Skip to main content

May 5, 2015

May 5, 2015

The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of May 4th and May 11th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.

May we ask that you forward this newsletter to friends who you think would enjoy reading it?

On Sale the Week of May 4th in Hardcover

May 4th

14th DEADLY SIN by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Thriller)
Detective Lindsay Boxer is called to a gruesome crime scene, where a woman has been murdered in broad daylight. As she investigates, shocking video footage of another crime surfaces. Their faces obscured by masks, the cold-blooded criminals on the tape could be anyone --- and now all of Lindsay's co-workers are suspects. As a rash of violence sweeps through San Francisco, Lindsay and her friends must risk their lives in the name of justice before it's too late.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316407021

AMERICAN WIFE: A Memoir of Love, War, Faith, and Renewal by Taya Kyle, with Jim DeFelice (Memoir)
Chris and Taya Kyle’s remarkable story has captivated millions through the Academy Award-winning film American Sniper, and because of Chris’ bestselling memoir, in which Taya contributed passages that formed the book’s emotional core. Now, with trusted collaborator Jim DeFelice, Taya writes in never-before-told detail about the hours, days and months after his shocking death when grief threatened to overwhelm her. Then there were wearying battles to protect her husband’s legacy and reputation.
William Morrow * 9780062398086


May 5th

THE ART OF BAKING BLIND by Sarah Vaughan (Fiction)
In 1966, Kathleen Eaden, cookbook writer and wife of a supermarket magnate, published The Art of Baking, her guide to nurturing a family by creating the most exquisite pastries, biscuits and cakes. Now, five amateur bakers are competing to become the New Mrs. Eaden. As unlikely alliances are forged and secrets rise to the surface, making the choicest pastry seems the least of the contestants' problems. For they will learn --- just as Mrs. Eaden did before them --- that while perfection is possible in the kitchen, it's very much harder in life.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250059406

BENEATH THE BONFIRE: Stories by Nickolas Butler (Fiction/Short Stories)
Young couples gather to participate in an annual "chainsaw party," cutting down trees for firewood in anticipation of the winter. A group of men spend a weekend hunting for mushrooms in the wilderness where they grew up and where some still find themselves trapped. An aging environmentalist takes out his frustration and anger on a singular, unsuspecting target. Together, the 10 stories in Nickolas Butler’s collection evoke a landscape that will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has traveled the back roads and blue highways of America.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250039835

THE BILL OF RIGHTS: The Fight to Secure America’s Liberties by Carol Berkin (History)
Revered today for articulating America’s founding principles, the first 10 amendments was in fact a political stratagem executed by James Madison to preserve the Constitution, the Federal government, and the latter’s authority over the states. In the hands of award-winning historian Carol Berkin, the story of the Founders’ fight over the Bill of Rights comes alive in a gripping drama of partisan politics, acrimonious debate and manipulated procedure.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476743790

THE BOOK OF JOAN: Tales of Mirth, Mischief, and Manipulation by Melissa Rivers (Memoir)
Joan and Melissa Rivers had one of the most celebrated mother-daughter relationships of all time. If you think Joan said some outrageous things to her audiences as a comedian, you won’t believe what she said and did in private. In THE BOOK OF JOAN, Melissa shares stories, bon mots and life lessons from growing up in the Rosenberg-Rivers household. She relates funny, poignant and irreverent observations, thoughts, and tales about the woman who raised her and is the reason she considers valium one of the four basic food groups.
Crown Archetype * 9781101903827

BORN SURVIVORS: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope by Wendy Holden (History)
Eastern Europe, 1944: Three women believe they are pregnant, but are torn from their husbands before they can be certain. Rachel is sent to Auschwitz, unaware that her husband has been shot. Priska and her husband travel there together, but are immediately separated. Also at Auschwitz, Anka hopes in vain to be reunited with her husband. With the rest of their families gassed, these young wives are determined to hold on to all they have left --- their lives, and those of their unborn babies.
Harper * 9780062370259

BURNING DOWN GEORGE ORWELL’S HOUSE by Andrew Ervin (Fiction)
Ray Welter, who until recently was a high-flying advertising executive in Chicago, has left the world of newspeak behind. He decamps to the isolated Scottish Isle of Jura in order to spend a few months in the cottage where George Orwell wrote most of his seminal novel, NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR. A few of the local islanders take a decidedly shallow view of a foreigner coming to visit in order to sort himself out, and Ray quickly finds himself having to deal with not only his own issues but also a community whose eccentricities are at times amusing and at others downright dangerous.
Soho Press * 9781616954949

CHURCH OF MARVELS by Leslie Parry (Historical Fiction)
As the lives of four strangers become entwined, their stories and secrets unfold. Moving from the Coney Island seashore to the tenement-studded streets of the Lower East Side, a spectacular human circus to a brutal, terrifying asylum, CHURCH OF MARVELS takes readers back to turn-of-the-century New York --- a city of hardship and dreams, love and loneliness, hope and danger.
Ecco * 9780062367556

THE DAYLIGHT MARRIAGE by Heidi Pitlor (Fiction)
After a magical honeymoon, Hannah and Lovell settled in the suburbs to raise their two children. But over the years, their conversations have become charged with resentments and unspoken desires. Until, after one explosive argument, Hannah vanishes. As Lovell tries to piece together what happened to his wife --- and to their lives together --- readers follow Hannah through that single day when the smallest of decisions takes her to places she never intended to go.
Algonquin Books * 9781616203689

DON’T GO HOME: A Death on Demand Mystery by Carolyn Hart (Mystery)
Annie Darling, owner of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore, is hosting a party to celebrate successful Southern literary icon Alex Griffith and his bestselling new novel, Don’t Go Home. But not everyone in town is ready to give him a glowing review. As Annie attempts damage control, her friend Marian Kenyon gets in a heated argument with Griffith. It’s a fight Annie won’t soon forget --- especially after the author turns up dead.
Berkley * 9780425276549

THE FALL by John Lescroart (Thriller)
Late one night, a teenage African American foster child named Tanya Morgan plummets to her death from the overpass above San Francisco’s Stockton tunnel. But did she fall…or was she pushed? Homicide inspectors focus their attention on a naïve young man named Greg Treadway. At first, the only thing connecting him to Tanya’s death is the fact that they shared a meal earlier that night. But soon enough, elements of that story seem to fall apart…and Hardy’s daughter, Rebecca, finds herself drawn into the young man’s defense.
Atria Books * 9781476709215

THE GAME MUST GO ON: Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray, and the Great Days of Baseball on the Home Front in WWII by John Klima (Sports/History)
This is the story of American baseball during World War II --- of both the players who left to join the war and the ones who struggled to keep the game alive on the home front. Taking the place of the big shots turned soldiers, sailors and combat pilots were misfit replacement players. While Detroit Tigers MVP Hank Greenberg represented the player who served, Pete Gray symbolized the player who stayed. He was a one-armed outfielder who overcame insurmountable odds to become a professional.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250064790

A GOD IN RUINS by Kate Atkinson (Historical Fiction)
Kate Atkinson's LIFE AFTER LIFE explored the possibility of infinite chances and the power of choices, following Ursula Todd as she lived through the turbulent events of the last century over and over again. A GOD IN RUINS tells the dramatic story of the 20th century through Ursula's beloved younger brother, Teddy --- would-be poet, heroic pilot, husband, father and grandfather --- as he navigates the perils and progress of a rapidly changing world.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316176538

THE GOSPEL OF LOKI by Joanne M. Harris (Fantasy)
THE GOSPEL OF LOKI, Joanne M. Harris' latest novel, is a brilliant first-person narrative of the rise and fall of the Norse gods --- retold from the point of view of the world’s ultimate trickster, Loki. It tells the story of Loki’s recruitment from the underworld of Chaos, his many exploits on behalf of his one-eyed master, Odin, through to his eventual betrayal of the gods and the fall of Asgard itself.
Saga Press * 9781481449465

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICA AT WAR: Untold Tales from Yorktown to Fallujah by Kenneth C. Davis (History)
Multi-million-copy bestselling historian Kenneth C. Davis sets his sights on war stories in THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICA AT WAR. He brings to life six emblematic battles, revealing untold tales that span our nation's history, from the Revolutionary War to Iraq. Along the way, he illuminates why we go to war, who fights, the grunt's-eye view of combat, and how these conflicts reshaped our military and national identity.
Hachette Books * 9781401324100

IT’S A LONG STORY: My Life by Willie Nelson, with David Ritz (Autobiography)
Having recently turned 80, Willie Nelson is ready to shine a light on all aspects of his life, including his drive to write music, the women in his life, his collaborations, and his biggest lows and highs --- from his bankruptcy to the founding of Farm Aid. Nelson and his music have found their way into the hearts and minds of fans the world over, winning 10 Grammys and receiving the Kennedy Center Honors. Now it's time to hear the last word about his life --- from the man himself.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316403559

JACK OF SPADES by Joyce Carol Oates (Psychological Thriller)
Andrew J. Rush has achieved the kind of critical and commercial success most authors only dream about. He also has a loving wife, three grown children, and is a well-regarded philanthropist. But Rush is hiding a dark secret. Under the pseudonym “Jack of Spades,” he writes another string of novels --- dark potboilers that are violent, lurid, even masochistic. Eventually, Rush’s reputation, career and family life all come under threat --- and unbidden, in the back of his mind, the Jack of Spades starts thinking ever more evil thoughts.
Mysterious Press * 9780802123947

THE LOVE OBJECT: Selected Stories by Edna O'Brien (Fiction/Short Stories)
As John Banville writes in his introduction to THE LOVE OBJECT, Edna O'Brien "is, simply, one of the finest writers of our time.” The 31 stories collected in this volume provide, among other things, a cumulative portrait of Ireland, seen from within and without. Coming of age, the impact of class, and familial and romantic love are the prevalent motifs, along with the instinct toward escape and subsequent nostalgia for home. Some of the stories are linked, while others carry O'Brien's distinct sense of the comical.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316378260

THE MAKING OF ZOMBIE WARS by Aleksandar Hemon (Fiction)
Josh Levin is an aspiring screenwriter teaching ESL classes in Chicago. His laptop is full of ideas, but the only one to really take root is Zombie Wars. When Josh comes home to discover his landlord, an unhinged army vet, rifling through his dirty laundry, he decides to move in with his girlfriend, Kimmy. It's domestic bliss for a moment, but Josh becomes entangled with a student, a Bosnian woman named Ana, whose husband is jealous and violent. Disaster ensues.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux * 9780374203412

THE MAPMAKER’S CHILDREN by Sarah McCoy (Historical Fiction)
When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad’s leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the slave code quilts and hiding her maps within her paintings. She boldly embraces this calling after being told the shocking news that she can’t bear children. But as the country steers toward bloody civil war, Sarah faces difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.
Crown * 9780385348904

NO BETTER FRIEND: One Man, One Dog, and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage and Survival in WWII by Robert Weintraub (History)
NO BETTER FRIEND tells the remarkable story of Royal Air Force technician Frank Williams and Judy, a purebred pointer, who met in a World War II internment camp. Judy was fiercely loyal, with a keen sense for who was friend and who was foe, and the pair's relationship deepened throughout their captivity. When the prisoners suffered beatings, Judy would interrupt by barking. She survived bombings and other near-death experiences and became a beacon for the men, who saw in her survival a flicker of hope for their own.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316337069

PARIS, HE SAID by Christine Sneed (Fiction)
Jayne Marks is questioning the choices she has made in the years since college when she is given the opportunity to move to Paris with her wealthy lover and benefactor, Laurent Moller, who owns and operates two art galleries. He offers her the time and financial support she needs to begin her career as a painter and also challenges her to see who and what she will become if she meets her artistic potential. Laurent, however, seems to have other women in his life. Jayne, too, has an ex-boyfriend, much closer to her own age, for whom she still has feelings.
Bloomsbury USA * 9781620406922

PEDRO by Pedro Martinez and Michael Silverman (Memoir)
Before Pedro Martinez was an eight-time All Star, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, and a World Series champion, before stadiums full of fans chanted his name, he was just a little kid from the Dominican Republic who sat under a mango tree and dreamed of playing pro ball. Now in PEDRO, the charismatic and always colorful pitcher opens up for the first time to tell his remarkable story.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780544279339

PIECES OF MY MOTHER: A Memoir by Melissa Cistaro (Memoir)
One summer, Melissa Cistaro's mother drove off without explanation. Devastated, Melissa and her brothers were always tormented by the thought: Why did their mother abandon them? Thirty-five years later, Melissa finds herself in Olympia, Washington, as her mother is dying. After decades of hiding her painful memories, she has just days to find out what happened that summer and confront the fear that she could do the same to her kids. But Melissa never expects to stumble across a cache of letters her mother wrote to her but never sent, which could hold the answers she seeks.
Sourcebooks * 9781492615385

RE JANE by Patricia Park (Fiction)
For Jane Re, half-Korean, half-American orphan, Flushing, Queens, is the place she’s been trying to escape from her whole life. So she’s thrilled to become the au pair for the Mazer-Farleys, two Brooklyn English professors and their adopted Chinese daughter. Jane is the recipient of Beth Mazer’s feminist lectures and Ed Farley’s very male attention. But when a family death interrupts Jane and Ed’s blossoming affair, she flies off to Seoul. Reconnecting with family and struggling to learn the ways of modern-day Korea, Jane begins to wonder if Ed Farley is really the man for her.
Pamela Dorman Books * 9780525427407

ROCK WITH WINGS: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel by Anne Hillerman (Mystery)
Doing a good deed for a relative offers the perfect opportunity for Sergeant Jim Chee and his wife, Officer Bernie Manuelito, to get away from the daily grind of police work. But two cases will call them back from their short vacation and separate them --- one near Shiprock, and the other at iconic Monument Valley. Under the guidance of their mentor, retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, Bernie and Chee will navigate unexpected obstacles and confront the greatest challenge yet to their skills, commitment and courage.
Harper * 9780062270511

WATERLOO: The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles by Bernard Cornwell (History)
On June 18, 1815, the armies of France, Britain and Prussia descended upon a quiet valley south of Brussels. In the previous three days, the French army had beaten the Prussians at Ligny and fought the British to a standstill at Quatre-Bras. The Allies were in retreat. The little village north of where they turned to fight the French army was called Waterloo. The blood-soaked battle to which it gave its name would become a landmark in European history. In his first work of nonfiction, Bernard Cornwell offers a riveting chronicle of every dramatic moment.
Harper * 9780062312051

THE WONDER GARDEN by Lauren Acampora (Fiction)
A man strikes an under-the-table deal with a surgeon to spend a few quiet seconds closer to his wife than he's ever been; a young soon-to-be mother looks on in paralyzing astonishment as her husband walks away from a 20-year career in advertising at the urging of his spirit animal; an elderly artist risks more than he knows when he's commissioned by his newly arrived neighbors to produce the work of a lifetime. In her debut collection, Lauren Acampora brings to the page the myriad lives of a suburban town and lays them bare.
Grove Press * 9780802123558

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
by David McCullough (History)
On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio changed history. But it would take the world some time to believe what had happened: the age of flight had begun, with the first heavier-than-air, powered machine carrying a pilot. Who were these men, and how was it that they achieved what they did? David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, tells the surprising, profoundly American story of Wilbur and Orville Wright.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476728742
On Sale the Week of May 4th in Paperback

May 4th

THE DIRECTOR by David Ignatius (Thriller)
Graham Weber has been the director of the CIA for less than a week when a Swiss kid walks into the American consulate in Hamburg and says the agency has been hacked. Weber turns to a charismatic (and unstable) young man named James Morris who runs the Internet Operations Center. He launches Morris on a mole hunt that takes readers into the hacker underground of Europe and America, and ends up in a landscape of paranoia and betrayal.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393350593


May 5th

50 CHILDREN: One Ordinary American Couple's Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany by Steven Pressman (History)
In early 1939, few Americans were thinking about the darkening storm clouds over Europe. Nor did they have much sympathy for the growing number of Jewish families who were increasingly threatened and brutalized by Adolf Hitler's policies in Germany and Austria. But one ordinary American couple decided that something had to be done. Despite overwhelming obstacles, Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus made a bold and unprecedented decision to travel into Nazi Germany in an effort to save a group of Jewish children.
Harper Perennial * 9780062237484

ALIAS HOOK by Lisa Jensen (Fantasy/Adventure)
Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan’s rules. The magical forces of the Neverland open up for Stella as they never have for Hook. And in the pirate captain himself, she begins to see someone far more complex than the storybook villain.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250067791

THE ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War by A. J. Baime (History)
In 1941, as Hitler’s threat loomed ever larger, President Roosevelt realized he needed weaponry to fight the Nazis --- most important, airplanes --- and he needed them fast. So he turned to Detroit and the auto industry for help. THE ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY tells the incredible story of how Detroit answered the call, centering on Henry Ford and his tortured son Edsel, who, when asked if they could deliver 50,000 airplanes, made an outrageous claim: Ford Motor Company would erect a plant that could yield a “bomber an hour.”
Mariner Books * 9780544483873

THE BOOK OF YOU by Claire Kendal (Psychological Suspense)
Rafe is everywhere Clarissa turns. Since that one regrettable night, his obsession with her has become more terrifying with each passing day. Clarissa’s only escape from this harrowing nightmare is inside a courtroom --- where she is a juror on a trial involving a victim whose experiences eerily parallel her own. As a disturbingly violent crime unfolds in the courtroom, Clarissa realizes that to survive she must expose Rafe herself.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780062297617

BORDER WAR by Lou Dobbs and James O. Born (Thriller)
The border is a tough place to work, especially for FBI agent Tom Eriksen. With a history of violence, he cannot afford any on-duty screw-ups. So when an investigation ends in a bloody shootout and the shooting is deemed “questionable,” the bureau reassigns Eriksen to an office known as “the Island of Misfit Cops.” But when his partner is murdered, Eriksen must take charge and solve the case, wading through corruption and betrayal to discover the truth.
Forge Books * 9780765366283

BUSHVILLE WINS!: The Wild Saga of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and the Screwballs, Sluggers, and Beer Swiggers Who Canned the New York Yankees and Changed Baseball by John Klima (Sports)
In the early 1950s, the New York Yankees were the biggest bullies on the block. They led the New York City baseball dynasty, which for eight consecutive years held an iron grip on the World Series championship. Then the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953, becoming surprise revolutionaries. Led by visionary owner Lou Perini, the Braves formed a powerful relationship with the Miller Brewing Company and foreshadowed the Dodgers and Giants moving west, sparking continental expansion and the ballpark boom.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250006165

CHARLESTON by Margaret Bradham Thornton (Fiction)
Eliza Poinsett, an art historian in London with a charming Etonian boyfriend who adores her, is unnerved when she runs into Henry, her childhood love, at a wedding in the English countryside. Her carefully guarded equilibrium is shattered when she meets Henry again in Charleston, where she has come for her stepsister’s debut. Eliza has to decide if she is willing to risk everything for which she has worked so hard to be with the only man she has ever truly loved.
Ecco * 9780062332530

THE CLOSER: My Story by Mariano Rivera, with Wayne Coffey (Memoir)
Mariano Rivera, the man who intimidated thousands of batters merely by opening a bullpen door, began his incredible journey as the son of a poor Panamanian fisherman. The greatest relief pitcher of all time tells the story of the championships, the bosses (including The Boss), the rivalries, and the struggles of being a Latino baseball player in the United States and of maintaining Christian values in professional athletics.
Back Bay Books * 9780316400749

DEATH AT THE DOOR: A Death on Demand Mystery by Carolyn Hart (Mystery)
Annie Darling --- owner of the mystery bookstore Death on Demand --- prefers fictional crimes as opposed to the real things. But in one tragic week, two acts of violence shake the island community of Broward’s Rock. It’s up to Annie and her husband, Max, to sort through a rogues’ gallery of suspects. But if Annie isn’t careful, she may find herself having her own brush with death.
Berkley * 9780425266182

ENDURING COURAGE: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed by John F. Ross (Biography/History)
ENDURING COURAGE is the electrifying story of the beginning of America’s love affair with speed --- and how one man above all the rest showed a nation the way forward. Eddie Rickenbacker was an innovator on the racetrack, a skilled aerial dualist and squadron commander, and founder of Eastern Air Lines. He showed a war-weary nation what it took to survive against nearly insurmountable odds when he and seven others endured a harrowing three-week ordeal adrift without food or water in the Pacific during World War II.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250033840

EYES ON YOU by Kate White (Psychological Suspense)
After losing her on-air job two years ago, television host Robin Trainer has fought her way back. But suddenly, things begin to go wrong. The incidents are small at first: a nasty note left in her purse; her photo shredded. However, the obnoxious quickly becomes threatening when the foundation the makeup artist uses burns Robin’s face. An adversary with a dark agenda wants to hurt Robin, and the clues point to someone she works with every day.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780062196903

FALLOUT by Sadie Jones (Historical Fiction)
Budding playwright Luke Kanowski, aspiring producer Paul Driscoll, and Paul's girlfriend, Leigh Radley, found a small theater company that enjoys unexpected early success. Then Luke meets Nina Jacobs, who drifts into a marriage with a manipulative theater producer. As Luke becomes a highly sought-after playwright, he stumbles in love, caught in two triangles where love, friendship and art will clash with terrible consequences for all involved.
Harper Perennial * 9780062292827

THE FAR END OF HAPPY by Kathryn Craft
(Fiction)
Paperback Original
THE FAR END OF HAPPY is Kathryn Craft’s much anticipated second novel based on the true events surrounding the 1997 suicide standoff that resulted in her husband’s death. It transpires over 12 tense hours, delving into the personal struggles of a varied cast: a desperate man ready to take his own life, a police force faced with impossible decisions, and a family and community left to grapple with how best to respond.
Sourcebooks Landmark * 9781492604952

GLORIOUS: A Novel of the American West by Jeff Guinn (Historical Fiction/Western)
When tragedy strikes, all of Cash McLendon’s plans and his entire future dissolve in an instant. With nothing to lose, McLendon attempts to reconcile with an old flame. He heard that she and her father moved their dry-goods store out west, to a mining town named Glorious. There, McLendon tries to win her back, and in the process discovers a new way of life at the edge of the final American frontier. But he can’t outrun his past forever.
Berkley * 9780425275429

THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd (Historical Fiction)
Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. On her 11th birthday, Sarah Grimke is given ownership of Handful. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next 35 years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies, and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.
Penguin Books * 9780143121701

JAMES MADISON: A Life Reconsidered by Lynne Cheney (Biography)
Lynne Cheney's biography of James Madison explores the astonishing story of a man of vaunted modesty who audaciously changed the world. Outwardly reserved, Madison was the intellectual driving force behind the Constitution and crucial to its ratification. His visionary political philosophy and rationale for the union of states --- so eloquently presented in The Federalist papers --- helped shape the country Americans live in today.
Penguin Books * 9780143127031

LOVERS AT THE CHAMELEON CLUB, PARIS 1932 by Francine Prose (Historical Fiction)
Paris in the 1920s shimmers with excitement, dissipation and freedom. At the Chameleon Club, the striking Lou Villars, an extraordinary athlete and scandalous cross-dressing lesbian, finds refuge among the club’s loyal denizens, including the rising Hungarian photographer Gabor Tsenyi, the socialite and art patron Baroness Lily de Rossignol, and the caustic American writer Lionel Maine. As the years pass, their fortunes --- and the world itself --- evolve.
Harper Perennial * 9780061713804

THE MOCKINGBIRD NEXT DOOR: Life with Harper Lee by Marja Mills (Memoir)
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is one of the best loved novels of the 20th century. But for the last 50 years, the book’s celebrated author, Harper Lee, has said almost nothing on the record. Journalists have trekked to her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, where she has lived with her sister, Alice, for decades, trying and failing to get an interview with the author. But in 2001, the Lee sisters opened their door to journalist Marja Mills. It was the beginning of a long conversation --- and a great friendship.
Penguin Books * 9780143127666

NOT MY FATHER’S SON: A Memoir by Alan Cumming (Memoir)
Acclaimed stage, television and film actor Alan Cumming shares the story of his complicated relationship with his emotionally and physically abusive father and the deeply buried family secrets that shaped his life and career. He integrates stories from his childhood with those detailing his experiences as a successful actor today in a memoir that is suspenseful, deeply moving and wickedly funny.
Dey Street Books * 9780062225078

ONE NIGHT IN WINTER by Simon Sebag Montefiore (Historical Mystery)
As Moscow celebrates the motherland's glorious victory over the Nazis, shots ring out on the crowded streets. On a nearby bridge, a teenage boy and girl --- dressed in traditional 19th-century costumes --- lie dead. But this is no ordinary tragedy, because these are no ordinary teenagers. As the son and daughter of high-ranking Soviet officials, they attend the most elite school in Moscow. Was it an accident, or murder? Is it a conspiracy against Stalin, or one of his own terrifying intrigues?
Harper Perennial * 9780062291899

RESISTANT by Michael Palmer (Thriller)
When Dr. Lou Welcome has to fill in last minute for his boss at the Physical Wellness Office, he takes an exclusive tour of the Center for Disease Control. He can't help but wonder about the development of weapons of mass destruction at a bacterial level. Little does Lou know that a scientist working a top-secret case will be kidnapped, and he will become enmeshed in a case that could have fatal consequences across the country.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks * 9781250030917

REVIVAL by Stephen King (Thriller)
In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a new minister named Charles Jacobs will transform the local church. However, when tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief and is banished from the shocked town. Years later, a grownup Jamie Morton meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.
Gallery Books * 9781476770390

ROBERT B. PARKER’S CHEAP SHOT: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins (Mystery)
When football star Kinjo Heywood’s nine-year-old son is kidnapped, ransom demands are given, and a winding trail through Boston’s underworld begins, Spenser puts together his own all-star team of toughs. It will take both Hawk and Spenser’s protégé, Zebulon Sixkill, to watch Spenser’s back and return the child to Heywood’s sprawling Chestnut Hill mansion.
Berkley * 9780425275191

SAVE THE DATE by Mary Kay Andrews (Fiction)
A Savannah florist is about to score the wedding of a lifetime --- one that will solidify her career as the go-to-girl for society nuptials. Ironically, Cara Kryzik doesn't believe in love, even though she creates beautiful flower arrangements to celebrate them. But when the bride goes missing and the wedding is in jeopardy, Cara must find the bride and figure out what she believes in. Maybe love really does exist outside of fairy tales after all.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250019707

THE SECRET LIFE OF VIOLET GRANT by Beatriz Williams (Historical Romance)
Vivian Schuyler has recently defied the privilege of her storied old Fifth Avenue family to do the unthinkable for a budding Kennedy-era socialite: break into the Madison Avenue world of razor-stylish Metropolitan magazine. But when she receives a bulky overseas parcel in the mail, the unexpected contents draw her inexorably back into her family’s past, and the hushed-over crime passionnel of an aunt she never knew, whose existence has been wiped from the record of history.
Berkley * 9780425274842

SHOTS FIRED: Stories from Joe Pickett Country by C. J. Box (Thriller/Short Stories)
SHOTS FIRED is a collection of 10 riveting stories, three never before published. In “One-Car Bridge,” Joe Pickett goes up against a landowner with disastrous results, and in “Shots Fired,” his investigation into a radio call nearly ends up being the last thing he ever does. In “Le Sauvage Noble,” the stranger is a Lakota in Paris who enjoys playing the “noble savage” for the French women --- until he meets Sophie and discovers what “savage” really means.
Berkley * 9780425275405

SMALL BLESSINGS by Martha Woodroof (Fiction)
For more than 10 years, Tom Putnam's wife, Marjory, has been a shut-in whose neuroses have left her fully dependent on Tom and his mother-in-law. Tom considers his unhappy condition self-inflicted, since Marjory’s condition was exacerbated by her discovery of his affair with a visiting poetess. When a letter from the poetess arrives telling Tom that he’d fathered her son, Henry, and that Henry will arrive by train in a few days, it’s clear change is coming whether Tom is ready or not.
Picador * 9781250040534

THE SNOW QUEEN by Michael Cunningham (Fiction)
THE SNOW QUEEN follows the Meeks brothers as each travels down a different path in his search for transcendence. Barrett, haunted by a mysterious light, turns unexpectedly to religion. Tyler grows increasingly convinced that only drugs can release his creative powers. Michael Cunningham demonstrates a profound empathy for his conflicted characters and a singular understanding of what lies at the core of the human soul.
Picador * 9781250067722

THAT NIGHT by Chevy Stevens (Psychological Thriller)
Toni Murphy was 18 when she and her boyfriend, Ryan, were wrongly convicted of the murder of her younger sister. Now she is 34 and back in her hometown, working every day to forge and adjust to a new life on the outside. She's doing everything in her power to avoid violating her parole and going back to prison. But nothing is making that easy. Before Toni can truly move on, she must risk everything to find out the truth and clear her name.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250066831

TIFFANY GIRL by Deeanne Gist
(Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
As preparations for the 1893 World’s Fair set Chicago and the nation on fire, Louis Tiffany seizes the opportunity to unveil his state-of-the-art, stained glass, mosaic chapel. But when his dream is threatened by a glassworkers’ strike months before the Fair opens, he turns to the female students at the Art Students League of New York. Eager for adventure, the young women move to boarding houses and assume new identities as the “Tiffany Girls.” Flossie Jayne, a beautiful, budding artist, is handpicked by Louis to help complete the Tiffany chapel.
Howard Books * 9781451692440

TOMORROW AND TOMORROW by Thomas Sweterlitsch (Science Fiction/Noir Mystery)
A decade has passed since the city of Pittsburgh was reduced to ash. While the rest of the world has moved on, survivor John Dominic Blaxton remains obsessed with the past. Grieving for his wife and unborn child who perished in the blast, Dominic relives his lost life by immersing in the Archive --- a fully interactive digital reconstruction of Pittsburgh, accessible to anyone who wants to visit the places they remember and the people they loved.
Berkley * 9780425275412

AN UNWILLING ACCOMPLICE: A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
Home on leave, Bess Crawford is asked to accompany a wounded soldier confined to a wheelchair to Buckingham Palace, where he is to be decorated by the King. The next morning when Bess goes to collect Wilkins, he has vanished. Then comes disturbing word from the Shropshire police, complicating the already-difficult situation: Wilkins has been spotted, and he’s killed a man. If Bess is to save her own reputation, she must find Wilkins and uncover the truth.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062237200

WALKING ON WATER by Richard Paul Evans (Fiction)
Alan Christoffersen’s daring cross-country journey --- a walk across America, from Seattle to Key West, with only the pack on his back --- has taught him lessons about love, forgiveness and, most of all, hope. Now Alan must again return west to face yet another crisis, one that threatens to upend his world just as he had begun to heal from so much loss, leaving him unsure of whether he can reach the end of his journey.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451628326

WARS OF THE ROSES: STORMBIRD by Conn Iggulden (Historical Fiction)
In 1437, the Lancaster king Henry VI ascends the throne. Nicknamed “The Lamb,” Henry is famed more for his gentleness than the battlefield exploits of his father. A secret truce with France sparks revolts across England, and the rival House of York sees the chaos as an opportunity to oust an ineffectual king. King Henry and his supporters find themselves besieged abroad and at home. Who or what can save the kingdom before it’s too late?
Berkley * 9780425275443

WONDERLAND by Stacey D’Erasmo (Fiction)
Rock star Anna Brundage went down as fast as she went up, and then walked off the scene for seven years. Without a record deal or clamoring fans, she sells a piece of her famous father’s art to finance just one more album and a European comeback tour. Anna is now 44. This may be her last chance to cement her place in the life she chose, the life she struggled for, the life she’s not sure she can sustain.
Mariner Books * 9780544483897
On Sale the Week of May 11th in Hardcover

May 11th

THE GREEN ROAD by Anne Enright (Fiction)
Spanning 30 years, THE GREEN ROAD tells the story of Rosaleen, matriarch of the Madigans, a family on the cusp of either coming together or falling irreparably apart. As they grow up, Rosaleen's four children leave the west of Ireland for lives they never could have imagined. In her early old age, their mother announces that she’s decided to sell the house and divide the proceeds. Her adult children come back for a last Christmas, with the feeling that their childhoods are being erased, their personal history bought and sold.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393248210


May 12th

AND SOMETIMES I WONDER ABOUT YOU: A Leonid McGill Mystery by Walter Mosley (Mystery)
Leonid McGill is approached by an unemployed office manager named Hiram Stent to track down the whereabouts of his cousin, Celia, who is about to inherit millions of dollars from her father's side of the family. Leonid declines the case, but after his office is broken into and Hiram is found dead, he gets reeled into the underbelly of Celia's wealthy old-money family. It's up to Leonid to save who he can and incriminate the guilty --- all while taking care of a number of personal matters.
Doubleday * 9780385539180

BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT by Neal Griffin (Thriller)
Ben Sawyer was a big-city cop, until he nearly killed a helpless suspect in public. Now a detective in the tiny Wisconsin town where he and his wife grew up, Ben suspects that higher-ups are taking payoffs from local drug lords. Before long, Ben is off the force. His wife is accused of murder. His only ally is another outcast, a Latina rookie cop. Worse, a killer has escaped from jail with vengeance on his mind, and Newburg --- and Ben Sawyer --- in his sights.
Forge Books * 9780765338501

THE BLACK SNOW by Paul Lynch (Historical Fiction)
In the spring of 1945, a farmhand runs into a burning barn and does not come out alive. The farm's owner, Barnabas Kane, can only look on as his friend dies, and all 43 of his cattle are destroyed in the blaze. Following the disaster, the bull-headed and proudly self-sufficient Barnabas is forced to reach out to the community for assistance. But resentment simmers over the farmhand's death, and Barnabas and his family begin to believe their efforts at recovery are being sabotaged.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316376419

THE BOOK OF ARON by Jim Shepard (Historical Fiction)
Aron, the narrator, is an engaging if peculiar and unhappy young boy whose family is driven by the German onslaught from the Polish countryside into Warsaw and slowly battered by deprivation, disease and persecution. He and a handful of boys and girls risk their lives by scuttling around the ghetto to smuggle and trade contraband through the quarantine walls in hopes of keeping their fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters alive, hunted all the while by blackmailers and by Jewish, Polish and German police, not to mention the Gestapo.
Knopf * 9781101874318

COUP DE FOUDRE: A Novella and Stories by Ken Kalfus (Fiction/Short Stories)
COUP DE FOUDRE, an explosive new collection by Ken Kalfus, is anchored by the full text of the provocatively topical title novella that appeared in Harper's, a sometimes farcical, ultimately tragic story about the president of an international lending institution accused of sexually assaulting a housekeeper in a New York hotel. Recalling recent news events with irony and compassion, Kalfus skewers international political gridlock and the hypocrisies of acceptable sexual conduct.
Bloomsbury USA * 9781620400852

DRY BONES: A Walt Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
When Jen, the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found, surfaces in Sherriff Walt Longmire’s jurisdiction, it appears to be a windfall for the High Plains Dinosaur Museum --- until Danny Lone Elk, the Cheyenne rancher on whose property the remains were discovered, turns up dead. With millions of dollars at stake, a number of groups step forward to claim her, including Danny’s family, the tribe and the federal government. Walt is determined to find out who would benefit from Danny’s death.
Viking * 9780525426936

THE ENEMY INSIDE: A Paul Madriani Novel by Steve Martini (Thriller)
One of the most successful lawyers in the country, Olinda Serna is a master at managing money as well as her influential clients. So when she’s killed in a crash, powerful heads in Washington begin to panic, worried that their secrets may not be safe anymore. Alex Ives, a friend of defense attorney Paul Madriani’s daughter, is accused of vehicular manslaughter in Serna’s death. To save an innocent young man’s life, Madriani must uncover everything he can about Serna and her clients, leading him to a devious killer poised to strike again.
William Morrow * 9780062328939

THE FATAL FLAME by Lyndsay Faye (Historical Mystery)
No one in 1840s New York likes fires, but Copper Star Timothy Wilde least of all. So when an arsonist with an agenda begins threatening Alderman Robert Symmes, a corrupt and powerful leader high in the Tammany Hall ranks, Wilde isn’t thrilled to be involved. His reservations escalate further when his brother Valentine announces that he’ll be running against Symmes in the upcoming election, making both himself and Timothy a host of powerful enemies.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399169489

THE FORGOTTEN ROOM by Lincoln Child (Thriller)
Jeremy Logan is an "enigmalogist" --- an investigator who specializes in analyzing phenomena that have no obvious explanation. Here, Logan finds himself on the storied coastline of Newport, Rhode Island, where he has been retained by Lux, one of the oldest and most respected think tanks in America. Just days earlier, one of its most distinguished doctors began acting erratically and killed himself in a truly shocking fashion. Terrified by the incident and the bizarre evidence left behind, the group hires Logan to investigate what drove this erudite man to madness.
Doubleday * 9780385531405

GIRL IN THE MOONLIGHT by Charles Dubow (Fiction)
Since childhood, Wylie Rose has been drawn to the charming, close-knit Bonet siblings. But none affected him more than the enchanting Cesca, a girl blessed with incandescent beauty and a wild, irrepressible spirit. Growing up, Wylie’s friendship with her brother, Aurelio, a budding painter of singular talent, brings him near Cesca’s circle. A young woman confident in her charms, Cesca is amused by Wylie’s youthful sensuality and trusting innocence. Toying with his devotion, she draws him closer to her fire --- ultimately ruining him for any other woman.
William Morrow * 9780062358325

THE GUEST COTTAGE by Nancy Thayer (Fiction)
After learning that her husband is leaving her for another woman, Sophie impulsively rents a guest cottage on Nantucket and leaves Boston for a quiet family vacation with her two kids. Trevor Black has recently lost his wife and is raising a little boy on his own. Hoping a quiet summer on the Nantucket coast will help him reconnect with Leo, he rents a guest house on the beautiful island. When Sophie and Trevor realize they’ve mistakenly rented the same house, the two agree to share it. But as the summer unfolds, Sophie and Trevor must ask themselves if the guest cottage is all they want to share.
Ballantine Books * 9780345545510

HOLD STILL: A Memoir with Photographs by Sally Mann (Memoir/Photography)
In HOLD STILL, a unique interplay of narrative and image, Sally Mann's preoccupation with family, race, mortality and the storied landscape of the American South are revealed as almost genetically predetermined, written into her DNA by the family history that precedes her. In lyrical prose and startlingly revealing photographs, she crafts a totally original form of personal history that has the page-turning drama of a great novel but is firmly rooted in the fertile soil of her own life.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316247764

HOW TO START A FIRE by Lisa Lutz (Fiction)
When UC Santa Cruz roommates Anna and Kate find passed-out Georgiana Leoni on a lawn one night, they wheel her to their dorm in a shopping cart. Twenty years later, they gather around a campfire on the lawn of a New England mansion. What happens in between --- the web of wild adventures, unspoken jealousies, and sudden tragedies that alter the course of their lives --- is charted with sharp wit and aching sadness in this meticulously constructed novel.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780544411630

THE JOURNEY HOME: My Life in Pinstripes by Jorge Posada, with Gary Brozek (Memoir)
Legendary New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada discusses the key moments and plays that shaped teams and forged a legacy that came to define Yankee baseball for a generation. With pitch-by-pitch recall, he looks back across the years, explaining how he helped to reestablish the Yankees as a dynasty and win five World Series. Going beyond his all-star career, Jorge also shares his life in full for the first time, examining how his remarkable journey to the big leagues began in the most unexpected of ways.
Dey Street Books * 9780062379627

LOVE IS RED by Sophie Jaff
(Thriller/Fantasy)
Katherine Emerson was born to fulfill a dark prophecy centuries in the making, but she doesn't know it yet. However, one man does: a killer stalking the women of New York City, a monster the media dubs the "Sickle Man" because of the weapon he uses to turn his victims' bodies into canvases for his twisted art. He takes more than just his victims' lives, and each death brings him closer to the one woman he must possess at any cost. Meanwhile, Katherine finds herself involved in a complicated love triangle. But how well does she really know either of her suitors?

Harper * 9780062346261

LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE by Jessica Knoll (Fiction)
As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve. But Ani has a secret. There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476789637

A LUCKY LIFE INTERRUPTED: A Memoir of Hope by Tom Brokaw (Memoir)
Tom Brokaw has led a fortunate life, with a strong marriage and family, many friends, and a brilliant journalism career culminating in his 22 years as anchor of the “NBC Nightly News” and as bestselling author. But in the summer of 2013, he received shocking news: He had multiple myeloma, a treatable but incurable blood cancer. Brokaw takes us through all the seasons and stages of this surprising year, the emotions, discoveries, setbacks and struggles --- times of denial, acceptance, turning points and courage.
Random House * 9781400069699

THE MILLIONAIRE AND THE BARD: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio by Andrea Mays (History)
Today it is the most valuable book in the world. Recently one sold for over five million dollars. It is the book that rescued the name of William Shakespeare and half of his plays from oblivion. THE MILLIONAIRE AND THE BARD tells the miraculous and romantic story of the making of the First Folio, and of the American industrialist whose thrilling pursuit of the book became a lifelong obsession.
Simon & Schuster * 9781439118238

MOLINA: The Story of the Father Who Raised an Unlikely Baseball Dynasty by Bengie Molina, with Joan Ryan (Memoir)
A baseball rules book. A tape measure. A lottery ticket. These were in the pocket of Bengie Molina’s father when he died of a heart attack on the rutted Little League field in his Puerto Rican barrio. The items serve as thematic guideposts in Molina’s memoir about his father, who through baseball taught his three sons about loyalty, humility, courage and the true meaning of success.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451641042

MY PARIS DREAM: An Education in Style, Slang, and Seduction in the Great City on the Seine by Kate Betts (Memoir)
As a young woman, Kate Betts nursed a dream of striking out on her own in a faraway place and becoming a glamorous foreign correspondent. After college --- and not without trepidation --- she took off for Paris, renting a room in the apartment of a young BCBG (bon chic, bon genre) family and throwing herself into the local culture. She was determined to master French slang, style and savoir faire, and to find a job that would give her a reason to stay.
Spiegel & Grau * 9780679644422

THE QUARTET: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 by Joseph J. Ellis (History)
In 1776, 13 American colonies declared themselves independent states that only temporarily joined forces in order to defeat the British. Once victorious, they planned to go their separate ways. The triumph of the American Revolution was neither an ideological nor a political guarantee that the colonies would relinquish their independence and accept the creation of a federal government with power over their autonomy as states. THE QUARTET is the story of this second American founding and of the men most responsible.
Knopf * 9780385353403

REAGAN: The Life by H.W. Brands (Biography)
H. W. Brands establishes Ronald Reagan as one of the two great presidents of the 20th century, a true peer to Franklin Roosevelt. REAGAN conveys how the confident force of Reagan’s personality and the unwavering nature of his beliefs enabled him to engineer a conservative revolution in American politics and play a crucial role in ending communism in the Soviet Union. Reagan shut down the age of liberalism, Brands shows, and ushered in the age of Reagan, whose defining principles are still powerfully felt today.
Doubleday * 9780385536394

SOLITUDE CREEK: A Kathryn Dance Novel by Jeffery Deaver (Thriller)
A tragedy occurs at a small concert venue on the Monterey Peninsula. Cries of "fire" are raised, sending people running for the doors, only to find them blocked. A half-dozen people die and others are seriously injured, though there was no fire. Kathryn Dance --- a brilliant California Bureau of Investigation agent and body language expert --- discovers that the stampede was caused intentionally and that the perpetrator, a man obsessed with turning people's own fears and greed into weapons, has more attacks planned.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455517152

THE SUBPRIMES by Karl Taro Greenfield (Fiction)
In a future America that feels increasingly familiar, you are your credit score. Extreme wealth inequality has created a class of have-nothings: Subprimes. Their bad credit ratings make them unemployable. Fugitives who must keep moving to avoid arrest, they wander the globally warmed American wasteland searching for day labor and a place to park their battered SUVs for the night. THE SUBPRIMES follows the fortunes of two families whose lives reflect this new dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-financially-fittest America.
Harper * 9780062132420

TRAUMA by Michael Palmer and Daniel Palmer (Thriller)
After quitting her residency following two operations gone terribly wrong, Dr. Carrie Bryant learns about an experimental program exploring the use of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) that could forever cure the emotional and memory trauma of PTSD. Her first surgery appears to be a success until her patient mysteriously vanishes. When a second patient also goes missing, Carrie employs the investigative skills of reporter David Hoffman, and together they descend into a labyrinth of murder and corruption.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250030894

TRULY FREE: Breaking the Snares That So Easily Entangle by Robert Morris (Christian Life/Spiritual Growth)
In TRULY FREE, bestselling author Robert Morris invites us into a glorious truth --- that the promise of being set free from the slavery of sin is a promise to be set free completely. Although evil is real and Christians can be oppressed by it, we have the promise that the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Jesus saves us, trains us to resist the power of evil, and delivers us from anything that holds us back. With Jesus, we can be truly free forever.
Thomas Nelson * 9780718011109


May 15th

1920: The Year that Made the Decade Roar by Eric Burns (History)
The Roaring Twenties is the only decade in American history with a widely applied nickname, and our collective fascination with this era continues. But how did this surge of innovation and cultural milestones emerge out of the ashes of The Great War? Acclaimed author Eric Burns investigates the year of 1920, which was not only a crucial 12-month period of its own, but one that foretold the future, foreshadowing the rest of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st.
Pegasus * 9781605987729
On Sale the Week of May 11th in Paperback


May 12th

THE BEES by Laline Paull (Fiction)
Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening her hive’s survival, Flora’s curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw, but her courage and strength are an asset. However, when she breaks the most sacred law of all --- daring to challenge the Queen’s fertility --- enemies abound. Her deepest instincts to serve and sacrifice are now overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce maternal love that will lead her to unthinkable deeds.
Ecco * 9780062331175

BITTERSWEET by Colleen McCullough (Historical Romance)
Because they are two sets of twins, the four Latimer sisters are as close as can be. Together they decide to enroll in a training program for nurses --- a new option for women of their time, who previously have been largely limited to the role of wives, and preferably mothers. As the sisters become immersed in hospital life and the demands of their training, they meet people and encounter challenges that spark new maturity and independence.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476755441

THE CITY SON by Samrat Upadhyay (Fiction)
When Didi discovers that her husband, the Masterji, has been hiding his beautiful lover and their young son Tarun in a nearby city, she takes the Masterji back into her grasp and expels his second family. Tarun’s mother slowly begins to lose her mind, and Tarun turns to Didi for the mothering he longs for. But as Tarun gets older, Didi’s domination of the boy threatens to destroy his one chance at true happiness.
Soho Press * 9781616955380

CRY FATHER by Benjamin Whitmer (Fiction)
Patterson Wells works alongside dangerous, desperate itinerant men as a tree clearer in disaster zones, and he’s still dealing with the loss of his young son. Writing letters to the boy offers solace, but the bottle gives more. In Colorado, Patterson stops to go fishing with an old acquaintance, only to find him in a meth-induced delirium with a woman tied up in the bathtub. Patterson tries to do the right thing, but in the lives of those he knows, violence and justice are strange, intoxicating bedfellows.
Gallery Books * 9781476734361

CUT ME LOOSE: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood by Leah Vincent (Memoir)
CUT ME LOOSE tells the story of one woman's harrowing struggle to define herself as an individual. Through Leah Vincent's eyes, we confront not only the oppressive world of religious fundamentalism, but also the broader issues that face even the most secular young women as they grapple with sexuality and identity.
Penguin Books * 9780143127413

DELICIOUS! by Ruth Reichl (Fiction)
Soon after Billie Breslin takes a job at Delicious!, New York’s most iconic food magazine is abruptly shut down. Billie agrees to stay on in the empty office, maintaining the hotline for reader complaints in order to pay her bills. In a hidden room in the magazine’s library, Billie finds a cache of letters written during World War II. They provide her with a feeling of deep connection to the young writer whose courage in the face of hardship inspires her to come to terms with her fears.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812982022

A DIFFICULT PAR: Robert Trent Jones Sr. and the Making of Modern Golf by James R. Hansen (Biography)
Robert Trent Jones was the most prolific and influential golf course architect of the 20th century and became the archetypical modern golf course designer. Jones spread the gospel of golf by designing courses in 42 US states and 28 countries, and 20 U.S. Opens have been contested on Jones-designed courses. Biographer James R. Hansen recounts how an English immigrant boy arrived in upstate New York in 1912, just as golf was emerging as a popular pastime in America.
Gotham * 9781592409396

EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU by Celeste Ng (Fiction)
Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, who are determined that their middle daughter will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. However, when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart.
Penguin Books * 9780143127550

THE FEVER by Megan Abbott (Psychological Thriller)
The Nash family is close-knit. However, their seeming stability is thrown into chaos when Deenie's best friend is struck by a terrifying, unexplained seizure in class. Rumors of a hazardous outbreak spread through the family, school and community. As hysteria and contagion swell, a series of tightly held secrets emerges, threatening to unravel friendships, families and the town's fragile idea of security.
Back Bay Books * 9780316231046

THE GLASS KITCHEN by Linda Francis Lee (Fiction)
After a string of betrayals and the loss of her legacy, Portia Cuthcart is determined to start a new life with her sisters in Manhattan…and never cook again. But when Portia moves into a dilapidated brownstone on the Upper West Side, she meets 12-year-old Ariel and her widowed father, Gabriel. Soon, a promise made to her sisters forces Portia back into a world of magical food and swirling emotions, where she must confront everything she has been running from.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250049636

THE HIGH DIVIDE by Lin Enger (Historical Fiction)
In 1886, Gretta Pope wakes one morning to discover that her husband, Ulysses, is gone. All he left behind was a brief note with no explanation for why he left or where he’s headed. Gretta’s sons set off after him, jumping trains to get where they need to go and ending up in the rugged badlands of Montana. Gretta has no choice but to search for her sons and her husband, leading her to the doorstep of a woman who seems intent on making Ulysses her own.
Algonquin Books * 9781616204754

THE LAST FIRST DAY by Carrie Brown (Fiction)
Ruth has always stood firmly beside her husband, Peter, the legendary chief of New England’s Derry School for boys. The aging Peter will soon have to retire, and Ruth is wondering what they will do in their old age, separated from the school into which they have poured everything, including their savings. The narrative takes us back through the years, revealing the explosive spark and joy between Ruth and Peter.
Anchor * 9780345803184

THE LAST MAGAZINE by Michael Hastings (Fiction)
The year is 2002. Weekly news magazines dominate the political agenda in New York and Washington. A young journalist named Michael M. Hastings is a 22-year-old intern at The Magazine who will stop at nothing to turn his internship into a full-time position. As Hastings loses his naïveté about the journalism game, he must choose where his loyalties lie --- with the men at The Magazine who can advance his career, or with his friend in the field who is reporting the truth.
Plume * 9780147516183

LOVELY, DARK, DEEP: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates (Fiction/Short Stories)
LOVELY, DARK, DEEP is a collection of 10 mesmerizing stories from Joyce Carol Oates that maps the eerie darkness within us all. Fearful that her husband is “disappearing” from their life, a woman becomes obsessed with keeping him in her sight in “The Disappearing.” “A Book of Martyrs” reveals how the end of a pregnancy brings with it the end of a relationship. And in the title story, the elderly Robert Frost is visited by an interviewer, an unsettling young woman, who seems to know a good deal more about his life than she should.
Ecco * 9780062356956

THE MOUNTAINTOP SCHOOL FOR DOGS AND OTHER SECOND CHANCES by Ellen Cooney (Fiction)
Ellen Cooney’s novel is the story of two women and a whole pack of dogs who, having lost their way in the world, find a place at a training school --- and radical rescue center --- called the Sanctuary. It is a story of strays and rescues, kidnappings and homecomings, moving on, holding on and letting go. And it is, ultimately, a moving and hilarious chronicle of the ways in which humans and canines help each other find new lives, new selves and new hope.
Mariner Books * 9780544483934

MY SALINGER YEAR by Joanna Rakoff (Memoir)
At 23, after leaving graduate school to pursue her dreams of becoming a poet, Joanna Rakoff moves to New York City and takes a job as assistant to the storied literary agent for J. D. Salinger. She is tasked with answering Salinger’s voluminous fan mail. Drawn inexorably into the emotional world of Salinger’s devotees, she abandons the agency’s form response and begins writing back herself. Over the course of the year, she finds her own voice by acting as Salinger’s, on her own dangerous and liberating terms.
Vintage * 9780307947987

THE PHANTOM OF FIFTH AVENUE: The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark by Meryl Gordon (Biography)
Born in 1906, Huguette Clark grew up in her family's 121-room Beaux Arts mansion in New York and was one of the leading celebrities of her day. All her money and all her real estate could not protect her in her later life from being manipulated by shady hangers-on and hospitals that were only too happy to admit (and bill) a healthy woman. But what happened to Huguette that turned a vivacious, young socialite into a recluse? And what was her life like inside that gilded, copper cage?
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455512652

THE PROPOSAL AT SIESTA KEY: Amish Brides of Pinecraft, Book Two by Shelley Shepard Gray (Romance)
Paperback Original
Penny Troyer hears Michael Knoxx --- the most famous member of The Knoxx Family Singers, a traveling Mennonite Evangelical family --- speak. Though he talks about living life to the fullest, Michael knows he needs to take his own advice. Life on the road is grueling; he wants to slow down and perhaps meet someone who sees him as a man, not just a celebrity. So when a twist of fate allows him the chance to stay a little longer in Pinecraft, Michael knows God is showing him a new path, especially when he discovers how much he and Penny have in common.
Avon Inspire * 9780062337726

SO WE READ ON: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures by Maureen Corrigan (Literary Criticism)
Maureen Corrigan, the book critic for NPR's "Fresh Air," points out that, while THE GREAT GATSBY may be one of the most popular novels in America, many of us first read it when we were too young to fully comprehend its power. Offering a fresh perspective on what makes GATSBY so great and utterly unusual, SO WE READ ON takes us into archives, high school classrooms, and even out onto the Long Island Sound to explore the novel's hidden depths.
Back Bay Books * 9780316230063

A SPY AMONG FRIENDS: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre (History)
Kim Philby’s story is not a tale of one spy, but of three: Philby, his fellow Englishman Nicholas Elliott, and the American James Jesus Angleton. These men supposedly served the same cause, but Philby was channeling all of their confidences to his Soviet handlers. As the web of suspicion closed around him, Elliott and Angleton never abandoned him. When the truth was revealed, it would have profound consequences on those who thought they knew him best.
Broadway Books * 9780804136655

THIRD RAIL: An Eddy Harkness Novel by Rory Flynn (Mystery)
Eddy Harkness is a brilliant young detective who currently empties parking meters and struggles to redeem his disgraced family name. One night Harkness’ police-issue Glock disappears. Unable to report the theft, Harkness starts a secret search --- just as a string of fatal accidents lead him to uncover a new, dangerous smart drug, Third Rail. With only a plastic disc gun to protect him, Harkness begins a high-stakes investigation that leads him into the darkest corners of the city.
Mariner Books * 9780544483927

TO WIN HER FAVOR: A Belle Meade Plantation Novel by Tamera Alexander (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
An Irishman far from home, Cullen McGrath left a once prosperous life in England because of a horse racing scandal that nearly ruined him. He's come to Nashville for a fresh start, hoping to buy land and begin farming, all while determined to stay as far away from thoroughbred racing as possible. But starting over proves harder than he'd wagered, especially when the father of gifted horse rider Maggie Linden makes him an offer he shouldn't accept yet cannot possibly refuse.
Zondervan * 9780310291077

A WEDDING IN PROVENCE by Ellen Sussman (Fiction)
Olivia and Brody have chosen the perfect location for their destination wedding: a friend’s idyllic inn in the Mediterranean town of Cassis. However, the weekend is quickly thrown off balance by guests. Olivia’s daughters, one reckless and one practical, both make brash decisions. Brody’s mother is coping with the fallout of her own marriage, and then there is Jake, the playboy best man. In the middle is Olivia, navigating the dramas and joys of starting a new life.
Ballantine Books * 9780345548979

WHENEVER YOU COME AROUND: A King's Meadow Romance by Robin Lee Hatcher (Romance)
Paperback Original
With her house damaged by floodwaters and a book deadline looming, Charity Anderson has no choice but to return to her hometown of Kings Meadow. However, being there dredges up a painful secret, and old fears threaten to overwhelm her. Charity's former high school classmate, Buck Malone, sacrificed his dreams to take care of his family. Soon he becomes the inspiration for Charity's hero, both on the page and off. Can he also help her face and overcome her fears so they might find their own happily ever after?
Thomas Nelson * 9781401687694

WYNNE’S WAR by Aaron Gwyn (Western)
Corporal Elijah Russell is assigned to an elite Special Forces unit preparing to stage a secret mission in eastern Afghanistan. His task is to train the Green Berets --- fiercely loyal to their enigmatic commander, Captain Wynne --- to ride the horses they will use to execute this mission through treacherous mountain terrain. But as the team presses farther into enemy territory, the nature of their operation only becomes more mysterious and Wynne’s charismatic power takes on a darker cast.
Eamon Dolan/Mariner Books * 9780544484047

THE YEAR SHE LEFT US by Kathryn Ma (Fiction)
A disastrous trip to visit her "home" orphanage in China has plunged 18-year-old Ari into a self-destructive spiral. Her adoptive mother, Charlie, is desperate to keep her daughter safe. Meanwhile, Charlie must endure the prickly scrutiny of her mother, Gran, and her sister, Les. As they cope with Ari's journey of discovery and its aftermath, the Kong women will come face to face with the truths of their lives.
Harper Perennial * 9780062273352


May 15th

THE HIDDEN CHILD by Camilla Läckberg
(Psychological Thriller)
Crime writer Erica Falck is shocked to discover a Nazi medal among her late mother’s possessions. To uncover her family's past, Erica must read her mother’s wartime diaries. Could what little knowledge she has be enough to endanger her husband and newborn baby? The dark past is coming to light, and no one will escape the truth of how they came to be.

Pegasus * 9781605988320

THE RED CHAMELEON by Erica Wright
(Mystery)
As a private investigator, Kathleen Stone relies on her ability to blend into the background. But when a cheating spouse she’s been trailing ends up dead under suspicious circumstances, she fears that someone she angered in her past job --- busting gangs and drug dealers as an undercover cop --- has seen through her disguises. Now she must work with her former colleagues in the NYPD to solve the case before she’s the next victim.

Pegasus * 9781605988313


Don't forget to forward this newsletter to a friend or to visit the websites in TheBookReportNetwork.com:
Bookreporter.com, 20SomethingReads.com, ReadingGroupGuides.com, GraphicNovelReporter.com, FaithfulReader.com, Teenreads.com, Kidsreads.com and AuthorsOnTheWeb.com.

The Book Report Network
250 W. 57th Street - Suite 1228

New York, New York 10107

connect with us twitterfacebook