In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of August 28th and September 4th 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 New Release Spotlight of SULFUR SPRINGS, the 16th installment in William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor series, along with our review.
We also are spotlighting reviews of STAY WITH ME by Ayobami Adebayo, YOUNG JANE YOUNG by Gabrielle Zevin, and UNRAVELING OLIVER by Liz Nugent, all three of which will be Bookreporter.com Bets On picks. You can read Carol Fitzgerald's commentary on these titles in the September 8th Bookreporter.com Weeky Update newsletter.
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 New Release Spotlight of
SULFUR SPRINGS by William Kent Krueger
SULFUR SPRINGS by William Kent Krueger (Mystery/Thriller)
On the Fourth of July, just as fireworks are about to go off in Aurora, Minnesota, Cork O’Connor and his new bride, Rainy Bisonette, listen to a desperate voicemail left by Rainy's son, Peter. The message is garbled and full of static, but they hear Peter confess to the murder of someone named Rodriguez. When they try to contact him, they discover that his phone has gone dead.
The following morning, Cork and Rainy fly to Coronado County in southern Arizona, where Peter has been working as a counselor in a well-known drug rehab center. When they arrive, 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.
As they gather scraps of information about Peter, Cork and Rainy are warned that there is a war going on along the border. “Trust no one in Coronado County” is a refrain they hear again and again. And to Cork, Arizona is alien country. The relentless heat and absence of water, tall trees and cool forests feel nightmarish to him, as does his growing sense that Rainy might know more about what's going on than she's willing to admit. And if he can't trust Rainy, who can he trust?
- Click here to read a review.
Click here to read more in our New Release Spotlight.
On Sale the Week of August 28th in Hardcover
August 29th
AN ALCHEMY OF MASQUES AND MIRRORS by Curtis Craddock (Historical Fantasy)
In a world of soaring continents and bottomless skies, where a burgeoning new science lifts skyships into the cloud-strewn heights, and ancient blood-borne sorceries cling to a fading glory, Princess Isabelle des Zephyrs is about to be married to a man she has barely heard of, the second son of a dying king in an empire collapsing into civil war. Born without the sorcery that is her birthright but with a perspicacious intellect, Isabelle believes her marriage will stave off disastrous conflict and bring her opportunity and influence. But the last two women betrothed to this prince were murdered, and a sorcerer-assassin is bent on making Isabelle the third.
Tor Books | 9780765389596
ALL THE DIRTY PARTS by Daniel Handler (Fiction)
Cole is a boy in high school. He runs cross country, he sketches, he jokes around with friends. But none of this quite matters next to the allure of sex. He fantasizes about whomever he's looking at. He consumes and shares pornography. And he sleeps with a lot of girls, which is beginning to earn him a not-quite-savory reputation around school. This leaves him adrift with only his best friend for company, and then something startling starts to happen between them that might be what he's been after all this time. And then he meets Grisaille.
Bloomsbury USA | 9781632868046
THE BURNING GIRL by Claire Messud (Fiction)
Julia and Cassie have been friends since nursery school. They have shared everything, including their desire to escape the stifling limitations of their birthplace, the quiet town of Royston, Massachusetts. But as the two girls enter adolescence, their paths diverge and Cassie sets out on a journey that will put her life in danger and shatter her oldest friendship. THE BURNING GIRL is a complex examination of the stories we tell ourselves about youth and friendship, and straddles childhood’s imaginary worlds and painful adult reality.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393635027
GLASS HOUSES by Louise Penny (Mystery)
When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines, Armand Gamache and the rest of the villagers are at first curious. Then wary. From the moment its shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec, suspects the creature has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized. But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied. Months later, as the trial for the accused begins, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion, from which there is no going back.
