Contemporary Fiction

Zahra Khan is basically Bangladeshi royalty, but being a princess doesn’t pay the bills in Paterson, New Jersey. While Zahra’s plans for financial security this summer involve working long hours at Chai Ho and saving up for college writing courses, Amma is convinced that all Zahra needs is a “good match,” Jane Austen-style.

Fern seeks refuge from her mother's pill-popping and boyfriends via Soul Train; Gwin finds salvation in the music of Prince much to her congregation's dismay and Jesenia, miles ahead of her classmates at her gifted and talented high school, is a brainy and precocious enigma. None of this matters to Boss Man, the monster who abducts them and holds them captive in a dilapidated house in Queens.

Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life. She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip. Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many "incidents."

"From author Willy Vlautin comes an exploration of greed and opportunism, set amidst a rapidly gentrifying city--a novel taking place over 48 hours in which a young woman must push herself to her limits to get the security she needs for herself and her family"-- Provided by publisher.

"Binge-worthy reading at its best: an addictive, action-packed page-turner of epic proportions about the machinations of one dizzyingly wealthy family in contemporary India and the outsiders who are drawn into their treacherous web."--Provided by publisher.

After a speeding car kills five people late at night in New Delhi, the driver, a shell-shocked servant, is unable to explain the series of strange events that lead to the crime.

Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening group: Birnam Wood. An undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic gathering of friends, this activist collective plants crops wherever no one will notice: on the sides of roads, in forgotten parks, and neglected backyards. For years, the group has struggled to break even. Then Mira stumbles on an answer, a way to finally set the group up for the long term: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike.

A New York family must broaden their horizons when they learn their father has another secret family.

Miles, a lead creative at a midsize virtual reality company known for its "original experiences," has engineered a new product called The Ghost Lover. Wildly popular from the outset, the "game" is simple: a user's simulated life is almost identical to their reality, except they're haunted by the ghost of an ex-lover. However, when a shift in the company's strategic vision puts The Ghost Lover at the center of a platform-wide controversy, Miles becomes the target of user outrage, and starts receiving a series of anonymous death threats.

A retiring children's book author looking to secure her legacy tries to get the beautiful Maine coast where her novels are set donated to a trust, but must first convince the shareholders, one of which is her best friend.