Darcy is convinced, will welcome her home and provide a safe space in which she can nurse her wounds and harbor grudges, both real and imagined.

But Murbridge, like so much else Darcy thought to be fixed and immutable, has changed. And while Darcy's first instinct might be to hole herself up in her childhood bedroom, subsisting on Chef Boy-R-Dee and canned chickpeas, it is human nature to do two things: seek out meaningful human connection and respond to anonymous internet postings. As Murbridge begins to take shape around Darcy, both online and in person, Darcy will consider the most fundamental of American questions: What can she ask of her community And what does she owe it in return

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Lessons in Chemistry

Bonnie Garmus

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • A must-read debut! Meet Elizabeth Zott: a “formidable, unapologetic and inspiring” (PARADE) scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat” (The New York Times Book Review).

"A unique heroine ... you'll find yourself wishing she wasn’t fictional." —Seattle Times

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

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Dark Ride

Lou Berney

FINALIST FOR THE LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE!

From Lou Berney, the acclaimed, multi award-winning author of November Road and The Long and Faraway Gone, comes a Dark Ride

Sometimes the person you least expect is just the hero you need

Twenty-one-year-old Hardy "Hardly" Reed--good-natured, easygoing, usually stoned--is drifting through life. A minimum-wage scare actor at an amusement park, he avoids unnecessary effort and unrealistic ambitions.

Then one day he notices two children, around six or seven, sitting all alone on a bench. Hardly checks if they're okay and sees injuries on both children. Someone is hurting these kids.

He reports the incident to Child Protective Service.

That should be the end of it. After all, Hardly's not even good at looking out for himself so the last thing he wants to do is look out for anyone else. But he's haunted by the two kids, his heart breaking for them. And the more research he does the less he trusts that Child Protective Services --understaffed and overworked--will do anything about it.

That leaves...Hardly. He is probably the last person you'd ever want to count on. But those two kids have nobody else but him. Hardly has to do what's right and help them.

For the first time in his life, Hardly decides to fight for something. This might be the one point in his entire life, he realizes, that is the entire point of his life. He will help those kids.

At first, trying to gather evidence that will force the proper authorities to intervene, Hardly is a total disaster. Gradually, with assistance from unexpected allies, he develops investigative skills and discovers he's smarter and more capable than he ever imagined.

But Hardly also discovers that the situation is more dangerous than he ever expected. The abusive father who has been hurting these children isn't just a lawyer--he also runs a violent drug-dealing operation. The mother claims she wants to escape with the kids--but Hardly isn't sure he can trust her.

Faced with a different version of himself than he has ever known, Hardly refuses to give up. But his commitment to saving these kids from further harm might end up getting the kids, and Hardly himself, killed.

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I Will Find You

Harlan Coben

In this breathtaking thriller from a New York Times bestselling author, an innocent father serving life for the murder of his own son receives evidence that his child may still be alive--and must break out of prison to find out the truth.

David Burroughs was once a devoted father to his three-year-old son Matthew, living a dream life just a short drive away from the working-class suburb where he and his wife, Cheryl, first fell in love--until one fateful night when David woke suddenly to discover Matthew had been murdered while David was asleep just down the hall.

Half a decade later, David's been wrongly accused and convicted of the murder, left to serve out his time in a maximum-security prison--a fate which, grieving and wracked with guilt, David didn't have the will to fight. The world has moved on without him. Then Cheryl's younger sister, Rachel, makes a surprise appearance during visiting hours bearing a strange photograph. It's a vacation shot of a bustling amusement park a friend shared with her, and in the background, just barely in frame, is a boy bearing an eerie resemblance to David's son. Even though it can't be, David just knows: Matthew is still alive.

David plans a harrowing escape, determined to achieve the impossible - save his son, clear his own name, and discover the real story of what happened. But with his life on the line and the FBI following his every move, can David evade capture long enough to reveal the shocking truth?

