In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of January 9th and January 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 five new contests for book groups on ReadingGroupGuides.com. Plus, we are continuing to ask book groups to help us compile our "Best Books of the Year" list. Share both your favorite book that you read with your group in 2016 and your favorite book that you read outside your group by Tuesday, January 31st at noon ET, and you will be eligible to win six advance copies of fantastic titles that are coming out this year.
Also, don't forget to enter our Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio contests, and be sure to vote in our poll, where we're asking if you received books or book gift cards over the holidays.
Quick Housekeeping Note: Many thanks to those of you who shared feedback on our new newsletter format last week. Based on your comments, we increased the font size and darkened the text throughout this newsletter to increase readability.
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Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
This Week's Bonus News: FIVE New Contests
on ReadingGroupGuides.com
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?": Win 12 Copies of BOOKS FOR LIVING by Will Schwalbe for Your Group
Each month in our "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month" contest, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries, three winners will be selected, and each will win 12 copies of that month’s prize book for their group. Our current prize book is BOOKS FOR LIVING, Will Schwalbe's inspiring and magical celebration of books and reading, rich with stories and recommendations of specific books that can help guide us through our lives. Enter here by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET.
Win 10 Copies of BEING MORTAL by Atul Gawande for Your Group
BEING MORTAL, Dr. Atul Gawande's meditation on death, modern medicine and what matters most in the end, was a #1 New York Times bestseller when it released in 2014. It was named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, NPR and the Chicago Tribune. Now we are giving 35 groups the chance to win 10 copies of the book and share their comments on it. Enter here by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET. We ask that winners read, discuss and provide feedback on the book by Friday, April 28th, so please enter only if you are able to commit to that deadline with your group.
Win 10 Copies of PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee for Your Group
PACHINKO is a sweeping saga that follows one Korean family in exile from its homeland through generations of desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs. The book doesn’t release until February 7th, but we are giving 10 groups the opportunity to win 10 copies of Min Jin Lee’s latest novel. Enter here by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET.
Win 10 Copies of THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS by Laurie Frankel for Your Group
Laurie Frankel's THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is. We are celebrating its January 24th release with a special contest that will give 10 groups the chance to win 10 copies of the book. Enter here by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET.
Win a Copy of THE TUMBLING TURNER SISTERS by Juliette Fay
THE TUMBLING TURNER SISTERS is a heartwarming historical novel from Juliette Fay. Set amidst the backdrop of 1920s American Vaudeville, it is about the four Turner sisters and the "last chance act" that will save their family. To celebrate its recent paperback release, we are giving 10 readers the chance to win a copy of the book. Enter here by Wednesday, February 8th at noon ET.
Click here to visit ReadingGroupGuides.com.
On Sale the Week of January 9th in Hardcover
January 10th
THE AFTERLIFE OF STARS by Joseph Kertes (Historical Fiction)
When Russian tanks roll into the public squares of Budapest to crush the Hungarian Revolution, brothers Robert and Attila Beck flee with their family to the Paris townhouse of their great-aunt Hermina. The year is 1956, and as their country changes forever, these two boys transform as well, confronting danger and wonders previously unknown. As they travel through minefields both real and imagined, Robert and Attila grapple with sibling rivalry, family secrets and incalculable loss. Along the way they encounter mysterious fellow travelers, bewildering sights of a nation in transition and surprising hilarity, all in pursuit of the one place they thought they'd lost forever: home.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316308113
ALWAYS HAPPY HOUR: Stories by Mary Miller (Fiction/Short Stories)
ALWAYS HAPPY HOUR weaves tales of young women --- deeply flawed and intensely real --- who struggle to get out of their own way. They love to drink and have sex; they make bad decisions with men who either love them too much or too little; and they haunt a Southern terrain of gas stations, public pools and dive bars. Though each character shoulders the weight of her own baggage --- whether it’s a string of horrible exes, a boyfriend with an annoying child, or an inability to be genuinely happy for a best friend --- they are united in their unrelenting suspicion that they deserve better.
Liveright | 9781631492181
THE ANTIQUES by Kris D'Agostino (Fiction)
On the night of a massive hurricane, three estranged siblings learn that their father is dying. For the first time in years, they convene at their childhood home, where the storm has downed power lines, flooded houses, and destroyed the family’s antique store. Armie is living in their parents’ basement. In Manhattan, Josef, a sex-addicted techie, is struggling to repair his broken relationship with his daughters. Their sister, Charlie, who works in Hollywood as a publicist for a wayward young actress, just learned that her son has been expelled from preschool. Amid the storm, they come together to plan their father’s memorial service, only to learn his dying wish --- they must sell his priceless Magritte painting.
Scribner | 9781501138973
AT ROPE'S END: A Dr. James Verraday Mystery by Edward Kay (Mystery)
The body of a young woman has been found in a cranberry bog, and Detective Constance Maclean is convinced that this murder is tied to an earlier killing. The Seattle police already have a suspect in custody for that case, but Maclean suspects the lead detective is knowingly putting away an innocent man to boost his numbers and quiet his critics. Dr. James Verraday, a professor of forensic psychology specializing in eyewitness recall and criminal profiling, reluctantly agrees to use his skills as a profiler to help out with the investigation. They form an unlikely alliance and soon find themselves tied up in a deadly game to locate a serial killer whose wealth and influence make him almost untouchable.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683310006
THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE by Katherine Arden (Historical Fantasy)
In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, a stranger with piercing blue eyes presents a new father with a gift --- a precious jewel on a delicate chain, intended for his young daughter. Uncertain of its meaning, Pytor hides the gift away and Vasya grows up a wild, willful girl, to the chagrin of her family. But when mysterious forces threaten the happiness of their village, Vasya discovers that, armed only with the necklace, she may be the only one who can keep the darkness at bay.
Del Rey | 9781101885932
BIG LAW by Ron Liebman (Legal Thriller)
As a young partner at Dunn & Sullivan, one of New York’s most prestigious law firms, Carney Blake has represented dozens of high-profile clients. But being a pawn of Big Law often means defending the corporate dirt bags of the world --- the spillers, the drillers and the killers. When Carney is suddenly asked by his firm’s chairman to represent the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit --- and not, as usual, the corporate bad guys --- he warily accepts. As Carney digs deeper into the case, he uncovers corruption and maliciously orchestrated schemes that go straight to the top of Dunn & Sullivan --- along with the true motives behind his placement on the case.
Blue Rider Press | 9781101982990
BURNING BRIGHT: A Peter Ash Novel by Nick Petrie (Thriller)
While on a trip to the towering redwoods of northern California, war veteran Peter Ash meets investigative journalist June Cassidy, who just days ago escaped a kidnapping by the men who are still on her trail. She suspects they’re after something belonging to her mother, a prominent software designer who recently died in an accident. June needs time to figure out what’s going on, and help from someone with Peter’s particular set of skills. Only one step ahead of their pursuers, Peter and June must race to unravel this peculiar mystery. What they find leads them to an eccentric recluse, a shadowy pseudo-military organization, and an extraordinary tool that may change the modern world forever.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399174575
CLASS by Lucinda Rosenfeld (Fiction)
For idealistic forty-something Karen Kipple, it isn't enough that she works full-time in the non-profit sector, aiding an organization that helps hungry children from disadvantaged homes. She's also determined to live her personal life in accordance with her ideals. This means sending her daughter, Ruby, to an integrated public school in their Brooklyn neighborhood. But when a troubled student from a nearby housing project begins bullying children in Ruby's class, the distant social and economic issues Karen has always claimed to care about so passionately feel uncomfortably close to home. As the situation at school escalates, Karen can't help but wonder whether her do-gooder husband takes himself and his causes more seriously than her work and Ruby's well-being.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316265416
THE DARK ROOM by Jonathan Moore (Thriller)
Gavin Cain, an SFPD homicide inspector, is in the middle of an exhumation when his phone rings. San Francisco’s mayor is being blackmailed and has ordered Cain back to the city; a helicopter is on its way. The casket, and Cain’s cold-case investigation, must wait. At City Hall, the mayor shows Cain four photographs he’s received: the first, an unforgettable blonde; the second, pills and handcuffs on a nightstand; the third, the woman drinking from a flask; and last, the woman naked, unconscious and shackled to a bed. The accompanying letter is straightforward: worse revelations are on the way unless the mayor takes his own life first.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780544784673
DEAD AND BREAKFAST: A Merry Ghost Inn Mystery by Kate Kingsbury (Cozy Mystery)
Melanie West is getting her life back on track after a messy divorce when her grandmother, Liza Harris, asks her to open a B&B with her. Together, Liza and Melanie purchase a purportedly haunted mansion and jump right into clearing out the cobwebs. But while attempting to remove wallpaper in an upstairs bedroom, the new B&B owners stumble upon a very real skeleton in their closet. As the inn owners try to juggle renovations with their own amateur investigations, their grand opening looms closer and closer --- and a friendly ghost in their walls starts playing tricks. But it all comes crashing to a halt when a new body is found stabbed to death on the beach below the inn --- the victim chillingly close in resemblance to Melanie herself.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683310099
DOCTOROW: Collected Stories by E. L. Doctorow (Fiction/Short Stories)
These 15 stories, written from the 1960s to the early 21st century --- and selected, revised and placed in order by the author himself shortly before he died in 2015 --- are a testament to the genius of E. L. Doctorow. In “A House on the Plains,” a mother has a plan for financial independence, which may include murder. “Jolene: A Life” follows a teenager who escapes her home for Hollywood on a perilous quest for success. “Heist,” the account of an Episcopal priest coping with a crisis of faith, was expanded into the bestseller CITY OF GOD. “The Water Works,” about the underbelly of 1870s New York, grew into a brilliant novel. “Liner Notes: The Songs of Billy Bathgate” is a corollary to the renowned novel and includes Doctorow’s revisions.
Random House | 9780399588358
THE DRY by Jane Harper (Mystery)
After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead. Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them.
Flatiron Books | 9781250105608
DUPLICITY by Ingrid Thoft (Mystery)
When Ceci Renard hires Ludlow and Associates to sue the hip new church that she believes has brainwashed her daughter, Fina Ludlow is assigned to the case. Covenant Rising Church has all the trappings of a less-than-holy organization, including a slick young pastor and devoted congregants who seem eager to part with their money. Fina wonders if Ceci disapproves of Covenant Rising’s theology or the pastor’s ability to solicit generous donations --- until a prominent church member dies unexpectedly. Fina’s investigation requires her to delve into the woman's life and ask a host of difficult questions. Is the pastor leading his flock astray? Did the church have a hand in the death, or were there less savory elements in the woman's life outside the parish?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780399171192
FALSE FRIEND by Andrew Grant (Mystery/Thriller)
An arsonist is targeting schools in Birmingham, Alabama, with devastating effect. Detective Cooper Devereaux --- a man you can’t quite trust and should never ignore --- must put a stop to the elusive pyromaniac’s reign of terror before more damage is done. Or worse, before students’ lives are lost. But as Devereaux sifts through the ashes of the case, a grisly discovery at a burned-out school sends the investigation spiraling in a new, terrifying direction. The detective and his partner are dragged into a nightmare world by revelations of gruesome rituals, the disappearance of local citizens, and allegations against city officials of shocking crimes that stretch back decades.
Ballantine Books | 9780399594304
FEVER DREAM written by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell (Literary Thriller)
A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits beside her. She’s not his mother. He's not her child. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins, and the power and desperation of family. FEVER DREAM is a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale.
Riverhead Books | 9780399184598
FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL: A Novel of the Trojan War by Emily Hauser (Historical Fiction)
Three thousand years ago, a war took place where legends were born: Achilles, the greatest of the Greeks, and Hector, prince of Troy. But what if there was more to the tale of these heroes than we know? How would the Trojan War have looked as seen through the eyes of its women? Krisayis, the ambitious, determined daughter of the High Priest of Troy, and Briseis, loyal and passionate princess of Pedasus, interweave their tales alongside Homer’s classic story of the rage of Achilles and the gods of Olympus. These two brave women, the heroes of the Trojan War, and the gods themselves come face to face in an epic battle that will decide the fate of Troy.
Pegasus Books | 9781681773018
FOR TIME AND ALL ETERNITIES: A Linda Wallheim Mystery Set in Mormon Utah by Mette Ivie Harrison (Mystery)
Mormon bishop's wife Linda Wallheim is stunned to learn that her son, Kenneth, has gotten engaged to a young woman from a polygamous family. Stephen Carter, Naomi's father, invites the Wallheims over to their family compound; he wishes to extend an olive branch to his future in-laws and introduce them to his five wives and 22 children. Upon their arrival, Linda has her eyes peeled for signs that Stephen's wives and children are unhappy or abused. Although she can't find concrete evidence of mistreatment, Linda's gut instinct tells her that something on the Carter family compound is deeply wrong. She can't quite put her finger on what --- until it's too late, and one of the family members is found murdered.
Soho Crime | 9781616956660
HER EVERY FEAR by Peter Swanson (Psychological Thriller)
Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full-blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life. When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life. But soon after her arrival at Corbin’s grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered.
William Morrow | 9780062427021
HUCK OUT WEST by Robert Coover (Historical Fiction)
At the end of Mark Twain’s HUCKLEBERRY FINN, on the eve of the Civil War, Huck and Tom Sawyer decide to escape “sivilization” and “light out for the Territory.” In Robert Coover’s HUCK OUT WEST, the boys do just that, riding for the famous but short-lived Pony Express, then working as scouts for both sides in the war. They are suddenly separated when Tom decides he’d rather own civilization than leave it, returning east with his new wife, Becky Thatcher, to learn the law from her father. He rides shotgun on coaches, wrangles horses on a Chisholm Trail cattle drive, joins a gang of bandits, guides wagon trains, gets dragged into U.S. Army massacres, and suffers a series of romantic and barroom misadventures.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393608441
IN THE GREAT GREEN ROOM: The Brilliant and Bold Life of Margaret Wise Brown by Amy Gary (Biography)
The extraordinary life of the woman behind the beloved children’s classics GOODNIGHT MOON and THE RUNAWAY BUNNY comes alive in Amy Gary’s biography of Margaret Wise Brown. Margaret’s books have sold millions of copies all over the world, but few people know that she was at the center of a children’s book publishing revolution. Her whimsy and imagination fueled a steady stream of stories, book ideas, songs and poems, and she was renowned for her prolific writing and business savvy, as well as her stunning beauty and endless thirst for adventure.
Flatiron Books | 9781250065360
KILL THE FATHER by Sandrone Dazieri (Thriller)
A woman is beheaded in a park outside Rome, and her six-year-old son goes missing. The chief of Rome’s major crimes unit secretly lures to the case two of Italy’s top analytical minds: Deputy Captain Colomba Caselli, a fierce, warrior-like detective still reeling from having survived a bloody catastrophe, and Dante Torre, a man who spent his childhood trapped inside a concrete silo while being fed by the gloved hand of a masked kidnapper who called himself “the Father.” All evidence suggests that the Father is back and active after being dormant for decades. But when Colomba and Dante begin following the ever-more-bizarre trail of clues, they grasp that what’s really going on is darker than they ever imagined.
Scribner | 9781501130731
LITTLE HEAVEN by Nick Cutter (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
A trio of mismatched mercenaries is hired by a young woman for a deceptively simple task: check in on her nephew, who may have been taken against his will to a remote New Mexico backwoods settlement called Little Heaven. Shortly after they arrive, things begin to turn ominous. Stirrings in the woods and over the treetops --- the brooding shape of a monolith known as the Black Rock casts its terrible pall. Paranoia and distrust grip the settlement. The escape routes are gradually cut off as events spiral towards madness. The remaining occupants are forced to take a stand and fight back, but whatever has cast its dark eye on Little Heaven is now marshaling its powers...and it wants them all.
Gallery Books | 9781501104213
LUCKY BOY by Shanthi Sekaran (Fiction)
Eighteen-year-old Solimar Castro-Valdez embarks on a perilous journey across the Mexican border. She arrives in Berkeley, California weeks later, dazed by a lost first love and pregnant, but discovers that her son, Ignacio, can become her touchstone. Meanwhile, Kavya Reddy has created a beautiful life in Berkeley, but can’t get pregnant. When Soli is placed in immigrant detention and Ignacio comes under Kavya’s care, Kavya finally gets to be the singing, storytelling kind of mother she dreamed of being. But she builds her love on a fault line, her heart wrapped around someone else’s child. Ignacio is steeped in love, but his destiny and that of his two mothers teeters between two worlds as Soli fights to get back to him.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9781101982242
THE MIDNIGHT COOL by Lydia Peelle (Historical Fiction)
A middle-aged Irish immigrant, Billy has a gift for illusion --- making damaged objects look new. His companion, Charles, the smooth-tongued teenage son of a prostitute, is a natural salesman, just like the mythical father he’s never met. Longtime horse traders and partners, they’ve recently turned their talents to trading mules. But in the summer of 1916, these seasoned grifters skilled in the art of the underhanded deal have just been swindled themselves. They’re saddled with the one thing they may not be able to unload: a gorgeous, murderous black mare named The Midnight Cool.
Harper | 9780062475466
THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH by Lindsey Lee Johnson (Fiction)
The wealthy enclaves north of San Francisco are not the paradise they appear to be, and nobody knows this better than the students of a local high school. Despite being raised with all the opportunities money can buy, these vulnerable kids are navigating a treacherous adolescence in which every action, every rumor and every feeling is potentially postable, shareable and viral. Lindsey Lee Johnson’s kaleidoscopic narrative exposes at every turn the real human beings beneath the high school stereotypes.
Random House | 9780812997279
NICOTINE written by Gregor Hens, translated by Jen Calleja (Memoir)
Written with the passion of an obsessive, NICOTINE addresses a lifelong addiction, from the thrill of the first drag to the perennial last last cigarette. Reflecting on his experiences as a smoker from a young age, Gregor Hens investigates the irreversible effects of nicotine on thought and patterns of behavior. He extends the conversation with other smokers to meditations on Mark Twain and Italo Svevo, the nature of habit, and the validity of hypnosis. With comic insight and meticulous precision, Hens deconstructs every facet of dependency, offering a brilliant analysis of the psychopathology of addiction.
Other Press | 9781590517932
A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING: A Veronica Speedwell Mystery by Deanna Raybourn (Historical Mystery)
Victorian adventuress and butterfly hunter Veronica Speedwell receives an invitation to visit the Curiosity Club, a ladies-only establishment for daring and intrepid women. There she meets the mysterious Lady Sundridge, who begs her to take on an impossible task --- saving society art patron Miles Ramsforth from execution. Accused of the brutal murder of his artist mistress Artemisia, Ramsforth will face the hangman’s noose in a week’s time if Veronica cannot find the real killer. But Lady Sundridge is not all that she seems, and unmasking her true identity is only the first of the many secrets Veronica must uncover.
Berkley | 9780451476159
RING OF FIRE: A Pike Logan Thriller by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
A former Delta Force commander, author Brad Taylor has lived in the world about which he writes, and his novels have tackled very real and current threats ranging from ISIS to Chechen terrorists to Boko Haram. In his latest action-packed thriller, RING OF FIRE, a chilling terrorist plot is about to unfold in the United States --- one involving simultaneous attacks across multiple locations in America --- and it’ll be up to Pike Logan, Jennifer Cahill and the Taskforce to prevent the threat from becoming a terrifying reality.
Dutton | 9781101984765
THE RIPPER'S SHADOW: A Victorian Mystery by Laura Joh Rowland (Historical Mystery)
Miss Sarah Bain, a photographer, is an independent woman with dark secrets. In the privacy of her studio, she supplements her meager income by taking illicit “boudoir photographs” of the town's local ladies of the night. But when two of her models are found gruesomely murdered within weeks of one another, Sarah begins to suspect it's more than mere coincidence. Teamed with a motley crew of friends, Sarah delves into the crime of the century. But just as she starts unlocking the Ripper's secrets, she catches the attention of the local police, who believe she knows more than she's revealing, as well as from the Ripper himself, now bent on silencing her and her friends for good.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683310051
THE RIVER AT NIGHT by Erica Ferencik (Thriller)
Stifled by a soul-crushing job, devastated by the death of her beloved brother, and lonely after the end of a 15-year marriage, Winifred Allen reluctantly agrees to join her three best friends on a high-octane getaway for their annual girls’ trip. What starts out as an invigorating hiking and rafting excursion soon becomes an all-too-real nightmare. A freak accident leaves the women stranded, separating them from their raft and everything they need to survive. A fire on the mountainside lures them to a ramshackle camp that appears to be their lifeline. But as Wini and her friends grasp the true intent of their supposed saviors, long-buried secrets emerge and lifelong allegiances are put to the test.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781501143199
SAVAGE THEORIES written by Pola Oloixarac, translated by Roy Kesey (Fiction)
Rosa Ostreech, a pseudonym for the novel’s beautiful but self-conscious narrator, carries around a trilingual edition of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, struggles with her thesis on violence and culture, sleeps with a bourgeois former guerrilla, and pursues her elderly professor. Elsewhere on campus, Pabst and Kamtchowsky tour the underground scene of Buenos Aires, dabbling in ketamine, group sex, video games and hacking. And in Africa in 1917, a Dutch anthropologist named Johan van Vliet begins work on a theory that explains human consciousness and civilization by reference to our early primate ancestors --- animals, who, in the process of becoming human, spent thousands of years as prey.
Soho Press | 9781616957353
THE SECOND MRS. HOCKADAY by Susan Rivers (Historical Fiction)
When Major Gryffth Hockaday is called to the front lines of the Civil War, his new bride is left to care for her husband’s 300-acre farm and infant son. Placidia, a mere teenager herself living far from her family and completely unprepared to run a farm or raise a child, must endure the darkest days of the war on her own. By the time Major Hockaday returns two years later, Placidia is bound for jail, accused of having borne a child in his absence and murdering it. What really transpired in the two years he was away?
Algonquin Books | 9781616205812
SHE STOPPED FOR DEATH: A Little Library Mystery by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli (Cozy Mystery)
Bear Falls's own elusive and highly secretive poet, Emily Sutton, has lived her life cloistered away with her sister. But now Emily has started leaving scraps of poetry in Dora's Little Library, and Dora makes it her mission to befriend the sheltered woman. Meanwhile, Zoe Zola is hard at work on a new book, this one about the inner life of Emily Dickinson. And once again, Zoe's literary work starts making uncanny connections with the events in her own world as Emily Sutton reemerges into society. But Zoe begins to suspect that things aren't anywhere near normal at Emily's swamp house or in the lives of the people she claims have abandoned her...until looking further into the poet's half-truths leads Zoe and Dora’s daughter, Jenny, to a horrible murder.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683310136
THE SLEEPWALKER by Chris Bohjalian (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
When Annalee Ahlberg goes missing, her children fear the worst. Annalee is a sleepwalker whose affliction manifests in ways both bizarre and devastating. When the police discover a small swatch of fabric, a nightshirt, ripped and hanging from a tree branch, it seems certain Annalee is dead, but Detective Gavin Rikert continues to call and stop by the Ahlbergs' Victorian home. As daughter Lianna peels back the layers of mystery surrounding Annalee's disappearance, she finds herself drawn to Gavin, but she must ask herself: Why does the detective know so much about her mother? Why did Annalee leave her bed only when her father was away? And if she really died while sleepwalking, where was the body?
Doubleday | 9780385538916
THREE DAYS IN JANUARY: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission by Bret Baier with Catherine Whitney (History)
Bret Baier, the Chief Political Anchor for Fox News Channel and the Anchor and Executive Editor of “Special Report with Bret Baier,” illuminates the extraordinary yet underappreciated presidency of Dwight Eisenhower by taking readers into Ike's last days in power. Baier casts the period between Eisenhower's now-prophetic farewell address on the evening of January 17, 1961, and Kennedy's inauguration on the afternoon of January 20 as the closing act of one of modern America's greatest leaders --- during which Eisenhower urgently sought to prepare both the country and the next president for the challenges ahead.
William Morrow | 9780062569035
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations by John Avlon (History)
George Washington’s Farewell Address was a prophetic letter from a “parting friend” to his fellow citizens about the forces he feared could destroy our democracy: hyper-partisanship, excessive debt and foreign wars. Once celebrated as civic scripture, more widely reprinted than the Declaration of Independence, the Farewell Address is now almost forgotten. However, its message remains starkly relevant. In WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL, John Avlon offers a stunning portrait of our first president and his battle to save America from self-destruction.
Simon & Schuster | 9781476746463
On Sale the Week of January 9th in Paperback
January 10th
ALL THE WINTERS AFTER by Seré Prince Halverson (Fiction)
Alaska doesn't forgive mistakes. That's what Kachemak Winkel's mother used to tell him. A lot of mistakes were made that awful day 20 years ago, when she died in a plane crash with Kache's father and brother --- and Kache still feels responsible. He fled Alaska for good, but now his aunt Snag insists on his return. She admits she couldn't bring herself to check on his family's house in the woods --- not even once since he's been gone. Kache is sure the cabin has decayed into a pile of logs, but he finds smoke rising from the chimney and a mysterious Russian woman hiding from her own troubled past.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781492635215
ARCADIA by Iain Pears (Supernatural Thriller/Fantasy)
In Cold War England, Professor Henry Lytten, having renounced a career in espionage, is writing a fantasy novel that dares to imagine a world less fraught than his own. He finds an unlikely confidante in Rosie, an inquisitive young neighbor who stumbles through a doorway in his cellar and into a stunning and unfamiliar bucolic landscape. There she meets a young boy named Jay, who is about to embark on a journey that will change both their lives. Elsewhere, in a dystopian society where progress is controlled by a corrupt ruling elite, the brilliant scientist Angela Meerson has discovered the potential of a powerful new machine. When the authorities come knocking, she will make an important decision --- one that will reverberate through all these different lives and worlds.
Vintage | 9781101970836
THE CELLAR by Minette Walters (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
On the day Mr. and Mrs. Songoli’s young son fails to come home from school, 14-year-old Muna’s fortunes change for the better. Until then, her bedroom was a dank windowless cellar, her activities confined to cooking and cleaning. Now that Scotland Yard has swarmed the Songoli house to investigate the disappearance of the son, Muna is given a real bedroom and clothing, yet her world remains confined. Before long, though, it becomes clear that young Muna is far more clever --- and her plans more terrifying --- than the Songolis, or anyone else, can ever imagine.
Mysterious Press | 9780802126283
THE CROOKED HOUSE by Christobel Kent (Psychological Thriller)
Alison lives her life under the radar. She has no ties, no home, and she spends her days at a backroom publishing job. Which is how she wants it. Because Alison used to be a teenager named Esme, who was the only survivor in a brutal attack on her family. In order to escape from the horror she witnessed, she moved away from her village, changed her name and cut herself off from her past. But soon Alison realizes that that night's events have left a terrible mark on everyone in the village, and she begins to suspect they are all somehow implicated in her family's murder.
Picador | 9781250117908
THE DOGS OF LITTLEFIELD by Suzanne Berne (Fiction)
Littlefield, Massachusetts, named one of the Twenty Best Places to Live in America, is full of psychologists and college professors, proud of its fine schools, girls’ soccer teams, leafy streets and quaint village center. Yet when sociologist Dr. Clarice Watkins arrived in Littlefield to study the elements of “good quality of life,” someone begins poisoning the town’s dogs. Are the poisonings in protest to an off-leash proposal for Baldwin Park --- the subject of much town debate --- or the sign of a far deeper disorder?
Simon & Schuster | 9781501124747
DON'T YOU CRY by Mary Kubica (Psychological Thriller)
In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate, Quinn Collins, to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew. Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbor town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where 18-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister than he ever expected.
Mira | 9780778330516
DRAGON SPRINGS ROAD by Janie Chang (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
In 1908, seven-year-old Jialing is abandoned in the courtyard of a once-lavish estate outside Shanghai. Jialing is Eurasian and faces a lifetime of contempt from both Chinese and Europeans. Without her mother’s protection, she can survive only if the estate’s new owners, the Yang family, agree to take her in. Jialing finds allies in Anjuin, the eldest Yang daughter, and Fox, an animal spirit who has lived in the courtyard for centuries. But Jialing’s life as the Yangs’ bondservant changes unexpectedly when she befriends a young English girl who then mysteriously vanishes. Jialing grows into womanhood guided both by Fox and by her own strength of spirit, away from the shadows of her past and toward a very different fate --- if she has the courage to accept it.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062388957
FALLEN LAND by Taylor Brown (Historical Fiction)
Callum, a seasoned horse thief at 15 years old, came to America from his native Ireland as an orphan. Ava, her father and brother lost to the war, hides in her crumbling home until Callum determines to rescue her from the bands of hungry soldiers pillaging the land. Ava and Callum have only each other in the world and their remarkable horse, Reiver, who carries them through the destruction that is the South. Pursued relentlessly by a murderous slave hunter, tracking dogs and ruthless ex-partisan rangers, the couple race through a beautiful but ruined land, surviving on food they glean from abandoned farms and the occasional kindness of strangers.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250116840
FLIGHT OF DREAMS by Ariel Lawhon (Historical Thriller)
On the evening of May 3, 1937, 97 people board the Hindenburg for its final, doomed flight. Among them are a frightened stewardess who is not what she seems; the steadfast navigator determined to win her heart; a naive cabin boy eager to earn a permanent position; an impetuous journalist who has been blacklisted in her native Germany; and an enigmatic American businessman with a score to settle. Over the course of three champagne-soaked days, their lies, fears, agendas and hopes for the future will be revealed --- and one in their party will set a plot in motion that will have devastating consequences for them all.
Anchor | 9781101873922
FORTY THIEVES by Thomas Perry (Thriller)
Last spring, a body was recovered from one of Los Angeles’s overwhelmed storm sewers. The victim was identified as James Ballantine, a middle-aged African-American who worked as a research scientist for a prestigious company. But two bullets to the back of the head looked like nothing if not foul play. Now, with the case turning cold, Ballantine’s former employers bring in detectives Sid and Ronnie Abel to succeed where the police have failed. Meanwhile, assassins-for-hire Ed and Nicole Hoyt’s mysterious contractors want to make sure that the facts about Ballantine’s death stay hidden.
Mysterious Press | 9780802126382
THE LOST TUDOR PRINCESS: The Life of Lady Margaret Douglas by Alison Weir (Biography)
THE LOST TUDOR PRINCESS is the first biography of Margaret Douglas, the beautiful, cunning niece of Henry VIII of England who used her sharp intelligence and covert power to influence the succession after the death of Elizabeth I. Drawing on decades of research and myriad original sources --- including many of Margaret’s surviving letters --- Alison Weir brings this captivating character out of the shadows and presents a strong, capable woman who operated effectively and fearlessly at the very highest levels of power.
Ballantine Books | 9780345521408
MOTHERING SUNDAY: A Romance by Graham Swift (Romance)
On an unseasonably warm spring day in 1924, 22-year-old Jane Fairchild, a maid at an English country house, meets with her secret lover, the young heir of a neighboring estate. He is about to be married to a woman more befitting his social status, and the time has come to end the affair --- but events unfold in ways Jane could never have predicted. As the narrative moves back and forth across the 20th century, what we know and understand about Jane --- about the way she loves, thinks, feels, sees and remembers --- expands with every page.
Vintage | 9781101971727
NAPOLEON: Soldier of Destiny by Michael Broers (Biography)
Michael Broers' biography draws on the thoughts of Napoleon himself as his incomparable life unfolded. It reveals a man of intense emotion, but also of iron self-discipline; of acute intelligence and immeasurable energy. Tracing his life from its dangerous Corsican roots, through his rejection of his early identity, and the military encounters of his early career, it tells the story of the sheer determination, ruthlessness and careful calculation that won him the precarious mastery of Europe by 1807.
Pegasus Books | 9781681773056
QUICKSAND: What It Means to Be a Human Being by Henning Mankell (Memoir)
Paperback Original
In January 2014, Henning Mankell received a diagnosis of lung cancer. QUICKSAND is a response to this shattering news --- but it is not a memoir of destruction. Instead, it is a testament to a life fully lived, a tribute to the extraordinary but fleeting human journey that delivers both boundless opportunity and crucial responsibility. In a series of intimate vignettes, Mankell ranges over rich and varied reflections. Along the way, he ponders the meaning of a good life, and the critically important ways we can shape the future of humanity if we are fortunate enough to have the choice.
Vintage | 9780525432159
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.
Back Bay Books | 9780316261531
THE TRAVELERS by Chris Pavone (Thriller)
Meet Will Rhodes: travel writer, recently married, barely solvent, his idealism rapidly giving way to disillusionment and the worry that he’s living the wrong life. Then one night, on assignment for the award-winning Travelers magazine in the wine region of Argentina, a beautiful woman makes him an offer he can’t refuse. As he’s drawn further into a tangled web of international intrigue, it becomes clear that nothing about Will Rhodes was ever ordinary, that the network of deception ensnaring him is part of an immense and deadly conspiracy with terrifying global implications --- and that the people closest to him may pose the greatest threat of all.
