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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of August 14th and August 21st 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 our Women's Fiction Author Spotlight of SOMETHING LIKE HAPPY by Eva Woods, which releases on September 5th. Thirty-five readers will win a copy of the book and share their comments on it. The deadline for your entries is Thursday, August 24th at noon ET.
We also are holding a special contest for FATAL TRUST by Todd M. Johnson. We have 10 copies to give away to readers who would like to read the book and comment on it. The deadline for your entries is Thursday, August 17th at noon ET, so the time to enter is now!
Finally, the Hachette Book Group has announced the details for their annual Book Club Brunch, which this year will be held on Saturday, October 21st from 10am to 3pm at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. The admission is $50, and includes various panel discussions, a light lunch, and a tote bag with selected free books. Click here for more info and to purchase your tickets.
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:
Our Women's Fiction Author Spotlight & Contest for SOMETHING LIKE HAPPY by Eva Woods
We have 35 copies of SOMETHING LIKE HAPPY by Eva Woods --- an unforgettable tale of celebrating triumphs great and small, seizing the day, and always remembering to live in the moment --- to give away to readers who would like to read the book, which releases on September 5th, and share their comments on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, August 24th at noon ET.
SOMETHING LIKE HAPPY by Eva Woods (Fiction)
Annie Hebden is stuck. Stuck in her boring job, with her irritating roommate, in a life no 35-year-old would want. But deep down, Annie is still mourning the terrible loss that tore a hole through the perfect existence she'd once taken for granted --- and hiding away is safer than remembering what used to be. Until she meets the eccentric Polly Leonard.
Bright, bubbly, intrusive Polly is everything Annie doesn't want in a friend. But Polly is determined to finally wake Annie up to life. Because if recent events have taught Polly anything, it's that your time is too short to waste a single day --- which is why she wants Annie to join her on a mission.
One hundred days. One hundred new ways to be happy. Annie is convinced it's impossible, but so is saying no to Polly. And on an unforgettable journey that will force her to open herself to new experiences --- and perhaps even new love with the unlikeliest of men --- 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.
Click here to read more in our Women's Fiction Author Spotlight
and enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of August 14th in Hardcover
August 14th
THE STORE by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo (Thriller)
Jacob and Megan Brandeis have gotten jobs with the mega-successful, ultra-secretive Store. Seems perfect. Seems safe. But their lives are about to become anything but perfect, anything but safe. Especially since Jacob and Megan have a dark secret of their own. They're writing a book that will expose the Store --- a forbidden book, a dangerous book. And if the Store finds out, there's only one thing Jacob, Megan and their kids can do --- run for their bloody lives. Which is probably impossible, because the Store is always watching.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316395458
August 15th
THE DOLL FUNERAL by Kate Hamer (Psychological Thriller)
On Ruby’s 13th birthday, a wish she didn’t even know she had suddenly comes true: the couple who raised her aren’t her parents at all. Her real mother and father are out there somewhere, and Ruby becomes determined to find them. Venturing into the forest with nothing but a suitcase and the company of her only true friend --- the imaginary Shadow Boy --- Ruby discovers a group of siblings who live alone in the woods. The children take her in, and while they offer the closest Ruby’s ever had to a family, Ruby begins to suspect that they might need her even more than she needs them. And it’s not always clear what’s real and what’s not --- or who’s trying to help her and who might be a threat.
Melville House | 9781612196657
ELECTRIC OCTOBER: Seven World Series Games, Six Lives, Five Minutes of Fame That Lasted Forever by Kevin Cook (Sports/History)
The 1947 World Series was “the most exciting ever” in the words of Joe DiMaggio, with a decade’s worth of drama packed into seven games between the mighty New York Yankees and underdog Brooklyn Dodgers. For all the star power on display, the outcome hinged on role players. Six men found themselves plucked from obscurity to shine on the sport’s greatest stage. But their fame was fleeting; three would never play another big-league game, and all six would be forgotten. Kevin Cook brings the ’47 Series back to life, introducing us to men whose past offered no hint they were destined for extraordinary things.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250116567
EXPOSED by Lisa Scottoline (Legal Thriller)
Mary DiNunzio wants to represent her old friend Simon Pensiera, a sales rep who was wrongly fired by his company, but her partner Bennie Rosato represents the parent company. When she confronts Mary, explaining this is a conflict of interest, an epic battle of wills and legal strategy between the two ensues --- ripping the law firm apart, forcing everyone to take sides and turning friend against friend.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250099716
GONE TO DUST by Matt Goldman (Mystery)
Suburban divorcee Maggie Somerville was found murdered in her bedroom, her body covered with the dust from hundreds of emptied vacuum cleaner bags, all potential DNA evidence obscured by the calculating killer. Digging into Maggie’s cell phone records, private detective Nils Shapiro finds that the most frequently called number belongs to a mysterious young woman whose true identity could shatter the Somerville family. But could she be guilty of murder? After the FBI demands that Nils drop the case, Nils and neighboring Edina Police Detective Anders Ellegaard are forced to take their investigation underground. Is this a strange case of domestic violence or something with far-reaching, sinister implications?
Forge Books | 9780765391285
HOME FIRE by Kamila Shamsie (Fiction)
Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. When he resurfaces half a globe away, Isma’s worst fears are confirmed. Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Son of a powerful political figure, he has his own birthright to live up to --- or defy. Suddenly, two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined.
Riverhead Books | 9780735217683
HOW TO BEHAVE IN A CROWD by Camille Bordas (Fiction)
Isidore Mazal is 11 years old, the youngest of six siblings living in a small French town. He doesn't quite fit in. Berenice, Aurore and Leonard are on track to have doctorates by age 24. Jeremie performs with a symphony, and Simone, older than Isidore by 18 months, expects a great career as a novelist --- she's already put Isidore to work on her biography. Isidore has never skipped a grade or written a dissertation. But he notices things the others don't and asks questions they fear to ask. So when tragedy strikes the Mazal family, Isidore is the only one to recognize how everyone is struggling with their grief, and perhaps the only one who can help them --- if he doesn't run away from home first.
Tim Duggan Books | 9780451497543
HOW TO FIND LOVE IN A BOOKSHOP by Veronica Henry (Fiction)
Nightingale Books, nestled on the main street in an idyllic little village, is a dream come true for book lovers --- a cozy haven and welcoming getaway for the literary-minded locals. But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop open after her beloved father’s death, and the temptation to sell is getting stronger. The property developers are circling, yet Emilia's loyal customers have become like family, and she can't imagine breaking the promise she made to her father to keep the store alive.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780735223493
I KNOW A SECRET: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen (Thriller)
Two separate homicides, at different locations, with unrelated victims, have more in common than just being investigated by Boston PD detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. In both cases, the bodies bear startling wounds, yet the actual cause of death is unknown. It’s a doubly challenging case for the cop and the coroner to be taking on. As Jane struggles to save her mother from the crumbling marriage that threatens to bury her, Maura grapples with the imminent death of her own mother --- infamous serial killer Amalthea Lank. While Jane tends to her mother, there’s nothing Maura can do for Amalthea, except endure one final battle of wills with the woman whose shadow has haunted her all her life.
Ballantine Books | 9780345543882
THE MOUNTAIN: Stories by Paul Yoon (Fiction/Short Stories)
Six thematically linked stories take place across several continents and time periods, populated with characters who are connected by their traumatic pasts, newly vagrant lives, and quests for solace in their futures. Though they exist in their own distinct worlds, they are united by the struggle to reconcile their traumatic pasts in the wake of violence. A morphine-addicted nurse wanders through the decimated French countryside in search of purpose; a dissatisfied wife sporadically takes a train across Spain with a much younger man in the wake of a building explosion; a lost young woman emigrates from Korea to Shanghai, where she aimlessly works in a camera sweat shop, trying fruitlessly to outrun the ghosts of her past.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501154089
POETRY WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE: A Memoir by Jill Bialosky (Memoir)
For Jill Bialosky, certain poems stand out like signposts at pivotal moments in a life: the death of a father, adolescence, first love, leaving home, the suicide of a sister, marriage, the birth of a child, the day in New York City the Twin Towers fell. As Bialosky narrates these moments, she illuminates the ways in which particular poems offered insight, compassion and connection, and shows how poetry can be a blueprint for living. In POETRY WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE, Bialosky recalls when she encountered each formative poem, and how its importance and meaning evolved over time, allowing new insights and perceptions to emerge.
Atria Books | 9781451693201
A PROMISE TO KILL: A Clyde Barr Novel by Erik Storey (Thriller)
Clyde Barr, the drifter with lethal skills, is alone again, wandering the highways of the American West in search of something to believe in. But when he runs across an elderly sick man --- a Ute Indian from a nearby reservation --- Clyde’s dream of solitude is quickly dashed. On the reservation, Clyde finds the old man’s daughter, Lawana, and grandson, Taylor, as well as a group of menacing bikers called Reapers running wild in the economically depressed, half-abandoned village. As tensions rise between the locals and the Reapers, Clyde’s efforts to protect the reservation become a fight for his, Lawana’s and Taylor’s lives. And then the stakes ratchet up even more.
Scribner | 9781501124181
SEEING RED by Sandra Brown (Thriller)
Twenty-five years ago, Major Franklin Trapper became a national icon when he was photographed leading a handful of survivors to safety after the bombing of a Dallas hotel. For years, he gave frequent speeches and interviews but then suddenly dropped out of the public eye. Now TV journalist Kerra Bailey is willing to use any means necessary to get an exclusive with the Major --- even if she has to secure an introduction from his estranged son, former ATF agent John Trapper. When the interview goes catastrophically awry, Trapper realizes he needs Kerra under wraps if he's going to track down the gunmen and finally discover who was responsible for the Dallas bombing.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455572106
SLEEPING IN THE GROUND: An Inspector Banks Novel by Peter Robinson (Mystery/Thriller)
At the doors of a charming country church, an unspeakable act destroys a wedding party. A huge manhunt ensues. The culprit is captured. The story is over. Except it isn't. For Alan Banks, still struggling with a tragic loss of his own, there's something wrong about this case --- something unresolved. Reteaming with profiler Jenny Fuller, the relentless detective dives deeper into the crime...deep enough to unearth long-buried secrets that reshape everything Banks thought he knew about the events outside that chapel. And when at last the shocking truth becomes clear, it's almost too late.
William Morrow | 9780062395078
A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE by Shari Lapena (Psychological Thriller)
You’re home making dinner for your husband. You expect him any second. The phone rings --- it’s the call you hoped you’d never get. You jump in your car and race to a neighborhood you thought you’d never visit. You peer into the dark, deserted building. You brace yourself for the worst. And then, you remember nothing else. They tell your husband you’ve been in an accident. You lost control of your car as you sped through the worst side of town. The police suspect you were up to no good. But your husband refuses to believe it. Your best friend is not so sure. And even you don’t know what to believe.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780735221123
WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR by Robert K. Tanenbaum (Legal Thriller)
When a cop shoots down the son of a respected inner-city Baptist preacher, the community rises up in anger and demands to have the officer prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But there’s something more than a call for justice at work here: a plot to bring down the city’s police force through a conspiracy so vast and malicious that only Butch Karp and his band of truth-seekers can untangle it.
Gallery Books | 9781476793221
On Sale the Week of August 14th in Paperback
August 15th
CLOSE ENOUGH TO TOUCH by Colleen Oakley (Fiction)
Jubilee Jenkins has a rare condition: she’s allergic to human touch. After a nearly fatal accident, she became reclusive, living in the confines of her home for nine years. But after her mother dies, Jubilee is forced to face the world --- and the people in it --- that she’s been hiding from. She finds safe haven at her local library where she gets a job. It’s there she meets Eric Keegan, a divorced man who recently moved to town with his brilliant, troubled, adopted son. Jubilee is unlike anyone he has ever met, yet he can't understand why she keeps him at arm's length. So Eric sets out to convince Jubilee to open herself and her heart to everything life can offer.
Gallery Books | 9781501139291
THE DAUGHTERS OF IRELAND by Santa Montefiore (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
In the green hills of West Cork, Ireland, Castle Deverill has burned to the ground. But young Celia Deverill is determined to see her ruined ancestral home restored to its former glory --- to the years when Celia ran through its vast halls with her cousin Kitty and their childhood friend Bridie Doyle. Kitty herself is raising a young family, but she longs for Jack O’Leary — the long-ago sweetheart she cannot have. And soon Kitty must make a heartbreaking decision, one that could destroy everything she holds dear. Bridie, once a cook's daughter in Castle Deverill, is now a well-heeled New York City socialite. Yet her celebrity can't erase a past act that haunts her still. Nor can it keep her from seeking revenge upon the woman who wronged her all those years ago.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062456885
DAYS OF NIGHT by Jonathan Stone (Thriller)
Paperback Original
When retired police detective Joe Heller is called in to investigate what might be Antarctica’s first murder, he quickly discovers that winter at McMurdo Station comes with a unique set of challenges. But a difficult investigation turns much tougher when all communication with the outside world is suddenly cut off. While Heller works diligently to reconstruct the scene of the crime, evidence mounts that a pathogenic event could be ravaging the rest of the planet. As night descends, fear mounts and confusion reigns, the killer strikes again. If this is a global cataclysm, is someone now picking off the human race’s few remaining survivors? Is this the end of the world --- or just the end of Joe Heller’s?
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542045841
FORTY AUTUMNS: A Family’s Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner (Memoir)
FORTY AUTUMNS makes visceral the pain and longing of one family forced to live apart in a world divided by two. Here, Nina Willner recounts her family’s story --- five ordinary lives buffeted by circumstances beyond their control. She takes us deep into the tumultuous and terrifying world of East Germany under Communist rule, revealing both the cruel reality her relatives endured and her own experiences as an intelligence officer, running secret operations behind the Berlin Wall that put her life at risk.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062410320
HELL FIRE: An Inspector Sejer Mystery by Karin Fossum (Mystery/Thriller)
A gruesome tableau awaits Inspector Konrad Sejer in the oppressive summer heat: a woman and a young boy lay dead in a pool of blood near a dank trailer. The motivation behind the deaths of Bonnie Hayden and her five-year-old son, Simon, is mysterious. Who would brutally stab a defenseless woman and her child? In a parallel story, another mother, Mass Malthe, navigates life with her adult son, Eddie. It’s a relationship some would call too close, since Eddie’s father, a man he obsesses over, abandoned them many years ago.
Mariner Books | 9780544944398
KAROLINA’S TWINS by Ronald H. Balson (Historical Fiction)
Lena Woodward has lived a comfortable life among Chicago Society since she immigrated to the US and began a new life at the end of World War II. But now something has resurfaced that Lena cannot ignore: an unfulfilled promise she made long ago that can no longer stay buried. Driven to renew the quest that still keeps her awake at night, Lena enlists the help of lawyer Catherine Lockhart and private investigator Liam Taggart. She begins to recount a tale, harkening back to her harrowing past in Nazi-occupied Poland, of the bond she shared with her childhood friend Karolina. But there are questions that must be answered about what is true and what is not, and what Lena is willing to risk to uncover the past.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250089045
THE LAST ONE by Alexandra Oliva (Psychological Thriller)
Twelve contestants on a reality TV show are sent into the woods to face challenges that will test the limits of their endurance. While they are out there, something terrible happens. But how widespread is the destruction, and has it occurred naturally or is it man-made? When one of the contestants stumbles across the devastation, she can imagine only that it is part of the game. But as her emotional and physical reserves dwindle, she grasps that the real world might have been altered in terrifying ways --- and her ability to parse the charade will be either her triumph or her undoing.
Ballantine Books | 9781101966839
THE NEXT by Stephanie Gangi (Fiction)
Joanna DeAngelis may be gone from this life, but she has a score to settle before she can move on to the next. Abandoned by Ned McGowan, her younger lover, and obsessed with his betrayal, Joanna falls into a dark afterlife, only to rise up as a restless, vengeful spirit. Anna and Elena, her loving daughters, grapple with grief. Her faithful dog, Tom, watches and waits. But Joanna has only one thing on her agenda: revenge. She streaks through contemporary Manhattan, chasing Ned down, determined to hold him accountable for leaving her alone in her darkest hour.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250110572
THE PECULIAR MIRACLES OF ANTOINETTE MARTIN by Stephanie Knipper (Fiction)
Sisters Rose and Lily Martin were inseparable when growing up on their family’s Kentucky flower farm, yet became distant as adults when Lily found herself unable to deal with the demands of Rose’s unusual daughter. But when Rose becomes ill, Lily is forced to return to the farm and confront the fears that had driven her away. Rose’s daughter, 10-year-old Antoinette, has a form of autism that requires constant care and attention. She has never spoken a word, but has a powerful gift that others would give anything to harness --- she can heal with her touch. Her gift, though, comes at a price, since each healing puts her own life in jeopardy.
Algonquin Books | 9781616207359
PLAYING DEAD: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood (True Crime)
Is it still possible to fake your own death in the 21st century? With six figures of student loan debt, Elizabeth Greenwood was tempted to find out. So she sets off on a foray into the world of death fraud, where for $30,000 a consultant can make you disappear. But your suspicious insurance company might hire a private detective to dig up your coffin…only to find it filled with rocks. Along the way, Greenwood learns that love is a much less common motive than money, and that making your death look like a drowning virtually guarantees you’ll be caught. (Disappearing while hiking, however, is a great way to go.)
Simon & Schuster | 9781476739342
THE STORY OF EGYPT: The Civilization that Shaped the World by Joann Fletcher (History)
The story of the world's greatest civilization spans 4,000 years of history that has shaped the world. It is full of spectacular cities and epic stories --- an evolving society rich in inventors, heroes, heroines, villains, artisans and pioneers. Professor Joann Fletcher pulls together the complete story of Egypt --- charting the rise and fall of the ancient Egyptians while putting their whole world into a context to which we can all relate.
Pegasus Books | 9781681774565
A THOUSAND MILES FROM NOWHERE by John Gregory Brown (Fiction)
Fleeing New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approaches, Henry Garrett is haunted by the ruins of his marriage, a squandered inheritance, and the teaching job he inexplicably quit. He pulls into a small Virginia town after three days on the road, hoping to silence the ceaseless clamor in his head. But this quest for peace and quiet as the only guest at a roadside motel is destroyed when Henry finds himself at the center of a bizarre and violent tragedy. As a result, Henry winds up stranded at the ramshackle motel just outside the small town of Marimore, and it's there that he is pulled into the lives of those around him.
Lee Boudreaux / Back Bay Books | 9780316302838
August 17th
A FRAGILE THING by Kevin Wignall (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Max Emerson is rich and powerful --- a patron of the arts and the owner of a multinational business. But Max’s business is money laundering, and, for the first time in his fortunate life, he’s in trouble. Hackers are targeting his company. The FBI is pressuring him to betray one of his crooked clients. A dark secret from his own past looks in danger of resurfacing. When his parents are killed in a tragic accident, the whole world Max has built for himself seems to be on the brink of collapse. Just as he’s drawn back into the heart of his estranged family, he receives a letter from beyond the grave --- a letter that turns everything he thought he knew on its head.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781612185804
On Sale the Week of August 21st in Hardcover
August 22nd
CHARLATANS by Robin Cook (Medical Thriller)
Known for its medical advances, Boston Memorial Hospital has fitted several ORs as “hybrid operating rooms of the future” --- an improvement that seems positive until an anesthesia error during a routine procedure results in the death of an otherwise healthy man. Noah Rothauser, the newly minted chief resident, suspects Dr. William Mason, an egotistical, world-class surgeon, of an error during the operation and of tampering with the patient’s record afterward. But Mason is quick to blame anesthesiologist Dr. Ava London. When more anesthesia-related deaths start to occur, Noah is forced to question all of the residents on his staff, including Ava, and quickly realizes there’s more to her than what he sees.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735212480
A DARK AND BROKEN HEART by R. J. Ellory (Thriller)
Detective Vincent Madigan is a good cop, but he’s up to his neck in debt to Sandia, a notorious East Harlem drug lord. When Madigan devises a scheme to eliminate his debt by robbing Sandia and then repaying him with his own money, he thinks his heist is foolproof. But things go horribly wrong when Madigan is forced to kill his co-conspirators and a child is shot in the crossfire. Now both sides of the law are hunting him down, and the cop assigned to lead the case is the very last person he could have expected. Employing every deception and ruse he can think of, Madigan must stay one step ahead in a battle of wits that will test him to his limits. Can he evade justice for his crimes, or will his own conscience be his final undoing?
The Overlook Press | 9781468311280
AN ECHO OF THINGS TO COME by James Islington (Fantasy/Adventure)
In the wake of a devastating attack, an amnesty has been declared for all Augurs --- finally allowing them to emerge from hiding and openly oppose the dark forces massing against the land of Andarra. As the Augur Davian and his new allies hurry north toward the ever-weakening Boundary, however, fresh horrors along their path suggest that their reprieve may have come far too late. His ally in the Capital, the new Northwarden, contends with assassins and politicians, and uncovers a dangerous political secret. Meanwhile, Caeden races against time to fulfill his treacherous bargain with the Lyth, but as more and more of his memories return, he begins to realize that the two sides in this ancient war may not be as clear-cut as they first seemed.
Orbit | 9780316274111
FAST FALLS THE NIGHT by Julia Keller (Mystery)
The first drug overdose comes just after midnight, when a young woman dies on the dirty floor of a gas station bathroom. To the people of the small town of Acker’s Gap, West Virginia, it is just another tragedy. But then there is another overdose. And another. And another. Prosecutor Bell Elkins soon realizes that her Appalachian hometown is facing its starkest challenge yet: a day of constant heroin overdoses from a batch tainted with a lethal tranquilizer. While the clock ticks and the bodies fall, Bell and her colleagues desperately track the source of the deadly drug --- and engage in fierce debates over the wisdom of expending precious resources to save the lives of self-destructive addicts.
Minotaur Books | 9781250089618
THE FUTILITARIANS: Our Year of Thinking, Drinking, Grieving, and Reading by Anne Gisleson (Memoir)
Anne Gisleson had lost her twin sisters, had been forced to flee her home during Hurricane Katrina, and had witnessed cancer take her beloved father. Before she met her husband, Brad, he had suffered his own trauma, losing his partner and the mother of his son to cancer in her young 30s. In the midst of forging their happiness, Anne and Brad found that their friends had been suffering their own losses and crises as well. Together these resilient New Orleanians formed what they called the Existential Crisis Reading Group, jokingly dubbed "The Futilitarians." Each month they read and talked about identity, parenting, love, mortality and life in post-Katrina New Orleans, gatherings that increasingly fortified Anne and helped her blaze a trail out of her well-worn grief.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316393904
THE HEART'S INVISIBLE FURIES by John Boyne (Fiction)
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery --- or at least, that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead. At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from --- and over his many years will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country and much more.
Hogarth | 9781524760786
THE HISTORY OF BEES by Maja Lunde (Fiction)
THE HISTORY OF BEES follows three generations of beekeepers and their relationship to the bees --- and to their children and one another --- against the backdrop of an urgent, global crisis. England, 1852. William is a biologist and seed merchant, who sets out to build a new type of beehive --- one that will give both him and his children honor and fame. United States, 2007. George is a beekeeper fighting an uphill battle against modern farming, but hopes that his son can be their salvation. China, 2098. Tao hand paints pollen onto the fruit trees now that the bees have long since disappeared. When Tao’s young son is taken away by the authorities after a tragic accident, she sets out on a grueling journey to find out what happened to him.
Touchstone | 9781501161377
KEEP YOU SAFE by Melissa Hill (Fiction)
Kate O'Hara’s daughter, Rosie, is one of a small percentage of children with a disorder that prevents them from being immunized. All Kate can do is hope that herd immunity keeps disease at bay and her little girl safe. For Madeleine Cooper, vaccinations were a leap of faith she wasn't prepared to take. Following much soul-searching, she and her husband declined controversial measles shots for their daughter, Clara. But when both girls wind up in the same elementary school class, telltale red spots appear on Clara's chest, and on Rosie's a few days after. And while one child recovers and the other's health becomes more critical, the two mothers find themselves across a very deep divide.
