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An evocative work of historical fiction, Vivian’s Decision is an all too relevant story of repeated history, female friendship, and the strength that it takes to make choices of one’s own. Vivian Jacobson is distraught to be pregnant again. Already drowning in the demands of her four young children, she can’t imagine adding a fifth to her brood. Her husband, Mel, is a devoted partner, but he works long days in his family’s Maxwell Street tavern—leaving Vivian isolated and overwhelmed in their suburban Chicago home. When Vivian pleads with Mel to let her ask her trusted obstetrician for an abortion, Mel reluctantly agrees. Her doctor won’t risk his license, but refers her to someone who will. Once she finds herself in the sleazy abortionist’s disgusting makeshift flat, she can’t go through with the procedure. As she flees, the man warns her that the clock is ticking: If she wants this abortion, she must return within one week. As Vivian struggles with what to do, she is buffeted by a series of revelations, including her Jewish immigrant mother's parallel secret. Ultimately, she must find the courage to make the decision that is best for her family—and her own fulfillment. Author: Della Leavitt Publication Date: April 14, 2026 -
For fans of Colleen Hoover, this inspirational follow-up to Shooting Stars Above continues the love story between internationally best-selling novelist Tess and counterterrorism agent Jack as they both fight to overcome their deepest fears. Tess Lee is a wildly successful and world-famous novelist whose inspirational books explore our innermost struggles and the human need to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Jack Miller is a federal agent who has spent decades working in counterterrorism—a violent world that has left an inevitable residue on his psyche. Two years into their marriage, as Tess and Jack both heal from past trauma, their epic love, fostered by their ability to truly see one another, has brought them profound happiness. When an anonymous threat is made against Tess’s life, however, everything changes. Will they learn to lean on each other, or will they fall apart into the darkness? In Twinkle of Doubt, the second Celestial Bodies Romance, Tess, Jack, and their chosen family explore the nature of doubt and the struggle to feel worthy of love. Author: Patricia Leavy Publication Date: March 24, 2026 -
In this lyrical and artfully woven memoir, a short road trip to California’s Central Coast becomes an epic journey through family history, loss, and connection. When three generations of women—a Gen X narrator, her seventy-seven-year-old mother, and her twenty-two-year-old Gen Z daughter—set out for a quick trip to California's Central Coast, what begins as a road trip soon transforms into something far richer: a modern-day Odyssey. Over the course of three days, the three women brave a severe winter storm, encounter ravenous ostriches, walk through an enchanted light exhibit, binge-watch White Lotus, hunt for coffee with plant-based milk, bicker, reconcile, and share stories. Troika braids the narrative of a three-day road trip with the longer strands of migration, memory, and motherhood, creating a layered meditation on distance traveled—geographic, generational, and emotional. The result is a kaleidoscopic journey that traverses the landscapes of identity and family history and stretches from the horrors of the second world war and an escape from Soviet Russia to adolescence and motherhood in the suburbs of Silicon Valley. As the narrative swerves from heartbreak to hilarity, from Homeric detours and Russian proverbs to internet memes, it weaves together an intimate, poignant, and darkly funny meditation on how we get from where we were to where we are—and what we carry with us along the way. Author: Irena Smith Publication Date: April 7, 2026 -
This intimate, poignant, and compelling memoir tells the story of a woman—a “reluctant examiner” of death—navigating grief while caring for her dying brother and aging parents, inviting the reader into a journey of hope, growth, and resilience. Deborah Cummins is “a stranger to death”—until, in 2007, she learns that her brother, Joe, is dying. In the months that follow, as Joe’s health declines, Deborah confronts hidden truths in an attempt to make sense of her brother’s death while he’s still alive—truths that, in retrospect, where perhaps not so hidden after all. But before she’s able to fully grasp her brother’s worsening condition, Deborah is confronted with another family crisis: between complications following a recent surgery and her heartbreak over her son’s condition, Deborah’s mother’s health is waning as well. After the death of her brother at only forty-five years old, her mother’s death shortly follows, and Deborah must navigate grief compounded. Spanning the country from a small town in Maine to the sprawling metropolises of Chicago and Phoenix, Threshold skillfully and poignantly examines familial relationships between child, parent, and siblings, providing evocative portraits of each. Author: Deborah Cummins Publication Date: February 3, 2026 -
Fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine will be drawn to this tale of a woman whose search for a healing refuge leads instead to entanglements, discovery of untapped talent, and a found family that steers her back from the brink of madness. All Isabelle Marsden wants when she moves from Chicago to Kansas is a place to retreat, reassess, and regain control of her life after an ugly #MeToo experience. But after a chance encounter with a free-spirited artist who carries a wallaby in a baby sling and makes assemblages from roadkill, she’s drawn into a community of eccentrics who soon have her lobbying to rescue their Summer Solstice parade, conducting surveillance at a roadside zoo, and visiting an outsider artist’s strange, yet intriguing, sculpture garden. Inspired by that wild creation, Belle starts her own peculiar assemblage, convinced it’s the key to repairing her fractured life. As she uncovers her hidden creativity—and madness—her project lands her in trouble with her landlady, the city zoning department, and even the police. Ultimately, her only way through is to rely on help from her found family of oddball characters—and on her newly redefined self. Author: Nan Sanders Pokerwinsk Publication Date: March 17, 2026 -
For fans of Rupi Kaur and Caroline Kaufman, a debut poetic novella that takes the reader on a complex, tumultuous, and ultimately healing journey of love, told through the colorful lens of a synesthete. The Synesthete’s Rainbow is a captivating poetry novella that paints the story of a toxic situationship through the vibrant lens of synesthesia. It intertwines sensory crossover and emotional depth as the protagonist, the Synesthete, names the colors of her love—all of which fall within a symbolic rainbow that defies nature. As the Synesthete journeys across this messy, fragmented, chaotic, and heart-wrenching rainbow, she confronts both the antagonist and herself in her plight of unrequited longing, and ultimately arrives at a burgeoning sense of self. Perfect for readers drawn to short, metaphor-rich poetry and evocative tales of transformation, The Synesthete’s Rainbow illuminates the intricacies of human connection and the beauty of finding oneself on the other side of emotional storms. Author: Nisha Srinivasa Publication Date: April 28, 2026 -
A soul-searching LGBTQ memoir about one woman’s attempt to plan her way to happily ever after—only to realize that healing, self-discovery, and love happen in their own time. Days after Corey’s breakup, a photo of her ex wrapped in the arms of another woman goes viral on Facebook. Confronted with this gleeful boast about “happily ever after,” Corey, a forty-something lesbian, decides that she can’t live in a state of perpetual loneliness, plagued with the burden of her own failure in finding happiness and love. Armed with her meticulously crafted checklist, Corey embarks on a mission to heal, move on, and find “the one.” But no matter how many items she checks off her list or how faithfully she follows the sage wisdom of psychics, her breakup coach, and the legendary rapper Eminem, her hope in finding her one true love begins to fade away—until she’s suddenly torn between two. Now, with her heart unexpectedly on the line, Corey must find out what she really wants—and where her true happiness lies. Author: Corey Seemiller Publication Date: February 10, 2026 -
Perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover and Paige Toon, this suspenseful new adult romance follows an eighteen-year-old woman reeling from loss as she’s drawn into an unexpected attraction—one that might expose the secrets she’s tried to bury. Seven months after her boyfriend and parents die tragically on the same night, eighteen-year-old Brynn—once an aspiring singer, now desperate for any paying gig that will keep her from ending up on the streets—sets out to rebuild her shattered world. At her new ad agency job, she’s distracted by enigmatic twenty-year-old Micah. Their enemies-to-lovers attraction ignites as both struggle with secrets that could jeopardize far more than just their budding relationship. After things turn romantic with Brynn, Micah’s psychosis becomes harder to conceal. Living with his disorder has cost him relationships before, including with his estranged father; now he fears Brynn will become the next casualty. Things are already complicated enough before a mystery girl from Brynn’s boyfriend’s past comes forward with threatening information and unfinished business of her own. Will she reveal Brynn’s secret—and steal Micah away from her in the process? Author: Heather Cumiskey Publication Date: March 10, 2026 -
