In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of October 9th and October 16th 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 ReadingGroupGuides.com contest for ODD CHILD OUT by Gilly Macmillan, where 10 readers will have an opportunity to win a copy of the book. The deadline for your entries is Wednesday, November 8th at noon ET.
Also, we encourage you to enter our Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio contests for an opportunity to win some fabulous hardcovers and audiobooks. And please be sure to vote in our latest poll, where we ask which fiction titles releasing in October you are planning to read.
Finally, we are spotlighting a special book club kit for Lisa Wingate's latest book, BEFORE WE WERE YOURS, which was a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick when it released in June and is the perfect novel for a book club discussion.
For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
Download a Special Book Club Kit for
BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate
BEFORE WE WERE YOURS, which has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 11 weeks, is the perfect novel for a book club discussion! To help you plan an event with your reading group, Ballantine Books has created a special kit that includes:
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A special note and Q&A from the author, Lisa Wingate
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Historical images
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Food & drink ideas for your event
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A music playlist for your event
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Questions to guide your discussion
Click here to download the book club kit.
This Week's Bonus News:
Our ReadingGroupGuides.com Contest for
ODD CHILD OUT by Gilly Macmillan
We are celebrating the release of ODD CHILD OUT by Gilly Macmillan, a psychological thriller that asks the question How well do you know the people you love?, with a special contest that will give 10 readers the chance to win a copy of the book, which is now available. To enter, please fill out this form by Wednesday, November 8th at noon ET.
ODD CHILD OUT by Gilly Macmillan (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Best friends Noah Sadler and Abdi Mahad have always been inseparable. But when Noah is found floating unconscious in Bristol's Feeder Canal, Abdi can't --- or won't --- tell anyone what happened.
Just back from a mandatory leave following his last case, Detective Jim Clemo is now assigned to look into this unfortunate accident. But tragedy strikes, and what looked like the simple case of a prank gone wrong soon ignites into a public battle. Noah is British. Abdi is a Somali refugee. And social tensions have been rising rapidly in Bristol. Against this background of fear and fury, two families fight for their sons and for the truth. Neither of them know how far they will have to go, what demons they will have to face, what pain they will have to suffer.
Because the truth hurts.
- Click here for the discussion guide.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of October 9th in Hardcover
October 10th
CHILDREN OF THE FLEET by Orson Scott Card (Science Fiction)
Ender Wiggin won the Third Formic war, ending the alien threat to Earth. Afterwards, all the terraformed Formic worlds were open to settlement by humans, and the International Fleet became the arm of the Ministry of Colonization, run by Hirum Graff. MinCol now runs Fleet School on the old Battle School station, and still recruits very smart kids to train as leaders of colony ships, and colonies. Dabeet Ochoa is a very smart kid. Top of his class in every school. But he doesn’t think he has a chance at Fleet School, because he has no connections to the Fleet. That he knows of. At least until the day that Colonel Graff arrives at his school for an interview.
Tor Books | 9780765377043
CODE GIRLS: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy (History)
Recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than 10,000 women served as codebreakers during World War II. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to Washington and learned the meticulous work of code-breaking. Their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and gave them access to careers previously denied to them. A strict vow of secrecy nearly erased their efforts from history. Now, through dazzling research and interviews with surviving code girls, Liza Mundy brings to life this riveting and vital story of American courage, service and scientific accomplishment.
Hachette Books | 9780316352536
CRIMES OF THE FATHER by Thomas Keneally (Historical Fiction)
Sent away from his native Australia to Canada due to his radical preaching against the Vietnam War, apartheid and other hot-button issues, Father Frank Docherty made for himself a satisfying career as a psychologist and monk. When he returns to Australia to lecture on the future of celibacy and the Catholic Church, he is unwittingly pulled into the lives of two people, both of whom claim to have been sexually abused by a prominent monsignor. As a member of the commission investigating sex abuse within the Church, and as a man of character and conscience, Docherty decides he must confront each party involved. What follows will shake him to the core and call into question many of his own choices.
Atria Books | 9781501128486
DEATH IN ST. PETERSBURG: A Lady Emily Mystery by Tasha Alexander (Historical Mystery)
After the final curtain of “Swan Lake,” an animated crowd exits the Mariinsky theatre brimming with excitement from the night’s performance. But outside the scene is somber. A ballerina’s body lies face down in the snow, blood splattered like rose petals over the costume of the Swan Queen. Amongst the theatergoers is Lady Emily, accompanying her dashing husband Colin in Russia on assignment from the Crown. But it soon becomes clear that Colin isn’t the only one with work to do. When the dead ballerina’s aristocratic lover comes begging for justice, Emily must apply her own set of skills to discover the rising star’s murderer.
