Welcome to Bloomsbury Books

There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers to life’s big challenges, but Michelle Obama believes that we can all locate and lean on a set of tools to help us better navigate change and remain steady within flux. In The Light We Carry, she opens a frank and honest dialogue with readers, considering the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much? In this inspiring follow-up to her critically acclaimed, #1 bestselling memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world.

Equipped with a fan’s admiration and his trademark humor and wit, Nick Hornby invites us into his latest obsession: the cosmic link between two unlikely artists, geniuses in their own rights, spanning race, class, and centuries—each of whom electrified their different disciplines and whose legacy resounded far beyond their own time. Examining the two artists’ personal tragedies, social statuses, boundless productivity, and other parallels, both humorous and haunting, Hornby shows how these two unlikely men from different centuries “lit up the world.” In the process, he creates a lively, stimulating rumination on the creativity, flamboyance, discipline, and soul it takes to produce great art.

When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination. Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs. A haunting and magical blend of genres, The Cloisters is a gripping debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Welcome to Queens, New York, where streets echo with languages from all over the globe, subways rumble above dollar stores, trees bloom and topple over sidewalks, and the funky scent of the Atlantic Ocean wafts in from Rockaway Beach. Within one of New York City’s most vibrant and eclectic boroughs, young women of color like Nadira, Gabby, Naz, Trish, Angelique, and countless others, attempt to reconcile their immigrant backgrounds with the American culture in which they come of age. Here, they become friends for life—or so they vow. Exuberant and wild, together they roam The City That Never Sleeps, sing Mariah Carey at the tops of their lungs, yearn for crushes who pay them no mind—and break the hearts of those who do—all while trying to heed their mothers’ commands to be obedient daughters. But as they age, their paths diverge and rifts form between them, as some choose to remain on familiar streets, while others find themselves ascending in the world, beckoned by existences foreign and seemingly at odds with their humble roots.

An exuberant, bighearted novel about two teenage misfits who spectacularly collide one fateful summer, and the art they make that changes their lives forever. written with Kevin Wilson’s trademark wit and blazing prose, Now Is Not the Time to Panic is a nuanced exploration of young love, identity, and the power of art. It’s also about the secrets that haunt us—and, ultimately, what the truth will set free.

Shapiro’s achingly beautiful novel centers on the Wilf and Shenkman families, neighbors on Division Street whose lives intersect in unexpected ways. At the story’s heart is Waldo Shenkman, the brilliant if misunderstood boy whose fascination with the night sky gives him an appreciation for the connectedness of all things. Heartbreaking yet filled with grace, this is a story of people making choices, keeping secrets, suffering through misunderstandings, yet ultimately finding a sense of connection in compassion. Gorgeously written, told with empathy and compassion, Signal Fires is not to be missed. – Diana

When we first meet Christabel Seagrave, we know three things: it is the end of WWI, she is 3 years old, and she is a force to be reckoned with. Orphaned yet living on her family’s estate, she is mostly left to her own devices as she grows up exploring the seaside around her home, along with the books in the estate’s extensive library. An eccentric cast of characters come and go: Rosalind, her champagne-loving stepmother; Myrtle, the wealthy American “Poetess;” Taras, the Russian-expat artist; the mysterious intelligence officer, General Pennington, among others. But it is this bohemian upbringing that later prepares the intrepid Christabel to be an undercover British agent in Occupied France. The Whalebone Theatre is a coming of age story at its best: old-fashioned storytelling filled with humor, heartbreak and adventure, brimming with a wonderful cast of characters who feel so real. – Diana

Penny has resigned herself to the mundane routine of old age, living in the apartment she has lived in for decades, surrounded by remnants of her past life with her deceased partner, and her former artistic aspirations. But Penny is deemed no longer fit to care for herself, and is sent to a facility that she supposedly picked out with her partner, though she has no memory of this. In this new place, in the cloud and comfort of being cared for, time, and identity, start to bleed. Is something sinister at play, or is Penny simply beginning fade away like all things eventually do. No one does delightful disorientation quite like Ian Reid. Inspired by his time caring for his mother, We Spread is a horrifying love letter to those with dementia, told with heart-wrenching empathy. – Skye

Rob’s childhood was not normal. It’s taken her years to carefully construct and curate a facade of normalcy, which she uses to protect her children in ways she never was. But you can’t protect your children from themselves. Her daughter Callie whispers to things that aren’t there, collects bones, and hurts her little sister with calculated apathy. In Callie, Rob sees the echoes of all the things she has worked so hard to leave behind. In an effort to avoid history repeating itself, Rob takes Callie to Sundial, her abandoned childhood home in the Mojave Desert. As Callie learns more about her mother, and the literal and figurative skeletons that are buried at Sundial, she can’t help but wonder if the true threat has always been Rob. Ward writes with the pace and insight of Stephen King, and the emotional depth and intelligence of Sally Rooney. A terrifying read you won’t be able to put down. – Skye & Liv

In 1962, Imogen is an established food columnist, documenting her life on a small island off the coast of Seattle, her decades long marriage with her husband, and recipes for the meals they share. Joan is just starting her writing career in LA, but has been reading Imogen’s column for years. On a whim, Joan sends Imogen a letter, containing a packet of saffron, and a recipe, and thus begins a “soul-deep” friendship. Though at completely different stages of their lives, and living at opposite ends of the West coast, the two women’s connection, and shared belief in the power of food, changes their lives in ways neither could ever have imagined. A witty and sweet testament to friendship and flavor. If you loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, you will love this book! –Skye