In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of September 11th and September 18th 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 Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight of BEST DAY EVER by Kaira Rouda, which releases on September 19th and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. Fifty readers will win a copy of the book and share their comments on it. The deadline for your entries is Thursday, September 21st at noon ET.
Also, we encourage you to enter our Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio contests for an opportunity to win some fabulous hardcovers and audiobooks. And please be sure to vote in our latest poll, which asks what social media platforms, if any, you use on a regular basis.
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This Week's Bonus News:
Our Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight & Contest for
BEST DAY EVER by Kaira Rouda
We have 50 copies of BEST DAY EVER by Kaira Rouda --- a gripping, tautly suspenseful tale of deception and betrayal --- to give away to readers who would like to read the book, which releases on September 19th, and share their comments on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, September 21st at noon ET.
BEST DAY EVER by Kaira Rouda (Psychological Thriller)
Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he's the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That's why he's planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he's promised today will be the best day ever.
But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really?
Forcing us to ask ourselves just how well we know those who are closest to us, BEST DAY EVER crackles with dark energy, spinning ever tighter toward its shocking conclusion. In the bestselling, page-turning vein of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR and THE DINNER, Kaira Rouda weaves a gripping, tautly suspenseful tale of deception and betrayal dark enough to destroy a marriage…or a life.
BEST DAY EVER will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. You can read Carol Fitzgerald's commentary in the September 29th Bookreporter.com Weekly Update newsletter.
Click here to read more in our Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight
and enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of September 11th in Hardcover
September 12th
BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD by Attica Locke (Thriller)
When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules --- a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home. When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders --- a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman --- have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes --- and save himself in the process --- before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt.
Mulholland Books | 9780316363297
A COLUMN OF FIRE by Ken Follett (Historical Fiction)
In 1558, as power in England shifts precariously between Catholics and Protestants, royalty and commoners clash, testing friendship, loyalty and love. Ned Willard wants nothing more than to marry Margery Fitzgerald. But when the lovers find themselves on opposing sides of the religious conflict dividing the country, Ned goes to work for Princess Elizabeth. When she becomes queen, all Europe turns against England. Over a turbulent half century, the love between Ned and Margery seems doomed as extremism sparks violence from Edinburgh to Geneva. Elizabeth clings to her throne and her principles, protected by a small, dedicated group of resourceful spies and courageous secret agents.
Viking | 9780525954972
DARK CHAPTER by Winnie M Li (Psychological Thriller)
Vivian is a cosmopolitan Taiwanese-American tourist who often escapes her busy life in London through adventure and travel. Johnny is a 15-year-old Irish teenager, living a neglected life on the margins of society. As Vivian looks to find her calling professionally, she delights in exploring foreign countries, rolling hillsides and new cultures. But all of that changes when Vivian's path collides with Johnny and culminates in a horrifying act of violence. In the aftermath of the incident, Vivian must struggle to recapture the woman she was and the woman she aspired to be. And when Johnny is finally brought to reckon for his crimes, Vivian learns that justice is not always as swift or as fair as she would hope.
Polis Books | 9781943818624
DAVID BOWIE: A Life by Dylan Jones (Biography)
Drawn from over 180 interviews with friends, rivals, lovers and collaborators, some of whom have never before spoken about their relationship with David Bowie, this oral history unfolds the story of a remarkable rise to stardom and an unparalleled artistic path. Tracing Bowie’s life from the English suburbs to London to New York to Los Angeles, Berlin and beyond, its collective voices describe a man profoundly shaped by his relationship with his schizophrenic half-brother Terry; an intuitive artist who could absorb influences through intense relationships and yet drop people cold when they were no longer of use; and a social creature equally comfortable partying with John Lennon and dining with Frank Sinatra.
Crown Archetype | 9780451497833
ENIGMA: An FBI Thriller by Catherine Coulter (Thriller)
When Agent Dillon Savich saves Kara Moody from a seemingly crazy man, he doesn’t realize he will soon be facing a scientist who wants to live forever and is using “John Doe” to help him. But when the scientist, Lister Maddox, loses him, he ups the stakes and targets another to take his experiments to the next level. It’s a race against time literally as Savich and Sherlock rush to stop him and save both present and future victims of his experiments. In the meantime, Cam Wittier and Jack Cabot must track a violent criminal through the Daniel Boone National Forest. When he escapes through a daring rescue, the agents have to find out who set his escape in motion and how it all ties into the murder of Mia Prevost, the girlfriend of the president’s Chief of Staff’s only son, Saxton Hainny.
Gallery Books | 9781501138065
THE FAR AWAY BROTHERS: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life by Lauren Markham (Biography)
Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, Ernesto Flores had always had a fascination with the United States, while his identical twin, Raul, never felt that northbound tug. But when Ernesto ends up on the wrong side of the region's brutal gangs, he is forced to flee the country. Raul, because he looks just like his brother, follows close behind --- away from one danger and toward the great American unknown. Journalist Lauren Markham follows the 17-year-old Flores twins as they make their harrowing journey across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother's custody in Oakland, CA.
Crown | 9781101906187
FOREST DARK by Nicole Krauss (Fiction)
In the wake of his parents’ deaths, his divorce from his wife of more than 30 years, and his retirement from the New York legal firm where he was a partner, Jules Epstein has felt an irresistible need to give away his possessions. With the last of his wealth, he travels to Israel, with a nebulous plan to do something to honor his parents. In Tel Aviv, he is sidetracked by a charismatic American rabbi planning a reunion for the descendants of King David, who insists that Epstein is part of that storied dynastic line. He also meets the rabbi’s beautiful daughter, who convinces Epstein to become involved in her own project --- a film about the life of David being shot in the desert --- with life-changing consequences.
Harper | 9780062430991
THE GIRL WHO TAKES AN EYE FOR AN EYE: A Lisbeth Salander Novel by David Lagercrantz (Thriller)
Lisbeth Salander has never been able to uncover the most telling facts of her traumatic childhood, the secrets that might finally, fully explain her to herself. Now, when she sees a chance to uncover them once and for all, she enlists the help of Mikael Blomkvist, the editor of the muckraking, investigative journal Millennium. And she will let nothing stop her --- not the Islamists she enrages by rescuing a young woman from their brutality; not the prison gang leader who passes a death sentence on her; not the deadly reach of her long-lost twin sister, Camilla; and not the people who will do anything to keep buried knowledge of a sinister pseudoscientific experiment known only as The Registry.
