Leave the World Behind

On vacation with their children, Brooklynites Amanda and Clay are enjoying in Long Island. The house they’ve rented, couldn’t be more delightful. That is, until its owners show up in the middle of the night during their stay. G.H. and Ruth didn’t know what to do when the power mysteriously went out in New York City, so they fled to their vacation home. Without any information about what’s happening in the outside world, the two families coexist as their anxieties continue to climb. Rumaan Alam captures in unsettling detail the uncertainty that accompanies crises.

Plain Bad Heroines

The debut novel from the author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post opens in 1902 at the haunted Brookhants School for Girls. There, a number of people associated with the school die in mysterious ways, leading the institution to close in the early 20th century. Emily M. Danforth soon shifts the narrative to the present, where a book about the school’s strange history is being made into a movie. As filming begins on Brookhants’ old grounds, the lines between the past and present become blurred in a chilling sequence of events.

The Cold Millions

Jess Walter, the author of Beautiful Ruins, returns with a sweeping piece of historical fiction centered on two orphaned brothers in the American Northwest during the early 20th century. After their mother dies, Rye and Gig live together in Spokane. There, the young men are introduced to a slew of characters, including suffragists, socialists and vaudeville performers, who accompany them as they navigate turbulent years of social unrest. Walter underlines the class system that still divides the country today.