Molly Hagan, the protagonist of Megan Caldwell's Vanity Fare, is a 40-year-old single mother who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. She suffers the sting of a husband who left her for a younger woman; a traumatized six-year-old son who asks too many questions and is begging for an exotic pet; a mother whose finances have collapsed and who now has nowhere to live; and well-meaning friends and a shrink who pressure Molly to make changes in her life. Molly's troubles grow even deeper when she learns that she's penniless and can't even pay the rent.

When an old friend offers Molly a copywriting job at a new bakery, Molly jumps at the chance for employment. The venue is located near the New York Public Library, and the owner wants to make the bakery "a destination point." Inspired by the challenge, Molly comes up with a "literary-food-is-delicious" schematic for what she envisions will become "Vanity Fare." In the midst of pulling together her presentation, Molly suddenly finds herself being wooed by both the sexy British pastry chef with an "upper-crust, devil-may-care Hugh Grant accent" and his aloof business partner (who becomes more emotionally attractive as he forms a bond with Molly's son).

Each chapter commences with blurbs that cleverly pair literary references and puns with bakery offerings, such as "Much Ado about Muffins," "A Room of One's Scone" and "Catcher in the Rye Bread." Caldwell has whipped up a delicious, well-plotted romance where a smart, self-deprecating heroine conquers real-world issues with good humor. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

Samantha McDonough, frustrated scholar and Jane Austen fangirl, finds a letter written by Austen hinting at a lost manuscript hidden in a book of poetry. Convinced the manuscript might still be at the Devon manor house where it went missing, Sam travels to the estate and convinces Anthony, the house's young, handsome owner, to help her search. When they unearth the manuscript after a brief hunt, the two settle down to read it together.

Syrie James intrigues readers with the framing story of The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen (what fan wouldn't love to discover an unpublished novel by Jane?), but the heart of the book is the lost manuscript itself. James expertly blends Austen archetypes--bumbling suitors, lady friends both silly and sympathetic, bemused fathers--with her own narrative wit, infusing the story of The Stanhopes with charm and depth.

Austen devotees will recognize familiar plot threads and locations, and enjoy meeting characters reminiscent of the Bennets, the Woodhouses and their friends. Periodically, Sam and Anthony reappear, first discussing the manuscript and then disagreeing on what to do with it. Despite the friction caused by their differing opinions, readers will spot the budding romance before Sam does.

While both the framing story and the ending are a bit predictable, the story of Rebecca Stanhope, her family and her search for love make James's novel a sweet, enjoyable read for any Austen fan. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

For many decades, Pulitzer Prize-winner Jared Diamond (Collapse; Guns, Germs and Steel) has split his time between his native United States and the traditional societies of New Guinea. In The World Until Yesterday, he compares traditional ways of life with "WEIRD" ("Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic") methods of problem-solving. Recognizing the daunting breadth of such a subject, he selects a few areas for examination, including dispute resolution, child-rearing, elder care, religion and the connection between lifestyle and non-communicable diseases like Type II diabetes. In each area, he compares traditional practices with modern ones, considering the evidence from angles both strictly scientific and personal.

Diamond supplements his extensive fieldwork with substantial research to draw credible conclusions and posit plausible theories. But he writes conversationally, using the first person liberally as he meanders across disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, geography, statistics and evolutionary biology. This disarmingly personal tone is one of the greatest strengths of the book. Diamond also discusses preconceived notions that he and the reader may have, then moves on to new theoretical ground. While acknowledging aspects of traditional societies to which we do not wish to return--cyclical violence, infanticide, frequent starvation--he identifies certain strengths as well, like  negligible rates of heart disease and restorative justice systems. "What can we learn from traditional societies?" Diamond asks in his subtitle; his plan to discover the wisdom and experimentation of more than 10,000 years of human society is well-executed. --Julia Jenkins, librarian and blogger at Pages of Julia

In On the Map, which tells the history of cartography from the Great Library at Alexandria to Google Earth, Simon Garfield once again takes a subject that seems the province of a small group of enthusiasts and opens it for a larger audience. Along the way, he links the development of maps to the larger history of human progress--from the theory that the first maps, drawn in the dust of Africa's Rift Valley, may have encouraged the development of the human brain to modern efforts to map the brain itself.

Written in the breezy style of Garfield's bestselling Just My Type, On the Map is structured as a series of engaging stories told in more or less chronological order. Each chapter uses a specific map, person or idea to explore a bigger issue. Interspersed with the main chapters are smaller, more eccentric stories Garfield calls Pocket Maps: detours that shed light on the origins of "here be dragons," the different ways man and women read maps or the difficulties of refolding a paper map. Whether dealing with familiar topics, such as the Lewis and Clark expedition, or introducing the reader to lesser-known subjects like the legendary (and imaginary) Mountains of Kong, Garfield consistently delivers "aha!" moments.

On the Map will appeal to mapheads, history buffs, the terminally curious and anyone who enjoys a well-told story. --Pamela Toler, blogging at History in the Margins

In the wake of Downton Abbey's wild success, Alison Maloney's Life Below Stairs offers an in-depth look at the lives of the serving class in the era of King Edward VII (1901-1910) and the Great War. She examines all aspects of servants' place in society and relationships to their masters and one another, including social backgrounds, the responsibilities of each servant in households large and small--from the lowly house or hall boy and the maid-of-all-work to the butler and housekeeper--and their working conditions. She also provides details on fine dining, complete with table service instructions and menus that boggle the mind. Finally, she describes servants' opportunities for retirement or marriage out of service, giving the modern reader an idea of exactly how limited their lives could be. Many poor children and teens would feel lucky to get a position in a "good house," and not feel dishonored by such a post--in contrast, a contemporary source relates, "service [was] considered rather degrading in America."

Although comprehensive in its survey of staff's lives, options, and conditions, Life Below Stairs is a surprisingly easy read. Short chapters and accompanying tables, contemporary newspaper clippings and illustrations make this an accessible and charming way to study the lives of Edwardian servants. As a companion to Downton Abbey or simply a dip into another time, Maloney's study satisfies. --Julia Jenkins, librarian and blogger at Pages of Julia

Cultural historian Jessica Grogan offers an intellectually stimulating examination of 1960s humanistic psychology in Encountering America. The discipline of humanistic psychology began as a more humane, less pathology-centered approach to healing, serving as a corrective to both traditional psychotherapy and the soul-denying behaviorism in vogue during post-World War II America. Grogan skillfully paints a picture of its founders--men like Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers and Rollo May--noting the internal and external conflicts that arose and threatened to undermine the movement. She also incisively examines how the streak of self-indulgence in the 1960s commandeered and corrupted humanistic psychology, which had bravely tackled the challenges of race and feminism, in the name of drugs and the guru model of leadership. Grogan's portrait of Abraham Maslow, a charismatic charmer with a true revolutionary's zeal for human and societal transformation, is worth the read alone. Maslow dealt with crippling heart problems during the last decade of his life; his struggle to maintain his vision and pass it in perpetuity to others before his demise is poignant and gripping.

Encountering America weaves together a tapestry and history of a humane ideal for living that continues to define our societal world view. It is a work of deep cultural understanding that breaks down complex issues in a coherent manner, bursting with oversized personalities and thought-provoking ideas. --Donald Powell, freelance writer

National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin (Bomb) starts his latest nonfiction odyssey with Pete McCartney's great train escape in 1864 western Pennsylvania. A counterfeiter who'd bribed his way out of many a jam, McCartney thought it might be harder to buy his way out of Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., and instead decided to leap from a moving train.

McCartney's brother-in-law, Benjamin Boyd, was an even more gifted counterfeiter. Boyd was so good that the guys in his ring plotted to steal President Lincoln's corpse and hold it for ransom: Boyd's freedom from prison in exchange for the 16th president's body restored to his sarcophagus. Sheinkin begins with a true crime set-up, then fills in details about the logistics of counterfeiting and the original mission of the Secret Service (to catch the counterfeiters). He spices up the account with delicious slang. "Shovers" moved the "coney" (counterfeit money) around; "ropers" informed on their pals; and "body snatchers" or "ghouls" plucked newly buried corpses from the graves, often for good pay from the medical profession. The author sticks to the facts and never speculates.

For budding history buffs and fans of detective stories, this tale of a thieving crew will keep readers riveted from start to finish. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness

Jennifer Rush's thrilling debut takes a memorable foursome of male amnesiacs on a journey to rediscover who they are--with a girl whose past is equally mysterious.

A clandestine company, the Branch, built a lab beneath a farmhouse in Treger Creek, N.Y., for an experiment involving four genetically altered boys. Anna Mason has been helping her father observe them and record data for the boys' treatments for the past eight months. She's also been sneaking down to see the boys, specifically Sam, for the past five years. The four suffer from amnesia, an "unplanned side effect" of "alterations" that have made them stronger, their senses sharper. Anna suspects they're being prepped to be superheroes. She discovers she isn't far off when they resist the Branch's agents, who try to bring the teens back to headquarters, before fleeing the lab with Anna.

The boys are constantly running from the Branch, with occasional well-detailed fight scenes, while trying to make sense of the letter-scars on their bodies. Rush creates a fantastic dynamic for the altered boys as they struggle to remember who they are, while also suspecting their memories may be better left buried. The author also equips the boys with their own quirks, to distinguish them from one another, and their haunting flashbacks will win readers' sympathy.

Plenty of codes to decipher and adrenaline-packed scenes make Altered a good match for False Memory fans, and Rush's memorable ending teases to the second installment in her trilogy. --Adam Silvera, reviewer and former bookseller

As with the women stars of her Almost Astronauts, Tanya Lee Stone here offers another penetrating and illuminating look at a courageous, boundary-breaking group with plenty of guts and little glory: the Triple Nickles.

During World War II, 20 African-Americans trained for combat to become members of the first all-black paratrooper unit, called the Triple Nickles. Their journey takes many surprising twists and turns--an odyssey of spiritual, physical and mental strengthening unlike that of their white counterparts. The main thread follows Walter Morris, first sergeant of the Service Company of the Parachute School at Fort Benning, Ga. To keep up the morale of his men, whose job was to safeguard the facility, Morris began putting them through the exercises he'd watched the white jumpers practice. At the same time, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt averted a 1941 march being planned by A. Philip Randolph by signing the Fair Employment Act, a nod to integrating the armed forces without actually requiring it, and General Gaither, who had observed Morris and his men, drafted them into the first all-black unit of paratroopers: the 555th Parachute Infantry Company.

Stone shows how the Triple Nickles made an impact in the war in the Pacific, and shares a little-known story of balloon bombs sent by Japan to the West Coast and kept secret by U.S. intelligence. The author's endnotes about her research make this an invaluable book for young people starting to embark on research projects of their own. A fascinating, thorough and inspiring account. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness