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By Danielle Steel. 2024
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel comes a powerful, sweeping historical novel about a courageous woman in…
World War II Germany.Sophia Alexander, the beautiful daughter of a famous surgeon in Berlin, has had to grow up faster than most young women. When her mother falls ill, Sophia must take charge of her younger sister, Theresa, and look after her father and the household, while also volunteering at his hospital after school. Meanwhile, Hitler&’s rise to power and the violence in her very own town have Sophia concerned, but only her mother is willing to share her fears openly.After tragedy strikes and her mother dies, Sophia becomes increasingly involved in the resistance, attending meetings of dissidents and helping however she can. Circumstances become increasingly dangerous and personal when Sophia assists her sister&’s daring escape from Germany, as Theresa flees with her young husband and his family. Her father also begins to resist the regime, secretly healing those hiding from persecution, only to have his hospital burned to the ground. When he is arrested and sent to a concentration camp, Sophia is truly on her own, but more determined than ever to help.While working as a nurse with the convent nuns, the Sisters of Mercy, Sophia continues her harrowing efforts to transport Jewish children to safety and finds herself under surveillance. As the political tensions rise and the brutal oppression continues, Sophia is undeterred, risking it all, even her own freedom, as she rises to the challenge of helping those in need—no matter the cost.In Only the Brave, Danielle Steel vividly captures the devastating effects of war alongside beautiful moments of compassion and courage.By Patricia Park. 2024
A Korean American teen tries to balance her dream to become a chef with the cultural expectations of her family…
when she enters the competitive world of a TV cooking show. A hilarious and heartfelt YA novel from the award-winning author of Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim and Re Jane."Park&’s novel delivers authentic characters who will make you laugh…and cry. Not to be missed!" --Ellen Oh, author of The Colliding Worlds of Mina LeeJackie Oh is done being your model minority.She&’s tired of perfect GPAs, PSATs, SATs, all of it. Jackie longs to become a professional chef. But her Korean American parents are Ivy League corporate workaholics who would never understand her dream. Just ask her brother, Justin, who hasn&’t heard from them since he was sent to Rikers Island.Jackie works at her grandparents&’ Midtown Manhattan deli after school and practices French cooking techniques at night—when she should be studying. But the kitchen&’s the only place Jackie is free from all the stresses eating at her—school, family, and the increasing violence targeting the Asian community.Then the most unexpected thing happens: Jackie becomes a teen contestant on her favorite cooking show, Burn Off! Soon Jackie is thrown headfirst into a cutthroat TV world filled with showboating child actors, snarky judges, and gimmicky &“gotcha!&” challenges.All Jackie wants to do is cook her way. But what is her way? In a novel that will make you laugh and cry, Jackie proves who she is both on and off the plate.Patricia Park's hilarious and stunning What&’s Eating Jackie Oh? explores the delicate balance of identity, ambition, and the cultural expectations to perform.By Catherine Con Morse. 2024
A reserved Chinese American teen at a Southern performing arts boarding school comes into her own under the tutelage of…
a glamorous new piano teacher. A moving coming-of-age-novel from a debut novelist about first love, adolescent angst, and academic pressures.&“Compellingly readable. Make room in the boarding-school book canon for a new classic.&” - Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of In the Wild Light and The Serpent King"A moving, highly virtuosic, and heart-rending portrait of an aspiring teen pianist trying to find her way...it made me feel seen." - Patricia Park, author of Imposter Syndrome and Other Confession of Alejandra Kim and What&’s Eating Jackie Oh?Claire Wu isn&’t sure that she has what it takes to become a successful concert pianist. It&’s the fear of every student at Greenwood School for the Performing Arts: becoming a washed-out performer who couldn't make it big. And Claire's no Rocky Wong, the ace pianist at their boarding school.Then Dr. Li shows up. She&’s like no other teacher at Greenwood: mysterious, sophisticated, fascinating. Under Dr. Li&’s tutelage, Claire works harder and dreams bigger than ever. And her crush Rocky finally seems interested. Maybe she&’ll even be "Chinese enough" to join the elusive Asian Student Society.Everything is falling into place until eerily personal notes about Claire&’s bond with Dr. Li appear. Claire starts to feel the pressure. But she isn't the only one. Everyone is feeling the strain. Especially Rocky, whose extreme perfectionism hides something more troubling.As the Showcase tension crescendos, Claire must decide if she&’s ready to sink or swim. Only then can she discover who she really is and learn if she&’s ready to give her all for a shot at greatness.The Notes is a powerful and poignant debut YA novel from award-winning writer Catherine Con Morse about dealing with academic pressures, falling in love for the first time, and finding yourself.By Rachel Khong. 2024
