Fiona Davis’s new novel embarks on a journey where two timelines intertwine at one of New York City’s biggest parties, the Met Gala. In 1936, Charlotte Cross leaps at the opportunity to build her career as an archeologist by joining the prestigious expedition in Egypt—sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1978, Annie Jenkins jumped at the chance to help organize the famous Met Gala. On the night of the Gala, the Egyptian Art Collection’s most valuable artifact goes missing and leads Charlotte, now an associate curator in the museum, back to Egypt along with Annie in search of the missing antiquity. But Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past.
Archives
THE STONE WITCH OF FLORENCE
1348. As the Black Plague lays waste to Italy, Ginevra di Gasparo is summoned back to Florence after nearly a decade of lonely exile. She was banished under accusations of witchcraft, but the same men who sent her away now beg her return and heal the sick using the ancient practices of alchemy she learned as a young girl. In Florence, she finds herself assigned to a much more dangerous mission: she must use her collection of jewels to track down a ruthless thief who is ransacking churches for priceless relics. If she succeeds, she’ll be a recognized physician, never accused of witchcraft again—but to achieve that goal, she must survive as a pawn in a dangerous game…
THE TELLER OF SMALL FORTUNES
A wandering fortune teller finds an unexpected family in this warm and wonderful debut fantasy, perfect for readers of Travis Baldree and Sangu Mandanna.
Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells “small” fortunes: whether it will hail next week; which boy the barmaid will kiss; when the cow will calve. She knows from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences…
Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better than the one she left behind. But a small fortune unexpectedly becomes something more when a (semi) reformed thief and an ex-mercenary recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they’re joined by a baker with a knead for adventure, and—of course—a slightly magical cat.
Tao sets down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as she lowers her walls, the shadows of her past are closing in—and she’ll have to decide whether to risk everything to preserve the family she never thought she could have.
THE UNDERCURRENT
It’s 2011 and Deecie Jeffries’s missing person’s case in Austin, Texas, is still cold. New mom Bee, struggling with postpartum depression, is living in Portland, Maine, having left Austin—and those memories—far behind. Until Leo, her childhood crush and her estranged twin Gus’s best friend, suddenly resurfaces, drawing Bee back into their shared past. Bee’s predictable life is upended, pushing her to return to her childhood home and piece together a neighborhood’s shattered history. Bee becomes consumed with a need to uncover the truth about Deecie’s disappearance and what happened to the families who lived across the field from one another—Gus, Leo, and their mothers: Mary, a homemaker, whose only escape is the local community theater, and Diana, a serious academic dedicated to her studies. Told in multiple perspectives with two different timelines, The Undercurrent is a gripping portrait of motherhood, obsession, broken family bonds, and buried secrets.
THIS CURSED HOUSE
In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth: They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.
In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over.
But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes out: The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.
As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.
WILLIAM
Henry is a brilliant engineer who, after untold hours spent in his home lab, has achieved the breakthrough of his career—he’s created an artificially intelligent consciousness. He calls the half-formed robot William. No one knows about William. Henry’s agoraphobia keeps him inside the house, and his fixation on his project keeps him up in the attic, away from everyone, including his pregnant wife, Lily. When Lily’s coworkers show up, wanting to finally meet Henry and see the new house—the smartest of smart homes—Henry decides to introduce them to William, and things go from strange to much worse. Soon Henry and Lily discover the security upgrades intended to keep danger out of the house are even better at locking it in.
Buzz Books 2024: Fall/Winter
Download now at NetGalley, Edelweiss, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple Books, and Google Play.
Buzz Books 2024: Fall/Winter is the 25th volume in our popular sampler series. This Buzz Books presents passionate readers with an insider’s look at nearly fifty of the buzziest books due out this season. Such major bestselling authors as Jamie Attenberg, Kira Jane Buxton, Jean Hanff Korelitz, and Dava Sobel are featured, along with literary figures like Rumaan Alam, John Larison, Mason Coile, Kira Jane Buxton, Weike Wang and more.
Buzz Books has had a particularly stellar track record with highlighting the most talented, exciting, and diverse debut authors, and this edition is no exception. Anna Montague, editor at Dey Street Books, offers a novel about an unlikely late-in-life road trip for fans of Remarkably Bright Creatures. Among others are Julie Leong, Kristin Koval, Helena Echlin, Jane Yang, and Cebo Campbell. In this edition we’ve also included a selection of a graphic novel by the author known as unfins.
Our robust nonfiction section covers such important subjects as pregnancy loss and the winter blues; a literary memoir from singer-songwriter Neko Case; and a biography of Marie Curie by Pulitzer Prize finalist Dava Sobel.
Finally, we present early looks at new work from young adult authors, including the New York Times best-selling authors Kwame Mbalia, Judy I. Lin, and Robert Beatty; as well as new titles from Logan-Ashley Kisner, Amanda M. Helander, and Jill Tew.
And be sure to look out for Buzz Books 2025: Spring/Summer, coming in January, for next season’s most talked about books.