Mike Papantonio Mike Papantonio

P UBLISHERSW EEKLY. COM J ULY 24, 2017

MIKE PAPANTONIO MIKE PAPANTONIO

Mike Papantonio is host of America’s Lawyer, and he is a rising star in thriller fiction, delivering action packed plots with smart political insight. Along with co-hosts Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Sam Seder, Papantonio’s nationally syndicated radio show Ring of Fire and its expanding multimedia network delivers the latest progressive news, commentary, and analysis to millions of listeners and viewers. His previous installment, Law and Disorder, demonstrated Mike’s unique ability to interweave the legal maneuverings of a courtroom drama with an action-driven plot which pits ruthless criminals against a tenacious hero with deep convictions. Law and Vengeance once again showcases Papantonio’s unique talents. Mike is also a senior partner of Levin Papantonio, one of the largest plaintiffs’ law firms in America, and he is former President of the National Trial Lawyers Association. LAW AND VENGEANCE marketing/publicity highlights: t $200K marketing budget t Mike Papantonio is host of the weekly television program, America’s Lawyer, that is shown internationally t National exposure through Ring of Fire, The Young Turks, RT America, and Free Speech TV networks t Publicity handled by collaboration of Meryl Moss Media and Fauzia Burke, FSB Associates, two of the preeminent publicity firms in the publishing industry Publication date: September 2017 t Law and Vengeance will also receive support through the Na- ISBN 13: 978-1-59079-436-4 tional Trial Lawyers Association Hardcover; $24.95 U.S. t Mike Papantonio is a highly sought after political commen- Distributed by Perseus Distribution tator who has appeared on MSNBC, Free Speech TV, Fox News, and international television Volume 264 July 24, Number 30 2017 ISSN 0000-0019

F EATURES 22 The Human Side of War Personal narratives offer windows into the experience of combat, while practical manuals ease the transition from soldier to civilian.

N EWS 4 Is This Indigo’s Moment? Coming off a fiscal year when sales topped C$1 billion, the Canadian retailer may be eyeing the U.S. market 5 Scholastic Aims to Improve Profits After posting gains in sales and earnings in fiscal 2017, Scholastic has embarked on a three-year program to drive up profits and margins. 5 Big Week for Board Books A spike in board book sales helped raise unit sales of print books 5% in the week ended July 16 above the comparable week in 2016. 8 Meet the Editor We talk with Erroll McDonald, v-p, executive editor at Pantheon. 10 Hot Topic With Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk out in theaters July 21, we look at some of the WWII books hitting shelves this season.

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WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 1 “MARK MAZOWER IS A GREAT HISTORIAN Contents AND A SUBTLE WRITER ALWAYS ATTENTIVE TO HUMANE DETAIL.” D EPARTMENTS & COLUMNS –ORHAN PAMUK 7 Deals Louise Penny re-ups with Minotaur, Kensington nabs a Zsa Zsa recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature Gabor bio, Haymarket scores a Super Bowl champ, and more. 18 Open Book Talking books at the world’s biggest music festival. 20 Digital Perspectives Laura Dawson discusses watermarking with Bill Rosenblatt, founder of Giant Steps Media Technology Strategies. 64 Soapbox by Mollie Fermaglich A satirist bemoans the need for a social media presence as she tries to get back into the literary game. ON SALE B ESTSELLERS

10/17/17 ● Adult Hardcovers 12 ● Adult Paperbacks 13 ● Children’s 14 ● Apple iBooks 15 ● International 16–17

R EVIEWS Fiction Nonfiction 36 General Fiction 49 General Nonfiction 39 Mystery/Thriller 45 SF/Fantasy/Horror Children’s 46 Romance/Erotica 56 Picture Books 47 Inspirational 60 Fiction 48 Comics 63 Comics 38 42 Boxed Review In My Own Words Published on the occasion of the 100th anniversary Something Like with A.F. Brady of the Russian Revolution, a warm and intimate Happy memoir by an acclaimed historian that explores the European struggles of the twentieth century 45 through the lives, hopes, and dreams Boxed Review Iraq + 100 of a single family — his own. 42 “A SIMULTANEOUSLY SWEEPING AND Reviews Roundup ABCs and 123s

INTIMATE FAMILY PORTRAIT.” PW Publishers Weekly USPS 763-080 (ISSN 0000-0019) is published weekly, except for the last week in December. Published by PWxyz LLC, 71 West 23rd Street, Suite 1608, New York, NY 10010. George Slowik Jr., President; Cevin —Kirkus Reviews Bryerman, Publisher. Circulation records are maintained at ESP, 12444 Victory Boulevard, 4th Floor, North Hollywood, CA 91606. Phone: (800) 278-2991 or +001 (818) 487-2069 from outside the U.S. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Publishers Weekly, P.O. Box 16957, North Hollywood, CA 91615-6957. PW PUBLISHERS WEEKLY copyright 2017 by PWxyz LLC. Rates for one-year subscriptions in U.S. dollars drawn on a U.S. bank: U.S. $289.99, Canada: $339.99, all other countries: $439.99. Except for special issues where price What You Did Not Tell : changes are indicated, single copies are available for $9.99 US; $16.99 for Announcement issues. Extra postage applied for non-U.S. shipping addresses. Please address all subscription mail to Publishers Weekly, P.O. Box 16957, North Hollywood, A Russsian Past and the Journey Home CA 91615-6957. PW PUBLISHERS WEEKLY is a (registered) trademark of PWxyz LLC. Canadian Publications Mail Agreement No. 42025028. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: IMS, 3390 Rand Road, South Plainfield, NJ 07080 E-mail: by Mark Mazower Other Press [email protected]. PRINTED IN THE USA. 978-1-59051-907-3 | $25.95 otherpress.com

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From the PW Radio Podcasts Newsletters Paul Lynch discusses his new Week Ahead Tip Sheet novel, Grace. Then PW editorial PW senior writer Andrew Albanese talks about why librarians are feeling a little more Laura Dassow Walls, author director Jim Milliot talks about of Henry David Thoreau: A optimistic, if still uncertain, about their Life, gives seven reasons why Canadian bookseller Indigo’s federal funding for 2018. Thoreau still matters today. possible move into the U.S. publishersweekly.com/weekahead publishersweekly.com/ publishersweekly.com/pwradio235 thoreau More to Come Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald bring you Children’s Bookshelf interviews with comics artists, editors, and Our preview of the spring’s top children’s publishers, recorded live from the fl oor of books. San Diego Comic-Con. publishersweekly.com/springpreview publishersweekly.com/moretocome BookLife Report KidsCast Milo Yiannopoulos reports selling 100,000 Pam Smy discusses Thornhill, an eerie copies of his self-published Dangerous, but novel told in alternating written and visual NPD BookScan tells a different story. narratives, about a girl named Ella who is publishersweekly.com/dangerousnumbers mysteriously drawn to an abandoned building near her new home. PW Daily publishersweekly.com/kidscast134 Every day’s publishing news delivered to your inbox, for free. Blogs publishersweekly.com/pwdaily ShelfTalker Sign up for these and other great, free Middle grade graphic novels are fl ying off the newsletters at shelves. publishersweekly.com/newsletters publishersweekly.com/jobzone publishersweekly.com/middlegrade

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Is This Indigo’s INDIGO FISCAL 2016–2017 RESULTS Segment Sales Moment? (C$ in millions) SEGMENT APR. 2, 2016 APR. 1, 2017 CHANGE CHANGE COMP Coming off a fiscal year when sales STORE SALES topped C$1 billion, the Canadian retailer Superstores C$695.3 C$702.1 1.0% 2.9% is eyeing the U.S. market Small-Format Stores C$140.2 C$140.7 0.4% 0.9% Online C$133.3 C$148.2 11.2% 12.8% (Including Kiosks) n the fiscal year ended Mar. 29, 2014, Indigo lost C$31 Other C$25.4 C$28.8 13.4% N/A million on revenue of C$867.7 million. Three years later, in the fiscal year ended Apr. 1, 2017, the Canadian Total C$994.2 C$1,019.8 2.6% 4.1% retail chain has cemented its turnaround: revenue Sales by Product Line toppedI C$1 billion for the first time, and net earnings were PRODUCT 2016 2017 C$20.9 million. 1 With a firm financial foundation, Indigo now appears ready Print 61.9% 58.6% 2 to move beyond Canada. Reports surfaced last week that the General Merchandise 34.5% 37.7% retailer is likely to open its first American store sometime in E-reading3 1.5% 1.2% early 2018. Although a spokesperson for the chain had no Other4 2.1% 2.5% comment, in its annual report Indigo noted that the company Total 100.0% 100.0% continues to look for new opportunities “both within Canada 1) Includes books, magazines, newspapers, and shipping revenue. and globally.” 2) Includes lifestyle, paper, toys, calendars, music, DVDs, electronics, and shipping revenue. Indigo’s ability to increase sales has been due in part to the 3) Includes e-readers, e-reader accessories, Kobo revenue share, and shipping revenue. broadening of its product mix, which led to the May 2016 deci- 4) Includes cafés, gift card breakage, loyalty program breakage, and corporate sales. SOURCE: INDIGO sion by CEO Heather Reisman to create what she, in her letter to shareholders, called “our first true cultural department store.” destination in Canada,” according to the annual report. To Sales at the first revamped store were 25% higher than the that end, Indigo will continue to expand its lifestyle and paper slightly smaller outlet it replaced across the street in Toronto, offerings, as well as the selection of toys and games in all its Reisman said. Indigo executives were encouraged by the results superstores and online. Upping its proprietary merchandise from the newly conceived store; Reisman wrote that Indigo has line—which includes expanding its line of gifts and lifestyle “set the groundwork this year to begin a major three-year initia- products in areas such as home, paper merchandise, and fashion tive to renovate our entire store network.” In fiscal 2017, Indigo accessories—is another priority. In fiscal 2017, the general renovated one superstore and three smaller-format stores. merchandise category had the highest sales gain for the Though Indigo intends to keep books as its core offering, it retailer, with a double-digit-percentage sales increase from is also working to “become the premiere year-round gifting fiscal 2016.

S&S Restruc- marketing, publici- retail marketing House Backs NEH. The commit- tures Children’s ty, and digital mar- coordinator; and Funding for tee approved the Publicity and keting teams. Nicole Russo, Libraries, NEA, Labor, Health and Marketing Chrissy Noh was senior director of and NEH Human Services, Simon & Schuster promoted to senior publicity, will lead The House Appro- and Education announced several director of market- the publicity efforts priations Commit- funding bill, which promotions and ing for seven S&S for Aladdin, Little tee voted last week proposes $231 new hires last Children’s Publish- Simon, Pulse, to fund the Institute million for the week, as part of an ing imprints; Jill Simon Spotlight, of Museum and IMLS. This followed expansion and re- Hacking was pro- and Paula Wise- Library Services a vote on July 18

News Briefs organization of its moted to the newly man Books, among for 2018, as well by the HAC that newly integrated created role of other changes. as the NEA and continued on p. 6

