Anne-Marie gives birth to second baby with Slowthai and shares sweet hospital photo: 'Beautiful little thing'
Anne-Marie has given birth to her second child, a boy, with her husband Slowthai.
The singer, 33, announced the news with a series of sweet photos of their new addition on Instagram on Friday, including a snap of her holding the tot's finger, her baby dressed in a bear-motif babygro, and the newborn lying in his hospital cot covered with a bear-print blanket.
The Ciao Adios hitmaker - who revealed her pregnancy in February after Slowthai was acquitted of rape - wrote: 'Another beautiful little thing has entered our lives. Hello everyone.'
The star's famous friends flooded the comments with their well wishes, with Craig David commenting, 'Congratulations,' Olly Murs writing, 'Aww huge congratulations,' and Emma Willis posting: 'Congrats beauty.'
Former Voice UK judge Anne-Marie and Slowthai already share a 13-month-old daughter named Seven.
She announced her second pregnancy by sharing a clip of herself dancing in an oversized American football jersey before lifting it to reveal her bump, playfully captioning the post: 'Surprise.'
Anne-Marie revealed she was having a boy during her baby shower with the Capital breakfast team last month.
The Psycho singer confirmed her child's gender and teased that she had picked an 'odd' name.
When host Sian Welby asked, 'What is harder choosing a name for your children or your albums?' she replied: 'Probably choosing a name because Seven is so unique so we can't just call him Barry.'
Anne-Marie added: 'I don't even know if it's going to be the name because it's so odd but we've got the name ***,' with producers bleeping out the name to keep listeners in suspense.
The birth comes after Anne-Marie and Slowthai, 29 - real name Tyron Frampton - went through their 'hardest year' when he was accused of rape.
During the trial, the jury returned the not guilty verdict following more than ten hours of deliberation after a two-week trial, during which it was alleged the two defendants assaulted two women in the early hours of September 8, 2021.
His co-accused, Alex Blake Walker, 27, was also found not guilty of three joint charges of rape and an additional charge of sexual assault against the second complainant.
Anne-Marie stood by her husband throughout the trial. The couple, who secretly married in Las Vegas two years ago, have largely kept their relationship private.
Following Slowthai's acquittal, Anne-Marie posted a heartfelt photo of herself and their daughter surrounded by flowers, marking the end of a turbulent chapter for their family.
She wrote: '2024 the most beautiful yet hardest year of our lives. God really tryina see how strong I am hahaha. I miss you all and I love you all more than you'll ever know.
'I have SO MUCH for you in the new year that you'll probably be sick of me (please don't be) have the best break if you can and see you soon.'
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San Francisco Chronicle
34 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
New S.F. Pride festival loses headliner weeks before event
Oakland R&B singer Kehlani has pulled out of the lineup for San Francisco's new Pride celebration, SoSF, leaving the event without a main headliner three weeks before it's scheduled to take place. The festival, a new one-day block party, announced that the 'After Hours' singer has decided to no longer be a part of the line-up' in an Instagram post shared on Thursday, June 5. Organizers also announced that the event, set for June 28, will no longer be held at Pier 80's warehouse. Instead, it will take place outdoors at 900 Marin Street, just across the street from the original location. The Chronicle has reached out to SoSF for more information. 'Nasty' singer Tinashe and Grammy-winning pop artist Kim Petras remain on the updated bill as headliners, and German DJ and Portola Festival alum Horsegirl has been added as a special guest. Still others on the festival's roster appear to be in flux. San Francisco DJ Adam Kraft, the 'Reparations' drag show and event company Fake and Gay have also dropped out of the lineup according to an Instagram story post from Kraft, which Fake and Gay then reposted. Kraft teased that a statement on the artists' decision to drop out would be 'prepared soon.' None of these acts are listed on the SoSF website anymore. Kehlani has been under fire recently for her stance on the war in Gaza. Her performance at Cornell University's end-of-school-year Slope Day was nixed by the school's president in April due to what he deemed 'antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments." The artist has frequently used her platform to speak out in opposition against Israel and Zionism. She included keffiyehs, traditional Arabic scarves often associated with Palestinian identity, in the music video for her 2024 song 'Next 2 U,' which also uses the phrase 'long live the intifada,' which translates to 'uprising' or 'resistance' in Arabic. The term is also considered, by some, as a call for violence against Jews. Though the Oakland School for the Arts alum quickly responded via an Instagram video, refuting accusations of antisemitism by clarifying that she is 'anti-genocide' and 'anti the actions of the Israeli government,' more concert cancellations followed.
Business Insider
35 minutes ago
- Business Insider
The stars of 'Stranger Things,' ranked by success
14. Priah Ferguson Ferguson, who plays Lucas' sassy (and almost always correct) little sister Erica Sinclair, is the youngest member of the main cast at 18. She was 11 when she joined "Stranger Things" in season two. Impressively, while she was shooting the show, she was also balancing her studies — she graduated from high school this year. She wrote to her 3.6 million Instagram followers that "balancing an adult career — on and off screen" while maintaining an above-average GPA at her public high school was a "unique journey." Besides playing Erica, Ferguson had roles in the films "The Oath" and "The Curse of Bridge Hollow" (another Netflix joint). She's also had voice roles in animated series "Hamster & Gretel" and "My Dad the Bounty Hunter." Now she's done with school and has more time to focus on her career, we expect Ferguson will appear in more scene-stealing roles. 13. Charlie Heaton Heaton, 31, plays Jonathan Byers, Will's devoted older brother who will do anything to help Will and his mom. He was 22 when the show began, playing a high school sophomore. The British actor hasn't done much outside the show. He was in the calamitous final 20th Century Fox "X-Men" movie, " The New Mutants," in 2020, which essentially doesn't exist. He also stared in the indie movie "No Future," which never had a wide release, and "The Souvenir Part II," which was critically beloved but not a big box-office hit. On the TV front, he only appeared in an episode of the 2020 anthology series "Soulmate." And while he has 5.3 million followers on Instagram, that number doesn't compare to some of the follower counts of his fellow cast members. We'd argue that Heaton's biggest claim to fame is his real-life relationship with Natalia Dyer, his on-screen love interest. 12. Natalia Dyer Speaking of Dyer, 30, she's next up on the list. She plays Nancy Wheeler, Mike's older sister with an investigative streak. Nancy was also involved in a love triangle with her first love, Steve, and Jonathan. She eventually picked Jonathan, but some moments in season four made it seem like a possible "Stancy" reunion is in the cards. Dyer, who was 21 when the show began, has the edge on her boyfriend, Heaton. She's appeared in multiple short films during her "Stranger Things" tenure, and had supporting roles in films like "Velvet Buzzsaw" and "Things Heard & Seen" (both Netflix films). She also had a lead role in the coming-of-age indie "Yes, God, Yes," released in 2020. But it's been five years, and she hasn't been able to parlay that into more leading roles. In 2023, she starred in the first season of the Peacock series "Based on a True Story" alongside Chris Messina and Kaley Cuoco. 11. Eduardo Franco Franco joined the cast in the fourth season of "Stranger Things" as Argyle, Jonathan's stoner best friend in California. Before even joining the show, 30-year-old Franco was well on his way to becoming a zillennial "that guy" — he's had recognizable roles in projects like " Booksmart," "Superintelligence," "Self Reliance," "American Vandal," and "Y2K" just last year. Franco also has had successful voice roles. He starred in "Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken," and has been playing DJ Catnip on the hit children's show "Gabby's Dollhouse" since 2021. A feature-length "Gabby's Dollhouse" film is set to premiere this year, with Franco reprising his role. His social media is what takes him down a bit, with 533,000 followers on Instagram. 10. Dacre Montgomery Montgomery was 23 years old when he joined "Stranger Things" in season two as Max's older stepbrother, Billy Hargrove, who made it his personal mission to bully Max, her friends, and even Steve. Now 30, Montgomery has been steadily working, but hasn't gotten his true big break. The same year he joined "Stranger Things," he starred in the ill-conceived "Power Rangers" movie as the Red Ranger. Since then, he had a small role in "Elvis" and starred in the underrated 2020 rom-com "The Broken Hearts Gallery." However, Montgomery has big things coming soon. He has three movies on the docket: "Faces of Death," which costars Barbie Ferreira, Josie Totah, Charli XCX, and Jermaine Fowler; "Dead Man's Wire," which will be directed by Gus Van Sant and costars Bill Skarsgård, Colman Domingo, Myha'la, and Cary Elwes; and "The Engagement Party" which will also be Montgomery's directorial debut. But since those projects haven't come out yet, he can't be too high on this list. 9. Noah Schnapp Schnapp, 20, has played Will Byers, who was originally taken to the Upside Down (a dark parallel universe) in the show's first episode, since he was 12. Pre-"Stranger Things," Schnapp had a small role in "Bridge of Spies" and played Charlie Brown in "The Peanuts Movie." Since playing Will, Schnapp had a small role in "Hubie Halloween" (a Netflix movie) and starred in the indie film "Waiting for Anya," both in 2020. In the five years since, he's had just one other role, appearing in the 2023 thriller "The Tutor," which was a flop critically and financially. There's a reason for his slowdown in work, though — since 2022, he's attended the University of Pennsylvania. He's also leveraged his fame to become a business owner (he started the company TBH, which is a healthier alternative to spreads like Nutella) and YouTuber. He has 4.56 million subscribers on the site, even though he hasn't posted in years. He also has a huge Instagram presence, with 21.4 million followers. Schnapp has mainly been in headlines for his views on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Per Entertainment Weekly, after he made posts supporting Zionism in 2023, some fans called for a boycott of season five (which was then in production) or for Schnapp to be fired. In a January 2024 TikTok post, he said, "I feel like my thoughts and beliefs have been so far misconstrued from anything even close to what I believe." He continued, "I think anyone with any ounce of humanity would hope for an end to the hostility on both sides." 8. Caleb McLaughlin McLaughlin has played Lucas Sinclair, the more levelheaded and skeptical member of the core group, since season one, when he was 15. Now 23, McLaughlin has arguably undergone the biggest transformation — he even has a beard! Like many of his costars, McLaughlin has continued to work with Netflix. He appeared in "High Flying Bird" (directed by Steven Soderbergh), "Concrete Cowboy," and "The Deliverance," all Netflix originals. He had a role in the 2023 biblical comedy "The Book of Clarence," which was a box-office flop but critically well-liked. He also played former NBA player and current college coach Dru Joyce III in "Shooting Stars," a Peacock film about a young LeBron James. "Stranger Things" isn't the only TV show he's done, either. He played Ricky Bell in the BET miniseries "The New Edition Story," and has had voice roles in "Summer Camp Island," "Ultra City Smiths," and "The Boys Presents: Diabolical." 7. Gaten Matarazzo Matarazzo, 22, plays the lovably geeky Dustin Henderson, who formed a bond with older kids Steve and Eddie. He was 14 when the show began airing. Matarazzo has since built himself a very well-rounded career. In addition to his movie roles ("Honor Society," "My Father's Dragon," "Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain" and the upcoming "Animal Farm" remake) and theater roles ("Into the Woods," "Parade," and the original cast of the "Sweeney Todd" revival), Matarazzo has also made himself a TV personality; he executive-produced and hosted the Netflix hidden-camera series "Prank Encounters." 6. Maya Hawke Hawke, 26, joined the show in season three in 2019, when she was 21. She plays Robin Buckley, originally Steve's coworker at Scoops Ahoy, but soon she becomes his best friend. She's also one of the show's two canonically queer characters, alongside Will. Technically, Hawke has been famous since birth, as her parents are Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. But 2019 was her breakout year, as she joined "Stranger Things" and appeared in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." Like the rest of her costars, Hawke has a good relationship with Netflix. She starred in "Fear Street Part One: 1994," "Do Revenge," and "Maestro," all on the streamer. Besides that, Hawke appeared in the Wes Anderson film "Asteroid City" and the highest-grossing film of 2024, " Inside Out 2." She voiced a new emotion, Anxiety. Next year will be a big one, though. Hawke was announced to be joining the cast of " The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping" as Wiress, originally played by Amanda Plummer in "Catching Fire." Hawke has a music career, as well. She's released three albums: "Blush" (2020), "Moss" (2022), and "Chaos Angel" (2024). She's set to resume her world tour for "Chaos Angel" this summer. 5. Finn Wolfhard Wolfhard, 22, is the show's lead character, Mike Wheeler. He's the one who decides to go looking for Will after he goes missing and forms a special bond with the mysterious girl they meet in the woods. We know the most about his home life, as his sister Nancy is a main character, and we've met his parents and younger sister, as well. He began playing Mike when he was 13 years old. Wolfhard has two successful franchises to his name. He played young Richie in 2017's " It" (which made $704 million) and 2019's " It Chapter Two" (which made $473 million). He also appeared in " Ghostbusters: Afterlife" and "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire," which each made around $200 million worldwide. In 2024, he had a small role in "Saturday Night," and this year, he appeared in the A24 film "The Legend of Ochi." His directorial debut, "Hell of a Summer," premiered this April and made back its budget, per The Numbers. Wolfhard has also become a successful voice actor. He voiced Pugsley in the animated "Addams Family" movie, which also made around $200 million (though he was recast for the 2021 sequel), and voiced Candlewick in 2021's " Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio," which went on to win best animated feature at the Academy Awards. It's a wonder that Wolfhard also has time for a career as a musician. From 2017 to 2019, he was the lead singer of the band Calpurnia. He then joined the band The Aubreys, which released its debut album in 2021. On June 6, Wolfhard will release his debut solo album called "Happy Birthday." He's going on a mini-tour to support it during the month. 4. Joe Keery At last, we've come to Keery, aka Steve " The Hair" Harrington. Steve began the show as one of the mean popular kids, but has gone through a heartwarming transformation to become a fan favorite. Also, remember that baseball bat with the nails in it? Swoon. Keery was 24 when the show started airing, and now he's 33, the oldest of the main "kids" cast. His career has taken off since then. He was the lead of the 2020 black comedy/horror film "Spree," starred in "Free Guy" and "Pavements," and has an upcoming film co-starring Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, and Vanessa Redgrave called "Cold Storage." He also had a main role in the fifth season of the anthology series " Fargo." But where Keery's edge lies is his music. While his costars have semi-successful musical careers, Keery (as his alter ego Djo) has had real success. His song "End of Beginning" was a bona fide hit in 2024, peaking at No. 11 on the Hot 100 chart, and received Billboard Music Award and Brit Award nominations. His 2025 album, "The Crux," peaked at No. 10 on the US Rock chart and No. 50 on the Billboard 200. The song "Charlie's Garden " is dedicated to his "Stranger Things" costar and friend Charlie Heaton. While Keery doesn't have a personal Instagram, he does have one as Djo, which has 1.4 million followers. He'll be touring through October 2025. 3. Sadie Sink Sink, 23, joined "Stranger Things" in season two as Max Mayfield, the new kid in Hawkins and a tomboy able to keep up with Mike and his friends, when she was 14. She eventually develops a close friendship with Eleven and begins dating Lucas in season three. Max was one of the biggest parts of season four. A pivotal scene in which she escapes the Upside Down helped bring the 1985 Kate Bush song " Running Up That Hill" back to the top of the charts, peaking at No. 3 on the Hot 100. Since joining "Stranger Things," Sink starred in the two Netflix horror films: "Fear Street 1978" and "Fear Street 1666." She also starred in the 2022 Oscar-winning film "The Whale," which earned her a Critics' Choice Award nomination. She began starring in the Broadway play "John Proctor Is the Villain" in 2025, which earned her a Tony Award nomination for best actress in a play. Sink is rumored to have an undisclosed role in the 2026 film "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," per Deadline. Now, we can't talk about Sink without mentioning her role as, essentially, the Taylor Swift self-insert role in " All Too Well: The Short Film," the music video for the 10-minute version of "All Too Well." If Swift picks you to play a fictional version of herself, you know you've made it. 2. Joseph Quinn If you were on TikTok in the summer of 2022, it was impossible to miss the sound of Quinn's voice screaming for Chrissy to wake up. Quinn, 31, joined the cast in season four as a high school (super) senior named Eddie Munson, a heavy-metal-loving, Dungeons-and-Dragons-playing sweetie who bonds with Dustin. Quinn's this high on the list because, in the three years since he was on the show, his career has soared. Since last year, he's been in "A Quiet Place: Day One" (a hit), " Gladiator II" (another hit), " Warfare," and will play none other than the Human Torch in " The Fantastic Four: First Steps" in July. And that's not all. In addition to reprising his role in "Avengers: Doomsday," he was announced to be playing George Harrison in Sam Mendes' four-part Beatles movie extravaganza. Quinn has 5.6 million followers on Instagram — not bad for someone who only joined the app in 2022 to promote "Stranger Things." 1. Millie Bobby Brown We haven't really mentioned Eleven (as played by Brown) in this ranking, because it's hard to explain her character without sounding a bit out there. But here we go: Eleven is a young girl who escaped from a secret government lab after discovering she has immense psychic powers. Brown, 21, was easily the breakout star of the show. During Halloween 2016, that pink dress, blonde wig, fake nosebleed, and Eggo box were unavoidable. Brown was just 12 when "Stranger Things" premiered, and received back-to-back Emmy nominations before she was 16. Since then, she's appeared in "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" ($387 million worldwide) and "Godzilla vs. Kong" ($470 million worldwide). She's also starred and produced in four Netflix movies (" Enola Holmes," "Enola Holmes 2," "Damsel" and " The Electric State" — three of which were huge hits) and has another "Enola" film on the way. She's proven herself to be a savvy businesswoman. She was reportedly paid $10 million for " Enola Holmes 2," and Brown has founded three successful companies: Florence by Mills Beauty, Florence by Mills Coffee, and Florence by Mills Fashion. Her beauty brand is available at Ulta, while her coffee is on shelves at Walmart. Brown also proved just how famous she was when she married Jake Bongiovi (son of Jon Bon Jovi) in 2024 and their wedding made dozens of headlines. And in case all that hasn't convinced you, Brown is far and away the most followed person from the cast, with a staggering 63.8 million followers on Instagram.
Time Magazine
44 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
The 14 Best Books of 2025 So Far
There's no better time than the start of summer to take a pause and reset your priorities. And, if we may be so bold, one of those priorities really should be to dig into one of the many great new books that have been published this year. It's only June, and yet we've already been blessed with a wealth of heart-rending memoirs, absorbing novels, and mind-expanding nonfiction. Meander through the beguiling mind of a theater actress, take a siblings road trip that challenges the very notion of family, or delve into a deep, personal secret. Here, the 14 best books of the year so far. The Antidote, Karen Russell It feels like the U.S. has lived 100 lifetimes since Karen Russell's much-lauded 2011 debut Swamplandia!, but it's safe to say that her highly anticipated follow-up The Antidote was worth the wait. An American epic that takes place in the 1930s in the fictional town of Uz, Neb., the story centers on a prairie witch who calls herself 'the Antidote.' A healer of sorts, the Antidote, like other prairie witches, is a keeper of others' thoughts—a memory vault who absorbs the heaviness of people's grief so they may have a chance at feeling lightness again. But when a dust bowl devastates the town, it takes the witch's memory deposits with it and leaves her fearful for her safety. What will happen to her when people can no longer unload their worst—and have to actually live with themselves? Told from the vantage point of multiple inhabitants of Uz, The Antidote is a sprawling yet meticulous story that implores us to see American history in its fullness, scars and all.— Rachel Sonis Audition, Katie Kitamura's taut and incisive follow-up to Intimacies, begins on a rich premise. The narrator, a successful actress navigating a difficult new role, goes to a Manhattan restaurant to meet a younger man, Xavier, who claims he's her son. It's impossible. The actress, who goes unnamed, has never given birth or been a parent. But the strange encounter isn't their last; Xavier begins working on the same play, and his bold assertion prompts her to unravel the many choices and performances that have brought her to this particular moment, on stage and in life. Halfway through, Audition changes realities, completely redefining the relationship between the two. Kitamura's tantalizing novel asks a lot of the reader, offering multiple versions of the same life that circle around an idea raised by the protagonist herself:'As you get older things become less clear.' —Mahita Gajanan In his second novel, Ocean Vuong sheds the epistolary conceit of his acclaimed debut, 2019's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. The result is a more sprawling yet direct coming-of-age