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Ronald K. Fried

Ronald K. Fried is the author of three novels --- MY FATHER'S FIGHTER, CHRISTMAS IN PARIS 2002 and FRANK COSTELLO --- and the nonfiction title CORNER MEN: Great Boxing Trainers. He is a regular contributor to The Daily Beast, and his work has appeared in The New York Times and other publications.

May 23, 2023

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of May 22nd and May 29th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our Father's Day contest, which we have brought back for an 18th year. From now through Friday, June 16th at noon ET, readers can enter to win one of our five prize packages, which includes all six of our featured titles. Click here to read more about the books and enter the contest.

May 23, 2023

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we think is a great summer reading selection. Read more about it, and enter our Summer Reading Contest by Wednesday, May 24th at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of THE HOMEWRECKERS by Mary Kay Andrews, which is now available in paperback. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!

Kate White, author of Between Two Strangers

Struggling artist Skyler Moore is flabbergasted when she receives a suspicious phone call from a lawyer she’s never met regarding a “private matter.” It turns out she’s the recipient of a large inheritance, a life-changing sum that will allow her to realize her long-held dream of becoming a mother. But who was her benefactor, Christopher Whaley? The late man’s name means nothing to Skyler, and she has no idea why he would leave her such an enormous bequest. Looking into his background, Skyler finally realizes they met once at a hotel bar and shared a one-night stand. But they never exchanged numbers, or even last names, and that was over a decade ago. She wonders if the inheritance is meant to be a message of some kind, but she can’t imagine what it might be.

Emma Cline, author of The Guest

Summer is coming to a close on the East End of Long Island, and Alex is no longer welcome. A misstep at a dinner party, and the older man she’s been staying with dismisses her with a ride to the train station and a ticket back to the city. With few resources and a waterlogged phone, but gifted with an ability to navigate the desires of others, Alex stays on Long Island and drifts like a ghost through the hedged lanes, gated driveways and sun-blasted dunes of a rarefied world that is, at first, closed to her. Propelled by desperation and a mutable sense of morality, she spends the week leading up to Labor Day moving from one place to the next, a cipher leaving destruction in her wake.

R. F. Kuang, author of Yellowface

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But while Athena is a literary darling, June is literally nobody. When June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I. So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song --- complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her.

Linwood Barclay, author of The Lie Maker

Your dad’s not a good person. Your dad killed people, son. These are some of the last words that Jack Givins’ father spoke to him before he was whisked away by witness protection, leaving Jack and his mother to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives as best they could. Years later, Jack is a talented but struggling author. So when the U.S. Marshals approach him with a lucrative opportunity, he’s in no position to turn them down. They’re recruiting writers like Jack to create false histories for people in witness protection. Jack soon realizes this may be a chance to find his dad. But Jack’s father hasn’t made contact with his handlers recently, and they have no idea where he is. He could be in serious danger, and Jack may be the only one who can find him.

Editorial Content for Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding)

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Roberta O'Hara

In the pantheon of great Hollywood legends, there are many mother-daughter pairs who have graced the screen: Garland and Minnelli, Bergman and Rossellini, Reynolds and Fisher. And then there’s Laura Dern and Diane Ladd, a dynamic duo who not only worked together but also seemed to genuinely like each other. HONEY, BABY, MINE is both a tribute to their relationship and a walk down the industry’s memory lane from their personal and intimate perspective. Read More

Teaser

Laura Dern and Diane Ladd always had a close relationship, but the stakes were raised when Diane developed a sudden life-threatening illness. Diane’s doctor prescribed long walks to build back her lung capacity. The exertion was challenging, and Laura soon learned that the best way to distract her mom was to get her talking and telling stories. Their conversations along the way began to break down the traditional barriers between mothers and daughters. They discussed the most personal topics: love, sex, marriage, divorce, art, ambition and legacy. In HONEY, BABY, MINE, Laura and Diane share these conversations, as well as reflections and anecdotes, taking readers on an intimate tour of their lives. Complementing these candid exchanges, they have included photos, family recipes and other mementos.

Promo

Laura Dern and Diane Ladd always had a close relationship, but the stakes were raised when Diane developed a sudden life-threatening illness. Diane’s doctor prescribed long walks to build back her lung capacity. The exertion was challenging, and Laura soon learned that the best way to distract her mom was to get her talking and telling stories. Their conversations along the way began to break down the traditional barriers between mothers and daughters. They discussed the most personal topics: love, sex, marriage, divorce, art, ambition and legacy. In HONEY, BABY, MINE, Laura and Diane share these conversations, as well as reflections and anecdotes, taking readers on an intimate tour of their lives. Complementing these candid exchanges, they have included photos, family recipes and other mementos.

About the Book

A collection of deeply personal conversations from award-winning actress and activist Laura Dern and the woman she admires most, her mother --- legendary actress Diane Ladd.

What happens when we are brave enough to speak our truths to the ones we love the most?

Laura Dern and Diane Ladd always had a close relationship, but the stakes were raised when Diane developed a sudden life-threatening illness. Diane’s doctor prescribed long walks to build back her lung capacity. The exertion was challenging, and Laura soon learned the best way to distract her mom was to get her talking and telling stories. 

Their conversations along the way began to break down the traditional barriers between mothers and daughters. They discussed the most personal topics: love, sex, marriage, divorce, art, ambition and legacy. In HONEY, BABY, MINE, Laura and Diane share these conversations, as well as reflections and anecdotes, taking readers on an intimate tour of their lives. Complementing these candid exchanges, they have included photos, family recipes and other mementos. The result is a celebration of the power of leaving nothing unsaid that will make you want to call the people you love the most and start talking.

Audiobook available, read by Laura Dern and Diane Ladd

Editorial Content for Quietly Hostile: Essays

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

That Samantha Irby is truly funny and a gifted essayist with a unique voice should go without saying. Her latest collection, QUIETLY HOSTILE, shifts gears somewhat, centering often on the attention that her previous work has brought her. There is still lots of discussion about sex, poop, animals, marriage, family and the mundane absurdities of daily life, but readers also will find an examination of and reflections on success. In the second sentence of the first essay, “I Like It,” she writes, “And I don’t know anything.” Of course, this is untrue. Read More

Teaser

Samantha Irby’s career has taken her to new heights. She dodges calls from Hollywood and flop sweats on the red carpet at premieres (well, one premiere). But nothing is ever as it seems online, where she can crop out all the ugly parts. Irby got a lot of weird emails about Carrie Bradshaw, and not only is there diarrhea to avoid, but now --- anaphylactic shock. She is turned away from restaurants for being inappropriately dressed and looks for the best ways to cope, i.e., reveling in the offerings of QVC and adopting a deranged pandemic dog. QUIETLY HOSTILE makes light as Irby takes us on another outrageously funny tour of all the gory details that make up the true portrait of a life behind the screenshotted depression memes.

Promo

Samantha Irby’s career has taken her to new heights. She dodges calls from Hollywood and flop sweats on the red carpet at premieres (well, one premiere). But nothing is ever as it seems online, where she can crop out all the ugly parts. Irby got a lot of weird emails about Carrie Bradshaw, and not only is there diarrhea to avoid, but now --- anaphylactic shock. She is turned away from restaurants for being inappropriately dressed and looks for the best ways to cope, i.e., reveling in the offerings of QVC and adopting a deranged pandemic dog. QUIETLY HOSTILE makes light as Irby takes us on another outrageously funny tour of all the gory details that make up the true portrait of a life behind the screenshotted depression memes.

About the Book

A hilarious new essay collection from #1 New York Times bestselling unabashed fan-favorite Samantha Irby invites us to share in the gory particulars of her real life, all that festers behind the glitter and glam.

Samantha Irby’s career has taken her to new heights. She dodges calls from Hollywood and flop sweats on the red carpet at premieres (well, one premiere). But nothing is ever as it seems online, where she can crop out all the ugly parts.

Irby got a lot of weird emails about Carrie Bradshaw, and not only is there diarrhea to avoid, but now --- anaphylactic shock. She is turned away from restaurants for being inappropriately dressed and looks for the best ways to cope, i.e., reveling in the offerings of QVC and adopting a deranged pandemic dog. QUIETLY HOSTILE makes light as Irby takes us on another outrageously funny tour of all the gory details that make up the true portrait of a life behind the screenshotted depression memes. Relatable, poignant and uproarious, once again, Irby is the tonic we all need to get by.

Audiobook available, read by Samantha Irby

Editorial Content for The Lagos Wife

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER meets “White Lotus” in Vanessa Walters’ atmospheric, absorbing debut, THE LAGOS WIFE. Read More

Teaser

Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a hand­some husband; a palatial house in the heart of glittering Lagos, Nigeria; and a glamorous group of friends. She left gloomy London and a troubled family past behind for sunny, moneyed Lagos, becoming part of the Nigerwives --- a com­munity of foreign women married to Nigerian men. But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her auntie Claudine decides to take matters into her own hands. Armed with only a cell phone and a plane ticket to Nigeria, she digs into her niece’s life and uncov­ers a hidden side filled with dark secrets, isolation and even violence. But the more she discovers about Nicole, the more Claudine’s own buried history threatens to come to light.

Promo

Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a hand­some husband; a palatial house in the heart of glittering Lagos, Nigeria; and a glamorous group of friends. She left gloomy London and a troubled family past behind for sunny, moneyed Lagos, becoming part of the Nigerwives --- a com­munity of foreign women married to Nigerian men. But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her auntie Claudine decides to take matters into her own hands. Armed with only a cell phone and a plane ticket to Nigeria, she digs into her niece’s life and uncov­ers a hidden side filled with dark secrets, isolation and even violence. But the more she discovers about Nicole, the more Claudine’s own buried history threatens to come to light.

About the Book

This lush and suspenseful Good Morning America Book Club pick “will have you glued to every page” (HuffPost) as it follows a woman to Nigeria to uncover what happened to her missing estranged niece…no matter the cost.

Previously published as THE NIGERWIFE.

Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a hand­some husband; a palatial house in the heart of glittering Lagos, Nigeria; and a glamorous group of friends. She left gloomy London and a troubled family past behind for sunny, moneyed Lagos, becoming part of the Nigerwives --- a com­munity of foreign women married to Nigerian men.

But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her auntie Claudine decides to take matters into her own hands. Armed with only a cell phone and a plane ticket to Nigeria, she digs into her niece’s life and uncov­ers a hidden side filled with dark secrets, isolation and even violence. But the more she discovers about Nicole, the more Claudine’s own buried history threatens to come to light.

Offering a razor-sharp look at the bonds of family, the echoing consequences of secrets, and whether we can ever truly outrun our past, THE LAGOS WIFE “is a gripping work of suspense, a psychological puzzle, a mystery, and a critique of marriage and high society” (Shelf Awareness).

Audiobook available, read by Dami Olukoya and Debra Michaels