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Latest Update on Our GoFundMe Campaign
Thank you to those of you who have donated to our GoFundMe campaign. So far, with online and snail mail donations, we have raised $36,145 of our $50,000 goal.
You can read about our plans and donate here. If you would prefer donating via check, please send to:
The Book Report, Inc.
16 Mt. Bethel Road, Suite 365
Warren, NJ 07059
Thank you again for your consideration and your donation.
Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)
In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of October 12th and October 19th 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 "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com, where three book groups will win 12 copies of PLAIN BAD HEROINES, written by emily m. danforth and featuring illustrations by Sara Lautman. The deadline for your entries is Monday, November 9th at noon ET.
Also, we are sharing Carol Fitzgerald's latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview with Lisa Unger, whose new psychological thriller is CONFESSIONS ON THE 7:45. In this upcoming Bookreporter.com Bets On pick, readers are introduced to Selena Murphy, whose usual train commute is interrupted and stalled. She begins a deep conversation with her seat neighbor and reveals a few too many secrets from her personal life. Selena assumes they'll never meet again when the train arrives at the station, and they part ways. However, she soon finds out that this stranger on the train will have a bigger impact on her life than she ever could have realized. In the interview, Lisa talks about how easy it is to confess dark secrets to people we don’t know, how intense connections can be formed in short periods of time, and the reasons that people might lie to themselves and others. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
This Month's "Bookaccino Live" Event: This is your last newsletter reminder to sign up for our fifth "Bookaccino Live” event, which will take place via Zoom TOMORROW, Wednesday, October 14th at 2pm ET. Carol will present titles releasing from October 13th to November 3rd, along with five from December, that she would like to get on your radar. Click here to register. Our room holds up to 500 attendees, so feel free to invite friends! If you already signed up for this session, please do not sign up again. This will help us keep an accurate audience count. Registration will close at 10am ET tomorrow. Those attending the live event will be asked to answer a survey about the books that they are most interested in reading and will be eligible to win prizes.
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
Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events
As so many book and author events are happening online these days, we are highlighting a number of them that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links below for more info and to register.
October 5-25: Boston Book Festival
Here are some virtual author panels you may want to attend. Click here for the full schedule.
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Wednesday, October 14th at 6pm ET: The Color of Innovation: Women of Color in Tech: Ainissa Ramirez (THE ALCHEMY OF US: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another), Susanne Tedrick (WOMEN OF COLOR IN TECH: A Blueprint for Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Technology Innovators)
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Thursday, October 15th at 6pm ET: American Elections: Is This the Best We Can Do?: David Daley (UNRIGGED: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy), Katherine M. Gehl (THE POLITICS INDUSTRY: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy), Alexander Keyssar (WHY DO WE STILL HAVE THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?)
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Friday, October 16th at 6pm ET: One City One Story: Grace Talusan ("The Book of Life and Death")
Wednesday, October 14th at 2pm ET: Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books: Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing from October 13th to November 3rd, along with five from December, that she would like to get on your radar.
Wednesday, October 14th at 2pm ET: Boswell Book Company Virtual Event: A TIME FOR MERCY author John Grisham joins Boswell for a virtual Thrillwaukee event, in conversation with Nick Petrie, author of THE DRIFTER and THE WILD ONE.
Wednesday, October 14th at 5pm ET: Murder By The Book Virtual Event: Join Murder By The Book for an online event featuring Tana French, whose latest book is THE SEARCHER, and Megan Abbott, whose upcoming novel, THE TURNOUT, will be out next summer.
Wednesday, October 14th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": Every Wednesday, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan Henry and Mary Alice Monroe talk books and writing on their "Friends and Fiction" Facebook group page. Their special guest will be Charlaine Harris, whose most recent novel is A LONGER FALL.
Wednesday, October 14th at 7pm ET: Warwick's Virtual Event: Warwick’s will host Alice Hoffman, in conversation with Jodi Picoult, as she discusses her new book, MAGIC LESSONS: The Prequel to Practical Magic.
Wednesday, October 14th at 8pm ET: Politics & Prose Virtual Event: LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND author Rumaan Alam will be in conversation with Matthew Klam, author of the acclaimed short story collection SAM THE CAT and, most recently, WHO IS RICH?
Thursday, October 15th at 2pm ET: Murder By The Book Virtual Event: Join Murder By The Book for an online event featuring Lisa Jewell, whose new psychological thriller is INVISIBLE GIRL, and Ruth Ware, whose latest mystery is ONE BY ONE.
Thursday, October 15th at 7pm ET: Watermark Books & Café Virtual Event: Join Watermark Books & Café as they virtually welcome back Sarah Smarsh, the New York Times bestselling author of HEARTLAND, for a Q&A and discussion of her newest book, SHE COME BY IT NATURAL.
Saturday, October 17th at 3pm ET: Warwick's Virtual Event: Join Lisa Jewell as she discusses INVISIBLE GIRL with Crime by the Book blogger Abby Endler.
Saturday, October 17th at 9pm ET: Skylight Books Virtual Event: Join Skylight Books in welcoming New York Times bestselling authors V. E. Schwab and Taylor Jenkins Reid as they discuss Schwab’s new genre-defying novel, THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LaRUE.
Monday, October 19th at 8pm ET: Raven Book Store Virtual Event: Sarah Smarsh will discuss her new book, SHE COME BY IT NATURAL: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs, with Chuck Mead, the founding member of the legendary alt-country band BR549.
This Week's Bonus News: Our Latest
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest
on ReadingGroupGuides.com
Each month, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries, three winners will be selected, and each will win 12 copies of that month’s prize book for their group. Note: To be eligible to win, let us know the title of the book that YOUR book group is CURRENTLY reading, NOT the title we are giving away.
Our latest prize book is PLAIN BAD HEROINES, a highly imaginative and original horror-comedy centered on a cursed New England boarding school for girls. With illustrations by Sara Lautman, emily m. danforth's first novel for adults is a wickedly whimsical celebration of the art of storytelling, sapphic love and the rebellious female spirit. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Monday, November 9th at noon ET.
PLAIN BAD HEROINES written by emily m. danforth, with illustrations by Sara Lautman (Gothic Fiction)
Our story begins in 1902, at the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. This is where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, the Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever --- but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling way.
Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled --- or perhaps just grimly exploited --- and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.
