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Hocus Pocus
by Brinda Charry
Samuel Thomas, a man of uncertain parentage, is a young magician convinced that he is destined for greatness in a far-off land. Seeking honor and acclaim, he journeys across the globe--from India to London to the fog-shrouded streets of Boston in 1816, the infamous Year Without a Summer. Enter Walter Mepham: in some ways a world away from Samuel, hailing from the upper echelons of Boston society, but also nursing a problem of his own. Proprietor of the New Boston Museum which is on the brink of bankruptcy, Walter is desperate to find ways to keep it open--and Samuel is the ideal fit for the first live addition to the collection. While the perfect solution to each other's problems, the relationship between the two men quickly becomes complicated as Walter grows more and more fascinated, and even obsessed, with the young foreigner. As Samuel becomes subsumed within the museum and dependent on Walter, he must reckon with just how much he's willing to give up to achieve success.
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| There's Only One Sin in Hollywood by Rasheed NewsonIn the 1950s, married Hollywood fixer Aaron Touissant has an anonymous sexual encounter with up-and-coming actor Xavier C. Barlow in a bathroom. Then they're reunited on a biopic of a famous World War II hero, whom Aaron had a romantic relationship with when he was in the Navy. Chronicling the lives of three queer Black men in 1950s and '60s Tinseltown, this gritty character-driven novel is told via a 1971 letter. Try this next: Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen. |
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Sunrise
by Téa Obreht
In 2024, Nina's small-engine plane crashes into a lake in the Wyoming mountains. Lost and freezing on the shore, Nina is armed with only a few old protein bars, a phone with no service, and a vague hope of rescue. But then she stumbles upon Sunrise--a town of the Old West that is strangely well maintained, but seemingly abandoned. A place that holds the missing link to a ghost story one hundred years in the making. Three strangers are separated by time and circumstance. But Sunrise's many secrets are like gunpowder: quiet, contained, until they encounter a spark. Magisterial and suspenseful, T a Obreht's novel challenges the myths we think we know: of heroes and villains, of the people and places to which we lay claim, and, most of all, of our own lives.
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| Single Girls by John SearlesAfter the success of Sex and the Single Girl, Helen Gurley Brown is named editor of failing Cosmopolitan magazine in 1965. She assembles a team of smart, savvy women, and their lives become the stuff of magazine cover lines (Champagne hot tubs! Clashes with Joan Crawford!). Also covering Gurley's childhood and her later years, this fun read by former Cosmopolitan editor John Searles "sparkles" (Library Journal). Read-alike: Gill Paul's Scandalous Women. |
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| The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-GarciaIn 1940s Mexico, handsome Ulises charms lonely women to get their money. His newest mark, middle-aged Perla, is the owner of a small-town boardinghouse in picturesque Veracruz. But things don't go as Ulises planned: Perla has a niece who wants in on his scheme. The two team up, but there's still trouble since Perla isn't the needy spinster Ulises thought she was. For fans of: atmospheric, pulp-inspired historical noirs. |
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| The Queen's Coronation by Jennifer RyanIn 1953, Buckingham Palace staff prepare for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation while navigating their own lives: Caroline, assistant dresser to the queen, married for convenience and regrets it; beautiful wardrobe assistant Lucy dreams of singing stardom, capturing the attention of a deceitful man; and American Miranda, a temporary secretary, secretly writes about the coronation for her sexist boss in New York. But with new friends, the women might find new paths. Try this next: Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. |
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| What Came West by Josh WeilFrom his childhood, Silas Hall has been an outsider. Finding life in 1840s Pittsburgh unbearable, he heads west to California's Sierra Nevada mountains. He survives the dangerous journey and (mostly) gets along with the Indigenous people. But gold is discovered, people flow in, and Silas kills someone and runs. Told in third person and via Silas' letter to his son, this is a "lush masterpiece" (Publishers Weekly). For fans of: Cormac McCarthy; Paulette Jiles' Chenneville. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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