Shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize "A magnificent debut filled with characters so vivid, strange, and richly imagined, you emerge feeling changed." —Sarah Shun-lien Bynum In New York City, a girl called Lenora vanishes without a trace. Years earlier and miles upstate, Goldie, a wild, negligent mother, searches for a man to help raise her precocious son, Paul, who later discovers that the only way to save his soul is to run away. The Sweet Relief of Missing Children is a suspenseful novel about the power of running and the desire for reinvention. It explores the terror and transcendence of our most central experiences: childhood, parenthood, sex, love.

Two seemingly separate stories from different points in time interconnect and provide clues to the disappearance of a missing New York City girl.

Two seemingly separate stories from different points in time interconnect and provide clues to the disappearance of a missing New York City girl.

Sweet Relief is the remarkable story of how twenty-eight-year-old Marla Ruzicka took on the US government, changed the world, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Marla Ruzicka was a free spirit, a savvy political operator, a wartime Erin Brockovich. Fiercely determined to improve the lives of the less fortunate, the twenty-something blonde was instrumental in convincing the U.S. government to pass historic legislation aiding civilian victims of war. Sweet Relief recounts Marla's journey from an idyllic childhood in a small California town, through Latin America and Africa, and finally to the war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq. Whether she was Rollerblading the halls of Congress to secure funds for civilians in Iraq or throwing parties for journalists in Kabul to raise awareness of her cause, no one who came within a hundred yards of Marla missed her. Her friendly smile and indefatigable pose were ubiquitous in Afghanistan and Iraq where Marla managed a door-to-door effort to identify war victims. While Marla worked tirelessly to care for others, in many ways she neglected herself. A diagnosed manic-depressive, Marla battled extreme emotional lows and an eating disorder. And although she brought love into the homes of the aggrieved, she often struggled to find a love of her own. Marla gave the invisible victims of war a voice and, in the process, helped to win them millions of dollars in unprecedented aid. Tragically, Marla was killed by a suicide bomber on Airport Road in Iraq in April 2005. Weeks later, the US government named the program she fought so hard to establish The Marla Ruzicka Fund. Her life and legacy are an inspiring reminder that love and determination can conquer all.

A sexy, propulsive novel that confronts the limits of empathy and the perils of appropriation through the eyes of a disgraced small-town librarian. Now that her brilliant botanist daughter is off at college, buttoned-up Maeve Cosgrove loves her job at a quiet Maine public library more than anything. But when a teenager accuses Maeve—Maeve!—of spying on her romantic escapades in the mezzanine bathroom, she winds up laid off and humiliated. Stuck at home in a tailspin, Maeve cares for the mysterious plants in her daughter’s greenhouse while obsessing over the clearly troubled girl at the source of the rumor. She hopes to have a powerful ally in her attempts to clear her name: her favorite author, Harrison Riddles, who has finally responded to her adoring letters and accepted an invitation to speak at the library. Riddles, meanwhile, arrives in town with his own agenda. He announces a plan to write a novel about another young library patron, Sudanese refugee Willie, and enlists Maeve’s help in convincing him to participate. Maeve wants to look out for Willie, but Riddles’s charisma and the sheen of literary glory he promises are difficult to resist. A scheme to get her job back draws Maeve further into Riddles’s universe—where shocking questions about sex, morality, and the purpose of literature threaten to upend her orderly life. A writer of “savage compassion” (Salvatore Scibona, author of The Volunteer), Sarah Braunstein constructs a shrewd, page-turning caper that explores one woman’s search for agency and ultimate reckoning with the kind of animal she is.

The troubled annual summer visit of four brothers to their mother's house in Cape Cod is turned upside down when their father, who had abandoned the family, returns home to die.

“More local color than a steamed lobster wearing wild blueberry bracelets, along with a mess of wistful nostalgia for any reader raised in Maine or New England.” —Portland Press Herald Nearly 70 renowned New England writers gather round the table to talk food and how it sustains us—mind, body, and soul An award-winning collection of essays by internationally recognized and beloved foodies, Breaking Bread celebrates local foods, family, and community, while exploring how what’s on our plates engages with what’s off: grief, pleasure, love, ethics, race, and class. Here, you’ll find reflections from top literary talents and food writers like Award-winning novelist Lily King on connecting with her children over a tweaked chocolate chip cookie recipe Pulitzer Prize recipient Richard Russo on the Italian soup his mother snubbed that he came to enjoy Coauthor of Mad Honey Jennifer Finney Boylan on how cheese pizza holds her family together through the good and the bad Coauthor of About Grief Brian Shuff on how greasy takeout can be life-giving food for the grieving soul Award-winning writer Ron Currie on the childhood shame—and adult pride—of your mother being a “lunch lady” Author and homesteader Margaret Hathaway on building a community cookbook to bring food and family together in the early days of COVID-19 Other essays address a beloved childhood food from Iran, the horror of starving in a prison camp, and the urge to bake pot brownies for an ill friend. Rich and flavorful, Breaking Bread brings together some of the most influential voices in the literary and food worlds to show how we experience life through the foods we eat. Proceeds from this collection will benefit Blue Angel, a Maine-based nonprofit founded by writer and Breaking Bread coeditor Deborah Joy Corey to combat hunger. The organization purchases food from local farmers and delivers it directly to families in need.