Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (Ecco)
Sewanee, Tennessee -based author Kevin Wilson is back with his fifth book. Best friends Lillian and Madison are inseparable in boarding school until Lillian is forced to leave. The friends lose touch over the years, but eventually Madison finds Lillian. And she’s got a request: Lillian wants Madison to care for her stepchildren, a set of twins who spontaneously combust when agitated. With no clue what she’s doing, Lillian takes on the challenge and embarks on a journey of parental love only Wilson could create. (Available now.)
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott (Knopf)
They may speak more than one language, know how to fly a plane, and represent some of the most prestigious universities in the country. But all anyone wanted to know about these women at the height of the Cold War was whether or not they could type. In this Austin, Texas-based author’s debut novel, already on its way to becoming a feature film, two secretaries at the CIA are tasked with smuggling Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR at a time when no one dared publish it. (Available now.)
The Gulf by Belle Boggs (Graywolf Press)
Marianne’s life is need of a shakeup when her ex-fiancé, Eric, reaches out with an offer she can’t refuse. A struggling poet, Marianne heads off to Florida’s Gulf Coast to direct Eric’s low-residency, for-profit school for Christian writers. Soon Marianne, an atheist, finds herself surrounded by people whose beliefs she’s always opposed. As Marianne begins to connect with her students in ways she couldn’t predict, Eric takes the business into unsettling waters. In this comedic send-up of the literary world and for-profit education, North Carolina-based Boggs manages to also take on the gulf between believers and nonbelievers. (Available now.)