The It Books of September 2025

Summary

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Book Riot – The Podcast

Episode: The It Books of September 2025

Hosts: Jeff O’Neal & Rebecca Schinsky
Date: September 3, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Jeff O’Neal and Rebecca Schinsky dive deep into September 2025's "It Books"—the highest-profile new releases in the literary world’s busiest month. Using their custom methodology blending critical acclaim, sales potential, cultural zeitgeist, and pure literary excitement, they narrow down a competitive field of 10 titles to crown the one true "It Book" of September. Along the way, they deliver lively debates, sharp observations, and plenty of literary banter, all while tracking notable trends in contemporary publishing.

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Key Discussion Points

1. The “It Book” Methodology & Trends (01:05–03:06)

• September is “the month” for big book releases, but 2025 is less stacked than in recent years.
• Jeff shares that his process involves combing through catalog previews, industry buzz panels, and advanced lists before narrowing it all down.
• Rebecca notes the inherent subjectivity of the “It Book” pick: “That noun is sufficiently vague for purposes here. We know it when we see it, but we also have a little bit of sense of what we're looking at here.” (02:07)
• Noted: Some major releases have been pushed to October, thinning the September herd but still resulting in a strong lineup.

2. The Tournament Structure (03:06–03:13)

• Jeff presents ten books; Rebecca determines which advances in head-to-head matchups based on critical and commercial expectations, with one “winner” at the end.

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The Contenders: Deep Dives & Elimination Battle

"We Love You, Bunny" by Mona Awad (06:35–08:57)

• Context: Sequel to cult-fav "Bunny," roots in dark academia but described as "funny dark academia" vs. “tart” mean-girls dark academia.
• Premise: MFA grad enters the publishing world, encountering secretive literary societies.
• Reception: Hotly anticipated, but at 496 pages and being a sort-of-sequel, the hosts doubt mainstream crossover despite strong weird-lit credentials.
• Insight: “Second book is a hard pitch, even if it’s supposedly a standalone. 500 pages is tough.” — Rebecca (08:16)
• Status: Advances automatically as first presented but will likely face elimination soon.

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"Mother Mary Comes to Me" by Arundhati Roy (09:23–12:24)

• Context: Literary memoir from celebrated Booker winner, chronicling a complex relationship with her formidable mother.
• Notables: Rebecca anticipates literary acclaim and possible awards, but recognizes it’s for the "lit crowd," not casual God of Small Things fans.
• Quote: “I’m going to have to brace myself, I think, for reading this one. I might be saving it for the end of the year.” — Rebecca (11:14)
• Status: Advances, edging out Bunny due to broader literary impact potential.

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"Midnight Timetable" by Bora Chung (13:00–15:08)

• Context: Short story collection from National Book Award finalist (for “Cursed Bunny”), blending literary ghost stories with an experimental edge.
• Hosts’ Take: Admired for page count and premise, but two “it book” headwinds: short stories & translation.
• Quote: “Short stories in translation are two knocks against it bookiness because they both just raised the barrier of entry for most readers.” — Rebecca (15:08)
• Status: Does not advance.

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"The Academy" by Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham (15:34–17:40)

• Context: Boarding school drama by a commercial fiction powerhouse, written with her daughter.
• Selling Points: 750,000 print run is massive, but target is the Hilderbrand “hive”—devoted but not likely to reach best-of lists; not a literary darling.
• Status: Fails to oust Roy's memoir.

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"The Impossible Fortune" by Richard Osman (17:50–20:23)

• Context: Fourth book in Thursday Murder Club series, boosted by Netflix adaptation (which Jeff panned).
• Quote: “It's not a glass of vodka. It's not even an Amaretto sour. This is a tall, room temperature glass of Ensure.” — Jeff (19:01)
• Observation: Franchise appeal limited to existing fanbase; audience sees a bump for Book 1 thanks to the show, but Book 4 isn’t entry-level.
• Status: Arundhati Roy advances.

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"Amity" by Nathan Harris (22:02–24:41)

• Context: Sophomore novel from author of “The Sweetness of Water,” following emancipated siblings post-Civil War.
• Hosts’ Insight: Critically promising but challenging subject matter, literary distinction but perhaps less broad reader appeal; Harris lacks “name carries” factor.
• Status: Roy’s memoir still ascendant.

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"The Wilderness" by Angela Flournoy (27:58–32:14)

• Context: Long-awaited follow-up to “The Turner House.” Multi-decade story of Black female friendship, already a Kirkus Prize finalist.
• Analysis: Timely topic, literary recognition, and best-of-list potential.
• Quote: “All of those things... are knocks against it [Lockwood's book] for mainstream IT bookiness. Like Jenna Bush Hager is not going to be touting this book on the Today show, but it is very likely to get nominated for awards. It is very likely to end up on best of lists.” — Rebecca (34:53)
• Status: Advances, finally defeating Roy’s memoir.

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"Will There Ever Be Another You" by Patricia Lockwood (32:14–35:34)

• Context: Wildly inventive, pandemic-brain-meltdown novel from acclaimed poet/novelist; “Prize Daddy” memoirist; previous Booker finalist.
• Enthusiasm Level: Sky-high from both hosts, especially for its literary strange-but-captivating aura.
• Quote: “Put it in my veins, man.” — Rebecca (33:31)
• Quote: “Lockwood’s really like...the star continues to rise. I don’t think that we have yet seen Apex Mountain for Patricia Lockwood.” — Rebecca (35:06)
• Status: Advances past Flournoy for the literary crown.

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"All the Way to the River" by Elizabeth Gilbert (36:12–41:49)

• Context: Raw, confessional memoir exploring addiction & codependency, centered on a fraught relationship.
• Nuance: Gilbert’s familiar warmth and voice make a readable book, but its content is challenging. Despite probable bestseller status, it's less literary than Lockwood. Much group chat fodder anticipated.
• Quote: “It is as eyebrow-raising as any addiction memoir I’ve ever read. And in that way, I think it’s really brave for someone to just lay out: here are the humiliating and upsetting things that I did.” — Rebecca (37:07)
• Status: Outclassed by Lockwood’s literary achievement.

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"Secretive Secrets" by Dan Brown (41:52–44:14)

• Context: Robert Langdon returns! Globe-trotting symbologist in Prague, aged franchise back with massive page count and international stakes.
• Hosts’ Tone: Gleeful, tongue-in-cheek; the definition of popcorn blockbuster.
• Quote: “I just need it to be a good Dan Brown book. Like, she'll have a ponytail, they're gonna smooch, he's gonna swim laps. Puzzles will get solved.” — Rebecca (42:46)
• No Contest: This is a publishing event, but not a literary “It Book” in the Lockwood mold.

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Winner: "It Book of September 2025"

Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood

• Critical Factors:
  • Explosive literary buzz, prior accolades, and the sense that Lockwood’s star is still rising.
  • Right genre, right length, right cultural moment: “She feels weird, unpredictable, surprising.” — Jeff (35:26)
  • Strong award season and best-of-year list potential.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Cover Design Clichés: “Polychromatic covers featuring creepy animals—stay tuned for another book coming.” — Jeff (13:55)
• On Literary Fiction Trends: “I do feel that the dominance of historical fiction may be on the wane. Just a skosh.” — Jeff (31:13)
• On Patricia Lockwood: “She wrote it insane. And edited it sane.” — Rebecca on Lockwood’s pandemic-writing process (34:39)
• On Dan Brown: “A Dan Brown book should be 688 pages, but also the font will be 650.” — Rebecca (43:52)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• It Book Methodology & Setup: 01:05–03:13
• "We Love You, Bunny" Preview: 06:35–08:57
• "Mother Mary Comes to Me" Discussion: 09:23–12:24
• Short Stories & Cover Design Riff: 13:00–15:08
• Commercial Fiction & Hilderbrand: 15:34–17:40
• Cozy Mysteries & Adaptation Chat (Osmond): 17:50–20:23
• Historical Fiction Trends: 22:02–32:14
• Lockwood Deep Dive: 32:14–35:34
• Elizabeth Gilbert Memoir: 36:12–41:49
• Dan Brown Popcorn Round: 41:52–44:14
• Wrap-Up & Honorable Mentions: 44:48–47:06

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Honorable Mentions & Literary Zeitgeist Trends (44:48–46:47)

• Pop nonfiction: “The War Over TikTok”; Tim Berners Lee book; Jade Chang’s “What a Time to Be Alive”
• Big brand authors: William Kent Krueger (“Apostles Cove”), Ken Follett (“Circle of Days”)
• Other notable releases: “Water Bears” by Sasha Bonet, “Kaplan’s Plot” by Jason Diamond
• Market Trend: Publishers segmenting further, historical fiction needs new hooks, and TikTok keeps shifting the zeitgeist.

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Closing Thoughts

• Patricia Lockwood’s “Will There Ever Be Another You” wins as September’s It Book, trumping bestselling memoirs and megabrand thrillers thanks to its buzz, acclaim, and singular literary energy.
• The hosts muse on their dream of “serious” literary luminaries writing Dan Brown novels—proving, as always, that the intersection of literary ambition and mass-appeal storytelling remains an endless source of fascination and fun for the Book Riot team.

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Stay tuned for the next Patreon-exclusive draft episode and more bookish deep-dives from Book Riot’s all-star team.

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Transcript

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[Jeff O'Neill]

This is the Book Riot Podcast. I'm Jeff o'. Neill.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And I'm Rebecca Schinsky.

[Jeff O'Neill]

And it's time. Rebecca, it books of the month for the biggest month of the publishing year. September. It's not as stacked as we've seen in sub September. There was the great Whitehead, Smith, whatever. I can't remember what year that was. Two years ago.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, we had a run of, yeah, Zadie Smith, Colson Whitehead, I think Louise Erdrich, Jonathan Franzen. Like, everybody was all stacked up together.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So some of that is. Some of the stuff has gotten pushed to October, but still a pretty good lineup here.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It's a good month.

[Jeff O'Neill]

If this is your first time joining us. What I have done is I have combed catalog preview list, you know, look aheads, buzz panels, all the things where I can go. And I made a list initially of 19 titles. I've winnowed that down to 10.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Not an easy task.

[Jeff O'Neill]

This month we go through them one by one, and Rebecca decides whether that one survives or leaves. You know, exit stage right until we have one remaining. The first one automatically goes through to the end, and then, you know, we have the hit book of the month. I'll do honorable mentions or other notable things at the end. The other thing that we're basing this on is a combination of critical acclaim, artistic excellence, sales zeitgeist. Put it all in there. It's it book for a reason. That. That. That noun is sufficiently vague for purposes here. We know it and we see it, but we also have a little bit of sense of what we're looking at here. Rebecca, do you have. I didn't move anything around. Okay, there's. There's one. We're both excited for, but I don't think I needed to put it at the end.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I don't think you did either, because I'm sure we'll talk about it when we get there. But I know the one of which you speak, I don't think it's going to have critical acclaim necessarily, but it will be a high point. I have started my September reading already, so I'm curious.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Oh, as have I.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

All right, I'm curious what else you've got for me today.

[Jeff O'Neill]

All right, so with that, yeah, we do 10. We'll do a first sponsor break and come back.

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[Jeff O'Neill]

Rebecca Were you on the Bunny by Mona Awad train when that book first came out?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I intended to be, but I missed the train.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Well, there's a chance because the train is coming back in the station with we love you Bunny. A sequel September 23rd from SNS Mary Suruchi Books. So this is dark academia, like funny dark academia, not like the tart, which is just dark dark academia. I guess. I guess that's the distinction that we're making here. So the initial book was MFA program. The main character, Samantha Mackey, has now made it out of that MFA program and is publishing their first novel. Has already published their first novel to critical acclaim. The the titular Bunnies is this Bunny smut salon I guess is what it's called. Okay, I had forgotten what the actual details of Sounds like a good time. Frankenstein by way of Heathers is the comp that's going on here for fans of. Let's see, I just. Oh, I lost my comp.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

So you got some catty mean girls. You've got some monsters.

[Jeff O'Neill]

A dark twisted satire of academia with a cult like world of writers. That's a New York Times blurb. Most anticipated book of the year, Goodreads, the Millions book page and us here at BR as well.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Interesting.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood. Give it a good blurb. It's a standalone novel, apparently. We don't have to go back to Bunny 1. We can jump on the train of Bunny 2. Unfortunately, Bunny 2 is 496 pages. They need to do some work to get us up to speed. The first 200 pages getting us up to speed. So we may be biased against this because we weren't an experience with. But you and I knew it well enough to have wanted to read it, which maybe is even a better indication of this hit book.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, I think this has some potential. Also academic satire seems to be in the water right now, really is with Katabasis and then this. I'm going to. I think 10 was a good spot for you to put this in. A second book is a hard pitch, even if it's supposedly a standalone. 500 pages is tough. Yeah, I think this is.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It automatically advances.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

So and it's not likely. It's a genre that's not terribly likely to get like a big book club selection, which is one of our zeitgeisty measures. This is a little weird.

[Jeff O'Neill]

That's interesting.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Mona Awad is. I think she's delightfully weird. But I'm not sure that this is in the like Reese Jenna zone. So 10 is a good spot for this.

[Jeff O'Neill]

The former English major crowd will be very excited and fans of the first book will be very excited. But hard to imagine having too much more of a sense there. I don't know what the initial sales were. I mean it was big enough that I remembered it. Having not read it, I still remembered it.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

This was on some pretty high profile anticipated lists for this month. So maybe we'll see it on some best of at the end of the year. Mona Awad is pretty well respected in terms of artistic craft, so that'll be fun to watch.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Up Next, out today, September 2nd from Scribner, mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy. Her memoir, Roy who won the Booker Prize and permanent fixtures on paperback favorites tables everywhere. God of Small Things, which came out in 1941. I don't know if you remember. No, it's been out for. It's been a long time since God of Small Things come out. A wonderful book.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It is wonderful.

[Jeff O'Neill]

This is her memoir specifically around the complex relationship with her mother.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And complex sounds like it's putting it lightly.

[Jeff O'Neill]

A fierce and formidable force. Nice alliteration there. Well done blurb copywriters for Scribner who shaped Arundhati's life as both a woman and a writer. So I don't have. I mean she's been very political in the years since a God of Small Things like that has been her thing. She hasn't written like six other novels. Like she could have done that. And she's using chosen to use her platform differently. All power to her. But I don't have really a sense of what this is going to be like, except that I've read a bunch of other complicated mother memoirs. It sounds like her mother died in 2022 and she describes herself as being heart smashed and a little ashamed of the intensity of her response. So that one's I'm not quite sure what to do with there, so. But I'm going to listen to this. I've already queued it up here. I don't know what I'm going to throw it on. Maybe when I'm in New York and walking around or on the plane in my earbud time there. This is going to be one of the literary events of the fall. I'm just not sure how much the millions of copies of A God of Small Things has actually engendered a fandom for her. Like how many people know the name of the person that wrote that book that they picked up at Barnes and Noble.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Even if they put author of the God of Small Things in big text on this cover, which they have not done, that's a pretty big jump to go from that novel into what this book seems like. I don't think they're really trying to trade on God of Small Things fandom here. This one is for the literary crowd. There was a big long form review of it in the Times. I'm going to have to brace myself, I think, for reading this one. I might be saving it for the end of the year. And she was very high profile. She was on the New York Times interview podcast this week that was primarily political and they talked a little bit about her, the relationship with her mother in the book, of course, but she's operating in multiple dimensions. I think we're looking at critical acclaim, like maybe some award nominations, very likely some best of lists for this. It will probably sell well for what it is. Very well, in fact, for what it is. But not well compared to, you know, like a giant Romantasy hit or something. We're on a sliding scale of what big sales mean for a book like this. I do think it has a little more IT book juice than we love you, Bunny.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I agree.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And it's not a sequel. There's just a little bit of an edge because the lit crowd is waiting for something else from R and Daddy Roy and we've been waiting for a while. So I'm passing this one Through.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I don't know how to quantify this. The COVID image for this. It's now. Okay. Really going back to Post Traumatic by Chantal Johnson, which I really liked to have a picture of a cool looking lady ripping a cig on the COVID Black and white. Just work in black and white. Do it forever. All going back to Joan Didion. This works on me every time. I don't like smoking. I mean, whatever. But I will say that for making.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

A memory a little bit.

[Jeff O'Neill]

But no, no, I don't. It's just like it looks. These covers look. The black and white cool looking lady.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It's a great cover.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Zipping a dart on the COVID really looks cool.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

She looks formidable. That's a great word from that synopsis.

[Jeff O'Neill]

All right, so Mother Mary Comes to Me is going to advance. Up next from Bora Chung out September 30 from Hachette. What imprint is it as? Hachette. He vamps. He vamps. He vamps. I think little brown. Notice I'm on your landing page. And this says publisher Hachette Audio, which is technically true for the audiobook, but it's got to be a little bit easier than that. Oh, it's actually Algonquin. My mistake. My apologies.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Got some editing to do there, friend.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So this is funny because Bora Chung's. She broke out with a book called Cursed Bunny. And this is a novel in ghost stories set in a mysterious research center that houses cursed objects.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And what's it called?

[Jeff O'Neill]

It's called Midnight Timetable by Bora Cho.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That sounds like a great album title.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It does a very interesting. Also in vogue on cover design land is weird polychromatic covers featuring creepy animals. Stay tuned for another book coming up on the list here a little bit. This feels a little bit like literary severance, right? Where you're going into this weird research facility with weird stuff going on. In Severance, there is goats, right. The goat room that we saw Gwendolyn Christie in at one point. I don't know if I got a good answer about what was going on. The ghost room. And to be honest, that last season went over my head or under.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, we found out what the goats were for, Jeff.

[Jeff O'Neill]

They were. Oh, yes, I do remember.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

We did find out what.

[Jeff O'Neill]

At what point.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm sorry, has it verve and wiles.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I don't like that. Anyway, so this is kind of the most literary of my picks. I'm wondering so.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And it's short stories.

[Jeff O'Neill]

National Book Award finalist for Cursed Bunny. Some. Some Bonafide. It is in trans. It is in translation. So if we were to pick it for our fantasy draft you've got some things you go short stories in translation. I have no idea if it's good. You know what we like to see though. 208 pages. I will give this a shot short story collection with this kind of a hook. 208 pages. I'm ready to give this a shot. So that's Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Unfortunately for Bora Chung short stories in translation are two knocks against it bookiness because they both just raised the barrier of entry for most readers. We're not going to see something like this hit you know big book club selection very well might contend for awards especially since their previous books did but probably not going to compete with Arundhati Roy. So Mother Mary Come to me is going to carry on.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I think this next book has the highest listed print run so there's some other books that have higher print runs but this is Little Brown coming out September 16th. A 750,000 print run. It's Ellen Hildebrand with her daughter Shelby Cunningham. It's called the Academy they wrote it together. It's a novel for adults drama field year and an elite New England boarding school. That's what it is here following move in day at Tiffin Academy. And then you know things happen at this boarding school thing. The main character gets connected to the queen bee of the school as you might you might be surprised to learn it doesn't go great for everyone involved. So this is it seems like a fairly straight ahead boarding school novel from one of the giant sort of brand names in commercial fiction. Back to school Hildebrand summer kind of author is then you think about this. Does with my daughter Shelby Cunningham make it more or less exciting to you as a bystander and it book arbiter.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That makes it less exciting to me But a great coming out the gate for Shelby Cunningham and her publishing career. Not a bad way to get started when your mom is Ellen Hildebrand. I think this is smart of Ellen Hildebrand to branch out of the summer season. I'm sure people read her books in seasons that are not summer but that's definitely where she shines and this is a new dimension for her. This book will sell. The Hildebrand fans love her like and I don't think I fully appreciated that until the last year or so but the hive is very real for Ellen Hildebrand. Not so much on critical acclaim, not so much on awards. Pretty unlikely to make a best of list. It's coming out in the middle of the month, which makes it tough for a big book club pick. Those tend to be at the start of the month, so I'm guessing it missed the. Missed that opportunity. I'm going to go with Arundhati Roy for hitting Ringing more of the bells.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I didn't know this. Hilder Brand, University of Iowa writers workshop graduates. Oh, 31 novels to her name. Not bad.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

No slouch.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I'm down on the next pick. I can't hide my displeasure because as you you texted me to ask about the Thursday Murder Club movie.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Oh.

[Jeff O'Neill]

And I'm here, unfortunately, to report that is extraordinarily weak.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm so sad to hear that.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah. Laura Miller wrote A View in Slate or Wait or Salon. Did she write.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

No, she's at Slate.

[Jeff O'Neill]

She's at Slate. She read a review of it that I agree with almost completely. So if you want to go check out my thoughts there. The next book in the Thursday Murder Club series, the Impossible Fortune by Richard Osmond, comes out on September 30th. I'm a little surprised they didn't have it to be out today. Maybe they're waiting for a month's worth of older people watching. Thursday Murder Club 250,000 print run. If you know, if you don't know yet. It is about a group of pensioners, we'd call them retirees here in the States who solve crimes. And I was hoping it would be it would fall somewhere between only murders and knives out in terms of seriousness and zaniness. But it is much more. It's not a glass of vodka. It's not even, it's not even an Amaretto sour. This is a tall, room temperature glass of Ensure. They did here. It was. I could not believe how inert it was from the dare I say it's gormless.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

My favorite of the Jeff o' Neill.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Looking up at gormless a little bit here. Chris Columbus, who directed it. The camera doesn't move. It doesn't do much with the material. If anything, it waters it down.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Okay.

[Jeff O'Neill]

David Tennant, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Imelda.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Stanton, murderer's row of actors.

[Jeff O'Neill]

We should be having so much more fun than this than this movie has. So I'm down. I'm down on the franchise. This is the fourth book.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Fourth book.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay, fourth book. Yeah.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That's pretty far into the franchise. And 250,000, like that's a sizable print run for basically anybody else. But that's actually smaller than I would have guessed. The Osmond print run would be off the back of how popular the first Thursday Murder Club book was and that this adaptation just dropped. Like, I wonder if the publisher thought that the adaptation stunk and so they've given it a little distance. I don't know how that's what kind of synergy they were going for. You're not really getting new readers in on book four. This is one for the people who are already in Hosman's or what is his name?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Osmond. Yeah, Richard Osmond.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, Richard Osmond in his fan club. So we're just gonna keep going with Arundhati Roy.

[Jeff O'Neill]

My guess is that for this series, the book that we bought the most this month is the original because of the Netflix show.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yes.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I assume more people watch that in the first 48 hours than have bought the book in the States. At least when we logged on Saturday night, it had been out since the 28th. It was the number one movie on Netflix, outpacing K Pop Demon Hunters. What's your cultural awareness of K Pop Demon Hunters?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I was visiting a friend who has teenage kids last month, Girls, which feels relevant for K Pop Demon hunters. And the 14 year old and her best friend were in the car with us for an hour and spent half of that drive describing what K Pop Demon Hunters is and singing some of the songs. I, based on that conversation, do not fully understand it. The closest I got was like kind of. It kind of sounds like a K Pop animated Josie and the Pussycats like, or demon hunting with demons. There's some of that. It sounds like a good time though. Like the people are having fun out there.

[Jeff O'Neill]

The tweens are eating with us with a knife and fork. It's all over the place. So there you go. But yeah, I agree with you that Mother Mary Comes to Me is going to advance.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Also, can we have a sidebar? Do you think you got to pay licensing if you title your book after a Beatles lyric?