tale animated by the specificity of its characters. When we meet 19-year-old Hai, he's standing ominously on a bridge in his depressed hometown of East Gladness, Conn. His first love is dead of a fentanyl overdose and his mom believes the flimsy lie that he's at medical school, leaving Hai with a craving for opioids and nowhere to go. Before he can do anything drastic, he's spotted by a dementia-stricken elderly woman, Grazina, who must sense his fundamental gentleness, because she says he can move into her place if he'll care for her. Along with his misfit coworkers at a fast-food joint, Grazina anchors the lost boy, even as her own mind drifts from its moorings. A premise that a lesser writer might churn into inspiration porn becomes, in Vuong's hands, a vivid, funny, emotionally realistic case study in the life-altering potential of community.— Judy Berman There are many debut novels about young people finding love and seeking purpose, but few are as perceptive about the connection between those pursuits as Naomi Xu Elegant's ruminative Gingko Season. Stubbornly fixated on a college boyfriend who broke her heart, 20-something narrator Penelope Lin works at a Philadelphia museum, pores over the city's history, and maintains a modest social life, largely disconnected from her family. When she meets a guy, Hoang, who has just confessed to freeing mice marked for death at the lab where he works, their excruciatingly slow-moving courtship pushes Penelope to think harder about her own principles and priorities. Elegant's writing is as unassuming as her heroine, yet the questions she raises about how to live with integrity in a compromised world can be startlingly profound.— Judy Berman The argument that flows from this book is simple: rivers, for all of the essential nutrients, biodiversity, and transportation possibilities they provide, deserve to be treated with the same respect as other living organisms. Robert Macfarlane visited three rivers, starting with the River of the Cedars in an Ecuadorian cloud forest, recently threatened by mining companies. He surveyed waterways in Chennai, India, which flood streets with crocodiles and catfish after cyclones. And he visited Mutehekau Shipu in Quebec, the first Canadian river to be given rights, including the right to be pollution-free. The author of Underland lends his expertise to raise awareness about a part of nature that is often taken for granted. Readers see that while rivers can be easily wounded, they can also quickly heal—if given the right care.— Olivia B. Waxman Ron Chernow, the author of the best-selling tomes Alexander Hamilton and Grant, offers a frank assessment of Mark Twain, the first major literary celebrity in the U.S. and a leading pundit of the Civil War era whose writings helped Americans make sense of life after slavery. While his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn became classics, Twain made poor financial decisions that bankrupted him and forced him to flee the country and spend nearly a decade in exile. Chernow's biography gives the encyclopedic treatment to the writer, boasting about 1,200 pages based on his books, letters, and unpublished manuscripts. —Olivia B. Waxman In this dystopian speculative fiction novel, Vietnamese Americans are shipped to internment camps following a terrorist attack, with their civil rights and dignity stripped in the name of national security. While the premise could result in an overly dour or preachy book, Nguyen's novel zips forward with page-turning suspense, humor, and nuance. The book revolves around four half-siblings as they each confront difficult ethical choices and navigate their relationships with an oppressive state, cultural expectations, and each other. While parts of the novel are carefully grounded in history—especially in the experience of Japanese-American incarceration during World War II—the book also crackles with modern culture and proves gaspingly relevant in an era of division and heightened surveillance.— Andrew R. Chow At the center of Nicole Cuffy's O Sinners! is Faruq Zaidi, a Brooklyn-based journalist grieving the recent death of his devout Muslim father. After learning about a cult called 'the nameless,' whose followers abide by teachings like "create beauty" and "do not despair at death," Faruq—a skeptic who has felt disconnected from faith and religion since he was a teenager—travels to their compound in the California Redwoods to report a story. But as he grows closer to the group's inscrutable leader, a Black Vietnam War veteran called Odo, Faruq begins to question more than just the secret inner-workings of the cult itself. 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But, in the determination of those standing up for their beliefs, El Akkad manages to find hope amid the fantasy of Western liberalism.— Meg Zukin In Kevin Wilson's latest novel, Mad spends her days working on a farm with her mom. She hasn't seen her dad in two decades and she's settled into a routine that's not particularly fulfilling, but she's made her peace with that. Then, a stranger appears at her front door and announces that he's her older half-brother, and that their father pulled a disappearing act on not just him and Mad, but other families too. He convinces her to join him on a cross-country road trip to round up their other siblings and find their father. What ensues is an often hilarious and sometimes devastating exploration of what really makes a family. Like Wilson's other fiction, including Nothing to See Here and Now Is Not the Time to Panic, Run for the Hills gently tugs at the heart.— Annabel Gutterman Sky Daddy is a love story, but one we're willing to bet is unlike any love story you've previously encountered. Drawing inspiration from Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Kate Folk's debut novel revolves around one woman's pursuit of her own white whale: finding her aircraft 'soulmate.' That's really the premise: our eccentric protagonist, Linda, wants to fall in love with a plane—and, in a morbid twist, she wants to 'consummate' that relationship by dying in an aviation accident. Linda is a San Francisco transplant who makes $20 an hour moderating hate comments for a video-sharing platform and devotes as much of that meager salary as possible to exploring the aircraft dating pool by catching flights. Linda is determined to keep her unusual proclivities a secret, but after her work friend, Karina, invites her to a monthly 'Vision Board Brunch' with some old college friends, Linda's attempts to manifest her idea of romantic bliss end up setting her on a path to radical self-acceptance. Sky Daddy is as poignant as it is bizarre— Megan McCluskey The Tell, Amy Griffin Rarely, if ever, has a book been endorsed by all three titans in the celebrity book club world—Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, and Jenna Bush Hager—but Amy Griffin's The Tell is no ordinary memoir. For readers of Tara Westover's Educated or Chanel Miller's Know My Name, The Tell is one of those deeply personal stories that manages to feel universal at the same time. Griffin was thriving as a businesswoman and happily married mother of four in New York City when a session with an MDMA therapist flooded her mind with long-buried memories. Suddenly, she remembered the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of a teacher starting when she was 12 years old. Shattered and enraged, Griffin struggled to reconcile her past with her carefully constructed self-image and grappled with the weight of carrying such a harrowing secret. Her memoir retraces her steps through her private grief and isolating pursuit of justice, and, ultimately, her powerful realization that to tell is to heal.— Lucy Feldman After her teenage son James dies by suicide, Yiyun Li begins writing. It's what she knows how to do. The prolific author has, tragically, been in this position before. Her older son, Vincent, died by suicide in 2017. In her transcendent new book, she writes that she does not ruminate on grief, because to grieve suggests a process to which there is an end. She knows that to continue living is to accept that she will be a parent to her children for the rest of her life. In sparing prose that cuts deeply, Li examines the relationship between language and loss, honoring the sons who she carries with her, always.— Annabel Gutterman Emma Pattee's Tilt is an apocalyptic nightmare come to life. Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping at Ikea when Oregon is hit with 'the big one'—the earthquake that people in the Pacific Northwest have been anticipating for years. Pattee's thrilling debut tracks Annie's journey through rubble, chaos, hope, and despair as she searches for her husband amid the disaster. Tilt is a propulsive account of survival, and how humanity shows up under the pressure of a catastrophe. As she treks across Portland, Annie flashes back to moments that shed light on her life choices thus far. Her marriage and career are thrust under a microscope as she encounters others in crisis: the wounded, the searching, the lost, and the desperate. Best read in one sitting, Tilt is a raw examination of motherhood and its most extreme demands.— Meg Zukin
