"On a cold day in March of 1911, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of a forest in Maryland. Under the supervision of a doctor, the men were forced to clear the land, pour cement, lay bricks, and harvest tobacco. When construction finished, they became the first twelve patients of the state's Hospital for the Negro Insane. For centuries, Black patients have been absent from our history books. Madness transports readers behind the brick...

Publishers Weekly Best of the Year
BookPage Best of the Year
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard
Evanston Library Best of the Year
Horn Book 2023 Summer Reading List

"Vivid and vibrant." —NPR Weekend Edition

At the start of things, the elders say,
the universe was hushed and still.
The moon alone shone bright and round
in the star-speckled dark...

1816, London. Time-traveler Kendra Donovan is asked to find Jeremy Pascoe, who has vanished. The FBI agent accepts the case, but finds the man stabbed to death in a remote cottage he'd been using as a writer's retreat. Pascoe was the business manager of one of the largest breweries in England - was money the motive for the murder? A complication arises when a woman arrives claiming to be the Duke of Aldridge's presumed-dead daughter Charlotte - and...

Sometimes, one moment changes a person's life. And that person goes on to change other lives. That's what happened to Frances Perkins. After she witnessed the 1911 catastrophic fire at the Triangle Waist Company, in which one hundred and forty-six people died, she devoted her life to improving conditions for workers. Frances became the first woman to serve in a president's cabinet. As Secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped...

"A startling exploration of how Jewish history is exploited to comfort the living. Reflecting on subjects as far-flung as the international veneration of Anne Frank, the blockbuster travelling exhibition called "Auschwitz," the Jewish history of the Chinese city of Harbin, and the little known "righteous-gentile" Varian Fry, Dara Horn challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination with Jewish deaths, as emblematic of...

"1784 London. Miss Tiffany Woodall didn't murder her half-brother, but she did bury him in the back garden so that she could keep her cottage. Now, the confirmed spinster has to pretend to be Uriah and fulfill his duties as the Duke of Beaufort's librarian while searching Astwell Palace for Uriah's missing diamond pin, the only thing of value they own. Her ruse is almost up when she is discovered by Mr. Samir Lathrop, the local bookseller, who tries...

Courage to Dream plunges readers into the darkest time of human history--the Holocaust. This graphic novel explores one of the greatest atrocities in modern memory, delving into the core of what it means to face the extinction of everything and everyone you hold dear. Woven from Jewish folklore and cultural history, five interlocking narratives explore one common story--the tradition of resistance and uplift.

"Summer has arrived along with a plethora of social events that keep Cleo and her cousins busy. Between balls, dinners, concerts and picnics, they attend the final match between two proud polo clubs. When the winning team’s captain is found murdered in the stables, everyone assumes the opposing team’s captain killed him. After all, he was found holding the murder weapon, and everyone knows they hated each other. But Cleo isn’t convinced. She...

Myrlie Louise Beasley met Medgar Evers on her first day of college. They fell in love at first sight, married just one year later, and Myrlie left school to focus on their growing family. Medgar became the field secretary for the Mississippi branch of the NAACP, charged with beating back the most intractable and violent resistance to black voting rights in the country. Myrlie served as Medgar's secretary and confidant, working hand in hand with him...

On October 6th, 1973, under cover of darkness, on Israel's holiest day and during the month of Ramadan, the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan begin a surprise attack on the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. Outnumbered and outgunned, Israel's only female Prime Minister, Golda Meir, confronts the immediate, clear, and present danger of a ticking timebomb that she hoped never to face. Surrounded, isolated, and frustrated by the infighting...