From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:
Hardcover
Heather: A Novel by Caitlin Mullen (Celadon Books, $28.99, 9781250400574). "In the Pine Barrens of New Jersey a newborn infant is found dead in the woods and two teenagers go missing. Thirty years later, Callie Hauser's return as the Chief of Police brings the decades-old case back and threatens to destroy the lives of everyone she knows." --Karen Shenko, Newtown Bookshop, Newtown, Pa.
Cat Love: A Novel by Tomás Q. Morín (Pantheon, $27, 9780593702048). "Cat Love is a touching exploration of our current cultural obsession with empathy and our ironic talent for prioritizing animal rights over human rights, set in a speculative, near-future dystopia seen through a poet's eyes--rather, a cat's eyes." --Devon Dunn, Book Culture, New York, N.Y.
Paperback
Endling: A Novel by Maria Reva (Vintage, $18, 9781984897596). "Endling is a rich stew of the foreign bride industry, nearly extinct snails, familial disappointment, and war in a scabrous, blistering portrait of contemporary Ukraine that is as eye-opening as it is entertaining." --David Enyeart, Next Chapter Booksellers, St. Paul, Minn.
Ages 4-8
The Outermost Mouse by Lauren Wolk, illus. by Kristen Adam (Dutton Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780593407776). "A few pages into this story, I knew I would end up crying. A beautiful story based on a real house in Cape Cod that stood in the sand dunes for half a century, then was taken away by a storm. A tale of the power of mother nature and how fleeting possessions are." --Erika Patoni, Righton Books, St. Simons Island, Ga.
Ages 8-12
A Potion, a Powder, a Little Bit of Magic: Or, Like Lightning in an Umbrella Storm by Philip C. Stead (Neal Porter Books, $18.99, 9780823458097). "I enjoyed this book SO much! Clever, heartwarming, unique and captivating. And funny! I loved the goats--every single one of them. It left me wanting a personal support goat." --Patty Norman, Copperfield's Books, Sebastopol, Calif.
Ages 13+ (Indies Introduce)
Goldenborn by Ama Ofosua Lieb (Scholastic Press, $19.99, 9781546147466). "Akoma lives in a near-future AfricaTown in San Francisco and works with a secret law enforcement division to stop crimes where magic may be involved. She just wants to find out what really happened to put her father in a coma, and a sting gone wrong leads her to a mysterious stranger who may have the answers. Goldenborn is filled with lush, beautiful worldbuilding, African mythology and an Afrofuturist twist." --Fisher Nash, Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville, Ky.
[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]
