Heartbreaking and redeeming, Pearl is the story of a young woman in a small English village who is struggling with the disappearance of her mother, what feels like a lifetime ago. Marianne is eight years old when her mother goes missing. Left behind with her baby brother and grieving father in a ramshackle house on the edge of a small village, she clings to the fragmented memories of her mother’s love; the smell of fresh herbs, the games they played, and the songs and stories of her childhood.

As time passes, Marianne finds it difficult to adjust, fixated on her mother’s disappearance and the secrets she’s sure her father is keeping from her. Yet, in one of her mother’s dusty old books, she discovers a medieval poem called Pearl, and, trusting in the promise of its consolation, it seems as if her life begins to parallel the poem's course. But questions remain. Marianne is ever more tormented by the unmarked gravestone in the abandoned chapel and the tidal pull of the river, and as her childhood home begins to crumble, the past leads her down a path of self-destruction.

Can Marianne ever come to understand her mother’s choices? And will her own future as a mother help her find her peace?

In The Long Game, a disgraced soccer exec, Adalyn Reyes, faces the challenge of her career when a viral video disrupts her meticulously crafted routine. Sent to redeem herself by turning around a struggling local soccer team in North Carolina, Adalyn's plans are further complicated by the team's unconventional practices and their fear of her.

Enter Cameron Caldani, a retired soccer star with a mysterious presence and a rocky first encounter with Adalyn. Despite the odds, Adalyn is determined to help this ragtag children's team succeed, with or without Cam's assistance. Her journey is a testament to resilience and the power of second chances in this heartwarming small-town love story reminiscent of Ted Lasso and It Happened One Summer.

In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling standalone novel.

On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past.

Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose.

Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life, The River We Remember is an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.

From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, comes a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them.

In 1972, workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development when they unexpectedly discovered a skeleton at the bottom of a well. The skeleton's identity and how it ended up there were long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill—a dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side, sharing ambitions and sorrows.

Chicken Hill was home to Moshe and Chona Ludlow, where Moshe integrated his theater and Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state sought to institutionalize a deaf boy, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who conspired to keep the boy safe.

As the characters' stories intertwine and deepen, it becomes clear how much those living on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. The revelation of what truly happened on Chicken Hill and the role played by the town’s white establishment, McBride reveals that even in the darkest times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.

James McBride brings his masterful storytelling skills and deep faith in humanity to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, crafting a novel as compassionate as Deacon King Kong and as inventive as The Good Lord Bird.

The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray, is an exuberantly entertaining novel that delves into the lives of the Barnes family as they navigate a world on the brink of collapse. At the heart of their misfortunes is Dickie, whose once-thriving car business is now failing, leading him to obsessively build an apocalypse-proof bunker. His wife, Imelda, sells her jewelry on eBay and flirts with the idea of an affair, while their teenage daughter, Cass, is on a path of self-destruction. The youngest, PJ, contemplates running away from home.

The narrative poses a poignant question: if you could rewrite this family's story, how far back would you need to go? Could it be Imelda's wedding day, marred by a bee sting? A car accident preceding Cass's birth? Or even further back, to a summer day with Dickie and his father? The Bee Sting is both a portrait of post-crash Ireland and a tragicomic family saga, offering a dazzling exploration of the challenges in striving to be good in a world that's falling apart.

A Black sheriff. A serial killer. A small town ready to combust.

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, Charon has had only two murders. After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface.

Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. Those festering secrets are now out in the open and ready to tear the town apart.

As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon. With the killer’s possible connections to a local church and the town’s harrowing history weighing on him, Titus projects confidence about closing the case while concealing a painful secret from his own past. At the same time, he also has to contend with a far-right group that wants to hold a parade in celebration of the town’s Confederate history.

Powerful and unforgettable, All the Sinners Bleed confirms S. A. Cosby as “one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction”.

Unfortunately Yours, a novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey, is a hilarious rom-com set in the picturesque Napa Valley.

Natalie, after losing her job and fiancé, returns home to recover and plan her next move. With a trust fund that requires her to be married for access, she finds herself proposing a marriage of convenience to August, a man whose presence stirs both irritation and attraction within her.

August is determined to honor his late best friend's legacy but is struggling as no bank will approve the loan he needs. When Natalie offers a solution in the form of a quickie marriage, he's tempted by the prospect despite their mutual antagonism.

What was supposed to be a simple arrangement becomes complicated by their unfortunate, unbearable, and undeniable attraction to each other.

The Covenant of Water is a stunning and magisterial new epic that weaves together love, faith, and medicine, set against the richly textured backdrop of Kerala, India. Spanning from the year 1900 to 1977, this narrative follows three generations of a family grappling with a peculiar curse: in every generation, at least one person succumbs to drowning in a land where water is omnipresent.

The saga begins with the story of a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala's ancient Christian community, who, grieving the loss of her father, embarks on a boat journey to meet her much-older husband for the first time. This young girl, destined to become the matriarch known as Big Ammachi, bears witness to the sweeping changes of her time, experiencing both the heights of joy and the depths of sorrow, with her unwavering faith and love as her guiding lights.

Through a tapestry of vivid medical encounters, moments of unexpected humor, and profound human connections, Abraham Verghese brings to life a bygone era of India. The Covenant of Water stands as a tribute to the progress in medicine, to the enduring human spirit, and to the sacrifices of previous generations, all for the benefit of those living in the present. It is a literary masterpiece that captures the fleeting nature of time and the indelible mark of history on our lives.

A sleepy little town discovers its memories have become part of the water cycle in Naomi Salman's debut novella, Nothing but the Rain.

The rain in Aloisville is never-ending, and no one can remember when it started. There’s not much they can remember. With every drop that hits their skin, a bit of memory is washed away. Stay too long in the wet, and you’ll lose everything you used to be.

By the time Laverne begins keeping a journal, the small town she calls home has been irreparably changed. Every drop of water is dangerous, from leaky faucets to the near-constant rainfall, and a careless trip outside can mean a life down the drain.

With mysterious forces preventing escape, calls for rebellion seem to be on every resident’s lips. But Laverne has no interest in fighting. She has no interest in rebellion. She just wants to survive.

Secretly Yours is a steamy romantic comedy that brings together a starchy professor and his bubbly neighbor, creating sparks at every encounter. Hallie Welch has been infatuated with Julian Vos since she was fourteen, following an almost-kiss in the vineyards of his family's winery. Years later, Julian, now a handsome enigma, returns to their hometown, and Hallie is tasked with revamping the gardens on the Vos estate, reigniting her teenage crush and the hope for that long-awaited kiss.

However, Julian is not the teenager she once knew. His formal demeanor contrasts sharply with Hallie's free spirit, leading to fiery clashes. After a night of wine and whimsy, Hallie frets over a reckless act—a secret admirer letter penned in a drunken blur. Julian, on sabbatical to write a novel, finds himself distracted by Hallie's vibrant energy and presence, which disrupts his structured life. As he uncovers the anonymous letter, Julian is drawn irresistibly into Hallie's colorful world, challenging his orderly existence and making him question everything he thought he knew about love and life.