Celebrating her engagement should be a joyful occasion for Isabelle Larkin. Her fiancé, Gregory Gallagher, is among Chicago's most attractive, ambitious political hopefuls of 1875. But when Isabelle witnesses Gregory committing a horrific crime, nobody believes her, and she feigns a nervous breakdown and mutism to escape her circumstances. Shortly after being admitted to Bellevue Place, Isabelle befriends none other than Mary Todd Lincoln, a fellow patient, who becomes a co-conspirator in helping Isabelle seek a life free from her overbearing mother.

With House of Silence, Sarah Barthel (Mackenzie's Cross) has crafted an engaging, fast-paced blend of historical fiction and suspense. Barthel gives her reader a glimpse into the conditions surrounding the real-life hospitalization of Mary Todd Lincoln, whose son Robert committed her to Bellevue 10 years after President Lincoln's assassination, due to her reportedly eccentric behavior.

House of Silence reflects the reality of women in an era when social class was paramount, marriages were arranged for mercenary reasons and women like Isabelle and Mary were discredited, their independence and choices silenced. Together, the women rebel against convention by forming a strong bond. Through their friendship, Isabelle begins to find her voice again and in doing so, must decide whether to conform to societal norms and a predetermined fate or use her newfound strength to take control of her life, moving forward on a path of her choosing. --Melissa Firman, writer, editor and blogger at melissafirman.com

Iris Griffith, a school psychologist, thinks she has the perfect marriage. She and her husband, Will, are each other's favorite person, they adore their downtown Atlanta home, they both like their jobs and they've recently started trying for a baby.

But then, the day after their seventh anniversary, Will, a software engineer, purportedly leaves for a business trip to Orlando. A few hours later, a flight from Atlanta to Seattle crashes, killing everyone on board, and it turns out Will was on that flight instead. Iris is shocked and grieved, confused and increasingly furious. Simultaneously mourning Will, and angry that he lied about going to Orlando, she decides to use her psychology training to dig into Will's past--only to uncover darker secrets than she ever expected.

Kimberly Belle (The Ones We Trust, The Last Breath) has created an engrossing story with an engaging heroine. As the story deepens and Iris's emotions shift from grief to bewilderment to anger and beyond, the novel moves from romance into mystery, and becomes completely addicting. Twisting and suspenseful, reminiscent of several recently popular thrillers, like Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train, The Marriage Lie is a fast-paced journey that will keep the reader guessing, including a few genuinely shocking instances. With lots of sweet moments between Iris and her friends and family as well, The Marriage Lie is perfect for staying up way too late reading. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm

When textbooks start blurring one's vision, what should a medical student do? In Rob McCarthy's case, he chose to write his first thriller. The Hollow Men puts McCarthy's studies into practice through his tormented police surgeon/anesthetist protagonist, Dr. Harry Kent.

Kent is called to a hostage situation when Solomon Idris, a teenage gunman demanding a lawyer and a BBC reporter, needs medical attention. Before Kent can treat the patient for his respiratory distress, a gun is fired and police sharpshooters descend on the building. No one knows who pulled the trigger on that first shot, but Idris is left fighting for his life, and Kent is determined to find out what drove the youth to take such extreme measures. When Idris's life is threatened again in the hospital, the stakes rise even higher and Kent suspects a fellow doctor is hiding skeletons unfit for anatomy class in his closet.

The Hollow Men is gritty and intense; it's complex and explosive. McCarthy's expertise provides dramatic authenticity in the hospital. The pacing is swift, engaging readers in McCarthy's London. Kent is a deliciously troubled hero, and in an effort to fill the hollow inside himself, he's fighting for the folks who've been forgotten. Seasoned mystery buffs may not be overly surprised by the outcome, and the denouement could have been tighter, but the characters in this debut are exemplary and McCarthy is unquestioningly a writer to watch. --Jen Forbus, freelancer

In his second memoir, Books for Living, Will Schwalbe (The End of Your Life Book Club) presents a collection of brief, insightful essays on the titles that have transformed his life: classic novels and children's stories, esoteric volumes of Chinese philosophy and practical writing advice. He begins with an unusual but aptly titled choice: The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang, a text of idiosyncratic philosophy and advice for living, published in the 1930s by a Chinese man who later lived in the U.S. and Europe. Lin's work reappears several times throughout Schwalbe's narrative, as he describes his library and the memories associated with each book in loving detail.

Schwalbe considers the titles through the lens of a particular topic: Searching (Stuart Little), Remembering (David Copperfield), Being Sensitive (Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird). Reading The Gifts of the Body, Rebecca Brown's novel of a home health-care worker tending to AIDS patients, sparks Schwalbe's own painful memories of the AIDS epidemic as a young gay man living in Manhattan and volunteering for Gay Men's Health Crisis. Every book gives Schwalbe a way to make meaning of what has happened to him, or to appreciate profound truths.

"Has any book saved my life?" Schwalbe wonders during his chapter on Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran. "I think it would be more accurate to say that books... helped me choose my life.... Books saved the life I have." For readers who understand this sentiment, Books for Living is a field guide to a handful of titles that might entertain, stir up trouble, or--yes--even save the life a reader already has. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

In Defeat Is an Orphan: How Pakistan Lost the Great South Asian War, Myra MacDonald quickly covers the milestones of the Indo-Pakistani conflict, fought on and off since 1947, without lingering on episodes that have already been written about at length. Instead, MacDonald focuses on the period from 1998--when India and Pakistan held nuclear tests--to the present day, putting an emphasis on the strategic missteps that allowed India to overtake Pakistan in the two countries' long, bitter rivalry.

Nuclear tests in 1998 were an ecstatic moment for Pakistan, promising strategic parity with its much larger neighbor for the first time. Emboldened by its newfound nuclear umbrella, however, Pakistan increased its sponsorship of militant, terrorist groups, a policy that would eventually alienate the international community and undermine the country's domestic security. Indian interests, on the other hand, lay in improving relations with the international community (including a much warmer relationship with the U.S.) and in expanding its economy. To some degree, MacDonald explains, the rivalry became one-sided: "India had no need to win a war against Pakistan--Pakistan was doing enough damage to itself to lose the competition with its bigger neighbour it had once hoped to win."

MacDonald's history is primarily a work of argumentation, but it is supported by vivid, terrifying accounts of attacks carried out by Pakistan's proxies. According to MacDonald, Pakistan's ideological blindness and short-sighted strategies led to it "fighting a war it did not itself understand" and helping to inflict the current scourge of terrorism on the wider world and on itself. --Hank Stephenson, bookseller, Flyleaf Books

In Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace, business school professor and consultant Christine Porath considers how pervasive incivility is and how damaging such a culture--or even one uncivil employee--can be to businesses. She provides examples from many fields--including medicine, technology, food service and sports--and backs them up with scientific research. The strong influence of civility on employee productivity, contentment and profit becomes abundantly clear. Simple company policies requiring employees to know everyone else's names, for example, have an impact far greater than increased pleasantries.

Porath offers a four-step plan for employers and managers to encourage and maintain a culture that lifts others up, values positive participation and will ultimately be more profitable. Though geared toward supervisors, Mastering Civility can benefit anyone who wants to feel happier and be more effective at work. Readers will be able to identify instances of discourteousness in their own lives, and Porath offers helpful ways of framing these experiences to encourage future success. Activities like self-tests to measure one's incivility level are eye opening, and a resources section points to next steps for teams committing to fostering a more respectful environment.

Porath advocates effectively for why individuals and organizations should pursue more civil behaviors and policies, and offers ideas and strategic planning advice for how to do so. Mastering Civility is a valuable resource for professionals who want to enjoy their jobs more, see their teams thrive and have more pleasant, productive interactions with subordinates and supervisors alike. --Richael Best, bookseller, Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, Wash.

Arriving at Miriam's House, the Washington, D.C., nonprofit founded by Carol Marsh in 1993 to care for homeless women with AIDS, residents brought "bags and spirits stuffed to bursting with the detritus of lives lived in defiance of the odds." Sharing personal stories of those suffering from the severe, stigmatizing effects of addiction and disease, Nowhere Else I Want to Be is Marsh's memoir of creating a home for women forgotten by their families and neglected by society.

A native Delawarean raised in a white, middle-class household, Marsh's life was starkly different from the primarily black, impoverished, drug- and alcohol-addicted women she felt called to work with and live among during her 14 years as Miriam House's executive director. (She and her husband, Tim, resided in an apartment on the premises.) In an occasionally fragmented narrative that sometimes resembles a collection of essays more than memoir, Marsh lays bare the cultural naiveté, personality clashes and false assumptions made by her, the residents, staff and board members, alongside the tender moments spent by a dying woman's bedside while telling her she is beautiful and loved.

