New York Times Notable Book
New York Times Bestseller
National Book Critics Circle Awards Finalist
What Is the What is the epic novel based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng who, along with thousands of other children —the so-called Lost Boys—was forced to leave his village in Sudan at the age of seven and trek hundreds of miles by foot, pursued by militias, government bombers, and wild animals, crossing the deserts of three countries to find freedom. When he finally is resettled in the United States,
read more
A gripping short biography of the extraordinary Wilkie Collins, author of The Moonstone and The Woman in White, two early masterpieces of mystery and detection.
Short and oddly built, with a head too big for his body, extremely near-sighted, unable to stay still, dressed in colorful clothes, Wilkie Collins looked distinctly strange. But he was nonetheless a charmer, befriended by the great, loved by children, irresistibly attractive to women—and avidly read by generations of readers. Peter Ackroyd follows his hero, “the sweetest-tempered of all the Victorian novelists,” from his childhood as the son of a well-known artist to his struggling beginnings as a writer,
read more
Tiya Miles’s luminous but highly accessible debut
novel examines a little-known aspect of America’s
past—slaveholding by Southern Creeks and
Cherokees—and its legacy in the lives of three
young women who are drawn to the Georgia
plantation where scenes of extreme cruelty and
equally extraordinary compassion once played out.
Set in modern-day Georgia, The Cherokee Rose follows three characters—
Jinx Micco, a Cherokee-Creek historian exploring her tribe’s complicated
racial history; Ruth Mayes, whose mother sought refuge from a troubled
marriage in her beloved garden and the cosmetic empire she built from
its bounty;
read more
In this vibrant new historical novel, the acclaimed
author of The Plum Tree and What She Left Behind
explores one young woman’s determination to put
an end to child labor in a Pennsylvania mining
town…
As a child, Emma Malloy left isolated Coal River,
Pennsylvania, vowing never to return. Now,
orphaned and penniless at nineteen, she accepts a
train ticket from her aunt and uncle and travels back to the rough-hewn
community. Treated like a servant by her relatives,
read more
Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone
survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks
solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of
Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri,
the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner
and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former
gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her
hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage
Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her
sister, who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses but agrees to accept Yun
Ling as his apprentice “until the monsoon comes.”
read more
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Drunken Botanist comes an enthralling novel based on the forgotten true story of one of the nation’s first female crime fighters.
Constance Kopp doesn’t quite fit the mold. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or domestic affairs, and has been isolated from the world since a family secret sent her and her sisters from city to country fifteen years ago. When a powerful, ruthless factory owner runs down their buggy, a dispute over damages turns into a war of bricks,
read more