Pianos and Flowers by Alexander McCall Smith: In Pianos and Flowers we are invited, through the medium of sepia images, to glimpse a world long departed. Inspired by long-lost photographs, the lives of the people in the frame are imagined and then explored, layer by layer. Big stories are in these simple pictures. At first glance the photographs may seem unexceptional: the mere freezing of a moment in time. But delve deeper and you will realize that these photographs speak volumes.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine: During a time of political instability, Ambassador Mahit Dzmare discovers that her predecessor has died. Now Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion–all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret–one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life–or rescue it from annihilation.
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse: Though it’s a stunning retreat, something about the luxury hotel in the Alps makes Elin nervous, then she wakes to discover her brother’s fiancée Laure has vanished without a trace. With a storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the remaining guests start to panic; yet no one has realized that another woman has gone missing, and she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they’re all in.
Neighbors by Danielle Steel: Meredith White was one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces. But a personal tragedy cut her acting career short and alienated her from her family. Then, on a muggy late summer day, a massive earthquake strikes Northern California, plunging the Bay Area into chaos. Without a moment’s hesitation, Meredith invites her stunned and shaken neighbors into her mostly undamaged home as the recovery begins.
The Liars Dictionary by Eley Williams: Peter Winceworth, a disaffected Victorian lexicographer, inserts false entries into a dictionary – violating and subverting its authority. In the present day, Mallory is tasked with uncovering these entries before the work is digitized. As their narratives combine, Winceworth imagines who will find his fictional words in an unknown future, Mallory discovers more about the anonymous lexicographer’s life through the clues left in his entries, and both discover how they might negotiate the complexities of an absurd, relentless, and undefinable life.
The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey: A debut novel for fans of Sarah Perry and Kate Morton: when a young woman is tasked with safeguarding a natural history collection as it is spirited out of London during World War II, she discovers her new manor home is a place of secrets and terror instead of protection.
Picnic in the Ruins by Todd Robert Petersen: Anthropologist Sophia Shepard is conducting research in a remote area of the Utah-Arizona border when she crosses paths with two small-time criminals. Suddenly, Sophia must put her theories to the test in the real world, and the stakes are high. What begins as a madcap caper across the lands of southern Utah becomes a meditation on mythology, authenticity, the ethics of preservation, and one nagging question: Who owns the past?
The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O’Donnell: London, 1893: high up in a house on a dark, snowy night, a lone seamstress stands by a window. Why does the seamstress jump from the window? Why is a cryptic message stitched into her skin? And how is she connected to a rash of missing girls, all of whom seem to have disappeared under similar circumstances? On the case is Inspector Cutter, a detective as sharp and committed to his work as he is wryly hilarious.
Call upon the Water by Stella Tillyard: In 1649, Jan Brunt works to drain and develop an expanse of marshy wetlands known as the Great Level. It is here in this wild country that he meets Eliza, a local woman whose love overturns his ordered vision. When she uses the education Jan has given her to sabotage his work, Jan flees to the New World. Eliza has also made it to the New World, and once again uses the education Jan gave her to bend the landscape—this time to find her own place of freedom.
The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Trevis: Eight-year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. Until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time she feels in control. By the age of sixteen, she’s competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting.