Berea

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK ∙ Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry. 

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Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century. 

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game. 

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over. 

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication. 

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • A revealing personal life story like no other—enlightening, entertaining, surprising, empowering—and a testament to the world-making power of Black motherhood

“A fascinating memoir of Tina Knowles’s journey to become the global figure she is today.”—Oprah Winfrey

“You are Celestine,” she said. She squatted to push the hair off my face and pull leaves off my pajama legs. “Like my sister and my grandmother.” And there, under the pecan tree, as she did countless times, that day my mother told me stories of the mothers and daughters that went before me.

Tina Knowles, the mother of iconic singer-songwriters Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles, and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, is known the world over as a Matriarch with a capital M: a determined, self-possessed, self-aware, and wise woman who raised and inspired some of the great artists of our time. But this story is about so much more than that.

Matriarch begins with a precocious, if unruly, little girl growing up in 1950s Galveston, the youngest of seven. She is in love with her world, with extended family on every other porch and the sounds of Motown and the lapping beach always within earshot. But as the realities of race and the limitations of girlhood set in, she begins to dream of a more grandiose world. Her instincts and impulsive nature drive her far beyond the shores of Texas to discover the life awaiting her on the other side of childhood.

That life’s journey—through grief and tragedy, creative and romantic risks and turmoil, the nurturing of superstar offspring and of her own special gifts—is the remarkable story she shares with readers here. This is a page-turning chronicle of family love and heartbreak, of loss and perseverance, and of the kind of creativity, audacity, and will it takes for a girl from Galveston to change the world. It’s one brilliant woman’s intimate and revealing story, and a multigenerational family saga that carries within it the story of America—and the wisdom that women pass on to one another, mothers to daughters, across generations.

"A knockout punch of a novel." --Mark Greaney

Pike Logan uncovers a geopolitical scheme that has spiraled out of control in India in this latest pulse-pounding thriller from New York Times bestselling author and former special forces officer Brad Taylor.

While on a routine security assessment in India, Taskforce operator Pike Logan foils an attempted attack on a meeting between the CIA and India's intelligence service. Both government agencies believe it's nothing more than a minor terrorist attack, but Pike suspects that something much more sinister is at play. After another terrorist operation at the Taj Mahal, he begins to believe that outside powers are attacking India in the gray zone between peace and war, leveraging terrorist groups for nothing more than economic gain. But the separatists conducting the operations have their own agenda.

After a massive slaughter and kidnapping of hostages during an elaborate Indian pre-wedding party, two global powers are destabilized, and only Pike Logan and his team can de-escalate the tension by rescuing the captives. What follows is a race against the clock that winds through the bustling markets of Old Delhi, the luxurious resorts of Goa, and the epic halls of the Taj Mahal. It will take everything that Logan and the taskforce have to foil an intricate plot that leaves countless lives in the balance.

"This is a novel about ambitious women and the mentors that inspired them to excellence . . . Bostwick carves an unforgettable path for her characters."--Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Good Left Undone

Margaret Ryan never really meant to start a book club . . . or a feminist revolution in her buttoned-up suburb.

By 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan is living the American woman's dream. She has a husband, three children, a station wagon, and a home in Concordia--one of Northern Virginia's most exclusive and picturesque suburbs. She has a standing invitation to the neighborhood coffee klatch, and now, thanks to her husband, a new subscription to A Woman's Place--a magazine that tells housewives like Margaret exactly who to be and what to buy. On paper, she has it all. So why doesn't that feel like enough

Margaret is thrown for a loop when she first meets Charlotte Gustafson, Concordia's newest and most intriguing resident. As an excuse to be in the mysterious Charlotte's orbit, Margaret concocts a book club get-together and invites two other neighborhood women--Bitsy and Viv--to the inaugural meeting. As the women share secrets, cocktails, and their honest reactions to the controversial bestseller The Feminine Mystique, they begin to discover that the American dream they'd been sold isn't all roses and sunshine--and that their secret longing for more is something they share. Nicknaming themselves the Bettys, after Betty Friedan, these four friends have no idea their impromptu club and the books they read together will become the glue that helps them hold fast through tears, triumphs, angst, and arguments--and what will prove to be the most consequential and freeing year of their lives.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women is a humorous, thought provoking, and nostalgic romp through one pivotal and tumultuous American year--as well as an ode to self-discovery, persistence, and the power of sisterhood.

