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THE CITY BEAUTIFUL

One of our recommended books is The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

Death lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together.

Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he’ll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania.

But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away. While the rest of the city is busy celebrating the World’s Fair,

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LAVENDER HOUSE

One of our recommended books is Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

A delicious story from a new voice in suspense, Lev AC Rosen’s Lavender House is Knives Out with a queer historical twist.

Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well guarded secret—but it’s not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they’ve needed to keep others out. And now they’re worried they’re keeping a murderer in.

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BILLIE STARR’S BOOK OF SORRIES

One of our recommended books is Billie Starr's Book of Sorries by Deborah E. Kennedy

Shimmering with rage and sparkling with subtle humor, Billie Starr’s Book of Sorries showcases Edgar Award-nominee Deborah E. Kennedy’s singular voice as Jenny, a heroine in the vein of Olive Kitteridge in Crosby, Maine and Miles Roby in Empire Falls, shines a light on the town of Benson, Indiana, where lakes, grudges, and family rifts run deep – but so does a mother’s love.

Sometimes, a woman has to rescue herself.

Jenny Newberg, Queen of Bad Decisions, is about to make another one. In a small town where everyone knows everyone’s business,

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HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD

One of our recommended books is Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker

The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science’s great hope in the quest to understand the disease.

Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don’s work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins–aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony–and they worked hard to play their parts.

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SNITCHERS

One of our recommended books is Snitchers by Stephane Dunn

Nia Barnes is preparing to enter high school and trying to stay on her mama’s good side. Life in their small Midwestern city hasn’t been the same since her father was shot down in the middle of the night with no witnesses. The unsolved murder has haunted Nia ever since, driving her love of detective novels and true crime stories. And the violence isn’t just where she lives–it’s everywhere. Nia can’t stand that nothing can stop it.

When the little boy she babysits is caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting, it devastates Nia, her friends, and the community.

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THE HOUSE OF FORTUNE

Alive with the magic of eighteenth-century Amsterdam, a bestselling, bewitching historical novel about one young woman learning to set her own life’s course despite family and cultural pressure, from New York Times bestselling author Jessie Burton.

In Amsterdam in 1705, Thea Brandt is coming of age, trying to grapple with her family’s secrets and her own identity as a young Dutch African woman. She’s drawn to the theater and an artistic life, but with her family in serious financial decline, pressure is on Thea to marry up in society.

As her father and Aunt Nella work desperately to save the family home and catastrophe threatens to engulf them,

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