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • From the award-winning author of Goodbye, Vitamin: How far would you go to shape your own…
destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?"Mesmerizing"—Brit Bennett • "A page turner.&”—Ha Jin • &“Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft"—Andrew Sean Greer • "Traverses time with verve and feeling."—Raven LeilaniReal Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster, and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao&’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.In 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than it provides answers.In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance—a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.Exuberant and explosive, Real Americans is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made? And if we are made, who gets to do the making? Can our genetic past be overcome?By Janet Skeslien Charles. 1998
The New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the &“captivating, richly drawn&” (Woman&’s World) The Paris Library returns with…
a brilliant new novel based on the true story of Jessie Carson—the American librarian who changed the literary landscape of France.1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children&’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears. 1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York&’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time. Based on the extraordinary little-known history of the women who received the Croix de Guerre medal for courage under fire, Miss Morgan&’s Book Brigade is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, the power of literature, and ultimately the courage it takes to make a change.By Wenyan Lu. 2024
&“The title character&’s wry, sad, and insightful inner voice is the star here. Her meditations on grief, death, love, and…
duty are full of poetry and longing. Perfect for literary-fiction fans, especially those who enjoyed other extraordinary novels about ordinary people.&” —Library Journal, starred reviewDebut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman&’s midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China, for fans of Yiyun Li and Julie Otsuka. The Funeral Cryer long ago accepted the mundane realities of her life: avoided by fellow villagers because of the stigma attached to her job and underappreciated by her husband, whose fecklessness has pushed the couple close to the brink of breakup. But just when things couldn't be bleaker, she takes a leap of faith—and in so doing, things start to take a surprising turn for the better. Dark, moving and wry, The Funeral Cryer is both an illuminating depiction of a &“left behind&” society—and proof that it's never too late to change your life.By Mariko Turk. 2024
★ "By turns funny, heartbreaking, and beautiful, [I'll Be Waiting for You] deftly handles the complexities of grief, the possibilities…
of the universe, and the power of belief." – Booklist, starred reviewPerfect for fans of the tearjerker You've Reached Sam, this emotional will-they-won't-they romance follows Natalie and Leander, two teens who navigate love, loss, and everything in between during a fateful summer internship. Natalie and Imogen are inseparable, and wildly different—Imogen is infuriatingly humble and incredibly intelligent, while Natalie is brave, jumping into danger and new adventures. Still, one thing ties them together: their love of the supernatural. Every summer, they vacation with their parents at the famously haunted Harlow Hotel. Imogen is a true believer, while Natalie sees ghost stories as nothing but pure fun. Then, Imogen suddenly passes away from an undiagnosed heart condition that no one saw coming, and Natalie is left to take on the summer before senior year alone. Without Imogen, Natalie throws herself into her senior project. Her passion is still horror, so she plans to spend her summer back at The Harlow Hotel recording fun fake footage that will get her on the teen ghost hunting show of her dreams. And her plans would be a lot less complicated if Leander, her irritatingly attractive arch rival from school, wasn&’t working on his senior project at the very same hotel. The longer Natalie stays at the Harlow Hotel, the more she realizes that Leander might be helpful for her project. After all, she could use an extra hand to help record her fake footage. But, when strange things start happening at the Harlow, Natalie wonders, could there really be something to these ghosts after all? Readers of Emily X.R. Pan, Nina LaCour, and Dustin Thao will fall for this story that explores what it means to believe—in ghosts, in the people you love, and in yourself. ★ "Told via Natalie&’s witty and organic first-person voice, this exhilarating novel is many things: an homage to a lost friend, a spine-tingling ghost tale, and a sweet, budding love story." – Publishers Weekly, starred reviewBy Janet Skeslien Charles. 2024
The New York Times bestselling author of the The Paris Library returns with a powerful, moving new novel based on…
