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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of June 7th and June 14th 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 Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks feature for June, which includes Indie Next, LibraryReads, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, Reese's Book Club, the "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, and more.
We have two new “Bookreporter Talks To” interviews to share with you in this newsletter. First up is Linwood Barclay, whose latest thriller, FIND YOU FIRST, is a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Miles Cookson is a tech millionaire who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and he hopes to spend the last bit of his short life finding anyone he might have passed it onto. As a sperm donor, he knows he has multiple unknown kids, and he wants to share the truth with them before time runs out. On his journey, he realizes that his possible descendants are vanishing one by one. Linwood talked about what drew him to write about DNA testing, his writing process and what's next. He and Carol are old friends, so they also discussed what they have binge-watched and loved --- and how he has not been able to get a haircut since November 28th due to COVID-19 restrictions in Toronto where he lives. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
Carol's second interview is with Wendy Wax, whose new novel, THE BREAK-UP BOOK CLUB, is a Bets On selection. This briskly paced story is about four very different women who gather at a bookstore to discuss books, bond over their love of reading and support one another. As they say, “What happens at book club stays at book club.” Wendy talked to Carol about her personal journey writing this book and how she struggled during the editing process with one particular character. She also explained what makes a book enjoyable, as well as what it means for people to love different things in fiction and how that can be brought to the conversation in book clubs. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
This is your last newsletter reminder to sign up for this month’s “Bookaccino Live” afternoon event, which will take place via Zoom TOMORROW, Wednesday, June 9th at 2pm ET. Carol will present a number of titles releasing between June 8th and July 6th, along with a few from August, that she would like to get on your radar. Please keep in mind that attendees of the live event will be invited to answer a survey about the books from the presentation that they are most interested in reading. Those who do will be eligible to win a prize! Be sure to register here by 1pm ET on Wednesday to get a list of the featured titles sent to you before the event.
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.
Wednesday, June 9th at 2pm ET: "Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books": Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing between June 8th and July 6th, along with a few from August, that she thinks will appeal to you.
Wednesday, June 9th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan Henry and Mary Alice Monroe --- will talk to Susan Wiggs, whose latest novel, THE LOST AND FOUND BOOKSHOP, is now in trade paperback.
Wednesday, June 9th at 7pm ET: RJ Julia Booksellers: RJ Julia’s presents a virtual event with Lisa Taddeo, whose debut novel is ANIMAL. She will be in conversation with bestselling memoirist Claire Dederer.
Wednesday, June 9th at 7:30pm ET: Charis Books and More: Charis proudly welcomes debut memoirist Ashley C. Ford in conversation with Oprah Winfrey for SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER.
Wednesday, June 9th at 8pm ET: Blue Willow Bookshop: Kristan Higgins will appear virtually in conversation with Jamie Brenner in celebration of Kristan's new book, PACK UP THE MOON.
Thursday, June 10th at 2pm ET: Avon Free Public Library: Lionel Shriver will be joining attendees live from London to talk about her new book, SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO.
Thursday, June 10th at 7pm ET: Warwick's: Warwick's will host Elizabeth Letts as she discusses her new book, THE RIDE OF HER LIFE: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America, in conversation with Christina Baker Kline.
Tuesday, June 15th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Alex Michaelides to discuss his new thriller, THE MAIDENS, with fellow New York Times bestselling author Lucy Foley.
Tuesday, June 15th at 7pm ET: Warwick's: Warwick's will host Lionel Shriver as she discusses her new book, SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO, in conversation with Dean Nelson.
Tuesday, June 15th at 7:30pm ET: Greenlight Bookstore: Joshua Henkin comes to Greenlight (virtually!) to share his new book, MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS. He will be in conversation with award-winning author Julie Orringer.
This Week's Bonus News:
Our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for June
Each month, we share top book picks from Indie Next and LibraryReads, as well as the Target Book Club title and Costco's "Buyer's Pick." We also feature a number of other prominent picks, including Oprah’s Book Club, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, Reese's Book Club, Jenna Bush Hager's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, and Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites.
Below is a preview of June's "Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks." For the complete Indie Next and LibraryReads lists, as well as additional links pertaining to this month's selections, please click here.
Indie Next
#1 Pick: MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS by Joshua Henkin
MALIBU RISING by Taylor Jenkins Reid
THE OTHER BLACK GIRL by Zakiya Dalila Harris
ONE LAST STOP by Casey McQuiston
ANIMAL by Lisa Taddeo
LibraryReads
Top Pick: ONE LAST STOP by Casey McQuiston
THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides
NEON GODS by Katee Robert
THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT by Marianne Cronin
THE OTHER BLACK GIRL by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Target Book Club
THE END OF HER by Shari Lapena
Costco's "Buyer's Pick"
THE BOOK OF LOST NAMES by Kristin Harmel
Barnes & Noble Book Club
THE OTHER BLACK GIRL by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Reese's Book Club
SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE by Tia Williams
Jenna Bush Hager's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club
MALIBU RISING by Taylor Jenkins Reid
"Good Morning America" Book Club
THE OTHER BLACK GIRL by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Simon & Schuster's Book Club Favorites
FLORENCE ADLER SWIMS FOREVER by Rachel Beanland
On Sale the Week of June 7th in Hardcover
June 7th
THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER by Bill Clinton and James Patterson (Political Thriller)
Matthew Keating, a one-time Navy SEAL --- and a past president --- has always defended his family as staunchly as he has his country. Now those defenses are under attack. A madman abducts Keating’s teenage daughter, Melanie --- turning every parent’s deepest fear into a matter of national security. As the world watches in real time, Keating embarks on a one-man special-ops mission that tests his strengths: as a leader, a warrior and a father.
Little, Brown and Company and Knopf | 9780316540711
June 8th
ANIMAL by Lisa Taddeo (Fiction)
Joan has spent a lifetime enduring the cruelties of men. But when one of them commits a shocking act of violence in front of her, she flees New York City in search of Alice, the only person alive who can help her make sense of her past. In the sweltering hills above Los Angeles, Joan unravels the horrific event she witnessed as a child --- that has haunted her every waking moment --- while forging the power to finally strike back.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982122126
THE BRONX ZOOM: Inside the New York Yankees' Most Bizarre Season by Brian Hoch (Sports)
The New York Yankees are unprecedented. With more than twice as many World Series titles as their closest competitor, the most MVPs and the most Hall of Fame inductees, there's never been anything quite like the franchise's storied history. Then the 2020 season took place, and the greatest team in American sports found out what "unprecedented" really means. THE BRONX ZOOM provides an intimate and engaging look behind the scenes of a year unlike any other. Veteran reporter Bryan Hoch guides readers through dizzying twists and turns as the Yankees navigate a season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, historic movements for equality and social justice, and a bitterly contested presidential election.
Triumph Books | 9781629378923
THE BULLET: An Eve Duncan Novel by Iris Johansen (Thriller)
Diane Connors is a dedicated doctor with the world’s biggest secret, a discovery that could have shocking global ramifications. But while conducting private research trials, word has gotten out. The wrong people have heard the news and now want to hide Diane’s achievement for their own ends. With nowhere else to turn, Diane finds herself on the doorstep of the last man she wants to ask for help: her ex-husband, Joe Quinn. Joe has remarried, and he and his wife, Eve Duncan, seem blissfully happy in their quiet, rural life until they are faced with the challenge of risking it all for the greater good. Now Eve is trapped in a web of murder and deceit as powerful enemies rush to cover up the truth.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538713198
THE BURNING BLUE: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger Disaster by Kevin Cook (Biography)
On January 28, 1986, NASA’s space shuttle Challenger exploded after blasting off from Cape Canaveral. Christa McAuliffe, America’s “Teacher in Space,” was instantly killed, along with the other six members of the mission. At least that's what most of us remember. Kevin Cook tells us what really happened on that ill-fated, unforgettable day. He traces the pressures --- leading from NASA to the White House --- that triggered the fatal order to launch on an ice-cold Florida morning. Cook takes readers inside the shuttle for the agonizing minutes after the explosion, which the astronauts did indeed survive. He uncovers the errors and corner-cutting that led an overconfident space agency to launch a crew that had no chance to escape.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250755551
CASTLE SHADE: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R. King (Historical Mystery)
The queen is Marie of Roumania. A famous beauty who was married at 17 into Roumania’s young dynasty, Marie singlehandedly transformed Roumania from a backwater into a force. The castle is Bran: a tall, quirky, ancient structure perched on high rocks overlooking the border between Roumania and its newly regained territory of Transylvania. The threat is…well, that is less clear. Shadowy figures, vague whispers, the fears of girls, dangers that may be only accidents. When Queen Marie calls, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are as dubious as they are reluctant. But surely it won’t take long to shine light on this unlikely case of what would seem to be strigoi. Or, as they are known in the West…vampires.
