January 16, 2024

January 16, 2024

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We have added a number of new subscribers in the last few weeks,
so we wanted to take a moment to welcome you to
Bookreporter.com's "On Sale This Week" newsletter!

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of January 15th and January 22nd 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 the Most Requested Guides of 2023 on ReadingGroupGuides.com. We pulled together the 30 guides that were accessed the most by you last year. Your top five picks are DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver, HORSE by Geraldine Brooks, HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano, MAD HONEY by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, and THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. We always love seeing which guides appealed to you the most!

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

Here are four upcoming virtual book and author events that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links for more info and to register.

Wednesday, January 17th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry --- will talk to Kristin Hannah about her upcoming novel, THE WOMEN, which is the F&F Pick of the Month for January.

Monday, January 22nd at 6pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Join Larissa Ackerman and Vida Engstrand for a preview of Kensington Books' Spring Mystery & Crime list, hosted by John Charles. One of the premier publishers of mystery and crime fiction, Kensington is known for a wide variety of styles, from traditional mysteries and cozies to historical crime novels and thrillers.

Tuesday, January 23rd at 1pm ET: Simon & Schuster's Book Club Favorites: Vanessa Chan will join members of the Simon & Schuster team to discuss her debut novel, THE STORM WE MADE, which is January's pick for S&S's Book Club Favorites.

Tuesday, January 23rd at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Stephen Hunter will talk about his latest book, FRONT SIGHT, a collection of three interconnected novellas that follows each generation of the iconic Swagger family.

This Week's Bonus News:
Most Requested Guides of 2023
on ReadingGroupGuides.com

Our Most Requested Guides feature for 2023 has been updated. We took a look at all of the guides that you accessed last year, and from there we pulled together a list of the top 30 titles. Below are the 10 most popular guides, and you can click here for the full list. We love seeing which books resonated the most with you and your group!

• DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver
• HORSE by Geraldine Brooks
• HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano
• MAD HONEY by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
• THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
• THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT by Maggie O'Farrell
• LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus
• THE MAID by Nita Prose
• REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt
• THE ISLAND OF MISSING TREES by Elif Shafak

Click here for the Top 30 Most Requested Guides of 2023.

On Sale the Week of January 15th in Hardcover

January 16th

BEAUTYLAND by Marie-Helene Bertino (Fiction)
At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Adina Giorno is tiny and jaundiced, but reaches for warmth and light. As a child, she recognizes that she is different; she also possesses knowledge of a faraway planet. The arrival of a fax machine enables her to contact her extraterrestrial relatives, beings who have sent her to report on the oddities of earthlings. For years, as she moves through the world and makes a life for herself among humans, she dispatches transmissions on the terrors and surprising joys of their existence. But at a precarious moment, a beloved friend urges Adina to share her messages with the world. Is there a chance she is not alone?
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374109288

BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA by Susan Muaddi Darraj (Fiction)
BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA brings us into the homes and lives of three main families --- the Baladis, the Salamehs and the Ammars --- Palestinian immigrants who’ve all found a different welcome in America. Their various fates and struggles cause their community dynamic to sizzle and sometimes explode. The wealthy Ammar family employs young Maysoon Baladi, whose own family struggles financially, to clean up after their spoiled teenagers. Meanwhile, Marcus Salameh confronts his father in an effort to protect his younger sister for “dishonoring” their name. Only a trip to Palestine, where Marcus experiences an unexpected and dramatic transformation, can bridge this seemingly unbridgeable divide between the two generations.
HarperVia | 9780063324237

THE CURSE OF PIETRO HOUDINI by Derek B. Miller (Historical Fiction)
August 1943. Newly orphaned and fleeing from Rome after surviving the American bombing raid that killed his parents, 14-year-old Massimo is attacked by thugs and finds himself bloodied at the base of the Montecassino. It is there in the Benedictine abbey’s shadow that a charismatic and cryptic man calling himself Pietro Houdini, the self-proclaimed “Master Artist and confidante of the Vatican,” rescues Massimo and brings him up the mountain to serve as his assistant in preserving the treasures that lay within the monastery walls. But can Massimo believe what Pietro is saying, particularly when Massimo has secrets too? When it becomes evident that Montecassino will soon become the front line in the war, Pietro Houdini and Massimo execute a plan to smuggle three priceless Titian paintings to safety down the mountain.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668020883

THE FURY by Alex Michaelides (Psychological Thriller)
Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island. I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time --- it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press sensation: a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder. We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered. But who am I? My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.
Celadon Books | 9781250758989

HERO by Thomas Perry (Thriller)
Justine Poole provides security for wealthy and high-profile Hollywood stars. When she prevents a brazen robbery at the Beverly Hills home of two of her clients --- killing two of the five armed robbers in the process --- she is initially lauded in the media as a local hero. But the spotlight soon puts her in the crosshairs of the crime kingpin behind the burglaries. Unable to stand the embarrassment of his lackeys having been defeated by a lone woman, Mr. Conger puts in a call to the one man who can make his problems disappear. Known for his swiftness and subtlety, Leo Sealy will kill anyone for a price. But he isn’t prepared for just how quick and resourceful Justine can be. So begins a cat-and-mouse game between two people who know more about how to take down one’s enemies than anyone else in the business.
Mysterious Press | 9781613164778

THE NIGHT OF THE STORM by Nishita Parekh (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Hurricane Harvey is about to hit Houston. Meanwhile, single mom Jia Shah is already having a rough week: her 12-year-old son, Ishaan, has just been suspended from school for getting in a fight. And now their apartment complex is under a mandatory evacuation order. Jia’s sister, Seema, has invited them to hunker down in her fancy house in Sugar Land. Despite Jia’s misgivings, she concedes it’s probably the best place to keep Ishaan safe during the hurricane. With Jia’s philandering ex scrutinizing her every move, all too eager to snatch back custody of Ishaan, she can’t afford to make a mistake. When Vipul’s brother and his wife show up on Seema’s doorstep, it’s a recipe for disaster. As the storm escalates, tensions rise quickly, and soon someone is dead. Was it a horrible accident, or is there a murderer in their midst?
Dutton | 9780593473375

ONLY IF YOU'RE LUCKY by Stacy Willingham (Psychological Thriller)
Lucy Sharpe is larger than life. Especially for shy, unassuming Margot, who meets Lucy at the end of their freshman year at a liberal arts college in South Carolina. But when Lucy asks her to room together, something in Margot can't say no. And so she finds herself living in an off-campus house with three other girls: Lucy, the ringleader; Sloane, the sarcastic one; and Nicole, the nice one. It's a year that finds Margot finally coming out of the shell she's been in since the end of high school, when her best friend Eliza died three weeks after graduation. Margot and Lucy have become the closest of friends, but by the middle of their sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys from the house next door has been brutally murdered... and Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace.
Minotaur Books | 9781250887931

THE SILENCE IN HER EYES by Armando Lucas Correa (Psychological Thriller)
Leah has been living with akinetopsia, or motion blindness, since she was a child. For the last 20 years, she hasn’t been able to see movement. But she does see a good deal, and with her acute senses of smell and hearing, very little escapes her notice. When Alice moves into the apartment next door, Leah can immediately smell the anxiety wafting off her. Worse, she can’t help but hear Alice and a late-night visitor engage in a violent fight. Then one night, Leah wakes up to someone in her apartment. She blacks out and in the morning is left wondering if she dreamt the episode. Yet the scent of the intruder follows her everywhere. And when she hears Alice through the wall pleading for her help, Leah makes a decision that will test her courage, her strength and ultimately her sanity.
Atria Books | 9781982197506

TRUE NORTH by Andrew J. Graff (Fiction)
As the summer of 1993 begins, Sam and Swami Brecht roll into town with a 26-foot Winnebago camper van, their three kids, and the deed to Woodchuck Rafting Company. The town of Thunderwater, in Wisconsin’s Northwoods, could be the fresh start their marriage needs. But Woodchuck, once the property of Sam’s eccentric uncle, has seen better days and will need a serious overhaul. Soon Sam and Swami learn they are not the only ones looking for change and profit on the river. A competing rafting outfit, clashing raft guides, stubborn townsfolk and an exploratory mining company begin to threaten their tenuous livelihood. Then nature intervenes, in the form of historic floods throughout the Midwest. Amid tumultuous currents both on and off the river, Sam and Swami struggle to maintain the new life they’ve built.
Ecco | 9780063161412

WHERE YOU END by Abbott Kahler (Psychological Thriller)
When Kat Bird wakes up from a coma, she sees her mirror image: Jude, her twin sister. Jude’s face and name are the only memories Kat has from before her accident. As Kat tries to make sense of things, she believes Jude will provide all the answers to her most pressing questions: Who am I? Where am I? What actually happened? Amid this tragedy, Jude sees an irresistible opportunity: she can give her sister a brand-new past, one worlds away from the lives they actually led. She spins tales of an idyllic childhood, exotic travels and a bright future. But if everything was so perfect, who are the mysterious people following Kat? And what explains her uncontrollable flashes of violent anger, which begin to jeopardize a sweet new romance? Duped by the one person she trusted, Kat must try to untangle fact from fiction.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250873248

WITCHCRAFT: A History in Thirteen Trials by Marion Gibson (History)
WITCHCRAFT is a dramatic journey through 13 witch trials across history, some famous --- like the Salem witch trials --- and some lesser-known: on Vardø island, Norway, in the 1620s, where an indigenous Sami woman was accused of murder; in France in 1731, during the country’s last witch trial, where a young woman was pitted against her confessor and cult leader; in Pennsylvania in 1929, where a magical healer was labelled a “witch”; in Lesotho in 1948, where British colonial authorities executed local leaders. Exploring how witchcraft became feared, decriminalized, reimagined and eventually reframed as gendered persecution, WITCHCRAFT takes on the intersections between gender and power, indigenous spirituality and colonial rule, and political conspiracy and individual resistance.
Scribner | 9781668002421

On Sale the Week of January 15th in Paperback

January 16th

THE 9th MAN: A Luke Daniels Thriller by Steve Berry with Grant Blackwood
(Thriller/Adventure)
Luke Daniels receives a frantic call from an old friend. Jillian Stein made a mistake, and now her life may be in danger. A shadow team of highly trained operatives are on the hunt in Belgium. Intervening, Luke finds himself embroiled in a war between two determined sides --- one seeking the truth, the other trying to escape the past. Thomas Rowland is a Washington insider but also a man with a past. For him, everything turns with what happened on November 22, 1963. What history has recorded is wrong. There is much more to the story, and Rowland is at the center of that terrible reality. He will do anything to keep the world from learning what actually occurred on that fateful day --- including killing Luke, Jillian and anyone else who might be a threat.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538721087

ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS by Stacy Willingham (Psychological Thriller)
One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed forever. Her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster --- but his interest in Isabelle's past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust...including herself.
Minotaur Books | 9781250803870

CITY UNDER ONE ROOF by Iris Yamashita (Mystery/Thriller)
When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel. After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town --- all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village. Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide.
Berkley | 9780593336694

DREAM TOWN by Lee Goldberg (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly, razor-thin line between what’s real and what’s imagined. Eve discovers that Kitty’s surreal on- and off-camera life, a blur of fact and fantasy, shockingly mirrors her own as she struggles to investigate the killings, wade into a music industry war, and battle a vicious Chilean gang. Her grip on reality and the case is strained to the breaking point as the slayings continue, the media frenzy reaches a fever pitch, and the only inescapable truth she can see is death…and it’s coming for her.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662512353

THE FARAWAY WORLD: Stories by Patricia Engel (Fiction/Short Stories)
Two Colombian expats meet as strangers on the rainy streets of New York City, both burdened with traumatic pasts. In Cuba, a woman discovers that her deceased brother’s bones have been stolen, and the love of her life returns from Ecuador for a one-night visit. A cash-strapped couple hustles in Miami, to life-altering ends. THE FARAWAY WORLD is a collection of arresting stories from the New York Times bestselling author of INFINITE COUNTRY, Patricia Engel. Intimate and panoramic, these stories bring to life the liminality of regret, the vibrancy of community, and the epic deeds and quiet moments of love.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982159535

HORSE by Geraldine Brooks (Historical Fiction)
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom. New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner, becomes obsessed with a 19th-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance. Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse.
Penguin Books | 9780399562976

THE LONDON BOOKSHOP AFFAIR: A Novel of the Cold War by Louise Fein (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
London, 1962: Celia Duchesne longs for a career, but with no means or qualifications, she passes her time working at a dusty bookshop. The day a handsome American enters the shop, she thinks she might have found her way out of the monotony. Just as the excitement of a budding relationship engulfs her, a devastating secret draws her into the murky world of espionage. France, 1942: Nineteen-year-old Anya Moreau was dropped behind enemy lines to aid the resistance, sending messages back home to London via wireless transmitter. When she was cruelly betrayed, evidence of her legacy and the truth of her actions were buried by wartime injustices. As Celia learns more about Anya --- and her unexpected connection to the undercover agent --- she becomes increasingly aware of furious efforts to protect state secrets.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063304840

LOOKING FOR JANE by Heather Marshall (Fiction)
2017: When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession, she is determined to find the intended recipient. Her search takes her back to the 1970s when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network in Toronto. 1971: As a teenager, Dr. Evelyn Taylor was sent to a home for “fallen” women where she was forced to give up her baby for adoption. She proceeds to join the Jane Network as an abortion provider. 1980: After discovering a shocking secret about her family, Nancy Mitchell begins to question everything she has ever known. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she locates “Jane” and finds a place of her own alongside Dr. Taylor within the network’s ranks, but she can never escape the lies that haunt her.
Atria Books | 9781668015322

MURDER BOOK by Thomas Perry (Thriller)
When a sudden crime wave hits several small midwestern towns, the U.S. Attorney for the region calls on Harry Duncan to investigate. The ex-cop is reluctant to go up against a widespread criminal organization. But the attorney in question is Ellen Leicester, the wife who left him 15 years earlier, and he can’t say no to her. Initially brought in as a consultant to determine if the racketeering is severe enough to require an all-out investigation by the FBI, Duncan quickly finds himself in conflict with a syndicate far more violent than first suspected. As the investigation develops, he begins compiling a “murder book,” the notebook in which a detective keeps records, interviews, photos --- everything he needs to build his case. But his scrutiny of the gang soon makes Duncan a target, as well as Ellen.
Mysterious Press | 9781613165089

THE NEW LIFE by Tom Crewe (Historical Fiction)
In the summer of 1894, John Addington and Henry Ellis begin writing a book arguing that what they call “inversion,” or homosexuality, is a natural, harmless variation of human sexuality. Though they have never met, John and Henry both live in London with their wives, Catherine and Edith, and in each marriage there is a third party: John has a lover, a working class man named Frank, and Edith spends almost as much time with her friend, Angelica, as she does with Henry. Shortly before the book is to be published, Oscar Wilde is arrested. John and Henry must decide whether to go on, risking social ostracism and imprisonment, or to give up the project for their own safety and the safety of the people they love.
Scribner | 9781668000847

REALLY GOOD, ACTUALLY by Monica Heisey (Fiction/Humor)
Maggie is fine. She’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s broke, her graduate thesis on something obscure is going nowhere, and her marriage only lasted 608 days. But at the ripe old age of 29, Maggie is determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™. Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. With the support of her tough-loving academic advisor, Merris; her newly divorced friend, Amy; and her group chat (naturally), Maggie barrels through her first year of single life, intermittently dating, occasionally waking up on the floor and asking herself tough questions along the way.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063235427

SCORCHED GRACE: A Sister Holiday Mystery by Margot Douaihy (Mystery)
When Saint Sebastian’s School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding New Orleans community are thrust into chaos. Patience is a virtue, but punk rocker turned nun Sister Holiday isn’t satisfied to just wait around for officials to return her home and sanctuary to its former peace, instead deciding to unveil the mysterious attacker herself. Her investigation leads her down a twisty path of suspicion and secrets, turning her against colleagues, students and even fellow Sisters along the way. And to piece together the clues of this high-stakes mystery, she must at last reckon with the sins of her own past.
Gillian Flynn Books | 9781638930983

THE SEARCH PARTY by Hannah Richell (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Max and Annie Kingsley have left the London rat race with their 12-year-old son to set up a glamping site in the wilds of Cornwall. Eager for a dry run ahead of their opening, they invite three old university friends and their families for a long-needed reunion. But the festivities soon go awry as tensions arise between the children (and subsequently their parents), explosive secrets come to light, and a sudden storm moves in, cutting them off from help as one in the group disappears. Moving between the police investigation, a hospital room and the catastrophic weekend, THE SEARCH PARTY is about the tenuous bonds of friendship and the lengths parents will go to protect their children.
Atria Books | 9781668036068

STASH: My Life in Hiding by Laura Cathcart Robbins (Memoir)
After years of hiding her addiction from everyone --- stockpiling pills in her Louboutins and elaborately scheduling her withdrawals between PTA meetings, baby showers and tennis matches --- Laura Cathcart Robbins is running out of places to hide. She has learned the hard way that even her high-profile marriage and Hollywood lifestyle can’t protect her from the pain she’s keeping bottled up inside. Facing divorce, the possibility of a grueling custody battle, and the insistent voice of internalized racism that nags at her as a Black woman in a startlingly white world, Laura wonders just how much more she can take. Now, with courageous and candid openness, she reveals how she started the long journey towards sobriety, unexpectedly found new love, and dismantled the wall she had built around herself, brick by brick.
Atria Books | 9781668005347

THIS WRETCHED VALLEY by Jenny Kiefer (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Paperback Original
Dylan’s geologist friend, Clay, has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it. Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan’s boyfriend Luke, Dylan is going to document her achievement on Instagram and finally cement her place as the next rising star in rock climbing. Seven months later, three bodies are discovered in the trees just off the highway. All are in various states of decay: one a stark, white skeleton; the second emptied of its organs; and the third a mutilated corpse with the tongue, eyes, ears and fingers removed. But Dylan is still missing --- and no trace of her, dead or alive, has been discovered. Were the climbers murdered? Did they succumb to cannibalism? Or are their impossible bodies the work of an even more sinister force?
Quirk Books | 9781683693680

On Sale the Week of January 22nd in Hardcover

January 23rd

THE BULLET SWALLOWER by Elizabeth Gonzalez James (Western/Magical Realism)
In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children. So when he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it. But when the heist goes awry and his younger brother, Hugo, is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a quest for revenge. In 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico’s most renowned actor and singer. But his comfortable life is disrupted when he discovers a book that purports to tell the entire history of his family beginning with Cain and Abel. Jaime realizes that he may be the one who has to pay for his ancestors’ crimes unless he can discover the true story of his grandfather Antonio, the legendary bandido El Tragabalas, The Bullet Swallower.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668009321

THE BUSY BODY by Kemper Donovan (Mystery)
Former Senator Dorothy Gibson is the most talked-about person in the country right now. As an independent candidate for President of the United States, Dorothy split the vote and is being blamed for the shocking result. After her very public defeat, she’s retreated to her home in rural Maine, inviting her ghostwriter to join her. Her collaborator is impressed by Dorothy’s work ethic and steel-trap mind, not to mention the stunning surroundings (and one particularly gorgeous bodyguard). But when a neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Dorothy is determined to find the killer in their midst. And when Dorothy Gibson asks if you want to team up for a top-secret, possibly dangerous murder investigation, the only answer is: “Of course!” Working together, the two women are soon untangling motives and whittling down suspects.
A John Scognamiglio Book | 9781496744531

DEAD IN LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA by Venita Blackburn (Fiction)
Coral is the first person to discover her brother Jay’s dead body in the wake of his suicide. There’s no note, only a drably furnished bachelor pad in Long Beach, California, and a cell phone with a handful of numbers in it. Coral pockets the phone. And then she starts responding to texts as her dead brother. Over the course of one week, Coral, the successful yet lonely author of a hit dystopian novel, Wildfire, becomes increasingly untethered from reality. Blindsided by grief and operating with reckless determination, she doubles --- and triples --- down on posing as her brother. As Coral’s swirl of lies slowly closes in on her, the quirky and mysterious alien world of Wildfire becomes enmeshed in her own reality, in the process pushing long-buried memories, traumas and secrets dangerously into the present.
MCD | 9780374602826

DEAD MAN'S HAND: A Pike Logan Novel by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
To finally end the war between their nations, a rogue band of Ukranian partisans known as the Wolves teams up with members of Russia’s military intelligence to assassinate Vladimir Putin. But Putin is aware of the traitors in his midst and assigns the loyal commander of the Russian National Guard to root them out. It’s a mission Victor Petrov is expected to undertake after he prevents Sweden from joining NATO --- by assassinating a deputy minister of foreign affairs. After receiving intelligence about the threat in Sweden, the United States sends Pike Logan to identify Petrov’s target --- only for him to get caught in the crossfire. When the smoke clears, Pike makes no effort to stop the Wolves on their ultimate mission, believing it just, until he discovers that their operation has unimaginable consequences.
William Morrow | 9780063222052

DIVA by Daisy Goodwin (Historical Fiction)
In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was known simply as la divina: the divine one. But her fame was hard-won. Raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her golden voice, she learned early in life to protect herself from those who would use her for their own ends. When she met the fabulously rich Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, for the first time in her life, she believed she’d found someone who saw the woman within the legendary soprano. She fell desperately in love. And then suddenly, it was over. The international press announced that Aristotle Onassis would marry the most famous woman in the world, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, leaving Maria to pick up the pieces.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250279927

EXORDIA by Seth Dickinson (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Anna Sinjari --- refugee, survivor of genocide, disaffected office worker --- has a close encounter that reveals universe-threatening stakes. Enter Ssrin, a many-headed serpent alien who is on the run from her own past. Ssrin and Anna are inexorably, dangerously drawn to each other, and their contact reveals universe-threatening stakes. While humanity reels from disaster, Anna must join a small team of civilians, soldiers and scientists to investigate a mysterious broadcast and unknowable horror. If they can manage to face their own demons, they just might save the world.
Tordotcom | 9781250233011

FAMILY FAMILY by Laurie Frankel (Fiction)
India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actor. Armed with a stack of index cards (for research/line memorization/make-shift confetti), she goes from awkward 16-year-old to Broadway ingenue to TV superhero. Her new movie is a prestige picture about adoption, but its spin is the same old tired story of tragedy. India is an adoptive mom in real life, though. She wants everyone to know there’s more to her family than pain and regret. So she does something you should never do --- she tells a journalist the truth: it’s a bad movie. Soon she’s at the center of a media storm, battling accusations from the press and the paparazzi. Her twin 10-year-olds know they need help --- and who better to call than family? But that’s where it gets really messy because India is not just an adoptive mother.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250236807

THE FRIENDSHIP CLUB by Robyn Carr (Fiction)
Celebrity cooking show host Marni McGuire has been married twice, widowed and divorced. Now in her mid-50s, she’s single. Happily so. She just needs to convince her pregnant daughter, Bella, of this fact. And maybe convince herself, too. Especially after Marni’s efforts to humor her determined daughter result in a series of disastrous dates that somehow prompt Marni to wonder if maybe the right man for her is still out there after all. Similarly single, Marni’s best friend and colleague is confident she’s content without a man, but both older women soon find themselves leading by example as the young intern on their show appears caught in a toxic relationship --- and Bella reveals her own marriage maybe isn’t built to withstand the stresses of the baby on the way. Suddenly, all four women find themselves at a crossroads.
Mira | 9780778311881

FRONT SIGHT: Three Swagger Novellas by Stephen Hunter (Political/Historical Thriller)
This collection of three interconnected novellas follows each generation of the iconic Swagger family. In “City of Meat,” Charles Swagger is on the hunt for notorious bank robber Baby Face Nelson when he traces a tip to the Chicago stock yards. While there, he’s brutally assaulted and discovers that the madman who attacked him is involved in a nearby narcotics ring. Earl Swagger investigates a violent bank robbery in “Johnny Tuesday” that left two dead and a fortune missing in small-town Maryland. At every turn, however, he’s met with silence and hostility from the townsfolk. Finally, in “Five Dolls for the Gut Hook,” a 32-year-old Bob Lee Swagger is back from Vietnam nearly broken over good men lost for nothing. But one afternoon he’s wakened from his nightmares by two men with a problem.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668030363

HARBOR LIGHTS: Stories by James Lee Burke (Fiction/Short Stories)
These eight stories from James Lee Burke moves from the marshlands on the Gulf of Mexico to the sweeping plains of Colorado to prisons, saloons and trailer parks across the South, weaving together love, friendship, violence, survival and revenge. A boy and his father watch a German submarine sink an oil tanker as evil forces in the disguise of federal agents try to ruin their family. A girl is beaten up outside a bar as her university-professor father navigates new love and threats from a group of neo-Nazis. A pair of undercover union organizers are hired to break colts for a Hollywood actor, whose “Western hero” façade hides darkness. An oil rig worker witnesses a horrific attack on a local village while on a job in South America and seeks justice through one final act of bravery.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802160966

KINNING by Nisi Shawl (Science Fiction)
The Great War is over. Everfair has found peace within its borders. But our heroes’ stories are far from done. Tink and his sister, Bee-Lung, are traveling the world via aircanoe, spreading the spores of a mysterious empathy-generating fungus. Through these spores, they seek to build bonds between people and help spread revolutionary sentiments of socialism and equality. Meanwhile, Everfair’s Princess Mwadi and Prince Ilunga return home from a sojourn in Egypt to vie for their country’s rule following the abdication of their father, King Mwenda. But their mother, Queen Josina, manipulates them both from behind the scenes, while also pitting Europe’s influenza-weakened political powers against one another as these countries fight to regain control of their rebellious colonies.
Tor Books | 9781250212696

LAST ACTS by Alexander Sammartino (Fiction)
Even though his firearms store is failing, things are looking up for David Rizzo. His son, Nick, has just recovered after a near-fatal overdose, which means one thing: Rizzo can use Nick’s resurrection to create the most compelling television commercial for a gun emporium that the world has ever seen. After all, this is America, Rizzo tells himself. Surely anything is possible. But the relationship between father and son is fragile, mired in mutual disappointment. And when the pair embarks on their scheme to avoid bankruptcy, a high-stakes crash of hijinks, hope and disaster ensues.
Scribner | 9781982196745

MARTYR! by Kaveh Akbar (Fiction)
Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident, and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past --- toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.
Knopf | 9780593537619

THE MISSING WITNESS: A Quinn & Costa Novel by Allison Brennan
(Mystery/Thriller)
Detective Kara Quinn is back in Los Angeles to testify against a notorious human trafficker. But when the accused is shot in broad daylight, the chaotic scene of the crime turns up few reliable bystanders. And one witness --- a whistleblower who might be the key to everything --- has disappeared. After another person close to the case is killed, it’s clear that anyone who knows too much is in danger, and tracking down the witness becomes a matter of life and death. But as explosive secrets surface within the LAPD and FBI, Kara questions everything she thought she knew about the case, her colleagues and the life she left behind months ago. Now with FBI special agent Matt Costa’s help, she must race to find the missing witness and get to the bottom of the avalanche of conspiracies that has rocked LA to its core…before it's too late.
Mira | 9780778369653

MURDER, SHE WROTE: FIT FOR MURDER by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran (Mystery)
Evelyn Phillips, the former editor of the Cabot Cove Gazette, is back in Cabot Cove. Evelyn tells Jessica and Seth that she got a couple of really weird notes from Bertha Mae Cormier, so she’s come back to town to check on her old friend. Jessica does become somewhat concerned when Bertha Mae starts to talk about her new neighbor, Martin Terranova, who teaches yoga and meditation in his pool house. Jessica attends one of his classes and notices that Terranova is flirtatious with several elderly clients, especially Bertha Mae. Evelyn is becoming convinced that Terranova is after Bertha Mae’s money. A short while later, Martin turns up dead in his weight room. What at first blush seems to be an accident soon proves to be murder, and Evelyn becomes the prime suspect.
Berkley | 9780593640692

MY FAVORITE SCAR written by Nicolás Ferraro, translated by Mallory N. Craig-Kuhn (Noir Thriller)
Fifteen-year-old Ámbar has never known any parent other than her father, Víctor Mondragón, nor any life other than his. On any given Friday night, Ámbar longs to be at the arcade or a rock concert, but she’s more likely to be patching up Víctor’s latest bullet hole in a dingy motel or creating a new set of fake identities for the both of them. When a tattooed mercenary kills Víctor’s best friend and vows that Víctor is next, father and daughter set off on a joyride across Argentina in search of bloody retribution. But Ámbar’s growing pains hurt worse than her beloved sawed-off shotgun’s kickback as she begins to question the structure of her world. How much is her father not telling her? Could her life ever be different? And will she survive long enough to find out?
Soho Crime | 9781641295154

THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE ALPERTON ANGELS by Janice Hallett (Mystery)
Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult that brainwashed a teenage girl into believing her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared. Now, true-crime author Amanda Bailey is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned 18; finding them will be the scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected and also on the baby’s trail. As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realize that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they’d ever imagined, and in pursuit of the story they risk becoming part of it.
Atria Books | 9781668023396

NO ONE CAN KNOW by Kate Alice Marshall (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Fourteen years ago, the Palmer sisters --- Emma, Juliette and Daphne --- left their home in Arden Hills and never returned. But when Emma discovers she’s pregnant and her husband loses his job, she has no option but to return to the house that she and her estranged sisters still own...and where their parents were murdered. Emma has never told anyone what she saw the night her parents died, even when she became the prime suspect. But her presence in the house threatens to uncover secrets that have stayed hidden for years, and the sisters are drawn together once again. As they face their memories of the past, rivalries restart, connections are forged, and, for the first time, Emma starts to ask questions about what really happened that night.
Flatiron Books | 9781250859914

RANDOM IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Mystery/Thriller)
Jenna is at a New York club with her best friends, watching the legendary band Avenue A. From the stage, guitarist Jake Kincade catches her eye and smiles. It’s the best night of her life. It’s also the last night of her life. Minutes later, Jake is in the alley getting some fresh air, and the girl from the dance floor comes stumbling out, sick and confused and deathly pale. He tries to help, but it’s no use. He doesn’t know that someone in the crowd has jabbed her with a needle --- and when his girlfriend Nadine arrives, she knows the only thing left to do for the girl is call her friend, Lieutenant Eve Dallas. There are no obvious clues why this levelheaded 16-year-old would be targeted. If Jenna was just the random, unlucky victim of a madman consumed by hatred, there are likely more deaths to come.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250289544

THE WHARTON PLOT by Mariah Fredericks (Historical Mystery)
New York City, 1911. Finding herself at a crossroads with both her marriage and her writing, Edith Wharton makes the decision to leave America, her publisher and her loveless marriage. And then, dashing novelist David Graham Phillips --- a writer with often notorious ideas about society and women’s place in it --- is shot to death outside the Princeton Club. Edith herself met the man only once, when the two formed a mutual distaste over tea in the Palm Court of the Belmont hotel. When Phillips is killed, Edith's life takes another turn. His sister is convinced Graham was killed by someone determined to stop the publication of his next book, which promised to uncover secrets that powerful people rather would have stayed hidden. Though unconvinced, Edith is curious. What kind of book could push someone to kill?
Minotaur Books | 9781250827425

On Sale the Week of January 22nd in Paperback

January 23rd

ADVIKA AND THE HOLLYWOOD WIVES by Kirthana Ramisetti (Fiction)
Advika Srinivasan considers herself a failed screenwriter. To pay the bills and keep her mind off of the recent death of her twin sister, she’s taken to bartending A-list events, including the 2015 Governors Ball, the official afterparty of the Oscars. There, she meets legendary film producer Julian Zelding. Despite their 41-year age difference, Advika falls helplessly under his spell, and their evening flirtation ignites into a whirlwind courtship and elopement. A month into their marriage, Julian’s first wife dies, and a tabloid reports a shocking stipulation in her will. A single film reel and $1,000,000 will be bequeathed to “Julian’s latest child bride” on one condition: Advika must divorce him first. Shaken out of her love fog, Advika decides to investigate him through the eyes and experiences of his exes.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538709283

AFTER DEATH by Dean Koontz (Thriller)
Michael Mace, head of security at a top-secret research facility, opens his eyes in a makeshift morgue 24 hours following an event in which everyone perished --- including him and his best friend, Shelby Shrewsberry. Having awakened with an extraordinary ability unlike anything he --- or anyone else --- has ever imagined, Michael is capable of being as elusive as a ghost. He sets out to honor his late friend by helping Nina Dozier and her son, John, whom Shelby greatly admired. Although what Michael does for Nina is life-changing, his actions also evoke the wrath of John’s father, a member of one of the most violent street gangs in Los Angeles. But an even greater threat is descending: the Internal Security Agency’s most vicious assassin, Durand Calaphas.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662513060

THE BAD ANGEL BROTHERS by Paul Theroux (Fiction/Dark Humor)
Cal has always lived in the shadow of his manipulative and domineering brother, Frank, who was doted upon by their mother and beloved by the girls in their small New England hometown --- including Cal’s own girlfriends. In an attempt to escape Frank’s intrusive presence, Cal pursues a different kind of freedom in the world’s wild spaces, prospecting for gold and precious minerals. Soon he is dripping in wealth, his pockets full of gold nuggets and emeralds, but the money means far less to him than his independence. As Cal’s success grows, so too does Frank’s power and his influence in Cal’s affairs, the devastating threat he creates at the center of his little brother’s life. When Frank decides to commit the ultimate betrayal, Cal is left with only one, final solution.
Mariner Books | 9780063374447

THE BLUE WINDOW by Suzanne Berne (Fiction)
Secrets abound in Lorna’s family. Her mother Marika, who survived the Nazi occupation of Holland, abandoned the family. The reason she left, and her whereabouts afterward, were shrouded in mystery. As is a darker secret Marika has repressed for nearly 70 years. Now that Lorna, a respected psychotherapist, has a child of her own, she’s determined to make Marika a part of their lives. But it’s been a struggle for nearly two decades. Lorna’s son, Adam, is creative, passionate and uncomfortable in his own skin. The more Lorna tries to get Adam to talk, the more he withdraws. How do you care for people you can’t understand and who don’t want to be understood? As Lorna confronts this question, she must face secrets of her own.
S&S/Marysue Rucci Books | 9781476794273

CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Dystopian Fiction/Satire)
Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE --- or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment --- a highly popular, highly controversial, profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators, and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom. In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games.
Vintage | 9780593469316

THE CLINIC by Cate Quinn (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Meg works for a casino in LA, catching cheaters and popping a few too many pain pills to cope, following a far different path than her sister Haley, a famous actress. But suddenly reports surface of Haley dying at the remote rehab facility where she had been forced to go to get her addictions under control. There are whispers of suicide, but Meg can't believe it. She decides that the best way to find out what happened to her sister is to check in herself --- to investigate what really happened from the inside. Battling her own addictions and figuring out the truth will be much more difficult than she imagined, far away from friends, family --- and anyone who could help her.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728293981

MIDNIGHT CLIMAX: A Kats Takemoto Novel by Peter Kageyama (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
Kats Takemoto, the nisei private detective from HUNTERS POINT, returns to investigate the murder of a young Chinese girl, killed in a covert CIA brothel in the heart of San Francisco. Her family, members of a Tong, a powerful Chinatown gang, demand vengeance that threatens to start an all-out war in Chinatown unless Kats can discover the truth behind the slaying. Along the way, he will discover a personal connection to the suspected killer, a fellow veteran who was tortured and experimented on, turning him into a lethal weapon and a ticking bomb. Kats and his friends race to find this soldier before the government and the rival Tong gangs spiral into more bloodshed.
St. Petersburg Press | 9781940300818

PICASSO’S LOVERS by Jeanne Mackin (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
The women of Picasso’s life are glamorous and elusive, existing in the shadow of his fame --- until 1950s aspiring journalist Alana Olson determines to bring one into the light. Unsure of what to expect but bent on uncovering what really lies beneath the canvas, Alana steps into Sara Murphy’s well-guarded home to discover a past complicated by secrets and intrigue. Sara paints a luxurious picture of the French Riviera in 1923, but also a tragic one. The more Sara reveals, the more cracks emerge in Picasso’s once-vibrant social circle --- and the more Alana feels a disturbing convergence with her own life. Who are these other muses? What became of them? What will become of her? Desperate to trace the threads, Alana dives into the glittering lives of the past. But to do so, she must contend with her own reality.
Berkley | 9781101990568

THE PORCELAIN MOON: A Novel of France, the Great War, and Forbidden Love by Janie Chang (Historical Fiction)
In the final days of the First World War, a young Chinese woman, Pauline Deng, runs away from her uncle’s home in Paris to evade a marriage being arranged for her in Shanghai. To prevent the union, she needs the help of her cousin Theo, who is working as a translator for the Chinese Labour Corps in the French countryside. In the town of Noyelles-sur-Mer, Camille Roussel is planning her escape from an abusive marriage, and to end a love affair that can no longer continue. When Camille offers Pauline a room for her stay, the two women become friends. But it’s not long before Pauline uncovers a perilous secret that Camille has been hiding from her. As their dangerous situation escalates, they are forced to make a terrible decision that will bind them together for the rest of their lives.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063290969

ROBERT LUDLUM’S THE TREADSTONE RENDITION by Joshua Hood
(Thriller/Adventure)
Adam Hayes has stepped away from the field for the last time. He's promised his wife that he won't put his life on the line any more, and there's nothing that will make him break a promise to her. Well, almost nothing. With America withdrawing from Afghanistan and the Taliban closing in, Abdul Nassir reached out to his old friend. The Afghan is desperate to flee his homeland. Like most of his countrymen, he is petrified by the Taliban takeover, but he also can't trust the Americans. He’s the only eyewitness to a massacre committed by a rogue team of CIA contractors. Not only can he identify the butcher who directed the bloodbath, he also has photographic proof. He’ll only be safe when those pictures are made public. Now, there’s just one man he can trust to get him to safety --- Adam Hayes.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593419847

SYMPHONY OF SECRETS by Brendan Slocumb (Mystery/Thriller)
Bern Hendricks is one of the world’s preeminent experts on composer Frederick Delaney. When Mallory Roberts, a direct descendant of Delaney, asks for Bern’s help authenticating a newly discovered piece, which may be his famous lost opera, he jumps at the chance. In 1920s Manhattan, Josephine Reed meets struggling musician Fred Delaney. Josephine is a natural prodigy who hears beautiful music in the sounds of the world around her. With Josephine as his silent partner, Delaney’s career takes off. In the present day, Bern and his tech-savvy acquaintance, Eboni, begin to uncover more clues that indicate Delaney may have had help in composing his most successful work. And they soon become caught in the crosshairs of a powerful organization that will stop at nothing to keep their secret hidden.
Vintage | 9780593315453

THE THING IN THE SNOW by Sean Adams (Psychological Thriller/Satire)
At the far reaches of the world, the Northern Institute sits in a vast expanse of ice and snow. Once a thriving research facility, its operations were abruptly shut down after an unspecified incident, and its research teams promptly evacuated. Now it’s home to a team of three caretakers --- Gibbs, Cline and their supervisor, Hart --- and a single remaining researcher named Gilroy, who is feverishly studying the sensation of coldness. Their objective is simple: occupy the space, complete their weekly tasks, and keep the building in working order in case research ever resumes. There’s just one obstacle standing in his way: a mysterious object that has appeared out in the snow. Gibbs and Cline can’t discern its exact shape and color, nor if it’s moving or fixed in place. But it is there. Isn’t it?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063257764

UNRAVELING: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World's Ugliest Sweater by Peggy Orenstein (Memoir)
The COVID pandemic propelled many people to change their lives in ways large and small. Some adopted puppies. Others stress-baked. Peggy Orenstein, a lifelong knitter, went just a little further. To keep herself engaged and cope with a series of seismic shifts in family life, she set out to make a garment from the ground up: learning to shear sheep, spin and dye yarn, then knitting herself a sweater. Orenstein hoped the project would help her process not just wool but her grief over the recent death of her mother and the decline of her dad, the impending departure of her college-bound daughter, and other thorny issues of aging as a woman in a culture that by turns ignores and disdains them. What she didn’t expect was a journey into some of the major issues of our time.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063081734

THE WAY OF THE BEAR: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel by Anne Hillerman (Mystery)
An unexpected death on a lonely road outside of Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument raises questions for Navajo Tribal Police officers Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito. Why would a seasoned outdoorsman and well-known paleontologist freeze to death within walking distance of his car? A second death brings more turmoil. Who is the unidentified man killed during a home invasion where nothing much seems to have been taken? Why was he murdered? Chee and Manuelito appreciate the scenery of the Bears Ears area and its wealth of human and scientific resources. But their visit to this achingly beautiful place is disrupted by a current of unprecedented violence that sweeps them both into danger.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063313972

THE WEDDING PLANNER by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Faith Ferguson is New York’s most in-demand wedding planner. But as much as she enjoys her work, her two failed engagements leave her with no desire to get married herself. She finds fulfillment in her close relationship with her twin sister, Hope; her role as a mentor for her assistant, Violet; and her career. This year, new clients have flocked to her, and she signs up an extravagant reception, a mid-sized gathering and an intimate soirée, in addition to her mother’s next marriage and Violet’s modest ceremony. Faith finds herself forming bonds with her new clients and their loved ones --- most notably the handsome brother of one of her grooms. But in no time, Faith is grappling with private quarrels, unplanned pregnancies, family scandals, dark secrets and the possibility of canceled ceremonies.
Dell | 9781984821799

WHEN THE JESSAMINE GROWS by Donna Everhart (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Talk of impending war is a steady drumbeat throughout North Carolina. Joetta McBride and her husband, Ennis, have built a modest but happy life for themselves, raising 15-year-old Henry and 11-year-old Robert on their small subsistence farm. They do not support the Confederacy’s position on slavery, but Joetta considers her family to be neutral. However, Joetta’s own father-in-law fills his grandsons’ heads with stories about the glory of battle and the Southern cause until one night Henry runs off to join the war. At Joetta’s frantic insistence, Ennis leaves to find their son and bring him home. But soon weeks pass with no word from father or son. Joetta finds herself increasingly at odds with those around her --- until one act of kindness brings her family to the edge of even greater disaster.
Kensington | 9781496740700

YOUR TABLE IS READY: Tales of a New York City Maître D' by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina (Memoir)
From his early career serving theater stars like Tennessee Williams and Dustin Hoffman at La Rousse right through to the last pre-pandemic-shutdown full houses at Le Coucou, Michel Cecchi-Azzolina has seen it all. In YOUR TABLE IS READY, he breaks down how restaurants really run (and don’t), and how the economics work for owners and overworked staff alike. The professionals who gravitate to the business are a special, tougher breed, practiced in dealing with the demanding patrons and with each other, in a very distinctive ecosystem that’s somewhere between a George Orwell “down and out in…” dungeon and a sleek showman’s smoke-and-mirrors palace.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250325747

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