Editorial Content for The Good Liar
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Contributors
Reviewer (text)
THE GOOD LIAR hadn’t even been published in the United States when comparisons were already being made between debut author Nicholas Searle and Patricia Highsmith. There are reasons for this, given that both writers feature a con man --- and not a likable one, either --- as a protagonist. While Highsmith’s Ripley at least has some oddly attractive qualities, Searle’s Roy is what we would have called a scoundrel in another, arguably better age, one who gets worse as we get to know him better. Read More
Teaser
Veteran con artist Roy spots an obvious easy mark when he meets Betty, a wealthy widow, online. In no time at all, he has moved into Betty’s lovely cottage and is preparing to accompany her on a romantic trip to Europe. Betty’s grandson disapproves of their blossoming relationship, but Roy is sure this scheme will be a success. He knows what he’s doing. As this remarkable feat of storytelling weaves together Roy’s and Betty’s futures, it also unwinds their pasts.
Promo
Veteran con artist Roy spots an obvious easy mark when he meets Betty, a wealthy widow, online. In no time at all, he has moved into Betty’s lovely cottage and is preparing to accompany her on a romantic trip to Europe. Betty’s grandson disapproves of their blossoming relationship, but Roy is sure this scheme will be a success. He knows what he’s doing. As this remarkable feat of storytelling weaves together Roy’s and Betty’s futures, it also unwinds their pasts.
About the Book
Spinning a page-turning story of literary suspense that begins in the present and unwinds back more than half a century, this unforgettable debut channels the haunting allure of ATONEMENT as its masterfully woven web of lies, secrets and betrayals unravels to a shocking conclusion
Veteran con artist Roy spots an obvious easy mark when he meets Betty, a wealthy widow, online. In no time at all, he’s moved into Betty’s lovely cottage and is preparing to accompany her on a romantic trip to Europe. Betty’s grandson disapproves of their blossoming relationship, but Roy is sure this scheme will be a success. He knows what he’s doing.
As this remarkable feat of storytelling weaves together Roy’s and Betty’s futures, it also unwinds their pasts. Dancing across almost a century, decades that encompass unthinkable cruelty, extraordinary resilience and remarkable kindness, THE GOOD LIAR is an epic narrative of sin, salvation and survival --- and for Roy and Betty, there is a reckoning to be made when the endgame of Roy’s crooked plot plays out.
Audiobook available, narrated by Matthew Brenher
Editorial Content for The Arrangement
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Reviewer (text)
If you’ve heard of M. F. K. Fisher, it’s probably because (like me) you love reading mouth-watering writing about food. Fisher in many ways popularized the genre of food writing that now crowds bookstore and library shelves. She has become well known (at least in certain circles) for her observant, often humorous and beautifully written books like THE GASTRONOMICAL ME and HOW TO COOK A WOLF,as well as her brilliant translation of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s THE PHYSIOLOGY OF TASTE. Read More
Teaser
Los Angeles, 1934. Mary Frances is young, restlessly married, and returning from her first sojourn in France. She is hungry, and not just for food: she wants Tim, her husband Al’s charming friend, who encourages her writing and seems to understand her better than anyone. After a night’s transgression, it’s only a matter of time before Mary Frances claims what she truly desires, plunging all three of them into a tangled triangle of affection that will have far-reaching effects on their families, their careers and their lives.
Promo
Los Angeles, 1934. Mary Frances is young, restlessly married, and returning from her first sojourn in France. She is hungry, and not just for food: she wants Tim, her husband Al’s charming friend, who encourages her writing and seems to understand her better than anyone. After a night’s transgression, it’s only a matter of time before Mary Frances claims what she truly desires, plunging all three of them into a tangled triangle of affection that will have far-reaching effects on their families, their careers and their lives.
About the Book
She’d made it sound as though her husband would be joining them for dinner. She’d made it sound that way on purpose, and then she arrived alone.
Los Angeles, 1934. Mary Frances is young, restlessly married, and returning from her first sojourn in France. She is hungry, and not just for food: she wants Tim, her husband Al’s charming friend, who encourages her writing and seems to understand her better than anyone. After a night’s transgression, it’s only a matter of time before Mary Frances claims what she truly desires, plunging all three of them into a tangled triangle of affection that will have far-reaching effects on their families, their careers and their lives.
Set in California, France and the Swiss Alps, THE ARRANGEMENT is a sparkling, sensual novel that explores the complexities of a marriage and the many different ways in which we love. Writing at the top of her game, Ashley Warlick gives us a completely mesmerizing story about a woman well ahead of her time, who would go on to become the legendary food writer M. F. K. Fisher.
Audiobook available, narrated by Cassandra Campbell
Editorial Content for Liar: A Memoir
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Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Let me start this review by making it clear that Rob Roberge’s memoir of mental illness and addiction is not for the faint of heart. Told in the second person, LIAR immerses the reader in Roberge’s impressively full life, jumping through key moments of humiliation and jubilation with little to no warning. Though it may earn comparisons to the works of Augusten Burroughs, the book is highly unique in its pacing and stark immediacy, traits that will make even the bravest and most informed readers squirm. Read More
Teaser
When Rob Roberge learns that he's likely to have developed a progressive memory-eroding disease from years of hard living and frequent concussions, he’s terrified by the prospect of becoming a walking shadow. In a desperate attempt to preserve his identity, he sets out to (somewhat faithfully) record the most formative moments of his life. But the process of trying to remember his past only exposes just how fragile the stories that lay at the heart of our self-conception really are. As LIAR twists and turns through Roberge’s life, it turns the familiar story of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll on its head.
Promo
When Rob Roberge learns that he's likely to have developed a progressive memory-eroding disease from years of hard living and frequent concussions, he’s terrified by the prospect of becoming a walking shadow. In a desperate attempt to preserve his identity, he sets out to (somewhat faithfully) record the most formative moments of his life. But the process of trying to remember his past only exposes just how fragile the stories that lay at the heart of our self-conception really are. As LIAR twists and turns through Roberge’s life, it turns the familiar story of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll on its head.
About the Book
An intense memoir about mental illness, memory and storytelling, from an acclaimed novelist
When Rob Roberge learns that he's likely to have developed a progressive memory-eroding disease from years of hard living and frequent concussions, he is terrified by the prospect of becoming a walking shadow. In a desperate attempt to preserve his identity, he sets out to (somewhat faithfully) record the most formative moments of his life --- ranging from the brutal murder of his childhood girlfriend, to a diagnosis of rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, to opening for famed indie band Yo La Tengo at The Fillmore in San Francisco. But the process of trying to remember his past only exposes just how fragile the stories that lay at the heart of our self-conception really are.
As LIAR twists and turns through Roberge’s life, it turns the familiar story of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll on its head. Blackly comic and brutally frank, it offers a remarkable portrait of a down and out existence cobbled together across the country, from musicians’ crashpads around Boston, to seedy bars popular with sideshow freaks in Florida, to a painful moment of reckoning in the scorched Wonder Valley desert of California. As Roberge struggles to keep addiction and mental illness from destroying the good life he has built in his better moments, he is forced to acknowledge the increasingly blurred line between the lies we tell others and the lies we tell ourselves.
Audiobook available, narrated by Rob Roberge
Editorial Content for The Cellar
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Reviewer (text)
THE CELLAR is a shocker. It’s one of those books that builds incrementally, page by page, getting worse and worse in the best possible ways before coming to a conclusion that defies classifications of “happy” or “sad.” It’s a book that’s squirm-inducing in several spots. Read More
Teaser
On the day Mr. and Mrs. Songoli’s young son fails to come home from school, 14-year-old Muna’s fortunes change for the better. Until then, her bedroom was a dank windowless cellar, her activities confined to cooking and cleaning. Now that Scotland Yard has swarmed the Songoli house to investigate the disappearance of the son, Muna is given a real bedroom and clothing, yet her world remains confined. Before long, though, it becomes clear that young Muna is far more clever --- and her plans more terrifying --- than the Songolis, or anyone else, can ever imagine.
Promo
On the day Mr. and Mrs. Songoli’s young son fails to come home from school, 14-year-old Muna’s fortunes change for the better. Until then, her bedroom was a dank windowless cellar, her activities confined to cooking and cleaning. Now that Scotland Yard has swarmed the Songoli house to investigate the disappearance of the son, Muna is given a real bedroom and clothing, yet her world remains confined. Before long, though, it becomes clear that young Muna is far more clever --- and her plans more terrifying --- than the Songolis, or anyone else, can ever imagine.
About the Book
From the internationally bestselling, award-winning crime writer Minette Walters, THE CELLAR is a harrowing, compulsively readable novel about a family of African immigrants, the Songolis, and the dark secret they keep hidden in the depths of their seemingly respectable British home.
On the day Mr. and Mrs. Songoli’s young son fails to come home from school, 14-year-old Muna’s fortunes change for the better. Until then, her bedroom was a dank windowless cellar, her activities confined to cooking and cleaning. Over the years, she had grown used to being abused by the Songoli family --- to being their slave.
Now that Scotland Yard has swarmed the Songoli house to investigate the disappearance of the son, Muna is given a real bedroom, real clothing, and treated, at least nominally, as a daughter. But her world remains confined. She is not allowed to go outside, doesn’t know how to read or write, and cannot speak English. At least that’s what the Songolis believe. Before long it becomes clear that young Muna is far cleverer --- and her plans more terrifying --- than the Songolis, or anyone else, can ever imagine.
Audiobook available, narrated by Eyre Justine
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Abraham Lincoln
A capacity, and taste, for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the unsolved ones.










