With starred reviews from publications including Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal—your patrons will want to read these much-anticipated books that reviewers are raving about.
FICTION
Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah
“Riveting. . . . Gurnah’s spare, unvarnished prose shines a harsh but honest light on the brutality of Africa’s colonial past. . . and through his rich main characters, the impact of colonialism and other key global events truly hits home. This profound account of empire and the everyman is not to be missed.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Breathtaking. . . . Gurnah constructs a remarkable portrait of tenderness, deep affection, and longing that stretches over time and across continents. . . . Absorbing, powerful, and enduring, Afterlives is an extraordinary reading experience by one of the great writers of our time.” –Booklist, starred review
“Impeccably written. . . . building a complex, character-based story that stretches over generations.” –Kirkus Reviews, starred review
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On sale August 23, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, audio download, and large print editions
Cold Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann
“Like Randy Wayne White in his Doc Ford series, the authors combine genuine talent for old-school adventure (including realistic, detailed depictions of violence) with a full bodied portrait of an introspective, good-hearted yet deeply troubled hero.” –Booklist, starred review
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On sale June 7, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download editions
Dark Earth by Rebecca Stott
“Stott has done a remarkable job of re-creating post-Roman England, perfect in its verisimilitude. She is a wonderful writer, too, creating memorable characters and scenes of heart-pounding suspense.” —Booklist, starred review
“An impressive narrative set in the aftermath of the Roman Empire . . . Stott concretely captures the brutality of the women’s world, their deep resourcefulness, and the power of the stories that sustain and endanger them. This is a memorable achievement.”—Publishers Weekly. starred review
“Stott builds a rich world from fragments of fact and mythic imagining. . . . The conflict at the climax of this novel is not a clash of arms but a battle between brute power and cunning, between selfish greed and communal strength. Stott fills holes in written history with magic, mythic resonance, and twenty-first-century wish fulfillment.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
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On sale July 19, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download editions
The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger
“Brilliantly imagined and terrifyingly believable. Seems destined to be a blockbuster.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Holsinger collects America’s flaws and scant empathy in this breakneck novel. Issues of opioid addiction, toxic masculinity, microaggressions, and limited resource-sharing make for compressed yet monumental circumstances within the perimeter of Tooley Farm. This bleak but resilient view of a harsh future surely entertains, and it also hearkens to hope.” —Booklist, starred review
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On sale July 5, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, audio download, and large print editions
Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang
“This book traces a line from old worlds to new worlds by means of the bloody umbilical cords that stretch between them. . . . These stories unthread the tangled relationships between mothers and daughter, aunts and cousins, siblings and lovers . . . a lingering sense that language, as well as life, is infinitely adaptable, no matter the ground on which it is given to grow. Lurid, funny, strange, and deftly sorrowing—an important new voice.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Chang returns with a dazzling collection of stories within stories that draw on old myths to embody the heartache and memories of Asian American women. Chang’s bold conceits and potent imagery evoke a raw, visceral power that captures feelings of deep longing and puts them into words. This stellar collection will leave readers hungry for more.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
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On sale July 12, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download editions
Lore Olympus, v.2 by Rachel Smythe
“Chemistry continues to blossom between Persephone—the adorable, pink, curvy new student at Olympus—and Hades—blue king of the Underworld—in the second installment of the Lore Olympus graphic novel series.” — Booklist, starred review
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On sale July 5, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download editions
Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson
“The fast-paced plot is alternately hilarious and touching, and readers won’t be able to put it down. True crime is an incredibly popular genre, and this book is a must-read for crossover romance fans.”—Library Journal, starred review
“Highly recommended for romance readers who enjoy flirty dialogue, pop-culture references, strong female characters, and, of course, true crime.”—Booklist, starred review
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On sale August 16, 2022 | Available in trade paperback, eBook, and audio download editions
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
“Snappy dialogue with witty zingers make this tender enemies-to-lovers story, set at NASA in Houston, an unforgettable follow-up to neuroscientist Hazelwood’s popular The Love Hypothesis…Light espionage, some derring-do, and an unexpected villain are just some of the delights in Hazelwood’s smart, unusual, and superbly enjoyable tale.”—Booklist, starred review
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On sale August 23, 2022 | Available in trade paperback, eBook, and audio download editions
A Map for the Missing by Belinda Huijuan Tang
“In this spectacular debut, Tang places an everyman at the center of her narrative and traces his unease with himself and the larger world through expanding circles that define his life.” —Booklist, starred review
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On sale August 9, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download editions
Nothing but the Truth by Holly James
“James’ debut is a delightful, frothy, feminist take on classic chick-lit themes and characters, featuring a charming lead whose hang-ups will resonate with readers. Ideal for fans of Camille Perri or Katie Heaney, or any reader in search of a beach read with lots of heart and a little bit of edge.”—Booklist, starred
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On sale July 12, 2022 | Available in trade paperback, eBook, and audio download editions
The Self-Made Widow by Fabian Nicieza
“Best known as a comics writer for various Marvel enterprises (including X-Men), Nicieza has made a successful leap to crime fiction (Suburban Dicks, 2021). His latest is a satirical suburban mystery that offers a brilliant blend of searing social commentary, acerbic wit, and heart-wrenching tragedy.” —Booklist, starred review
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On sale June 21, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download editions
Thrust by Lydia Yuknavitch
“Blistering and visionary . . . This is the author’s best yet.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Thrust is kinky, queer, and razor sharp . . . a stunning novel about the future we might be able to create if we listen to voices we’ve previously ignored . . . and about being willing to start again.” —Booklist, starred review
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On sale June 28, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download editions
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
“Gunty is a wonderful writer, a master of the artful phrase. . . . Best of all, her fully realized characters come alive on the page, capturing the reader and not letting go.”— Booklist, starred review
“Darkly funny, surprising, and mesmerizing . . . A stunning and original debut that is as smart as it is entertaining . . . Gunty pans swiftly from room to room, perspective to perspective, molding a story that . . . is extremely suspenseful and culminates in a finale that will leave readers breathless. With sharp prose and startling imagery, the novel touches on subjects from environmental trauma to rampant consumerism to sexual power dynamics to mysticism to mental illness, all with an astonishing wisdom and imaginativeness. . . . A striking and wise depiction of what it means to be awake and alive in a dying building, city, nation, and world.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
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On sale August 2, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download editions
Winter Work by Dan Fesperman
“Like Joseph Kanon in The Berlin Exchange (2021), Fesperman builds his story around
the inner lives of his characters, an approach that transforms typical espionage tropes into universal human drama.”—Booklist, starred review
“[A] superb spy thriller. . . . The action builds to a deeply satisfying denouement. Cold War-era spy fiction doesn’t get much better than this.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“An engrossing, deep-in-the-weeds thriller.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
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On sale July 12, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download editions
NONFICTION
The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit by Ron Shelton
“A marvelous book about a classic movie that is guaranteed to send fans back to the Church of Baseball to hear their favorite sermon one more time” —Booklist, starred review
“In this spectacular debut, screenwriter and director Shelton reflects on the deeply personal passion that brought his canonical sports film, 1988’s Bull Durham, to life….”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Shelton’s book is not simply a jaunty recollection of his directing debut, with all its attendant breakthroughs and headaches. The author, who displays sheer, unadulterated love for his subject, also delivers a savvy, unusually informative tutorial on how to take a motion picture from the concept stage to script development, casting, production, and post-production.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
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On sale July 5, 2022 | Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Download editions
Crying in the Bathroom by Erika L. Sánchez
An accomplished poet and novelist, Sánchez (I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, 2017) expands her oeuvre with this refreshingly candid memoir. Sánchez spares no detail in relating her life experiences, from the gang-run Chicago streets of her youth to her difficult years as an angsty goth teen, early dating life, marriage, divorce, professional success, and motherhood.
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On sale July 12, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, audio download, and large print editions
Diary of a Misfit by Casey Parks
“Parks’ work of self-investigation is a fascinating, engrossing tale about identity and belonging” —Booklist, starred review
“A tantalizing blend of personal history and reportage. . . . A brilliantly rendered and complex portrait of Southern life alongside a tender exploration of queer belonging. Parks’s writing is a marvel to witness.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
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On sale August 23, 2022 | Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Download editions
Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair
“Actress Blair (Cruel Intentions; Legally Blonde) candidly recounts the events of her life with refreshing honesty. She tells of her struggle with alcohol addiction, the love and loss she has endured, and reflects on her multiple sclerosis diagnosis… This memoir is witty, funny, heartbreaking, and beautifully written.” —Library Journal, starred review
“This compassionate and intelligent work will leave fans floored.”—Publisher’s Weekly, starred
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On sale May 17, 2022 | Available in hardcover, eBook, audio download, and large print editions
Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora
“A stirring portrait of the power of human connection . . . an immensely moving story.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
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On sale September 6, 2022 | Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Download editions
STARRED AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS
Starred Audiobooks
French Braid by Anne Tyler. Read by Kimberly Farr
“Okay, Tyler devotees and newbies (are there any?): settle in for another utterly engrossing multigenerational saga of Baltimoreans (who scatter), gently, absorbingly read by versatile Farr.” —Booklist, starred review
Books on Tape CD 9780593551622
Books on Tape DN 9780593551431
Listen to a clip here
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. Read by John Lee and others
“Mandel groupies will be especially tickled to discover Glass Hotel’s narrator Dylan Moore and Station Eleven’s Kirsten Potter are half the quartet that cipher her latest, in which four narrative strands connect almost five centuries.” —Booklist, starred review
Books on Tape CD 9780593552070
Books on Tape DN 9780593552001
Listen to a clip here