New arrivals added to our Adult Fiction Collection in the last 7 days
"1907. On the eve of her fifth birthday, Poppy Pendleton is tucked safely in her bed, listening to her parents entertain New York's gilded society in their Thousand Islands castle; the next morning, she is gone, and her father is found dead in his smokingroom. 1992. Though Chloe Ridell lives in the shadows of Poppy's castle, now in ruins, she has little interest in the mystery that still captivates tourists and locals alike. She is focused on preserving the island she inherited from her grandpa
"Opposites attract and sparks fly when the vivacious Arabella falls for a baron who lives under the shadow of a scandalous family secret. 1815, London Arabella Latham is a free spirit who longs to feel the spark of true love, but few men can match her passion for Shakespeare or her zest for life. Though her prospects seem slim, Arabella knows she can always count on the handsome but stoic Lord Henry Northcott, dubbed "The Brooding Baron" by the ton, to be willing to engage in intelligent convers
Date added:
May 10, 2024
"Love brings the house down in this charming romance from the acclaimed author of The Romantic Agenda. Lucky Hart has a special affinity for the supernatural, but almost no one takes parapsychology seriously. She's estranged from her family, lost her friends, and has been rejected from graduate school. Twice. But her big break finally arrives when she gets insider info about a troubled production company. Every actor on their new show mysteriously quits after spending three nights inside Henness
"When World War I breaks out, a young architecture student in Munich does everything in his power to avoid being enlisted into the German military in this perceptive, wickedly humorous novel by a prominent twentieth-century writer, journalist, and film critic. Siegfried Kracauer's Ginster is the great World War I novel you've never heard of. Here, the sheer horrors are kept offstage, as in Greek tragedy, and merely reported from time to time. The setting is the German home front. Its Chaplinesqu
"Ten years after she left her hometown of Trove Isle, NC, Melody Palmer is back to receive an unexpected inheritance-her great aunt's thrift store, Hidden Treasures. There, in a glass case beneath the register, Melody spies the long-lost charm bracelet she shared with her high school friends, Liz and Bri, and her younger sister, Alyssa. After a devastating prom night accident, it disappeared, and the girls' friendship evaporated with it. Slipping the bracelet on her arm for safekeeping, Melody s
"Seven days are all it takes for Rune Sarasin's life to completely derail. It starts with a routine heist: lifting a pouch of rubies from the Bangkok hotel room of wealthy smuggler Charles Lemaire. Rune nearly gets caught when Lemaire's goons give chase,but she manages to escape with her boyfriend Kit. Then Kit delivers some terrifying news: his teenage sister Madee has gone missing. They track her cell phone to the dangerous Khlong Toei slum, but the trail ends there. The night gets even worse
"A devastating battle claimed the lives of Konstantin's father, uncle, and most of their Serb army, leaving him to rule as a vassal of the Ottoman sultan, a role he is wholly unprepared for. Between war, famine, and a persistent band of brigands, Konstantin is nearly bankrupt. He will need to find a wealthy bride to marry if he is to have any hope of saving his lands and securing his future. A betrothal to Suzana, the daughter of a prosperous merchant, is soon arranged, and upon meeting her, Kon
"The novel tells about the demise of a crumbling house in Medellain, Colombia. Fernando, a writer, visits his brother Daraio, who is dying of AIDS. Recounting their wild philandering and trying to come to terms with his be-loved brother's inevitable death, Fernando rants against the political forces that cause so much suffering. Vallejo is the heir to Caeline, Thomas Paine, and Machado de Assis. He hurls vitriolic, savagely funny insults at his country ("I wipe my ass with the new Constitution o
Date added:
May 6, 2024
"Overhearing my cousin's best friend confessing that she's never been satisfied wasn't my fault....but offering to help her change that definitely was."---- " I never dreamed having by crush overhear my most embarrassing confession would land me in is bed...or that I would want to stay there."-- back cover
"Jo Sorsby is hiding from her past when she agrees to run her uncle's beloved stationery shop. Glimpsing the lives of her customers between the warm wooden shelves, as they scribble little notes and browse colourful notebooks, distracts her from her bruised heart. When she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and Malcolm, a septuagenarian still finding himself, she suddenly realizes she isn't alone. They each have a story that can transform Jo's life... if only she can let them in."--Publi
Date added:
May 3, 2024
"Cruel tyrant Taxian-jun killed his way to the throne and now reigns as the first ever emperor of the mortal realm. Yet somehow, he is unsatisfied. Left cold and bereft, abandoned by all he held dear, he takes his own life...only to be reborn anew. Awakening in the body of his younger self-Mo Ran, a disciple of the cultivation sect Sisheng Peak-he discovers the chance to relive his life. This time, he vows to attain the gratification that once eluded him: all who defied him will fall, and never
The newest arrivals in Bellinas, a reclusive, creative community along the coast of northern California run by her husband's cousin, a famous model, Tansy grows more and more suspicious of Bellinas and increasingly desperate to save her already-fragile marriage, wanting to believe in what may only be a beautiful lie.
"When Morgan and Benji invite their families to their wedding in Maine, they know the news will come as a shock after keeping their relationship secret. Twelve years have passed since the stunning loss of Benji's sixteen-year-old sister Alice, who was also Morgan's best friend, and no one is quite the same. But the young couple decide to leap headfirst into marriage and have asked their fractured families to finally come together, marking the first time their parents and loved ones will be gathe
"This is not how Liv wanted to see Jake Glasswell for the first time in ten years. Once her high school rival and the prom date who humiliated her, now a successful TV personality, he's more attractive than he has any right to be. And he's her Lyft passenger. Since the prom night kiss that never was, Liv's life has not gone to plan. She deferred Julliard to be with her mom during a crisis, and now swears she's happy as a recently furloughed drama teacher going on no-strings dates. This weekend s
"Passionate about conservation and fleeing an argument with her mother, newly qualified London vet Charlotte Walker has taken up a fellowship on the tiny South Atlantic island of Tuga de Oro to study the endangered Gold Coin tortoises in the jungle interior. She can claim the best of reasons for this year in paradise-What better motivation than to save a species?-but the reality is more complex. For Charlotte has secretly come to believe that she has her own connection to this remote and eccentr
"Mae Townsend has always dreamed of connecting with her estranged Black family in the South. She grew up picturing relatives who looked like her, crowded dinner tables, bustling kitchens. And, of course, the Townsend family barbecue, the tradition that kept her late father flying to North Carolina year after year, despite the mysterious rift that always required her to stay behind. But as Mae's wedding draws closer, promising a future of always standing out among her white in-laws, suddenly not
The Bram Stoker Award-nominated and Splatterpunk Award-winning author presents four brand-new horror stories, including This Skin Was Once Mine, in which Jillian Finch, after her father dies under mysterious consequences, discovers it's only natural to hurt the ones you love as a dark secret threatens to undo everything she has ever known.
"From the critically-acclaimed novelist and essayist, the hilarious, heartwarming story of the Milanis-an Iranian American family who live in wealth and whose recent foray into the spotlight will force them to divulge long-kept family secrets and bring them closer than ever before When Ali and Homa Milani first immigrated from Iran to the United States, they struggled to make ends meet. Now multimillionaires and self-proclaimed American Fast-Food Moguls, they've established a name for themselves
"Lessons in Chemistry meets Mad Men in this wildly entertaining debut novel, set in glamorous Rome in the late 1960s, which follows the free-spirited wife of an American diplomat as she desperately tries to contain a scandal of her own making. It is the summer of 1969 and Rome is awash with glamour and intrigue: the stars of Cinecittaa are drinking and dancing along the paparazzo-lined Via Veneto, where royalty, American expats, and the occasional Russian spy rub shoulders. Teddy Huntley Carlyle
"A man living on a Florida barrier island must protect his family from both an approaching hurricane and a relentless killer. Jacob Powell is racing to get off the island as a hurricane approaches. When he finds his friend Collins, the building manager, dead from a blow to the skull, Jacob realizes there's more than the hurricane to fear. The murderer is likely still on the island, maybe even inside the nearly abandoned building. Collins had repeatedly run afoul of the wealthy owners of the buil
"The mystery of Evie Cormac's background has followed her into adulthood. As a child, she was discovered hiding in a secret room where a man had been tortured to death. Many of her captors and abusers escaped justice, unseen but not forgotten. Now, on a hot summer's day, the past drags Evie back as she watches the bodies of seventeen migrants wash up on a Lincolnshire beach. There is only one survivor, a teenage boy, who tells police their small boat was deliberately rammed and sunk. Psychologis
"Oklahoma 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Augusta Radley knows that her stepfather doesn't have good intentions toward the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees to the woods, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the rugged Winding Stair Mountains, the notorious territory of outlaws, treasure hunters, and desperate men. Along the way, Ollie and Nessa form an unlikely band with others like themselves, stru
"Brimming with heart and heat, Rules for Second Chances explores the hardest relationship question of all: can true love happen twice...with the same person? Liz Lewis has tried everything to be what people want. But she's always been labeled different from everyone else in the boisterous world of wilderness expeditions-that is, if anyone notices her at all. Her marriage to popular adventure guide Tobin Renner-Lewis is a sinkhole of toxic positivity where she's the only one saying no. In a mount
"She's rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own? Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She's spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies-good ones! That win contests! But she's also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates-The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!-it's a break too big to pass up. Emma's younger sister
"Aspiring writer Raegan Farrow learns about a tell-all on her famous mother's life that could tear their family apart but keeps it a secret as they embark on a cross-country road trip. While trying to uncover who's behind it, she learns their handsome driver has his own connection to her mother's past, and all their lives will be changed by journey's end"--
"At first the vision is grainy-like something seen through wet glass. But slowly it clears, and there appears the figure of a man. When Kunle's younger brother disappears as his country explodes in civil war, Kunle must set out on an impossible rescue mission behind enemy lines. Set in Nigeria in the late 1960s, The Road to the Country is the epic story of a shy, bookish student haunted by long-held guilt and shame who must go to war to free himself. Kunle's search for his brother becomes a jour
"When infamous outlaw Butch Cassidy decides to go straight, he discovers that too many of the powerful men he crossed won't let bygones be bygones. To have a chance at a new life, he'll have to become someone else entirely. A brief, fateful encounter with the celebrated singer Jane Touissant on the eve of his escape offers a glimpse of what might have been, but Butch disappears, leaving her behind, until their paths unexpectedly converge again in Paris. Despite having discovered his true identi
"Clara Millen's life is spiraling out of control: her dream job is a nightmare, she's resoundingly single, and it's been years since she's taken some time off. Thankfully, the last problem she can fix - this year she'll join her friends on their annual summer vacation to their beloved childhood sleepover camp for a much-needed escape. But when Clara arrives at Pine Lake Camp, she faces yet another unwelcome change: the owners are retiring and selling the property. The news turns her plans for re
"Arlene has lived in a small town on the edge of nowhere Georgia her whole life. Now married to her long-time high school sweetheart, Tommy, Arlene is itching to start a family and become the mother she always dreamed of being. But that's proving more difficult than she thought, and Arlene is desperate to find something to do to keep her mind off things-and get some distance from her husband, who is increasingly getting on her nerves. As the summer gives way to a chilly, lonesome fall up in the
"Tokyo, 1979. Yoriko Shindo, a workhorse of a woman who has been an outcast her whole life, is kidnapped and dragged to the lair of the Naiki-kai, a branch of the yakuza. After she savagely fends off a throng of henchmen in an attempt to escape, Shindo isonly permitted to live under one condition: that she will become the bodyguard and driver for Shoko Naiki, the obsessively sheltered daughter of the gang's boss. Eighteen-year-old Shoko, pretty and silent as a doll, has no friends, wears strange
"Daphne and Amber Parrish are thrust back into one another's lives upon the resurgence of a long-forgotten threat, forcing a vicious game of cat and mouse where everything is on the line, in this thrilling sequel to the million-copy-bestselling Reese's Book Club Pick The Last Mrs. Parrish. Amber Patterson Parrish has come a long way from being an invisible wallflower. Her hard work and immaculate planning have paid off now that she's a prominent socialite, but that doesn't mean she's had it easy
"From the bestselling author of The Language of Kindness comes a high-stakes literary thriller following three women who have been best friends since medical school, whose twenty-five-year-old secret threatens to blow open when their teenaged children find themselves in an eerily similar situation"--
"A young magazine writer in Mumbai must prove her matchmaking skills-and contend with growing feelings for her close family friend-in this debut romance Jia Deshpande, the ever-confident stylish fashionista, is a writer with Mimosa, Mumbai's top women's magazine, where she begrudgingly writes clichae articles about finding "the one." Out of the office, Jia writes the messy truth of real love on her anonymous blog while balancing competitive family game nights and growing feelings for her childho
"Set in a wonderfully reimagined 15th century West Africa, Masquerade is a dazzling, lyrical tale exploring the true cost of one woman's fight for freedom and self-discovery, and the lengths she'll go to secure her future. "A bewitching, thrilling and vibrant novel that had me enthralled with every twist and turn." -Jennifer Saint, New York Times bestselling author. aOdaodao's hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the warrior king of Yoraubaaland. Already shunned as social pariahs, living c
"Like film, literature has been no stranger to marijuana and hashish, going back to Charles Baudelaire's 1860 Artificial Paradises, in which the French poet not only describes the effects of hashish but postulates it could be an aid in creating an ideal world. The pleasures, pains, and complexities of marijuana are more than hinted at in works by William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Henry Miller, Hunter S. Thompson, and Thomas Pynchon, to name just a few, and I hope this anthology
"A recently deceased woman meets "the one" in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on earth before ten days are up... If she wasn't dead already, Delphie would be dying of embarrassment. Not only didshe just die by choking on a microwaveable burger, but now she's standing in her 'shine like a star' nightie in front of the hottest man she's ever seen. And he's smiling at her. As they start to chat, everything else becomes background noise. Th
"Lifelong best friends spend a fateful summer discovering what might happen if they were to be something more in this radiant, heart-clenching adult debut. Laniah Thompson is a homebody who craves privacy. Issac Jordan is internet famous and spends his days followed by paparazzi. She runs a small business with her mom in her hometown. He runs an international brand. And they've been best friends since childhood. When Issac comes home to Providence for the first time in months and discovers Lania
"Gray has only been in love once, but things fell apart when she and her ex realized they didn't want the same things out of life. With her twenty-ninth birthday approaching, Gray feels her biological clock ticking and is determined to meet someone, settle down, and build the loving, accepting family she's always wanted-and didn't grow up with. But having just moved to New Orleans for a new job working for a demanding boss, and with her last first date a decade in the past, Gray has no idea how
"Nicola is a few years out of a fine arts degree, listless and unenthusiastically employed in London. At a university archive dedicated to women's art, she discovers one side of a correspondence beginning in 1976 and spanning a dozen years, written from one woman-a ceramics graduate, uncannily like Nicola-to her friend, who is living a contrasting and conventionally moored life. As she reads on, an acute sense of affinity turns into obsession, and she abandons one job after another to make time
"A rom-com screenwriter who doesn't believe in love or soulmates and a hopelessly romantic divorce attorney who doesa are forced together at their high school reunion fifteen years after their messy breakup and who, during a charged exchange, make a bet on the outcome of five relationships-including their own-over the next five years with the winner to be declared the ultimate authority on true love"--
"When a daring Mexican heiress defies Victorian society to protect her country a British war hero makes it his new mission to protect her... Isabel Luna Valdaes has long since resigned herself to being the "forgotten" Luna sister. But thanks to familial connections to the Mexican ambassador in London, wallflower Isabel is poised to unearth any British intelligence hidden by the ton that might aid Mexico during the French Occupation. Though she slips easily from crowded ballrooms into libraries a
"Camryn Hart is living her dream. After years of struggle and rejection, her first novel has finally been published. Her editor is happy; her fiancae, Matt, is supportive; and her friends are all excited for her. She's on top of the world--until she receives a disturbing email from an unfamiliar address. Rattled by the accusations she finds there, Camryn swallows the sick feeling in her stomach and resolves to put the email out of her mind. But then she checks her ratings on a popular book site
Date added:
May 2, 2024
"A fresh, sexy romantic comedy about a newly-out lesbian finding herself, finding her tribe, and finding her partner-in that order. Bette is in love for the first time in her life. When she turned thirty, she realized she likes women and fell for Mei. Finally, everything makes sense. Until, out of the blue, Mei suggests they take a break so that Bette can go and do all the exploring she missed out on in her twenties - for her to plunge into the queer dating scene and return to Mei clearer about
"From Gretchen Felker-Martin, the acclaimed author of Manhunt, comes a vicious new novel about a group of teens who must stay true to themselves while in a conversion camp from hell. "A soaring, boundless ode to queer survival. It's flat-out mesmerizing."-Paul Tremblay, author of The Pallbearers Club Something evil is buried deep in the desert. It wants your body. It wears your skin. In the summer of 1995, seven queer kids abandoned by their parents at a remote conversion camp came face to face
"Gabriela Menchaca and Edwin Saucedo are hardworking, undocumented employees at the Detmer Foods chicken plant in Springdale, Arkansas, just a stone's throw away from the trailer park where they've lived together for seven years. While dealing with personal tragedies of their own, the young couple endures the brutal, dehumanizing conditions at the plant in exchange for barebones pay. When the plant manager, Luke Jackson, fires Edwin to set an example for the rest of the workers-and to show the h
Detective Jackson Forge can hardly wait to marry the street-sly swindler who's turned his life upside down. Kit Turner is equally excited to wed the handsome detective, and what better way to show her love than providing him with a gift any man of the law would love? She determines to bring to justice the men who years ago maimed his brother--despite Jackson's warning to leave the past in the past. As she digs into the mystery of what happened, she unwittingly tumbles into her own history and en
""Blood in The Cut brims with dangerous energy in the face of existential entropy. A fantastic story." -S. A. Cosby, New York Times bestselling author of All the Sinners Bleed Iggy Guerra is out of prison, but his homecoming is anything but smooth. His beloved mother is gone, his grief-stricken father Armando is deep in debt, and they are about to lose the butcher shop that has been in their family for generations. Iggy must earn his father's lost trust in order to save La Carniceraia Guerra fro
