New Fiction

Sun House

by David James Duncan

available in August, hardcover, Little, Brown & Co. David James Duncan continues exploring the American search for meaning and love that he began in his acclaimed novels The River Why and The Brothers K. This stunning novel, set amid the gorgeous landscapes of the American West, illuminates the contemporary world through the prisms of Eastern wisdom, cast-off ecstatic religious ideals, and the unpredictable, expansive yearnings of the human heart.

The Memory of Animals

by Claire Fuller

available in June, hardcover, Tin House Books

Claire Fuller is one of my all time favorite authors. She has an incredible mind that creates the most amazing stories. I have read all her books and will continue for as long as she decides to write, which I hope is forever. This is a story of Neffy, a marine biologist in London. She registers herself for an experimental vaccine. Isolated from everything, the latest pandemic has taken over, but not in the unit that Neffy and the other volunteers have been encapsulated in. With just enough food, just enough medicinal drugs, and an air conditioner that won’t turn off, Neffy and the others must fend for themselves and survive. With technological aid, they can visit memories that help them get through time. Such a good book! So real, and yet not. –Kelly E .

The Brightest Star

by Gail Tsukiyama

available in June, hardcover, HarperVia

The beloved bestselling author of The Color of Air, Women of the Silk, and The Samurai’s Garden returns with this magnificent historical novel based on the life of the luminous, groundbreaking actress Anna May Wong— the first and only Asian American woman to gain movie stardom in the early days of Hollywood. Powerful, poignant, and imbued with Gail Tsukiyama’s warmth and empathy, The Brightest Star reimagines the life of the first Asian American screen star whose legacy endures—a remarkable and inspiring woman who broke barriers and became a shining light in Hollywood history.

The Covenant of Water

by Abraham Verghese

available now, hardcover, Grove Press

From the author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.

The House of Lincoln

by Nancy Horan

available in June, hardcover, Sourcebooks Landmark Ana Ferreira, a young asylum-seeker who arrives from Portugal, tells the story of Abraham Lincoln’s ascendance from rumpled lawyer to U.S. president to the Great Emancipator. She lands a job in the Lincoln household assisting Mary Lincoln with their boys and with the hostess duties borne by the wife of a rising political star. Ana bears witness to the evolution of Lincoln’s views on equality and the Union and observes in full complexity the psyche and pain of his bold, polarizing wife, Mary. Culminating in an eyewitness account of the little-known Springfield race riot of 1908, The House of Lincoln takes readers on a journey through the historic changes that reshaped America and that continue to reverberate today.

LGBTQ+ Romance Dykette

by Jenny Fran Davis

available now, hardcover, Henry Holt & Co. The most hilariously relatable book, especially for those that can understand its queer lingo and humor. Reading this book felt like spending time laughing with close friends, while also being a statement on modern day lesbian relationships and the involvement of technology and social media. Author Jenny Fran Davis created a seductive and erotic story that makes you laugh and understand the complexity of gender all while having a good time. –Anna