Minotaur Books | 9781250058287
DEATH OVERDUE: A Haunted Library Mystery by Allison Brook (Cozy Mystery)
Carrie Singleton is just about done with Clover Ridge, Connecticut, until she's offered a job as the head of programs and events at the spooky local library, complete with its own librarian ghost. Her first major event is a program presented by a retired homicide detective, Al Buckley, who claims he knows who murdered Laura Foster, a much-loved part-time library aide who was bludgeoned to death 15 years earlier. As he invites members of the audience to share stories about Laura, he suddenly keels over and dies. Carrie is determined to discover who murdered the detective, convinced it’s the same man who killed Laura all those years ago.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683313861
THE DIRTY BOOK CLUB by Lisi Harrison (Fiction)
M.J. Stark’s life is picture-perfect, but there is a debilitating sense of loneliness behind her success. So when her boss betrays her and her boyfriend offers her a completely new life in California, she decides to give it a try. Once there, M.J. is left to fend for herself in a small beach town, with only the company of her elderly neighbor, Gloria. One afternoon, M.J. discovers that Gloria has suddenly moved to Paris. In lieu of a goodbye, she’s left a mysterious invitation to a secret club --- one that only reads erotic books. Curious, M.J. accepts and meets the three other hand-selected club members. As they bond over naughty bestsellers and the shocking letters they inherited from the original club members, the four strangers start to divulge the intimate details of their own lives.
Gallery Books | 9781451695977
FAIRYTALE by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Camille Lammenais’ parents, Christophe and Joy, have built a renowned winery and château modeled after Christophe’s ancient family estate in his native Bordeaux. After graduating from Stanford, Camille returns to help manage Château Joy, her lifetime goal. But their fairytale ends suddenly with her mother’s death from cancer. Six months after losing his wife, the devastated Christophe is easy prey for a mysterious, charming Frenchwoman visiting the valley. Within weeks they are a clandestine couple, and Camille is shocked by the news that her father intends to remarry. When tragedy strikes again, Camille is at her stepmother’s mercy, and that of the two evil stepbrothers who appear.
Delacorte Press | 9781101884065
GRANT by Ron Chernow (Biography)
Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman, or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Ron Chernow shows in his biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.
Penguin Press | 9781594204876
NEVER COMING BACK by Alison McGhee (Fiction)
When Clara Winter left her rural Adirondacks town for college, she never looked back. Her mother, Tamar, a loving but fiercely independent woman who raised Clara on her own, all but pushed her out the door, and so Clara built a new life for herself. Now more than a decade has passed, and Clara, a successful writer, has been summoned home. Tamar has become increasingly forgetful and can no longer live on her own. But just as her mother’s memory is declining, Clara’s questions are building. Why was Tamar so insistent that Clara leave all those years ago? Just what secrets was she hiding? The surprising answers Clara uncovers are rooted in her mother’s love for her, and the sacrifices Tamar made to protect her.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9781328767561
THE POWER by Naomi Alderman (Speculative Fiction)
In THE POWER, the world is a recognizable place. There's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power --- they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316547611
REVOLUTION: The History of England from the Battle of the Boyne to the Battle of Waterloo by Peter Ackroyd (History)
In REVOLUTION, Peter Ackroyd takes readers from William of Orange's accession following the Glorious Revolution to the Regency, when the flamboyant Prince of Wales ruled in the stead of his mad father, George III, and England was --- again --- at war with France, a war that would end with the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
Thomas Dunne Books | 9781250003645
THE RULES OF MAGIC by Alice Hoffman (Historical Fiction)
For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the ’60s, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. From the start, she sets down rules for them, the most important of which is to never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City, each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501137471
SCHLESINGER: The Imperial Historian by Richard Aldous (Biography)
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., known today as the architect of John F. Kennedy’s presidential legacy, blazed an extraordinary path from Harvard University to wartime London to the West Wing. A two-time Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, Schlesinger redefined the art of presidential biography. SCHLESINGER: THE IMPERIAL HISTORIAN presents a dramatic life and career set against the backdrop of the American Century. Richard Aldous draws on oral history, rarely seen archival documents and the official Schlesinger papers to craft a portrait of the historian who framed America’s ascent to global empire.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393244700
TWELVE SLAYS OF CHRISTMAS: A Christmas Tree Farm Mystery by Jacqueline Frost (Cozy Mystery)
When Holly White’s fiancé cancels their Christmas Eve wedding with less than two weeks to go, Holly heads home with a broken heart. But her plan to drown her troubles in peppermints and snickerdoodles is upended when local grouch and president of the Mistletoe Historical Society Margaret Fenwick is bludgeoned and left in the sleigh display at Reindeer Games, Holly’s family tree farm. When the murder weapon is revealed as one of the wooden stakes used to identify trees on the farm, Sheriff Evan Grey turns to Holly’s father, Bud, and the Reindeer Games staff. And it doesn’t help that Bud and the reindeer keeper were each seen arguing with Margaret just before her death. But Holly knows her father and is determined to exonerate him.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683313175
On Sale the Week of October 9th in Paperback
October 10th
1956: The World in Revolt by Simon Hall (History)
1956 was one of the most remarkable years of the 20th century. All across the globe, ordinary people spoke out, filled the streets and city squares, and took up arms in an attempt to win their freedom. Simon Hall takes the long view of the year's events --- putting them in their post-war context and looking toward their influence on the counterculture movements of the 1960s --- to tell the story of the year's epic, global struggles from the point of view of the freedom fighters, dissidents, and countless ordinary people who worked to overturn oppressive and authoritarian systems in order to build a brave new world.
Pegasus Books | 9781681775265
BLOOD AND SAND: Suez, Hungary, and Eisenhower’s Campaign for Peace by Alex von Tunzelmann (History)
The year 1956 was a turning point in history. Over 16 extraordinary days, the twin crises involving Suez and Hungary pushed the world to the brink of a nuclear conflict. BLOOD AND SAND delivers this story in an hour-by-hour account through a fascinating international cast of characters: Anthony Eden, the British prime minister, caught in a trap of his own making; Gamal Abdel Nasser, the bold young populist leader of Egypt; David Ben-Gurion, the aging Zionist hero of Israel; Guy Mollet, the bellicose French prime minister; and Dwight D. Eisenhower, the American president, torn between an old world order and a new one in the very same week that his own fate as president was to be decided by the American people.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062249258
A BOOK OF AMERICAN MARTYRS by Joyce Carol Oates (Fiction)
In A BOOK OF AMERICAN MARTYRS, Joyce Carol Oates tells the story of two very different and yet intimately linked American families. Luther Dunphy is an ardent Evangelical who envisions himself as acting out God’s will when he assassinates an abortion provider in his small Ohio town. Augustus Voorhees, the idealistic doctor who is killed, leaves behind a wife and children scarred and embittered by grief.
Ecco | 9780062643056
CITY OF DREAMS: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York by Tyler Anbinder (History)
With more than three million foreign-born residents today, New York has been America’s defining port of entry for nearly four centuries, a magnet for transplants from all over the globe. These migrants have brought their hundreds of languages and distinct cultures to the city, and from there to the entire country. More immigrants have come to New York than all other entry points combined. Tyler Anbinder’s story is one of innovators and artists, revolutionaries and rioters, staggering deprivation and soaring triumphs, all playing out against the powerful backdrop of New York City, at once ever-changing and profoundly, permanently itself.
Mariner Books | 9781328745514
THE COMET SEEKERS by Helen Sedgwick (Fiction)
Róisín and François are immediately drawn to each other when they meet at a remote research base on the frozen ice sheets of Antarctica. At first glance, the pair could not be more different. Older by a few years, Róisín, a daughter of Ireland and a peripatetic astronomer, joins the science team to observe the fracturing of a comet overhead. François, the base’s chef, has just left his birthplace in Bayeux, France, for only the second time in his life. Yet devastating tragedy and the longing for a fresh start, which they share, as well as an indelible but unknown bond that stretches back centuries, connect them to each other.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062448774
THE DAILY SHOW (THE BOOK): An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests by Chris Smith (Entertainment/History)
For almost 17 years, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” brilliantly redefined the borders between television comedy, political satire and opinionated news coverage. It launched the careers of some of today's most significant comedians, highlighted the hypocrisies of the powerful and garnered 23 Emmys. Now the show's behind-the-scenes gags, controversies and camaraderie have been chronicled by the players themselves in this oral history, which takes the reader behind the curtain for all the show's highlights --- from its origins as Comedy Central's underdog late-night program hosted by Craig Kilborn to Jon Stewart's long reign to Trevor Noah's succession.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455565368
HIMSELF by Jess Kidd (Mystery/Dark Humor)
Having been abandoned on the steps of an orphanage as an infant, lovable car thief and Dublin charmer Mahony assumed all his life that his mother had simply given him up. But when he receives an anonymous note suggesting that foul play may have led to his mother’s disappearance, he sees only one option: to return to the rural Irish village where he was born and find out what really happened 26 years ago. Determined to uncover the truth, Mahony solicits the help of brash anarchist and retired theater actress Mrs. Cauley. This improbable duo concocts an ingenious plan to get the town talking about the day Mahony's mother disappeared and are aided and abetted by a cast of eccentric characters, both living and dead.
Washington Square Press | 9781501145186
JUNIPER: The Girl Who Was Born Too Soon by Kelley and Thomas French (Memoir)
Juniper French was born four months early, weighing in at one pound, four ounces. Babies like Juniper, born at the edge of viability, trigger the question: Which is the greater act of love --- to save her, or to let her go? Kelley and Thomas French chose to fight for Juniper's life. Here, they explore the border between what is possible and what is right. They marvel at the science that conceived and sustained their daughter and the love that made the difference. They trace the journey of their family from its fragile beginning to the miraculous survival of their now-thriving daughter.
Back Bay Books | 9780316324434
THE MEDICI: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance by Paul Strathern (History)
Against the background of an age that saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, Paul Strathern explores the intensely dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence, as well as the Italian Renaissance, which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Strathern also follows the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists and scientists with whom the Medici had dealings, along with the fortunes of those members of the Medici family who achieved success away from Florence.
Pegasus Books | 9781681774084
THE MOTHERS by Brit Bennett (Fiction)
Mourning her mother’s recent suicide, 17-year-old Nadia Turner takes up with the local pastor’s son. Luke Sheppard is 21, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. The pregnancy that results from this teen romance --- and the subsequent cover-up --- will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently?
Riverhead Books | 9780399184529
QUARRY’S CLIMAX by Max Allan Collins (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Paperback Original
Memphis, 1975. “Raunchy” doesn’t begin to describe Max Climer’s magazine, Climax, or his all-hours strip club, or his planned video empire. And evangelists, feminists and local watchdog groups all want him out of business. But someone wants more than that, and has hired a killer to end Max’s career permanently. Only another hit man --- the ruthless professional known as Quarry, star of the acclaimed series on Cinemax --- can keep Climer from becoming a casualty in the Sexual Revolution.
Hard Case Crime | 9781785651809
RED RIGHT HAND by Chris Holm (Thriller)
When a viral video of an explosive terrorist attack on the Golden Gate Bridge reveals that a Federal witness long thought dead is still alive, the organization he'd agreed to testify against will stop at nothing to put him in the ground. FBI Special Agent Charlie Thompson calls the only person on the planet who can keep her witness safe: Michael Hendricks. Once a covert operative for the US military, Hendricks makes his living hitting hitmen... or he did, until the very organization hunting Charlie's witness --- the Council --- caught wind and targeted the people he loves. He is now determined to take the Council down, even if it means wading into the center of a terror plot whose perpetrators are not what they seem.
Mulholland Books | 9780316259552
SHIRLEY JACKSON: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin (Biography)
Still known to millions primarily as the author of “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson (1916–1965) has been curiously absent from the mainstream American literary canon. A genius of literary suspense and psychological horror, Jackson plumbed the cultural anxiety of postwar America more deeply than anyone. Now, biographer Ruth Franklin reveals the tumultuous life and inner darkness of the author of such classics as THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE.
Liveright | 9781631493416
THREE FLOORS UP written by Eshkol Nevo, translated by Sondra Silverston (Fiction)
Paperback Original
On the first floor, Arnon, a tormented retired officer, confesses to an army friend with a troubled military past how his obsession about his young daughter's safety led him to lose control and put his marriage in peril. Above Arnon lives Hani, known as "the widow," whose husband travels the world for his lucrative job while she stays at home with their two children, increasingly isolated and unstable. When her brother-in-law suddenly appears at their door begging her to hide him from loan sharks and the police, she agrees in spite of the risk to her family. On the top floor lives a former judge, Devora. Eager to start a new life in her retirement, Devora joins a social movement, desperately tries to reconnect with her estranged son, and falls in love with a man who isn't what he seems.
Other Press | 9781590518786
THE TWELVE DOGS OF CHRISTMAS: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Andy Carpenter’s long-time friend, Martha “Pups” Boyer, takes in stray puppies that the local dog rescue center can’t handle, raises them until they’re old enough to adopt, and then finds good homes for them. With Christmas just around the corner, one of Pups’ neighbors has just reported Pups to the city for having more than the legal number of pets in her home under the local zoning laws. Andy happily takes Pups’ case, and he feels confident in a positive outcome. Who could punish someone for rescuing puppies, after all, especially at Christmastime? But things get a lot more complicated when Randy Hennessey, the neighbor who registered the complaint against Pups, turns up dead.
Minotaur Books | 9781250145611
WHAT WE RECKON by Eryk Pruitt (Hard-boiled Mystery/Humor)
Paperback Original
Jack Jordan is a smooth-talking con artist with a penchant for the fast life. He has snuck into Lufkin, Texas, in the dead of night with little more than a beat-up Honda, a hollowed-out King James Bible full of cocaine, and enough emotional baggage to sink a steam ship. Summer Ashton is his partner-in-crime, but lately her mind has begun to slip. They’ve told their fair share of lies, and she’s having a devil of a time remembering what’s the truth. And recently, she’s been hearing voices. Unfortunately for both of them, she’s the brains of the operation. Furthermore, they have begun to tire of one another. For these two career grifters, the sleepy East Texas countryside is but another pit stop on their rampage across the American South. Will it be their last?
Polis Books | 9781943818648
On Sale the Week of October 16th in Hardcover
October 17th
AMERICAN WOLF: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West by Nate Blakeslee (Nature)
Once abundant in North America, wolves were hunted to near extinction in the lower 48 states by the 1920s. But in recent decades, conservationists have brought them back to the Rockies, igniting a battle over the very soul of the West. Nate Blakeslee tells the gripping story of one of these wolves, O-Six, who is a kind and merciful leader, a fiercely intelligent fighter and a doting mother. But as she raises her pups and protects her pack, O-Six is challenged on all fronts: by hunters, who compete with wolves for the elk they both prize; by cattle ranchers who are losing livestock and have the ear of politicians; and by other Yellowstone wolves who are vying for control of the park’s stunningly beautiful Lamar Valley.
Crown | 9781101902783
DEATH IN THE AIR: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City by Kate Winkler Dawson (True Crime/History)
In winter 1952, London automobiles and thousands of coal-burning hearths belched particulate matter into the air. But the smog that descended on December 5, 1952 was different; it was a type that held the city hostage for five long days. Mass transit ground to a halt, criminals roamed the streets, and 12,000 people died. That same month, there was another killer at large in London: John Reginald Christie, who murdered at least six women. In a braided narrative that draws on extensive interviews, never-before-published material and archival research, Kate Winkler Dawson recounts the intersecting stories of these two killers and their longstanding impact on modern history.
Hachette Books | 9780316506861
DEEP FREEZE: A Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford (Thriller)
Virgil Flowers knows the town of Trippton, Minnesota, a little too well. A few years back, he investigated the corrupt --- and, as it turned out, homicidal --- local school board, and now the town is back in view with more alarming news: A woman has been found dead, frozen in a block of ice. There’s a possibility that it might be connected to a high school class of 20 years ago that has a mid-winter reunion coming up, so Virgil begins to dig into 20 years’ worth of traumas, feuds and bad blood. In the process, one thing becomes increasingly clear to him. It’s true what they say: High school is murder.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399176067
ENDURANCE: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly (Memoir)
The veteran of four spaceflights and the American record holder for consecutive days spent in space, Scott Kelly has experienced things very few have. Now, he takes us inside a sphere utterly hostile to human life. He describes navigating the extreme challenge of long-term spaceflight: the devastating effects on the body; the isolation from everyone he loves and the comforts of Earth; the catastrophic risks of colliding with space junk; and the still more haunting threat of being unable to help should tragedy strike at home --- an agonizing situation Kelly faced when, on a previous mission, his twin brother's wife, American Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot while he still had two months in space.
Knopf | 9781524731595
THE FLOATING WORLD by C. Morgan Babst (Fiction)
THE FLOATING WORLD takes readers into the heart of Hurricane Katrina with the story of the Boisdorés, whose roots stretch back nearly to the foundation of New Orleans. Though the storm is fast approaching the Louisiana coast, Cora, the family’s fragile elder daughter, refuses to leave the city, forcing her parents, Joe Boisdoré, an artist descended from a freed slave who became one of the city’s preeminent furniture makers, and his white “Uptown” wife, Dr. Tess Eshleman, to evacuate without her, setting off a chain of events that leaves their marriage in shambles and Cora catatonic --- the victim or perpetrator of some violence mysterious even to herself.
Algonquin Books | 9781616205287
INFINITE GROUND by Martin MacInnes (Mystery)
On a sweltering summer night at a restaurant in an unnamed Latin American city, a man at a family dinner gets up from the table to go to the restroom…and never comes back. A semi-retired detective takes the case, but what should be a routine investigation becomes something strange, intangible, even sinister. The corporation for which the missing man worked seems to be a front for something else; the staff describes their colleague as having suffered alarming, shifting physical symptoms; a forensic scientist examining his office uncovers evidence of curious microorganisms. As the detective relives and retraces the man’s footsteps, the trail leads him away from the city sprawl and deep into the country’s rainforest interior.
Melville House | 9781612196855
IT DEVOURS!: A Welcome to Night Vale Novel by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor (Mystery)
Nilanjana Sikdar is an outsider to the town of Night Vale. Working for Carlos, the town’s top scientist, she relies on fact and logic as her guiding principles. But all of that is put into question when Carlos gives her a special assignment investigating a mysterious rumbling in the desert wasteland outside of town. This investigation leads her to the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, and to Darryl, one of its most committed members. Caught between her beliefs in the ultimate power of science and her growing attraction to Darryl, she begins to suspect the Congregation is planning a ritual that could threaten the lives of everyone in town.
Harper Perennial | 9780062476050
KILLING SEASON by Faye Kellerman (Mystery/Thriller)
Four years ago, 15-year-old Ellen Vicksburg went missing. Her younger brother, Ben, could imagine nothing worse than never knowing what happened to her until, on the first anniversary of her death, he found her body in a shallow grave by the river’s edge. Ben, now 16, is committed to finding the monster who abducted and strangled Ellen. Police believe she was the victim of a psychopath known as the Demon. But Ben continues to pore over the evidence at the local police precinct, and he sees patterns that don’t fit, tiny threads that he adds to the clues from other similar unsolved murders. As the body count rises, a picture emerges of an adversary who is as cunning and methodical as he is twisted.
William Morrow | 9780062465931
THE LAST MRS. PARRISH by Liv Constantine (Psychological Thriller)
Amber Patterson is tired of being a nobody. She deserves more --- a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted. To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life --- the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards; if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.
Harper | 9780062667571
LEONARDO DA VINCI by Walter Isaacson (Biography)
Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson weaves a narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy. He produced the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and technology.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501139154
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND MISTLETOE by Melissa de la Cruz (Fiction)
The beautiful and successful Darcy Fitzwilliam dates hedge funders and basketball stars. She has never fallen in love, never has time for anyone else’s drama, and never goes home for Christmas if she can help it. But when her mother falls ill, she comes home to Pemberley, Ohio, to spend the season with her family. Her parents throw their annual Christmas bash, where she meets Luke Bennet, the smart, sardonic slacker son of their neighbor. When Darcy and Luke fall into bed after too many eggnogs, Darcy thinks it’s just another one-night stand. But why can’t she stop thinking of Luke? Can she fall in love, or will her pride and his prejudice against big-city girls stand in their way?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250141392
PULSE: A Dick Francis Novel by Felix Francis (Thriller)
A smartly dressed man has been found unconscious at the local racecourse and is rushed to the hospital, where he subsequently dies. But who is he? Where does he come from? Doctor Chris Rankin, a specialist who treated the deceased --- and who struggles with mental health issues --- is intrigued by the nameless dead man and starts asking questions. However, someone doesn't want the questions answered and will go to any lengths to prevent it, including an attempted murder. But when no one will believe that someone tried to kill Chris, the doctor is left with no option but to discover who the nameless man was and why he died…preferably before following him into an early grave.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399574733
RIGHTEOUS: An IQ Novel by Joe Ide (Mystery)
Ten years ago, when Isaiah Quintabe was just a boy, his brother was killed by an unknown assailant. The search for the killer sent Isaiah plunging into despair and nearly destroyed his life. Even with a flourishing career and near-iconic status as a PI in his hometown, he has to begin the hunt again --- or lose his mind. A case takes him and his volatile, dubious sidekick, Dodson, to Vegas, where Chinese gangsters and a terrifying seven-foot loan shark are stalking a DJ and her screwball boyfriend. If Isaiah doesn't find the two first, they'll be murdered. Awaiting the outcome is the love of IQ's life: fail, and he'll lose her. Isaiah's quest will lead him to the mastermind behind his brother's death, Isaiah's own sinister Moriarty.
Mulholland Books | 9780316267779
A SECRET SISTERHOOD: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney (Biography)
Male literary friendships are the stuff of legend; think Byron and Shelley, Fitzgerald and Hemingway. But the world’s best-loved female authors are usually mythologized as solitary eccentrics or isolated geniuses. Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney prove this wrong, thanks to their discovery of a wealth of surprising collaborations: the friendship between Jane Austen and one of the family servants, playwright Anne Sharp; the daring feminist author Mary Taylor, who shaped the work of Charlotte Brontë; the transatlantic friendship of the seemingly aloof George Eliot and Harriet Beecher Stowe; and Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield, most often portrayed as bitter foes, but who, in fact, enjoyed a complex friendship fired by an underlying erotic charge.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780544883734
SEVEN DAYS OF US by Francesca Hornak (Fiction)
It’s Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew’s elder daughter will be joining them at Weyfield Hall, their aging country estate. Having just returned from treating an epidemic abroad, Olivia, a doctor, has been told she must stay in quarantine for a week…and so too should her family. For the next seven days, the Birches are locked down, cut off from the rest of humanity and forced into each other’s orbits. In close proximity, not much can stay hidden for long, and as revelations and long-held tensions come to light, nothing is more shocking than the unexpected guest who’s about to arrive.
Berkley | 9780451488756
SMILE by Roddy Doyle (Fiction)
While at Donnelly’s for his usual pint, Victor Forde is approached by a man in shorts and a pink shirt. He seems to know Victor’s name and to remember him from secondary school. His name is Fitzpatrick. Victor dislikes him on sight, and also dislikes the memories that Fitzpatrick stirs up of five years being taught by the Christian Brothers. He prompts other memories --- of Rachel, his beautiful wife who became a celebrity, and of Victor’s own small claim to fame, as the man who would say the unsayable on the radio. But it’s the memories of school, and of one particular brother, that Victor cannot control and that eventually threaten to destroy his sanity.
Viking | 9780735224445
START WITHOUT ME by Joshua Max Feldman (Fiction)
Adam is a former musician and recovering alcoholic who is home for Thanksgiving for the first time in many years. He can’t shake the feeling that no matter how hard he tries, he’ll always be the one who can’t get it right. Marissa is a flight attendant whose marriage is strained by simmering tensions over race, class and ambition. Heading to her in-laws for their picture-perfect holiday family dinner, her anxiety is intensified by the knowledge she is pregnant from an impulsive one-night-stand. In an airport restaurant on Thanksgiving morning, Adam and Marissa meet. Over the course of this day, these two strangers will form an unlikely bond as they reckon with their family ties, their pasts, and the choices that will determine their way forward.
William Morrow | 9780062668721
UNCOMMON TYPE: Some Stories by Tom Hanks (Fiction/Short Stories)
A gentle Eastern European immigrant arrives in New York City after his family and his life have been torn apart by his country's civil war. A man who loves to bowl rolls a perfect game --- and then another and then another and then many more in a row until he winds up ESPN's newest celebrity, and he must decide if the combination of perfection and celebrity has ruined the thing he loves. An eccentric billionaire and his faithful executive assistant venture into America looking for acquisitions and discover a down-and-out motel, romance and a bit of real life. These are just some of the tales that Tom Hanks tells in this first collection of his short stories.
Knopf | 9781101946152
WHERE THE PAST BEGINS: A Writer's Memoir by Amy Tan (Memoir)
By delving into vivid memories of her traumatic childhood, confessions of self-doubt in her journals, and heartbreaking letters to and from her mother, Amy Tan gives evidence to all that made it both unlikely and inevitable that she would become a writer. She explores shocking truths uncovered by family memorabilia --- the real reason behind an IQ test she took at age six, why her parents lied about their education, mysteries surrounding her maternal grandmother --- and, for the first time publicly, writes about her complex relationship with her father, who died when she was 15.
Ecco | 9780062319296
On Sale the Week of October 16th in Paperback
October 17th
AUTUMN by Ali Smith (Fiction)
Autumn. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Two old friends --- Daniel, a centenarian, and Elisabeth, born in 1984 --- look to both the future and the past as the United Kingdom stands divided by a historic, once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand-in-hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever. A luminous meditation on the meaning of richness and harvest and worth, AUTUMN is the first installment of Ali Smith’s Seasonal quartet, and it casts an eye over our own time: Who are we? What are we made of?
Anchor | 9781101969946
THE BOAT ROCKER by Ha Jin (Fiction)
Chinese expatriate Feng Danlin is a fiercely principled reporter at a small news agency that produces a website read by Chinese all over the world. Danlin's explosive exposés have made him legendary among readers --- and feared by Communist officials. But his newest assignment may be his undoing: investigating his ex-wife, Yan Haili, an unscrupulous novelist who has willingly become a pawn of the Chinese government in order to realize her dreams of literary stardom. In outing Haili, Danlin is also provoking her powerful political allies, and he will need to draw on all of his journalistic cunning to come out of this investigation with his career --- and his life --- still intact.
Vintage | 9780804170376
BUTTER: A Rich History by Elaine Khosrova (Cooking/History)
From its humble agrarian origins to its present-day artisanal glory, butter has a fascinating story to tell. With tales about the ancient butter bogs of Ireland, the pleasure dairies of France, and the sacred butter sculptures of Tibet, former pastry chef Elaine Khosrova details butter’s role in history, politics, economics, nutrition, and even spirituality and art. Readers will also find the essential collection of core butter recipes, including beurre manié, croissants, pâte brisée, and the only buttercream frosting anyone will ever need, as well as practical how-tos for making various types of butter at home --- or shopping for the best.
Algonquin Books | 9781616207397
EVERY MAN A MENACE by Patrick Hoffman (Thriller)
San Francisco is about to receive the biggest delivery of MDMA to hit the West Coast in years. Raymond Gaspar, just out of prison, is sent to the city to check in on the increasingly erratic dealer expected to take care of distribution. In Miami, the man responsible for getting the drugs across the Pacific has just met the girl of his dreams --- a woman who can't seem to keep her story straight. And thousands of miles away in Bangkok, someone farther up the supply chain is about to make a phone call that will put all their lives at risk.
Grove Press | 9780802127242
HUMAN ACTS by Han Kang (Fiction)
In the midst of a violent student uprising in South Korea, a young boy named Dong-ho is shockingly killed. The story of this tragic episode unfolds in a sequence of interconnected chapters as the victims and the bereaved encounter suppression, denial and the echoing agony of the massacre. From Dong-ho’s best friend who meets his own fateful end; to an editor struggling against censorship; to a prisoner and a factory worker, each suffering from traumatic memories; and to Dong-ho's own grief-stricken mother; and through their collective heartbreak and acts of hope is the tale of a brutalized people in search of a voice.
Hogarth | 9781101906743
LITTLE DEATHS by Emma Flint (Historical Mystery)
It's 1965 in a tight-knit working-class neighborhood in Queens, New York, and Ruth Malone --- a single mother who works long hours as a cocktail waitress --- wakes to discover her two small children, Frankie Jr. and Cindy, have gone missing. Later that day, Cindy's body is found in a derelict lot a half mile from her home, strangled. Ten days later, Frankie Jr.'s decomposing body is found. Immediately, all fingers point to Ruth. As police investigate the murders, the detritus of her life is exposed. Did Ruth violently kill her own children, is she a victim of circumstance --- or is there something more sinister at play?
Hachette Books | 9780316272483
LITTLE SECRETS by Anna Snoekstra (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
An arsonist is on the loose in Colmstock, Australia, most recently burning down the town’s courthouse and killing a young boy who was trapped inside. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for Rose Blakey. With nothing but rejections from newspapers piling up, her job pulling beers for cops at the local tavern isn’t nearly enough to cover rent. Rose needs a story --- a big one. In the weeks after the courthouse fire, precise porcelain replicas of Colmstock’s daughters begin turning up on doorsteps, terrifying parents and testing the limits of the town’s already fractured police force. Rose may have finally found her story. But as her articles gain traction and the boundaries of her investigation blur, Colmstock is seized by a seething paranoia. Soon, no one is safe from suspicion.
Mira | 9780778331094
MISTER MONKEY by Francine Prose (Fiction)
“Mister Monkey” --- a screwball children’s musical about a playfully larcenous pet chimpanzee --- is the kind of family favorite that survives far past its prime. Margot, who plays the chimp’s lawyer, knows the production is dreadful and bemoans the failure of her acting career. She’s settled into the drudgery of playing a humiliating part --- until the day she receives a mysterious letter from an anonymous admirer…and later, in the middle of a performance, has a shocking encounter with Adam, the 12-year-old who plays the title role.
Harper Perennial | 9780062397843
NO MAN’S LAND by Simon Tolkien (Historical Fiction)
After the death of his mother, Adam Raine and his father head north of London to the coal mining town of Scarsdale. Tensions between the miners and their employer, Sir John Scarsdale, escalate, and finally explode with terrible consequences. Adam’s fate shifts once again, and he finds himself drawn into the opulent Scarsdale family home where he makes an enemy of Sir John’s son, Brice. However, Adam finds consolation in the company of Miriam, the local parson’s beautiful daughter with whom he falls in love. When they become engaged and Adam wins a scholarship to Oxford, he starts to feel that his life is finally coming together --- until the outbreak of World War I threatens to tear everything apart.
Anchor | 9781101974575
THE PATRIOTS by Sana Krasikov (Fiction)
When the Great Depression hits, Florence Fein leaves Brooklyn College for what appears to be a plum job in Moscow --- and the promise of love and independence. But once in Russia, she quickly becomes entangled in a country she can’t escape. Many years later, Florence’s son, Julian, will make the opposite journey, immigrating back to the United States. His work in the oil industry takes him on frequent visits to Moscow, and when he learns that Florence’s KGB file has been opened, he arranges a business trip to uncover the truth about his mother, and to convince his son, Lenny, who is trying to make his fortune in the new Russia, to return home. What he discovers is both chilling and heartbreaking: an untold story of what happened to a generation of Americans abandoned by their country.
Spiegel & Grau | 9780385524421
THE RAIN IN PORTUGAL: Poems by Billy Collins (Poetry)
THE RAIN IN PORTUGAL --- a title that admits he’s not much of a rhymer --- sheds Billy Collins’ ironic light on such subjects as travel and art, cats and dogs, loneliness and love, beauty and death. His tones range from the whimsical --- “the dogs of Minneapolis… / have no idea they’re in Minneapolis” --- to the elegiac in a reaction to the death of Seamus Heaney. A student of the everyday, here Collins contemplates a weather vane, a still life painting, the calendar, and a child lost at a beach. His imaginative fabrications have Shakespeare flying comfortably in first class and Keith Richards supporting the globe on his head.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780812982688
TRUEVINE: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy (History)
George and Willie Muse were two little boys born to a sharecropper family. One day, a white man offered them a piece of candy, setting off events that would take them around the world and change their lives forever. Captured into the circus, the Muse brothers performed for royalty at Buckingham Palace and headlined over a dozen sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. But the very root of their success was in the color of their skin and in the outrageous caricatures they were forced to assume. Through hundreds of interviews and decades of research, Beth Macy explores a central and difficult question: Where were the brothers better off? On the world stage as stars, or in poverty at home?
Back Bay Books | 9780316337526
THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill by Greg Mitchell (History)
In the summer of 1962, the year after the rise of the Berlin Wall, a group of young West Germans risked prison, Stasi torture and even death to liberate friends, lovers and strangers in East Berlin by digging tunnels under the Wall. NBC and CBS funded two separate tunnels in return for the right to film the escapes, planning spectacular prime-time specials. President John F. Kennedy, however, was wary of anything that might spark a confrontation with the Soviets. So he approved unprecedented maneuvers to quash both documentaries, testing the limits of a free press in an era of escalating nuclear tensions.
Broadway Books | 9781101903872
TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS: A Christmas Novel by Debbie Macomber (Romance)
Aspiring journalist Julia Padden starts a blog as a means of seeking revenge against her grouchy, arrogant, annoyingly handsome neighbor. Julia and Cain have clashed since she moved into the apartment building, but instead of fighting fire with fire, Julia has decided to kill Cain with kindness and document her success --- or lack thereof --- for all the world to see. To her surprise, her blog is an instant success, with Julia’s followers contributing their own suggestions for breaking through Cain’s cold exterior. And little by little, these small acts of kindness start to have a major effect.
Ballantine Books | 9780553391756
October 21st
THE KILLER WHO HATED SOUP: The Killer Who Series, Book 1 by Bill A. Brier (Historical Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
The Internet? Never heard of it. Smart phones? Who you kiddin’? We’re talkin’ 1956. Energetic and eager to make his mark on what Time magazine called the next great boom town, Bucky Ontario leaves his Louisiana home and hops a bus to Defiance, Oklahoma, a town not particularly averse to murders, just the embarrassment of them. While helping his friend, Kindra, search for a ring that once belonged to her dead mother, Bucky is told: “Find the baby, find the ring.”
Black Opal Books | 9781626946897
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