Nowhere Else I Want to Be is a heartfelt, candid story of finding peace with one's place in the world, whether as a woman unable to care for one's children because of the ravages of AIDS or as a struggling nonprofit leader confronting new truths, and the growth that happens within the circle of compassion. --Melissa Firman, writer, editor and blogger at melissafirman.com

"Learning to lose is an acquired skill, like juggling or parallel parking," says Sam Weinman in Win at Losing: How Our Biggest Setbacks Can Lead to Our Greatest Gains. A sports journalist and digital editor at Golf Digest, he writes with energy and wit in his book debut, explaining his impetus right off the bat: one of his young sons lost a tennis match and threw a tantrum, leading Weinman's wife to lament, "He's turning into you." Inspired to consider how to communicate with his kids about losing, and to reconsider losing itself, Weinman digs in.

He tackles different losses--failure, disappointment, setbacks--and delves into the emotional and mental repercussions of each, analyzing how seemingly negative events can still yield tremendous opportunity. Weinman then interviews a slew of professional athletes, celebrities and friends, reflecting on their failures and what they've learned from defeat. Among the most memorable are Greg Norman, a golfer as famous for his losses as his wins; Michael Dukakis, a Massachusetts governor who lost the 1988 presidential race spectacularly; and Susan Lucci, a soap opera star whose very name became synonymous with failure after losing out on 18 Daytime Emmys in a row before winning one.

Weinman incorporates concepts from a collection of psychologists, authors and professors, but the best moments of Win at Losing are in his interviews, which elicit moments of true candor. Especially in these rich interactions, Weinman's book wins. --Katie Weed, freelance writer and reviewer

Killer whales go through menopause. So do certain aphids. And as journalist and contributing editor to British Vogue Christa D'Souza points out in The Hot Topic: A Life-Changing Look at the Change of Life, after the year 2030, 1.2 billion women will have gone through or will be going through menopause.

Whether addressing newsflashes or hot flashes, D'Souza offers a primer on menopause that maps the mental and emotional landscape of this phase of life, explores science, medicine, her own experiences and those of family and friends. D'Souza scouts sources across the globe, interviewing menopausal nuns in Silicon Valley and hunter-gatherer members of the Hadza tribe in Tanzania, whose older women are crucial to the tribe's existence. She culls much of her research from modern science but looks to history as well, citing a variety of 20th-century scientists in addition to wisdom and customs as ancient as Aristotle. She quotes cultural icons like Gloria Steinem and Simone de Beauvoir, and tackles wide-ranging issues of mid-to-late life as a woman, such as sex, hormone replacement therapy, sexism and back fat.

The Hot Topic is a fun read. D'Souza's tone is candid, as if chatting with old friends after a few glasses of wine--which, as D'Souza laments, exacerbate the symptoms of menopause. The book will especially appeal to women undergoing the change or wanting to be informed of what's to come, as well as curious partners or spouses. --Katie Weed, freelance writer and reviewer

In recent years conventional wisdom on obesity and diabetes has shifted. Carbs have replaced fat as the new villain; new fad diets urge drastic reductions in carbohydrate intake and add consumption of fats to combat weight gain.

But laying blame on carbs misses the point, according to Gary Taubes (Good Calories, Bad Calories). There hasn't been enough public discourse on sugar as a primary cause of diabetes, heaviness, and obesity, he argues. Taubes says sugar destroys the body's ability to regulate fat and he suggests that, like tobacco, sugar is a drug; in fact, it's a key ingredient in cigarettes, increasing their addictiveness. The Case Against Sugar reckons with an inconvenient truth: Western civilization's centuries-old sweet tooth is a devastating addiction that kills.

With clear language and a skeptical eye, Taubes--a physicist and award-winning science and health journalist--lays out the causes for alarm (epidemic rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes) and the history of sugar production and consumption (which reinforced colonialism). He explains the science and the context of scientific thinking on the subject. "If this were a criminal case," reads his author's note, "The Case Against Sugar would be the argument for the prosecution." Taubes makes an unacknowledged pivot from the thesis of his last book (Why We Get Fat), which argued for low-carb diets. Now it's specifically sugar he's after, not just for its "empty calories" (a framing he dislikes), but for its long-term effects on our endocrine system. --Zak Nelson, writer and bookseller

Fourteen-year-old Julian Harlow looks "like an anime character," with shiny black hair almost falling into his "enormous round eyes." He is shy, sweet, and secretly good at singing and storytelling, but his uncle is beating the light, and life, out of him. Adam Blake, a high school senior, knows and loves Julian because the boy came to live with him and his mother as a foster child after his parents were killed. But it's been five years since Julian's abusive uncle took him in, and the boy, young-seeming for 14, is decidedly worse for wear.

This is not a story to turn away from. Readers will fall in love with Julian. He's unassuming, creative, dyslexic--and terrified. The story alternates between Julian's and Adam's perspectives, and as readers start to see how much Adam--popular, cheerful, "ADHD-fidgety" and compassionate--truly cares for Julian, their hearts will grow three sizes larger. Debut author Robin Roe's writing is extraordinary, clear, funny and insightful. Her sentences pack a wallop: "It's strange how many ways there are to miss someone. You miss the things they did and who they were, but you also miss who you were to them." And, "Maybe instead of accelerating your age, pain won't let you grow." And, "I see everything you do" as a profession of love.

However brutal his particular story, Julian's trials as he lurches awkwardly into teendom are universal--feeling alone, keeping dangerous secrets, feeling timid and inadequate, needing love. A List of Cages is painful, devastating, beautiful and brilliant. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness

This quirky little gem by the beloved Bernard Waber (Lyle, Lyle Crocodile; Lyle Walks the Dogs; Ask Me) was first published in 1971 and has lingered long in the hearts of its fans.

Waber imagines and sketches eight scenarios where children are interacting--including "Say Something Nice," "No Rain Again Today" and "My Diary"--to shine a light on the absurdity of human behavior, from contagious laughter to wishing away a perfectly beautiful day just to wear a new raincoat. In "Say Something Nice," a boy torments a girl by bringing up all sorts of "crawly, creepy things." "Lizards!" Arthur exclaims, with a mad gleam in his eye. "That's not nice," retorts Harriet. It escalates: "Spiders!" "Now you stop it!" When Harriet is called inside, she says, "This was fun. Let's do it again tomorrow," deflating and infuriating Arthur. In "My Diary," a girl tells her friend she never shows her diary to anyone. "Not even your mother?" "Not even my mother." "Not even your father?" "Not even my father." Then the inevitable: "May I look at it?" A comically elaborate bartering exchange ensues in which the friend gets to read the first word, "I," then the second, "think," until the diarist's juiciest secret is out. Her friend runs out the door to tell everybody. "COME BACK HERE!" 

In this warm, funny and insightful collection of comedy sketches, nobody, not even Peter Perfect, is "perfick." Waber's realistically silly dialogue (in cartoon bubbles) and rough, inky drawings are just right for readers who are more in the mood for a flip-through than a dive-in book. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness

As early as infancy, children start using their fingers, feet and voices to entertain themselves. As they grow, their games become more elaborate, until playgrounds are lively with jump ropers hopping to the rhythm of "Hot, Hot Pepper," hand clappers chanting "Miss Mary Mack" and dancers choreographing complicated moves.

Teaming up again after their Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning The Dark-Thirty, beloved author Patricia McKissack (Ol' Clip Clop) and two-time Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Brian Pinkney (Martin and Mahalia; Duke Ellington) showcase an exuberant collection of circle games, jump rope rhymes, hand claps, folktales, superstitions, "mama sayings," hymns, spirituals and performance pieces rooted in African American culture. McKissack shares the lyrics--and their historical context--for her own 1950s childhood favorites in Missouri and Tennessee, as well as those she collected by extensively researching other cultures around the world. Today's youngsters will meet folk characters and historical figures through songs and games--new ones as well as variations on old standbys like "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "This Glory Train." Older readers will marvel at the history lessons--often grim--embedded in familiar rhymes and stories. In a section on the Underground Railroad, for example, McKissack includes a list of coded words slaves used in songs to share messages about their dangerous escapes.

Pinkney's swirly illustrations in both color and black and white positively dance off the pages, evoking the shaking, shimmying and swinging rampant in these pages. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor