New Titles

Luna, phoenix, queen

Orringer, Julie,


"Dava and Barr Pennington, professors at a Midwestern university, both harbor potent secrets. Fiction writing is his specialty, English literature is hers. But Dava is unhappy in their marriage, and secretly in love with a colleague, Svetlana White, who teaches in the Russian Studies department; spurred by their complicated liaison, she spends her nights working on a novel about two women who run a domestic violence shelter in coastal Maine. Though she loves the work and the refuge it provides, the writing becomes increasingly difficult as her memory begins to fail; tests reveal that she's suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's. After a precipitous decline, she moves to a memory-care facility in a neighboring town. Soon afterward, her husband, alone in the house at night, discovers her hidden manuscript, which he reads with envy, and then with anger, as he extrapolates his wife's affair from the relationship described in the novel's pages. Over the next two years he rewrites the novel and publishes it as his own, to wide acclaim. But persistent feelings of guilt lead him to confess his theft to an unlikely party, who leads others to the truth. Luna, Phoenix, Queen tells its tale of artistic and marital betrayal in a chorus of voices. We hear from Barr as he becomes obsessed with Luna, a horrifically injured dog at a local shelter; from Dava as she meets Svetlana for the first time, on a transatlantic flight to Dublin; from Milo, Dava's son, as he hides in the woods with Naomi, Svetlana's daughter; from Svetlana, experiencing the loss of a relationship that ended before it could come to fruition; from Evie, Barr's research assistant, who witnessed Dava's last days at home with her husband; from James, the Penningtons' younger son, who makes a startling discovery after his father's death; and from Milo and Svetlana again, as they grieve the injustice of Barr's theft and confront the devastation of Dava's disease. In a narrative that spans four decades and four thousand miles, Luna, Phoenix, Queen illuminates the power of storytelling and explores the terror of losing the ability to make sense of our world. It is a cry of rage against our vulnerability and helplessness; an acknowledgment of the mysteries beneath the familiar surface of our world; and ultimately, if unexpectedly, a radical testament to love in its many forms."--Provided by publisher.
Date Published:2026

"Dava and Barr Pennington, professors at a Midwestern university, both harbor potent secrets. Fiction writing is his specialty, English literature is hers. But Dava is unhappy in their marriage, and secretly in love with a colleague, Svetlana White, who teaches in the Russian Studies department; spurred by their complicated liaison, she spends her nights working on a novel about two women who run a domestic violence shelter in coastal Maine. Though she loves the work and the refuge it provides, the writing becomes increasingly difficult as her memory begins to fail; tests reveal that she's suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's. After a precipitous decline, she moves to a memory-care facility in a neighboring town. Soon afterward, her husband, alone in the house at night, discovers her hidden manuscript, which he reads with envy, and then with anger, as he extrapolates his wife's affair from the relationship described in the novel's pages. Over the next two years he rewrites the novel and publishes it as his own, to wide acclaim. But persistent feelings of guilt lead him to confess his theft to an unlikely party, who leads others to the truth. Luna, Phoenix, Queen tells its tale of artistic and marital betrayal in a chorus of voices. We hear from Barr as he becomes obsessed with Luna, a horrifically injured dog at a local shelter; from Dava as she meets Svetlana for the first time, on a transatlantic flight to Dublin; from Milo, Dava's son, as he hides in the woods with Naomi, Svetlana's daughter; from Svetlana, experiencing the loss of a relationship that ended before it could come to fruition; from Evie, Barr's research assistant, who witnessed Dava's last days at home with her husband; from James, the Penningtons' younger son, who makes a startling discovery after his father's death; and from Milo and Svetlana again, as they grieve the injustice of Barr's theft and confront the devastation of Dava's disease. In a narrative that spans four decades and four thousand miles, Luna, Phoenix, Queen illuminates the power of storytelling and explores the terror of losing the ability to make sense of our world. It is a cry of rage against our vulnerability and helplessness; an acknowledgment of the mysteries beneath the familiar surface of our world; and ultimately, if unexpectedly, a radical testament to love in its many forms."--Provided by publisher.

