REQUIRED READING
The Night She Won Miss America Michael Callahan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Inspired by the true story of a woman who won the title of Miss America in 1937 and disappeared that same night. The novel tells the story of Betty Jane Welch, winner of the Miss Delaware contest, who falls in love with her escort at the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City and makes reckless plans to run away with him.
Will’s Red Coat: The Story of One Old Dog Who Chose to Live Again Tom Ryan (William Morrow)
Ryan adopted a blind and deaf senior dog named Will from a kill shelter, thinking he could give the old dog a comfortable place to die with dignity. But when Will starts to bite him and act out in other violent ways, Ryan realizes he’s in for a challenge. With patience and empathy, he begins to nurture the dog, who ends up transformed with a puppy-like love for life. A true story.
Saint Death Marcus Sedgwick (Roaring Brook Press)
Juarez, Mexico, is the scene of this gritty novel of narcos and human traffickers. Arturo works odd jobs and tries to keep his head down until his friend Faustino turns to him for help; he’s stolen money from the narcos to smuggle his girlfriend and her baby into the US and needs Arturo’s help getting it back.
You Are a Badass at Making Money Jen Sincero (Viking)
You’ve just filed your taxes, now figure out how to make the most of your money! Sincero, author of the best-selling “You Are a Badass,” returns with a “Badass” follow-up book that focuses on money: specifically, how to get more of it. Using personal anecdotes and breakout tips, this is an accessible book for anyone looking to push the restart button on their personal finances.
Poisoned: How a Crime-Busting Prosecutor Turned His Medical Mystery Into a Crusade for Environmental Victims Alan Bell (Skyhorse)
Bell was a rising criminal prosecutor in Miami when he got sick. His symptoms were so bizarre that doctors suspected he had been poisoned by the Mafia. But as his health declined and he was forced to move to a sterile “bubble” unit in Arizona, he discovered the real culprit was his former office building. As he started searching for a cure, he learned that millions of people become ill and die each year due to toxic chemical exposures without even knowing it.
The Shadow Land Elizabeth Kostova (Ballantine)
A young American woman arrives in Sofia, Bulgaria, to teach English. Within hours of her arrival, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi and ends up accidentally taking their bag — a bag filled with an urn of cremated remains. Accompanied by a taxi driver named Bobby, her quest to return the urn, made infinitely more complicated by the fact that the elderly Bulgarian couple does not have a cellphone, becomes an odyssey in itself, marked with danger and intrigue.