<p>2019. Stella Parker has the life she’s always wanted: a loving husband, two happy</p><p>children that she gave up her thriving law career to raise, and a beautiful house in the</p><p>tony suburbs of Washington, DC. But when her neighbor Gwen shows up at her door,</p><p>claiming to know things about her, Stella’s life is thrown into turmoil and she’s forced</p><p>to reckon with the dark secret upon which she’s built her life.</p><p>1987. Julie Waits yearns to be a cheerleader—a gateway to a world of normalcy with</p><p>best friends and sleepovers, and an escape hatch from life with her widowed mother,</p><p>the terrible men she attracts, and the upheaval caused by their abrupt and constant</p><p>moves. But when her mother decides those relationships are over, the past becomes a</p><p>forbidden subject that Julie can never revisit.</p><p>As Stella probes deeper into what brought Gwen to her door, the answer—and who</p><p>Julie is to her—become increasingly, terrifyingly, clear.</p><p>Filled with shocking twists and turns, this is a book that both asks what it means for a</p><p>woman to be in control of her life while also highlighting the impact of small daily</p><p>violences upon women, and the connection between physical and psychological harm.</p><div><br></div>

<p>A LIBRARYREADS PICK AND BEST BOOK CLUB PICK OF 2023</p><p>“A writer of astonishing grace, delicacy, and feeling.”—Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay</p><p>“A beautiful, haunting book.”—Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of Booth and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves</p><p>The beloved bestselling author of The Color of Air, Women of the Silk, and The Samurai's Garden returns with this magnificent historical novel based on the life of the luminous, groundbreaking actress Anna May Wong—the first and only Asian American woman to gain movie stardom in the early days of Hollywood.</p><p>At the dawn of a new century, America is falling in love with silent movies, including young Wong Liu Tsong. The daughter of Chinese immigrants who own a laundry, Wong Liu and her older sister Lew Ying (Lulu) are taunted and bullied for their Chinese heritage. But while Lulu diligently obeys her parents and learns to speak Chinese, Wong Liu sneaks away to the local nickelodeons, buying a ticket with her lunch money and tips saved from laundry deliveries. By eleven Wong Liu is determined to become an actress and has already chosen a stage name: Anna May Wong. At sixteen, Anna May leaves high school to pursue her Hollywood dreams, defying her disapproving father and her Chinese traditional upbringing—a choice that will hold emotional and physical consequences.</p><p>After a series of nothing parts, nineteen-year-old Anna May gets her big break—and her first taste of Hollywood fame—starring opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad. Yet her beauty and talent isn’t enough to overcome the racism that relegates her to supporting roles as a helpless, exotic butterfly or a vicious, murderous dragon lady while Caucasian actresses in yellowface” are given starring roles portraying Asian women. Though she suffers professionally and personally, Anna May fights to win lead roles, accept risqué parts, financially support her family, and keep her illicit love affairs hidden—even as she finds freedom and glittering stardom abroad, and receives glowing reviews across the globe.</p><p>Powerful, poignant, and imbued with Gail Tsukiyama's warmth and empathy, The Brightest Star reimagines the life of the first Asian American screen star whose legacy endures—a remarkable and inspiring woman who broke barriers and became a shining light in Hollywood history.</p><div><br></div>

<p>A beautifully crafted, enriching saga inspired by East Asian mythology, The Melancholy of Untold History is Minsoo Kang’s debut novel, steeped in history like R.F. Kuang’s Babel, epic in scope like Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land, and lyrically exciting like David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, interweaving four complex yet entertaining stories as they shape and create a nation’s literary narrative through the themes of love and grief.</p><p>A history professor mourning his wife. His young protégé’s search for a path forward. Four witty mountain gods with much to say and not enough time to listen. A gifted storyteller bringing a world into being out of thin air...</p><p>Famous for his dispelling of the national myth, the Historian understands the power of narrative. He has inspired another young professor to search for her own truths, while trying to understand the way fiction creates fact and how sometimes the past can only be understood by filling in holes with a new narrative. Which is exactly what he needs when his wife passes away to parse meaning out of a world that no longer makes sense.</p><p>Together the protégé and the Historian find comfort in each other. Yet they know their time together is fleeting, as time usually is. Only the gods have an abundance of time, and yet—the two discover—even that might not be so clear cut. Part of their homeland’s myth tells of four gods who squabbled and argued and destroyed and rebuilt time and again.</p><p>Or did they?</p><p>Because, of course, even the gods need mouthpieces on earth. And the one the Historian knows of—the elusive Storyteller—may have just been spinning tales for his own amusement and, ultimately, revenge. By fabricating the exploits of the gods, he could have set a course for certain events to unfold and a particular story to survive today.</p><p>Spanning 3,000 years and multiple voices—with tales within tales woven expertly together—The Melancholy of Untold History reveals a people and its individuals who seek to confront the hardships of life through storytelling. Mixing the East Asian mythos with a postmodern approach to standard sci-fi/fantasy narrative tropes, Minsoo Kang has created a challenging, beautiful, sad, humorous, and ultimately unforgettable novel of love, grief, and myth-making.</p><div><br></div>

<p>Jane Eyre meets The Thirteenth Tale in this new modern gothic mystery from two-time Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Carol Goodman, about a reclusive writer who is desperate to rewrite the past.</p><p>Losing yourself inside of a book can be dangerous. Not everyone finds their way out.</p><p>Agnes Corey, a junior editor at a small independent publisher, has been hired by enigmatic author Veronica St. Clair to transcribe the sequel to her 1993 hit phenomenon, The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights. St. Clair has been a recluse since the publication of the Jane Eyre-esque book, which coincided with a terrible fire that blinded and scarred her. Arriving in the Hudson Valley at St. Clair’s crumbling estate, which was once a psychiatric hospital for “wayward women,” Agnes is eager to ensure St. Clair’s devoted fans will get the sequel they’ve been anticipating for the past thirty years.</p><p>As St. Clair dictates, Agnes realizes there are clues in the story that reveal the true—and terrifying—events three decades ago that inspired the original novel. The line between fact and fiction becomes increasingly blurred, and Agnes discovers terrible secrets about an unresolved murder from long ago, which have startling connections to her own life. As St. Clair’s twisting tale infiltrates Agnes’s psyche, Agnes begins to question her own sanity—and safety. In order to save herself, Agnes must uncover what really happened to St. Clair, and in doing so, set free the stories of all the women victimized by Wyldcliffe Heights.&nbsp;</p><div><br></div>

<p>DEA Special Agent Garrett Kohl and his CIA team embark on an off-the-books investigation and partner up with a ragtag crew of outcasts and outlaws to stop extortionists and dismantle their operation before complete devastation rains down in their Texas High Plains community in this pulse-pounding thriller for fans of C. J. Box.</p><p>After hunting down a rogue spy as part of an elite CIA counterespionage unit, Garrett Kohl returns home to Texas in hopes of settling down and carving out a normal life. While learning the ropes of fatherhood, falling deeper in love with his high school crush, and rebuilding his wildfire ravaged cattle ranch, he is approached in secret by an engineer working at a nearby nuclear weapons plant, who is in desperate need of his help.</p><p>Utilizing a unique skill set—abilities Garrett has honed as a deep cover narcotics agent and former Green Beret—he embarks on an off-the-books investigation and learns that Iranian operatives are blackmailing weapons facility employees and potentially planning a devastating act of sabotage and destruction.</p><p>Already engaged in an intense shadow war with Tehran and their Quds Force spies, Garrett’s CIA team rallies to take down the extortionists and dismantle their operation. But before they can get their mission under way, enemy commandos hijack a train carrying nuclear weapons, and activate a lone wolf assassin to murder the visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense.</p><p>Caught flatfooted by the sudden attack, Garrett musters the only help he can find—a ragtag crew of outcasts and outlaws, some of whom he’d once put behind bars. Although they’re from different walks of life, and opposite sides of the law, they hold in common the deep desire to protect their homes, their families, and their way of life on the remote, wild, and alluring Texas High Plains. From a former CIA intelligence officer and consultant for the Department of Defense comes an exhilarating thriller that shows the power in unity.</p>

<p>Georgie Blalock, the acclaimed author of The Other Windsor Girl, delivers an enchantingly reimagined fictional portrait of Wallis Simpson through the lens of her cousin who is engaged to spy on the Duchess of Windsor for her alleged Nazi sympathies and finds much more than she bargained for!</p><p>American Amelia Montague defied her family five years ago to marry the man she loved, but that decision cost her everything. Disowned by her family, and left a penniless widow after her husband’s death, Amelia becomes her cousin Wallis Simpson’s private secretary in France. With no other prospects available, Amelia has no choice but to succeed, and under their Aunt Bessie’s direction, hopes to have a positive influence on Wallis and the Duke of Windsor.</p><p>During the next two years, Amelia realizes that not everything with the Windsors is glittering happiness. Beneath the façade of the besotted couple simmers Wallis’s rage at her stunted ambition, and the couple soon reveal themselves to be self-centered Nazi supporters who pursue their own interests at any cost.</p><p>When the Germans invade France, and the Windsors leave Amelia to escape the Gestapo on her own, Amelia finds herself in position to work for the most unlikely of employers: MI5 and the FBI. Convinced to work undercover, Amelia joins the Windsors in Nassau and soon realizes that Wallis’s treachery extends far deeper than the US and British government even knows…</p><p>Richly imaginative, Georgie Blalock’s novel stuns as it explores two women, opposites in every way, and the choices they make to survive both war and each other. . .</p><div><br></div>

<p>The hilarious, addictive sequel to YA murder mystery Murder on a School Night by Comedy</p><p>Women in Print Prize and Carnegie Medal nominated author, Kate Weston. Perfect for fans</p><p>of Sex Education and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder</p><p>‘Kate Weston’s hilarious YA murder mystery is a must’– Irish Independent on Murder on a</p><p>School Night</p><p>School outcasts-turned-detective duo, Kerry and Annie, are BACK – and after solving last summer’s</p><p>menstrual murders, they’re now known as The Tampon Two. (Kerry is uncomfortable with this level of</p><p>attention, Annie is refreshing her follower count every two seconds.)</p><p>When they attend the Festival of Fame, it’s the chance to meet their favourite feminist influencer IRL –</p><p>along with a host of social media stars, including a tiresome prankster Timmy, super-glam beauty</p><p>vlogger Celeste and Mystic Millie, who makes very vague predictions.</p><p>But then one of the influencers ends up dead.</p><p>The festival goes into lockdown, Annie is delighted that she and Kerry are trapped in a yurt with</p><p>celebrities – Kerry is more concerned that there’s a killer among them. Will the Tampon Two find out</p><p>who it is before they strike again?</p>

<p>An inspiring yet life-affirming story about a boy trapped in a coma after being hit by a</p><p>car chasing after his dog, Lucky</p><p>‘Absorbing and satisfying, with a real story at its heart’ Guardian</p><p>Robbie lies in a coma, after a terrible car accident involving his dog, Lucky. He can hear the world</p><p>around him, but he can’t move or speak.</p><p>Everyone comes to visit Robbie, even a famous Chelsea footballer, but nothing is working. Until one</p><p>day, against the rules, Dad brings Lucky to the hospital. Can Lucky help to bring Robbie back?</p><div><br></div>

<p>A heart-wrenching and beautiful First World War novel where, in the face of fear and</p><p>division, love, courage and kindness allow life to go on after unthinkable tragedy</p><p>Shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards</p><p>‘Our national treasure . . . Hugely moving’ New Statesman</p><p>When Alfie Wheatcroft and his father find an injured girl alone on one of Scilly’s uninhabited islands,</p><p>they have no idea where she’s come from or who she is. Able to speak only one word, ‘Lucy’, the girl</p><p>is a mystery to everyone – even herself.</p><p>While the Wheatcrofts love her as one of their own, their fellow islanders are filled with wartime</p><p>suspicion. As hostility mounts and hope dwindles, the key to Lucy’s lost memories may lie just beyond</p><p>the shoreline . . .</p>

<p>Some cats really do have nine lives: after a stay at the legendary Savoy hotel, Kaspar</p><p>the cat sets sail – on none other than the Titanic . . .</p><p>‘A cracking narrative’ Observer</p><p>They say cats have nine lives, and that’s certainly true of Kaspar. From the glamorous suites of the</p><p>Savoy Hotel to a crowded lifeboat and the hustle and bustle of New York City, Kaspar proves that no</p><p>cat is too small for big adventures.</p><p>But then this is no ordinary cat. He’s Kaspar, Prince of Cats – and the only cat to survive the sinking</p><p>of the Titanic . . .</p><div><br></div>