M. L. Rio

Olivie Blake

J. T. Ellison

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

North Carolina

ENROLLMENT BEGINS NOW A beguiling, sinister collection of 12 dark academia short stories from masters of the genre, including Olivie Blake, M.L. Rio, Susie Yang and more! Darkened libraries at elite schools, looming Gothic towers, charismatic professors, the tang of autumn in the air… and the rivalries and obsessions that lead to murder. Within these Hallowed Halls is a chilling, compulsive collection of dark academia short stories.

In These Hallowed Halls: a Dark Academia Anthology

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Emily McIntire

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

A Never after Novel

Once Upon A Time, There was a king who passed. He left behind two sons, one beloved and one outcast. The older of the two was set to take the throne, but before he could, he had to find a queen to call his own. The younger one was known to be unruly and unhinged. The chosen queen was warned to keep far away from him. Beautiful and cunning, in the light is where she stayed. But late at night, it was the shadowed lands in which she played. Mistakes were made and secrets forged; forgetting duty and her sense. And while the new king had her hand, her heart belonged to the scarred prince. *Scarred is a dark royal romance. It is not a retelling, and it is not fantasy. It has mature situations and themes which may be considered triggers for some. Reader discretion is advised.*

Scarred

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Julia Seales

A Novel

When a wealthy bachelor drops dead at a ball, a young lady takes on the decidedly improper role of detective in this action-packed debut comedy of manners and murder. “If you grew up reading Jane Austen and Agatha Christie (or are a fan of Bridgerton and Knives Out), you will adore A Most Agreeable Murder.”—Kate Stayman-London, bestselling author of One to Watch Feisty, passionate Beatrice Steele has never fit the definition of a true lady, according to the strict code of conduct that reigns in Swampshire, her small English township—she is terrible at needlework, has absolutely no musical ability, and her artwork is so bad it frightens people. Nevertheless, she lives a perfectly agreeable life with her marriage-scheming mother, prankster father, and two younger sisters— beautiful Louisa and forgettable Mary. But she harbors a dark secret: She is obsessed with the true crime cases she reads about in the newspaper. If anyone in her etiquette-obsessed community found out, she’d be deemed a morbid creep and banished from respectable society forever. For her family’s sake, she’s vowed to put her obsession behind her. Because eligible bachelor Edmund Croaksworth is set to attend the approaching autumnal ball, and the Steele family hopes that Louisa will steal his heart. If not, Martin Grub, their disgusting cousin, will inherit the family’s estate, and they will be ruined or, even worse, forced to move to France. So Beatrice must be on her best behavior . . . which is made difficult when a disgraced yet alluring detective inexplicably shows up to the ball. Beatrice is just holding things together when Croaksworth drops dead in the middle of a minuet. As a storm rages outside, the evening descends into a frenzy of panic, fear, and betrayal as it becomes clear they are trapped with a killer. Contending with competitive card games, tricky tonics, and Swampshire’s infamous squelch holes, Beatrice must rise above decorum and decency to pursue justice and her own desires—before anyone else is murdered.

A Most Agreeable Murder

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Sarah Miller

Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century

With murder, court battles, and sensational newspaper headlines, the story of Lizzie Borden is compulsively readable and perfect for the Common Core.

With murder, court battles, and sensational newspaper headlines, the story of Lizzie Borden is compulsively readable and perfect for the Common Core.

Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.

In a compelling, linear narrative, Miller takes readers along as she investigates a brutal crime- the August 4, 1892, murders of wealthy and prominent Andrew and Abby Borden. The accused? Mild-mannered and highly respected Lizzie Borden, daughter of Andrew and stepdaughter of Abby. Most of what is known about Lizzie's arrest and subsequent trial (and acquittal) comes from sensationalized newspaper reports; as Miller sorts fact from fiction, and as a legal battle gets underway, a gripping portrait of a woman and a town emerges.

With inserts featuring period photos and newspaper clippings-and, yes, images from the murder scene-readers will devour this nonfiction book that reads like fiction.

A School Library Journal Best Best Book of the Year

"Sure to be a hit with true crime fans everywhere." -School Library Journal, Starred

The Borden Murders

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Bridget Collins

Goldsboro numbered and signed edition - naked hardcover 

The Silence Factory

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Briallen Hopper

Essays and Confessions

A sharp and entertaining essay collection about the importance of multiple forms of love and friendship in a world designed for couples, from a laser-precise new voice. Sometimes it seems like there are two American creeds, self-reliance and marriage, and neither of them is mine. I experience myself as someone formed and sustained by others' love and patience, by student loans and stipends, by the kindness of strangers. Briallen Hopper's Hard to Love honors the categories of loves and relationships beyond marriage, the ones that are often treated as invisible or seen as secondary--friendships, kinship with adult siblings, care teams that form in times of illness, or various alternative family formations. She also values difficult and amorphous loves like loving a challenging job or inanimate objects that can't love you back. She draws from personal experience, sharing stories about her loving but combative family, the fiercely independent Emerson scholar who pushed her away, and the friends who have become her invented or found family; pop culture touchstones like the Women's March, John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, and the timeless series Cheers; and the work of writers like Joan Didion, Gwendolyn Brooks, Flannery O'Connor, and Herman Melville (Moby-Dick like you've never seen it!). Hard to Love pays homage and attention to unlikely friends and lovers both real and fictional. It is a series of love letters to the meaningful, if underappreciated, forms of intimacy and community that are tricky, tangled, and tough, but ultimately sustaining.

Hard to Love

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Peter Stark

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation

A vivid account of the rivalry between future president William Henry Harrison and the Shawnee chief Tecumseh—and of the Native American alliance that fought westward expansion—from the New York Times bestselling author of Astoria “Taut, multi-layered . . . a much-needed reevaluation of this crucial period of our nation’s history.”—Laurence Bergreen, author of Over the Edge of the World The conquest of Indigenous land in the eastern United States through corrupt treaties and genocidal violence laid the groundwork for the conquest of the American West. In Gallop Toward the Sun, acclaimed author Peter Stark exposes the fundamental conflicts at play through the little-known but consequential struggle between two extraordinary leaders. William Henry Harrison was born to a prominent Virginia family, the son of a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He journeyed west, became governor of the vast Indiana Territory, and sought statehood by attracting settlers and imposing one-sided treaties. Tecumseh, by all accounts one of the nineteenth century’s greatest leaders, belonged to an honored line of Shawnee warriors and chiefs. His father, killed while fighting the Virginians flooding into Kentucky, extracted a promise from his sons to “never give in” to the land-hungry Americans. An eloquent speaker, Tecumseh traveled from Minnesota to Florida and west to the Great Plains convincing far-flung tribes to join a great confederacy and face down their common enemy. Eager to stop U.S. expansion, the British backed Tecumseh’s confederacy in a series of battles during the forgotten western front of the War of 1812 that would determine control over the North American continent. Tecumseh’s brave stand was likely the last chance to protect Indigenous people from U.S. expansion—and prevent the upstart United States from becoming a world power. In this fast-paced narrative—with its sharply drawn characters, high-stakes diplomacy, and bloody battles—Peter Stark brings this pivotal moment to life.

Gallop Toward the Sun

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Camilla Bruce

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

The Witch in the Well is a dark Norwegian thriller from Camilla Bruce, author of You Let Me In.

When two former friends reunite after decades apart, their grudges, flawed ambitions, and shared obsession swirl into an all-too-real echo of a terrible town legend.

Centuries ago, beautiful young Ilsbeth Clark was accused of witchcraft after several children disappeared. Her acquittal did nothing to stop her fellow townsfolk from drowning her in the well where the missing children were last seen.

When author and social media influencer Elena returns to the summer paradise of her youth to get her family's manor house ready to sell, the last thing she expected was connecting with--and feeling inspired to write about--Ilsbeth's infamous spirit. The very historical figure that her ex-childhood friend, Cathy, has been diligently researching and writing about for years.

What begins as a fiercely competitive sense of ownership over Ilsbeth and her story soon turns both women's worlds into something more haunted and dangerous than they could ever imagine.

The Witch in the Well

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Rachel Feder

Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love

What if we've been reading Jane Austen and romantic classics all wrong? A literary scholar offers a funny, brainy, eye-opening take on how our contemporary love stories are actually terrifying. Covering cultural touchstones ranging from Normal People to Taylor Swift and from Lord Byron to The Bachelor, The Darcy Myth is a book for anyone who loves thinking deeply about literature and culture—whether it’s Jane Austen or not. You already know Mr. Darcy—at least you think you do! The brooding, rude, standoffish romantic hero of Pride and Prejudice, Darcy initially insults and ignores the witty heroine, but eventually succumbs to her charms. It’s a classic enemies-to-lovers plot, and one that has profoundly influenced our cultural ideas about courtship. But what if this classic isn’t just a grand romance, but a horror novel about how scary love and marriage can be for women? In The Darcy Myth, literature scholar Rachel Feder unpacks Austen’s Gothic influences and how they’ve led us to a romantic ideal that’s halfway to being a monster story. Why is our culture so obsessed with cruel, indifferent romantic heroes (and sometimes heroines)? How much of that is Darcy’s fault? And, now that we know, what do we do about it?

The Darcy Myth

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Nathanial Hawthorne

An Authoritative Text

Critical essays accompany the story of Puritan life and the workings of the conscience on the human heart

The Scarlet Letter

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Paul Wolfe

An engrossing debut novel that cannily reimagines the extraordinary life and mysterious death of bohemian Georgetown socialite Mary Pinchot Meyer-- secret lover of JFK, ex-wife of a CIA chief, sexual adventurer, LSD explorer and early feminist living by her own rules. She was a longtime lover of JFK. She was the ex-wife of a CIA chief. She was the sister-in-law of the Washington Post's Ben Bradlee. She believed in mind expansion and took LSD with Timothy Leary. She was a painter, a socialite and a Bohemian in Georgetown during the Cold War. And she ended up dead in an unsolved murder a year after JFK's assassination. The diary she kept was never found. Until now. . . .

The Lost Diary of M

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Lisa Hilton

'A sweeping, scintillatingly original, exciting exploration of writer, spy, power player, lover Aphra Behn' Kate Williams, historian and author of Rival Queens: The Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots 'Hilton to showcase[s] her skill for both historical and detective work and compelling, evocative writing . . . A sparkling and eye-opening account . . . compelling to read [and] refreshingly transparent . . . Her fresh ideas could open up exciting paths for future scholars' BBC History Magazine ---- A CLANDESTINE AFFAIR 'Whereas the Lady Henrietta Berkeley has been absent from her Father's house since the 20th August last past . . . AN OUTRAGEOUS ELOPEMENT . . . and is not yet known where she is, nor whether she is alive or dead. STOLEN LETTERS, SCHEMING SERVANTS These are to give notice That whoever shall find her, so that she may be brought back to her Father, the Earl of Berkeley, they shall have 200 Pounds Reward' SEX. SENSATION. CELEBRITY. This is The Scandal of the Century - and the true story of the author Aphra Behn, who used a shocking love affair to create the first English novel . . . ---- In 1682, a young woman in the throes of a passionate affair flees her parents' home in Surrey to seek a new life in London. A scandal in its own right, but this is no ordinary young woman: Lady Henrietta Berkeley is the daughter of one of England's most powerful men, and her lover is her own sister's husband. As news of this notorious adulteress spreads, her flight, capture and the lawsuit that follow tear through society as the scandal of the century. To Aphra Behn, England's first professional female writer - herself condemned as a scarlet woman of loose morals - Henrietta's trial would be more than a source of shock and intrigue: it would inspire her to write Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister, an outrageous and bestselling political fiction and arguably the first novel in English literature. Aphra herself is an enigma, the facts about her life continually disputed. By revealing the story of these two rebellious and ruthless women, Lisa Hilton's new history offers a surprisingly original theory on the origins of one of England's most celebrated playwrights. Against the backdrop of seventeenth-century England, with its strict traditional conventions of love, duty and identity, The Scandal of the Century shows just how far both women will go to break free. --- 'Gloriously mind-boggling . . . This is a lively book' Spectator

