DISCUSSION GUIDES

Erin Brockovich meets Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, Counting Backwards has the tight pace of a thriller with the personal, emotional themes of a women's fiction novel.

A coming-of-age story that explores the meaning of birth family and found family, Leeta Simtar shows readers how breaking out of the past can help us figure out where we're going next.

For fans of Patrick Dewitt and Henry David Thoreau comes The Lunatic--the debut literary novel from the author of two previous non-fiction books, Michelle B. Slater, PhD.

Fans of Richard Price, Charlie Huston, and Jonathan Lethem will love this coming-of-age New York-centric detective noir debut from esteemed filmmaker and screenwriter Alex R. Johnson.

A playfully macabre and utterly thrilling tale about orphaned twins on the run from their murderous uncle who find refuge in a bizarre traveling carnival, from master of literary horror Dan Chaon
 

A wickedly plotted new thriller, in which a group of friends play a deadly game that unwraps a motive for murder, from Alex Pavesi, the author of The Eighth Detective
 

The Crucible meets The Virgin Suicides in this haunting debut about five sisters in a small village in eighteenth-century England whose neighbors are convinced they’re turning into dogs.
 

A National Bestseller
An Indie Next & LibraryReads Pick for June
A June 2025 Book of the Month Selection
A Town & Country Best New Romance Novel

"The Summer We Ran is a perfectly nostalgic story of love, loss, and secrets that refuse to stay buried. It's exactly what I hope for in a summertime read."
--Annabel Monaghan, author of Same Time Next Summer

Does your past define your destiny? Told through multiple perspectives, rich with emotion and immersive dual timelines, The Summer We Ran weaves together a story of lost love, devastating secrets, shocking sabotage, and the painstaking decision two people must make in order to fulfill the futures they each desire.

In the summer of 1996, Tess Murphy's mom gave her two rules to abide by: keep quiet and stay out of trouble. Her mother landed a new job as a cook at an affluent Virginia estate and didn't want anything to risk the opportunity, least of all her outspoken teenage daughter. What no one saw coming was Tess falling deeply in love with the boy next door, high-society Grant Alexander.

Over a few wondrous and heat-filled months, Tess and Grant's love blooms so ferociously it feels utterly impossible that anything can keep them apart, until tragedy strikes.

Now, more than two decades after their epic teenage romance, Tess and Grant are both running for governor of Virginia, and secrets from that summer threaten to shatter their families, their political futures, and the memory of the first love that shaped their lives.

“One of the most captivating novels of the year.” – Washington Post 

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A Library Reads Pick • An Indie Next Pick

A Best Book of the Year: Bloomberg | Boston Globe | Chicago Public Library | Chicago Tribune | Esquire | Kirkus | New York Public Library | New York Times Book Review (Historical Fiction) | NPR's Fresh Air | O Magazine | Washington Post | Publishers Weekly | Seattle Times | USA Today 

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins comes another “literary miracle” (NPR)—a propulsive, richly entertaining novel about two brothers swept up in the turbulent class warfare of the early twentieth century.

An intimate story of brotherhood, love, sacrifice, and betrayal set against the panoramic backdrop of an early twentieth-century America that eerily echoes our own time, The Cold Millions offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich and poor, between harsh realities and simple dreams.

The Dolans live by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for day work at crooked job agencies. While sixteen-year-old Rye yearns for a steady job and a home, his older brother, Gig, dreams of a better world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent treatment. Enter Ursula the Great, a vaudeville singer who performs with a live cougar and introduces the brothers to a far more dangerous creature: a mining magnate determined to keep his wealth and his hold on Ursula.

Dubious of Gig’s idealism, Rye finds himself drawn to a fearless nineteen-year-old activist and feminist named Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. But a storm is coming, threatening to overwhelm them all, and Rye will be forced to decide where he stands. Is it enough to win the occasional battle, even if you cannot win the war?

Featuring an unforgettable cast of cops and tramps, suffragists and socialists, madams and murderers, The Cold Millions is a tour de force from a “writer who has planted himself firmly in the first rank of American authors” (Boston Globe).