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Revelations Of Catalina On The Holy Mass by Catalina Rivas

About the booklet: "In your homes, you have a place for everything and a room for every activity: a bedroom for sleeping, another for the kitchen, another for eating, etc. What place have you prepared for Me? It should not be a place where you have only placed an image that always gathers dust, but a place where at least five minutes a day, the family meets to give thanks for the day and for the gift of life, to ask for the needs of the day, to ask for blessings, protection, health."

In Revelations of Catalina on the Holy Mass: The story of an encounter between the Virgin Mary and the Bolivian Mystic (2025), Catalina reveals the spiritual dimension of the Holy Mass.

Beyond what the eye can see, there is a mystical celebration that the Virgin Mary unveiled to this Bolivian mystic.

From the host that mystically takes on the face of Christ, to the wine that becomes the image of the crucified Jesus, the Virgin Mary reveals the marvelous design of her Son’s love for humanity, which reaches its summit in the Holy Mass.

Reading this book will transform the way you experience Mass - your participation will never be the same again.

Revelations of Catalina on the Holy Mass is translated from the Spanish by Paulo Gomez. 

About the author: Catalina Rivas (b 1944) is a laywoman and mystic, married, living in Bolivia. Around the age of 47 (1993), she received an exceptional mission from the Lord. Christ made her His secretary, giving her numerous messages which she writes by dictation. She also receives visions and revelations that she is charged with transmitting to all, notably revelations concerning the Holy Mass which are illuminating.

On 2 April 1998, the writings of Catalina Rivas received the Imprimatur of the Archbishop of Cochabamba, Mons in Bolivia. Here is what he says: "We have read the books of Catalina and we are sure that their sole object is to lead on the path of an authentic spirituality, whose source is the Gospel of Christ […] For this, I authorize their printing and dissemination, recommending them as aids for meditation."

Terminar un libro

(Google Translation): "Depth is a luxury. Finishing a book. Conversing without a phone on the table. Dedicating more than ten minutes to reflecting on a problem. Listening to a full album. Writing without interruptions. Being in a place without feeling the need to post it. In a world that sells mass distraction, sustained attention has become the privilege of those who choose. And live.”

By The River's Edge (True Crime) by Gregg Olsen

About the book: The decades-long manhunt for a serial killer takes a stunning turn in a haunting and harrowing true crime shocker by Gregg Olsen, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell.

In 1990 in Washington state, the bodies of Yolanda Sapp, Nickie Lowe, and Kathy Brisbois were found on the banks of the Spokane River. They were part of a close-knit alliance of sex workers whose oath to protect each other was, in the end, hopeless. 

For twenty-two years their brutal murders went unsolved.

In 2012, a DNA cold hit pointed to Douglas Perry. A repeat assault offender, Douglas was currently incarcerated in Carswell, Texas. 

But there was a twist: The facility was for female prisoners. 

The man authorities hunted for decades was now Donna Perry! Her gender reassignment not only helped to mask the evil deeds of the past, it ended a life of childhood traumas and a pent-up rage unleashed on nearly thirty victims, according to Donna herself. 

Through total reinvention, she believed she had finally slayed the monster within.

By the River's Edge: A True Story of Identity and Serial Murder (2026) is the astonishing true story of an elusive serial killer, an escape plan like no other, and the women who lived and died on the fringes of the Lilac City for whom justice was at long last served.

About the author: Gregg Olsen is the #1 New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author of more than forty books, including If You Tell, Out of the Woods, The Amish Wife, I Know Where You Live, The Hive, Lying Next to Me, and The Last Thing She Ever Did; six novels in the Detective Megan Carpenter series; and The Sound of Rain and The Weight of Silence in the Nicole Foster series. His work has received critical acclaim, numerous awards, and prominence on the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times bestseller lists. Washington state officially selected his young adult novel Envy for the National Book Festival, and The Deep Dark was named Idaho Book of the Year. The Amish Wife was a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. 

Born in Seattle, Olsen lives with his wife in rural Washington state and is already at work on his next book. Visit him at www.greggolsen.com.

Aging Out by Lucy Schiller

About the book: Aging Out: An Exploration of Caregiving, Community, and How Americans Grow Old is a deeply personal investigation into the current state of eldercare and what it means to grow old in America.

Unlike many other cultures, our collective stance toward older people in the United States has long been one of casual avoidance and neglect. This attitude became brutally clear during the height of the COVID pandemic, when too many people saw elderly deaths not as tragedies but as foregone conclusions.

Like many of us, Lucy Schiller experienced this callousness firsthand when her grandmother passed away during the pandemic. In the wake of this trauma, propelled by equal parts grief and curiosity about her own fear of aging, Schiller embarked on an investigative journey to understand why the prospect of aging is so frightening and how being "old" in America intersects with class, race, disability, and public policy.

From profit-driven networks of care facilities to systemic failures in economic support, the future of older Americans looks increasingly uncertain. In Aging Out, Schiller reports this crisis, sharing the human toll of inadequate housing, health care, and community, while simultaneously excavating her own complicated relationship with aging.

