From the beloved author of We All Want Impossible Things, a moving, hilarious story of a family summer vacation full of secrets, lunch, and learning to let go. For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and—thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing—septic too. This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers. It’s one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.
Archives
THE LAST DAYS OF LILAH GOODLUCK
Red White and Royal Blue meets The Last Holiday in this delight of a novel, about a woman who unexpectedly finds “fall in love with a prince” on her bucket list after a fortune teller tells her she only has a week to live. Ideal for fans of Sophie Cousens and Rebecca Serle.
The Favorites
An edgy, feminist campus novel about justice, gender, and power, following a woman who enrolls in law school and competes her way into an elite “Law and Literature” cohort to get revenge on the charismatic professor who wronged her sister.
Evil Eye
After Yara is placed on probation at work for fighting with a racist coworker, her Palestinian mother claims the provocation and all that’s come after were the result of a family curse. While Yara doesn’t believe in old superstitions, she finds herself unpacking her strict, often volatile childhood growing up in Brooklyn, looking for clues as to why she feels so unfulfilled in a life her mother could only dream of. Etaf Rum’s follow-up to her 2019 debut, A Woman Is No Man, is a complicated mother-daughter drama that looks at the lasting effects of intergenerational trauma and what it takes to break the cycle of abuse
Flipping Boxcars
Cedric The Entertainer’s debut novel Flipping Boxcars is a valentine to close-knit black families and tightly woven communities during the Depression and World War II. The story is also an homage to Cedric’s grandfather, who in this tale emerges as Babe. He is a charismatic and widely loved man. He is also a gambler, whose gift of gab often gets him out of tricky situations, which is often. Babe is also a dreamer, something he shares in common with his patient and loving wife. They both yearn for financial stability and need to hold on to their land as insurance for future generations. However, when Babe and a few comrades enlist in a scheme that improbably falls apart, Babe places his family on the verge of losing everything. What’s a family man to do? Babe decides to go for one more big scheme involving railroad boxcars. In breakneck speed, Cedric the Entertainer pulls readers in and never lets them go until the last page. Will Babe succeed? Will Rosie continue to support her husband? Are the Feds on to Babe’s scheme? Flipping Boxcars is a page-turner anchored by rich, multi-dimensional characters, and oozing with Cedric The Entertainer’s inimitable charm.
The Housekeepers
Mrs. King is no ordinary housekeeper. Born into a world of con artists and thieves, she’s made herself respectable, running the grandest home in Mayfair. The place is packed with treasures, a glittering symbol of wealth and power, but dark secrets lurk in the shadows. When Mrs. King is suddenly dismissed from her position, she recruits an eclectic group of women to join her in revenge…Their plan? On the night of the house’s highly anticipated ball—set to be the most illustrious of the year—they will rob it of its every possession, right under the noses of the distinguished guests and their elusive heiress host. But there’s one thing Mrs. King wants even more than money: the truth. And she’ll run any risk to get it—after all, one should never underestimate the women below stairs.
End of Story
When a new home owner realizes her emergency contractor is her horrible ex’s best friend, it’s nothing compared to the shock of finding a divorce decree hidden in the wall—with their names on it and dated ten years in the future. With echoes of Rebecca Searle’s In Five Years and Tessa Bailey’s Fix Her Up, New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott’s rom com debut is a whimsical delight.
The Enigma of Room 622
A burnt-out writers’ retreat at a grand hotel is interrupted by a murder mystery in this metafictional, meticulously crafted whodunit from internationally bestselling author Joël Dicker. One night in December, a corpse is discovered in Room 622 of the Hotel Verbier, a luxury resort in the Swiss Alps. The murder is never solved. Years later, Joël Dicker, Switzerland’s most famous writer, flees to Verbier to recover from a breakup, mourn the death of his longtime publisher, and begin his next novel. Little does Joël know that his page-turning expertise will prove essential when he assumes a new role: detective. Meanwhile, Macaire Ebezner is set to succeed as president of the largest private bank in Switzerland. The succession captivates the media, but the bank’s board, including a certain Lev Levovitch “Geneva’s Gatsby” are not as charmed by the heir apparent, and Macaire’s race to the top soon becomes a race against time…A European phenomenon, The Enigma of Room 622 is a matryoshka doll of intrigue, built with the precision of a Swiss watch. Joël Dicker presents a diabolically addictive thriller whose twists and turns no reader will see coming.
We All Want Impossible Things
Edi and Ash have been best friends for over forty-two years. They’ve shared the mundane and the momentous together: trick or treating and binge drinking; Gilligan’s Island reruns and REM concerts; hickeys and heartbreaks; surprise Scottish wakes; marriages, infertility, and children. As Ash says, “Edi’s memory is like the backup hard drive for mine.” But now the unthinkable has happened. Edi is dying of ovarian cancer and spending her last days at a hospice near Ash, who stumbles into heartbreak surrounded by her daughters, ex(ish)-husband, dear friends, a poorly chosen lover (or two), and a rotating cast of beautifully, fleetingly human hospice characters. As the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack blasts all day long from the room next door, Edi and Ash reminisce, hold on, and try to let go. Meanwhile, Ash struggles with being an imperfect friend, wife, and parent—with life, in other words, distilled to its painful, joyful, and comedic essence.
Someday, Maybe
A stunning and witty debut novel about a young woman’s emotional journey through unimaginable loss, pulled along by her tight-knit Nigerian family, a posse of new friends, and the love and laughter she shared with her husband. Onyi Nwabineli is a fresh new voice for fans of Yaa Gyasi, Queenie and I May Destroy You.