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"On Memorial Day, 1958, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the...

"Elegy plus comedy is the only way to express how we live in the world today, says a character in Sigrid Nunez's ninth novel. The Vulnerables offers a meditation on our contemporary era, as a solitary female narrator asks what it means to be alive at this complex moment in history and considers how our present reality affects the way a person looks back on her past. Humor, to be sure, is a priceless refuge. Equally vital is connection with others,...

"Creation Lake is a novel about a freelance agent, a 34-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics and bold opinions and clean beauty, who is sent to do dirty work in France. "Sadie Smith" is how the narrator introduces herself to her lover, to the rural commune of French subversives on whom she is keeping tabs, and to the reader. We never learn her real name. Sadie has met her lover, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian, by "cold bump"-- making...

"Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan in store for her. Ever since she was young, whenever she met a new guy, Daphne would find a slip of paper with exactly how long they'd spend together--4 months, two weeks, one night. That's how she met her ex-boyfriend and current best friend, Hugo, the only person in Daphne's life who knows of her secret. Followed by a string of men and countless dates, Daphne resigned herself to the fact that she was...

Spending Easter with Lana Farrar, a reclusive ex-movie star and one of the most famous women in the world, on her idyllic private Greek island, her guests, concealing hatred and desire for revenge, become trapped when the night ends in violence and murder.

"The two identical brothers seemed perfect in every way--handsome, intelligent, popular--until a shocking summer night when one brother killed his parents in cold blood while the other had an iron-clad alibi. But which twin was where during the murders? And is it possible the two of them planned the perfect crime together? Years later, they may finally be ready to clear one name at the expense of the other and turn to Laurie Moran and her team to...

"1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen-children's libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains...

"Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she's pretty sure they won't extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren't going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the...

"Retired romance novelist Sara Medlar has been sharing her home with her niece Kate and her "honorary grandson" Jack. When real estate agent Kate announces she's been given the listing for the town's storied Lachlan House, it sets off alarm bells for Sara. The infamous house has a dark history, one that's certain to haunt them all. Stumbling upon a skeleton in a tuxedo causes Sara, Kate, and Jack to delve deeper into the dead man's history. They learn...

"It's a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the Cornwall Inn. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she's actually the only guest who isn't here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she's dreamed of coming for years. She hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she's here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last...