The Scandal of the Century

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Clare Beams

The discovery of a secret garden with unknown powers fuels this page-turning and psychologically thrilling tale of women yearning to become mothers and the ways the female body has always been policed and manipulated, from the award-winning author of The Illness Lesson ("A masterpiece" - Elizabeth Gilbert) In 1948, Irene Willard, who's had five previous miscarriages in a quest to give her beloved husband the child he desperately desires and is now pregnant again, comes to an isolated house-cum-hospital in the Berkshires, run by a husband-and-wife team of doctors who are pioneering a cure for her condition. Warily, she enlists herself in the efforts of the Doctors Hall to "rectify the maternal environment," both physical and psychological. In the meantime, she also discovers a long-forgotten walled garden on the spacious grounds, a place imbued with its own powers and pulls. As the doctors' plans begin to crumble, Irene and her fellow patients make a desperate bid to harness the power of the garden for themselves--and must face the incalculable risks associated with such incalculable rewards. With shades of Shirley Jackson and Rosemary's Baby, The Garden delves into the territory of motherhood, childbirth, the mysteries of the female body, and the ways it has always been controlled and corralled.

The Garden

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Goddess of the River

Of Jade and Dragons

Douglas Westerbeke

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi in this dazzlingly epic debut that charts the adventures of one woman as she walks herself around the world many times over trying to outrun a mysterious curse that will destroy her if she ever stops moving—or returns to the same place twice. Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her backpack that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to bleed to death. When medical treatment only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she discovers that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her lifelong journey on the run from her condition, which won’t allow her to stay anywhere for longer than three or four days or return to a place she’s already been. From the scorched dunes of the Calashino Sand Sea to the blinding, snow-packed peaks of the Himalayas; from a bottomless well in a Parisian courtyard, to the shelves of an infinite underground library, we follow Aubry through the decades of her life, as she learns what it takes to survive and fall in love, with goodbye always on the tip of her tongue. But the longer Aubry wanders and the more desperate she is to share her life with others, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s… Fierce, hopeful, and full of tender yearning, Aubry Tourvel is an unforgettable character fighting her way through a world of wonders to find a place she can call home. A spellbinding and inspiring story about finding gratitude and meaning in a life that seems otherwise impossible, A Short Walk Through a Wide World reinforces the message that it’s not the destination, but rather the journey—no matter how long it lasts—that matters.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World

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Leesa Cross-Smith

"Having grown up the privileged daughter of artists, Vincent has a life that is lovely in many ways. At forty-four, she enjoys strolling the streets of Paris and teaching at the modern art museum; she has a vibrant group of friends; and shes even caught the eye of a young, charismatic man named Loup. But Vincent is also in Paris to escape a painful betrayal: her Irish husband, Cillian, has published a bestselling book divulging secrets about his past and their marriage, including the fact that when he was a teenager, he may have had a child with another young Black woman back in Dublin--before his family moved to California and never returned. Now estranged, Vincent has agreed to see Cillian again at their sons wedding the following summer, but Loup introduces new complications. Soon they begin an intense affair, and somewhere between dinners made together, nights spent talking and smoking cigarettes in the moonlight, hazy evenings in nightclubs where Loups band plays, caf©s, museums, and long, starry walks by the Seine, Vincent feels herself loosening, blossoming. Filled with playlists, travel journal entries, and excerpts from Cillians novel, Half-Blown Rose traverses Paris, train rides, liminal spaces, and the messy complexities of relationships. As Cillian does all he can to win her back and with their sons wedding quickly approaching, Vincent must decide what she wants... and who she will be."--

Half-Blown Rose

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Quinn Connor

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

At turns haunting and breathtaking, Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves explores legacies of love, family, and the ghostly imprint grief leaves behind as three women face the past to bring light to an old Southern town lost deep beneath the surface. Years ago, yellow fever gripped the small lakeside town of Prosper, Arkansas. At the height of that summer swelter, in the wake of an unexpected storm, the dam failed and the valley flooded--drowning the town and everyone trapped inside. The secrets of old Prosper drowned with them. Now, decades later, when a mysterious locked box is pulled from the depths of the lake, three descendants of that long-ago tragedy are hurled into another feverish summer. Cassie: the reclusive sole witness to an impossible horror no one believes. Lark: a wide-eyed dreamer haunted by bizarre visions. June: caught between longing for a fresh start and bearing witness to the ghosts of the past. Bound together, all three must contend with their home's complex history--and with the ruins of the town lost far beneath the troubled water.

Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves

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The Foxglove King

Margaret Drabble

A Personal History with Jigsaws

The author offers an innovative mix of memoir, jigsaw-puzzle history, and the strange delights of puzzling, with sketches of her family members and her thoughts on the importance of childhood play, art, and writing.

The Pattern in the Carpet

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Anna Newton

Simple Steps to Streamlining Life, at Work and at Home

Declutter every aspect of your life -- from your wardrobe, exercise schedule and food budget to your phone, bookshelves and beauty regime -- with this realistic guide to getting neat and keeping things that way. Anna Newton is just trying to balance work, her friends, her family, her husband Mark, a growing handbag habit and a love for takeout pizza. Over the past 8 years of running the blog and corresponding YouTube Chanel 'The Anna Edit', she's grown a loyal viewership who tune in for her weekly videos on everything from house renovations to the best summer foundation. Anna is a typical Virgo – she loves being organized. She's Marie Kondo'd her house, nearly throwing away her TV remote in the process. She's waved goodbye to her things with Fumio Sasaki. She's minimized and bullet-journalled her schedules down to the finest detail. Along the way, she's realized something key: there's no one prescription for an organized life, a tidy home, and calm mind. Instead, it's all about editing. Learn how to edit your: • home • calendar • exercise regime • social life • me-time • capsule wardrobe • household budget • digital detox • beauty routine • office space It's about how to utilize your time and spend more of it doing what makes you happy. An Edited Life is here to help you stay on top of every aspect of your world.

An Edited Life

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Nicole Lapin

A Simple 12-Step Plan to Start Investing and Grow Your Own Wealth

The launching point for you--and for ambitious women like you--to build your wealth, cement your financial independence, and secure the net worth you need to create the life you want; all from famed financial correspondent and Millennial money whisperer Nicole Lapin. Forget the pie-in-the-sky promises and pipedreams. This is a money-in-the-bank masterclass from one of the top voices in the women's personal finance community. From automating your savings; to easy, no-stress ways of investing; to taking smart risks with your money that compounds your wealth and keeps you out of debt; #1 New York Times bestselling author and renowned money expert Nicole Lapin is ready to start you on your journey toward your ultimate destination: being filthy friggin' rich. In Miss Independent, you will learn: The meanings of the most common (and some less common) financial terms and how to make them work to your advantage. The best method for establishing your number--the amount of wealth you want to accumulate before you retire--and getting it. To rethink how you approach money goals and true financial independence. The pros and cons of various financial decisions, such as buying a house, and the effect they could have on your financial life. Miss Independent sweeps away all the fear and misconceptions about saving and investing and achieving financial independence, and then teaches you all the different ways and paths that you can take to become a millionaire.

Miss Independent

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To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods

Mark Stein





Why does Oklahoma have that panhandle Did someone make a mistake



We are so familiar with the map of the United States that our state borders seem as much a part of nature as mountains and rivers. Even the oddities--the entire state of Maryland(!)--have become so ingrained that our map might as well be a giant jigsaw puzzle designed by Divine Providence. How the States Got Their Shapes is the first book to tackle why our state lines are where they are. Here are the stories behind the stories, right down to the tiny northward jog at the eastern end of Tennessee and the teeny-tiny (and little known) parts of Delaware that are not attached to Delaware but to New Jersey.



Packed with fun oddities and trivia, this entertaining guide also reveals the major fault lines of American history, from ideological intrigues and religious intolerance to major territorial acquisitions. Adding the fresh lens of local geographic disputes, military skirmishes, and land grabs, Mark Stein shows how the seemingly haphazard puzzle pieces of our nation fit together perfectly.

 

How the States Got Their Shapes

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Dana Shepherd

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M. L. Rio; Olivie Blake; J. T. Ellison