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A novel that follows the pursuit of love and joy—until the descent of untreated depression ends with unbearable loss, forcing a family to deal with the shocking and immediate aftermath of suicide. Eva’s lonely childhood has given her an intuitive connection with kids and teenagers. She is a gifted child psychiatrist. Single, she dreams of having her own children, and she yearns for love. The future seems bright when she meets Lyman; They build a family. They share adventures. They meet life’s challenges as team. They navigate a bout of Lyman’s depression; treatment works. They share rich, fulfilling years while their careers develop, and their children grow up. When their sons enter adulthood and their daughter is a teenager, they plan an entire summer as a family. But Lyman abruptly stops both therapy and medication. He spirals into a dark and irritable isolation that none of them can penetrate. After his brutal suicide, Eva is left to cope and to guide her children through the trauma, as they each rebuild their lives. Author: Rae Dumont Publication Date: February 17, 2026 -
For fans of Emma Straub and Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeny, a debut contemporary women’s fiction novel about obsession, forgiveness, and friendship between two unlikely people. Style-guru Charlotte Oakes sells beautiful lifestyles, but her mentally ill daughter is an addict, her long marriage is dead, and she is pregnant with her ex-lover’s baby. Stunned after witnessing a hit-and-run in Chicago that leaves a child dead, Charlotte thinks she sees her Prius fleeing the scene. Her troubled daughter, Libby, is the only one who could have been driving. His partner and best friend killed in a drug bust, police officer Ed Kelly learns that forensics has found that the fatal bullet came from Ed’s gun. Under internal investigation, Ed copes by filming cars at the site of the recent hit-and-run, hoping to catch the child’s killer. There, he notices Charlotte’s pilgrimages to the makeshift memorial, and over the weeks, the two become unlikely friends sharing intimate stories. But Charlotte won’t trust him with her most vulnerable secret of all: her suspicions about her daughter’s involvement in the accident. When Ed finally learns the truth about the accident, he struggles with his beliefs and duties. If he keeps quiet, he has breached his commitment to the law. But if he does the right thing as an officer, he may send Libby to jail—and lose Charlotte. Author: Karen F. Uhlmann Publication Date: May 6, 2025 -
For fans of Ruta Sepetys’s Salt to the Sea, this coming-of-age tale of one fourteen-year-old girl’s escape from early-seventeenth-century Portugal’s Inquisition, achieved with the help of a clandestine band of allies, will thrill and inspire. In early-seventeenth-century Portugal, Spain, France, and Germany, dangers are plentiful—especially for those of Jewish heritage. Non-Catholics have been expelled from Spain, and the Inquisition has now come to Portugal to impose its prohibitions. Fourteen-year-old Isabela, an obedient “New Christian” with a talent for needlework, believes she has nothing to fear from the Inquisition. But when a mysterious woman arrives with a message from Isabela’s traveling father, the girl must leave her home and embroider her way along the clandestine network of sanctuaries created to conduct Conversos, or secret Jews, to safety. A host of supporters and spirit guides, as well as one special young man, assist Isabela as she escapes the Inquisitors and makes her way across countries and cultures. Along the way, she learns of the danger and importance of her work and is shocked to discover her family’s true origins. In this enthralling coming-of-age tale of resistance, love, and danger, Isabela employs her talent and fierce determination to find her way despite the powerful forces that buffet her every step of the way. Author: Barbara Stark-Nemon Release Date: September 16, 2025 -
In 1950s Turkey, against the backdrop of the social and political unrest that will culminate in Turkey’s 1960 military coup d'état, a dutiful daughter is torn between family expectations and her dream of becoming a modern Turkish woman. One night, seventeen-year-old Ayten sneaks away to Istanbul for a night of dancing with her best friend. When her father discovers her rebellion, he forces her into an arranged religious marriage to a distant relative who bullied her as a child. Initially, Ayten resigns herself to her fate—but after her husband sexually assaults her on their wedding night, she flees him and her family for haven in Istanbul. Living with friends and working as a seamstress at her friend’s boutique, Ayten tries to rebuild her life. Then she meets Earl, an American airman, and they begin to fall in love—but as their connection deepens, secrets and her past threaten to upend all she’s built. Torn between her family and a future with Earl, Ayten must decide what she’s willing to sacrifice for freedom and forbidden love. Author: Denise Derya Brandt (fiction subgroup leader) Publication Date: September 29, 2026 -
