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Editorial Content for A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

John Vena

What makes a good history book? Subject matter? Writing style? Clarity? Whatever your answer may be, Jeremy D. Popkin’s A NEW WORLD BEGINS qualifies. Read More

Teaser

The French Revolution’s principles of liberty and equality still shape our ideas of a just society --- even if, after more than 200 years, their meaning is more contested than ever before. In A NEW WORLD BEGINS, Jeremy D. Popkin offers a riveting account of the revolution that puts the reader in the thick of the debates and the violence that led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a new society. We meet Mirabeau, Robespierre and Danton in all their brilliance and vengefulness; we witness the failed escape and execution of Louis XVI; we see women demanding equal rights and Black slaves wresting freedom from revolutionaries who hesitated to act on their own principles; and we follow the rise of Napoleon out of the ashes of the Reign of Terror.

Promo

The French Revolution’s principles of liberty and equality still shape our ideas of a just society --- even if, after more than 200 years, their meaning is more contested than ever before. In A NEW WORLD BEGINS, Jeremy D. Popkin offers a riveting account of the revolution that puts the reader in the thick of the debates and the violence that led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a new society. We meet Mirabeau, Robespierre and Danton in all their brilliance and vengefulness; we witness the failed escape and execution of Louis XVI; we see women demanding equal rights and Black slaves wresting freedom from revolutionaries who hesitated to act on their own principles; and we follow the rise of Napoleon out of the ashes of the Reign of Terror.

About the Book

From an award-winning historian, a “vivid” (Wall Street Journal) account of the revolution that created the modern world.

The French Revolution’s principles of liberty and equality still shape our ideas of a just society --- even if, after more than 200 years, their meaning is more contested than ever before. In A NEW WORLD BEGINS, Jeremy D. Popkin offers a riveting account of the revolution that puts the reader in the thick of the debates and the violence that led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a new society. We meet Mirabeau, Robespierre and Danton in all their brilliance and vengefulness; we witness the failed escape and execution of Louis XVI; we see women demanding equal rights and Black slaves wresting freedom from revolutionaries who hesitated to act on their own principles; and we follow the rise of Napoleon out of the ashes of the Reign of Terror.

Based on decades of scholarship, A NEW WORLD BEGINS will stand as the definitive treatment of the French Revolution.

Editorial Content for Nine Elms: A Kate Marshall Thriller

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

Fifteen years ago, Detective Constable Kate Marshall caught a serial killer dubbed the Nine Elms Cannibal and put him away forever. One would normally consider that a rare coup for an up-and-coming young officer, but for DC Marshall, it was a disaster. In fact, it ended her police career. Now, after all these years of trying to put her life back together, lecturing at a university and living in a cottage by the shore, her carefully constructed peace is abruptly shattered. Read More

Teaser

Kate Marshall was a promising young police detective when she caught the notorious Nine Elms serial killer. But her greatest victory suddenly turned into a nightmare. Traumatized, betrayed and publicly vilified for the shocking circumstances surrounding the cannibal murder case, Kate could only watch as her career ended in scandal. Fifteen years after those catastrophic events, Kate is still haunted by the unquiet ghosts of her troubled past. Now a lecturer at a small coastal English university, she finally has a chance to face them, as a copycat killer has taken up the Nine Elms mantle. Success promises redemption, but there’s much more on the line: Kate was the original killer’s intended fifth victim…and his successor means to finish the job.

Promo

Kate Marshall was a promising young police detective when she caught the notorious Nine Elms serial killer. But her greatest victory suddenly turned into a nightmare. Traumatized, betrayed and publicly vilified for the shocking circumstances surrounding the cannibal murder case, Kate could only watch as her career ended in scandal. Fifteen years after those catastrophic events, Kate is still haunted by the unquiet ghosts of her troubled past. Now a lecturer at a small coastal English university, she finally has a chance to face them, as a copycat killer has taken up the Nine Elms mantle. Success promises redemption, but there’s much more on the line: Kate was the original killer’s intended fifth victim…and his successor means to finish the job.

About the Book

From the breakthrough international bestselling author of THE GIRL IN THE ICE, a breathtaking, page-turning novel about a disgraced female detective’s fight for redemption. And survival.

Kate Marshall was a promising young police detective when she caught the notorious Nine Elms serial killer. But her greatest victory suddenly turned into a nightmare. Traumatized, betrayed and publicly vilified for the shocking circumstances surrounding the cannibal murder case, Kate could only watch as her career ended in scandal.

Fifteen years after those catastrophic events, Kate is still haunted by the unquiet ghosts of her troubled past. Now a lecturer at a small coastal English university, she finally has a chance to face them. A copycat killer has taken up the Nine Elms mantle, continuing the ghastly work of his idol.

Enlisting her brilliant research assistant, Tristan Harper, Kate draws on her prodigious and long-neglected skills as an investigator to catch a new monster. Success promises redemption, but there’s much more on the line: Kate was the original killer’s intended fifth victim…and his successor means to finish the job.

Audiobook available, read by Kristin Atherton

Editorial Content for Winter Grave: An Embla Nyström Investigation

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

Helene Tursten, best known for her Swedish police procedurals featuring Irene Huss, has continued her series with Embla Nyström, a detective who is interesting and smart. In her second appearance, Embla and her team are trying to solve the disappearances of two children and the murder of a policeman. Clues are hard to come by, but in Tursten’s hands, each event is a major surprise. In addition to her job as a policewoman, Embla is a highly trained hunter and tracker, as well as a Nordic boxing champion. Read More

Teaser

When a little girl disappears a few weeks before Christmas, suspicion falls on the last person she was seen with: the mentally disabled teenage boy who gave her a ride home after school. Complicating the matter is the fact that detectives can hardly get a word out of him. When a second child disappears and a police officer is found dead, tensions in the small town of Strömstad reach an all-time high. As Detective Inspector Embla Nyström hunts for the missing children, she can’t help but think of the case that has been haunting her for years: the disappearance of her childhood best friend. Could the incidents be linked?

Promo

When a little girl disappears a few weeks before Christmas, suspicion falls on the last person she was seen with: the mentally disabled teenage boy who gave her a ride home after school. Complicating the matter is the fact that detectives can hardly get a word out of him. When a second child disappears and a police officer is found dead, tensions in the small town of Strömstad reach an all-time high. As Detective Inspector Embla Nyström hunts for the missing children, she can’t help but think of the case that has been haunting her for years: the disappearance of her childhood best friend. Could the incidents be linked?

About the Book

In this thrilling mystery set in rural Sweden, Detective Inspector Embla Nyström must solve a murder case and find two missing children before the small town takes matters into their own hands.

When a little girl disappears a few weeks before Christmas, suspicion falls on the last person she was seen with: the mentally disabled teenage boy who gave her a ride home after school. Complicating the matter is the fact that detectives can hardly get a word out of him. When a second child disappears and a police officer is found dead, tensions in the small town of Strömstad reach an all-time high.

Meanwhile, 28-year-old Detective Inspector Embla Nyström has just returned to work and is still recovering from her recent brush with a killer, which left her unable to get back in the ring to defend her title of Nordic light welterweight champion. As she hunts for the missing children, Embla can’t help but think of the case that has been haunting her for years: the disappearance of her childhood best friend. Could the incidents be linked? With the passing of each dark winter day, the odds of finding the children alive shrink, and desperation mounts. Their parents want answers and will stop at nothing to get them.

Audiobook available, read by Stina Nielsen

Editorial Content for Oppo

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Lorraine W. Shanley

A Washington thriller that seems ripped from the headlines, OPPO is about the world of political opposition research and dark money.

Wendy Upton is a highly respected Republican senator who has overcome major life obstacles, including the death of her parents when she was a teenager. Nevertheless, having raised her sister and served in the army, she finished college and law school, and embarked on a successful political career.

The novel opens at the beginning of an election year, with a dozen Republican and Democratic candidates running for president. Read More

Teaser

It’s presidential primary season in Washington, DC, and both parties are on edge. At campaign rallies for all the candidates around the country, there are disturbing incidents of violence and protest and shocking acts of civil disobedience. When Wendy Upton, the highly respected centrist senator, receives an anonymous threat that could destroy her promising career, she hires Peter Rena to investigate her past and figure out which side is threatening her and what they are threatening her with. As Rena digs through the senator’s seemingly squeaky-clean past, he must walk the tightrope between two parties at war with each other and with themselves, an electorate that is as restive as it has ever been, and a political culture that is as much driven by money as it is by ideology.

Promo

It’s presidential primary season in Washington, DC, and both parties are on edge. At campaign rallies for all the candidates around the country, there are disturbing incidents of violence and protest and shocking acts of civil disobedience. When Wendy Upton, the highly respected centrist senator, receives an anonymous threat that could destroy her promising career, she hires Peter Rena to investigate her past and figure out which side is threatening her and what they are threatening her with. As Rena digs through the senator’s seemingly squeaky-clean past, he must walk the tightrope between two parties at war with each other and with themselves, an electorate that is as restive as it has ever been, and a political culture that is as much driven by money as it is by ideology.

About the Book

A breathless and highly charged political thriller: the story of a senator who is offered the vice presidential slot by both parties’ presidential nominees and then gets ominous threats

It’s presidential primary season in Washington, DC, and both parties are on edge. At campaign rallies for all the candidates around the country, there are disturbing incidents of violence and protest and shocking acts of civil disobedience. Rena and Brooks are happy to sit it out.

Against this backdrop, Wendy Upton, the highly respected centrist senator, must make a choice: she’s been offered the VP slot by both parties’ leading candidates. When she receives an anonymous, unnerving threat that could destroy her promising career, she hires Peter Rena to investigate her past and figure out which side is threatening her and what they are threatening her with.

As Rena digs through the senator’s seemingly squeaky-clean past, he must walk the tightrope between two parties at war with each other and with themselves, an electorate that is as restive as it has ever been, and a political culture that is as much driven by money as it is by ideology.

Audiobook available, read by David Colacci

How many print books and e-books did you read in 2019? How many audiobooks did you listen to?

December 20, 2019, 683 voters

December 20, 2019 - January 10, 2020

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Kristy Nilsson

Dancing is the world's favorite metaphor.

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Kristy Nilsson

Bookreporter.com Reviewers Pick Their Favorite Books of 2019

Recently we asked our reviewers to provide us with a list of some of their favorite books from 2019. Included is a mix of fiction and nonfiction titles, all published this year. Take a moment to read these varied lists of titles and see if you agree with any of their selections! Please note that due to personal and professional commitments, some reviewers were not able to participate in this feature.

We wrap up this year’s Holiday Author Blog series with Alena Dillon, whose debut novel, MERCY HOUSE, releases on February 11th. Alena and her husband are looking forward to celebrating their first Christmas with their son, who will be 10 months old. At first, they were just going to wrap up some toys they already own, or let him tear through gift bags with nothing but tissue paper in them. And surely, his grandparents would have plenty of goodies for him to unwrap. But then Alena put on her writer’s hat and finally figured out the ideal presents for her baby boy: books, of course. Lots and lots of books.

Alena Dillon

Alena Dillon's work has appeared in Slice Magazine, The Rumpus and Seventh Wave, among others. She earned her MFA from Fairfield University. MERCY HOUSE is her debut novel. She lives on the north shore of Boston with her husband, son and their black labrador, Penny.