Knopf | 9780451494320
LIES SHE TOLD by Cate Holahan (Psychological Thriller)
Liza Cole has one month to write the thriller that could land her back on the bestseller list, while her husband is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend, Nick. Liza’s latest heroine, Beth, suspects that her husband is cheating on her while she’s home caring for their newborn. Before she realizes what she’s doing, she’s tossing the body of her husband’s mistress into the East River. Then, the lines between Liza’s fiction and her reality eerily blur. Nick’s body is dragged from the East River, and Liza’s husband is arrested for his murder. Before her deadline is up, Liza will have to face up to the truths about the people around her, including her own. If she doesn’t, the end of her heroine’s story could be the end of her own.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683312956
LIGHTNING MEN by Thomas Mullen (Historical Thriller)
Officer Denny Rakestraw and “Negro Officers” Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith have their hands full in an overcrowded and rapidly changing Atlanta. It’s 1950 and racial tensions are simmering as black families, including Smith’s sister, begin moving into formerly all-white neighborhoods. When Rake’s brother-in-law launches a scheme to rally the Ku Klux Klan to “save” their neighborhood, his efforts spiral out of control, forcing Rake to choose between loyalty to family or the law. Across town, Boggs and Smith try to shut down the supply of white lightning and drugs into their territory, finding themselves up against more powerful foes than they’d expected.
Atria / 37 Ink | 9781501138799
LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng (Fiction)
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson. Enter Mia Warren, who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter and rents a house from the Richardsons. But Mia carries a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this community. When family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that divides the town --- and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.
Penguin Press | 9780735224292
LOVE AND OTHER CONSOLATION PRIZES by Jamie Ford (Historical Fiction)
Twelve-year-old Ernest Young, a half-Chinese orphan, is raffled off at the 1909 World’s Fair. The winning ticket belongs to the flamboyant madam of a high-class brothel, famous for educating her girls. There, Ernest becomes the new houseboy and befriends Maisie, the madam’s precocious daughter, and a bold scullery maid named Fahn. But as the grande dame succumbs to an occupational hazard and their world of finery begins to crumble, all three must grapple with hope, ambition and first love. Fifty years later, in the shadow of Seattle’s second World’s Fair, Ernest struggles to help his ailing wife reconcile who she once was with who she wanted to be, while trying to keep family secrets hidden from their grown-up daughters.
Ballantine Books | 9780804176750
MAGICIANS IMPOSSIBLE by Brad Abraham (Fantasy)
Twenty-something bartender Jason Bishop’s world is shattered when his estranged father commits suicide. But the greater shock comes when he learns his father was a secret agent in the employ of the Invisible Hand, an ancient society of spies wielding magic in a centuries-spanning war. Now the Golden Dawn --- the shadowy cabal of witches and warlocks responsible for Daniel Bishop’s murder, and the death of Jason’s mother years before --- have Jason in their sights. His survival will depend on mastering his own dormant magic abilities, provided he makes it through the training. Jason's journey through the realm of magic will be fraught with peril. But with enemies and allies on both sides of this war, whom can he trust?
Thomas Dunne Books | 9781250083524
MISS D AND ME: Life with the Invincible Bette Davis by Kathryn Sermak with Danelle Morton (Memoir)
As Bette Davis aged, she was looking for an assistant, but found something more than that in Kathryn: a loyal and loving buddy, a co-conspirator in her jokes and schemes, and a competent assistant whom she trained never to miss a detail. But Miss D had strict rules for Kathryn about everything from how to eat a salad to how to wear her hair. Throughout their time together, the two grew incredibly close, and Kathryn had a front-row seat to the larger-than-life Davis' career renaissance in her later years, as well as to the humiliating public betrayal that nearly killed Miss D. The frame of this story is a four-day road trip Kathryn and Davis took from Biarritz to Paris, during which they disentangled their ferocious dependency.
Hachette Books | 9780316507844
MY FAIR JUNKIE: A Memoir of Getting Dirty and Staying Clean by Amy Dresner (Memoir)
Growing up in Beverly Hills, Amy Dresner had it all. But at 24, she started dabbling in meth and unleashed a fiendish addiction monster. Smart and charming, with Daddy's money to fall back on, she sort of managed to keep it all together. But on Christmas Eve 2011 all of that changed when, high on Oxycontin, she stupidly "brandished" a bread knife on her husband and was promptly arrested for "felony domestic violence with a deadly weapon." For two years, assigned to a Hollywood Boulevard "chain gang," she swept up syringes (and worse) as she bounced from rehabs to halfway houses, all while struggling with sobriety, sex addiction and starting over in her 40s.
Hachette Books | 9780316430951
AN ODYSSEY: A Father, a Son, and an Epic by Daniel Mendelsohn (Memoir)
When 81-year-old Jay Mendelsohn decides to enroll in the undergraduate Odyssey seminar his son teaches at Bard College, the two find themselves on an adventure as profoundly emotional as it is intellectual. For Jay, this return to the classroom is his "one last chance" to learn the great literature he'd neglected in his youth --- and a final opportunity to more fully understand his son, a writer and classicist. But through the sometimes-uncomfortable months that the two men explore Homer's great work together, it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: Jay's responses to both the text and their travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last.
Knopf | 9780385350594
RANGER GAMES: A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime by Ben Blum (True Crime/Memoir)
Alex Blum had one goal in life: endure a brutally difficult selection program, become a U.S. Army Ranger, and fight terrorists for his country. He poured everything into achieving his dream. In the first hours of his final leave before deployment to Iraq, Alex was supposed to fly home to see his family and girlfriend. Instead, he got into his car with two fellow soldiers and two strangers, drove to a local bank in Tacoma, and committed armed robbery. Why would he ruin his life in such a spectacularly foolish way? In the midst of his own personal crisis, and in the hopes of helping both Alex and his splintering family cope, Ben Blum, Alex’s first cousin, delved into these mysteries, growing closer to Alex in the process.
Doubleday | 9780385538435
ROBERT B. PARKER'S THE HANGMAN'S SONNET: A Jesse Stone Novel by Reed Farrel Coleman (Mystery)
Jesse Stone, still reeling from the murder of his fiancée by crazed assassin Mr. Peepers, must keep his emotions in check long enough to get through the wedding day of his loyal protégé, Suitcase Simpson. The morning of the wedding, Jesse learns that a gala 75th birthday party is to be held for folk singer Terry Jester. Jester has spent the last 40 years in seclusion after the mysterious disappearance of the master recording tape of his magnum opus, The Hangman's Sonnet. That same morning, an elderly Paradise woman dies while her house is being ransacked. What are the thieves looking for? And what's the connection to Terry Jester and the mysterious missing tape?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399171444
THE ROMANOV RANSOM: A Sam and Remi Fargo Adventure by Clive Cussler and Robin Burcell (Thriller/Adventure)
In 1918, a ransom of enormous size was paid to free the Romanovs from the Bolsheviks. But the Romanovs died anyway. And the ransom? During World War II, the Nazis stole it from the Russians, and after that, it vanished. Until now. When a modern-day kidnapping captures the attention of husband-and-wife team Sam and Remi Fargo, the couple soon learn that these long-lost riches may be back in play, held in trust by the descendants of a Nazi guerrilla faction called the Werewolves. It is their mission to establish the Fourth Reich, and their time is coming soon. This quest is greater than anything the Fargos have ever done; it is their chance to make someone answer for unspeakable crimes, and to prevent them from happening again.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399575549
SOLAR BONES by Mike McCormack (Fiction)
It is All Souls Day, and the spirit of Marcus Conway sits at his kitchen table and remembers. Conway recalls his life in rural Ireland. His ruminations move from childhood memories of his father’s deftness with machines to his own work as a civil engineer, from transformations in the local economy to the tidal wave of global financial collapse. Conway’s thoughts go still further, outward to the vast systems of time and history that hold us all. He stares down through the “vortex of his being,” surveying all the linked circumstances that combined to bring him into this single moment, and he makes us feel --- if only for an instant --- all the terror and gratitude that existence inspires.
Soho Press | 9781616958534
THE TWELVE-MILE STRAIGHT by Eleanor Henderson (Historical Fiction)
In a house full of secrets, two babies --- one light-skinned, the other dark --- are born to Elma Jesup, a white sharecropper’s daughter. Accused of her rape, field hand Genus Jackson is lynched and dragged behind a truck down the Twelve-Mile Straight. In the aftermath, the farm’s inhabitants are forced to contend with their complicity in a series of events that left a man dead and a family irrevocably fractured. Elma begins to raise her babies as best as she can, under the roof of her mercurial father, Juke, and with the help of Nan, the young black housekeeper who is as close to Elma as a sister. But soon it becomes clear that the ties that bind all of them together are more intricate than any could have ever imagined.
Ecco | 9780062422088
THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Sharyn McCrumb (Historical Fiction)
The Greenbrier Ghost is renowned in American folklore, but Sharyn McCrumb is the first author to look beneath the legend to unearth the facts. Using a century of genealogical material and other historical documents, McCrumb reveals new information about the story and brings to life the personalities in the trial: the prosecutor, a former Confederate cavalryman; the defense attorney, a pro-Union bridgeburner, who nevertheless had owned slaves; and the mother of the murdered woman, who doggedly sticks to her ghost story --- all seen through the eyes of a young black lawyer on the cusp of a new century, with his own tragedies yet to come.
Atria Books | 9781476772875
UNSTOPPABLE: My Life So Far by Maria Sharapova (Memoir)
Maria Sharapova’s career has always been driven by her determination and by her dedication to hard work. Her story doesn’t begin with the 2004 Wimbledon championship (her first grand slam title), but years before, in a small Russian town, where as a five-year-old she played on drab neighborhood courts with precocious concentration. It begins when her father risked everything to get them to Florida, that sacred land of tennis academies. It begins when the two arrived with only $700 and knowing only a few words of English. From that, Sharapova scraped together one of the most influential sports careers in history. Here, for the first time, is the whole story, and in her own words.
Sarah Crichton Books | 9780374279790
THE VENGEANCE OF MOTHERS: The Journals of Margaret Kelly & Molly McGill by Jim Fergus (Historical Fiction)
In 1873, Margaret Kelly participated in the U.S. government's "Brides for Indians" program, the conceit of which was that the way to peace between the United States and the Cheyenne Nation was for One Thousand White Women to be given as brides in exchange for 300 horses. These "brides" were mostly fallen women --- women in prison, prostitutes, the occasional adventurer, or those incarcerated in asylums. No one expected this program to work. And the brides themselves thought of it simply as a chance at freedom. But many of them fell in love with their Cheyenne spouses and had children with them...and became Cheyenne themselves.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250093424
WE WERE STRANGERS ONCE by Betsy Carter (Historical Fiction)
On the eve of World War II, Egon Schneider --- a gallant and successful Jewish doctor, son of two world-famous naturalists --- escapes Germany to an uncertain future across the sea. Settling into the unfamiliar rhythms of upper Manhattan, he finds solace among a tight-knit group of fellow immigrants, tenacious men and women drawn together as much by their differences as by their memories of the world they left behind. They each suffer degradations and triumphs large and small, but their spirits remain unbroken. And when their little community is faced with an existential threat, these strangers rise up together in hopes of creating a permanent home.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455571437
WHAT HAPPENED by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Politics/Memoir)
For the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history. Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterward.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501175565
On Sale the Week of September 11th in Paperback
September 12th
THE ABANDONED HEART: A Bliss House Novel by Laura Benedict (Gothic Thriller/Horror)
In Old Gate, Virginia, stands a grand house built by Randolph Bliss, a charming New York carpetbagger who, in 1878, shook off dire warnings to build his home elsewhere. For the ground beneath Bliss House is tainted with the kind of tragedy that curses generations, seeping through the foundation and sowing madness in its wake. THE ABANDONED HEART is the prequel to CHARLOTTE'S STORY and BLISS HOUSE, forming a trilogy of southern Gothic novels in which one haunted house begets haunted lives that echo over centuries. A haunting so powerful that even Bliss House’s destruction cannot kill it.
Pegasus Books | 9781681775128
BETWEEN BREATHS: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction by Elizabeth Vargas (Memoir)
From the moment she uttered the brave and honest words, "I am an alcoholic," to interviewer George Stephanopoulos, Elizabeth Vargas began writing her story. Now, in BETWEEN BREATHS, Vargas discusses her accounts of growing up with anxiety and how she dealt with it as she came of age, to her eventually turning to alcohol for relief. She tells of how she found herself living in denial, about the extent of her addiction and keeping her dependency a secret for so long. She addresses her time in rehab, her first year of sobriety, and the guilt she felt as a working mother who had never found the right balance.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455559626
BLACK WATER by Louise Doughty (Thriller)
John Harper is in hiding in a remote hut on a tropical island. As he lies awake at night, listening to the rain on the roof, he believes his life may be in danger. But he is less afraid of what is going to happen than of what he’s already done. In a local town, he meets Rita, a woman with her own tragic history. They begin an affair, but can they offer each other redemption? Or do the ghosts of the past always catch up with us in the end? Moving across three continents and several decades, BLACK WATER explores some of the darkest events of recent history through the story of one troubled man.
Picador | 9781250141026
CLASS by Lucinda Rosenfeld (Fiction)
For Karen Kipple, it isn't enough that she works full-time in the non-profit sector for an organization that helps children from disadvantaged homes. She's also determined to live her personal life in accordance with her ideals. This means sending her daughter, Ruby, to an integrated public school in their Brooklyn neighborhood. But when a troubled student from a nearby housing project begins bullying children in Ruby's class, the distant social and economic issues Karen has always claimed to care about so passionately begin to feel uncomfortably close to home.
Back Bay Books | 9780316265430
DAYS WITHOUT END by Sebastian Barry (Historical Fiction)
Thomas McNulty, aged barely 17 and having fled the Great Famine in Ireland, signs up for the U.S. Army in the 1850s. With his brother in arms, John Cole, Thomas goes on to fight in the Indian Wars --- against the Sioux and the Yurok --- and, ultimately, the Civil War. Orphans of terrible hardships themselves, the men find these days to be vivid and alive, despite the horrors they see and are complicit in.
Penguin Books | 9780143111405
THE FIX by David Baldacci (Thriller)
Amos Decker witnesses a murder just outside FBI headquarters. A man shoots a woman execution-style on a crowded sidewalk, then turns the gun on himself. Decker and his team can find absolutely no connection between the shooter and his victim. Enter Harper Brown. An agent of the Defense Intelligence Agency, she orders Decker to back off the case. The murder is part of an open DIA investigation, one so classified that Decker and his team aren't cleared for it. But they learn that the DIA believes solving the murder is now a matter of urgent national security. Critical information may have been leaked to a hostile government --- or worse, an international terrorist group --- and an attack may be imminent.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455586547
FRANTUMAGLIA: A Writer's Journey written by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein (Essays)
FRANTUMAGLIA invites readers into Elena Ferrante’s workshop. It offers a glimpse into the drawers of her writing desk, those drawers from which emerged her three early stand-alone novels and the four installments of My Brilliant Friend, known in English as the Neapolitan Quartet. Consisting of over 20 years of letters, essays, reflections and interviews, it is a unique depiction of an author who embodies a consummate passion for writing.
Europa Editions | 9781609454326
GRAND CENTRAL: How a Train Station Transformed America by Sam Roberts (Transportation/Architecture)
Featuring quirky anecdotes and behind-the-scenes information, Sam Roberts’ book will allow readers to peek into the secret and unseen areas of Grand Central --- from the tunnels, to the command center, to the hidden passageways. With stories about everything from the famous movies that have used Grand Central as a location to the celestial ceiling in the main lobby (including its stunning mistake) to the homeless denizens who reside in the building's catacombs, this is a fascinating and exciting look at a true American institution.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455525973
THE LOST BOY by Camilla Läckberg (Psychological Thriller)
Detective Patrik Hedstrom is no stranger to tragedy. A murder case concerning Fjällbacka’s dead financial director, Mats Sverin, is a grim but useful distraction from his recent family misfortunes. It seems Sverin was a man who everybody liked yet nobody really knew. His high school sweetheart, Nathalie, has just returned to Fjällbacka with her five-year-old son. Perhaps she can shed some light on who Sverin really was. However, Nathalie has her own secret. If it’s discovered, she will lose her only child. As the investigation stalls, the police have many questions. But there is only one that matters: Is there anything a mother would not do to protect her child?
Pegasus Books | 9781681775036
THE LOST WOMAN by Sara Blaedel (Thriller)
A housewife is the target of a shocking, methodical killing. Though murdered in England, it turns out that the woman, Sofie Parker, is actually a Danish citizen who's been on the Missing Persons list for almost two decades --- so Louise Rick is called on to the case. Then, in an unexpected twist, the police discover that Sofie had been reported missing 18 years ago by none other than Eik, Louise’s police colleague and lover. Impulsive as ever, Eik rushes to England and ends up in jail on suspicion of Sofie's murder. Louise must set aside her own emotional turmoil if she hopes to find the killer in what will become her most controversial case yet.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455541065
LOVE WARRIOR: A Memoir by Glennon Doyle (Memoir)
Just when Glennon Doyle Melton was beginning to feel she had it all figured out, her husband revealed his infidelity and she was forced to realize that nothing was as it seemed. A recovering alcoholic and bulimic, Glennon found that rock bottom was a familiar place. In the midst of crisis, she knew to hold on to what she discovered in recovery: that her deepest pain has always held within it an invitation to a richer life. LOVE WARRIOR is the story of one marriage, but it is also the story of the healing that is possible for any of us when we refuse to settle for good enough and begin to face pain and love head-on.
Flatiron Books | 9781250075734
NEVER LOOK AN AMERICAN IN THE EYE: A Memoir of Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts, and the Making of a Nigerian American by Okey Ndibe (Memoir)
Okey Ndibe’s memoir tells of his move from Nigeria to America, where he came to edit the influential --- but forever teetering on the verge of insolvency --- African Commentary magazine. It recounts stories of Ndibe’s relationships with Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and other literary figures; examines the differences between Nigerian and American etiquette and politics; recalls an incident of racial profiling just 13 days after he arrived in the US, in which he was mistaken for a bank robber; considers American stereotypes about Africa (and vice-versa); and juxtaposes African folk tales with Wall Street trickery.
Soho Press | 9781616958633
NOT DEAD YET: The Memoir by Phil Collins (Memoir)
NOT DEAD YET is Phil Collins’ candid, witty, unvarnished story of the songs and shows, the hits and pans, his marriages and divorces, the ascents to the top of the charts and into the tabloid headlines. As one of only three musicians to sell 100 million records both in a group and as a solo artist, Collins breathes rare air, but has never lost his touch at crafting songs from the heart that touch listeners around the globe. That same touch is on magnificent display here, especially as he unfolds his harrowing descent into darkness after his “official” retirement in 2007, and the profound, enduring love that helped save him.
Three Rivers Press | 9781101907481
THE SIGNAL FLAME by Andrew Krivák (Historical Fiction)
In a small town in Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains, Hannah and her son, Bo, mourn the loss of the family patriarch, Jozef Vinich. Having survived the trenches of World War I as an Austro-Hungarian conscript, Vinich journeyed to America and built a life for his family. His daughter married the Hungarian-born Bexhet Konar, who enlisted to fight with the Americans in the Second World War but brought disgrace on the family when he was imprisoned for desertion. He returned home to Pennsylvania a hollow man, only to be killed in a hunting accident on the family’s land. Finally, in 1971, Hannah’s prodigal younger son, Sam, was reported MIA in Vietnam. And so there is only Bo, a quiet man full of conviction, a proud work ethic, and a firstborn’s sense of duty.
Scribner | 9781501126383
TWENTY-SIX SECONDS: A Personal History of the Zapruder Film by Alexandra Zapruder (Memoir/History)
Abraham Zapruder didn't know when he began filming President Kennedy's motorcade on November 22, 1963 that his home movie would change not only his family's life but American culture and history as well. Now his granddaughter tells the whole story of the Zapruder film for the first time. With the help of personal family records, previously sealed archival sources, and interviews, she traces the film's complex journey through history, considering its impact on her family and the public realms of the media, courts, Federal government and the arts community. Zapruder shows how 26 seconds of film changed a family and raised some of the most important social, cultural and moral questions of our time.
Twelve | 9781455574827
On Sale the Week of September 18th in Hardcover
September 18th
HAUNTED: A Detective Michael Bennett Thriller by James Patterson and James O. Born (Thriller)
An idyllic country town in the Maine woods is haunted by an epidemic emptying its streets and preying on its youth. When local cops uncover a grisly crime scene buried deep in the woods, they consult the vacationing Detective Michael Bennett, who jumps at the chance to atone for his own sins. A young, hardscrabble and forgotten girl is haunted by a traumatic history. Homeless and destitute, she represents the closest thing Bennett has to a partner in his frantic hunt for the ghostlike perpetrator behind the violence. Will Bennett and his unlikely ally unmask the culprit before anyone else winds up haunted?
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316273978
September 19th
ALONE: Britain, Churchill, and Dunkirk: Defeat Into Victory by Michael Korda (History)
May 1940 was a month like no other. The superior German war machine blazed into France, as the Maginot Line, supposedly "as firmly fixed in place as the Pyramids," crumbled in days. With the fall of Holland and Belgium, the imminent fall of Paris, the British Army stranded at Dunkirk, and Neville Chamberlain’s government in political freefall, Winston Churchill became prime minister on this historical nadir of May 10, 1941. Britain, diplomatically isolated, was suddenly the only nation with the courage and the resolve to defy Hitler. Against this vast historical canvas, Michael Korda relates what happened and why.
Liveright | 9781631491320
AUTONOMOUS by Annalee Newitz (Science Fiction)
Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can’t otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane. Hot on her trail is an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his robotic partner, Paladin. As they race to stop information about the sinister origins of Jack’s drug from getting out, they begin to form an uncommonly close bond that neither of them fully understand. And underlying it all is one fundamental question: Is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned?
Tor Books | 9780765392077
BEST DAY EVER by Kaira Rouda (Psychological Thriller)
Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he’s the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That’s why he’s planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he's promised today will be the best day ever. But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really?
Graydon House | 9781525811401
THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE by Zoe Whittall (Fiction)
George Woodbury, a beloved science teacher at a prep school, has been charged with sexual misconduct with students from his daughter’s school. As he sits in prison awaiting trial and claiming innocence, his wife Joan vaults between denial and rage as friends and neighbors turn cold. Their daughter, 17-year-old Sadie, is a popular high school senior who becomes a social outcast --- and finds refuge in an unexpected place. Her brother Andrew, a lawyer in New York, returns home to support the family, only to confront unhappy memories from his past. A writer tries to exploit their story, while an unlikely men’s rights activist group attempts to recruit Sadie for their cause.
Ballantine Books | 9780399182211
BOOK OF JUDAS by Linda Stasi (Thriller)
When her infant son is placed in mortal danger, New York City reporter Alessandra Russo is forced to save him by tracking down the missing pages of the Gospel of Judas, a heretical manuscript that was unearthed in Al-Minya, Egypt, in the 1970s. The manuscript declares that Judas was the beloved, not the betrayer, of Jesus. The Gospel disappeared for decades before being rediscovered, rotted beyond repair, in a safety deposit box. Rumors insist that the most important pages had been stolen --- pages that Alessandra now must find, if they even exist. Alessandra plunges into a dark world of murder, conspiracy and sexual depravity...and most importantly, a race against the clock to save her own child.
Forge Books | 9780765378750
THE BOOK OF SEPARATION: A Memoir by Tova Mirvis (Memoir)
Born and raised in a tight-knit Orthodox Jewish family, Tova Mirvis committed herself to observing the rules and rituals prescribed by this way of life. She married a man from within the fold and quickly began a family. But over the years, her doubts became noisier than her faith, and at age 40 she could no longer breathe in what had become a suffocating existence. Even though it would mean the loss of her friends, her community and possibly even her family, Tova decides to leave her husband and her faith. This will mean forging a new way of life not just for herself, but for her children, who are struggling with what the divorce and her new status as “not Orthodox” mean for them.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780544520523
CAROLINE: Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller (Historical Fiction)
In the frigid days of February 1870, Caroline Ingalls and her family leave the familiar comforts of the Big Woods of Wisconsin for a new life in Kansas Indian Territory. Packing what they can carry in their wagon, Caroline, her husband Charles, and their little girls, Mary and Laura, head west to settle in a beautiful, unpredictable land full of promise and peril. The pioneer life is a hard one, especially for a pregnant woman with no friends or kin to turn to for comfort or help. But Caroline's new world is also full of tender joys. In adapting to this strange new place and transforming a rough log house built by Charles' hands into a home, Caroline must draw on untapped wells of strength she does not know she possesses.