[Jeff O'Neill]

That's a good question. I don't know that you can copyright titles with a proper name in it. Mother Mary is a public figure, so I'm not sure.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

All right.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I also don't know if Mother Mary comes to me may predate the Beatles. It may be part of the liturgy or something.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

These are both great questions. Podcast, Email us.

[Jeff O'Neill]

All right, Little Brown. Quite a few Little Brown mentions here in the BR show it books differential today. Up next, Amity by Nathan Harris, on sale today from Little Brown and Company. His debut novel the Sweetness of Water was a big deal of New York Times bestseller. Oprah picked it for her book Club. This follows up with more historical fiction. A newly emancipated brother and sister are trying to head to Mexico and escape a former master. 1866, the Civil War is over but you know, comes late to Texas as we know and so they're trying to get out of there. I guess beyond that I kind of, I feel like I have a sense of what this is going to be about and I don't know if I mean that in a bad way. The Sweetness of Water was extremely good and the sophomore novel of an author like this is often indicative of the direction of their career. It was the first book, I don't know how this works for the center for Fiction first novel prize that was actually the book also won the Ernest J. Gay awards for literary excellence and was a long listed for the Booker and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in fiction. So like the bona fides here, yes, that's real kind of insane historical fiction about slaves. You know, there's not enough stories except that there's been quite a few of them late. I wonder how current that's going to feel. That was my, you know, insofar as literary historical fiction of this nature is ever a big deal. I wonder if this is gonna be a harder ask than most that we've, we've seen some of these of late. But if you were making a list of the 50 most promising debut novel or people with one novel, Nathan Harris would be on that list and very high up that list. Rebecca, so I ask you, what do you make of Amity by Nathan Harris?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Really interesting. I've had my eye on this one, I think certainly one to watch based on those bona fides from how the first novel performed. I don't know how many readers like the first novel was highly acclaimed but I don't really know how significant the sales were and how many readers will see Nathan Harris's name on the Amity book cover and remember that that's who that was. It's also been a little while since that debut novel. Subject matter is a little challenging and that's difficult then for big book club selections for like a lot of people are going to be exposed to and picking this up. It's an interesting head to head with Arundhati Roy because fiction like this would typically edge a little bit past a memoir. But I think Arundhati Roy is going to keep carrying this one.

[Random House Children's Books Sponsor]

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[Jeff O'Neill]

I'm going to ask you to be very careful in the logic you just applied, because I think almost everything you said about Amity by Nathan Harris could apply to the Wilderness by Angela Flournoy. Except that you and I really liked her first book, the Turner House, and have been waiting for her second book, which is out September 16th from Mariner Books with a quarter million print run. Something it follows four friends, black women from the early two late 2000s to late 2000s. So multi year, multi decade chronicle of a friend group, which is also in vogue at the moment. Multi year chronicles of friend groups. Flournoy as a mother was terrific. It was a finalist for the National Book Award. She has been in the showbiz wilderness, I've heard, writing for TV for the last while. I don't actually know what project she's worked on. I hope she had a great experience.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm so glad she's back.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I can only. Yes, I was going to say, but for our purposes, we are so glad that won Angela Flournoy back. Putting Words to Paper with Hardbacks okay, so that is the Wilderness by Angela Flournoy.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

You are not wrong that most of the things I said about Amity can apply to this one. Not a lot of contemporary readers are still sitting around thinking about the Turner House and how much they loved it and waiting for Angela Flournoy. So I don't think the Wilderness is trading on Flournoy's name in a mainstream reader capacity with people like us. Yes, but people just browsing at Barnes and Noble, probably not. This one's already getting heat though. It's a. It was one of the finalists for the Kirkus Prize for fiction this year. Those got announced last week. Side note, the eligibility for the Kirkus Prize is November 1st to October 31st. So just they're on my shit list for a little while. Can we please not?

[Jeff O'Neill]

Why in the world would you do that?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I know, I was like, this is early to be getting the list of finalists for a 2025 book prize. Most of them haven't even done long lists yet. And then I looked at their eligibility.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Tom Beer, who's the editor in chief, I believe, of there at Kirkus I think maybe administers it on the panel. I need to send him any. I like what he does. I don't know him at all, but I need to send a sternly worded email about that. It's like you're part of the problem here, sir.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yes. Get on board now. To even be considered for the Kirkus Prize, you have to receive one of the starred reviews in Kirkus. And those only go to 10% of the books that they cover in a given year, which is ten several thousand. So it's been vetted a couple of times. Not an easy thing. And there is like that there's a system there that it's not just who's on the committee and what are the vibes. I think is meaningful also that the subject matter is current. That makes a difference. That does have stickiness for like a group of women friends and we're following them through the years. That says book club contender to me. And the writing will be literary. And this is definitely going to be on best books of the year list so far. So Angela Flournoy is going to knock out Arundhati Roy.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It already has starred reviews and publishers. Wiki Kirk this. It was the indie next pick. Amity was also a starred review. And Publishers Weekly and in Library Journal. I think I agree with you. I think the contemporariness.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I think it matters here.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I think. I think it does push it over the edge just a little bit. I do feel that the dominance of historical fiction may be on the wane. Just a skoj.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

And also historical fiction has been used so broadly that it's not meaningless, but it has become less meaningful that if you are the Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, which is historical but also has surrealist elements like. And is more about the surrealist elements than about the fact of it being historical. But it gets chunked into historical fiction alongside Every World War II lady librarian spy book. It's just hard to. It's hard to know what a reader wants if all they tell you is that they like historical fiction. That can mean so many things. And I think maybe we are headed towards a more segmented historical. Like in order for it to carry on, it'll need to be, you know, sucked into highly specific TikTok categories and segmented. But I think Florida Way is going to carry this one for now.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay. So over the mother Mary comes to me. All right, good one. Up next, out September 23rd from Riverhead. Will there ever be another you? The latest novel from one Patricia Lockwood, the cracked genius poet, memoirist, novelist, 256 pages. Also a Booker Prize finalist. Her last book, which was called. Oh, what are they Called? I can't remember that. I can't remember the name of her last book. No one is talking about this. Thank you very much, Brain for snapping into place.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That was the one about social media stuff. It was so strange.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Priest Daddy is where we first encountered her, which is one of the greatest memoirs of the last decade. This one is set during a global pandemic and the. The protagonist is. Her brain is just misfiring. She's afraid of her own floorboards. It says here, and what is Love, Baby? Don't Hurt me plays over and over in her ears. She does not recognize her friends. Like literally is like who are these people? So it is an investigation into consciousness, identity and trauma. A brain shattering phosphorescent story in a scant 256 pages.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Put it in my veins, man.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Lockwood's Will there ever you Rebecca? What do we say about this?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Listen, I cannot get enough of Patricia Lockwood. Both the works of Patricia Lockwood and the Persona of Patricia Lockwood. There was a New Yorker profile of her a week or so ago that I might need to read seven more times just to fully appreciate it. My hottest, perhaps meanest take is that Miranda July wishes she could be Patricia Lockwood.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I think that's right. I think there's something to that.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. Where July to me feels performatively weird, I think Patricia Lockwood is just a glorious weirdo and she somehow knows how to fully inhabit that on the page in a way that translates and is captivating and strange. She said she wrote this during like as she had Covid. And one of the quotes in the big profile is that she wrote it insane and edited it sane. Like she felt like she was out of her mind while writing this. And I would believe that she feels out of her mind while writing most things. So if this is like a degree or an order of magnitude stranger, I can't wait now. All of those things though are knocks against it for mainstream IT bookiness. Like Jenna Bush Hager is not going to be touting this book on the Today show, but it is very likely to get nominated for awards. It is very likely to end up on best of lists.

[Jeff O'Neill]

No. 1's top 10 New York Times Best books of the Year. I mean that's one of our biggest scoring categories in the fantasy, right?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It has a great cover.

[Jeff O'Neill]

A cat. This is the other polychromatic creepy cat situation.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Lockwood is really like on the not even on the come up but like the star continues to rise. I don't think that we have yet seen Apex Mountain for Patricia Lockwood. And it just feels stickier to me. More exciting. There's more just like buzz happening.

[Jeff O'Neill]

She's got juice. She feels weird, unpredictable, surprising.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, all of those things. So she's going to knock out Angela Flournoy. We're going with Patricia Lockwood here.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Something you said about July just triggered something for me. I think what you said is fascinating because it does feel like July is trying to be interesting and Lockwood is sort of trying to be normal, like going in the same direction from different places or trying to.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

If I could give Patricia Lockwood the brief of write a perimenopause finding your sexuality novel, like the general scope of what Miranda July was doing in all fours, I bet the Lockwood version would be at least to me, much more interesting.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, let's see. And a poet who writes novels, which we love.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Also, if you have not listened, if you're maybe an audiobook newcomer and you're looking for an entryway priest daddy on audio is just an unsurpassed experience.

[Jeff O'Neill]

This next book, it may be the story of the September because like Lockwood, Elizabeth Gilbert got a New Yorker profile. And are we sure Elizabeth Gilbert is doing okay?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

No, we're not. We're not. I'm halfway through this book right now.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Okay.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It is called all the way to the River. It comes out on the 9th from Riverhead as well. Yes. And Jeff, did you ever follow Britney Spears on Instagram?

[Jeff O'Neill]

No, but I got enough of the. The more concerning content she was pumping out post end of her receivership.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Okay. Made its way to you.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It's not as extreme as the feeling I had watching some Britney Spears social performance over the last few years, but I have a lot of like, Liz, are you okay, girl? Happening. Reading this. It's. It is fascinating. The Gia Tolentino profile was not wrong of like, who would stop turning these pages. And it's. I think it's a book that's trying to be two things at once. Like, it is a. It's the story of her best friendship with this woman named Raya who became her lover. And they were both addicts. Raya is a drug addict, becomes very ill. Elizabeth Gilbert has a history with substances, but also discovers that she is a love and sex addict and that like the thing that she is trying to do to fill all of her emotional voids is be adored by people and get their attention and their affection and flirt with them and feel special and wonderful. And she goes to truly upsetting lengths to do this. Like, it is as eyebrow raising as any addiction memoir I've ever read. And in that way, I think it's really brave for someone to just lay out, like, here are the humiliating and upsetting things that I did in these capacities. There's a lot of recovery framework around it because that's the mode that she's operating in now. She's been in a 12 step program for years. And I think she says pretty much on the page that she's wanting to offer examples because this is a thing that's not talked about much. And so especially for women, there's a lot of shame around this. So she wants to be out there talking about her truth and the fact that there are ways to deal with this if it's a problem that you have in your life. And that is all very admirable. And I think it pulls the book down, but it makes it like your group chats will light up with the what page are you on? In the Elizabeth Gilbert memoir, it has little, like interstitial bits of poems that she wrote and journal entries and like, she can write like I have. It's been a while since I've read a Liz Gilbert memoir. But it's so readable. She is so just like personable and warm and casual. She read or she writes. It seems the way that. That she talks, which does make it easy to access. I don't think that she takes out Patricia Lockwood here like this is going to sell well. A lot of people are going to talk about it. Gilbert is very well known, but Lockwood has the literary bona fides.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, I think. I think you're right. I think it will. It may sell. It probably will sell more. There'll be more interviews and other kinds of things that go on with this. But I don't know if it's a painful truth. I just feel like it's a felt truth that I've read quite a few addiction memoirs. I've read, you know, the breakup memoirs. I've read the Messy life memoirs. And you've got to do something real different formally for me to be like, really? I mean, I will read this, but to be as excited about it as I am for a new Patricia Lockwood book. And the hook that's going on here. I've got two questions for you that are sort of sidebar questions as well. Does this totally negate Eat, Pray, Love if you. I don't think so if you're like, you know what? I found myself in Tuscany or whatever, and yet I'm writing this book, you know, a decade later, it's like, maybe not the Europe to find yourself and like, everything's going to be cool. Like, maybe that's not the way.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It negates the concept that the Eat Pray Love is the way. But I kind of felt like even in Eat, Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert was not intending to write a prescription. Like, she sets off on that trip because she has a terrible breakup and the only way that she can process it is to like run, literally run away around the world. And she contextualizes that a little bit in the new one, but I think it actually makes a ton of sense that the same person wrote both of those books.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Do we need to retrospectively retitle Cheryl Strayed's Wild Tame compared to what we see in this?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That's a great question. Because there's some difficult stuff. But Elizabeth Gilbert confesses to basically attempting to murder her partner here, and that's a lot worse.

