It’s finally February and that means more debut novels from first-time fiction authors! And, as always, you can find a more complete list by visiting our catalog. Here’s hoping you discover a fabulous new author!
“The Girls at 17 Swann Street” by Yara Zgheib
Former professional dancer Anna Roux weighs a shocking 88 pounds, but doesn’t think she has a problem with food, even though she only eats apples. Her idea of splurging is eating popcorn once a week. Her husband Matthias — with whom she moved to Missouri from Paris — is concerned, and when Anna passes out in the bathroom, they take the drastic step of going to 17 Swann Street, a residential facility for treating eating disorders. Her diagnosis: anorexia nervosa. There Anna begins a feeding program where she is forced to eat — every bite a trial and success brings only guilt — attend therapy and groups sessions, and deal with her complicated emotions surrounding food as she fights her way toward recovery.
“The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls” by Anissa Gray
Sisters Viola and Lillian are stunned when their eldest sister Anthea — who always took care of them — is arrested for food stamp fraud and charity embezzlement in small town Michigan. While in prison, Anthea makes friends with some of the other inmates and refuses visits from her twin children. Lillian refurbishes the sisters’ childhood home and takes care of Anthea’s twins. Viola comes from Chicago to help, having recently separated from her wife and struggling with bulimia. As the sisters deal with the challenges of caring for Anthea’s children and protecting them from the sisters’ abusive brother, they work to cope with the secrets and lies of the past and find healing in the present.
“Dear George, Dear Mary” by Mary Calvi
Before Martha, there was Mary. George Washington’s first love, heiress Mary Eliza Philipse, was a woman who had experienced great loss, which she fears will affect her relationship with George, whom she meets at a ball in 1756. But their courtship is placed on hold when George is assigned to a fort in Virginia, separating him and Mary for nearly two years during which George writes to Mary without receiving any reply. Meanwhile Mary rejects suitor after suitor while wondering why she hasn’t heard from George. Nearly 20 years pass before they are reunited during the Revolutionary War and they discover what truly kept them apart, a truth which reveals deception and leads to treachery and death.
Based on letters, witness accounts, and journal entries.
“The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides
As a famous painter married to an equally in-demand photographer Alicia Berenson has the perfect life. Until one night her husband is late getting home and Alicia greets him with a gun, shooting him five times in the face. From that moment on Alicia never says a word, offering no explanation, protestation of innocence, or even admission of guilt. Hidden away at a secure facility known as The Grove, Alicia comes under the care of therapist Theo Faber, a man determined to unravel the mystery behind that fateful night, but his own inner darkness pushes him over the edge into obsession.