"Newly-divorced, almost-empty-nester Celeste is finally seeking adventure and putting herself first, cliches be damned. So when a friend asks Celeste to "partner" with his buddy John for an event, Celeste throws herself into the role of his temporary girlfriend. But quiet cinnamon roll John isn't looking for love, just birds-he needs a partner for Tucson's biggest bird-watching contest if he's ever going to launch his own guiding business. By the time they untangle their crossed signals, they've
"Mark was the most dangerous killer-for-hire in the world. But after learning the hard way that his life's work made him more monster than man, he left all of that behind, and joined a twelve-step group for reformed killers. When Mark is viciously attacked by an unknown assailant, he is forced on the run. From New York to Singapore to London, he chases after clues while dodging attacks and trying to solve the puzzle of who's after him. All without killing anyone. Or getting killed himself. For a
"For readers of Paula McLain, Nancy Horan, and Melanie Benjamin, this captivating novel is inspired by a little-known interlude in the artist's life. The French Riviera, spring 1936: It's off-season in the lovely seaside village of Juan-les-Pins, where seventeen-year-old Ondine cooks with her mother in the kitchen of their family-owned Cafe Paradis. A mysterious new patron who's slipped out of Paris and is traveling under a different name has made an unusual request--to have his lunch served to
"A community of quirky, mismatched, and endearing women struggle to find meaning and purpose on a ramshackle monastery in upstate New York. Having spent their lives in service to a church that seems to no longer serve them, they are confused about their own futures and the future of the entire monastery. Led by Mike, the practical no-nonsense prioress, and Augusta, the grand ancient mystic hermit, they are joined by Gemma, a self-punishing novice, and Arielle, a firebrand jailhouse conversion wh
The damage caused by the Great Fire still overshadows the capital. When a man's brutally disfigured body is discovered in the ruins of an ancient almshouse, architect Cat Hakesby is ordered to stop restoration work. It is obvious he has been murdered, and Whitehall secretary James Marwood is ordered to investigate. It's possible the victim could be one of two local men who have vanished - the first, a feckless French tutor connected to the almshouse's owner; the second, a possibly treacherous em
"A granddaughter and grandmother, alienated from their community, live among various sombras, shadows of the dead with whom they alone can pray and commune. When the mysterious disappearance of a young boy draws the unwanted attention of locals, the womencombine forces with the spirits that haunt them in pursuit of something that resembles justice"--
"A love-averse Korean royal court cuisine instructor is waylaid by a gorgeous professor-and prince in disguise-who will do anything to prove to her that love and happily ever after can be theirs. Emma Yoon dreams of opening her very own culinary school inLos Angeles. She's saving up for it by teaching young ladies the art of Korean royal court cuisine, a prerequisite to marrying into the exclusive upper crust Korean families. Thanks to her godmother, a renowned Korean matchmaker, business is boo
Date added:
Apr 25, 2024
"Short stories from 25 emerging and established writers of Middle Eastern and North African origins, a unique collection of voices and viewpoints that illuminate life in the global Arab/Muslim world. Stories from the Center of the World gathers new writing from the Greater Middle East, a vast region that stretches from Southwest Asia, through the Middle East and Turkey, and across Northern Africa. The 25 authors included here are either native to the region, or part of a diasporic community, a d
"Former painter and unreformed rake Kit Griffith is forging a new life in Cornwall, choosing freedom over an identity that didn't fit. He knew that leaving his Sisterhood of women artists might mean forfeiting artistic community forever. He didn't realizehe would lose his ability to paint altogether. Luckily, he has other talents. Why not devote himself to selling bicycles and trysting with the holidaymakers? Enter Muriel Pendrake, the feisty New-York-bound botanist who has come to St. Ives to c
In the Australian outback, during a punishing storm, Quinn sees a body dumped by the side of the road, while her boss Andrea answers the door to a biker seeking shelter and two young couples, alone, angry and afraid in unfamiliar surroundings discover thestorm isn't the only threat bearing down on them.
"In ancient Themiscyra, Hippolyte rules as queen of the Amazons with her sister Penthesilea at her side. Feared throughout Greece, their skills on the battlefield are unrivalled. But when a ship lands on their shores, it brings something more dangerous than the threat of war. It brings Theseus, the legendary king of Athens... Swept away by a love unlike any she's ever known, Hippolyte leaves her people and, in her stead, Penthesilea leads the Amazons with a ferocity and impulsiveness that spread
"Professional Lola is a collection of short stories that blend literary fiction with the surreal to present the contemporary Filipino American experience and its universal themes of love, family, and identity. A family hires an actress to play their beloved grandmother at a party; a couple craving Filipino food rob a panaderya; a coven of Filipino witches cast a spell on their husbands; a Lolo transforms into a Lola. These are just a few of the stories in the collection that represent its roster
"Based on survivor accounts, this gripping novel opens days after the attack on Pearl Harbor and details three years of sea battles that spanned between Hawaii and the shores of Okinawa with the crew of one of the most decorated ships of the Pacific War.Onboard the heavy cruiser USS Salt Lake City, Lieutenant Commander Justin Collier was 230 miles west of Pearl Harbor accompanying the USS Enterprise on a secret mission when Japan attacked the United States. Upon his return to Honolulu, the gravi
"Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down. Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own re
Date added:
Apr 25, 2024
"The year is 1087, and a pox is sweeping through the Italian port city of Bari. When a lowly monk is visited by Saint Nicholas in his dreams, he interprets the vision as a call to action. But his superiors, and the power brokers they serve, have differentplans for the tender-hearted Brother Nicephorus. Enter Tyun, a charismatic treasure hunter renowned for "liberating" holy relics from their tombs. The six-hundred-year-old bones of Saint Nicholas rest in distant Myra, Tyun explains, and they're
"Three generations of fiercely strong and stubborn Mexican American women face grief head-on as they attempt to shed generational trauma and discover the true meaning of home in this lyrical novel that features magical realism in the tradition of The Inheritance of Orquaidea Divina and The House of the Spirits. For generations, the Olivares women have sought to control their daughters' destinies, starting with their names. In life, Olvido constantly clashed with her carefree daughter. Then teena
