A Song to Drown Rivers is an epic historical fantasy inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China. It delves into themes of womanhood, war, sacrifice, and love against all odds.

Her beauty hides a deadly purpose.

Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue, who believe the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family. When Xishi captures the attention of the renowned young military advisor, Fanli, he offers her a unique opportunity: to wield her beauty as a weapon. Her mission is to infiltrate the enemy palace as a spy, seduce their immoral king, and weaken them from within, thereby avenging her sister’s murder and improving the lives of her people.

Trained by Fanli in everything from classical instruments to concealing emotions, Xishi hones her beauty into the perfect blade. The attraction between them is undeniable, burning away any falsehoods.

Within the enemy palace, Xishi is under the watchful eyes of the king’s advisors, while the king himself shows her great affection. Despite his gentleness, a lurking brutality means she can never let her guard down. As Xishi rises in the Wu court, the risk of being unmasked as a traitor grows, threatening to bring both kingdoms down.

Creation Lake is a mesmerizing novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics, bold opinions, and clean beauty, who is sent to infiltrate an anarchist collective in France.

Sadie Smith, the protagonist, introduces herself to her lover and the rural commune of French subversives she is spying on. Her lover, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian, is deceived by her calculated "cold bump," making him believe their encounter was accidental. Lucien, like everyone else Sadie targets, becomes a tool in her strategic game.

Sadie's operations are dictated by her shadowy "contacts" in business and government, who first want her to incite provocation and then demand even more. In the picturesque region of centuries-old farms and ancient caves, Sadie becomes entranced by Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists. Bruno communicates only by email and believes that true freedom from modern life's woes lies not in revolt but in returning to the ancient past.

As Sadie is convinced of her role as the puppet master, she finds herself seduced by Bruno's ingenious counter-histories and his tragic story. Rachel Kushner crafts a taut and dazzling rendition of "noir" in this novel, making it a work of high art, high comedy, and unforgettable pleasure.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are not cats.

Nor do they have tails.

But they are most assuredly dead.

Nebula and Alex Award winner P. Djèlí Clark introduces a brand-new world and a fantastical city full of gods and assassins.

Eveen the Eviscerator is skilled, discreet, professional, and here for your most pressing needs in the ancient city of Tal Abisi. Her guild is strong, her blades are sharp, and her rules are simple. Those sworn to the Matron of Assassins―resurrected, deadly, wiped of their memories―have only three unbreakable vows.

First, the contract must be just. That’s above Eveen’s pay grade.

Second, even the most powerful assassin may only kill the contracted. Eveen’s a professional. She’s never missed her mark.

The third and the once you accept a job, you must carry it out. And if you stray? A final death would be a mercy. When the Festival of the Clockwork King turns the city upside down, Eveen’s newest mission brings her face-to-face with a past she isn’t supposed to remember and a vow she can’t forget.

A young woman wins the role of a lifetime in a film about a legendary heroine — but the real drama is behind the scenes in this sumptuous historical epic from the author of Mexican Gothic.

1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times.

So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.

Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood—a city overflowing with gossip, scandal, and intrigue—make for a sizzling combination.

But this is the tale of three women, for it is also the story of the princess Salome herself, consumed with desire for the fiery prophet who foretells the doom of her stepfather, Herod: a woman torn between the decree of duty and the yearning of her heart.

Before the curtain comes down, there will be tears and tragedy aplenty in this sexy Technicolor saga.

Rosie and Chad Lowan are barely making ends meet in New York City when they receive life-changing news: Chad's late uncle has left them his luxury apartment at the historic Windermere in glamorous Murray Hill. With its prewar elegance and impeccably uniformed doorman, the building is the epitome of old New York charm. One would almost never suspect the dark history lurking behind its perfectly maintained facade.

At first, the building and its eclectic tenants couldn't feel more welcoming. But as the Lowans settle into their new home, Rosie starts to suspect that there's more to the Windermere than meets the eye. Why is the doorman ever-present? Why are there cameras everywhere? And why have so many gruesome crimes occurred there throughout the years? When one of the neighbors turns up dead, Rosie must get to the truth about the Windermere before she, too, falls under its dangerous spell.

A luxury train speeding towards Moscow and a date with destiny.

A CIA plane downed in the jungles of the Golden Triangle.

A Nazi hoard entombed in the remote mountains of South-West Poland.

A missing treasure, the eighth wonder of the world, lost for seven decades.

One Russian magnate's dream of restoring a nation to greatness has set in motion a chain of events which will take the world to the brink of chaos. Only Frances Coffey, the CIA's most legendary spymaster, can prevent it. But to do so, she needs someone special. Enter Argylle, a troubled agent with a tarnished past who may just have the skills to take on one of the most powerful men in the world. If only he can save himself first...

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she's not only North Carolina's richest woman, she's also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family's estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains.

In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.

But to everyone's surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle's death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.

Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam's estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.

But Ruby's plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what's written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

This Plague of Souls marks the return of Mike McCormack, the Booker-listed author of the literary sensation Solar Bones. In this terse metaphysical thriller, we follow the story of Nealon, a man stepping back into the world after a stint in prison, only to find his home devoid of warmth, light, and the presence of his family. As if existence itself has chosen to ignore or erase him, Nealon is left to grapple with the void.

However, mysterious calls from a stranger claiming to know the fate of his missing loved ones set Nealon on a path of discovery. A meeting is arranged against the backdrop of a looming terrorist attack, where Nealon engages in a conversation riddled with hidden truths and deliberate omissions. This verbal chess match takes him on a journey through his past, his childhood, and into the heart of international crimes committed in the name of revenge against a world deemed beyond redemption.

McCormack weaves a brooding exploration of the ties that bind rural Ireland to the atrocities of the 21st century. This narrative offers a sharp portrayal of a young family's struggle and a relentless probe into our responsibilities towards our kin and the wider world.