Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson: Every song tells a story. She’s a star on the rise, singing about the hard life behind her. She’s also on the run. Find a future, lose a past. Nashville is where she’s come to claim her destiny. It’s also where the darkness she’s fled might find her. And destroy her.
The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. by Lee Kravetz: A seductive literary mystery and mutigenerational story inspired by true events, this novel imaginatively brings into focus the period of promise and tragedy that marked the writing of Sylvia Plath’s modern classic The Bell Jar. Lee Kravetz uses a prismatic narrative formed from three distinct fictional perspectives to bring Plath to life—that of her psychiatrist, a rival poet, and years later, a curator of antiquities.
The Moment I Met You by Debbie Johnson: Elena Godwin has saved for a dream holiday in Mexico. Life has felt a bit less exciting lately, and she’s hoping the trip will add some sizzle. But on a gorgeous summer evening an earthquake strikes—shattering their vacation. Years later, Elena still can’t forget the face of the man who may have saved her life that night. When they’re unexpectedly thrown back together again, Elena starts to question whether she should have lived her life differently in the years afterwards. What if it’s not too late?
Smile and Look Pretty by Amanda Pellegrino: Best friends Cate, Lauren, Olivia and Max are overworked and underpaid assistants to some of the most powerful people in the entertainment industries. The women know they have to pay their dues in order to climb the ladders to their dream jobs. But as the toxic office environments reach a breaking point, the women secretly start an anonymous blog detailing their experiences, which snowballs into hundreds of others coming forward with stories of their own.
Angels of the Pacfic by Elise Hooper: Tess Abbott, an American Army nurse, has fled the hardships of the Great Depression at home for the glamour and adventure of Manila. But everything changes when the Japanese Imperial Army invades. Tess and her band of nurses serve on the front lines until they are captured as prisoners of war and held in Manila’s Santo Tomas Internment Camp. Tess faces terror, and deprivation, leading her into a web of danger as she tries to save lives and win her freedom.
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu: In the twelve unforgettable tales, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange. Each story builds a new world all its own: a group of children steal a haunted doll; a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time; an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman. These tales wrestle with themes of death and technological consequence, and unmask the contradictions that exist within all of us.
A Lullaby for Witches by Hester Fox: Augusta Podos takes a dream job at Harlowe House, the historic home of a wealthy New England family. When Augusta stumbles across an oblique reference to a daughter of the Harlowes who has nearly been expunged from the historical record, the mystery is too intriguing to ignore. But as she digs deeper, something sinister unfurls from its sleep. If Augusta can’t resist its allure, everything she knows and loves—including her very life—could be lost forever.
Life without Children by Roddy Doyle: Love and marriage. Children and family. Death and grief. Life touches everyone the same. But living under lockdown, it changes us alone. In these ten beautifully moving short stories written mostly over the last year, Roddy Doyle paints a collective portrait of our strange times. Told with Doyle’s signature warmth, and wit, these stories cut to the heart of how we are all navigating loss, loneliness, and the shifting of history underneath our feet.
Hideout by Louisa Luna: Alice Vega has made a career of finding the missing, but she’s never had a case like that of Zeb Williams, missing for thirty years. He disappeared into legend, replete with Elvis-like sightings and a cult following. Vega discovers an anxious community living under siege by a local hate group called the Liberty Boys. As she starts digging into the mystery around Zeb’s disappearance, the reach of the Liberty Boys grows more disturbing. Everyone has something to hide, but no one can cut to the truth like Alice Vega.