Combining the incisive reporting of Evicted with the beautifully rendered introspection of The Empathy Exams, Aging Out is an intimate and unflinching exploration of what it means to age in this country and why Americans - including Schiller herself - are so terrified of getting old.

Aging Out will be released on 14 July 2026.

About the author: Lucy Schiller is a nonfiction writer. Her work has been published at the Columbia Journalism Review, The New Yorker, The Iowa Review, West Branch, Speculative Nonfiction, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She was the Olive B O'Connor Fellow in Nonfiction at Colgate University (2020-2021) and the Provost's Visiting Writer in Nonfiction at the University of Iowa (2018-2019). She received her MFA from the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow.

Matchsticks And Rosary As Mnemonic Tools

In Minor Matters

Arctic Predator: The Crimes Of Edward Horne Against Children In Canada's North by Kathleen Lippa

About the book: Arctic Predator (2025) is the shocking crimes of a trusted teacher wrought lasting damage on Inuit communities in Canada’s Arctic.

In the 1970s, a young schoolteacher from British Columbia was becoming the darling of the Northwest Territories education department with his dynamic teaching style. He was learning to speak the local language, Inuktitut, something few outsiders did. He also claimed to be Indigenous — a claim that would later prove to be false. 

In truth, Edward Horne was a pedophile who sexually abused his male students.

From 1971 to 1985, his predations on Inuit boys would disrupt life in the communities where he worked — towns of close-knit families that would suffer the intergenerational trauma created by his abuse.

Journalist Kathleen Lippa, after years of research, examines the devastating impact the crimes had on individuals, families, and entire communities. Her compelling work lifts the veil of silence surrounding the Horne story once and for all. 

Arctic Predator is a Finalist in the 2026 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize (Nonfiction) and also a Finalist in the 2026 Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book (Crime Writers of Canada).

About the author: Kathleen Lippa grew up in St John’s, Newfoundland. She has worked as a reporter at newspapers across Canada, and eventually served as Bureau Chief for Nunavut News/North in Iqaluit. She lives with her husband in Ottawa.

Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

About the book: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nest (2017), Lake Effect (2026) is a stunning new novel about adultery, first love and other family secrets.

It is 1977 and an air of restlessness has settled on the residents of Cambridge Road in Rochester, New York. When Nina Larkin is given a copy of The Joy of Sex by her newly divorced friend, she can no longer dismiss the nearly non-existent intimacy of her marriage. Just as her oldest child, Clara, is falling in love for the first time, Nina finds herself longing for the forbidden: a midlife awakening. An intoxicating fling with a neighbour brings Nina a freedom she never thought possible - but also risks the reputations of both families and unravels Clara’s world, just as she stands on the threshold of adulthood.

Years later Clara, now a successful food stylist in New York City, has never been able to move past the long-ago scandal. Drawn back home by the pull of a family wedding and wrestling with her own demons, she makes a pivotal decision that turns her life upside down.

Written with Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s signature humour and insight, Lake Effect (2026) is a wise and probing look at love and desire, mothers and daughters, loss and grief, and what we owe the people we love most.

About the author: Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children. She has an MFA from Bennington.

Rating: 3/5

The Lake Club by Lina Patton

About the book: The Lake Club is a sizzling, soapy summer debut, in which two women in a wealthy lakeside suburb clash over a cute male nanny, pulling the town’s darker secrets to the surface.

When Danika Crawley attends events at the Aldon Lakes Country Club, heads turn. Danika has it all - beauty, money, a successful husband, and two perfect children. She plans on making this summer her best season yet and has a secret weapon to secure the envy of her neighbours.

Augie Elling has lost it all. Reeling from a post-grad scandal amidst her now-former life in New York, she returns to Aldon Lakes with her tail between her legs. Augie wants to keep her head down, save money, and find a way to leave her hometown for good, but someone keeps distracting her.

Danika and Augie have one thing in common: they are both a little obsessed with Chat, the male nanny Danika hired for the summer. But, unbeknownst to either woman, Chat’s appearance in town sets off a chain reaction that threatens Aldon Lakes' carefully maintained ecosystem. As the heat rises between the three of them, the truth behind a long-buried scandal comes to light, and everyone at the club must reckon with the consequences.

The Lake Club is both an addictive, rollicking beach read, and a stylish, deft exploration of a lesser-known region of American wealth.

The Lake Club is available for pre-order and will be released on 30 July 2026. 

About the author: Lina Patton is a writer, illustrator, and teacher. Originally from Maine, she moved to Minnesota at thirteen, trading the ocean for 10,000 lakes. She holds a BA from Elon University and an MFA from George Mason University. Her work has appeared in ELLE, The Cut, Narrative Magazine, and Driftwood Press, among others. After seven years living abroad, she and her husband currently reside in Washington, DC, with their two very good, very bad dogs. The Lake Club is her first novel.

Rating: 5/5

Little Wonder by Sophie Chen Keller

About the book: Song is a nobody - just a food delivery worker from a village in Northeast China - but her son, River, is a little wonder.

