Notable new releases
compiled by Sally Brewster
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and — most important of all — to forget any of it ever happened. Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid … and it’s usually paid in blood.
Head Cases by John McMahon
FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He also has a blind spot on the human side of investigations, a blindness that sometimes even includes people in his own life, like his beloved 7-year-old daughter Camila. Gardner and his squad of brilliant-yet-quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, brought in for cases that no one else can solve. When DNA links a murder victim to a serial killer long presumed dead, the team springs into action. A second victim establishes a pattern, and the murderer begins leaving a trail of clues and riddles especially for Gardner. And while the PAR team is usually relegated to working cold cases from behind a desk, the investigation puts them on the road and into the public eye, following in the footsteps of a killer. But with the perpetrator somehow learning more and more about the team at PAR, can they protect themselves and their families before it’s too late?
How to Sleep at Night by Elizabeth Harris
Meet Ethan and Gabe. A devoted couple for years, they have successful careers, an adorable daughter and a house in the New Jersey suburbs. Sure, they may have drifted to different ends of the political spectrum, but their marriage still has its spark. Then one night, Ethan makes an announcement: He wants to run for Congress as a Republican — but only if he has progressive Gabe’s blessing. For weeks, a slightly queasy Gabe struggles between supporting his husband and maintaining his own lefty ideals. In a nearby town, suburban mom Nicole wonders what happened to her younger self — living in New York City, freely dating men and women, and on a path to a career in the art world. Nicole feels like an accessory in her husband’s life, like she’s given up on the goals she had for herself. Then an old flame — Ethan’s sister Kate — reenters her life unexpectedly. A political reporter at a major newspaper, Kate has reached the top of her profession. But the adrenaline rush of chasing a story has lost its thrill. When Nicole — the woman who broke her heart — slides into her DMs just as her brother starts his controversial congressional run, Kate’s life is thrown into a tailspin that threatens to derail the success she’s worked so hard to achieve.
Three Wild Dogs (and the truth): A Memoir by Markus Zusak
What happens when the Zusak family opens their home to three big, wild, street-hardened dogs — Reuben, more wolf than hound; Archer, blond, beautiful, destructive; and the rancorously smiling Frosty, who walks like a rolling thunderstorm? The answer can only be chaos: There are street fights, park fights, public shamings, property damages, injuries, hospital visits, wellness checks, pure comedy, shocking tragedy and carnage. There is a reckoning of shortcomings and failure, a strengthening of will, but most important of all, an explosion of love — and the joy and recognition of family.
The Lotus Shoes by Jane Yang
In 1800s China, tightly bound feet, or “golden lilies,” are the mark of an honorable woman, eclipsing beauty, a rich dowry and even bloodline in the marriage stakes. When Little Flower is sold as a maidservant — a muizai — to Linjing, a daughter of the prominent Fong family, she clings to the hope that one day her golden lilies will lead her out of slavery. Not only does Little Flower have bound feet, uncommon for a muizai, but she is extraordinarily gifted at embroidery, a skill associated with the highest class of a lady. Resentful of her talents, Linjing does everything in her power to thwart Little Flower’s escape. But when scandal strikes the Fongs, both women are cast out to the Celibate Sisterhood, where Little Flower’s artistic prowess catches the eye of a nobleman. His attention threatens not only her improved status, but her life — the Sisterhood punishes disobedience with death. And if Linjing finds out, will she sabotage Little Flower to reclaim her power, or will she protect her? SP
Sally Brewster is the proprietor of Park Road Books, 4139 Park Rd.