William Morrow | 9780062685346
THE CUBAN AFFAIR by Nelson DeMille (Thriller)
Daniel Graham MacCormick is living in Key West, the proud owner of a 42-foot charter fishing boat, The Maine. But truth be told, his finances are more than a little shaky. Carlos, a hotshot Miami lawyer heavily involved with anti-Castro groups, wants to hire Mac and The Maine for a 10-day fishing tournament to Cuba. After meeting Carlos’ clients --- a beautiful Cuban-American woman named Sara Ortega, and a mysterious older Cuban exile, Eduardo Valazquez --- Mac learns there is 60 million American dollars hidden in Cuba by Sara’s grandfather when he fled Castro’s revolution. With the “Cuban Thaw” underway between Havana and Washington, Carlos, Eduardo and Sara know it’s only a matter of time before someone finds the stash --- by accident or on purpose.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501101724
AN ECHO OF MURDER: A William Monk Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
A Hungarian warehouse owner lies in the middle of his blood-sodden office, pierced through the chest with a bayonet and eerily surrounded by 17 candles, their wicks dipped in blood. Suspecting the murder may be rooted in ethnic prejudice, Commander William Monk turns to London’s Hungarian community in search of clues but finds his inquiries stymied by its wary citizens and a language he doesn’t speak. Only with the help of a local pharmacist acting as translator can Monk hope to penetrate this tightly knit enclave, even as more of its members fall victim to identical brutal murders. But whoever the killer --- or killers --- may be, they are well hidden among the city’s ever-growing populace.
Ballantine Books | 9780425285015
THE EXACT NATURE OF OUR WRONGS by Janet Peery (Fiction)
On a summer evening in the blue-collar town of Amicus, Kansas, the Campbell family gathers for a birthday dinner for their ailing patriarch, retired judge Abel Campbell, prepared and hosted by their still-hale mother Hattie. But when Billy, the youngest sibling --- with a history of addiction, grand ideas and misdemeanors --- passes out, the family takes up the unfinished business of Billy’s sobriety. Billy’s wayward adventures have too long consumed their lives, in particular Hattie’s, who has enabled his transgressions while trying to save him from Abel’s disappointment. As the older children contend with their own troubles, they compete for the approval of the elderly parents they adore but can’t quite forgive.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250125088
THE GOOD PEOPLE by Hannah Kent (Historical Fiction)
Based on true events in 19th-century Ireland, Hannah Kent's new novel tells the story of three women, drawn together to rescue a child from a superstitious community. Nora, bereft after the death of her husband, finds herself alone and caring for her grandson Micheál, who can neither speak nor walk. A handmaid, Mary, arrives to help Nóra just as rumors begin to spread that Micheál is a changeling child who is bringing bad luck to the valley. Determined to banish evil, Nora and Mary enlist the help of Nance, an elderly wanderer who understands the magic of the old ways.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316243964
KEEP HER SAFE by Sophie Hannah (Psychological Thriller)
Pushed to the breaking point, Cara Burrows flees her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can't afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied --- by a man and a teenage girl. Soon Cara realizes that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can't possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving natural life sentences for her murder. Did she really see Melody? And is she prepared to ask herself that question and answer it honestly if it means risking her own life?
William Morrow | 9780062388322
KILLING ENGLAND: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard (History)
Told through the eyes of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Great Britain’s King George III, KILLING ENGLAND --- which transports readers to the Revolutionary War --- chronicles the path to independence, taking the reader from the battlefields of America to the royal courts of Europe. What started as protest and unrest in the colonies soon escalated to a world war with devastating casualties. Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard recreate the war’s landmark battles, including Bunker Hill, Long Island, Saratoga and Yorktown, revealing the savagery of hand-to-hand combat and the often brutal conditions under which these brave American soldiers lived and fought.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781627790642
THE NINTH HOUR by Alice McDermott (Fiction)
On a dim winter afternoon, a young Irish immigrant opens the gas taps in his Brooklyn tenement. He is determined to prove --- to the subway bosses who have recently fired him and to his badgering, pregnant wife --- that “the hours of his life belonged to himself alone.” In the aftermath of the fire that follows, Sister St. Saviour appears, unbidden, to direct the way forward for his widow and his unborn child. In Catholic Brooklyn in the early part of the 20th century, decorum, superstition and shame collude to erase the man’s brief existence, and yet his suicide, though never spoken of, reverberates through many lives --- testing the limits and the demands of love and sacrifice, of forgiveness and forgetfulness, even through multiple generations.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374280147
ONE LONG NIGHT: A Global History of Concentration Camps by Andrea Pitzer (History)
For over 100 years, at least one concentration camp has existed somewhere on Earth. First used as battlefield strategy, camps have evolved with each passing decade, in the scope of their effects and the savage practicality with which governments have employed them. Even in the 21st century, as we continue to reckon with the magnitude and horror of the Holocaust, history tells us we have broken our own solemn promise of "never again." In this harrowing work based on archival records and interviews during travel to four continents, Andrea Pitzer reveals for the first time the chronological and geopolitical history of concentration camps.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316303590
THE SCARRED WOMAN: A Department Q Novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
In a Copenhagen park, the body of an elderly woman is discovered. The case bears a striking resemblance to another unsolved homicide investigation from over a decade ago, but the connection between the two victims confounds the police. Across town, a group of young women are being hunted. The attacks seem random, but could these brutal acts of violence be related? Detective Carl Mørck of Department Q is charged with solving the mystery. Meanwhile, after an earlier breakdown, their colleague Rose is still struggling to deal with the reemergence of her past --- a past in which a terrible crime may have been committed. It is up to Carl, Assad and Gordon to uncover the dark and violent truth at the heart of Rose’s childhood before it is too late.