At the age of four, he toddles to a piano and taps out his favorite song. At eight, he masters Liszt’s three Liebestraume; at ten, he blazes through the complete set of Chopin’s études. And at every step, through the valleys of loss, illness, and poverty, Song is there to light his way, until finally, at the age of eleven, River is invited to study with a preeminent teacher in Beijing.

But in the chaos of Beijing Railway Station on the busiest day of the year, Song faces every mother’s nightmare: She loses her grip on River’s little hand and is unable to find him after a desperate, harrowing search.

Over the next days, weeks, and eventually, years, Song and River fight to forge a path back to each other as they carve out new lives that carry them farther apart. An evocative exploration of a mother’s love and a son’s yearning, Little Wonder takes us on an extraordinary journey through a modern Beijing that pulses with the music of humanity and its impossible - and impossibly brave - hopes.

As every musician knows: You start in one key. You wander to other keys, strange and distant places. But in the end, you always come back home.

Little Wonder (2026) is a powerful, heartbreaking story of hope, perseverance and love between a son and mother. The book will be released in the UK on 11 February 2027.

About the author: Sophie Chen Keller is the author of The Luster of Lost Things, which was also released in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Her first publication came at the age of fifteen, with a short story in Glimmer Train literary magazine. A classically trained pianist, she was born in China and raised in California; after graduating from Harvard, she lived in New York City and Beijing before moving to Germany, where she currently resides with her husband and two children.

Strangers: A Memoir Of Marriage by Belle Burden

About the book: How do we go on when a loved one betrays us? 

More crucially, is it possible to truly know someone else, even in marriage?

On a chilly day in March of 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, Belle Burden’s husband of twenty years announced, with no prior warning, that he was leaving her.

His decision shocked Belle to her core: she believed he was a happy man, a committed partner, and a devoted father to their three children. She thought he was a man who had settled into the life he had always wanted: a successful career, summers spent at their beloved home on Martha’s Vineyard, lots of tennis.

Overnight, he transformed from her steady companion into a stranger.

As she pieces her life together in the wake of a loss she had never imagined coming, she finds she is much stronger than she ever expected. Belle reflects on her transformation from a shy, quiet girl, nicknamed ‘Belle the Good’ to a powerful, brave, determined woman. A woman who has learned to use her voice to expose the patriarchal structures that have forced women to be discreet and compliant for far too long.

Based on Belle’s popular ‘Modern Love’ essay, Was I Married to a Stranger?, Strangers:A Memoir of Marriage (2026) is the emotional and empowering memoir of self-discovery and what it means to finally be heard.

Strangers is the instant No 1 New York Times bestseller and after a bidding war, Netflix purchased rights to produce an adaptation of the book, starring and executive produced by Gwyneth Paltrow.

About the author: Belle Burden was born in New York City. She holds a BA from Harvard College and a law degree from NYU. Currently, she is a pro bono immigration lawyer specializing in juvenile cases. She lives with her children in New York City. 

I've Never Been Happier: Pedro Ballester Arenas by Jorge Boronat

About the book: Pedro Ballester Arenas died of osteosarcoma in Manchester at the age of 21 in 2018 but his life spoke volubly of a greatness beyond his years and of a life well lived. 

A few weeks before Pedro died, after three long years of treatment, chemotherapy, travel, spells in hospital, pain and suffering, Pedro was speaking with Tom, a 15-year-old boy who had decided to follow his vocation as a numerary in Opus Dei. Pedro asked him in a faint voice, "Are you happy?" "Yes, I am," Tom replied. And with great frankness, he put the same question to Pedro: "What about you?" Pedro smiled and said with conviction, "I've never been happier."

At his funeral, the now Cardinal Arthur Roche explained: "Pedro has touched the lives of many – and most without him knowing it – through his patient, faith-filled, happy and loving endurance during these last three years of an illness, which he bore uncomplainingly and with considerable courage and which has been both a witness to the beauty of life at whatever stage or condition and a great example and encouragement to all who were close to him... When Pedrito committed himself as a celibate lay member of Opus Dei, with that generosity which is so characteristic of youth, he could not have known how the Lord would call him to follow in His steps even to the sharing of His Cross and His Sacrifice for others. But we know, that as he rose each morning, even from his hospital bed when able, he kissed the ground and uttered the word of Michael the Archangel, serviam! – I will serve! And so he did, with great magnanimity, with patience and good humour."

I've Never Been Happier: Pedro Ballester Arenas (2023) brings together some memories of his parents and siblings, of family and friends, of those who knew him and lived with him, and who witnessed the adventure of a "Yes" to God until his last breath.

The Diocese of Salford (Manchester, United Kingdom) has formally opened Pedro's cause for beatification and canonisation, meaning that his life, writings and the testimonies of those who knew him will be thoroughly examined before having Pedro Ballester declared a saint. Following the opening of his cause, Pedro Ballester's grave in the Southern Cemetery in Manchester has become a site of pilgrimage. 

About the author: Reverend Jorge Boronat M.D. S.T.D is a Catholic priest from the Prelature of Opus Dei, working in the Archdiocese of Westminster in London. He is the Chaplain of Netherhall House and Ashwell House, university halls of residence. He also works in the parish of St Thomas More, Swiss Cottage, and has developed his pastoral ministry mainly with young people.

Training The Tongue by Fr Gregory Pine OP

About the book: Gossip. Lying. Flattery. Crass words. 

As we grow in Christian maturity, many of us are aware that we fall frequently into sins of speech. We realize instinctually that these faults are holding us back from the fullness of life. 

But what can we do about them?

Training the Tongue and Growing Beyond Sins of Speech (2026) promises to help us attain verbal virtue. As this brief book shows, by cultivating healthy habits, we can effectively crowd out sinful speech and experience the gift of our tongue as God intended. Dynamic preacher and teacher Fr Gregory Pine, OP, directs our attention to the primary purpose of speech - communion with God and each other - and considers a whole range of methods to develop our humanity in service of that end.

Fr Gregory invites us to consider the importance of practices like truth-telling, correction, humour, and prayer within the context of our earthly and heavenly conversations. Enter more whole-heartedly (and freely) into relationships. Harness the power of speech for the good of your soul. And, with Training the Tongue as a delightful guide, reclaim communication as a tool for true communion with God and man alike.

About the author: Father Gregory Pine, OP, is a professor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an assistant director of the Thomistic Institute in Washington DC. The author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly (2022), he holds a doctorate from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and regularly contributes to the podcasts Godsplaining and Pints with Aquinas.

Baking & The Meaning Of Life by Helen Goh

About the book: In her hotly anticipated debut solo cookbook, Ottolenghi pastry chef and recipe developer Helen Goh shares her 100 favourite baking recipes to show the many ways baking brings meaning and joy to our lives.

No one knows the 'why' or 'how' of baking better than Helen Goh, recipe developer with Yotam Ottolenghi for more than a decade, co-author of bestselling books Sweet and Comfort, food columnist for the Good Weekend, The Guardian and Observer, and practising psychologist. 

In this, her first solo cookbook, Helen draws on her upbringing in Malaysia and Australia, her acclaimed work with Ottolenghi and her psychology training to share her distinctive approach to baking with 100 delicious sweet and savoury bakes.

With recipes like Chocolate Tahini Cake with Sesame Brittle, Plum and Pistachio Bars, Pandan and Coconut Chiffon Cake, and many other shareable treats that offer both tried-and-true and creative flavours, this book is a celebration of community, connection and pleasure through baking. Helen's Champagne and Blackcurrant Celebration Cake will become your new go-to for a special occasion, while a batch of Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes for a picnic or charity bake sale is a small but powerful building block of community and solidarity. All of her desserts are impressively sweet ways to celebrate milestones and connect with family and friends. And after your sweet tooth has been satisfied, there are more than 15 savoury baking dishes, from a Puttanesca Galette with Lemon Ricotta to a Potato, Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia.

With inventive flavour combinations that showcase Helen's creativity, a wealth of thoroughly road-tested bakes and her reflections on living and baking well, Baking and the Meaning of Life: How to find joy in 100 recipes (2025) is a one-of-a-kind companion bakers will return to again and again to spread joy, one cookie, cake, or cheese puff at a time.

About the author: Helen Goh was born in Malaysia and came to Australia with her family at age 11. A trained psychologist, she combines psychology practice with a cooking career, becoming head pastry chef at a landmark Melbourne restaurant before moving to London and joining Ottolenghi. Co-author with Yotam of the best-selling baking book Sweet and family food book Comfort, she has worked closely with him in recipe development for over 10 years, drawing widely on Asian, Western and Middle Eastern influences. Helen is a food columnist whose recipes appear in the Sydney Morning Herald, Guardian and Observer. She lives in London with her husband and two sons. @helen_goh_bakes

My Dog

A Return To Beauty by Catherine Rose

About the book: A woman has a choice every morning when she gets dressed - what will she wear?

Women are given a dizzying array of clothing choices, from provocative clothing with too little fabric to athleisure gear to dowdy clothing with bulky ugly fabric.

What is a girl to do amidst all the conflicting messages regarding modest clothing and Catholic teaching?

A Return to Beauty: Ancient Catholic Wisdom and Modern Fashion (2025) offers a clear path through the modesty myths and cultural pressures. It highlights the opportunity that every woman has to dress in a lovely way, through which she can evangelise culture, elevate her vocation, and transform her interior sense of self.

A Return to Beauty: Ancient Catholic Wisdom and Modern Fashion looks at the history of the undressing of women and gives a simple recipe for putting together beautiful outfits that are worthy of a woman's worth in Christ.

About the author: Catherine Rose is married to Devin Rose and a homeschooling mother of two children. She earned a BA in Theology from the University of Notre Dame and worked in the non-profit sphere and as a lobbyist before becoming a full-time mother. She resides with her family on an organic farm in Tyler, Texas, USA. 

Delirious by Damien Wilkins

About the book: It’s time. Mary, an ex cop, and her husband Pete, a former librarian, have decided to move into a retirement village. 

Selling their beloved house should be a clean break, but the past, it seems, has other ideas. A detective calls with new information about the case of their son, Will, who died in an accident forty years earlier. Mary finds herself returning to the last months of her sister’s shortened life. And Pete is haunted by memories of his late mother, who developed delirium and never recovered.

