In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of April 4th and April 11th 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 April, 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.
Carol's latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview is with Jane Green, whose new novel, SISTER STARDUST, will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick.
For years, Jane has been interested in Talitha Getty, the second wife of John Paul Getty Jr. This book reimagines her life in the '60s during her time in Morocco. A famous model and actress, Talitha is rich, exuberant and universally loved. The story is told through the eyes of Claire, who moves from her small English town to London, and she is swept up in Talitha's world. The closer they grow, the more Claire learns about the dark past of this mysterious and revered woman.
Jane talks to Carol about British history that Americans may not be familiar with, and how that tied into Talitha Getty's life. She also discusses her research, explains the challenges in fictionalizing a star's life, and fills us in on some exciting new projects. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
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, April 6th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": In this special taped segment, the "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry --- will celebrate the recent paperback release of Patti's novel, SURVIVING SAVANNAH.
Thursday, April 7th at 7pm ET: RJ Julia Booksellers: Join Amanda Eyre Ward for the launch of her new book, THE LIFEGUARDS. She will be in conversation with Christina Baker Kline and Paula McLain.
Friday, April 8th at 8pm ET: Warwick's: Warwick's, in partnership with Book Passage, Book Soup, Third Place Books and Rakestraw Books, will host Harlan Coben as he discusses his new book, THE MATCH, with Kristin Hannah.
Friday, April 8th at 9pm ET: Elliott Bay Book Company: Chloé Cooper Jones will read from and discuss EASY BEAUTY, her groundbreaking memoir about disability, motherhood, and a journey to far-flung places in search of a new way of seeing and being seen.
Sunday, April 10th at 7pm ET: Book Passage: Chloé Cooper Jones will be in conversation with Jessamine Chan about her memoir, EASY BEAUTY, a revealing account of moving through the world in a body that looks different than most.
Monday, April 11th at 6pm ET: Literati Bookstore: Literati Bookstore is pleased to welcome Chloé Cooper Jones to their "At Home with Literati" series in support of her memoir, EASY BEAUTY. She will be joined in conversation by New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv.
Monday, April 11th at 7pm ET: Book & Author Society: Jane Green will discuss her new novel, SISTER STARDUST. Here, she reimagines the life of troubled icon Talitha Getty in a transporting story from a forgotten chapter of the Swinging '60s.
Monday, April 11th at 8pm ET: Murder By The Book: Sally Hepworth will talk about THE YOUNGER WIFE, her latest novel of domestic suspense about the tangled vines of family secrets, with Mystery & Thriller Maven’s Sara DiVello.
This Week's Bonus News:
Our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for April
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 April'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: SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Emily St. John Mandel
LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus
THE CANDY HOUSE by Jennifer Egan
BOMB SHELTER: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott
LEFT ON TENTH: A Second Chance at Life: A Memoir by Delia Ephron
LibraryReads
Top Pick: LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus
THE GOOD LEFT UNDONE by Adriana Trigiani
I'LL BE YOU by Janelle Brown
INSOMNIA by Sarah Pinborough
TO MARRY AND TO METTLE by Martha Waters
Target Book Club
RAZORBLADE TEARS by S. A. Cosby
Costco's "Buyer's Pick"
GIRLS OF FLIGHT CITY: Inspired by True Events, a Novel of WWII, the Royal Air Force, and Texas, by Lorraine Heath
Barnes & Noble Book Club
SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Emily St. John Mandel
Reese's Book Club
TRUE BIZ by Sara Nović
Jenna Bush Hager's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club
MEMPHIS by Tara M. Stringfellow
"Good Morning America" Book Club
LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus
Simon & Schuster's Book Club Favorites
THE CANDY HOUSE by Jennifer Egan
On Sale the Week of April 4th in Hardcover
April 5th
ATOMIC ANNA by Rachel Barenbaum (Fiction)
In 1986, renowned nuclear scientist Anna Berkova is sleeping in her bed in the Soviet Union when Chernobyl’s reactor melts down. It’s the exact moment she tears through time --- and it’s an accident. When she opens her eyes, she’s landed in 1992 only to discover Molly, her estranged daughter, shot in the chest. Molly, with her dying breath, begs Anna to go back in time and stop the disaster, to save Molly’s daughter Raisa, and put their family’s future on a better path. As these remarkable women work together to prevent the greatest nuclear disaster of the 20th century, they grapple with the power their discoveries hold. Just because you can change the past, does it mean you should?
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538734865
THE CANDY HOUSE by Jennifer Egan (Fiction)
Bix Bouton’s company, Mandala, is so successful that he is “one of those tech demi-gods with whom we’re all on a first name basis.” Bix is desperate for a new idea when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or “externalizing” memory. It’s 2010. Within a decade, Bix’s new technology, “Own Your Unconscious” --- which allows you access to every memory you’ve ever had, and to share every memory in exchange for access to the memories of others --- has seduced multitudes. But not everyone. In THE CANDY HOUSE, Jennifer Egan spins out the consequences of Own Your Unconscious through the lives of multiple characters whose paths intersect over several decades.
Scribner | 9781476716763
COVER STORY by Susan Rigetti (Fiction)
After a rough year at NYU, aspiring writer Lora Ricci is thrilled to land a summer internship at ELLE magazine where she meets Cat Wolff, contributing editor and enigmatic daughter of a clean-energy mogul. As a friendship emerges between the two women, Lora opens up to Cat about her desperate struggles and lost scholarship. Cat’s solution: Drop out of NYU and become her ghostwriter. So when the internship ends, Lora moves into Cat’s suite at the opulent Plaza Hotel. Writing during the day and accompanying Cat to extravagant parties at night, Lora’s life quickly shifts from looming nightmare to dream-come-true. But as Lora is drawn into Cat’s glamorous lifestyle, Cat’s perfect exterior cracks, exposing an illicit, shady world.
William Morrow | 9780063072053
CRIMSON SUMMER by Heather Graham (Thriller)
When FDLE special agent Amy Larson discovers a small horse figurine amid the bloody aftermath of a gang massacre in the Everglades, she recognizes it immediately. The toy is the calling card of the apocalypse cult that Amy and her partner, FBI special agent Hunter Forrest, have been investigating, and it can only mean one thing: this wasn’t an isolated skirmish --- it was the beginning of a war. Amy and Hunter’s investigation leads them to a violent, far-right extremist group who is in no hurry to quell the civil unrest. With a deadly puppet master working to silence their every lead, it’s a race against the clock to figure out who’s been pulling the strings and put a stop to the escalating cartel turf war before the Everglades run red.
Mira | 9780778311829
DELPHINE JONES TAKES A CHANCE by Beth Morrey (Fiction)
Devoted single mother Delphine Jones is an expert at putting her head down and moving through life one day at a time. Since getting pregnant at 16, her circle has only ever included her now 11-year-old daughter and best friend, Em, and her complicated father with whom they live. But when an opportunity for her to finish school presents itself, Delphine finally does something she hasn’t done in years: she takes a chance on herself. Sometimes all it takes is one chance. But as she rediscovers her passions and her belief in herself, Delphine also must face questions she’s stonewalled for more than a decade, questions about Em’s father. Is she brave enough?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780525542476
EASY BEAUTY: A Memoir by Chloé Cooper Jones (Memoir)
“I am in a bar in Brooklyn, listening to two men, my friends, discuss whether my life is worth living.” So begins Chloé Cooper Jones’ bold, revealing account of moving through the world in a body that looks different than most. Born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis, which affects both her stature and gait, her pain is physical. But there is also the pain of being judged and pitied for her appearance, of being dismissed as “less than.” She resisted this reality by excelling academically and retreating to “the neutral room in her mind” until it passed. But after unexpectedly becoming a mother, something in her shifts. Jones sets off on a journey across the globe, reclaiming the spaces she’d been denied --- and denied herself.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982151997
THE ECHO MAN by Sam Holland (Psychological Thriller)
Detectives Cara Elliott and Noah Deakin are on the case of a series of seemingly unconnected murders, each different in method, but each shocking and brutal. As the body count increases, they can’t ignore the details that echo famous cases of the past --- Manson, Kemper, Dahmer and more. As Elliott and Deakin get closer to unmasking the killer, the murders are moving closer to home. Meanwhile, Jessica Ambrose is on the run. She’s been implicated as the arsonist who killed her neglectful husband and injured her young daughter. With the help of disgraced and suspended detective Nate Griffin, Jess discovers a shocking link between her case and that of the ultimate copycat killer working on his horrifying masterpiece.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781643859910
FOREVER BOY: A Mother's Memoir of Autism and Finding Joy by Kate Swenson (Memoir)
When Kate Swenson’s son, Cooper, was diagnosed with severe, nonverbal autism, her world stopped. At first, Kate experienced the grief of broken dreams. Then she felt the frustration and exhaustion of having to fight for your child in a world that is stacked against them. But through hard work, resilience and personal growth, she would come to learn that Cooper wasn’t the one who needed to change. She was. And it was this transformation that led Kate to acceptance --- and ultimately joy. In FOREVER BOY, Kate shares her inspiring journey with honesty and compassion, offering solace and hope to others on this path and illuminating the strength and perseverance of mothers.
Park Row | 9780778311997
FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY by Jenny Tinghui Zhang (Historical Fiction)
Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and smuggled across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her. As anti-Chinese sentiment sweeps across the country in a wave of unimaginable violence, Daiyu must draw on each of the selves she has been --- including the ones she most wants to leave behind --- in order to finally claim her own name and story.
Flatiron Books | 9781250811783
HEARTBROKE by Chelsea Bieker (Fiction/Short Stories)
United by the stark and sprawling landscapes of California’s Central Valley, the characters of HEARTBROKE boil with reckless desire. A woman steals a baby from a shelter in an attempt to recoup her own lost motherhood. A phone-sex operator sees divine opportunity when a lavender-eyed cowboy walks into her life. A mother and a son selling dream catchers along a highway that leads to a toxic beach manifest two young documentary filmmakers into their realm. And two teenage girls play a dangerous online game with destiny.
Catapult | 9781646221271
LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus (Historical Fiction/Humor)
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. It’s the early 1960s, and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel Prize-nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show. Her unusual approach to cooking proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
Doubleday | 9780385547345
LET'S NOT DO THAT AGAIN by Grant Ginder (Fiction/Humor)
Nancy Harrison is running for Senate, and she’s determined to win. There’s just one problem: her grown children. Greta and Nick Harrison are adrift. Nick is floundering in his attempts to write a musical about the life of Joan Didion. And then there’s his little sister, Greta. Smart, pretty and completely unmotivated, allowing her life to pass her by like the shoppers at the Apple store where she works. One morning the world wakes up not to Nancy making headlines, but to Greta. She’s in Paris. With extremist protestors. Throwing a bottle of champagne through a beloved bistro’s front window. In order to save her campaign, not to mention her daughter, Nancy and Nick must find Greta before it’s too late.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250243775
THE LIFEGUARDS by Amanda Eyre Ward (Fiction)
Austin’s Zilker Park neighborhood is a wonderland of greenbelt trails, live music and moms who drink a few too many margaritas. Whitney, Annette and Liza have grown thick as thieves as they have raised their children together for 15 years, believing that they can shelter them from an increasingly dangerous world. Their friendship is unbreakable --- as safe as the neighborhood where they've raised their sweet little boys. Or so they think. One night, the three women have been enjoying happy hour when their boys, lifeguards for the summer, come back on bicycles from a late-night dip in their favorite swimming hole. The boys share a secret --- news that will shatter the perfect world their mothers have so painstakingly created.
Ballantine Books | 9780593159446
LITTLE FOXES TOOK UP MATCHES by Katya Kazbek (Fiction)
When Mitya was two years old, he swallowed his grandmother’s sewing needle. For his family, it marks the beginning of the end, the promise of certain death. For Mitya, it is a small, metal treasure that guides him from within. As he grows, his life mirrors the uncertain future of his country, which is attempting to rebuild itself after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mitya finds himself facing a different sort of ambiguity: Is he a boy, as everyone keeps telling him, or is he not quite a boy, as he often feels? After suffering horrific abuse from his cousin, Vovka, who has returned broken from war, Mitya embarks on a journey across underground Moscow to find something better, a place to belong.
Tin House Books | 9781953534026
LOST AND FOUND IN PARIS by Lian Dolan (Fiction)
One fateful afternoon, Joan’s husband drops a bombshell: he’s fathered twins with another woman. A furious Joan impulsively decides to book a last-minute trip to Paris as an art courier: the person museums hire to fly valuable works of art to potential clients, discreetly stowed in their carry-on luggage. On the plane she chats up her seatmate, Nate, a tech nerd who invites her to dinner in Paris. But after a romantic dinner and an even more romantic night together, Joan wakes up next to her new lover to discover the drawings gone. Even more shocking is what’s been left in their place: a sketch from her father’s journals, which she thought had been lost when he died on 9/11, and a poem that reads like a treasure hunt.
William Morrow | 9780062909022
MEMPHIS by Tara M. Stringfellow (Fiction)
Ten-year-old Joan, her mother and her younger sister flee her father’s explosive temper and seek refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. Half a century earlier, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass --- only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in the city. Joan tries to settle into her new life, but family secrets cast a longer shadow than any of them expected. As she grows up, Joan finds relief in her artwork. One of her subjects is their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who claims to know something about curses, and whose stories about the past help Joan see how her passion, imagination and relentless hope are, in fact, the continuation of a long matrilineal tradition.
The Dial Press | 9780593230480
ONCE A THIEF: A Simon Riske Novel by Christopher Reich (Thriller)
Simon Riske is toasting the record hundred-million-dollar sale of a rare 1963 Ferrari that he restored himself. The buyer is a sophisticated French woman named Sylvie Bettencourt. Riske enjoys her company until her bodyguard storms in, claiming the vehicle is a fake. Riske must prove the car is the real thing…or else. Meanwhile, Carl Bildt, banker to the rich and nefarious, is killed by a powerful car bomb, moments before he can deliver evidence to the authorities. His daughter, Anna, rushes to Switzerland to investigate her father’s violent death. As Riske strives to prove the Ferrari’s authenticity and look deeper into Sylvie’s past, he crosses paths with Anna and discovers they have an enemy in common.
Mulholland Books | 9780316456098
OUR LADY OF MYSTERIOUS AILMENTS by T. L. Huchu (Supernatural Thriller/Fantasy)
When Ropa Moyo discovered an occult underground library, she expected great things. She’s really into Edinburgh’s secret societies, but it turns out they are less into her. So instead of getting paid to work magic, she’s had to accept a crummy unpaid internship. Then her friend Priya offers her a job on the side. Priya works at Our Lady of Mysterious Maladies, a very specialized hospital, where a new illness is resisting magical and medical remedies alike. If Ropa can solve the case, she might earn as she learns --- and impress her mentor, Sir Callander. Her sleuthing will lead her to a lost fortune, an avenging spirit and a secret buried deep in Scotland’s past. But how are they connected? Lives are at stake, and Ropa is running out of time.
Tor Books | 9781250767790
PARADISE COVE: A Roscoe Conklin Mystery by Davin Goodwin (Mystery)
On the laid-back island of Bonaire, every day is paradise until a seaweed-entangled human leg washes ashore. Combing the beach, retired cop Roscoe Conklin examines the scene and quickly determines that the leg belongs to the nephew of a close friend. The island police launch an investigation, but with little evidence and no suspects, their progress comes to a frustrating halt. Then, thanks to a unique barter with the lead detective, Conklin finds himself in possession of the case file. Sifting through the scant clues, eager to bring the killer to justice, Conklin struggles to maintain forward momentum. He has all the pieces. He can feel it. But he’d better get them snapped together soon. Otherwise, the body count will continue to rise.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608094851
POST-TRAUMATIC by Chantal V. Johnson (Fiction/Dark Humor)
To the outside observer, Vivian is a success story --- a dedicated lawyer who advocates for mentally ill patients at a New York City psychiatric hospital. Privately, Vivian contends with the memories and aftereffects of her bad childhood --- compounded by the everyday stresses of being a Black Latinx woman in America. She lives in a constant state of hypervigilant awareness that makes even a simple subway ride into a heart-pounding drama. For years, Vivian has self-medicated with a mix of dating, dieting, dark humor and smoking weed with her BFF, Jane. But after a family reunion prompts Vivian to take a bold step, she finds herself alone in new and terrifying ways, and she starts to unravel.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316264235
THE RETURN OF FARAZ ALI by Aamina Ahmad (Fiction)
Not since childhood has Faraz returned to the Mohalla, in Lahore’s walled inner city, where women continue to pass down the art of courtesan from mother to daughter. But he still remembers the day he was abducted from the home he shared with his mother and sister there, at the direction of his powerful father, who wanted to give him a chance at a respectable life. Now Wajid, once more dictating his fate from afar, has sent Faraz back to Lahore, installing him as head of the Mohalla police station and charging him with a mission: to cover up the violent death of a young girl. It should be a simple assignment to carry out in a marginalized community, but for the first time in his career, Faraz finds himself unable to follow orders.
Riverhead Books | 9780593330180
ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE TREADSTONE TRANSGRESSION by Joshua Hood (Thriller/Adventure)
The most pressing issue on Adam Hayes' mind is planning his son's upcoming fifth birthday party. After years of operating in the world's most dangerous spots for Treadstone, he's ready to call it quits, but the feeling isn't mutual. Levi Shaw, Treadstone's director, calls Hayes back for one more mission. "It's a walk in the park. You don't even have to go in with the strike team. I just need you to set up the safe house. You'll be home in time to pick up the birthday cake." But nothing is ever easy where Treadstone is concerned. When the mission is blown, only Hayes is left alive, and it seems that everyone is determined to correct that oversight.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593419793
SCHOOL DAYS by Jonathan Galassi (Fiction)
Sam Brandt is a long-term denizen of Connecticut’s renowned Leverett School. As an English teacher, he has dedicated his life to providing his students with the same challenges, encouragement and sense of possibility that helped him and his friends become themselves here half a lifetime ago. Then Leverett’s headmaster asks Sam to help investigate a charge brought by one of his classmates that he was abused by a teacher. Sam is flooded with memories, above all of his overwhelming love for his friend Eddie and the support of his most inspiring mentor, Theodore Gibson. Sam’s search for the truth becomes a quest to get at the heart of Leverett, then and now.
Other Press | 9781635421897
SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Emily St. John Mandel (Post-Apocalyptic/Science Fiction)
Edwin St. Andrew is 18 years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the Canadian wilderness and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal. Two centuries later, Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She’s traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony. Within the text of Olive’s bestselling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him. When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended.
Knopf | 9780593321447
THE SHADOW HOUSE by Anna Downes (Psychological Thriller)
Alex, a single mother of two, is determined to make a fresh start for her and her children. In an effort to escape her troubled past, she seeks refuge in a rural community. Pine Ridge is idyllic; the surrounding forests are beautiful and the locals welcoming. Mostly. But Alex finds that she may have disturbed barely hidden secrets in her new home. As a chain of bizarre events is set off, events eerily familiar to those who have lived there for years, Alex realizes that she and her family might be in greater danger than ever before. And that the only way to protect them all is to confront the shadows lurking in Pine Ridge.
