Nora de Jong returns home from work one day to find her mother has been murdered. Her infant daughter is missing. And the only clue is the body of an unknown man on the living-room floor, clutching a Luger in his cold, dead hand. The contents of a locked metal box Nora finds in her parents' attic leave her with as many questions as answers --- and suggest the killer was not a stranger.

Nora de Jong returns home from work one day to find her mother has been murdered. Her infant daughter is missing. And the only clue is the body of an unknown man on the living-room floor, clutching a Luger in his cold, dead hand. The contents of a locked metal box Nora finds in her parents' attic leave her with as many questions as answers --- and suggest the killer was not a stranger.

Art historians now suspect that the revered paintings of Lu Anne Bell, an antebellum artist known for her humanizing portraits of the slaves who worked her tobacco farm, were actually the work of Josephine, Lu Anne’s 17-year-old house slave. In piecing together Josephine's story, ambitious young lawyer Lina Sparrow embarks on a journey that will lead her to question her own life, including the full story of her mother's mysterious death.

Art historians now suspect that the revered paintings of Lu Anne Bell, an antebellum artist known for her humanizing portraits of the slaves who worked her tobacco farm, were actually the work of Josephine, Lu Anne’s 17-year-old house slave. In piecing together Josephine's story, ambitious young lawyer Lina Sparrow embarks on a journey that will lead her to question her own life, including the full story of her mother's mysterious death.

Two brothers born in Calcutta during World War II share a close childhood but separate from one another as adults. Subhash, the older, quieter brother, moves to the US to study marine chemistry. Udayan, the younger and more volatile, stays in India and becomes active in the Naxalite Communist movement. The circumstances that draw them apart and eventually bring their families together form the drama of Jhumpa Lahiri’s second novel.

Two brothers born in Calcutta during World War II share a close childhood but separate from one another as adults. Subhash, the older, quieter brother, moves to the US to study marine chemistry. Udayan, the younger and more volatile, stays in India and becomes active in the Naxalite Communist movement. The circumstances that draw them apart and eventually bring their families together form the drama of Jhumpa Lahiri’s second novel.

Born just 15 months apart, Subhash and Udayan Mitra are inseparable brothers, one often mistaken for the other in the Calcutta neighborhood where they grow up.  But they are also opposites, with gravely different futures ahead. It is the 1960s, and Udayan --- charismatic and impulsive --- finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement, a rebellion waged to eradicate inequity and poverty; he will give everything, risk all, for what he believes. Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother’s political passion; he leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet, coastal corner of America.

But when Subhash learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their family’s home, he goes back to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a shattered family, and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind --- including those seared in the heart of his brother’s wife.

Masterly suspenseful, sweeping, piercingly intimate, THE LOWLAND is a work of great beauty and complex emotion; an engrossing family saga and a story steeped in history that spans generations and geographies with seamless authenticity. It is Jhumpa Lahiri at the height of her considerable powers.

Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and wealthy philanthropist, is accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek, the Butcher of Zamosc. Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser, Solomon, encourages attorney Catherine Lockhart to bring Rosenzweig to justice, revealing that the true Piatek was abandoned as a child and raised by Solomon's own family, only to betray them during the Nazi occupation. But has Solomon accused the right man?

Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and wealthy philanthropist, is accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek, the Butcher of Zamosc. Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser, Solomon, encourages attorney Catherine Lockhart to bring Rosenzweig to justice, revealing that the true Piatek was abandoned as a child and raised by Solomon's own family, only to betray them during the Nazi occupation. But has Solomon accused the right man?

The gripping tale about two boys, once as close as brothers, who find themselves on opposite sides of the Holocaust.

Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and wealthy philanthropist, is attending a fundraiser when he is suddenly accosted and accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek, the Butcher of Zamosc. Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser is convinced he is right and engages attorney Catherine Lockhart to bring Rosenzweig to justice. Solomon persuades Lockhart to take his case, revealing that the true Piatek was abandoned as a child and raised by Solomon's own family only to betray them during the Nazi occupation. But has Solomon accused the right man?

ONCE WE WERE BROTHERS is Ronald H. Balson's compelling tale of two boys and a family who struggle to survive in war-torn Poland, and a young love that struggles to endure the unspeakable cruelty of the Holocaust. Two lives, two worlds, and 60 years converge in an explosive race to redemption that makes for a moving and powerful tale of love, survival, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit.

Part THE GLASS CASTLE, and part harrowing survival story, Joshua Safran's memoir of his anything-but-conventional childhood will captivate readers from the very first page and will strike a chord with those who love moving stories of overcoming adversity such as BREAKING NIGHT and THE MEMORY PALACE.

Part THE GLASS CASTLE, and part harrowing survival story, Joshua Safran's memoir of his anything-but-conventional childhood will captivate readers from the very first page and will strike a chord with those who love moving stories of overcoming adversity such as BREAKING NIGHT and THE MEMORY PALACE.

When Joshua Safran was four years old, his mother --- determined to protect him from the threats of nuclear war and Ronald Reagan --- took to the open road with her young son, leaving the San Francisco countercultural scene behind. Together they embarked on a journey to find a utopia they could call home. In FREE SPIRIT, Safran tells the harrowing, yet wryly funny story of his childhood chasing this perfect life off the grid --- and how they survived the imperfect one they found instead.

Encountering a cast of strange and humorous characters along the way, Joshua spends his early years living in a series of makeshift homes, including shacks, teepees, buses, and a lean-to on a stump. His colorful youth darkens, however, when his mother marries an alcoholic and abusive guerrilla/poet.

Throughout it all, Joshua yearns for a "normal" life, but when he finally reenters society through school, he finds "America" a difficult and confusing place. Years spent living in the wilderness and discussing Marxism have not prepared him for the Darwinian world of teenagers, and he finds himself bullied and beaten by classmates who don't share his mother's belief about reveling in one's differences.

Eventually, Joshua finds the strength to fight back against his tormentors, both in school and at home, and helps his mother find peace. But FREE SPIRIT is more than just a coming-of age story. It is also a journey of the spirit, as he reconnects with his Jewish roots; a tale of overcoming adversity; and a captivating read about a childhood unlike any other.

In 1961, 20 year-old Phyllis Chesler arrived in Kabul with her Afghan bridegroom, now the property of her husband’s family with no rights of citizenship.Upon arrival, her husband, a wealthy, westernized college student with dreams of reforming his country, reverted to traditional and tribal customs. Chesler fought against her imposed seclusion and lack of freedom, her Afghan family’s attempts to convert her from Judaism to Islam, and her husband’s wish to permanently tie her to the country through childbirth.Drawing upon her personal diaries, Chesler recounts her ordeal, the nature of gender apartheid --- and her longing to explore this beautiful, ancient, and exotic country and culture.

In 1961, 20 year-old Phyllis Chesler arrived in Kabul with her Afghan bridegroom, now the property of her husband’s family with no rights of citizenship.Upon arrival, her husband, a wealthy, westernized college student with dreams of reforming his country, reverted to traditional and tribal customs. Chesler fought against her imposed seclusion and lack of freedom, her Afghan family’s attempts to convert her from Judaism to Islam, and her husband’s wish to permanently tie her to the country through childbirth.Drawing upon her personal diaries, Chesler recounts her ordeal, the nature of gender apartheid --- and her longing to explore this beautiful, ancient, and exotic country and culture.

Few westerners will ever be able to understand Muslim or Afghan society unless they are part of a Muslim family. Twenty years old and in love, Phyllis Chesler, a Jewish-American girl from Brooklyn, embarked on an adventure that has lasted for more than a half-century. In 1961, when she arrived in Kabul with her Afghan bridegroom, authorities took away her American passport. Chesler was now the property of her husband’s family and had no rights of citizenship.

Back in Afghanistan, her husband, a wealthy, westernized foreign college student with dreams of reforming his country, reverted to traditional and tribal customs. Chesler found herself unexpectedly trapped in a posh polygamous family, with no chance of escape. She fought against her seclusion and lack of freedom, her Afghan family’s attempts to convert her from Judaism to Islam, and her husband’s wish to permanently tie her to the country through childbirth.

