American Literature

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left without a trace when he was nine years old. He doesn’t know what happened to her—only that her books have been banned—and he resents that she cared more about her work than about him.

In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.

Corinne worries about how she’ll keep up Flurry’s training without snow. Luckily, she meets a dog trainer who agrees to become her mentor if she and Flurry can master some new skills. But learning them turns out to be harder than Corinne thought, thanks to interference from her sister Gwynn. Corinne thinks moving into her own room is the answer—that is, until Mom shares a huge update that will change their family forever. Suddenly, their annual camping trip becomes Corinne’s last hope for mastering new skills with Flurry.

Everything has changed since the war started. Nanea had hoped that going back to school would make life seem normal again. But it hasn’t. There are still curfews and blackouts and constant reminders of war. Nanea’s dear friend Donna had to leave Hawaii, and Nanea’s big brother won’t stop talking about joining the Army. In the swirl of changes, Nanea turns to hula. Dancing makes her feel better, and soon she learns how much it lifts the spirits of the soldiers, too. When a surprising hula partner boosts everyone’s morale, Nanea gets a big idea.

Linette, c'est moi ! Je suis une petite fille bien sage et un petit peu coquine. Comme mon papa, je porte des lunettes ! Mais voilà, je cherche depuis des heures mes lunettes dans toute la maison. Ça te dit de m'aider ? Sans elles, je suis complètement perdue… Je compte sur toi pour les retrouver ! Suis mes aventures, tu découvriras la petite fille pétillante que je suis. Tu ne le regretteras pas ! Et qui sait, peut-être serons-nous amis? Allez, viens !

In this, the first volume of renowned author and historian Peter G. Tsouras’s alternative history trilogy, Great Britain’s support for the Confederacy takes it to the brink of war with the Union. The escape of a British-built Confederate ironclad finally ignites the heap of combustible animosities and national interests. When the US Navy seizes it in British waters, the ensuing battle spirals into all-out war. Napoleon III eagerly joins the British and declares war on the United States.

Wanted: Midwife/nurse practitioner in Virgin River, population 600. Make a difference against a backdrop of towering California redwoods and crystal clear rivers. Rent-free cabin included. When the recently widowed Melinda Monroe sees this ad, she quickly decides that the remote mountain town of Virgin River might be the perfect place to escape her heartache and to reenergize the nursing career she loves. But her high hopes are dashed within an hour of arriving - the cabin is a dump, the roads are treacherous, and the local doctor wants nothing to do with her.

Everybody loves scary stories, and nobody loves them more than children. Storytellers Richard and Judy Dockery Young gathered these stories from the most discerning of critics: the children themselves. These are the tales kids tell most often and most often ask to be told.

Some places are too good to be true. Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things. After a couple years of hard traveling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother's home in Wink, New Mexico. And the closer Mona gets to her mother's past, the more she understands that the people of Wink are very, very different....

In Scarborough, a low-income urban neighborhood, three kids struggle to rise above poverty, abuse, and a system that consistently fails them. The adults in their lives either rise to the occasion or fall by the wayside; together, they make up a troubled yet inspired community that refuses to be undone.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’S BREAKOUT AUTHOR TO WATCH IN 2020 “Brilliant and stunning . . . an absolute must read.” – GILLIAN FLYNN “A well-constructed package of dynamite.” – STEPHEN KING A most anticipated book by The New York Times USA Today Entertainment...

Jun Nakayama was a silent-film star in the early days of Hollywood. By 1964, he is living in complete obscurity, until a young writer, Nick Bellinger, tracks him down for an interview. When Bellinger reveals that he has written a screenplay with Nakayama in mind, Jun is intrigued by the possibility of returning to movies. But he begins to worry that someone might delve too deeply into the past and uncover the events that abruptly ended his career in 1922. Like the changing social and racial tides in California - and the unsolved murder of his favorite director.

When her cousin Ana’s family needs money to leave Russia, Rebecca puts on a sidewalk show, but all she earns is a scolding. Once Ana arrives in New York, Rebecca shares her room and her clothes and helps her cousin learn English. But when Ana is assigned to sing with her in a school program, Rebecca’s heart sinks. Ana’s Russian accent will ruin the show! Rebecca realizes her performance is one thing she does not want to share with her cousin. But how can she explain that to Ana?

Award-winning author Craig Johnson's critically acclaimed debut Western mystery takes listeners to the breathtaking mountains of Wyoming for a tale of cold-blooded vengeance. Four high-school boys were given suspended sentences for raping a Cheyenne girl. Now, two of the boys have been killed, and only Sheriff Walt Longmire can keep the other two safe.

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her - but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known. So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North.

Stories of Your Life and Others presents characters who must confront sudden change-the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens-while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy. In the amazing and much-lauded title story (the basis for the 2016 movie Arrival), a grieving mother copes with divorce and the death of her daughter by drawing on her knowledge of alien languages and non-linear memory recollection.

On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.

Sylvia can't seem to get past her trifling ex, Jamir, or her traumatic vehicle accident that left her psychologically paralyzed. Dontrell is still stuck on his ex, Samiah. Both seem to be nowhere near ready to try something new. But when Dontrell ends up being Sylvia's Uber driver, their lanes begin to shift in another direction....

Homicide detective Gino Canale doesn't believe in the supernatural. Not yet anyway. When a reoccurring dream implies that Detective Canale’s grandparents' deaths might actually have been homicides, he realizes he’s either connecting to the other side or going crazy.

Audiobook performed by Tom Hanks Pulitzer Prize Finalist | New York Times Bestseller | A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick | A New York Times Book Review Notable Book | TIME Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of the Year Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR...