ISLAND OF WINGS
Altenberg, Karin
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 92.070 words
Quercus
On the ten-hour sailing west from the Hebrides to the islands of St Kilda, everything lies ahead for Lizzie and Neil McKenzie. Neil is to become the minister to the small community of islanders and Lizzie, his new wife, is pregnant with their first child. Neil's journey is evangelical: a testing and strengthening of his own faith against the old pagan ways of the St Kildans, but it is also a passage to atonement. For Lizzie - bright, beautiful and devoted - this is an adventure, a voyage into the unknown. She is sure only of her loyalty and love for her husband, but everything that happens from now on will challenge all her certainties.
As the two adjust to life on an exposed archipelago on the edge of civilization, where the natives live in squalor and subsist on a diet of seabirds, and babies perish mysteriously in their first week, their marriage - and their sanity - is threatened. Is Lizzie a willful temptress drawing him away from his faith? Is Neil's zealous Christianity unhinging into madness? And who, or what, is haunting the moors and cliff-tops?
Exquisitely written and profoundly moving, ISLAND OF WINGS is more than just an account of a marriage in peril - it is also a richly imagined novel about two people struggling to keep their love, and their family, alive in a place of terrible hardship and tumultuous beauty.
UK: Quercus (May 2011);
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PASSION PLAY
Bernobich, Beth
SPECULATIVE FICTION
Fantasy
Extent: e-ms 524 pp
Tor Books
Ilse Zhalina is the daughter of one of Melnek’s more prominent merchants. She has lived most of her life surrounded by the trappings of wealth and privilege. Many would consider hers a happy lot. But there are dark secrets, especially in the best of families. Ilse has learned that for a young woman of her beauty and social station, to be passive and silent is the best way to survive.
When Ilse finally meets the older man she is to marry, she realizes he is far crueler and more deadly than her father could ever be. Ilse chooses to run. This choice will change her life forever.
And it will lead her to Raul Kosenmark, master of one of the land’s most notorious pleasure houses…and who is, as Ilse discovers, a puppetmaster of a different sort altogether. Ilse discovers a world where every pleasure has a price and there are levels of magic and intrigue she once thought unimaginable. She also finds the other half of her heart.
Lush fantasy. Wild magic. Intrigue, seduction, and treachery, with a kingdom at stake. Passion Play is the journey of a woman who must conquer her passions in order to win all that she desires.
USA: Tor Books (October 2010);
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ECHOES
Dockrill, Laura
Short Story (-ies)
Extent: e-ms 66.578 words
HarperCollins
A collection of terrifyingly wicked fairytales and poems from The Times’ Talent to Watch, Laura Dockrill
Immerse yourself in the magical world of Laura Dockrill; a land where all is not as it seems. Between the covers of this book lie worlds you’ll never want to leave, stories familiar and yet strange, and characters old, made new. Dip inside to discover today’s Princess and the Pea, the modern Hansel and Gretel, twenty-first century ghouls, monsters and more. Darkly humorous and bone-shatteringly terrifying this collection of tales will reel you in and won't let you escape its spell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wayASOcBvsQ&feature=related
UK: HarperCollins (August 2010);
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BEST AMERICAN NOIR OF THE CENTURY
Ellroy, James (Ed.)
Penzler, Otto (Ed.)
SUSPENSE
Short Story (-ies)
Crime, Mystery
Extent: e-galley 747 pp
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Ellroy and Penzler mined one hundred years of writing - 1910 - 2010 - to find this treasure trove of thirty-nine stories. From noir’s twenties-era infancy come gems like James M. Cain’s "Pastorale," and its postwar heyday boasts giants like Mickey Spillane and Evan Hunter. Packing an undeniable punch, diverse contemporary incarnations include Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Lehane, and William Gay, with many page-turners appearing
from the past decade.
US: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (October 2010);
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A STRANGER IN MAYFAIR
Finch, Charles
SUSPENSE
Mystery
Extent: galley 308 pp
Minotaur Books
The fourth Charles Lenox mystery.
Returning from a continental honeymoon with his lifelong friend and new wife, Lady Jane Grey, Charles Lenox is asked by a colleague in Parliament to consult in the murder of a footman, bludgeoned to death with a brick. His investigation uncovers both unsettling facts about the family he served and a strange, second identity that the footman himself cultivated.
Going into the boxing clubs and public houses, the Mayfair mansions and servants’ quarter of Victorian London, Lenox gradually realizes that an old friend may be implicated in the footman’s death. Soon a suspect is arrested, but Lenox has his doubts. Desperately trying to balance the opening of Parliament and what he feels sure is a dark secret, he soon discovers that the killer is someone shockingly innocuous who may be prepared to spill blood again, even a detective’s.
In Detective Lenox, Lady Grey, and their circle of close associates, Charles Finch has created a cast of inviting, flesh-andblood characters. His evolving series, with its keen eye for period detail and razor-sharp plotting, offers readers an unparalleled brand of charm, sophistication, and suspense.
US: Minotaur Books (November 2010);
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THE MOTHER WHO STAYED
Furman, Laura
FICTION
Short Story (-ies)
Extent: e-galley 212 pp
Free Press
The editor of the highly acclaimed PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories series showcases her stunning collection of nine brilliantly intertwined tales about the tragedies and exaltations of motherhood.
Across a century and a country, Furman's characters share a maternal bond-though not always a biological one. In nine deeply affecting stories, we meet a daughter in search of her mother, a mother estranged from her daughter, and a barren woman tortured by her instinctual need to nurture.
Rachel, a girl who seeks attention from her seemingly infallible and invincible mother, comes to a sudden epiphany in the wake of a hurricane.
Marion, a brilliant, beautiful, and destructive writer, calls upon her forsaken 'daughter' to care for her as she is dying. And Dinah, a childless widow who discovers the diaries of a nineteenth-century housewife, tries desperately to save a young woman from her grim fate.
As with Alice Munro's fiction, these melancholic, enlightening tales will leave the reader with a lingering compassion toward women struggling to make sense of life-as daughters, as mothers, and as something in between
US: Free Press (February 2011);
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CARS FROM A MARRIAGE
Galant, Debra
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 76.650 words
St Martin's Press
An 'auto-biography' of a marriage from the highly acclaimed author who deftly navigates the lives of one suburban couple with humor and insight.
From a ’74 Mustang to a Chevy Suburban, Debra Galant’s CARS FROM A MARRIAGE charts the important events - big and small - in one couple’s relationship by way of the automobiles that drive them throughout the course of their lives. Ivy is a transplanted Southern belle - the daughter of a car salesman - who continually wonders how she has ended up a New Jersey stay-at-home mom with a not-so-secret fear of driving. Her husband Ellis was a stand up comedian when they met, and the owner of that ’74 Mustang, but his ambitions were overshadowed by the responsibilities of a family. In the blink of an eye he became a PR executive with a mortgage, two kids, and a Buick LeSabre.
The cars steer us from their first meeting, to their first fight, and down the line to a family funeral. Finally, it’s on a drive along the Pacific Coast Highway that Ivy and Ellis come to some serious and illuminating realizations about their lives. With insights that alternate between hilarious and profound, Galant provides a unique, unforgettable portrait of a marriage.
"Both laugh-out-loud funny and a thoughtful portrait of the complexity of marriage." - Ladies Home Journal
Debra Galant is the author of Rattled and Fear and Yoga in New Jersey. She is also the creator of the popular blog Baristanet.com.
http://www.debragalant.com/index.php
US: St. Martin's Press (April 2010);
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THE LAST GIFT
Gurnah, Abdulrazak
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 92.000 words
Bloomsbury
One day, long before the troubles, he slipped away without saying a word to anyone and never went back. And then another day, forty three years later, he collapsed just inside the front door of his house in a small English town. It was late in the day when it happened, on his way home after work, but it was also late in the day altogether. He had left things for too long and there was no one to blame for it but himself.
Abbas has never told anyone about his past - before he was a sailor on the high seas, before he met his wife Maryam outside a Boots in Exeter, before they settled into a quiet life in Norwich with their children, Jamal and Hanna. Now, at the age of sixty-three, he suffers a collapse that renders him bedbound and unable to speak about things he thought he would one day have to.
Jamal and Hanna have grown up and gone out into the world. They were both born in England but cannot shake a sense of apartness. Hanna calls herself Anna now, and has just moved to a new city to be near her boyfriend. She feels the relationship is headed somewhere serious, but the words have not yet been spoken out loud. Jamal, the listener of the family, moves into a student house and is captivated by a young woman with dark-blue eyes and her own, complex story to tell. Abbas’s illness forces both children home, to the dark silences of their father and the fretful capability of their mother Maryam, who began life as a foundling and has never thought to find herself, until now.
Abdulrazak Gurnah’s new novel is an astounding meditation on family, self and culture, and the meaning of home.
Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in 1948 in Zanzibar and teaches at the University of Kent. He is the author of seven novels which include Paradise (shortlisted for both the Booker and the Whitbread Prizes), By the Sea (longlisted for the Booker Prize and awarded the RFI Temoin du Monde Prize) and Desertion (shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize).
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THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT RETURNS
Harrison, Harry
SPECULATIVE FICTION
Science fiction
Extent: 304 pp
Tor Book
After a ten-year absence, the return of one of the most enduring series characters in modern SF
James Bolivar "Slippery Jim" DiGriz, Special Corps agent, master con man, interstellar criminal (retired), is living high on the hog on the planet of Moolaplenty when a long-lost cousin and a shipful of swine arrive to drain his bank account and send him and his lovely wife, Angelina, wandering the stars on the wildest journey since Gulliver's Travels.
In this darkly satiric work, Harry Harrison bring his most famous character out of retirement for a grand tour of the galaxy. The Stainless Steel Rat rides again: a cocktail in his hand, a smile on his lips, and larceny in his heart, in search of adventure, gravitons, and a way to get rid of the pigs.
Harry Harrison is the Nebula-winning author of innumerable science fiction novels and stories.
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THE NATIVE STAR
Hobson, M. K.
SPECULATIVE FICTION
Historical
ROMANCE
Extent: 387 pp
Ballantine Books
In the tradition of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, this brilliant first novel fuses history, fantasy, and romance.
The year is 1876. In the small Sierra Nevada settlement of Lost Pine, the town witch, Emily Edwards, is being run out of business by an influx of mail-order patent magics. Attempting to solve her problem with a love spell, Emily only makes things worse. But before she can undo the damage, an enchanted artifact falls into her possession - and suddenly Emily must flee for her life, pursued by evil warlocks who want the object for themselves.
Dreadnought Stanton, a warlock from New York City whose personality is as pompous and abrasive as his name, has been exiled to Lost Pine for mysterious reasons. Now he finds himself involuntarily allied with Emily in a race against time - and across the United States by horse, train, and biomechanical flying machine - in quest of the great Professor Mirabilis, who alone can unlock the secret of the coveted artifact. But along the way, Emily and Stanton will be forced to contend with the most powerful and unpredictable magic of all - the magic of the human heart.
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FIVE BELLS
Jones, Gail
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 67.110 words
Harvill /Secker
On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Each carries a childhood and a complicated history from elsewhere; each is haunted by past intimacies, secrets and guilt: Ellie is preoccupied by her sexual experiences as a girl, James by a tragedy for which he feels responsible, Catherine by the loss of her beloved brother in Dublin and Pei Xing by her imprisonment during China’s Cultural Revolution. All are compelling figures with distinctively fascinating stories.
Told over a single Saturday, this is an intricate narrative of four lives which chime and resonate, sharing mysterious patterns and symbols that link them together. A fifth, the figure of the child, is ever-present, implying that possibilities of joy and renewal exist in any life story. By night-time, when Sydney is drenched in a rainstorm, each life has been transformed by the events of the day.
UK/Australia: Harvill/Secker (March 2011);
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THE BLESSINGS OF THE ANIMALS
Kittle, Katrina
Novel
FICTION
Extent: 430 pp
HarperPerennial
From Katrina Kittle, critically acclaimed author of The Kindness of Strangers, comes a wry and moving story of forgiveness, flexibility, happiness, and the art of moving on.
Veterinarian Cami Anderson has hit a rough patch. Stymied by her recent divorce, she wonders if there are secret ingredients to a happy, long-lasting marriage or if the entire institution is outdated and obsolete. Couples all around her are approaching important milestones. Her parents are preparing to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. Her brother and his partner find their marriage dreams legally blocked. Her former sister-in-law - still her best friend - is newly engaged. The youthfully exuberant romance of her teenage daughter is developing complications. And three separate men - including her ex-husband - are becoming entangled in Cami's messy post-marital love life.
But as she struggles to come to terms with her own doubts amid this chaotic circus of relationships, Cami finds strange comfort in an unexpected confidant: an angry, unpredictable horse in her care. With the help of her equine soul mate, she begins to make sense of marriage's great mysteries - and its disconnects.
"Wonderfully poignant characters and a deeply satisfying exploration of love in its many incarnations, some of them a bit furrier than others, make this novel Katrina Kittle’s most insightful yet. Don’t miss it!" - Lesley Kagen
Katrina Kittle is the author of Traveling Light, Two Truths and a Lie, and The Kindness of Strangers, which received the Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction.
US: HarperPerennial (August 2010);
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SANDRA BECK
Lavery, John
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-galley 272 pp
House of Anansi Press
SANDRA BECK is the astounding debut novel from one of Canada's most unusual and inventive undiscovered writers
No writer in Canada today is more in love with the English and French languages than acclaimed author John Lavery. In inventive, incantatory prose, Sandra Beck paints a very unusual portrait of a lady. This is a book about many things: the struggling antics of adolescence, the banal delusions of solitude, the city of Montreal. But it is, above all, a deeply moving tribute to a woman who is both present and absent on every page.
Who is Sandra Beck? She is a mother, a wife, a musician, a manager; she is the ghost in the seat behind us. Her story is told in the voices of others - namely, her daughter, the wordstruck and lovestruck Josée; and her husband, the police chief and TV personality P. F. Bastarache. Despite their keen investigative powers, the "testimony" of Josée and her father is often untrustworthy, even contradictory: self-interest hobbles their understanding. Sandra herself becomes a crutch for them both - a crutch they must learn to live without.
A powerful and provocative novel from an utterly original voice.
John Lavery is the author of two acclaimed story collections, Very Good Butter and You, Kwaznievski, You Piss Me Off. Very Good Butter was a finalist for the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and he has twice been a finalist in the annual Prism International contest. His stories have appeared in This Magazine, Canadian Forum, the Ottawa Citizen, and the London Spectator, as well as in the Journey Prize Anthology. John Lavery lives in Gatineau, Quebec.
Canada: House of Anansi Press (September 2010);
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MARY ANN IN AUTUMN
A Tales of the City Novel
Maupin, Armistead
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-galley 304 pp
Harper
Twenty years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue her dream of a television career in New York. Now, a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, a gay gardener happily ensconced with his much-younger husband.
Mary Ann finds temporary refuge in the couple’s backyard cottage, where, at the unnerving age of 57, she licks her wounds and takes stock of her mistakes. Soon, with the help of Facebook and a few old friends, she begins to reengage with life, only to confront fresh terrors when her speckled past comes back to haunt her in a way she could never have imagined.
Among those caught in Mary Ann’s orbit are her estranged daughter, Shawna, a popular sex blogger; Jake Greenleaf, Michael’s transgendered gardening assistant; socialite DeDe Halcyon-Wilson; and the indefatigable Anna Madrigal, Mary Ann’s former landlady at 28 Barbary Lane.
Over three decades in the making, Armistead Maupin’s legendary Tales of the City series rolls into a new age, still sassy, irreverent and curious, and still exploring the boundaries of the human experience with insight, compassion and mordant wit.
Armistead Maupin is the author of the Tales of the City series, of which Mary Ann in Autumn is the eighth instalment. Three television miniseries starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney were made from the first three Tales novels. Maupin is also the author of Maybe the Moon and The Night Listener, the latter of which became a feature film starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette.
USA: HarperCollins (November 2010); UK: Transworld (November 2010); France: Editions l'Olivier;
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LADRAO DE CADAVERES
Melo, Patrícia
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-galley 208 pp
Rocco
Corumbá , the Pantanal, the vast untamed Brazilian lowlands bordering Bolivia. There the narrator has gone into self-imposed exile after contributing to the death of a woman in the Sao Paulo megalopolis. One bright Sunday, alone on the banks of the Paraguai river, he witnesses the fatal crash of a small airplane, an event that will irreversibly change his life. In the backpack of the pilot, only son of a wealthy and powerful family, he finds a kilo of cocaine. When several days later the crash is located but the pilot's body is missing, a macabre and dangerous scheme is hatched...
The novel's vivid cast of characters includes Sulamita, the protagonist's girlfriend, whose job with the police could jeopardize his freedom; Moacir, an Indian he enlists as go-between in marketing the narcotic; a Bolivian drug kingpin whose increasing demands ratchet up the pressure on him; Rita, a hot-blooded woman bent on seduction; and the pilot's mother and father, who cannot achieve closure unless their son's body is recovered.
LADRAO DE CADAVERES/THE BODY SNATCHER, Patrícia Melo's latest novel, is a mesmerizing mix of fear, greed, conspiracy, sex, corruption, betrayal of the living and profanation of the dead.
Brazil: Rocco (May 2010);
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A DARKER MUSIC
Morton, Maris
FICTION
Novel
Extent: 320 pp
Scribe Publications
Winner of the 2010 CAL Scribe Fiction Prize
When Mary Lanyon takes on the job of temporary housekeeper at Downe, a famous merino stud, she expects to be staying in a gracious homestead with the rich and celebrated Hazlitt farming family. The owner’s wife, Clio, has been ill, and Mary’s task is to get the house back into shape in the lead-up to the wedding of the only son and heir, Martin.
When she arrives, however, Mary realises things are not right. Clio Hazlitt rarely ventures from her room. The house is shabby, redolent of dust and secrets. As a friendship develops between the women, Mary discovers answers to the questions that have puzzled her: What is the nature of Clio’s illness? What has caused the grim estrangement between Clio and her husband? And why did Clio give up playing music, when she says it meant so much to her?
A DARKER MUSIC is a gripping mystery that takes you into the heart of rural Western Australia, and into one family’s dark secrets.
Maris Morton was born in 1938 and has worked in various jobs around Australia including as an English teacher, shearers’ cook, shed hand, artist, art restorer and director of an art gallery. A DARKER MUSIC is her first novel.
Australia: Scribe (September 2010);
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O NATIMORTO
Mutarelli, Lourenço
FICTION
Novel
Extent: 133 pp illustr.
Companhia das Letras
Der Protagonist und Ich-Erzähler dieses Romans befindet sich in einer tiefen Lebenskrise. Eine unglückliche Ehe, sexuelle Impotenz und eine tiefsitzende, obsessive Sehnsucht nach Reinheit bewegen ihn, sein Leben radikal zu verändern. Eine Möglichkeit dazu ergibt sich, als er einer Sängerin begegnet, deren Stimme so rein ist, dass niemand ihr zuhört und eine Beziehung mit ihr beginnt, die zwischen Zärtlichkeit, Unsicherheit, Verführung und Abhängigkeit oszilliert. Er möchte sich mit dieser Frau für immer in ein Hotelzimmer einschliessen, sie aber träumt noch immer von ihrer Karriere in der unreinen Welt, auf die er zu verzichten bereit ist. Die Erzählung wechselt zwischen Ich-Erzählung, die von Dialogstücken durchsetzt ist und damit an ein Kammerstück erinnert. Die Vorlage wurde dann auch von Paulo Machline verfilmt mit Mutarelli und Simone Spoladore in der Rolle des Paares.
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LOVE POEMS
Porter, Dorothy
FICTION
Poetry
Extent: 240 pp
Black, Inc.
Dorothy Porter writes about love, sex, heartbreak and desire like no one else. LOVE POEMS collects her most powerful love poetry: portraits of longing and infatuation, of bliss, passion, uncertainty and devotion. It includes extracts from her award-winning and best-selling verse novels, as well as poems and lyrics spanning her whole career.
Dorothy Porter is an acclaimed poet, lyricist and librettist. The Monkey's Mask won the Age Poetry Book of the Year Award and the National Book Council's Poetry Award and has been reprinted eight times. Both Wild Surmise and What a Piece of Work were shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Her last verse novel, El Dorado, was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award. Her work has been adapted for radio, stage and screen. In December 2008, Dorothy Porter died aged 54. She had just completed The Bee Hut.
Australia: Black, Inc. (October 2010);
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HALF OF THE HUMAN RACE
Quinn, Anthony
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 148.500 words
Jonathan Cape
Set in the heady days of Edwardian England before the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War, HALF OF THE HUMAN RACE tells the story of Connie Callaway, a spirited young woman, whose dreams of a medical career are shattered by the sudden death of her adored father. She has since had to find work in a bookshop her only consolation being the fact that it was only through her father’s liberal minded view of the world that she had been allowed to pursue higher education in the first place. He’s instilled in her a strong sense of the rights of women and a passion for cricket that proves immediately attractive to the young man her cousin introduces her to at a local cricket match.
Will Maitland is tall, good-looking, rich and a talented professional cricketer much in awe of his team captain, the legendary Tamburlaine. He and Connie ought to be the perfect match but Connie’s determination to follow the suffragette cause and subsequent imprisonment confounds Will who cannot understand what it is she’s fighting for. His deep seated sense of loyalty and love of the game make him a principled but often conservative hero and their paths diverge until the day Connie sees him again in a French military hospital, a wounded veteran from the trenches in the First World War.
Experience has sharpened both characters’ lives and will test them again as Connie finds herself forced to break every rule in the book to save Will’s life.
Nostalgia, romance, a love of the game and a real sense of history make this a compelling and unputdownable read in which Anthony Quinn has created a very real and credible heroine.
Praise for previous novel, The Rescue Man: "A fascinating novel - very moving and beautifully nuanced and observed - it beguiles with a tremendous slow-burning power." - William Boyd
Anthony Quinn was born in Liverpool in 1964. Since moving to London in 1986 he has written about film and books for a number of newspapers and magazines, including The Independent, Daily Telegraph, New York Times and Mail on Sunday. For three years he was the arts editor at Harpers & Queen. Since 1998 he has been the film critic of The Independent. In 2006 he was one of the judges of the Man Booker Prize. He is currently the wine correspondent for Esquire magazine.
UK: Jonathan Cape (April 2011);
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THE TENTH SONG
Ragen, Naomi
Extent: galley 304 pp
St Martin's Press
Abigail Samuels has no reason to feel anything but joy on the morning her life falls apart. The epitome of the successful Jewish American woman, she is married to a well-known and respected accountant and is in the middle of planning her daughter Kayla’s wedding. Kayla, too, wakes up that morning with the world in the palm of her hand. Having lived the charmed life of a well-loved child from a happy family, she is bright, pretty, a Harvard law student who has never really questioned the path she found herself on.
With a shocking suddenness, all that is smashed to pieces in ways they could never have dreamed. When a heartbroken Kayla runs away to a desert commune run by a charismatic mystic, Abigail rushes to save her, only to find that there is nothing more whole than a broken heart.
Naomi Ragen is the author of eight novels, including several international bestsellers, and her weekly email columns on life in the Middle East are read by thousands of subscribers worldwide. An American, she has lived in Jerusalem for the past thirty-nine years and was recently voted one of the three most popular authors in Israel.
http://www.naomiragen.com/index.htm
US: St Martin's Press (October 2010);
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THE WAVE
Sandom, J. G.
SUSPENSE
Thriller
Extent: 309 pp
When Cryptanalyst John Decker of the FBI is assigned to the Joint Terrorist Task Force in New York, he has no idea he is about to be thrust into a deadly plot of eco-terrorism masterminded by El Aqrab, a diabolical killer recently arrested in Tel Aviv whose calling card is to wrap his victims up with incendiary devices designed to produce flames in the shape of Koranic verses. Some call it aesthetic destruction. Following the theft of eight kilos of Highly Enriched Uranium, an ultimatum is issued to the West: Release El Aqrab or a nuclear bomb will be detonated. But, at the last moment, El Aqrab escapes . . . and the authorities never get the bomb. While Homeland Security is convinced it's headed for New York, only Agent Decker - assisted by brilliant and beautiful oceanographer Emily Swenson - believes the bomb's true destination is La Palma, in the Canary Island chain. Now, Decker and Swenson only have six hours to prove their theory, defuse the bomb, and prevent a mega-tsunami from annihilating the Eastern Seaboard.
"Sandom's strength lies in the verve of his story, with writing that has both muscle ... (and) brains." - Kirkus
http://www.jgsandom.com
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THE HALF-CHILD
Savage, Angela
SUSPENSE
Crime, Mystery
Extent: e-galley 330 pp
Text Publishing
Pattaya Bay: a seedy beach town on the central coast of Thailand full of gaudy neon signs, go-go bars and leering tourists. Hardly the place you'd expect to find a fresh-faced twenty-one-year-old Christian from rural Australia - even less likely to be the place where that seemingly happy twenty-one-year-old would leap from a hotel rooftop to her death.
Which is precisely why Maryanne Delbeck's father has employed PI Jayne Keeney to investigate his daughter's apparent suicide.
A hard drinker, heavy smoker and formidable pool player, Jayne has little in common with the innocent young girl whose death she's investigating. But she's more than ably equipped to navigate the backstreet world of ladyboys, monks, strippers, expats and corrupt officials in Pattaya Bay. As part of her investigation, Jayne goes undercover at the orphanage where Maryanne volunteered. The further she investigates, the more Maryanne's death seems to be just one piece of a much larger, much more sinister plot, the conspirators of which will do anything to keep it under wraps - including murder.
http://angelasavage.wordpress.com/
Australia: Text Publishing (September 2010);
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THE LOST GARDEN
Stanley, Mary
Novel
Extent: 434 pp
Headline Review
The face Esme Waters presents to the world is not the face she sees in the mirror. Even her three daughters don’t know the truth behind her careful smile. But a chance meeting with a fascinating psychiatrist opens the first crack in Esme’s mind. While her own children are falling in love, learning about loyalty and rebelling against the rules, Esme discovers that sometimes the walls you build for protection need to come tumbling down…
.
Mary Stanley was born in England and educated in Ireland. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, she has worked in England, Italy and Germany.
UK: Headline Review; New Ed edition (June 2006);
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HIS AT NIGHT
Thomas, Sherry
ROMANCE
Extent: e-galley 432 pp
Bantam
Elissande Edgerton is a desperate woman, a virtual prisoner in the home of her tyrannical uncle. Only through marriage can she claim the freedom she craves. But how to catch the perfect man?
Lord Vere is used to baiting irresistible traps. As a secret agent for the government, he’s tracked down some of the most devious criminals in London, all the while maintaining his cover as one of Society’s most harmless - and idiotic - bachelors. But nothing can prepare him for the scandal of being ensnared by Elissande.
Forced into a marriage of convenience, Elissande and Vere are each about to discover they’re not the only one with a hidden agenda. With seduction their only weapon against each other - and a dark secret from the past endangering both their lives - can they learn to trust each other even as they surrender to a passion that won’t be denied?
http://sherrythomas.com/his-at-night.php
US: Bantam (August 2010); Indonesia: Puskata Zahra; RU: AST;
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LYRICS ALLEY
Aboulela, Leila
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 104.230 words
Grove/Atlantic
As British rule in Sudan begins to wane, patriarch Mahmoud Abuzeid must balance vastly different arms of his family. His first wife, Hajjah Waheeba, is firmly of Sudanese soil and connects him both to the traditions and limitations of that world. Nabila, his second wife, is Egyptian and to him represents sophistication and modernity. When tragedy befalls Mahmoud’s son Nur, the great hope of the Abuzeid clan, the fissures and tensions within the family are torn open in a turn of events that is both shocking and redemptive.
In the tradition of Naguib Mahfouz’s Palace Walk and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, LYRICS ALLEY features an epic landscape and a powerful cast of characters and is a breathtaking portrait of one family trying to reconcile the strong pull of tradition and the vital need to move forwards in rapidly changing times.
Leila Aboulela is the author of three books: The Translator, a novel published to critical acclaim in 1999 and longlisted for the Orange and the IMPAC prizes, Minaret, a novel longlisted for the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction, and a book of short stories, Coloured Lights, published in 2001 that contained her story 'The Museum', which made her the first winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Aboulela is a beautiful, graceful writer and she has written a novel of great scope and emotion.
(A Stephanie Cabot book from The Gernert Company)
USA: Grove/Atlantic (January 2011); UK: Weidenfeld & NIcolson; Netherlands: De Geus;
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BRIGHT BEFORE US
Arnold-Ratliff, Katie
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms
Tin House Books
"What I’ve done can be reduced, too. My students saw something horrible and I did nothing to help them. I hit a child who showed signs of abuse. I left my pregnant wife. I removed myself from the world and its unlikely need for me. A betrayal of our first contract with the world: that we’re free, and that we choose the people we become."
On a field trip to a San Francisco beach, newly-minted teacher Francis Mason's second-grade students happen upon the dead body of a woman. Pinioned by an empty marriage even as he prepares for the birth of his first child, Francis cannot shake a disconcerting belief - that the body is that of a former friend and soul mate, with whom he shared a cataclysmic loss two years earlier. Alternating chapter by chapter between the days after the field trip and those events of two years prior, BRIGHT BEFORE US is the riveting story of a man trying to understand - and come to terms with - the reality he has created for himself.
Katie Arnold-Ratliff received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied with Victoria Redel, Brian Morton, and Amy Hempel. She is now on the editorial staff of O, the Oprah Magazine.
(A Sarah Burnes book from The Gernert Company)
USA: Tin House Books (March 2011);
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MINDING FRANKIE
Binchy, Maeve
WOMEN'S FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 122.400 words
Orion
Baby Frankie is born into an unusual family. Her mother is desperate to find someone to take care of her child and she doesn't have much time. Noel doesn't seem to be the most promising of fathers but despite everything, he could well be Frankie's best hope. As for Lisa, she is prepared to give up everything for the man she loves; surely he's going to love her back? And Moira is having none of it. She knows what's right, and has the power to change the course of Frankie's life ... but Moira is hiding secrets of her own. MINDING FRANKIE is a story about unconventional families, relationships which aren't quite what they seem, and the child at the heart of everyone's lives ...
UK: Orion (September 2010);
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WOLFSBANE
Briggs, Patricia
SPECULATIVE FICTION
Fantasy
Extent: e-ms 359 pp
Ace Books
Shapeshifting mercenary Aralorn leads a dangerous existence. Now she must return home for her noble father, the Lyon of Lambshold, has passed away. But when Aralorn and her companion Wolf arrive, they find he's not dead, but ensorcelled by the ae'Magi, using him as a conduit to destroy Aralorn and Wolf. She must overcome this mysterious mist or fall to the blackest of magic.
Patricia Briggs is the author of the New York Times bestselling Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series.
USA: Ace (November 2010);
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WHAT ALICE KNEW
A Most Curious Tale of Henry James & Jack the Ripper
Cohen, Paula Marantz
SUSPENSE
Crime, Mystery
Historical
Extent: e-galley 352 pp
Sourcebooks
Renowned novelist Henry James is suffering through boring alcohol-soaked dinner parties in London -- until his brother William, renowned for his groundbreaking work in the new science of psychology, is summoned by Scotland Yard to help investigate an East End serial killer who calls himself Jack the Ripper. With William’s arrival and his inclusion of Henry in the investigation, things are suddenly much more interesting. Their bedridden sister, Alice James, takes on the role of lead detective as the three precocious siblings attempt to unravel the true identity of the killer. Searching London high and low, encountering characters both suspicious and ridiculous, they inch closer to a killer neither they, nor readers, would suspect.
US/Canada: Sourcebooks (September 2010);
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PORT MORTUARY (SCARPETTA #18)
Cornwell, Patricia
Crime, Mystery
Thriller
Extent: e-galley 512 pp
Putnam
SOLD
PLAYER ONE
What is to Become of Us
A Novel in 5 Hours
Coupland, Douglas
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-galley 58.000 words
House of Anansi Press
In the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut and J.G. Ballard, Coupland locates his story and characters in an extreme situation and then pushes the implications as far as possible. Set in an airport cocktail lounge during five hours of global disaster, it asks readers at what point do humans stop being human and become something else? Where, if anywhere, do modernity and classical theology overlap? What is time and how does story-telling fit into all of this.
Surprisingly timely, this book asks as many questions as it answers and readers will leave the book with no doubt that we are in a new phase of existence as a species - and that there is no turning back.
The CBC Massey Lectures are being delivered by acclaimed author Douglas Coupland who delivers a dysopian "Breakfast Club" for the twenty-first century.
US: House of Anansi Press (September 2010); UK: Heinemann; Netherlands: Meulenhoff; Chinese (Simplified): China Citic Press;
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CHAINS OF FIRE
The Chosen Ones
Dodd, Christina
WOMEN'S FICTION
Paranormal Romance / Suspense
Series Title
Extent: 422 pp
Signet
Samuel Faa is a Gypsy lawyer with the power to control minds. Isabelle Mason is wealthy, privileged, and refined, and has the gift for healing. Two of the Chosen Ones, they share a past filled with love and betrayal, and a future denied by fate-until the day they're trapped underground. No way out. No way to deny the passion that still burns beneath the surface. And when danger threatens, Isabelle has only one choice: to place her trust in the power of the one man she could never forgive...or forget.