Minotaur Books | 9781250066190
THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF NORTHERN FIRES by Daren Wang (Historical Fiction)
Mary Willis has always been an outcast, an abolitionist in a town of bounty hunters and anti-Union farmers. After college, she dreams of exploring the country, but is obligated to take over the household duties and management of her family’s farm. Helping runaways is the only thing that makes her life in Town Line bearable. When escaped slave Joe Bell collapses in her father’s barn, Mary is determined to help him cross to freedom in nearby Canada. But the wounded fugitive is haunted by his vengeful owner, and his sister, who is still trapped as a slave in the South. Rebels and soldiers from both sides bring intrigue and violence of the brutal war to the town and the farm, threatening to destroy all that Mary loves.
Thomas Dunne Books | 9781250122353
KILL THE HEROES: A Charlie Henry Mystery by David Thurlo (Mystery)
Charlie Henry, co-owner of a pawnshop and Iraq war veteran, has, for the most part, settled into his somewhat quieter life in Albuquerque. He is invited to attend the dedication of a memorial in a park, where he, other local heroes and first responders are to be honored for their military accomplishments and dedication to the community. When gunshots ring out, barely missing Charlie and hitting the man next to him, it’s clear that a dangerous madman is on the loose. More shots are fired, and two more veterans are injured. Charlie vows to find the evil person who would attack American heroes. He refuses to go down without a fight and knows that the perpetrator will soon learn that he has messed with the wrong man.
Minotaur Books | 9781250119667
MY ABSOLUTE DARLING by Gabriel Tallent (Fiction)
At 14, Turtle Alveston roams the woods along the northern California coast. But while her physical world is expansive, her personal one is small and treacherous: Turtle has grown up isolated since the death of her mother. Her social existence is confined to her middle school and her life with her tortured and charismatic father, Martin. Then Turtle meets Jacob, a high-school boy who tells jokes and looks at Turtle as if she is the sunrise. And for the first time, the larger world begins to come into focus: her life with Martin is neither safe nor sustainable. Motivated by her first experience with real friendship and a teenage crush, Turtle starts to imagine escape, using the very survival skills her father devoted himself to teaching her.
Riverhead Books | 9780735211179
PLAYING TO THE GODS by Melanie Rawn (Fantasy/Adventure)
The boys are at the top of their theatrical game. Their only real competition for the hearts and gold of the public are the Shadowshapers. Nevertheless, the past years of financial struggle, since their manager proved to have been embezzling, have taken a toll on the group’s creativity. A shocking event brings all that to an end and brings Touchstone back together to create a play that will rattle the ceilings and shatter all the glass in palaces and theaters alike. An ancient conflict will come to a violent conclusion on stage, and all the gods will be watching.
Tor Books | 9780765377364
THE RESURRECTION OF JOAN ASHBY by Cherise Wolas (Fiction)
Joan Ashby is a brilliant and intense literary sensation acclaimed for her explosively dark and singular stories. When she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, she is stunned by Martin’s delight, his instant betrayal of their pact (“work is paramount, absolutely no children”). She then makes a fateful, selfless decision to embrace her unintentional family. Challenged by raising two precocious sons, it is decades before she finally completes her masterpiece novel. Poised to reclaim the spotlight, to resume the intended life she gave up for love, a betrayal of Shakespearean proportion forces her to question every choice she has made.
Flatiron Books | 9781250081438
THE RIGHT TIME by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Abandoned by her mother at age seven, Alexandra Winslow takes solace in the mysteries she reads with her devoted father --- and soon she is writing them herself. Midway through college, she has finished a novel and manages to find a seasoned agent, then a publisher. But as she climbs the ladder of publishing success, she resolutely adheres to her father’s admonition: Men read crime thrillers by men only --- and so Alexandra Winslow publishes under the pseudonym Alexander Green. Her secret life as the mysterious and brilliantly successful Alexander Green --- and her own life as a talented young woman --- expose her to the envious, the arrogant, and Hollywood players who have no idea who she really is.
Delacorte Press | 9781101883945
SIP by Brian Allen Carr (Post-Apocalyptic/Science Fiction)
It started with a single child and quickly spread: you could get high by drinking your own shadow. At night, artificial lights were destroyed so that addicts could sip shadow in the pure glow of the moon. Gangs of shadow addicts chased down children on playgrounds and rounded up old ladies from retirement homes. Cities were destroyed and governments fell. One hundred fifty years later, Mira, her shadow-addicted friend Murk, and an ex-domer named Bale search for a possible mythological cure to the shadow sickness --- but they must do so before the return of Halley’s Comet, which is only days away.
Soho Press | 9781616958275
THIEF'S MARK: A Sharpe & Donovan Novel by Carla Neggers (Romantic Suspense)
As a young boy, Oliver York witnessed the murder of his wealthy parents in their London apartment. The killers kidnapped him and held him in an isolated Scottish ruin, but he escaped. Now, after 30 years on the run, one of the two men Oliver identified as his tormentors may have surfaced. Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan are enjoying the final day of their Irish honeymoon when a break-in at the home of Emma’s grandfather, private art detective Wendell Sharpe, points to Oliver. They head straight to Oliver, but when they arrive at his country home, a man is dead and Oliver has vanished. Emma and Colin must unravel the decades-old tangle of secrets and lies before a killer strikes again.
Mira | 9780778330318
On Sale the Week of August 28th in Paperback
August 29th
BELOW THE BELT: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller)
Newly ensconced in his Santa Fe abode with a lovely female companion, Stone Barrington receives a call from an old friend requesting a delicate favor. A situation has arisen that could escalate into an explosive quagmire, and only someone with Stone’s stealth and subtlety can contain the damage. At the center of these events is an impressive gentleman whose star is on the rise and who would like to get Stone in his corner. He is charming and ambitious and has friends in high places --- the kind of man who seems to be a sure bet. But in the fickle circles of power, fortunes rise and fall on the turn of a dime, and it may turn out that Stone holds the key not just to one man’s fate, but to the fate of the nation.
G. P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780399573989
CAKEWALK by Rita Mae Brown (Historical Fiction)
The night a riot breaks out at the Capitol Theater movie house, you can bet that the Hunsenmeir sisters, Louise and Julia, are nearby. Known locally as Wheezie and Juts, the inimitable, irrepressible, distinctly freethinking sisters and their delightful circle of friends are coming of age in a shifting world --- and are determined to understand their place in it. Across town, the well-to-do Chalfonte siblings are preparing for the upcoming wedding of brother Curtis. But for youngest sister Celeste, the celebration brings about a change she never expected and a lesson about love she’ll not soon forget.
Bantam | 9780553392678
CAN’T HARDLY BREATHE: The Original Heartbreakers, Book 4 by Gena Showalter (Romance)
Paperback Original
Bullied in high school, Dorothea Mathis' past is full of memories she'd rather forget. But there's one she can't seem to shake --- her long-standing crush on former army ranger Daniel Porter. Now that the sexy bad boy has started using her inn as his personal playground, she should kick him out…but his every heated glance makes her want to join him instead. Daniel returned to Strawberry Valley, Oklahoma, to care for his ailing father and burn off a little steam with no strings attached. Though he craves curvy Dorothea night and day, he's as marred by his past as she is by hers. The more he desires her, the more he fears losing her. But every sizzling encounter leaves him desperate for more, and soon Daniel must make a choice: take a chance on love or walk away forever.
HQN Books | 9780373789924
THE DEVIL’S TRIANGLE: A Brit in the FBI Thriller by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison (Thriller)
FBI Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine are the government’s Covert Eyes --- leading a top-notch handpicked team of agents to tackle crimes and criminals both international and deadly. But their first case threatens their fledgling team when the Fox calls from Venice asking for help. Kitsune has stolen an incredible artifact from the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, and now the client wants her dead. She has a warning for Nick and Mike: she’s overheard talk that a devastating Gobi desert sandstorm that’s killed thousands in Beijing isn’t a natural phenomenon, but rather is produced by man. The Covert Eyes team heads to Venice, Italy, to find out the truth.
Pocket Books | 9781501150340
THE FIFTH OF JULY by Kelly Simmons (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Any of the Warners could have been behind a tragic Fourth of July weekend accident. Having spent the past three decades' worth of summers on Nantucket, the Warners are as much a part of the island as the crust of salt on the ferry. But this year is different: Tripp is no longer the father he was, and it becomes clear that nothing can survive the ravages of time. When tradition turns to tragedy, the creaky old house swirls with suspicion. There are just so many reasons to want someone gone. With no easy answers as to how, why or who, the Warners must face another frightening question: Do they really want to know the truth?
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781492651796
GHOSTS OF WAR: A Pike Logan Thriller by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
The Taskforce has stopped countless terrorist threats across the globe, operating outside of US law to prevent the death of innocents. But now, along the fault lines of the old Iron Curtain, the danger is far greater than a single attack. With Russia expanding its influence from Syria to the Baltic States, the Taskforce is placed on stand-down because of the actions of one rogue operator. Meanwhile, Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill travel to Poland, hired to verify artifacts hidden for decades in a fabled Nazi gold train, only to find themselves caught amid growing tensions between East and West.
Dutton | 9781101986301
HOLIDAY IN THE HAMPTONS by Sarah Morgan (Romance)
Paperback Original
Professional dog-walker Felicity Knight loves everything about New York…until her ex-husband starts working at her local vet clinic. She hasn't seen Seth Carlyle in 10 years, but one glimpse of him --- too gorgeous, and still too good for her --- and Fliss' heart hurts like their whirlwind marriage ended yesterday. So when her grandmother in the Hamptons needs help for the summer, it seems the ideal way to escape her past. Their relationship might have lasted only a few scorching months, but vet Seth knows Fliss --- if she's run away to the Hamptons, it's because she still feels their connection and it terrifies her. He let her go once before, when he didn't know any better, but not this summer!
HQN Books | 9780373803996
HOW WILL I KNOW YOU? by Jessica Treadway (Psychological Thriller)
The body of high school senior Joy Enright is discovered in the woods at the edge of a pond. She had been presumed drowned, but an autopsy shows that she was, in fact, strangled. As the investigation unfolds, four characters tell the story from widely divergent perspectives: Susanne, Joy's mother and a professor at the local art college; Martin, a black graduate student suspected of the murder; Harper, Joy's best friend and a potential eyewitness; and Tom, a rescue diver and son-in-law of the town's police chief. As a web of small-town secrets comes to light, a dramatic conclusion reveals the truth about Joy's death.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455554096
THE JEALOUS KIND by James Lee Burke (Historical Fiction)
On its surface, life in Houston is as you would expect. But beneath the glitz and superficial normalcy, a class war has begun, and it is nothing like the conventional portrayal of the decade. Against this backdrop, Aaron Holland Broussard discovers the poignancy of first love and a world of violence he did not know existed. When Aaron spots the beautiful and gifted Valerie Epstein fighting with her boyfriend, Grady Harrelson, at a Galveston drive-in, he inadvertently challenges the power of the Mob and one of the richest families in Texas. He also discovers he must find the courage his father had found as an American soldier in the Great War.
Pocket Books | 9781501107412
MARKED FOR REVENGE by Emelie Schepp (Thriller)
When a Thai girl overdoses smuggling drugs, the trail points to Danillo, the one criminal who MMA-trained public prosecutor Jana Berzelius most wants to destroy. Meanwhile, the police are zeroing in on the elusive head of the long-entrenched Swedish narcotics trade. Berzelius craves to know his identity, even as she clandestinely tracks Danillo, who has threatened to out her for who she really is. She knows she must kill him first, before he can reveal her secrets. If she fails, she will lose everything. As she prepares for the fight of her life, Berzelius discovers an even more explosive and insidious betrayal --- one that entangles her inextricably in the whole sordid network of crime.
