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Author Talk: Aaron Jacobs, author of Time Will Break the World

Jul 6, 2023

Inspired by the largest kidnapping-for-ransom scheme in American history, TIME WILL BREAK THE WORLD weaves a rich backdrop of place and circumstance --- long-term trauma, dysfunctional family legacies, sibling rivalry, a granite quarry, and the Summer Olympics. In this interview, Aaron Jacobs talks about his decision to write a fictionalized account of the Chowchilla, California school bus kidnapping of 1976 and set the novel on the East Coast in the 1980s. He also explains the book’s title, the significance of revisiting these characters 30 years after their ordeal, and his emotional experiences as he was putting together this fascinating, multi-layered story.

Week of July 10, 2023

Paperback releases for the week of July 10th include Maggie O'Farrell's THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT, an unforgettable portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court in Renaissance Italy; GOING ROGUE, which reveals a new side of Stephanie Plum and shows Janet Evanovich at her scorching, riotous best; THE LAST PARTY by Clare Mackintosh, which our reviewer calls "an immensely satisfying psychological thriller. It possesses not a single major twist but rather an endless series of small revelations that will keep readers guessing right up to the last page."; Rebecca Mead's HOME/LAND, a moving reflection on the complicated nature of home and homeland, and the heartache and adventure of leaving an adopted country in order to return to your native land; and the paperback original WINDFALL, Wendy Corsi Staub's newest supense novel that finds three friends' lives terrifyingly unravel when they win a billion-dollar lottery jackpot --- and one goes missing.

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Week of July 3, 2023

Paperback releases for the week of July 3rd include FREEDOM, an intricately crafted and thought-provoking book from Sebastian Junger, who examines the tension that lies at the heart of what it means to be human; RAISING LAZARUS, Beth Macy's account of everyday heroes fighting on the front lines of the overdose crisis, which is by turns harrowing and heartening, infuriating and inspiring; THE DISPLACEMENTS by Bruce Holsinger, an adrenaline-fueled story of lives upended and transformed by an unprecedented catastrophe; David Joy's WHEN THESE MOUNTAINS BURN, a fierce and tender tale of a father, an addict, a lawman and the explosive events that come to unite them; and the paperback original HER, TOO, an addictively readable thriller from Bonnie Kistler, in which a high-powered lawyer learns firsthand the terrible truth about her client, who is an accused rapist --- a discovery that propels her on a quest for justice and revenge.

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July 2023

July's Books on Screen roundup includes the series finales of "Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan" on Amazon Prime Video and "The Crowded Room" on Apple TV+; the season finales of "The Walking Dead: Dead City" on AMC and "Joe Pickett" on Paramount+; the season premieres of "The Lincoln Lawyer" and "Sweet Magnolias" on Netflix, "Good Omens" on Amazon Prime Video, "Dark Winds" on AMC, and "When Calls the Heart" on Hallmark Channel; the films Oppenheimer in theaters, Happiness for Beginners on Netflix and Rare Objects on AMC+; and the DVD releases of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., Knights of the Zodiac and Love Again.

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Carolyn Mackler, author of The Wife App

Lauren, the mother of twins, stumbles on a dirty secret that explodes her marriage. When Madeline learns that she might lose her child to her ex in England, it stirs up a decades-old personal tragedy. Sophie obsesses over her ex-husband’s Family 2.0 --- all while keeping her true desires hidden, even from herself. It starts as a joke during a tipsy night out, as Lauren, Madeline and Sophie rail against everything wives do for free. Let’s build an app that monetizes the mental load. And maybe get revenge on our exes in the process? Soon the Wife App is born, and before long, it’s the fastest growing start-up in New York City. But then life intervenes. Love intervenes. Ex-husbands intervene. And the consequences are bigger than anything Lauren, Madeline or Sophie could have expected.

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Richard Ford, author of Be Mine: A Frank Bascombe Novel

Over the course of four celebrated works of fiction and almost 40 years, Richard Ford has crafted an ambitious, incisive and singular view of American life as lived. Unconstrained, astute, provocative and often laugh-out-loud funny, Frank Bascombe is once more our guide to the great American midway. Now in the twilight of life, a man who has occupied many colorful lives --- sportswriter, father, husband, ex-husband, friend, real estate agent --- Bascombe finds himself in the most sorrowing role of all: caregiver to his son, Paul, diagnosed with ALS. On a shared winter odyssey to Mount Rushmore, Frank, in typical Bascombe fashion, faces down the mortality that is assured each of us. In doing so, he confronts what happiness might signify at the end of days.

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Steve Berry, author of The 9th Man: A Luke Daniels Thriller

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.

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Adrienne Brodeur, author of Little Monsters

Ken and Abby Gardner lost their mother when they were small. Their father, Adam, is a brilliant oceanographer who raised them mostly on his own. Ken is now a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family, and Abby is a talented visual artist who depends on her brother’s goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works. As the novel opens, Adam is approaching his 70th birthday. He has always managed his bipolar disorder with medication, but he is determined to make one last scientific breakthrough. So he has secretly stopped taking his pills. Meanwhile, Abby and Ken are both harboring secrets of their own, and there is a new person on the periphery of the family --- Steph, who doesn’t make her connection known.

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Marie Benedict, author of The First Ladies

The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Mary McLeod Bethune refuses to back down as white supremacists attempt to thwart her work. She marches on as an activist and an educator, and as her reputation grows, she becomes a celebrity. Eleanor Roosevelt is eager to make Mary's acquaintance. Initially drawn together because of their shared belief in women’s rights and the power of education, Mary and Eleanor become fast friends. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president, the two women begin to collaborate more closely. Eleanor becomes a controversial First Lady for her outspokenness, particularly on civil rights. And when she receives threats because of her strong ties to Mary, it only fuels the women’s desire to fight together for justice and equality.

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Thao Thai, author of Banyan Moon

When Ann Tran gets the call that her fiercely beloved grandmother, Minh, has passed away, her life is already at a crossroads. In the years since she’s last seen Minh, Ann has built a seemingly perfect life, but it all crumbles with one positive pregnancy test. Now she returns home to Florida to face her estranged mother, Huơng. Huơng is simultaneously mourning her mother and resenting her for having the relationship with Ann that she never did. Then Ann and Huơng learn that Minh has left them both the Banyan House, the crumbling old manor that was Ann’s childhood home. Under the same roof for the first time in years, mother and daughter must face the simmering questions of their past and their uncertain futures, while trying to rebuild their relationship without the one person who’s always held them together.

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