4 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 News

The Weekly Scorecard As a result of the change in buying trends, the sales mix changed in fiscal 2017. The print category accounted for Board Books Have Big Week 58.6% of Indigo revenue, down from 61.9% a year earlier, A spike in sales of board books helped to drive up unit sales of while the general merchandise category accounted for 37.7% print books 5% in the week ended July 16, 2017 over the compa- of sales, up from 34.5% in the prior year. In terms of books, rable week in 2016 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Sales the company refined its bestseller program and expanded of board books were 25% higher than in the week ended July 17, the staff picks and local authors programs. “Print sales 2016. Juvenile nonfi ction titles benefi ted from the surge: unit remained solid” in fiscal 2017, Indigo said, as sales of Harry sales in that category were 14% higher than in the comparable Potter and the Cursed Child offset declines in the adult coloring week in 2016. There were no new big hits in the category, but book category. many of the top sellers had solid increases from the previous As well as the stores have done, Indigo’s fastest growth in week. Brain Quest titles occupied fi ve of the top 10 category the year came in its online segment, where sales jumped bestseller list slots, selling more than 30,000 copies total. Flash- 12.8% over fiscal 2016, with gains in both print books and cards were also big sellers. In the juvenile fi ction category, unit sales were 10% higher than a year ago. The segment benefi ted general merchandise. Online sales represented 14.5% of all from the release of The Land of Stories: Worlds Collide by Chris Indigo revenue in fiscal 2017, up from 13.4% the previous Colfer, which sold more than 35,000 copies, making it #1 in the year. Indigo said it will continue to improve its e-commerce juvenile fi ction segment. A second new release that landed in platform to maintain its position as an omnichannel retailer. the top 10 (at #7) on the category bestseller list was What if Though Indigo founded Kobo in 2009 (and sold it to the Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick , which sold more than Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten in 2011), sales of 7,000 copies. The adult nonfi ction segment saw a 5% increase in digital books and e-readers have never been a significant part unit sales over the similar week in 2016, helped by The Instant of Indigo’s sales mix. Kobo sales fell in fiscal 2017, due, the Pot Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Laurel Randolph (#2 in the cat- company said, to industry-wide slowing of digital book sales. egory bestseller list), which sold more than 16,000 copies. The Milk and Honey While e-book sales fell last year, Indigo added to its store top title remained by Rupi Kaur, with more than count for the first time in at least five years. It finished fiscal 21,000 copies sold in the week. Unit sales in the adult fi ction category fell 2% Just as in the comparable week last year, Daniel 2017 with 212 outlets (89 superstores and 123 smaller Silva had the top seller in the category: this year it was House of stores), one superstore more than it had in fiscal 2016. But Spies, which sold more than 46,000 copies; last year it was The Indigo hasn’t been immune to the challenges facing physical Black Widow, with more than 51,000 copies. retailers—in fiscal 2013 it had 97 superstores and 134 smaller stores. —Jim Milliot, with reporting by Ed Nawotka UNIT SALES OF PRINT BOOKS BY CHANNEL (in thousands) JUL.17, JUL. 16, CHGE CHGE 2016 2017 WEEK YTD Scholastic 2020 Total 11,956 12,525 5% 3% Retail & Club 10,337 10,954 6% 5% Scholastic Aims to Mass Merch ./Others 1,620 1,573 -3% -7% Improve Profi ts UNIT SALES OF PRINT BOOKS BY CATEGORY (in thousands) espite reporting a 32% increase in operating income JUL. 17, JUL. 16, CHGE CHGE in the fiscal year ended May 31, 2017, from the 2016 2017 WEEK YTD Dprevious year, Scholastic still had an operating Adult Nonfi ction 4,646 4,888 5% 2% margin of only 5.1%. That is one reason the publisher Adult Fiction 3,058 2,987 -2% 0.3% announced the launch of a new three-year effort to drive up Juvenile Nonfi ction 1,002 1,146 14% 5% operating income when it released its results for fi scal 2017 last week. Scholastic posted revenue of $1.74 billion and Juvenile Fiction 2,881 3,158 10% 5% operating income of $88.9 million ($109.1 million, excluding one-time items), giving the company one of the lowest mar- UNIT SALES OF PRINT BOOKS BY FORMAT (in thousands) gins in the industry. JUL. 17, JUL. 16, CHGE CHGE 2016 2017 WEEK YTD To boost earnings, Scholastic has started Scholastic 2020, a companywide initiative through which the publisher aims to Hardcover 2,834 3,126 10% 7% reduce operating costs by simplifying business processes, Trade Paperback 7,128 7,385 4% 2% expand revenue opportunities with more targeted marketing Mass Market Paperback 1,227 1,117 -9% -8% and sales initiatives, lower technology costs through unified Board Books 463 582 25% 11% systems, and improve real-time visibility to product move- Audio 72 66 -8% -8% ment, leading to operations and fulfillment savings. As explained by Scholastic chairman Dick Robinson, much of the SOURCE: NPD BOOKSCAN AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. NPD’S U.S. CONSUMER MARKET PANEL COVERS APPROXIMATELY 80% OF THE PRINT BOOK MARKET AND CONTINUES TO GROW. News

SCHOLASTIC RESULTS BY SEGMENT, in sales from fiscal fair revenue to an intentional 9% reduc- 2016, with revenue tion in the number of events, part of FISCAL 2016–2017 topping $1 billion. Scholastic’s plan to focus on generating ($ in millions) The increase was led more revenue per fair rather than relying 2016 2017 CHANGE SEGMENT by the trade divi- on the sheer number of fairs. Robinson Children’s Book Publishing $1,000.9 $1,052.1 5% sion, where sales said he expects that strategy to lift sales and Distribution jumped 45% thanks this year. The book club business should Book Clubs $268.0 $235.0 -12% to strong perfor- see sales growth from new product, Book Fairs $520.0 $508.0 -2% mances by J.K. pricing, and merchandising strategies. Trade $211.0 $307.0 45% Rowling’s Harry Though overall sales in the trade division Education $299.0 $312.0 4% Potter and the Cursed will fall in the year, Robinson said that, Child and Fantastic excluding Harry Potter titles, trade sales International $372.0 $376.0 1% Beasts and Where to could increase in the mid-single digits. Total Sales $1,672.8 $1,741.6 4% Find Them. Other Revenue in the education group Operating Income $67.6 $88.9 32% titles that sold well increased 4% to $312.7 million, largely Operating Margin 4.0% 5.1% in the year included due to higher sales of literacy programs

