“Catherine Newman sees the heartbreak and comedy of life with wisdom and unflinching compassion. The way she finds the extraordinary in the everyday is nothing short of poetry. She’s a writer’s writer—and a human’s human.”—New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center “We All Want Impossible Things is a riotously funny and fiercely loyal love letter to female friendship. The story of Edi and Ash proves that a best friend is a gift from the gods. Newman turns her prodigious talents toward finding joy even in the friendship’s final days. I laughed while crying, and was left revived. Newman is a comic masterhand and a dazzling philosopher of the day-to-day.”—Amity Gaige, author of Sea Wife “The funniest, most joyful book about dying—and living—that I have ever read.”—KJ Dell'Antonia, author of the New York Times bestselling The Chicken Sisters For lovers of Meg Wolitzer, Maria Semple, and Jenny Offill comes this raucous, poignant celebration of life, love, and friendship at its imperfect and radiant best. Edith and Ashley have been best friends for over forty-two years. They’ve shared the mundane and the momentous together: trick or treating and binge drinking; Gilligan’s Island reruns and REM concerts; hickeys and heartbreak; surprise Scottish wakes; marriages, infertility, and children. As Ash says, “Edi’s memory is like the back-up hard drive for mine.” But now the unthinkable has happened. Edi is dying of ovarian cancer and spending her last days at a hospice near Ash, who stumbles into heartbreak surrounded by her daughters, ex(ish) husband, dear friends, a poorly chosen lover (or two), and a rotating cast of beautifully, fleetingly human hospice characters. As The Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack blasts all day long from the room next door, Edi and Ash reminisce, hold on, and try to let go. Meanwhile, Ash struggles with being an imperfect friend, wife, and parent—with life, in other words, distilled to its heartbreaking, joyful, and comedic essence. For anyone who’s ever lost a friend or had one. Get ready to laugh through your tears.

'Tragically funny, with moments of clarity and wisdom, Newman writes loss and laughter in equally brilliant amounts.' BONNIE GARMUS 'Nora-Ephron-style wit...comforting, so funny, moving... one of my favourite books ever' MARIAN KEYES 'Dazzling, heart-wrenching, snorty-hilarious... An utter joy to read' RACHEL JOYCE 'An absolute masterpiece in characterisation... utterly beautiful.' JOANNA CANNON _______ Who knows you better than your best friend? Who knows your secrets, your fears, your desires, your strange imperfect self? Edi and Ash have been best friends for over forty years. Since childhood they have seen each other through life's milestones- stealing vodka from their parents, the Madonna phase, REM concerts, unexpected wakes, marriages, infertility, children. As Ash notes, 'Edi's memory is like the back-up hard drive for mine.' So when Edi is diagnosed with cancer, Ash's world reshapes around the rhythms of Edi's care, from making watermelon ice cubes to music therapy; from snack smuggling to impromptu excursions into the frozen winter night. Because life is about squeezing the joy out of every moment, about building a powerhouse of memories, about learning when to hold on, and when to let go. For fans of Nora Ephron and Sorrow & Bliss, We All Want Impossible Things is a deeply moving, jubilant celebration of life and friendship at its imperfect, radiant, and irreverent best. _____ 'You'll stay up late devouring every word' KATHERINE HEINY 'One of the best novels on friendship I've ever read' AJ PEARCE 'I absolutely adored this...what a beautiful, emotional novel' JILL MANSELL 'Shot through with whip-smart humour and boundless compassion. It's one of the best debuts I've read in a long time.' HANNAH BECKERMAN

“A heart-wrenching, beautiful, darkly comic, deeply necessary tale that stuns again and againwith razor-sharp prose and glittering wit.” —Téa Obreht, author of The Tiger’s Wife “A dark, intoxicating morality tale . . . A world of excess and decadence and the price paid by some—but by no means all . . . Seductive and provocative.” —Garth Stein, author of A Sudden Light and The Art of Racing in the Rain In the spellbinding new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Robert Goolrick, 1980s Manhattan shimmers like the mirage it was, as money, power, and invincibility seduce a group of young Wall Street turks. Together they reach the pinnacle, achieving the kind of wealth that grants them access to anything--and anyone. Until, one by one, they fall. The Fall of Princes takes readers on a journey that is both starkly revealing and dazzlingly entertaining. “Each chapter is haunting and compulsively readable, written in a bold, brash voice that aims for over-the-top and miraculously sticks the landing.” —Entertainment Weekly “While [Goolrick] describes a way of life that may never be possible again, he also manages to convey its beautiful, tragic appeal in an unforgettable rush of prose . . . Irresistible, bittersweet.” —The Boston Globe “Compelling, wholly seductive.” —Booklist “Brilliantly well done.” —New York Daily News “A vivid writer with a penchant for electric scenes.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune “While The Fall of Princes patrols territory marked by Tom Wolfe,Jay McInerney and Michael Lewis, Goolrick writes with an immediacyand precision that make this world feel as if it is all his own . . . Painfully beautiful.” —The Washington Post

