2020 saw a spike in deaths in America, smaller than you might imagine during a pandemic, some of which could be attributed to COVID and to initial treatment strategies that were not effective. But then, in 2021, the stats people expected went off the rails. The CEO of the OneAmerica insurance company publicly disclosed that during the third and fourth quarters of 2021, death in people of working age (18-64) was 40 percent higher than it was before...

Modern day kids Annie and Nico go on a magical history tour back to explore some of the worst infectious diseases of all time. The plague has caused the loss of millions and shaped the course of history for the modern world. Together, Annie and Nico explore the history of pandemics and learn about history's most notorious pandemics to better understand today's current health crisis.

Neely's monsters don't always follow her rules, so when the little girl under her bed, the man in her closet, and the disembodied voice that shadows her every move become louder, she knows she's in trouble. With a history of mental illness in her family, and the suicide of her older brother heavy on her mind, Neely takes a job as a tour guide in the one place her monsters can't follow--the caverns. There she can find peace. There she can pretend to...

Painter Annie Shaw appears to be living the American dream with her renowned journalist husband, Duncan, and daughter, Tabitha, in the Virginia countryside. The facade starts to crack when Annie discovers her elderly Vietnamese refugee mother's dead body among her hoarded goods in Annie's carriage house. In the weeks that follow, the emotionally fragile Annie gradually loses her grip on reality. Medication that once kept her obsessive-compulsive disorder...

A mixed-media illustrated exploration of the grief that follows the death of a pet, and a loving tribute to the author's border collie Momo.

Alua Arthur has answered a unique calling: helping dying people come to terms with their imminent passing. As a "death doula," she has helped countless people during the end of their lives, and each of them has taught her something. She trained for the role, but it is her natural empathy that has made her exceptionally good at what she does, whether the dying person is facing the end with calm grace or fighting hard against the failing light. In fact,...

What was Takako Konishi really doing in North Dakota, and why did she end up dead? Did she get lost and freeze to death, as the police concluded, while searching for the fictional treasure buried in a snowbank in the Coen brothers' film Fargo? Or was it something else that brought her there: unrequited love, ritual suicide, a meteor shower, a far-flung search for purpose? The seed of an obsession took root in struggling film student Jana Larson when...

Ivy loves spending time with her grandmother, especially on their trips to the beach to search for sea glass. But her heart breaks when Grandma unexpectedly dies. As Ivy works through her grief, she finds a special way to remember her grandma and share her memories of her.

For decades, cold-case homicide detective J. Warner Wallace investigated the causes behind deaths and murders, chasing one lead after another for months as he attempted to solve the case. Several of these cases remain open, unsolved mysteries.Wallace also investigated the most notable death in human history--the death of Jesus Christ--and it transformed him from an atheist into a follower of Jesus. Investigating death, surprisingly, taught him a great...

On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment? Hampton Sides' bravura account of Cook's last journey...