Collection: Shop Woman

A wistful coming-of-age story with a haunting twist about four friends who spend their summer learning to become invisible--but disappearing comes at a cost.

Four girls. Four girls skating home, both sides of the road, fearless. Four girls at the mouth of an infinite ocean, sugared and salted with sand and seawater, the tide licking their sunburned feet.

This summer, they're going to disappear.

For seventeen-year-old Callie and her best friends Talia and Cleo, every summer in their small North Carolina beach town is as steady as the tides. But this year, Cleo has invited enigmatic new girl Polly to join them, creating waves in their familiar friendship. And Cleo has an idea, gleaned from private YouTube videos and hidden message boards: they're going to learn how to make themselves invisible.

Callie thinks it's a ridiculous, impossible plan. But the other girls are intoxicated by the thought of disappearing, even temporarily--from bad boyfriends, from overbearing families, from the confusing, uncomfortable reality of having a body altogether. And, miraculously, it works.

Yet as the girls revel in their reckless new freedom, they realize it's getting harder to come back to themselves... and do they even want to?

The first book in M. C. Beaton's New York Times bestselling Agatha Raisin series--now a hit show on Acorn TV and public television.

Putting all her eggs in one basket, Agatha Raisin gives up her successful PR firm, sells her London flat, and settles in for an early retirement in the quiet village of Carsely. But she soon finds her life of leisure isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Bored, lonely, and used to getting her way, she enters a local baking contest: Surely a blue ribbon for the best quiche will make her the toast of the town. But her recipe for social advancement sours when the judge, Mr. Cummings-Browne, not only snubs her entry but also falls over dead! After her quiche's secret ingredient turns out to be poison, she must reveal the unsavory truth. . . .

That is, Agatha has never baked a thing in her life! In fact, she bought her entry ready-made from an upper-crust London quicherie. Grating on the nerves of several Carsely residents, she is soon receiving sinister notes. Has her cheating and meddling landed her in hot water, or are the threats related to the suspicious death? It may mean the difference between egg on her face and a coroner's tag on her toe. . . .

The Quiche of Death, the first book in this beloved series, is now a Minotaur Signature Edition, complete with a discussion guide and essay by the author.

"If you read only one book about democracy, The Turnaway Study should be it. Why? Because without the power to make decisions about our own bodies, there is no democracy." --Gloria Steinem

The "remarkable" (The New Yorker) landmark study of the consequences on women's lives--emotional, physical, financial, professional, personal, and psychological--of receiving versus being denied an abortion that "should be required reading for every judge, member of Congress, and candidate for office--as well as anyone who hopes to better understand this complex and important issue" (Cecile Richards).

What happens when a woman seeking an abortion is turned away? To answer this question, Diana Greene Foster assembled a team of scientists--psychologists, epidemiologists, demographers, nurses, physicians, economists, sociologists, and public health researchers--to conduct a ten-year study. They followed a thousand women from across America, some of whom received abortions, some of whom were turned away. Now, for the first time, Dr. Foster presents the results of this landmark study in one extraordinary, groundbreaking book.

Judges, politicians, and pro-life advocates routinely defend their anti-abortion stance by claiming that abortion is physically risky and leads to depression and remorse. Dr. Foster's data proves the opposite to be true. Foster documents the outcomes for women who received and were denied an abortion, analyzing the impact on their mental and physical health, their careers, their romantic relationships, and their other children, if they have them. Women who received an abortion were better off by almost every measure than women who did not, and five years after they receive an abortion, 99 percent of women do not regret it.

As the national debate around abortion intensifies, The Turnaway Study offers the first thorough, data-driven examination of the negative consequences for women who cannot get abortions and provides incontrovertible evidence to refute the claim that abortion harms women. Interwoven with the study findings are ten "engaging, in-depth" (Ms. Magazine) first-person narratives. Candid, intimate, and deeply revealing, they bring to life the women and the stories behind the science.

Revelatory, essential, and "particularly relevant now" (HuffPost), this is a must-read for anyone who cares about the impact of abortion and abortion restrictions on people's lives.

2019 Eisner Award Winner for Best U.S. Edition of International Material

Throughout history and across the globe, one characteristic connects the daring women of Brazen: their indomitable spirit.

With her characteristic wit and dazzling drawings, celebrated graphic novelist Pénélope Bagieu profiles the lives of these feisty female role models, some world famous, some little known. From Nellie Bly to Mae Jemison or Josephine Baker to Naziq al-Abid, the stories in this comic biography are sure to inspire the next generation of rebel ladies.

This title has Common Core connections.

Stephanie Plum, the beloved bounty hunter with attitude returns in this irresistible adventure from Janet Evanovich, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dirty Thirty and "most popular mystery writer alive" (The New York Times).

Stephanie is having a bad hair day--for the whole month of January. She's looking for Mo Bedemier, Trenton's most beloved citizen, who was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and skipped bail. To help her, she's got Lula, a former hooker turned file clerk. Lula's itching to lock up a crook in the trunk of her car. And Morelli, the cop with the slow-burning smile, is acting polite even after Stephanie finds more bodies than the Trenton PD has seen in years. That's a bad sign for sure.

Featuring a feisty and funny heroine who "comes roaring in like a blast of very fresh air" (The Washington Post), Three to Get Deadly is fast-paced and entertaining suspense at its finest.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "A gifted writer . . . explores the bonds of sisterhood while powerfully evoking the often nightmarish American immigrant experience."--USA Today

In 1937, Shanghai is the Paris of Asia, a city of great wealth and glamour, the home of millionaires and beggars, gangsters and gamblers, patriots and revolutionaries, artists and warlords. Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father's prosperous rickshaw business, twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn't be more different: Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid. Both are beautiful, modern, and carefree . . . until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.

As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and May set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the Chinese countryside, in and out of the clutch of brutal soldiers, and across the Pacific to the shores of America. In Los Angeles they begin a fresh chapter, trying to find love with the strangers they have married, brushing against the seduction of Hollywood, and striving to embrace American life even as they fight against discrimination, brave Communist witch hunts, and find themselves hemmed in by Chinatown's old ways and rules.

At its heart, Shanghai Girls is a story of sisters: Pearl and May are inseparable best friends who share hopes, dreams, and a deep connection, but like sisters everywhere they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. They love each other, but each knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt the other the most. Along the way they face terrible sacrifices, make impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel hold fast to who they are: Shanghai girls.

Praise for Shanghai Girls

"A buoyant and lustrous paean to the bonds of sisterhood."--Booklist

"A rich work . . . as compulsively readable as it is an enlightening journey."--Denver Post

Kids voted for who they wanted to learn about in the next WhoHQ Now title and the #1 New York Times bestselling series now features one of Hollywood's brightest young stars... Zendaya!

Zendaya began her acting career at age thirteen when she landed one of the starring roles in the Disney Channel's Shake It Up. Since then, the actress has not slowed down, starring in action-packed superhero films, dazzling movie musicals, and highly acclaimed TV shows. At only twenty-four, Zendaya won her first Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in the hit TV show Euphoria. The Hollywood star is an actress, singer, model, style icon, and also an activist who advocates for causes like feminism, anti-bullying, anti-racism, and voter registration. Learn all about the star-studded career and the inspiring life of Zendaya in this new book that was voted for by young readers worldwide!

One of E! News' 13 Books to Read This September One of Bookish's Debuts to Read in the Second Half of 2021 One of Medium's Best Releases Out Today

"Hazel Hayes writes with such honesty and casual confidence and flowing dialogue, you feel you are overhearing it rather than reading it. The writing sparkles with wit and a poignant emotional reality. I love it."--Matt Haig, bestselling author of The Midnight Library

"A smart, touching, time-bending romance. Funny and affecting."--David Nicholls, bestselling author of One Day and Sweet Sorrow

For anyone who has loved and lost, and lived to tell the tale, this gorgeously written debut is a love story told in reverse, a modern novel with the heart of a classic: truthful, tragic, and ultimately full of hope.

Out of Love begins at the end. A couple call it quits after nearly five years, and while holding a box of her ex-boyfriend's belongings, the young woman wonders: How could they have spent so long together? When did they fall out of love? Were there good times before the bad? These are the questions we obsess over when a relationship ends, even when obsessing can do no good. But instead of moving forward through the emotional fallout of a break-up, Out of Love moves backward in time, weaving together an already unraveled tapestry, from tragic ending to magical first kiss. Each chapter jumps further into the past, mining their history for the days and details that might help us understand love; how it happens and why it sometimes falls apart.

Readers of Normal People; Goodbye, Vitamin; and One Day will adore this bittersweet romance, a sparkling debut that you won't want to miss.

This remarkable work about women writers in the English Renaissance explodes our notion of the Shakespearean period by drawing us into the lives of four women who were committed to their craft long before anyone ever imagined the possibility of "a room of one's own."

In an innovative and engaging narrative of everyday life in Shakespeare's England, Ramie Targoff carries us from the sumptuous coronation of Queen Elizabeth in the mid-sixteenth century into the private lives of four women writers working at a time when women were legally the property of men. Some readers may have heard of Mary Sidney, accomplished poet and sister of the famous Sir Philip Sidney, but few will have heard of Aemilia Lanyer, the first woman in the seventeenth century to publish a book of original poetry, which offered a feminist take on the crucifixion, or Elizabeth Cary, who published the first original play by a woman, about the plight of the Jewish princess Mariam. Then there was Anne Clifford, a lifelong diarist who fought for decades against a patriarchy that tried to rob her of her land in one of England's most infamous inheritance battles.
These women had husbands and children to care for and little support for their art, yet against all odds they defined themselves as writers, finding rooms of their own where doors had been shut for centuries. Targoff flings those doors open, revealing the treasures left by these extraordinary women; in the process, she helps us see the Renaissance in a fresh light, creating a richer understanding of history and offering a much-needed female perspective on life in Shakespeare's day.

From nationally bestselling, award-winning author Liam Callanan, the story of an opportunity to start over at midlife, a chance to save a struggling convent in the Eternal City, and the dramatic re-emergence of an old flame . . .

Claire, fifty-two, desperately desires a fresh start. After decades as a real estate broker specializing in old religious properties, she's looking for something new. And then, on the eve of her thirtieth college reunion, a call comes from Rome.

It's from a struggling convent facing a precipitous end, and Claire isn't so sure she can help out. But once in Rome, she finds a group of funny, fearless nuns in a gorgeous, if crumbling, villa, a city whose colors deepen as she spends miles running its streets, and above all, a chance to reflect. It leads her unexpectedly to wonder: maybe she should stay in Rome. In the convent. Forever.

Her college roommate and business partner has thoughts. So does Claire's daughter. And so does Marcus, a once-buzzy actor, who's still as devastatingly handsome as he was when he first fell for Claire at eighteen. He's come and gone from Claire's life since college but reappears in Rome just as she's about to decide what's next.

A look at faith, in oneself as much as a higher power, and love, romantic and familial, lost and found, this is the thoroughly charming story of one woman who sets out to rewrite her past and future, only to be surprised by the plot twists life takes . . . when in Rome.

This is not your mother's memoir. In The Chronology of Water, Lidia Yuknavitch expertly moves the reader through issues of gender, sexuality, violence, and the family from the point of view of a lifelong swimmer turned artist. In writing that explores the nature of memoir itself, her story traces the effect of extreme grief on a young woman's developing sexuality that some define as untraditional because of her attraction to both men and women. Her emergence as a writer evolves at the same time and takes the narrator on a journey of addiction, self-destruction, and ultimately survival that finally comes in the shape of love and motherhood.

From award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford comes a captivating picture book biography about the incredible life of esteemed author, editor, and activist Toni Morrison, featuring gorgeous illustrations by debut artist Khalif Tahir Thompson.

How do you tell a story?

Before Toni Morrison was a Pulitzer Prize winner and Nobel Prize-winning author, she was Chloe Ardelia Wofford, a little girl in Ohio who was both the only Black child in her first-grade classroom and the only student who was able to read.

This is the true story of how that young girl learned from her upbringing, surrounded herself with stories, and made a tremendous impact on the world. Toni Morrison's pen was her sword, and she grew to be a titan of the arts. Her legacy is one that still touches readers to this day.

Expertly and evocatively told by award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford, with beautiful painted illustrations by Khalif Tahir Thompson, this is a must-have picture book biography for any collection. It celebrates Toni Morrison's legacy while inspiring readers to create art, believe in themselves, and strive for greatness.

Born in Missouri in 1928, Maya Angelou had a difficult childhood. Jim Crow laws segregated blacks and whites in the South. Her family life was unstable at times. But much like her poem, "Still I Rise," Angelou was able to lift herself out of her situation and flourish. She moved to California and became the first black--and first female--streetcar operator before following her interest in dance. She became a professional performer in her twenties and toured the U.S. and Europe as an opera star and calypso dancer. But Angelou's writing became her defining talent. Her poems and books, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, brought her international acclaim.

The New York Times bestselling memoir about growing up in small-town Indiana, from the author of The Solace of Leaving Early.

When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period-people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.

Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy.

"Like Bastard Out of Carolina, ffitch's electrifying debut novel is a paean to independence and a protest against the materialism of our age." --O: The Oprah Magazine

"Delightfully raucous." --Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

Helen arrives in Appalachian Ohio full of love and her boyfriend's ideas for living off the land. Too soon, with winter coming, he calls it quits. Helped by Rudy--her government-questioning, wisdom-spouting, seasonal-affective-disordered boss--and a neighbor couple, Helen makes it to spring. Those neighbors, Karen and Lily, are awaiting the arrival of their first child, a boy, which means their time at the Women's Land Trust must end.

So Helen invites the new family to throw in with her--they'll split the work and the food, build a house, and make a life that sustains them, if barely, for years. Then young Perley decides he wants to go to school. And Rudy sets up a fruit-tree nursery on the pipeline easement edging their land. The outside world is brought clamoring into their makeshift family.

Set in a region known for its independent spirit, Stay and Fight shakes up what it means to be a family, to live well, to make peace with nature and make deals with the system. It is a protest novel that challenges our notions of effective action. It is a family novel that refuses to limit the term. And it is a marvel of storytelling that both breaks with tradition and celebrates it. Best of all, it is full of flawed, cantankerous, flesh-and-blood characters who remind us that conflict isn't the end of love, but the real beginning.

Absorbingly spun, perfectly voiced, and disruptively political, Madeline ffitch's Stay and Fight forces us to reimagine an Appalachia--and an America--we think we know. And it takes us, laughing and fighting, into a new understanding of what it means to love and to be free.

The definitive edition of the complete works of the "grand dame" of American science fiction begins with this volume gathering two novels and her collected stories

An original and eerily prophetic writer, Octavia E. Butler used the conventions of science fiction to explore the dangerous legacy of racism in America in harrowingly personal terms. She broke new ground with books that featured complex Black female protagonists--"I wrote myself in," she would later recall--establishing herself as one of thepioneers of the Afrofuturist aesthetic. In 1995 she became the first science fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, in recognition of her achievement in creating new aspirations for the genre and for American literature.

This first volume in the Library of America edition of Butler's collected works opens with her masterpiece, Kindred, one of the landmark American novels of the last half century. Its heroine, Dana, a Black woman, is pulled back and forth between the present and the pre-Civil War past, where she finds herself enslaved on the plantation of a white ancestor whose life she must save to preserve her own. In Fledgling, an amnesiac discovers that she is a vampire, with a difference: she is a new, experimental birth with brown skin, giving her the fearful ability to go out in sunlight. Rounding out the volume are eight short stories and five essays--including two never before collected, plus a newly researched chronology of Butler's life and career and helpful explanatory notes prepared by scholar Gerry Canavan. Butler's friend, the writer and editor Nisi Shawl, provides an introduction.