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Author Talk: Deborah Copaken, author of The Red Book

Apr 13, 2012

In Deborah Copaken Kogan’s new novel, THE RED BOOK, four best friends who graduated Harvard together meet again at their 20th reunion. They’ve followed each other’s lives through the university’s red book, an annual alumni publication, but the truth about each of them will come out during the course of the weekend, and they will reconnect in ways they never expected. In this interview, Kogan shares the unique evolution of her idea to write the book. She also talks about the inspiration she drew from her personal life, and discusses her passions for photography and screenwriting.

Author Talk: Brad Meltzer, author of Heroes for My Daughter

Apr 13, 2012

Brad Meltzer takes a break from his legal thrillers to write HEROES FOR MY DAUGHTER. This follow-up to HEROES FOR MY SON is a compilation of 56 inspiring role models for his daughter --- from his mother to Ben Franklin to The Three Stooges. In this interview, Meltzer talks about how he chose the different heroes in the book. He also shares the reaction to both Heroes volumes from readers, the process of finding and including rare photographs of the heroes, and the hopes he has for his children.

by Brad Meltzer - Nonfiction, Parenting

In this companion to HEROES FOR MY SON, Brad Meltzer brings together the stories of 55 remarkable individuals, from intellectual explorers such as Marie Curie, Sally Ride and Jane Goodall to cultural champions like Billie Jean King; from implacable public figures such as Rosa Parks and Winston Churchill to artistic icons like Leonardo da Vinci and Stevie Wonder; and beyond.

Editorial Content for Heroes for My Daughter

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

HEROES FOR MY DAUGHTER by Brad Meltzer is a companion volume to the much-heralded HEROES FOR MY SON. The formats of the two books are the same: each entry is one to two pages in length, written with a tween or young adult in mind, and devoted to a different person whose actions and/or life are inspirational. The individuals highlighted are contemporary, historical, famous, footnotes, or deeply personal to Meltzer and his family. Read More

Teaser

 

In this companion to HEROES FOR MY SON, Brad Meltzer brings together the stories of 55 remarkable individuals, from intellectual explorers such as Marie Curie, Sally Ride and Jane Goodall to cultural champions like Billie Jean King; from implacable public figures such as Rosa Parks and Winston Churchill to artistic icons like Leonardo da Vinci and Stevie Wonder; and beyond.

Promo

In this companion to HEROES FOR MY SON, Brad Meltzer brings together the stories of 55 remarkable individuals, from intellectual explorers such as Marie Curie, Sally Ride and Jane Goodall to cultural champions like Billie Jean King; from implacable public figures such as Rosa Parks and Winston Churchill to artistic icons like Leonardo da Vinci and Stevie Wonder; and beyond.

About the Book

In HEROES FOR MY DAUGHTER, the New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer brings together the stories of 55 remarkable people, a diverse set of individuals from across time and from all walks of life: artists and inventors, scientists and explorers, who each dedicated their life to making our world a better place. From Eleanor Roosevelt to Amelia Earhart, Anne Frank to Randy Pausch, Theodore Roosevelt to Lucille Ball, Rosa Parks to the passengers on United Flight 93, the lives of these men and women offer lessons to guide our daughters on their journey to adulthood --- lessons sure to inspire them as they take their place as citizens in our society and in the world. The stories told in HEROES FOR MY DAUGHTER are perfect for mothers and daughters to read and treasure together.

by Alexander McCall Smith - Fiction, Mystery

Precious Ramotswe is haunted by a repeated dream: a vision of a tall, strange man who waits for her beneath an acacia tree. But she’s far too busy to worry about it. Mma Potokwane has been dismissed from her post as matron at the orphan farm. Can the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency help restore the beloved matron to her rightful position?

Editorial Content for The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Roz Shea

Just as Precious Ramotswe, the first lady of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, is confronted with two difficult cases of personal concern, who should arrive but the indomitable, the esteemed Detective of Detectives: Clovis Anderson. He is visiting Africa for the first time all the way from Indiana in America. Yes, it is THE Clovis Anderson, author of the detective’s bible The Principles of Private Detection. The well-thumbed handbook is never more than an arm’s reach from Precious Ramotswe and her Associate, Grace Makutsi. Read More

Teaser

 

Precious Ramotswe is haunted by a repeated dream: a vision of a tall, strange man who waits for her beneath an acacia tree. But she’s far too busy to worry about it. Mma Potokwane has been dismissed from her post as matron at the orphan farm. Can the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency help restore the beloved matron to her rightful position?

Promo

Precious Ramotswe is haunted by a repeated dream: a vision of a tall, strange man who waits for her beneath an acacia tree. But she’s far too busy to worry about it. Mma Potokwane has been dismissed from her post as matron at the orphan farm. Can the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency help restore the beloved matron to her rightful position?

About the Book

In this latest episode in the beloved, bestselling series, the kindest and best detective in Botswana faces a tricky situation when her personal and professional lives become entangled.
 
Precious Ramotswe is haunted by a repeated dream: a vision of a tall, strange man who waits for her beneath an acacia tree. Odd as this is, she’s far too busy to worry about it. The best apprentice at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors is in trouble with the law and stuck with the worst lawyer in Gaborone. Grace Makutsi and Phuti Radiphuti are building the house of their dreams, but their builder is not completely on the up and up. And, most shockingly, Mma Potokwane, defender of Botswana’s weak and downtrodden, has been dismissed from her post as matron at the orphan farm. Can the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency help restore the beloved matron to her rightful position?
 
