The Year We Left Home

A "New York Times" bestseller and a National Book Award finalist, "The Year We Left Home" chronicles the lives of the Erickson family as the children come of age in 1970's and '80's America.

From National Book Award finalist and the New York Times bestselling author of The Year We Left Home comes a “powerful, beautifully crafted” (People) family saga about three generations of women who struggle to find freedom and happiness in their small Midwestern college town. A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl is a poignant novel about three generations of the Wise family—Evelyn, Laura, and Grace—as they hunt for contentment amid chaos of their own making. We see these women and their trials, small and large: social slights and heartbreaks; marital disappointments and infidelities; familial dysfunction; mortality. Spanning from World War II to the present, Thompson reveals a matrilineal love story that is so perfectly grounded in our time—a story of three women regressing, stalling, and yes, evolving, over decades. One of the burning questions she asks is: by serving her family, is a woman destined to repeat the mistakes of previous generations, or can she transcend the expectations of a place, and a time? Can she truly be free? Evelyn, Laura, and Grace are the glue that binds their family together. Tethered to their small Midwestern town—by choice or chance—Jean Thompson seamlessly weaves together the stories of the Wise women with humanity and elegance, through their heartbreaks, setbacks, triumphs, and tragedies. “Thompson’s new novel draws the reader in with character and plot…but what ultimately holds the reader enthralled is…her ability to capture the nuance of individual moments, thoughts, and reactions. No one writing today is better at this…[an] extraordinary novel” (Washington Independent Review of Books).

Charlie Wheelan and his family do what others dream of: They take a year off to travel the world. This is their story. What would happen if you quit your life for a year? In a pre–COVID-19 world, the Wheelan family decided to find out; leaving behind work, school, and even the family dogs to travel the world on a modest budget. Equal parts "how-to" and "how-not-to"—and with an eye toward a world emerging from a pandemic—We Came, We Saw, We Left is the insightful and often hilarious account of one family’s gap-year experiment. Wheelan paints a picture of adventure and connectivity, juggling themes of local politics, global economics, and family dynamics while exploring answers to questions like: How do you sneak out of a Peruvian town that has been barricaded by the local army? And where can you get treatment for a flesh-eating bacteria your daughter picked up two continents ago? From Colombia to Cambodia, We Came, We Saw, We Left chronicles nine months across six continents with three teenagers. What could go wrong?

From the acclaimed author of Lies We Tell Ourselves comes an empowering YA novel of what happens when love may not be enough to conquer all. Toni and Gretchen are the couple everyone envied in high school. When they go off to different colleges—Toni to Harvard and Gretchen to NYU—they’re sure they’ll be fine. Where other long-distance relationships have fallen apart, theirs is bound to stay rock-solid. The reality of being apart, though, is very different than they expected. Toni, who identifies as genderqueer, meets a group of transgender upperclassmen and immediately finds a sense of belonging that has always been missing. Gretchen, meanwhile, struggles to remember who she is outside their relationship. As distance and Toni’s shifting gender identity begin to wear on their relationship, the couple must decide—have they grown apart for good, or is love enough to keep them together?

For fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz ‘Heart-wrenching. Emotional. A powerful story of wartime love and devotion’ Glynis Peters, author of The Secret Orphan A powerful and incredibly moving historical novel inspired by an untold story of the Second World War.

A LIFETIME OF SECRETS. A SUMMER OF NEW BEGINNINGS. _____________________ "So tender and thoughtful. I loved it" MARIAN KEYES "A gorgeous, rich treat" JANE FALLON "Warm, intriguing, brimming with tenderness... A joyous book" RUTH JONES ________________________ ONLY THE TRUTH WILL SET HER FREE . . . After her wedding in cancelled hours before she is due to walk down the aisle, Rachel is newly single and must move back in with her mother, Eleanor. But their relationship is far from perfect, and their family home is filled with secrets. It will take a devastating turn of events for Rachel to finally unravel a powerful truth. One that Eleanor has kept close to her heart for decades. Will unlocking the past help Rachel find the key to her future? "This book is incredibly special... I cared so deeply for all of the characters... I got lost in it and I miss the characters so much" GABY ROSLIN "Involving and emotional" JANET ELLIS "Warm and compelling" WOMAN ________________________ Early readers absolutely love The Things We Left Unsaid: 'A really enjoyable book.' 'Truly beautiful. I adored this book. I cried and know that when I read this again and again I'll cry each time.' 'A real and full story that was completely relatable.' 'An excellent read and I would certainly recommend it.' 'The sense of time and place was very authentic.' 'I loved the characters and both them and London felt so alive. The story unfolded at a good pace with lots of treasured moments and the story felt new.' 'The little details portraying the different time periods really make this book special. This is definitely one I'll be recommending.' 'A beautiful story of relationships and their complications.' 'Would recommend without hesitation.' 'I absolutely loved it.' 'Set in two time periods, present day and the sixties, this is a compelling tale of two women coming of age and coming to terms with themselves. I loved this book.' 'I loved this book, from start to finish it had me wanting to keep reading!' 'It is funny, sad and intriguing, a must read. I honestly was sad to get to the end.' 'A funny, touching story.' 'This novel is an absolute gem. I loved everything about it.' 'I loved the way the characters were developed in the story. They worked their way into my heart.' 'This author has insight and compassion and is an excellent storyteller, wise and full of empathy.'

A master of short fiction whose "best pieces are as good as it gets in contemporary cction" (Newsday) returns, as Jean Thompson follows her National Book Award finalist collection Who Do You Love with Throw Like a Girl. Here are twelve new stories that take dead aim at the secrets of womanhood, arcing from youth to experience. Each one of Thompson's indelible characters -- lovers, wives, friends, and mothers -- speaks her piece -- wry, angry, hopeful -- about the world and women's places in it.