SARAH LOUDIN THOMAS grew up on a 100-acre farm in French Creek, WV, the seventh generation to live there. Sarah is the director of Jan Karon’s Mitford Museum in Hudson, NC. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Coastal Carolina University and is the author of the acclaimed novels The Right Kind of Fool–winner of the 2021 Selah Book of the Year–and Miracle in a Dry Season–winner of the 2015 Inspy Award. Sarah has also been a finalist for the Christy Award, ACFW Carol Award and the Christian Book of the Year Award. She and her husband live in western North Carolina.

Seven years ago, a hidden betrayal scattered three young friends living in the shadow of Biltmore Estate. Now, when Biltmore Industries master weaver Lorna Blankenship is commissioned to create an original design for Cornelia Vanderbilt's 1924 wedding, she panics knowing she doesn't have the creativity needed. But there's an elusive artisan in the Blue Ridge Mountains who could save her--if only she can find her. To track the mysterious weaver down, Lorna sees no other way but to seek out the relationships she abandoned in shame. As she pulls at each tangled thread from her old life, Lorna is forced to confront the wounds and regrets of long ago. She'll have to risk the job that shapes her identity as well as the hope of friendship-and love-restored.

Team W Special Murder Mystery Event🥳

KAREN WHITE is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 34 books, including the Tradd Street series, The Last Night in London, Dreams of Falling, The Night the Lights Went Out, Flight Patterns, The Sound of Glass, and A Long Time Gone. She is the coauthor of The Lost Summers of Newport, All the Ways We Said Goodbye, The Glass Ocean and The Forgotten Room with New York Times bestselling authors Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig. She grew up in London but now lives with her husband near Atlanta, Georgia.

BEATRIZ WILLIAMS is the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of Our Woman in Moscow, The Summer Wives, Her Last Flight, The Golden Hour, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers, and several other works of historical fiction, including four novels in collaboration with fellow bestselling authors Karen White and Lauren Willig. A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in Finance from Columbia University. Beatriz’s books have won numerous awards, have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and appear regularly in bestseller lists around the world. Born in Seattle, Washington, Beatriz now lives near the Connecticut shore with her husband and four children,

LAUREN WILLIG is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty works of historical fiction, including Band of Sisters, The Summer Country, The English Wife, the RITA Award-winning Pink Carnation series, and four novels co-written with Beatriz Williams and Karen White. An alumna of Yale University, she has a graduate degree in history from Harvard and a JD from Harvard Law School. She lives in New York City with her husband, and two young children.

An over the top, funny, cozy mystery with a wee bit of romance- where three female mystery writers try to solve a murder in a scottish castle...BUT each woman has a reason to hate the murder victim...

Brett Saffron Presley, literary superstar, who‘s always after a bit of a skirt, is found dead somewhere in the vastness of the castle the night of the big celebration. It may appear that a castle guest has done him in, but chief inspector Euan McIntosh is suspicious of our lady novelists- Cassie Pringle, a Southern mom of six who pens cozy mysteries, Kat deNoir, a sexy erotica author and Emma Endicott, a blue blood from New England whose specialty is historical fiction- based on some bizarre circumstances in the locked room castle study. The Nancy Drew squad refused to leave the inspector a trail of breadcrumbs as they were quite scared to have an opinion. He wouldn’t have far to look to grasp the reasons why the chambers’s glittering torches that illuminated the bare body donning an erotic piece of women’s clothing was face down in a puddle of blood and would prove no chance of natural death.

🎉INSTANT 2024 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, From the author of We Begin at the End

Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today

“[I] may never have loved a book as much.”–Jenna Bush Hager on All the Colors of the Dark

The Boston Globe's #1 Thriller/Mystery of 2024 So Far

One of The Washington Post's Best Books of Summer

"Kept me frantically turning the pages and somehow made me cry at the end . . . Brava!"-Kristin Hannah, author of The Women

CHRIS WHITAKER is the award-winning author of Tall Oaks, All the Wicked Girls, and the New York Times bestseller We Begin at the End. Chris lives in the UK.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the smalltown of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing. When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges--Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake. Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another. A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession and the blinding light of hope.

*Christmas Double Author Exclusive Event🎄🎁

NANCY NAIGLE is a USA Today bestselling author who whips up small-town love stories with a dash of suspense and a whole lot of heart. She began her popular contemporary romance series Adams Grove while juggling a successful career in finance and life on a seventy-six-acre farm. Several of her novels have been adapted into Hallmark films.

LINDSAY GIBSON is a debut author whose passion is to write and share romance that connects readers with characters whom they can relate to, smile within her stories and feel encouraged by the love that changes their lives, their relationships and their faith.

Chestnut Ridge by Nancy Naigle: In the enchanting mountain town of Chestnut Ridge, Sheila's world begins to transform, and she finds the sense of belonging she never knew she needed. Meanwhile, Tucker, the town's reliable fire captain, is gathering volunteers to help a family who has just lost their home to a devastating fire weeks before Christmas. Sheila offers her helping hand, and as the town rallies to support the family in their time of need, sparks of love begin to flicker between her and Tucker.

The Christmas Promise by Lindsay Gibson: A buyer for an art gallery buys a painting on a whim, but in order to save her job she has to go to the town where the painting is set, in coastal New England, and find out more about the history of the artist. However, when she accidentally uncovers a decades old family secret connected to a missing ruby ring, she feels connected to the town and the family mystery surrounding the artist of the painting. A heartwarming holiday story that's perfect for fans of RaeAnne Thayne, Denise Hunter, and Debbie Macomber.

*Special Exclusive Event- Attending this event you will have the chance to receive the book almost a month ahead of the on sale date!

HAZEL GAYNOR & HEATHER WEBB are bestselling authors and beloved writing partners. They have collaborated on several historical fiction titles such as; Last Christmas in Paris (2017), Meet Me in Monaco (2019), and Three Words for Goodbye (2021). Their works have won countless awards and gone on to hit the bestsellers lists. Hazel & Heather have joined forces again for a fourth collaboration at William Morrow, Christmas with the Queen.

HAZEL GAYNOR is an award-winning New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author known for her deeply moving historical novels which explore the defining events of the 20th century. She lives in Ireland with her family and is traveling to the USA for some special events for this brand new book, ours being one of them!

HEATHER WEBB is the USA Today and international bestselling author of ten historical novels, including her most recent  Queens of London, & The Next Ship Home. Heather lives in New England with her family and two mischievous cats.

❄️🎄👑‘Tis the season! The Crown meets When Harry Met Sally in the latest heartwarming historical romance from Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, which opens 70 years ago in the Queen’s first year on the throne, Christmas 1952.👑🎄❄️

December 1952. As the young Queen Elizabeth II prepares to deliver the first of her traditional Christmas Messages, dedicated staff work behind the scenes to prepare for festive celebrations at the Sandringham Estate. Among the hard workers are Jack Devereaux and Olive Carter – old friends who are about to be reunited.

Over the course of five years, while Olive works as a royal correspondent and Jack is a chef in the Queen’s household, their paths will cross time and time again. But as the two grow closer, their relationship is threatened by a secret that Olivia is afraid to reveal.

December 1957. As the nation eagerly awaits the Queen’s first televised Christmas speech, there is one final gift for the Christmas season to deliver…

ANNE BYRN is a food writer and author. She loves baking biscuits and chocolate cake, slicing garden tomatoes on a sandwich, and listening to a good story. She loves dogs, her hometown of Nashville, traveling to new places, and reading. She enjoys writing cookbooks that tell stories-the kind of book you can read like a novel if you want to—never even setting foot in the kitchen. Her new book, Baking in the American South, is filled with untold stories. She hopes to make you hungry enough to want to heat the oven, crack the eggs, and start cooking.

Experience mouthwatering Southern baking! One of the world's richest culinary traditions comes to life through this essential cookbook from bestselling author Anne Byrn. With 200 recipes from 14 states and more than 150 photos, Baking in the American South has the biscuits, cornbread, cakes, and rolls that will help you bake like a Southerner, even if you aren't. This fascinating dive into the history of the south—features stories and beautifully photographed recipes from pre-Civil War times to today's Southern kitchens. It's about the places, the people, the products and the culture of the moment that influenced what people baked. It's about African-American women and the monumental contributions they have made to the art of Southern baking, about home cooks and how they've kept traditions alive wherever they settle by baking family recipes each year for holidays and celebrations, and about the pastry chefs who have thoughtfully reimagined how the South bakes.

DATE CHANGE-Special Book Signing Event-🎉Publication Day book signing with Caleb Wygal!

Come on in and meet bestselling local author Caleb Wygal on the publication day of his brand new book MYRTLE BEACH BURNS🔥🔥🔥! MYRTLE BEACH BURNS is book #7 in Caleb’s Myrtle Beach Murder Mystery Series. The entire series will be sold in store, and Caleb will be autographing and meeting customers.

CALEB WYGAL is author of the award-winning and critically acclaimed novel, Death on the Boardwalk: Book 1 of the Myrtle Beach Mystery Series. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers and Southeastern Writers Association, moonlights as a Mystery Novel Writing instructor for Coastal Carolina University, and the author of eight other novels. He lives in Myrtle Beach with his family.

Enjoy a special treat with us in store!

Free Admission

Want to make sure you get a signed copy? Preorder the Book with us below!

KIMBERLY BROCK is the bestselling author of The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Townsend Prize for Fiction and spent weeks on the Indie Bestseller List, and The River Witch, recipient of the Georgia Author of the Year Award. She is the founder of Tinderbox Writers Workshop and has served as a guest lecturer for many regional and national writing workshops including at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. A native of North Georgia, she now lives near Atlanta.

Inspired by the little-known history of Cumberland Island, The Fabled Earth is a sweeping story of family lore and the power of finding your own voice as Southern mythology and personal reckoning collide with a changing world.

1932. Cumberland Island off the coast of Southern Georgia is a strange place to encounter the opulence of the Gilded Age, but the last vestiges of the famed philanthropic Carnegie family still take up brief seasonal residence in their grand mansions there. This year’s party at Plum Orchard is a lively group: young men from some of America’s finest families come to experience the area’s hunting beside a local guide; a beautiful debutante expecting to be engaged by the week’s end, and a promising female artist who believes she has meaningful ties to her wealthy hosts. But when temptations arise and passions flare, an evening of revelry and storytelling goes horribly awry…

1959. Reclusive painter Cleo Woodbine has lived alone for decades on Kingdom Come, a tiny strip of land once occupied by the servants for the great houses on nearby Cumberland. When she is visited by the man who saved her life nearly thirty years earlier, a tempest is unleashed as the stories of the past gather and begin to regain their strength. Frances Flood is a folklorist come to Cumberland Island seeking the source of a legend – and also information about her mother, who was among the guests at a long-ago hunting party. Audrey Howell, briefly a newlywed and now newly widowed, is running a local inn. When she develops an eerie double exposure photograph, some believe she’s raised a ghost–someone who hasn’t been seen since that fateful night in 1932.

As a once-in-a-century storm threatens the natural landscape and shifting tides reveal what Cumberland Island has hidden all along, two timelines and the perspectives of three women intersect to illuminate the life-changing power of finding the truth.

BRENDA NOVAK is the New York Times Bestselling Author of over 85 books. Writing was the last profession she expected to undertake. Brenda admits she learned how to write by reading what others have written. She says the best advice for any would-be author is to continue to read. Brenda and her husband live in Sacramento CA and are the proud parents of five children. Brenda spends a lot of her time raising money for diabetes research, her youngest son has diabetes, and Brenda is determined to help him and others like him.

She left her hometown following a scandal—but family loyalty is dragging her back… Despite their strained relationship, when Gia Rossi’s sister, Margot, begs her to come home to Wakefield, Iowa, to help with their ailing mother, Gia knows she has no choice. After her rebellious and at-times tumultuous teen years, Gia left town with little reason to look back. But now it’s Gia’s turn to help, even if it means opening old wounds.

As expected, Gia’s homecoming is far from welcome. There’s the Banned Books Club she started after the PTA overzealously slashed the high school reading list, which is right where she left it. But there is also Mr. Hart, her former favorite teacher. The one who prompted Gia to leave behind a very conflicted town the minute she turned eighteen. The one person she hoped never to see again…

When Margot leaves town without explanation, Gia sees the cracks in her sister’s “perfect” life for the first time, but as the town, including members of the book club, takes sides between Gia and Mr. Hart, everything gets harder. Fortunately, she learns that by standing up for the truth, she finds love and a future in the town she thought had rejected her.

MADELINE MARTIN is a New York Times, USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly, and internationally bestselling author of historical fiction and historical romance with books that have been translated into over twenty-five different languages.She is a die-hard history lover who will happily lose herself in research any day, attributing her fascination with history to having spent most of her childhood as an Army brat in Germany. She lives in Florida with her family.

From the author of the New York Times Bestseller, The Last Bookshop in London.

In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter, Olivia, have always managed just fine on their own, but with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she's left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots' Booklover's Library to take a chance on her with a job.

When the threat of war in England becomes a reality, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In the wake of being separated from her daughter, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbors and coworkers, and a renewed sense of purpose through the recommendations she provides to the library's quirky regulars. But the job doesn't come without its difficulties. Books are mysteriously misshelved and disappearing, and the work at the lending library forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.

As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.

Praise: "A spectacularly well-researched and well-plotted tale of World War II, motherhood, and the solace we find in books, The Booklover’s Library is filled with characters you'll root for, drama that will bring you to tears, and the kind of emotional journey that will earn this novel a permanent place in your own booklover's library. I loved every page."
–Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Daughter

TRACEY ENERSON WOOD loves discovering amazing women whose stories have been lost to history, and bringing them to life for today’s readers. While working as a Registered Nurse, starting her own Interior Design company, raising two children, and bouncing around the world as a military wife, she indulged in her writing passion. She has authored screenplays, magazine columns and articles, web content, and other non-fiction, and written and directed plays of all lengths. “Katharine, The Wright Sister” is her fourth novel.

She helped her brothers soar… but was the flight worth the fall?

Wilbur and Orville Wright, both unsuited to college and disinclined to leave home, jumped on the popular new fad of bicycle riding and opened a shop in Dayton, Ohio. Repairing and selling soon led to tinkering and building as the brothers offered improved models to their eager customers. Amid their success, a new dream began to take shape. Engineers across the world were puzzling over how to build a powered flying machine—and Wilbur and Orville wanted in on the challenge. But their younger sister, Katharine, knew they couldn’t do it without her. As her brothers obsessed over blueprints and risked life and limb testing new models on the sandy beaches of North Carolina, Katharine became the mastermind behind the scenes of their inventions. She sourced materials, managed communications, and kept Wilbur and Orville focused on their goal—even when it seemed hopeless. And in 1903, the Wright brothers made the first controlled, sustained flight of humankind.

What followed was the kind of fame and fortune the Wrights had never imagined. The siblings traveled the world to demonstrate their invention, trained other pilots, and built new machines that could fly higher and farther. But at the height of their success, tragedy wrenched the Wright family apart… and forced Katharine to make an impossible choice that would haunt her for the rest of her life…

Join us for TWO amazing authors who have written about South Carolina History. Come hear about the Lucas family of South Carolina and the history of rice cultivation in the south & Ghosts and Legends of Georgetown County.

DAVID HENRY LUCAS is a descendent of the famous “Lucas” family of Charleston, SC. In “The Rice Kings” saga, David has taken on the challenge of romanticizing the history of his forbears, starting in the year 1754, which chronicles the early life and training of Jonathan Lucas, a fourth great grandfather, who invented the rice mill. This invention allowed the South Carolina Lowcountry to become incredibly wealthy and produced a golden era for the region. Now onto book four he has created a series of historical novels that is intended to relate the saga of the rise and fall of the Old South. David currently resides in Mount Pleasant, SC.

The Rice Kings- Rice Reigns: In the heart of South Carolina, where the tides of fortune rise and fall with the rhythm of the rice industry, the Lucas family’s continuing legacy is forged.

Jonathan Lucas I's groundbreaking inventions set the stage for an empire, but it is his descendants who must navigate the complexities of a growing dynasty. As Charleston flourishes, the Lucas Family faces political upheaval, economic challenges, and the realities of life in the Antebellum South. From the lush rice fields of the Lowcountry to the bustling streets of New York and London, Benjamine’s journey inspires readers with his dedication to the medical profession and his romance with Melita Tiller. The family's influence extends from Charleston to London, expanding their operations and navigating the complexities of the British Empire. Through their trials and triumphs, the Lucases remain bound by the enduring strength of family and the relentless pursuit of progress. "The Rice Kings: Rice Reigns" is a compelling saga of ambition, innovation, and the indomitable spirit that defines a family and shapes a nation.

ELIZABETH HUNTSINGER is a South Carolina native whose mother’s family came to the state in the 1600s and whose father immigrated there from Scotland. Her first home in Georgetown County was a 1948-vintage 40-foot mahogany Chris Craft boat anchored in the Waccamaw River. Now a landlubber, she lives in a neighborhood built on the site of one of the area’s many rice plantations. She is famous for leading her Ghosts of Georgetown Lantern Tours.

Georgetown Mysteries and Legends: Wouldn’t you like to read about unsolved mysteries and legends from the past, that happened right here in our Georgetown County? Included in this story collection are stories about a treasure buried along the Sampit River during the Civil War; the pirate Drunken Jack; Tom Yawkey and his beloved Cat Island; the mysterious fire that destroyed Kensington Park; the Pawleys Island Pavilion; George Trenholm and the lost money from the Confederate treasury; the Sea View Inn on Pawleys Island, Magnolia Beach and more…Popular folklorist, storyteller, and tour guide Elizabeth Huntsinger is at her best in this collection of nineteen tales from that most mysterious and haunted of places, Georgetown County.

*Elizabeth will be hosting a Ghosts of Georgetown Lantern Tour the night of September 6th in Georgetown. If you are interested in attending you can sign up for this tour with Elizabeth at our event.

Prepublication Event🎉We have the special privilege from the author and publisher to host T.I. Lowe the week before the release of her book. Attend this event to be the FIRST readers of Lowcountry Lost!

T.I. LOWE is an ordinary South Carolina country girl who loves to tell extraordinary stories. She is the #1 international bestselling author of nearly twenty published novels, including her recent bestselling and critically acclaimed novel, Under the Magnolias, and her debut breakout, Lulu's Café. Fans of Delia Owens and Nicholas Sparks will enjoy Lowe's novels brimming with Southern charm and coastal vibes. Perfect for beach reads and book clubs!

From the author of the breakout Southern fiction bestseller Under the Magnolias comes a story of loss and abandonment, forgiveness, and the beauty of undying love.

Avalee Elvis prides herself with being able to fix just about anything. . . except her past. Unable to put the puzzle of her life together, she pours heart and soul into making neglected places whole again. As the owner of Lowcountry Lost, Avalee spends her days in hot-pink Carhartt overalls and a tool belt reclaiming Lowcountry properties. Avalee’s latest project takes her to tiny Somewhere, South Carolina, a long-abandoned town. She ignores its ghostly folklore but can’t miss the shock of hearing the familiar voice of the man she never wanted to see again, that materializes on the job site.

Rowan Murray is a structural engineer hired by investors to oversee the redevelopment of the quaint downtown Avalee is bringing back to life. Once upon a time, he was also the man who knew Avalee better than anyone else—or so he thought. Six years ago, neither of them was prepared for the tragedy they would face together or what would happen in its wake. But as they work together to complete the rehabbing of Somewhere, both begin to wonder if it’s not too late for a restoration of their own.

REA FREY is an award-winning author of several nonfiction books and the novels Not Her Daughter, Because You’re Mine, Until I Find You, and The Other Year. She is also the founder and CEO of Writeway, which teaches writers about the business of publishing—not just the craft. She lives in Nashville.

Ben and Harper have had a rough start to their marriage. After a surprise late-stage cancer diagnosis, Ben comes up with one final wish for his wife: he wants Harper to find a new partner before he dies.

Harper is resistant to this wacky plan. If she can’t have Ben, then she doesn’t want anyone. Finally, he lets it drop, but not before the New York Times sends a journalist to do a feature story about Ben’s life...and his idea.

When Harper opens the door, she is stunned to find the one man who got away. Or, the man she spent one perfect week with a decade ago and never saw again: Liam Hale. Suddenly, Harper is faced with her ultimate what-if: What if Harper had ended up with Liam instead of Ben? What if she’d pursued life as an artist instead of teaching? What if it had all turned out differently? After making a wish, Harper wakes up to find herself in a parallel universe...where her what-ifs become a reality. Is the grass really greener, or is she standing right where she should be, even as she inevitably faces the pain of losing the one she loves?

FRANCES MAYES is the author of the now-classic Under the Tuscan Sun, which was a New York Times bestseller for more than two and a half years and became a Touchstone blockbuster movie starring Diane Lane. She is also the author of Swan and Women in Sunlight. Her books have been translated into more than fifty languages. Born and raised in the south, most of her books have a southern connection.

A great marriage is an elusive thing, and only a few know the secret to making one.

Dara Willcox, in New York for a weekend, meets Austin Clarke at an art gallery. If love at first sight can happen, it happens to them. But, these two vivid, ambitious people are on different courses—he’s British, working temporarily in New York. She’s from North Carolina, set on law school. They don’t care. They will make their lives together happen.

After their engagement party, Austin hears unsettling news from London that wrecks their plans. Dara abruptly cancels the wedding. She refuses to reveal the reason, not even to her best friends or her parents or grandmother, disrupting their family tradition of openness. As everyone knows, Lee and Rich have a great marriage, and Charlotte, her grandmother, had a colossal one, to the late Senator Mann.

While Dara escapes to California and Indigo Island, South Carolina, Austin, back in London, faces a major tragedy, the consequences of which are life-altering. But it’s Lee, Dara’s mother, whose impulsive visit to London alters their fate…

RHONDA MCKNIGHT is the author of 28 books. She has also written several award-winning bestsellers, including An Inconvenient Friend and The Thing About Home (2023). She is the winner of the 2015 Emma Award for Inspirational Romance of the Year for her title, Unbreak My Heart. She has been nominated thrice for the African American Literary Award. She writes inspirational book club fiction and Christian romance stories about complex characters in crisis. Her goal is to touch the heart of women with the themes of faith, forgiveness, and hope. Originally from a small coastal town in New Jersey, she writes from the comfort of her South Carolina home.

A cryptic message from their grandmother reunites two estranged sisters at the site of the family’s eighty-six-year-old restaurant…

Mariah never pretended her marriage was perfect but that didn’t mean she ever suspected her husband of ten years would not only ask for a divorce but steal the business she built for them.

Sabrina has been self-destructing for years, maybe since she was born, but certainly since the death of her long-time boyfriend. Barely scraping by and living in her van, she’s struggling to figure out what’s next for her, when all she’s ever wanted to do is bake cakes like her mother did.

When Mariah and Sabrina’s grandmother sends them a cryptic text message summoning them to Georgetown, South Carolina, both assume their ailing grandfather’s health has declined. Instead, the estranged sisters are faced with their grandmother’s undeniable request—save the family’s eighty-six-year-old restaurant. Through letters written by their great-great-grandmother, the sisters learn a heartbreaking yet powerful story of struggle and survival. As the whole truth about Tabitha’s complicated past unfolds, the sisters are inspired by her ability to forge her own way in Charleston, a beautiful and prosperous city that was also rife with oppression under Jim Crow. Told in a dual timeline that alternates between the 1920s and present-day Charleston, SC, Bitter and Sweet is an emotional story about love, one family’s perseverance, and the bonds of family and heritage.

MELISSA FERGUSON is the bestselling author of Meet Me in the Margins, The Dating Charade, and The Cul-de-Sac War. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and children in their growing farmhouse lifestyle (Check out her lifestyle blog on social media -@our_friendly_farmhouse) and writes heartwarming romantic comedies that have been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Travel + Leisure, Woman’s World, and BuzzFeed. Her favorite hobby is taking friends and acquaintances and turning them into characters in her books without their knowledge. She is confident you should read all her novels, starting with this one.

He crossed an ocean, and it still wasn’t enough to escape his lifelong nemesis. Now he has to work with her.

Successful screenwriter Finn Masters just landed his dream job writing for one of Hollywood’s highest-rated, longest-running sitcoms. The only downside? It will put him back in proximity of the show’s universally adored, optimistic, altruistic star, Lavender Rhodes, who has been inadvertently ruining his life since they were school chums in England. But she doesn’t even know she destroyed his acting career and wrecked his relationship with the love of his life.

He’s not about to let this woman yank yet another dream out from under his feet. In fact, he realizes he’s been given the ideal opportunity to plot his payback: spinning her character in shocking new directions. What could go wrong? Only everything. As Finn’s not-so-brilliant plot backfires one scene after the next, catching him in the blasts, he’s forced to think about this impossible, infuriating… and maybe even lovable woman in an entirely new light…

MINDY FRIDDLE is the author of The Garden Ange, a SIBA bestselling author, two time winner of the South Carolina Fiction Prize, and named a Walter E. Dakin Fellow in Fiction at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. Mindy earned her MFA in fiction from Warren Wilson. She has worked as a newspaper reporter, a columnist and book reviewer and taught journalism at Furman University. She lives on gorgeous Edisto Island in South Carolina.

Janelle Wolf longs to be the woman she once was—an adored wife, a loving mother, a career woman, a force in her community—before a car accident steals her memories, ruins her reputation, and upends her life. As Janelle’s memories are coaxed to the surface, the ugly truth behind her accident is revealed, and what she learns will unravel her marriage, disrupt her family, and turn her small southern town upside down.

Written with wry humor, this diabolically entertaining tale of deception, temptation, and love is filled with dark twists, exploring what happens when the transgressions of the past come back with a vengeance.

ELIZA KNIGHT is an award-winning and USA Today bestselling author. Her love of history began as a young girl when she traipsed the halls of Versailles and ran through the fields in Southern France. She is most known for her historical fiction work: The Mayfair Bookshop, Starring Adele Astaire, Can’t We Be Friends, and co-author of Ribbons of Scarlet.

For fans of The Crown and Remarkably Bright Creatures comes an endearing new novel…

A reigning queen… Elizabeth wasn’t born to be queen. When her uncle abdicates the throne, and her father steps in as king, everything in Elizabeth’s life and her future path changes. But there is one thing that never wavers, and that is her endearing love of her Corgis—especially the new puppy Susan, who is gifted to her for her eighteenth birthday. Susan, a member of the royal household, is by her side during Elizabeth’s WWII service, falling in love with Philip and getting married, the death of her father King George VI, her accession to the throne, the birth of her first child, and the early struggles with running a country.

A loyal servant… Hanna Penwyck has grown up with her family in service to the crown. A little bit awkward, and often feeling alone, she has a connection with nature, animals— and the young princesses at Windsor. Her job is to maintain the health and wellness of the queen’s most prized companion—she is the Keeper of the Queens Corgis.

A faithful companion… From the moment Susan became Elizabeth’s, she knew what her duty as a royal dog was. To remind Elizabeth that she is more than just a queen, she is a human, and that the key to life is not just duty and honor, but connection, family, and unconditional and enduring love. Through Susan we gain a dog’s eye view of royal life, human relationships, and the heartwarming bond between a queen and her beloved companion.

BEATRIZ WILLIAMS is the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of Our Woman in Moscow, The Summer Wives, Her Last Flight, The Golden Hour, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers, and several other works of historical fiction, including four novels in collaboration with fellow bestselling authors Karen White and Lauren Willig.

New England, 2022- Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads—her ten-year-old son Sam had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning leaving him fighting for his life. Now, in a search for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, Mallory’s forced to confront two harrowing secrets from her past: her mother’s adoption from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, and her own all-consuming summer romance fourteen years earlier with Monk Adams—now one of the world’s most beloved singer-songwriters—a fairytale cut short by an agonizing betrayal…

Cairo, 1951- Hannah Ainsworth has forged a respectable new life for herself—marriage to a wealthy British diplomat, a coveted posting in glamorous Cairo, Egypt. But a fateful encounter with the enigmatic manager of a hotel bristling with spies leads to a passionate affair that will reawaken Hannah’s longing for everything she once lost. As revolution simmers in the Egyptian streets, a pregnant Hannah finds herself snared into a game of intrigue between two men…and an act of sacrifice that will echo down the generations…

KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is the New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of eleven novels including A Happier Life, The Summer of Songbirds, and The Peachtree Bluff Series. Kristy is the cocreator and cohost of the weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction.

Present Day: Keaton Smith’s mother needs someone to put her childhood home in Beaufort, North Carolina, on the market—the home that Keaton didn’t know existed until now—she jumps at the chance to head south. But the moment she steps foot inside the abandoned house, she’s confronted with secrets about grandparents who died in a car accident before she was born. And as she gets to know her charming next-door neighbor, his ten-year-old son, and the town busybodies, she soon finds she has more questions than answers.

1976: After meeting her adoring husband Townsend, Rebecca “Becks” Saint James abandoned the life she knew and never looked back. Forty years later, she’s made a name for herself as the best hostess North Carolina has ever seen. Her annual summer suppers have become the stuff of legend, and locals and out-of-towners alike clamor for an invitation to her stunning historic home. But she’s brought to a decision she never wanted to make.

As both Keaton and Becks face new challenges and chapters, they are connected through time by the house on Sunset Lane, which has protected the secrets, hopes, and dreams of the women in their family for generations. For fans of Summer of ‘69 and The Notebook.

LISA WINGATE is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Before We Were Yours, which has sold more than three million copies and been translated into over forty languages worldwide. The co-author, with Judy Christie, of the nonfiction book Before and After, Wingate is a Goodreads Choice Award winner, an Oklahoma Book Award finalist, a Southern Book Prize winner, and was named among the 2023 Distinguished Alumni of Oklahoma State University. She lives with her husband in North Texas and Central Colorado.

Oklahoma, 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Augusta Radley knows that her stepfather doesn’t have good intentions toward the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees to the woods, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the rugged Winding Stair Mountains, the notorious territory of outlaws, treasure hunters, and desperate men. Along the way, Ollie and Nessa form an unlikely band with others like themselves, struggling to stay one step ahead of those who seek to exploit them . . . or worse.
 Oklahoma, 1990. Law Enforcement Ranger Valerie Boren O’dell arrives at Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to balance a career and single parenthood. But no sooner has Valerie reported for duty than she’s faced with local controversy over the park’s opening, a teenage hiker gone missing from one of the trails, and the long-hidden burial site of three children deep in a cave. Val’s quest to uncover the truth wins an ally among the neighboring Choctaw Tribal Police but soon collides with old secrets and the tragic and deadly history of the land itself.

MARY ALICE MONROE is the New York Times bestselling author of 27 books, including The Summer of Lost and Found, the 2021 installment in her beloved Beach House series. Monroe has also published children’s books which complement the environmental themes she is known for in her adult novels. Monroe’s middle grade series, written with Angela May, The Islanders, debuted #2 on the New York Times in 2021. The second book in the series, Search for Treasure, debuted at #3 in the New York Times in 2022.  Nearly eight million copies of her books have been published worldwide.

In the third and final book in the trilogy, Shipwrecked, Jake, Macon, and Lovie fight to survive at sea. Jake Potter’s biggest dream finally comes true: he gets his very own boat! And it’s just in time for another summer of fun on Dewees Island with his best friends, Macon and Lovie. But on their very first fishing trip, the engine dies, and the three friends find themselves adrift at sea. When a storm carries them to a small, uninhabited island far from Dewees, the kids must use every ounce of their strength, courage, and knowledge to survive as they wait for rescue. Will their friendship survive the ultimate test?

LISA SEE is the New York Times bestselling author of The Island of Sea Women, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls, China Dolls, and Dreams of Joy, which debuted at #1. She is also the author of On Gold Mountain, which tells the story of her Chinese American family’s settlement in Los Angeles. See was the recipient of the Golden Spike Award from the Chinese Historical Association of Southern California and the Historymaker’s Award from the Chinese American Museum. She was also named National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women.

Inspired by the true story of a woman physician from 15th-century China- From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose–despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it–and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles.  No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife–embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights. How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later?  How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan’s Circle of Woman is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.

We are so excited to be given the opportunity to host Ally for this exciting new novel. A Publisher Headliner pick for Summer, Hachette is calling it “Summer’s Hottest Read”. The White Lotus meets Agatha Christie in this bold novel from a #1 New York Times bestselling author: a recent divorcee's exclusive Big Sur resort vacation unravels when she discovers a dead body on the day of a wedding…

ALLY BRAITHWAITE CONDIE is the author of the # 1 New York Times bestselling Matched series and the Edgar Award Finalist Summerlost, among other novels, and of several picture books, including Here. A former English teacher, Ally resides outside of Salt Lake City with her family, including her four children. She has an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the founder and director of the nonprofit WriteOut Foundation.

Ellery Wainwright is alone at the edge of the world.
 She and her husband, Luke, were supposed to spend their twentieth wedding anniversary together at the luxurious Resort at Broken Point in Big Sur, California. Where better to celebrate a marriage, a family, and a life together than at one of the most stunning places on earth? But now she’s traveling solo.
 To add insult to injury, there’s a wedding at Broken Point scheduled during her stay. Ellery remembers how it felt to be on the cusp of everything new and wonderful, with a loved and certain future glimmering just ahead. Now, she isn’t certain of anything except for her love for her kids and her growing realization that this place, though beautiful, is unsettling.
 When Ellery discovers the body of the groom floating in the pool in the rain, she realizes that she is not the only one whose future is no longer guaranteed. Before the police can reach Broken Point, a mudslide takes out the road to the resort, leaving the guests trapped. When another guest dies, it’s clear something horrible is brewing.
Everyone at Broken Point has a secret. And everyone has a shadow. Including Ellery.

BROOK LEA FOSTER is an award-winning author and journalist who has worked as a writer and editor at The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, The Huffington Post and the Washingtonian magazine. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Parents, PARADE, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, Psychology Today, among others. Her novels, Summer Darlings and On Gin Lane, were featured as top summer reads in People Magazine, named a top summer pick by Entertainment Weekly and named one of PARADE’s best books of summer.

When wealthy, impulsive summer girl Margot meets hardworking and steady local girl Thea in the summer of 1967, the unlikely pair become fast friends, working alongside one another in a record store and spending every spare moment together. But after an unspeakable incident on one devastating August night, they don’t see one another for ten years…until Margot suddenly reappears in Thea’s life, begging for help and harboring more than one dangerous secret. Thea can’t bring herself to refuse her beloved friend—but she also knows she can’t fully trust her either. Unfulfilled as a housewife, Thea enjoys the dazzling sense of adventure Margot brings to her life, but will the truth of what happened to them that fateful summer ruin everything? Testing the boundaries of how far she’ll go for a friend, Thea is forced to reckon with her uncertain future while trying to decide if some friends are meant to remain in the past.

Set in the dual timelines of 1967 and 1977, All the Summers In Between is at once a mesmerizing portrait of a complex friendship, a delicious glimpse into a bygone Hamptons, and a powerful coming-of-age for two young women during a transformative era.

LISA BARR is the New York Times bestselling author of WOMAN ON FIRE, THE UNBREAKABLES and the award-winning historical thriller FUGITIVE COLORS. Her new historical thriller THE GODDESS OF WARSAW makes its debut on May 28th, 2024. She has served as an editor for The Jerusalem Post, managing editor of Today's Chicago Woman and Moment magazine, and as an editor and reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. She has appeared on Good Morning America and TODAY for her work as an author, journalist, and blogger. In exciting book news: Actress Sharon Stone has optioned the movie rights adaptation of WOMAN ON FIRE.

Los Angeles, 2005. Sienna Hayes, Hollywood’s latest It Girl, has ambitions to work behind the camera. When she meets Lena Browning, the enormously mysterious and famous Golden Age movie star, Sienna sees her big break. She wants to direct a picture about Lena’s life—but the legendary actor’s murky past turns out to be even darker than Sienna dreamed. Before she was a Living Legend, Lena Browning was Bina Blonski, a Polish Jew whose life and family were destroyed by the Nazis.

Warsaw, 1943. A member of the city’s Jewish elite, Bina Blonski and her husband, Jakub, are imprisoned in the ghastly, cramped ghetto along with the rest of Warsaw’s surviving Jews. Determined to fight back against the brutal Nazis, the beautiful, blonde Aryan-looking Bina becomes a spy, gaining information and stealing weapons outside the ghetto to protect her fellow Jews. But her dangerous circumstances grow complicated when she falls in love with Aleksander, an ally in resistance—and Jakub’s brother. While Lena accomplishes amazing feats of bravery, she sacrifices much in the process. Over a decade after escaping the horrors of the ghetto, Bina, now known as Lena, rises to fame in Hollywood. Yet she cannot help but be reminded of her old life and hungers for revenge against the Nazis who escaped justice after the war. Her power and fame as a movie star offer Lena the chance to right the past’s wrongs . . . and perhaps even find the happy ending she never had.

PATRICIA HUDSON-Patricia Hudson has been a freelance writer for more than 30 years. She's written for magazines ranging from Country Living to Women's Sports and Fitness, but her favorite assignments focus on historical topics. She was a contributing editor at Americana magazine for more than a decade, writing about historic preservation, folk art, and travel destinations for history lovers. She's a long-time member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Her book credits include: Inns of the Southern Mountains, and Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia, as well as The Carolinas and the Appalachian States, a volume in the Smithsonian Guide to Historic America series. She lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with her husband.

“When I open a history book, I hear whispers. Women call to me from between the lines; they perch among the footnotes and cling grimly to the margins. Their hold is tenuous — an incautious shake of the book and I fear they'll tumble into the void, their stories forgotten forever. My current writing project you’ll hear about is a novel about Rebecca Boone. For nearly three hundred years, she's been little more than a footnote in the books written about her famous husband, Daniel Boone. The stories about her that have come down to us are largely rumors interwoven with a handful of glimpses from those who actually knew her. But once, she had words of her own.”

An early American adage proclaimed, "The frontier was heaven for men and dogs—hell for women and mules." Since the 1700s, when his name first appeared in print, Daniel Boone has been synonymous with America's westward expansion and life on the frontier. Traces is a retelling of Boone's saga through the eyes of his wife, Rebecca, and her two oldest daughters, Susannah and Jemima.

Daniel became a mythic figure during his lifetime, but his fame fueled backwoods gossip that bedeviled the Boone women throughout their lives—most notably the widespread suspicion that one of Rebecca's children was fathered by Daniel's younger brother. Traces explores the origins of these rumors, exposes the harsh realities of frontier life, and gives voice to the women whose vibrant lives have been reduced to little more than scattered footnotes within the historical record. Along the path of Daniel's restless wandering, the women were eyewitnesses to the clash of cultures between the settlers and the indigenous tribes who fought to retain control of their native lands, which made life on the frontier an ongoing struggle for survival. Patricia Hudson gives voice to these women, all of whom were pioneers in their own right. The Boone women's joys and sorrows, as well as those of countless other forgotten women who braved the frontier, are invisibly woven into the fabric of America's early years and the story of this country's westward expansion.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War—a simmering crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.

Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”

At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between them. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous secretary of state, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans. Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, Men’s Health, Lit Hub

MARY KAY ANDREWS is the New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels. A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, she earned a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia. After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including The Savannah Morning News, The Marietta Journal, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she spent the final ten years of her career, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction. She and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where they cook up new recipes in three restored beach homes, The Breeze Inn, Ebbtide, and Coquina Cottage—all named after fictional places in Mary Kay’s novels.

Welcome to the St. Cecelia, a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia, where traditions run deep and scandals run even deeper. . . .
Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as “the Saint.” If you grew up coming here, you were “a Saint.” If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were “an Ain’t.” Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn’t rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss’s son. Now, she’s the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help―including the daughter of her estranged best friend―Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair.
Traci Eddings has her back against the pink-painted wall of this beloved institution. And it will take all the wits and guts she has to see wrongs put to right, to see guilty parties put in their place, and maybe even to find a new romance along the way...