[Jeff O'Neill]

That's a different deal, man. That's a different deal.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That's a different deal than you did drugs in a, you know, seedy hotel with people you didn't know. I don't know that we should retitle Wild. But I. I'm fascinated by the packaging of Elizabeth Gilbert. This book is like about really gritty experiences and that Gilbert is packaged in these like bright flowing colors and she's usually wearing.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It looks like a Glennon Doyle book.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It does. And she runs in that zone culturally and she's on all of those podcasts and she speaks in like yoga teacher voice. And the discrepancy between like kind of the packaging and presentation of Elizabeth.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It's hard to imagine her getting coked up and trying to murder you. That's very. In this packaging. And the affect, I mean, that doesn't mean. Again, it's a very strange deal. So one of the stories of the month. But I agree with you. But when it comes time to award season and the like, Lockwood all the way. And this has just happened. I put everything in random.org so this is just the way that we ended up with Secretive Secrets by Dan Brown in the hammer spot here at number 10, a thrilling race. So this is starring a little known protagonist called Robert Langdon.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

He's a noted Harvard symbolic.

[Jeff O'Neill]

It is a propulsive, twisty, thought provoking masterpiece piece. I don't know. He is in Prague attending a groundbreaking lecture by Katherine Solomon.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yep.

[Jeff O'Neill]

A prominent noetic scientist with Whom he has recently begun a relationship.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

She's gonna have a ponytail.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Publish a book with some things that are gonna destroy her sense of consciousness and everything. And someone's after her.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, sounds great. I don't need it to be a masterpiece. I just need it to be a good Dan Brown book. Like, she'll have a ponytail, they're gonna smooch, he's gonna swim laps. Puzzles will get solved. Yes. Like, I will be part of the reason. I'm already reading the Liz Gilbert book.

[Harper Muse Sponsor]

For the ninth season.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So you can be ready day and date.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yes. So that on the morning of the 9th, I can get up and I can drive to Barnes and Noble and I can pick up a copy and then mostly not do my job that day. So far, the double day.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Like, the ad banner is just like someone in a cloak is in front of, like, old Gothic cathedrals on a bridge in Prague. And I'm like, I'm in.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm totally in. Now, where else Dan Brown can go after this is really the question. Because we've done exposing the Holy Grail. We've done the Origin of Human.

[Jeff O'Neill]

We did AI.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

We did AI. We did the Masons. And this is about the nature of consciousness.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I thought the AI One was about the nature of consciousness.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Anyway, they both are. We've also done Dante's Inferno. We did some hell stuff. Like Brown's all over the place. This is the first one in eight years. That's too long.

[Jeff O'Neill]

688 pages.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I'm ready for this. A Dan Brown book should be 688 pages, but also the font will be 650.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I'm gonna be. I will be in the middle of a billion meetings. Next. I'm not gonna get. I may be on the plane on the way home.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. You're reading this on the plane on the way home. And I will only text you uncontextualized things that won't spoil it.

[Jeff O'Neill]

So if I have this correct, that means there will there ever be another you by Patricia Lockwood? Is there anything. Book of the month.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Correct. Yeah. You know, here's the thing I would really love. Is Patricia Lockwood writing a Dan Brown book.

[Jeff O'Neill]

I would like any writer I like it all writing it down. Brown.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Great.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Anybody? Anybody? Jesse Ball.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Oh, the Jesse Ball Dan Brown book would be such a good time. Colson Whitehead writes Robert Langdon. Can you imagine? Or Zadie Smith.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Charles Yu.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

We're going to another universe. That's where Dan Brown's gotta go. Yeah. The only thing left is leave this Planet.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Would you like to hear a few honorable mentions?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Please.

[Jeff O'Neill]

This is where I put a couple of nonfiction things that will probably be getting buzzed but like popular nonfiction issue driven like just doesn't. You know sometimes we get anxious generation but generally not every screen on the planet. The war Over TikTok coming up from Norton. Tim Berners Lee. That's actually a different book.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Oh, that's the other one. That's for everybody. Yeah.

[Jeff O'Neill]

The Unfinished story of the World Wide Web. Tim Berners Lee. For those of you don't know, now you do. Invented something called the hyperlink. What a thing to have. In your obituary you invited the hyperlink. Like that was an idea someone had to have. Is like what if you just put the URL in the text and you click on it takes you there. What a Time to Be Alive by Jade Chang. It's on my list this month. You know, William King Kruger sells extremely well in independent bookstores, especially in the Midwest. His new book is called Apostles Cove. Circle of Days is Ken Follett's new book. I have no idea.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Stonehenge baby. It's about Stonehenge.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Oh, Stonehenge. It's Stonehenge. Good on you. Right. So whereas Dan Brown is looking for increasingly abstruse conspiracies, Ken Follett is like, what? What work of human architecture can I make there be a book about?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. Do you think the final one is Easter Island?

[Jeff O'Neill]

The Pyramids, you know, Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The first McDonald's. He could do one about the first McDonald's. Be really good. The drive through.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That sounds like a single subject. Non fiction you would read to go. A history of fast food intentions.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Would you like fries with that? Kaplan's Plot by Jason Diamond. I just finished reading this yesterday out from Flatiron. It's a book about a Jewish guy going back home to Chicago. He's inherited something. And here's the back backstory of where his family came from. I really enjoyed that. Water Bears by Sasha Bonet comes out on 916 from Knopf. It's a memoir of her, the women and her family. I read that. I interviewed her for First Edition. Check that out in a couple weeks. Looking forward to it. And then, yeah, I got through them all. Those are my.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Good month.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Yeah, good month. Podcastookriot.com if you want to shoot us an email with thoughts or you know, different rankings that go along there, you can find the show [e-mail] Listen, join the Patreon because on Thursday. What are we doing on Thursday?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

We're doing our fall new release draft. The big one for the season.

[Jeff O'Neill]

The big one. Do we have to put anything in the tank? Do we have to put anything off the take or anything off the board?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I mean, we could talk about taking Dan Brown off the board.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Does that want us? Any votes though, for people?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I don't know. Yeah, I don't. I don't think we have to. It's not like the seasons where we're gonna fight over Zadie or Coulson.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Well. Well, there's a reason we're not fighting over one of those. But anyway, that's a different conversation that you could have by joining the Patreon right now. You get deals, deals, deals from August Half baked ideas is there right now. A lot of opinions about shoe sizes were expressed in that. Also things that should or should not be caffeinated and also one in which Rebecca wants to tell people how to do their job. That was her big takeaway from your half baked idea that Rebecca should be.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Able to tell other people. I took some strays in the comments on that one.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Oh, those weren't strays. They were pointing at you.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Shots fired.

[Jeff O'Neill]

Rebecca, thanks so much. Happy reading, everybody.

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Thanks so much for listening today.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

We hope you'll enjoy this audiobook.

[Harper Muse Sponsor]

Excerpt from Bees in June by Elizabeth Bass Parman, provided by our sponsors at.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Harper Museum Uncle Dixon.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Rennie cried as she rushed to his still frame. Kneeling beside him, she gently touched his face. What happened? The man slowly opened his eyes. I knew they'd tell you, he whispered.

[Random House Children's Books Sponsor]

Who?

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Rennie asked.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

The bees. They know I love you, he said.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

His head and isn't making sense. I love you too, Uncle Dixon. Are you able to move? Pressing his arm against the soft grass, he struggled to sit up.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Do you think you can get me over there?

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

He nodded to the small iron bench about four feet away, crafted with intertwined vines and flowers. A central medallion that resembled a rose bloomed across the back.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

I just need a minute to collect myself.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Rennie slid her arms beneath his body and tried to raise him to a standing position. I can't, she panted. I'm too weak.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Let's both rest here a minute. Then I bet we can do it. A few deep breaths will help.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Soft wind brushed their cheeks as they sat in silence. A bed of yellow trout lilies basked in the sun, while in the distance Rennie spied pink coral bells bobbing in a wooded thicket. So peaceful, she thought, watching bees buzzing near hives that seemed to pulse with encouragement. I could stay here forever. I Think I'm ready, are you? Rennie asked. After he nodded, she was able to lift her uncle to his feet. She had a good grip on his arm, which felt as skinny as a twig in her hand. He had worked his 50 acre farm for decades, doing backbreaking work every day. Although he seemed so frail, it was easy for Rennie to remember her uncle being strong and healthy enough to hoe the rose, strip the stalks, lift the bundles of leaves into the barn rafters, and manage the thousand other physical tasks a tobacco farmer had to perform. She could sense a vibrant man was still in there somewhere, just not where you could see with your eyes. If you looked with your heart, though, you could see the dashing man her Aunt Eugenia had fallen in love with all those years ago in the foothills of Kentucky. Gingerly, he lowered his body onto the seat and gently patted the rose medallion, as if greeting an old friend.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Eugenia loved this bench, and so do.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

I. Gesturing for Rennie to sit beside him, he said, I came down here.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

To tell the bees something and lost my balance when I raised my hand to knock on their roof.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

He looked at his niece.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

I should probably tell you too.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

He paused to observe bees resting on the landing board at the base of one of the hives.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

A while back I had a stroke.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Rennie gasped.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

What?

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

I had no idea when. His voice was soft.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

You were in the hospital with Gabriel.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Rennie flinched at the memory of the day that she both birthed and lost her only child.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

I was sitting on the porch with my new neighbor, Ambrose Beckett, and he noticed I was slurring my words and looked kind of funny.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

He chuckled.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

More funny than usual, I mean. He got me to the hospital in Nashville and the doctors did a bunch of tests, kept me there too long for my liking and sent me home. Said the stroke was mild, that I should be mostly okay.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

I wish you had told me. I could have helped you.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

You had your own life to deal with.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

He patted her hand.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

And Ambrose has been coming by to see about me. Yesterday afternoon I asked him to take care of the bees, and he said he would.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Hearing Ambrose Beckett's name for the second time that day gave her pause. Both May Deen and her uncle thought a lot of the newcomers, but she made a mental note to learn more about this man. Her uncle had managed on his own for years, but now the independence she had always admired had shifted to vulnerability, and she needed to make sure this Ambrose Beckett could be trusted to be a part of her uncle's life, caring for what he held most dear his bees, her uncle added.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

I can still look after myself. Just need to get a little stronger.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

He studied her face.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Something we can work on together as you go on without your Gabriel.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

After a moment, he said, I hope.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

You know how much he loved you and cherished being your son.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

Her uncle had a well deserved reputation for telling the truth, no matter the topic. She had cried for so many things since her son's passing, and hearing from him that Gabriel was aware she was his mother and felt their bond, however brief, was a balm to her soul. Rennie lifted her face toward the sky, relishing the warmth caressing her skin before a cloud crossed the sun, instantly chilling her. I'll never understand why I was given what I desired most in the world, only to have him taken from me so quickly. She bowed her head and added, tiny says it was my fault. That I must have done something wrong to go into labor so early.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

There's a lot in this world we aren't meant to understand. At least not yet.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

His voice took on a flinty edge.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

But let me tell you one thing I do know. You were not responsible for your baby coming too early. Tiny is wrong to blame you and cruel to tell you so.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

He patted her hand.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

You know what I'm grateful for? All Gabriel ever knew was love. Think about how you both lived in those few hours. That perfection was something you needed to see. The bees and I agreed on that.

[Narrator (Audiobook Excerpt)]

He wrung his hands.

[Character (Audiobook Excerpt)]

It's so important that I tell them my news.