Three Keys (2024) Laura Pritchett "In her mid-fifties, everything about Ammalie's life changes. She knew the empty nest was coming, but the loss of her job and her husband's sudden death are brutal, unexpected blows. Reeling, she sets off on a trip she doesn't quite know how to define. Is it a quest or an escape? A crime spree or a hero's journey? Pritchett has written a beautiful, age-defying story about discovering your inextricable connection to the whole wide world. This is a book to hold close not only while you read, but as you march into your own battles against the joys and terrors of a life in constant motion."
The Burial Plot (2024) Elizabeth Macneal "You know the books everyone loves? Wuthering Heights, And Then There Were None, I Capture the Castle? The Burial Plot deserves a spot right alongside them . . . I feverishly devoured every perfect page of Elizabeth McNeal's tense, terrifying, and absolutely brilliant novel. It's an irresistible work of genius."
The Swan's Nest (2024) Laura McNeal "Let me count the ways I love The Swan's Nest: as a transporting romance, as a meticulous recreation of history, as a compelling examination of social hierarchies, and as an expose of the evil that can lurk behind fortunes. It's a bold feat to enter the minds of geniuses, but Barrett and Browning, as well as the wonderful cast of supporting characters, are as believable as they are beautifully written. Laura McNeal has constructed a gorgeous, faithful, and gripping rendering of poetry's most enduring love story."
Diva (2024) Daisy Goodwin "Daisy Goodwin is a genius storyteller, fashioning the most delicious, insider gossip into a tale full of heartbreak, love, ambition, and brutal disappointment."
The Housekeepers (2023) Alex Hay "A treasure trove of contradictions: fast-paced but thoughtful, vengeful but compassionate, satisfying but completely unpredictable. Alex Hay has written a deliciously clever novel... You'll never have so much fun cheering on grand larceny."
The Spectacular (2023) Fiona Davis "Fiona Davis has constructed another entrancing time machine, inviting us inside Radio City Music Hall circa 1956 not only to sit in the audience, but to dance on its fabled stage. Equal parts historical fiction and page-turning thriller, this book is propulsive, immersive, and terrifically suspenseful. Readers will dance and sleuth and fall in love with Marion Brooks, the brave Rockette who defies her father's wishes to insist on a bigger life. Never has a novel been so aptly titled -- The Spectacular is spectacular, a paean to following your dreams."
No Two Persons (2023) Erica Bauermeister "I am madly in love with this book. Erica Bauermeister has written a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives. Each story in this cycle stands alone, and at the same time carries the arc--not only through the novel that's its central character, but a cast of recurring players who connect in the most unexpected and satisfying ways. With its beautiful parts that add up to a brilliant whole, No Two Persons made my reader's heart sing."
The Lindbergh Nanny (2022) Mariah Fredericks "Gripping and elegant, The Lindbergh Nanny brings readers into the interior of the twentieth century's most infamous crime. Mariah Fredericks has meticulously crafted a story about the darkest pieces of celebrity, the unlikely people who get caught in its wake, and--most importantly--the heartbreaking loss of an innocent child."
The Making of Her (2022) Bernadette Jiwa "Oh how I love this novel! Once I started reading I never looked away, except when my eyes filled with tears. The Making of Her renders its characters so perfectly, and with so much compassion, they feel like dear friends after only a few chapters. Bernadette Jiwa has written a beautiful tribute to what our lives can become when shame is forgotten, and love is reclaimed."
Lucky Turtle (2022) Bill Roorbach "Nobody else could have written this gorgeous novel, full to the brim with tragedy but also fun, as well as the best kind of romance --embracing so much more than the couple at its center. Cindra is an impeccably loyal and honest narrator, our perfect guide through the wilds of Montana. Lucky Turtle is an ode and a love letter to our wounded, imperfect, and oh-so-beautiful world."
The Girls in the Stilt House (2021) Kelly Mustian "In a world too cruel to make a place for them, Matilda and Ada become an army of two, fighting a war for their own refuge. This is a gripping novel about friendship, danger, isolation, and the vivid, dripping, moving landscape of a Mississippi swamp. If you loved Where the Crawdads Sing, you'll love The Girls in the Stilt House."
Girl in the Walls (2021) A J Gnuse "Clear your calendar. Once you start reading Girl in the Walls, you won’t want to do anything else. Read it first for the thrill ride. Then read it a second time, slowly, to savor language that drips and swells with the terrifying beauty of a Gulf Coast hurricane. A riveting, astonishing, and flat-out gorgeous debut."