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GO, MUTANTS!
Doyle, Larry
FICTION
Novel
Extent: galley 354 pp
Ecco
Earth has survived alien invasions, attacks by hordes of mutants, and the ravages of ancient beasts brought back to life. Now we’re in the blissful future - for most. J!m, the son of the alien who nearly destroyed the planet, is a brooding, megacephalic rebel with an enormous forehead and exceptionally oily skin. Along with Johnny, a radioactive biker ape, and Jelly, a gelatinous mass passing as a fat kid, J!m navigates a particularly unpleasant adolescence in which he really is as alienated as he feels, the world might actually be out to get him, and true love is complicated by misunderstanding and incompatible parts. As harmless school antics escalate into explosive events with tragic consequences, J!m makes a discovery that will alter the course of civilization, though it may help his dating life.
Replete with all the beach parties, dances, fistfights, and hotrod races of classic teen dramas - and packed with famous film monster cameos - GO MUTANTS! is fun strapped to an atomic rocket - and Doyle’s deadpan delivery and razor-sharp wit will have you laughing out loud before he even starts the ignition sequence.
Larry Doyle, a former writer for The Simpsons for which he won two Emmy Awards, works in showbiz and writes funny things for The New Yorker. He is the author of I Love You, Beth Cooper which won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor and was made into a motion picture.
(A Sarah Burnes book from the Gernert Company)
http://larrydoyle.com/
Film rights to GO MUTANTS! have been sold to Universal/Imagine Entertainment, Ron Howard’s production company.
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BOND GIRL
Duffy, Erin
WOMEN'S FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-galley 302 pp
William Morrow
From the first moment Alex Garrett steps onto the trading floor at one of the toniest brokerage firms on Wall Street, it becomes crystal clear her childhood dream job couldn’t be more different from her present, frenzied reality. Assigned to the Government Bond desk in the Fixed Income Division, she finds herself one of only two women in her group of forty on her sales desk (the other, nicknamed Cruella, is no mentor), and one of less than a dozen on the entire floor.
For months she is made to sit and peer over colleagues’ shoulders from a child-size folding chair with "Girlie" - her new name - inscribed on the back in White-Out pen; no desk or computer to call her own. Between the hours of 6AM and midnight, she finds herself trekking to the Bronx for $1,000 wheels of parmesan cheese, uncovering a secretary’s secret Friday night slumber/dance party in the conference room, and babysitting a colleague who bets he can eat the contents of the vending machine for $28,000.
Despite friends’ pleas for her to quit the business, Alex keeps her eye on the prize, and advances from lowly analyst to slightly-less-lowly associate in record time. Her colleagues stop calling her Girlie and begin calling her Alex; suddenly she has thirty-eight older brothers and one possible boyfriend. And then: The Apocalypse. As her life on "The Street" falls breathtakingly into the depths of intolerable cruelty - both personally and professionally - Alex is forced to choose between accompanying Cromwell Pierce in its descent or kicking off her Jimmy Choos and running for higher ground.
A fast-paced, hilarious, odyssey in four-inch stiletto heels, BOND GIRL - wryly narrated by Alex herself - is The Devil Wears Prada of Wall Street, and a behind-the-scenes look at the financial world beginning in the summer of 2006 and culminating in August of the now-infamously tumultuous year of 2008.
Erin Duffy graduated from Georgetown University in 2000 with a B.A. in English and went on to spend ten years in fixed income sales on Wall Street.
US: William Morrow;
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THEODORA
Actress, Empress, Whore
Duffy, Stella
HISTORICAL FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-galley 346 pp
Virago
The first in a planned trilogy, THEODORA reimagines the story of Theodora of Constantinople who rose from nothing to become the most powerful woman in the history of Byzantine Rome. In Duffy's breathtaking new novel, this fascinating, controversial woman comes to life again.
Charming, charismatic, heroic - Theodora of Constantinople rose from nothing to become the most powerful woman in the history of Byzantine Rome. Some called her a saint; others were not so kind. When her father is killed, the young Theodora is forced into near slavery to survive. But just as she learns to control her body as a dancer for the men who can afford her, she is determined to shape a very different fate for herself. From the vibrant streets and erotic stage shows of sixth-century Constantinople to the holy desert retreats of Alexandria, THEODORA is a novel of great breadth and spirit that will fascinate fans and new readers alike.
Stella Duffy is the author of seven novels and the Saz Martin crime series. She has published over thirty short stories, many feature articles, and also writes for radio and theatre.
(A Stephanie Cabot book from The Gernert Company)
http://stelladuffy.wordpress.com
UK: Virago (June 2010); USA: Penguin (Fall 2011);
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NOW YOU SEE HER
Fielding, Joy
Thriller
Atria Books
SOLD
While on holiday in Ireland, newly divorced Marcy Taggart sees a glimpse of her daughter through a café window. The catch: Marcy's daughter is believed to have drowned two years earlier. Marcy's in Ireland on what was supposed to be her 25th wedding anniversary celebration, but there she is - broken up with her husband, seeing the ghost of her daughter, and even her close family doesn't know she went ahead with the trip. She sees her daughter everywhere and follows the glimpses. Are the visions hallucinations? Is she losing her mind alone in the winding streets of a foreign country? Or, is she sane, and onto something even more terrible and dangerous than she could have imagined?
TULIP
Fitten, Marc
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 68.520 words
US / UK: on submission
On the Hungarian plains in the city of Delibab, a successful restaurateur, Elza, wakes one morning to the overwhelmingly dreadful sense that her life is not everything it should, or could, have been. As the proud owner of Tulip, the only fine dining restaurant in the city, Elza’s achieved the kind of financial stability and public notoriety that allows for an independent, peaceful life. She’s certainly not at loss for love, spending most nights with her doting (and much younger) sous-chef -- a dedicated man committed to both the kitchen and marrying Elza. Despite these blessings, the seed of discontent continues to blossom until, on a whim, Elza decides to contact a respected - if not stodgy - food critic to review her restaurant. With new purpose, Elza seeks to create the perfect dish combining haute cuisine with old traditional flavors, and perhaps earn a coveted Michelin star in the process. On her way to culinary stardom, she’ll have to face off against a beautiful new baker, Dora, who’s recently captured the heart of her spurned sous-chef ex-lover, a gang of gypsy children, and the discerning palate of a grieving, lonely food critic.
Like Elza’s signature dish - pork loin marinated in white wine instead of brined - Marc’s second novel feels both familiar and yet marks a brilliant departure from his previous work. Possessing the same charm and beauty of his debut novel, Marc explores a new Hungary, one in which modernity and tradition intersect, often in a contentious allegiance. At the heart of this novel, however, is one woman’s dream to make a finer dish out of life’s ingredients, and the gentle realization that sometimes what we have is enough.
Marc Fitten was born in Brooklyn in 1974 to Panamanian parents. He spent much of the 1990s living and traveling in Europe, based in Hungary. He is the author of Valeria’s Last Stand (Bloomsbury, 2009), and has been published in Prairie Schooner, The Louisville Review, and the Hogtown Creek Review, and Esquire. Marc received his PhD from Georgia State University and was the recipient of the Paul Bowles Fellowship for Fiction. He is currently the editor of The Chattahoochee Review, Atlanta’s oldest journal.
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I STILL DREAM ABOUT YOU, HONEY
Flagg, Fannie
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 385 pp
Random House
Hazel Whisenknott stood at three feet, four inches tall and was filled to the brim with all the verve and wisdom of someone twice her size. She’s been dead for almost five years but her legacy of fearless living is spread far and wide across Birmingham. Nobody experiences this more intensely than Maggie, Hazel’s beloved former employee, who has been methodically and unemotionally planning to end her life.
A beautiful former Miss Alabama, Maggie can’t believe her life has turned out this way--she's given up on her dream of living in a beautiful home like the dreamed-of Crestview with a loving husband and family she is instead is a single real estate agent living in a condo. But just when Maggie thinks life couldn’t possibly hold any surprises, things take a wild turn, and she finds herself catapulted into one surprising discovery after the next. With Hazel’s distinct voice of wit and encouragement ringing through her ears, Maggie discovers the true nature of friendship, what it means to win and the dangers of labeling dreams impossible. As Hazel Whisenknott would say, standing tall: Happy endings don’t only have to be for the lucky ones.