A story within a story within a story and featuring black-and-white period-inspired illustrations, PLAIN BAD HEROINES is a devilishly haunting, modern masterwork of metafiction that manages to combine the ghostly sensibility of Sarah Waters with the dark imagination of Marisha Pessl and the sharp humor and incisive social commentary of Curtis Sittenfeld into one laugh-out-loud funny, spellbinding and wonderfully luxuriant read.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of October 12th in Hardcover
October 13th
ATTACK SURFACE by Cory Doctorow (Science Fiction/Thriller)
In her day job as a counterterrorism wizard for a transnational cybersecurity firm, Masha Maximow made the hacks that allowed repressive regimes to spy on dissidents and manipulate their every move. The perks were fantastic, and the pay was obscene. Just for fun, and to piss off her masters, Masha sometimes used her mad skills to help those same troublemakers evade detection, if their cause was just. When her targets were strangers in faraway police states, it was easy to compartmentalize, to ignore the collateral damage of murder, rape and torture. But when it hits close to home, and the hacks and exploits she’s devised are directed at her friends and family, Masha realizes she has to choose. And whatever choice she makes, someone is going to get hurt.
Tor Books | 9781250757531
BLACK SUN by Rebecca Roanhorse (Historical Fantasy)
In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world. Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.
Gallery/Saga Press | 9781534437678
THE BLIND LIGHT by Stuart Evers (Fiction)
England, 1959: Two young soldiers --- Drummond and Carter --- form an intense and unlikely friendship at "Doom Town," a training center that recreates the aftermath of atomic warfare. The experience will haunt them the rest of their lives. Years later, Carter, now a high-ranking government official, offers working-class Drummond a way to protect himself and his wife, Gwen, should a nuclear strike occur. Their pact, kept secret, will have devastating consequences for the families they so wish to shield.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324006251
BLOOD RUNS COAL: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America by Mark A. Bradley (True Crime/History)
In the early hours of New Year’s Eve 1969, in the small soft coal mining borough of Clarksville, Pennsylvania, longtime trade union insider Joseph “Jock” Yablonski and his wife and daughter were brutally murdered in their old stone farmhouse. Seven months earlier, Yablonski had announced his campaign to oust the corrupt president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), Tony Boyle, who had long embezzled UMWA funds, silenced intra-union dissent, and served the interests of Big Coal companies. The Yablonski murders triggered one of the most intensive and successful manhunts in FBI history --- and also led to the first successful rank-and-file takeover of a major labor union in modern U.S. history, one that inspired workers in other labor unions to rise up and challenge their own entrenched, out-of-touch leaders.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393652536
THE CAPTAIN: A Memoir by David Wright and Anthony DiComo (Sports/Memoir)
David Wright played his entire 14-year Major League Baseball career for the New York Mets. And when he came back time and again from injury, he demonstrated the power of hard work, commitment and love of the game. He is a seven-time All-Star, a two-time Gold Glove Award winner, a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and a member of the 30-30 club. He holds Mets franchise records for most career RBIs, doubles, total bases, runs scored, walks, sacrifice flies, times on base, extra base hits, strikeouts, double plays and hits. He was named captain of the Mets in 2013, becoming the fourth captain in the team's history. Now the widely admired third baseman and captain tells it from his perspective.
Dutton | 9781524746056
GOODNIGHT BEAUTIFUL by Aimee Molloy (Psychological Thriller)
Newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter are excited to say goodbye to New York City and start a life together in Sam's sleepy hometown upstate. Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam, her therapist husband, works long hours in his downstairs office, tending to the egos of his (mostly female) clientele. Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. Who could resist listening? Everything is fine until the French girl in the green mini Cooper shows up, and Sam decides to go to work and not come home, throwing a wrench into Sam and Annie's happily ever after.
Harper | 9780062881922
INVISIBLE GIRL by Lisa Jewell (Psychological Thriller)
Owen Pick has just been suspended from his job as a teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel forums, where he meets a charismatic and mysterious figure. Across the street from Owen lives the Fours family, headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist. They think Owen is a bit creepy, and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night. Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre disappears --- and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.
Atria Books | 9781982137335
JEEVES AND THE LEAP OF FAITH: A Novel in Homage to P. G. Wodehouse by Ben Schott (Historical Fiction/Humor)
In his eagerly anticipated sequel to JEEVES AND THE KING OF CLUBS, Ben Schott leads Jeeves and Wooster on another uproarious escapade. From the mean streets of Mayfair to the scheming spires of Cambridge, we encounter a joyous cast of characters: chiseling painters and criminal bookies, eccentric philosophers and dodgy clairvoyants, appalling poets and pocket dictators, vexatious aunts and their vicious hounds. But that’s not all: Who is ICEBERG, and why is he covered in chalk? Why is Jeeves reading WINNIE-THE-POOH? What is seven across and 85 down? How do you play Russian Roulette at The Savoy?
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316541046
JINGLE ALL THE WAY by Debbie Macomber (Romance)
A top real-estate executive, Everly Lancaster finds that her work is her life, leaving no space for anything (or anyone) else. Sensing her stress, Everly’s boss insists she take December off. But after her vengeful assistant books a guided cruise in the Amazon instead of the luxury beach vacation she expected, Everly is horrified to realize that she’s about to spend the next two weeks trapped in the rain forest. Not even Asher Adams, the ship’s charming naturalist, can convince Everly that the trip will be unforgettable. Slowly but surely, she realizes he is right: the sights are spectacular. And with each passing day, Everly’s relationship with Asher deepens, forcing her to take a long, hard look at her priorities.
Ballantine Books | 9781984818751
KANT'S LITTLE PRUSSIAN HEAD AND OTHER REASONS WHY I WRITE: An Autobiography in Essays by Claire Messud (Autobiography/Essays)
In 26 intimate, brilliant and funny essays, Claire Messud reflects on a childhood move from her Connecticut home to Australia; the complex relationship between her modern Canadian mother and a fiercely single French Catholic aunt; and a trip to Beirut, where her pied-noir father had once lived, while he was dying. She meditates on contemporary classics from Kazuo Ishiguro, Teju Cole, Rachel Cusk and Valeria Luiselli; examines three facets of Albert Camus and THE STRANGER; and tours her favorite paintings at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. In the luminous title essay, she explores her drive to write, born of the magic of sharing language and the transformative powers of “a single successful sentence.”
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324006756
THE LAND by Thomas Maltman (Fiction)
Recovering from a terrible auto accident just before the turn of the millennium, college dropout and hobbyist computer-game programmer Lucien Swenson becomes the caretaker of a house in northern Minnesota. Shortly after moving in, Lucien sets out to find a woman with whom he had an affair, who vanished along with money stolen from the bank where they had worked together. His search will take him to Rose of Sharon, a white supremacist church deep in the wilderness, where a cabal of outcasts await the end of the world at a place they call The Land. Lucien is visited at the house by a mysterious guest, who may not be who she claims, as well as a vast flock of violent ravens out of an apocalyptic vision.
Soho Press | 9781641292207
THE LOST SHTETL by Max Gross (Fiction)
For decades, the tiny Jewish shtetl of Kreskol existed in happy isolation, virtually untouched and unchanged. That all changes when Pesha Lindauer, who has just suffered an ugly, acrimonious divorce, suddenly disappears. Her husband goes after her, setting off a panic among the town elders. They send a woefully unprepared outcast named Yankel Lewinkopf out into the wider world to alert the Polish authorities. When the truth eventually surfaces, his story and the existence of Kreskol make headlines nationwide. Returning Yankel to Kreskol, the Polish government plans to reintegrate the town that time forgot. Yet in doing so, the devious origins of its disappearance come to the light. And what has become of the mystery of Pesha and her former husband?
HarperVia | 9780062991126
A LOVER'S DISCOURSE by Xiaolu Guo (Fiction)
A Chinese woman moves from Beijing to London for a doctoral program --- and to begin a new life --- just as the Brexit campaign reaches a fever pitch. Isolated and lonely in a Britain increasingly hostile to foreigners, she meets a landscape architect and the two begin to build a life together. A LOVER’S DISCOURSE is an exploration of romantic love told through fragments of conversations between the two lovers. Playing with language and the cultural differences that her narrator encounters as she settles into life in post-Brexit vote Britain, the lovers must navigate their differences and their romance, whether on their unmoored houseboat or in a cramped and stifling apartment in east London.
Grove Press | 9780802149527
THE LUCKIEST MAN: Life with John McCain by Mark Salter (Biography)
More so than almost anyone outside of John McCain’s immediate family, Mark Salter had unparalleled access to and served to influence the late Senator’s thoughts and actions, cowriting seven books with him and acting as a valued confidant. Now, in THE LUCKIEST MAN, Salter draws on the storied facets of McCain’s early biography as well as the later-in-life political philosophy for which the nation knew and loved him, delivering an intimate and comprehensive account of McCain’s life and philosophy. Salter covers all the major events of McCain’s life --- his peripatetic childhood, his naval service --- but also introduces aspects of the man that the public rarely saw and hardly knew.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982120931
MAD AT THE WORLD: A Life of John Steinbeck by William Souder (Biography)
The first full-length biography of the Nobel laureate to appear in a quarter century, MAD AT THE WORLD illuminates what has made the work of John Steinbeck an enduring part of the literary canon: his capacity for empathy. Pulitzer Prize finalist William Souder explores Steinbeck’s long apprenticeship as a writer struggling through the depths of the Great Depression, and his rise to greatness with masterpieces such as THE RED PONY, OF MICE AND MEN and THE GRAPES OF WRATH.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393292268
THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES by Alix E. Harrow (Alternate History/Fantasy)
In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box. But when the Eastwood sisters join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote --- and perhaps not even to live --- the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.
Redhook | 9780316422048
RING SHOUT by P. Djèlí Clark (Historical Fantasy)
In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die. Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan's demons straight to Hell. But something awful is brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up. Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?
Tor.com | 9781250767028
SHE COME BY IT NATURAL: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs by Sarah Smarsh (Music/Biography)
Growing up amid Kansas wheat fields and airplane factories, Sarah Smarsh witnessed firsthand the particular vulnerabilities --- and strengths --- of women in working poverty. Meanwhile, country songs by female artists played in the background, telling powerful stories about life, men, hard times and surviving. In her family, she writes that “country music was foremost a language among women. It’s how we talked to each other in a place where feelings aren’t discussed.” And no one provided that language better than Dolly Parton. In SHE COME BY IT NATURAL, Smarsh explores the overlooked contributions to social progress by such women as exemplified by Dolly Parton’s life and art.
Scribner | 9781982157289
SHELTER IN PLACE by David Leavitt (Fiction/Humor)
It is the Saturday after the 2016 presidential election, and in a plush weekend house in Connecticut, an intimate group of friends has gathered to recover from what they consider the greatest political catastrophe of their lives. They have just sat down to tea when their hostess, Eva Lindquist, proposes a dare. Who among them would be willing to ask Siri how to assassinate Donald Trump? Liberal and like-minded --- editors, writers, a decorator, a theater producer, and one financial guy, Eva's husband, Bruce --- the friends have come to the countryside in the hope of restoring the bubble in which they have grown used to living. Yet, with the exception of one brash and obnoxious book editor, none is willing to accept Eva's challenge.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781620404874
SILENT BITE: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Lawyer Andy Carpenter can finally take a breath. He’s back on dry land after a family Caribbean cruise forced on him by his wife, Laurie, to get into the Christmas spirit. Of course the family’s first stop is to the Tara Foundation, the dog rescue organization that has always been Andy’s true passion. But when Andy arrives, his partner, Willie Miller, needs his help. Willie’s old cellmate, Tony Birch, has been arrested for murder. Andy doesn’t necessarily believe in Tony, but Willie does. And Andy believes in Willie, which is why Andy decides to take the case.
Minotaur Books | 9781250257147
A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin (Mystery)
When his daughter, Samantha, calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it’s not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days. Rebus fears the worst --- and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect. He wasn’t the best father --- the job always came first --- but now his daughter needs him more than ever. But is he going as a father or a detective? As he leaves at dawn to drive to the windswept coast --- and a small town with big secrets --- he wonders if this might be the first time in his life where the truth is the one thing he doesn’t want to find.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316479257
THEY NEVER LEARN by Layne Fargo (Psychological Thriller)
Scarlett Clark is an exceptional English professor. But she’s even better at getting away with murder. Every year, she searches for the worst man at Gorman University and plots his well-deserved demise. Thanks to her meticulous planning, she’s avoided drawing attention to herself --- but as she’s preparing for her biggest kill yet, the school starts probing into the growing body count on campus. Determined to keep her enemies close, Scarlett insinuates herself into the investigation and charms the woman in charge, Dr. Mina Pierce. Everything is going according to her master plan…until she loses control with her latest victim, putting her secret life at risk of exposure.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982132026
A TIME FOR MERCY by John Grisham (Legal Thriller)
Clanton, Mississippi. 1990. Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid 16-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy. Many in Clanton want a swift trial and the death penalty, but Brigance digs in and discovers that there is more to the story than meets the eye. His fierce commitment to saving Drew from the gas chamber puts his career, his financial security and the safety of his family on the line.
Doubleday | 9780385545969
On Sale the Week of October 12th in Paperback
October 13th
THE CHRISTMAS BOUTIQUE: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini (Fiction)
Just weeks before Christmas, severe wintry weather damages the church hall hosting the Christmas Boutique --- an annual sale of handcrafted gifts and baked goods that supports the county food pantry. Determined to save the fundraiser, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson offers to hold the event at Elm Creek Manor, her ancestral family estate and summertime home to Elm Creek Quilt Camp. In the spirit of the season, Sylvia and the Elm Creek Quilters begin setting up market booths in the ballroom and decking the halls with beautiful hand-made holiday quilts. Each of the quilters chooses a favorite quilt to display, a special creation evoking memories of holidays past and dreams of Christmases yet to come.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062841162
THE DIVERS’ GAME by Jesse Ball (Dystopian Fiction)
The old-fashioned struggle for fairness has finally been abandoned. It was a misguided endeavor. The world is divided into two groups: pats and quads. The pats may kill the quads as they like, and do. The quads have no recourse but to continue with their lives. THE DIVERS’ GAME is a thinly veiled description of our society, an extreme case that demonstrates a truth: we must change or our world will collapse. What is the effect of constant fear on a life, or on a culture? Jesse Ball’s novel explores the consequences of violence through two festivals, and through the dramatic and excruciating examination of a woman’s final moments.
Ecco | 9780062676122
GHOST STORIES: Classic Tales of Horror and Suspense edited by Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger (Supernatural Thriller/Short Stories)
The ghost story has long been a staple of world literature, but many of the genre's greatest tales have been forgotten, overshadowed in many cases by their authors' bestselling work in other genres. In this spine-tingling anthology, little-known stories from literary titans like Charles Dickens and Edith Wharton are collected alongside overlooked works from masters of horror fiction like Edgar Allan Poe and M. R. James. Acclaimed anthologists Leslie S. Klinger and Lisa Morton set these stories in historical context and trace the literary significance of ghosts in fiction over almost 200 years --- from a traditional English ballad first printed in 1724 through the Christmas-themed ghost stories of the Victorian era and up to the science fiction-tinged tales of the early 20th century.
Pegasus Books | 9781643135953
HINDSIGHT by Iris Johansen (Mystery/Thriller)
Dr. Kendra Michaels, blind for the first 20 years of her life before gaining her sight via a revolutionary surgical procedure, is a renowned investigator known for her razor-sharp senses --- honed during her years in the dark --- and keen deductive abilities. Now her skills are needed uncomfortably close to home. Two staff members have been murdered at a school for the blind where Kendra spent her formative years. But the murders are puzzlingly dissimilar: one victim was brutally stabbed, while the other was killed by a bullet to the head. Are the crimes related? Or is Kendra on the hunt for more than one dangerous killer?
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538762905
HOME WORK: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews with Emma Walton Hamilton (Memoir)
In HOME, Julie Andrews recounted her difficult childhood and her emergence as an acclaimed singer and performer on the stage. With this second memoir, HOME WORK, Andrews picks up the story with her arrival in Hollywood and her phenomenal rise to fame in her earliest films: Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Andrews describes her years in the film industry, from the incredible highs to the challenging lows. Not only does she discuss her work in now-classic films and her collaborations with giants of cinema and television, she also unveils her personal story of adjusting to a new and often daunting world.
Hachette Books | 9780316349246
HUNTER KILLER: A Pike Logan Novel by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
While Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill prepare to join their team on a counter-terrorist mission in the triple frontier --- the lawless tri-border region where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet --- they are targeted in Charleston, South Carolina. A vicious explosion kills a friend, and the perpetrators have set it up to look like an accident. While the authorities believe this was not foul play, Pike knows the attack was meant for him. When he loses contact with the team in South America, Pike is convinced that he and the Taskforce are under assault. Pike and Jennifer head to Brazil to investigate their disappearance and run headlong into a crew of Russian assassins. Within days they are entangled in a byzantine scheme involving Brazilian politics and a cut-throat battle for control of offshore oil fields.
William Morrow | 9780062886033
JANIS: Her Life and Music by Holly George-Warren (Biography)
Janis Joplin has become a legend known as a brash, impassioned soul doomed by the pain that produced one of the most extraordinary voices in rock history. But in these pages, Holly George-Warren provides a revelatory portrait of a woman who wasn’t all about suffering. Janis was a perfectionist: a passionate, erudite musician who was born with talent but also worked exceptionally hard to develop it. She was a woman who pushed the boundaries of gender and sexuality long before it was socially acceptable. She was a sensitive seeker who wanted to marry and settle down --- but couldn’t, or wouldn’t. She was a Texan who yearned to flee Texas but could never quite get away --- even after becoming a countercultural icon in San Francisco.
Simon & Schuster | 9781476793115
THE LIFE AND AFTERLIFE OF HARRY HOUDINI by Joe Posnanski (Biography)
Nearly a century after Harry Houdini died, he feels as modern and alive as ever. The name Houdini still leaps to mind whenever we witness a daring escape. Every generation produces new disciples of the magician, from household names in magic like David Copperfield and David Blaine to countless other followers whose lives have been transformed by the power of Houdini. But the unique phenomenon of Houdini was always more than his death-defying stunts or his ability to escape handcuffs and straitjackets. It is also about the power of imagination and self-invention. Fueled by Joe Posnanski’s personal obsession with the magician --- and magic itself --- THE LIFE AND AFTERLIFE OF HARRY HOUDINI is a poignant odyssey of discovery that traces Houdini’s metamorphosis into an iconic figure who has inspired millions.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781501137242
THE LOST LOVE SONG by Minnie Darke (Romance)
Paperback Original
Concert pianist Diana is finally ready to marry her longtime fiance, Arie; she’s even composing a beautiful love song for him, and finishes it while on tour. Before she can play it for him, though, tragedy strikes --- and Diana is lost to Arie forever. But her song might not be. In Australia, Arie is struggling to cope with his loss. In Scotland, a woman named Evie is taking stock of her life after the end of another lackluster almost-relationship. Years of wandering the globe and failing to publish her poetry have taken their toll, and she finally might be ready to find what her travels have never been able to give her: a real home. And through a quirk of fate or circumstance, Diana’s song is passed from musician to musician. By winding its way around the world, it just might bring these two lost souls together.
Ballantine Books | 9780593160336
MARY TOFT; OR, THE RABBIT QUEEN by Dexter Palmer (Historical Fiction)
Surgeon’s apprentice Zachary Walsh knows that his master, John Howard, prides himself on his rationality. But John cannot explain how or why Mary Toft, the wife of a local journeyman, has managed to give birth to a dead rabbit. When this singular event becomes a regular occurrence, John and Zachary realize that nothing in their experience as rural physicians has prepared them to deal with a situation like this. When King George I learns of Mary’s plight, she and her doctors are summoned to London, where Zachary experiences a world far removed from his small-town existence and is exposed to some of the darkest corners of the human soul.
Vintage | 9780525432739
A MRS. MIRACLE CHRISTMAS by Debbie Macomber (Fiction)
Laurel McCullough and her husband, Zach, have been praying for a baby that seems more and more like an impossible dream, and they’ve had to move in with her beloved grandmother, Helen, who’s having trouble taking care of herself. But when Laurel contacts a local home-care organization for help, there are no caregivers available. Then Mrs. Miracle appears at the door. No stranger to lending a helping hand to a family in need, Mrs. Miracle reveals herself to be nothing short of a godsend. Laurel can’t help but notice that with Mrs. Miracle’s companionship, Helen is noticeably happier and more engaged. In the meantime, Laurel and Zach encounter curious signs, all pointing toward the arrival of a special baby.
Ballantine Books | 9780399181412
NO STOPPING US NOW: The Adventures of Older Women in American History by Gail Collins (Social History)
"You're not getting older, you're getting better," or so promised the famous 1970s ad --- for women's hair dye. Americans have always had a complicated relationship with aging: embrace it, deny it, defer it --- and women have been on the front lines of the battle, willingly or not. In her lively social history of American women and aging, acclaimed New York Times columnist Gail Collins illustrates the ways in which age is an arbitrary concept that has swung back and forth over the centuries.
Back Bay Books | 9780316286503
PARISIAN LIVES: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me: A Memoir by Deirdre Bair (Memoir)
In 1971, Deirdre Bair was a journalist and recently minted Ph.D. who managed to secure access to Nobel Prize-winning author Samuel Beckett. He agreed that she could write his biography despite never having written --- or even read --- a biography herself. The next seven years of intimate conversations, intercontinental research and peculiar cat-and-mouse games resulted in SAMUEL BECKETT: A Biography, which went on to win the National Book Award and propel Deirdre to her next subject: Simone de Beauvoir. The catch? De Beauvoir and Beckett despised each other --- and lived essentially on the same street. Her seven-year relationship with the domineering and difficult de Beauvoir required a radical change in approach, yielding another groundbreaking literary profile and influencing Bair’s own feminist beliefs.
Anchor | 9780525432906
PLEASE SEE US by Caitlin Mullen (Psychological Thriller)
Summer has come to Atlantic City, but the boardwalk is empty of tourists, the casino lights have dimmed, and two Jane Does are laid out in the marshland behind the Sunset Motel, just west of town. Only one person even knows they are there. Meanwhile, Clara, a young boardwalk psychic, struggles to attract clients for the tarot readings that pay her rent. When she begins to experience very real and disturbing visions, she suspects they could be related to the recent cases of women gone missing in town. When Clara meets Lily, an ex-Soho art gallery girl who is working at a desolate casino spa and reeling from a personal tragedy, she thinks Lily may be able to help her. But Lily has her own demons to face.
Gallery Books | 9781982127497
THE RABBIT HUNTER: A Killer Instinct Novel written by Lars Kepler, translated by Neil Smith (Mystery/Thriller)
A masked stranger stands in the shadows. He watches his victim through the window. He will kill him slowly --- make him pay. Soon the Rabbit Hunter has claimed another three victims. This predator will stop at nothing to reap his ultimate revenge. It’s up to Joona Linna and Saga Bauer to untangle one of the most complex cases of their career, and follow the killer’s trail of destruction back to one horrific night of violence.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard | 9780525433071
ROBERT B. PARKER’S ANGEL EYES: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins (Mystery)
Gabby Leggett left her Boston family with dreams of making it big as a model/actress in Hollywood. Two years later, she disappears from her apartment. Her family, former boyfriend, friends --- and the police --- have no idea where she is and no leads. Leggett's mother hires Spenser to find her, with help from his former apprentice, Zebulon Sixkill, now an L.A. private eye. Spenser barely has time to unpack before the trail leads to a powerful movie studio boss, the Armenian mob, and a shadowy empowerment group some say might be a dangerous cult. It's soon clear that Spenser and Sixkill may be outgunned this time, and series favorites Chollo and Bobby Horse ride to the rescue to provide backup.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525536833
ROYAL HOLIDAY by Jasmine Guillory (Romantic Comedy)
Vivian Forest tags along on her daughter Maddie’s work trip to England to style a royal family member. She’s excited to spend the holidays taking in the magnificent British sights, but what she doesn’t expect is to become instantly attracted to a certain private secretary. Malcolm Hudson has worked for the Queen for years and has never given a personal, private tour --- until now. He is intrigued by Vivian the moment he meets her and finds himself making excuses just to spend time with her. When flirtatious banter turns into a kiss under the mistletoe, things snowball into a full-on fling. Despite a ticking timer on their holiday romance, they are completely fine with ending their short, steamy affair come New Year’s Day. Or are they?
Berkley | 9780593099049
SHUGGIE BAIN by Douglas Stuart (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Hugh “Shuggie” Bain's mother, Agnes, walks a wayward path: she is Shuggie’s guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. Married to a philandering taxi-driver husband, she keeps her pride by looking good. But under the surface, she finds increasing solace in drink and drains away the lion’s share of each week’s benefits on cans of extra-strong lager hidden in handbags and poured into tea mugs. Agnes’ older children find their own ways to get a safe distance from their mother. Meanwhile, Shuggie is struggling to somehow become the normal boy he desperately longs to be, but everyone has realized that he is “no right,” a boy with a secret that all but him can see. Agnes is supportive of her son, but her addiction has the power to eclipse everyone close to her --- even her beloved Shuggie.
Grove Press | 9780802148506
THE SIBERIAN DILEMMA: An Arkady Renko Novel by Martin Cruz Smith (Thriller)
Iconic Moscow investigator Arkady Renko hasn’t seen his part-time lover, journalist Tatiana Petrovna, since she left on assignment over a month ago. Renko slowly learns that Tatiana has been profiling the rise of political dissident Mikhail Kuznetsov, a golden boy of modern oil wealth and the first to pose a true threat to Putin’s rule in over a decade. Though Kuznetsov seems like the perfect candidate to take on the corruption in Russian politics, his reputation becomes clouded when Boris Benz, his business partner and best friend, turns up dead. In a land of shamans and brutally cold nights, oligarchs wealthy on northern oil, and sea monsters that are said to prowl the deepest lake in the world, Renko needs all his wits about him to get Tatiana out alive.
Simon & Schuster | 9781439140260
SPY by Danielle Steel (Historical Fiction)
At 18, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite white lace and satin dress her mother has ordered from Paris. With her delicate blond looks, she is a stunning beauty who seems destined for a privileged life. But fate, a world war and her own quietly rebellious personality lead her down a different path. SPY follows Alex’s extraordinary adventures in World War II and afterward in India, Pakistan, Morocco, Hong Kong, Moscow and Washington, D.C., when her husband, Richard, enters the foreign service and both become witnesses to a rapidly changing world from post-war to Cold War. She lives life on the edge, with a secret she must always keep hidden.
Dell | 9780399179464
THREE LITTLE TRUTHS by Eithne Shortall (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Martha used to be a force of nature. But since moving her husband and two daughters to Dublin under sudden and mysterious circumstances, she can't seem to find her footing. Robin was the "it" girl in school, destined for success. Now she's back at her parents' with her four-year-old son, vowing that her ne'er-do-well ex is out of the picture for good. Edie has everything she could want, apart from a baby, and the acceptance of her new neighbors. She longs to be one of the girls, and to figure out why her perfect husband seems to be avoiding their perfect future. Three women looking for a fresh start on idyllic Pine Road. Their friendship will change their lives and reveal secrets they never imagined.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525537885
TOM CLANCY CODE OF HONOR: A Jack Ryan Novel by Marc Cameron (Thriller/Adventure)
Father Pat West, S.J. was a buddy of the young Jack Ryan when they were both undergraduates at Boston College. Father West left a comfortable job in the philosophy department at Georgetown to work with the poor in Indonesia. Now he's been arrested and accused of blasphemy against Islam. President Ryan is desperate to rescue his old friend, but he can't move officially against the Indonesians. Instead he relies on the Campus team to find out who is framing the priest. There's one other twist to the story. President Ryan discovers a text on his private cell phone from the priest warning about a coming attack against America.
Berkley | 9780525541738
UNLIKELY ANGEL: The Songs of Dolly Parton by Lydia R. Hamessley (Music/Biography)
Paperback Original
Dolly Parton's success as a performer and pop culture phenomenon has overshadowed her achievements as a songwriter. But she sees herself as a songwriter first, and with good reason. Parton's compositions like "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" have become American standards with an impact far beyond country music. Lydia R. Hamessley's expert analysis and Parton’s characteristically straightforward input inform this comprehensive look at the process, influences and themes that have shaped the superstar's songwriting artistry. Hamessley reveals how Parton’s loving, hardscrabble childhood in the Smoky Mountains provided the musical language, rhythms and memories of old-time music that resonate in so many of her songs.
University of Illinois Press | 9780252085420
On Sale the Week of October 19th in Hardcover
October 20th
CARY GRANT: A Brilliant Disguise by Scott Eyman (Biography)
Born Archibald Leach in 1904, Cary Grant came to America as a teenaged acrobat to find fame and fortune, but he was always haunted by his past. His father was a feckless alcoholic, and his mother was committed to an asylum when Archie was 11. He believed her to be dead until he was informed she was alive when he was 31. Because of this experience, Grant would have difficulty forming close attachments throughout his life. He married five times and had numerous affairs. Despite a remarkable degree of success, Grant remained deeply conflicted about his past, his present, his basic identity, and even the public that worshipped him. Drawing on Grant’s own papers, extensive archival research, and interviews with family and friends, this is the definitive portrait of a movie immortal.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501192111
DEATH AND THE MAIDEN by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Norman (Historical Mystery)
England, 1191. After the death of her friend and patron, King Henry II, Adelia Aguilar, England’s vaunted Mistress of the Art of Death, is living comfortably in retirement and training her daughter, Allie, to carry on her craft. Allie is already a skilled healer, with a particular gift for treating animals. When a friend in Cambridgeshire falls ill, Allie is sent to Ely, where her path will cross with Lord Peverill, a young aristocrat who would be a most suitable match for her. A village girl has disappeared --- and she’s not the first. Over the past few months, several girls from the villages surrounding Ely have vanished. When the body of one of the missing is discovered, Allie manages to examine the remains before burial. The results lead her to suspect that a monstrous predator is on the loose.
William Morrow | 9780062562388
A DOG'S PERFECT CHRISTMAS by W. Bruce Cameron (Fiction)
The problems fracturing the Goss family as Christmas approaches are hardly unique, though perhaps they are handling them a little differently than most people might. But then a true emergency arises, one with the potential to ruin not only Christmas, but everything holding the family together. Is the arrival of a lost puppy yet another in the string of calamities facing them, or could the little canine be just what they all need?
Forge Books | 9781250163585
EX LIBRIS: 100+ Books to Read and Reread by Michiko Kakutani (Literary Criticism/Essays)
In the introduction to her new collection of essays, Michiko Kakutani writes: "In a world riven by political and social divisions, literature can connect people across time zones and zip codes, across cultures and religions, national boundaries and historical eras. It can give us an understanding of lives very different from our own, and a sense of the shared joys and losses of human experience." Readers will discover novels and memoirs by some of the most gifted writers working today; favorite classics worth reading or rereading; and nonfiction works, both old and new, that illuminate our social and political landscape and some of today’s most pressing issues, from climate change to medicine to the consequences of digital innovation.
Clarkson Potter | 9780525574972
THE FALL OF SHANNARA: THE LAST DRUID by Terry Brooks (Fantasy)
Since he first began the Shannara saga in 1977, Terry Brooks has had a clear idea of how the series should end, and now that moment is at hand. As the Four Lands reels under the Skaar invasion --- spearheaded by a warlike people determined to make this land their own --- our heroes must decide what they will risk to save the integrity of their home. Even as one group remains to defend the Four Lands, another is undertaking a perilous journey across the sea to the Skaar homeland, carrying with them a new piece of technology that could change the face of the world forever. And yet a third is trapped in a deadly realm from which there may be no escape.
Del Rey | 9780399178542
THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR by Rose Carlyle (Psychological Thriller)
Cynical and insecure, Iris has long been envious of her twin sister Summer’s seemingly never-ending good fortune, including her perfect husband, Adam. Called to Thailand to help her sister sail the family yacht to the Seychelles, Iris nurtures her own secret hopes for what might happen on the journey. But when she unexpectedly finds herself alone in the middle of the Indian Ocean, everything changes. When she makes it to land, Iris allows herself to be swept up by Adam, who assumes that she is Summer. With her sister gone, Iris is one step closer to the hundred-million-dollar inheritance left by her manipulative father. On the edge of being exposed, how far will she go to ensure no one discovers the truth? And just what did happen to Summer on the yacht?
William Morrow | 9780063030145
GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey (Memoir)
I’ve been in this life for 50 years, been trying to work out its riddle for 42, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last 35. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me. Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far.
Crown | 9780593139134
MAKE ME RAIN: Poems & Prose by Nikki Giovanni (Poetry)
For more than 50 years, Nikki Giovanni’s poetry has inspired, enlightened and dazzled readers. As sharp and outspoken as ever, this artist long hailed as a healer and a sage returns with this profound book of poetry in which she continues to call attention to injustice and give readers an unfiltered look into the most private parts of herself. In MAKE ME RAIN, she celebrates her loved ones and unapologetically declares her pride in her black heritage, while exploring the enduring impact of the twin sins of racism and white nationalism.
William Morrow | 9780062995285
THE MIRROR MAN by Jane Gilmartin (Science Fiction/Thriller)
The offer is too tempting: be part of a scientific breakthrough, step out of his life for a year, and be paid hugely for it. When ViMed Pharmaceutical asks Jeremiah to be part of an illegal cloning experiment, he sees it as a break from an existence he feels disconnected from. No one will know he’s been replaced --- not the son who ignores him, not his increasingly distant wife --- since a revolutionary drug called Meld can transfer his consciousness and memories to his copy. From a luxurious apartment, he watches the clone navigate his day-to-day life. But soon Jeremiah discovers that examining himself from an outsider’s perspective isn’t what he thought it would be, and he watches in horror as “his” life spirals out of control.
Mira | 9780778309642
PLAIN BAD HEROINES written by emily m. danforth, with illustrations by Sara Lautman (Gothic Fiction)
Our story begins in 1902, at the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them. Less than five years later, the school closes its doors forever --- but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property. Over a century later, Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded Age institution.
William Morrow | 9780062942852
THE SILENCE by Don DeLillo (Fiction)
It is Super Bowl Sunday in the year 2022. Five people, dinner, an apartment on the east side of Manhattan. The retired physics professor and her husband and her former student waiting for the couple who will join them from what becomes a dramatic flight from Paris. The conversation ranges from a survey telescope in North-central Chile to a favorite brand of bourbon to Einstein’s 1912 Manuscript on the Special Theory of Relativity. Then something happens, and the digital connections that have transformed our lives are severed. What follows is a dazzling and profoundly moving conversation about what makes us human.
Scribner | 9781982164553
TO HOLD UP THE SKY by Cixin Liu (Science Fiction/Short Stories)
In TO HOLD UP THE SKY, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space --- from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physics to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives of unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself. Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China.
Tor Books | 9781250306081
On Sale the Week of October 19th in Paperback
October 20th
ATTICUS FINCH: The Biography: Harper Lee, Her Father, and the Making of an American Icon by Joseph Crespino (Biography)
The publication of GO SET A WATCHMAN in 2015 forever changed how we think about Atticus Finch. Once seen as a paragon of decency, he was reduced to a small-town racist. In ATTICUS FINCH, historian Joseph Crespino draws on exclusive sources to reveal how Harper Lee's father provided the central inspiration for each of her books. A lawyer and newspaperman, A. C. Lee was a principled opponent of mob rule, yet he was also a racial paternalist. Harper Lee created the Atticus of WATCHMAN out of the ambivalence she felt toward white southerners like him. But when a militant segregationist movement arose that mocked his values, she revised the character in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD to defend her father and to remind the South of its best traditions.
Basic Books | 9781541644939
THE BOY FROM THE WOODS by Harlan Coben (Thriller)
Thirty years ago, Wilde was found as a boy living feral in the woods, with no memory of his past. Now an adult, he still doesn't know where he comes from, and another child has gone missing. No one seems to take Naomi Pine's disappearance seriously, not even her father --- with one exception. Hester Crimstein, a television criminal attorney, knows through her grandson that Naomi was relentlessly bullied at school. Hester asks Wilde, with whom she shares a tragic connection, to use his unique skills to help find Naomi. Wilde can't ignore an outcast in trouble, but in order to find Naomi, he must venture back into the community where he has never fit in, a place where the powerful are protected even when they harbor secrets that could destroy the lives of millions.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538748206
CHRISTMAS AT THE ISLAND HOTEL by Jenny Colgan (Fiction)
Paperback Original
On a tiny, beautiful and remote island, a new hotel opening is a big event. New mother Flora MacKenzie and her brother, Fintan, are working themselves half to death to get it ready in time for Christmas. Its impressive kitchens throw together two unlikely new friends. Isla Gregor is a hardworking young girl who has been a waitress in the island's cafe, dreaming of a bigger, better life. Konstantin Pederson is working his way up in the hotel's kitchens too…but he is also, secretly, the only son of the Duke of Utsire. Konstantin has been sent to learn what it is to work hard for a living, before receiving his inheritance. As the island’s residents and special VIP guests gather for the grand opening gala, Christmas is in the air. But so are more than a few small-town secrets.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062911285
THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS ON TRADD STREET by Karen White (Fiction)
The ongoing excavation of the centuries-old cistern in the garden of Melanie Trenholm’s historic Tradd Street home has been a huge millstone, both financially and aesthetically. Local students are thrilled by the possibility of unearthing more Colonial-era artifacts at the cistern, but Melanie is concerned by the ghosts connected to it that have suddenly invaded her life and her house. A past adversary is convinced there is a long-lost Revolutionary War treasure buried somewhere on the property Melanie inherited --- untold riches rumored to have been brought over from France by the Marquis de Lafayette himself and intended to help the Colonial war effort. This person will stop at nothing to possess it, even if it means destroying everything Melanie and Jack hold dear.
Berkley | 9780399584985
THE CONTENDER: The Story of Marlon Brando by William J. Mann (Biography)
The most influential movie actor of his era, Marlon Brando changed the way other actors perceived their craft. His approach was natural, honest and deeply personal, resulting in performances --- most notably in A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront --- that are without parallel. Brando’s impact on American culture matches his professional significance; he both challenged and codified our ideas of masculinity and sexuality. Brando was also one of the first stars to use his fame as a platform to address social, political and moral issues, courageously calling out America’s deeply rooted racism. William Mann’s biography of the Hollywood legend illuminates this culture icon for a new age.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062427724
THE COOKBOOK CLUB: A Novel of Food and Friendship by Beth Harbison (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Margo Everson sees the call out for The Cookbook Club and knows she has found her people. Recently dumped by her self-absorbed husband, she has little to show for her marriage but a dilapidated old farm house and a collection of well-loved cookbooks. Aja Alexander just hopes her new-found friends won’t notice that she gets queasy every time she looks at food. It’s hard hiding a pregnancy, especially one she can’t bring herself to share with her wealthy boyfriend and his snooty mother. Trista Walker left the cutthroat world of the law behind and decided her fate was to open a restaurant…not the most secure choice ever. The women bond immediately, but it’s not all popovers with melted brie and blackberry jam.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062958624
DREAMS OF EL DORADO: A History of the American West by H. W. Brands (History)
In DREAMS OF EL DORADO, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants' dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame --- and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. The West was where riches would reward the miner's persistence, the cattleman's courage, the railroad man's enterprise. But El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East.
Basic Books | 9781541672543
THE GERMAN HOUSE by Annette Hess, translated by Elisabeth Lauffer (Historical Fiction)
Eager for her wealthy suitor, Jürgen Schoormann, to propose, Eva Bruhns dreams of starting a new life away from her parents and sister. But Eva’s plans are turned upside down when an investigator, David Miller, hires her as a translator for a war crimes trial. As she becomes more deeply involved in the Frankfurt Trials, Eva begins to question her family’s silence on the war and her future. Though it means going against the wishes of her family and her lover, Eva, propelled by her own conscience, joins a team of fiery prosecutors determined to bring the Nazis to justice --- a decision that will help change the present and the past of her nation.
HarperVia | 9780062910301
GIRL by Edna O’Brien (Fiction)
I was a girl once, but not anymore. So begins GIRL, Edna O’Brien’s harrowing portrayal of the young women abducted by Boko Haram. Set in the deep countryside of northeast Nigeria, this is a brutal story of incarceration, horror and hunger; a hair-raising escape into the manifold terrors of the forest; and a descent into the labyrinthine bureaucracy and hostility awaiting a victim who returns home with a child blighted by enemy blood.
Picador | 9781250239914
HOW THE DEAD SPEAK: A Tony Hill and Carol Jordan Novel by Val McDermid (Mystery/Thriller)
Construction is suddenly halted on the redevelopment of an orphanage after dozens of skeletons are found buried in the grounds. Forensic examination reveals they date from between 20 and 40 years ago, when the nuns were running their repressive regime. But then a different set of skeletons are discovered in a far corner, young men from as recent as 10 years ago. When newly promoted DI Paula McIntyre learns that one of the male skeletons is that of a killer who is supposedly alive and behind bars --- and the subject of one of Carol Jordan’s miscarriage investigations --- it brings Tony Hill and Carol irresistibly into each other’s orbit once again.
Grove Press | 9780802157348
THE INNOCENTS by Michael Crummey (Historical Fiction)
A brother and sister are orphaned in an isolated cove on Newfoundland's northern coastline. Their home is a stretch of rocky shore governed by the feral ocean, by a relentless pendulum of abundance and murderous scarcity. Still children with only the barest notion of the outside world, they have nothing but the family's boat and the little knowledge passed on haphazardly by their mother and father to keep them alive. Muddling through the severe round of the seasons, through years of meager catches and storms and ravaging illness, it is their fierce loyalty to each other that motivates and sustains them. But as seasons pass and they wade deeper into the mystery of their own natures, even that loyalty will be tested.
Anchor | 9781984898234
MAKE IT SCREAM, MAKE IT BURN: Essays by Leslie Jamison (Essays)
In its kaleidoscopic sweep, MAKE IT SCREAM, MAKE IT BURN creates a profound exploration of the oceanic depths of longing and the reverberations of obsession. Among Leslie Jamison's subjects are 52 Blue, deemed "the loneliest whale in the world"; the eerie past-life memories of children; the devoted citizens of an online world called Second Life; the haunted landscape of the Sri Lankan Civil War; and an entire museum dedicated to the relics of broken relationships. Jamison follows these examinations to more personal reckonings --- with elusive men and ruptured romances, with marriage and maternity --- in essays about eloping in Las Vegas, becoming a stepmother and giving birth.
Back Bay Books | 9780316259651
MIDWINTER MURDER: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery by Agatha Christie (Mystery/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
There’s a chill in the air, and the days are growing shorter. It’s the perfect time to curl up in front of a crackling fire with these wintry whodunits from the legendary Agatha Christie. But beware of deadly snowdrifts and dangerous gifts, poisoned meals and mysterious guests. This chilling compendium of short stories --- some featuring beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple --- is an essential omnibus for Christie fans and the perfect holiday gift for mystery lovers.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063030367
NINTH HOUSE by Leigh Bardugo (Supernatural Thriller/Dark Fantasy)
Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs and much, much worse. In fact, by age 20, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most prestigious universities on a full ride. She arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, but their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.
Flatiron Books | 9781250751362
THE OLD SUCCESS: A Richard Jury Mystery by Martha Grimes (Mystery)
When the body of a French woman washes up on a wild inlet off the Cornish coast, Brian Macalvie, divisional commander with the Devon-Cornwall police, is called in. While he stands in the Sicily Islands, Inspector Richard Jury --- 20 miles away on Land’s End --- is at The Old Success pub, sharing a drink with the legendary former CID detective Tom Brownell, a man renowned for solving every case he undertook. Except one. In the days following the mysterious slaying of the Parisian tourist, two other murders take place: first, a man is shot on a Northhamptonshire estate, then a holy duster turns up murdered at Exeter Cathedral in Devon. Macalvie, Jury and Bronwell set out to discover if these three killings, though very different in execution, are connected.
Grove Press | 9780802148995
PURSUIT by Joyce Carol Oates (Supernatural Thriller)
As a child, Abby had the same recurring nightmare night after night, in which she wandered through a field ridden with human skulls and bones. Now an adult, Abby thinks she’s outgrown her demons, until, the evening before her wedding, the terrible dream returns and forces her to confront the dark secrets from her past she has kept from her new husband, Willem. The following day --- less than 24 hours after exchanging vows --- Abby steps out into traffic. As his wife lies in her hospital bed, sleeping in fits and starts, Willem tries to determine whether this was an absentminded accident or a premeditated plunge, and he quickly discovers a mysterious set of clues about what his wife might be hiding.
Mysterious Press | 9780802157324
THE SUN DOWN MOTEL by Simone St. James (Supernatural Thriller)
Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City. To help pay for it, she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnĘžt right at the motel, something haunting and scary. Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.
Berkley | 9780440000204
VICKSBURG: Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy by Donald L. Miller (History)
Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the last stronghold of the Confederacy on the Mississippi River. It prevented the Union from using the river for shipping between the Union-controlled Midwest and New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The Union navy tried to take Vicksburg, which sat on a high bluff overlooking the river, but couldn’t do it. General Grant moved his army south and joined forces with Admiral Porter, but even together they could not come up with a successful plan. At one point, Grant even tried to build a canal so that the river could be diverted away from Vicksburg. In VICKSBURG, Donald L. Miller tells the full story of this year-long campaign to win the city.
Simon & Schuster | 9781451641394
WRECKED: A Faye Longchamp Mystery by Mary Anna Evans (Mystery)
Paperback Original
The suspicious drowning death of Captain Edward Eubank breaks archaeologist Faye Longchamp's heart. It also confuses her, because he was found in scuba gear and she's never heard him even mention scuba diving. During their last conversation, he told her that he believed he'd found a storied shipwreck, but when Faye checks it out, she finds nothing there. If there's no treasure, then why is her friend dead? But the situation quickly escalates beyond a murder mystery. Surrounded by a community struggling in the aftermath of a major hurricane that has changed the very landscape, Faye grapples not only with the loss of her friend, but with her fears for her daughter, who is being romanced by a man who may be very dangerous.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464214028
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