Summary: On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only two months old,
her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never
came home. Her father and the stepmother who raised her couldn’t have
loved her more, but she still grew up with a healthy dread of disasters.
Now
an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency
Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during storms, epidemics,
and airplane crashes. She and her husband, Jesse—a police polygraph
expert with his own history of crisis—have found a love that is a solace
in a dangerous world. But then the unexpected upends their new
marriage, leading them both to question everything they thought they
knew.
Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is an
epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of
our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst
moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters. (Pub Date: Sep 15 2026)
Summary: Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done
having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs,
all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction
world. She’s an associate specialist at Sotheby’s now, but her boss has
hinted at a promotion if she can close a deal with a high-profile
client. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a
surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the
Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.
But
then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the
eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at
the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes.
Almost
immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. Her luggage is lost, the
Wi-Fi is nearly nonexistent, and the hotel they’d booked is shut down
due to the pandemic. In fact, the whole island is now under quarantine,
and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she
must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a
connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to
Diana, despite her father’s suspicion of outsiders.
In the
Galápagos Islands, where Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural
selection was formed, Diana finds herself examining her relationships,
her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too
will have evolved into someone completely different.
(Pub Date: Nov 30 2021)
Summary: Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She’s on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband but of a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong.
Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, their beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, in which she helps ease the transition between life and death for her clients.
But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a career Dawn once studied for but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offering her second chances, she is not as sure of the choice she once made.
After the crash landing, the airline ensures that the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers transportation to wherever they want to go. The obvious destination is to fly home, but she could take another path: return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways—the first known map of the afterlife.
As the story unfolds, Dawn’s two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried with them. Dawn must confront the questions she’s never truly asked: What does a life well lived look like? When we leave this earth, what do we leave behind? Do we make choices . . . or do our choices make us? And who would you be if you hadn’t turned out to be the person you are right now? (Pub Date: Sep 22, 2020)
Summary: Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?
Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that what they've been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong. (Pub Date: Oct 11, 2016)
