Laura Bloom has such a unique talent for modern historical fiction and this time it was a joy to be catapulted back to the 1970s. When I turned the last page I was so sad to say goodbye to her beautifully observed characters. A delight from start to finish!' Liane Moriarty Three friends. Three marriages left behind. Life begins in earnest. It's 1977, and warm, bohemian Libby - stay-at-home mother, genius entertainer and gifted cook - is lonely. When she meets Carol, who has recently emigrated from London with her controlling husband and is feeling adrift, and Anna, who loves her career but not her marriage, the women form an unexpected bond. Their husbands aren't happy about it, and neither are their daughters. Set against a backdrop of inner-city grunge and 70s glamour, far-out parties and ABBA songs, The Women and The Girls is a funny, questioning and moving novel about love, friendship, work, family, and freedom. The Women and the Girls explores the price, and the rewards, of family and friendship in the Age of Aquarius - at the dawning of the Age of Divorce. 'In this light hearted novel, Laura Bloom rejects the traditional rom-com, opting instead to follow a more contemporary journey of self-reckoning. Fans of Liane Moriarty will enjoy this friendship-driven romp.' - Books+Publishing

The debut novel from Nobel Prize–winning author Alice Munro, “one of the most eloquent and gifted writers of contemporary fiction” (The New York Times). “Munro has an unerring talent for uncovering the extraordinary in the ordinary.”—Newsweek Rural Ontario, 1940s. Del Jordan lives out at the end of the Flats Road on her father’s fox farm, where her most frequent companions are an eccentric bachelor family friend and her rough younger brother. When she begins spending more time in town, she is surrounded by women—her mother, an agnostic, opinionated woman who sells encyclopedias to local farmers; her mother’s boarder, the lusty Fern Dogherty; and her best friend, Naomi, with whom she shares the frustrations and unbridled glee of adolescence. Through these unwitting mentors and in her own encounters with sex, birth, and death, Del explores the dark and bright sides of womanhood. All along she remains a wise, witty observer and recorder of truths in small-town life. The result is a powerful, moving, and humorous demonstration of Alice Munro’s unparalleled awareness of the lives of girls and women.

WHEN THE SENIOR CLASS of the world-famous Madame Ellington School for Girls begins their final year, several students experience life-changing events that will reshape who they are throughout their transitions into womanhood. From final exams to graduation dresses, these become second priority as they struggle to navigate their personal lives. Romantic relationships, body-image issues, sexuality, and criminal activity threaten to turn their worlds upside down. Graduation is the goal, yet at what cost will each of them succeed? Whatever their fate, they learn they don't have to go it alone. "This delightful coming-of-age story serves as a clarion call for harmony with oneself and with others. Chrishaunda Lee Perez deftly orchestrates a madrigal of female voices spanning class, color, and creed to arrive at fundamental truths about the human spirit-and its ability to transcend circumstance. The triumphs and tribulations of each character are told with empathy and wit, and the reader cannot help but cheer as each young woman discovers that self-empowerment begins with self-acceptance." - PAULA WALLACE, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN

Chosen as one of the ‘best new book releases’ by COSMOPOLITAN A ‘best summer read’ by ELLE MAGAZINE When you look at a woman, who do you see?

A bold and uncompromising feminist manifesto that shows women and girls how to defy, disrupt, and destroy the patriarchy by embracing the qualities they’ve been trained to avoid. Seizing upon the energy of the #MeToo movement, feminist activist Mona Eltahawy advocates a muscular, out-loud approach to teaching women and girls to harness their power through what she calls the “seven necessary sins” that women and girls are not supposed to commit: to be angry, ambitious, profane, violent, attention-seeking, lustful, and powerful. All the necessary “sins” that women and girls require to erupt. Eltahawy knows that the patriarchy is alive and well, and she is fed the hell up: Sexually assaulted during hajj at the age of fifteen. Groped on the dance floor of a night club in Montreal at fifty. Countless other injustices in the years between. Illuminating her call to action are stories of activists and ordinary women around the world—from South Africa to China, Nigeria to India, Bosnia to Egypt—who are tapping into their inner fury and crossing the lines of race, class, faith, and gender that make it so hard for marginalized women to be heard. Rather than teaching women and girls to survive the poisonous system they have found themselves in, Eltahawy arms them to dismantle it. Brilliant, bold, and energetic, The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls is a manifesto for all feminists in the fight against patriarchy.

This is the story of the young women of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, who unwittingly played a crucial role in one of the most significant moments in U.S. history. The Tennessee town of Oak Ridge was created from scratch in 1942. One of the Manhattan Project's secret cities. All knew something big was happening at Oak Ridge, but few could piece together the true nature of their work until the bomb "Little Boy" was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, and the secret was out. The reverberations from their work there, work they did not fully understand at the time, are still being felt today.

I needed someone I could trust. Someone others would trust. Someone with no criminal record. With no previous involvement. A cleanskin. Someone to come over, do the job, and go home ... Some days, even Halley can't find the person she once was. She's changed her name and no one – least of all her husband and son – knows of her past. No one except Aidan, who turns up one day in her small Australian town and shatters the façade she's built so carefully. Aidan is on a mission. But why is he still taking orders from his brother in an English jail – at the cost of his own happiness? When Aidan forces Halley to face what she's done, what they discover not only changes their understanding of what happened back then, it changes everything now. Laura Bloom deftly goes to the dark heart of The Troubles to explore the lingering damage wrought by sectarian conflict on communities, families and individuals. Based on real events, The Cleanskin is a story of intense human relationships with a cast of flawed and entirely believable characters.