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Starlings

Amanda Linsmeier

A dark YA fantasy debut perfect for fans of House of Hollow and Small Favors. In the wake of her father's death, a teen girl discovers a side of her family she didn't know existed, and is pulled into a dark—and ancient—bargain she is next in line to fulfill.

Kit’s father always told her he had no family, but his sudden death revealed the truth. Now Kit has a grandmother she never knew she had—Agatha Starling—and an invitation to visit her father’s hometown, Rosemont.

And Rosemont is picture perfect: the famed eternal roses bloom all year, downtown is straight out of the 1950s . . . there’s even a cute guy to show Kit around.

The longer Kit’s there, though, the stranger it all feels. The Starling family is revered, but there’s something off about how the Starling women seem to be at the center of the all the town’s important history. And as welcoming as the locals are, Kit can’t shake the feeling that they're hiding something from her.

Agatha is so happy to finally meet her only granddaughter, and the town is truly charming, but Kit can’t help wondering, if everything is so great in Rosemont, why did her father leave? And why does it seem like he never wanted her to find it?

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Greymist Fair

Francesca Zappia

"Sharp and accessible." --School Library Journal

"Illustrates the revolutionary power of love, kindness, and community." --Publishers Weekly

"Fans of retellings will enjoy finding many hidden tropes in the warm, original fantasy." --Kirkus Reviews

The villagers of Greymist Fair know that the woods are a dangerous and magical place, and that they should never set foot off the road. But when a young tailor discovers a body, her search for the culprit reveals even more strange and dark happenings around her town.

From acclaimed author Francesca Zappia, Greymist Fair is a suspenseful and inventive murder mystery infused with magic and inspired by the lesser-known fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.

Two roads lead into a dark forest. They meet at Greymist Fair, the village hidden in the trees, a place kept alive by the families that never leave. The people of Greymist Fair know the woods are a dangerous and magical place, and to set foot off the road is to invite trouble.

When Heike, the village's young tailor, discovers a body on the road, she goes looking for who is responsible. But her quest only leads to more strange happenings around Greymist Fair.

Inspired by the original, bloody, lesser-known fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, acclaimed author Francesca Zappia crafts an enthralling murder mystery that will keep readers turning the pages. Told from multiple points of view, with each narrative building on the crime discovered by Heike, Greymist Fair examines the themes of childhood fears, growing into adult responsibilities, and finding a place to call home amid the trials of life and death.

Features chapter decorations by the author throughout, as well as a map.

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West with Giraffes

Lynda Rutledge

An emotional, rousing novel inspired by the incredible true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America.

"Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes..."

Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave.

It's 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California's first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world's first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.

Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it's too late.

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Miss Benson's Beetle

Rachel Joyce

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A beautifully written, extraordinary quest in which two ordinary, overlooked women embark on an unlikely scientific expedition to the South Seas.”—Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand
 
WINNER OF THE WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE • From the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry comes an uplifting, irresistible novel about two women on a life-changing adventure, where they must risk everything, break all the rules, and discover their best selves—together.

She’s going too far to go it alone.
 
It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist—the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind. Fun-loving Enid Pretty in her tight-fitting pink suit and pom-pom sandals seems to attract trouble wherever she goes. But together these two British women find themselves drawn into a cross-ocean adventure that exceeds all expectations and delivers something neither of them expected to find: the transformative power of friendship.

Praise for Miss Benson’s Beetle

“A hilarious jaunt into the wilderness of women’s friendship and the triumph of outrageous dreams.”Kirkus Reviews

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Someone Else's Shoes

Jojo Moyes

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

“Very few authors have the power to make you laugh on one page and cry on the next. Moyes is one of them.” —The New York Times

A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of Stars

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes?


Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope--she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in.

That’s because Sam Kemp – in the bleakest point of her life – has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag--she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha’s six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence that makes her realize something must change—and that thing is herself.

Full of Jojo Moyes’ signature humor, brilliant storytelling, and warmth, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story about how just one little thing can suddenly change everything.

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