A hilarious and clever upmarket love story and cozy mystery with a strong thread of magical realism, for readers of Carl Hiaasen’s Squeeze Me looking for a bit more tenderness, or of Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures.
IT’S HARD TO BE AN ANIMAL
by Robert Isaacs
Grand Central, Spring 2026
(via Frances Goldin Literary Agency)
Henry Parsons is walking through Central Park on a date with Molly Bent, the quirky, sweet, and endlessly interesting woman that his colleague set him up with. After a long spell of loneliness, he is feeling hopeful for the first time in years when a sweet little warbler tells him to f*** off.
A gentle soul already troubled by the rancor and insensitivity of humans in the city, Henry tries to brush it off as a hallucination. But suddenly he can hear the voices everywhere: dogs mocking their owners, sparrows fat-shaming each other, snakes pontificating about misogyny and gender politics, police horses profiling attendees of a street fair: the man who never speaks up for himself is suddenly surrounded by animals who do.
It’s all fun and games until he overhears three rats discussing a corpse in the New York subway. Unsure what to do, he lets it slip to Molly. She’s keen to investigate, and Henry is desperate for another date. Together they descend into an abandoned tunnel under the West Fourth Street station where they find a body… and the murderers find them.
For the first time in Henry’s careful life there’s no way to duck confrontation: he’s being hunted, and must find the courage to face the Scottish gangsters stalking him across the city. Of course, that same assertiveness might transform his chances with Molly too. Inspiration arrives, unexpectedly, from his roommate’s pair of feuding beta fish on an enemies-to-lovers arc, and the neighbor’s yapping Pomeranian whose wisdom changes Henry forever.
Robert Isaacs’ writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, Hindsight and The First Line. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia University with a dual thesis in fiction and nonfiction. In his checkered past he’s also worked as a musician (Grammy nominated singer, conducted at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, etc.) and street-performer (juggling, unicycling, plate-spinning, and so on.)
For the first time in Henry’s careful life there’s no way to duck confrontation: he’s being hunted, and must find the courage to face the Scottish gangsters stalking him across the city. Of course, that same assertiveness might transform his chances with Molly too. Inspiration arrives, unexpectedly, from his roommate’s pair of feuding beta fish on an enemies-to-lovers arc, and the neighbor’s yapping Pomeranian whose wisdom changes Henry forever.
Robert Isaacs’ writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, Hindsight and The First Line. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia University with a dual thesis in fiction and nonfiction. In his checkered past he’s also worked as a musician (Grammy nominated singer, conducted at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, etc.) and street-performer (juggling, unicycling, plate-spinning, and so on.).
New York City, 1911. Edith Wharton, almost equally famed for her novels and her sharp tongue, is bone-tired of Manhattan. Finding herself at a crossroads with both her marriage and her writing, she makes the decision to leave America, her publisher, and her loveless marriage.
With a leading role on a hit TV show and a relationship with Hollywood’s latest heartthrob, Meg Bryan appears to have everything she ever wanted. But underneath the layers of makeup and hairspray, her happiness is as fake as her stage name, Lana Lord. Following a small breakdown at her thirtieth birthday party, she books an impromptu trip where she knows the grass is greener: Ireland. Specifically, the quaint little village where she and her best friend Aimee always dreamt of moving―a dream that fell apart when an accident claimed Aimee’s life a decade ago. 
S.A. Cosby a remporté hier soir le Grand prix des lectrices de Elle dans la catégorie policier pour ALL THE SINNERS BLEED, paru chez Sonatine en janvier 2024 sous le titre LE SANG DES INNOCENTS (traduction de Pierre Szczeciner).
Abbi Jacobson, co-créatrice et star de la série Broad City, adaptera le roman de Isle McElroy en série TV. C’est la société Killer Films (Boys Don’t Cry, I’m Not There, Mildred Pierce, Still Alice, Carol…) qui produira la série en partenariat avec UCP (Monk, Suits, Mr. Robot, The Umbrella Academy…) Abbi Jacobson écrira également le scénario tiré du roman.
Engrossing, eye-opening, and provocative, PEOPLE COLLIDE delivers a clever twist on the “body swap” concept. Set mainly in Bulgaria and France, the novel centers on the courtship and marriage of Elijah and his wife, Elizabeth. On an otherwise regular day, Eli wakes up alone in the cramped Bulgarian apartment he shares with his more organized and successful wife, and finds himself, somehow, in her body. His male body has vanished, and the person who once resided in Elizabeth’s is gone without a trace. He comes to label this transformation as “the Incident”. Everyone they know assumes Eli abandoned Elizabeth suddenly and without explanation. What follows is a search across Europe for a missing woman—and a roving, no-holds-barred exploration of gender, identity, and embodied experience. As Eli learns to live in Elizabeth’s body (and wonders if he has lost his mind), he also begins to wonder: will their once vibrant, recently stagnant marriage finally wither in their new bodies? Or could it actually thrive?