As wealthy and powerful influences at the orphan farm become allied against their friend, help arrives from an unexpected visitor: the tall stranger from Mma Ramotswe’s dreams, who turns out to be none other than the estimable Clovis Andersen, author of the No. 1 Ladies’ prized manual, The Principles of Private Detection. Together, Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, and their teacher-turned-colleague help right this injustice and in the process discover something new about being a good detective.

by Anne Perry - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Rumors reach Thomas Pitt,  now the powerful head of Britain’s Special Branch, of a plot to blow up connections on the Dover-London rail line --- on which Austrian duke Alois Habsburg is soon to travel to visit his royal English kin. Why would anyone destroy an entire train to kill one obscure Austrian royal, or are the rumors designed to distract Pitt from an even more devastating plot?

Editorial Content for Dorchester Terrace

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Anne Perry has spread the wealth, so to speak, amongst her many sleuths and protagonists during her five decades of delivering solid, period-piece British mysteries. By far, her favorite protagonists are Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. Read More

Teaser

 

Rumors reach Thomas Pitt,  now the powerful head of Britain’s Special Branch, of a plot to blow up connections on the Dover-London rail line --- on which Austrian duke Alois Habsburg is soon to travel to visit his royal English kin. Why would anyone destroy an entire train to kill one obscure Austrian royal, or are the rumors designed to distract Pitt from an even more devastating plot?

Promo

Rumors reach Thomas Pitt,  now the powerful head of Britain’s Special Branch, of a plot to blow up connections on the Dover-London rail line --- on which Austrian duke Alois Habsburg is soon to travel to visit his royal English kin. Why would anyone destroy an entire train to kill one obscure Austrian royal, or are the rumors designed to distract Pitt from an even more devastating plot?

About the Book

Anne Perry’s acclaimed Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels have made London’s exclusive world of wealth and power an addictive literary destination for readers everywhere. This new masterpiece, a haunting story of love and treason, invites us not only into the secret places of Britain’s power but also into the innermost sanctums of the fin de siècle Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Thomas Pitt, once a lowly policeman, is now the powerful head of Britain’s Special Branch, and some people fear that he may have been promoted beyond his abilities. He, too, feels painful moments of self-doubt, especially as rumors reach him of a plot to blow up connections on the Dover-London rail line --- on which Austrian duke Alois Habsburg is soon to travel to visit his royal English kin.

Why would anyone destroy an entire train to kill one obscure Austrian royal, or are the rumors designed to distract Pitt from an even more devastating plot? He must resolve this riddle at once, before the damage is done.

Meanwhile, in a London sickroom, an old Italian woman --- at the end of a romantic career as a revolutionary spy --- is terrified that as she sinks into dementia, she may divulge secrets that can kill. And a beautiful young Croatian woman, married to a British power broker, hoards her own mysteries. Apparently all roads lead to the Continent, and Pitt suspects that between them these two fascinating women could tell him things he desperately needs to know. But as the hours tick by, it seems that the only woman Pitt can count on is his clever wife, Charlotte.

No one sustains mesmerizing suspense better than Anne Perry. In Pitt’s trial by fire, his wrenching moral dilemma, and his electrifying moment of decision, the beloved bestselling author gives us a climax never to be forgotten.

by Jim Lynch - Fiction

Roger Morgan, the mastermind behind the Seattle World’s Fair, is now 70 and running for mayor in hopes of restoring all of the city’s former glory. Reporter Helen Gulanos sees her assignment to investigate the events of 1962 become front-page news with Morgan's candidacy, and resolves to find out who he really is and where his power comes from.

Editorial Content for Truth Like the Sun

Reviewer (text)

Michael Magras

One of the concerns prompted by the rise of the Internet is whether it undermines the ability of newspapers to hold political leaders to account. This fear is one of the main subtexts of TRUTH LIKE THE SUN, former journalist Jim Lynch’s entertaining tale of politics, backroom deals, and the murky practices that politicians and journalists justify as being in the public interest. Read More

Teaser

 

Roger Morgan, the mastermind behind the Seattle World’s Fair, is now 70 and running for mayor in hopes of restoring all of the city’s former glory. Reporter Helen Gulanos sees her assignment to investigate the events of 1962 become front-page news with Morgan's candidacy, and resolves to find out who he really is and where his power comes from.

Promo

Roger Morgan, the mastermind behind the Seattle World’s Fair, is now 70 and running for mayor in hopes of restoring all of the city’s former glory. Reporter Helen Gulanos sees her assignment to investigate the events of 1962 become front-page news with Morgan's candidacy, and resolves to find out who he really is and where his power comes from.

About the Book

A classic and hugely entertaining political novel, the cat-and-mouse story of urban intrigue in Seattle both in 1962, when Seattle hosted the World's Fair, and in 2001, after its transformation in the Microsoft gold rush.

Larger than life, Roger Morgan was the mastermind behind the fair that made the city famous and is still a backstage power forty years later, when at the age of seventy he runs for mayor in hopes of restoring all of Seattle's former glory. Helen Gulanos, a reporter every bit as eager to make her mark, sees her assignment to investigate the events of 1962 become front-page news with Morgan's candidacy, and resolves to find out who he really is and where his power comes from: in 1962, a brash and excitable young promoter, greeting everyone from Elvis Presley to Lyndon Johnson, smooth-talking himself out of difficult situations, dipping in and out of secret card games; now, a beloved public figure with, it turns out, still-plentiful secrets. Wonderfully interwoven into this tale of the city of dreams are backroom deals, idealism and pragmatism, the best and worst ambitions, and all the aspirations that shape our communities and our lives.