"Maria von Trapp. You know the name and the iconic songs, but do you know her real story? This dramatic novel, based on the woman glamorized in The Sound of Music, brings Maria to life as never before. In the 1950s, Oscar Hammerstein is asked to write thelyrics to a musical based on the life of a woman named Maria von Trapp. He's fascinated to learn about this Catholic novice who was living quietly as an Austrian nun until her abbey sent her away to teach a widowed baron's children. When the ass
"Recently ghosted and sick of watching her friends fade into the suburbs with their husbands and children, thirty-something Hannah finds new community in an internet true crime forum that's on a mission to solve the murders of four women who were dumped in a ravine outside Atlanta. When a handsome lawyer named William is arrested for the killings, with evidence of his guilt piling up as quickly as the bodies, Hannah begins writing him letters as another outlet for both her frustration at her fai
"Calabria, 1960. Francesca Loftfield, a twenty-seven-year-old, starry-eyed American, arrives in the isolated mountain village of Santa Chionia tasked with opening a nursery school. There is no road, no doctor, no running water or electricity. And thanks to a recent flood that swept away the post office, there's no mail, either. Most troubling, though, is the human skeleton that surfaced after the flood waters receded. Who is it? And why don't the police come and investigate? When an old woman be
Date added:
Apr 25, 2024
"The four Potter children were raised to respect the value of a dollar. Their mother reused tea bags and refused to pay retail; their father taught them to budget before he taught them to ride a bike. And yet, as adults, their financial lives--as well astheir personal lives--are in complete disarray. The siblings reunite when their newly widowed father puts their Jersey Shore home on the market. Packing up their childhood isn't easy, especially when they've all got drama brewing back home. Matth
"More than simply a book, Cartoons proposes itself as a genre of imaginary writing in opposition to the realism of most contemporary U.S. fiction, aligning itself with the French symbolism and Latin American fabulism its author is known to translate. A giant cricket with a tiny Kit Schluter in a jar, The Girl Who Is a Piece of Paper, an umbrella who confuses the words porpoise and purpose in its quest for self-fulfillment, these are just a few denizens of its pages, suffused with a fairy tale-li
"A stunning debut novel set in the rugged, rural landscape of northwest England where two sheep farmers lose their flocks and decide to reverse their fortunes by stealing sheep from a rich farm in the south-for fans of Annie Proulx and Cormac McCarthy. Inearly 2001, a lethal disease breaks out on the hill farms of northern England, emptying the valleys of sheep and filling the skies with smoke as they burn the carcasses. Two neighboring shepherds lose everything and set their sights on a wealthy
"Diana Bishop journeys to the darkest places within herself--and her family history--in the highly anticipated fifth novel of the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling All Souls series Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two other-worldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript
"Leo Balanoff is a diagnosed pathological liar with unthinkable skeletons in his family's closet. He's also a crusading attorney who seeks justice at all costs. When a ruthless drug dealer is found dead and Leo's fingerprints show up on the murder weapon,no one believes a word he says. But he might be the FBI's only shot at taking down the dealer's brutal syndicate. Risk his life going undercover for the Feds or head straight to prison for murder? Leo accepts the FBI's offer - but it comes with
"Fiona and Violet Seng were just children when their family's Cessna crash-landed in the Washington wilderness, claiming the lives of their parents. For twelve harrowing weeks, the girls fended for themselves before being rescued. Twenty-five years later,they're still trying to move on from the trauma. Fiona repurposes it into controversial works of art. Violet has battled addiction and failed relationships to finally progress toward normalcy as a writer. The estranged sisters never speak about
"From Sophia Bannion's first day on the Storytelling team at HEBE, a luxury skincare/wellness company based in New York City's glitziest neighborhood, it's clear something is deeply amiss. But Sophia, pushing thirty with plenty of skeletons in her closetnext to the designer knock-offs, doesn't care. Though she leads an outwardly charmed life, she aches for a deeper meaning to her flat existence-and a cure for her brutal nail-biting habit. She finds it all and more at HEBE, and with Tree Whitesto
"'I'm not inarticulate, but I leave language to the room around me,' says Fine Fine Greab2l 's nameless narrator as she dreams of furniture flickering to life in the room she occupies at a temporary psychiatric care unit for young adults. A chair that greets you, or shiny tiles of floor that follow a peculiar grammar of their own. Our narrator is obsessed with the way items rise up out of their thingness, assuming personalities and private motives. She also cannot sleep, and practices her daily
"An African coup may force Josh Duffy to choose between his mission and his family in this intense thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Gray Man series. Josh Duffy lives by a simple code: Duty. Honor. Family. But sometimes it's hard to know what order the words go in. Josh Duffy and his wife, Nikki, are both working for the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, providing protection for diplomats in the field. They and their two children have been posted to Ghan
"Temperance Jean Madigan and Duncan Brady have never gotten it right. After one radiant, secret summer together when they were eighteen, they've been on-again off-again ever since. Now, despite red-hot chemistry and TJ's closeness with Duncan's family, they're virtually strangers, only capable of adversarial banter, awkward small talk-and the occasional messy hookup. When a wedding at the Bradys' vineyard lands TJ there for the summer, their mutual avoidance strategies prove impossible. The last
"Emlyn doesn't let herself think about the past. How she and her best friend, Janessa, barely speak anymore. How Tyler, the love of her life, left her half dead on the side of the road three years ago. Her new life is simple and safe. She lives alone in her Airstream trailer and works as a fishing and hunting guide in scenic Idaho. Her closest friends are the community's makeshift reverend and a handsome Forest Service ranger who took her in at her lowest. But when Tyler shows up with the news t
''Malie Pukui doesn't believe in happy ever after. After a tragedy caused her to flee her family and friends in Devon she found a fresh start in Hawaii. Here, working at a surf school, she can give back to those in need and try to overcome the greatest loss in her life. Moved around foster homes throughout his childhood, Todd Masters has worked hard to be able to offer a brighter future to young disadvantaged children. Now he has his own charitable foundation working with a surf school in Hawaii