US: Random House (November 2010);
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PALO ALTO
Franco, James
FICTION
Short Story (-ies)
Extent: ms 193 pp
Scribner
SOLD
Palo Alto is the debut of a surprising and powerful new literary voice. Written with an immediate sense of place--claustrophobic and ominous--James Franco’s collection traces the lives of an extended group of teenagers as they experiment with vices of all kinds, struggle with their families and one another, and succumb to self-destructive, often heartless nihilism. In "Lockheed" a young woman’s summer--spent working a dull internship--is suddenly upended by a spectacular incident of violence at a house party. In "American Histor" a high school freshman attempts to impress a girl during a classroom skit with a realistic portrayal of a slave owner - only to have his feigned bigotry avenged. In "I Could Kill Someone," a lonely teenager buys a gun with the aim of killing his high school tormentor, but begins to wonder about his bully's own inner life.
These linked stories, stark, vivid, and disturbing, are a compelling portrait of lives on the rough fringes of youth.
"Franco's talent is unmistakable, his ambition profound. He has taken the twin subjects of suburban Palo Alto and American adolescence and made them as scary and true as they must be. This is a book to be inhaled more than once, with delight and admiration, with unease and pure enjoyment. As a writer, he's here to stay."--Gary Shteyngart
JAMES FRANCO is an actor, director, screenwriter, and artist. His film appearances include "Milk," the "Spider-Man" trilogy, and "Eat, Pray, Love." On television, he starred in the critically acclaimed series "Freaks and Geeks." Franco has also written, directed and starred in several short plays, two of which -- "Fool's Gold" and "The Ape" -- he adapted into feature-length films. He also wrote and directed the film "Good Time Max." Franco’s writing has appeared in Esquire, The Wall Street Journal, McSweeney's, and other publications
USA: Scribner; UK: Faber;
TABLOID CITY
Hamill, Pete
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 82.905 words
Little Brown
Legendary New Yorker and bestselling author Pete Hamill brings the city to life once again in this riveting story of a kaleidoscope of characters -- among them, a socialite, a newspaperman, a cop, and a criminal -- whose lives collide over one twenty-four hour period, with life-changing consequences.
From the author who is to many the living embodiment of New York comes a novel in which the city is portrayed in all its richness, danger, and beauty. The story unfolds over the course of twenty-four hours, and through the eyes of a varied cast of characters who call the metropolis home.
From the wealthy socialite to the illegal immigrant, from the hardened newspaper editor to the disgraced hedge-fund manager, from the police sergeant to the celebrity gossip blogger, Pete Hamill captures the voices and experiences of his fellow New Yorkers with verve and unflinching honesty. Before the day is out, some of these people will be dead, and some dreams will be shattered, while others will be realized against all odds.
Pete Hamill is a novelist, journalist, editor, and screenwriter. He is the author of 15 previous books including the bestselling novels Snow in August and Forever and the bestselling memoir A Drinking Life. He writes a column for the New York Daily News and lives in New York City.
US: Little, Brown (June 2011);
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FALL GIRL
Jordan, Toni
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-galley 237 pp
Text Publishing
Meet Dr Ella Joshua - beautiful, accomplished scientist with thick glasses and a passion for research. She’s looking for funding to pursue her dream of finding a long-extinct Tasmanian Tiger in rural Victoria.
She meets Daniel Metcalf - handsome millionaire with money to burn and a cherished childhood memory of encountering the long-extinct Tasmanian Tiger in rural Victoria. He’s looking for the next recipient of the family trust funding weird scientific research.
Sound too good to be true? You’d better believe it. Ella is really Della, con artist extraordinaire, and Daniel’s the juicy mark she’s got her eye on. With the help of her family of grifters, Della’s going to take home a nice little paypacket. But Daniel might not be quite the pushover he seems - and when the ante is suddenly raised, Della finds that her emotions might be the biggest stake in the game.
A delicious, sexy read from the author of Addition, FALL GIRL will steal your heart and dupe you into thinking you gave it away.
A sparkling, sexy read, FALL GIRL is a story about passion and loyalty, deceit and integrity, and the importance of believing in things that don't exist.
Toni Jordan’s first novel, Addition, was shortlisted for Best Fiction and Newcomer of the Year at the 2008 ABIA awards and was awarded Indie Book of the Year award for Fiction. Toni lives in Melbourne where she works as a freelance copywriter.
Australia: Text Publishing (November 2010); UK: Sceptre;
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DARK MIST RISING (ii)
Kendall, Anna
Science fiction
Extent: e-ms 401 pp
Viking
SOLD
The aliens appeared one day, built a base on the moon, and put an ad on the internet:
"We are an alien race you may call the Atoners. Ten thousand years ago we wronged humanity profoundly. We cannot undo what has been done, but we wish humanity to understand it. Therefore we request twenty-one volunteers to visit seven planets to Witness for us. We will convey each volunteer there and back in complete safety. Volunteers must speak English. Send requests for electronic applications to witness@Atoners.com."
At first, everyone thought it was a joke. But it wasn’t.
This is the story of three of those volunteers, and what they found on Kular A and Kular B.
Nancy Kress is the author of twenty-two books: fourteen novels of science fiction or fantasy. She has won three Nebulas, a Hugo, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Kress is the monthly 'Fiction' columnist for Writer's Digest Magazine. She teaches regularly at Clarion.
HOUSE JUSTICE (Joe DeMarco #5)
Lawson, Mike
SUSPENSE
Thriller
Series Title
Extent: 388 pp
Atlantic Monthly Press
In his thrillers starring Joe DeMarco, Mike Lawson has made a name for himself as one of the most entertaining and insightful writers focusing on the dirty games played in our nation’s capital. In House Justice, an American defense contractor goes to Iran to sell missile technology, and the CIA knows all about it thanks to a spy in Tehran. But the story is leaked to an ambitious journalist and the spy is burned, brutally tortured, and executed.
The director of the CIA isn’t about to let the callous sacrifice of his valuable spy go unpunished. DeMarco’s boss, Speaker of the House John Fitzpatrick Mahoney has his own reasons to get to the bottom of the leak: he once had a fling with the journalist, and now that she’s in jail for refusing to reveal her source, she is threatening to tell all unless he helps get her out.
DeMarco and the CIA aren’t the only ones looking for the source of the leak. Someone else wants to avenge the spy’s death, and is tailing DeMarco hoping he’ll lead him to his prey. House Justice is classic Mike Lawson - fascinating characters, inside-the-beltway intrigue, and a gripping plot packed with surprises.
"A superb example of the post-cold war espionage novel." - Booklist, starred review
Mike Lawson, a former senior civilian executive for the U.S. Navy, is the author of four previous novels starring Joe DeMarco.
(A David Gernert book from The Gernert Company)
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THE DARKENING ARCHIPELAGO
A Cole Blackwater Mystery
Legault, Stephen
USA
Crime, Mystery
Extent: 323 pp
NeWest Press
Eight months after his own brush with death over Alberta’s Cardinal Divide, Cole Blackwater has learned that his good friend and former client Archie Ravenwing is presumed dead on the waters of British Columbia’s Broughton Archipelago. Days before his disappearance, Ravenwing was on the brink of unravelling a corporate conspiracy surrounding an outbreak of sea lice that could decimate wild salmon along the BC coastline. While Cole and newspaper reporter Nancy Webber search for answers, Cole is haunted by the dark secret surrounding his own father’s mysterious death. For Nancy Webber, whose long-forgotten feelings for Cole have risen to the surface again, getting to the bottom of Cole’s family history becomes both a professional and personal obsession. The Darkening Archipelago, the second book of the Cole Blackwater series, is a race to keep both human souls and wild ecosystems from falling into darkness.
