After a tragic loss, an American woman investigates her birth family in Paris: “The novel’s twists and turns are wonderfully unexpected” (Emma Straub, author of Modern Lovers).   In her early forties, Emma has recently lost her husband and daughter to a tragic auto accident. When her elderly aunt visits her Indiana home to provide comfort, and instead blurts out the news that Emma was adopted, a new kind of shock sets in.   Soon, a still-mourning Emma finds herself flying to Paris, where she will discover the twin brother whose existence she never knew about, and the identity of her birth parents—a White Russian film star of the 1920s and a French Stalinist. A story about identity and the relationship between art and life, My Life as a Silent Movie is “a beautiful, evocative novel [that] melds the magic of old movies with the redemptive power of family” (Jonis Agee, author of The Bones of Paradise).   “In this sharply drawn chronicle of grief, a woman reassembles her identity through her father’s art and her brother’s tenuous offer of a new life . . . Kercheval delves deeply into the rawest of emotions and the most wrenching of choices, richly detailing each twist and turn with grace.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Seamlessly blending fascinating historical detail with a legal drama and a contemporary romance, Hugo exquisitely captures not only the wind-swept landscape of the outer Cape, but also the complicated landscape of the heart." — Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party Award-winning novelist Lynne Hugo returns readers to the beloved shores and shallows of outer Cape Cod Bay in a riveting drama teeming with life and human truth. Caroline Marcum thought she'd put the great mistake of her life behind her when she left Wellfleet, but is forced to face it when she returns to her childhood home on the bay to care for her dying mother. Ridley Neal thought he'd put his past--and his prison term--behind him when he returned home to take over his father's oyster and clam farm in the harbor. Casual acquaintances long ago, they connect again during a fierce nor'easter. But their suspicions are soon raised when a lawsuit threatens Rid's livelihood, and a chance encounter with the woman Caroline most wronged results in threats and vandalism. Each burdened with separate guilts and struggling with mistrust of the other, can Caroline and Rid set aside their fears and take a chance on the possibility of forgiveness and love? Inspired by a 1996 lawsuit, this 10th anniversary edition includes an Afterword with an update on the 2024 status of that lawsuit. A Matter Of Mercy takes readers deep into a life struggle for survival for oyster and clam farmers on theseashell-strewn shallows shallows of Cape Cod bay as Caroline and Rid battle over whether we ever find our real homes in the places and with the people we meant to leave behind.

A “moving and memorable” novel about a cafe where everyone has a story to tell from the award-winning author of The Women of Brewster Place (The Boston Globe). In post–World War II Brooklyn, on a quiet backstreet, there’s a little place that draws people from all over—not for the food, and definitely not for the coffee. An in-between place that’s only there when you need it, Bailey’s Cafe is a crossroads where patrons stay for a while before making a choice: Move on or check out?   In this novel, National Book Award–winning author Gloria Naylor’s expertly crafted characters experience a journey full of beauty and heartbreak. Touching on gender, race, and the African American experience, Bailey’s Cafe is “a sublime achievement” about the resilience of the human spirit (People).

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

In Victorian Cornwall, a doctor risks her marriage to fight for female asylum patients: “One of the most memorable heroines of recent fiction ” (The Times, London).  Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize for Historical Fiction   Ally Moberley, a recently qualified doctor, never expected to marry until she met architect Tom Cavendish. But only weeks into their marriage, Tom sets out for Japan, leaving Ally as she begins work at the Truro Asylum in Cornwall.   Horrified by the brutal attitudes of male doctors and nurses toward their female patients, Ally plunges into the institutional politics of women’s mental health at a time when madness is only just being imagined as treatable. She has to contend with a longstanding tradition of permanently institutionalizing women who are deemed difficult, all the while fighting to be taken seriously in a profession dominated by men.   Meanwhile, Tom is overseeing the building of lighthouses, and has a commission from a wealthy collector to bring back embroideries and woodwork. As he travels Japan in search of these enchanting objects, he begins to question the value of the life he left in England. As Ally becomes increasingly absorbed in the moral importance of her work, and Tom pursues his interests on the other side of the world, they will return to each other as different people.   From the blustery coast of Western England to the landscape of Japan, Signs for Lost Children offers a “fine exploration of marriage and the complex minds of ‘lost children’—that is, all of us” (The New York Times Book Review).   “Compelling . . . A quietly devastating portrait of the way identity crumbles when you’ve nothing, or no one, to pin it to.” —The Guardian

In this novel of family drama and sexy romance, a New York Times–bestselling author’s “knack for building relationships is excellently displayed” (RT Reviews, Top Pick). Every family has its secrets. Some are just too hard to tell—but too hot to keep. . . . It’s been fifteen years since the Bennetts were all in one place, at one time, and now at a total blowout of a reunion, four close cousins’ hidden desires and long-kept secrets will challenge their bond, test their courage, and change their hearts forever. Taye is a hair stylist with big ambitions. She’s trusted the wrong men in the past and now she determined to land the right one, no matter who stands in her way.Michael is a widowed airline pilot struggling to manage his teenage daughter, but turbulence comes when a new passion enters his life.Alexia was the chubby little girl who has turned into a sexy superstar who seems to have it all . . . except the one thing she’s always wanted to make her life complete: a child. Now she has the perfect man in mind to be the father of her child . . . without his knowledge.Rae’jean is the pretty young doctor engaged to be married, but happiness still eludes her because her past is shrouded in mystery. And before she can say “I do” she must come home to finally learn the truth.Praise for Brenda Jackson“A writer before her time.” —Carl Weber, New York Times–bestselling author“Jackson’s characters are credibly flawed and endearing.” —Publishers Weekly“Ms. Jackson spins a tale featuring the truest, purest type of love.” —RT Bookclub Magazine