Date Published:2026

Every story is a love story : a novel /

Mbue, Imbolo,


"Three years ago, Wolo's wife was killed in a tragic car accident. In an instant, the great love of his life was gone, and so was their beautiful future. In the face of a loss that seemed insurmountable, Wolo has slowly rebuilt a semblance of a life: he goes to work, hangs out with a small circle of friends, and fends off the matchmaking efforts of the older women in his family. The grief that dogged him has, with time, become a little gentler. Until a letter arrives one day, unbidden, threatening to upend his life once again. It is from Victoria, the woman who was behind the wheel that terrible day. Wolo's family pastor tells him the letter is the work of the devil; his mother expressly forbids him from making further mention of it; his father's second wife calls, from Cameroon, to tell him to destroy it. But Wolo ponders it for days, and ultimately agrees to meet with the woman who killed his wife. When he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared. What do we owe to those who have hurt us? Are we defined by our worst moments and our deepest regrets? And, more than anything, can forgiveness ease our suffering?"--Publisher description.
Date Published:2026

"Three years ago, Wolo's wife was killed in a tragic car accident. In an instant, the great love of his life was gone, and so was their beautiful future. In the face of a loss that seemed insurmountable, Wolo has slowly rebuilt a semblance of a life: he goes to work, hangs out with a small circle of friends, and fends off the matchmaking efforts of the older women in his family. The grief that dogged him has, with time, become a little gentler. Until a letter arrives one day, unbidden, threatening to upend his life once again. It is from Victoria, the woman who was behind the wheel that terrible day. Wolo's family pastor tells him the letter is the work of the devil; his mother expressly forbids him from making further mention of it; his father's second wife calls, from Cameroon, to tell him to destroy it. But Wolo ponders it for days, and ultimately agrees to meet with the woman who killed his wife. When he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared. What do we owe to those who have hurt us? Are we defined by our worst moments and our deepest regrets? And, more than anything, can forgiveness ease our suffering?"--Publisher description.

Date Published:2026

I disagree : winning arguments without losing friends /

Tarlov, Jessica, 1984-,


"The outspoken liberal voice on the Fox News show The Five shows us how to stay true to our values, find common ground, and communicate with confidence when engaging across political and social divides"--
Date Published:2026

Go, Crow

Kamphuis, Tjitske,


A brave crow flies from morning to night, showing the world from a bird's-eye view.
Date Published:2026

I paint my world

Novak, Esther,


Using weather to show how multiple feelings can coexist, readers learn that no matter the impact, they have the power to choose how to react.
Date Published:2026

Peck & Peck

Garmus, Bonnie,


"A novel"--Dust Jacket. "It's 1982, New York City. Crime is on the rise, muggings are in the streets, and Batter Gray, recent college graduate with a skill that no one wants--an 'ear' for poetry--is worried about his future. While all of his friends have real jobs, he folding T-shirts at the Gap. As for love? No. Not unless you count Sallie Mae, the student loan tyrant. He hears from Sallie all the time. But when Batter gets a dream job at Peck & Peck, the most prestigious poetry quarterly in the world, his life moves into the literary fast lane. Soon Batter is knee-deep in the secret war between the two Editors in Chief, the famous Peck brothers--twins and enemies--as well as being privy to the private affairs of their thirty-nine editors, whose professed mission is the same: Find originality. Reward creativity. Burn the rest. And by burn, they mean incinerate. Because at Peck & Peck, 'good' isn't good enough, "interesting" doesn't cut it, plagiarists aren't tolerated, and parolees run the mailroom. Still want to submit your poem? Go with God"--
Date Published:2026

"A novel"--Dust Jacket. "It's 1982, New York City. Crime is on the rise, muggings are in the streets, and Batter Gray, recent college graduate with a skill that no one wants--an 'ear' for poetry--is worried about his future. While all of his friends have real jobs, he folding T-shirts at the Gap. As for love? No. Not unless you count Sallie Mae, the student loan tyrant. He hears from Sallie all the time. But when Batter gets a dream job at Peck & Peck, the most prestigious poetry quarterly in the world, his life moves into the literary fast lane. Soon Batter is knee-deep in the secret war between the two Editors in Chief, the famous Peck brothers--twins and enemies--as well as being privy to the private affairs of their thirty-nine editors, whose professed mission is the same: Find originality. Reward creativity. Burn the rest. And by burn, they mean incinerate. Because at Peck & Peck, 'good' isn't good enough, "interesting" doesn't cut it, plagiarists aren't tolerated, and parolees run the mailroom. Still want to submit your poem? Go with God"--

Date Published:2026

Off the reservation

Jones, Stephen Graham, 1972-,


"Five years have passed since the massacre on the Blackfeet reservation in Stephen Graham Jones's breakout bestseller The Only Good Indians. Nathan Yellow Tail, one of the survivors of the revenge murders, finds himself in the hospital after a terrible accident that should've killed him and that nearly killed his best friend, Sebby, who is hanging on to life in a room a few doors down. Nate's life is out of balance, so when he is given the chance to reset his life, and maybe save Sebby in the process, Nate steps up, again. This time it's into a camper van that is almost as run down as his broken body, filled with three older Blackfeet, to find the bones of the lone Blackfeet boy who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School--where many Indigenous children were abused--and repatriate this boy home. The problem is, when they get the bones, something terrible has escaped with them."--Publisher description.
Date Published:2026

"Five years have passed since the massacre on the Blackfeet reservation in Stephen Graham Jones's breakout bestseller The Only Good Indians. Nathan Yellow Tail, one of the survivors of the revenge murders, finds himself in the hospital after a terrible accident that should've killed him and that nearly killed his best friend, Sebby, who is hanging on to life in a room a few doors down. Nate's life is out of balance, so when he is given the chance to reset his life, and maybe save Sebby in the process, Nate steps up, again. This time it's into a camper van that is almost as run down as his broken body, filled with three older Blackfeet, to find the bones of the lone Blackfeet boy who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School--where many Indigenous children were abused--and repatriate this boy home. The problem is, when they get the bones, something terrible has escaped with them."--Publisher description.

Date Published:2026

Whale Harbor : a novel /

Keane, Mary Beth,


"1960s, Ireland. In the wake of tragedy, a father makes choices for his eleven grieving sons. The older brothers will emigrate to England for work, while the younger ones will stay behind. The second eldest, Macdara, is offered a job on a Montana cattle ranch and sets off. His spirited younger brother Rian begs to come along and Mac promises to bring Rian to America as soon as he's old enough. But then one day Mac gets a call that Rian has gone missing. His disappearance will haunt Mac and his family across decades."--Provided by publisher.
Date Published:2026

"1960s, Ireland. In the wake of tragedy, a father makes choices for his eleven grieving sons. The older brothers will emigrate to England for work, while the younger ones will stay behind. The second eldest, Macdara, is offered a job on a Montana cattle ranch and sets off. His spirited younger brother Rian begs to come along and Mac promises to bring Rian to America as soon as he's old enough. But then one day Mac gets a call that Rian has gone missing. His disappearance will haunt Mac and his family across decades."--Provided by publisher.

Date Published:2026

The forest year : finding hope in a world worth saving /

Tapper, Ethan,


"A forest almanac for our time, rooted in a full year observing a rural woodland and its birds."--Provided by publisher.
Date Published:2026

Mystery play : a novel /

Kostova, Elizabeth,


"The last living member of a family of historians who has been hunted by dark forces associated with Dracula finds himself in peril at the hands of a new threat"--
Date Published:2026

The four wives and five deaths of Richard Milford : a novel / |cNafissa Thompson-Spires.

Thompson-Spires, Nafissa,


"We find ourselves in 1920's Oklahoma, just far enough out of Tulsa, just long enough after the Race Massacre of 1921. For as long as anyone can remember, the Milfords have led plentiful lives on the backs of the townspeople of Newville. Now, on the ominous brink of the Great Depression and at the height of Prohibition, Richard Milford was an infamous moonshiner and womanizer who, it seems, finally crossed the wrong person at the wrong time. He's dead and buried with only his women to mourn him, but a question remains: Who killed him, and why? Top suspects are his four "wives," Lally, Sophronia, Georgette, and Vivianne. But as their stories burst to light, the very idea of a true story comes apart before our eyes"--\|cProvided by publisher.
Date Published:2026

"We find ourselves in 1920's Oklahoma, just far enough out of Tulsa, just long enough after the Race Massacre of 1921. For as long as anyone can remember, the Milfords have led plentiful lives on the backs of the townspeople of Newville. Now, on the ominous brink of the Great Depression and at the height of Prohibition, Richard Milford was an infamous moonshiner and womanizer who, it seems, finally crossed the wrong person at the wrong time. He's dead and buried with only his women to mourn him, but a question remains: Who killed him, and why? Top suspects are his four "wives," Lally, Sophronia, Georgette, and Vivianne. But as their stories burst to light, the very idea of a true story comes apart before our eyes"--|cProvided by publisher.

Date Published:2026

The witch

McFadden, Freida,


"When Julia Barlow loses her job and her apartment, she has nowhere left to go but Pemberton, her family sprawling seventeenth-century estate in rural Massachusetts. Officially, she there to check in on her aging grandmother. Unofficially, she hoping the old house will give her a place to disappear. Instead, Pemberton begins to unravel her. Every night, the grandfather clock stops at exactly 3:41 a.m. The lights flicker without warning. And a disembodied voice cries for help outside Julia bedroom door. As Julia digs into the house dark history, she uncovers the story of a woman executed for witchcraft in 1692--and realizes the past may not be finished with Pemberton yet. When decades of family lies begin to surface, Julia must confront a terrifying truth: Pemberton may be haunted by women whose voices refuse to stay silent"--
Date Published:2026

"When Julia Barlow loses her job and her apartment, she has nowhere left to go but Pemberton, her family sprawling seventeenth-century estate in rural Massachusetts. Officially, she there to check in on her aging grandmother. Unofficially, she hoping the old house will give her a place to disappear. Instead, Pemberton begins to unravel her. Every night, the grandfather clock stops at exactly 3:41 a.m. The lights flicker without warning. And a disembodied voice cries for help outside Julia bedroom door. As Julia digs into the house dark history, she uncovers the story of a woman executed for witchcraft in 1692--and realizes the past may not be finished with Pemberton yet. When decades of family lies begin to surface, Julia must confront a terrifying truth: Pemberton may be haunted by women whose voices refuse to stay silent"--

Date Published:2026

Octavia E. Butler's Kindred : a graphic novel adaptation /

Duffy, Damian,


"Based on the novel Kindred by Octavia E. Butler copyright Ã1979"--Title page verso. "Originally published in hardcover in 2017... Published in paperback in 2018"--Title page verso. Includes Q&A with Damian Duffy and John Jennings, Notes on process, Teachers guide and additional exercises and resources. "Home is a new house with a loving husband in 1970s California that is suddenly transformed into the frightening world of the antebellum South. Dana, a young black writer, can't explain how she is transported across time and space to a plantation in Maryland. But she does quickly understand why: to deal with the troubles of Rufus, a conflicted white slaveholder - and her progenitor. Her survival, her very existence, depends on it. This searing graphic-novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's science fiction classic is a powerfully moving, unflinching look at the violent, disturbing effects of slavery on the people it chained together, both black and white - and made kindred in the deepest sense of the word"--
Date Published:2018

"Based on the novel Kindred by Octavia E. Butler copyright Ã1979"--Title page verso. "Originally published in hardcover in 2017... Published in paperback in 2018"--Title page verso. Includes Q&A with Damian Duffy and John Jennings, Notes on process, Teachers guide and additional exercises and resources. "Home is a new house with a loving husband in 1970s California that is suddenly transformed into the frightening world of the antebellum South. Dana, a young black writer, can't explain how she is transported across time and space to a plantation in Maryland. But she does quickly understand why: to deal with the troubles of Rufus, a conflicted white slaveholder - and her progenitor. Her survival, her very existence, depends on it. This searing graphic-novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's science fiction classic is a powerfully moving, unflinching look at the violent, disturbing effects of slavery on the people it chained together, both black and white - and made kindred in the deepest sense of the word"--

Date Published:2018

Miss Wolcott's ghost

Penny, Louise,


"A novel"--Dust Jacket. "Armand Gamache returns! "There a body in Lost Nation." "Where?" demands Armand as he scribbles on the pad by his bed. But the line goes dead before Chief Inspector Gamache can question the caller. The head of homicide for the Surete du Quebec has no idea where Lost Nation is, or who woke him in the small hours of the morning at his home in Three Pines. What he does know is that the man was terrified. And so Armand is thrust out of a deep sleep and into the surrounding forests in search of the mythical Lost Nation. And a body. When he and his team of Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Isabelle Lacoste find both, the situation only grows more bizarre. The unidentified dead man appears to be from an era more than a century old. He lying in a long-abandoned cemetery, on top of a grave with a date, but no name. Adding to the mystery, the early morning call appears to have come from Gamache friend and neighbor, Clara Morrow. While she denies any knowledge of it, it becomes clear there is some connection between her, the Morrow family, and Lost Nation. Soon, Gamache and his team are faced with tracking down not just the legend of Lost Nation, but a lost ship, lost documents belong to an eccentric Victorian botanist, and a mysterious plant not seen in a century, that might save, or take, countless lives. As the murder investigation deepens, nightmarish spectres from the past begin to haunt the Surete officers, only heightened by the appearance of one of Gamache former and now disgraced proteges, with whom he must form an uneasy alliance. As the ghosts begin to gather, Gamache, Beauvoir, and Lacoste, with the help of Reine-Marie, Clara, and the other villagers of Three Pines, realize that the body on the grave is far from the only death. To solve the crime and avert catastrophe they must look to rancid secrets and old lies no longer dead and buried"--
Date Published:2026

"A novel"--Dust Jacket. "Armand Gamache returns! "There a body in Lost Nation." "Where?" demands Armand as he scribbles on the pad by his bed. But the line goes dead before Chief Inspector Gamache can question the caller. The head of homicide for the Surete du Quebec has no idea where Lost Nation is, or who woke him in the small hours of the morning at his home in Three Pines. What he does know is that the man was terrified. And so Armand is thrust out of a deep sleep and into the surrounding forests in search of the mythical Lost Nation. And a body. When he and his team of Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Isabelle Lacoste find both, the situation only grows more bizarre. The unidentified dead man appears to be from an era more than a century old. He lying in a long-abandoned cemetery, on top of a grave with a date, but no name. Adding to the mystery, the early morning call appears to have come from Gamache friend and neighbor, Clara Morrow. While she denies any knowledge of it, it becomes clear there is some connection between her, the Morrow family, and Lost Nation. Soon, Gamache and his team are faced with tracking down not just the legend of Lost Nation, but a lost ship, lost documents belong to an eccentric Victorian botanist, and a mysterious plant not seen in a century, that might save, or take, countless lives. As the murder investigation deepens, nightmarish spectres from the past begin to haunt the Surete officers, only heightened by the appearance of one of Gamache former and now disgraced proteges, with whom he must form an uneasy alliance. As the ghosts begin to gather, Gamache, Beauvoir, and Lacoste, with the help of Reine-Marie, Clara, and the other villagers of Three Pines, realize that the body on the grave is far from the only death. To solve the crime and avert catastrophe they must look to rancid secrets and old lies no longer dead and buried"--

Date Published:2026

The slantwise histories : collected stories /

Harrow, Alix E.,


"These are stories about the past as it wasn't quite, but might have been--or could still be. These are stories about dreamers and liars and lovers and ghosts; people just like you. These are stories about places the world has seen, and some that hide just beyond the periphery of possibility. Most of all, these are stories for anyone who ever wanted more."--Publisher marketing.
Date Published:2026

A wall is also a road

Newitz, Annalee, 1969-,


"Gardenpath is a graduate student. They also happen to be an amoeba-a slime mold, to be exact-from an ancient civilization that dwells in the space between the stars. And when they turn their many eyes to researching a remote spot on one spiral arm of the galaxy, they stumble upon a discovery that will change everything they thought they knew: a mysterious planet teeming with unexpected life, language, and culture. One of these alien animals is a creature named Murtis, who lives in a city she calls Pompeii and works in a brothel known as "the lupanar." Unfazed when her strange visitor says she's from the stars, Murtis takes Gardenpath into her care, introducing her to the seaside tourist town full of immigrants and shopkeepers who are just trying to get by. Before they met Murtis, Gardenpath expected to finish their research, present their discovery, and return home to become an acclaimed scientist. But as they look into their new friend's bizarre sensor bulbs from within the suit that allows them to survive and blend in on her surprising planet, they are beginning to wonder if there's more to life than academic achievement. They're not sure what it is, but they're going to use science to find out"--\|cProvided by publisher.
Date Published:2026

