10 noteworthy books for June

Lazy summer afternoons call for an escape into the pages of a good book. This month, you can get caught up in family drama or get transported with historical fiction set in China, Florence and Atlanta; find inspiration in real-life tales of resistance or sink your teeth into V.E. Schwab’s new vampire novel.

1. Waterline

by Aram Mrjoian

A century ago, Gregor Kurkjian escaped mass killings in Armenia and settled in Michigan, where he fell in love with fellow survivor Mara. When the couple started a family, they passed their shared trauma to subsequent generations. In the present day, when another shattering loss occurs, each member of the Kurkjian clan copes differently - drinking, fighting, withdrawing or retreating to nature - to make sense of their grief and find a way to carry it. Mrjoian’s debut deftly brings an array of characters to light, illustrating the depth of heartbreak and love in a family struck by misfortune. (HarperVia, June 3)

2. Runs in the Family: An Incredible True Story of Football, Fatherhood, and Belonging

by Deland McCullough and Sarah Spain

McCullough, a football coach and former NFL running back, knew that he was adopted as a baby. His upbringing was turbulent, with an adoptive mother who was drawn to abusive relationships, yet he was sustained by family, mentors and coaches, who were reliable and influential as he developed his athletic talent. When he became a father, the urge to learn about his biological history intensified. Uncovering his birth mother’s name led to a jaw-dropping discovery that changed the way he viewed himself. Spain and McCullough captivatingly recount his journey, exploring the impact that love and self-knowledge can have on identity. (Simon Element, June 3)

3. Park Avenue

by Renée Ahdieh

The uber-rich Parks of Park Avenue are imploding. Their patriarch, Seven, founder of a Korean beauty empire, is hiding assets while divorcing his terminally ill wife, Jenny. Their three bickering children have closed ranks and hired a top law firm to track down the missing money. Jia Song, a striving junior partner with aspirations beyond her middle-class upbringing, is swept into a world of privilege as she investigates, becoming more certain that the family and those who support them are protecting a dark secret. Amid a decadent backdrop of wealth, romance and betrayal, Ahdieh’s first novel for adults considers the significance of what we hold dear. (Flatiron, June 3)

4. The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler’s All-Female Concentration Camp

by Lynne Olson

This illuminating narrative history spotlights the bravery and strength of a tight-knit group of Frenchwomen imprisoned during World War II in the all-female forced-labor concentration camp Ravensbrück. As former members of the resistance, they continued behaving subversively in the face of extreme hardship, deprivation and torture - hiding from guards, refusing to make munitions that would be used to kill their countrymen, secretly providing care for the sickest and weakest among them. Despite the haunting horrors the women endured, they used laughter as a tool to combat oppression, ridiculing their persecutors with dark humor, caricatures and graffiti, even furtively writing and sharing a musical revue. Survivors from the camp continued to support one another and fight for rights and recognition from the French government for decades after their release, working to honor the contributions of the many anonymous women who helped save their country. (Random House, June 3)

5. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

by V.E. Schwab

The author of “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” returns with a character-driven tale featuring three fierce female vampires: Maria, in 16th-century Spain, chafes at the limits society places on her; Charlotte, in regency London, is driven by an insatiable quest for love; and Alice, in modern-day Boston, seeks understanding and redress for what has been taken from her. As their stories weave together and then unravel, Schwab offers a sensual and haunting look at women who refuse to be bound by convention and instead take what they want. (Tor, June 10)

6. Florenzer

by Phil Melanson

Melanson’s tender historical novel reinterprets the lives of three celebrated men in 15th-century Florence. A young Leonardo da Vinci studies under a master painter as he explores his burgeoning attraction to men. Francesco Salviati, a Florentine priest, hopes to prove himself worthy by seeking salvation in the church. Lorenzo de’ Medici, heir to the Medici bank, carries the weight of family responsibility on his shoulders. As each man matures, he grapples with his own ambitions, responsibilities and secrets in the thriving Renaissance city that is also teeming with tension between commerce, art and religion. (Liveright, June 10)

7. Far and Away

by Amy Poeppel

Poeppel’s charming examination of supposedly greener pastures finds Lucy and Greta at the ends of their ropes. After Lucy’s teenage son is embroiled in a scandal, she impulsively decides to escape her judgmental Dallas suburb. Meanwhile in Germany, Greta’s husband accepted a job in Lucy’s Texas town. Agreeing to a house swap seems like the perfect solution. As the displaced Berliners learn to embrace American culture - Costco, cowboy boots and all - Greta struggles to adjust. At the same time, Lucy and her children are adapting to cosmopolitan European living without her husband, who is away for six months, either in a NASA biosphere or possibly in jail. Despite trying to leave trouble behind, both women find that their problems have relocated with them. (Emily Bestler, June 10)

8. These Heathens

by Mia McKenzie

Seventeen-year-old Doris Steele was raised in a devout Southern home and cannot turn to her parents when she needs help with an unplanned pregnancy. Instead, she tells her beloved teacher, Mrs. Lucas, who brings Doris to the Atlanta home of her close friend Sylvia Broussard, a well-known presence in the burgeoning civil rights movement. While waiting for a doctor, Doris spends the weekend encountering civil rights leaders - Bayard Rustin, in town for a sit-it; Diane Nash, dancing with another woman; Martin Luther King Jr. flirting with her over a plate of ribs. Her initial outrage at their brazenness turns inward when she realizes she, too, wants to live life on her own terms. McKenzie’s humorous historical novel reflects on what becomes possible when women can choose for themselves. (Random House, June 17)

9. When Sleeping Women Wake

by Emma Pei Yin

The wealthy Tang family fled Shanghai when the Japanese invaded in 1941 and live comfortably in Hong Kong, where Wei Tang’s wife, Mingzhu, has been sheltered from turmoil. Although her marriage is loveless and lonely, she finds companionship with her headstrong daughter, Qiang, and her loyal servant, Biyu, but the trio is separated when the Japanese invade Hong Kong. Multilingual, Mingzhu is forced to become a translator for the Japanese, while Qiang and Biyu are sent to work in a factory where dangers lurk. Each woman must choose what sacrifices to make as they strive to balance resistance and survival, and hope for reunion. Yin’s poignant novel celebrates the enduring love that can unite women. (Ballantine, June 17)

10. The House on Buzzard’s Bay

by Dwyer Murphy

A group of college friends have been happily reconnecting every summer for decades at a creaky old summer house in a New England fishing village. But at this year’s July Fourth celebration, a strange disturbance is in the air, and inexplicable occurrences and ominous premonitions contribute to a growing sense of paranoia. When one of the friends, a mercurial writer, disappears just before a mysterious guest arrives, things take an even darker turn, and friendships that once felt close get called into question. Murphy’s evocative novel is a noir thriller filtered through the prism of middle-aged friends dealing with the emotional weight of adulthood. (Viking, June 24)