Minotaur Books | 9781250264848
SHADOWS OF BERLIN by David R. Gillham (Historical Fiction)
1955 in New York City: the city of instant coffee, bagels at Katz's Deli, new-fangled TVs. But in the Perlmans' walk-up in Chelsea, the past is as close as the present. Rachel came to Manhattan in a wave of displaced Jews who managed to survive the horrors of war. Her Uncle Fritz fleeing with her, Rachel hoped to find freedom from her pain in New York and in the arms of her new American husband, Aaron. But this child of Berlin and daughter of an artist cannot seem to outrun her guilt in the role of American housewife, not until she can shed the ghosts of her past. And when Uncle Fritz discovers the most shocking portrait that her mother had ever painted, Rachel's memories begin to terrorize her, forcing her to face the choices she made to stay alive --- choices that might be her undoing.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728250441
THE SIGN FOR HOME by Blair Fell (Romance)
Arlo Dilly is young, handsome and eager to meet the right girl. He also happens to be DeafBlind, a Jehovah’s Witness and under the strict guardianship of his controlling uncle. His chances of finding someone to love seem slim to none. And yet, it happened once before. Many years ago, at a boarding school for the Deaf, Arlo met the love of his life --- a mysterious girl with onyx eyes and beautifully expressive hands that told him the most amazing stories. But tragedy struck, and their love was lost forever. Or so Arlo thought. After years trying to heal his broken heart, Arlo is assigned a college writing assignment that unlocks buried memories of his past. Soon he wonders if the hearing people he was supposed to trust have been lying to him all along, and if his lost love might be found again.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781982175955
SISTER STARDUST by Jane Green (Historical Fiction)
In her 20s, and already a famous model and actress, Talitha moved from London to a palace in Marrakesh with her husband Paul Getty, the famous oil heir. There she presided over a swirling ex-pat scene filled with music, art, free love and a counterculture taking root across the world. When Claire arrives in London from her small town, she never expects to cross paths with a woman as magnetic as Talitha Getty. Yearning for the adventure and independence, she's swept off to Marrakesh, where the two become kindred spirits. But as their friendship blossoms and the two grow closer, the realities of Talitha's precarious existence set off a chain of dangerous events that could alter Claire's life forever.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335425782
TIME IS A MOTHER by Ocean Vuong (Poetry)
In this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among the aftershocks of his mother’s death, embodying the paradox of sitting within grief while being determined to survive beyond it. Shifting through memory, and in concert with the themes of his novel ON EARTH WE’RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS, Vuong contends with personal loss, the meaning of family, and the cost of being the product of an American war in America. At once vivid, brave and propulsive, Vuong’s poems circle fragmented lives to find restoration as well as the epicenter of the break.
Penguin Press | 9780593300237
TRUE BIZ by Sara Nović (Fiction)
TRUE BIZ plunges readers into the halls of a residential school for the deaf, where they will meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who’s never met another deaf person before; Austin, the school’s golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing; and February, the headmistress, who is fighting to keep her school open and her marriage intact, but might not be able to do both. As a series of crises both personal and political threaten to unravel each of them, Charlie, Austin and February find their lives inextricable from one another --- and changed forever.
Random House | 9780593241509
THE WISE WOMEN by Gina Sorell (Fiction)
Popular advice columnist Wendy Wise has been skillfully advising women for four decades. So why are her own daughters’ lives such a mess? Clementine has just discovered that she is actually renting the Queens home that she thought she owned, because her husband Steve secretly funneled their money into his flailing start-up. Meanwhile, her sister Barb has overextended herself at her architecture firm and reunited semi-unhappily with her cheating girlfriend. When Steve goes MIA and Clementine receives an eviction notice, Wendy swoops in to save the day. But as soon as she sets her sights on hunting down her rogue son-in-law, Barb and Clementine quickly discover that their mother has been hiding more than a few problems of her own.
Harper | 9780063111844
YOUNG MUNGO by Douglas Stuart (Fiction)
Mungo and James are born under different stars --- Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic --- and they should be sworn enemies. Yet they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they fall in love, they dream of finding somewhere they belong, while Mungo works hard to hide his true self from all those around him. When several months later Mungo’s mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to try to get back to a place of safety, where he and James might still have a future.
Grove Press | 9780802159557
THE YOUNGER WIFE by Sally Hepworth (Domestic Thriller)
A heart surgeon at the top of his field, Stephen Aston is getting married again. But first he must divorce his current wife, even though she can no longer speak for herself. Tully and Rachel Aston look upon their father’s fiancée, Heather, as nothing but an interloper. Heather is younger than both of them. Clearly, she’s after their father’s money. With their mother in a precarious position, Tully and Rachel are determined to get to the truth about their family’s secrets, the new wife closing in, and who their father really is. Heather has secrets of her own. Will getting to the truth unleash the most dangerous impulses
in all of them?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250229618
On Sale the Week of April 4th in Paperback
April 5th
ARIADNE by Jennifer Saint (Historical Fiction/Mythology)
Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice. When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives to vanquish the beast, Ariadne sees in his green eyes not a threat but an escape. Defying the gods, betraying her family and country, and risking everything for love, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur. But will Ariadne’s decision ensure her happy ending? And what of Phaedra, the beloved younger sister she leaves behind?
Flatiron Books | 9781250773593
THE BOHEMIANS by Jasmin Darznik (Historical Fiction)
A young aspiring photographer named Dorothea Lange arrives in San Francisco in 1918. As a newcomer --- and a naïve one at that --- Dorothea is grateful for the fast friendship of Caroline Lee, a vivacious, straight-talking Chinese American with a complicated past, who introduces Dorothea to Monkey Block, an artists’ colony and the bohemian heart of the city. Dazzled by Caroline and her friends, Dorothea is catapulted into a heady new world of freedom, art and politics. She also finds herself falling in love with the brilliant but troubled painter Maynard Dixon. As Dorothea sheds her innocence, her purpose is awakened, and she grows into the artist whose iconic Depression-era “Migrant Mother” photograph broke the hearts and opened the eyes of a nation.
Ballantine Books | 9780593129449
CAUL BABY by Morgan Jerkins (Fiction/Magical Realism)
Laila desperately wants to become a mother, so she turns to the Melancons, an old and powerful Harlem family known for their caul, a precious layer of skin that is the secret source of their healing power. When a deal for Laila to acquire a piece of caul falls through, she is heartbroken, but when the child is stillborn, she is overcome with grief and rage. What she doesn’t know is that a baby will soon be delivered in her family --- by her niece, Amara --- and delivered to the Melancons to raise as one of their own. Hallow is born with a caul, and their matriarch, Maman, predicts the girl will restore the family’s prosperity. As the Melancons’ thirst to maintain their status grows, Amara, now a successful lawyer running for district attorney, looks for a way to avenge her longstanding grudge against the family.
Harper Perennial | 9780062873187
CHINA: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd (Historical Fiction)
Edward Rutherfurd brings his renowned talents to the Middle Kingdom, when the clash of East and West in the 19th century shattered the stability of the 2,000-year-old empire. This epic tale chronicles the great struggle for power, from the Opium Wars that erupted in 1839 through the Taiping revolt, the British burning of the Summer Palace, the Boxer Rebellion, and the long rule of the Dragon Empress, culminating in the momentous revolution of 1911. We meet a young village wife struggling with rigid traditions, Manchu warriors, powerful eunuchs and concubines of the Forbidden City, rapacious English soldiers and earnest missionaries, savvy Chinese pirates and sage philosophers. Rutherfurd brings to vivid life the ever-changing fortunes of Chinese, British and American families as they negotiate the tides of history.
Vintage | 9780804171038
THE DARK HOURS: A Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch Novel by Michael Connelly (Thriller)
There’s chaos in Hollywood at the end of the New Year’s Eve countdown. Working her graveyard shift, LAPD detective Renée Ballard waits out the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revelers shoot their guns into the air. Only minutes after midnight, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop owner has been fatally hit by a bullet in the middle of a crowded street party. Ballard quickly concludes that the deadly bullet could not have fallen from the sky and that it is linked to another unsolved murder --- a case at one time worked by Detective Harry Bosch. At the same time, Ballard hunts a fiendish pair of serial rapists, the Midnight Men, who have been terrorizing women and leaving no trace.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538708477
THE DARKEST GAME by Joseph Schneider (Mystery)
Paperback Original
A museum curator is found shot point-blank, his home torn apart. It's the sort of random crime destined to fester in an evidence locker. But it's a case tailor-made for academic turned detective Tully Jarsdel --- he can't leave any question unanswered. In pursuit of an untouchable killer, Jarsdel soon uncovers a web of fraud and corruption that leads him to sunny Catalina Island, Hollywood's bygone playground. There, nothing is as it should be: the past is ever-present, and Jarsdel unwittingly finds himself embroiled in a widespread conspiracy. While reckoning with a dark legacy, he'll exhume long-buried secrets of LA's troubled past and deadly consequences.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728245041
DEAD OF WINTER by Stephen Mack Jones (Mystery)
Authentico Foods Inc. has been a part of Detroit’s Mexicantown for over 30 years, grown from a home kitchen business to a city-blocklong facility that supplies Mexican tortillas to restaurants throughout the Midwest. Detroit ex-cop and Mexicantown native August Snow has been invited for a business meeting at Authentico Foods. Its owner, Ronaldo Ochoa, is dying and is being blackmailed into selling the company to an anonymous entity. Worried about his employees, Ochoa wants August to buy it. August has no interest in running a tortilla empire, but he does want to know who’s threatening his neighborhood. His investigation quickly takes a devastating turn, and he and his loved ones find themselves ensnared in a dangerous net of ruthless billionaire developers.
Soho Crime | 9781641293488
A DOG’S COURAGE: A Dog's Way Home Novel by W. Bruce Cameron (Fiction)
Bella was once a lost dog, but now she lives happily with her people, Lucas and Olivia, only occasionally recalling the hardships in her past. Then a weekend camping trip turns into a harrowing struggle for survival when the Rocky Mountains are engulfed by the biggest wildfire in American history. The raging inferno separates Bella from her people, and she is lost once more. Alone in the wilderness, Bella unexpectedly finds herself responsible for the safety of two defenseless mountain lion cubs. Now she’s torn between two equally urgent goals. More than anything, she wants to find her way home to Lucas and Olivia, but not if it means abandoning her new family to danger. Can Bella ever get back to where she truly belongs?
Forge Books | 9781250257642
ELEANOR IN THE VILLAGE: Eleanor Roosevelt's Search for Freedom and Identity in New York's Greenwich Village by Jan Jarboe Russell (History)
Hundreds of books have been written about FDR and Eleanor, both together and separately, yet she remains a compelling and elusive figure. And not much is known about why in 1920, Eleanor suddenly abandoned her duties as a mother of five and moved to Greenwich Village, then the symbol of all forms of transgressive freedom --- communism, homosexuality, interracial relationships and subversive political activity. Now, in ELEANOR IN THE VILLAGE, Jan Jarboe Russell pulls back the curtain on Eleanor’s life to reveal the motivations and desires that drew her to the Village and how her time there changed her political outlook.
Scribner | 9781501198168
ELIZABETH & MARGARET: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters by Andrew Morton (Biography)
They were the closest of sisters and the best of friends. But when their uncle Edward Vlll decided to abdicate the throne, the dynamic between Elizabeth and Margaret was dramatically altered. Elizabeth would always look upon her younger sister's antics with a kind of stoical amusement, but Margaret's struggle to find a place and position inside the royal system --- and her fraught relationship with its expectations --- was often a source of tension. From the idyll of their cloistered early life, through their hidden wartime lives, into the divergent paths they took following their father's death and Elizabeth's ascension to the throne, Andrew Morton's book explores their relationship over the years.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538700457
A FAMILY AFFAIR by Robyn Carr (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Raised by a single mother, Anna McNichol has worked to ensure that her three children have every advantage she didn’t. And while her marriage has its problems, she values commitment and believes in "till death do us part." Now an empty nester, she’s at the peak of her career and ready to seize the opportunity to focus on her future. But life can change in an instant, and when her husband dies suddenly, Anna’s carefully constructed world falls apart. The mysterious young woman at the memorial service confirms that her husband had been keeping secrets, and Anna is determined to get to the truth. Faced with one challenge after another, she finds support from an unexpected source.
Mira | 9780778331742
FESTIVAL DAYS by Jo Ann Beard (Essays)
When “The Fourth State of Matter,” her now famous piece about a workplace massacre at the University of Iowa, was published in The New Yorker, Jo Ann Beard immediately became one of the most influential writers in America, forging a path for a new generation of young authors willing to combine the dexterity of fiction with the rigors of memory and reportage, and in the process extending the range of possibility for the essay form. Now, with FESTIVAL DAYS, Beard brings us the culmination of her groundbreaking work. In these nine pieces, she captures both the small, luminous moments of daily existence and those instances when life and death hang in the balance.
Back Bay Books | 9780316497220
FIRST PERSON SINGULAR: Stories by Haruki Murakami (Fiction/Short Stories)
The eight stories in FIRST PERSON SINGULAR are all told in the first person by a classic Haruki Murakami narrator. From memories of youth, meditations on music, and an ardent love of baseball, to dreamlike scenarios and invented jazz albums, together these stories challenge the boundaries between our minds and the exterior world. Occasionally, a narrator may or may not be Murakami himself. Is it memoir or fiction? The reader decides.
Vintage | 9780593311189
FOOL ME ONCE by Ashley Winstead (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Lee Stone kicks butt at her job as a communications director at a women-run electric car company. After work she is “Stoner,” drinking guys under the table and never letting any of them get too comfortable in her bed. That’s because Lee has learned never to trust love. Four major heartbreaks set her straight, from her father cheating on her mom all the way to Ben Laderman in grad school --- who wasn’t actually cheating, but she could have sworn he was, so she reciprocated in kind. Then Ben shows up five years later, working as a policy expert for the most liberal governor in Texas history, just as Lee is trying to get a clean energy bill rolling. Things get complicated --- and competitive --- as Lee and Ben are forced to work together.
Graydon House | 9781525899744
GRACE & STEEL: Dorothy, Barbara, Laura, and the Women of the Bush Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli (Biography)
New York Times bestselling celebrity biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli reveals the unsung heroines of the inimitable Bush family dynasty: not only First Ladies Barbara and Laura, but other colorful women whose stories have been left out of history for far too long, including Barbara’s mother-in-law, the formidable Dorothy Bush; the enigmatic Columba and the controversial Sharon; and Laura’s twins, Jenna and Barbara. No matter the challenges related to power and politics, the women of the Bush dynasty always fought for equality in their marriages as they raised their children to be true to American values. In doing so, they inspired everyday Americans to do the same.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250248695
GREAT CIRCLE by Maggie Shipstead (Historical Fiction)
After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There, Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At 14, she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy bootlegger who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe by flying over the North and South Poles. A century later, Hadley Baxter is cast to play Marian in a film that centers on Marian's disappearance in Antarctica. Her immersion into the character of Marian unfolds alongside Marian's own story, as the two women's fates collide.
Vintage | 9781984897701
THE GUNCLE by Steven Rowley (Fiction)
Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. So when tragedy strikes and Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian, he is, honestly, overwhelmed. Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled acting career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. But when his waggish set of "Guncle Rules" no longer appease Maisie and Grant's parental void, Patrick's eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780525542308
HUMMINGBIRD SALAMANDER by Jeff VanderMeer (Speculative Thriller)
The security consultant “Jane Smith” receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, was a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spiral beyond her control. Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina’s footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As Jane desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out --- for her and possibly for the world.
Picador | 9781250829771
MARY JANE by Jessica Anya Blau (Fiction)
In 1970s Baltimore, 14-year-old Mary Jane is glad when she lands a summer job as a nanny for the daughter of a local doctor. The doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job --- helping a famous rock star dry out. A week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie star wife move in. Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her new household to crisply ironed clothes and a family dinner schedule, and has a front-row seat to a liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Caught between the lifestyle she’s always known and the future she’s only just realized is possible, Mary Jane will arrive at September with a new idea about what she wants out of life, and what kind of person she’s going to be.
Mariner Books | 9780063052307
THE MASTER CRAFTSMAN by Kelli Stuart (Fiction)
Paperback Original
In 1917, Alma Pihl, a master craftsman in the House of Fabergé, was charged to protect one of the greatest secrets in Russian history --- an unknown Fabergé Egg that Peter Karl Fabergé secretly created to honor his divided allegiance to both the people of Russia and the Imperial tsar's family. When Alma and her husband escaped Russia for their native Finland in 1921, she took the secret with her, guarding her past connection to the Romanov family. Three generations later, world-renowned treasure hunter Nick Laine is sick and fears the secret of the missing egg will die with him. With time running out, he entrusts the mission of retrieving the egg to his estranged daughter, Ava, who has little idea of the dangers she is about to face.
Revell | 9780800740429
THE MISSION HOUSE by Carys Davies (Fiction)
Hilary Byrd flees his demons and the dark undercurrents of contemporary life in England for a former British hill station in south India. Charmed by the foreignness of his new surroundings and by the familiarity of everything the British have left behind, he finds solace in life’s simple pleasures, travelling by rickshaw around the small town with his driver Jamshed and staying in a mission house beside the local presbytery where, after a chance meeting, the Padre and his adoptive daughter Priscilla take Hilary under their wing. The Padre is concerned for Priscilla’s future, and as Hilary’s friendship with the young woman grows, he begins to wonder if his purpose lies in this new relationship. But religious tensions are brewing, and the mission house may not be the safe haven it seems.
Scribner | 9781982144845
MOTHER MAY I by Joshilyn Jackson (Domestic Thriller)
Marrying into a family with wealth, power and connections, Bree Cabbat has all a woman could ever dream: a loving lawyer husband, two talented young teenage daughters, a new baby boy, a gorgeous home, and every opportunity in the world. Until the day Bree awakens and sees a witch peering into her bedroom window, an old gray-haired woman all dressed in black who vanishes as quickly as she appears. Later that day, she spies the old woman again, in the parking lot of her daughters’ private school...just minutes before Bree’s baby son vanishes. To get him back, Bree must complete one small --- but critical --- task. It seems harmless enough, but her action comes with a devastating price, making her complicit in a tangled web of tragedy and shocking secrets that will destroy everything she loves.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062855350
MURDER, SHE WROTE: DEBONAIR IN DEATH by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran (Mystery)
When Nelson Penzell, the co-owner of a local art and treasure store in Cabot Cove, is murdered, the nail tech from Jessica Fletcher's favorite beauty parlor is the main suspect. After all, she's the one who ran out of the store screaming, covered in blood and holding the murder weapon. Jessica is positive that Coreen can't possibly be guilty and is determined to prove it. When Michael Haggerty, a handsome MI-6 agent and Jessica's old friend, is caught snooping around the victim’s home, it's quickly apparent to her that she was right. Nelson has always had a bit of a reputation for being a rake, but Haggerty is sure his sins go far beyond what anyone in town imagined.
Berkley | 9780593333648
THE NINE LIVES OF ROSE NAPOLITANO by Donna Freitas (Fiction)
Rose Napolitano is fighting with her husband, Luke, about prenatal vitamins. She promised she'd take them, but didn't. Their marriage has come to rest on this one question: Can Rose find it in herself to become a mother? Rose is a successful professor and academic. She's never wanted to have a child. The fight ends, and with it their marriage. But then Rose has a fight with Luke about the vitamins --- again. This time the fight goes slightly differently, and so does Rose's future as she grapples with whether she can indeed give up the one thing she thought she knew about herself. Can she reimagine her life in a completely new way? That reimagining plays out again and again in each of Rose's nine lives, just as it does for each of us as we grow into adulthood.
Penguin Books | 9781984880611
NO HEAVEN FOR GOOD BOYS by Keisha Bush (Fiction)
When six-year-old Ibrahimah is approached in his rural village one day by Marabout Ahmed, a seemingly kind stranger and highly regarded teacher, the tides of his life turn forever. Ibrahimah is sent to the capital city of Dakar to join his cousin, Étienne, in studying the Koran under Marabout Ahmed for a year. But instead of the days of learning that Ibrahimah’s parents imagine, the young boys, called Talibé, are forced to beg in the streets in order to line their teacher’s pockets. To make it back home, Étienne and Ibrahimah must help each other survive both the dangers posed by their Marabout and the darker sides of Dakar: threats of black-market organ traders, rival packs of Talibé, and mounting student protest on the streets.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780399591983
NORTHERN SPY by Flynn Berry (Thriller)
A producer at the BBC and mother to a new baby, Tessa is at work in Belfast one day when the news of another raid comes on the air. Bomb threats, security checkpoints and helicopters floating ominously over the city have become features of everyday life. As the news reporter requests the public's help in locating those responsible for the robbery, security footage reveals Tessa's sister, Marian, pulling a black ski mask over her face. The police believe Marian has joined the IRA, but Tessa is convinced she must have been abducted or coerced. When the truth about Marian comes to light, Tessa is faced with impossible choices that will test the limits of her ideals, the bonds of her family, her notions of right and wrong, and her identity as a sister and a mother.
Penguin Books | 9780735225015
ONE LAST CHANCE: A Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mystery by Jeffrey Siger (Mystery)
Paperback Original
When Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis' longtime assistant, Maggie, returns to her ancestral home on Ikaria for her 104-year-old grandmother's funeral, she quickly realizes not only was Yiayia likely murdered, but that a series of other long-lived Ikariots had recently died under the same suspicious circumstances. Back in Athens, Andreas and his chief detective, Yianni, pursue a smuggling and protection ring embedded in the Greek DEA, and its possible involvement in the assassination of an undercover cop. But then Maggie and Yianni uncover a connection between their respective leads in the elder-killings on Ikaria and the DEA corruption case, and they realize that there are international intrigues far more dangerous at play than anyone had imagined.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728252957
OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN by R.J. Hoffmann (Fiction)
As soon as Gail and Jon Durbin bring home their adopted baby Maya, she becomes the glue that mends their fractured marriage. But the Durbins' social worker, Paige, can’t find the teenage birth mother to sign the consent forms. By law, Carli has 72 hours to change her mind. Without her signature, the adoption will unravel. Carli is desperate to pursue her dreams, so giving her baby a life with the Durbins seems like the right choice --- until her own mother throws down an ultimatum. Soon Carli realizes how few choices she has. As the hours tick by, Paige knows that the Durbins’ marriage won’t survive the loss of Maya, but everyone’s life is shattered when they --- and baby Maya --- disappear without a trace.
Simon & Schuster | 9781982159108
PEACES by Helen Oyeyemi (Fiction/Magical Realism)
When Otto and Xavier Shin declare their love, an aunt gifts them a trip on a sleeper train to mark their new commitment --- and to get them out of her house. Setting off with their pet mongoose, Otto and Xavier arrive at their sleepy local train station, but quickly deduce that The Lucky Day is no ordinary locomotive. Their trip on this former tea-smuggling train has been curated beyond their wildest imaginations, complete with mysterious and welcoming touches, like ingredients for their favorite breakfast. They seem to be the only people onboard, until Otto discovers a secretive woman who issues a surprising message. As further clues and questions pile up, Otto and Xavier begin to see connections to their own pasts that now bind them together.
Riverhead Books | 9780593192344
THE PERFECT DAUGHTER by D.J. Palmer (Psychological Thriller)
Sixteen-year-old Penny Francone is a murderer. Will she be found not guilty by reason of insanity? Or will she get a life sentence in a maximum-security prison? Already reeling after the sudden passing of her beloved husband, Grace is grateful that Massachusetts doesn't allow the death penalty. As Penny awaits trial in a state mental hospital, she is treated by Dr. Mitchell McHugh, a psychiatrist battling demons of his own. Grace’s determination to understand the why behind her daughter’s terrible crime fuels Mitch’s resolve to help the Francone family. Together, they set out in search of the truth about Penny, but discover instead a shocking hidden history of secrets, lies and betrayals that threatens to consume them all.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250267948
POPPY IN THE WILD: A Lost Dog, Fifteen Hundred Acres of Wilderness, and the Dogged Determination that Brought Her Home by Teresa J. Rhyne (Memoir)
After losing her beloved beagle Daphne to lymphoma, author Teresa Rhyne launches herself into fostering other dogs in need, including Poppy, a small, frightened beagle rescued from the China dog meat trade. The elation of rescue quickly turns to hysteria when Poppy breaks free from a potential adopter during a torrential thunderstorm and disappears into a rugged, mountainous, 1,500-acre wilderness park, bordered by a busy road. Through an unexpected late night encounter, Poppy is eventually caught. After her time in the wild, a surprisingly transformed Poppy reunites with Teresa and is ready to be welcomed into her forever home.
Pegasus Books | 9781639362059
THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS by Elly Griffiths (Mystery)
The death of a 90-year-old woman with a heart condition should not be suspicious. Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur certainly sees nothing out of the ordinary when Peggy’s caretaker, Natalka, begins to recount Peggy Smith’s passing. But Natalka had a reason to be at the police station. While clearing out Peggy’s flat, she noticed an unusual number of crime novels, all dedicated to Peggy. And each psychological thriller included a mysterious postscript: PS: for PS. When a gunman breaks into the flat to steal a book and its author is found dead shortly thereafter, Detective Kaur begins to think that perhaps there is no such thing as an unsuspicious death after all.
Mariner Books | 9780358695226
RAISING THE BAR: A Lawyer’s Memoir by Ruth Rymer (Memoir)
Paperback Original
As a young teenager, Ruth Rymer decided she wanted to be a lawyer because "lawyers get to walk around the courtroom and ask the questions." On her 40th birthday as a newly minted attorney, Rymer made a decision to root out misogyny in her professional life. Her law career included establishing family law as a certified specialty in California, leading the way to making family law a more respectable practice for attorneys. In 1996, Rymer was awarded a PhD for her study of divorce and the fight of women for their "lives, safety, sanity, and status." From the "child in residence" she once was to the women's rights champion she is today, Rymer has come a long way. RAISING THE BAR uplifts with the courage and persistence it took to be a pioneer advocate for women in the second half of the 20th century.
Mill City Press, Inc. | 9781662832048
RAZORBLADE TEARS by S. A. Cosby (Mystery/Thriller)
Ike Randolph has been out of jail for 15 years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid. The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss. Derek’s father, Buddy Lee, was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed that his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy. Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge.
Flatiron Books | 9781250252715
THE SECRET LIFE OF DOROTHY SOAMES: A Memoir by Justine Cowan (Memoir)
Justine Cowan had always been told that her mother came from royal blood. The proof could be found in her mother’s elegance, her upper crust London accent --- and in a cryptic letter hinting at her claim to a country estate. But beneath the polished veneer lay a fearsome, unpredictable temper that drove Justine from home the moment she was old enough to escape. Years later, when her mother sent her an envelope filled with secrets from the past, she buried it in the back of an old filing cabinet. Overcome with grief after her mother’s death, Justine found herself drawn back to that envelope. Its contents revealed a mystery that stretched back to the early years of World War II and beyond, into the dark corridors of the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062991027
SUPER HOST by Kate Russo (Fiction)
Bennett Driscoll is a Turner Prize-nominated artist who was once a rising star. Now, at age 55, his wife has left him, he hasn't sold a painting in two years, and his gallery wants to stop selling his work, claiming they'll have more value retrospectively...when he's dead. So, left with a large West London home and no income, he's forced to move into his artist's studio in the back garden and list his house on a popular vacation rental site. A stranger now in his own home, with his daughter, Mia, off at art school, and any new relationships fizzling out at best, Bennett struggles to find purpose in his day-to-day. That all changes when three different guests unwittingly unlock the pieces of himself that have been lost to him for too long.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593187722
SURVIVING SAVANNAH by Patti Callahan (Historical Fiction)
When Savannah history professor Everly Winthrop is asked to guest-curate a new museum collection focusing on artifacts recovered from the steamship Pulaski, she's shocked. The ship sank after a boiler explosion in 1838, and the wreckage was just discovered, 180 years later. Everly's research leads her to the astounding history of a family of 11 who boarded the Pulaski together, and the extraordinary stories of two women from this family: a known survivor, Augusta Longstreet, and her niece, Lilly Forsyth, who was never found, along with her child. These aristocratic women were part of Savannah's society, but when the ship exploded, each was faced with difficult and heartbreaking decisions.
Berkley | 9781984803771
THAT SUMMER by Jennifer Weiner (Fiction)
With a thriving cooking business, a full schedule of volunteer work, and a beautiful home, Daisy Shoemaker should be content. But her teenage daughter can be a handful, her husband can be distant, her work can feel trivial, and she has no real friends. While Daisy tries to identify the root of her dissatisfaction, she’s also receiving misdirected emails meant for a woman named Diana Starling, whose email address is just one punctuation mark away from her own. Diana’s glamorous, sophisticated, single-lady life is miles away from Daisy’s simpler existence. When an apology leads to an invitation, the two women meet and become friends. But, as they get closer, we learn that their connection was not completely accidental.
Washington Square Press | 9781501133558
TREJO: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood by Danny Trejo with Donal Logue (Memoir)
On screen, Danny Trejo the actor is a baddie who has been killed at least a hundred times. Off screen, he’s a hero beloved by recovery communities and obsessed fans alike. But the real Danny Trejo is much more complicated than the legend. Raised in an abusive home, Danny struggled with heroin addiction and stints in some of the country’s most notorious state prisons from an early age before starring in such modern classics as Heat, From Dusk till Dawn and Machete. Now, in this funny, painful and suspenseful memoir, Danny takes us through the incredible ups and downs of his life, including meeting one of the world’s most notorious serial killers in prison and working with legends like Charles Bronson and Robert De Niro.