For readers of women’s fiction, a debut novel that celebrates the depths of the mother-daughter connection, and having faith in oneself among the hustle and bustle of academic life in the late-aughts. Eight thousand miles from her Kolkata home, Shani spends most of her time hard at work in the campus biochemistry lab chasing her lifelong dream of becoming a scientist. However, following her dream proves to be anything but easy. As the daily battles and complexities of lab life escalate, she leans into the support of her biggest ally—her mother. Despite now being continents apart, they’ve always shared an unwavering belief in Shani’s dream: a future built on intellectual and financial independence. But when her mom passes away suddenly, Shani is left adrift. The home they once shared feels foreign; her academic aspirations and the future they had dreamed of together, uncertain. Is she truly driven by genuine passion for science, or has she been trying to escape the expectations placed on her as a woman? Alone, Shani must confront these questions and discover where she truly belongs. Shani's journey, a poignant exploration of grief, identity, and belonging, will resonate with anyone who has ever questioned their place in the world. Author: Shivani Malik Publication Date: February 17, 2026 -
For fans of Kate Quinn, a dual-timeline adventure novel of a historian who risks everything—including her life—to discover the truth about a female Renaissance sculptor unjustly erased by history. Two determined women four hundred years apart. One mysterious statue. And a bombshell that could change history. Art historian Mia is running out of time to prove her theory that the sculptor of an unearthed erotic statue was a courtesan erased from history—a scandal no one will believe. Chasing through Venice, she tracks down hidden details of Sofia, a powerful courtesan who seems to have left a trail of sex-fueled art buried across the city, but Mia’s now being followed, and even her boss might be in on the lie. Meanwhile, in 1609, Sofia defies Venice’s unfair laws to create illicit art that could ruin her future. Her aspirations to become a great artist go up in flames when her patron’s wife steals her work and threatens her lover. Four hundred years later, it's up to Mia to discover the truth, but now she’s uncovered a world of art theft that could leave her ousted—or, worse, right in the crosshairs of the most powerful crime family in Italy, who will stop at nothing to force her to authenticate the famous statue. Mia’s only hope is to prove Sofia’s existence before everyone involved silences them both forever. Author: Kerry Chaput Publication Date: February 10, 2026 -
For fans of Eat Pray Love and Untamed, a soulful memoir of motherhood, mysticism, and plant medicine that chronicles one woman’s journey of healing and transformation in the lush wilds of Kauai. What if your greatest teachers weren’t shamans in the jungle but the people you eat breakfast with every morning? The Mother Vine is a raw, often funny, and deeply human story of one woman’s awakening through plant medicine—and the winding road that leads her there. After walking away from a high-powered TV career and a picture-perfect life in Canada, Shannon moves her family to the jungled slopes of Kauai in search of a more laid-back existence. But instead of fresh mangoes and good surf, she finds herself swept into a tide of unexpected revelations.? In the crucible of motherhood, Shannon’s two sons and husband become unlikely teachers, reflecting her forgotten pieces with unrelenting love and occasional ferocity. Their struggles crack her open in ways no self-help book ever could. When deep-seated heartache has her seeking transformation, an invitation to drink ayahuasca becomes a lifeline. Guided by ancient wisdom and insatiable curiosity, Shannon begins the journey of remembering who she truly was—and still is. More than a memoir of healing, The Mother Vine is a love letter to the mess of motherhood, the mystery of the medicine path, and the sacred power of being fully alive. If you’ve ever longed for something deeper, this book is for you. Author: Shannon Nering Publication Date: April 21, 2026 -