"Aima and Kalu are a long-time couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from his loss, visits a sex party hosted by his best friend Ahmed, he makes a decision that will plunge them all into chaos, brutally upending their lives. Ola and Souraya, twoNigerian sex workers visiting from Kuala Lumpur, intersect with the three old friends as everything goes to hell. Sucked into the city's corrupt underworld, they're all looking for a way out of the trouble they've instigated, driven by loss and f
"From his youth as a revolutionist to his time as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, aging lawman Iron St. John has become a larger-than-life figure-and in the process, the man has disappeared behind the myth. During his brief, unsuccessful political career, St. Johnpublished his memoirs-a sanitized version of his adventures to appeal to the masses. A generation later, the clouded truth of this giant of the Old West has been all but lost. Now, Buck Jones, a pioneering film star, is vying for a cinematic sto
Date added:
Apr 22, 2024
"Max Maury should be on top of the world. He's a famous horror director. Actors love him. Hollywood needs him. He's making money hand over fist. But it's the 80s, and he's directing cheap slashers for audiences who only crave more blood, not real art. Notreal horror. And Max's slimy producer refuses to fund any of his new ideas. Sally Priest dreams of being the Final Girl. She knows she's got what it takes to score the lead role, even if she's only been cast in small parts so far. When Sally mee
"After a deployment in the Iraq War dually defined by threat and interminable mundanity, Joseph Thomas is fighting to find his footing. Now a doctoral student at The University, and an EMS worker at the hospital in North Philly, he encounters round the clock friends and family from his past life and would-be future at his job, including contemporaries of his estranged father, a man he knows little about, serving time at Holmesburg prison for the statutory rape of his then-teenage mother. Meanwhi
"When two sisters in their twenties go missing while investigating a series of brutal murders committed over two decades before, Kendra Michaels joins the search for the missing women. The sisters' mother was one of the victims, and police seem to have had little interest in actively pursuing the cold case. Armed with the box of photos, videos, police reports and notes gathered by the sisters over the years, Kendra's investigation takes her to nearby Catalina Island, a peaceful hamlet that may b
"Daphne McFadden is tired of rejection. After submitting her manuscript to dozens of agents, she's gotten rejection after rejection, and now it's time for something drastic. And so, Daphne submits her manuscript again... under a man's name. Imagine her surprise when it sells for big money at an auction and soon becomes a publicity darling. Only problem: she needs a man to play her super macho alter ego Zane Remington. Enter Chris Stanton, who absolutely looks the part of a survivalist and has a
Date added:
Apr 19, 2024
"1985, Rhode Island. A private jet carrying four partners of a Providence law firm crashes outside New York City, killing all aboard but leaving behind more questions than answers and setting the stage for four widows to find the truth. Justine: a formerfashion model adjusting to suburban life. Camille: a beautiful, young second wife whom some suspect is a gold digger. Meredith: a stripper who was in a relationship with the firm's only female partner. Krystle: a founding partner's wife committed
"Avalie Monfared has a theory about saying "I Do"-that the magic ends there. After thirteen years of magic-free marriage to her high school sweetheart, she's discovered where it went: gambling and prostitutes. Now, Ava is on a quest to rediscover herself-and men. Her soul-searching finds her living on a succession of friends' and family's couches, which happen to be in some of the most luxurious zip codes in and around Los Angeles. What follows is an unpredictable summer full of shamans, attack
"On the night before graduation, seven students gather in the basement of their university's rare books library. They're not allowed in the library after closing time, but it's the perfect place for the ritual they want to perform--one borrowed from the Greeks, said to free those who take part in it from the fear of death. And what better time to seek the wisdom of ancient gods than in the hours before they'll scatter in different directions to start their real lives? But just a few minutes into
"Benefits of a summer romance: It's always fun, always brief, and no one gets their heart broken. Ali Morris is a professional organizer whose own life is a mess. Her mom died two years ago, then her husband left, and she hasn't worn pants with a zipper in longer than she cares to remember. No one is more surprised than Ali when the first time she takes off her wedding ring and puts on pants with hardware-overalls count, right?-she meets someone. Or rather, her dog claims a man for her in the sa
Date added:
Apr 19, 2024
"Brooklyn-based Hannah is a bestselling author struggling to write her second book after personal losses. Her older sister, Sara, still lives in Chatham, Cape Cod, where they grew up, and is married with four children. Once a dedicated librarian, Sara dreams of reviving her love affair with literature, but instead, she is stuck with too many family responsibilities and a fizzling marriage. When Hannah gets the chance to retreat to her aunt's oceanfront house in Chatham for the summer, it seems l
"Ashanti Wright is ecstatic over the success of her dog boarding business, Barkingham Palace. In fact, it has become so successful that Ashanti has plans to expand her empire with a doggie bake shop. There's just one problem, the building she's had her eye on has just been sold to the surly grandson of one of her favorite customers. Thaddeus Sims is not a dog person. He's barely a person's person. But when his grandmother is transferred to a senior living facility that doesn't accept pets, the f
"Winnifred "Win" McNulty has always been wildly independent and not one to be coddled for her limb difference. Win has spent most of her life trying to prove that she can do it all on her own. With some minor adjustments, she's done just fine. Then a one-night stand at a costume party with the incredibly charming Bo changes everything. Win finds herself pregnant--and decides to keep it. While Bo is surprisingly elated to step up to the plate, Win is unsure of whether she can handle this new chal
"Genevieve Raymond was born an overachiever. After opening a hot new hotel chain location in Panama, she's on track for a major promotion. But first, she desperately needs a break, even if her overbearing mother doesn't approve. For two glorious weeks, Gen's giving herself permission to explore the beautiful beaches of Colaon-and the stimulating attraction she shares with her sexy-as-hell driver, Adriaan Nicolas. After a family tragedy, Adriaan's recently shifted his own focus to prioritizing th
"Can comedy be taught? Someone, at some point, seemed to think so. The Chicago Stand-Up program has enrolled young comedians for nearly a decade. Its teachers and students all know how bits work-in theory, at least. They know that there's a line between sharp and cruel, that sad becomes funny at the right angle, that the worst is the best, the truth is the worst, and any moment of your life that isn't a punchline will either get you to a punchline or force you to be one. They're all afraid to be