Mira | 9780778330462
MAP OF THE HEART by Susan Wiggs (Fiction)
Widowed by an unspeakable tragedy, Camille Palmer has made her peace with the past and settled into the quiet safety of life with her teenage daughter, Julie, in a sleepy coastal town. Then the arrival of a mysterious package breaks open the door to her family’s secret past. In uncovering a hidden history, Camille has no idea that she’s embarking on an adventure that will utterly transform her. Camille, Julie and Camille’s father return to the French town of his youth, sparking unexpected memories --- recollections that will lead them back to the dark days of the Second World War. And it is in the stunning Provençal countryside that they will uncover their family’s surprising history.
William Morrow | 9780062425485
THE MASSACRE OF MANKIND: The Sequel to War of the Worlds by Stephen Baxter (Science Fiction/Adventure)
It has been 14 years since the Martians invaded England. The world has moved on, always watching the skies but content that we know how to defeat the Martian menace. Machinery looted from the abandoned capsules and war-machines have led to technological leaps forward. The Martians are vulnerable to earth germs. The Army is prepared. So when the signs of launches on Mars are seen, there seems little reason to worry. Unless you listen to Walter Jenkins, the narrator of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. He is sure that the Martians have learned, adapted and understood their defeat. He is right. Thrust into the chaos of a new invasion, a journalist --- Jenkins' sister-in-law --- must survive, escape and report on the war.
Crown | 9781524760120
MIDWINTER BREAK by Bernard MacLaverty (Fiction)
A retired couple, Gerry and Stella Gilmore, fly from their home in Scotland to Amsterdam for a long weekend. But over the course of these four days, we discover the deep uncertainties that exist between them. Gerry, once an architect, is forgetful and set in his ways. Stella is tired of his lifestyle, worried about their marriage, and angry at his constant undermining of her religious faith. Things are not helped by memories that have begun to resurface of a troubled time in their native Ireland. As their midwinter break comes to an end, we understand how far apart they are --- and can only watch as they struggle to save themselves.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393609622
MY FIRST COACH: Inspiring Stories of NFL Quarterbacks and Their Dads by Gary Myers (Sports/Parenting)
Tom Brady's father is an estate planner. Jim Harbaugh's father had a long career as a college coach. Archie Manning played 14 years in the NFL and never made the playoffs, but his sons Peyton and Eli won a combined four Super Bowls. Joe Montana is considered by many to be the greatest quarterback of all time, but his two sons bounced around college football with limited success. MY FIRST COACH goes behind the scenes to explore the unique relationship between these and other quarterbacks and their fathers, as well as investigate various approaches to parenting through their stories.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455598465
THE OTHER GIRL by Erica Spindler (Thriller)
Officer Miranda Rader of the Harmony, Louisiana PD is known for her honesty, integrity and steady hand in a crisis --- but that wasn’t always so. Miranda comes from the town of Jasper, and her side of the tracks was the wrong one. She’s worked hard to earn the respect of her co-workers and the community. When Miranda and her partner are called to investigate the murder of one of the town’s most beloved college professors, they’re unprepared for the brutality of the scene. This murder is unlike any they’ve ever investigated, and just when Miranda thinks she’s seen the worst of it, she finds a piece of evidence that chills her to the core: a faded newspaper clipping about that terrible night 15 years ago.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250083654
THE RED-HAIRED WOMAN by Orhan Pamuk (Fiction)
A master well digger and his young apprentice are hired to find water on a barren plain. As they struggle in the summer heat, the two will develop a filial bond neither has known before. But in a nearby town, the boy will find an irresistible diversion. The Red-Haired Woman, an alluring member of a travelling theatre company, catches his eye and seems as fascinated by him as he is by her. The young man's wildest dream will be realized, but --- when in his distraction a horrible accident befalls the well digger --- the boy will flee, returning to Istanbul. Only years later will he discover whether he was in fact responsible for his master's death and who the redheaded enchantress was.
Knopf | 9780451494429
THE ROOM OF WHITE FIRE by T. Jefferson Parker (Thriller)
Roland Ford is good at finding people. But when he’s asked to locate Air Force veteran Clay Hickman, he realizes he’s been drawn into something deep and dark. He knows war, having served as a Marine in first Fallujah; he also knows personal pain, as only two years have passed since his wife, Justine, died. What he doesn’t know is why a shroud of secrecy hangs over the disappearance of Clay Hickman --- and why he’s getting a different story from everyone involved. What began as just a job becomes a life-or-death obsession for Ford, pitting him against immensely powerful and treacherous people and forcing him to contend with chilling questions about truth, justice and the American way.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735212664
THE SABOTEUR by Andrew Gross (Historical Thriller)
Kurt Nordstrum, an engineer in Oslo, puts his life aside to take up arms against the Germans as part of the Norwegian resistance. After the loss of his fiancée, he commandeers a coastal steamer and escapes to England to transmit secret evidence of the Nazis’ progress towards an atomic bomb at an isolated factory in Norway. There, he joins a team of dedicated Norwegians in training in the Scottish Highlands for a mission to disrupt the Nazis’ plans before they advance any further. Nordstrum and his team attempt the most daring raid of the war, targeting the heavily guarded factory built on a shelf of rock thought to be impregnable. Months later, Nordstrum is called upon again to do the impossible, opposed by both elite Nazi soldiers and a long-standing enemy who is now a local collaborator.