For fans of Joan Didion and anyone fascinated by true crime, a daughter’s raw and unflinching account of California’s infamous murder trial of her mother, Lucille Miller—and the decades of emotional wreckage it left in its wake. On October 7, 1964, Debra Miller’s life turns upside down when her mother is arrested for the murder of her father. At only fourteen years old, Debra becomes a ward of the court, grappling with the unfathomable trauma of watching her mother’s trial and conviction—a devastation that is only amplified when her family’s tragedy is splashed across headlines nationwide and featured in Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Desperate to escape the notoriety of her family and utterly ill equipped to face the world, Debra spends her young adulthood sinking into mental illness, toxic relationships, and substance abuse. Meanwhile, her unrepentant mother, Lucille, uses Debra to supply contraband in prison. When Lucille is released, twentysomething Debra, seeking the love and support she so desperately desires, moves in with her—only to find herself constantly manipulated and dragged into her mother’s illegal activities. Torn between love and survival, Debra spends years trying to escape her mother’s vortex even as she battles her own demons. Ultimately, it’s only when Lucille passes away that Debra finally frees herself from her grip—and realizes she needs to change her life. In this raw and poignant memoir, Debra Miller bares the scars of an adolescence and adulthood shaped by the impact of a destructive mother and demonstrates that healing is always possible—even in the face of a past that just won’t let go. Author: Debra Miller Publication Date: March 24, 2026 -
For fans of Glennon Doyle and Tara Brach, this groundbreaking guide shatters the myths that keep us divided, offering a radical path of sacred activism, abundance, and limitless love—a call to reclaim wholeness and step into our fullest power. Think the goddess is just for women? Think again. In The Goddess Remedy, Suzin Green shatters this misconception, revealing how goddess wisdom is essential for everyone—especially now, as patriarchal systems create unprecedented ecological and social upheaval. Drawing on decades as a musician, writer, meditation teacher, and therapist, Green illuminates how the goddess paradigm offers a revolutionary approach to healing our most painful divides: doing vs. being, mind vs. body, and masculine vs. feminine—divisions that keep us out of balance and disconnected from ourselves and the world. Weaving myth with memoir, yogic philosophy, and soul-centered psychology, The Goddess Remedy is both a practical handbook and manifesto of love. Green provides tangible tools for anxiety relief and trauma recovery while simultaneously charting a path of sacred activism, shadow work, and self-care. The book culminates in six transformative practices—the Goddess Rules—guiding readers to unleash their power, embody their truth, and love without limits. Author: Suzin Green Publication Date: January 20, 2026 -
For fans of Ariel Lawhon’s The Frozen River, debut historical fiction about a brothel nurse in nineteenth-century New York City who fights brutality in the sex trade and pioneers treatments for survivors of sexual violence. A high-class brothel that entertains New York’s most powerful men, the Double Standard Sporting House funds a free clinic for women. When the Tammany Hall criminal syndicate takes over the city in 1868 and starts kidnapping girls, the house’s owner Nell “Doc” Hastings cannot stay quiet—especially after sixteen-year-old Vivie arrives at the clinic bruised and bleeding. Resolving to seek justice for Vivie and girls like her, Doc builds an unlikely alliance with religious reformers, a rare honest ward cop, and an alluring newspaper publisher she can’t seem to keep away from. Even with their help, Doc will have to use her sharpest tools—secrets, guile, and a surgical blade—to prevent a dark turn in the sex trade. Full of intrigue, friendship, and love, this timely story of a heroine erased from history by the sexual double standard reminds us that women help and heal one another, even when shameless criminals come to power. Author: Nancy Bernhard Publication Date: January 20, 2026 -
