"When Annie Brown, a fun-loving woman, suddenly dies, her husband, best friend, and her children all struggle to find ways to go on after the loss of the woman who was the center of their lives, and who made life happy, fun, and secure. Her husband is overwhelmed with four children to raise, and turns to his teenage daughter for help, and to an old girlfriend for solace. Annie's best friend struggles again with opioid addiction, having depended on...

"Near Death Experiences explores historical and present-day stories of NDEs. In addition to personal stories, the book relates scientific efforts to find the truth behind NDEs and whether they offer proof of life after death. Religious perspectives are also discussed in depth, including those from texts ranging from the Bible and the Quran to The Tibetan Book of the Dead, as well as the possibility that answers might be discovered with the help of...

"An intimate, deeply moving investigation of an underreported phenomenon--the rising number of unclaimed dead in America today--and what it says about the state of our society. For centuries, people who died destitute or alone were buried in potters' fields--a Dickensian end that even the most hard-pressed families tried to avoid. Today, more and more relatives are abandoning their dead, leaving it to local governments to dispose of the bodies. Up...

"What would you do if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thinks so too? What if the truth doesn't matter? As Lucy Chase's Texas hometown begins to tell versions of what happened and who Lucy is to a nationwide, true crime obsessed audience, at the bequest of her grandmother, she returns to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend's murder, even if she is the one that did it"--

"Coi is just eighteen years old but has already survived years of physical and verbal abuse from her mother. After being kicked out of her mother's house at age fourteen, Coi has lived with her father, and together they've created a peaceful life. That peace ends suddenly when her mother dies. Her mother's passing also reopens up the door to her mother's side of the family, including her beloved younger half-sister, Kayla, her stepfather and her grandmother....

"Mayree and Paula are a mother and daughter drifting apart, separated by grief and more, after the death of Mayree's husband. Mayree faces a future with no income, career, or social life. Even ties with her best friend have been severed. Paula, feeling abandoned by the father she loved, is left with only a bitter mother. When Paula reveals that she narrowly escaped a violent assault, Mayree's initial reaction is dismissal and disbelief. But as details...

"Joy Okafor is overwhelmed. Recently divorced, a life coach whose phone won't stop ringing, and ever the dutiful Nigerian daughter, Joy has planned every aspect of her mother's seventieth birthday weekend on her own. As the Okafors slowly begin to arrive, Mama Mary goes to take a nap. But when the grandkids go to wake her, they find that she isn't sleeping after all. Refusing to believe that her sister is gone-gone, Auntie Nancy declares that she...

"Robbie Steinhardt lives a peaceful life. A fixture of his small alpine village, he tends cattle, minds his own business, and doesn't dwell on his former life and the family and lover he left behind--back when he was Mac Dekker, CIA. But when he learns his son Will died following in his footsteps, he needs answers. What mission took Will up into the alpine heights, and why is Ilya Ivashka on the same trail? Ilya--his close friend, his rival in love....

"A form-shifting and soul-crunching chronicle of grief and crisis, Venita Blackburn's debut novel, Dead in Long Beach, California, is a fleet-footed marvel of self-discovery and storytelling that explores the depths of humankind's capacity for harm and healing. With the daring, often hilarious imagination that made her an acclaimed short-fiction innovator, Blackburn crafts a layered, page-turning reckoning with what it means to be alive, dead, and...

"When the strange new girl at her high school takes her to a place underneath the subways of New York, where people like them can go and find a home, Harriet Adu, who is riddled with guilt over her brother's death, gets a second chance at being a better person"--