This contemporary novel about a woman navigating love, loss, and the whispering call of her neglected artistic dreams will appeal to fans of Lily King and Jojo Moyes. Right after Sabina watches her rock star husband walk out on their marriage, a phone call reveals that her beloved grandmother is in the ICU in Santa Cruz, CA. So, Sabina hits the road with a tear-stained face, a duffel bag of clothes, and no plan for her future. In her grandmother’s seaside world, Sabina reconnects with several old passions: ocean swimming, process painting, and a long-lost summer love named Graham—all of which force her to confront the artistic dream she abandoned to support her husband. Meanwhile, a mysterious voice keeps calling to her. Sabina wonders if it’s a Selkie, one of the mythical shape-shifting seal folk from her grandmother’s stories. As both her marriage and her grandmother’s health deteriorate, Sabina wrestles with the choices she’s made. Is it too late to reclaim her dream? Must she choose between art and love? And is the voice she’s hearing a sign she’s lost it or a key to unlocking her true self? Author: Megan Walrod Publication Date: June 10, 2025 -
Twenty-four years old and newly employed in Manhattan, Jenna McGrath agrees to place herself under the dead body of a wealthy, prominent New Yorker—her boss—to hide the identity of his real lover. But why? Because she is half in love with him herself; because her only friend at Hull Industries asked her to; because she feared everyone around her; because she had no idea how this would spin out into her own, undeveloped life; because she had nothing and no one? Or just because? Deftly told and sharply observed, Jenna Takes the Fall is the story of someone who became infamous . . . before she became anybody at all. Author: A. R. Taylor Publication Date: September 1, 2020 -
Perfect for fans of Mona Awad and Maria Semple, this gripping, offbeat journey through modern-day Los Angeles is a genre-blending, darkly humorous exploration of suburban life, conspiracy theories, and spiritual awakening. A page-turning psychological trip for anyone who’s ever wondered if all their crazy ideas . . . might actually be right. Joan is a middle-aged punk rocker turned housewife who’s seen too many TikToks to trust the official narrative. The moon landing? Faked. Weather? Controlled. Food? Poisoned. Her suspicions ignite when a strange new neighbor—possibly a dead astronaut with ties to secret ops—arrives on her block. As Joan spirals deeper into the rabbit hole, she begins to question everything: her marriage, her sanity, and her soul’s purpose. Armed with a mystical book and a fading voice that once shook LA punk clubs, she sets out on a spiritual journey through canyon trails, desert portals, and shadow realms to expose the truth—and reclaim her power. Author: Alexandra Fleder Publication Date: August 11, 2026 -
When Josie Serafini’s brother Vic loses his wife and children in a tragic accident, Josie leaves her home and beloved horses in Upstate New York to join him in Los Angeles. While helping Vic pick up the pieces of his shattered life, Josie confronts broken relationships with her estranged father and rebellious, singer-songwriter daughter. Josie and Vic each struggle to find where they belong in their changing worlds. Josie finds comfort in nature and in a budding, long-distance relationship with the empathetic equine veterinarian caring for her horses back home. Vic battles depression as he seeks purpose in his life. Josie’s three horses and a Siberian husky help open hearts to tenderness and healing—but it’s an unexpected journey to the US-Mexico border that offers this fragmented family a chance to reconnect. A story of love, loss, and forgiveness, Josie and Vic conveys hope—even in the darkest of times. Pub Date: April 11, 2023 Author: Debra Thomas -
