When River Freeman gets an opportunity to live in a bargain beach home in Carmel, Caifornia, she takes it. Unfortunately, this puts her son Rusty in the position of new kid just as he's hitting sixth grade. With his advanced vocabulary and love of books, he's a primary target for twelve-year-old boys and their difference detectors. With a comic and slightly violent solution, Rusty manages to wriggle out, but just then their tenant, college student Autumn, suffers a terrible family tragedy that sends the household into a grief-ridden funk. It's a long road back to the good life, but it might be marked by baseballs - and the lost young man who once told Rusty he was a natural. A heartwarming coming-of-age tale from the acclaimed author of Lavender and A Painting Called Sylvia.

A “masterpiece” (Robert Goolrick) about a withdrawn husband, a desperate wife, and the young Japanese woman who is hired to break down the walls between them.

Thomas Tessler has cloistered himself in his bedroom and shut out the world for the past three years. His wife, Silke, lives right in the next room, but Thomas no longer shares his life with her. He leaves his hideout only occasionally, in the wee hours of the night, to pick up food at the grocery store around the corner from their Manhattan apartment. Unable to cope with a devastating loss, Thomas has become isolated and withdrawn. The Japanese have a word for this phenomenon: hikikomori. They also have a solution for it: the “rental sister.”

Desperate for one last chance to salvage their life together, Silke hires Megumi, a young Japanese immigrant, to lure Thomas back into the world. Fleeing from her own shattering experience, Megumi has buried her pain in a fast life spent in nightclubs with nameless men. Now she will try to help Thomas and Silke as a rental sister. At first Thomas remains steadfast and sequestered, but as he grows to trust Megumi, a deepening—and increasingly sensual—relationship unfolds.

The Rental Sister is a taut, “serenely beautiful” (The Wall Street Journal) novel that packs a big philosophical punch and asks: What are the risks of intimacy? Can another woman ever lead a husband back to his wife? And what must we surrender for love?

“[A] quiet but poignant exploration of loneliness and self-discovery.” —USA Today

“A mesmerizing debut at once sorrowful, intimate, and optimistic . . . an enthralling success.” —Booklist, starred review

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Longlisted for the 2025 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and Named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2024

“Head Fake is about how laughter can save us." —Chris Rock, comedian, actor

"An absorbing, uplifting tale of finding light and self-worth in adversity’s darkest depths.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Mikey makes everything a joke, even the clinical depression he’s struggled with for years. After a run of failed jobs, he becomes the unlikely basketball coach at a high school for high-risk offenders who are experiencing mental illness. The position becomes suddenly available after the team tried to strangle their last coach.

Every instinct tells Mikey to get as far away from this school as possible. Coaching these kids, who have been arrested for who-knows-what, would be difficult for a normie. For Mikey, it could cause another breakdown and force him right back to living on the street. But he knows that if he has any chance to make his twenty-sixth birthday, he needs to keep this job, even if the school board wants him fired, and the students would rather fight each other than play ball.

This poignant, hilarious, and sometimes uncomfortable novel proves that even the most damaged of us can emerge victorious.

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2024 Page Turner Series Award
American Writing Award: Legacy Fiction Winner
Bookshelf Writing Contest: Honorable Mention in Fiction

"Deborah King has written a compelling, thought-provoking novel that engages readers and made me wish the story would never end." Chicago Writer's Association Windy City Reviews

Glory Bishop lives her life in pieces. At work and with her friends, she reads novels, speaks her mind, and enjoys slow dances and stolen kisses with her boyfriend, JT. But at home, Glory follows strict rules and second-guesses every step. Though she dreams of going to college and living like a normal teenage girl, her abusive mother has other ideas.

When JT leaves to join the navy, Glory is left alone and heartsick. The preacher's son, Malcolm Porter, begins to shower her with lavish gifts, and her mother pushes Glory to accept his advances. Glory is torn between waiting for true love with JT or giving in to the overzealous Malcolm.

When a stranger attacks Glory on the street, Malcolm steps in to rescue her, and her interest in him deepens. But the closer she gets to him, the more controlling he becomes. Glory must eventually decide whether to rely on others or to be her own savior.
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