An unforgettable novel of rare power and grace, Delirious poses the questions we all eventually face, if we are lucky - or unlucky - enough. How do we care for others? How do we face each new phase of life? And how do we ever cope?

Delirious is the award-winning, word-of-mouth New Zealand bestseller, nominated for the Dublin Literary Award and winner of New Zealand's 2025 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction.

Delirious will be on sale on 6 August 2026.

About the author: Damien Wilkins is the author of fourteen books. He has won the New Zealand Book Award twice: for his first novel, The Miserables, in 1994, and for Delirious, in 2025. He has been longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award four times, and is the recipient of a Whiting Award. He is a professor at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington and director of the International Institute of Modern Letters Te Pūtahi Tui Auaha o Te Ao.

Rating: 5/5

Bows and Arrows: The Autobiography by Julian Lloyd Webber

About the book: In this explosive, no-holds-barred account of the life of a globally renowned classical musician, Julian Lloyd Webber lifts the lid on a profession previously shrouded in mystery.

From vivid descriptions of his childhood in one of the world's most famous musical dynasties to unfiltered stories from his incredible career - including collaborations with such stars as Yehudi Menuhin, Joaquin Rodrigo, Elton John, and his brother, Andrew Lloyd Webber - Bows and Arrows (2026) reveals a cut-throat world of agents, promoters, record companies, violin dealers and substance abuse, laying bare the classical music industry as never before.

With refreshing honesty and humour, Julian recounts the break-up of three of his four marriages, his lifelong passion for ensuring that every child has a chance to play a musical instrument and his devastation at the injury that forced him to stop playing and sell his Stradivarius cello in 2014. This earth-shattering loss, however, led him to discover a new calling as principal of a leading royal conservatoire and to double down on his efforts as a tireless champion of music education, working closely both with government and charities.

Culminating in Julian's return to the stage for the first time in twelve years, Bows and Arrows is a powerful story of passion, loss and a life reborn.

About the author: Julian Lloyd Webber is one of the leading classical musicians of our time. As a solo cellist, he played with the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors. In 2015, following his forced retirement due to injury, he was appointed principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, a role he held for five years.

2026 saw Julian return to the stage for a gala at London’s Wigmore Hall to mark his seventy-fifth birthday in April and the release of his first recording for twelve years, Jasmine, which features on his new album, Take a Bow (Decca Classics).

How Condescending

The Spinster Cookbook by Eli Davies

About the book: The Spinster Cookbook: Culture, Politics and Pleasure in the Single Woman’s Kitchen (2026) is a piercing exploration of what it means to cook for one in a society designed for couples and families. With sharp cultural insight, Eli Davies takes us on a culinary tour of the single woman’s kitchen, a space shaped as much by a search for freedom as by appetite.

The kitchen has always been a complex space for women: a place of labour and gendered expectations, as well as a site of nourishment, care and company. But how does this change when you’re alone, not cooking for family or friends, but simply for yourself?

Eli Davies explores what happens when food is uncoupled from domestic duty and romantic relationships and what it means to cook (or not) for yourself and by yourself. How does this shape your mealtimes, the way you shop for food, the kitchen equipment you use, and your relationship to cleaning up and looking after yourself?

With warmth, humour and insight, The Spinster Cookbook explores shopping and leftovers, solo meals and dinner parties for one, joy and grief and the politics of living on your own. This is a book about making a home in the face of housing precarity, loneliness, heartbreak and social norms, and finding independence, pleasure and self-expression through cooking. It is a cookbook of sorts, and a manifesto for living differently.

About the author: Eli Davies is a writer and researcher whose writing on culture, politics and literature has been published widely, including in the Guardian, Vittles, Tribune and the Tangerine.

She also co-edited Under My Thumb: Songs that Hate Women and the Women Who Love them, an anthology of women’s music writing published in 2017. She lives in London.

Pool House by Mary H K Choi

About the book: Stevie cannot wait to escape her mother. Whilst many people dream of moving to LA and into the spotlight, she is desperate to get out and start over.

Moon is many things: an out-of-work actress, a recovering addict, a nineties iconoclast, a dysfunctional mother – and whatever a mistress becomes when she’s widowed. Reeling in the aftermath of her lover and TV husband’s death, Moon is plunged into despair. The last thing she expects is for her daughter to leave her too.

Neither Stevie nor Moon can afford to quit each other, having been forced to move into the glass pool house in their back yard while their home is rented out to pay the bills. When Adam, Moon’s former TV son and Stevie’s girlhood crush, arrives for the funeral, the three of them are pulled into a messy triangle, moving back into the Big House and play-acting a picture-perfect family, even as tensions rise and relationships unravel.

Hilarious, biting and unexpectedly moving, Pool House is a brilliantly observed novel about the complexities of love, sex, fame, family and grief, and an unforgettable portrait of two women grappling with what it means to grow up and grow older in Hollywood.

About the author: Mary H K Choi is a New York Times bestselling author whose work has appeared in the Atlantic, the New York Times Magazine, New York, GQ and Elle. Formerly, she was the culture correspondent for Vice News on HBO, a columnist at Wired and Allure magazine, a guest columnist for the New York Times Opinion section, as well as the executive producer of an MTV documentary. She has written comics for Marvel and DC. She is currently developing her young adult books for film and TV.