Atria Books | 9781982150839
THE UNREASONABLE VIRTUE OF FLY FISHING by Mark Kurlansky (Nature/History)
Fly fishing, historian Mark Kurlansky has found, is a battle of wits, fly fisher vs. fish --- and the fly fisher does not always (or often) win. The targets --- salmon, trout and char; and for some, bass, tarpon, tuna, bonefish and even marlin --- are highly intelligent, wily, strong and athletic animals. The allure, Kurlansky learns, is that fly fishing makes catching a fish as difficult as possible. There is an art, too, in the crafting of flies. Beautiful and intricate, some are made with more than two dozen pieces of feather and fur from a wide range of animals. The cast as well is a matter of grace and rhythm, with different casts and rods yielding varying results.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635578751
THE UNWILLING by John Hart (Historical Thriller)
Gibby's brother, Jason, won't speak of the war or of his time behind bars, but he wants a relationship with the younger brother he hasn't known for years. Determined to make that connection, he coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake with some older women. But the day turns ugly when they encounter a prison transfer bus on a stretch of empty road. One of the women taunts the prisoners, leading to a riot on the bus. The woman finds it funny in the moment, but is savagely murdered soon after. Given his violent history, suspicion turns first to Jason. But when the second woman is kidnapped, the police suspect Gibby, too. Determined to prove Jason innocent, Gibby must avoid the cops and dive deep into his brother's hidden life. What he discovers is a truth more disturbing than he ever could have imagined.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250168382
WHAT COMES AFTER by JoAnne Tompkins (Mystery)
Isaac lives alone with his dog, grieving the recent death of his teenage son. Next door, Lorrie, a working single mother, struggles with a heinous act committed by her own teenage son. The two parents are emotionally stranded, isolated by their great losses --- until an unfamiliar 16-year-old girl shows up, bridges the gap and changes everything. Evangeline’s arrival at first feels like a blessing, but she is also clearly hiding something. When Isaac, who has retreated into his Quaker faith, isn’t equipped to handle her alone, Lorrie forges her own relationship with the girl. Soon all three characters are forced to examine what really happened in their overlapping pasts, and what it all possibly means for a shared future.
Riverhead Books | 9780593086001
WHEN THE STARS GO DARK by Paula McLain (Literary Thriller)
Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived there as a child with her beloved foster parents, and now she believes it might be the only place left for her. Yet the day she arrives, she learns that a local teenage girl has gone missing. The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna’s childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl touched Mendocino and changed the community forever. As past and present collide, Anna realizes that she has been led to this moment.
Ballantine Books | 9780593237915
On Sale the Week of April 11th in Hardcover
April 12th
ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING by Lisa Hsiao Chen (Fiction)
Alice, a Taiwanese immigrant, struggles to create a project about the enigmatic downtown performance artist Tehching Hsieh and his monumental, year-long 1980s performance pieces. Meanwhile, she becomes the caretaker for her aging stepfather, a Vietnam vet whose dream of making traditional Chinese furniture dissolved in alcoholism and dementia. As Alice roots deeper into Hsieh’s radical use of time and his mysterious disappearance from the art world, her project starts metabolizing events from her own life. She wanders from subway rides to street protests, loses touch with a friend and tenderly observes her father’s slow decline.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393881127
BOMB SHELTER: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott (Memoir)
A lifelong worrier, Mary Laura Philpott always kept an eye out for danger, a habit that only intensified when she became a parent. But she looked on the bright side, too, believing that as long as she cared enough, she could keep her loved ones safe. Then, in the dark of one quiet, pre-dawn morning, she woke abruptly to a terrible sound --- and found her teenage son unconscious on the floor. In the aftermath of a crisis that darkened her signature sunny spirit, she wondered: If this happened, what else could happen? And how do any of us keep going when we can’t know for sure what’s coming next?
Atria Books | 9781982160784
BRIGHTER BY THE DAY: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams by Robin Roberts with Michelle Burford (Self-Help/Motivational & Inspirational)
Over the last 16 years as the esteemed anchor of "Good Morning America," Robin Roberts has helped millions of people across the country greet each new morning, gracing our screens with heart and humility. She has sought to bring a bit of positivity into each day, even in the most trying of times. Now, she shares with readers the guidance she’s received, her own hard-won wisdom, and eye-opening experiences that have helped her find the good in the world and usher in light --- even on the darkest days. Drawing on advice and knowledge she gleaned from conversations with loved ones, spiritual practices and life experiences, Robin offers a window into how she feeds her own mind, spirit and soul and invites readers to do the same.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538754610
GATHERING BLOSSOMS UNDER FIRE: The Journals of Alice Walker, 1965–2000 written by Alice Walker, edited by Valerie Boyd (Literary Collection)
For the first time, the edited journals of Alice Walker are gathered together to reflect the complex, passionate, talented and acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winner. In an unvarnished and singular voice, she explores an astonishing array of events: marching in Mississippi with other foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement; her marriage to a Jewish lawyer; an early miscarriage; writing her first novel; the trials and triumphs of the Women’s Movement; erotic encounters and enduring relationships; the ancestral visits that led her to write THE COLOR PURPLE; winning the Pulitzer Prize; being admired and maligned, sometimes in equal measure, for her work and her activism; and burying her mother.
Simon & Schuster | 9781476773155
HEALING: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient by Theresa Brown, RN (Memoir)
New York Times bestselling author Theresa Brown tells a poignant, powerful and intensely personal story about breast cancer. She brings us along with her from the mammogram that would change her life through her diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Despite her training and years of experience as an oncology and hospice nurse, she finds herself continually surprised by the lack of compassion in the medical maze. Why is she expected to wait over a long weekend to hear the results of her cancer tests if they are ready? Where is the empathy from caregivers? Why is she so often left in the dark about procedures and treatments? At times she’s mad at herself for not speaking up and asking for what she needs. But she knows that being labeled a “difficult” patient could mean she gets worse care.
Algonquin Books | 9781643750699
HELLO, MOLLY!: A Memoir by Molly Shannon with Sean Wilsey (Memoir)
At age four, Molly Shannon’s world was shattered when she lost her mother, baby sister and cousin in a car accident with her father at the wheel. She was raised in a permissive household where her gift for improvising and role-playing blossomed alongside the fearlessness that would lead her to become a celebrated actress. From there, Molly ventured into the wider world of New York and Los Angeles show business, where she created her own opportunities and developed her daring and empathetic comedy. Filled with behind-the-scenes stories, HELLO, MOLLY! spans Molly’s time on "Saturday Night Live." At the same time, it explores with humor and candor her struggle to come to terms with the legacy of her father.
Ecco | 9780063056237
IN A TIME OF DISTANCE: And Other Poems written by Alexander McCall Smith, with illustrations by Iain McIntosh (Poetry)
What matters most in life? For Alexander McCall Smith, it is friendship, love and travel --- the themes found throughout his work that have made him a cherished writer the world over. This first collection of Smith’s poems reflects on these topics with all his characteristic wit and charm. There are moments of sweeping insight and soaring feeling, and moments that will have you laughing along as they subtly shift your worldview. This inimitable writer shares his distinctively astute and good-natured observations on life, love and beauty, reminding us of the deep satisfaction that can be found when we open ourselves up to the world with our whole heart, and watch as it takes on a kinder and gentler shape.
Pantheon | 9780593315989
INSOMNIA by Sarah Pinborough (Psychological Thriller)
Emma can’t sleep. It’s been like this since her big 4-0 started getting closer. Her mother stopped sleeping just before her own 40th birthday. She went mad and did the unthinkable because of it. Is that what’s happening to Emma?
William Morrow | 9780062856845
THE INVESTIGATOR: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford (Mystery/Thriller)
A recent Stanford grad, Letty Davenport is restless and bored in a desk job for U.S. Senator Colles. But then Colles offers her a carrot: feet-on-the-ground investigative work, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security. Several oil companies in Texas have reported thefts of crude. Rumor has it that a fairly ugly militia group --- led by a woman known only as Lorelai --- might be involved. Colles wants to know if the money is going to them, and if so, what they’re planning. Letty is partnered with a DHS investigator, John Kaiser, and they head to Texas. When the case quickly turns deadly, they know they’re on the track of something bigger. Lorelai and her group have set in motion an explosive plan...and the clock is ticking down.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593328682
LAST DANCE ON THE STARLIGHT PIER by Sarah Bird (Historical Fiction)
July 3, 1932. Shivering and in shock, Evie Grace Devlin watches the Starlite Palace burn into the sea and wonders how she became a person who would cause a man to kill himself. She’d come to Galveston to escape a dark past in vaudeville and become a good person, a nurse. When that dream is cruelly thwarted, Evie is swept into the alien world of dance marathons. All that she has been denied --- a family, a purpose, even love --- waits for her there in the place she dreads most: the spotlight.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250265548
LEFT ON TENTH: A Second Chance at Life: A Memoir by Delia Ephron (Memoir)
Delia Ephron had struggled through several years of heartbreak. She’d lost her sister, Nora, and then her husband, Jerry, both to cancer. Several months after Jerry’s death, she shut down his landline, which crashed her internet. She channeled her grief by writing a New York Times op-ed. The piece caught the attention of Peter, a Bay Area psychiatrist, who emailed her to commiserate. Recently widowed himself, he reminded her that they had shared a few dates 54 years before, set up by Nora. Delia did not remember him, but after several weeks of exchanging emails and ’60s folk songs, he flew east to see her. They were crazy, utterly, in love. But four months later, she was diagnosed with AML, a fierce leukemia.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316267656
THE LOST BOOK OF ELEANOR DARE by Kimberly Brock (Historical Fiction)
What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke remains a mystery, but the women who descended from Eleanor Dare have long known that the truth lies in what she left behind: a message carved onto a large stone and the contents of her treasured commonplace book. In the waning days of World War II, Eleanor's daughter, Alice, is unexpectedly presented with her birthright: the deed to Evertell, her abandoned family home. Determined to sell the property and step into a future free of the past, Alice returns to Savannah with her 13-year-old daughter, Penn. But when Penn’s curiosity over the lineage she never knew begins to unveil secrets, and Eleanor’s book is finally found, Alice is forced to reckon with the sacrifices made for love and the realities of their true inheritance as daughters of Eleanor Dare.
Harper Muse | 9781400234202
MRS. ENGLAND by Stacey Halls (Historical Fiction)
West Yorkshire, 1904. When recently graduated Ruby May takes a nanny position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear something is not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs. England. Distant and withdrawn, Lilian shows little interest in her children or charming husband and is far from the angel of the house Ruby was expecting. As the warm, vivacious Charles welcomes Ruby into the family, a series of strange events forces her to question everything she thought she knew.
Mira | 9780778386315
NOBODY GETS OUT ALIVE: Stories by Leigh Newman (Fiction/Short Stories)
Set in Leigh Newman’s home state of Alaska, NOBODY GETS OUT ALIVE is a collection of dazzling, courageous stories about women struggling to survive not just grizzly bears and charging moose but the raw, exhausting legacy of their marriages and families. In “Howl Palace” --- winner of The Paris Review’s Terry Southern Prize, a Best American Short Story, and Pushcart Prize selection --- an aging widow struggles with a rogue hunting dog and the memories of her five ex-husbands while selling her house after bankruptcy. In the title story, “Nobody Gets Out Alive,” newly married Katrina visits her hometown of Anchorage and blows up her own wedding reception by flirting with the host and running off with an enormous mastodon tusk.
Scribner | 9781982180300
ONE-SHOT HARRY by Gary Phillips (Historical Mystery)
Los Angeles, 1963. African American Korean War veteran Harry Ingram earns a living as a news photographer and occasional process server: chasing police radio calls and dodging baseball bats. With racial tensions running high on the eve of Martin Luther King’s Freedom Rally, Ingram risks becoming a victim at every crime scene he photographs. When Ingram hears about a deadly automobile accident on his police scanner, he recognizes the vehicle described as belonging to his good friend and old army buddy, a white jazz trumpeter. The LAPD declares the car crash an accident, but when Ingram develops his photos, he sees signs of foul play. Ingram feels compelled to play detective, even if it means putting his own life on the line.
Soho Crime | 9781641292917
PARADISE FALLS: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe by Keith O'Brien (Biography)
Lois Gibbs, Luella Kenny and other mothers loved their neighborhood on the east side of Niagara Falls. It had an elementary school, a playground and rows of affordable homes. But in the spring of 1977, pungent odors began to seep into these little houses, and it didn’t take long for worried mothers to identify the curious scent. It was the sickly sweet smell of chemicals. In PARADISE FALLS, New York Times journalist Keith O’Brien uncovers how Gibbs and Kenny exposed the poisonous secrets buried in their neighborhood.
Pantheon | 9780593318430
THE PATRON SAINT OF SECOND CHANCES by Christine Simon (Fiction/Humor)
Vacuum repairman and self-appointed mayor of Prometto, Italy, Signor Speranza has a problem. Unless he can come up with 70,000 euros to fix the town’s pipes, the water commission will shut off the water to the village and all its residents will be forced to disperse. So in a bid to boost tourism --- and revenue --- he spreads a harmless rumor that movie star Dante Rinaldi will be filming his next project nearby. Unfortunately, the plan works a little too well, and soon everyone in town wants to be a part of the fictional film. To his surprise, Speranza realizes that the only way to keep up the ruse is to make the movie for real. But what happens when Dante Rinaldi doesn’t show up? Or worse, what if he does?
Atria Books | 9781982188771
THE SACRED BRIDGE: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel by Anne Hillerman (Mystery)
Sergeant Jim Chee is on a quest to unravel a sacred mystery that his mentor, the Legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, stumbled across decades earlier. Chee’s journey takes a deadly turn when he spots a body floating in the lake. The dead man, a Navajo with a passion for the canyon’s ancient rock art, lived a life filled with many secrets. Discovering why he died and who was responsible involves Chee in an investigation that puts his own life at risk. Meanwhile, Officer Bernadette Manuelito is driving home when she witnesses an expensive sedan purposely kill a hitchhiker. The search to find the killer leads her to uncover a dangerous chain of interconnected revelations involving a Navajo Nation cannabis enterprise.
Harper | 9780062908360
SUMMER AT THE CAPE by RaeAnne Thayne (Fiction)
As the older sibling to identical twins Violet and Lily, Cami Porter was always the odd sister out. The divide grew even wider when their parents split up. While the twins stayed in Cape Sanctuary with their free-spirited mother, 14-year-old Cami moved to LA with her attorney father. Nearly 20 years later, when Cami gets the terrible news that Lily has drowned saving a child’s life, her mother begs her to return home to help untangle the complicated estate issues her sister left behind. Cami readjusts to the family and community she hasn’t known for decades, including the neighbor who stands in the way of her late sister’s dream. Violet grieves the loss of her twin and struggles to figure out who she is now, without her other half, as the little girl Lily saved pulls her back into the orbit of the man she once loved.
HQN | 9781335936356
TAKE MY HAND by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Fiction)
Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies. But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, she is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are just 11 and 13 years old. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.
Berkley | 9780593337691
TASHA: A Son's Memoir by Brian Morton (Memoir)
Tasha Morton is a force of nature: a brilliant educator who’s left her mark on generations of students --- and also a whirlwind of a mother, intrusive, chaotic, oppressively devoted and irrepressible. For decades, her son Brian has kept her at a self-protective distance, but when her health begins to fail, he knows it’s time to assume responsibility for her care. Even so, he’s not prepared for what awaits him, as her refusal to accept her own fragility leads to a series of epic outbursts and altercations that are sometimes frightening, sometimes wildly comic, and sometimes both.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982178932
THREE DEBTS PAID: A Daniel Pitt Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
A serial killer is roaming the streets of London, and Daniel Pitt’s university chum Ian, now a member of the police, is leading the search. The murders happen on rainy nights, but Ian knows the victims must have something in common beyond the weather. He turns to Miriam fford Croft, Daniel’s good friend and now officially one of the first female pathologists in London, to tap her scientific know-how to find details he and Daniel have missed. With Miriam involved in the murder investigation, Ian passes Daniel the case of Nicholas Wolford, their former university professor. Charged with assault after reacting violently to an accusation of plagiarism, Wolford is loath to admit he was in the wrong. But Daniel must defend him --- whether he likes him or not.
Ballantine Books | 9780593358733
A TINY UPWARD SHOVE by Melissa Chadburn (Fiction)
Marina Salles’ life does not end the day she wakes up dead. Instead, in the course of a moment, she is transformed into the stuff of myth, the stuff of her grandmother’s old Filipino stories --- an aswang, a creature of mystery and vengeance. She spent her time on earth on the margins. Shot like a pinball through a childhood of loss, she was a veteran of Child Protective Services and a survivor, but always reacting, watching from a distance, understanding very little of her own life, let alone the lives of others. Death brings her into the hearts and minds of those she has known --- even her killer --- as she accesses their memories and sees anew the meaning of her own.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374277758
TO THE UTTERMOST ENDS OF THE EARTH: The Epic Hunt for the South's Most Feared Ship --- and the Greatest Sea Battle of the Civil War by Phil Keith with Tom Clavin (History)
On June 19, 1864, just off the coast of France, one of the most dramatic naval battles in history took place. On a clear day with windswept skies, the dreaded Confederate raider Alabama faced the Union warship Kearsarge in an all-or-nothing fight to the finish, the outcome of which would effectively end the threat of the Confederacy on the high seas. Authors Phil Keith and Tom Clavin introduce some of the crucial but historically overlooked players, including John Winslow, captain of the USS Kearsarge, as well as Raphael Semmes, captain of the CSS Alabama. Winslow pursued Semmes in a spectacular 14-month chase over international waters, culminating in what would become the climactic sea battle of the Civil War.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335471413
TRUE: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson by Kostya Kennedy (Sports/Biography)
TRUE is an unconventional biography, focusing on four transformative years in Jackie Robinson's athletic and public life: 1946, his first year playing in the essentially all-white minor leagues for the Montreal Royals; 1949, when he won the Most Valuable Player Award in his third season as a Brooklyn Dodger; 1956, his final season in major league baseball, when he played valiantly despite his increasing health struggles; and 1972, the year of his untimely death. Through it all, Robinson remained true to the effort and the mission, true to his convictions and contradictions. These four crucial years offer a unique vision of Robinson as a player, a father and husband, and a civil rights hero.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250274045
UNLIKELY ANIMALS by Annie Hartnett (Fiction)
Natural-born healer Emma Starling once had big plans for her life, but she’s lost her way. A medical school dropout, she’s come back to Everton, New Hampshire, to care for her father, who is dying from a mysterious brain disease. Clive Starling has been hallucinating small animals, as well as having visions of the ghost of a long-dead naturalist, Ernest Harold Baynes, once known for letting wild animals live in his house. This ghost has been giving Clive some ideas on how to spend his final days. Emma arrives home knowing she must face her dad’s illness, her mom’s judgment and her younger brother’s recent stint in rehab. But she’s unprepared to find that her former best friend from high school is missing, with no one bothering to look for her.
Ballantine Books | 9780593160220
WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE by Anna Quindlen (Personal Growth/Inspiration & Motivation)
What really matters in life? What truly lasts in our hearts and minds? Where can we find community, history, humanity? In WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE, the answer is clear: through writing. This is a book for what Anna Quindlen calls “civilians,” those who want to use the written word to become more human, more themselves. It argues that there has never been a more important time to stop and record what we are thinking and feeling. Using examples from past, present and future --- from Anne Frank to Toni Morrison, from love letters written after World War II to journal reflections from nurses and doctors today --- WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE vividly illuminates the ways in which writing connects us to ourselves and to those we cherish.
Random House | 9780593229835
April 13th
MAJOR LEAGUE REBELS: Baseball Battles Over Workers' Rights and American Empire by Robert Elias and Peter Dreier (Sports/History)
In MAJOR LEAGUE REBELS, Robert Elias and Peter Dreier reveal a little-known yet important history of rebellion among professional ballplayers. These reformers took inspiration from the country’s dissenters and progressive movements, speaking and acting against abuses within their profession and their country. Elias and Dreier profile the courageous players who demanded better working conditions, battled against corporate power, and challenged America’s unjust wars, imperialism and foreign policies, resisting the brash patriotism that many link with the “national pastime.”
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | 9781538158883
On Sale the Week of April 11th in Paperback
April 12th
DEATH WITH A DOUBLE EDGE: A Daniel Pitt Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
Junior barrister Daniel Pitt is summoned to the scene of a murder in the London district known as Mile End. The victim is a senior barrister from the same firm. The firm’s head, Marcus fford Croft, may know more than he admits, but his memory is not what it used to be. Daniel and Kitteridge’s inquiries lead them to a local brothel and to an opium den, but also to a wealthy shipbuilder crucial to Britain’s effort to build up its fleet, which may soon face the fearsome naval might of Germany. Daniel finds his path blocked by officials at every turn, and even his father receives a chilling warning from a powerful source. Suddenly, not just Daniel but his whole family --- including his beloved mother, Charlotte --- is in danger.
Ballantine Books | 9780593159354
FIRST, BECOME ASHES by K.M. Szpara (Fantasy/Adventure)
For 30 years, the Fellowship of the Anointed isolated its members, conditioning them to believe that pain is power and magic is suffering. But when their leader is arrested, all her teachings come into question. How will they adjust to the world they were taught to fear, and how will they relate to the cult's last crusader, Lark? For Kane, survival means rejecting the magic he and his lover suffered for. For Deryn, the cult's collapse is an opportunity to prove they are worth as much as their Anointed brother. For Calvin, lark is the alluring embodiment of the magic he's been seeking his entire life. But for Lark, the Fellowship isn’t over. Before he can begin to discover himself and heal a lifetime of traumas, he has a monster to slay.
Tordotcom | 9781250216328
HOT STEW by Fiona Mozley (Fiction)
In the middle of the bustle of Soho sits a building that young millionaire Agatha Howard wants to convert into luxury condos as soon as she can kick out all the tenants. However, the building in question houses a brothel, and Precious and Tabitha, two of the women who live and work there, are not going to go quietly. The fight over this piece of property also draws in the men who visit, including Robert, a one-time member of a far-right group and enforcer for Agatha’s father; Jackie, a policewoman intent on making London a safer place for all women; Bastian, a rich and dissatisfied party boy who pines for an ex-girlfriend; and a collection of vagabonds and strays who occupy the basement.
Algonquin Books | 9781643752600
THE HUSBANDS by Chandler Baker (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Nora Spangler is a successful attorney, but when it comes to domestic life, she packs the lunches, schedules the doctor appointments, knows where the extra paper towel rolls are, and designs and orders the holiday cards. Her husband works hard, too...but why does it seem like she is always working so much harder? The Spanglers go house hunting in Dynasty Ranch, a nice suburban neighborhood where Nora meets a group of high-powered women with enviably supportive husbands. When she agrees to help with a resident’s gruesome wrongful death case, she delves into the lives of the women there. As the case unravels, Nora uncovers a plot that may explain the secret to having it all. One that’s worth killing for.
Flatiron Books | 9781250205384
JUST ONE LOOK by Lindsay Cameron (Psychological Thriller)
After suffering an epic tumble down the corporate ladder, Cassie Woodson takes a thankless temp job reviewing correspondence for a large-scale fraud suit. While sorting through a relentless deluge of emails, something catches her eye: the tender (and totally private) exchanges between a partner at the firm, Forest Watts, and his enchanting wife, Annabelle. By peeking into their apparently perfect life, Cassie finds renewed purpose and happiness. But when she orchestrates a “chance” meeting with Forest in the real world and sees something that throws the state of his marriage into question, the fantasy she’s been carefully cultivating shatters. Suddenly, she doesn’t simply admire Annabelle --- she wants to take her place. And she’s armed with the tools to make that happen.
Ballantine Books | 9780593159071
MURDER IN OLD BOMBAY by Nev March (Historical Mystery)
In 1892, Bombay is the center of British India. Nearby, Captain Jim Agnihotri lies in Poona military hospital recovering from a skirmish on the wild northern frontier, with little to do but re-read the tales of his idol, Sherlock Holmes, and browse the daily papers. The case that catches Captain Jim's attention is being called the crime of the century: Two women fell from the busy university’s clock tower in broad daylight. Moved by Adi, the widower of one of the victims --- and his certainty that his wife and sister did not commit suicide --- Captain Jim approaches the Parsee family and is hired to investigate what happened that terrible afternoon. But in a land of divided loyalties, asking questions is dangerous.
Minotaur Books | 9781250813824
THE NEW NEIGHBOR by Carter Wilson (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Aidan Marlowe has been playing the same lottery numbers for 15 years, never hitting the jackpot. Until now. On the day of his wife's funeral. Aidan struggles to cope with these two sudden extremes. But the money gives him and his kids options they didn't have before. They can leave everything behind and start a new life in a new town. So they do. But a huge new house and all the money in the world can't replace what they've lost, and it's not long before Aidan realizes he's merely trading old demons for new ones. Because someone is watching him and his family very closely. Someone who knows exactly who they are, where they've come from and what they're trying to hide. Someone who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728247526
THE NO-SHOW by Beth O'Leary (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Siobhan is a quick-tempered life coach with way too much on her plate. Miranda is a tree surgeon used to being treated as just one of the guys on the job. Jane is a soft-spoken volunteer for the local charity shop with zero sense of self-worth. These three women are strangers who have only one thing in common: they’ve all been stood up on the same day, the very worst day to be stood up --- Valentine’s Day. And, unbeknownst to them, they’ve all been stood up by the same man. Once they've each forgiven him for standing them up, they are all in serious danger of falling in love with a man who may have not just one or two but three women on the go. Is there more to him than meets the eye?
Berkley | 9780593438442
PEOPLE LIKE HER by Ellery Lloyd (Psychological Thriller)
To her adoring fans, Emmy Jackson, aka @the_mamabare, is the honest “Instamum” who always tells it like it is. To her skeptical husband, a washed-up novelist who knows just how creative Emmy can be with the truth, she is a breadwinning powerhouse who is chillingly brilliant at monetizing the intimate details of their family life. To one of Emmy’s dangerously obsessive followers, she’s the woman who has everything --- but deserves none of it. As Emmy’s marriage begins to crack under the strain of her growing success and her moral compass veers wildly off course, the more vulnerable she becomes to a very real danger circling ever closer to her family.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062997401
RUBY FALLS by Deborah Goodrich Royce (Psychological Thriller)
On a brilliantly sunny July day, six-year-old Ruby is abandoned by her father in the suffocating dark of a Tennessee cave. Twenty years later, transformed into soap opera star Eleanor Russell, she is fired under dubious circumstances. Fleeing to Europe, she marries a glamorous stranger named Orlando Montague and keeps her past closely hidden. Together, Eleanor and Orlando start afresh in LA. Setting up house in a storybook cottage in the Hollywood Hills, Eleanor is cast in a dream role --- the lead in a remake of REBECCA. As she immerses herself in that eerie gothic tale, Orlando’s personality changes, ghosts of her past re-emerge, and Eleanor fears she is not the only person in her marriage with a secret.
Post Hill Press | 9781637583340
RUST & STARDUST by T. Greenwood (Historical Thriller)
Camden, NJ, 1948. When Sally Horner steals a notebook from the local Woolworth's, she’s accosted by an FBI agent. Sally dutifully follows his orders, oblivious to a haunting reality: he’s not an FBI agent. And he’s going to kidnap her. RUST & STARDUST traces the next two harrowing years for Sally as she’s held captive, forever altering her life and the lives of her family, friends and those she meets along the way as they travel from Camden to San Jose. Sally must overcome the impossible when all hope seems lost, waiting for the day she can return home and tell her story.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250164209
A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders (Literary Criticism/Essays)
For the last 20 years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9781984856036
THIS CLOSE TO OKAY by Leesa Cross-Smith (Fiction)
On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home from work when she spots a man precariously standing at the edge of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally shares his name: Emmett. Over the course of the emotionally charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe space for Emmett, though she hesitates to confess that this is also her day job. What she doesn’t realize is that Emmett isn’t the only one who needs healing --- and they both are harboring secrets.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538715369
WE BEGIN AT THE END by Chris Whitaker (Mystery/Thriller)
Duchess Day Radley is a 13-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Rules are for other people. She is the fierce protector of her five-year-old brother, Robin, and the parent to her mother, Star, a single mom incapable of taking care of herself, let alone her two kids. Walk has never left the coastal California town where he and Star grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. And he's in overdrive protecting Duchess and her brother. Now, 30 years later, Vincent is being released. And Duchess and Walk must face the trouble that comes with his return.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250759689
WHILE JUSTICE SLEEPS by Stacey Abrams (Legal Thriller)
Avery Keene, a brilliant young law clerk for the legendary Justice Howard Wynn, is doing her best to hold her strained personal life together. But when the shocking news breaks that Justice Wynn --- the cantankerous swing vote on the court --- has slipped into a coma, Avery’s life turns upside down. She learns that Wynn has appointed her to serve as his legal guardian and hold his power of attorney. Avery finds that Justice Wynn had been secretly researching one of the most controversial cases before the court --- a proposed merger between an American biotech company and an Indian genetics firm, which promises to unleash breathtaking results in the medical field. She also discovers that Wynn suspected a dangerous conspiracy was infiltrating the highest corridors of power in Washington.
Anchor | 9780593310939
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