Spanning a million years of history, the mysteries in these pages include fabled relics, legendary cities, mythical species, and undeciphered languages that have bedeviled seekers for centuries. Perhaps the single most common theme across all of history is loss. The loss of lands, loss of sacred objects, loss of languages, of rights, of life—the past groans with disappearances of all kinds. This enthralling narrative collects the most spellbinding tales of these experiences and weaves them into a thoughtful meditation on what it all means across the sweep of human history and the scope of human lives, including: The long-lost city of Troy The hidden tomb of Genghis Khan The destruction of the fabled library of Alexandria The near-destruction of the Mona Lisa and other art The decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs The extinction—and potential resurrection—of dodos, mammoths, and other iconic species Provocative, surprising, and above all entertaining, this globe-trotting narrative acknowledges the sheer scale of humanity’s losses, celebrates the treasures we have managed to retain, and reveals why they continue to captivate us centuries later.

An Ana and Din Mystery Brilliant detective Ana Dolabra must prove a man's innocence to stop a civil war in the third book of the series that began with The Tainted Cup, named an Edgar, Hugo, and World Fantasy Award Finalist and one of the best books of the year (New York Times Book Review, NPR, Elle)—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy. In the canton of Sapirdad, two of the Empire’s most powerful families are moments away from going to war with each other, their hundreds of retainers gathered with swords drawn. If blood is spilt, the whole of the empire may be plunged into starvation and chaos. To de-escalate matters, someone must do the impossible: prove that one family’s eldest son is innocent of a gruesome and unforgivable murder, despite the incontrovertible evidence against him. It is with this undertaking that the great detective Ana Dolabra is tasked, her assistant Din at her side—and the two find themselves racing with great speed and little dignity to the scene. As ever, the impossible proves little obstacle for the deadly combination of Ana’s intellect and Din’s keen eye, and mere hours after riding into the dusty town, Ana glimpses the greater pattern behind the crime. A deeper, subtler web of death is being woven in plain sight, by a mastermind with an ancient magical technology at his disposal. But even Ana's uncanny insight is of little use when each new suspect she uncovers ends up dead--with each new killing calculated to bring tensions between the two rival clans past the boiling point. And as Din pursues their adversary through the canton's wild ranges, sprawling ranches, and reeking slaughterhouses, he finds his loyalties divided in unexpected ways.

‘Whisk away to Greece… the perfect escapist read.’ Veronica Henry‘Atmospheric, romantic and mysterious... perfect for fans of Victoria Hislop.’ Cesca MajorFor Greek cottage. One Euro.Skye doesn’t make impulsive decisions. But when she sees a derelict Greek cottage for sale by lottery, she enters with dreams of a fresh start.However, her heart sinks as she pushes open the tattered blue door weeks later. Can this wreck ever be her home?Then Skye finds a bundle of letters hidden in the fireplace, their faded pages drawing her in with a story of long-forgotten love, tragedy, and unbelievable bravery.But all the while, Skye’s own past is circling. No matter how far she goes, fate is never far behind…This gorgeously sweeping, escapist dual-timeline novel is perfect for fans of Karen Swan, Victoria Hislop and Lucinda Riley.____________________Praise for The House of Hidden Letters . . . 'Completely captivating and utterly enchanting... truly timeless.' Daisy Buchanan'Gripping and emotional... rich as the best souvlaki... Enjoy!' Milly Johnson‘Absorbing, beautiful and devastating. A moving story of love and loss, of courage and kindness, of how the light of hope will shine through the darkest of times. I loved every page.’ Chris Whitaker'Terrific... joyous page-turner... a really delightful read.' Jane Johnson‘Rich, lush and evocative… When you can’t escape to a Greek island in reality, reading Izzy Broom is the next best thing… Glorious.’ Kate Thompson‘Absolutely loved it… Engaging characters, evocative setting, emotional journey. I was captivated from the first page to the last!’ Cathy Bramley‘Hidden secrets bubble cathartically to the surface beneath the Greek sun in a wonderfully human story intertwining past and present to dazzling effect.’'Completely captivating and utterly enchanting... truly timeless.' Daisy Buchanan'Gripping and emotional... rich as the best souvlaki... Enjoy!' Milly Johnson‘Absorbing, beautiful and devastating. A moving story of love and loss, of courage and kindness, of how the light of hope will shine through the darkest of times. I loved every page.’ Chris Whitaker'Terrific... joyous page-turner... a really delightful read.' Jane Johnson‘Rich, lush and evocative… When you can’t escape to a Greek island in reality, reading Izzy Broom is the next best thing… Glorious.’ Kate Thompson‘Absolutely loved it… Engaging characters, evocative setting, emotional journey.