Buzz Books 2024: Spring/Summer is the 24th volume in our popular sampler series. This Buzz Books presents passionate readers with an insider’s look at nearly sixty of the buzziest books due out this season. Such major bestselling authors as Ally Condie, Christina Dodd, and Emiko Jean are featured, along with literary figures like Mateo Askaripour, Abi Daré, Alison Espach, Peter Nichols and more. Buzz Books has had a particularly stellar track record with highlighting the most talented, exciting and diverse debut authors, and this edition is no exception. Rita Bullwinkel, editor at large for McSweeney’s and deputy editor of The Believer, offers a novel on women boxer, while Lily Samson’s title has already been preempted by Sony Pictures Television. One YA and two nonfiction authors make their adult fiction debuts: Kristen Perrin, Mary Annaïse Heglar and Kate Young, respectively. Among others are Essie Chambers, Katelyn Doyle, Alejandro Puyana, and Rachel Rueckert. Our robust nonfiction section covers such important subjects as suicide and combating racist biases; several memoirs about harrowing childhoods and illnesses; and a biography of the first Asian-American woman pilot to fly during World War II. Finally, we present early looks at new work from young adult authors, including the New York Times bestselling Tracey Baptiste and Morgan Matson. The YA titles also represent more diversity than ever, with Aboriginal, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Malaysian and Trinidadian novelists. And be sure to look out for Buzz Books 2024: Fall/Winter, coming in May, for next season’s most talked about books.

Two women test how much weight their friendship can hold in this poignant and tender novel. Roommates since college, Jess and Ren have built a strong—if at times codependent—friendship. Now navigating their late thirties, the women co-own a weathered beachfront home, comother a rescued shelter pup and have inadvertently centered their lives around each other. Jess is clever and driven with a lucrative career running her own real estate brokerage. Magnetic but aimless, Ren has been making margaritas at the same local dive and teaching dance classes at the same run-down gym for well over a decade. After a one-night stand with a tourist leads to pregnancy, Ren realizes motherhood may be the change she’s been waiting for, and the friends make a plan to raise the child together. Ren is excitedly pushing toward her due date when the baby’s father resurfaces, forcing Jess to face the foreboding notion that for the first time in eighteen years, they may not want the same thing. In this stunning debut spanning nine pivotal months in the lives of two very different women, Zoë Eisenberg examines female friendship with emotional precision and offers an intimate look at who we belong to—and why.

The 21st edition of Buzz Books is a treasure-trove of what readers value the most: substantial excerpts from titles scheduled for publication this fall and winter. Think of it as a compilation of nearly 60 great “singles.” Major bestselling authors such as Alice Feeney and John Irving are featured, along with literary greats Yiyun Li, Elizabeth McCracken, and Kamila Shamsie. Other sure-to-be popular titles are by Lauren Denton, Stephen Markley, and Ellen Marie Wiseman. Buzz Books has had a particularly stellar track record with highlighting the most talented, exciting debut authors, and this edition is no exception with Jonathan Escoffery’s If I Survive You, Jamila Minnicks’ Moonrise Over New Jessup, and Kai Thomas’s In the Upper Country. Our nonfiction selections range from New Yorker writer Rachel Aviv’s exploration of trauma to Cin Fabré’s inspiring story of becoming a Wall Street Trader at 19. Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Thomas Ricks offers a look into the civil rights movement. Finally, we present ten early looks at new work up-and-coming young adult authors Kate Armstrong, Krystal Marquis, and Maya Prasad and more, as well as Nubia, a debut from actor Omar Epps.

“A mystery of remarkable scope, bristling with intelligence, beauty, and humanity. It is, quite simply: stunning.” —Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl "A stunning, achingly beautiful and gripping mystery. Full of page-turning suspense, intrigue, and secrets...I loved it.” —Chris Whitaker, author of All the Colors of the Dark An overwhelmed new mother becomes obsessed with the unsolved disappearance of a young girl from her small Texas hometown—and unearths her own family’s dark secret. It’s 2011 and Deecie Jeffries’s missing person’s case in Austin, Texas, is still cold. New mom Bee, struggling with postpartum depression, is living in Portland, Maine, having left Austin–and those memories–far behind. Until Leo, her childhood crush and her estranged twin Gus’s best friend, suddenly resurfaces, drawing Bee back into their shared past. Bee’s predictable life is upended, pushing her to return to her childhood home and piece together a neighborhood’s shattered history. Bee becomes consumed with a need to uncover the truth about Deecie’s disappearance and what happened to the families who lived across the field from one another—Gus, Leo, and their mothers: Mary, a homemaker, whose only escape is the local community theater, and Diana, a serious academic dedicated to her studies. Told in multiple perspectives with two different timelines, The Undercurrent is a gripping portrait of motherhood, obsession, broken family bonds, and buried secrets.