“Jackson effectively represents the overwhelming nature of caring for a loved one with schizophrenia, which is seldom seen in fiction. She offers readers an expert understanding of the pitfalls of such a life: the revolving-door culture of caregivers, a mental health system that often leaves families at a loss, and the social stigma that constantly threatens to derail healing progress.” —Kirkus Reviews “Finally, finally, our culture is talking about mental illness and the suffering it brings to those it strikes and those who love them. In this addictively readable, well-written novel, based on her own true story, Joan Jackson humanizes―and even humorizes―the impact of schizophrenia.” ―Meredith Maran, author of The New Old Me Most of his adult life, the only place he felt at peace was at home in Silver Lake, Ohio with his parents—but after their sudden death, he is left on his own. Eager to help their brother, Steve’s siblings, Scott and Sylvia, who both live in Los Angeles, scramble to find someone reliable to live with Steve. The answer to their problem comes in the form of Sylvia’s sister-in-law, Nancy, who is desperate to find a place to live; within days, she moves in with Steve. This is the story of Steve and Nancy, who, as virtual strangers thrown together out of necessity, forge a way to live in fragile harmony. Sometimes dark, sometimes humorous, Just in Time is a hopeful, firsthand account of the day-to-day roller coaster of life with a schizophrenic. Author: Joan Jackson Publication Date: October 24, 2017
2015 Best Book Awards Finalist in Women’s Fiction 2016 International Book Award Finalist in Fiction: General 2016 Indie Excellence Finalist in General Fiction When English major Nora Plowright finds herself staring at college graduation as if at the edge of a cliff, she decides to become a newspaper reporter—and right away, she manages to get a job at a local paper (which you could still do in 1978). Although fearful by nature, Nora pursues a tip from a stranger and soon is investigating corruption at the Maryland State Highway Authority regarding the controversial placement of a major highway. The developing scandal, with its shady “players,” tests both her budding reportorial skills and her appetite for danger. Also, her passion for storytelling makes it increasingly difficult for her to stick to the facts. Honest and humorous, Just the Facts is a coming-of-age novel about finding one’s way in the real world that will resonate with anyone who has struggled with figuring out what to do when she or he grows up. Publication Date: September 8, 2015
Twenty-year-old Kate is poised to launch into a long-anticipated life of independence when Britain declares war in 1939. After that announcement, her dream of escaping the London suburb she grew up in and pursuing a singing career is quashed: she must stay put with her family and prepare for bombing and possible invasion by Germany. Living in these anxious times, Kate strives to achieve balance in her life, though a speech disability interferes with her singing and a failed romance adds to her distress. But when a young Jewish girl whose parents have been deported comes to her for help, Kate’s goals change. Taking on a responsibility she never could have imagined, she learns that freedom and survival cannot be taken for granted—and as new responsibilities outweigh earlier goals, she learns that assisting others to escape unspeakable evil requires new perspective, as well as courage she didn’t know she had. Author: Linda Stewart Henley Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
For readers who loved The Art of Racing in the Rain, a literary short story collection set in contemporary New York that surrounds a group of aging, lonely people who experience the unexpected healing power of pets. Lost souls come in all forms—some walk on two legs, others on four. Navigating loneliness and loss is a natural part of growing older, but it’s never easy. In King the Wonder Dog, this journey becomes more bearable for a group of men and women when their interactions with the dogs and cats that share their lives help them discover a deeper understanding of themselves. A woman whose dog is stolen from her meets a surprising ally who helps get him back. An artist who survives a drive-by shooting is brought a mysterious trinket by the cat he saved from a lonely life. A man in a troubled marriage begins drawing a graphic novel starring his dog as his fierce protector, and it consoles him. A poignant collection filled with warmth, heart, and quiet moments of reflection, King the Wonder Dog explores the nuances of companionship, the beauty of second chances, and the ways we rescue each other when we least expect it. For anyone who has ever found comfort in the presence of a loyal pet, these stories are a reminder that love—no matter where it comes from—has the power to change everything. Author: Eleanor Lerman Publication Date: April 7, 2026
Once you've experienced the devastation of fracking, nothing but stopping it makes sense. After a year of well site visits and protests, four college student activists become determined to protect the people and the places they love. In the river-crossed northwoods of Michigan, Kate, Brett, Sonya, and Mark, mentored by their former professor Rebecca, keep watch as North American Energy (NorA) connects a corridor of frack well sites deep in the state forests. When NorA expands in unexpected directions and their awful, bigger plan becomes clear, the action begins. As grassroots activists gather and prepare to stop NorA’s dangerous superfrac, stresses other than the fracturing of the bedrock appear. Sonya is arrested, Rebecca reveals her hidden past, and the one person who knows both women’s stories arrives in camp. Love and solidarity want to win, even if most showdowns with Big Oil don’t end well for those who take a stand. Suspenseful, poignant, and galvanizing, Land Marks is a tribute to the waterways that connect us, the land that sustains us, and the moments that inspire us to rise up together to say, “No more!” Author: Maryann Lesert Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Jeanne Bridgeton, an unmarried executive in her late forties, discovers life doesn’t begin and end on a spreadsheet when her expected menopause instead becomes an unexpected pregnancy. Though accomplished at managing risk professionally, Jeanne realizes her skills don’t extend to her personal life, where she has allowed the professional and the personal to become intertwined. She’s not even sure which of two men in her life is the father. Worse yet, a previously undisclosed family secret reveals that she may carry a rare hereditary gene for early-onset Alzheimer’s―and it’s too late to get genetic tests. This leaves Jeanne to cope with her intense fear of risk without the aid of the mountain of data she’s accustomed to relying upon. Wrestling with the question of whether her own needs, or those of her child, should prevail takes Jeanne on an intensely emotional journey―one that ultimately leads to growth and enlightenment. Author: Joan Cohen Publication Date: August 13, 2019
A mouth-watering home run of a beach read, this lighthearted romantic comedy featuring a newly widowed fortysomething takes the reader on a joyful romp through-out some of Chicago’s finest eateries—with a dash of Cubs baseball on the side. In the heart of Chicago, forty-five-year-old Angie Sortino finds herself at a crossroads. Recently widowed, she discovers that her deceased husband, Vinnie, has left her penniless. Until his City pension can be cleared up, she’s on her own. Angie has just taken a job at Chicago City Hall as a cleaning woman when her spirited twenty-two-year-old niece, Gina, and Gina’s best friend, Kim, approach her with the idea of starting a catering company targeting funeral parlors. Seeing a chance to reawaken her own culinary aspirations, Angie gets on board. As the three women embark on this new venture, they face the challenges of the catering business, from securing clients to perfecting their menu. Angie and Gina’s love for the Chicago Cubs adds a playful twist to their journey; they often find inspiration in the vibrant atmosphere of Wrigley Field. Gina’s youthful enthusiasm, meanwhile, contrasts with Angie’s cautious nature, leading to hilarious mishaps, unexpected romantic encounters, and heartfelt moments. Through late-night brainstorming sessions and spontaneous cooking experiments, Angie begins to find her voice, both in the kitchen and in her life—and ultimately, with the support of a respected funeral director, Gina and Kim, and an unexpected new love interest, she learns to embrace her worth and pursue happiness. Author: Amy S. Peele Publication Date: February 24, 2026
As the secret federal sting operation Snakehead targets the fentanyl trade, the small mill town of Stanton, Massachusetts, becomes a battlefield in the war on drugs and three mothers—newspaper reporter Laura Everett, businesswoman Mimi Sullivan, and machinist Angie Gillen—must overcome their differences and confront their pasts to keep their troubled teenagers out of the crossfire. Help comes from unexpected quarters when several Stanton cops break ranks with their superiors after learning that Snakehead’s real mission is to militarize the police and northern border. Stakes rise as the opioid crisis deepens and Mimi’s daughter sinks further into depression and heroin addiction. Laura’s and Angie’s sons try to save her, but their efforts only place her more at risk and she is forced to run away. Ultimately, the deadly violence being perpetrated all around her—by gangs, dealers, and those running the Snakehead operation—compels Laura to dig deep within herself for the power to take charge. A fast-paced, multilayered thriller that reveals the high human costs of the drug war, Last Place Called Home is also a story about love and loyalty to family, friends, and place. Stanton is a hard place to live in—but it’s an even harder place to leave. Author: Betsy Hartmann Publication Date: July 16, 2024
2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist, Mystery 2017 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite, Mystery Psychologist and police consultant Dr. Pepper Hunt, struggling to deal with the murder of her husband, leaves the private practice they shared and relocates to Wyoming. There, in the stark landscape of the high desert, there is nothing to remind her of everything she lost and left behind. Then her new patient, Kimi Benally, goes missing in a Wyoming blizzard after her last therapy session—making Pepper the last person to see her. She knows the secrets Kimi shared in therapy hold clues to her mysterious disappearance, and she joins forces with Detective Beau Antelope to try to discover what’s happened to her. But as she follows the trail of Kimi’s obsession with the past, Pepper begins to fear the worst for her missing patient—and her own haunted memories surface. Author: J.L. Doucette Publication Date: May 23, 2017
A clear-eyed and necessary account of how violence insinuates itself into characters living liminal lives in the purgatorial world of Ontario, Illinois, Learning to Hit My Mother is a collection of connected stories that all possess a unity of place—and characters so compellingly human that they promise, with an almost unflappable certainty, to possess the reader. Pit, a girl at the onset, is savaged by her mother, who goes at her with her hands, heart, and even a baseball bat because her husband—Pit’s father—has had her. This demented triangulation forms Pit. Throughout her life she is drawn to misfits—like her friend Bean, who ultimately steps in front of a train. From these inauspicious beginnings ensues a whole delectable slew of stories; stories full of meaty, fragmented souls—Lou, Edgar, Twink, Leesa, and Pit’s son, Sam; stories whose quiet intensity will capture fans of Sherwood Anderson and Clarice Lispector. Championed by language that is jarringly precise, Learning to Hit My Mother soars in its visceral portrait of the monstrous as located in what might be called the sublimity of the ordinary. Haunting, unputdownable, and gripping, each story galvanizes with thought- provoking prose that hits each and every cell. Author: Elizabeth Kirschner Publication Date: October 20, 2026
For fans of Sue Monk Kidd and Joyce Manard, a debut contemporary women’s fiction novel about a recently bereft daughter who journeys to South America to run away from her grief—and instead finds self-discovery and healing. When she is supposed to be having the time of her life in college in California, Leonie loses her mother to breast cancer. After taking her last college course in Buenos Aires, she cashes in her return flight ticket and refuses to go home, erroneously believing that her grief will subside if she avoids her family. Narrating in her own grief-stricken voice, Leonie travels across Argentina, makes friends, and falls in love. She discovers her vulnerability and strength while working at a winery in Mendoza, riding over the treacherous Andes Mountains, and hiking the ancient pilgrimage to Machu Picchu—and, in doing so, slowly begins to heal. Vividly rendered and full of heart, Learning to Whistle will resonate with every person who has ever been forced to venture into the world when they didn’t feel ready for it—with or without the guidance of a parent. Author: Tess Perko Publication Date: April 7, 2026
It’s 1977 and Cassie Lyman, a graduate student in women’s history, is struggling to find a topic for her doctoral dissertation. When she discovers a trove of drawings, suffrage cartoons, letters, and diaries at Smith College belonging to Kate Easton, founder of the Birth Control League of Massachusetts in 1916, she believes she has located her subject. Digging deeper into Kate’s life, Cassie learns that she and Kate are related—closely. Driven to understand why her family has never spoken of Kate, Cassie travels to Cape Ann to attend her sister’s shotgun wedding, where she questions her female relatives about Kate—only to find herself soon afterward in the same challenging situation Kate faced. Publication Date: May 11, 2021 Author: Ames Sheldon