"Gardenpath is a graduate student. They also happen to be an amoeba-a slime mold, to be exact-from an ancient civilization that dwells in the space between the stars. And when they turn their many eyes to researching a remote spot on one spiral arm of the galaxy, they stumble upon a discovery that will change everything they thought they knew: a mysterious planet teeming with unexpected life, language, and culture. One of these alien animals is a creature named Murtis, who lives in a city she calls Pompeii and works in a brothel known as "the lupanar." Unfazed when her strange visitor says she's from the stars, Murtis takes Gardenpath into her care, introducing her to the seaside tourist town full of immigrants and shopkeepers who are just trying to get by. Before they met Murtis, Gardenpath expected to finish their research, present their discovery, and return home to become an acclaimed scientist. But as they look into their new friend's bizarre sensor bulbs from within the suit that allows them to survive and blend in on her surprising planet, they are beginning to wonder if there's more to life than academic achievement. They're not sure what it is, but they're going to use science to find out"--|cProvided by publisher.

Date Published:2026

The rush : California gold, the Civil War, and the making of the modern world /

Philbrick, Nathaniel,


Prologue. California -- Pandemonium on a frolic -- The desert of cold selfishness -- The blank sheet of paper -- Floundering like porpoises at low tide -- A receipt signed by the Lord -- The hunting ground -- The eternal shadow -- The god of destruction -- None were faster -- A vast and ominous despotism -- Like the blade of an executioner -- Cast into the fire -- Nervous tide-lines of tremendous power -- Moving mountains -- Something must be done to hasten it -- Palo Alto -- Epilogue. Tailings. "National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower, reveals how California's Gold Rush forged the modern United States-and lit the long fuse to civil war In January 1848, a carpenter spotted flecks of gold in a shallow stream at Sutter's Mill in California-triggering the greatest voluntary migration in U.S. history and jolting a fragile republic already sliding toward crisis. In The Rush, Nathaniel Philbrick transforms the Gold Rush from a tale of sudden riches into the origin story of America's modern contradictions: capital consolidated at dizzying speed, democracy in thrall to private power, xenophobia weaponized in the name of liberty-and a stubborn belief in the American experiment that refuses to die. This is the story of a nation tearing at the seams-a republic tested by its own ideals. From the feverish gold-mining camps of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the wharves and vigilance committees of San Francisco, Philbrick renders a combustible, all-world society: Chilean brothers reinventing themselves to outrun prejudice; Native communities navigating dispossession and violence; the merchant-showman Samuel Brannan, drawn into the center of early vigilantism; and the politicians vying for control of California's future-the ambitious free-soil political boss David Broderick, who squared off against William Gwin, the Southern power broker intent on tilting the state toward slavery and the Confederacy. Not until a year after the outbreak of the Civil War, when President Lincoln signed legislation that would unite the nation east to west by building a transcontinental railroad, was California's loyalty secured. Philbrick follows the gold as it moves from riverbed to countinghouse to the halls of power, revealing how vigilantism hardened into law and how debates over slavery in the West tipped the balance in Washington. The result is a clear, human story of how a scramble for wealth reshaped ideas of freedom, labor, and belonging-and how California's rise helped push a fractured nation toward war. The Rush is alive with characters whose choices still reverberate: a searing, panoramic epic that captures both the fury and the promise of America"-- Provided by publisher.
Date Published:2026

Prologue. California -- Pandemonium on a frolic -- The desert of cold selfishness -- The blank sheet of paper -- Floundering like porpoises at low tide -- A receipt signed by the Lord -- The hunting ground -- The eternal shadow -- The god of destruction -- None were faster -- A vast and ominous despotism -- Like the blade of an executioner -- Cast into the fire -- Nervous tide-lines of tremendous power -- Moving mountains -- Something must be done to hasten it -- Palo Alto -- Epilogue. Tailings. "National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower, reveals how California's Gold Rush forged the modern United States-and lit the long fuse to civil war In January 1848, a carpenter spotted flecks of gold in a shallow stream at Sutter's Mill in California-triggering the greatest voluntary migration in U.S. history and jolting a fragile republic already sliding toward crisis. In The Rush, Nathaniel Philbrick transforms the Gold Rush from a tale of sudden riches into the origin story of America's modern contradictions: capital consolidated at dizzying speed, democracy in thrall to private power, xenophobia weaponized in the name of liberty-and a stubborn belief in the American experiment that refuses to die. This is the story of a nation tearing at the seams-a republic tested by its own ideals. From the feverish gold-mining camps of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the wharves and vigilance committees of San Francisco, Philbrick renders a combustible, all-world society: Chilean brothers reinventing themselves to outrun prejudice; Native communities navigating dispossession and violence; the merchant-showman Samuel Brannan, drawn into the center of early vigilantism; and the politicians vying for control of California's future-the ambitious free-soil political boss David Broderick, who squared off against William Gwin, the Southern power broker intent on tilting the state toward slavery and the Confederacy. Not until a year after the outbreak of the Civil War, when President Lincoln signed legislation that would unite the nation east to west by building a transcontinental railroad, was California's loyalty secured. Philbrick follows the gold as it moves from riverbed to countinghouse to the halls of power, revealing how vigilantism hardened into law and how debates over slavery in the West tipped the balance in Washington. The result is a clear, human story of how a scramble for wealth reshaped ideas of freedom, labor, and belonging-and how California's rise helped push a fractured nation toward war. The Rush is alive with characters whose choices still reverberate: a searing, panoramic epic that captures both the fury and the promise of America"-- Provided by publisher.

Date Published:2026

Quaint folk

Karella, Bitter,


"From the outside, it looks like Jessica has the perfect life. She's a stay-at-home mom, married to a man with a respectable job, raising a son they adore. Her family is as wholesome as all-American pie. But deep down, Jessica knows there's something wrong with her; she knows she can't escape her past. When her husband's job has them move abroad, Jessica thinks this is her chance for a fresh start. On the remote island of Hasenhurst, the modern world can't get in. The people there grow their own herbs, make their own jam, and mind their own business. They believe in folk tales and the power of dreams. They tell visitors, we're a quaint, quiet people. The right sort of family would do well here. Jessica is determined to be the right kind of person for a family-and a life-like this. But as she tries to befriend the townsfolk and learn their ways, she soon realizes that beneath the town's cozy idyll, something sickly-sweet and rotten lays buried.."--
Date Published:2026

"From the outside, it looks like Jessica has the perfect life. She's a stay-at-home mom, married to a man with a respectable job, raising a son they adore. Her family is as wholesome as all-American pie. But deep down, Jessica knows there's something wrong with her; she knows she can't escape her past. When her husband's job has them move abroad, Jessica thinks this is her chance for a fresh start. On the remote island of Hasenhurst, the modern world can't get in. The people there grow their own herbs, make their own jam, and mind their own business. They believe in folk tales and the power of dreams. They tell visitors, we're a quaint, quiet people. The right sort of family would do well here. Jessica is determined to be the right kind of person for a family-and a life-like this. But as she tries to befriend the townsfolk and learn their ways, she soon realizes that beneath the town's cozy idyll, something sickly-sweet and rotten lays buried.."--

Date Published:2026

The little stone Buddha

Lin, Grace,


After a little girl finds a Buddha statue and places it prominently in an ugly place where people dump trash, others begin to tidy it up and make it beautiful. Includes author's note about the real story on which this is based.
Date Published:2026

Partita : a novel /

Kingsolver, Barbara,


"Livia Cable has made her peace with her marriage and modest livelihood in the farm country where she grew up, until a shocking phone call from an old lover shakes her to the core. Decades earlier, this man knew her as Livia Bohusz, a music conservatory student estranged from her home and family, uncertain of anything except her passion for music and promise as an extraordinary pianist. His request, now, to see her again stirs up ghosts she's kept at bay for a lifetime. Shifting between past and present, Livia's decision to meet or reject the reunion means confronting step by step, in memories framed as musical dances, the experiences of childhood loss, abandonment, self-immolating passion, and perilous attachment to a man who broke her belief in love and ruptured the course of her life."--Provided by publisher.
Date Published:2026

"Livia Cable has made her peace with her marriage and modest livelihood in the farm country where she grew up, until a shocking phone call from an old lover shakes her to the core. Decades earlier, this man knew her as Livia Bohusz, a music conservatory student estranged from her home and family, uncertain of anything except her passion for music and promise as an extraordinary pianist. His request, now, to see her again stirs up ghosts she's kept at bay for a lifetime. Shifting between past and present, Livia's decision to meet or reject the reunion means confronting step by step, in memories framed as musical dances, the experiences of childhood loss, abandonment, self-immolating passion, and perilous attachment to a man who broke her belief in love and ruptured the course of her life."--Provided by publisher.

Date Published:2026