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Editorial Content for Echoes of Us

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

In ECHOES OF US, Joy Jordan-Lake takes us to a small island on the coast of Georgia, where, unbeknownst to most Americans, more people died during WWII from German submarines than were killed at Pearl Harbor from the bombing. St. Simons Island is a charming little place just north of the Florida border. The story’s dual timeline, in the present day and during the war, highlights the similarities and differences of life on the island now and all those years ago. Read More

Teaser

In the midst of World War II, a Tennessee farm boy, a Jewish Cambridge student and a German POW forge a connection that endures --- against all odds. But now everything that Will Dobbins, Dov Silverberg and Hans Hessler fought for is at risk as their descendants clash for control of the corporation they founded together. In an attempt to remake its tattered corporate image, the firm hires event planner Hadley Jacks and her sister, Kitzie, to organize a reunion for the families on St. Simons Island, Georgia, the place that changed all three men’s lives forever. As Hadley and her sister delve into the friends’ past, they uncover the life of the courageous young woman who links them all together...and the old wounds that could tear everything apart.

Promo

In the midst of World War II, a Tennessee farm boy, a Jewish Cambridge student and a German POW forge a connection that endures --- against all odds. But now everything that Will Dobbins, Dov Silverberg and Hans Hessler fought for is at risk as their descendants clash for control of the corporation they founded together. In an attempt to remake its tattered corporate image, the firm hires event planner Hadley Jacks and her sister, Kitzie, to organize a reunion for the families on St. Simons Island, Georgia, the place that changed all three men’s lives forever. As Hadley and her sister delve into the friends’ past, they uncover the life of the courageous young woman who links them all together...and the old wounds that could tear everything apart.

About the Book

From the bestselling author of UNDER A GILDED MOON comes the soaring story of an unlikely friendship of three men and one extraordinary woman and the legacy they built --- if their own secrets don’t destroy it.

In the midst of World War II, a Tennessee farm boy, a Jewish Cambridge student and a German POW forge a connection that endures --- against all odds.

But now everything that Will Dobbins, Dov Silverberg and Hans Hessler fought for is at risk as their descendants clash for control of the corporation they founded together. In an attempt to remake its tattered corporate image, the firm hires event planner Hadley Jacks and her sister, Kitzie, to organize a reunion for the families on St. Simons Island, Georgia, the place that changed all three men’s lives forever.

As Hadley and her sister delve into the friends’ past, they uncover the life of the courageous young woman who links them all together…and the old wounds that could tear everything apart.

Told in dual timelines spanning World War II and the present, ECHOES OF US follows the ripple effects of war, the bonds that outlast it and the hope that ultimately carries us forward.

Audiobook available, read by Caroline Hewitt

Editorial Content for The Rest of You

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Megan Elliott

A young Ghanaian woman living in London is forced to reckon with her past in Maame Blue’s sophomore novel, THE REST OF YOU. Read More

Teaser

On the cusp of 30, Ghanaian Londoner Whitney Appiah was born with a special gift. The massage therapist can physically sense where her clients’ trauma lies and heal them. But Whitney has no idea that she, too, is suffering. Tragic events from her youth have left a terrible, unseen mark. When a dangerous encounter with the man she’s dating triggers a wave of fragmented recollections, Whitney embarks on a journey to reclaim her memories and the truth that is buried deep in her early years growing up in Kumasi, Ghana, during the 1990s. Spanning three decades, told through the viewpoints of Whitney, sisters Gloria and Aretha, and their house help Maame Serwaa, THE REST OF YOU explores what happens when we try to move forward through the lacuna of our past.

Promo

On the cusp of 30, Ghanaian Londoner Whitney Appiah was born with a special gift. The massage therapist can physically sense where her clients’ trauma lies and heal them. But Whitney has no idea that she, too, is suffering. Tragic events from her youth have left a terrible, unseen mark. When a dangerous encounter with the man she’s dating triggers a wave of fragmented recollections, Whitney embarks on a journey to reclaim her memories and the truth that is buried deep in her early years growing up in Kumasi, Ghana, during the 1990s. Spanning three decades, told through the viewpoints of Whitney, sisters Gloria and Aretha, and their house help Maame Serwaa, THE REST OF YOU explores what happens when we try to move forward through the lacuna of our past.

About the Book

An internationally award-winning writer makes her triumphant American debut in this emotionally powerful story --- a potent blend of QUEENIE and THE VANISHING HALF --- about a woman’s journey to uncover a foundational family secret from the childhood she does not remember.

On the cusp of 30, Ghanaian Londoner Whitney Appiah was born with a special gift. The massage therapist can physically sense where her clients’ trauma lies and heal them. But Whitney has no idea that she, too, is suffering. Tragic events from her youth have left a terrible, unseen mark. When a dangerous encounter with the man she’s dating triggers a wave of fragmented recollections, Whitney embarks on a journey to reclaim her memories and the truth that is buried deep in her early years growing up in Kumasi, Ghana, during the 1990s.

Spanning three decades, told through the viewpoints of Whitney, sisters Gloria and Aretha, and their house help Maame Serwaa, THE REST OF YOU explores what happens when we try to move forward through the lacuna of our past.

A strikingly original novel inspired by the Twi proverb of Sankofa: looking back in order to move forward, THE REST OF YOU is a story of generational healing, what it means to be Black British, and surviving familial migrant journeys. Tackling darkly serious themes yet full of hope and optimism, and told with an eye towards the future, Maame Blue’s extraordinary tale is an unforgettable celebration of womanhood, friendship and family.

Audiobook available, read by Sara Novak and Ekua Ekumah

October 11, 2024

Thanks to all of you who have answered our Reader Survey so far. We very much appreciate it! I have been jumping in and looking at your replies all week. We love “getting to know all about you,” and your replies are spurring ideas for future growth. If you have not taken the survey yet, you have until next Friday, October 18th at noon ET to do so. Those who complete the survey can be eligible to win a bookish prize!

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2024

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2024 has been awarded to South Korean author Han Kang “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose.

Macavity Awards 2024

The winners of this year’s Macavity Awards have been announced. The Macavity Award is named for the “mystery cat” of T.S. Eliot (OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS). Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in five categories.
 

Interview: Benjamin Barson, author of Brassroots Democracy: Maroon Ecologies and the Jazz Commons

Oct 10, 2024

Benjamin Barson is a historian, a baritone saxophonist, a political activist and an assistant professor of music at Bucknell University. His newly released book, BRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY, recasts the birth of jazz, unearthing vibrant narratives of New Orleans musicians to reveal how early jazz was inextricably tied to the mass mobilization of freedpeople during Reconstruction and the decades that followed. In this interview conducted by Michael Barson, Senior Publicity Executive at Melville House (and Benjamin’s father), Benjamin talks about his inspiration for the book, a thrilling discovery he made while researching this fascinating subject, and his next project, which is somewhat of a sequel to BRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY.

November 2024 Bookaccino Live Signup

October 8, 2024

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of October 7th and October 14th 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 Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks feature for October, which includes Indie Next, LibraryReads, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, Oprah's Book Club, the PBS Books Readers Club, the "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, Reese's Book Club, and the Target Book Club.

October 8, 2024

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we know people will be talking about this fall. Read more about it, and enter our Fall Reading Contest by Wednesday, October 9th at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of THE LOVE ELIXIR OF AUGUSTA STERN by Lynda Cohen Loigman, which is now available. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!

2024 Reader Survey