In the same vein of Wendy Suzuki’s Healthy Brain, Happy Life and Peter Attia’s Outlive, this inspiring narrative weaves together personal narratives, interviews, and cutting-edge science to explore the power of partner dance in transforming lives. Energetic living. Mental sharpness. Social interaction. Emotional well-being. Scientifically proven benefits for people living with depression, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. The Dance of Resilience reveals how these are just some of the many ways partner dance transforms lives. Through extraordinary stories of ordinary people across the human spectrum—woven with her own candid experiences—award-winning author and legislator Ember Reichgott Junge shows how partner dance sparks self-discovery, fosters a healthier lifestyle, and offers a powerful antidote to today’s growing “epidemic of loneliness.” But Reichgott Junge goes even further, building a compelling case that dance should be recognized as an essential part of our insured and public health care systems. What if your doctor could prescribe twelve dance sessions—covered by insurance—to help ease anxiety or enhance cognitive function? Step into The Dance of Resilience—and discover your hidden resilience as you enter an unexpected life of purpose and heartwarming possibility. Author: Ember Reichgott Junge Publication Date: 13 January, 2026 -
A must-read for the millions who suffer from chronic illness, Soul-Happy is an inspiring and poetic account of navigating away from shame and life-threatening disease and into redemption and grace through a commitment to hard truths and unconditional love.
Nette Nilsson has big dreams and is in the midst of pursuing them—starting by leaving Denmark to attend university in Toronto, Canada—when she falls for a beguiling but volatile American. Their romance moves fast, and in what seems like no time she finds herself living a privileged but deeply unhappy life in New York with her now-husband, Cal. After suffering for too long, she finally begins to find her way onto a better path—only to be abruptly faced with a life-threatening physical condition. To survive and to heal, Nette must confront dark family lies and her hidden traumas and find her own power again.
In an era of increasing awareness regarding how many strong, intelligent women ignore their gut and lose themselves—and the lives they dream of having—when they become entangled with toxic men, Soul-Happy illuminates the underlying reasons for one promising young woman’s downhill slide after she falls for “the wrong kind of love,” and follows her harrowing battle to put herself back together again.
Author: Anette Nilsson
Publication Date: March 24, 2026
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For fans of Kate Morton, Amy Harmon, and Sally Page comes a multigenerational novel infused with touches of magical realism about a woman’s journey to find her place in an uncertain world as she unravels her family’s legacy. In 1934, a child’s death tears open a family and shakes the small town of Richarme, Louisiana. Recalling her grandmother’s hidden gifts that had been shut down decades earlier, Grace Paschal begins writing to her deceased daughter as she navigates grief and guilt for Lily’s death, which will haunt their French community for generations. In 2019, Alice, Grace’s great-granddaughter, awakens in her apartment in Berkeley and opens a jewelry box given to her decades earlier upon Grace’s death. When she explores its contents, the lines between past and present fade. As she works to meet the demands of her career, her life turns upside-down when new and frequent memories that aren’t her own rise to the surface—memories that cause her to question everything about the life she has chosen. A haunting and magical story of a family with hidden gifts and secrets, Song of Belonging follows Alice as she embarks on a journey to discover the truth about her ancestors and find her place in a lineage of women healers who protect the waters that surround their Louisiana home. Author: Michelle St. Romain Publication Date: April 21, 2026 -
When Noel Enfield is offered a secondment at a museum in London, it’s a chance for her career aspirations to finally come to fruition—but also leads to the opening of some old wounds—in this story of art, love lost, and second chances, perfect for fans of David Nicholls and Claire Lombardo. While studying art history at a London university, Noel Enfield falls passionately in love with aspiring artist and art school student Bryn Jones. Shortly after Bryn leaves for a five-month painting trip through Italy, Noel discovers she is pregnant. She is ecstatic and believes Bryn will be too—they have plans to marry, after all. But mishaps part the two lovers, and a desperate Noel makes a split-second choice to move forward in a way that will change not only her life but also the lives of everyone she loves. Three decades later, when she is offered a six-month secondment to a London museum, Noel decides it’s time to prove she really has moved on from that difficult period by returning to the city where she met and lost Bryn. But rather than proving she has persevered, the move lands Noel in the thick of London’s insular art world, with only one or two degrees of separation from her past and the people she once loved. After she reconnects with an old, dear friend and learns finally what kept Bryn from returning to her all those years ago, the very underpinnings of her life are rocked to their core. Some decisions made in the past can never be put behind her, she realizes, and armed with this new understanding, she sets out on a journey to reclaim what—and who—she left behind. Author: Jane Ward Publication Date: February 10, 2026 -
For fans of Aldous Huxley and Timothy Leary, a woman’s personal journey unfolds in a historically documented and scientifically elucidated memoir of lifelong struggle to overcome CPTSD with the help of psychedelics. In 2009 following a breast cancer diagnosis, Rex found herself spiraling into a depression that led her to a groundbreaking clinical trial at Johns Hopkins University in 2012, where she was given two doses of psilocybin. As she reflects on her tumultuous childhood marked by violent abuse from psychiatrist parents, Rex uncovers the psychological influences that shaped her life and therapeutic search. Her journey intersects with a dark history of psychological experimentation, including the work of Harvard’s Dr. Henry A. Murray—her mother’s mentor—whose controversial research influenced modern psychology and led to the psychopathology of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. Despite years of failed conventional treatments, Rex sought alternative paths, discovering transformative healing through ayahuasca, MDMA, and 5-MeO-DMT. Seeing What Is There navigates the complexities of the psychedelic therapy movement, questioning its ethical pitfalls and motivations. Ultimately, Rex demonstrates that true healing requires more than just pharmaceuticals—it demands economic security, community, and social support, offering a powerful meditation on trauma, survival, and the potential for transformation. Author: Erica Rex Publication Date: January 13, 2026 -
For fans of Heather Lanier and Claire Bidwell Smith, Raising Rhia is a deeply moving memoir, written with vulnerability and grace, that explores the complexities of anticipatory grief while celebrating the unexpected joys found in everyday moments. The powerful story of a mother fighting for her daughter in a world unprepared for her needs. Born with multiple disabilities—including vision impairment, cerebellar ataxia, hearing loss, and mitochondrial disease—Rhia’s life unfolds in a maze of medical uncertainty and bureaucratic roadblocks. In this memoir, Terena Scott lays bare the relentless battles, raw grief, and fierce love that define her journey, refusing to let the system—or fate—dictate her daughter’s future. Told in six poignant sections—Dreams, Fear, Hope, Loss, Grief, and Love—Raising Rhia captures the complexities of parenting a child with disabilities, balancing everyday joys with the weight of anticipatory grief. At its heart, it is a story of resilience, connection, and seeing a child for who she is, rather than what she has. Both a deeply personal narrative and a reflection on the broader realities of raising a child with disabilities in the United States, Scott’s candid and compassionate account offers insight, solidarity, and hope for parents and caregivers facing similar challenges—and anyone seeking joy inside the burden of grief. Author: Terena Scott Publication Date: February 17, 2026 -
For fans of Gloria Anzaldúa and all those who know what it is to grow up straddling more than one culture, a lyrical, timely exploration of what it’s like to live in the “in between”—and why it should matter to everyone. We are all shaped by the cultures that surround us—their expectations, ideals, and norms. But what happens when those cultures collide? When your mother embodies one world and your father another? In this profoundly personal follow-up to Portrait of a Feminist, Marianna Marlowe explores the intersections of race, class, and gender as they are molded by family, religion, and migration. Born to a Peruvian mother and an American father, Marlowe’s early life spanned continents—from the Philippines to Ecuador, Brazil to the United States—leaving her with a sense of belonging everywhere and nowhere at once. Through a series of thematically linked essays, she reflects on the complexities of identity, the fluidity of culture, and the enduring search for home. Now raising two sons with her Syrian Muslim husband, Marlowe continues to navigate the ever-shifting landscapes of culture, language, and faith. Inspired by scholar Gloria Anzaldúa’s concept of the borderlands, Portrait of a Mestiza is both a meditation on life lived in the “in-between” spaces and a call to dismantle the binaries that divide us. Thought-provoking and deeply relevant, this collection urges us to embrace hybridity, challenge inherited limitations, and create for ourselves more ethical and expansive lives. Author: Marianna Marlowe Publication Date: March 24, 2026 -
A fresh take on the loss memoir, Piece by Piece follows a middle-aged mother forced to reconcile the theft of precious keepsakes with the memories and people the items represent. If things are “just things,” why does it hurt so deeply when we lose them? When a home burglary strips Kim Danielson of heirlooms and other special keepsakes, she loses more than the items themselves. She is also robbed of tangible connections to her history, and physical reminders of loved ones who have died—igniting grief both old and new. Feeling the weight of disappointment for future generations who cannot inherit a piece of her family’s legacy, Kim creates a new and lasting heirloom, one that can never be stolen. Perfect for anyone who has ever lost anything of meaningful value, this book provides solace and a new perspective on material possessions. A practical template for preserving a legacy with or without artifacts, Piece by Piece offers a unique take on loss through the lens of stolen objects and invites readers to tell the stories of their lives by telling the stories of their things. Author: Kim Danielson Publication Date: January 27, 2026 -
A must-read for fans of character-driven suspense like Liz Moore’s Long Bright River and A. J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window, One Beautiful Year of Normal is a gripping psychological thriller about a woman’s dangerous decision to unearth her family’s darkest secrets. Some memories protect you. Others imprison you. When August Caine receives a phone call from a Savannah attorney, she is blindsided by the news—her Aunt Helen has passed away. But how can that be, when August’s mother insisted Helen died in a car accident fifteen years ago? Determined to uncover the truth, August returns to the deep South, where the ghosts of her past—both real and imagined—await her. Plagued by a memory splintered by her father’s unsolved murder when she was a child and further tangled by psychiatric treatments for the debilitating depression she struggles with, August realizes her survival depends on unraveling the mystery surrounding her father’s death. This means returning to the one safe place she remembers from the childhood she has mostly locked away inside her mind: Aunt Helen’s home, and the ghost tours they created together. A chilling exploration of mental illness, mother-daughter bonds, and generational secrets, One Beautiful Year of Normal follows August as she pieces together the long-buried truths that shaped her family’s tragic past and confronts the question that has haunted her for years: Can the truth set her free, or will it unravel everything she thought she knew? Author: Sandra K. Griffith Publication Date: February 24, 2026 -
For fans of Catherine Ryan Hyde and Laurie Frankel, a novel of one young woman’s post-college foray into the adult realities of landlords, economics, and urban politics, set against the Bicentennial summer of 1976. It's 1976, the Bicentennial year and a watershed moment in America. The draft, the Vietnam war, Woodstock, and the Summer of Love are long gone. Tie-dye is out, and everyone has cut their hair. The Civil Rights Act has passed, the Equal Rights Amendment is just a few states from ratification, Roe v. Wade is firmly enshrined, and closet doors are creaking open. The sixties have changed the world. Only they haven’t, as Novelle is about to find out. At this moment, she arrives in St. Louis to start graduate school in economics, a clear-cut field of mathematic problem sets with answers. Except, it’s not. Almost immediately, she discovers that Delmar Boulevard is a Great Wall of China separating St. Louis into Black North and white South, and that economics is the mortar between the bricks. She gets caught up in unraveling a plan to “take back” a Black neighborhood that has leaked over the divide. By the time she finishes her degree, she is getting hate mail and death threats. But she’s also come into her own as a force for change. A satirical, witty look at a slice of history that still resonates today. Author: Ellen Barker Publication Date: April 14, 2026
