Strong women take center stage this spring. Expect bold protagonists and fearless real-life biographies. These stories highlight ambition, resilience, and reinvention. The tone is empowering and honest. If you love character-driven reads, this season shines.
Best New Fiction Books for Women May 2026:
The Calamity Club
by Kathryn Stockett
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, GOODREADS, TOWN & COUNTRY, MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE, GARDEN & GUN, AARP, WOMAN'S WORLD, COUNTRY LIVING, AND OPRAH DAILY
"So immersive, exciting, and downright fabulous, you never want it to end."--Oprah Daily
The multimillion-copy-selling author of The Help returns with a bold, big-hearted novel about a group of unbreakable women, fighting for what's rightfully theirs--and the power of friendship to change everything.
Oxford, Mississippi, 1933.
Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one. Now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed.
Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she's left behind. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister's seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies.
Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose. When their fates--and Meg's--converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan for them to take control of their lives. But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women's freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences.
The Calamity Club will make you laugh, cry, and cheer--an epic testament to underestimated women who know that calamity can be the spark of new beginnings. This is Kathryn Stockett at her most confident, heartfelt, and hilarious--the triumphant return of one of the most beloved storytellers of our time.
Caller Unknown
by Gillian McAllister
"An unputdownable adventure that was both heartwarming and thrilling! Everything I've come to expect from Gillian McAllister!" --Freida McFadden, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
"Only a Gillian McAllister thriller can make your heart race and then your heart melt from one page to the next! I'm a devoted fan!" --Liane Moriarty, #1 New York Times bestselling author
How far would you go to rescue your child? A mother races against the clock--and finds herself on the wrong side of the law--in a desperate fight to save her teenage daughter in this pulse-pounding thriller from the author of Reese's Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time.
There is nothing that Simone won't do for her daughter, Lucy. The two have always been close, and with Lucy about to leave home for university, they depart the UK for a vacation to Texas to spend some quality time together. But when Simone awakens on their first morning in the desert, Lucy is gone, missing from their rental cabin. In her place is a cell phone, and a voice on the other line issues a shocking ransom demand. Don't tell the police. Come to this location. And be prepared to do a deal ...
Though Simone's husband urges her to bring in the authorities for help, she knows she can't take any chances. The kidnappers might kill Lucy if she tells anyone. No mother would take that risk. Instead, that night, she drives to the isolated meet-up.
What she finds there changes everything. The mysterious kidnapper doesn't want money. They want Simone to do something. The unthinkable.
A catastrophic chain of events is set in motion, with chilling consequences that extend beyond Simone and her family. What follows is a heart-pounding journey through the small towns and punishing deserts of remote Texas, in which Simone's courage--and morality--is pushed to the brink as she discovers what it truly means to be a mother.
Unbearably tense, compassionately told, and full of well-crafted moral dilemmas, Caller Unknown proves once again why Gillian McAllister's thrillers are "the best of the best" (Lisa Jewell).
The Final Target
by Nora Roberts
A young author becomes the object of a fan's desire--and rage--in the gripping thriller by the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Hidden Nature.
He showed up at Arden Bowie's debut author appearance with a copy of her novel and an eager smile. He showered her with compliments and got her autograph. Then he came to her next event. And the one after that.
Dustin was just an aspiring writer who wanted advice, Arden reassured herself. But after giving in to one of his incessant invitations and chatting with him over coffee, she discovered that ignoring her inner alarm bell had been a terrible mistake ...
An introvert at heart, Arden had long craved solitude--but now, after a harrowing assault, she finds herself hiding behind locked doors and startling at every sound. And her relief at his imprisonment is tempered by anxiety when Dustin's wealthy mother helps to get him a paltry five-year sentence at a psychiatric facility.
Arden decides to write a new story for herself, moving to a tiny Oregon town and befriending Gideon, an ex-LAPD detective. But while she learns to thrive, Dustin remains his delusional, twisted self, as fixated as ever and now seething with anger. He still believes Arden's purpose on earth is to serve and please him. And his job is to protect her. But who will protect her from him?
And So It Is...: A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope
by Jamie Lynn Sigler
The star of the legendary HBO series The Sopranos and podcast co-host with Christina Applegate, Jamie Lynn Sigler opens up about the vicissitudes of life, from early stardom to heartache and love, motherhood, and illness, offering readers an unflinchingly vulnerable exploration of the experiences that have transformed her life.