Dutton | 9780525954958
TO BE WHERE YOU ARE: A Mitford Novel by Jan Karon (Fiction)
A beloved town character lands a front-page obituary. But who was it, exactly, who died? And what about the former mayor who’s still running for office? All this, of course, is but a feather on the wind compared to Muse editor J.C. Hogan’s desperate attempts to find a cure for his marital woes. Twenty minutes from Mitford at Meadowgate Farm, newlyweds Dooley and Lace Kavanagh face a crisis that devastates their bank account and impacts their family vet practice. But there is still a lot to celebrate, as their adopted son, Jack, looks forward to the most important day of his life. Happily, it also will be a day when the terrible wound in Dooley’s biological family begins to heal because of a game --- let’s just call it a miracle --- that breaks all the rules.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399183737
THE TRUST by Ronald H. Balson (Historical Fiction)
When his uncle dies, Liam Taggart reluctantly returns to his childhood home in Northern Ireland for the funeral --- a home he left years ago after a bitter confrontation with his family. But when he arrives, Liam learns that not only was his uncle shot to death, but that he had anticipated his own murder. In an astonishing last will and testament, Uncle Fergus has left his entire estate to a secret trust, directing that no distributions be made to any person until the killer is found. As his investigation draws Liam farther and farther into the past he has abandoned, he realizes he is forced to reopen doors long ago shut and locked.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250127440
On Sale the Week of September 18th in Paperback
September 19th
ALFRED HITCHCOCK: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd (Biography)
Alfred Hitchcock rigorously controlled his public image, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring out all others. In this gripping short biography, Peter Ackroyd wrests the director’s chair back from the master of control to reveal a lugubriously jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashed a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. Iconic film stars make cameo appearances throughout Hitchcock’s story, just as the director did in his own films: Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, James Stewart and, perhaps most famously of all, Tippi Hedren, who endures cuts and bruises from a fearsome flock of real birds.
Anchor | 9780525434795
THE BATTLE FOR HOME: The Vision of a Young Architect in Syria by Marwa al-Sabouni (Memoir)
From Syria’s tolerant past, with churches and mosques built alongside one another in Old Homs and members of different religions living harmoniously together, THE BATTLE FOR HOME chronicles the recent breakdown of social cohesion in Syria’s cities. With the lack of shared public spaces intensifying divisions within the community, and corrupt officials interfering in town planning for their own gain, these actions are symptomatic of wider abuses of power.
Thames & Hudson | 9780500292938
THE BOYS OF DUNBAR: A Story of Love, Hope, and Basketball by Alejandro Danois (Sports)
As the crack epidemic swept across inner-city America in the early 1980s, the streets of Baltimore were crime ridden. But basketball could provide the quickest ticket out, an opportunity to earn a college scholarship and perhaps even play in the NBA. Dunbar High School had one of the most successful basketball programs, not only in Baltimore but in the entire country. In the early 1980s, the Dunbar Poets were arguably the best high school team of all time. Four starting players would eventually play in the NBA, an unheard-of success rate. In THE BOYS OF DUNBAR, Alejandro Danois takes us through the 1981-1982 season with the Poets as the team conquered all its opponents.
Simon & Schuster | 9781451666984
A CONSPIRACY OF RAVENS by Terrence McCauley (Thriller)
Paperback Original
James Hicks has spent his entire life and career fighting on the front lines of terrorism for the clandestine intelligence organization known as The University. He has learned that enemies can appear and disappear in the blink of an eye, and allegiances shift like the wind. But now, Hicks has finally discovered his true enemy: the criminal organization known as The Vanguard. This shadowy group has operated as a deadly organization comprised of weapons dealers, drug runners and money launderers for decades, but has now decided to add regime change to their catastrophic agenda. But knowing the enemy is one thing; being able to defeat it is another matter entirely. When Hicks uncovers a solid lead on his new adversaries, his world explodes.
Polis Books | 9781943818716
THE GUSTAV SONATA by Rose Tremain (Historical Fiction)
Gustav Perle grows up in a small town in Switzerland, where the horrors of the Second World War seem only a distant echo. He begins an intense friendship with a Jewish boy, Anton Zweibel, a budding concert pianist. The novel follows Gustav’s family, tracing the roots of his mother’s anti-Semitism and its impact on her son and his beloved friend. Moving backward to the war years and the painful repercussions of an act of conscience, and forward through the lives and careers of the two men --- one who becomes a hotel owner, the other a concert pianist --- THE GUSTAV SONATA explores the passionate love of childhood friendship as it is lost, transformed and regained over a lifetime.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393354843
IQ by Joe Ide (Mystery)
Someone in East Long Beach has taken it upon himself to help solve the cases the LAPD can't or won't touch. They call him IQ. He's a loner and a high school dropout, his unassuming nature disguising a relentless determination and a fierce intelligence. He charges his clients whatever they can afford, which might be a set of tires or a homemade casserole. To get by, he's forced to take on clients who can pay. This time, it's a rap mogul whose life is in danger. As Isaiah investigates, he encounters a vengeful ex-wife, a crew of notorious cutthroats, a monstrous attack dog, and a hit man who even other hit men say is a lunatic.
Mulholland Books | 9780316267731
MOONGLOW by Michael Chabon (Fiction)
MOONGLOW unfolds as the deathbed confession of a man the narrator refers to only as “my grandfather.” It is a tale of madness, of war and adventure, of sex and marriage and desire, of existential doubt and model rocketry, of the shining aspirations and demonic underpinnings of American technological accomplishment at midcentury, and, above all, of the destructive impact --- and the creative power --- of keeping secrets and telling lies. It is a portrait of the difficult but passionate love between the narrator’s grandfather and his grandmother, an enigmatic woman broken by her experience growing up in war-torn France.
Harper Perennial | 9780062225566
MOSCOW NIGHTS: The Van Cliburn Story -- How One Man and His Piano Transformed the Cold War by Nigel Cliff (Biography)
In 1958, an unheralded 23-year-old piano prodigy from Texas named Van Cliburn traveled to Moscow to compete in the First International Tchaikovsky Competition. The Soviets had no intention of bestowing their coveted prize on an unknown American; a Russian pianist had already been chosen to win. Yet when the gangly Texan with the shy grin took the stage and began to play, he instantly captivated an entire nation. Adored by millions in the USSR, Cliburn returned to a thunderous hero’s welcome in the US and became, for a time, an ambassador of hope for two dangerously hostile superpowers.
Harper Perennial | 9780062333179
MURDER UNDER THE FIG TREE: A Palestine Mystery by Kate Jessica Raphael (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Hamas has taken power in Palestine, and the Israeli government is rounding up threats. When Palestinian policewoman Rania Bakara finds herself thrown in prison, though she has never been part of Hamas, her friend Chloe flies in from San Francisco to get her out. Chloe begs an Israeli policeman named Benny for help --- and Benny offers Rania a way out: investigate the death of a young man in a village near her own. The young man’s neighbors believe the Israeli army killed him; Benny believes his death might not have been so honorable. Chloe's investigation draws her into a Palestinian gay scene she never knew existed, forcing her to question her beliefs about love, justice and cultural identity.
She Writes Press | 9781631522741
A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING: A Veronica Speedwell Mystery by Deanna Raybourn (Historical Mystery)
Victorian adventuress and butterfly hunter Veronica Speedwell receives an invitation to visit the Curiosity Club, a ladies-only establishment for daring and intrepid women. There she meets the mysterious Lady Sundridge, who begs her to take on an impossible task --- saving society art patron Miles Ramsforth from execution. Accused of the brutal murder of his artist mistress Artemisia, Ramsforth will face the hangman’s noose in a week’s time if Veronica cannot find the real killer. But Lady Sundridge is not all that she seems, and unmasking her true identity is only the first of the many secrets Veronica must uncover.
Berkley | 9780451476166
REPUTATIONS by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (Fiction)
Javier Mallarino is a living legend. He is his country's most influential political cartoonist, the consciousness of a nation. A man capable of repealing laws, overturning judges' decisions, destroying politicians' careers with his art. His weapons are pen and ink. Those in power fear him and pay him homage. At 65, after four decades of a brilliant career, he's at the height of his powers. But this all changes when he's paid an unexpected visit from a young woman who upends his sense of personal history and forces him to reevaluate his life and work, questioning his position in the world.
Riverhead Books | 9780735216860
RISKING IT ALL by Nina Darnton (Fiction)
Paperback Original
When Marcia, a driven, successful editor in New York with a loving husband, finds she can’t conceive a child, it rips the heart out of her seemingly perfect life. Her desire to be a mother has become her obsession, and after trying and failing to become pregnant by every known method, she focuses all of her energy on her one remaining option: surrogacy. Her husband resists and tries to convince her that they can be happy without a child. But faced with her unyielding determination, he relents and reluctantly goes along with the idea. Everything looks good…until an unexpected tragedy occurs that changes their plans, their marriage and their lives forever.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250075253
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY KILLER: An Under Suspicion Novel by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke (Mystery/Thriller)
Casey Carter was convicted of murdering her fiancé, famed philanthropist Hunter Raleigh III, 15 years ago. And Casey claims she’s innocent. Although she was charged and served out her sentence in prison, she is still living “under suspicion.” Her story attracts the attention of Laurie Moran and the “Under Suspicion” news team. It’s Casey’s last chance to finally clear her name, and Laurie pledges to exonerate her. With Alex Buckley taking a break from the show, “Under Suspicion” introduces a new on-air host named Ryan Nichols, who has no problems with steering --- and stealing --- the show, and even tries to stop Laurie from taking on Casey’s case because he’s so certain she’s guilty.
Pocket Books | 9781501108594
SOUL AT THE WHITE HEAT: Inspiration, Obsession, and the Writing Life by Joyce Carol Oates (Literary Criticism/Essays)
"Why do we write?" With this question, Joyce Carol Oates begins an imaginative exploration of the writing life, and all its attendant anxieties, joys and futilities, in this collection of seminal essays and criticism. Leading her quest is a desire to understand the source of the writer’s inspiration. Do subjects haunt those that might bring them back to life until the writer submits? Or does something "happen" to us, a sudden ignition of a burning flame? Can the appearance of a muse-like Other bring about a writer’s best work? In SOUL AT THE WHITE HEAT, Oates deploys her keenest critical faculties, conjuring contemporary and past voices whose work she dissects for clues to these elusive questions.
Ecco | 9780062564528
THE STORY OF A BRIEF MARRIAGE by Anuk Arudpragasam (Fiction)
Two and a half decades into a devastating civil war, Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority is pushed inexorably towards the coast by the advancing army. Amongst the evacuees is Dinesh, whose world has contracted to a makeshift camp where time is measured by the shells that fall around him like clockwork. Alienated from family, home, language and body, he exists in a state of mute acceptance until he is approached one morning by an old man who makes an unexpected proposal: that Dinesh marry his daughter, Ganga. Dinesh and Ganga try to come to terms with everything that has happened, hesitantly attempting to awaken to themselves and to one another before the war closes over them once more.
Flatiron Books | 9781250075277
TRUE BELIEVER: Stalin's Last American Spy by Kati Marton (History)
TRUE BELIEVER reveals the life of Noel Field, an American who betrayed his country and crushed his family. Field, once a well-meaning and privileged American, spied for Stalin during the 1930s and '40s. Then a pawn in Stalin’s sinister master strategy, Field was kidnapped and tortured by the KGB and forced to testify against his own Communist comrades. How does an Ivy League-educated, US State Department employee, deeply rooted in American culture and history, become a hardcore Stalinist? Communism promised the righting of social and political wrongs, and many in Field’s generation were seduced by its siren song. Few, however, went as far as he did in betraying their own country.
Simon & Schuster | 9781476763774
THE WAY TO LONDON: A Novel of World War II by Alix Rickloff (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
On the eve of Pearl Harbor, Lucy Stanhope, the granddaughter of an earl, is living a life of pampered luxury in Singapore until one reckless act will change her life forever. Exiled to England to stay with an aunt she barely remembers, Lucy never dreamed that she would be one of the last people to escape Singapore before war engulfs the entire island. Then she meets Bill, a young evacuee sent to the country to escape the Blitz, and in a moment of weakness, Lucy agrees to help him find his mother in London. The unlikely runaways take off on a seemingly simple journey across the country, but her world becomes even more complicated when she is reunited with an invalided soldier she knew in Singapore.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062433206
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