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Week of February 4, 2019

New in Paperback

Week of February 4, 2019

Paperback releases for the week of February 4th include AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward --- with hope and pain --- into the future; TAILSPIN, another suspenseful, sexy thriller from Sandra Brown that finds fearless pilot Rye Mallett on a dangerous mission with a mysterious woman; Chloe Benjamin's second novel, THE IMMORTALISTS, a dazzling family love story that probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next; FEEL FREE, a new collection of essays from Zadie Smith that offers a survey of important recent events in culture and politics, as well as her own life; and JACKIE, JANET & LEE, J. Randy Taraborrelli's biography of three of the most glamorous women of the 20th century --- Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis; her mother, Janet Lee Auchincloss; and her sister, Princess Lee Radziwill.

All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson - Psychological Thriller

February 5, 2019

Days before Harry Ackerson’s college graduation, his stepmother Alice calls with shocking news: his father is dead, and the police think it’s suicide. A devastated Harry returns to his father’s home in Maine, and shortly after his arrival meets a mysterious young woman named Grace McGowan. Though she claims to be new to the area, Harry begins to suspect that Grace may not be a complete stranger to his family. But she isn’t the only attractive woman taking an interest in Harry. The sensual Alice is also growing closer, coming on to him in an enticing, clearly sexual way. Harry becomes disoriented by a growing fear that both women are hiding dangerous --- even deadly --- secrets…and that neither one is telling the truth.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones - Fiction

February 5, 2019

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions written by Mario Giordano, translated by John Brownjohn - Cozy Mystery

February 5, 2019

On her 60th birthday, Auntie Poldi retires to Sicily, intending to while away the rest of her days with good wine, a view of the sea and few visitors. But Sicily isn’t quite the tranquil island she thought it would be, and something always seems to get in the way of her relaxation. When her handsome young handyman goes missing --- and is discovered murdered --- she can’t help but ask questions. Soon there’s an investigation, a smoldering police inspector, a romantic entanglement, one false lead after another, a rooftop showdown, and finally, of course, Poldi herself, slightly tousled but still perfectly poised.

Call Me Zebra by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi - Fiction

February 5, 2019

Zebra is the last in a line of anarchists, atheists and autodidacts. Alone and in exile, she leaves New York for Barcelona, retracing the journey she and her father made from Iran to the United States years ago. Books are her only companions --- until she meets Ludo. Their connection is magnetic, and fraught. They push and pull across the Mediterranean, wondering if their love --- or lust --- can free Zebra from her past.

The Color of Bee Larkham's Murder by Sarah J. Harris - Mystery

February 5, 2019

Thirteen-year-old Jasper Wishart lives in a world of dazzling color that no one else can see, least of all his dad. Words, numbers, days of the week, people’s voices --- everything has its own unique shade. But recently Jasper has been haunted by a color he doesn’t like or understand: the color of murder. Convinced he’s done something terrible to his new neighbor, Bee Larkham, Jasper revisits the events of the last few months to paint the story of their relationship from the very beginning. As he struggles to untangle the knot of untrustworthy memories and colors that will lead him to the truth, it seems that there’s someone else out there determined to stop him --- at any cost.

The Curiosities by Susan Gloss - Fiction

February 5, 2019

Art historian Nell Parker becomes the director of a new nonprofit called the Mansion Hill Artists' Colony. The colony is the brainchild of the late, unconventional society dame Betsy Barrett, who left behind her vast fortune and a killer collection of modern art to establish an artist-in-residency program. Soon one of the artists, a young metal sculptor named Odin, is keeping the other residents awake with his late-night welding projects. Despite all the drama, Nell finds something akin to a family among the members of the creative community that she’s brought together. And when her attraction to Odin begins to heat up, Nell is forced to decide what will bring her greater joy --- the creative, inspired world she's created, or the familiar but increasingly fragile one of her marriage.

Daphne by Will Boast - Fiction

February 5, 2019

Born with a rare condition in which she suffers degrees of paralysis when faced with intense emotion, Daphne has had few close friends and fewer lovers. Like her mythic namesake, one touch can freeze her. But when Daphne meets shy, charming Ollie, her well-honed defenses falter, and she’s faced with a critical choice: cling to her protective isolation or risk the recklessness of real intimacy.

Death of an Honest Man: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery by M. C. Beaton - Mystery

February 5, 2019

Nobody loves an honest man, or that was what police sergeant Hamish Macbeth tried to tell newcomer Paul English. Paul had moved to a house in Cnothan, a sour village on Hamish's beat. He attended church in Lochdubh. He told the minister, Mr. Wellington, that his sermons were boring. He accused Hamish of having dyed his fiery red hair. He told Jessie Currie --- who repeated all the last words of her twin sister --- that she needed psychiatric help. "I speak as I find," he bragged. Voices saying "I could kill that man" could be heard from Lochdubh to Cnothan. And someone did. Now Hamish is faced with a bewildering array of suspects.

The Deceivers: A John Wells Novel by Alex Berenson - Thriller

February 5, 2019

The target was the American Airlines Center, the home of the Dallas Mavericks. The FBI had told Ahmed Shakir that his drug bust would go away if he helped them, and they'd supply all the weaponry, carefully removing the firing pins before the main event. It never occurred to Ahmed to doubt them, until it was too late. Vinnie Duto, the former CIA director and now president, wants John Wells to go to Colombia. An old asset there has information to share --- and it will lead Wells to the deadliest mission of his life, an extraordinary confluence of sleeper cells, sniper teams, false flag operations, double agents high in the U.S. government, and a Russian plot to take over the government itself. If it succeeds, what happened in Texas will be only a prelude.

The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth - Psychological Thriller/Mystery

February 5, 2019

From the outside, Essie’s life looks idyllic: a loving husband, a beautiful house in a good neighborhood, and a nearby mother who dotes on her grandchildren. But few of Essie’s friends know her secret shame: that in a moment of maternal despair, she once walked away from her newborn, asleep in her carriage in a park. When a new woman named Isabelle moves in next door to Essie, she is an immediate object of curiosity in the neighborhood. As the two women grow closer and Essie’s friends voice their disapproval, it starts to become clear that Isabelle’s choice of neighborhood was no accident. And that her presence threatens to bring shocking secrets to light.

Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith - Essays

February 5, 2019

Arranged into five sections --- In the World, In the Audience, In the Gallery, On the Bookshelf, and Feel Free --- Zadie Smith’s new collection poses questions we immediately recognize. What is The Social Network --- and Facebook itself --- really about? Why do we love libraries? What will we tell our granddaughters about our collective failure to address global warming? Gathering in one place for the first time previously unpublished work, as well as already classic essays such as "Joy" and "Find Your Beach," FEEL FREE offers a survey of important recent events in culture and politics, as well as Smith's own life.

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez - Fiction

February 5, 2019

When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master. While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world and increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch - Science Fiction/Thriller

February 5, 2019

Shannon Moss is part of a clandestine division within the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. In 1997, she is assigned to solve the murder of a Navy SEAL’s family --- and to locate his vanished teenage daughter. Though she can’t share the information with conventional law enforcement, Moss discovers that the missing SEAL was an astronaut aboard the spaceship U.S.S. Libra --- a ship assumed lost to the currents of Deep Time. Moss knows first-hand the mental trauma of time-travel and believes the SEAL’s experience with the future has triggered this violence. Determined to find the missing girl and driven by a troubling connection from her own past, Moss travels ahead in time to explore possible versions of the future, seeking evidence to crack the present-day case.

The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse by Alexander McCall Smith - Historical Fiction/Humor

February 5, 2019

Val Eliot is working on an English farm during the war when she meets Mike, a U.S. Air Force pilot stationed nearby. The two become close, and after Val rescues a border collie named Peter Woodhouse, who is being mistreated by his owner, she realizes the dog would actually be safer with Mike. Soon Peter Woodhouse settles into his new home on the air force base, and Val and Mike fall deeply in love. But when a disaster jeopardizes the future of them all, Peter Woodhouse brings Ubi, a German corporal, into their orbit, sparking a friendship that comes with great risk but carries with it the richest of rewards.

The Heart Is a Shifting Sea: Love and Marriage in Mumbai by Elizabeth Flock - Family & Relationships/Sociology

February 5, 2019

In 21st-century India, tradition is colliding with Western culture, a clash that touches the lives of everyday Indians. While ethnicity, class and religion are influencing the nation’s development, so too are pop culture and technology --- an uneasy fusion whose impact is most evident in the institution of marriage. THE HEART IS A SHIFTING SEA introduces three couples whose relationships illuminate these sweeping cultural shifts in dramatic ways: Veer and Maya, a forward-thinking professional couple whose union is tested by Maya’s desire for independence; Shahzad and Sabeena, whose desperation for a child becomes entwined with the changing face of Islam; and Ashok and Parvati, whose arranged marriage blossoms into true love.

The Hundred Wells of Salaga by Ayesha Harruna Attah - Historical Fiction

February 5, 2019

Aminah lives an idyllic life until she is brutally separated from her home and forced on a journey that transforms her from a daydreamer into a resilient woman. Wurche, the willful daughter of a chief, is desperate to play an important role in her father's court. These two women's lives converge as infighting among Wurche's people threatens the region, during the height of the slave trade at the end of the 19th century.

I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon - Historical Thriller

February 5, 2019

Russia, July 17, 1918: Under direct orders from Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik secret police force Anastasia Romanov, along with the entire imperial family, into a damp basement in Siberia where they face a merciless firing squad. None survive. At least that is what the executioners have always claimed. Germany, February 17, 1920: A young woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Anastasia Romanov is pulled from a canal in Berlin and claims to be the Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia. Her detractors are convinced that she is only after the immense Romanov fortune. As rumors begin to circulate through European society that the youngest Romanov daughter has survived the massacre, old enemies and new threats are awakened.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin - Fiction

February 5, 2019

It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children --- four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness --- sneak out to hear their fortunes. Their prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11, hoping to control fate; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.

The Innocent Wife by Amy Lloyd - Psychological Thriller

February 5, 2019

Twenty years ago, Dennis Danson was arrested and imprisoned for the brutal murder of a young girl. Now he’s the subject of a true-crime documentary that’s whipping up a frenzy online to uncover the truth and free a man who has been wrongly convicted. A thousand miles away in England, Samantha is obsessed with Dennis’ case. She exchanges letters with him, and is quickly won over by his apparent charm and kindness to her. Soon she has left her old life behind to marry him and campaign for his release. However, when the campaign is successful and Dennis is freed, Sam begins to discover new details that suggest he may not be quite so innocent after all.

Jackie, Janet & Lee: The Secret Lives of Janet Auchincloss and Her Daughters, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill by J. Randy Taraborrelli - Biography

February 5, 2019

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill followed in their mother Janet’s footsteps after her marriages to the philandering socialite “Black Jack” Bouvier and the fabulously rich Standard Oil heir Hugh D. Auchincloss. Jacqueline would marry John F. Kennedy, and the story of their marriage is legendary, as is the story of her second marriage to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Less well known is the story of her love affair with a world-renowned architect and a British peer. Jackie's sister, Lee, had liaisons with one and possibly both of Jackie's husbands, in addition to her own three marriages --- to an illegitimate royal, a Polish prince and a Hollywood director.

The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantú - Memoir

February 5, 2019

For Francisco Cantú, the border is in the blood: his mother, a park ranger and daughter of a Mexican immigrant, raised him in the scrublands of the Southwest. Haunted by the landscape of his youth, Cantú joins the Border Patrol. He and his partners are posted to remote regions crisscrossed by drug routes and smuggling corridors, where they learn to track other humans under blistering sun and through frigid nights. They haul in the dead and deliver to detention those they find alive. Plagued by nightmares, he abandons the Patrol for civilian life. But when an immigrant friend travels to Mexico to visit his dying mother and does not return, Cantú discovers that the border has migrated with him, and now he must know the whole story.

A Long Way from Home by Peter Carey - Historical Fiction

February 5, 2019

Irene Bobs loves fast driving. Her husband is the best car salesman in southeastern Australia. Together they enter the 1954 Redex Trial, a weeks-long endurance contest of a car race that circles the entire continent. With them is their lanky, fair-haired navigator: deposed quiz show champion and failed schoolteacher Willie Bachhuber. If they win the Redex, the Bobs name alone will get them a dealership, and Willie will have recharged a life currently ground to a halt. But before any of that might happen, their official strip maps will lead them, without warning, out of the comfortable white Australia they know so well.

The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald - Mystery/Thriller

February 5, 2019

In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: her teenage daughter, Olivia, has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain dead, she is pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists. When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?

No Echo: A Hanne Wilhelmsen Novel by Anne Holt - Mystery

February 5, 2019

On a cold December evening, celebrity chef Brede Ziegler is discovered stabbed to death on the steps of Oslo’s police headquarters. Chef Ziegler had many famous associates and more than a few enemies among them. Was his murder a random act of violence, or did someone want him dead? Police investigator Billy T. is stymied by conflicting information about the kind of man Ziegler was. The case is hopeless until Hanne Wilhelmsen returns to Oslo after a six-month stay in Italy and teams up with Billy T. Working together, they are pulled deep into the nefarious world inhabited by Ziegler. Was he at all the chef he claimed to be? And can those who knew him be trusted?

Notes from a Black Woman's Diary: Selected Works of Kathleen Collins written by Kathleen Collins, edited by Nina Lorez Collins - Fiction/Short Stories

February 5, 2019

Relatively unknown during her life, the artist, filmmaker and writer Kathleen Collins emerged on the literary scene in 2016 with the posthumous publication of the short story collection WHATEVER HAPPENED TO INTERRACIAL LOVE? Said Zadie Smith, “To be this good and yet to be ignored is shameful, but her rediscovery is a great piece of luck for us.” That rediscovery continues in NOTES FROM A BLACK WOMAN’S DIARY, which spans genres to reveal the breadth and depth of the late author’s talent. The compilation is anchored by more of Collins’ short stories, which reveal the ways in which relationships are both formed and come undone. Also collected here is the work Collins wrote for the screen and stage.

Only Child by Rhiannon Navin - Fiction

February 5, 2019

First grader Zach Taylor is in his classroom when a gunman enters the school auditorium and the unthinkable happens, irrevocably changing the very fabric of this close-knit community. While Zach's mother pursues a quest for justice, and Zach’s father retreats into his work, Zach finds solace in the healing world of books and art. Armed with his new insights, and the optimism and stubbornness only a child could have, Zach becomes determined to help the adults in his life rediscover the universal truths of love and compassion they need to pull them through their darkest hour.

Paradox by Catherine Coulter - Thriller

February 5, 2019

Chief Ty Christie of Willicott, Maryland, witnesses a murder at dawn from the deck of her cottage on Lake Massey. When dragging the lake, not only do the divers find the murder victim, they also discover dozens of bones. Even more shocking is the identification of a unique belt buckle found among the bones. Working together with Chief Christie, Savich and Sherlock soon discover a frightening connection between the bones and the escaped psychopath.

The Pisces by Melissa Broder - Fiction

February 5, 2019

Lucy has been writing her dissertation on Sappho for nine years when she and her boyfriend break up in a dramatic flameout. After she bottoms out in Phoenix, her sister in Los Angeles insists Lucy dog-sit for the summer. But Lucy can find little relief from her anxiety --- not in the Greek chorus of women in her love addiction therapy group, not in her frequent Tinder excursions, not even in Dominic the foxhound's easy affection. Everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer while sitting alone on the beach rocks one night. But when Lucy learns the truth about his identity, their relationship, and Lucy’s understanding of what love should look like, take a very unexpected turn.