Broadway Books | 9780385348508
TWO DAYS GONE by Randall Silvis (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
What could cause a man, when all the stars of fortune are shining upon him, to suddenly snap and destroy everything he has built? This is the question that haunts Sergeant Ryan DeMarco after the wife and children of beloved college professor and bestselling author Thomas Huston are found slaughtered in their home. Huston himself has disappeared and so is immediately cast as the prime suspect. DeMarco knows --- or thinks he knows --- that Huston couldn't have been capable of murdering his family. But if Huston is innocent, why is he on the run? And does the half-finished manuscript he left behind contain clues to the mystery of his family's killer?
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781492639732
VERSION CONTROL by Dexter Palmer (Science Fiction)
Rebecca Wright has found her way out of grief and depression following a personal tragedy years ago. She spends her days working in customer support for the Internet dating site where she first met her husband. However, she has a persistent, strange sense that everything around her is somewhat off-kilter. Her husband Philip's decade-long dedication to the causality violation device (which he would greatly prefer you do not call a "time machine") has effectively stalled his career and made him a laughingstock in the physics community. But he may be closer to success than either of them knows or imagines.
Vintage | 9780307950352
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor (Mystery)
From the creators of the wildly popular "Welcome to Night Vale" podcast comes an imaginative mystery of appearances and disappearances that is also a poignant look at the ways in which we all struggle to find ourselves...no matter where we live. Located in a nameless desert somewhere in the great American Southwest, Night Vale is a small town where ghosts, angels, aliens and government conspiracies are all commonplace parts of everyday life. It is here that the lives of two women, with two mysteries, will converge.
Harper Perennial | 9780062351432
On Sale the Week of January 16th in Hardcover
January 16th
NEVER NEVER by James Patterson and Candice Fox (Thriller)
Harry Blue is the top Sex Crimes investigator in her department, but even she didn't see this coming: her own brother arrested for the grisly murders of three beautiful young women. Looking into a seemingly simple missing persons case, Harry has been assigned to a new "partner." But is he actually meant to be a watchdog? Still reeling from the accusations against her brother, Harry can't even trust her own instincts. Far from the world she knows and desperate to clear her brother's name, Harry has to mine the dark secrets of her strange new home for answers to a deepening mystery --- before she vanishes in a place where no one would ever think to look for her.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316433174
January 17th
THE FUTURES by Anna Pitoniak (Fiction)
Julia and Evan fall in love as undergraduates at Yale. After graduation, and on the eve of the great financial meltdown of 2008, they move together to New York City, where Evan lands a job at a hedge fund. But Julia, whose privileged upbringing grants her an easy but wholly unsatisfying job with a nonprofit, feels increasingly shut out of Evan's secretive world. With the market crashing and banks failing, Evan becomes involved in a high-stakes deal at work --- a deal that, despite the assurances of his Machiavellian boss, begins to seem more than slightly suspicious. Meanwhile, Julia reconnects with someone from her past who offers a glimpse of a different kind of life.
Lee Boudreaux Books | 9780316354172
HEY HARRY, HEY MATILDA by Rachel Hulin (Fiction)
Matilda Goodman is an underemployed wedding photographer grappling with her failure to live as an artist and the very bad lie she has told her boyfriend (that she has a dead twin). Harry, her (totally alive) brother, is an untenured professor of literature, anxiously contemplating his publishing status (unpublished) and sleeping with a student. When Matilda invites her boyfriend home for Thanksgiving to meet the family, and when Harry makes a desperate --- and unethical --- move to save his career, they set off an avalanche of shame, scandal and drunken hot tub revelations that force them to examine the truth about who they really are.
Doubleday | 9780385541671
HOMESICK FOR ANOTHER WORLD: Stories by Ottessa Moshfegh (Fiction/Short Stories)
There's something eerily unsettling about Ottessa Moshfegh's stories, something almost dangerous, while also being delightful and even laugh-out-loud funny. Her characters are all unsteady on their feet in one way or another; they all yearn for connection and betterment, though each in very different ways, but they are often tripped up by their own baser impulses and existential insecurities. HOMESICK FOR ANOTHER WORLD is a master class in the varieties of self-deception across the gamut of individuals representing the human condition. But part of the unique quality of Moshfegh’s voice is the way the grotesque and the outrageous are infused with tenderness and compassion.
Penguin Press | 9780399562884
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 | 9781101906729
INDELIBLE by Adelia Saunders (Fiction)
Magdalena has an unsettling gift. She sees the truth about people written on their skin --- names, dates, details both banal and profound --- and her only relief from the onslaught of information is to take off her glasses and let the world recede. Mercifully, her own skin is blank. In Adelia Saunders' debut, secrets are revealed among forgotten texts in the old archives of Paris, on a dusty cattle ranch in the American West, along ancient pilgrim paths, and in a run-down apartment in post-Soviet Lithuania. By chance, or perhaps by fate, the novel's characters converge, and Magdalena's uncanny ability may be the key to their happiness.
Bloomsbury USA | 9781632863942
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PERSIMMON WILSON by Nancy Peacock (Historical Fiction)
Sitting in a jail cell on the eve of his hanging, freedman Persimmon “Persy” Wilson wants nothing more than to leave some record of the truth --- his truth. He may be guilty, but not of what he stands accused: the kidnapping and rape of his former master’s wife. Fifteen years earlier, Persy had been sold to a sugar plantation; his deep and instant connection with a house slave named Chloe fueled a love affair and inspired plans to escape their owner, Master Wilson. But on the eve of the Union Army’s attack on New Orleans, Wilson shot Persy, leaving him for dead, and fled with Chloe and his other slaves to Texas. So began Persy’s journey across the frontier, determined to reunite with his lost love.
Atria Books | 9781501116353
LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK by Kathleen Rooney (Fiction)
She took 1930s New York by storm, working her way up writing copy for R.H. Macy’s to become the highest paid advertising woman in the country. Now it’s the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party. It’s chilly enough out for her mink coat, and Manhattan is grittier now, but the quick-tongued poetess has never been one to scare easily. On a walk that takes her over 10 miles around the city, she meets bartenders, bodega clerks, security guards, criminals, children, parents and parents-to-be, while reviewing a life of excitement and adversity, passion and heartbreak, illuminating all the ways New York has changed --- and has not.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250113320
LITTLE DEATHS by Emma Flint (Historical Mystery)
In 1965, single mother Ruth Malone wakes to discover that her two small children, Frankie Jr. and Cindy, have gone missing. Eventually both are found dead, and all fingers immediately point to Ruth. The lead detective leaps to the obvious conclusion: facing divorce and a custody battle, Ruth took her children's lives. Rookie tabloid reporter Pete Wonicke’s interest in the story develops into an obsession with Ruth, and he comes to believe there's something more to the woman whom prosecutors, the press and the public have painted as a promiscuous femme fatale. Did Ruth Malone violently kill her own children, is she a victim of circumstance --- or is there something more sinister at play?
Hachette Books | 9780316272476
THE MAN WHO SHOT OUT MY EYE IS DEAD: Stories by Chanelle Benz (Fiction/Short Stories)
A brother and sister turn outlaw in a wild and brutal landscape. The daughter of a diplomat disappears and resurfaces across the world as a deadly woman of many names. A young Philadelphia boy struggles with the contradictions of privilege, violence, and the sway of an incarcerated father. A monk in 16th-century England suffers the dissolution of his monastery and the loss of all that he held sacred. The characters in Chanelle Benz's debut share a thirst for adventure that sends them rushing full-tilt toward the moral crossroads, becoming victims and perpetrators along the way.
Ecco | 9780062490759
MY LIFE, MY LOVE, MY LEGACY by Coretta Scott King, as told to The Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds (Memoir)
As a widow and single mother of four, Coretta Scott King worked tirelessly to found and develop The King Center as a citadel for world peace, lobbied for 15 years for the US national holiday in honor of her husband, championed for women's, workers’ and gay rights, and was a powerful international voice for nonviolence, freedom and human dignity. Coretta’s is a love story, a family saga, and the memoir of an extraordinary black woman in 20th-century America, a brave leader who, in the face of terrorism and violent hatred, stood committed, proud, forgiving, nonviolent and hopeful every day of her life.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781627795982
NIGHT OF FIRE by Colin Thubron (Fiction)
A house is burning, threatening the existence of its six tenants --- including a failed priest; a naturalist; a neurosurgeon; an invalid dreaming of his anxious boyhood; and their landlord, whose relationship to the tenants is both intimate and shadowy. In NIGHT OF FIRE, the passions and obsessions in a dying house loom and shift, from those of the hallucinating drug addict in the basement to the landlord training his rooftop telescope on the night skies. As the novel progresses, the tenants’ diverse stories take us through an African refugee camp, Greek Orthodox monasteries, and the cremation grounds of India. Haunting the edges of their lives are memories. Will these remembrances be consumed forever by the flames? Or can they survive in some form?
Harper | 9780062499745
THE NOWHERE MAN: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz (Thriller)
Taken from a group home at 12, Evan Smoak was raised and trained as part of the Orphan program, an off-the-books operation designed to create deniable intelligence assets --- i.e. assassins. Evan was Orphan X. He broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear and reinvent himself as the Nowhere Man. But the new head of the Orphan program hasn’t forgotten about him and is using all of his assets --- including the remaining Orphans --- to track down and eliminate him. This time, though, the attack comes from a different angle, and Evan is caught unaware.
Minotaur Books | 9781250067852
THE RISING by Heather Graham and Jon Land (Thriller)
A football hero and homecoming king with plenty of scholarship offers, Alex Chin’s future looks bright. His tutor, Samantha Dixon, is preparing to graduate high school at the top of her class. When a football accident lands Alex in the hospital, his world is turned upside down. His doctor is murdered, followed by his parents. Death seems to follow him wherever he goes, and now it's after him. The two race desperately to stay ahead of Alex's attackers long enough to figure out why they are hunting him in the first place. The answer lies with a secret buried deep in his past, a secret his parents died to protect.
Tor Books | 9780765337917
SIGNALS: New and Selected Stories by Tim Gautreaux (Fiction/Short Stories)
The people in Tim Gautreaux’s latest collection of short stories wrestle with affairs of the heart, matters of faith, and the pros and cons of tight-knit communities. They are primarily of the working class, proud and knowledgeable about the natural or mechanical world. Their lives are marked by a prized stereo or a magical sewing machine retrieved from a locked safe, boats and card games and casinos, grandparents and grandchildren and those in between, their experiences leading them to the ridiculous or the scarifying or the sublime. Most of them are striving for what's right and good, others tearing off in the opposite direction.
Knopf | 9780451493040
TRANSIT by Rachel Cusk (Fiction)
In the wake of her family’s collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The process of this upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions --- personal, moral, artistic and practical --- as she endeavors to construct a new reality for herself and her children. In the city, she is made to confront aspects of living that she has, until now, avoided, and to consider questions of vulnerability and power, death and renewal, in what becomes her struggle to reattach herself to, and believe in, life.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374278625
THE WICKED CITY by Beatriz Williams (Fiction)
When she discovers that her banker husband has been harboring a secret life, Ella Gilbert escapes their sleek SoHo loft for a studio in a quaint building in Greenwich Village. Her charismatic musician neighbor, Hector, warns her to stay out of the basement after midnight, when a symphony of mysterious noise strikes up, even though it's stood empty for decades. Back in the Roaring Twenties, the building hosted one of the city’s most notorious speakeasies. As Ella unravels the strange history of the building --- and the family thread that connects her to flapper Geneva Kelly --- she senses the Jazz Age spirit of her incandescent predecessor invading her own shy nature, in ways that will transform her life in the wicked city.
William Morrow | 9780062405029
THE WINTER IN ANNA by Reed Karaim (Fiction)
A young man, Eric, drops out of college and lucks into a job with a small-town newspaper where he meets Anna --- a woman whose story will both haunt and inspire him for the rest of his life. Set in a remote North Dakota community in the last days before the Internet, THE WINTER IN ANNA unfolds around a romance that almost was, and a meditation on what constitutes a life well lived. In wistful, moving reflections, Eric looks back on his days with Anna and struggles to reconcile his memories with what he has since learned of her.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393608502
A WORD FOR LOVE by Emily Robbins (Fiction)
It is said there are 99 Arabic words for love. Bea, an American exchange student, has learned them all: In search of deep feeling, she travels to a Middle Eastern country known to hold "The Astonishing Text," an ancient, original manuscript of a famous Arabic love story that is said to move its best readers to tears. Once in this foreign country, though, Bea finds that instead of intensely reading Arabic, she is entwined in her host family's complicated lives. But as the country drifts toward explosive unrest, Bea wonders how many secrets she can keep, and how long she can fight for a romance that does not belong to her.
Riverhead Books | 9781594633584
On Sale the Week of January 16th in Paperback
January 17th
THE APARTMENT by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
They come together by chance in the heart of New York City, four young women at turning points in their lives. Claire Kelly finds a spacious loft in Hell’s Kitchen, but the aspiring shoe designer needs at least one roommate to manage it. She meets Abby Williams, a writer trying to make it on her own. Four years later, Morgan Shelby joins them. She’s ambitious, with a serious finance job on Wall Street. Then comes Sasha Hartman, a medical student whose identical twin sister is a headline-grabbing supermodel. And so the sprawling space becomes a home to friends about to embark on new, exhilarating adventures.
Dell | 9780425285428
A BLADE OF BLACK STEEL by Alex Marshall (Fantasy/Adventure)
After 500 years, the Sunken Kingdom has returned and brought with it a monstrous secret that threatens to destroy every country on the Star. As an inhuman army gathers on its shores, poised to invade the Immaculate Isles, the members of the Cobalt Company face an ugly choice: abandon their dreams of glory and vengeance to combat a menace from another realm, or pursue their ambitions and hope the Star is still there when the smoke clears.
Orbit | 9780316340700
THE CHOSEN MAIDEN by Eva Stachniak (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Bronia is a gifted young ballerina, but she is quickly eclipsed by her brother, Vaslav. Deemed a prodigy, Vaslav Nijinsky will grow into the greatest, and most provocative, dancer of his time. To prove herself her brother's equal in the rigid world of ballet, Bronia will need to be more than extraordinary, defying society's expectations of what a female dancer can and should be. The real-life muse behind one of the most spectacular roles in dance, The Rite of Spring's Chosen Maiden, Bronia rises to the heights of modern ballet through grit, resilience and fervor. But when the First World War erupts and rebellion sparks in Russia, Bronia --- caught between old and new, traditional and ground-breaking, safe and passionate --- must begin her own search for what it means to be modern.
Doubleday Canada | 9780385678568
FIRST WOMEN: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies by Kate Andersen Brower (Social History)
One of the most underestimated --- and challenging --- positions in the world, the First Lady of the United States must be many things: an inspiring leader with a forward-thinking agenda of her own; a savvy politician, skilled at navigating the treacherous rapids of Washington; a wife and mother operating under constant scrutiny; and an able CEO responsible for the smooth operation of countless services and special events at the White House. Former White House correspondent Kate Andersen Brower draws on a wide array of untapped, candid sources to tell the stories of the 10 remarkable women who have defined that role since 1960.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062439666
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S JOURNEY: The President Forges a New Nation by T.H. Breen (History)
During his first term as president, George Washington decided that the only way to fulfill the Revolution was to take the new federal government directly to the people. He organized an extraordinary journey carrying him to all 13 states. If the nation fragmented, as it had almost done after the war, it could never become the strong, independent nation for which Washington had fought. In scores of communities, he communicated a powerful and enduring message --- that America was now a nation, not a loose collection of states. And the people responded to his invitation in ways that he never could have predicted.
Simon & Schuster | 9781451675436
GEORGIA: A Novel of Georgia O'Keeffe by Dawn Tripp (Historical Fiction)
In 1916, Georgia O’Keeffe is a young, unknown art teacher when she travels to New York to meet Alfred Stieglitz, the famed photographer and art dealer, who has discovered O’Keeffe’s work and exhibits it in his gallery. O’Keeffe is quickly drawn into Stieglitz’s sophisticated world, becoming his mistress, protégé and muse, as their attraction deepens into an intense and tempestuous relationship and his photographs of her create a sensation. Yet, as her own creative force develops, Georgia begins to push back against what critics and others are saying about her and her art. And soon she must make difficult choices to live a life she believes in.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780812981865
HEARTSTONE by Elle Katharine White (Historical Fantasy)
Paperback Original
They say a Rider in possession of a good blade must be in want of a monster to slay --- and Merybourne Manor has plenty of monsters. Aliza Bentaine knows this all too well; she’s already lost one sister to the invading gryphons. So when Lord Merybourne hires a band of Riders to hunt down the horde, Aliza is relieved her home will soon be safe again. But with the arrival of the haughty and handsome dragonrider, Alastair Daired, Aliza expects a battle; what she doesn’t expect is a romantic clash of wills, pitting words and wit against the pride of an ancient house. Nor does she anticipate the mystery that follows them from Merybourne Manor, its roots running deep as the foundations of the kingdom itself, where something old and dreadful slumbers…something far more sinister than gryphons.
Harper Voyager | 9780062451941
RISE OF THE ROCKET GIRLS: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt (History)
In the 1940s and ’50s, when the newly minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they didn't turn to male graduates. Rather, they recruited an elite group of young women who, with only pencil, paper and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design, helped bring about the first American satellites, and made the exploration of the solar system possible. For the first time, RISE OF THE ROCKET GIRLS tells the stories of these women --- known as "human computers" --- who broke the boundaries of both gender and science.
Back Bay Books | 9780316338905
THEIR PROMISED LAND: My Grandparents in Love and War by Ian Buruma (Social History)
During the almost six years England was at war with Nazi Germany, Winifred and Bernard Schlesinger, Ian Buruma’s grandparents, and the film director John Schlesinger's parents, were, like so many others, thoroughly sundered from each other. Their only recourse was to write letters back and forth. And write they did, often every day. Now, in a labor of love that is also a powerful act of artistic creation, Buruma has woven his own voice in with theirs to provide the context and counterpoint necessary to bring to life not just a remarkable marriage, but a class and an age.
Penguin Books | 9780143109952
THE THINGS WE KEEP by Sally Hepworth (Fiction)
Anna Forster, in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease at only 38 years old, resides in Rosalind House, an assisted living facility. There, she meets fellow resident Luke, and a relationship develops between the two. When Eve Bennett is suddenly thrust into the role of single mother, she finds herself putting her culinary training to use at Rosalind House. When she meets Anna and Luke, she is moved by the bond the pair has forged. But when a tragic incident leads Anna's and Luke's families to separate them, Eve finds herself questioning what she is willing to risk to help them.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250051929
THIS IS NOT OVER by Holly Brown (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
You’ll have your deposit within seven business days, just like it says on Getaway.com. I’ve put through a refund to your credit card for the full amount, minus 200 dollars to replace the stained sheets. When 30-year-old Dawn reads Miranda’s email, she sees red. People have always told Dawn she’s beautiful, and she just hopes they don’t see beneath --- to how she grew up, to what she’s always tried to outrun. The email strikes a nerve, with its lying intimation that Dawn is so dirty you need to throw out her sheets. Fifty-seven-year-old Miranda thought she’d seen it all, but she can’t believe her eyes when she reads Dawn’s review. People might think that her life is privileged, but they don’t know what’s really going on. They don’t know about her son.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062456830
WAYS TO DISAPPEAR by Idra Novey (Fiction)
Deep in gambling debt, the celebrated Brazilian writer Beatriz Yagoda abruptly vanishes. In Pittsburgh, her American translator Emma hears the news and flies immediately to Brazil. There, in the sticky, sugary heat of Rio, Emma and her author's children conspire to solve the mystery of Yagoda's curious disappearance and staunch the colorful demands of her various outstanding affairs: the rapacious loan shark with a zeal for severing body parts, and the washed-up and disillusioned editor who launched Yagoda's career years earlier.
Back Bay Books | 9780316298476
THE WIDOW by Fiona Barton (Psychological Thriller)
There's a lot Jean hasn't said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment. Now her husband is dead, and there's no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything.
Berkley | 9781101990476
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