In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of September 4th and September 11th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to the hardcovers and paperbacks releasing in September, which you can find in our Coming Soon feature.
We also wanted to let you know that time is running out to enter our latest "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com. In a book group? Then tell us what your group is currently reading to be eligible to win. Three winners will be selected, and each will be awarded 12 copies of THE ADDRESS by Fiona Davis (a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection) for their group. The deadline for your entries is Tuesday, September 12th at noon ET.
Finally, we are excited to share the news that Pascal Pictures has acquired the film rights to Mark Sullivan's latest novel, BENEATH A SCARLET SKY, with Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland attached to play the lead role of World War II hero Pino Lella. An April Kindle First selection, BENEATH A SCARLET SKY was a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection when it released earlier this year, and is now a #1 Amazon Charts, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller. Click here to read more about this triumphant, epic tale of one young man’s incredible courage and resilience during one of history’s darkest hours. In a book group? You can find a discussion guide here.
For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
This Week's Bonus News:
Bookreporter.com's Coming Soon Feature for September
In this newsletter, you will find some of the hardcovers and paperbacks that will be available the first two weeks of September. But since we always love looking ahead --- and there are lots of noteworthy books to look forward to in September --- we want to give you a sneak peek at the entire month's worth of releases. Below are some highlights, but for a much more comprehensive list, take a look at September's Coming Soon feature here.
Hardcovers:
Paperbacks:
Click here for more September hardcovers and paperbacks.
On Sale the Week of September 4th in Hardcover
September 5th
AT THE STRANGERS' GATE: Arrivals in New York by Adam Gopnik (Memoir)
When Adam Gopnik and his soon-to-be-wife, Martha, left the comforts of home in Montreal for New York, the city then, much like today, was a pilgrimage site for the young, the arty and the ambitious. But it was also becoming a city of greed, where both life's consolations and its necessities were increasingly going to the highest bidder. AT THE STRANGERS’ GATE builds a portrait of this particular moment in New York through the story of this couple's journey --- from their excited arrival as aspiring artists to their eventual growth into a New York family.
Knopf | 9781400041800
THE BEST OF US: A Memoir by Joyce Maynard (Memoir)
In 2011, when she was in her late 50s, beloved author and journalist Joyce Maynard met the first true partner she had ever known. Jim was not the husband Joyce imagined, but he quickly became the partner she had always dreamed of. Before they met, both had believed they were done with marriage, and even after they married, Joyce resolved that no one could alter her course of determined independence. Then, just after their one-year wedding anniversary, her new husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. During the 19 months that followed, as they battled his illness together, Joyce discovered for the first time what it really meant to be a couple --- to be a true partner and to have one.
Bloomsbury USA | 9781635570342
BLACK ROCK WHITE CITY by A.S. Patrić (Fiction)
Jovan and Suzana have fled war-torn Sarajevo. They have lost their children, their standing as public intellectuals, and their connection to each other. Now working as cleaners in a suburb of Melbourne, they struggle to rebuild their lives under the painful hardships of immigrant life. During a hot Melbourne summer, Jovan's janitorial work at a hospital is disrupted by mysterious acts of vandalism. But as the attacks become more violent and racially charged, he feels increasingly targeted. Under tremendous pressure, the couple struggle to keep their marriage together, but fear that they may never find peace from the ravages of war.
Melville House | 9781612196831
THE CHILD FINDER by Rene Denfeld (Thriller)
Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as "the Child Finder," Naomi is their last hope. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl, too. As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison’s disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?
Harper | 9780062659057
THE COUNTESS OF PRAGUE: Book One by Stephen Weeks (Historical Mystery)
THE COUNTESS OF PRAGUE is the exciting introduction to Beatrice von Falklenburg, known to her intimates as Trixie, who will lead us from Prague through Europe and occasionally beyond on a 10-book set of investigations that begins in 1904 and finishes in 1914. The assassination of the Archduke in Sarajevo that summer effectively ended the Old Europe into which she was born to a noble Czech father and an English mother. Through the lens of Trixie, whose own journey from pampered aristocrat (albeit in a polite and impoverished marriage) to a degree of emancipation has an exciting yet humorous and sympathetic dynamic, we witness stirring events and societal shifts.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464208423
DEAD WOMAN WALKING by Sharon Bolton (Thriller)
Just before dawn in the hills near the Scottish border, a man murders a young woman. At the same time, a hot-air balloon crashes out of the sky. There’s just one survivor. She’s seen the killer’s face --- but he’s also seen hers. And he won’t rest until he’s eliminated the only witness to his crime. Alone, scared and trusting no one, she’s running to where she feels safe --- but it could be the most dangerous place of all.
Minotaur Books | 9781250103444
DINNER AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH by Nathan Englander (Political Thriller)
A prisoner in a secret cell. The guard who has watched over him a dozen years. An American waitress in Paris. A young Palestinian man in Berlin who strikes up an odd friendship with a wealthy Canadian businessman. And The General, Israel's most controversial leader, who lies dying in a hospital, the only man who knows of the prisoner's existence. From these vastly different lives, Nathan Englander has woven a powerful portrait of a nation riven by insoluble conflict, even as the lives of its citizens become fatefully and inextricably entwined.
Knopf | 9781524732738
A DISAPPEARANCE IN DAMASCUS: Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War by Deborah Campbell (Memoir)
In 2007, Deborah Campbell travels undercover to Damascus to report on the exodus of Iraqis into Syria, following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. There she meets and hires Ahlam, a refugee working as a “fixer” --- providing Western media with trustworthy information and contacts to help get the news out. Ahlam has fled her home in Iraq after being kidnapped while running a humanitarian center. She supports her husband and two children while working to set up a makeshift school for displaced girls. But one morning, Ahlam is seized from her home. Campbell spends the months that follow desperately trying to find her --- all the while fearing she could be next.
Picador | 9781250147875
ENEMY OF THE STATE: A Mitch Rapp Novel by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills (Political Thriller)
After 9/11, the United States made one of the most secretive and dangerous deals in its history. The evidence against the powerful Saudis who coordinated the attack would be buried. In return, King Faisal would promise to keep the oil flowing and deal with the conspirators in his midst. When the king’s own nephew is discovered funding ISIS, the president suspects that the Saudis never intended to live up to their agreement. He decides that the royalty needs to be sent a message and that Mitch Rapp is just the man to deliver it. The catch? America can’t be seen moving against an ally. Rapp will be on his own.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781476783512
FRIEND REQUEST by Laura Marshall (Psychological Thriller)
1989. When Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything Louise's other friends aren't. Within just a few days, they are on their way to becoming fast friends. 2016. Louise receives a heart-stopping email: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface --- those first days of their budding friendship; cruel decisions made and dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever. Louise has always known that if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. As she tries to piece together exactly what happened that night, Louise discovers there's more to the story than she ever knew.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781478948513
GEORGE AND LIZZIE by Nancy Pearl (Fiction)
George and Lizzie have radically different understandings of what love and marriage should be. George grew up in a warm and loving family --- his father an orthodontist, his mother a stay-at-home mom --- while Lizzie grew up as the only child of two famous psychologists, who viewed her more as an in-house experiment than a child to love. Over the course of their marriage, nothing has changed --- George is happy; Lizzie remains…unfulfilled. When a shameful secret from Lizzie’s past resurfaces, she’ll need to face her fears in order to accept the true nature of the relationship she and George have built over a decade together.
Touchstone | 9781501162893
THE GOLDEN HOUSE by Salman Rushdie (Fiction)
On the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration, an enigmatic billionaire from foreign shores takes up residence in the architectural jewel of “the Gardens,” a cloistered community in New York’s Greenwich Village. Along with his improbable name, untraceable accent, and unmistakable whiff of danger, Nero Golden has brought along his three adult sons. There is no mother, no wife. At least not until Vasilisa, a sleek Russian expat, snags the septuagenarian Nero, becoming the queen to his king --- a queen in want of an heir. Our guide to the Goldens’ world is their neighbor René, an ambitious young filmmaker. Researching a movie about the Goldens, he ingratiates himself into their household.
Random House | 9780399592805
GOOD ME BAD ME by Ali Land (Psychological Thriller)
Milly’s mother is a serial killer. Though Milly loves her mother, the only way to make her stop is to turn her in to the police. Milly is given a fresh start: a new identity, a home with an affluent foster family, and a spot at an exclusive private school. But Milly has secrets, and life at her new home becomes complicated. As her mother’s trial looms, with Milly as the star witness, Milly starts to wonder how much of her is nature, how much of her is nurture, and whether she is doomed to turn out like her mother after all. When tensions rise and Milly feels trapped by her shiny new life, she has to decide: Will she be good? Or is she bad? She is, after all, her mother's daughter.
Flatiron Books | 9781250087645
GORBACHEV: His Life and Times by William Taubman (Biography)
When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world’s two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism, and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save. In this first comprehensive biography of the final Soviet leader, William Taubman shows how a peasant boy became the Soviet system’s gravedigger.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393647013
A LEGACY OF SPIES by John le Carré (Thriller)
Peter Guillam, a staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London. The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London, and involved such characters as Alec Leamas, Jim Prideaux, George Smiley and Peter Guillam himself, are to be scrutinized by a generation with no memory of the Cold War and no patience with its justifications.
Viking | 9780735225114
MAYHEM: A Memoir by Sigrid Rausing (Memoir)
In the summer of 2012, a woman named Eva was found dead in the London townhouse she shared with her husband, Hans K. Rausing. The couple had struggled with drug addiction for years, often under the glare of tabloid headlines. Now, Hans’ sister, the editor and publisher Sigrid Rausing, tries to make sense of what happened. In MAYHEM, she asks the difficult questions those close to the world of addiction must face. Who can help the addict, consumed by a shaming hunger, a need beyond control? And who can help their families, so implicated in the self-destruction of the addict?
Knopf | 9780451493125
MISS KOPP'S MIDNIGHT CONFESSIONS: A Kopp Sisters Novel by Amy Stewart (Historical Mystery)
Deputy sheriff Constance Kopp is outraged to see young women brought into the Hackensack jail over dubious charges of waywardness, incorrigibility and moral depravity. The strong-willed, patriotic Edna Heustis, who left home to work in a munitions factory, certainly doesn’t belong behind bars. And 16-year-old runaway Minnie Davis, with few prospects and fewer friends, shouldn’t be publicly shamed and packed off to a state-run reformatory. Constance uses her authority as deputy sheriff, and occasionally exceeds it, to investigate and defend these women when no one else will. But it's her sister Fleurette who puts Constance's beliefs to the test and forces her to reckon with her own ideas of how a young woman should and shouldn't behave.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780544409996
MISSING PERSONS: A Buddy Steel Mystery by Michael Brandman (Mystery)
Buddy Steel has been content working homicide at the LAPD until his father, the legendary Sheriff Burton Steel, falls ill with Lou Gehrig's disease. Sheriff Steel asks Buddy to come home to cover his back and to groom him to be his successor. No sooner does he hit town than Buddy learns that the wife of the high-flying star of a world-renowned television ministry has gone missing. A visit to the woman's home leads to a hostile confrontation with her husband's family and Buddy’s realization that something greater than simply a missing person is at stake.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464208041
PROOF OF LIFE: A J. P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance (Mystery/Thriller)
When his longtime nemesis, retired Seattle crime reporter Maxwell Cole, dies in what’s officially deemed to be an accidental fire, the retired J. P. Beaumont is astonished to be dragged into the investigation at the request of none other than the deceased victim himself. Caught up in a situation where old actions and grudges can hold dangerous consequences in the present, Beau is forced to operate outside the familiar world of law enforcement. While seeking justice for his frenemy and healing for a long-fractured family, he comes face to face with an implacable enemy who has spent decades hiding in plain sight.
William Morrow | 9780062657541
THE SALT LINE by Holly Goddard Jones (Post-Apocalyptic Thriller)
In an unspecified future, the United States' borders have receded behind a salt line --- a ring of scorched earth that protects its citizens from deadly disease-carrying ticks. Those within the zone live safe, if limited, lives in a society controlled by a common fear. Few have any reason to venture out of the zone, except for the adrenaline junkies who pay a fortune to tour what's left of nature. Those among the latest expedition include a popstar and his girlfriend, Edie; the tech giant Wes; and Marta; a seemingly simple housewife. Once out of the zone, the group find themselves at the mercy of deadly ticks --- and at the center of a murderous plot.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735214316
SEA OF RUST by C. Robert Cargill (Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy)
It’s been 30 years since the apocalypse and 15 years since the murder of the last human being at the hands of robots. Most of the world is controlled by an OWI --- One World Intelligence --- the shared consciousness of millions of robots, uploaded into one huge mainframe brain. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality for the sake of a greater, stronger, higher power. One of these resisters is Brittle, a scavenger robot trying to keep a deteriorating mind and body functional in a world that has lost all meaning. As Brittle roams the Sea of Rust, a large swath of territory that was once the Midwest, the loner robot slowly comes to terms with horrifyingly raw and vivid memories --- and nearly unbearable guilt.
Harper Voyager | 9780062405838
A SECRET HISTORY OF WITCHES by Louisa Morgan (Historical Fantasy)
Brittany, 1821. After Grand-mere Ursule gives her life to save her family, their magic seems to die with her. Even so, the Orchires fight to keep the old ways alive, practicing half-remembered spells and arcane rites in hopes of a revival. And when their youngest daughter comes of age, magic flows anew. The lineage continues, though new generations struggle not only to master their power, but also to keep it hidden. However, when World War II looms on the horizon, magic is needed more urgently than ever --- not for simple potions or visions, but to change the entire course of history.
Redhook | 9780316508551
SECRETS IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Mystery/Thriller)
Larinda Mars, a professional gossip, has been murdered. As it turns out, she was keeping the most shocking stories quiet, for profitable use in her side business as a blackmailer. Setting her sights on rich, prominent marks, she’d find out what they most wanted to keep hidden and then bleed them dry. Now someone’s done the same to her, literally. Eve didn’t like Larinda Mars. But she likes murder even less. To find justice for this victim, she’ll have to plunge into the dirty little secrets of all the people Larinda Mars victimized herself. Along the way, though, she may be exposed to some information she really didn’t want to know.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250123152
THE SHADOW LIST by Todd Moss (Thriller)
We laugh when it pops up in our inbox: the scam letter promising a windfall. We wonder: How does anybody fall for these things? But it is no laughing matter. It is one of the biggest organized crime rackets in the world --- and State Department crisis manager Judd Ryker has fallen right into the middle of it. The disappearance of a young American in London sends Ryker into the heart of a corruption scandal in Nigeria, at the same time his CIA agent wife Jessica finds herself chasing a Russian master criminal known as the Bear. Unknown to either of them, they are pulling at two ends of the same lethal thread, a staggeringly vicious enterprise of piracy, extortion and murder.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399175947
SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward (Fiction)
Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie’s children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, on a journey rife with danger and promise.
Scribner | 9781501126062
SISTERS by Lily Tuck (Fiction)
Lily Tuck’s unnamed narrator lives with her new husband, his two teenagers, and the unbanishable presence of his first wife --- known only as she. Obsessed with her, our narrator moves through her days presided over by the all-too-real ghost of the first marriage, fantasizing about how the first wife lives her life. Will the narrator ever equal she intellectually, or ever forget the betrayal that lies between them? And what of the secrets between her husband and she, from which the narrator is excluded?
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802127112
SOMETHING LIKE HAPPY by Eva Woods (Fiction)
Deep down, Annie Hebden is still mourning the terrible loss that tore a hole through the perfect existence she had once taken for granted --- and hiding away is safer than remembering what used to be. Until she meets the eccentric Polly Leonard, who is determined to finally wake Annie up to life. The mission: One hundred days. One hundred new ways to be happy. Annie will slowly begin to realize that maybe, just maybe, there's still joy to be found in the world. But then it becomes clear that Polly is about to need her new friend more than ever…and Annie will have to decide once and for all whether letting others in is a risk worth taking.
Graydon House | 9781525811357
SOURDOUGH by Robin Sloan (Fiction)
Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. Her human contact is limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. But when visa issues force the brothers to close up shop, they give Lois their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. Soon, she is providing loaves daily to the General Dexterity cafeteria and is urged to take her product to the farmer’s market. When Lois comes before the jury that decides who sells what at Bay Area markets, she encounters a close-knit club with no appetite for new members. Then an alternative emerges: a secret market that aims to fuse food and technology. But who are these people, exactly?
MCD | 9780374203108
UNDER A POLE STAR by Stef Penney (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
A whaler's daughter, Flora Mackie first crossed the Arctic Circle at the age of 12, falling in love with the cold and unforgiving terrain and forging lifelong bonds with the Inuit people who have carved out an existence on its icy plains. She sets out to become a scientist and polar explorer, despite those who believe that a young woman has no place in this harsh world, and in 1892, her determination leads her back to northern Greenland at the head of a British expedition. Yearning for wider horizons, American geologist Jakob de Beyn joins a rival expedition led by the furiously driven Lester Armitage. When the path of Flora's expedition crosses theirs, the three lives become intertwined.
Quercus | 9781681441177
THE WAYS OF WOLFE: A Border Noir by James Carlos Blake (Noir Thriller)
Twenty years ago, college student Axel Prince Wolfe --- heir apparent to his Texas family's esteemed law firm and its "shade trade" criminal enterprises --- teamed up with his best friend, Billy, and a Mexican stranger in a high-end robbery that went wrong. Abandoned by his partners, he was captured and imprisoned, his family disgraced, his wife absconded, his infant daughter Jessie left an orphan. Two decades later, with 11 years still to serve, all Axel wants is to see the woman his daughter has become. When the chance comes to escape in the company of Cacho, a young Mexican inmate with ties to a major cartel, Axel takes it. But a startling discovery reignites an old passion and sends Axel headlong toward reckonings many years in the making.
Mysterious Press | 9780802125774
THE WESTERN STAR by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
A younger sheriff confronts Walt Longmire with a photograph of 25 armed men standing in front of a Challenger steam locomotive. It takes him back to when, fresh from the battlefields of Vietnam, then-deputy Walt accompanied his mentor Lucian to the annual Wyoming Sheriff's Association junket. The young Walt was ill-prepared for the machinations of 24 veteran sheriffs, let alone the cavalcade of curious characters that accompanied them. The photograph --- along with an upcoming parole hearing for one of the most dangerous men Walt has encountered in a lifetime of law enforcement --- hurtles the sheriff into a head-on collision of past and present, placing him and everyone he cares about squarely on the tracks of runaway revenge.
Viking | 9780525426950
WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A DOG: And Other Adventures in Animal Neuroscience by Gregory Berns (Psychology)
What is it like to be a dog? A bat? Or a dolphin? To find out, neuroscientist Gregory Berns and his team began with a radical step: they taught dogs to go into an MRI scanner --- completely awake. They discovered what makes dogs individuals with varying capacities for self-control, different value systems, and a complex understanding of human speech. And dogs were just the beginning. In WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A DOG, Berns explores the fascinating inner lives of wild animals --- from dolphins and sea lions to the extinct Tasmanian tiger.
Basic Books | 9780465096244
THE WORLD OF TOMORROW by Brendan Mathews (Historical Fiction)
June 1939. Francis Dempsey and his shell-shocked brother Michael are on an ocean liner from Ireland bound for their brother Martin's home in New York City, having stolen a small fortune from the IRA. During the week that follows, the lives of these three brothers collide spectacularly with big-band jazz musicians, a talented but fragile heiress, a Jewish street photographer facing a return to Nazi-occupied Prague, a vengeful mob boss, and the ghosts of their own family's revolutionary past. When Tom Cronin, an erstwhile assassin forced into one last job, tracks the brothers down, their lives begin to fracture.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316382199
On Sale the Week of September 4th in Paperback
September 5th
THE AMERICAN MIRACLE: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic by Michael Medved (History)
The history of the United States displays an uncanny pattern: At moments of crisis, when the odds against success seem overwhelming and disaster looks imminent, fate intervenes to provide deliverance and progress. Historians may categorize these incidents as happy accidents, callous crimes, or the product of brilliant leadership, but the most notable leaders of the past 400 years have identified this good fortune as something else --- a reflection of divine providence. In THE AMERICAN MIRACLE, Michael Medved reveals a record of improbabilities and amazements that demonstrate what the Founders always believed: that events unfolded according to a master plan, with destiny playing an unmistakable role in lifting the nation to greatness.
Crown Forum | 9780553447286
THE ANIMATORS by Kayla Rae Whitaker (Fiction)
In the male-dominated field of animation, Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses are a dynamic duo: Sharon is quietly ambitious but self-doubting, Mel is brash and unapologetic, always the life of a party. They spent their 20s ensconced in a gritty Brooklyn studio. Now, after a decade of striving, the two are finally celebrating the release of their first full-length feature and stand at the cusp of making it big. But with their success comes doubt and destruction, cracks in their relationship threatening the delicate balance of their partnership. When the only other partner Sharon has ever truly known --- her troubled, charismatic childhood best friend, Teddy --- reappears, long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780812989304
BEING MORTAL: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (Health/Medicine)
Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming the dangers of childbirth, injury and disease from harrowing to manageable. But when it comes to the inescapable realities of aging and death, what medicine can do often runs counter to what it should. Through eye-opening research and gripping stories of his own patients and family, Atul Gawande reveals the suffering this dynamic has produced. Nursing homes, devoted above all to safety, battle with residents over the food they are allowed to eat and the choices they are allowed to make. Doctors, uncomfortable discussing patients' anxieties about death, fall back on false hopes and treatments that are actually shortening lives instead of improving them.
Picador | 9781250076229
BELICHICK AND BRADY: Two Men, the Patriots, and How They Revolutionized Football by Michael Holley (Sports)
Featuring interviews from New England Patriots players and coaches, Michael Holley presents a fascinating portrait of the partnership between Tom Brady, the Patriots' star quarterback, and Bill Belichick, the team's prolific coach. Chockful of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and information exploring how they have strategized and weathered controversies, all culminating in four Super Bowl rings, this is required reading for any Patriots fan and students of the game of football. By examining the relationship of this dynamic quarterback and coach duo, Holley explores exactly how these two men have formed the core of the greatest dynasty in the modern-day NFL.
Hachette Books | 9780316266901
BEST. STATE. EVER.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland by Dave Barry (Humor/Essays)
We never know what will happen next in Florida. We know only that, any minute now, something will. Every few months, Dave Barry gets a call from some media person wanting to know, “What the hell is wrong with Florida?” Somehow, the state has acquired an image as a subtropical festival of stupid, and as a loyal Floridian, Dave begs to differ. It is a great state, and Dave is going to tell you why. Join him as he celebrates Florida from Key West at the bottom to whatever it is that’s at the top, from the Sunshine State’s earliest history to the fun-fair of weirdness that it is today.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9781101982617
THE BLIND ASTRONOMER’S DAUGHTER by John Pipkin (Historical Fiction)
In late-18th-century Ireland, accidental stargazer Caroline Ainsworth learns that her life is not what it seems when her father, Arthur, throws himself from his rooftop observatory. A grief-stricken Caroline leaves Ireland for London, and tries to forget her love for Finnegan O'Siodha, the tinkering blacksmith who was helping her father build a telescope larger than his rival's. But her father has left her more than the wreck of that unfinished instrument: his cryptic atlas holds the secret to finding a new world at the edge of the sky. As Caroline reluctantly resumes her father's work and confronts her own longings, Ireland is swept into rebellion, and Caroline and Finnegan are plunged into its violence.
Bloomsbury USA | 9781632861894
BOOKS FOR LIVING: Some Thoughts on Reading, Reflecting, and Embracing Life by Will Schwalbe (Memoir/Literary Criticism)
For Will Schwalbe, reading is a way to entertain himself but also to make sense of the world, and to find the answers to life’s questions big and small. In each chapter, he discusses a particular book and how it relates to concerns we all share. These books span centuries and genres --- from STUART LITTLE to THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, from DAVID COPPERFIELD to WONDER, from GIOVANNI’S ROOM to REBECCA, and from 1984 to GIFTS FROM THE SEA. Throughout, Schwalbe tells stories from his life and focuses on the way certain books can help us honor those we've loved and lost, and also figure out how to live each day more fully.
Vintage | 9780804172752
BORN TO RUN by Bruce Springsteen (Memoir)
Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to these pages the same honesty, humor and originality found in his songs. BORN TO RUN will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed the Boss, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501141522
THE CHILBURY LADIES’ CHOIR by Jennifer Ryan (Historical Fiction)
As England becomes enmeshed in the early days of World War II and the men are away fighting, the women of Chilbury village forge an uncommon bond. They defy the Vicar’s stuffy edict to close the choir and instead “carry on singing,” resurrecting themselves as the Chilbury Ladies’ Choir. We come to know the home-front struggles of five unforgettable choir members: a timid widow devastated when her only son goes to fight; the older daughter of a local scion drawn to a mysterious artist; her younger sister pining over an impossible crush; a Jewish refugee from Czechoslovakia hiding a family secret; and a conniving midwife plotting to outrun her seedy past.
Broadway Books | 9781101906774
THE CLANCYS OF QUEENS: A Memoir by Tara Clancy (Memoir)
Fifth-generation New Yorker, third-generation bartender and first-generation author Tara Clancy was raised in three wildly divergent homes: a converted boat shed in working class Queens, a geriatric commune of feisty, Brooklyn-born Italians, and a sprawling Hamptons estate she visited every other weekend. From scheming and gambling with her force-of-nature grandmother, to brawling with 11-year-old girls on the concrete recess battle yard of MS 172, to holding court beside Joey O’Dirt, Goiter Eddy and Roger the Dodger at her dad’s local bar, Tara leapfrogs across these varied spheres, delivering stories from each world with originality, grit and outrageous humor.
Broadway Books | 9781101903131
CLOSE TO HOME by Robert Dugoni (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
While investigating the hit-and-run death of a young boy, Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite makes a startling discovery: the suspect is an active-duty serviceman at a local naval base. After a key piece of case evidence goes missing, he is cleared of charges in a military court. But Tracy knows she can’t turn her back on this kind of injustice. When she uncovers the driver’s ties to a rash of recent heroin overdoses in the city, she realizes that this isn’t just a case of the military protecting its own. It runs much deeper than that, and the accused wasn’t acting alone. As Tracy moves closer to uncovering the truth behind this insidious conspiracy, she’s putting herself in harm’s way.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542045018
EL PASO by Winston Groom (Historical Fiction)
Long fascinated with the Mexican Revolution and the vicious border wars of the early 20th century, bestselling author Winston Groom brings to life a much-forgotten period of history in this episodic saga set in six parts. Pitting the legendary Pancho Villa against “the Colonel,” a thrill-seeking Bostonian railroad tycoon whose fading fortune is tied up in a colossal ranch in Chihuahua, EL PASO opens during a time of dramatic upheaval in Mexico --- its government being squeezed on one end by Villa’s revolutionaries and on the other by “filthy” American capitalists.
Liveright | 9781631493409
THE FAMILY PLOT by Cherie Priest (Supernatural Thriller/Romance)
Inventory at Chuck Dutton's Music City Salvage is running low, so he's thrilled when Augusta Withrow appears in his office offering salvage rights to her entire property. He assigns his daughter, Dahlia, to personally oversee the project, and the crew finds a handful of surprises, including a cemetery. When human remains turn up after bulldozing the property, Augusta goes missing and Dahlia's concerns grow. As things get even stranger, there's nowhere to go and no one she can call for help, even if anyone would believe that she and her crew are being stalked by a murderous phantom.
Tor Books | 9780765396075
A GAMBLER’S ANATOMY by Jonathan Lethem (Fiction)
Alexander Bruno travels the world winning large sums of money from amateur “whales” who think they can challenge his peerless acumen at backgammon. But after a troubling run of bad luck in Singapore and Berlin --- perhaps brought on by his chance encounter with childhood acquaintance Keith Stolarsky and his girlfriend Tira Harpaz, or perhaps the emergence of a blot that distorts his vision --- Bruno passes out and is brought to the hospital. There, he’s given a depressing diagnosis and his only hope is to return to Berkeley, where he discovered his psychic abilities, and undergo experimental surgery paid for by the scheming Stolarsky.
Vintage | 9781101873670
IN SUCH GOOD COMPANY: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox by Carol Burnett (Entertainment/Memoir)
Who but Carol Burnett herself has the timing, talent and wit to pull back the curtain on the Emmy-Award winning show that made television history for 11 glorious seasons? IN SUCH GOOD COMPANY delves into little-known stories of the guests, sketches and antics that made "The Carol Burnett Show" legendary, as well as some favorite tales too good not to relive again. Carol lays it all out for us, from the show’s original conception to its evolution into one of the most beloved primetime programs of its generation.
Three Rivers Press | 9781101904671
LIE TO ME by J.T. Ellison (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Sutton and Ethan Montclair's idyllic life is not as it appears. Consumed by professional and personal betrayals and financial woes, the two both love and hate each other. As tensions mount, Sutton disappears, leaving behind a note saying not to look for her. Ethan finds himself the target of vicious gossip as friends, family and the media speculate on what really happened to Sutton Montclair. As the police investigate, the lies the couple have been spinning for years quickly unravel. Is Ethan a killer? Is he being set up? Did Sutton hate him enough to kill the child she never wanted and then herself?
Mira | 9780778330950
THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD: A True Story by Douglas Preston (History/Adventure)
Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God --- but then committed suicide without revealing its location. Three quarters of a century later, Douglas Preston joined a team of scientists on a flight that revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization. But it wasn't until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted a horrifying, sometimes lethal --- and incurable --- disease.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455540013
LUCKY BOY by Shanthi Sekaran (Fiction)
Soli, a young undocumented Mexican woman in Berkeley, CA, finds that motherhood offers her an identity in a world where she's otherwise invisible. When she is placed in immigrant detention, her son comes under the care of Kavya, an Indian-American wife overwhelmed by her own impossible desire to have a child. As Soli fights for her son, Kavya builds her love on a fault line, her heart wrapped around someone else's child.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9781101982266
NAPOLEON’S LAST ISLAND by Thomas Keneally (Historical Fiction)
In October 1815, after losing the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte was banished to the island of Saint Helena. There, in one of the most remote places on earth, he lived out the final six years of his life. On this lonely island with no chance of escape, he found an unexpected ally: a spirited British girl named Betsy Balcombe, who lived on the island with her family. While Napoleon waited for his own accommodations to be built, the Balcombe family played host to the infamous exile, a decision that would have devastating consequences for them all.
Washington Square Press | 9781501128431
AN OBVIOUS FACT: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
In the midst of the largest motorcycle rally in the world, a young biker is run off the road and ends up in critical condition. When Sheriff Walt Longmire and his good friend Henry Standing Bear are called to Hulett, Wyoming to investigate, things start getting complicated. As competing biker gangs; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; a military-grade vehicle donated to the tiny local police force by a wealthy entrepreneur; and Lola, the real-life femme fatale and namesake for Henry's '59 Thunderbird (and, by extension, Walt's granddaughter) come into play, it rapidly becomes clear that there is more to get to the bottom of at this year's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally than a bike accident.
Penguin Books | 9780143109129
THE ORPHAN MOTHER by Robert Hicks (Historical Fiction)
In the years following the Civil War, Mariah Reddick, former slave to Carrie McGavock --- the "Widow of the South" --- has quietly built a new life for herself as a midwife to the women of Franklin, Tennessee. But when her ambitious, politically minded grown son, Theopolis, is murdered, Mariah --- no stranger to loss --- finds her world once more breaking apart. How could this happen? Who wanted him dead? Mariah's journey to uncover the truth leads her to unexpected people --- including George Tole, a recent arrival to town, fleeing a difficult past of his own --- and forces her to confront the truths of her own past.
Grand Central Publishing | 9780446581677
THE OTHER ALCOTT by Elise Hooper (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
May Alcott grows up longing to experience the wide world beyond Concord, Massachusetts. While her sister Louisa crafts stories, May herself is a talented and dedicated artist, taking lessons in Boston, turning down a marriage proposal from a well-off suitor, and facing scorn for entering what is very much a man’s profession. Life for the Alcott family has never been easy, so when Louisa’s LITTLE WOMEN is published, its success eases the financial burdens they’d faced for so many years. Everyone agrees the novel is charming, but May is struck to the core by the portrayal of selfish, spoiled “Amy March.” Is this what her beloved sister really thinks of her? So May embarks on a quest to discover her own true identity, as an artist and a woman.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062645333
THE PIGEON TUNNEL: Stories from My Life by John le Carré (Memoir)
From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion to Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, John le Carré has always written from the heart of modern times. In this, his first memoir, le Carré gives us a glimpse of a writer’s journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life and heart to his fictional characters.
Penguin Books | 9780735220782
THE PLATINUM AGE OF TELEVISION: From "I Love Lucy" to "The Walking Dead," How TV Became Terrific by David Bianculli (Entertainment/History)
Television today is better than ever. From “The Sopranos” to “Breaking Bad,” “Sex and the City” to “Girls,” and “Modern Family” to “Louie,” never has so much quality programming dominated our screens. Exploring how we got here, acclaimed TV critic David Bianculli traces the evolution of the classic TV genres, among them the sitcom, the crime show, the miniseries, the soap opera, the Western, the animated series, the medical drama and the variety show. In each genre, he selects five key examples of the form to illustrate its continuities and its dramatic departures.
Anchor | 9781101911327
THE PROVING by Beverly Lewis (Fiction)
Paperback Original
After five years as an Englisher, Amanda Dienner is shocked to learn her mother has passed away and left her Lancaster County's most popular Amish bed-and-breakfast. What's more, the inn will only truly be hers if Mandy can successfully run it for 12 months. Reluctantly, Mandy accepts the challenge, no matter that it means facing the family she left behind --- or that the inn's clientele expect an Amish hostess! Can Mandy fulfill the terms of her inheritance? Or will this prove a dreadful mistake?
Bethany House Publishers | 9780764219665
ROBERT B. PARKER’S DEBT TO PAY: A Jesse Stone Novel by Reed Farrel Coleman (Mystery)
As his ex-wife, Jenn, is about to marry a Dallas real-estate tycoon, Jesse Stone isn’t too sure his relationship with former FBI agent Diana Evans is built to last. But those concerns get put on the back burner when a major Boston crime boss is brutally murdered. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Jesse suspects it’s the work of Mr. Peepers, a psychotic assassin who has caused trouble for Jesse in the past. Jesse and Diana head to Dallas for the wedding and, along with the tycoon’s security team, try to stop Peepers before the bill comes due. With Peepers toying with the authorities as to when and where he’ll strike, Jesse is up against the wall.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780425279069
SING FOR YOUR LIFE: A Story of Race, Music, and Family by Daniel Bergner (Biography)
As a child, Ryan Speedo Green lived in a trailer park and later a bullet-riddled house across the street from drug dealers. His father was absent, while his mother was volatile and abusive. At the age of 12, Ryan was sent to Virginia's juvenile facility of last resort and placed in solitary confinement. In 2011, at the age of 24, Ryan won a nationwide competition hosted by New York's Metropolitan Opera. Today he is a rising star, performing major roles at the Met and Europe's most prestigious opera houses. SING FOR YOUR LIFE chronicles Ryan's suspenseful, racially charged and artistically intricate journey from solitary confinement to stardom.
Lee Boudreaux/Back Bay Books | 9780316300636
THE SUMMER THAT MADE US by Robyn Carr (Fiction)
Paperback Original
For the Hempsteads, two sisters who married two brothers and had three daughters each, summers were idyllic. The women would escape the city the moment school was out to gather at the family house on Lake Waseka. All of their problems drifted away as the days passed in sun-dappled contentment. Until the summer that changed everything. After an accidental drowning turned the lake house into a site of tragedy and grief, it was closed up for good. Torn apart, none of the Hempstead women speak of what happened that summer. But in the face of new challenges, one woman is determined to draw her family together again, and the only way that can happen is to return to the lake and face the truth.
Mira | 9780778331049
SWING TIME by Zadie Smith (Fiction)
Two brown girls dream of being dancers, but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It's a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early 20s. Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend travels the world as an assistant to a famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one percent live. But when Aimee develops grand philanthropic ambitions, the story moves from London to West Africa, where the origins of a profound inequality are not a matter of distant history, but a present dance to the music of time.
Penguin Books | 9780143111641
TURBO TWENTY-THREE: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich (Mystery)
Larry Virgil skipped out on his latest court date after he was arrested for hijacking an 18-wheeler full of premium bourbon. Fortunately for bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Larry is just stupid enough to attempt almost the exact same crime again. Only this time he flees the scene, leaving behind a freezer truck loaded with Bogart ice cream and a dead body --- frozen solid and covered in chocolate and chopped pecans. As fate would have it, Stephanie’s mentor and occasional employer, Ranger, needs her to go undercover at the Bogart factory to find out who’s putting their employees on ice and sabotaging the business.
Bantam | 9780345543011
WINTER’S CHILD: A Wind River Mystery by Margaret Coel (Mystery)
Myra and Eldon Little Shield found an abandoned baby on their doorstep. Five years later, no one has come back to claim the little girl now known as Mary Anne Little Shield. But now that she’s old enough to start school, her foster parents fear social services will take their white child away from them. Determined to adopt Mary Anne, the Little Shields hire lawyer Clint Hopkins, who wants Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden as co-counsel on the case. But before their meeting can take place, a black truck deliberately runs Hopkins down in the street. Enlisting Father John O’Malley to help investigate who would kill to stop the child’s adoption, Vicky unravels a connection between the girl and a missing alcoholic Arapaho wanted for robbery.
Berkley | 9780425280331
THE WONDER by Emma Donoghue (Psychological/Historical Thriller)
Tourists flock to the cabin of 11-year-old Anna O'Donnell, who believes herself to be living off manna from heaven, and a journalist is sent to cover the sensation. Lib Wright, a veteran of Florence Nightingale's Crimean campaign, is hired to keep watch over the girl. Written with all the propulsive tension that made ROOM a huge bestseller, THE WONDER works beautifully on many levels --- a tale of two strangers who transform each other's lives, a powerful psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.
Back Bay Books | 9780316393867
On Sale the Week of September 11th in Hardcover
September 12th
BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD by Attica Locke (Thriller)
When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules --- a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home. When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders --- a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman --- have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes --- and save himself in the process --- before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt.
Mulholland Books | 9780316363297
A COLUMN OF FIRE by Ken Follett (Historical Fiction)
In 1558, as power in England shifts precariously between Catholics and Protestants, royalty and commoners clash, testing friendship, loyalty and love. Ned Willard wants nothing more than to marry Margery Fitzgerald. But when the lovers find themselves on opposing sides of the religious conflict dividing the country, Ned goes to work for Princess Elizabeth. When she becomes queen, all Europe turns against England. Over a turbulent half century, the love between Ned and Margery seems doomed as extremism sparks violence from Edinburgh to Geneva. Elizabeth clings to her throne and her principles, protected by a small, dedicated group of resourceful spies and courageous secret agents.
Viking | 9780525954972
DARK CHAPTER by Winnie M Li (Psychological Thriller)
Vivian is a cosmopolitan Taiwanese-American tourist who often escapes her busy life in London through adventure and travel. Johnny is a 15-year-old Irish teenager, living a neglected life on the margins of society. As Vivian looks to find her calling professionally, she delights in exploring foreign countries, rolling hillsides and new cultures. But all of that changes when Vivian's path collides with Johnny and culminates in a horrifying act of violence. In the aftermath of the incident, Vivian must struggle to recapture the woman she was and the woman she aspired to be. And when Johnny is finally brought to reckon for his crimes, Vivian learns that justice is not always as swift or as fair as she would hope.
Polis Books | 9781943818624
DAVID BOWIE: A Life by Dylan Jones (Biography)
Drawn from over 180 interviews with friends, rivals, lovers and collaborators, some of whom have never before spoken about their relationship with David Bowie, this oral history unfolds the story of a remarkable rise to stardom and an unparalleled artistic path. Tracing Bowie’s life from the English suburbs to London to New York to Los Angeles, Berlin and beyond, its collective voices describe a man profoundly shaped by his relationship with his schizophrenic half-brother Terry; an intuitive artist who could absorb influences through intense relationships and yet drop people cold when they were no longer of use; and a social creature equally comfortable partying with John Lennon and dining with Frank Sinatra.
Crown Archetype | 9780451497833
ENIGMA: An FBI Thriller by Catherine Coulter (Thriller)
When Agent Dillon Savich saves Kara Moody from a seemingly crazy man, he doesn’t realize he will soon be facing a scientist who wants to live forever and is using “John Doe” to help him. But when the scientist, Lister Maddox, loses him, he ups the stakes and targets another to take his experiments to the next level. It’s a race against time literally as Savich and Sherlock rush to stop him and save both present and future victims of his experiments. In the meantime, Cam Wittier and Jack Cabot must track a violent criminal through the Daniel Boone National Forest. When he escapes through a daring rescue, the agents have to find out who set his escape in motion and how it all ties into the murder of Mia Prevost, the girlfriend of the president’s Chief of Staff’s only son, Saxton Hainny.
Gallery Books | 9781501138065
THE FAR AWAY BROTHERS: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life by Lauren Markham (Biography)
Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, Ernesto Flores had always had a fascination with the United States, while his identical twin, Raul, never felt that northbound tug. But when Ernesto ends up on the wrong side of the region's brutal gangs, he is forced to flee the country. Raul, because he looks just like his brother, follows close behind --- away from one danger and toward the great American unknown. Journalist Lauren Markham follows the 17-year-old Flores twins as they make their harrowing journey across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother's custody in Oakland, CA.
Crown | 9781101906187
FOREST DARK by Nicole Krauss (Fiction)
In the wake of his parents’ deaths, his divorce from his wife of more than 30 years, and his retirement from the New York legal firm where he was a partner, Jules Epstein has felt an irresistible need to give away his possessions. With the last of his wealth, he travels to Israel, with a nebulous plan to do something to honor his parents. In Tel Aviv, he is sidetracked by a charismatic American rabbi planning a reunion for the descendants of King David, who insists that Epstein is part of that storied dynastic line. He also meets the rabbi’s beautiful daughter, who convinces Epstein to become involved in her own project --- a film about the life of David being shot in the desert --- with life-changing consequences.
Harper | 9780062430991
THE GIRL WHO TAKES AN EYE FOR AN EYE: A Lisbeth Salander Novel by David Lagercrantz (Thriller)
Lisbeth Salander has never been able to uncover the most telling facts of her traumatic childhood, the secrets that might finally, fully explain her to herself. Now, when she sees a chance to uncover them once and for all, she enlists the help of Mikael Blomkvist, the editor of the muckraking, investigative journal Millennium. And she will let nothing stop her --- not the Islamists she enrages by rescuing a young woman from their brutality; not the prison gang leader who passes a death sentence on her; not the deadly reach of her long-lost twin sister, Camilla; and not the people who will do anything to keep buried knowledge of a sinister pseudoscientific experiment known only as The Registry.
Knopf | 9780451494320
LIES SHE TOLD by Cate Holahan (Psychological Thriller)
Liza Cole has one month to write the thriller that could land her back on the bestseller list, while her husband is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend, Nick. Liza’s latest heroine, Beth, suspects that her husband is cheating on her while she’s home caring for their newborn. Before she realizes what she’s doing, she’s tossing the body of her husband’s mistress into the East River. Then, the lines between Liza’s fiction and her reality eerily blur. Nick’s body is dragged from the East River, and Liza’s husband is arrested for his murder. Before her deadline is up, Liza will have to face up to the truths about the people around her, including her own. If she doesn’t, the end of her heroine’s story could be the end of her own.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683312956
LIGHTNING MEN by Thomas Mullen (Historical Thriller)
Officer Denny Rakestraw and “Negro Officers” Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith have their hands full in an overcrowded and rapidly changing Atlanta. It’s 1950 and racial tensions are simmering as black families, including Smith’s sister, begin moving into formerly all-white neighborhoods. When Rake’s brother-in-law launches a scheme to rally the Ku Klux Klan to “save” their neighborhood, his efforts spiral out of control, forcing Rake to choose between loyalty to family or the law. Across town, Boggs and Smith try to shut down the supply of white lightning and drugs into their territory, finding themselves up against more powerful foes than they’d expected.
Atria / 37 Ink | 9781501138799
LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng (Fiction)
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson. Enter Mia Warren, who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter and rents a house from the Richardsons. But Mia carries a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this community. When family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that divides the town --- and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.
Penguin Press | 9780735224292
LOVE AND OTHER CONSOLATION PRIZES by Jamie Ford (Historical Fiction)
Twelve-year-old Ernest Young, a half-Chinese orphan, is raffled off at the 1909 World’s Fair. The winning ticket belongs to the flamboyant madam of a high-class brothel, famous for educating her girls. There, Ernest becomes the new houseboy and befriends Maisie, the madam’s precocious daughter, and a bold scullery maid named Fahn. But as the grande dame succumbs to an occupational hazard and their world of finery begins to crumble, all three must grapple with hope, ambition and first love. Fifty years later, in the shadow of Seattle’s second World’s Fair, Ernest struggles to help his ailing wife reconcile who she once was with who she wanted to be, while trying to keep family secrets hidden from their grown-up daughters.
Ballantine Books | 9780804176750
MAGICIANS IMPOSSIBLE by Brad Abraham (Fantasy)
Twenty-something bartender Jason Bishop’s world is shattered when his estranged father commits suicide. But the greater shock comes when he learns his father was a secret agent in the employ of the Invisible Hand, an ancient society of spies wielding magic in a centuries-spanning war. Now the Golden Dawn --- the shadowy cabal of witches and warlocks responsible for Daniel Bishop’s murder, and the death of Jason’s mother years before --- have Jason in their sights. His survival will depend on mastering his own dormant magic abilities, provided he makes it through the training. Jason's journey through the realm of magic will be fraught with peril. But with enemies and allies on both sides of this war, whom can he trust?
Thomas Dunne Books | 9781250083524
MISS D AND ME: Life with the Invincible Bette Davis by Kathryn Sermak with Danelle Morton (Memoir)
As Bette Davis aged, she was looking for an assistant, but found something more than that in Kathryn: a loyal and loving buddy, a co-conspirator in her jokes and schemes, and a competent assistant whom she trained never to miss a detail. But Miss D had strict rules for Kathryn about everything from how to eat a salad to how to wear her hair. Throughout their time together, the two grew incredibly close, and Kathryn had a front-row seat to the larger-than-life Davis' career renaissance in her later years, as well as to the humiliating public betrayal that nearly killed Miss D. The frame of this story is a four-day road trip Kathryn and Davis took from Biarritz to Paris, during which they disentangled their ferocious dependency.
Hachette Books | 9780316507844
MY FAIR JUNKIE: A Memoir of Getting Dirty and Staying Clean by Amy Dresner (Memoir)
Growing up in Beverly Hills, Amy Dresner had it all. But at 24, she started dabbling in meth and unleashed a fiendish addiction monster. Smart and charming, with Daddy's money to fall back on, she sort of managed to keep it all together. But on Christmas Eve 2011 all of that changed when, high on Oxycontin, she stupidly "brandished" a bread knife on her husband and was promptly arrested for "felony domestic violence with a deadly weapon." For two years, assigned to a Hollywood Boulevard "chain gang," she swept up syringes (and worse) as she bounced from rehabs to halfway houses, all while struggling with sobriety, sex addiction and starting over in her 40s.
Hachette Books | 9780316430951
AN ODYSSEY: A Father, a Son, and an Epic by Daniel Mendelsohn (Memoir)
When 81-year-old Jay Mendelsohn decides to enroll in the undergraduate Odyssey seminar his son teaches at Bard College, the two find themselves on an adventure as profoundly emotional as it is intellectual. For Jay, this return to the classroom is his "one last chance" to learn the great literature he'd neglected in his youth --- and a final opportunity to more fully understand his son, a writer and classicist. But through the sometimes-uncomfortable months that the two men explore Homer's great work together, it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: Jay's responses to both the text and their travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last.
Knopf | 9780385350594
RANGER GAMES: A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime by Ben Blum (True Crime/Memoir)
Alex Blum had one goal in life: endure a brutally difficult selection program, become a U.S. Army Ranger, and fight terrorists for his country. He poured everything into achieving his dream. In the first hours of his final leave before deployment to Iraq, Alex was supposed to fly home to see his family and girlfriend. Instead, he got into his car with two fellow soldiers and two strangers, drove to a local bank in Tacoma, and committed armed robbery. Why would he ruin his life in such a spectacularly foolish way? In the midst of his own personal crisis, and in the hopes of helping both Alex and his splintering family cope, Ben Blum, Alex’s first cousin, delved into these mysteries, growing closer to Alex in the process.
Doubleday | 9780385538435
ROBERT B. PARKER'S THE HANGMAN'S SONNET: A Jesse Stone Novel by Reed Farrel Coleman (Mystery)
Jesse Stone, still reeling from the murder of his fiancée by crazed assassin Mr. Peepers, must keep his emotions in check long enough to get through the wedding day of his loyal protégé, Suitcase Simpson. The morning of the wedding, Jesse learns that a gala 75th birthday party is to be held for folk singer Terry Jester. Jester has spent the last 40 years in seclusion after the mysterious disappearance of the master recording tape of his magnum opus, The Hangman's Sonnet. That same morning, an elderly Paradise woman dies while her house is being ransacked. What are the thieves looking for? And what's the connection to Terry Jester and the mysterious missing tape?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399171444
THE ROMANOV RANSOM: A Sam and Remi Fargo Adventure by Clive Cussler and Robin Burcell (Thriller/Adventure)
In 1918, a ransom of enormous size was paid to free the Romanovs from the Bolsheviks. But the Romanovs died anyway. And the ransom? During World War II, the Nazis stole it from the Russians, and after that, it vanished. Until now. When a modern-day kidnapping captures the attention of husband-and-wife team Sam and Remi Fargo, the couple soon learn that these long-lost riches may be back in play, held in trust by the descendants of a Nazi guerrilla faction called the Werewolves. It is their mission to establish the Fourth Reich, and their time is coming soon. This quest is greater than anything the Fargos have ever done; it is their chance to make someone answer for unspeakable crimes, and to prevent them from happening again.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399575549
SOLAR BONES by Mike McCormack (Fiction)
It is All Souls Day, and the spirit of Marcus Conway sits at his kitchen table and remembers. Conway recalls his life in rural Ireland. His ruminations move from childhood memories of his father’s deftness with machines to his own work as a civil engineer, from transformations in the local economy to the tidal wave of global financial collapse. Conway’s thoughts go still further, outward to the vast systems of time and history that hold us all. He stares down through the “vortex of his being,” surveying all the linked circumstances that combined to bring him into this single moment, and he makes us feel --- if only for an instant --- all the terror and gratitude that existence inspires.
Soho Press | 9781616958534
THE TWELVE-MILE STRAIGHT by Eleanor Henderson (Historical Fiction)
In a house full of secrets, two babies --- one light-skinned, the other dark --- are born to Elma Jesup, a white sharecropper’s daughter. Accused of her rape, field hand Genus Jackson is lynched and dragged behind a truck down the Twelve-Mile Straight. In the aftermath, the farm’s inhabitants are forced to contend with their complicity in a series of events that left a man dead and a family irrevocably fractured. Elma begins to raise her babies as best as she can, under the roof of her mercurial father, Juke, and with the help of Nan, the young black housekeeper who is as close to Elma as a sister. But soon it becomes clear that the ties that bind all of them together are more intricate than any could have ever imagined.
Ecco | 9780062422088
THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Sharyn McCrumb (Historical Fiction)
The Greenbrier Ghost is renowned in American folklore, but Sharyn McCrumb is the first author to look beneath the legend to unearth the facts. Using a century of genealogical material and other historical documents, McCrumb reveals new information about the story and brings to life the personalities in the trial: the prosecutor, a former Confederate cavalryman; the defense attorney, a pro-Union bridgeburner, who nevertheless had owned slaves; and the mother of the murdered woman, who doggedly sticks to her ghost story --- all seen through the eyes of a young black lawyer on the cusp of a new century, with his own tragedies yet to come.
Atria Books | 9781476772875
UNSTOPPABLE: My Life So Far by Maria Sharapova (Memoir)
Maria Sharapova’s career has always been driven by her determination and by her dedication to hard work. Her story doesn’t begin with the 2004 Wimbledon championship (her first grand slam title), but years before, in a small Russian town, where as a five-year-old she played on drab neighborhood courts with precocious concentration. It begins when her father risked everything to get them to Florida, that sacred land of tennis academies. It begins when the two arrived with only $700 and knowing only a few words of English. From that, Sharapova scraped together one of the most influential sports careers in history. Here, for the first time, is the whole story, and in her own words.
Sarah Crichton Books | 9780374279790
THE VENGEANCE OF MOTHERS: The Journals of Margaret Kelly & Molly McGill by Jim Fergus (Historical Fiction)
In 1873, Margaret Kelly participated in the U.S. government's "Brides for Indians" program, the conceit of which was that the way to peace between the United States and the Cheyenne Nation was for One Thousand White Women to be given as brides in exchange for 300 horses. These "brides" were mostly fallen women --- women in prison, prostitutes, the occasional adventurer, or those incarcerated in asylums. No one expected this program to work. And the brides themselves thought of it simply as a chance at freedom. But many of them fell in love with their Cheyenne spouses and had children with them...and became Cheyenne themselves.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250093424
WE WERE STRANGERS ONCE by Betsy Carter (Historical Fiction)
On the eve of World War II, Egon Schneider --- a gallant and successful Jewish doctor, son of two world-famous naturalists --- escapes Germany to an uncertain future across the sea. Settling into the unfamiliar rhythms of upper Manhattan, he finds solace among a tight-knit group of fellow immigrants, tenacious men and women drawn together as much by their differences as by their memories of the world they left behind. They each suffer degradations and triumphs large and small, but their spirits remain unbroken. And when their little community is faced with an existential threat, these strangers rise up together in hopes of creating a permanent home.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455571437
WHAT HAPPENED by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Politics/Memoir)
For the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history. Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterward.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501175565
On Sale the Week of September 11th in Paperback
September 12th
THE ABANDONED HEART: A Bliss House Novel by Laura Benedict (Gothic Thriller/Horror)
In Old Gate, Virginia, stands a grand house built by Randolph Bliss, a charming New York carpetbagger who, in 1878, shook off dire warnings to build his home elsewhere. For the ground beneath Bliss House is tainted with the kind of tragedy that curses generations, seeping through the foundation and sowing madness in its wake. THE ABANDONED HEART is the prequel to CHARLOTTE'S STORY and BLISS HOUSE, forming a trilogy of southern Gothic novels in which one haunted house begets haunted lives that echo over centuries. A haunting so powerful that even Bliss House’s destruction cannot kill it.
Pegasus Books | 9781681775128
BETWEEN BREATHS: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction by Elizabeth Vargas (Memoir)
From the moment she uttered the brave and honest words, "I am an alcoholic," to interviewer George Stephanopoulos, Elizabeth Vargas began writing her story. Now, in BETWEEN BREATHS, Vargas discusses her accounts of growing up with anxiety and how she dealt with it as she came of age, to her eventually turning to alcohol for relief. She tells of how she found herself living in denial, about the extent of her addiction and keeping her dependency a secret for so long. She addresses her time in rehab, her first year of sobriety, and the guilt she felt as a working mother who had never found the right balance.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455559626
BLACK WATER by Louise Doughty (Thriller)
John Harper is in hiding in a remote hut on a tropical island. As he lies awake at night, listening to the rain on the roof, he believes his life may be in danger. But he is less afraid of what is going to happen than of what he’s already done. In a local town, he meets Rita, a woman with her own tragic history. They begin an affair, but can they offer each other redemption? Or do the ghosts of the past always catch up with us in the end? Moving across three continents and several decades, BLACK WATER explores some of the darkest events of recent history through the story of one troubled man.
Picador | 9781250141026
CLASS by Lucinda Rosenfeld (Fiction)
For Karen Kipple, it isn't enough that she works full-time in the non-profit sector for an organization that helps children from disadvantaged homes. She's also determined to live her personal life in accordance with her ideals. This means sending her daughter, Ruby, to an integrated public school in their Brooklyn neighborhood. But when a troubled student from a nearby housing project begins bullying children in Ruby's class, the distant social and economic issues Karen has always claimed to care about so passionately begin to feel uncomfortably close to home.
Back Bay Books | 9780316265430
DAYS WITHOUT END by Sebastian Barry (Historical Fiction)
Thomas McNulty, aged barely 17 and having fled the Great Famine in Ireland, signs up for the U.S. Army in the 1850s. With his brother in arms, John Cole, Thomas goes on to fight in the Indian Wars --- against the Sioux and the Yurok --- and, ultimately, the Civil War. Orphans of terrible hardships themselves, the men find these days to be vivid and alive, despite the horrors they see and are complicit in.
Penguin Books | 9780143111405
THE FIX by David Baldacci (Thriller)
Amos Decker witnesses a murder just outside FBI headquarters. A man shoots a woman execution-style on a crowded sidewalk, then turns the gun on himself. Decker and his team can find absolutely no connection between the shooter and his victim. Enter Harper Brown. An agent of the Defense Intelligence Agency, she orders Decker to back off the case. The murder is part of an open DIA investigation, one so classified that Decker and his team aren't cleared for it. But they learn that the DIA believes solving the murder is now a matter of urgent national security. Critical information may have been leaked to a hostile government --- or worse, an international terrorist group --- and an attack may be imminent.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455586547
FRANTUMAGLIA: A Writer's Journey written by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein (Essays)
FRANTUMAGLIA invites readers into Elena Ferrante’s workshop. It offers a glimpse into the drawers of her writing desk, those drawers from which emerged her three early stand-alone novels and the four installments of My Brilliant Friend, known in English as the Neapolitan Quartet. Consisting of over 20 years of letters, essays, reflections and interviews, it is a unique depiction of an author who embodies a consummate passion for writing.
Europa Editions | 9781609454326
GRAND CENTRAL: How a Train Station Transformed America by Sam Roberts (Transportation/Architecture)
Featuring quirky anecdotes and behind-the-scenes information, Sam Roberts’ book will allow readers to peek into the secret and unseen areas of Grand Central --- from the tunnels, to the command center, to the hidden passageways. With stories about everything from the famous movies that have used Grand Central as a location to the celestial ceiling in the main lobby (including its stunning mistake) to the homeless denizens who reside in the building's catacombs, this is a fascinating and exciting look at a true American institution.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455525973
THE LOST BOY by Camilla Läckberg (Psychological Thriller)
Detective Patrik Hedstrom is no stranger to tragedy. A murder case concerning Fjällbacka’s dead financial director, Mats Sverin, is a grim but useful distraction from his recent family misfortunes. It seems Sverin was a man who everybody liked yet nobody really knew. His high school sweetheart, Nathalie, has just returned to Fjällbacka with her five-year-old son. Perhaps she can shed some light on who Sverin really was. However, Nathalie has her own secret. If it’s discovered, she will lose her only child. As the investigation stalls, the police have many questions. But there is only one that matters: Is there anything a mother would not do to protect her child?
Pegasus Books | 9781681775036
THE LOST WOMAN by Sara Blaedel (Thriller)
A housewife is the target of a shocking, methodical killing. Though murdered in England, it turns out that the woman, Sofie Parker, is actually a Danish citizen who's been on the Missing Persons list for almost two decades --- so Louise Rick is called on to the case. Then, in an unexpected twist, the police discover that Sofie had been reported missing 18 years ago by none other than Eik, Louise’s police colleague and lover. Impulsive as ever, Eik rushes to England and ends up in jail on suspicion of Sofie's murder. Louise must set aside her own emotional turmoil if she hopes to find the killer in what will become her most controversial case yet.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455541065
LOVE WARRIOR: A Memoir by Glennon Doyle (Memoir)
Just when Glennon Doyle Melton was beginning to feel she had it all figured out, her husband revealed his infidelity and she was forced to realize that nothing was as it seemed. A recovering alcoholic and bulimic, Glennon found that rock bottom was a familiar place. In the midst of crisis, she knew to hold on to what she discovered in recovery: that her deepest pain has always held within it an invitation to a richer life. LOVE WARRIOR is the story of one marriage, but it is also the story of the healing that is possible for any of us when we refuse to settle for good enough and begin to face pain and love head-on.
Flatiron Books | 9781250075734
NEVER LOOK AN AMERICAN IN THE EYE: A Memoir of Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts, and the Making of a Nigerian American by Okey Ndibe (Memoir)
Okey Ndibe’s memoir tells of his move from Nigeria to America, where he came to edit the influential --- but forever teetering on the verge of insolvency --- African Commentary magazine. It recounts stories of Ndibe’s relationships with Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and other literary figures; examines the differences between Nigerian and American etiquette and politics; recalls an incident of racial profiling just 13 days after he arrived in the US, in which he was mistaken for a bank robber; considers American stereotypes about Africa (and vice-versa); and juxtaposes African folk tales with Wall Street trickery.
Soho Press | 9781616958633
NOT DEAD YET: The Memoir by Phil Collins (Memoir)
NOT DEAD YET is Phil Collins’ candid, witty, unvarnished story of the songs and shows, the hits and pans, his marriages and divorces, the ascents to the top of the charts and into the tabloid headlines. As one of only three musicians to sell 100 million records both in a group and as a solo artist, Collins breathes rare air, but has never lost his touch at crafting songs from the heart that touch listeners around the globe. That same touch is on magnificent display here, especially as he unfolds his harrowing descent into darkness after his “official” retirement in 2007, and the profound, enduring love that helped save him.
Three Rivers Press | 9781101907481
THE SIGNAL FLAME by Andrew Krivák (Historical Fiction)
In a small town in Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains, Hannah and her son, Bo, mourn the loss of the family patriarch, Jozef Vinich. Having survived the trenches of World War I as an Austro-Hungarian conscript, Vinich journeyed to America and built a life for his family. His daughter married the Hungarian-born Bexhet Konar, who enlisted to fight with the Americans in the Second World War but brought disgrace on the family when he was imprisoned for desertion. He returned home to Pennsylvania a hollow man, only to be killed in a hunting accident on the family’s land. Finally, in 1971, Hannah’s prodigal younger son, Sam, was reported MIA in Vietnam. And so there is only Bo, a quiet man full of conviction, a proud work ethic, and a firstborn’s sense of duty.
Scribner | 9781501126383
TWENTY-SIX SECONDS: A Personal History of the Zapruder Film by Alexandra Zapruder (Memoir/History)
Abraham Zapruder didn't know when he began filming President Kennedy's motorcade on November 22, 1963 that his home movie would change not only his family's life but American culture and history as well. Now his granddaughter tells the whole story of the Zapruder film for the first time. With the help of personal family records, previously sealed archival sources, and interviews, she traces the film's complex journey through history, considering its impact on her family and the public realms of the media, courts, Federal government and the arts community. Zapruder shows how 26 seconds of film changed a family and raised some of the most important social, cultural and moral questions of our time.
Twelve | 9781455574827
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