"Lose yourself in this enemies-to-lovers romance set on a sunny Malibu hillside Ivy Bauer is a young, bright environmental scientist, PhD candidate, and inventor of a game-changing organic irrigation system. She's on top of the world when, suddenly, her husband is killed in a biking accident. Needing space to grieve, she takes a summer job as a gardener in Malibu. Conrad Reed is a wealthy Hollywood has-been who, after the death of his young wife, feels overwhelmed by the care of his rambunctious
""Three times that day someone pushed roses into her arms - yellow roses each time, until they reached Dallas. There, the roses were red." (November 22, 1963) And so begins Jackie, a spellbinding, deeply researched novel which goes back in time to imagineJacqueline Kennedy Onassis is telling us the first-person story of her life. At the center of this book is the love story of Jackie and Jack, beginning when Jackie is 21 and meets the charismatic Congressman at a dinner party in Georgetown. She
"An addictive coming-of-age story that follows the meteoric rise of pop star Amber Young as she navigates fame and self-discovery in the late 90s and early 2000s It is 1997, and Amber Young has received a life-changing call. It's a chance thousands of girls would die for: the opportunity to join girl group Cloud9 in Los Angeles and escape her small town. She quickly finds herself in the orbits of fellow rising stars Gwen Morris, a driven singer-dancer, and Wes Kingston, a member of the biggest b
"As a Hungarian immigrant working as a studio hack writing monster movies in 1950s Hollywood, George Curtis must navigate the McCarthy-era studio system filled with possible communists and spies, the life of closeted men along Sunset Boulevard, and the inability of the era to cleave love from persecution and guilt. But when Madeline, a famous actress, offers George a writing residency at her estate in Malibu to work on the political writing he cares most deeply about, his world is blown open. So
Arriving in California to recover from a possible career-ending injury, dancer Beth Spence manages widower Eli Murphy's veterinary clinic while staying in his guest house, and despite their undeniable attraction, she has every intention of returning to New York and he has no intention of loving and losing again.
"This tight-knit, four-person unit has worked together to save countless lives and stop out of control fires before they cause major destruction. They've also stolen millions from banks, jewelry stores, and art galleries. Under the cover of saving the city, they've used their knowledge and specialist equipment to become the most successful heist crew on the East Coast. Andy Nearland is the newest member of the unit, and she's helping them prepare for their largest heist yet -- New York's largest
"She's an honors student with ambitious graduate school plans and he's a jock with only hockey on his mind, but once their worlds collide, their connection is hot enough to melt an ice rink. An ultimatum from Summer Preston's thesis advisor thrusts her into an unexpected collision with the hockey team's captain, Aiden Crawford. She's caught between conflicting desires of fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a sport psychologist and staying as far away as possible from the god-awful sport. A
"Moonlight meets Purple Hibiscus in this gay coming-of-age novel from an astonishing young talent, set in post-military Nigeria and culminating in the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2014. Obiefuna has always been the black sheep of his family-sensitive where his father, Anozie, is pragmatic, a dancer where his brother, Ekene, is a natural athlete. But when an intimate connection blossoms between Obiefuna and a boy from a nearby village, happiness is fleeting once his father catches them to
"A genre-bending story about love and loss, hope and heartbreak, and the healing to be found in life's little limbos, those in-between spaces where you're no longer who you were and not yet the person you will be. About her debut, Out of Love, Hazel Hayessaid, "The journey from writing horror to writing love stories was a short one. There is nothing more horrific than love." In her new novel, she sets out to prove it. This genre-defying, meta-modern novel is unlike anything you have ever read, a
Date added:
Apr 19, 2024
"From New Yorker and Paris Review contributor and Wallace Stegner Fellow Zach Williams comes a staggering debut story collection that confronts parenthood, mortality, and life's broken promises. Parents awaken in a home in the woods, again and again, to find themselves aging as their infant remains unchanged. An employee is menaced by a conspiracy-minded security guard and accused of sending a sinister viral email. An aging tour guide leads a troublesome group to the site of a UFO, witnessing th
"A masterful and redemptive retelling of the biblical story of the princess Tamar and her determination to reclaim her life and God-given purpose. Ahoti brings to life the Old Testament story of the biblical princess Tamar, the daughter of David, King ofIsrael. Tamar's search to overcome humiliation and betrayal after being assaulted by her brother takes her away from her childhood home and forces her to navigate the machinations of royal courts and play a fateful role in the lives of far-off ki
Date added:
Apr 15, 2024
Sometimes, wishes do come true... Brooke Weatherby is tired of being the dependable one, the boring one of everyone at Sanderling Cove. She agreed to come to the cove for the summer unaware her two cousins, Charlotte "Charlie" Bradford and Olivia "Livy" Winters, would also be there to help manage The Sanderling Cove Inn while her grandparents take a long road trip in Europe. More than anything, she wishes for independence from her role as a sometime caretaker of her mother, so she's free to fin
"Ani, journeying across a great distance accompanied by a stolen kitten, meets many people along her way, but her encounters only convince her that she is meant to keep searching. Annamae, journeying from childhood to young adulthood alongside her mother,older brother, and the denizens of her Manhattan neighborhood, never outgrows her yearning for a friend she cannot describe. From their different worlds, Annamae and Ani reach across the divide, perhaps to discover--or perhaps to create--each ot
"When Jasmyn and King Williams move their family to the planned Black utopia of Liberty, California, they hope to find a community of like-minded people, a place where their growing family can thrive. King settles in at once, embracing the Liberty ethos,including the luxe wellness center at the top of the hill, which proves to be the heart of the community. But Jasmyn struggles to fit in. She expected to find liberals and social justice activists striving for racial equality, but Liberty residen
"Lenny Marks is excellent at not having a life. She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit (currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has toa friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friends reruns. And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The d
Date added:
Apr 15, 2024
Date added:
Apr 15, 2024
Chu Wanning has slumbered for five years since Mo Ran rescued his soul from the underworld. He wakes to find the world changed--and the greatest change of all is to his disciple Mo Ran. Now grown up, Mo Ran is nothing like the callow youth he remembers, and Chu Wanning finds himself drawn to his disciple with a force he never anticipated. Meanwhile, Mo Ran has at last set aside the misunderstandings of two lifetimes. When his hatred for his teacher falls away, he finds the feelings beneath are n
Date added:
Apr 15, 2024
"Cruel tyrant Taxian-jun killed his way to the throne and now reigns as the first ever emperor of the mortal realm. Yet somehow, he is unsatisfied. Left cold and bereft, abandoned by all he held dear, he takes his own life...only to be reborn anew. Awakening in the body of his younger self-Mo Ran, a disciple of the cultivation sect Sisheng Peak-he discovers the chance to relive his life. This time, he vows to attain the gratification that once eluded him: all who defied him will fall, and never
"Connecticut, 2022. Mallory Dunne has spent her life trying to be a good mother to her son, Sam. Raising him alone is hard, even with the help of her sister. Two years ago, Sam ingested a toxic mushroom and fell into a coma. Now recovered, he needs a newkidney to live a normal life, forcing Mallory to track down his father in the hope that they're a match. Her journey to find him again transports her back to the summer they spent on the paradise of Winthrop Island - a time of music, porch cockta
When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be--until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father's past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the listener's belief in th
"Sebastiaan lived a childhood of privilege in Mexico City. Now in his twenties, he has a degree from Yale, an American girlfriend, and a slot in the University of Iowa's MFA program. But Sebastiaan's life is shaken by the Trump administration's restrictions on immigrants, his mother's terminal cancer, the cracks in his relationship with his American girlfriend, and his father's forced resignation at the hands of Mexico's new president. As he struggles through the Trump and Laopez Obrador years,
"Poppy never dreamed she would find the love she's found with Prince Casteel. She wants to revel in her happiness but first they must free his brother and find hers. It's a dangerous mission and one with far-reaching consequences neither dreamed of. Because Poppy is the Chosen, the Blessed. The true ruler of Atlantia. She carries the blood of the King of Gods within her. By right the crown and the kingdom are hers. The enemy and the warrior... Poppy has only ever wanted to control her own life
If Elizabeth Ferguson had her way, she'd spend her days savoring good books, cooking great meals, and waiting for the love of her life to walk in the door. But it's not a man she's waiting for, it's her daughter, Rosie-her wild-haired, smart-mouthed, and wise-beyond-her-years alter ego. With Rosie around, the days aren't quite so long, but Elizabeth can't keep the realities of the world at bay, and try as she might, she can't shield Rosie from its dangers or mysteries. As Rosie grows older and m
"As they took turns pushing each other on the swing that hung from a large tree, the mature-for a five-year-old-Jacob Lantz asked Trini Sutter to marry him. The nine-year-old thoughtfully responded that she'd consider his proposal when they were older. Nearly two decades later, the Amish farmer returns to the beautiful countryside of Arthur, Illinois, to take the independent owner of The Quilt Room up on her promise. Quiet, handsome Jacob is truly in love with the spirited list maker, and Trini
The story of a teenage tennis star in a small town in northern California. She is Rosie, 13, and she has problems. Her mother is a recovering alcoholic still beset by grief over the early death of her first husband, Rosie's tennis partner is experimenting with sex and Rosie is attracted to a middle-aged man.
"In Anthony Burgess's influential nightmare vision of the future, where the criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, a teen who talks in a fantastically inventive slang that evocatively renders his and his friends'intense reaction against their society. Dazzling and transgressive, A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom"--
When Crispin, Lord Cavratt, thoroughly and scandalously kisses a serving woman in the garden of a country inn, he assumes the encounter will be of no consequence. But he couldn't be more mistaken--the maid is not only a lady of birth, she's the niece of a very large, exceptionally angry gentlemen, who claims Crispin has compromised his niece beyond redemption. The dismayed young lord has no choice but to marry Miss Catherine Thorndale, who lacks both money and refinement and assumes all men are
"The gods are at war, the Titans have been released, and Hades and Persephone must fight tooth and nail for their happy ending. Persephone, Goddess of Spring, never guessed that a chance encounter with Hades, God of the Underworld, would change her life forever-but he did. Now embroiled in a fight for humanity and battles between the gods, Persephone and Hades have entered a world they never thought they would see. To end the chaos, Persephone must draw upon her darkness and embrace who she's be
"Welcome back to Wells Landing, Oklahoma, the tranquil Amish community where still waters run deep and a brave young woman sets out to discover her faith, her family, and herself. . . Lorie Kauffman is grief-stricken when her father passes away unexpectedly. But her heartache quickly turns to bewilderment when she discovers he'd been leading two lives--one of simplicity and hard work in Wells Landing, and one fraught with painful ordeals in Tulsa. As she starts digging into her family's past, Lo
"In 1983, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway in the nicest part of Long Island, brutalized, and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife and kids less than a week later, only slightly the worse for wear, and the family begins the hard work of trying to move on with their lives and resume their prized places in the saga of the American dream, coming to understand that though their money may have been what put them in danger, it is also what guaranteed them
"An astonishing novel about a young microbiologist investigating an unfathomable deep vent in the ocean floor, leading her on a journey that will encompass the full trajectory of the cosmos and the passage of a single human life. Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an escape from her unhappy home life and volatile father. Enchanted by the undersea world of her childhood, she excels in marine biology, traveling the globe to study ancient organisms. When a trench is discovered i
From the celebrated author of the phenomenal bestsellers The Bridges of Madison County, Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend, and Old Songs in a New Cafe comes a moving, poignant, unforgettable novel of love and life. Border Music is the tale of Texas Jack Carmine, a man who inspires others to take risks and reach beyond the borders of their lives--while his own life is chained to the past and a tragedy he cannot overcome.