Skip to main content

William Kent Krueger Book Group Event

Dawn Tripp, author of Jackie

JACKIE is the story of a woman who forged a legacy out of grief and shaped history even as she was living it. It is the story of a love affair, a complicated marriage and the fracturing of identity that comes in the wake of unthinkable violence. When Jackie meets the charismatic congressman Jack Kennedy in Georgetown, she is 21 and dreaming of France. She has won an internship at Vogue. Kennedy, she thinks, is not her kind of adventure, yet she is drawn to his mind, his humor and his drive. The chemistry between them ignites. During the White House years, the love between two independent people deepens. Then, a motorcade in Dallas: “Three and a half seconds --- that’s all it was --- a slivered instant between the first shot, which missed the car, and the second, which did not.”

Tracy Chevalier, author of The Glassmaker

It is 1486, and Venice is a wealthy, opulent center for trade. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers on Murano, the island revered for the craft. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass --- but she has the hands for it, the heart and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make glass beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes. Skipping like a stone through the centuries, in a Venice where time moves as slowly as molten glass, we follow Orsola and her family as they live through creative triumph and heartbreaking loss --- from a plague devastating Venice to Continental soldiers stripping its palazzos bare, from the domination of Murano and its maestros to the transformation of the city of trade into a city of tourists.

Claire Lombardo, author of Same As It Ever Was

After a youth marked by upheaval and emotional turbulence, Julia Ames has found herself on the placid plateau of mid-life. But Julia has never navigated the world with the equanimity of her current privileged class. Having nearly derailed herself several times, making desperate bids for the kind of connection that always felt inaccessible to her, at age 57 she finally feels that she has a firm handle on things. Julia is unprepared, though, for what comes next: a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, an impending separation from her spikey teenage daughter, and a seductive resurgence of the past, all of which threaten to draw her back into the patterns that previously had kept her on a razor’s edge.

Catherine Newman, author of Sandwich

For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals and messes of all kinds. This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past --- except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing; her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends her into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.

Chris Whitaker, author of All the Colors of the Dark

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing. When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges --- Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake. Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

Editorial Content for The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America

Teaser

From acclaimed New York Times journalists Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer comes a narrative that is a political cliffhanger and an intimate look at what it means to be a woman in America today. THE FALL OF ROE is a powerful book that will have everyone talking.

Promo

From acclaimed New York Times journalists Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer comes a narrative that is a political cliffhanger and an intimate look at what it means to be a woman in America today. THE FALL OF ROE is a powerful book that will have everyone talking.

About the Book

From acclaimed New York Times journalists Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer comes a narrative that is a political cliffhanger and an intimate look at what it means to be a woman in America today. THE FALL OF ROE is a powerful book that will have everyone talking.

In June 2022, Americans watched in shock as the Supreme Court reversed one of the nation’s landmark rulings. For nearly a half-century, Roe v. Wade was synonymous with women’s rights and freedoms. Then, suddenly, it was gone.

With stunning scope, journalistic rigor, and unprecedented access to the highest echelons of conservative and liberal power, Dias and Lerer chronicle the end of the Roe era. Their deeply human reporting stretches from inside abortion clinics to the halls of the White House, exposing powerful behind-the-scenes actors and recasting the actions of those already in the spotlight. The result is a sweeping and intimate narrative of secrets, power, jaw-dropping revelations and a beacon to guide us forward.

Editorial Content for Familiaris

Book

Teaser

The follow-up to the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling modern classic THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, FAMILIARIS is the stirring origin story of the Sawtelle family and the remarkable dogs that carry the Sawtelle name.

Promo

The follow-up to the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling modern classic THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, FAMILIARIS is the stirring origin story of the Sawtelle family and the remarkable dogs that carry the Sawtelle name.

About the Book

Oprah’s Book Club Pick for Summer 2024

The follow-up to the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling modern classic THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, FAMILIARIS is the stirring origin story of the Sawtelle family and the remarkable dogs that carry the Sawtelle name.

It is spring 1919, and John Sawtelle's imagination has gotten him into trouble…again. Now John and his newlywed wife, Mary, along with their two best friends and their three dogs, are setting off for Wisconsin's north woods, where they hope to make a fresh start --- and, with a little luck, discover what it takes to live a life of meaning, purpose and adventure. But the place they are headed for is far stranger and more perilous than they realize, and it will take all their ingenuity, along with a few new friends --- human, animal and otherworldly --- to realize their dreams.

By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, mysterious and enchanting, FAMILIARIS takes readers on an unforgettable journey from the halls of a small-town automobile factory, through an epic midwestern firestorm and an ambitious WWII dog training program, and far back into mankind's ancient past, examining the dynamics of love and friendship, the vexing nature of families, the universal desire to create something lasting and beautiful, and, of course, the species-long partnership between Homo sapiens and Canis familiaris.

Editorial Content for Malas

Book

Teaser

MALAS is a story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas-Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations.

Promo

MALAS is a story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas-Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations.

About the Book

A story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas-Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations.

In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguirre in the small border town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family.

More than 40 years later, Lulu Muñoz is dodging chaos at every turn: her troubled father’s moods, his rules, her secret life as singer in a punk band, but most of all her upcoming quinceañera. When her beloved grandmother passes away, Lulu finds herself drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and who lives alone and shunned on the edge of town.

Their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu’s family’s past. As the quinceañera looms --- and we move between these two strong, irascible female voices --- one woman must make peace with the past, and one girl pushes to embrace her future.

Rich with cinematic details --- from dusty rodeos to the excitement of a Selena concert and the comfort of conjunto ballads played at family gatherings --- this memorable debut is a love letter to the Tejano culture and community that sustain both of these women as they discover what family means.

Editorial Content for Swift River

Teaser

SWIFT RIVER is a sweeping family saga about the complicated bond between mothers and daughters, the disappearance of a father, and the long-hidden history of a declining New England mill town.

Promo

SWIFT RIVER is a sweeping family saga about the complicated bond between mothers and daughters, the disappearance of a father, and the long-hidden history of a declining New England mill town.

About the Book

“The book we all need to revive our souls” (Nicole Dennis-Benn): A sweeping family saga about the complicated bond between mothers and daughters, the disappearance of a father, and the long-hidden history of a declining New England mill town.

It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop has been gone, she’s the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.

But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she’s never met, key elements of Pop’s life are uncovered. She is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion. As pieces of their shared past become clearer, Diamond gains a sense of her place in the world and in her family. But how will what she’s learned of the past change her future?

A story of first friendships, family secrets and finding the courage to let go, SWIFT RIVER is a sensational debut about how history shapes us and heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent.