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March 15, 2016

March 15, 2016
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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of March 14th and March 21st 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 two contests for book groups on ReadingGroupGuides.com. Be sure to enter for your chance to win wonderful fiction titles for you and your group to read and discuss.

Know a friend or family member who you think may enjoy this newsletter? Then please forward it on to them!


This Week's Bonus News: Two Contests on ReadingGroupGuides.com --- Enter to Win THE KITCHEN HOUSE and A PLACE FOR US for You and Your Book Group

"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?": Win 12 Copies of THE KITCHEN HOUSE by Kathleen Grissom
Each month, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries received, three groups are selected, and each wins 12 copies of that month’s prize book. March's prize book is THE KITCHEN HOUSE, which was originally published in 2010. In it, author Kathleen Grissom brings to life a thriving plantation in Virginia in the decades before the Civil War, where a dark secret threatens to expose the best and worst in everyone tied to the estate. Enter here by Wednesday, April 6th at noon ET. And be sure not to miss the highly anticipated follow-up to THE KITCHEN HOUSE, GLORY OVER EVERYTHING, which releases on April 5th.

Win 12 Copies of A PLACE FOR US by Harriet Evans for Your Book Group
We are celebrating the recent paperback release of international bestselling author Harriet Evans' A PLACE FOR US --- about a woman who, on the eve of her 80th birthday, decides to reveal a secret that may tear her family apart --- with a special contest that will give three groups the chance to win 12 copies of the book. Enter here by Wednesday, April 6th at noon ET.

Click here to visit ReadingGroupGuides.com.
On Sale the Week of March 14th in Hardcover

March 14th

PRIVATE PARIS by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan (Thriller)
When Jack Morgan stops by Private's Paris office, he envisions a quick hello during an otherwise relaxing trip. But he is quickly pressed into duty after getting a call from his client, Sherman Wilkerson, asking him to track down his young granddaughter, who is on the run from a brutal drug dealer. Before Jack can locate her, several members of France's cultural elite are found murdered in stunning, symbolic fashion. The only link between the crimes is a mysterious graffiti tag. As religious and ethnic tensions simmer in the City of Lights, only Jack and his Private team can connect the dots before the smoldering powder keg explodes.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316407052


March 15th

ALLIGATOR CANDY: A Memoir by David Kushner (Memoir)
David Kushner grew up in the suburbs of Florida in the early 1970s, running wild with his friends, exploring, riding bikes and disappearing into the nearby woods for hours at a time. One morning in 1973, however, everything changed. David’s older brother Jon, making a trip to the local convenience store, vanished. This is the story of Jon’s murder at the hands of two sadistic drifters…and everything that happened after.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451682533

AS CLOSE TO US AS BREATHING by Elizabeth Poliner (Fiction)
In 1948, sisters Ada, Vivie and Bec assemble at their beloved family cottage in Woodmont, Connecticut. Ada is unimpeded by her strict, religious husband. Vivie is the family diplomat and an increasingly inventive chef. Unmarried Bec finds herself forced to choose between a family-centric life and a passion-filled life with a married man. But when a terrible accident occurs on the sisters' watch, the girls’ lives are changed forever. Seen through the eyes of Molly, who was 12 years old when she witnessed the accident, this is the story of a tragedy and its aftermath. Can Molly, decades after the event, draw from her aunt Bec's wisdom and free herself from the burden that destroyed so many others?
Lee Boudreaux Books * 9780316384148

AT THE EDGE OF THE ORCHARD by Tracy Chevalier (Historical Fiction)
1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck --- in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the 50 apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of an easier life back in Connecticut, while Sadie prefers the applejack they make, an alcoholic refuge from brutal frontier life.
Viking * 9780525953005

BAD SIGNS by R.J. Ellory (Historical Thriller)
Orphaned by an act of senseless violence that took their mother from them, half-brothers Clarence Luckman and Elliott Danziger have been raised in state institutions, unaware of any world beyond its walls. But their lives take a sudden turn when they are seized as hostages by a convicted killer en route to death row. Earl Sheridan is a psychopath of the worst kind, and as he and his two hostages set off on a frenetic path through California down to Texas, Clarence and Elliot must come to terms with the ever-growing tide of violence in their wake.
The Overlook Press * 9781468311273

BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE by Jane Mendelsohn (Fiction)
A classic family tale colliding with the 21st century, BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE tells the story of two girls. Neva, from the mountains of Russia, was sold into the sex trade at the age of 10; Poppy is the adopted daughter of Steve, the patriarch of a successful New York real estate clan, the Zanes. She is his sister’s orphaned child. One of these young women will unwittingly help bring down this grand household with the inexorability of Greek tragedy, and the other will summon everything she’s learned and all her strength to try to save its members from themselves.
Knopf * 9781101875452

CAMBODIA NOIR by Nick Seeley (Thriller)
Once-great war photographer Will Keller's days and nights are a haze of sex, drugs, booze and brawling in lawless Phnom Penh, Cambodia. That is, until he meets Kara Saito, a beautiful young woman who begs Will to help find her sister, June, who disappeared while interning at a local paper. Entering the dangerous Phnom Penh underworld, Will uses June’s diary --- an unsettling collection of experiences, memories and dreams --- on his search for the missing girl. However, when disturbing facts about June and her family history reveal themselves, Will realizes that the most dangerous thing in Cambodia may be June herself.
Scribner * 9781501106088

DEEP BLUE by Randy Wayne White (Thriller)
Marine biologist Marion “Doc” Ford carefully watches a video of a hooded man executing three hostages. The man is an American working with ISIS, and in the next few days, it’ll be Ford’s job, as part of his shadowy second life, to make sure he never kills anybody else again. But a lot can go wrong in a few days. And Ford has no way of knowing that not only will the operation prove to be a lot more complicated than he has anticipated, but that he’ll end up bringing those complications back with him to the small community of Dinkin’s Bay, where he’s long made his home.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399173516

HEART OF GLASS: A Memoir by Wendy Lawless (Memoir)
Before downtown Manhattan was scrubbed clean, gentrified, and overrun with designer boutiques and trendy eateries and bars, it was the center of a burgeoning art scene. Running from the shipwreck of her glamorous and unstable childhood with a volatile mother, Wendy Lawless landed in the center of it all. She navigated this demi-monde of jaded punk rockers, desperate actors, pulsing parties and unexpected run-ins with her own past as she made every mistake of youth, looked for love in all the wrong places, and eventually learned how to grow up on her own.
Gallery Books * 9781476749808

LIFE REIMAGINED: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife by Barbara Bradley Hagerty (Self-Help/Personal Growth)
There’s no such thing as an inevitable midlife crisis, Barbara Bradley Hagerty writes in A LIFE REIMAGINED. New scientific research explodes the fable that midlife is a time when things start to go downhill for everybody. In fact, midlife can be a great new adventure, when you can embrace fresh possibilities, purposes and pleasures. Hagerty explains that midlife is about renewal: It’s the time to renegotiate your purpose, refocus your relationships, and transform the way you think about the world and yourself.
Riverhead Books * 9781594631702

A MAN LIES DREAMING by Lavie Tidhar (Historical Thriller)
Wolf, a low-rent private detective, roams London’s gloomy, grimy streets, haunted by dark visions of a future that could have been --- and a dangerous present populated by British Fascists and Nazis escaping Germany. Shomer, a pulp fiction writer, lies in a concentration camp, imagining another world. And when Wolf and Shomer's stories converge, we find ourselves drawn into a novel both shocking and profoundly haunting.
Melville House * 9781612195049

ON FIRE: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life by John O'Leary (Self-Help/Personal Growth)
When John O’Leary was nine years old, he was almost killed in a devastating house fire. With burns on 100 percent of his body, O’Leary mustered an almost unimaginable amount of inner strength just to survive the ordeal. The insights he gained through this experience and the heroes who stepped into his life to help him through the journey --- his family, the medical staff and total strangers --- changed his life. Now he is committed to living life to the fullest and inspiring others to do the same. ON FIRE contains O’Leary’s reflections on being that little boy, the life-giving choices made then, and the resulting lessons he learned.
North Star Way * 9781501117725

PROPERTY OF A NOBLEWOMAN by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Two people, drawn together by chance, begin to unravel the mystery of the contents of a safe-deposit box long abandoned in a New York City bank. Jane Willoughby is a law clerk at the surrogate’s court and Phillip Lawton a fine arts expert for Christie’s auction house. They are simply doing their jobs when they come to the bank to inspect the contents of the box. But for both Jane and Phillip, the search turns personal --- and their efforts to reconstruct an enigmatic life will lead from New York to London and Paris, to Rome and Naples, and a series of stunning revelations.
Delacorte Press * 9780345531063

RIGHTFUL HERITAGE: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America by Douglas Brinkley (History)
RIGHTFUL HERITAGE chronicles Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s legacy as the founder of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and premier protector of America’s public lands. FDR built from scratch dozens of State Park systems and scenic roadways. As America’s president, he established hundreds of federal migratory bird refuges and spearheaded the modern endangered species movement. During its nine-year existence, the CCC put nearly three million young men to work on conservation projects, combating severe unemployment during the Great Depression.
Harper * 9780062089236

SHELTER by Jung Yun (Fiction)
Kyung Cho is a young father burdened by a house he can’t afford. For years, he and his wife, Gillian, have lived beyond their means. Now their debts and bad decisions are catching up with them. A few miles away, his parents, Jin and Mae, live in the town’s most exclusive neighborhood. Growing up, they gave him every possible advantage but never showed him kindness. Yet when an act of violence leaves Jin and Mae unable to live on their own, the dynamic suddenly changes, and he’s compelled to take them in. Tensions quickly mount as Kyung’s proximity to his parents forces old feelings of guilt and anger to the surface.
Picador * 9781250075611

THE TOTAL PACKAGE by Stephanie Evanovich (Romance)
After an addiction to painkillers nearly derailed his career, star quarterback Tyson Palmer got sober and went from zero to hero in the eyes of the public. But one person remains unconvinced: Dani Carr, a sports commentator who can’t forgive Tyson’s transgressions or forget a single passionate night with him back in college. To make things worse, Tyson doesn’t realize that this bombshell is the cute co-ed whose heart he once broke. But can a sports journalist trying to claw her way to the top and a quarterback who knows all about rock bottom make it to the Super Bowl without destroying each other?
William Morrow * 9780062234858

TWO IF BY SEA by Jacquelyn Mitchard (Fiction)
Hours after his wife and her family perish in the Christmas Eve tsunami in Brisbane, American expat and former police officer Frank Mercy’s life is changed when he saves a boy stuck in a submerged car. Instead of turning Ian over to the Red Cross, he takes the boy home to his Midwestern farm. He believes that Ian has an extraordinary telepathic gift, but wants to protect the frightened child. Struggling to start over, Frank meets Claudia, a champion equestrian. Both of them know it will be impossible to keep Ian’s gift a secret forever, yet they fight to keep Ian safe from a sinister group who wants him back.
Simon & Schuster * 9781501115578

AN UNRESTORED WOMAN by Shobha Rao (Fiction/Short Stories)
In 1947, the Indian subcontinent is partitioned into two separate countries: India and Pakistan. And with one decree, countless lives are changed forever. AN UNRESTORED WOMAN explores the fault lines in this mass displacement of humanity: a new mother is trapped on the wrong side of the border; a soldier finds the love of his life but is powerless to act on it; an ambitious servant seduces both master and mistress; a young prostitute quietly, inexorably plots revenge on the madam who holds her hostage. Caught in a world of shifting borders, these characters have reached their tipping points.
Flatiron Books * 9781250073822

THE WATCHER IN THE WALL by Owen Laukkanen (Thriller)
Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere of the joint BCA-FBI violent crime task force have handled shocking cases before, but this one is different. Stevens’ daughter, Andrea, is distraught over a classmate’s suicide, but what the two investigators find is even more disturbing --- an online suicide club of unhappy teenagers, presided over by an anonymous presence who seems to be spurring them on. It soon becomes apparent that the classmate wasn’t the first victim --- and won’t be the last, either, unless they can hunt down this psychopath once and for all.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399174544
On Sale the Week of March 14th in Paperback

March 15th

INNOCENCE; OR, MURDER ON STEEP STREET written by Heda Margolius Kovály, translated from the Czech by Alex Zucker (Historical Mystery)
1950s Prague is a city of numerous small terrors, of political tyranny, corruption and surveillance. There is no way of knowing whether one’s neighbor is spying for the government, or what one’s supposed friend will say under pressure to a State Security agent. But there are larger terrors, too. When a little boy is murdered at the cinema where his aunt works, the ensuing investigation sheds a little too much light on the personal lives of the cinema’s female ushers, each of whom is hiding a dark secret of her own.
Soho Crime * 9781616956455

A LOVE LIKE BLOOD by Marcus Sedgwick (Historical/Psychological Thriller)
In 1944, just days after the liberation of Paris, Charles Jackson sees something horrific: a man in a dark tunnel, apparently drinking the blood of a murdered woman. Terrified, he does nothing, telling himself afterward that worse tragedies happen during war. Seven years later, he returns to the city --- and sees the same man dining in the company of a fascinating, beautiful young woman. When they leave the restaurant, Charles decides to follow.
Pegasus * 9781605989495

THE MARTINI SHOT: A Novella and Stories by George Pelecanos (Crime Fiction/Short Stories)
Whether they're cops or conmen, savage killers or creative types, gangsters or God-fearing citizens, George Pelecanos' characters are always engaged in a fight for their lives. They fight to advance or simply to survive; they fight against odds, against enemies, even against themselves. In this, his first collection of stories, the acclaimed novelist introduces readers to a vivid and eclectic cast of combatants.
Back Bay Books * 9780316284387

PIMP by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Paperback Original

Ruined and on the lam, former drug kingpin Max Fisher stumbles upon the biggest discovery of his crooked life: a designer drug called PIMP that could put him back on top. Meanwhile, a certain femme fatale from his past is pursuing a comeback dream of her own, setting herself up in Hollywood as producer of a series based on her and Max’s life story. But even in La-La Land, happy endings are hard to come by, especially with both the cops and your enemies in the drug trade coming after you.
Hard Case Crime * 9781783295692

SISTERS OF HEART AND SNOW by Margaret Dilloway (Fiction)
Rachel and Drew Snow may be sisters, but their lives have followed completely different paths. When their deferential Japanese mother, Hikari, is diagnosed with dementia and gives Rachel power of attorney, Rachel’s domineering father, Killian, becomes enraged. In a rare moment of lucidity, Hikari asks Rachel for a book in her sewing room, and Rachel enlists her sister’s help in the search. The book reveals truths about Drew and Rachel’s relationship that resonate across the centuries, connecting them in ways that turn their differences into assets.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons * 9780425279212

TOO BAD TO DIE by Francine Mathews (Historical Thriller)
Weary of his deskbound status in the Royal Navy, intelligence officer Ian Fleming spends his spare time spinning stories in his head that are much more exciting than his own life…until the critical Tehran Conference, when Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Josef Stalin meet to finalize the D-Day invasion. With the Big Three in one place, Fleming is tipped off that Hitler’s top assassin has infiltrated the conference. Seizing his chance to play a part in a real-life action story, Fleming goes undercover to stop the Nazi killer.
Riverhead Books * 9781101983362
On Sale the Week of March 21st in Hardcover

March 21st

HOLD STILL by Lynn Steger Strong (Fiction)
When Maya Taylor, an English professor with a tendency to hide in her books, sends her daughter to Florida to look after a friend’s child, she does so with the best of intentions; it’s a chance for Ellie, 20 and spiraling, to rebuild her life. But Ellie fears she’ll only disappoint again, and in the sprawling hours of one humid afternoon, she makes a mistake that she can’t take back. In two separate timelines --- before and after the catastrophe --- Maya and Ellie must try to repair their fractured relationship and find a way to transcend not only their differences but also their more troubling similarities.
Liveright * 9781631491689


March 22nd

THE ADVOCATE'S DAUGHTER by Anthony Franze (Legal Thriller)
Supreme Court lawyer Sean Serrat’s life is changed forever when his daughter, Abby --- a talented and dedicated law student --- goes missing. When her body is found in the library of the Supreme Court, her boyfriend, Malik Montgomery --- a law clerk at the high court --- is immediately arrested. While the Serrat family works through their grief, Sean begins to suspect that the authorities arrested the wrong person. Stumbling over family secrets and the lies of some of the most powerful people in the country, Sean discovers that there are those who will stop at nothing to ensure that he never exposes them.
Minotaur Books * 9781250071651

THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BOMBS by Karan Mahajan (Fiction)
When brothers Tushar and Nakul Khurana pick up their family’s television set at a repair shop with their friend, Mansoor Ahmed, one day in 1996, disaster strikes without warning. A bomb detonates in the Delhi marketplace, instantly claiming the lives of the Khurana boys, to the devastation of their parents. Mansoor survives, bearing the physical and psychological effects of the bomb. After a brief stint at university in America, Mansoor returns to Delhi, where his life becomes entangled with Ayub, a fearless young activist whose own allegiances and beliefs are more malleable than Mansoor could imagine.
Viking * 9780525429630

BACK FROM THE DEAD by Bill Walton (Memoir)
In February 2008, Bill Walton suffered a catastrophic spinal collapse --- the culmination of a lifetime of injuries --- that left him unable to move. He spent three years on the floor of his house, eating his meals there and crawling to the bathroom, where he could barely hoist himself up onto the toilet. The excruciating pain and slow recovery tested Walton to the fullest. But with extraordinary patience, fortitude, determination and sacrifice --- and pioneering surgery --- he recovered, and now shares his life story in this remarkable and unique memoir.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476716862

THE BRAZEN AGE: New York City and the American Empire: Politics, Art, and Bohemia
by David Reid (History)
A sweeping and unparalleled look at the extraordinarily rich culture and turbulent politics of New York City between the years 1945 and 1950, THE BRAZEN AGE opens with Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s campaign tour through the city’s boroughs in 1944. He would see little of what made New York the capital of modernity, a city boasting an unprecedented and unique synthesis of genius, ambition and the avant-garde. While concentrating on those five years, David Reid also reaches back to the turn of the 20th century to explore the city’s progressive politics, radical artistic experimentation and burgeoning bohemia.
Pantheon * 9780394572376

THE CHARM BRACELET by Viola Shipman (Fiction)
On her birthday each year, Lolly’s mother gave her a charm, along with the advice that there is nothing more important than keeping family memories alive. Now 70 and starting to forget things, Lolly knows time is running out to reconnect with a daughter and granddaughter whose lives have become too busy for Lolly or her family stories. But when Arden, Lolly’s daughter, receives an unexpected phone call about her mother, she and granddaughter Lauren rush home. Over the course of their visit, Lolly reveals the story behind each charm on her bracelet. One by one the family stories help Lolly, Arden and Lauren reconnect in a way that brings each woman closer to finding joy, love and faith.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250071323

DIMESTORE: A Writer's Life by Lee Smith (Memoir)
Set deep in the mountains of Virginia, the Grundy of Lee Smith’s youth was a place of coal miners, tent revivals, mountain music, drive-in theaters and her daddy’s dimestore. It was in that dimestore --- listening to customers and inventing adventures for the store’s dolls --- that she became a storyteller. Even when she was sent off to college to earn some “culture,” she understood that perhaps the richest culture she might ever know was the one she was driving away from --- and it’s a place that she never left behind.
Algonquin Books * 9781616205027

FOOL ME ONCE by Harlan Coben (Thriller)
Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe --- who had been brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and deceit in her own past before she can face the unbelievable truth about her husband --- and herself.
Dutton * 9780525955092

JANE STEELE by Lyndsay Faye (Historical Mystery/Romance)
After years of hiding from the law while penning macabre “last confessions” of the recently hanged, orphan Jane Steele thrills at discovering an advertisement. Her aunt has died, and her childhood home has a new master: Mr. Charles Thornfield, who seeks a governess. Burning to know if she is in fact the rightful heir, Jane takes the position incognito and learns that Highgate House is full of marvelously strange new residents. As Jane falls in love with Mr. Thornfield, she faces a terrible dilemma: Can she possess him --- body, soul and secrets --- without revealing her own murderous past?
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399169496

JUST FALL by Nina Sadowsky (Psychological Thriller)
On the night of her wedding to Rob, Ellie’s perfect world suddenly collapses. Her suave, charming, sophisticated husband is not the man she believed him to be. Could he really be a killer? Ellie is rapidly swept into a lethal vortex of betrayal, lies and uncertainty: Who is the man she married, really? And how far will she go to protect him? When faced with a terrible choice --- to become a murderess herself to save the man she loves, or to let him die --- Ellie’s decision propels her into a whiplash-paced adventure.
Ballantine Books * 9780553394856

KINGS OF QUEENS: Life Beyond Baseball with the '86 Mets by Erik Sherman (Sports)
Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, Keith Hernandez, Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson, Howard Johnson, Doug Sisk, Rafael Santana, Bobby Ojeda, Wally Backman, Kevin Mitchell, Ed Hearn, Danny Heep and the late Gary Carter were all known for their heroics on the field. For some of them, their debauchery off the field was even more awe-inspiring. But when that golden 1986 season ended, so did their aura of invincibility. Through interviews with these legendary players, Erik Sherman offers fans a new perspective on a team that will forever be remembered in sports history.
Berkley * 9780425281970

THE NEST by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (Fiction)
The Plumb family is spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of tensions finally reach a breaking point as Melody, Beatrice and Jack Plumb gather to confront their older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got in a car accident that has endangered the Plumbs' joint trust fund, “The Nest,” which they are months away from finally receiving. Now, the siblings must grapple with old resentments, present-day truths and the significant emotional and financial toll of the accident, as well as finally acknowledge the choices they have made in their own lives.
Ecco * 9780062414212

NO ONE KNOWS by J.T. Ellison (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
The day Aubrey Hamilton’s husband is declared dead by the state of Tennessee should bring closure so she can move on with her life. But Aubrey doesn’t want to move on; she wants Josh back. It’s been five years since he disappeared, since their blissfully happy marriage screeched to a halt and Aubrey became the prime suspect in his disappearance. Why didn’t Josh show up at his friend’s bachelor party? Was he murdered? Did he run away? And now, all this time later, who is the mysterious yet strangely familiar figure suddenly haunting her new life?
Gallery Books * 9781501118470

ONLY EVER YOU by Rebecca Drake (Psychological Thriller)
Three-year-old Sophia Lassiter disappears at the playground only to return after 40 frantic minutes --- but her mother Jill's relief is short-lived. Jill is convinced that the tiny dots on Sophia’s arm are puncture marks. When doctors find no trace of drugs in her system, Jill accepts that she won't ever know what happened during her absence and is simply grateful to have her home safely. Three months later, though, Sophia disappears again --- and then information turns up suggesting she was murdered, causing the police to turn their suspicions on the parents.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250068910

THE PAPER TRAIL: An Unexpected History of a Revolutionary Invention by Alexander Monro (History)
The emergence of paper in the imperial court of Han China brought about a revolution in the transmission of knowledge and ideas. The first writing surface sufficiently cheap, portable and printable for books, pamphlets and journals to be mass-produced and distributed widely, paper opened the way for an unprecedented, ongoing dialogue between individuals and between communities across continents, oceans and time. THE PAPER TRAIL explores how the new substance was used to solidify social and political systems that influenced China even into our own time.
Knopf * 9780307271662

RUSH OH! by Shirley Barrett (Historical Fiction)
1908: It's the year that proves to be life-changing for our teenage narrator, Mary Davidson, tasked with providing support to her father's boisterous whaling crews while caring for five brothers and sisters in the wake of their mother's death. But when the handsome John Beck --- a former Methodist preacher turned novice whaler with a mysterious past --- arrives at the Davidsons’ door pleading to join her father's crews, suddenly Mary's world is upended. She will soon discover a darker side to these men who hunt the seas, and the truth of her place among them.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316261548

STEALING GAMES: How John McGraw Transformed Baseball with the 1911 New York Giants by Maury Klein (Sports/History)
The 1911 New York Giants stole an astonishing 347 bases, a record that still stands more than a century later. That alone makes them special in baseball history, but as Maury Klein relates in STEALING GAMES, they also embodied a rapidly changing America on the cusp of a faster, more frenetic pace of life dominated by machines, technology and urban culture. Baseball, too, was evolving from the dead-ball to the live-ball era --- the cork-centered ball was introduced in 1910 and structurally changed not only the outcome of individual games but the way the game itself was played, requiring upgraded equipment, new rules and new ways of adjudicating.
Bloomsbury Press * 9781632860248

THE SUMMER BEFORE THE WAR by Helen Simonson (Historical Fiction)
East Sussex, 1914. Hugh Grange, down from his medical studies, is visiting his Aunt Agatha, who has just risked her carefully built reputation by pushing for the appointment of a woman to replace the Latin master. But just as Beatrice Nash, the teacher, comes alive to the beauty of the Sussex landscape and the colorful characters who populate Rye, the perfect summer is about to end. For despite Agatha’s reassurances, the unimaginable is coming. Soon the limits of progress, and the old ways, will be tested as this small Sussex town and its inhabitants go to war.
Random House * 9780812993103

SWITCHED ON: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening by John Elder Robison (Memoir)
In 2007, John Elder Robison wrote the international bestseller LOOK ME IN THE EYE, a memoir about growing up with Asperger’s syndrome. Amid the blaze of publicity that followed, he received a unique invitation: Would John like to take part in a study led by one of the world’s foremost neuroscientists, who would use an experimental new brain therapy known as TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, in an effort to understand and then address the issues at the heart of autism? SWITCHED ON is the extraordinary story of what happened next.
Spiegel & Grau * 9780812996890

TERRIBLE VIRTUE by Ellen Feldman (Historical Fiction)
Trained as a nurse, Margaret Sanger fought for social justice beside labor organizers, anarchists, socialists and other progressives, eventually channeling her energy to one singular cause: legalizing contraception. From opening the first illegal birth control clinic in America in 1916 through the founding of Planned Parenthood to the arrival of the Pill in the 1960s, Sanger sacrificed two husbands, three children and scores of lovers in her fight for sexual equality and freedom.
Harper * 9780062407559

TREACHERY AT LANCASTER GATE: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
When an explosion in London kills two policemen and seriously injures three more, many believe that anarchists are the culprits. But Thomas Pitt knows the city’s radical groups well enough to suspect that someone with decidedly more personal motives lit the deadly fuse. As he investigates the source of the fatal blast, Pitt is stunned to discover that the bombing was a calculated strike against the ranks of law enforcement. But still more shocking revelations await. As he pursues each increasingly threatening lead, Pitt finds himself impeded at every turn by the barriers put in place to protect the rich and powerful.
Ballantine Books * 9781101886328
On Sale the Week of March 21st in Paperback

March 22nd

THE ALPHABET HOUSE by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Historical/Psychological Thriller)
Due to their deception, British pilots James Teasdale and Bryan Young end up in the Alphabet House, a mental hospital where German doctors subject their patients to daily rounds of shock treatments and experimental drugs. Their only hope of survival is to fake insanity until World War II ends, but their friendship and courage are put to the ultimate test when James and Bryan realize they aren’t the only ones in the Alphabet House feigning madness.
Dutton * 9781101983973

THE ANGEL COURT AFFAIR: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
When Thomas Pitt is tasked with playing bodyguard to Sofia Delacruz, a young and controversial British preacher who has been living in Spain and has returned to England on a mysterious errand, he thinks it’s a waste of Special Branch’s time and resources. But when kidnappers manage to reach Sofia --- murdering two of her companions in the process --- Pitt learns that the message the lovely evangelist was meant to deliver was far more urgent than he knew.
Ballantine Books * 9780553391374

THE BOOKSELLER by Cynthia Swanson (Historical Fiction)
Kitty Miller loves the bookshop she runs with her best friend, Frieda, and enjoys complete control over her day-to-day existence. But then the dreams begin. Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life, and they have beautiful children. It’s everything Kitty once believed she wanted. Convinced that these dreams are simply due to her overactive imagination, Kitty enjoys her nighttime forays into this alternate world. But with each visit, the more irresistibly real Katharyn’s life becomes.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780062333018

DEAD WAKE: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson (History)
The sinking of the Lusitania is a story that many of us think we know but don’t, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. DEAD WAKE brings to life a cast of evocative characters --- from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love.
Crown * 9780307408877

THE DEATH OF CAESAR: The Story of History’s Most Famous Assassination by Barry Strauss (History)
Thanks to William Shakespeare, the death of Julius Caesar is the most famous assassination in history. But what actually happened on March 15, 44 BC is even more gripping than Shakespeare’s play. In THE DEATH OF CAESAR, Barry Strauss tells the real story. Shakespeare shows Caesar’s assassination to be an amateur and idealistic affair. The real killing, however, was a carefully planned paramilitary operation, put together by Caesar’s disaffected officers and designed with precision.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451668810

THE DREAM LOVER by Elizabeth Berg (Historical Fiction)
Aurore Dupin leaves her estranged husband, a loveless marriage, and her family’s estate in the French countryside to start a new life in Paris. There, she gives herself a new name --- George Sand --- and pursues her dream of becoming a writer, embracing an unconventional and even scandalous lifestyle. Though considered the most gifted genius of her time, she works to reconcile the pain of her childhood, of disturbing relationships with her mother and daughter, and of her intimacies with women and men.
Ballantine Books * 9780345533807

FINDERS KEEPERS by Stephen King (Thriller)
John Rothstein is an iconic author who created a famous character, Jimmy Gold, but hasn’t published a book for decades. Morris Bellamy kills Rothstein and empties his safe of cash, but the real treasure is a trove of notebooks containing at least one more Gold novel. Morris hides the money and the notebooks, and then is locked away for another crime. Decades later, Pete Saubers finds the treasure, and now Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney and Jerome Robinson must rescue Pete and his family from Morris when he’s released from prison after 35 years.
Pocket Books * 9781501100123

FURIOUS: A Faith McMann Novel by T.R. Ragan
(Thriller)
Paperback Original
Faith McMann comes home to a nightmare: her husband is killed and her son and daughter are taken. Although the intruders leave her for dead, she survives. Frustrated with the law’s efforts, she takes action to rescue her children --- and wreaks havoc on the brutal criminals who tore them from her. With her family and newfound allies at her side, Faith descends into the hellish underworld of human trafficking, determined to make those who prey on the innocent pray for mercy. 
Thomas & Mercer * 9781612184500

THE GUILTY by David Baldacci (Thriller)
Will Robie escaped his small Gulf Coast hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi after high school, severing all personal ties, and never looked back. Not until the unimaginable occurs. His father, Dan Robie, has been arrested and charged with murder. Unlike the missions Robie undertook in the service of his country, where his target was clearly defined, digging into his father's case only reveals more questions. Robie is drawn into the hidden underside of Cantrell, where he must face the unexpected and possibly deadly consequences of the long-ago choices made by father and son.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455586431

IRRITABLE HEARTS: A PTSD Love Story by Mac McClelland (Memoir)
When human rights journalist Mac McClelland leaves Haiti after reporting on the devastating earthquake of 2010, it becomes clear that she is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She also can’t deny the intensity of her feelings for Nico, a French soldier she met in Port-au-Prince and with whom she connected instantly and deeply. With inspiring fearlessness, McClelland tackles perhaps her most harrowing assignment to date: investigating the damage in her own mind and repairing her broken psyche.
Flatiron Books * 9781250053503

THE LITTLE PARIS BOOKSHOP by Nina George (Fiction)
From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, Monsieur Perdu prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened. After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story.
Broadway Books * 9780553418798

READER, I MARRIED HIM: Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre edited by Tracy Chevalier (Fiction/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
A fixture in the literary canon, Charlotte Brontë is revered by readers all over the world. Her novels featuring unforgettable, strong heroines still resonate with millions today. Part of a remarkable family that produced three acclaimed female writers at a time in 19th-century Britain when few women wrote, and fewer were published, Brontë has become a great source of inspiration to writers, especially women, ever since. Now in READER, I MARRIED HIM, 20 of today’s most celebrated female authors have spun original stories, using the opening line from JANE EYRE as a springboard for their own flights of imagination.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062447098

THE REASON I JUMP: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism written by Naoki Higashida, translated by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell (Memoir)
Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart and self-aware 13-year-old boy with autism, THE REASON I JUMP demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. He shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812985153

ROOSEVELT AND STALIN: Portrait of a Partnership by Susan Butler (History)
Making use of previously classified materials from the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, and the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, as well as the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and 300 hot war messages between Roosevelt and Stalin, Susan Butler tells the story of how the leader of the capitalist world and the leader of the Communist world became more than allies of convenience during World War II.
Vintage * 9780307741813

SOIL by Jamie Kornegay (Fiction)
An ambitious young environmental scientist hoped to establish a sustainable farm on a small patch of river-bottom land nestled among the Mississippi hills. Jay Mize convinced his wife, Sandy, to move their six-year-old son away from town and to a rich and lush parcel. He did not know that within a year he’d be ruined, that flood and pestilence would invade his fledgling farm, or that his wife and son would leave him. When Jay discovers a corpse on his property, he is sure his bad luck has come to a head and he is being framed.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476750873

TWISTED RIVER by Siobhan MacDonald
(Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Kate and Mannix O’Brien’s autistic son Fergus is bullied at school, and their daughter Izzy wishes she could protect him. Kate is convinced her luck is about to change when she spots a gorgeous Manhattan apartment on a home-exchange website. Hazel and Oscar Harvey and their two children live on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Though they seem successful and happy, Hazel has mysterious bruises, and Oscar is hiding things about his dental practice. Hazel has always wanted her children to see her native Limerick, and the house swap offers a perfect chance to soothe two troubled marriages. But this will be anything but a perfect vacation.
Penguin Books * 9780143108436

THE WINTER FAMILY by Clifford Jackman (Historical Thriller/Adventure)
Spanning the better part of three decades, THE WINTER FAMILY traverses America's harsh, untamed terrain, both serving and opposing the fierce advance of civilization. Among its twisted specimens, the Winter family includes the psychopathic killer Quentin Ross and the dangerous child prodigy Lukas Shakespeare. But at the malevolent center of this ultraviolent storm is their cold, hardened leader, Augustus Winter --- a man with an almost pathological resistance to the rules of society and a preternatural gift for butchery.
Anchor * 9780804173711

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