Jamie Lynn Sigler is both the girl-next-door and a superstar. Tapped at the young age of sixteen to star as Meadow Soprano, daughter of mob boss Tony Soprano, by the time the series ended in 2007, Jamie, then twenty-five, suffered from an eating disorder, kept private her diagnosis of MS, and entered a disastrous early marriage--all under the scrutiny of a less-than-kind public eye. Over the next years, Jamie would remarry, become a mother, launch a hugely popular podcast and, most recently, nearly lose her beloved son to a mysterious illness.
Amidst the stardust showered and all the slings and arrows that life has thrown, Sigler emerges with grace and a generosity of spirit that she is ready to share. In this moving and fiercely honest memoir, she reflects on her life and her years on The Sopranos. But this is no tale of woe; Jamie guides us through her darkest moments and comes out the other side emboldened and not embittered. A natural storyteller, she shares memories of her time portraying Meadow Soprano and beyond, including her often painful journey of self-discovery. In this unflinching account, Jamie holds nothing back; her resilience, candor, and her heart-bursting capacity for love shine through on every page.
And So It Is... offers the best of memoir from a cherished voice that invites us to share the most challenging and equally blessed moments of life's journey. A triumphant story from one of America's favorite stars.
True Crime: A Memoir
by Patricia Cornwell
#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell finally tells the story that rivals all of the works that precede it: her own.
"Let's start, and end, with this: Patricia Cornwell's autobiography, TRUE CRIME, could be the best book she's ever written. And I've read them all!" --James Patterson
Patricia Cornwell is best known for her international bestselling thriller series about forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Every story comes from somewhere, and Scarpetta's began when Patricia Cornwell embedded herself in a morgue.
In this achingly honest memoir, Cornwell excavates her own life, detailing her traumatic childhood being raised by neglectful parents, her father abandoning the young family on Christmas day, her mother being institutionalized twice, an abusive foster family, and developing a parental relationship with evangelist Billy Graham's wife Ruth. Cornwell depicts a harrowing hospitalization and near-death car accident. She unflinchingly shares overcoming obstacles that later gave her the ambition to become an award-winning police reporter. From there it was research in a medical examiner's office that would turn into a full-time job. She would become a forensic expert and worldwide publishing phenomenon.
Cornwell leaves no stone unturned in this deeply candid account of her life, offering inspiring insight into what made her into the international sensation she is today.
April Books:
Phases: A Memoir (Original)
by Brandy Brandy
The iconic, multiplatinum, Grammy Award(R)-winning performer Brandy brings us a raw, intimate portrait of her life, charting her journey from Mississippi churches to Hollywood spotlights
From the moment she first sang at church in McComb, Mississippi, Brandy knew her voice was special. At fourteen she landed her first record deal. At fifteen her first album went platinum. At sixteen she was starring in the hit sitcom Moesha and became the first Black actress to play Cinderella on screen alongside fairy godmother, Whitney Houston.
Yet as the accolades piled up, so too did the pressure to maintain a flawless image. To onlookers, she had crafted the blueprint for the teenage "it" girl. But behind closed doors "The Vocal Bible" as she was known, was struggling.
In this piercing, revelatory memoir, Brandy shares:
- The humble roots of her decades-spanning career;
- Her early struggles with bullies and insecurities as a high schooler;
- the inside stories behind her most iconic songs and albums;
- her star-studded connections with Whitney Houston and Diana Ross;
- the affirmation of friends and family, including her brother Ray J, that helped her through challenging times;
- her inspirational journey to reclaim her sense of self, and her autonomy as a woman in Hollywood and in music...
- and so much more.
Phases is a fearless and remarkable story of hope, resilience and the strength it takes to make peace with the past.
Small Town Girls: A Writer's Memoir
by Jayne Anne Phillips
OPRAH'S #1 MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 - A luminous memoir in essays from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, who reflects on her origins and the mysteries of memory.
"Small Town Girls is a brilliant, wide-ranging book, nostalgic and tough-minded at the same time. Like Willa Cather and Stephen Crane, Jayne Anne Phillips writes prose that reads like plainspoken poetry, full of startling and vivid images that bring a vanished world back to life before our eyes." --Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers
"The painful thing about adolescence is that everything seems absolute, and the painful thing about adulthood is that nothing does."
Jayne Anne Phillips grew up in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia. The distinctly American landscape of Appalachia--dense with forests and small churches, rich in history and misunderstandings--has been the great setting for her fiction, even as she and her boundless imagination have traveled to other times and places. In these pieces, and in her singular first-person voice, at once intimate and wide-ranging, Phillips brings us into her childhood and family, most movingly her mother. She re-creates the place she calls home, its foundational truths and the densely woven ties between the women of the town. She traces her journeys across the country and her discovery of writing and reading as tools for both survival and revelation, offering insights into the fellow writers and touchstones that moved and influenced her. From the local beauty salon to the legendary Hatfield-McCoy feud, from Jean Shrimpton and Barbara Stanwyck to Stephen Crane and Breece D'J Pancake, Phillips ponders her relationship with inspiration, spirituality, culture, and the troubled annals of the last American centuries.
Tender, inviting, sparkling with wisdom and open-heartedness, Small Town Girls is part coming-of-age story, part social history, Jayne Anne Phillips's most personal, most accessible book yet--a love letter to the place and the people who have shaped her perceptions and her writing.
Last Night in Brooklyn
by Xochitl Gonzalez
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 BY TIME, OPRAH DAILY, USA TODAY, PEOPLE, ELECTRIC LIT, HARPER'S BAZAAR, LITHUB, BOOK RIOT, PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, TOWN & COUNTRY, SHE READS, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AND MORE!
New York Times bestselling author Xochitl Gonzalez delivers a captivating story about a young woman whose life becomes ensnared in her glamorous neighbor's secret past
SPRING, 2007
At twenty-six, Alicia Canales Forten feels smothered by her future. She's in a long-distance relationship, living at home with her mother's beliefs, saving up for her wedding to a future doctor. But after Alicia ventures out one night in the neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, she finds herself lured by the siren song of youth and possibility that the striving crowd of creatives holds, and moves in.
No one embodies this milieu more than La Garza, a larger-than-life, up-and-coming fashion designer whose epic house parties fuel neighborhood lore. La Garza's life, observed by Alicia from her apartment across the street, seems to hold the allure and fearlessness Alicia has never dared to imagine for herself.
But when Alicia's wealthy banker cousin moves to the neighborhood, she finds herself increasingly drawn into both his and La Garza's precarious lives.
Against the backdrop of a potentially life-changing presidential election and a looming once-in-a-generation fiscal crisis, Last Night in Brooklyn explores the dark compromise of the American Dream for people of color living, unknowingly, in the twilight of a cultural moment. It is a story about everything money can buy--and the destruction of what it can't.
Cherry Baby
by Rainbow Rowell
#1 New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell returns with a breathtakingly honest novel about a woman who lost everything -- and isn't sure she wants it back.
Everybody knows that Cherry's husband, Tom, is in Hollywood making a movie . . .
Almost nobody knows that he isn't coming home.
Tom is the creator of Thursday--a semi-autobiographical webcomic that's become an international phenomenon.
Semi-autobiographical. That means there's a character in this movie based on Cherry . . . "Baby."
Wide-hipped, heavy-chested, double-chinned Baby.
Cherry never wanted this. No fat girl wants to see herself caricatured on the page--let alone on the big screen. But there's no getting away from it. Baby looks so much like Cherry that strangers recognize her at the grocery store.
While her soon-to-be ex-husband is in Los Angeles getting rich and famous and being the internet's latest boyfriend, Cherry is stuck in Omaha taking care of the dog he always wanted and the house they were going to raise a family in . . . and wondering who she's supposed to be without him.
Cherry had promised to love Tom through thick and thin.
She'd meant it.
One night, Cherry decides to leave all her problems, including Tom's overgrown puppy, at home. She ventures out to see her favorite band play her favorite album . . . and someone recognizes her from across the room.
Russ Sutton knew Cherry when she was a young art student with a fondness for pin-up dresses and patent leather heels. Before Tom.
Russ knows Cherry. He likes Cherry.
And best of all . . . he's never heard of Thursday.
Tender, funny, and utterly human, Cherry Baby is Rainbow Rowell's richest, most surprising--sexiest--novel yet.
American Fantasy
by Emma Straub
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, PEOPLE, AND TIME, HARPER'S BAZAAR AND OPRAH DAILY
"I can hardly remember the last time I read anything that brought me such pure joy."-- Ann Patchett
"American Fantasy is such a fun, delicious, big-hearted book." -Taylor Jenkins Reid
"You will feel so understood by this novel." -Rainbow Rowell
From New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow, an irresistible story about what happens when your teenage fantasy comes true after you're already an adult.
When the American Fantasy cruise ship sets sail for a four-day themed voyage, aboard are all five members of a famous, nineties-era boy band and three thousand screaming women who have worshipped them since childhood.
Feeling slightly out of place amid this crowd is Annie, newly divorced, turning fifty with an empty nest, and here on a lark to appease her sister. Yet when the lights come up and the idols of her youth begin to sing, something is unlocked. Call it memory. Call it nostalgia. Call it the chemical reaction of hormones, hope, and sexual reawakening. Between the slushy alcoholic drinks, the familiar music, and the throngs of middle-aged women acting like lovesick teenagers, Annie finally reconnects to a long-submerged part of herself. By the time she meets one of the band members--not just a celebrity but someone in need of a friend--she has accessed a new sense of possibility.
In a smart and incisive book packed with laugh-out-loud reflections on fame, aging, marriage, and middle age, Emma Straub delivers a richly textured story that shows us real passion is never truly lost, that what we love makes us who we are, and that deep meaning can sometimes be found in a sea of screaming fans.
Thinky Thoughts: All Grown Up and Still Just as Confused
by Gwenna Laithland
Instant New York Times bestselling author Gwenna Laithland, aka Momma Cusses, is back with a collection of Thinky Thoughts (essays, memories, poems and more!) perfect for readers of Jenny Lawson, Samantha Irby and KC Davis.
Before I was a mom who cusses, I was a millennial. Before I was that, I was just a kid with a brain that moved too fast. I've spent more time than I'm proud of getting lost in my Thinky Thoughts. They go a little something like this:
How has my childhood shaped my motherhood? I might have lost my phone again. Is it that big a deal if the kids call me cringe? I haven't left the house today. Is it a problem that I don't leave the house for days? Why does my daughter hate rollercoasters but love adzuki beans? Cranberry bog spiders. What if they rearrange the grocery store again?
Thinky Thoughts walks the line between memoir, storytelling, guided meditation, and self-help. It's a little bit of explanation, a lot a bit of exploration, and a tiny bit of still not knowing what's I'm supposed to be doing as an adult. It's also being okay with not knowing. Thinky Thoughts won't answer life's great questions. But it will make you feel a little better knowing you're not alone in asking them.
Love, Finally: Untangling the Knot Between Mothers, Daughters, and Food
by Geneen Roth - Anne Lamott
We all inherit stories about belonging, bodies, and worth. Many of those stories begin with our mothers.
An illuminating inquiry into the complicated relationship between what we eat, what our mothers taught us, and what we believe about ourselves--from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Women Food and God
"This book is both a love letter and a must-read for every woman who's struggled to find peace with her body, her mother, and food."--Christie Tate, New York Times bestselling author of Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life
For nearly four decades, Geneen Roth has been a trusted voice guiding women to give up dieting and end compulsive eating. Her books have sold millions of copies, and her workshops have months-long waiting lists. But only recently, when she was diagnosed with cancer, did she begin to understand how deeply entwined her feelings about her body are with her relationship to her mother. And, she realized, this is true for almost every woman: the voice inside our heads, the voice we use to talk to ourselves, which criticizes the size of our thighs or the softness of our stomachs--these are all-too-often the voices of our mothers.
Roth was determined to untangle her sense of self from her mother's judgment. Working with a blind eighty-six-year-old wisewoman, Roth learned to distinguish between her mother's influence and her own truer inner knowing. Roth began to see that it was not what her mother said or did that made her unhappy, but what Roth believed about herself because of what her mother said or did. For the first time, Roth began to understand how peace does not depend on external circumstances--you do not need to wait for someone else to change--it relies only on what you yourself choose to believe.
Written in her signature style--funny, self-deprecating, soulful--Love, Finally is Roth's story of discovering the deeper awareness that set her free. This transformative, healing book is an essential roadmap for anyone who wants to repair their relationships with food, their families, and themselves.
march picks:
Table 4 at the River Cafe: Conversations about Food and Life
by Ruthie Rogers
Inspired by her podcast Ruthie's Table 4, award-winning chef Ruthie Rogers, the cofounder of London's celebrated The River Cafe, presents a lively array of compelling interviews about food by a dazzling roster of celebrities including David Beckham, Martha Stewart, and Mel Brooks.
Since its 2021 launch, the acclaimed podcast Ruthie's Table 4 has welcomed an extraordinary range of high-profile guests including Tina Fey, Austin Butler, Jamie Oliver, and Paul McCartney. Talking about food unlocks something within them, stories and emotions never before shared. Now the show's host, Ruth Rogers CBE, the chef and cofounder of London's renowned The River Cafe, presents a collection based on her interviews with the actors, singers, politicians, athletes, and artists who have appeared on the podcast. Table 4 at the River Cafe is a celebration of food and how its preparation and enjoyment nourishes, unites, and enlightens.
Judy Blume: A Life
by Mark Oppenheimer
The highly anticipated biography of one of the world's most treasured literary voices, showcasing a life as triumphant and inspiring as the stories she crafted.
To know the name Judy Blume is to know and love literature. Her influential novels turned classics--including Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing; Deenie; and Summer Sisters--touched the lives of tens of millions of readers. For more than fifty-five years her work has done something revolutionary: it rewired the world's expectations of what literature for young people can be--frank, candid, earthy, and unafraid to show the messier sides of humanity. But little is known about the real woman behind the iconic persona, and the unlikely journey of her literary ascension, until now.
In Judy Blume, journalist, historian, and longtime Blume aficionado Mark Oppenheimer pens a beautiful, multidimensional portrait of the acclaimed author through extensive interviews with Blume herself, invaluable access to her papers and correspondence, and thoughtful analysis of Blume's beloved novels, including early, unpublished works that shed light on the pathbreaking writer she would become. Oppenheimer goes deep, exploring Blume's middle-class 1950s upbringing, complicated childhood, varied relationships and marriages, unabashed sexual experiences, bouts of heartache and loss, and enduring legacy as a champion of free speech and contemporary literature. Oppenheimer peels back the curtain to reveal the woman behind the literary empire in all her complex, multifaceted glory--a true gift for anyone who grew up reading and loving these extraordinary books.
North of Ordinary: How One Woman Left It All Behind for Wilderness and Wonder in Alaska's Frozen Frontier
by Sue Aikens - Michael Vlessides
When the wild strips everything away, what's left is who you are.
In the raw, untamed wilds of Alaska--where the wind howls, predators hunt, and the sun disappears for months--only a rare few figure out how to survive. Sue Aikens, the breakout star of National Geographic's long-running TV show Life Below Zero, is one of them. At her remote outpost 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, she weathers more than just brutal winters and hungry bears. Sue battles isolation, injury, and the ghosts of a turbulent past, forging a life in a place most people wouldn't last a day.
Left to fend for herself as a child, Sue's fight to survive began long before she ever set foot in Alaska. In North of Ordinary, she tells the unforgettable story of abandonment, grit, and fierce independence--from navigating deadly storms and surviving a horrific bear attack to learning how to build a life, a home, and a sense of self where most would see only desolation. With her trademark wit, fearless honesty, and an indomitable spirit, Sue proves that the toughest terrain isn't always on the map. It's the one we conquer inside.
Unflinching and inspiring, North of Ordinary is a memoir of resilience, reinvention, and the extraordinary power of choosing your own way through the world.
Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane
by Lindy West
In New York Times bestselling author Lindy West's ambitious memoir, she brings readers along on an uproarious cross-country road trip as she unpacks her last few tumultuous years, rediscovers herself, and reinvents her marriage in the process.
Through Shrill--the book and then the Hulu series--Lindy West became an inspiration. To this day she is stopped on the street and hailed as a beacon of empowerment by women who felt badly for not conforming to a narrow set of societal norms--thin, straight, compliant. But behind the scenes, Lindy never felt like she was the self-actualized woman fans made her out to be. When she found herself in the throes of a deep depression, with her marriage and sense of self-worth hanging in the balance, she knew she needed to make a change.
In Adult Braces, Lindy shares the story of her rock bottom, and of the journey she took to claw her way out of it. With her trademark candor and sense of humor, she examines her post-Shrill emotional implosion, her shifting feelings about traditional marriage, and her search for her long-lost self. She also tracks the highs and lows of her journey, from eye-opening natural wonders and kitschy roadside attractions to lackluster tourist traps and campground epiphanies.
The result is an engaging and laugh-out-loud narrative of becoming as Lindy transforms from a passenger into the active navigator of her own life.
Lake Effect
by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nest and Good Company comes a wry and tender portrait of two families forever changed by one lovestruck decision that will reverberate for decades.
It's 1977 and an air of restlessness has settled on the residents of Cambridge Road in Rochester, New York, a place long fueled by the booming fortunes of Kodak and Xerox and, for some, the mores of the Catholic church. When Nina Larkin is given a copy of The Joy of Sex by her newly divorced friend, she can no longer dismiss the nearly nonexistent intimacy of her marriage. Just as her oldest child, Clara, is falling in love for the first time, Nina finds herself longing for the forbidden: a midlife awakening. An intoxicating fling with a prominent neighbor brings Nina a freedom she never thought possible--but also risks the reputations of both families and unravels Clara's world, just as she stands on the threshold of adulthood.
Years later, Clara, now a successful food stylist in New York City, has never been able to move past the long-ago scandal. Drawn back home by the pull of a family wedding and wrestling with her own demons, she makes a pivotal decision that turns her life upside down. Written with Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's signature humor and insight, Lake Effect is a wise and probing look at love and desire, mothers and daughters, loss and grief, and what we owe the people we love most.
The Fountain
by Casey Scieszka
"Casey Scieszka's debut novel is absolutely delicious, like Tuck Everlasting for grown-ups. The premise is so good--an immortal woman's search for the fountain of youth--that the writing, crisp and funny, feels like an extra treat. An excellent debut."--Emma Straub, bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow
"A small-town mystery with a dash of historical fiction and romance, this book is perfect for readers of V. E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue." --Booklist
A propulsive and deeply moving novel about eternity and mortality that asks what it would mean to live forever.
Vera Van Valkenburgh hasn't been home in one hundred and eighty-eight years. But now Vera, forever twenty-six and able to heal from any wound, has returned to the Catskills. Whatever made her family immortal happened here, and if she can uncover it, maybe she can reverse it. After nearly two centuries--an endless sequence of unnoticed, meaningless lives and a soul-shaking incident in the desert--she longs to be released.
Posing as a newly arrived forest ranger, she quickly blends into the upstate community and learns of something curious and disturbing. A mysterious, well-funded company is snapping up local property, no matter how high the asking price. But when her brother, a fellow immortal shows up, accompanied by a woman whose face is incredibly familiar to Vera, the purpose for her return gets clouded and Vera is in a race against time to find out what has caused her condition before someone else does.
Blending the spectacular with the everyday in a tale filled with humor and warmth, The Fountain explores what gives life meaning and how our understandings of our histories shape--and cage--us.
The Sisters of Book Row
by Shelley Noble
From bestselling author Shelley Noble comes a gripping and timely historical novel of books, banning, and the women who helped save New York's famed Book Row.
1915: Manhattan's Book Row, an eclectic jumble of forty bookshops along Fourth Avenue, is the mecca for rare book buyers from around the world, and the haunt of locals looking for a bargain. It is also the target of the most vicious censor in American history--Anthony Comstock.
And home to three sisters who vow to stop him.
For the three Applebaum sisters, the narrow, four-storied Arcadia Rare Bookshop is the only home they've ever known. Olivia, the oldest, is an expert in restoring rare manuscripts. Daphne, the outgoing middle sister, oversees the retail shop and is a favorite with their customers. Celia, the youngest, is left to dust and catalogue, but often sneaks out to do heaven knows what. Little do her sisters know, Celia has joined a group of young people who secretly print and distribute articles on women's health by hiding them within the pages of ordinary cookbooks, household hints, and sewing patterns, despite the personal risk.
Meanwhile, the Comstock Laws threaten anybody who owns or circulates "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" publications. Even classic literature or fine art could send a person to jail. In the face of such oppression, Celia and the booksellers of Book Row band together. But secrets and a mysterious stranger mean the fate of the famed Book Row is anything but secure.
The Shock of the Light
by Lori Inglis Hall
"A wonderfully conceived and remarkably assured first novel, rich in emotion and with a truly compelling narrative drive. A brilliant success."
--William Boyd, bestselling author of Any Human Heart
For readers of The Nightingale, In Memoriam, and The Postcard, a sweeping novel of siblings, steeped in love, heart-rending loss, and sacrifice, the story of twins who meet shockingly different fates, but whose bond will last forever
Twins Tessa and Theo are roots of the same tree, in tune with one another's every thought and desire. As World War II takes hold across Europe, both are eager to do their part. Theo is recruited by the RAF and disappears into the skies, while Tessa jumps at the chance to join the Special Operations Executive, devoted to spying and sabotage behind enemy lines. It will be dangerous, highly classified work, but Tessa, despite all she shares with Theo, is no stranger to secret-keeping.
Two years later, Theo comes home. Tessa does not.
Theo, wounded, broken by the loss of his fellows and his sister, is indefatigable, angry, driven, a clandestinely gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal--and he will pay a price for pursuing answers about Tessa's fate.
Decades later, PhD candidate Edie is deep into her research on the Special Operations Executive during the war. When she finds Theo in London, they form an unlikely partnership, and together they finally uncover the truth about Theo's beloved sister--a truth that stretches back to the summer Tessa spent in France before the war had even begun.
Stunningly and propulsively written, The Shock of the Light is a novel of bravery, the brutal human cost of war, a brother and sister bond that outlasts even death, and the redemptive love that grows in unexpected places.
Almost Life
by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
"Captivating...an entrancing read packed with the extreme highs and lows of an all-encompassing love." --People
Two young women meet in Paris one sultry summer in a decades-spanning tour de force about the enduring power of young love and the poignant heartbreak of missed chances--perfect for fans of One Day and Normal People.
Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her PhD at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman. The moment the two women meet, the spark is undeniable, but their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make...
Erica and Laure's love story spans decades, marriage, children, secret trysts, and the agonizing changes--both personal and political--that might mean they can be together, after all. But when life brings them within touching distance again, will they be brave enough to seize a future together?
Beautifully capturing young love and all its complexities, Almost Life is a story of longing for the paths not taken, and the almost lives we live.
No Friend to This House
by Natalie Haynes
A Best Book of the Year from The Observer
No Friend to This House is an extraordinary reimagining of the myth of Medea from the New York Times bestselling author of Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes.
This is what no one tells you, in the songs sung about Jason and the Argo. This part of his quest has been forgotten, by everyone but me . . .
Jason and his Argonauts set sail to find the Golden Fleece. The journey is filled with danger, for him and everyone he meets. But if he ever reaches the distant land he seeks, he faces almost certain death.
Medea--priestess, witch, and daughter of a brutal king--has the power to save the life of a stranger. Will she betray her family and her home, and what will she demand in return?
Medea and Jason seize their one chance of a life together, as the gods intend. But their love is steeped in vengeance from the beginning, and no one--not even those closest to them--will be safe.
Based on the classic tragedy by Euripides, this is Medea as you've never seen her before . . .
How to Write a Love Story
by Catherine Walsh
One writer, one editor, one hot summer . . . Will this be a romance for the books?
Ciara Sheridan's father has left her with three things: a sprawling and distinctly ramshackle estate on the Irish coast, the outline for the finale to his bestselling epic fantasy series that he wanted her to finish--and writer's block.
Enter Sam Avery Frank Sheridan fanboy and hotshot editor, sent from the New York publishing house direct to Ciara's doorstep--against Ciara's wishes and red pen at the ready.
With the deadline looming, Ciara and Sam have just a few weeks to stop bickering, write this novel, and secure Frank's legacy.
But as the summer heats up, so too does the tension between them. Will their own love story be the plot twist neither of them see coming?
Book Lovers meets Leap Year in this dual-POV, forced-proximity, bookish romantic comedy--the brand-new book from Irish author and romance bestseller Catherine Walsh
Wait for Me
by Amy Jo Burns
From the author of Mercury and Shiner comes a novel about the bond between two female folk singers, the love stories that haunt them, and the music that brings them together to burn bright.
Young folk singer Elle Harlow reaches the height of her prowess in 1973, with two wildly beloved albums to her name and a hidden history of impossible heartbreak. When she sets foot on the famed Grand Ole Opry stage, a far cry from the mountain that raised her, Elle gives the biggest performance of her life. Then, to the dismay of shocked fans, her producer, and the man who still loves her, she vanishes.
Almost two decades later, eighteen-year-old Marijohn Shaw is spending her summer pumping gas, writing songs on her broken mandolin, and longing for a mother. Her father, Abe, has always sworn he was the last person to see Elle Harlow alive, but when a meteor strikes the woods of their sleepy Pennsylvania town and a piece of Elle's past emerges from the wreckage, the truth of her disappearance sets fire to everything Marijohn believes about herself, her music, and her ability to love with abandon.
Wait for Me exalts the lush hills of Appalachia and the bright lights of Nashville as it reveals the legacy of Elle Harlow, the bold voice that defined her, the intimate betrayal that undid her, and the unexpected faith of another young woman determined to resurrect her.
Darkening Song
by Delphine Seddon
For fans of DAISY JONES AND THE SIX, EUPHORIA, and LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE, DARKENING SONG is a fiercely feminist debut about two young women; one a recording artist failed by the industry which made her an idol, and the other her ambitious manager, forced to make an impossible choice between friendship and power.
TO BE ADAPTED INTO A MAJOR TELEVISION SERIES
Eva is just 18 years old and interning at a record label when she discovers 16 year old Alora online. Never has she heard a voice like Alora's and when it's clear there isn't anyone at the label interested in hearing this phenomenal talent, Eva takes matters into her own hands. On a whim, Eva offers Alora representation as her manager without knowing the first thing about artist management or what's about to happen to both of them.
And it turns out Eva was right... Alora is swiftly catapulted into the spotlight of major superstardom, and as the two navigate the whirling vortex of fame--the parties, the money, the paparazzi, and power--they form a deep bond, becoming found family for one another.
But when Alora's dark and mysterious past begins to infiltrate her present and Eva's ambition and success blind her to the obvious signs that her client and, most importantly, her friend is in trouble, their lives unravel with disastrous consequences.
DARKENING SONG is a story about friendship and betrayal. It's a love story, and a story about growing up in an industry which sometimes disregards the needs of young girls and women in favor of self-interest. But more than anything, it's a story about redemption, and the ways that hopes and dreams can come true in ways we least expect.
Life: A Love Story
by Elizabeth Berg
A warm, intimate novel that reminds us of the richness that can be found all throughout our lives--by the New York Times bestselling author of The Story of Arthur Truluv and Open House
As ninety-two-year-old Florence "Flo" Greene nears the end of her life, she writes a letter to Ruthie, the woman who grew up next door to her, describing the items Flo is leaving Ruthie in her will. But as it goes on, telling surprising stories about those "little" things Flo will leave behind (What could possibly be the worth of a rubber band kept in a matchbox tied up in red ribbon?), an unforgettable portrait of the life she has lived emerges.
The letter starts off as an autobiography in things, but it turns out to do much more than that: ultimately, it will transform Flo and those around her. In the time she has left, Flo decides to take herself up on tiny dares. She encourages Ruthie to reconsider her impending divorce by sharing a startling, long-buried secret about her own perfect-seeming marriage. Flo has never had a pedicure before now, and as long as she's going to a beauty parlor, she arranges to have a blue streak put in her hair, too. And as these adventures lead her to make new friends, Flo helps them, too, find the fulfillment that living a full life has led her to understand.
Full of Elizabeth Berg's characteristic mix of warmth, humor, and poignancy, Life: A Love Story is a reminder that whatever your circumstances, as long as you're alive, you can keep on investing in life. The joy will inevitably follow.
Lady Tremaine
by Rachel Hochhauser
"A bold and beautifully written examination of a mother's love told through the eyes of Cinderella's 'wicked' stepmother." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) - "Destined to be one of the biggest books of the year." --Glennon Doyle, #1 bestselling author of Untamed - "Splendid." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) - "Breathtakingly beautiful." --Emilia Hart, bestselling author of Weyward
Twice-widowed, Lady Etheldreda Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley is solely responsible for her two children, a priggish stepdaughter, a razor-taloned peregrine falcon, and a crumbling manor. Fierce and determined, Ethel clings to the respectability her deceased husband's title affords her, hoping it will secure her daughters' future through marriage.
When a royal ball offers the chance to change everything, Ethel risks her pride in pursuit of an invitation for all three of her daughters--only to see her hopes fulfilled by the wrong one. As an engagement to the future king unfolds, Ethel discovers a sordid secret hidden in the depths of the royal family, forcing her to choose between the security she craves and the wellbeing of the stepdaughter who has rebuffed her at every turn.
As if Bridgerton met Circe, and exhilarating to its core, Lady Tremaine reimagines the myth of the evil stepmother at the heart of the world's most famous fairy tale. It is a battle cry for a mother's love for her daughters, and a celebration of women everywhere who make their own fortunes.
Daughter of Egypt
by Marie Benedict
Known for her "delightful blend of historical fiction and suspense" (People), New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict, returns with a sweeping tale of a young woman who unearths the truth about a forgotten Pharaoh--rewriting both of their legacies forever.
In the 1920s, archeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle made headlines around the world with the discovery of the treasure-filled tomb of the boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun. But behind it all stood Lady Evelyn Herbert--daughter of Lord Carnarvon--whose daring spirit and relentless curiosity made the momentous find possible.
Nearly 3,000 years earlier, another woman defied the expectations of her time: Hatshepsut, Egypt's lost pharaoh. Her reign was bold, visionary--and nearly erased from history.
When Evelyn becomes obsessed with finding Hatshepsut's secret tomb, she risks everything to uncover the truth about her reign and keep valued artifacts in Egypt, their rightful home. But as danger closes in and political tensions rise, she must make an impossible choice: protect her father's legacy--or forge her own.
Propelled by high adventure and deadly intrigue, Daughter of Egypt is the story of two ambitious women who lived centuries apart. Both were forced to hide who they were during their lifetimes, yet ultimately changed history forever.
Related: Your reading list doesn't have to stop here! If you enjoy historical fiction, check out our Time Traveler book recommendations. And you might like our Bookworm selections if classics and literary fiction appeal to you.