Who can resist a snarky octopus narrator? Marcellus, the “remarkably bright” octopus, makes for a fabulous storyteller (especially in a haughty British voice on audiobook). After an unexpected encounter with Tova, the uber-lovable night-shift cleaning woman, the two form a highly unconventional friendship, one of the most endearing I’ve ever read.
As a mother who tragically lost my own 26-year-old son, I related all too well to Tova's poignant reflections, outlandish hopes, and enduring grief. The miracle Tova receives from the universe gives this book a permanent place in my heart.
Cameron, too, is wonderfully imperfect. Through all the botched jobs and mishandled relationships, he remains sweet, grateful, and good to his core. Never have I rooted harder for a struggling character to find his stride. When he does, it's deeply satisfying.
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK
'Full of heart and humour . . . I loved it.' Ruth Hogan
'Will stay with you for a long time.' Anstey Harris
'I defy you to put it down once you've started' Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night cleaner shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Ever since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat over thirty years ago keeping busy has helped her cope. One night she meets Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium who…
I was hooked right from Sam’s birth and the origin of his unusual name.
I loved the fiercely zealous Catholic mom who would literally do anything for Sam, and his hard-working dad, who has his own ideas about turning his son into a man, including a hilarious scene where a seriously hungover Sam has to mow the lawn. Friends Ernie and Mickey are wonderful complements to Sam's character. I loved how they held each other up through life's many cruelties and rooted for them all through laughter and tears.
This coming-of-age story is often likened to John Irving’s masterpieces (Owen Meany and Garp). I totally agree. This book’s true gift is that through Sam's adult eyes, we see his life—and our own—as truly extraordinary.
Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni's coming-of-age story is, according to Booklist, "a novel that, if it doesn't cross entirely over into John Irving territory, certainly nestles in close to the border."
Sam Hill always saw the world through different eyes. Born with red pupils, he was called "Devil Boy" or Sam "Hell" by his classmates; "God's will" is what his mother called his ocular albinism. Her words were of little comfort, but Sam persevered, buoyed by his mother's devout faith, his father's practical wisdom, and his two other misfit friends.
Defending Jacob meets The Staircase (and then some!).
This story is so much more than a high school love story gone tragically wrong. Husbands and wives, parents and children are pulled apart, even a woman and her bees. Your heart wrenches for all the characters: the mother grieving her child and the mother whose son is on trial for murder.
Until you hit the halfway mark, you believe you're "just" reading a great story about a mysterious death and then the story explodes in a different direction, challenging the reader to struggle with everything we thought we understood about this story and our world.
Though co-written by two authors, the writing is seamless. Content warnings galore! Unputdownable to the very end.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Alternatingly heart-pounding and heartbreaking. This collaboration between two best-selling authors seamlessly weaves together Olivia and Lily’s journeys, creating a provocative exploration of the strength that love and acceptance require.”—The Washington Post
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • PEOPLE’S BOOK OF THE WEEK • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: PopSugar
Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising their beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined that she would end up…
Immortality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, especially for the 3,375-year-old virgin of Mount Olympus. Day after day, the God of Love launches his arrows, then watches from the sidelines while everyone else has all the fun. On a mischievous whim, Cupid sends a love-tipped arrow into the wrong rump, and the gods sentence him to a terrible punishment—a taste of his own medicine.
Banished from the only home he’s ever known, Cupid plunges to Earth and lands in present-day Tarra, Indiana, where mortals go on about their daily routines, oblivious to the capricious gods stirring the pot from above. Delighted to discover his wings and pubescent pudge have been transformed into a magnificent human body, Cupid swiftly leaves his virginity behind. But his carnal spree is cut short when he falls passionately in love for the first time in his immortal life, and he understands the full measure of his punishment: he must find the Right Love match for the mortal he desperately loves, and then he must let her go.
Caught between two worlds on a quest to fix Love, Cupid must survive the violent throes of his own coming of age and triumph over the powerful gods conspiring against him. Failure will not be tolerated; success will cost him everything.
First Quiver is an irreverent, contemporary twist on mythology and the struggle between duty and love, a battle as old as the gods themselves. Content Advisory: This book is intended for mature audiences and contains explicit sexual activity and strong language.
