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June 4, 2024

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, June 5th at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of THE PECAN CHILDREN by Quinn Connor, which is now available. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!

June 2024

June's Books on Screen roundup includes the series premieres of "Presumed Innocent" on Apple TV+ and "Queenie" on Hulu; the season two premiere of HBO's "House of the Dragon" and the second part of season three of Netflix's "Bridgerton"; the conclusion of "Dark Matter" on Apple TV+; the season finales of Hallmark Channel's "When Calls the Heart," AMC's "Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire" and Apple TV+'s "The Big Door Prize"; the films Firebrand and The Watchers; and the DVD releases of Origin, The Long Game, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and Orlando, My Political Biography.

Ann Napolitano Book Group Event

Claire Messud, author of This Strange Eventful History

Over seven decades, from 1940 to 2010, the pieds-noirs Cassars live in an itinerant state --- separated in the chaos of World War II, running from a complicated colonial homeland, and, after Algerian independence, without a homeland at all. THIS STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY is above all a family story: of patriarch Gaston and his wife, Lucienne, whose myth of perfect love sustains them and stifles their children; of François and Denise, devoted siblings connected by their family’s strangeness; of François’ union with Barbara, a woman so culturally different they can barely comprehend one another; and of Chloe, the result of that union, who believes that telling these buried stories will bring them all peace.

Helen Simonson, author of The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club

It is the summer of 1919. Now that all the men have returned from the front, Constance Haverhill has been asked to give up her cottage and her job at the estate she helped run during the war. She is sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside hotel. Despite having only weeks to find a permanent home, Constance is swept up in the social whirl of Hazelbourne-on-Sea after rescuing the local baronet’s daughter, Poppy, from a social faux pas. Poppy runs a ladies’ motorcycle club, to which she plans to add flying lessons. She and her friends enthusiastically welcome Constance into their circle. As the country prepares to celebrate its hard-won peace, Constance and the women of the club are forced to confront the fact that the freedoms they gained during the war are being revoked.

Greg Iles, author of Southern Man

Fifteen years after the events of the Natchez Burning trilogy, Penn Cage carries a mortal secret that separates him from the world. But his exile comes to an end when a brawl at a Mississippi rap festival triggers a bloody mass shooting that nearly takes the life of his daughter. Antebellum plantation homes continue to burn, and the deadly attacks are claimed by a Black radical group as historic acts of justice. Panic sweeps through the tourist communities, driving them inexorably toward a race war. But what might have been only a regional sideshow of the 2024 Presidential election explodes into national prominence, thanks to the stunning ascent of Robert E. Lee White, a Southern war hero who seizes the public’s imagination as a third-party candidate. To triumph over the national party machines, Bobby evolves a plan of unimaginable daring.

John Grisham, author of Camino Ghosts

In John Grisham’s third thriller set on Camino Island, popular bookseller Bruce Cable tells Mercer Mann an irresistible tale that might be her next novel. A giant resort developer is using its political muscle and deep pockets to claim ownership of a deserted island between Florida and Georgia. Only the last living inhabitant of the island, Lovely Jackson, stands in its way. What the developer doesn’t know is that the island has a remarkable history, and locals believe it is cursed…and the past is never the past.

Editorial Content for All Fours

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

As Miranda July's novel, ALL FOURS, opens, the unnamed 45-year-old narrator is about to embark on a cross-country road trip --- from her home in Los Angeles to a series of professional meetings in New York. She could fly there, of course, but she's determined to prove to herself that she's, in the words of her husband, a "Driver" rather than a "Parker." Read More

Teaser

A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from Los Angeles to New York. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, checks into a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in an entirely different journey. With Miranda July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, ALL FOURS tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic and domestic life of a 45-year-old female artist, the book transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman.

Promo

A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from Los Angeles to New York. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, checks into a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in an entirely different journey. With Miranda July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, ALL FOURS tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic and domestic life of a 45-year-old female artist, the book transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman.

About the Book

The New York Times bestselling author returns with an irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious and surprising novel about a woman upending her life.

A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from Los Angeles to New York. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, checks into a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in an entirely different journey.

Miranda July’s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, ALL FOURS tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom.

Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic and domestic life of a 45-year-old female artist, ALL FOURS transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.

Audiobook available, read by Miranda July

Editorial Content for You Are Here

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Katherine B. Weissman

So you’re in the mood for a grown-up romantic read: witty but not slapstick, tender but not sentimental, with smart, flawed, undeniably attractive characters who struggle with themselves --- and each other --- on the path to love. Read More

Teaser

Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house. Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by. When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of 10-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Promo

Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house. Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by. When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of 10-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.

About the Book

From the internationally bestselling and Booker Prize-longlisted author of ONE DAY, one of the most enduring love stories of its generation, comes an uplifting and unputdownable love story about second chances.

Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way...

Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house.

Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by.

When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of 10-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Michael and Marnie are on the precipice of a bright future...if they can survive the journey.

A hilarious, hopeful and heartwarming love story --- the novel beloved New York Times bestselling author David Nicholls calls “my funniest book yet” --- YOU ARE HERE is a bittersweet and hopeful story of first encounters, second chances and finding the way home.

Audiobook available, read by Lee Ingleby and Lydia Leonard

Editorial Content for Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pauline Finch

Who you are, what you’ve done, who you’ve influenced, who you’ve angered --- these all matter tremendously in the relentlessly exposed world of celebrity figures. Read More

Teaser

Speaking out for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, about the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie answers violence with art and reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. KNIFE is a gripping, intimate and ultimately life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art --- and finding the strength to stand up again.

Promo

Speaking out for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, about the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie answers violence with art and reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. KNIFE is a gripping, intimate and ultimately life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art --- and finding the strength to stand up again.

About the Book

From internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, a searing, deeply personal account of enduring --- and surviving --- an attempt on his life 30 years after the fatwa that was ordered against him.

Speaking out for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, about the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie answers violence with art and reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. KNIFE is a gripping, intimate and ultimately life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art --- and finding the strength to stand up again.

Audiobook available, read by Salman Rushdie