Stephen Legault has been a social and political activist for twenty years. He has worked with local, national, and international conservation organizations to protect Canada’s endangered species, wilderness, and to combat climate change. In July 2005 he launched HighWater Mark Strategy and Communications to work with ethically driven businesses, the labour movement, political parties, and social justice, arts, and cultural organizations. Through this effort, Stephen helps companies involve their members, customers, and clients in the social or environmental mandate of the business, and assists non-profit organizations to become more strategic and effective.
http://www.highwatermark.ca
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RED HOT FURY
A Shades of Fury Novel
Mackenzie, Kasey
SPECULATIVE FICTION
Fantasy
Series Title
Extent: 341 pp
Ace Books
"Urban fantasy readers looking for something new will thrill to this exhilarating debut, populated with creatures from Greek myth. To end a war between mortals and supernatural arcanes, the Furies stepped in to be peacemakers. Now Fury Marissa "Riss" Holloway helps mortal police in Boston solve magical crimes. When a corpse that looks like another Fury washes up from the harbor, Riss quickly realizes it's a fake and connects it to a recent series of disappearances, but both the police and the Sisterhood of Furies stonewall her investigation. Riss has only one place to turn: her ex, Scott Murphy, a shape-shifting Warhound. As they start to uncover the truth, Scott and Riss also uncover their still-strong feelings for one another. Riss is the perfect urban fantasy heroine--fresh, sassy, smart, and determined--and a cavalcade of fully developed side characters keep this twisty tale moving quickly." - PW, starred review
"I loved it. Kasey Mackenzie is a brilliant new talent, and RED HOT FURY is fun, inventive, and has an awesome heroine. Easily the best book I've read this year." --Karen Chance, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Cassie Palmer Series and Midnight’s Daughter. (added by author)
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HEFT
Moore, Liz
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 96,300
W.W. Norton
HEFT is the story of a triangle: Charlene Turner, her old English professor Arthur Opp, and Kel, Charlene’s son. Charlene is dying of alcoholism and she knows it. So she orchestrates a meeting between Arthur, who adored her as a student years ago, and Kel, a star baseball player struggling as a new transfer at a ritzy private school. It is 500-pound Arthur whose voice immediately draws us into this story -- honest, lonely, articulate, and instantly engaging. It is a voice that is both nearly-unbearable in its sadness and unforgettable in its poignancy. Arthur has rarely left his house since 1996, the year his closest friend Marty died and the time he ballooned from merely fat to grotesquely obese. After 2001 he became a complete recluse. But upon receiving an unexpected call from Charlene, Arthur allows a new person into his home for the first time in seven years - Yolanda, a young cleaning woman with troubles of her own. The ways both Arthur’s and Kel’s life change through Yolanda’s presence are gently surprising and beautiful. Arthur and Kel don't know how they’re connected, but they need the link to bear the weight of their losses. Told through both Arthur and Kel’s voices, HEFT is a deftly-written and beautiful novel.
Liz Moore is 26 years old. She has an MFA from Hunter College and is also a musician and teacher. This is her debut novel. Her first story collection was well reviewed, selected for Borders’ Original Voices Program, starred by Kirkus, and given 3.5 /4 by People magazine. "Elegant, wise, and beautifully constructed," wrote Roddy Doyle.
USA: W.W. Norton;
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ORIENTATION
And Other Stories
Orozco, Daniel
FICTION
Short Story (-ies)
Extent: e-ms 46.700 words
Faber and Faber (US)
Daniel Orozco may well be the best unknown writer in America. His work has been published in all the major journals; appeared in Best American Short Stories,Best American Essays, and Best American Mystery stories. He was a resident at the Lannan Foundation, a fellow at Macdowell (more than once), a Stegner fellow; and has won a NEA Literature Fellowship in Prose, a Pushcart Prize, and has had his work selected for the PEN/O.Henry Prize Stories 2010. Currently an English Professor at the University of Idaho, Daniel is in his early 50s.
ORIENTATION is a collection of nine contemporary stories that are exquisite. Orozco's stories don't have a word out of place and have a wonderful duality to them. In each case, there is a deceptively simple narrative that always reveals a well of complex emotion and conflict beneath. They can be read quickly, but often leave one wanting to read them again, savoring the deeper meaning a second time around.
Several of these stories have been published previously in a range of publications and anthologies, but this is the first time that Orozco has had his work published in a singular collection. His stories have appeared in Germany and Denmark, and in Hungary’s literary journal Magyar Napló and Japan’s literary journal Store.
The deal with Faber/FSG was for two books and the second will be a novel.
(A Sarah Burnes book from The Gernert Company)
USA: (Faber/FSG);
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EL COMIENZO DE LA PRIMAVERA
Pron, Patricio
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 79.230 words
Mondadori (collezione Le Scie)
Martínez, a young Argentine, is enraptured by a German philosopher named Hollenbach and his theory of discontinuity. He sets off on a journey through Germany in hopes of meeting Hollenbach - one riddled with labyrinths, false starts, and mistaken identities. Piece by piece, Martínez uncovers the events of Hollenbach’s life, which are inextricably tied to Germany’s recent past. THE START OF SPRING was the winner of the Jaén Prize and chosen by the José Manuel Lara Foundation as one of the five best novels published in Spain that year.
"His writing overflows with ideas and humor." - Quintín, Perfil
"An admirable novel..." - Soledad Quereilhac, La Nación
Patricio Pron’s work has received numerous awards, including the 2004 Juan Rulfo Short Story Prize, and has been included in anthologies in Argentina, Spain, Germany, The United States, Colombia and Cuba. His stories have appeared in publications such as Zoetrope (U.S.), die horen (Germany), Etiqueta Negra (Peru), Esquire (Mexico), Eñe and Granta (Spain) and most recently, The Paris Review (U.S.). Pron holds a doctorate in Romance Languages and Literature from the Georg-August University in Göttingen (Germany). He currently works as a translator, journalist and critic.
Spain: Mondadori (2008); US: on submission; UK: Soon to be on submission;
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MY LADY'S PLEASURE
Quincy, Olivia
ROMANCE
Erotica
Historical
Extent: 294 pp
NAL
Lady Georgiana Vernon and Jeremy Staunton have an unconventional relationship--at least for the upper crust in 1895. They meet publicly as friends, and privately as lovers. It is an arrangement that allows Georgiana the kind of sexual freedom she desires. That is, until she meets another man who consumes her attention, a landscape designer working on the fields of her estate. When the relationship is discovered, she becomes the target of threats on her life. This steamy, explicit read combines erotica and an interesting exploration of Victorian propriety.
US: NAL (July 2010);
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OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Rendell, Joanne
FICTION
Novel
Extent: 314 pp
NAL
Clara Fitzgerald's recent losses send her adrift, both professionally and personally. Remembering the stories her mother used to tell her, Clara decides to research her ancestry, only to find an incredible link to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. She embarks on a research project, searching through the author's long lost journals and letters, until she discovers the surprising link between her life and Shelley's.
US: NAL (September 2010);
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RESCUE
Shreve, Anita
FICTION
Novel
Extent: galley 291 pp
Little, Brown
SOLD
http://www.anitashreve.com/
USA: Little, Brown (30 November 2010); UK: Little, Brown;
THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR
Silva, Daniel
SUSPENSE
Thriller
Series Title
Extent: 484 pp
Putnam
Gabriel Allon returns in the spellbinding new novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author.
It has been six months since Gabriel’s showdown with Ivan Kharkov. Now, having severed his ties with the Office, Gabriel has retreated to the Cornish coast with only one thing in mind: healing his wife, Chiara, after her encounter with evil. But an unspeakable act of violence once again draws Gabriel into a world of danger when an art restorer is brutally murdered and the newly discovered Rembrandt on which he is working taken. Gabriel is persuaded to use his unique skills to trace the painting and those responsible for the crimes; but, as he investigates, he discovers there are terrible secrets connected to the painting, and terrible men behind them. Before he is done, he will have undertaken a journey through some of the twentieth century’s darkest history - and come face-to-face with some of the same darkness within himself.
USA: Putnam (July 2010);
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THE WORLD INSIDE
Silverberg, Robert
SPECULATIVE FICTION
Science fiction
Extent: 256 pp
Orb/Tom Doherty
THE WORLD INSIDE is a fascinating exploration of society and what makes us human, told by a master of speculative fiction.
"In the 1960s, professional population alarmist Paul Ehrlich made hilariously inaccurate prognostications of imminent Malthusian doom. While these predictions inspired some SF authors to depict crowded future worlds, Silverberg's 1971 quasi-utopian tale - less a novel than a collection of closely linked vignettes - presents a 24th-century Earth populated by 75 billion fanatically pro-natalist conformists. The product of centuries of artificial selection and social pressures, rewarded with (or forced to endure) frequent, meaningless sex, the citizens of the three-kilometer-high Urbmons are for the most part incapable of imagining other ways of life. Those few deviants who rebel are either forcibly cured or summarily executed. By modern standards this is a lean book, but Silverberg can bring a world to life with a few carefully chosen words, and a recent HBO option suggests it will appeal to present-day audiences." - PW
Winner of four Hugo Awards and five Nebula Awards, Robert Silverberg is one of the giants of science fiction and fantasy. A Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master, he has written countless short stories, nonfiction books, and novels.
