May 2026 Book Marks
May means gearing up for beach read season and that means bushels of stories that can fill days and nights. Start your own wish list from this crop of good books…
Non-Fiction:
The Hero Next Door – Stories of Patriotism and Purpose by Martha Raddatz
Journalist Martha Raddatz has been covering wars and conflicts for 25 years, witnessing the strength, grit and resilience for service members and their families. In this book, she focusses on September 11 th military men and women who have found the courage and strength to start over when life didn’t follow the plan. Raddatz introduces us to a dozen portraits of people who inspire us with their grit, resilience, character and drive as they face daunting odds. From a naval officer working at the Pentagon on 9/11 who decides to hunt down Osama bin Laden, to Rocco Armonda, a highly skilled surgeon who pioneered a new way to treat traumatic brain injury in Iraq – (and who also operated on my husband, Bob, when he was injured covering the war.) At a time when so much feels chaotic and small, these stories offer us a reminder that character matters – and that living with purpose and courage is possible even after the greatest loss.
Romance:
Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan
Dolly is a problem solver. She is always there for everyone else and now at age 39, she and her son have moved back home to Rhode Island to help her father and brother and save the family home. On a back road with a flat tire, sensible and independent Dolly runs into Stewart Whitfield, the handsome, wealthy and recently very single (after a pearl clutching scandal) resident of the town. When she stops to help, that one moment leads to an arrangement that includes dinners and society events and a deal that they will “fake date.” But sometimes when you start to fake it, you end up making it (literally.) Events between Dolly and Stewart evolve into much more than either one bargained for. The rollicking, spicy ride that follows, and Dolly’s decision about what to do next, makes this an enjoyable summer read.
Fiction:
The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline
Imagine the most famous conjoined twins in history are on your family tree. That was the rich material author Baker Kline used from her ancestral past to write this deeply personal story about Chang and Eng Bunker, who married two sisters. When the twins arrive in North Carolina in 1839, they’re not just a curiosity—they’re a sensation. Within months, they’ve opened a general store, bought land, and begun building a plantation. There are racy rumors about the twins’ behavior with women, and then word gets out that they’re looking for wives, which doesn’t sit well with certain members of the community. Sarah and Adelaide Yates are daughters of a once prominent local family that has been shamed by scandal. Adelaide, the bolder of the two, sees a chance to reclaim her future with the twins, but her sister Sarah isn’t sure. When they agree to pledge their lives to the twins, they endure harsh judgement, longing, and cruelty in a rigid society where race, class, and gender are narrowly defined. Spanning five decades and unfolding against the backdrop of the impending Civil War, the story is one of love and constraint, identity and reinvention.
Fiction:
Maybe Marilyn by Lois Cahall
Part of Marilyn Monroe’s legend is the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death. But what if the iconic actress had never died from an overdose? What if she was simply tired of her public life as the most famous sex symbol alive, and she staged her death to disappear from the public eye? In this sweet and engrossing book, Cahall imagines what would have happened if Marilyn found true and enduring love, had a family and lived out life in obscurity. She constructs a wonderful, story around the happy ending we would all have hoped for this very public figure. The book begins in 2019, when two young reporters get a tip that most journalists dream about. They track down Marilyn’s granddaughter, living on Cape Cod. I won’t spoil the story and say more, but this is a delightful look at what could have been a different ending, a chance at love and hope for this international icon.
Fiction:
Liberty Island by Virginia Hume
This intergenerational tale tackles the issue of rule breaking women at the turn of the 20th century. In 1900, Anna Bradley is supervising her niece and two other girls on a rugged Maine island where they are allowed to run freely through the woods. When she writes a novel celebrating a world where girls are emancipated from the conventional standards of marriage and motherhood, it becomes a run-away hit with younger readers. The social elite is NOT happy with the book, viewing it as dangerous. As Anna teeters on the verge of discovery and exposure, she is also navigating a romance and reconsidering everything she thought she wanted. Jump forward to 1922, when Anna’s niece, Julia, is 29 and the times are now less restrictive. After a failed romance, she has been estranged from her family. When events call her back to the rugged Maine coast, she must face both the ghosts of her past and the concept of what freedom means to her.
Fiction:
The Author Weekend by Laura Zigman
Mystery writer Faye Wader’s sales have been slipping. And that’s the impetus to dream up a writer’s weekend where her fans will pay to spend three days and two nights on Great Misery Island, complete with personal touches. Faye and Jade, her personal assistant, plan everything down to the donuts and perimenopausal mediation, but they haven’t been able to control every detail. When she learns that her number one writing rival is planning to crash the weekend, it seems as if things can’t get worse…until an attendee turns up dead in her room. That triggers a chain of events that establish why Zigman is such an engaging storyteller. This book takes a wry look at women of a certain age, as well as a tongue in cheek look at the cut throat publishing industry.
Fiction:
Mercy Hill by Hannah Thurman
The three Cross sisters have lived their entire lives on the grounds of Mercy Hill mental hospital in Raleigh, run by their formidable mother. Like so many similar institutions, the grounds are in a shamble and funding is tenuous. Caro, Mimi and Denise are determined to uphold their mother’s mission and save the place from the fate of so many other mental hospitals that are being shuttered. After a security incident places the hospital in the cross hairs, the girls are more determined than ever to help save the place, even as they grow up and begin travelling their own paths in life. With humor and the poignancy of family, this novel covers some broad territory while connecting the reader to a mother daughter relationship where the sisters are determined that their mother succeed.
Biography:
An Inconvenient Widow – The Torment, Trial and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln by Lois Romano
History has not been kind to Mary Todd Lincoln. She was an unconventional character who dressed too ostentatiously, grieved too loudly and seemed unwilling to corral her emotions, temper and opinions. The product of Southern aristocracy, Mary Todd was exposed early on to the male dominated world of politics, and that experience fueled a fierce ambition and a belief that she was destined to be in the White House. But that era was not kind to women, and there were rigid expectations to act like a lady. As the wife of President Lincoln, she made many enemies, but following his assassination, she was failed at almost every turn by the government, her own family and the medical professionals who couldn’t diagnose her mental illness. Drawing on extensive archives, letters and oral histories, the author creates a compelling portrait of a brilliant and troubled woman who stood up to adversity and helped to launch one of the country’s most admired presidents.
Memoir:
House of Pretend by Joanne Redding
Imagine your boss offering you a million dollars to have his baby? Well, in the 1980’s, that’s what happened to Joanne Redding as a young woman on Wall Street in the raucous, outrageous days of the excess 80’s in finance. And no one blinked. Despite the go-go 80’s backdrop, at its heart, this memoir is the story of a girl raised with her own trauma; an emotionally stingy and abusive mother, a father whose cause of death is hidden from her until she is older. Silence and stoicism, were the coping strategies she was taught at home. Over time, as Joanne saw how other people lived, she understood just how alone she had been as a girl, especially when it came to taking care of herself and her brother. This is a moving coming of age book, but also a look at the ways in which we define family. It’s such a perplexing and human thing to still love the ones who hurt us, but with grace and determination, we can break the toxic patterns from childhood.
Fiction:
Family Drama by Rebecca Fallon
Susan Bliss has two lives in the 1990s. She’s a devoted mother and wife when she’s home in New England, and the rest of her time, she’s a sultry actress on a popular daytime soap in Los Angeles. From the moment the story opens, it’s clear that Susan is gone, departed the world far too early. Her husband, a New England history professor, never speaks to their twins about their mother’s past, although Viola and Sebastian are eager to know more. Her son idolizes what he discovers about Susan when he learns about her acting career, but Viola feels abandoned by the fact that she would regularly leave them. All of that changes when Susan’s former co-star enters the picture, and a very different story begins to emerge.
Comments are closed.
Joseph Kaselow
May 20, 2026 at 2:25 pmAn Inconvenient Widow – The Torment, Trial and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln by Lois Romano is a straight biography, not historical fiction.
Lauren Beck
May 20, 2026 at 9:54 pmThank you for sending your note about the biography — I appreciate it—— and thank you for reading the blog.