Weaving a brilliant latticework of family legend, loss, and love, Téa Obreht, the youngest of The New Yorker’s twenty best American fiction writers under forty, has spun a timeless novel that will establish her as one of the most vibrant, original authors of her generation. In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her. Secrets her outwardly cheerful hosts have chosen not to tell her. Secrets involving the strange family digging for something in the surrounding vineyards. Secrets hidden in the landscape itself. But Natalia is also confronting a private, hurtful mystery of her own: the inexplicable circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. After telling her grandmother that he was on his way to meet Natalia, he instead set off for a ramshackle settlement none of their family had ever heard of and died there alone. A famed physician, her grandfather must have known that he was too ill to travel. Why he left home becomes a riddle Natalia is compelled to unravel. Grief struck and searching for clues to her grandfather’s final state of mind, she turns to the stories he told her when she was a child. On their weeklytrips to the zoo he would read to her from a worn copy of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, which he carried with him everywhere; later, he told her stories of his own encounters over many years with “the deathless man,” a vagabond who claimed to be immortal and appeared never to age. But the most extraordinary story of all is the one her grandfather never told her, the one Natalia must discover for herself. One winter during the Second World War, his childhood village was snowbound, cut off even from the encroaching German invaders but haunted by another, fierce presence: a tiger who comes ever closer under cover of darkness. “These stories,” Natalia comes to understand, “run like secret rivers through all the other stories” of her grandfather’s life. And it is ultimately within these rich, luminous narratives that she will find the answer she is looking for.

Three lives, 100 years, one Western ghost an explosive novel about a mysterious place called Sunrise where the secrets of the past refuse to stay buried, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s WifeIn 2024, Nina's small-engine plane crashes into a lake in the Wyoming mountains. Her boyfriend Ben, who was flying it, is nowhere to be found. Lost and freezing on the shore, Nina is armed with only a few old energy bars, a phone with no service, and a vague hope of rescue. It is up to her to survive in the vast wilderness. 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 100 years in the making.In 2003, Sunrise’s golden boy Coll begins to direct town's annual historical reenactment when he is linked with a scandalous incident at a local bar. And when an upstart author comes to him with questions about one of Sunrise’s most beloved figures, it threatens to upend everything he thought he knew about the city—and himself.In 1902, town founder, gunslinger, and legendary pulp hero Anton Vargas returns to Sunrise and quickly takes charge of a group searching for a missing boy. But who really is Vargas? What does he know about the boy's disappearance? And why has he returned after such a long absence?These three are strangers, separated by time. But Sunrise has secrets which lie in waiting like quiet, unassuming, until they encounter a spark. Magisterial and suspenseful, Téa Obreht's novel challenges the myths we think we of heroes and villains, of the places we lay claim to, and most of all, of our own lives.

An ambitious young woman insinuates herself into a tight-knit social set, shaking up friendships and marriages in a small seaside town. A frothy novel of love, money, sex, and friendship, from the New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street (“Laugh-out-loud-good.” —Harper’s Bazaar) When Caroline Lash arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she falls head-over-heels for Van Whittaker, a fleece-wearing, litter-collecting, kayak enthusiast with long, floppy hair and the personality of a Border collie. Born and raised in this picturesque coastal village, Van runs with the same crowd he did as a His ex-girlfriend, Bailey, a beautiful girl who attracts men like moths to a flame; Augusta, old money, horsey, and snobbish; and Fran, surrounded by brothers and sons, too fed up with boys to ever consider marrying one. Together, the group runs wild through the marshes, beaches, and bars of Greenhead, drinking on houseboats, spending long afternoons sunbathing with their children, and playing games the way they always have. But when Bailey discovers that she is pregnant with Van’s baby, the delicate balance of the group’s friendship is thrown off. Soon Caroline is cast out of the circle and what she does next—in a potent mix of fury and heartbreak—exposes long-held secrets and works the entire town of Greenhead into a lather. Dazzlingly funny, sexy, and as juicy as it is astute, The Shampoo Effect is a story of late-night parties, early mornings with small children, the dawn of midlife, and a group of old friends finally growing up despite all their best efforts to the contrary.

Four friends. One funeral. An endless Saturday. When Babe—the complicated, magnetic matriarch of their teenage summers—dies, four estranged friends return to sleepy Mercy Island, a storm-swept stretch of coastal Georgia, summoned by the reading of her will. Didion expects nothing more than an awkward visit with her sister and, maybe, a sundrenched funeral attended by beer-soaked locals. Instead, she arrives at the timeworn pink house to find the friends she never thought she’d see again—along with the tensions, attractions, and unfinished business that once bound them together and blew them apart. What should be a brief weekend of small talk quickly unravels. Because the next morning, it’s Saturday again. And again. And again. Trapped in a time loop with no end and no instructions, they’re forced to confront the betrayals, breakups, and buried truths that shattered them ten years ago. Something on the island isn’t ready to let them go—and if they can’t find a way to fix things, it may never let them leave.

Four friends. One funeral. An endless Saturday. When Babe—the complicated, magnetic matriarch of their teenage summers—dies, four estranged friends return to sleepy Mercy Island, a storm-swept stretch of coastal Georgia, summoned by the reading of her will. Didion expects nothing more than an awkward visit with her sister and, maybe, a sundrenched funeral attended by beer-soaked locals. Instead, she arrives at the timeworn pink house to find the friends she never thought she’d see again—along with the tensions, attractions, and unfinished business that once bound them together and blew them apart. What should be a brief weekend of small talk quickly unravels. Because the next morning, it’s Saturday again. And again. And again. Trapped in a time loop with no end and no instructions, they’re forced to confront the betrayals, breakups, and buried truths that shattered them ten years ago. Something on the island isn’t ready to let them go—and if they can’t find a way to fix things, it may never let them leave.

Love Island meets The Hunger Games in this must-talk-about-it read, as bingeable as the best reality TV. Lily—a bored, beautiful twenty-something—wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door. Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams—but what will she have to do to win? Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends

Will and Rosie meet as teenagers. They’re opposites in every way. She overthinks everything; he is her twin brother’s wild and unpredictable friend. But over secret walks home and late-night phone calls, they become closer—destined to be one another’s great love story. Until, one day, tragedy strikes, and their future together is shattered. But as the years roll on, Will and Rosie can’t help but find their way back to each other. Time and again, they come close to rekindling what might have been. What do you do when the one person you should forget is the one you just can’t let go?

