Fiction A to Z
December 2020
Recent Releases
Plain Bad Heroines : A Novel
by Emily M. Danforth

A highly anticipated adult debut from the award-winning author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post follows the release of a best-selling book about an early 20th-century New England boarding school where gender-diverse students died under suspicious circumstances. 50,000 first printing. Illustrations.
White Ivy : A Novel (ebook)
by Susie Yang

Years after she is sent away from Boston to China for shoplifting, a conflicted Chinese-American woman reconnects with her golden-boy childhood crush before a ghost from the past threatens her ambitions. A first novel. 100,000 first printing.
The Thirty Names of Night
by Zeyn Joukhadar

Introducing: three generations of Syrian Americans -- a 20-something trans man (Nadir, who is unnamed and misgendered at first), his late mother, and a long missing Syrian artist, Laila Z. -- linked by their love of birds.

What it's about: the search for identity and belonging in an unwelcoming world. 

Why you might like it: Syrian American and trans himself, author Zeyn Joukhadar richly captures New York's Little Syria over the decades through the alternating perspectives of Laila Z. and Nadir.
To Be a Man: Stories
by Nicole Krauss

What it is: a short story collection about the relationships between men and women at all stages of life, and how the characters' Jewish identities informs those relationships.

Don't miss: "Future Emergencies," which is alarmingly of-the-moment; "I Am Asleep But My Heart Is Awake," in which a daughter inherits her father's apartment, only to find it inhabited. 

Why you might like it: Nicole Krauss' straightforward writing style is highly detailed and addresses weighty topics. 
Girls of Brackenhill
by Kate Moretti

Increasingly obsessed with uncovering the truth about her older sister’s unsolved disappearance 17 years earlier, Hannah exposes disturbing secrets that threaten her present-day life. By the best-selling author of The Vanishing Year. Original.
A Weekend Away
Laura & Emma
by Kate Greathead

Introducing: privileged, inconstant Laura, a woman who drifts through life supported by her wealthy family, and her spirited daughter, Emma, the result of a weekend fling (of sorts).

Why you might like it: From the 1980s to the mid-nineties, this leisurely paced debut offers complex, unique characters and evocative descriptions of Manhattan.

For fans of: quiet, character-driven novels that center on mother/daughter relationships, like Elizabeth Strout's My Name is Lucy Barton. 
It's Not All Downhill from Here (ebook)
by Terry McMillan

The weekend: As a way to celebrate her 68th birthday, Loretha and Carl Curry spend the weekend at a Palm Springs resort, only for Carl to suffer a fatal heart attack.

What happens next: Loretha must contend with her own health issues as she relies on her closest friends -- who are facing their own problems -- as she grieves.

Read it for:
the longstanding friendships among a well-drawn group of mature Black women.
The Altruists
by Andrew Ridker

Featuring: broke professor Arthur Alter and his two grown kids, who inherited their mother's fortune.

What happens: Hoping they'll bail him out, Arthur invites underemployed Maggie and shut-in Ethan home for the weekend, only to find that things don't quite go to plan.

Why you might like it: With its imperfect protagonists, this debut will appeal to fans of Jonathan Tropper's This Is Where I Leave You or Cynthia D'aprix's Sweeney's The Nest.  
Chances Are... (ebook and Audiobook)
by Richard Russo

What it's about: Three long-time friends come together for a weekend on Martha’s Vineyard, where they puzzle out what happened to the fourth of their group, a beautiful young woman each had been in love with, and who disappeared 40 years previously.

Why you might like it: As usual, author Richard Russo effectively captures male friendships; a touch of suspense as secrets are revealed may surprise and engage fans.   
The House of Broken Angels (ebook and Audiobook)
by Luis Alberto Urrea

What it's about: the weekend-long gathering in honor of Miguel Angel de la Cruz, whose mother upstages what is sure to be his last birthday by dying herself.

Why you might like it: The stories and memories of the members of the sprawling Mexican-American family abound, resulting in a novel that is "knowing and intimate, funny and tragic at once" (Kirkus Reviews). 

Want a taste? "He winked at her. Only Big Angel could wink and denote wisdom."
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