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Daley, Mark. Safe: Two Dads, the Broken Foster Care System, and the Risks We Take for Family. Atria. Jan. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9781668008782. $28.99. MEMOIR

Founder of TheFosterParent.com as well as One Iowa, the state’s largest LGBTQ+ equality organization, Daley first saw the inadequacies of the U.S. foster care system when he and his husband fostered an infant and toddler. Facing intergenerational trauma, inadequate support, and systemic issues of prejudice, they learned to become parents even as they knew the children came first and might be reunited with their family.

Hefner, Crystal. Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself. Grand Central. Jan. 2024. 272p. ISBN 9781538765678. $30. MEMOIR

The widow of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Crysal Hefner probes the misogyny of the Playboy ethos while pondering her own lost years. Meeting Hefner at age 21, she was soon competing with his other girlfriends (whom he strictly governed) and eventually lost her sense of self outside of her Playboy role. Now she’s trying to to re-create her life. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Horton, Michelle. Dear Sister: A Memoir of Secrets, Survival, and Unbreakable Bonds. Grand Central. Jan. 2024. 352p. ISBN 9781538757154. $30. MEMOIR

When her sister ended up in jail for killing her abusive partner after years of violence, Horton took over care of her sister’s children while battling the criminal justice system on her sister’s behalf. Here, she also looks back at their childhood, seeking to understand what led to her sister's difficulties and discussing their deep and abiding bond. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Martin, Manjula. The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History. Pantheon. Jan. 2024. 336p. ISBN 9780593317150. $29. Downloadable. MEMOIR

Hoping for relief from a health crisis that left her with chronic pain while wanting to be closer to the wilderness she loved, Martin moved to the Northern California woods. Though she found healing, she also had to confront an ecosystem in climate crisis, including the growing danger of forest fires. Martin knows her flora; with her father, Orin Martin, she won the 2020 American Horticultural Society Book Award for Fruit Trees for Every Garden.

Pendleton, Madeline. I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt. Doubleday. Jan. 2024. 336p. ISBN 9780385549783. $27. Downloadable. MEMOIR

TikTok superstar Pendleton went from barely scraping by to creating Tunnel Vision, a multi-million-dollar clothing company, but she’s a CEO with a difference. In her vision of a compassionate alternative to capitalism, profits are shared equally among employees, everyone works a four-day week, and everyone is given a car. Along with her story, she shares financial advice.

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