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

An ambitious young woman insinuates herself into a tight-knit social set, shaking up friendships and marriages in a small seaside town. A frothy novel of love, money, sex, and friendship, from the New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street (“Laugh-out-loud-good.” —Harper’s Bazaar) When Caroline Lash arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she falls head-over-heels for Van Whittaker, a fleece-wearing, litter-collecting, kayak enthusiast with long, floppy hair and the personality of a Border collie. Born and raised in this picturesque coastal village, Van runs with the same crowd he did as a His ex-girlfriend, Bailey, a beautiful girl who attracts men like moths to a flame; Augusta, old money, horsey, and snobbish; and Fran, surrounded by brothers and sons, too fed up with boys to ever consider marrying one. Together, the group runs wild through the marshes, beaches, and bars of Greenhead, drinking on houseboats, spending long afternoons sunbathing with their children, and playing games the way they always have. But when Bailey discovers that she is pregnant with Van’s baby, the delicate balance of the group’s friendship is thrown off. Soon Caroline is cast out of the circle and what she does next—in a potent mix of fury and heartbreak—exposes long-held secrets and works the entire town of Greenhead into a lather. Dazzlingly funny, sexy, and as juicy as it is astute, The Shampoo Effect is a story of late-night parties, early mornings with small children, the dawn of midlife, and a group of old friends finally growing up despite all their best efforts to the contrary.

“Heartfelt [and] hilarious. . . . Mileti rides this swelling narrative tide with grace, never losing her balance, and I was swept along.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline Mitchard In the tradition of Emma Straub, Catherine Newman, and Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, a comedic and moving story of one family’s fraught reunion at their adulterous father’s astonishingly designed Berkshires lake house—and the decades' worth of fiercely kept secrets that unravel when the family is once again under the same roof. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. For the Stein family, the adage is especially fitting. Decades back (and with a little help from his formidable first wife, Hannah), Allen Stein built a modern marvel of glass architecture on the shores of a beautiful lake in the Berkshires. The family only enjoyed two summers at the house together before Allen’s affairs imploded his and Hannah’s marriage, leaving forty-plus years of acrimonious estrangement in its wake. Now nothing—not even a lifetime achievement award—could lure Allen back to that house . . . at least while his bitter ex-wife is there. But when Allen and Hannah’s children Sam and Sara send their mother thousands of miles away on an Arctic cruise, Allen reluctantly agrees to return. Then Hannah’s trip is cancelled last-minute, and—much to everyone's horror—the family is marooned in the house together. Sam and Sara—each bearing different scars from growing up in their parents’ crossfire—are forced to batten down the hatches to deal with the storm. The unfolding drama only heightens the hilarity as it compounds the crises brewing in their lives, including Sam’s daughter Esme, on a journey of self-discovery that is causing her to re-evaluate her relationship to marriage and partnership, infidelities past and present, and several generations of emotional baggage. As every piece of their dirty laundry is aired, the Steins must face a long overdue reckoning with themselves and one another. Poignant and rich with humanity, Glass Houses is a bittersweet and warm-hearted exploration of marriage, love, betrayal, and forgiveness that illuminates what binds us together and drives us apart.

A poignant, hilarious, and wholly original love story, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Celebrants and winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor. College professor Jesse del Ruth has been abandoned. Thirty years into their relationship, Jesse witnesses his husband Norman get out of bed late one night, walk into their Joshua Tree backyard, step into a strange beam of light and . . . disappear. How could Norman desert him after a lifetime together? Where did he go? And, most confoundingly . . . will he ever return? Jesse knew they were longing for something, both feeling stuck. But had Norman been so stuck that his only option was to leave Jesse behind? As Jesse struggles to understand Norman’s disappearance, he tries to piece together his new reality. Is he expected to wait patiently for a partner who may never come back? Or is this an opportunity for reinvention? He is, after all, alone for the first time in his adult life. Should he return to the classroom? Put in a pool? Get a dog? Call his estranged mother? What does it mean to be alone when you’ve always been one half of a whole? When Norman’s sister Lally lands on Jesse’s doorstep with an urgent request, Norman’s absence becomes even more profound. Add to Jesse’s grief and confusion a conspiracy-theorist neighbor, a strange man following him, and suspicions that he may have had a hand in Norman’s disappearance, and Jesse starts to crack under the pressure. With his husband missing and the world closing in, all eyes are on Jesse. Before he can understand how Norman could leave it all behind, Jesse must confront what it means to stay. In Take Me With You, Steven Rowley brings his resonant wit and emotional insight to an epic love story – an exploration of the forces that draw two people into the same orbit and the gravity that threatens to pull them apart.