Drawing upon her personal diaries, Chesler recounts her ordeal, the nature of gender apartheid --- and her longing to explore this beautiful, ancient, and exotic country and culture. Chesler nearly died there but she managed to get out, returned to her studies in America, and became an author and an ardent activist for women’s rights throughout the world. AN AMERICAN BRIDGE IN KABUL is the story of how a naïve American girl learned to see the world through eastern as well as western eyes and came to appreciate Enlightenment values. This dramatic tale re-creates a time gone by, a place that is no more, and shares the way in which Chesler turned adversity into a passion for world-wide social, educational, and political reform.

On the surface of it, there's not much to David Maine's novel THE PRESERVATIONIST. After all, most of us probably knew the plot already, right? The animals came two by two, it rained for forty days and forty nights, and there was a rainbow at the end. What else can be said about the oft-told Old Testament tale of Noah's Ark?

On the surface of it, there's not much to David Maine's novel THE PRESERVATIONIST. After all, most of us probably knew the plot already, right? The animals came two by two, it rained for forty days and forty nights, and there was a rainbow at the end. What else can be said about the oft-told Old Testament tale of Noah's Ark?

To Sam Blount, meeting Julia is the best thing that has ever happened to him.

Working at the local college and unsuccessful in his previous relationships, he’d been feeling troubled about his approaching fortieth birthday, “a great beast of a birthday,” as he sees it, but being with Julia makes him feel young and hopeful. Julia Stilwell, a freshman trying to come to terms with a recent tragedy that has stripped her of her greatest talent, is flattered by Sam’s attention. But their relationship is tested by a shy young man with a secret, Marcus Broley, who is also infatuated with Julia.

Told in alternating points of view, THE PRESERVATIONIST is the riveting tale of Julia and Sam's relationship, which begins to unravel as the threat of violence approaches and Julia becomes less and less sure whom she can trust.

With the help of marine mammal rehabilitator Gabriel Jump, and a team of dedicated though inexperienced keepers, a failing killer whale named Friday begins to recover. But not everyone believes he should be in captivity --- a debate that explodes onto a national stage. Now, Friday's fate may no longer rest in the hands of Truman and the caring staff at the Max L. Biedelman Zoo.

With the help of marine mammal rehabilitator Gabriel Jump, and a team of dedicated though inexperienced keepers, a failing killer whale named Friday begins to recover. But not everyone believes he should be in captivity --- a debate that explodes onto a national stage. Now, Friday's fate may no longer rest in the hands of Truman and the caring staff at the Max L. Biedelman Zoo.

It's been three years since Hannah, the elephant, departed the Max L. Biedelman Zoo, in Bladenham, Washington, and much has changed, including the appointment of new executive director Truman Levy, and the arrival of a failing killer whale named Friday.

With the help of marine mammal rehabilitator Gabriel Jump, and a team of dedicated though inexperienced keepers, Friday begins to recover. But not everyone believes he should be in captivity --- a debate that explodes onto a national stage. Now, Friday's fate may no longer rest in the hands of Truman and the caring staff at the Max L. Biedelman Zoo.

Like THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN and LIKE WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, FRIDAY'S HARBOR beautifully illuminates the special bond between animals and humans.

From a breakout talent, a gimlet-eyed look at the entanglements that arise when Myra, a Manhattan analyst, hires a Peruvian woman from a mestizo-Jewish community to be the nanny for her grandchild.

From a breakout talent, a gimlet-eyed look at the entanglements that arise when Myra, a Manhattan analyst, hires a Peruvian woman from a mestizo-Jewish community to be the nanny for her grandchild.

Widowed Ruth lives a quiet life by the sea until a woman claiming to be a government case worker comes to her door one wet night and stays. Frida’s presence subtly changes the environment, as Ruth suddenly starts recalling her childhood in Fiji and seems to hear a tiger roaming outside her window. Yes, there’s a dark secret in the past, but THE NIGHT GUEST is more concerned with creeping fear, the long road of aging, and the inviolable presence of the colonial past.

Widowed Ruth lives a quiet life by the sea until a woman claiming to be a government case worker comes to her door one wet night and stays. Frida’s presence subtly changes the environment, as Ruth suddenly starts recalling her childhood in Fiji and seems to hear a tiger roaming outside her window. Yes, there’s a dark secret in the past, but THE NIGHT GUEST is more concerned with creeping fear, the long road of aging, and the inviolable presence of the colonial past.