Mira | 9780778330295
NAVIGATORS OF DUNE by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (Science Fiction)
Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's NAVIGATORS Of DUNE is the climactic finale of the Great Schools of Dune trilogy, set 10,000 years before Frank Herbert's classic DUNE. The story line tells the origins of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood and its breeding program, the human-computer Mentats, and the Navigators (the Spacing Guild), as well as a crucial battle for the future of the human race, in which reason faces off against fanaticism. These events have far-reaching consequences that will set the stage for Dune, millennia later.
Tor Science Fiction | 9780765381262
OUR REVOLUTION: A Future to Believe In by Bernie Sanders (Memoir/Politics)
In OUR REVOLUTION, Bernie Sanders shares his personal experiences from the campaign trail, recounting the details of his historic primary fight and the people who made it possible. And for the millions looking to continue the political revolution, he outlines a progressive economic, environmental, racial and social justice agenda that will create jobs, raise wages, protect the environment, and provide health care for all --- and ultimately transform our country and our world for the better. For him, the political revolution has just started. The campaign may be over, but the struggle goes on.
A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250145000
PIRATE: A Sam and Remi Fargo Adventure by Clive Cussler and Robin Burcell (Thriller/Adventure)
When husband and wife treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo try something new, a relaxing vacation, a detour to visit a rare bookstore leads to the discovery of a dead body. All signs point to a book in the store that may contain a secret map, an actual, ink-on-paper guide to a historic fortune. The Fargos take up the challenge and find themselves flying from California to Arizona, from Jamaica to England. Racing against a vicious corporate raider with an unhealthy obsession for this particular treasure, Sam and Remi are slowed by a new betrayal at every turn. It can only mean one thing: someone on their team cannot be trusted.
G. P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780399183980
PRETTY, NASTY, LOVELY by Rosalind Noonan (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Pledging to Theta Pi at Merriwether University seemed to offer Emma Danelski a passport to friendship, fun and popularity. But the excitement of pledge training quickly fades, as does the warmth of her so-called sisters. What’s left is a stifling society filled with petty rules, bullying and manipulation. Most haunting are the choices Emma makes in the wake of another sorority sister’s suicide. It doesn’t matter that no one else needs to know what Emma did, or how vastly different life at Theta House is from the glossy image it projects. Emma knows. And now, with her loyalties tested, she must decide which secrets are worth keeping and how far she’ll go to protect them --- and herself.
Kensington | 9781496708021
ROGUE HEROES: The History of the SAS, Britain’s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre (History)
Britain’s Special Air Service was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young, gadabout aristocrat whose aimlessness in early life belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a battlefield map of World War II’s African theater and saw a protracted struggle with Rommel’s desert forces, Stirling saw an opportunity: given a small number of elite, well-trained men, he could parachute behind enemy lines and sabotage their airplanes and war material. Paired with his constitutional opposite, the disciplined martinet Jock Lewes, Stirling assembled a revolutionary fighting force that would upend not just the balance of the war, but the nature of combat itself.
Broadway Books | 9781101904183
SAY NO MORE: A Jane Ryland Novel by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Mystery/Thriller)
When Boston reporter Jane Ryland reports a hit and run, she soon learns she also witnessed the collapse of an alibi. Working on an exposé of sexual assaults on college campuses for the station’s new documentary unit, Jane has just convinced a date rape victim to reveal her heartbreaking experience on camera. But a disturbing anonymous message, SAY NO MORE, has Jane truly scared. Meanwhile, homicide detective Jake Brogan is on the hunt for the murderer of Avery Morgan, a hot-shot Hollywood screenwriter. As Jake chips his way through a code of silence as shatterproof as any street gang, he'll learn that one newcomer to the neighborhood may have a secret of her own.
Forge Books | 9780765385376
THIS WAS A MAN: The Final Volume of the Clifton Chronicles by Jeffrey Archer (Fiction)
Harry Clifton sets out to write his magnum opus, while his wife Emma receives an unexpected call from Margaret Thatcher offering her a job. Sebastian Clifton becomes chairman of Farthings Kaufman bank, but only after Hakim Bishara has to resign for personal reasons. Sebastian and Samantha’s talented daughter, Jessica, is expelled from the Slade School of Fine Art, but her aunt Grace comes to her rescue. Meanwhile, Lady Virginia is about to flee the country to avoid her creditors when the Duchess of Hertford dies, and she sees another opportunity to clear her debts and finally trump the Cliftons and Barringtons. In a devastating twist, tragedy engulfs the Clifton family when one of them receives a shocking diagnosis that will throw all their lives into turmoil.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks | 9781250061645
TO THE BRIGHT EDGE OF THE WORLD by Eowyn Ivey (Historical Fiction)
In the winter of 1885, decorated war hero Colonel Allen Forrester leads a small band of men on an expedition that has been deemed impossible: to venture up the Wolverine River and pierce the vast, untamed Alaska Territory. Leaving behind Sophie, his newly pregnant wife, Colonel Forrester records his extraordinary experiences in hopes that his journal will reach her if he doesn't return. Once he passes beyond the edge of the known world, there's no telling what awaits him. The truths that Allen and Sophie discover over the course of that fateful year change both of their lives --- and the lives of those who hear their stories long after they're gone --- forever.
Back Bay Books | 9780316242837
WILD RIDE COWBOY: A Copper Ridge Novel by Maisey Yates (Romance)
Paperback Original
Putting down roots in Copper Ridge was never Alex Donnelly's intention. But if there's one thing the ex-military man knows, it's that life rarely unfolds as expected. If it did, his best friend and brother-in-arms would still be alive. And Alex wouldn't have inherited a ranch or responsibility for his late comrade's sister --- a woman who, despite her inexperience, can bring tough-as-iron Alex to his knees. Clara Campbell didn't ask for a hero to ride in and fix her ranch and her life. All she wants is the one thing stubborn, honorable Alex is reluctant to give: a chance to explore their intense chemistry. But Clara has a few lessons to teach him, too…about trusting his heart and his instincts, and letting love take him on the wildest adventure of all.
HQN Books | 9780373803644
September 1st
ALL THE LITTLE CHILDREN by Jo Furniss (Apocalyptic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Struggling with working-mother guilt, Marlene Greene hopes a camping trip in the forest will provide quality time with her three young children --- until they see fires in the distance, columns of smoke distorting the sweeping view. Overnight, all communication with the outside world is lost. Knowing something terrible has happened, Marlene suspects that the isolation of the remote campsite is all that’s protecting her family. But the arrival of a lost boy reveals they are not alone in the woods, and as the unfolding disaster ravages the land, more youngsters seek refuge under her wing. The lives of her own children aren’t the only ones at stake. When their sanctuary is threatened, Marlene faces the mother of all dilemmas: Should she save her own kids or try to save them all?
Lake Union Publishing | 9781542045681
WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU by James W. Hall (Thriller)
Paperback Original
After her journalist husband and infant son are brutally executed in a fire in their Florida home, photographer Harper McDaniel has nothing left to live for --- except settling the score. When the local police fail to take the arson seriously, Harper takes the reins and discovers her husband was investigating some mysterious deaths at a cacao plantation on the Ivory Coast. Now she’s convinced he was targeted in a corporate conspiracy to silence him. Aided by her former mafioso grandfather and well-connected financier brother, Harper embarks on a global manhunt, flying first to Africa and then to Zurich to expose a high-level cover-up inside a powerful chocolate conglomerate.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781477848678
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/Literature)
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, Winston Groom brings to life a much-forgotten period of history in this sprawling saga of heroism, injustice and love. EL PASO pits the legendary Pancho Villa against a thrill-seeking railroad tycoon known only as the Colonel --- whose fading fortune is tied up in a colossal ranch in Chihuahua, Mexico. But when Villa kidnaps the Colonel’s grandchildren and absconds into the Sierra Madre, the aging New England patriarch and his son head to El Paso, hoping to find a group of cowboys brave enough to hunt down the Generalissimo.
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
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