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THE BIRD HOUSE
Simmons, Kelly
FICTION
Novel
Extent: e-ms 64,000 words
Atria Books
When Ann Biddle starts working with her young granddaughter, Ellie, on a family history project for school, they bond over scrapbooks and digging through old trunks. But what starts out as innocent fun grows darker as secrets long buried begin to resurface through the haze of Ann's early Alzheimer's symptoms. They're secrets about a tragic death in Ann's past, about sickness and cruelty, wealth and betrayal, and a forgotten first love; the type of knowledge best kept from a child. But Ellie soon reveals that she has some secrets of her own. As the pair digs deeper, Ann's daughter-in-law grows worried about Ellie and suspicious of Ann's motives, leading to a cat-and-mouse game to protect both their own interests and control of Ellie. Written from the perspective of two sets of Ann's diary entries forty years apart, the two stories entwine to lead Ann to re-think the narrative of her life and her role as keeper of the family history.
Praise for Kelly Simmons' first novel Standing Still:
"Kelly Simmons' debut as a suspense writer is ... genuinely scary but also braced by irony. Her heroine, Claire, is everyone's fool until it becomes evident that she is no one's...Standing Still has a rare quality for a thriller. It's subtle, no less scary than it should be, but almost gentle where it needs to be." - NY Daily News
"The perfect read for a stormy night, Simmons's suspenseful tale contains nary a wasted word." - Publishers Weekly starred review
Kelly Simmons is a former journalist and advertising creative director specializing in marketing to women. She lives with her family outside Philadelphia.
USA: Atria Books (February 2011);
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BASED UPON AVAILABILITY
Strauss, Alix
FICTION
Novel
Extent: 340 pp
Harper
"Strauss's stellar first novel (after story collection The Joy of Funerals) chronicles the loneliness of New Yorkers loosely connected by the swanky Four Seasons hotel. (...) Subplots play out and scenes are revisited courtesy of a number of perspectives ... creating a near mosaic with twinges of darkness, thanks largely to the strange and unexpected things that go on behind hotel doors: the s&m gear Morgan steals after snooping in a guest's room, an abused woman found tied to a bed. Strauss's ending, which strives to be hopeful, comes off as abrupt; otherwise, this is quite sublime." - PW
"The women in Strauss’ mesmerizing novel all suffer from an inability to connect with family, with men, with potential friends. (...) Lonely and longing to be otherwise, the characters in this moving novel are achingly sympathetic, their plights eminently relatable. - Kristine Huntley, Bookist (starred review)
"These New York stories will remind some readers of Parker - as in Dorothy, not Sarah Jessica." - Kirkus Reviews
Alix Strauss is a lifestyle trend writer who appears on national morning and talk shows. Her articles have been published in the New York Times, Marie Claire, Time, and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications. She is the author of The Joy of Funerals, Have I Got a Guy for You, and Death Becomes Them: Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous, and the Notorious.
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BY BLOOD
Ullman, Ellen
SUSPENSE
Thriller
Extent: e-ms 481 pp
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
BY BLOOD is one of the most chilling psychological thrillers in recent memory.
As the novel opens, we learn that our narrator is a college professor is in the purgatory of some sort of disgrace. His university’s charges against him are unsavory but unclear. He is 'taking some time off'. We will never learn his name.
It is the summer of 1974, the Zodiac killer is terrorizing San Francisco, and the professor has rented a shoddy office space in a seedy portion of that city’s downtown. The professor teaches in the Midwest and has no friends in the Bay Area, but he is desperately attempting to complete some sort of thesis. He is ready to bear down and work hard through his anonymity. His concentration, however, is broken by the murmuring of the office next door. It seems the space is occupied by one Dr. Dora Schussler, psychiatrist. The sound is coming from a white noise machine, designed to wall off prying ears. The professor finds it maddening and is cursing his already-signed office lease. And then one day the sound disappears, to be replaced by full throated voices. One particular patient of Dr. Schussler’s insists that the machine be turned off. Thus begins our Professor’s obsession with Patient Number 3.
As the Professor eavesdrops his way through many sessions, he discovers the true source of his beloved Patient Number 3's unhappiness - her life as the alienated adopted daughter of a unloving mother. As the Patient flails around in search of her biological mother, the Professor decides to help. He puts his research skills to work and begins to secretly drop maternal identity clues into the Patient’s life. The mother is alive, her personal history is extraordinary, and the Patient’s state of mind takes a turn for the better. As that history is being revealed, we are left guessing at the Professor’s true intentions. Has he accidentally stumbled into an unrequited love? Or is he utterly delusional? How deranged or how benevolent is his obsession?
Ellen Ullman is the author of the groundbreaking computer programming essay collection Close to the Machine and the novel The Bug.
USA: Farrar Straus and Giroux;
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THE MOON OF LETTING GO
Van Camp, Richard
FICTION
Short Story (-ies)
Extent: PDF 224 pp
Enfield & Wizenty
Ending the tradition of aboriginal storytelling, Richard Van Camp’s new collection is eloquently and humorously optimistic. The stories in The Moon of Letting Go celebrate healing through modern day rituals that honour his Dogrib ancestry. Van Camp speaks in a range of powerful voices: a violent Indian gangster has an astonishing spiritual experience, a single mother is protected from her ex husband by a dangerous medicine man, and a group of young men pay tribute to a friend by streaking through their northern town. Broadcast on the CBC, they have alsoappeared in the Walrus and Prairie Fire.
Richard Van Camp is a Dogrib Indian from the North West Territories.
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TRULY, MADLY (Lucy Valentine 1)
Webber, Heather
SUSPENSE
Paranormal Romance / Suspense
Series Title
Extent: e-galley 320 pp
St. Martin's Press
"This clever paranormal mystery series launch is sure to delight fans of Webber's gardening detective, Nina Quinn (Weeding Out Trouble, etc.). The Boston Valentines have been professional matchmakers for generations, but Lucy Valentine's psychic talent tends to show her people's lost car keys rather than their ideal mates, so she's shocked when her parents stick her with running the company. A vision leaves her wondering whether a client murdered his girlfriend, so she hires sexy PI Sean Donahue to find the missing woman, but while she's imagining them naked in bed, he's suspecting her of murder. Lucy has to contend with her meddling grandmother's efforts to find her a new boyfriend as she dodges the cops, hunts a killer, and struggles to explain the truth to Sean. Fun characters, sparkling prose, and a twisty plot add up to a great beginning for Valentine Inc." - PW
"Lucy is a charming and lovable enough character to guide the reader through Webber’s unbelievably zany but truly irresistible mix of clever romance and a wildly inventive mystery. - Booklist
"A delightful heroine and a clever premise combine to make this one of the most entertaining books I’ve read in months." - Charlaine Harris,
St. Martin's sold 90.000 copies of TRULY, MADLY in the first two months after publication.
DEEPLY, DESPERATELY: August 2010
ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY: February 2011
Heather Webber grew up in a suburb of Boston, where she learned early on how to ride the T, skip rocks in the ocean, and root for the Red Sox. As a young mother, she tried her hand at writing novels and is now an Agatha Award-nominated author. Heather now lives in southwestern Ohio with her high school sweetheart and their three children.
http://www.heatherwebber.com/books/index.php
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THE GREEN LEOPARD PLAGUE
And Other Stories
Williams, Walter Jon
SPECULATIVE FICTION
Science fiction
Anthology
Extent: 306 pp
Night Shade Books
"In this provocative, entertaining collection of nine reprints, Williams (Implied Spaces) brings together tales of the College of Mystery as well as other explorations of the gray region where psyche and technology meet. Standouts include the Nebula-winning Daddy's World, in which a young boy finds himself trapped in a nightmare not of his making; The Last Ride of German Freddie, an alternate history in which Friedrich Nietzsche meets Wyatt Earp; Incarnation Day, wherein humanity raises its children as computer programs; and the title story, another Nebula winner, about a utopian society's birth and psychological effects. Coupled with extensive notes from the author, these stories invite readers to share and enjoy Williams's extensive knowledge of history, psychology, and culture." - PW, starred review
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