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Elizabeth McCracken, author of The Hero of This Book

Ten months after her mother’s death, the narrator of THE HERO OF THIS BOOK takes a trip to London. The city was a favorite of her mother’s, and as the narrator wanders the streets, she finds herself reflecting on her mother’s life and their relationship. Thoughts of the past meld with questions of the future: Back in New England, the family home is now up for sale, its considerable contents already winnowed. The woman, a writer, recalls all that made her complicated mother extraordinary and finds herself wondering how her mother had endured. Even though she wants to respect her mother’s nearly pathological sense of privacy, the woman must come to terms with whether making a chronicle of this remarkable life constitutes an act of love or betrayal.

Week of October 2, 2023

Paperback releases for the week of October 2nd include John Irving's long-awaited 15th novel, THE LAST CHAIRLIFT, which is part ghost story and part love story, and spans eight decades of sexual politics; THE LAST KINGDOM, Steve Berry's 17th Cotton Malone adventure, in which the discovery of a lost historical document challenges the global might of the United States; THE HERO OF THIS BOOK, a taut, groundbreaking novel from Elizabeth McCracken about a writer’s relationship with her larger-than-life mother --- and about the very nature of writing, memory and art; UNMASKED, a fascinating memoir by Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator who is perhaps best known for tracking down the Golden State Killer; DOWN AND OUT IN PARADISE by Charles Leerhsen, the unauthorized biography of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, which is based on extensive interviews with those who knew the real story; and the paperback original ONE LAST KILL, a nerve-shattering thriller from Robert Dugoni that finds homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite drawing a long-dormant serial killer out of hiding.