Minotaur Books | 9781250079510
SHATTERED by Allison Brennan (Mystery/Thriller)
Over a span of 20 years, four boys have been kidnapped from their bedrooms, suffocated and buried nearby in a shallow grave. Serial killer or coincidence? That’s the question investigative reporter Maxine Revere sets out to answer when an old friend begs her to help exonerate his wife, who has been charged with their son’s recent murder. But Max can do little to help because the police and D.A. won’t talk to her --- they think they have the right woman. Instead, Max turns her attention to three similar cold cases. If she can solve them, she might be able to help her friend.
Minotaur Books | 9781250129277
STAY WITH ME by Ayobami Adebayo (Fiction)
Yejide and Akin have been married since they met and fell in love at university. Though many expected Akin to take several wives, he and Yejide have always agreed: polygamy is not for them. But four years into their marriage --- after consulting fertility doctors and healers, trying strange teas and unlikely cures --- Yejide is still not pregnant. She assumes she still has time --- until her family arrives on her doorstep with a young woman they introduce as Akin's second wife. Furious, shocked and livid with jealousy, Yejide knows the only way to save her marriage is to get pregnant. Which, finally, she does --- but at a cost far greater than she could have dared to imagine.
Knopf | 9780451494603
SULFUR SPRINGS by William Kent Krueger (Mystery/Thriller)
Cork O’Connor and his new bride, Rainy Bisonette, listen to a desperate voicemail left by Rainy's son, Peter, who confesses to the murder of someone named Rodriguez. After unsuccessfully trying to contact him, they fly to Coronado County in southern Arizona, where Peter has been working as a counselor in a drug rehab center. They learn that Peter was fired six months earlier and hasn’t been heard from since. So they head to the little desert town of Sulfur Springs where Peter has been receiving his mail. But no one in Sulfur Springs seems to know him. They do, however, recognize the name Rodriguez. Carlos Rodriguez is the head of a cartel that controls everything illegal crossing the border from Mexico into Coronado County.
Atria Books | 9781501147340
TO SIRI WITH LOVE: A Mother, Her Autistic Son, and the Kindness of Machines by Judith Newman (Memoir)
When Judith Newman shared the story of how Apple’s electronic personal assistant, Siri, helped Gus, her son who has autism, she received widespread media attention and an outpouring of affection from readers around the world. While many worry that our electronic gadgets are dumbing us down, Judith revealed how they can give voice to others, including children with autism like Gus --- a boy who has trouble looking people in the eye, hops when he’s happy, and connects with inanimate objects on an empathetic level. TO SIRI WITH LOVE is a collection of funny, poignant and uplifting stories about living with an extraordinary child who has helped a parent see and experience the world differently.
Harper | 9780062413628
UNRAVELING OLIVER by Liz Nugent (Psychological Thriller)
Oliver Ryan has long been married to his devoted wife, Alice. Together they write and illustrate award-winning children’s books; their life together one of enviable privilege and ease --- until, one evening, Oliver delivers a blow to Alice that renders her unconscious, and subsequently beats her into a coma. In the aftermath of such an unthinkable event, as Alice hovers between life and death, the couple’s friends, neighbors and acquaintances try to understand what could have driven Oliver to commit such a horrific act. As his story unfolds, layers are peeled away to reveal a life of shame, envy, deception and masterful manipulation.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781501167751
Y IS FOR YESTERDAY by Sue Grafton (Mystery)
Y IS FOR YESTERDAY begins in 1979, when four teenage boys from an elite private school sexually assault a 14-year-old classmate --- and film the attack. Not long after, the tape goes missing and the suspected thief, a fellow classmate, is murdered. In the investigation that follows, one boy turns state’s evidence, and two of his peers are convicted. But the ringleader escapes without a trace. Now, it’s 1989 and one of the perpetrators, Fritz McCabe, has been released from prison. Moody, unrepentant and angry, he is a virtual prisoner of his ever-watchful parents --- until a copy of the missing tape arrives with a ransom demand. That’s when the McCabes call Kinsey Millhone for help.
Marian Wood Books/Putnam | 9780399163852
YOUNG JANE YOUNG by Gabrielle Zevin (Fiction)
Aviva Grossman, an ambitious congressional intern in Florida, makes the mistake of having an affair with her boss --- and blogging about it. When the affair comes to light, the beloved congressman doesn’t take the fall. But Aviva does, and her life is over before it hardly begins. She sees no way out but to change her name and move to a remote town in Maine. This time, she tries to be smarter about her life and strives to raise her daughter, Ruby, to be strong and confident. But when Aviva decides to run for public office herself, that long-ago mistake trails her via the Internet and catches up. It’s only a matter of time until Ruby finds out who her mother was and is forced to reconcile that person with the one she knows.
Algonquin Books | 9781616205041
On Sale the Week of August 21st in Paperback
August 22nd
EVERYTHING WE LOST by Valerie Geary (Psychological Suspense/Mystery)
Paperback Original
Lucy Durant was only 14 years old when she lost her older brother. First to his paranoid delusions as he became increasingly obsessed with UFOs and government conspiracies. Then, permanently, when he walked into the desert outside Bishop, California, and never returned. Now on the 10th anniversary of Nolan's mysterious disappearance, Lucy is still struggling with guilt and confusion --- her memories from that period are blurry and obscured by time, distance and alcohol. But when a series of unsettling events leads Lucy back to Bishop, she is forced to reconcile with her estranged mother and come to terms with the tangled memories of her past to discover what really happened to her brother all those years ago.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062566423
IF NOT FOR YOU by Debbie Macomber (Fiction)
If not for her loving but controlling parents, Beth Prudhomme might never have taken charge of her life and moved to Portland, Oregon, where she’s reconnected with her spirited Aunt Sunshine and found a job as a high school music teacher. If not for her friend Nichole, Beth would never have met Sam Carney, although first impressions have left Beth with serious doubts. Sam is everything Beth is not --- and her parents’ worst nightmare: a tattooed auto mechanic who’s rough around the edges. When shocking secrets from Sam’s past are revealed, Beth struggles to reconcile her feelings. But when Beth goes a step too far, she risks losing the man and the life she’s come to love.
Ballantine Books | 9780553391985
IF THE CREEK DON’T RISE by Leah Weiss (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Sadie Blue has been a wife for 15 days. That's long enough to know she should have never hitched herself to Roy Tupkin, even with the baby. Sadie is desperate to make her own mark on the world, but in remote Appalachia, a ticket out of town is hard to come by, and hope often gets stomped out. When a stranger sweeps into Baines Creek and knocks things off kilter, Sadie finds herself with an unexpected lifeline...if she can just figure out how to use it.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781492647454
PILGRIMAGE: My Search for the Real Pope Francis by Mark K. Shriver (Biography/Memoir)
In PILGRIMAGE, Mark K. Shriver retraces Pope Francis’ personal journey, revealing the origins of his open, unpretentious style and explaining how it revitalized Shriver’s own faith and renewed his commitment to the Church. To help us understand how Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis, Shriver travels to Bergoglio’s native Argentina to meet with the people who knew him as a child, as a young Jesuit priest, and as a reformist bishop. In impoverished surroundings, Bergoglio answered Christ’s call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the homeless, following the example set by his papal namesake, St. Francis of Assisi.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780812987553
REVENGE IN A COLD RIVER: A William Monk Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
When Commander Monk of the Thames River Police is called to investigate the drowning of an escaped prisoner, he’s forced to contend with customs officer McNab, who clearly bears a bitter grudge against him. But the reason is a mystery in itself. Monk’s memory loss --- a secret he guards closely --- leaves him vulnerable to repercussions from his missing past, especially his exploits overseas in the tumultuous Gold Rush days of San Francisco. And now McNab appears intent on using whatever damning facts he can find to his advantage to ruin Monk’s future as an officer of the law.
Ballantine Books | 9781101886373
SCRAPPY LITTLE NOBODY by Anna Kendrick (Humor/Essays)
Even before she made a name for herself on the silver screen starring in films like Pitch Perfect, Up in the Air, Twilight and Into the Woods, Anna Kendrick was unusually small, weird and “10 percent defiant.” At the ripe age of 13, she had already resolved to “keep the crazy inside my head where it belonged. Forever. But here’s the thing about crazy: It. Wants. Out.” In SCRAPPY LITTLE NOBODY, she invites readers inside her brain, sharing extraordinary and charmingly ordinary stories with candor and winningly wry observations.
Touchstone | 9781501117220
THE SEVENTH PLAGUE: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins (Thriller/Adventure)
A British archaeologist --- a member of an expedition gone missing for over two years --- stumbles out of the Egyptian desert. Before he can explain what happened to his team, he dies. But his remains hold a terrifying discovery that only deepens the mystery: something had begun mummifying his body while he was still alive. Commander Grayson Pierce of Sigma Force is tasked with uncovering the truth behind the brutal murder and discovering the fate of the missing team. He and his allies must confront a danger that will unleash a cascading series of plagues around the globe, culminating in a scourge that could kill all of the world’s children…and forever end mankind’s future.
William Morrow | 9780062381699
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