When a mother is charged with murder in a town already convinced of her guilt, can defense attorney Powell Harrison find truth and justice in a legal system where innocence is not presumed? 

Emily Lloyd, a young widow in Reconstruction-era Virginia, is accused of poisoning her three-year-old daughter, Maud. It isn’t the first death in her home—her husband and three other children all died of mysterious illnesses—so when Maud succumbs to an unexplained malady, the town suspects foul play. Soon Mrs. Lloyd is charged not only with poisoning the child but also with murdering her children, her husband, and her aunt. 

Enter Powell Harrison, a soft-spoken, brilliant attorney who recently returned to his Virginia hometown to help his brother manage their late father’s practice. Approached to assist in Mrs. Lloyd’s defense, Harrison initially declines, worried that an infanticide case might tarnish their family’s reputation. But as details about the widow’s erratic behavior and her reclusive neighbors emerge, Harrison begins to suspect that an even more sinister truth might lurk beneath the family’s horrible fate and finds himself irresistibly drawn to the case.  

Based on a shocking true story, Veil of Doubt is part true-crime thriller, part medical and legal procedural. Perfect for fans of Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace and filled with rich period detail gleaned from exhaustive research, Veil of Doubt delves into the darkness of the South during Reconstruction, exposing intrigue, deception, and death. 

"I loved—and to a slightly uncomfortable degree related to—this book."

Charles Bethea, staff writer at The New Yorker

Funny, perceptive, and deeply personal, Mediocre Monk follows Grant Lindsley’s rocky journey toward spiritual growth—one that ultimately leads him to places he never imagined.

After the sudden death of a friend, Grant Lindsley abandons his corporate job to train as a monk in one of the strictest Buddhist traditions on earth. Lost and bereft, he believes he can find answers in the mountains of Thailand. He shaves his head and eyebrows, eats one bowl of food a day, and lives in a cave, his solitude punctuated by brushes with snakes, scorpions, and drug smugglers.

But Lindsley can’t transform himself into the profound guru he envisions—he’s hungry, restless, and lacking in the humility that monkhood requires. Eventually, he exhausts himself into moments of genuine growth, but not in the way he expects. Rather than transcending grief and becoming entirely self-reliant, he is surprised to find solace in allowing pain and reopening himself to community.

For anyone who has nurtured a fantasy of dropping out in search of answers, Mediocre Monk suggests a reality that is far more complicated—and rewarding.

For Dr. Stacey Marie Kerr, a road is only worth traveling if it comes with some unexpected turns. 

In her midfifties, Dr. Stacey Kerr was diagnosed with osteoporosis and told to play it safe. Instead, she bought her first Harley. Over the next fourteen years, Stacey and her two best friends decided to give the finger to aging gracefully, ultimately embarking on seven epic motorcycle tours throughout the western United States filled with drama, introspection, and pure joy. 

Using her motorcycle adventures to guide her memories, Stacey travels the twisting road of her own past, in which the only constant is defying expectations. As a young woman, Stacey escaped an authoritarian childhood to join the counterculture of the sixties. On The Farm, the largest hippie commune in the United States, she spent a decade practicing intentional spirituality. There, she came to admire, and ultimately clash with, the mother of spiritual midwifery—Ina May Gaskin. In her midthirties, Stacey would reject convention once again by going to medical school and transforming her life. 

As Stacey rides the curving highways of the West, she reflects on marriage and motherhood; the cultlike energy of powerful spiritual leaders; the miracles, traumas, and lessons of a physician’s life, including a near-fatal delivery of her own grandson; her long-held belief in the healing power of cannabis; and the vital necessity of love at every stage of life, from birth to death and beyond. Written with irreverence and good humor, Wild Heart is an inspiring memoir for anyone ready to make braver and bolder choices—at any age.