Rating: 4/5

The Yahoo Boys by Carlos Barragán

About the book: When his mother fell for an ‘American soldier’ who promised to send gold bars to their Madrid apartment, Carlos Barragán found himself with an unexpected window into the shadowy world of online romance fraud. 

He set off on a journey to find his mother’s scammer, but what he discovered was much bigger: a world of young Nigerian men who drag themselves out of destitution by catfishing lonely hearts in the US and Europe, in the process building a dizzying local economy from their phones.

The Yahoo Boys: Real Life with the Love Scammers of Lagos (2026) follows four scammers in Ikotun – one of Lagos’s poorest neighbourhoods, a scant ten miles from the gleaming heart of the megacity. Through their twisting fortunes, Barragán discovers the psychological tactics they perfect, the economic desperation that drives them, and the moral dilemmas they face. 

A work of radical empathy, this astonishing narrative nonfiction debut reveals the human face behind a global phenomenon, and shows how isolation in the West and poverty in Nigeria are just two sides of the same screen.

The Yahoo Boys is a New York Times most anticipated book of 2026.

About the author: Carlos Barragán is a reporter and researcher at The New York Times based in Spain. Raised in Madrid, he earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. The Yahoo Boys is his first book.

American Han: A Novel by Lisa Lee

About the book: Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980s, Jane Kim and her brother, Kevin, dutifully embodied the model minority myth as their parents demanded: both stellar tennis players and academically gifted, they worked hard to make their parents proud. 

Jane went on to law school. Kevin came close to becoming a professional tennis player. But where they started is nowhere near where they have ended up: Jane has stopped going to her law school classes, and Kevin, now a policeman, has become increasingly distant. 

Their parents, each on their own path toward the elusive American Dream (their mother hell-bent on having the perfect house and the perfect family, their father obsessed with working his way up from one successful business to the next), do not want to see the family unraveling. 

When Kevin goes missing, no one recognizes his absence as the warning sign it is until it erupts, forcing them all to come to terms with their past and present selves in a country that is not all it promised it would be. 

Both deeply serious and wickedly funny, American Han (2026) is a profound story about striving and assimilation, difficult love, and family fidelity. A searing portrait that challenges assumptions about the immigrant experience, Lisa Lee’s debut introduces a powerful new voice on the literary landscape. 

About the author: Lisa Lee is the recipient of the Marianne Russo Emerging Writer Award from the Key West Literary Seminar, an Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Center for Fiction, and a Pushcart Prize. She has received other fellowships and awards from Kundiman, Millay Arts, Hedgebrook, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, Tin House, Jentel Artist Residency, and the Korea Foundation. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, VIDA, North American Review, Sycamore Review, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. Lee holds an MFA from the University of Houston and a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Southern California. She lives in Los Angeles.

Rating: 5/5

All Nylon

Rule Of Lies by Jamison R Firestone

About the book: Rule of Lies: My Wild Ride Through Chaos, Corruption, and Murder in Putin's Russia (2026) is an American lawyer’s brilliant, propulsive story of witnessing and playing a part in the transformation of Russia under Yeltsin and Putin. A true tale of fascinating personalities, criminal intrigue, harrowing situations, audacious actions and international politics that combines Bill Browder’s Red Notice with Michael Lewis’s Liar's Poker.

Raised by his father, a multimillionaire conman and crack addict who owned Manhattan’s most expensive brothel, twenty-four-year-old Jamison R Firestone decided to change the channel. He graduated from law school in 1991 and sought his fortune in Gorbachev’s USSR, establishing Russia’s first independent foreign law firm.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Jamison lived in the maelstrom that was Russia, defending himself and his clients from mafia attacks, dealing with corrupt police officers, having his law office raided by armed commandos, and once having to bug the offices of the Russian police.

Jamison was at the centre of some of Russia’s most important events. He employed Sergei Magnitsky who was murdered for uncovering the largest tax theft in Russian history and teamed up with Bill Browder and Alexei Navalny to expose his killers. Along the way, he inadvertently taught Navalny to make videos exposing corruption and started a war with the Russian government over passage of the Magnitsky Acts which threatened to sanction Russia’s most powerful people.

A real-life story that reads like a spy novel, Rule of Lies goes deep inside contemporary Russia and events that have reshaped the globe. Darkly comic, sometimes horrifying and deeply moving, it is a chilling warning of what can happen when a nascent democracy succumbs to one man’s corrupt iron rule, becoming not only an authoritarian nation but a profoundly criminal one - a true mafia state.

About the author: Jamison Firestone established the first independent foreign law firm in Russia where he lived for eighteen years. He is a co-founder along with Sir William Browder of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign which created the Magnitsky human rights and anti-corruption sanctions regimes. He also ran the Navalny 35 campaign promoting the sanctioning of corrupt oligarchs and officials identified by Alexei Navalny. He currently works on seizing Russian state assets for the benefit of Ukraine and has been featured on the BBC, Bloomberg, CBC, and in several documentaries. He lives in London.

Magnifica Humanitas by Pope Leo XIV

About the book: Magnifica Humanitas (2026) is the first encyclical of Pope Leo XIV, on safeguarding the human person in the time of Artificial Intelligence.

In this landmark encyclical released on the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIV addresses the most urgent and transformative challenge of our era: the rise of artificial intelligence and the digital revolution. 

With prophetic insight and deep theological wisdom, the Holy Father calls humanity to a pivotal choice - to build a new Tower of Babel driven by technocratic power and self-sufficiency, or to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem through shared responsibility, solidarity, and love.

Magnifica Humanitas ("The Grandeur of Humanity") offers a comprehensive moral and spiritual framework for navigating the age of AI. Drawing on the rich tradition of Catholic social doctrine - from Leo XIII to Francis - the encyclical explores the foundations of human dignity, the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity, and social justice as essential principles for discerning the ethical use of emerging technologies.

About the author: Pope Leo XIV was born Robert Francis Prevost on 14 September 1955 in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in a loving family and felt called to serve the Church from a young age. Before becoming a priest, he studied mathematics at Villanova University and later earned degrees in theology and canon law. After joining the Order of Saint Augustine, he became a priest and dedicated his life to helping others. His work took him to Peru, where he spent over 20 years supporting communities and promoting education. His compassion and leadership were recognised, and he was eventually appointed as a bishop and later a cardinal. On 8 May 2025, after the passing of Pope Francis, he was elected as the 267th pope and chose the name Leo XIV, honouring Pope Leo XIII, who was known for his work on social justice. His first words as pope were “Peace be with all of you!”

Juno The Bakery by Emil Glaser

About the book: Juno the Bakery (2025) is a book of recipes from the world-renowned neighbourhood bakery in Copenhagen in Denmark.

For the first time, Juno the Bakery shares a selection of the recipes that have made the bakery an international attraction in Copenhagen. Whether you are an amateur or an experienced baker, you can now bake buns, bread, and cakes from Juno the Bakery in your own kitchen.

The book provides a thorough introduction to their sourdough breads, laminated puff pastry, and their world-renowned cardamom buns with recipes for bread, buns, croissants and cakes made with seasonal ingredients. 

In the Christmas chapter, you can find recipes such as saffron scented Lucia buns, French nougat, and traditional Danish kransekage.

Behind Juno the Bakery are Swedish Emil Glaser and his wife Nina Schmiegelow. In 2017, the couple opened the doors to the neighbourhood bakery at Århusgade 48 in Copenhagen. The goal is simple: the best ingredients, gentle preparation, and pure, delicious flavours.

Photographer Petra Kleis has documented everything with photos of the bakery and the recipes.

About the author: Emil Glaser is a trained chef and previously worked at the world-renowned restaurant noma. He founded Juno the Bakery in 2017 together with his partner, Nina Schmiegelow.

About the photographer: Petra Kleis is a Danish photographer who is renowned for her portrait and advertising work. Based in Copenhagen and Berlin, she has established herself as a sought-after photographer, capturing prominent figures across fields such as music, politics, and the arts. Petra Kleis photography has appeared in Vogue Scandinavia, GQ and Vice. Clients include Adidas, Pandora, John Lewis, Primark and Fila.

Whistler by Ann Patchett

About the book: The acclaimed, prize-winning #1 New York Times bestselling writer returns with a moving, luminous novel that reminds us of the sweetness and impermanence of life and the power of connection to defy time.

When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. 

Now fifty-three, Daphne has not seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away; while their relationship was brief, it had a profound impact on them both, and now that they are reunited, they have no intention of ever being separated again.

Whistler (2026) is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, and the choices that were made for them. It is a story about bravery, memory, the often small yet consequential moments that define our lives, and the endless stream of loss that in time comes for us all. Beautiful in its simplicity, it is ultimately about how love endures, and how the feeling of being known by one other person, even for a short period of time, can change everything.

Ann Patchett is heading to the UK in August and September 2026 for her Whistler UK book tour!

About the author: Ann Patchett is the author of ten novels and four works of non-fiction. Her novel The Dutch House was a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, and longlisted for the 2020 Women's Prize. In 2002, she won the Orange Prize for Fiction with Bel Canto, a prize she has also twice been shortlisted for with The Magician's Assistant in 1998 and State of Wonder in 2012. She is also the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2012. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. 

In November, 2011, she opened Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee. She has since become a spokesperson for independent booksellers, championing books and bookstores on NPR, PBS Newshour, and the TODAY Show. She was the inaugural ambassador for the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC), and she founded the Parnassus Books Foundation, which gives books to children in Title I schools in Nashville. 

Ann Patchett lives in Nashville with her husband, Karl VanDevender, and their dog, Nemo. She makes weekly appearances on Parnassus’s social media, where her videos have amassed millions of views. On Tuesdays, she joins the Laydown Diaries crew to talk about the week’s new releases, and she can often be found making "new to you" recommendations on Fridays. Ann does not have her own social media, but you can find her on all of the Parnassus Books platforms!

Rating: 5/5

Valley Of The Moms: A Novel by Hannah Selinger

About the book: Stepford Wives meets Big Little Lies in this twisty thriller that uncovers the untruths, petty grievances, and local school politics underneath a seemingly quaint small town.

Hamilton, Massachusetts is one of those suburban towns that appears untouched by the outside world where stay-at-home moms wear 2ct diamond studs to the playground, where a million-dollar property is “affordable,” and where the Parent Teacher Organization is a hotbed of controversy. Sure, some people struggle to make ends meet, but residents would say discussing such ugly matters is impolite. Hamilton has been like this forever, and everyone likes it that way. Or: almost everyone.

It is not that Anna Plummer does not like Hamilton, but she never thought she would be married with two young kids, comfortable, complacent…and growing more bored by the minute. 

So, when she realizes her second grader would not be able to attend the "Ziti with Your Sweetie" school dance because she did not pay for a “Premium” membership, she snaps. She sends an email to the terrifying president of the PTO - and all hell breaks loose.

One year later, Anna is found dead in the frozen Ipswich River. Left to pick up the pieces, her husband, Denny, is shaken to his core. He is no expert, but he has seen enough Dateline to know that the police think he is the main suspect. If they are not going to get justice for Anna, he will. 

Told through the alternating perspectives of Anna and Denny exactly one year apart, and with a shocking concluding twist, Valley of the Moms (2026) is a gripping look at the underpinnings of grief, the social structures of wealth, and the secrets people keep - even among friends and loved ones.

Valley of the Moms will be released on 6 August 2026.

About the author: Hannah Selinger is a James Beard Award-nominated lifestyle writer and mother of two based in Boxford, MA, and the author of the memoir Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly. Her print and digital work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Eater, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and elsewhere. Her 2021 Bon Appétit essay, “In My Childhood Kitchen, I Learned Both Fear and Love,” is anthologized in the 2022 Best American Food Writing collection.

Rating: 5/5

Mailman by Stephen Starring Grant

About the book: Mailman (2025) is an uproarious and “utterly charming” (The Washington Post) memoir by a mailman in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, who found that working for the post office saved his life, taught him who he was, gave him purpose, and educated him deeply about a country he loves but had lost touch with.

Steve Grant was laid off in March of 2020. He was fifty and had cancer, so he needed health insurance, fast. Which is how he found himself a rural letter carrier in Appalachia, back in his old hometown.

Suddenly, he was the guy with the goods, delivering dog food and respirators and lube and heirloom tomato seeds and Lord of the Rings replica swords. He transported chicken feed to grandmothers living alone in the mountains and forded a creek with a refrigerator on his back. But while he carried the mail, he also carried a whole lot more than just the mail, including a family legacy of rage and the anxiety of having lost his identity along with his corporate job.

And yet, slowly, surrounded by a quirky but devoted band of letter carriers, working this different kind of job, Grant found himself becoming a different kind of person. He became a lifeline for lonely people, providing fleeting moments of human contact and the assurance that our government still cares. He embraced the thrill of tackling new challenges, the pride of contributing to something greater than himself, the joy of camaraderie, and the purpose found in working hard for his family and doing a small, good thing for his community. He even kindled a newfound faith.

A brash and loving portrait of an all-American institution, Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home (2025) offers a “warm and oddly patriotic” (The New York Times) look at both rural America and the dedicated (and eccentric) letter carriers who keep our lives running smoothly day to day. 

“A compelling and empathetic guide” (The Atlantic), Grant has written an irreverent, heartfelt, and often hilarious tribute to the simple heroism of daily service, the dignity and struggle of blue-collar work, the challenge and pleasure of coming home again after twenty-five years away, and the delight of going the extra mile for your neighbours, every day.

About the author: After twenty years as a consumer strategist, Stephen Starring Grant became a rural letter carrier during the pandemic. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he lives in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Under Water by Tara Menon

About the book: Under Water (2026) is a stunning and deeply moving novel of grief, loss and female friendship, set against the backdrop of two cataclysmic natural events

When six-year-old Marissa loses her mother, she is taken by her father to live on a small Thai island in the Andaman Sea. There, she forms a deep friendship with Arielle and together they explore the fragile wonders of its forests, reefs, and beaches. Holding their breath for minutes at a time, they learn to dive into the deep, as effortlessly synchronized as the manta rays they come to know by name. Then, on Boxing Day 2004, when the Indian Ocean tsunami makes landfall, they are swept up by the first wave and separated.

Eight years later, Marissa is living in New York. She spends her days wandering through the city and her nights seeking solace in the beds of strangers. As the city prepares for a devastating storm, Marissa reflects on her past and learns how to sustain herself in a precarious world.

Under Water is a story about friendship and grief, but also ecological change and natural disasters. It is a meditation on loss, a tribute to our dying oceans and forests, and a love letter to the disappearing coral reefs.

Under Water is a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick and a Vogue Best Debut 2026.

About the author: Tara Menon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Harvard University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Nation, Paris Review and Public Books, where she co-edits the Literary Fiction section. Tara was born in India, grew up in Singapore, spent a decade in New York, and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Rating: 5/5