July is full of exciting new reads. Check out some of these new releases we’ve been buzzing about. The descriptions are provided by the books’ publishers.
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
(On sale July 10)
Following her international publishing phenomenon, A Discovery of Witches, comes Harkness’s much-anticipated second book in the magical All Souls Trilogy. Shadow of Night picks up where the first book ended in a dramatic cliffhanger featuring Diana Bishop (Oxford scholar and reluctant witch) and Matthew Clairmont (handsome geneticist and vampire). In Book Two, Diana and Matthew find themselves investigating the secretive School of Night that includes Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh, while the mystery surrounding Ashmole 782 deepens.
Gold by Chris Cleave
(On Sale July 3)
On the eve of their last Olympics in London 2012, elite athletes Zoe and Katie, who have been friends since their first day of training, must face each other and their own mortality to decide what they’re willing to sacrifice for the people they love, even when lives are at stake. This novel about two female Olympians, friends, and competitors promises to be as riveting as Cleave’s recent #1 New York Times bestseller, Little Bee.
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
Fourteen-year-old June Elbus has only truly felt understood by one person: her uncle and renowned painter, Finn Weiss. When he dies suddenly and mysteriously, June’s world is upended. But she soon strikes up a strange relationship with Toby, a man she noticed at her uncle’s funeral who sent her one of Finn’s teapots in the mail several days later. This striking literary debut is recommended for fans of Aimme Bender and Charles Baxter; it’s a moving novel about grief, renewal, love, and unlikely friendships.
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
On an ordinary Saturday morning, Julia, her family, and the rest of the world wake to discover that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. Karen Thompson Walker’s debut novel, The Age of Miracles, beautifully maps the effects of big and small catastrophes on the lives of ordinary people, and on one girl in particular. It is an extraordinary coming-of-age story set against an upending of life as we know it, written in graceful prose, and with unforgettable characters.
Opium Fiend by Steven Martin
An obsessive collector with a fascination for the old Orient, San Diego-born Steven Martin settled in Thailand and began to gather what would become the world’s largest and most-valuable collection of antique opium-smoking paraphernalia. But while working on a freelance assignment for a Time article about the disappearing culture of opium smoking, Martin developed an all-consuming addiction to the drug. Martin (a recent consultant for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire) has written a fascinating drug memoir that is also about the obsession of collecting.
Be sure to check out Stephanya, BookPeople’s fantastic Gifts Inventory Manager’s awesome Q&A with Steven Martin himself!
BookPeople 
So excited for Shadow of Night!