Bantam | 9780525620860
CHEATED: The Inside Story of the Astros Scandal and a Colorful History of Sign Stealing by Andy Martino (Sports)
By the fall of 2019, most teams around Major League Baseball suspected that the Houston Astros had been stealing signs for several years. The Astros had won the 2017 World Series and made the playoffs the next two seasons. All the while, opponents felt that Houston's hitters knew what pitches were coming. The ensuing scandal rivaled that of the 1919 "Black Sox" and the more recent steroid era, and became one of the most significant that the game had ever seen. In CHEATED, award-winning journalist Andy Martino takes readers behind the scenes and into the heart of the events that shocked the baseball world.
Doubleday | 9780385546799
DEAR SENTHURAN: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi (Memoir)
In three critically acclaimed novels, Akwaeke Emezi has introduced readers to a landscape marked by familial tensions, Igbo belief systems, and a boundless search for what it means to be free. Now, in DEAR SENTHURAN, he reveals the harrowing yet resolute truths of their own life. Through candid, intimate correspondence with friends, lovers and family, Emezi traces the unfolding of a self and the unforgettable journey of a creative spirit stepping into power in the human world. Their story weaves through transformative decisions about their gender and body, their precipitous path to success as a writer, and the turmoil of relationships on an emotional, romantic and spiritual plane.
Riverhead Books | 9780593329191
THE DISAPPEARING ACT by Catherine Steadman (Psychological Thriller)
British star Mia Eliot has landed leading roles in costume dramas in her native country, but now it’s time for Hollywood to take her to the next level. She flies across the Atlantic to join the horde of talent scrambling for their big breaks. One day she meets Emily, another actress from out of town and a kindred spirit. Emily is friendly and genuine and reassuringly doesn’t seem to be taking any of it too seriously. But a simple favor takes a dark twist when Emily disappears and Mia realizes she was the last person to see her. And when a woman knocks on Mia’s door the following day claiming to be Emily and isn’t the woman Mia remembers at all, Mia is deeply troubled. All Mia has to go on is the memory of a girl she met only once...and the suffocating feeling that something terrible has happened.
Ballantine Books | 9780593158036
DUST OFF THE BONES by Paul Howarth (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
In 1890, estranged brothers Tommy and Billy McBride are living far apart in Queensland, each dealing with the trauma that destroyed their family in different ways. Now 21, Billy bottles his guilt and justifies his past crimes while attempting to revive his father’s former cattle run and navigate his feelings for the young widow Katherine Sullivan. When a judicial inquest is ordered into the McBride family murders and the subsequent reprisal slaughter of the Kurrong people, both Billy and Police Inspector Edmund Noone --- the man who led the massacre --- are called to testify. Billy desperately needs to find Tommy, but the ruthless Noone is determined to find the young man as well, and silence both brothers for good.
Harper | 9780063076006
ETHEL ROSENBERG: An American Tragedy by Anne Sebba (Biography)
In June 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a couple with two young sons, were led separately from their prison cells on Death Row and electrocuted moments apart. Both had been convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union, despite the fact that the US government was aware that the evidence against Ethel was shaky at best and based on the perjury of her own brother. This book is the first to focus on one half of that couple for more than 30 years, and much new evidence has surfaced since then.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250198631
EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR MOTHER IS A WITCH by Rivka Galchen (Historical Fiction)
The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katharina Kepler is accused of being a witch. Katharina is an illiterate widow, known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children. So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold accuses Katharina of offering her a bitter, witchy drink that has made her ill, she is in trouble. Facing the threat of financial ruin, torture and even execution, Katharina tells her side of the story to her friend and next-door neighbor Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374280468
THE FUGITIVITIES by Jesse McCarthy (Fiction)
A young Black American raised in France and living in New York City, Jonah Winters tries on a couple of careers only to find that nothing feels right. And as Jonah struggles to envision his future, he feels pressured by his friends and family to put the struggles of his community before his search for self. But then a chance encounter with an ex-NBA player with his own regrets inspires Jonah to take his life into his own hands. Deciding to leave the country entirely, he sets off for Brazil. As he makes and breaks friendships on the way, reflects on his past relationships and learns to rely on himself, Jonah slowly forms an understanding of self, community and freedom that is rarely afforded to young Black men.
Melville House | 9781612198064
HAVEN POINT by Virginia Hume (Fiction)
In 1944, Maren Larsen is determined to do her part to help the war effort. As a cadet nurse at Walter Reed Medical Center, she’s swept off her feet by Dr. Oliver Demarest, whose family spends summers in an insular community on the rocky coast of Maine. In 1970, as the nation grapples with the ongoing conflict in Vietnam, Oliver and Maren are grappling with their fiercely independent 17-year-old daughter, Annie, who has fallen for a young man they don’t approve of. Before the summer is over, a terrible tragedy will strike the Demarests --- and in the aftermath, Annie vows never to return to Haven Point. In 2008, Annie’s daughter, Skye, has arrived in Maine to help scatter her mother’s ashes. Maren knows that Annie never told Skye the whole truth about what happened during that fateful summer.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250266521
THE HIDDEN PALACE: A Novel of the Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (Historical Fantasy)
Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, who can hear the thoughts and longings of those around her and feels compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a restless creature of fire, once free to roam the desert but now imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they’ll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and try to pass as human. THE HIDDEN PALACE follows their lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart --- especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?
Harper | 9780062468710
KIN: A Memoir by Shawna Kay Rodenberg (Memoir)
When Shawna Kay Rodenberg was four, her father spirited her family from their home in the hills of Eastern Kentucky to Minnesota, renouncing all of their earthly possessions to live in the Body, an off-the-grid End Times religious community. Disciplined harshly for her many infractions, Shawna was sexually abused by a predatory adult member of the community. Soon after the leader of the Body died and revelations of the sexual abuse came to light, her family returned to the same Kentucky mountains that their ancestors have called home for 300 years. Shawna ultimately leaves her mountain home but only as she masters a perilous balancing act between who she has been and who she will become.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635574555
LEGENDS OF THE NORTH CASCADES by Jonathan Evison (Fiction)
On the heels of his third tour in Iraq, the fabric of Dave Cartwright’s life has begun to unravel. Gripped by PTSD, he finds himself losing his home, his wife, his direction. When tragedy strikes, Dave makes a dramatic decision: he and his seven-year-old daughter, Bella, will head off the grid to live in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. As they carve out a home in a cave in that harsh, breathtaking landscape, echoes of its past begin to reach them. Bella retreats into herself, absorbed by visions of a mother and son who lived in the cave thousands of years earlier, at the end of the last ice age. Back in town, Dave and Bella themselves are rapidly becoming the stuff of legend --- to all but those who would force them to return home.
Algonquin Books | 9781643750101
MURDER, SHE WROTE: KILLING IN A KOI POND by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran (Mystery)
After traveling to Bethesda for a mystery writers’ conference, Jessica Fletcher decides she’s earned a vacation and takes a train to Columbia, South Carolina, to visit her old college friend Dolores, who has recently married her third husband, Willis Nickens, a wealthy and cutthroat businessman. They’ve moved into an opulent historic home with plenty of space for guests, and Jessica is ready for a week of shopping, gossiping and relaxing at the grand estate. But the morning after she arrives, Jessica discovers Willis face down in the koi pond, and despite what the police think, she’s sure foul play is involved. She hadn’t known Willis long, but it’s clear to her that he didn’t concern himself with making friends. The question isn’t if her friend’s husband was murdered but by whom.
Berkley | 9780593333594
NIGHT CAME WITH MANY STARS by Simon Van Booy (Fiction)
“What you give in this world,” an old man tells his grandson, “will be given back to you.” Those words illuminate the actions within award-winning author Simon Van Booy's novel and its connected characters. A young man survives two nearly fatal accidents. A Black family saves an orphaned white boy. A pregnant teenager is rescued by the side of the road. A teenager with developmental disabilities is given his first job. Each incident grows in meaning and power over many decades as we see connections sometimes felt but not always apparent to the people themselves.
David R. Godine | 9781567927030
ONE TWO THREE by Laurie Frankel (Fiction)
Everyone knows everyone in the tiny town of Bourne, but the Mitchell triplets are especially beloved. For a few weeks 17 years ago, Bourne was national news when its water turned green. The girls have come of age watching their mother’s endless fight for justice. But just when it seems life might go on the same forever, the first moving truck anyone has seen in years pulls up and unloads new residents and old secrets. Soon, the Mitchell sisters are taking on a system stacked against them and uncovering mysteries buried longer than they’ve been alive. Because it's hard to let go of the past when the past won't let go of you.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250236777
A ROGUE'S COMPANY: A Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery by Allison Montclair (Historical Mystery)
In London, 1946, the Right Sort Marriage Bureau is getting on its feet and expanding. Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge are making a go of it. That is until Lord Bainbridge --- the widowed Gwen's father-in-law and legal guardian --- returns from a business trip to Africa and threatens to undo everything important to her, even sending her six-year-old son away to a boarding school. But there's more going on than that. A new client shows up at the agency, one whom Sparks and Bainbridge begin to suspect really has a secret agenda, somehow involving the Bainbridge family. A murder and a subsequent kidnapping sends Sparks to seek help from a dangerous quarter --- and now their very survival is at stake.
Minotaur Books | 9781250750327
SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO by Lionel Shriver (Fiction)
When her father dies, Kay Wilkinson can’t cry. Over 10 years, Alzheimer’s had steadily eroded this erudite man into a paranoid lunatic. Both medical professionals, Kay and her husband, Cyril, have seen too many elderly patients in similar states of decay. Although healthy and vital in their early 50s, the couple fears what may lie ahead. To spare themselves and their loved ones such a humiliating and protracted decline, Cyril proposes that they agree to commit suicide together once they’ve both turned 80. When their deal is sealed, the spouses are blithely looking forward to another three decades together. But then they turn 80. SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO portrays 12 parallel universes, each exploring a possible future for Kay and Cyril.
Harper | 9780063094246
TOM CLANCY TARGET ACQUIRED: A Jack Ryan Jr. Novel by Don Bentley (Thriller/Adventure)
Jack Ryan, Jr. would do anything for Ding Chavez. That's why he is currently sitting in an open-air market in Israel, helping a CIA team with a simple job. The man running the mission, Peter Beltz, is an old friend from Ding's Army days. Ding hadn't seen his friend since Peter's transfer to the CIA 18 months prior, and intended to use the assignment to reconnect. Unfortunately, Ding had to cancel at the last minute and asked Jack to take his place. It's a cushy assignment --- a trip to Israel in exchange for a couple hours of easy work --- but Jack could use the downtime after his last operation. Jack is here merely as an observer, but when he hastens to help a woman and her young son, he finds himself the target of trained killers.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593188132
TWILIGHT IN HAZARD: An Appalachian Reckoning by Alan Maimon (Sociology)
When Alan Maimon got the assignment in 2000 to report on life in rural Eastern Kentucky, his editor at the Louisville Courier-Journal told him to cover the region “like a foreign correspondent would.” Maimon had landed in a place in the vice grip of ecological devastation and a corporate-made opioid epidemic. While reporting on the intense religious allegiances, the bitter, bare-knuckled political rivalries, and the faltering attempts to emerge from a century-long coal-based economy, Maimon learns that everything --- and nothing --- you have heard about the region is true. And far from being a foreign place, it is a region whose generations-long struggles are driven by quintessentially American forces.
Melville House | 9781612198866
THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN by Ava Reid (Historical Fantasy)
In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. The villagers blame her corrupted bloodline --- her father was a Yehuli man, one of the much-loathed servants of the fanatical king. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king’s blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered. But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he’s no ordinary Woodsman --- he’s the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power.
Harper Voyager | 9780062973122
THE WOMAN IN THE PURPLE SKIRT written by Natsuko Imamura, translated by Lucy North (Psychological Thriller)
Almost every afternoon, the Woman in the Purple Skirt sits on the same park bench. Unbeknownst to her, she is being watched --- by the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, who is always perched just out of sight. From a distance, the Woman in the Purple Skirt looks like a schoolgirl, but there are age spots on her face. She is single, lives in a small apartment and is short on money --- just like the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, who lures her to a job as a housekeeper at a hotel, where she too is a housekeeper. Soon, the Woman in the Purple Skirt is having an affair with the boss, and all eyes are on her. But no one knows or cares about the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. That's the difference between her and the Woman in the Purple Skirt.
Penguin Books | 9780143136026
On Sale the Week of June 7th in Paperback
June 8th
AND NOW YOU’RE BACK by Jill Mansell (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Didi Laing met her first love, Shay Mason, on a magical winter visit to Venice. For six months after that, they were rapturously happy together, and Shay came to work at Didi's parents' hotel in the Cotswolds. One event changed everything, shocking the town and leading to Shay's disappearance. In the 13 years after Shay walked out, no one expects ever to hear from him again. Then one day, out of the blue, Shay returns to Elliscombe to fulfill his father's dying wish and unintentionally upends Didi's life. Moving into the best suite in her hotel sparks all kinds of rumors and sets off a chain of events that affects the whole town. The residents of Elliscombe all have their own stories and secrets, more intertwined than anyone could have guessed.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728234571
APARTMENT by Teddy Wayne (Fiction)
In 1996, the unnamed narrator of APARTMENT is attending the MFA writing program at Columbia on his father's dime and living in an illegal sublet of a rent-stabilized apartment. Feeling guilty about his good fortune, he offers his spare bedroom --- rent-free --- to Billy, a talented, charismatic classmate from the Midwest eking out a hand-to-mouth existence in Manhattan. The narrator's rapport with Billy develops into the friendship he's never had due to a lifetime of holding people at arm's length, hovering at the periphery, feeling “fundamentally defective.” But their living arrangement, not to mention their radically different upbringings, breeds tensions neither man could predict.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635577853
THE BODY DOUBLE by Emily Beyda (Psychological Thriller)
A strange man offers our nameless narrator an odd and lucrative position: she will forget her job, her acquaintances, even her name, and move to Los Angeles, where she will become the body double of the famous and troubled celebrity Rosanna Feld. A nervous breakdown has forced Rosanna out of the public eye, and she needs a look-alike to take her place in the tabloid media circus of Hollywood. Overseen by Max, who hired her for the job, our narrator spends her days locked up in a small apartment and learning to become Rosanna in every way. But as she makes her public debut as Rosanna, alarming questions begin to arise. What really caused Rosanna's mental collapse? Will she ever return? And is Max truly her ally, or something more sinister?
Anchor | 9781984897435
THE BUTTERFLY LAMPSHADE by Aimee Bender (Fiction)
On the night her single mother is taken to a mental hospital after a psychotic episode, eight-year-old Francie is staying with her babysitter. There is a lovely lamp next to the couch on which she's sleeping, the shade adorned with butterflies. When she wakes, Francie spies a dead butterfly, exactly matching the ones on the lamp, floating in a glass of water. She drinks it before the babysitter can see. Twenty years later, Francie is compelled to make sense of that moment, and two other incidents --- her discovery of a desiccated beetle from a school paper, and a bouquet of dried roses from some curtains. As Francie conjures her past and reduces her engagement with the world to a bare minimum, she begins to question her relationship to reality.
Anchor | 9780307744180
CHASING SHADOWS by Lynn Austin (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Lena is a wife and mother whose faith has always been her compass. But can she remain steadfast when the questions grow increasingly complex and the answers could mean the difference between life and death? Lena’s daughter, Ans, has recently moved to the bustling city of Leiden, filled with romantic notions of a new job and a young Dutch police officer. But when she is drawn into Resistance work, her idealism collides with the dangerous reality that comes with fighting the enemy. Miriam is a young Jewish violinist who immigrated for the safety she thought Holland would offer. But as her family settles in Leiden, the events that follow will test them in ways she never could have imagined. The Nazi invasion propels these women onto paths that cross in unexpected, sometimes heartbreaking ways.
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. | 9781496437358
CULT OF GLORY: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers by Doug J. Swanson (History)
The Texas Rangers came to life in 1823, when Texas was still part of Mexico. Nearly 200 years later, the Rangers are still going --- one of the most famous of all law enforcement agencies. In CULT OF GLORY, Doug J. Swanson has written a sweeping account of the Rangers that chronicles their epic, daring escapades while showing how the white and propertied power structures of Texas used them as enforcers, protectors and officially sanctioned killers.
Penguin Books | 9781101979877
DARK TIDES by Philippa Gregory (Historical Fiction)
Midsummer Eve 1670. Two unexpected visitors arrive at a shabby warehouse on the south side of the River Thames. The first is a wealthy man hoping to find the lover he deserted 21 years before. James Avery has everything to offer, including the favour of the newly restored King Charles II, and he believes that the warehouse's poor owner Alinor has the one thing his money cannot buy --- his son and heir. The second visitor is a beautiful widow from Venice in deepest mourning. She claims Alinor as her mother-in-law and has come to tell Alinor that her son, Rob, has drowned in the dark tides of the Venice lagoon. Alinor is convinced --- without doubt --- that her son is alive and the widow is an imposter.
Washington Square Press | 9781501187193
DARLING AT THE CAMPSITE by Andy Abramowitz (Fiction/Humor)
Paperback Original
Rowan Darling, an adrift 33-year-old, owns a record store on a run-down block in Philadelphia. Then news of his estranged brother’s death forces a return to Maybee, Illinois, the hometown Rowan left in the dust years ago. Rowan’s plan is to dart in for the funeral, support his mother and then disappear just as quickly. Unfortunately, as Rowan’s flash visit spirals beyond his control, he must face everything he has dodged for too long. The woman he can’t have. The memory of the brother he thought he knew. His own dwindling prospects back in Philadelphia. But Rowan also starts to see things more clearly --- what’s worth fighting for, what he can let go of, and how long he can keep running.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781542020145
DAYLIGHT: An Atlee Pine Thriller by David Baldacci (Thriller)
For many long years, Atlee Pine was tormented by uncertainty after her twin sister, Mercy, was abducted at the age of six and never seen again. Now, just as Atlee is pressured to end her investigation into Mercy's disappearance, she finally gets her most promising breakthrough yet: the identity of her sister's kidnapper, Ito Vincenzo. With time running out, Atlee and her assistant, Carol Blum, race to Vincenzo's last known location --- and unknowingly stumble straight into John Puller's case, blowing his arrest during a drug ring investigation involving a military installation. Stunningly, Pine and Puller's joint investigation uncovers a connection between Vincenzo's family and a breathtaking scheme that strikes at the very heart of global democracy.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538761656
FAIREST: A Memoir by Meredith Talusan (Memoir)
FAIREST is a memoir about a precocious boy with albinism, a "sun child" from a rural Philippine village, who would grow up to become a woman in America. Coping with the strain of parental neglect and the elusive promise of U.S. citizenship, Meredith Talusan found childhood comfort from her devoted grandmother. As an immigrant to the United States, Talusan came to be perceived as white. An academic scholarship to Harvard provided access to elite circles of privilege but required Talusan to navigate through the complex spheres of race, class, sexuality and her place within the gay community. She emerged as an artist and an activist questioning the boundaries of gender. Talusan realized she did not want to be confined to a prescribed role as a man, and transitioned to become a woman, despite the risk of losing a man she deeply loved.
Penguin Books | 9780525561323
FIFTY WORDS FOR RAIN by Asha Lemmie (Historical Fiction)
Kyoto, Japan, 1948. “Do not question. Do not fight. Do not resist.” Such is eight-year-old Noriko “Nori” Kamiza’s first lesson. She will not question why her mother abandoned her with only these final words. She will not fight her confinement to the attic of her grandparents’ imperial estate. And she will not resist the scalding chemical baths she receives daily to lighten her skin. Obedient to a fault, Nori accepts her solitary life, despite her natural intellect and curiosity. But when chance brings her older half-brother, Akira, to the estate that is his inheritance and destiny, Nori finds in him an unlikely ally with whom she forms a powerful bond --- a bond their formidable grandparents cannot allow and that will irrevocably change the lives they were always meant to lead.
Dutton | 9781524746384
FILTHY BEASTS: A Memoir by Kirkland Hamill (Memoir)
Following a rancorous split from New York’s upper-class society, newly divorced Wendy Hamill and her three sons are exiled from the East Coast elite circle. Wendy’s middle son, Kirk, is eight when she moves the family to her native Bermuda, leaving the three young boys to fend for themselves as she chases after the highs of her old life: alcohol, a wealthy new suitor and other indulgences. After eventually leaving his mother’s dysfunctional orbit for college in New Orleans, Kirk begins to realize how different his family and upbringing is from that of his friends and peers. Split between extreme privilege and bare survival, Kirk is used to keeping up appearances and burying his inconvenient truths from the world, until he’s 18 and falls in love for the first time.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982122775
THE FORGOTTEN KINGDOM by Signe Pike (Historical Fiction)
AD 573. Imprisoned in her chamber, Languoreth awaits news in torment. Her husband and son have ridden off to wage war against her brother, Lailoken. She doesn’t yet know that her young daughter, Angharad, who was training with Lailoken to become a Wisdom Keeper, has been lost in the chaos. As one of the bloodiest battles of early medieval Scottish history scatters its survivors to the wind, Lailoken and his men must flee to exile in the mountains of the Lowlands, while nine-year-old Angharad must summon all that Lailoken has taught her and follow her own destiny through the mysterious, mystical land of the Picts. In the aftermath of the battle, old political alliances unravel, opening the way for the ambitious adherents of the new religion: Christianity.
Atria Books | 9781501191466
THE HIVE by Gregg Olsen (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Detective Lindsay Jackman is investigating the murder of a young journalist and soon learns that the victim was writing an exposé. Her subject: a charismatic wellness guru. When Marnie Spellman was a child, a swarm of bees lifted her off the ground and toward the sunlight, illuming her spiritual connection with nature --- an uncanny event on which Marnie built a cosmetics empire and became the queen of holistic health and eternal beauty. In her inner circle is an intimate band of devotees called the Hive. Determined to uncover the possibly deadly mysteries of the group, Lindsay focuses her investigation on Marnie and the former members of the Hive, who are just as determined to keep Lindsay from their secrets as they are to maintain their status.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781542016469
THE LIVES OF EDIE PRITCHARD by Larry Watson (Fiction)
Smart, self-assured and beautiful, Edie always worked hard. She worked as a teller at a bank, she worked to save her first marriage, and later, she worked to raise her daughter even as her second marriage came apart. Edie just wanted a good life, but everywhere she turned, her looks defined her. Two brothers fought over her. Her second husband became unreasonably possessive and jealous. Her daughter resented her. And now, as a grandmother, Edie finds herself harassed by a younger man. It’s been a lifetime of proving that she is allowed to exist in her own sphere. THE LIVES OF EDIE PRITCHARD tells the story of one woman just trying to be herself, even as multiple men attempt to categorize and own her.
Algonquin Books | 9781643751429
LOVE AND THEFT by Stan Parish (Thriller)
When Alex Cassidy and Diane Alison meet at a party in Princeton, New Jersey, the chemistry between them is instant and undeniable. She's a single mother, local fixture and owner of a successful catering company. He's a single father and weekend homeowner --- and leader of an armed-robbery crew that just pulled off a record-breaking, precision jewel heist in Las Vegas. Neither one realizes that their lives have overlapped before, and that the shared history they uncover will threaten everyone they love. Swept up in their burgeoning relationship, Diane joins Alex at his beach house in Tulum, where Alex decides to leave his life of crime behind. It begins as a postcard-perfect weekend until an entanglement with a powerful cartel forces Alex to mastermind one final and unthinkably dangerous job.
Anchor | 9781984897466
LUSTER by Raven Leilani (Fiction)
Edie is stumbling her way through her 20s --- sharing a subpar apartment in Bushwick, clocking in and out of her admin job, making a series of inappropriate sexual choices. She is also haltingly, fitfully giving heat and air to the art that simmers inside her. And then she meets Eric, a digital archivist with a family in New Jersey, including an autopsist wife who has agreed to an open marriage --- with rules. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscapes of contemporary sexual manners and racial politics weren’t hard enough, Edie finds herself unemployed and invited into Eric’s home --- though not by Eric. She becomes a hesitant ally to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter. Edie may be the only Black woman young Akila knows.
Picador | 9781250798671
NIGHT. SLEEP. DEATH. THE STARS. by Joyce Carol Oates (Fiction)
NIGHT. SLEEP. DEATH. THE STARS. is a gripping examination of contemporary America through the prism of a family tragedy. When a powerful parent dies, each of his adult children reacts in startling and unexpected ways, and his grieving widow in the most surprising way of all. Stark and penetrating, Joyce Carol Oates’ latest novel is a vivid exploration of race, psychological trauma, class warfare, grief and eventual healing, as well as an intimate family novel in the tradition of the author’s bestselling WE WERE THE MULVANEYS.
Ecco | 9780062797599
PACK UP THE MOON by Kristan Higgins (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Joshua and Lauren are the perfect couple. Newly married, they're wildly in love, each on a successful and rewarding career path. Then Lauren is diagnosed with a terminal illness. As Lauren's disease progresses, Joshua struggles to make the most of the time he has left with his wife and to come to terms with his future --- a future without the only woman he's ever loved. He's so consumed with finding a way to avoid the inevitable ending that he never imagines his life after Lauren. But Lauren has a plan to keep her husband moving forward. A plan hidden in the letters she leaves him. In those letters, one for every month in the year after her death, Lauren leads Joshua on a journey through pain, anger and denial.
Berkley | 9780451489487
A ROYAL AFFAIR: A Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery by Allison Montclair (Historical Mystery)
In 1946 London, Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge are the proprietors of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. One day, Lady Matheson, a cousin of Gwen’s who works for the Queen in "some capacity," arrives in need of some discreet investigation. It seems that Princess Elizabeth has developed feelings for a dashing Greek prince, and a blackmail note has arrived, alluding to some potentially damaging information about said prince. Wanting to keep this out of the palace gossip circles, but also needing to find out what skeletons might lurk in the prince's closet, the palace has quietly turned to Gwen and Iris. Without causing a stir, the two of them must uncover any secrets in the prince's past before his engagement to the future Queen of England is announced.
Minotaur Books | 9781250797094
THE SECOND HOME by Christina Clancy (Fiction)
After a disastrous summer spent at her family summer home on Cape Cod, 17-year-old Ann Gordon was left with a secret that changed her life forever, and created a rift between her sister, Poppy, and their adopted brother, Michael. Now, 15 years later, her parents have died, leaving Ann and Poppy to decide the fate of the Wellfleet home that's been in the Gordon family for generations. For Ann, the once-beloved house is tainted with bad memories. Poppy loves the old saltbox, but after years spent chasing waves around the world, she isn't sure she knows how to stay in one place. Just when the sisters decide to sell, Michael re-enters their lives with a legitimate claim to the house. But more than that, he wants to set the record straight about that long-ago summer.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250239624
THE SIGHT OF YOU by Holly Miller (Romance)
Since he was a child, Joel has been haunted by dreams about the people he loves. Visions of what's going to happen --- the good and the bad. And the only way to prevent them is to never let anyone close to him again. Since her best friend died, Callie has been lost. She knows she needs to be more spontaneous and live a bigger life. She just doesn't know how to find a way back to the person who used to have those dreams. Joel and Callie both need a reason to start living for today. And though they're not looking for each other, from the moment they meet it feels like the start of something life-changing. Until Joel has a vision of how it's going to end.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593085592
THIN GIRLS by Diana Clarke (Fiction)
Rose and Lily Winters are twins. Like most young women, they’ve struggled with their bodies and food since childhood, and high school finds them turning to food --- or not --- to battle the waves of insecurity and the yearning for popularity. Within a few years, Rose is about to mark her one-year anniversary in a rehabilitation facility for anorexics. Lily is also struggling. A kindergarten teacher, she dates abusive men, including a student’s married father, in search of the close yet complicated companionship she lost when she became separated from Rose. When Lily joins a cult diet group led by a social media faux feminist, whose eating plan consists of consuming questionable non-caloric foods, Rose senses that Lily needs her help.
Harper Perennial | 9780062986696
TURBULENCE by David Szalay (Fiction)
A woman strikes up a conversation with the man sitting next to her on a plane after some turbulence. He returns home to tragic news that also has impacted another stranger, a shaken pilot on his way to another continent who seeks comfort from a journalist he meets that night. Her life shifts subtly as well, before she heads to the airport on an assignment that will shift more lives in turn. In TURBULENCE, David Szalay’s diverse protagonists circumnavigate the planet in 12 flights en route to see lovers or estranged siblings, aging parents, baby grandchildren or nobody at all. Along the way, they change each other in one brief, electrifying interaction after the next.
Scribner | 9781982122744
THE VANISHING SKY by L. Annette Binder (Historical Fiction)
In 1945, as the war in Germany nears its violent end, the Huber family is not yet free of its dangers or its insidious demands. Etta, a mother from a small, rural town, has two sons serving their home country: her elder, Max, on the Eastern front, and her younger, Georg, at a school for Hitler Youth. When Max returns from the front, Etta quickly realizes that something is not right --- he is thin, almost ghostly and behaving very strangely. She strives to protect him from the Nazi rule, even as her husband, Josef, becomes more nationalistic and impervious to Max's condition. Meanwhile, miles away, Georg has taken his fate into his own hands, deserting his young class of battle-bound soldiers to set off on a long and perilous journey home.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635577044
YOU EXIST TOO MUCH by Zaina Arafat (Fiction)
On a hot day in Bethlehem, a 12-year-old Palestinian-American girl is yelled at by a group of men outside the Church of the Nativity. She has exposed her legs in a biblical city, an act they deem forbidden, and their judgment will echo on through her adolescence. When our narrator finally admits to her mother that she is queer, her mother’s response only intensifies a sense of shame: “You exist too much,” she tells her daughter. Told in vignettes that flash between the U.S. and the Middle East --- from New York to Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine --- Zaina Arafat’s debut novel traces her protagonist’s progress from blushing teen to sought-after DJ and aspiring writer.
Catapult Books | 9781646220595
On Sale the Week of June 14th in Hardcover
June 15th
ALL TOGETHER NOW by Matthew Norman (Fiction)
At just 35, reclusive billionaire Robbie Malcolm is a renowned financial prognosticator, a celebrated philanthropist and a mathematical genius. Also, he’s dying, which is a fact he’s carefully concealing from the world. As he takes stock, Robbie realizes that his wealth means nothing if he can’t help the people who matter most. So he invites his oldest friends --- Blair, Cat and Wade --- to their beloved Fenwick Island on the coast of Delaware to share his secret and to reveal plans for each of them that he believes will change their lives forever. However, Robbie isn’t the only one with secrets. His plans may look good on paper, but are they any match for the utter disaster that is real life?
Ballantine Books | 9781984821096
BATH HAUS by P. J. Vernon (Psychological Thriller)
Oliver Park, a recovering addict from Indiana, finally has everything he ever wanted: sobriety and a loving, wealthy partner in Nathan, a prominent DC trauma surgeon. Despite their difference in age and disparate backgrounds, they've made a perfect life together. With everything to lose, Oliver shouldn't be visiting Haus, a gay bathhouse. But through the entrance he goes, and it's a line crossed. Inside, he follows a man into a private room, and it's the final line. Everything goes wrong, terribly wrong, and Oliver barely escapes with his life. He races home in full-blown terror as the hand-shaped bruise grows dark on his neck. The truth will destroy Nathan and everything they have together, so Oliver does the thing he used to do so well: he lies.
Doubleday | 9780385546737
BATTLE FOR THE BIG TOP: P.T. Barnum, James Bailey, John Ringling and the Death-Defying Saga of the American Circus by Les Standiford (History)
Millions have sat under the “big top,” watching as trapeze artists glide and clowns entertain, but few know the captivating stories behind the men whose creativity, ingenuity and determination created one of our country’s most beloved pastimes. In BATTLE FOR THE BIG TOP, New York Times bestselling author Les Standiford brings to life a remarkable era when three circus kings --- James Bailey, P.T. Barnum and John Ringling --- all vied for control of the vastly profitable and influential American Circus. Ultimately, the rivalry of these three men resulted in the creation of an institution that would surpass all intentions and, for 147 years, hold a nation spellbound.
PublicAffairs | 9781541762282
THE CAPE DOCTOR by E. J. Levy (Historical Fiction)
Beginning in Cork, Ireland, THE CAPE DOCTOR recounts Jonathan Mirandus Perry’s journey from daughter to son in order to enter medical school and provide for family, but Perry soon embraced the new-found freedom of living life as a man. From brilliant medical student in Edinburgh and London to eligible bachelor and quick-tempered physician in Cape Town, Dr. Perry thrived. When he befriended the aristocratic Cape Governor, the doctor rose to the pinnacle of society, before the two were publicly accused of a homosexual affair that scandalized the colonies and nearly cost them their lives.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316536585
CENTERSTAGE: My Most Fascinating Interviews — from A-Rod to Jay-Z by Michael Kay (Sports/Entertainment)
Emmy Award–winning television announcer and interviewer Michael Kay’s 18 years as host of “CenterStage” have given him access to many remarkable figures in sports and entertainment. Now, this selection of the best, most revealing --- and often surprising --- interviews are available in one collection, including some behind-the-scenes stories that didn’t appear on camera. Among the interviews featured in the book are those with Red Auerbach, Charles Barkley, Mike Tyson, Bobby Orr, Sly Stallone, Jay-Z, Lorne Michaels, Paul Simon, John McEnroe, Rob Reiner, Seth Meyers, Serena Williams, Alan Alda, David Halberstam, Larry David, Bob Costas, Billy Crystal, Lindsey Vonn, Chris Evert and Quentin Tarantino.
Scribner | 9781982152031
THE DAMAGE by Caitlin Wahrer (Psychological Thriller)
Tony has always looked out for his younger brother, Nick. So when he's called to a hospital bed where Nick is lying battered and bruised after a violent sexual assault, a white-hot rage begins to build. As a small-town New England lawyer, Tony's wife, Julia, has cases involving kids all the time. When Detective Rice gets assigned to this one, Julia feels they're in good hands. Especially because she senses that Rice, too, understands how things can quickly get complicated. After all, one moment Nick was having a drink with a handsome stranger; the next, he was at the center of an investigation threatening to tear not only him, but his entire family, apart. And now his attacker, out on bail, is disputing Nick's version of what happened.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780593296134
A GOOD KILL by John McMahon (Mystery/Thriller)
In the years since the mysterious deaths of his wife and child, police detective P.T. Marsh has faced demons --- both professional and personal. But when he is called to the scene of a school shooting, the professional and personal become intertwined, and he suspects that whoever is behind the crime may be connected to his own family tragedy. As Marsh and his partner Remy investigate the shooting, they discover that it is far from straightforward, and their search for answers leads them to a conspiracy at the highest levels of local government --- including within the police force. The stakes in the case become increasingly high, culminating in a showdown that has Marsh questioning everything he knows.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593328361
THE GREAT MISTAKE by Jonathan Lee (Historical Fiction)
Andrew Haswell Green is dead, shot at the venerable age of 83, when he thought life could hold no more surprises. The killing --- on Park Avenue in broad daylight, on Friday the 13th --- shook the city. Born to a struggling farmer, Green was a self-made man without whom there would be no Central Park, no Metropolitan Museum of Art, no Museum of Natural History, no New York Public Library. But Green had a secret, a life locked within him that now, in the hour of his death, may finally break free.
Knopf | 9780525658498
HAIRPIN BRIDGE by Taylor Adams (Psychological Thriller)
Three months ago, Lena Nguyen’s estranged twin sister, Cambry, drove to a remote bridge and jumped 200 feet to her death. That is the official police version, but Lena isn’t buying it. Now she’s come to that very bridge, driving her dead twin’s car and armed with a cassette recorder, determined to find out what really happened by interviewing the highway patrolman who allegedly discovered her sister’s body. But Corporal Raymond Raycevic’s story seems a bit off. Perhaps most troubling of all, he is referred to by name in Cambry’s final enigmatic text to her sister: Please Forgive Me. As her twin’s final hours come into focus, Lena’s search turns into a harrowing tooth-and-nail fight for her own survival --- one that will test everything she thought she knew about her sister and herself.
William Morrow | 9780063065444
HARD LIKE WATER written by Yan Lianke, translated by Carlos Rojas (Fiction)
After a service in the Army, Gao Aijun is on his way back to his ancestral village. Close to his arrival, he sees a strikingly attractive woman walking barefoot alongside a railway track, and he is instantly smitten. She is Xia Hongmei and lives up to her name of “beautiful flower.” Hiding their relationship from their spouses, the pair hurl themselves into the struggle to bring revolution to their backwater village. Emboldened by encouragement from the Party, the couple dig a literal “tunnel of love” between their homes, where their revolutionary and sexual fervor reaches a boiling point. But when their torrid relationship is finally discovered, and they have to answer to Hongmei’s husband, their dreams of a bright future together begin to fray.
Grove Press | 9780802158123
THE KILLING HILLS by Chris Offutt (Literary Thriller)
Mick Hardin, a combat veteran now working as an Army CID agent, is home on a leave that is almost done. His wife is about to give birth, but they aren’t getting along. His sister, newly risen to sheriff, has just landed her first murder case, and local politicians are pushing for city police or the FBI to take the case. Are they convinced she can’t handle it, or is there something else at work? She calls on Mick who, with his homicide investigation experience and familiarity with the terrain, is well-suited to staying under the radar. As he delves into the investigation, he dodges his commanding officer’s increasingly urgent calls while attempting to head off further murders. And he needs to talk to his wife.
Grove Press | 9780802158413
THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides (Psychological Thriller)
A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Edward Fosca is adored by staff and students alike --- particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens. Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge. She becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships.
Celadon Books | 9781250304452
MISEDUCATED: A Memoir by Brandon P. Fleming (Memoir)
Brandon P. Fleming grew up in an abusive home and was shuffled through school, his passing grades a nod to his skill on the basketball court, not his presence in the classroom. He turned to the streets and drug deals by 14, saved only by the dream of basketball stardom. When he suffered a career-ending injury during his first semester at a Division I school, he dropped out of college, toiling on an assembly line, until depression drove him to the edge. Miraculously, his life was spared. Returning to college, Fleming was determined to reinvent himself as a scholar --- to replace illiteracy with mastery over language, to go from being ignored and unseen to commanding attention.
Hachette Books | 9780306925139
MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS by Joshua Henkin (Fiction)
Ohio-born Pru Steiner arrives in New York in 1976. When she falls in love with and marries Spence Robin, her hotshot young Shakespeare professor, her life takes a turn she couldn’t have anticipated. Thirty years later, something is wrong with Spence. With their daughter, Sarah, away at medical school, Pru must struggle on her own to care for him. One day, feeling especially isolated, Pru meets a man, and the possibility of new romance blooms. Meanwhile, Spence’s estranged son from his first marriage has come back into their lives. Arlo, a wealthy entrepreneur who invests in biotech, may be his father’s last, best hope.
Pantheon | 9781524748357
A PAST THAT BREATHES by Noel A. Obiora (Legal Thriller)
In January 1995, a promising young musician was found murdered in her apartment in West Los Angeles. There were no eyewitnesses to the crime, but someone saw her arguing with her ex-boyfriend, an African American man, the day before she was found dead. With the city in the throes of the O.J. Simpson trial at the time, the LAPD was not about to let another African American skip town after killing a white woman. They arrested the ex-boyfriend on circumstantial evidence but ignored other evidence found at the scene of the crime that did not support their case. This collection of evidence, and the LAPD's questionable tactics, did not sit well with the younger of two deputy district attorneys assigned to the case.
Rare Bird Books | 9781644281703
THE ROYAL SECRET by Andrew Taylor (Historical Thriller)
Two young girls plot a murder by witchcraft. Soon afterwards a government clerk dies painfully under mysterious circumstances. His colleague, James Marwood, is asked to investigate, but the task brings unexpected dangers. Meanwhile, architect Cat Hakesby is working for a merchant who lives on Slaughter Street, where the air smells of blood and a captive Barbary lion prowls the stables. Then a prestigious new commission arrives. Cat must design a Poultry House for the woman that the King loves most in all the world. Unbeknownst to all, at the heart of this lies a royal secret so explosive that it could not only rip apart England but change the entire face of Europe.
HarperCollins | 9780008325565
THE SWEETNESS OF WATER by Nathan Harris (Historical Fiction)
In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry --- freed by the Emancipation Proclamation --- seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm. Meanwhile, Prentiss and Landry plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys. Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. When their secret is discovered, the resulting chaos, including a murder, unleashes convulsive repercussions on the entire community.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316461276
WIDESPREAD PANIC by James Ellroy (Historical Mystery)
Freddy Otash was the man in the know and the man to know in ‘50s L.A. He was a rogue cop, a sleazoid private eye, a shakedown artist, a pimp --- and, most notably, the head strong-arm goon for Confidential magazine. Confidential presaged the idiot internet --- and delivered the dirt, the dish, the insidious ink and the scurrilous skank. It mauled misanthropic movie stars, sex-soiled socialites and putzo politicians. Mattress Jack Kennedy, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson --- Frantic Freddy outed them all. He was the Tattle Tyrant who held Hollywood hostage, and now he’s here to CONFESS.
Knopf | 9780593319345
THE WORLD GIVES WAY by Marissa Levien (Dystopian Fiction)
In 50 years, Myrra will be free. Until then, she's a contract worker. Ever since she was five, her life and labor have belonged to the highest bidder on her contract --- butchers, laundries and now the powerful, secretive Carlyles. But when one night finds the Carlyles dead, Myrra is suddenly free a lot sooner than she anticipated --- and at a cost she never could have imagined. Burdened with the Carlyles' orphaned daughter and the terrible secret they died to escape, she runs. With time running out, Myrra must come face to face with the truth about her world --- and embrace what's left before it's too late.
Redhook | 9780316592413
On Sale the Week of June 14th in Paperback
June 15th
BEAR NECESSITY by James Gould-Bourn (Fiction)
Danny has become a single father to 11-year-old Will --- who hasn’t spoken since the death of his mother in a car crash a year earlier --- and has just been fired from his construction job. To make matters worse, he’s behind on the rent and his nasty landlord is threatening to break his legs if he doesn’t pay soon. After observing local street performers in a nearby park, Danny spends his last few dollars on a tattered panda costume, impulsively deciding to become a dancing bear. While performing one day, Danny spots his son in the park and chases off the older boys who are taunting him. Will opens up for the first time since his mother’s death, unaware that the man in the panda costume is his father.
Scribner | 9781982128302
BRIGHT PRECIOUS THING: Reflections on a Life Shaped by Feminism by Gail Caldwell (Memoir)
Gail Caldwell traces a path from her west Texas girlhood through her emergence as a young daredevil, then as a feminist --- a journey that reflected seismic shifts in the culture itself. Caldwell’s travels took her to California and Mexico and dark country roads, and the dangers she encountered were rivaled only by the personal demons she faced. BRIGHT PRECIOUS THING is the captivating story of a woman’s odyssey, her search for adventure giving way to something more profound: the evolution of a writer and a woman, a struggle to embrace one’s life as a precious thing.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780525510079
THE BRITTANYS by Brittany Ackerman (Fiction)
Paperback Original
They're not the most popular freshmen at their Florida prep school, but at least everyone knows their name(s). The Brittanys. Brittany Rosenberg drives her golf cart around her subdivision to meet boys. Brittany Gottlieb insists you can't lose your virginity if you haven't gotten your period. (She heard it somewhere!). Brittany Tomassi is from New York. Brittany Jensen once threw her tampon into a stranger's swimming pool. She is the greatest person in the whole wide world --- at least as far as the fifth Brittany, our narrator, is concerned. Even within their friend group, she and Jensen are a duo. But Jensen's interests may be diverging from her friends'. And within our narrator's own family, life-changing events may be taking shape --- events that only years later, she has the perspective to see.
Vintage | 9780593311738
BROKEN GENIUS by Drew Murray (Technothriller)
In 2011, Will Parker, the young prodigy CEO of a big tech company, makes a coding mistake that costs a college student her life. To assuage his guilt, he pursues a career in the FBI Cyber Division. Now, Special Agent Will Parker is called to investigate a murder scene at a Comic Con event, where the victim has ties to a radioactive quantum computer that Will was working on before he left his gig as CEO. He discovers the victim was holding an auction for the computer on the Dark Web --- and the bidding is still live. With bidders including a legendary Chinese hacker, Russian criminals sent by the Kremlin, and a corporate executive desperate to escape a scandal, Will once again finds a life in his hands when the victim’s daughter is taken hostage.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608094394
THE BUDDHIST ON DEATH ROW: How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place by David Sheff (Biography)
While in San Quentin, serving a sentence for armed robbery, Jarvis Jay Masters was set up for the murder of a guard --- a conviction that landed him on death row, where he’s been since 1990. At the time of his murder trial, he was held in solitary confinement, torn by rage and anxiety, felled by headaches, seizures and panic attacks. A criminal investigator repeatedly offered to teach him breathing exercises, which he initially refused --- but then desperation caused him to change his mind. David Sheff describes Masters’ gradual but profound transformation from a man dedicated to hurting others to one who has prevented violence on the prison yard, counseled high school kids by mail, and helped prisoners --- and even guards --- find meaning in their lives.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982128487
THE DILEMMA by B. A. Paris (Psychological Thriller)
It’s Livia’s 40th birthday, and her husband Adam is throwing her the party of a lifetime to make up for the wedding they never had. Everyone she loves will be there, except her daughter Marnie, who’s studying abroad. But Livia is secretly glad Marnie won’t be there. Livia has recently uncovered a secret about their daughter that, if revealed, will shake the foundation of their family to its core. She needs to tell Adam, but she’s waiting until the party is over so they can have this last happy time together. Adam, meanwhile, has his own surprise for Livia: he’s arranged for Marnie to secretly fly back for the party. But before Marnie arrives, Adam hears some terrible news. Now he too is faced with a dilemma: Does he share what he's learned with his wife? Is hiding the truth the same as telling a lie?
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250151377
THE DRAGONS, THE GIANT, THE WOMEN: A Memoir by Wayétu Moore (Memoir)
When Wayétu Moore turns five years old, her father and grandmother throw her a big birthday party at their home in Monrovia, Liberia, while her mother works and studies in faraway New York. Before she gets the reunion her father promised her, war breaks out in Liberia. The family is forced to flee their home on foot, walking and hiding for three weeks until they arrive in the village of Lai. Finally, a rebel soldier smuggles them across the border to Sierra Leone, reuniting the family and setting them off on yet another journey, this time to the United States. THE DRAGONS, THE GIANT, THE WOMEN recounts this harrowing journey in Moore’s early childhood, her years adjusting to life in Texas as a Black woman and an immigrant, and her eventual return to Liberia.
Graywolf Press | 9781644450567
AN ELEGANT WOMAN by Martha McPhee (Historical Fiction)
As Isadora, a novelist, and two of her sisters sift through the artifacts of their forebears’ lives, trying to decide what to salvage and what to toss, the story shifts to a winter day in 1910 at a train station in Ohio. Two girls wait in the winter cold with their mother --- the mercurial Glenna Stewart --- to depart for a new life in the West. As Glenna campaigns in Montana for women’s suffrage and teaches in one-room schoolhouses, Tommy takes care of her little sister, Katherine: trapping animals, begging, keeping house and cooking, while Katherine goes to school. When Katherine graduates, Tommy makes a decision that will change the course of both of their lives.
Scribner | 9781501179587
THE GEOMETRY OF HOLDING HANDS: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel by Alexander McCall Smith (Mystery)
Just when Isabel and Jamie finally seem to have some time to connect and unwind, a wealthy Edinburgh resident comes to Isabel with an unusual request --- he would like her to become the executor of his large Highland estate. He has only a short time to live and, without any direct heirs, is struggling to determine which of his three cousins would be the best caretaker. Should the estate go to the bohemian artist, the savvy city property developer, or the quiet, unassuming bachelor? All the while, Isabel is also busy helping her niece, Cat, who, though perennially unlucky in love, appears to have finally found her match in the leonine Leo. But Isabel is beginning to suspect that Leo might be interested in more than Cat’s charms --- namely, her access to the family trust.
Anchor | 9780593081235
THE GIRL FROM WIDOW HILLS by Megan Miranda (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book, and fame followed. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye. Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, she goes by Olivia. But with the 20th anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking outside her home. Until late one night she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows --- from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501165436
A GIRL IS A BODY OF WATER by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (Fiction)
In her 13th year, Kirabo confronts a piercing question: Who is my mother? Kirabo has been raised by women in the small Ugandan village of Nattetta --- her grandmother, her best friend and her many aunts --- but the absence of her mother follows her like a shadow. Seeking answers from Nsuuta, the local witch, Kirabo learns about the woman who birthed her, who she discovers is alive but not ready to meet. Nsuuta also helps Kirabo understand the emergence of a mysterious second self, a headstrong and confusing force inside her --- this, says Nsuuta, is a streak of the “first woman”: an independent, original state that has been all but lost to women.
Tin House Books | 9781951142551
THE LOST DIARY OF VENICE by Margaux DeRoux (Romance)
In the wake of her father’s death, Rose Newlin finds solace in her work as a book restorer. Then, one rainy Connecticut afternoon, a struggling painter appears at her door. William Lomazzo brings with him a 16th-century treatise on art, which Rose quickly identifies as a palimpsest: a document written over a hidden diary that had purposely been scraped away. Yet the restoration sparks an unforeseen challenge when William --- a married man --- and Rose experience an instant, unspoken attraction. Soon they are forced to confront the reality of their own mystifying connection.
Ballantine Books | 9781984819505
MAKE RUSSIA GREAT AGAIN by Christopher Buckley (Fiction/Satire)
Herb Nutterman never intended to become Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff. Herb served the Trump Organization for 27 years, holding jobs in everything from a food and beverage manager at the Trump Magnifica to being the first general manager of the Trump Bloody Run Golf Course. And when his old boss asks “his favorite Jew” to take on the daunting role of chief of staff, Herb, spurred on by loyalty, agrees. But being the chief of staff is a lot different from being a former hospitality expert. Soon, Herb finds himself deeply involved in Russian intrigue, deflecting rumors about Mike Pence’s high school involvement in a Satanic cult, and leading President Trump’s reelection campaign.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982157470
MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Gothic Horror/Fantasy)
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She is not sure what she will find --- her cousin’s husband is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but also might be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. Their once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper, she unearths stories of violence and madness. And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.
Del Rey | 9780525620808
THE MOUNTAINS WILD by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Mystery)
Twenty-three years ago, Maggie D'arcy's family received a call from the Dublin police. Her cousin, Erin, has been missing for several days. Maggie herself spent weeks in Ireland, trying to track Erin's movements, working beside the police. But it was to no avail. The experience inspired Maggie to become a cop. More than 20 years later, she is a detective and a divorced mother of a teenager. When the Gardaí call to say that Erin's scarf has been found and another young woman has gone missing, Maggie returns to Ireland, awakening all the complicated feelings from the first trip. The despair and frustration of not knowing what happened to Erin. Her attraction to Erin's coworker, who never fully explained their relationship. And her determination to solve the case.
Minotaur Books | 9781250796141
NOTES ON A SILENCING: A Memoir by Lacy Crawford (Memoir)
When NOTES ON A SILENCING hit bookstores in the summer of 2020, even amidst a global pandemic, it sent shockwaves through the country. Not only did this intimate investigative memoir usher in a media storm of coverage, it also prompted the elite St. Paul's School to issue a formal apology to the author, Lacy Crawford, for its handling of her report of sexual assault by two fellow students nearly 30 years ago. In this searing book, Crawford tells the story of coming forward during the state investigation of the elite New England prep school decades after her assault, only to find for the first time evidence that corroborated her memories. This revelation launched Crawford on an extraordinary inquiry deep into gender, privilege and power, and the ways that shame and guilt are used to silence victims.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316491532
ON OCEAN BOULEVARD by Mary Alice Monroe (Fiction)
It’s been 16 years since Caretta “Cara” Rutledge has returned home to the beautiful shores of Charleston, South Carolina. Over those years, she has weathered the tides of deaths and births, struggles and joys. And now, as Cara prepares for her second wedding, her life is about to change yet again. Meanwhile, the rest of the storied Rutledge family is also in flux. Cara’s niece, Linnea, returns to Sullivan’s Island to begin a new career and an unexpected relationship. Linnea’s parents, having survived bankruptcy, pin their hopes and futures on the construction of a new home on Ocean Boulevard. But as excitement over the house and wedding builds, a devastating illness strikes the family and brings plans to a screeching halt.
Gallery Books | 9781982147006
SEVEN LIES by Elizabeth Kay (Psychological Thriller)
Growing up, Jane and Marnie shared everything. They knew the other's deepest secrets. They wouldn't have had it any other way. But when Marnie falls in love, things begin to change. Because Jane has a secret: she loathes Marnie's wealthy, priggish husband. So when Marnie asks if she likes him, Jane tells her first lie. After all, even best friends keep some things to themselves. If she had been honest, then perhaps her best friend's husband might still be alive today. SEVEN LIES is Jane's confession of the truth --- her truth.
Penguin Books | 9781984879738
A STAR IS BORED by Byron Lane (Fiction/Humor)
Charlie Besson is tense and sweating as he prepares for a wild job interview. His car is idling, like his life, outside the Hollywood mansion of Kathi Kannon, star of stage and screen and People magazine’s Worst Dressed list. She's an actress in need of assistance, and he's adrift and in need of a lifeline. Kathi is an icon, bestselling author and award-winning movie star, most known for her role as Priestess Talara in a blockbuster sci-fi film. She’s also known in another role: Outrageous Hollywood royalty. Charlie gets the job, and his three-year odyssey is filled with late-night shopping sprees, last-minute trips to see the aurora borealis, and an initiation to that most sacred of Hollywood tribes: the personal assistant. But Kathi becomes much more than a boss, and as their friendship grows, Charlie must make a choice.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250266507
STRANGE FLOWERS by Donal Ryan (Fiction)
Paperback Original
In 1973, 20-year-old Moll Gladney takes a morning bus from her rural home in Ireland and disappears. Bewildered and distraught, Paddy and Kit must confront an unbearable prospect: that they will never see their daughter again. Five years later, Moll returns from London. What --- and who --- she brings with her will change the course of her family's life forever.
Penguin Books | 9780143136392
WHEN YOU FIND ME by P. J. Vernon (Psychological Thriller)
Visiting her family’s South Carolina estate, socialite Gray Godfrey wakes from a night out to an empty bed. Her husband Paul is gone, and a thrashing hangover has wiped her memory clean. At first, she’s relieved for the break from her tumultuous marriage. But when his car is found abandoned on the highway, Gray must face the truth: Paul is gone. When a stranger named Annie calls claiming to know Paul’s whereabouts, Gray reluctantly accepts her help. But this ally is not what she seems: soon Annie is sending frightening messages and revealing disturbing secrets only Gray could know. As Annie’s threats escalate and Gray’s grip on reality begins to slip, the life she thought she had and the dark truth she’s been living begin to merge.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781643851730
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