the extraordinary true story of Jessie Carson, the American librarian determined to bring books to the children of war-torn France.'This is hands down my book of 2024. A rich, glorious life-affirming ode to the power of books and female solidarity. Simply unforgettable!' KATE THOMPSON'A wonderful story about the power books have not only to inspire, but also to rescue and restore. The characters are so richly drawn... I absolutely loved it' RUTH HOGAN------------------------Under what was left of the roof of the ruined cottage, a girl with pigtails perched on a pile of rubble, hunched over a book...1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France, a group of women determined to rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen - children's libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsession, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York's famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.*Published under the title Miss Morgan's Book Brigade in the US*'An astonishing novel with the beating heart of courageous women who change the world through books. For every reader who was once told to get their head out of the clouds because they read too many books, this one is for you... A moving novel of sacrifice, heroism, and inspired storytelling immersed in the power of books to change our lives' PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY'Bursting with remarkable characters and filled with heart-in-mouth moments... an enthralling, emotional story rich in historical detail. Janet Skeslien Charles has done real justice to the legacy of these courageous women; this wonderful book is a gift to the reader' LIESE O'HALLORAN SCHWARZ'Bibliophiles are in for a treat' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'I found myself captivated by this eye-opening book and reminder of the good that comes from dedicated hard work. I am grateful to Janet Skeslien Charles for educating me about the remarkable women of CARD' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Goodreads reviewer 'I love books about libraries and books. The fact that this book is actually based off of real people is amazing. This book celebrates the contributions that these women made when they are usually swept under the rug. I loved Jessie so much, and I will be thinking of these brave women for a long time to come' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Goodreads reviewerBy Zyta Rudzka. 2021
A Holocaust story as fascinating and compelling as it is terrifying and puzzling—a book about aging and war crimes, pain…
and pride.In the middle of summer, omnipresent heat radiates as a group of elderly people are remembering their youth. The story focuses on two sisters, Leokadia and Helena, who live together in a retirement home not far from Warsaw. These are not ordinary stories they are sharing because both of them were imprisoned as children in Auschwitz during World War II. At the center is Helena, who at the age of 12 was saved from extermination by the notorious doctor Josef Mengele, the real-life Nazi officer and physician who was known as the &“angel of death&” for the experiments he conducted on prisoners, including twins and siblings.This is a story both provocative and disturbing about the fear that lingers in victims. Was the sisters&’ relationship with the executioner a desperate attempt to save their lives, or perhaps they harbor a hideous pride and sense of superiority over other prisoners? Rudzka&’s extraordinary writing turns unsettling questions about memory and survival into art.By Janet Skeslien Charles. 2024
The New York Times bestselling author of the The Paris Library returns with a powerful, moving new novel based on…
the extraordinary true story of Jessie Carson, the American librarian determined to bring books to the children of war-torn France.'This is hands down my book of 2024. A rich, glorious life-affirming ode to the power of books and female solidarity. Simply unforgettable!' KATE THOMPSON'A wonderful story about the power books have not only to inspire, but also to rescue and restore. The characters are so richly drawn... I absolutely loved it' RUTH HOGAN------------------------Under what was left of the roof of the ruined cottage, a girl with pigtails perched on a pile of rubble, hunched over a book...1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France, a group of women determined to rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen - children's libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsession, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York's famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.*Published under the title Miss Morgan's Book Brigade in the US*'An astonishing novel with the beating heart of courageous women who change the world through books. For every reader who was once told to get their head out of the clouds because they read too many books, this one is for you... A moving novel of sacrifice, heroism, and inspired storytelling immersed in the power of books to change our lives' PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY'Bursting with remarkable characters and filled with heart-in-mouth moments... an enthralling, emotional story rich in historical detail. Janet Skeslien Charles has done real justice to the legacy of these courageous women; this wonderful book is a gift to the reader' LIESE O'HALLORAN SCHWARZ'Bibliophiles are in for a treat' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'I found myself captivated by this eye-opening book and reminder of the good that comes from dedicated hard work. I am grateful to Janet Skeslien Charles for educating me about the remarkable women of CARD' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Goodreads reviewer 'I love books about libraries and books. The fact that this book is actually based off of real people is amazing. This book celebrates the contributions that these women made when they are usually swept under the rug. I loved Jessie so much, and I will be thinking of these brave women for a long time to come' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Goodreads reviewerBy Heather Morris. 2023
This program is read by Laura Carmichael, who plays Lady Edith Crawley in Downton Abbey. It also includes a dedication,…
author's note, and two afterwords, all read by the author, as well as two songs by the Sydney Women's Vocal Orchestra with clips from both songs throughout the narration. A phenomenal novel of resilience and survival from bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz , Heather Morris. In the midst of World War II, an English musician, Norah Chambers, places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe from the Japanese army as they move down through the Pacific. Norah remains to care for her husband and elderly parents, knowing she may never see her child again. Sister Nesta James, a Welsh Australian nurse, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as Singapore falls to the Japanese she joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the Vyner Brooke merchant ship. Only two days later, they are bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia, and in a matter of hours, the Vyner Brooke lies broken on the seabed. After surviving a brutal 24 hours in the sea, Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of a remote island, only to be captured by the Japanese and held in one of their notorious POW camps. The camps are places of starvation and brutality, where disease runs rampant. Sisters in arms, Norah and Nesta fight side by side every day, helping whoever they can, and discovering in themselves and each other extraordinary reserves of courage, resourcefulness and determination. Sisters under the Rising Sun is a story of women in war: a novel of sisterhood, bravery and friendship in the darkest of circumstances, from the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz , Cilka's Journey and Three SistersBy Melanie Maure. 2024
In the spirit of Heather Morris, Kate Quinn, and Pam Jenoff, an enthralling and deeply moving story that begins during…
World War II, about orphaned twin sisters in Ireland whose lives diverge for decades, until fate—and faith—reunite them in the twilight of their lives. Orphaned during the Second World War, Aelish and Isabel McGuire—known as the twins of Belfast—are given over to the austere care of the Sisters of Bethlehem. Though they are each all the other has, the girls are propelled in opposite directions as they grow up. Rebellious Isabel turns her back on the church and Ireland, traveling to Newfoundland where she pursues a perilous yet independent life. Devout Aelish chooses to remain in Northern Ireland and takes the veil, burying painful truths beneath years of silence. For decades the two are separated, each unaware of the other's life. But after years of isolation Aelish is unexpectedly summoned to Newfoundland, where she and her estranged sister begin to bridge the chasm between them. Reunion brings to light the painful secrets and seismic deceptions that have kept these sisters apart, leaving the McGuire twins to begin reconstructing their understanding about themselves as women and as family–what they know of love, hope, and above all, forgiveness. A story of faith—in religion, in the world, and in one another—Sisters of Belfast is a heartbreaking, tragic, and deeply moving novel about survival and the enduring power of sisterhoodBy Liselle Sambury. 2024
After her private school is rocked by a gruesome murder, a teen tries to find the real killer and clear…
her brother's name in this psychological thriller perfect for fans of The Taking of Jake Livingston and Ace of Spades . Sunny Behre has four siblings, but only one is a murderer. With the death of Sunny's mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny's once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family's next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: "Take care of Dom." The problem is, her youngest brother, Dom, has always been a near-stranger to Sunny...and seemingly a dangerous one, if found guilty of his second-degree murder charge. Still, Sunny is determined to fulfill her mother's dying wish. But when a classmate is gruesomely murdered, and Sunny finds her brother with blood on his hands, her mother's simple request becomes a lot more complicated. Dom swears he's innocent, and although Sunny isn't sure she believes him, she takes it upon herself to look into the murder—made all the more urgent by the discovery of another body. And another . As Sunny and Dom work together to track down the culprit, Sunny realizes her other siblings have their own dark secrets. Soon she may have to choose: preserve the family she's always loved or protect the brother she barely knows—and risk losing everything her mother worked so hard to buildBy Hanna Pylväinen. 2023
FINALIST FOR THE 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDAn epic love story in the vein of Cold Mountain and The Great Circle,…
about a young reindeer herder and a minister’s daughter in the nineteenth century Arctic Circle In 1851, at a remote village in the Scandinavian tundra, a Lutheran minister known as Mad Lasse tries in vain to convert the native Sámi reindeer herders to his faith. But when one of the most respected herders has a dramatic awakening and dedicates his life to the church, his impetuous son, Ivvár, is left to guard their diminishing herd alone. By chance, he meets Mad Lasse’s daughter Willa, and their blossoming infatuation grows into something that ultimately crosses borders—of cultures, of beliefs, and of political divides—as Willa follows the herders on their arduous annual migration north to the sea.Gorgeously written and sweeping in scope, Hanna Pylväinen's The End of Drum-Time immerses readers in a world lit by the northern lights, steeped in age-old rituals, and guided by passions that transcend place and time.By Beverly Swerling. 2007
Set against the dramatic backdrop of America’s during the War of 1812, Beverly Swerling’s gripping and intricately plotted sequel to…
the much-loved City of Dreams plunges deep into the crowded streets of old New York.Poised between the Manhattan woods and the sea that is her gateway to the world, the city of 1812 is vibrant but raw, a cauldron where the French accents of Creole pirates mingle with the brogues of Irish seamen, and shipments of rare teas and silks from Canton are sold at raucous Pearl Street auctions. Allegiances are more changeable than the tides, love and lust often indistinguishable, the bonds of country weak compared to the temptation of fabulous riches from the East, and only a few farseeing patriots recognize the need not only to protect the city from the redcoats, but to preserve the fragile Constitutional union forged in 1787. Joyful Patrick Turner, dashing war hero and brilliant surgeon, loses his hand to a British shell, retreats to private life, and hopes to make his fortune in the China trade. To succeed he must run the British blockade; if he fails, he will lose not only a livelihood, but the beautiful Manon, daughter of a Huguenot jeweler who will not accept a pauper as a son-in-law. When stories of a lost treasure and a mysterious diamond draw him into a treacherous maze of deceit and double-cross, and the British set Washington ablaze, Joyful realizes that more than his personal future is at stake. His adversary, Gornt Blakeman, has a lust for power that will not be sated until he claims Joyful’s fiancée as his wife and half a nation as his personal fiefdom. Like the Turners before him, Joyful must choose: his dreams or his country. Swerling’s vividly drawn characters illuminate every aspect of the teeming metropolis: John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man in America, brings the city’s first Chinese to staff his palatial Broadway mansion; Lucretia Carter, wife of a respectable craftsman, makes ends meet as an abortionist serving New York’s brothels; Thumbless Wu, a mysterious Cantonese stowaway, slinks about on a secret mission; and the bewitching Delight Higgins, proprietress of the town’s finest gambling club, lives in terror of the blackbirding gangs who prey on runaway slaves. They are all here, the butchers and shipwrights, the doctors and scriv-eners, the slum dwellers of Five Points and the money men of the infant stock exchange...conspiring by day and carousing by night, while the women must hide their loyalties and ambitions, their very wills, behind pretty sighs and silken skirts.By Anuradha Roy. 2010
“This is why we read fiction at all” raves the Washington Post: Family life meets historical romance in this critically…
acclaimed, “gorgeous, sweeping novel” (Ms Magazine) about two people who find each other when abandoned by everyone else, marking the signal American debut of an award-winning writer who richly deserves her international acclaim.On the outskirts of a small town in Bengal, a family lives in solitude in their vast new house. Here, lives intertwine and unravel. A widower struggles with his love for an unmarried cousin. Bakul, a motherless daughter, runs wild with Mukunda, an orphan of unknown caste adopted by the family. Confined in a room at the top of the house, a matriarch goes slowly mad; her husband searches for its cause as he shapes and reshapes his garden. As Mukunda and Bakul grow, their intense closeness matures into something else, and Mukunda is banished to Calcutta. He prospers in the turbulent years after Partition, but his thoughts stay with his home, with Bakul, with all that he has lost—and he knows that he must return.By Ellen Feldman. 2020
"Masterful. Magnificent. A passionate story of survival and a real page turner. This story will stay with me for a…
long time."—Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey. Living through World War II working in a Paris bookstore with her young daughter, Vivi, and fighting for her life, Charlotte is no victim, she is a survivor. But can she survive the next chapter of her life? Alternating between wartime Paris and 1950s New York publishing, Ellen Feldman's Paris Never Leaves You is an extraordinary story of resilience, love, and impossible choices, exploring how survival never comes without a cost. The war is over, but the past is never past.By Suzanne Park. 2024
"With pitch-perfect humor, endearing insights and wonderfully relatable characters, One Last Word is a smart and breezy read about taking…
