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Holly Gramazio

Holly Gramazio is a writer, game designer and curator from Adelaide, currently based in London. She founded the experimental games festival Now Play This and wrote the script for the award-winning indie video game Dicey Dungeons. Her recent projects include New Rules, a zine collecting essays about play during the pandemic, and a collaboration with artist Lawrence Lek on a game for his exhibition NOX.

Susan Page, author of The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters

Barbara Walters was a force from the time TV was exploding on the American scene in the 1960s to its waning dominance in a new world of competition from streaming services and social media half a century later. In THE RULEBREAKER, Susan Page conducts 150 interviews and extensive archival research to discover that Walters was driven to keep herself and her family afloat after her mercurial and famous impresario father attempted suicide. But she never lost the fear of an impending catastrophe, which is what led her to ask for things no woman had ever asked for before, to ignore the rules of misogynistic culture, to outcompete her most ferocious competitors, and to protect her complicated marriages and love life from scrutiny.

Janet Skeslien Charles, author of Miss Morgan's Book Brigade

1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. This group of international women help rebuild destroyed French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen --- children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears. 1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. Eventually she discovers that they have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.

Emily Henry, author of Funny Story

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met, fell in love and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he actually was in love with his childhood best friend, Petra. Daphne is now stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, with a dream job as a children’s librarian and proposes to be roommates with Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak. The roommates mainly avoid one another until one day they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them? But it’s all just for show, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex. Right?

Erik Larson, author of The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter. Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter --- a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, inflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”

Editorial Content for Lucky

Book

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Reviewer (text)

Eileen Zimmerman Nicol

LUCKY is a novel about folk singer Jodie Rattler, told in her own voice. Born in 1949, Jodie comes of age with “the four J's” --- Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Janis Joplin. Growing up in St. Louis, she becomes a connoisseur of its streets and neighborhoods (Skinker, Webster, Kirkwood), homes (shacks next to brick mansions) and the overall kaleidoscopic vibe of her city. She lives with her single mother but counts on a loving extended family, particularly her uncle Drew. Read More

Teaser

Before Jodie Rattler became a star, she was a girl growing up in St. Louis. One day in 1955, when she was just six years old, her uncle Drew took her to the racetrack, where she got lucky --- and that roll of two-dollar bills she won has never since left her side. Jodie thrived in the warmth of her extended family, and then --- through a combination of hard work and serendipity --- she started a singing career, which catapulted her from St. Louis to New York City, from the English countryside to the tropical beaches of St. Thomas, from Cleveland to Los Angeles, and back again. Jodie comes of age in recording studios, backstage and on tour, and she tries to hold her own in the wake of Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell. Yet it feels like something is missing. Could it be true love? Or is that not actually what Jodie is looking for?

Promo

Before Jodie Rattler became a star, she was a girl growing up in St. Louis. One day in 1955, when she was just six years old, her uncle Drew took her to the racetrack, where she got lucky --- and that roll of two-dollar bills she won has never since left her side. Jodie thrived in the warmth of her extended family, and then --- through a combination of hard work and serendipity --- she started a singing career, which catapulted her from St. Louis to New York City, from the English countryside to the tropical beaches of St. Thomas, from Cleveland to Los Angeles, and back again. Jodie comes of age in recording studios, backstage and on tour, and she tries to hold her own in the wake of Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell. Yet it feels like something is missing. Could it be true love? Or is that not actually what Jodie is looking for?

About the Book

From the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, a soaring, soulful novel about a folk musician who rises to fame across our changing times.

Before Jodie Rattler became a star, she was a girl growing up in St. Louis. One day in 1955, when she was just six years old, her uncle Drew took her to the racetrack, where she got lucky --- and that roll of two-dollar bills she won has never since left her side. Jodie thrived in the warmth of her extended family, and then --- through a combination of hard work and serendipity --- she started a singing career, which catapulted her from St. Louis to New York City, from the English countryside to the tropical beaches of St. Thomas, from Cleveland to Los Angeles, and back again.

Jodie comes of age in recording studios, backstage and on tour, and she tries to hold her own in the wake of Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell. Yet it feels like something is missing. Could it be true love? Or is that not actually what Jodie is looking for?

Full of atmosphere, shot through with longing and exuberance, romance and rock 'n' roll, LUCKY is a story of chance and grit and the glitter of real talent, a colorful portrait of one woman's journey in search of herself.

Audiobook available, read by Stina Nielsen

Editorial Content for Days of Wonder

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Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Sometimes, though very rarely, a novel comes along that is so full of life, love and wonder that it almost feels impossible to imagine the writer’s hand behind it --- the kind of novel that breathes with spirit, vitality and a convincing, complex range of human emotions. This year, that novel for me is Caroline Leavitt’s DAYS OF WONDER. Read More

Teaser

As a teenager, Ella Fitchburg found love that consumed both her and her boyfriend, Jude, as they wandered the streets of New York City together. But her glorious life was pulled out from beneath her after she was accused of trying to murder Jude’s father, an imperious superior court judge. When she learns she’s pregnant shortly after receiving a long prison sentence, she reluctantly decides to give up the child. Ella is released from prison after serving only six years and is desperate to turn the page on a new life, but she can’t seem to let go of her past. With only an address as a possible lead, she moves to Ann Arbor, Michigan, determined to get her daughter back. Yet a central mystery endures: neither Jude nor Ella can remember the events leading up to the attempted murder --- that fateful night that led to Ella’s conviction.

Promo

As a teenager, Ella Fitchburg found love that consumed both her and her boyfriend, Jude, as they wandered the streets of New York City together. But her glorious life was pulled out from beneath her after she was accused of trying to murder Jude’s father, an imperious superior court judge. When she learns she’s pregnant shortly after receiving a long prison sentence, she reluctantly decides to give up the child. Ella is released from prison after serving only six years and is desperate to turn the page on a new life, but she can’t seem to let go of her past. With only an address as a possible lead, she moves to Ann Arbor, Michigan, determined to get her daughter back. Yet a central mystery endures: neither Jude nor Ella can remember the events leading up to the attempted murder --- that fateful night that led to Ella’s conviction.

About the Book

New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt returns with a tantalizing, courageous story about mothers and daughters, guilt and innocence, and the lengths we go for love.

As a teenager, for a moment, Ella Fitchburg found love --- yearning, breathless love --- that consumed both her and her boyfriend, Jude, as they wandered the streets of New York City together. But her glorious life was pulled out from beneath her after she was accused of trying to murder Jude’s father, an imperious superior court judge. When she learns she’s pregnant shortly after receiving a long prison sentence, she reluctantly decides to give up the child.

Ella is released from prison after serving only six years and is desperate to turn the page on a new life, but she can’t seem to let go of her past. With only an address as a possible lead, she moves to Ann Arbor, Michigan, determined to get her daughter back. Hiding her identity and living in a constant state of deception, she finds that what she’s been searching for all along is a way to uncover --- and live with --- the truth. Yet a central mystery endures: neither Jude nor Ella can remember the events leading up to the attempted murder --- that fateful night that led to Ella’s conviction.

For fans of Miranda Cowley Heller’s THE PAPER PALACE and Allegra Goodman’s SAM, Caroline Leavitt’s DAYS OF WONDER is a gripping high-drama page-turner about the elusive nature of redemption and the profound reach of love.

Audiobook available; read by Xe Sands, Stephanie Willing and Steve Quinn

Editorial Content for Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies

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Reviewer (text)

Megan Elliott

A bestselling author on a book tour in Italy gets caught up in a real-life mystery in Catherine Mack’s fun and clever new novel, EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES.

A decade ago, novice writer Eleanor Dash stumbled her way onto the bestseller list when she turned a vacation romance with charming rogue Connor Smith into her first novel. When in Rome was based on the pair’s real-life efforts to discover who was responsible for a series of bank robberies in the Eternal City. Read More

Teaser

All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next installment of her Vacation Mysteries series. Is that too much to ask? Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life --- the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with 10 years ago and now can't get out of her life --- Eleanor is enlisted to help solve the case. Contending with literary competitors, rabid fans, a stalker --- and even her ex, Oliver, who turns up unexpectedly --- theories are bandied about, and rivalries, rifts and broken hearts are revealed. But who’s really trying to get away with murder?

Promo

All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next installment of her Vacation Mysteries series. Is that too much to ask? Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life --- the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with 10 years ago and now can't get out of her life --- Eleanor is enlisted to help solve the case. Contending with literary competitors, rabid fans, a stalker --- and even her ex, Oliver, who turns up unexpectedly --- theories are bandied about, and rivalries, rifts and broken hearts are revealed. But who’s really trying to get away with murder?

About the Book

Ten days, eight suspects, six cities, five authors, three bodies. One trip to die for.

All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next installment of her Vacation Mysteries series. Is that too much to ask?

Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life --- the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with 10 years ago and now can't get out of her life --- Eleanor is enlisted to help solve the case.

Contending with literary competitors, rabid fans, a stalker --- and even her ex, Oliver, who turns up unexpectedly --- theories are bandied about, and rivalries, rifts and broken hearts are revealed. But who’s really trying to get away with murder?

EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES is the irresistible and hilarious series debut from Catherine Mack, introducing bestselling fictional author Eleanor Dash on her Italian book tour that turns into a real-life murder mystery, as her life starts to imitate the world in her books.

Audiobook available, read by Elizabeth Evans

Editorial Content for The Last Word

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

In 2021, Elly Griffiths introduced us to a number of colorful characters, all of whom were involved in a murder mystery that had a literary reference at its heart. THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS found Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur stumped by the death of 90-year-old Peggy Smith. That is, until she teamed up with an unlikely duo: octogenarian Edwin Fitzgerald and his partner, Natalka Kolisnyk, who is more than 50 years his junior. They run a detective agency with the assistance of Natalka’s boyfriend, ex-monk Benedict Cole. Read More

Teaser

 

Natalka and Edwin are perfect if improbable partners in a detective agency. At 84, Edwin regularly claims that he’s the oldest detective in England. He is a master at surveillance, deploying his age as a cloak of invisibility. Natalka is a math whiz who takes any cases concerning fraud or deception. Natalka loves a murder, as she’s fond of saying, and none have come the agency’s way. That is until local writer Melody Chambers dies. Melody’s daughters are convinced that their mother was murdered. Edwin thinks that Melody’s death is linked to that of an obituary writer who predeceased many of his subjects. Edwin and Benedict go undercover to investigate when another murder occurs. Are the cases linked and what is the role of a distinctly sinister book group attended by many of the writers involved?

Promo

Natalka and Edwin are perfect, if improbable, partners in a detective agency. Eighty-four-year-old Edwin is a master at surveillance, deploying his age as a cloak of invisibility. Natalka, more than 50 years his junior, is a math whiz who takes any cases concerning fraud or deception. She loves a murder, but none have come the agency’s way. That is until local writer Melody Chambers dies. Melody’s daughters are convinced that their mother was murdered. Edwin thinks that Melody’s death is linked to that of an obituary writer who predeceased many of his subjects. Edwin and Benedict go undercover to investigate and are on a creative writing weekend at isolated Battle House when another murder occurs. Are the cases linked, and what is the role of a distinctly sinister book group attended by many of the writers involved?

About the Book

Words turn deadly with an unlikely detective duo on the case of a murdered obituary writer in this literary mystery from the internationally bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway series. Perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz.

Natalka and Edwin are perfect if improbable partners in a detective agency. At 84, Edwin regularly claims that he’s the oldest detective in England. He is a master at surveillance, deploying his age as a cloak of invisibility. Natalka, Ukrainian-born and more than 50 years his junior, is a math whiz, who takes any cases concerning fraud or deception. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated. She loves a murder, as she’s fond of saying, and none have come the agency’s way. That is until local writer Melody Chambers dies.

Melody’s daughters are convinced that their mother was murdered. Edwin thinks that Melody’s death is linked to that of an obituary writer who predeceased many of his subjects. Edwin and Benedict go undercover to investigate and are on a creative writing weekend at isolated Battle House when another murder occurs. Are the cases linked, and what is the role of a distinctly sinister book group attended by many of the writers involved? By the time Edwin has infiltrated the group, he is in serious danger.

Seeking professional help, the investigators turn to their friend, detective Harbinder Kaur, and find that they have stumbled on a plot that is stranger than fiction.

Audiobook available, read by Nina Wadia

Editorial Content for One by One

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

In what seems like a very short period of time, Frieda McFadden has become a bestselling author and a household name. I have enjoyed every book of hers that I have read, but I firmly believe that ONE BY ONE is the most diabolical and confounding thriller she has penned to date. Read More

Teaser

Claire Matchett needs this trip. It will be a break from work and raising children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubbing with friends at a luxurious hotel in the woods, disconnected from the pressures of real life. Then, on a lonely dirt road, Claire's minivan breaks down. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to walk the rest of the way to their remote accommodation. But the forest is dark and difficult to navigate; hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost. As they venture deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously, one by one. Are they being hunted? And by what --- or who? As Claire's dream vacation descends into a nightmare, something becomes clear: only one of them will return home alive.

Promo

Claire Matchett needs this trip. It will be a break from work and raising children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubbing with friends at a luxurious hotel in the woods, disconnected from the pressures of real life. Then, on a lonely dirt road, Claire's minivan breaks down. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to walk the rest of the way to their remote accommodation. But the forest is dark and difficult to navigate; hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost. As they venture deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously, one by one. Are they being hunted? And by what --- or who? As Claire's dream vacation descends into a nightmare, something becomes clear: only one of them will return home alive.

About the Book

A heart pounding, twisting thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of THE HOUSEMAID and THE COWORKER.

One by one, they will get what they deserve.

Claire Matchett needs this trip. It will be a break from work and raising children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubbing with friends at a luxurious hotel in the woods, disconnected from the pressures of real life.

Then, on a lonely dirt road, Claire's minivan breaks down. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to walk the rest of the way to their remote accommodation. But the forest is dark and difficult to navigate; hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost.

As they venture deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously, one by one. Are they being hunted? And by what --- or who? As Claire's dream vacation descends into a nightmare, something becomes clear: only one of them will return home alive.

A taut story of betrayal and survival from New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden that will leave you wondering if there's any way out of the woods.

Audiobook available, read by Alyson Krawchuk