"Bostwick's latest is ideal for fans of historical fiction and those who enjoyed Bonnie Garmus's Lessons in Chemistry, Kristin Hannah's The Women, or Kate Quinn's The Briar Club, which explore the historical roles of women and the challenges they faced within a society structured to define and limit their roles in and out of the home." --Library Journal Starred Review

An extraordinary work from the author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights

In November 1999, Joan Didion began seeing a psychiatrist because, as she wrote to a friend, her family had had “a rough few years.” She described the sessions in a journal she created for her husband, John Gregory Dunne.

For several months, Didion recorded conversations with the psychiatrist in meticulous detail. The initial sessions focused on alcoholism, adoption, depression, anxiety, guilt, and the heartbreaking complexities of her relationship with her daughter, Quintana. The subjects evolved to include her work, which she was finding difficult to maintain for sustained periods. There were discussions about her own childhood—misunderstandings and lack of communication with her mother and father, her early tendency to anticipate catastrophe—and the question of legacy, or, as she put it, “what it’s been worth.” The analysis would continue for more than a decade.

Didion’s journal was crafted with the singular intelligence, precision, and elegance that characterize all of her writing. It is an unprecedently intimate account that reveals sides of her that were unknown, but the voice is unmistakably hers—questioning, courageous, and clear in the face of a wrenchingly painful journey.

A touching novel about parenthood, first love, family bonds, and rekindled relationships from the New York Times bestselling author and beloved Nantucket storyteller Nancy Thayer.

Blythe Benedict is content. Her life didn’t end when her marriage did. In fact, she’s more than happy living in her comfortable house in Boston, working as a middle school teacher, and raising four wonderful children. With three of her kids in the throes of teenagerhood and one not too far behind them, Blythe has plenty of drama to keep her busy every single day.

But no amount of that drama could change the family’s beloved annual summer trip to Nantucket. Blythe has always treasured the months spent at her island home-away-from-home, and has fond memories of her children growing up there. But this summer’s getaway proves to be much more than she bargained for.

Yes, there are sunny days enjoyed at the beach. But Blythe must contend with teenage angst, her ex-mother-in-law’s declining health, and a troubling secret involving her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Blythe reconnects with her first love, her former high school sweetheart Aaden. But their second-time-around romance becomes complicated when another intriguing man enters the picture.

It’s all a bit out of Blythe’s comfort zone. This particular island summer may not be as relaxing as Blythe had hoped, but she’s never felt that life has given her more than she can handle—especially when she has the love and support of her family around her.

From New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict and Courtney Sheinmel comes a historical adventure about a young girl plucked from a London orphanage to begin attending a boarding school with more secrets than she could imagine—perfect for fans of Enola Holmes.

Lainey Philipps has lived at the Sycamore Home for Orphaned Children since she was three years old. Now nearly a teenager, her life is hard, and she doesn’t expect it to get better—until a chance encounter during an open house changes everything when Lainey meets a woman who invites her to attend the prestigious Lovelace Academy.

Fitting in amongst the many privileged students within the ivy-covered walls of Lovelace Academy presents challenges unlike the ones Lainey has faced in the past. Her life of drudgery has hardly prepared her for the aristocratic airs and cutthroat academic ambition of the other girls. Terrified she’ll be cast out of the academy, Lainey grabs at her chance to prove herself by traveling to Switzerland to meet a female scientist crafting a groundbreaking theory.

Determined to prove her capability and reach her destination, Lainey must rely on her own wit—as well as a mysterious boy who has yet to prove himself as friend or foe. But the real test is what awaits her in Switzerland, at the home of Mileva Maric, wife of Albert Einstein.

Set in the tumultuous period of the Tudors' ascent, The Pretender brings to life the little-known story of Lambert Simnel. From humble beginnings as a peasant boy, Lambert's life takes an astonishing turn when, at just ten years old, he becomes a claimant to the English throne as one of the last of the Plantagenet line. As Lambert navigates the treacherous waters of royal intrigue and court life, complex themes of identity, power, and destiny unfold, weaving a tapestry of ambition and survival in a world where the stakes couldn't be higher. 

“A...transporting feat of imagination and storytelling.”—Maggie Shipstead, New York Times bestselling-author of Great Circle 

"Original, vivid, and witty. [The Pretender is] Glorious Exploits meets Wolf Hall—and I completely loved it.”—Joanna Quinn, New York Times bestselling-author of The Whalebone Theatre 

In 1480 John Collan’s greatest anxiety is how to circumvent the village’s devil goat on his way to collect water. But the arrival of a well-dressed stranger from London upends his life forever: John is not John Collan, not the son of Will Collan but Lambert Simnel, the son of the long-deceased Duke of Clarence, and has been hidden in the countryside after a brotherly rift over the crown—and because Richard III has a habit of disappearing his nephews.

Removed from his humble origins and sent to Oxford to be educated in a manner befitting the throne’s rightful heir, Lambert is put into play by his masters. He learns the rules of etiquette in Burgundy and the machinations of the court in Ireland, where he encounters the intractable Joan, the delightfully strong-willed and manipulative daughter of his Irish patrons, a girl imbued with both extraordinary political savvy and occasional murderous tendencies. Joan has two paths available to her—marry or become a nun. Lambert’s choices are similarly stark: he will either become king or die in battle. Together they form an alliance that will change the fate of the English monarchy.

Inspired by a footnote to history—the true story of the little-known Simnel, who was a figurehead of the 1487 Yorkist rebellion and ended up working as a spy in the court of King Henry VII—The Pretender is historical fiction at its finest, a gripping, exuberant, rollicking portrait of British monarchy and life within the court, with a cast of unforgettable heroes and villains drawn from fifteenth-century England. A masterful new work from a major new author.

Maggie Reynolds is finally ready for love again--until the past shows up in the form of someone who may or may not be the late husband she thought she'd lost.

Five years after her husband's death, Maggie is finally ready to let go of him and the dreams she had for their future. A summer at Seabrook, where she and Ethan first became childhood sweethearts, seems the perfect time and place to find closure. Plus, she gets to spend time with his family, the Reynoldses, whom she loves like her own.

Unbeknownst to Maggie, her brother-in-law, Josh Reynolds, has been in love with her since they first met all those years ago. But his brother ultimately won Maggie's heart, and Josh's unrequited love has ruined all his relationships. If Maggie is ready to move on, then Josh is ready to lay it all on the line and come clean about his true feelings for her.

But his plans soon get put on hold when, shortly after Maggie returns to Seabrook, she runs into a man who could pass for Ethan's twin. But he disappears into the amusement park crowd before she can confront him.

The event rattles Maggie, stirs up impossible questions, and sends Josh and her on a quest to discover the man's true identity. But their search ends up raising more questions than answers--and soon Maggie isn't sure she wants those answers after all.

An enchanting adventure about a flying house and the power of friendship, from the author of The Wishkeeper's Apprentice

Ten-year-old Callie is desperately homesick. She misses everything about living in London--the apartment building where everyone has known her since she was a baby, her best friend, all the places that remind her of her mother, who died three years ago. She doesn't care to get to know Northern Ireland, no matter how friendly her next-door neighbor Sam is. Then a magical house crash-lands upside down in Callie's backyard, and its magician, Winnifred, turns to Callie for help. The Wanderdust that powers the house and keeps it (and Winnifred) healthy has flown away, leaving Winnifred at the mercy of malicious fairies and dangerous giants. She can't leave her house, so it's up to an eager Sam and a reluctant Callie to find the missing Wanderdust and bring it home again. And maybe, along the way, figure out what home means to Callie.