hold of the life you want and refusing to let go. An absolute delight." -Allison Winn Scotch, bestselling author of Take Two, Birdie Maxwell What would you say to your meddling parents, your ex-best friend, your toxic boss, or your high school crush if you didn't have to face the consequences? Sara Chae is the founder of One Last Word, an app that allows you to send a message to anyone you want after you pass. Safeguards are in place so the app will only send when you're definitely, absolutely, 100% dead, but when another Sara Chae dies and her obituary is posted online, Sara discovers that drafted messages she had drunkenly uploaded on one night have been released -one each to her emotionally charged mother, to her former best friend who ghosted her, and to her unrequited high school crush, Harry Shim. Still reeling from this disaster, Sara finds out she's been accepted into a venture capital mentorship program- and that the mentor she's been assigned to is none other than Harry, who's now a major VC superstar. With her life going from uncertain to chaotic overnight, Sara has to deal with the havoc that ensues and reopen wounds from the past to find a true path forward. A pitch-perfect homage for fans of Annabel Monaghan, Alisha Rai, and Jenny Han, One Last Word is an empowering, laugh-out-loud story about a woman who learns to speak up and fight for what she wants in life and loveBy Cecile Pin. 2023
This program includes a multicast narration. "Aoife Hinds, Ioanna Kimbook, and Ainsleigh Barber perform this stunning debut historical novel, which…
follows three orphaned Vietnamese refugees." - AudioFile Magazine "A deeply humane and genre-defying work of love and uncompromising hope."—Ocean Vuong A boldly imagined debut novel about three Vietnamese siblings who seek refuge in the UK, expanding into a luminous meditation on ancestry and love There are the goodbyes and then the fishing out of the bodies—everything in between is speculation. After the last American troops leave Vietnam, siblings Anh, Thanh, and Minh begin a perilous journey to Hong Kong with the promise that their parents and younger siblings will soon follow. But when tragedy strikes, the three children are left orphaned, and sixteen-year-old Anh becomes the caretaker for her two younger brothers overnight. In the years that follow, Anh and her brothers resettle in the UK and confront their new identities as refugees, first in overcrowded camps and resettlement centers and then, later, in a modernizing London plagued by social inequality and raging anti-immigrant sentiment. Anh works in a clothing factory to pay their bills. Minh loiters about with fellow unemployed high school dropouts. Thanh, the youngest, plays soccer with his British friends after class. As they mature, each sibling reckons with survivor's guilt, unmoored by their parents' absence. With every choice they make, their paths diverge further, until it's unclear if love alone can keep them together. Told through lyrical narrative threads, historical research, voices from lost family, and notes by an unnamed narrator determined to chart their fate, Wandering Souls captures the lives of a family marked by war and loss yet relentless in the pursuit of a better future. With urgency and precision, it affirms that the most important stories are those we claim for ourselves, establishing Cecile Pin as a masterful new literary voiceBy Claire Jimenez. 2023
A powerful novel that's "hilarious, heartbreaking, and ass-kicking" (Jamie Ford) about a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers…
their long‑missing sister is potentially alive and cast on a reality TV show, and sets out to bring her home. Winner of the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction · Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize · March Indie Next Pick · Belletrist, Phenomenal, Page & Pairing, and Readers Digest book club pick The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteen‑year‑old middle child Ruthy disappeared after track practice without a trace, it left the family scarred and scrambling. One night, twelve years later, oldest sister Jessica spots a woman on her TV screen in Catfight, a raunchy reality show. She rushes to tell her younger sister, Nina: This woman's hair is dyed red, and she calls herself Ruby, but the beauty mark under her left eye is instantly recognizable. Could it be Ruthy, after all this time? The years since Ruthy's disappearance haven't been easy on the Ramirez family. It's 2008, and their mother, Dolores, still struggles with the loss, Jessica juggles a newborn baby with her hospital job, and Nina, after four successful years at college, has returned home to medical school rejections and is forced to work in the mall folding tiny bedazzled thongs at the lingerie store. After seeing maybe‑Ruthy on their screen, Jessica and Nina hatch a plan to drive to where the show is filmed in search of their long‑lost sister. When Dolores catches wind of their scheme, she insists on joining, along with her pot-stirring holy roller best friend, Irene. What follows is a family road trip and reckoning that will force the Ramirez women to finally face the past and look toward a future—with or without Ruthy in it. What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is a vivid family portrait, in all its shattered reality, exploring the familial bonds between women and cycles of generational violence, colonialism, race, and silence, replete with snark, resentment, tenderness, and, of course, love. A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Elle • USA Today • Today.com • Ms. Magazine • Good Housekeeping Bustle The Week • Goodreads Bookriot Pop Culturely SheReads Litreactor Electric Lit • The Mary Sue • People Español • Zibby Mag • Debutiful • Her Campus Best Books of March by Shondaland Ms. Magazine • Popsugar • Bookriot • Debutiful • Powell's Book Blog • TIME 100 must-read book of 2023 • Booklist Top 10 debut of 2023