New Literary Fiction

Liv Ridgely prides herself on being the responsible wrangler of all things family: stay at home mom, caretaker of elderly parents, supporter of husband Oscar's career, savior of her wayward sister. Now, with her son off to college, and her ambitious daughter, Hazel, a year away from following him, it's Liv's turn. She's even established her dream career of bringing beautiful old homes back to life in the most picturesque part of Maine. Until she learns that 16-year-old Hazel is three months pregnant.

In this darkly comic novel, a group of women inhabits a world of constant surveillance, where informants lurk in the flower beds and false reports fly. Conspiracies abound in a community that normalizes paranoia and suspicion. Some try to flee - whether to a mysterious gambling bordello or to ancestral homes that can be reached only underground through muddy caves, sewers, and tunnels. Others seek out the refuge of Nest County, where traditional Chinese herbal medicines can reshape or psychologically transport the self. Each life is circumscribed by secrets and transcendent delusions.

After the stunning historical novels The Clearing and The Missing, Tim Gautreaux now ranges freely through contemporary life with 12 new stories and eight from previous collections. Most are set in his beloved Louisiana, many hard by or on the Mississippi River, others in North Carolina, and even in midwinter Minnesota. But generally it's heat, humidity, and bugs that beset his people as they wrestle with affairs of the heart, matters of faith, and the pros and cons of tight-knit communities.

New Orleans, 1900: Mary Deubler makes a meager living as an "alley whore". That all changes when bible-thumping Alderman Sidney Story forces the creation of a red-light district that’s mockingly dubbed "Storyville". Mary believes there’s no place for a lowly girl like her in the high-class bordellos of Storyville’s Basin Street, where Champagne flows and beautiful girls turn tricks in luxurious bedrooms. But with gumption, twists of fate, even a touch of Voodoo, Mary rises above her hopeless lot to become the notorious Madame Josie Arlington.

This new edition provides extensive commentary on the literary figures, such as Baudelaire, Swinburne, J.K. Huysmans, Mallarmé, Arthur Symons and Théophile Gautier, who formed Wilde's literary circle and, in some senses, underpinned his overconfidence in the shield of Art to protect him from the sword of social morality. Returning to this contemporary account of such an infamous trial allows the modern listener a broader historical perspective. Grolleau’s words are, in fact, part of the history surrounding the immediate literary and social aftermath of Wilde’s death.

A wry and poignant debut novel about a man’s search for true connection that is “both knowing and cutting, a satire of internet culture that is also a moving portrait of a lost human being” (Los Angeles Times). “A knowing and thought-provoking exploration of love, modern isolation, and...

In part one, Stanley, an out of work tech writer, gets a short-term contract job across the country. Of the three areas he feels give meaning to life—family, work, and religion—he is going to leave the only one of the three which has meaning to him, family, to go be "just a tech writer" at "just another company".

A highly anticipated, bold new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours—three linked visionary narratives set in the ever-mysterious, turbulent city of New York In each section of Michael Cunningham's new book, we encounter the same group of characters: a young boy, an older...

Critically acclaimed, for readers of Paul Beatty's The Sellout and Jennifer Egan's The Candy House, a moving and darkly funny novel about an attempt to found an underground Utopia. An abandoned restaurant on a hill off the highway in Western Massachusetts doesn't look like much. But to Rio, a...

James Dixon and Janice Atterly are making a go of their long-distance relationship. He visited her in San Diego, California, and now he’s invited her to come to his home in Summer County, South Carolina. James’ twin brother, Donald, is also interested in Janice’s best friend and condo mate, Dr. Cecile Jordon, but she’s not nearly as amenable as Janice. Of the women Donald has encountered, none were as difficult to get close to or half as intriguing as Cecile.

When Arkady Petrovich returns home from college, his father finds his eager, naïve son changed almost beyond recognition, for the impressionable Arkady has fallen under the powerful influence of the friend he has brought home with him. A self-proclaimed nihilist, the ardent young Bazarov shocks Arkady's father with his determination to overthrow the traditional values of society. Vividly capturing the hopes and fears of a changing Russia in the 19th century, Fathers and Sons is Ivan Turgenev's masterpiece. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

There is more to a princess than stunning looks, soprano pipes, and an inherent tenderness toward all creation. There is more to freeing a king’s daughter from a curse than riding up singing, lips puckered. Fairy stories leave out too much, true love is a complicated business, and for this there is not always an evil stepmother to blame. Princess stories are simply better when they are expanded, embellished, and arbitrarily annotated.

The fates of three tormented men, born as many eras apart, come together in a rock cave on the Coromandel peninsula of New Zealand - Tama of the Ngatei Hei, Billy Green in the days of gold, and Dr. Sababa from across the ocean - seeking revenge, discovering treasure, and searching for redemption. Here their thrilling life and death stories of obsession begin by hurtling down the shoreline of the same beach and end in the fierce battles that left the coastal sands white with bones.

The Girl Who Invoked Fire continues the odyssey of Jian Byrne, an unassuming but gifted Irish orphan who bears the scars of lifetimes. Guided by unseen forces, Jian is shown visions of her mother as a young woman, which spurs her search into her family’s disappearance and beyond into life’s profound secrets.

Disguised as Diplomats and on behalf of the British Intelligence Holmes and Watson attend the Congo Conference in Berlin. But when a high ranking representative disappears without a trace, the Congress threatens to fail. The German Chancellor, Bismarck, urges Holmes for help.

There is a mole hiding in the British Embassy in Brussels. Important secret papers regarding the colonial politics have been stolen. In order to keep a diplomatic and international crisis from happening Holmes and Watson travel, of course incognito, to Belgium. There they want to put a stop to the traitor's game.

Baron Collingwood's eldest son and title heir dies from a mysterious illness. Now that the second eldest son is also in bad condition, it seems that a curse has befallen the family. Neither doctors nor police are able to find the cause. Confronted with a riddle the Baron hires Holmes and Watson to solve the mystery before it is tool late.

On behalf of the British Museum Holmes and Watson travel to Wales. A dinosaur skull that was found in a coal mine was stolen before its transport to London. Finding the thief, however, turns out to be a challenge. It seems that the Celtic natives have other plans with the fossil.

Inspector Lestrade asks Sherlock Holmes for help when the Chinese owner of an opium cave is murdered in London. Holmes, however, is not in full possession of his detecting skills, and Dr. Watson has to take over at first. At the scene he finds a big mystery.

There is a mole hiding in the British Embassy in Brussels. Important secret papers regarding the colonial politics have been stolen. In order to keep a diplomatic and international crisis from happening Holmes and Watson travel, of course incognito, to Belgium. There they want to put a stop to the traitor's game.