The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst - Historical Fiction

February 5, 2019

In 1940, the handsome, athletic and charismatic David Sparsholt arrives at Oxford University to study engineering, unaware of his effect on others --- especially on Evert Dax, the lonely son of a celebrated novelist who is destined to become a writer himself. Spanning three generations, THE SPARSHOLT AFFAIR plumbs the ways that the friendship between these two men will influence their lives --- and the lives of others’ --- for decades to come.

A State of Freedom by Neel Mukherjee - Fiction

February 5, 2019

Five characters, in very different circumstances --- from a domestic cook in Mumbai, to a vagrant and his dancing bear, to a girl who escapes terror in her home village for a new life in the city --- find out the meanings of dislocation and the desire for more. Set in contemporary India and moving between the reality of this world and the shadow of another, this novel of multiple narratives delivers a devastating and haunting exploration of the unquenchable human urge to strive for a different life.

Tailspin by Sandra Brown - Romantic Suspense

February 5, 2019

Rye Mallett, a fearless "freight dog" pilot, is asked to fly into a completely fogbound northern Georgia town and deliver a mysterious black box to a Dr. Lambert. As Rye's plane nears the isolated landing strip, more trouble than inclement weather awaits him. He is greeted first by a sabotage attempt on his plane that causes him to crash land, and then by Dr. Brynn O'Neal, who claims she was sent for the box in Dr. Lambert's stead. Despite Rye's "no-involvement" policy when it comes to other people's problems, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to the intrigue surrounding his cargo…and to the mysterious and alluring Brynn. Soon Rye and Brynn are in a treacherous 48-hour race to deliver the box before time runs out.

Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering - Fiction

February 5, 2019

Lucy Albright is far from her Long Island upbringing when she arrives on the campus of her small California college, and happy to be hundreds of miles from her mother, whom she has never forgiven for an act of betrayal in her early teen years. Quickly grasping at her fresh start, Lucy embraces college life and all it has to offer. And then she meets Stephen DeMarco, who sees something in Lucy that no one else has. Meanwhile, Stephen is determined to forget an incident buried in his past that, if exposed, could ruin him. Lucy knows there’s something about Stephen that isn’t to be trusted. Stephen knows Lucy can’t tear herself away. And their addicting entanglement will have consequences they never could have imagined.

Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman - Horror/Western

February 5, 2019

Carol Evers is a woman with a dark secret. She has died many times, but her deaths are not final: They are comas, a waking slumber indistinguishable from death, each lasting days. Only two people know of Carol’s eerie condition. One is her husband, Dwight, who married Carol for her fortune, and --- when she lapses into another coma --- plots to seize it by proclaiming her dead and quickly burying her…alive. The other is her lost love, the infamous outlaw James Moxie. When word of Carol’s dreadful fate reaches him, Moxie rides the Trail again to save his beloved from an early, unnatural grave. And all the while, Carol fights to free herself from the crippling darkness that binds her.

We Own the Sky by Luke Allnutt - Fiction

February 5, 2019

Rob Coates is a survivor. He’d thought he’d won the lottery of life --- a beautiful home, an incredible wife Anna, and their precious son Jack, who makes every day an extraordinary adventure. But when tragedy befalls his family, Rob becomes his own worst enemy, pushing away all he holds dear. With his world now suddenly just outside of his grasp, Rob turns to photography, capturing the beautiful skyscrapers and clifftops he used to visit --- memories of the time when his family was happy. And just when it feels as though there’s nowhere left to turn, Rob embarks on the most unforgettable of journeys to reclaim the joy and love he thought he’d lost.

Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira - Historical Fiction

February 5, 2019

New York, 1879: An epic blizzard descends on Albany, devastating the city. When the snow finally settles, two newly orphaned girls are missing. Determined not to give up hope, Dr. Mary Sutter, a former Civil War surgeon, searches for the two sisters. When what happened to them is finally revealed, Dr. Sutter must fight the most powerful of Albany's citizens, risking personal and public danger as she seeks to protect the fragile, putting at risk loves and lives in her quest to right unimaginable wrongs.