May 2024 Indie Next List
The Ministry of Time: A Novel
Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster)
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“The Ministry of Time is a rare story that mashes up favorite time-worn tropes — from Star Trek to spy thrillers to Victorian romances — in a crucible of colonialism and the pitfalls of diversity in a near-future London. Oh, and it’s sexy as hell.”
— Amanda Qassar, Warwick's, La Jolla, CA
May 2024 Indie Next List
Inspired Recommendations from Indie Booksellers
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“If Emily Henry has thousands of fans, I am one of them. If Emily Henry has one fan, I am that one. If Emily Henry has no fans, I am dead. Daphne and Miles are the comfortable reliability of your dinnertime game show & the warmest quilt of eccentricities. A beautiful friends-to-lovers story.”
— Nyawira Nyota, Page 158 Books, Wake Forest, NC
By Miranda July
Riverhead Books
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“A compulsively readable novel that follows a middle-aged artist as she undergoes a sexual and spiritual awakening. I loved this meditation on aging, restlessness, isolation, obsession, and the trials and triumphs of self-reinvention.”
— Caitlyn Lyles, Hooked Community, Lansing, MI
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“Rachel Khong’s latest tells the story of a first generation American’s adulthood and her teenage son looking for answers 20 years later. Real Americans grapples with racial identity, family inheritance, and becoming one’s true self.”
— Rebekah Rine, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, KS
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“Eilis Lacey’s story continues in this superb follow-up to Brooklyn. Twenty years later, Eilis is stunned by her husband’s affair and the child he has fathered, and returns alone to her small Irish village. A beautiful, moving novel.”
— Marilyn Negip, R.J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, CT
By Christina Lauren
Gallery Books
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“A fake marriage trope with hints of Succession, all of the spice, and set on a beautiful private island? Sign me up! This had the predictability of a romance with enough intrigue to entertain. Christina Lauren just keep getting better!”
— Amy Dickinson, Book Ends Winchester, Winchester, MA
By Simon Van Booy
David R. Godine Publisher
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“Simon Van Booy performs a special type of alchemy by taking the simplest of tales — a woman approaching the end of her life discovering a small mouse in her house — and turning it into an astonishingly moving story of love and resilience.”
— Luisa Smith, Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA
By Layla Martinez, Sophie Hughes, Annie McDermott
Two Lines Press
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“Martínez bends a haunting to her will. Woodworm is an offbeat tale about intergenerational trauma, classism, and the measures we take to grasp at anything resembling justice. I could taste its righteous malevolence; I savoured every word.”
— Lauren Abesames, Wind City Books, Casper, WY
By Catherine Mack
Minotaur Books
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“A mystery writer, a con man, and a ex-boyfriend walk into the Colosseum…in the perfect book to sit by the pool and read as you sip an aperol spritz. Mack’s perfect vacation read is packed with murder, mayhem, and the funniest footnotes.”
— Katie Fransen, The Novel Neighbor, Webster Groves, MO
By Janet Skeslien Charles
Atria Books
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“As a female Army combat veteran, I know all too well how women’s contributions get forgotten. Follow ‘Kit’ Carson as she and women from all walks of life bring hope and books to families devastated by the German occupation of France in WWI.”
— Casey Luke, The Book Shoppe (IA), Boone, IA
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“Sylvie Cathrall wraps cozy aquatic academia, strange abyssal mysteries, and deeply endearing characters into one delightful epistolary novel that is sure to reel you in! A fun and cozy science fiction/fantasy that pulls at your heartstrings!”
— Oli Schmitz, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI
By Paul Yamazaki, Rick Simonson
Ode Books
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“Reading the Room is a precious artifact, a rare transmission from a truly great mind. If you’re a bookseller, pull up a chair and learn from a master; if you’re a reader, you’ll walk away with an entirely new appreciation for your local indie.”
— Vanessa Martini, Green Apple Books & Music, San Francisco, CA
By Abraham Chang
Flatiron Books
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“Young recalls the first five loves of his life while making his way through his sophomore year of college with his sixth love, Erena. The book is warm and loving, peppered with ’80s and ’90s pop culture references and so many possibilities.”
— Paul Swydan, The Silver Unicorn Bookstore, Acton, MA
By Lindsay King-Miller
Quirk Books
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“A gruesome, campy book that plays on the beautiful and messy dynamics of queer community, the seedy claws of rainbow capitalism, and every zombie killing method ever fantasized. The Z Word will leave you laughing between every shocked gasp!”
— Skye Euryale, Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, MI
By Mary Kay Andrews
St. Martin's Press
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“While the cover screams ‘beach read,’ Mary Kay Andrews fans know there’s more to the story. An emotional ride through grief, friendships, secrets, two murder mysteries, new love, and doing whatever it takes to protect home.”
— Alecia Castro, Sweet Home Books, Wetumpka, AL
By Sally Hepworth
St. Martin's Press
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“Sally Hepworth has masterfully crafted another suspense about families, secrets, lies, and love. Three foster sisters struggle to deal with their horrific past when a child’s bones are found under the foster home where they grew up.”
— Sharon Davis, Book Bound Bookstore, Blairsville, GA
By Ruth Reichl
Random House
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“I long to be a ‘tumbleweed’! Reading a book every day, helping customers, going on errands, enjoying a crepe, and living in the City of Lights! The Paris Novel is an escape into food, art, and couture with mystery and a cast you’ll adore!”
— Sara Rishforth, Roundabout Books, Bend, OR
By Park Seolyeon, Anton Hur
HarperVia
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“A quixotic blend of fantasy and reality. Magical girls are real, but so too are credit card debt, COVID-19, and mass unemployment. This strangely nostalgic, deceptively simple novel taps into both the dreams and anxieties of millenials.”
— Shay Shortt, Brick & Mortar Books, Redmond, WA
By Jeff Zentner
Grand Central Publishing
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“I loved this second-chance romance about a high school football star turned Country singer who heads back to Kentucky after his marriage and career fall apart. Zentner captures Colton and Luann’s nostalgia and reconnection beautifully.”
— Amy Traughber, pages: a bookstore, Manhattan Beach, CA
By Elaine U. Cho
Zando - Hillman Grad Books
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“Elaine Cho articulates delicate, intergalactic celebrity politics and the nuances of queerness and racism in this incredible space opera, where we follow Ocean and her found-family crew setting off from a distant-future Korea.”
— Devon Overley, Loganberry Books, Shaker Heights, OH
By Charlee Dyroff
Bloomsbury Publishing
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“Lee is an overachiever, but when she’s hired to teach an AI program the meaning of loneliness, her life skills are challenged. Dyroff draws an artful and memorable portrait of a woman trying to find answers in a world consumed by technology.”
— Manda Riggs, Elm Street Books, New Canaan, CT
By Elizabeth O'Connor
Pantheon
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“A debut and a paean to the forgotten cultures on the British Isles. An intelligent yet innocent protagonist is confronted with ethnographers from the mainland, as class, gender, and education meet, while the prose mirrors island life.”
— Richard Dixon, Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington, DC
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“Larson vividly depicts Fort Sumter’s untenable position, the inpetitude of the Buchanan administration, and the impossibility of a remedy from Lincoln, exposing Southern planters who linked slavery, secession, and war in a corrupted Code of Honor.”
— Mike Hare, Northshire Saratoga, Saratoga Springs, NY
By Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Ecco
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“These essays are not just meditations on mouthwatering mastications of exotic fruits and savory favorites, but joyous and generous glimpses into the genius of a spirit that embraces the ascendance of the everyday into the sublime.”
— Emily Liner, Friendly City Books, Columbus, MS
By Monica Wood
Mariner Books
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“A charming novel about the power of books to heal, connect, and teach. A prison inmate, her reading group teacher, and the man damaged by the inmate’s crime are drawn together by their love of reading and their need for human connection.”
— Susan Taylor, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, NY
Now in Paperback
Indie Next List Selections Come to Paperback