“All that glitters is not gold in Corie Adjmi’s wonderful short story collection Life and Other Shortcomings. Adjmi exposes the fear, envy, and yearning that simmer just beneath the surface of her characters’ beautiful lives. Her writing is both elegant and powerful. I was hooked from the first page to the last.” —Ellen Sussman, New York Times best-selling author of four novels, A Wedding in Provence, The Paradise Guest House, French Lessons and On a Night Like This Life and Other Shortcomings is a collection of linked short stories that takes the reader from New Orleans to New York City to Madrid, and from 1970 to the present day. The women in these twelve stories make a number of different choices: some work, others don’t; some stay married, some get divorced; others never marry at all. Through each character’s intimate journey, specific truths are revealed about what it means to be a woman—in relationship with another person, in a particular culture and era—and how these conditions ultimately affect her relationship with herself. The stories as a whole depict patriarchy, showing what still might be, but certainly what was, for some women in this country before the #MeToo movement. Both a cautionary tale and a captivating window into women’s lives, Life and Other Shortcomings is required reading for anyone interested in an honest, incisive, and compelling portrayal of the female experience. Author: Corie Adjmi Publication Date: August 4, 2020
Nettie and Andy have been soul mates since childhood. While planning their wedding, Andy receives orders from the Army to deploy immediately to South Vietnam for a year. Anxious about Andy’s safety, Nettie dives into her work as a nursing intern in the hospital emergency room. When she inadvertently walks in on a nursing supervisor and surgeon during a late-night tryst, the vengeful lovers initiate a campaign to end her career before it starts. Nettie’s only respite is an elderly patient who has everything money can buy—except the one thing he wants. In Southeast Asia, Andy is leading a long-range reconnaissance squad in an unforgiving jungle when he receives orders to escort a high-ranking female freedom fighter, Bien, to a clandestine meeting with an enemy officer who wants to defect. Previously raped, beaten, and left for dead by North Vietnamese soldiers, Bien is suspicious of the enemy officer’s motives, but she also thinks he may be the younger brother her attackers conscripted into their army as a child. Andy, meanwhile, believes his unit is walking into a trap that could cost them everything. Struggling to survive in different worlds, Nettie and Andy navigate the best and worst of human nature as they try to find their way back to each other. Author: Pam Webber Publication Date: October 11, 2022
Gold Medal IPPY Winner in Religious Fiction Finalist in the novel/fiction category of the Next Generation Indie Book Award Winner: Best Religious Fiction, International Book Award 2017 The Divine Shekinah seeks deliverance from exile to heal a world desperately in need of Her wisdom. Her chosen mission keepers, three generations of kabbalists from places as diverse as a 19th century Polish shtetl and modern day Israel/Palestine, must grapple with profound injustices and the shadows of humanity. If they choose the path of righteousness, love, and forgiveness, Her light can return to the world. Will the mission succeed? Will the divine feminine return to this world? The Shekinah calls to all of us to find our own way to ‘knit the world back together.’ Author: Leah Chyten Publication Date: May 16, 2017
“Little Woman in Blue is an inspiring and engaging fictional portrait of the artist May Alcott, written with knowledge, sensitivity, and beauty. It is wonderful to see May Alcott gain the center of her own story, and inhabit it with such generosity and grace.” —Harriet Scott Chessman, author of Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper May Alcott spends her days sewing blue shirts for Union soldiers, but she dreams of painting a masterpiece—which many say is impossible for a woman—and of finding love, too. When she reads her sister’s wildly popular novel, Little Women, she is stung by Louisa’s portrayal of her as “Amy,” the youngest of four sisters who trades her desire to succeed as an artist for the joys of hearth and home. Determined to prove her talent, May makes plans to move far from Massachusetts and make a life for herself with room for both watercolors and a wedding dress. Can she succeed? And if she does, what price will she have to pay? Based May Alcott’s letters and diaries, as well as memoirs written by her neighbors, Little Woman in Blue puts May at the center of the story she might have told about sisterhood and rivalry in an extraordinary family. Author: Jeannine Atkins Publication Date: September 8, 2015