SOURCE: SCHOLASTIC books in the Dog and classroom magazines. Sales in the Man and Captain international group rose 1% from fiscal upgrade will center on the company’s Underpants series. The Captain 2016, to $376.8 million. While Scholastic book fairs and book clubs, which, he said, Underpants series did particularly well saw gains from sales of new Harry Potter are “labor- and freight-intensive.” in the fourth quarter, ahead of the June content in Canada and strong results from Scholastic does not expect to see the release of the movie based on it. business in Asia, Australia, Canada, and benefits from Scholastic 2020 until fiscal The strong gains in trade offset the U.K., the company took a hit after 2019. In fact, investments associated declines in both book club sales (down discontinuing its software distribution with Scholastic 2020—along with lower 12%) and book fair sales (down 2%). business in Australia. It also had a soft sales (due in part to the absence of new Robinson said he expects these to increase overall performance in the Philippines Harry Potter titles)—will result in a in fiscal 2018. He attributed the drop in and Thailand. —Jim Milliot decline in revenue (to $1.65 billion–$1.7 billion) and lower operating earnings in Pallante Takes Home the current fiscal year. Robinson prom- Champion of IP Award ised, however, that operating income will AAP president and CEO Maria A. begin a three-year run of double-digit Pallante (fourth from l.) accepted increases starting in 2019. Asked by ana- the 2017 Champion of Intellectual Property Award on July 19. With lysts if Scholastic had an operating her are Bob Goodlatte (to her r.), margin target, Robinson said it does, but Virginia Congressman and chair he declined to disclose it. of the U.S. House Judiciary Looking back on fiscal 2017, Committee, and leaders of the D.C. Bar Intellectual Property Scholastic’s children’s book publishing Law Community. and distribution group had a 5% increase

continued from p. 4 was named CEO Bookstore million, according American West sive wholesaler to allowed for $145 of the company Sales Almost to preliminary esti- Books Acquired Whole Foods and million in funding last week. Huseby Flat in 2017 mates released by The California- specializes in each for the NEH succeeds Max Bookstore sales the U.S. Census based company, distribution to and the NEA. Roberts, who is re- rose in May, in- Bureau. Total which is one of the nontraditional tiring. Roberts, the creasing 1.7% sales for the fi rst few remaining outlets. Robbins, Huseby Named long-time head of over May of last fi ve months of independent the former CEO of CEO of B&NE Barnes & Noble year—the third 2017 were $4.34 wholesalers, was Gibbs Smith, now Michael Huseby, College, oversaw month in a row billion, down by acquired by indus- oversees his own executive chair- the spin-off of the they were up from $1 million from try veteran Chris- publishing house, man of Barnes & business from 2016. Sales the January–May topher Robbins. Familius, which he Noble Education, B&N Inc. reached $787 2016 period. AWB is the exclu- launched in 2012.

6 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 News

Deals By Rachel Deahl

■ Penny Closes Triple with Schneider at Gelfman Schneider/ICM book, which was sold without an agent, Minotaur (who was working on behalf of Curtis is scheduled for fall 2018. Louise Penny closed a new three-book Brown’s Jonny Geller). Jewell, who is deal with her longtime publisher, British, has had seven of her 15 novels ■ Briefs Minotaur Books. The North American published in the U.S. by Atria. Phyllis Fagell, a professional counselor, rights agreement was struck by Minotaur’s sold a book called Middle School Matters to senior v-p and publisher, Andrew Martin, ■ Haymarket Lands Super Claire Schultz at Da Capo Lifelong and Penny’s agent, Bowl Champ Books. The publisher Teresa Chris at Teresa In a world rights agreement, Anthony said the title, which is Chris Literary. Hope Arnove at Haymarket Books bought slated for spring 2019,

Dellon will edit the Michael Bennett’s Things That Make © feoff chesman makes the case that

© jean-françois bérubé books. Through the White People Uncomfortable. Bennett, a “middle school is not deal, Penny will write defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks— just a tough phase to Penny three more entries in and a member of their Super Bowl–win- Fagell endure but rather a her Armand Gamache novels, which are ning team in 2014—has gained notoriety critical stage that parents can’t afford to set in Quebec and follow the titular detec- off the field for his vocal support of wom- ignore.” It offers tips, the publisher tive (known in Canadian parlance as a chief en’s rights and the Black Lives Matter explained, on how parents can “help their inspector). The next Gamache novel, Glass movement. This book, which he’s doing kids through these trying years.” Schultz Houses, will be published on August 29. with sportswriter Dave Zirin, will be, took world rights to the book, at auction, Arnove said, “a sports memoir and mani- from Jill Marsal at the Marsal Lyon ■ Tinseltown Historian Sells festo as hilarious as it is revealing.” Literary Agency. Zsa Zsa Book Bennett was represented by his sports Gene Brissie at Lyons Press took Kensington’s John Scognamiglio took management company, Independent world rights to Voice of America execu- North American rights to Sam Staggs’s Sports & Entertainment, while Zirin did tive producer Susan Shand’s Sinjar: Finding Zsa Zsa. Eric Myers, who has an not use an agent in the deal. The book is The Heroic 14-Day Battle to Save the eponymous shingle, slated for April 2018. Yazidis from ISIS. The book, according to represented Staggs, a Leah Shapiro at Riverside Creative Hollywood historian ■ Sundance Winner Sells Management (who represented Shand), and author (All About Graphic Novel is “a veteran journalist’s account of how All About Eve), and Oni Press’s Charlie Chu took world rights the U.S. military, at the direction of said the biography of to a graphic novel called Long Road to President Obama, prevented the geno- Staggs Zsa Zsa Gabor tells Liquor City by Macon Blair, who won cide of the ancient Yazidi people in “the untold story of the Gabor dynasty.” the 2017 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance northern Iraq in August 2014.” Elaborating, Myers said the book traces for his film I Don’t the lives of the Gabor sisters—Zsa Zsa, Feel at Home in This Call for Eva, and Magda—from “their escape World Anymore. The Information from Nazi-occupied Hungary through Depression-era–set

their astonishing rise to fame in book, which is being Feature: Self-Help Books Hollywood and beyond.” illustrated by Eisner Issue: Oct. 16 Deadline: Aug. 21 Needed: Information on trends in the self-help cate- Blair nominee Joe Flood, gory. Pitches for forthcoming self-help titles of all ■ Jewell Re-ups at Atria is, the publisher said, types are welcome, particularly books that discuss aging, understanding one’s unconscious motives, Bestseller Lisa Jewell (The Girls in the an “adventure comedy and improving communication skills, as well as guided Garden) closed a two-book deal with her about two drifters, Jed self-help journals. Pub. dates: October 2017 through summer 2018. New releases only, please; no reprints. long-standing U.S. publisher, Atria, for and Thanny, as they Please email pitches to features@publishersweekly. two domestic suspense novels. Sarah criss-cross the country com (and for religious self-help books, please email [email protected]) by August 21 and Cantin took U.S., Canadian, and open in search of the fabled put “Call for Info: Self-Help” in the subject line. market rights to the titles from Deborah Flood Liquor City.” The

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Meet the Editor supported the popular imprints, books from “dis- Schiffren’s firing, spurring tinguished authors who still more controversy at want to have that iconic Erroll McDonald the time. A lecturer at Yale dog on the spine,” he said.

and an adjunct professor © erin smith photography More significantly, he is s he marked 40 years at Random at Columbia, McDonald one of a mere handful of House this month, Erroll has for the past decade African-American senior A McDonald, v-p, executive taught such courses as the publishing executives. editor in the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Narrative Art of Toni “The issue right now is Group of Penguin Random House, talked Morrison and William not so much diversity as it with PW about a recent acquisition of Faulkner and World is power and people of his for the Pantheon imprint: Augustown, Fiction. ERROLL MCDONALD color,” McDonald said. a novel by Jamaican novelist and poet Kei Although McDonald Age: 63 “Publishers frequently use Miller that was published in May. didn’t plan for a career in Current title: the term diversity to deflect PW’s starred review described publishing, it would be V-p, executive editor, this awkward issue—as in, Augustown as “a rueful portrait of the hard to find someone Pantheon Books ‘Well, diversity is not just enduring struggle between those who better suited. Halfway Higher education: about race but about reject an impoverished life on [Miller’s] through graduate school Yale College, B.A. in English; gender, economic class, native island and the forces that hold at Yale, he had several pro- Yale Graduate School fellow- religion, every category them in check.” When he first saw the fessions in mind, but pub- ship, comparative literature; under the sun,’ rendering Augustown manuscript, McDonald, who lishing wasn’t one of Columbia Business School, the term virtually mean- was born in Costa Rica and raised in them. He was considering executive M.B.A. ingless. Publishers need to Brooklyn, was reminded of his own law school or an academic face the apartheid-style immigrant upbringing, particularly “the career—but he really just wanted to spend power structure of the industry, the fact central role that my Jamaican maternal the summer of 1977 working in New that its key decision makers stubbornly grandmother played in my early life, the York City. On campus, he’d met Toni remain of the same stripe, comprising a cultural concerns—as a child, I attended Morrison, at the time a professor and kind of cultural hegemony. Publishers programs run by my town’s chapter of Random House editor, who helped get need to ask themselves why it has been so Marcus Garvey’s black nationalist him an internship there. much easier to imagine a person of color Universal Negro Improvement Initially McDonald worked in a variety as POTUS than it is to imagine a person Association—and the lilt of the Caribbean of departments at Random House: subsid- of color leading one of the Big Five com- English of my childhood.” He added that iary rights, then as assistant to various panies anytime soon.” it’s the language in which he and his editors, before Jason Epstein, then the McDonald added: “I’m not entirely mother still communicate. legendary head of Random House and sure that any of this will resonate where it McDonald has spent his career pub- Vintage Books, hired him to work at should: with the powers that be—many lishing the intellectual elite, and among Vintage. “My instructions from Jason of whom, I believe, are well-intentioned. his authors is an extraordinary group of were, ‘Go out and find books that matter So HR departments can continue to Nobel Prize winners that includes to you and that will matter to everybody champion harmless proposals—implicit- Wangari Matthai (Nobel for peace), Toni else,’ ” McDonald said. The first book he bias seminars, awareness of microaggres- Morrison (Nobel for literature), Kary acquired, Flash of the Spirit: African and sions, insistence on so-called safe spaces to Mullis (Nobel for chemistry), and Wole Afro-American Art and Philosophy by call grievances out—and talk until we’re Soyinka (Nobel for literature). There are Robert Farris Thompson (1983), is still in all blue in the face about inclusiveness, also heads of state (French president print and has become a landmark schol- but more often than not these initiatives, Nicolas Sarkozy), literary giants (James arly work on African-American aesthetics. practiced mostly by junior staff, are Baldwin, Salman Rushdie, and John Another Vintage title still in print is unwittingly informed by hypocrisy, con- Edgar Wideman), and critics and aca- Soyinka’s 1983 memoir, Ake’: The Years of descension, and, even, contempt. Change demics (Harold Bloom, Henry Louis Childhood. “That allowed me to go to the in the industry will not come from these Gates Jr., and Robert Farris Thompson). Nobel ceremony for the first time,” efforts, but from corporate commitment McDonald was named executive editor McDonald recalled. “It’s the greatest book at the highest level to broadcasting and of Pantheon in 1990 in the wake of the party in the world.” dealing forthrightly with the enduring controversial firing of Andre Schiffren, the Today, McDonald acquires and pub- cultural shortcomings of the industry imprint’s longtime publisher. McDonald lishes eight to 10 books per year across without fearing litigation. And I’m not was among several editors who publicly the Knopf, Vintage, and Pantheon feeling it.” —Diane Patrick

8 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Sponsored by Henry Holt and Co.

SPOTLIGHT ON Julie Lythcott-Haims In her searing memoir, Real American, Lythcott-Haims, the child of a black man and a white woman, reckons with mixed-race identity and America’s black-and-white view of its citizens

ulie Lythcott-Haims has had a deep insight into the ways racism is makes them feel normal in ways I never uniquely American life. Her parents woven through American lives. “There are did as a kid.” (her father was a nationally known two major challenges at the heart of my In the book, Lythcott-Haims traces her Jdoctor who served in the Carter book: racism and belonging,” Lythcott- family history from the time of slavery administration and her mother was Haims says. “As a child I was the freak through the Black Lives Matter movement. a British nurse) met while working in a Her story has deep resonance in this medical facility in Ghana. Lythcott- moment when national politics plays Haims’s childhood in the 1970s and ’80s out in many homes—her father, for unfolded along the peripatetic course of instance, lost his federal job in the her father’s career, in small, mostly changeover from Carter’s administra- white towns in New York, Wisconsin, tion to Ronald Reagan’s. and Northern Virginia. Her dark skin and Real American is Lythcott-Haims’s afro marked her as different from some follow-up to her groundbreaking parent- of her peers, while her upper-middle ing guide, How to Raise an Adult (2015), class privilege set her apart from others. which advocates the opposite of helicop- Real American, a defiantly clear- ter parenting, encouraging parents to help eyed memoir written in short, lyrical their children develop independence. chapters, is her reckoning with her Real American came about through mixed-race identity and the turbulent Lythcott-Haims’s decision to redirect evolution of America’s understanding of her life toward writing. In her 40s she race over the last four decades. undertook an M.F.A. degree. “I wasn’t “My parents weren’t after white com- going for memoir per se,” she says. “I was munities—they simply wanted to have just attempting to bring the race stuff the kind of house and plot of land and up and out of me in whatever form best public schools their salaries made pos- supported it and began to try to write sible, which happened to be in white an in-your-face, unflinching first-person communities,” Lythcott-Haims says. narrative, as visceral as I could stand, Though she remembers her early child- and laid on the page however I damn hood transpiring without much conflict— wanted.” The resulting book sits com- she idolized her successful father, fortably on a shelf beside works by, for whom the whole family, even her instance, Claudia Rankine, whom mother, called “Daddy,” and excelled in Lythcott-Haims cites as an influence. school—by her teenage years she She’s grateful that many kids today began to feel the deep pain are growing up in a more of racism. She recounts I was just attempting to bring the race stuff tolerant world than she did: many episodes in which “When I was coming up, well-meaning white friends up and out of me in whatever form best race was a topic you didn’t said things such as “I don’t supported it and began to try to write an in- talk about, like cancer,” think of you as black. I think Lythcott-Haims says. “Today, of you as normal.” your-face, unﬂinching ﬁrst person narrative, I see my kids and my friends’ “Normal,” she came to as visceral as I could stand. kids exposed to a K–12 cur- understand, meant “white.” riculum that’s a whole lot Her parents, however, — Julie Lythcott-Haims more encompassing of the insisted that she think of herself, and her history and perspective of nonwhites and family, as black. This split identity—the that teaches the importance of open dis- product of her parents’ circumstances, the show at the circus; people had never seen cussion and tolerance about identity and radical politics of the 1970s, the conserva- anyone like me before and they regarded difference.” That said, Lythcott-Haims is tism of the 1980s, and Lythcott-Haims’s me with either distrust or fascination. Today painfully aware of how much must still be own intelligence and sensitivity—caused mixed kids are considered so normal that done. Real American is a profound contri- her much suffering, but also gave her their faces show up in ads. I presume this bution to that ongoing work. News

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President George Slowik Jr. Publisher Cevin Bryerman Editorial Director Jim Milliot World War II Books V-P, Business Development Carl Pritzkat Adult Book Director Louisa Ermelino ith the recent release of Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, a big- Children’s Book Editor Diane Roback Executive Editor Jonathan Segura budget film about the English army’s unlikely escape across the Associate Publisher Joe Murray channel during a key battle of World War II, we took a look at Art Director Clive Chiu W Managing Editor Daniel Berchenko some of the WWII books hitting shelves. Like Nolan’s film—which depicts News Director Rachel Deahl how the Allied forces stayed alive, against the odds, after being penned in on Senior News Editor Calvin Reid Associate News Editor John Maher the beaches of France (thanks to an assist from a number of civilian boats and Features Editor Carolyn Juris a tactical error by the Germans)—these books offer up tales in which everyday Deputy Reviews Editor Gabe Habash Senior Editors Peter Cannon, Mark Rotella people, in their fight to survive, committed unsung acts of heroism. Senior Reviews Editor Rose Fox Reviews Editors Annie Coreno, Alex Crowley, —Rachel Deahl Everett Jones, Seth Satterlee Children’s Reviews Editor John A. Sellers BookLife Editor Adam Boretz Senior Writer Andrew R. Albanese Bookselling & International Editor Ed Nawotka Senior Religion Editor Lynn Garrett Religion Editor Emma Koonse Wenner Associate Editor, Children’s Books Emma Kantor Assistant Editor, Children’s Books Matia Burnett Assistant Editor Drucilla Shultz Associate Art Director Bobby Lawhorn Copy Editor Hannah Kushnick Senior Marketing Director Krista Rafanello Marketing & Events Director Bryan Kinney Sales Coordinator Deena Ali Marketing/Licensing Director Christi Cassidy Director, Digital Operations Craig Morgan Teicher Digital Media Coordinator Michael Morris Sons and Soldiers Survivors Club The Unwomanly Face V-P, Operations Patrick Turner of War Business Manager Esther Reid Bruce Henderson Michael Bornstein and Director of Operations Ryk Hsieh Debbie Bornstein Svetlana Alexievich, trans. Publisher: Holinstat by Richard Pevear and Correspondents: Morrow New England Alex Green 781-405-5066 Larissa Volokhonsky Publisher: Midwest Claire Kirch 218-310-1867 Pub. Date: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publisher: South Ed Nawotka 713-254-0265 July 25 Random House West Coast Jason Boog 917-577-6332 In this work of nonfiction, Pub. Date: Pub. Date: Asia Teri Tan ([email protected]) Henderson (Rescue at Mar. 7 Contributing Editors Leylha Ahuile, Ivan Anderson, Bornstein, a childhood July 25 Peter Brantley, Michael Coffey, Sue Corbett, Los Baños) tells the story This translation of Laura Dawson, Liz Hartman, Brian Kenney, survivor of Auschwitz of a group of young Belarusian Nobel Prize– Daniel Lefferts, Sally Lodge, Heidi MacDonald, German Jews, known as (he was filmed by Soviet Daisy Maryles, Shannon Maughan, Marcia Z. Nelson, winner Alexievich’s 1985 the Ritchie Boys, who, soldiers, at four years old, Diane Patrick, Karen Raugust, Sonia Jaffe Robbins, being carried out of the book showcases the Judith Rosen, Wendy Smith, Sybil Steinberg, after fleeing Europe as unsung tales of Soviet Clare Swanson, Wendy Werris camp in his grandmother’s children in the 1930s women who fought on Production/Manufacturing Publishing Experts and growing up in arms), recounts how his Circulation Director Next Steps Marketing Polish family survived the the front lines. Their Web Engineering Mediapolis America, returned to the contributions to the war IT Support ACS Int’l Holocaust and the war. continent as moles for effort have remained Interns Youjung Ahn, Nicole Cadavid, Gabriela Chiu, the Allies. Trained by the Written with his daughter, Lanie Nowak, Evan Phail, Kristoff Ramsamujh, the book draws on largely untold and nearly Chelsea Schwartz U.S. government, the forgotten. Ritchie Boys—there were Bornstein’s memories, HOW TO REACH US roughly 2,000 of them— as well as interviews 71 W. 23rd St., Suite 1608, New York, NY 10010 with various members of Phone: 212-377-5500; fax: 212-377-2733; were taught German lan- email: [email protected] guage skills and interroga- his family. To subscribe, change an address, report delivery problems, tion techniques, then sent or inquire about back issues, call 800-278-2991 or 818-487-2069, or fax 818-487-4550. to Europe to infiltrate the For inquiries about reprints & permissions, ranks of the Third Reich email [email protected] as American spies. ADVERTISING Cevin Bryerman 212-377-5703 Ian Littauer 212-377-5706 Julia Molino 212-377-5709 Joseph Murray 212-377-5708 Shaina Yahr 212-377-2691 Classifieds/online inquiries: Cevin Bryerman 212-377-5703

10 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 BESTSELLERS JULY 10-16, 2017 BY CAROLYN JURIS LAND, HO! Prime Numbers Worlds Collide, which concludes Chris Colfer’s Land of Stories series, is Among the many deals offered by Amazon the #3 book in the country. After an early stumble, first-week sales for each on its Prime Day, July 11, was a rare 30% volume have steadily improved, with Colfer’s latest coming out on top. discount on must-have kitchen appliance the First-Week Print Unit Sales for the Land of Stories Series Instant Pot. It ended up as one of the day’s 40,000 bestsellers, boosting sales of a pair of related 35,000 • cookbooks. 30,000 The Instant Pot Electric Pressure • Cooker Cookbook by Laurel Randolph sold 25,000 12 times as many print copies as it had the 20,000 • previous week, which catapulted the 2016 15,000 • title to the #8 spot in the country overall. 10,000• The book has sold 234K print copies. • Sales of Instant Pot Obsession by Janet 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 A. Zimmerman, a March publication, are The The A Grimm Beyond An Author’s Worlds up 462% from the previous week. The title Wishing Enchantress Warning the Odyssey Collide Spell Returns Kingdoms debuts on our Trade Paperback list at #25.

NEW & NOTABLE HOUSE OF SPIES ILLUSTRATION NATION Daniel Silva Chris McDonnell’s behind-the-scenes look #1 Hardcover Fiction, at the Cartoon Network series Steven Universe, #1 overall a companion to the The 17th Gabriel Allon thriller, which earned a video game Final starred PW review, finds Fantasy XII, and the hero of the series, an the second collec- Israeli art restorer and spy, serving as chief tion of Marjorie of his country’s secret intelligence service. Liu and Sana Take- da’s Eisner-nomi- # TWO NIGHTS nated Monstress 11 #12 #24 Kathy Reichs comics all debut on #20 Hardcover Fiction HARDCOVER HARDCOVER TRADE our lists. NONFICTION The author of the long-run- NONFICTION PAPERBACK ning series starring forensic anthropologist Temperance TOP 10 OVERALL

Brennan heads in a new THIS WEEK direction with this thriller about police officer RANK TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT UNITS Sunday Night, who, while sidelined by an in- 1 House of Spies Daniel Silva Harper 46,726 jury, goes in search of a missing teenage girl. 2 The Whistler John Grisham Dell 36,234 3 Worlds Collide (The Land of Stories #6) Chris Colfer Little, Brown 35,836 LOVE HER WILD 4 Camino Island John Grisham Doubleday 32,019 Atticus 5 The Woman in Cabin 10 Ruth Ware Scout 24,020 #22 Trade Paperback 6 Milk and Honey Rupi Kaur Andrews McMeel 21,166 Named a “poet you should 7 Wonder R.J. Palacio Knopf 18,491 follow on Instagram right 8 The Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook Laurel Randolph Rockridge 16,693 now” by Teen Vogue, Atticus, 9 Rediscovering Americanism Mark R. Levin Threshold 16,428 whose followers numbers 10 Murder Games Patterson/Roughan Little, Brown 15,304 396K, has inspired some fans to get tattoos featuring his verse. INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY NPD BOOKSCAN. COPYRIGHT © 2017 THE NPD GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 11 BESTSELLERS JULY 10–16, 2017

PUB RANK LW WKS TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT ISBN DATE PRICE UNITS YTD 1 – 1 House of Spies Daniel Silva Harper 9780062354341 Jul 2017 $ 28.99 46,726 48,058 2 1 6 Camino Island John Grisham Doubleday 9780385543026 Jun 2017 $ 28.95 32,019 390,945 3 2 3 Murder Games Patterson/Roughan Little, Brown 9780316273961 Jun 2017 $ 28.00 15,304 68,365 4 5 11 Into the Water Paula Hawkins Riverhead 9780735211209 May 2017 $ 28.00 12,074 260,100 5 4 3 Use of Force Brad Thor Atria 9781476789385 Jun 2017 $ 27.99 11,996 53,219 6 3 3 The Duchess Danielle Steel Delacorte 9780345531087 Jun 2017 $ 28.99 11,672 52,892 7 11 45 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles Viking 9780670026197 Sep 2016 $ 27.00 7,263 153,768 8 10 5 The Identicals Elin Hilderbrand Little, Brown 9780316375191 Jun 2017 $ 28.00 6,940 43,817 9 7 5 Tom Clancy: Point of Contact Mike Maden Putnam 9780735215863 Jun 2017 $ 29.00 5,942 58,645 10 16 3 Seven Stones to Stand or Fall Diana Gabaldon Delacorte 9780399593420 Jun 2017 $ 30.00 5,882 28,140 11 8 4 The Silent Corner Dean Koontz Bantam 9780345545992 Jun 2017 $ 28.00 5,811 40,045 12 6 2 Wired Julie Garwood Berkley 9780525954460 Jul 2017 $ 27.00 5,369 16,287 13 – 1 Secrets of the Tulip Sisters Susan Mallery HQN 9780373802760 Jul 2017 $ 25.99 5,171 5,339 14 12 7 Come Sundown Nora Roberts St. Martin’s 9781250123077 May 2017 $ 27.99 5,123 111,860 15 14 8 Dragon Teeth Michael Crichton Harper 9780062473356 May 2017 $ 28.99 5,014 102,270 16 9 4 The Force Don Winslow Morrow 9780062664419 Jun 2017 $ 27.99 4,750 28,979 17 – 1 Watch Me Disappear Janelle Brown Random/Spiegel & Grau 9780812989465 Jul 2017 $ 27.00 4,723 4,753 18 15 4 Kiss Carlo Adriana Trigiani Harper 9780062319227 Jun 2017 $ 27.99 4,695 26,053 19 13 4 Dangerous Minds Janet Evanovich Bantam 9780553392746 Jun 2017 $ 28.00 4,424 33,033 20 – 1 Two Nights Kathy Reichs Bantam 9780345544070 Jul 2017 $ 28.00 4,355 4,567 21 – 1 Final Girls Riley Sager Dutton 9781101985366 Jul 2017 $ 26.00 3,932 3,998 22 – 1 Down a Dark Road Linda Castillo Minotaur 9781250121288 Jul 2017 $ 26.99 3,907 4,079 23 – 1 Beautiful Tempest Johanna Lindsey Gallery 9781501162183 Jul 2017 $ 26.00 3,748 3,842 24 23 6 Before We Were Yours Lisa Wingate Ballantine 9780425284681 Jun 2017 $ 26.00 3,745 20,699 HARDCOVER FICTION 25 HARDCOVER TOP 25 17 6 Magpie Murders Anthony Horowitz Harper 9780062645227 Jun 2017 $ 27.99 3,503 28,590

PUB RANK LW WKS TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT ISBN DATE PRICE UNITS YTD 1 1 3 Rediscovering Americanism Mark R. Levin Threshold 9781476773087 Jun 2017 $ 27.00 16,428 99,351 2 3 11 Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Neil deGrasse Tyson Norton 9780393609394 May 2017 $ 18.95 13,840 273,924 3 6 34 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson HarperOne 9780062457714 Sep 2016 $ 24.99 11,655 228,863 4 2 2 Dangerous Milo Yiannopoulos Dangerous Books 9780692893449 Jul 2017 $ 30.00 10,677 29,007 5 5 7 Al Franken, Giant of the Senate Al Franken Twelve 9781455540419 May 2017 $ 28.00 10,581 134,883 6 4 3 The Swamp Eric Bolling St. Martin’s 9781250150189 Jun 2017 $ 26.99 10,253 44,435 7 8 15 Make Your Bed William H. McRaven Grand Central 9781455570249 Apr 2017 $ 18.00 9,141 241,901 8 7 5 Understanding Trump Newt Gingrich Center Street 9781478923084 Jun 2017 $ 27.00 7,917 93,978 9 9 6 Bill O’Reilly’s Legends and Lies: The Civil War David Fisher Holt 9781250109842 Jun 2017 $ 35.00 6,957 70,115 10 10 12 Option B Sandberg/Grant Knopf 9781524732684 Apr 2017 $ 25.95 6,649 289,986 11 – 1 Steven Universe: Art & Origins Chris McDonnell Abrams 9781419724435 Jul 2017 $ 29.95 6,487 6,557 12 – 1 Final Fantasy XII (collector’s ed.) – Prima Games 9780744018325 Jul 2017 $ 39.99 6,102 6,102 13 27 11 The Plant Paradox Steven R. Gundry Harper Wave 9780062427137 Apr 2017 $ 27.99 5,876 78,835 14 11 6 I Can’t Make This Up Kevin Hart 37 Ink 9781501155567 Jun 2017 $ 26.99 5,554 77,527 15 – 1 Everything All at Once Bill Nye Rodale 9781623367916 Jul 2017 $ 26.99 5,423 5,465 16 17 4 The Lose Your Belly Diet Travis Stork Ghost Mountain 9781939457592 Dec 2016 $ 25.95 5,256 171,937 17 15 5 Hunger Roxane Gay Harper 9780062362599 Jun 2017 $ 25.99 4,325 29,014 18 13 13 Killers of the Flower Moon David Grann Doubleday 9780385534246 Apr 2017 $ 28.95 4,264 106,672 19 21 5 You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me Sherman Alexie Little, Brown 9780316270755 Jun 2017 $ 28.00 3,979 23,597 20 14 6 Huê´ 1968 Mark Bowden Atlantic Monthly 9780802127006 Jun 2017 $ 30.00 3,918 39,369 21 12 7 Theft by Finding David Sedaris Little, Brown 9780316154727 May 2017 $ 28.00 3,818 84,975 22 16 35 Born a Crime Trevor Noah Random/Spiegel & Grau 9780399588174 Nov 2016 $ 28.00 3,743 105,733 23 25 43 Jesus Alway Sarah Young Thomas Nelson 9780718039509 Oct 2016 $ 15.99 3,368 193,487 24 20 39 The Magnolia Story Gaines/Gaines W 9780718079185 Oct 2016 $ 26.99 3,139 209,764 HARDCOVER NONFICTION 25 HARDCOVER TOP 25 23 43 The Book of Joy Dalai Lama/Tutu Avery 9780399185045 Sep 2016 $ 26.00 3,081 144,967

12 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017

PUB RANK LW WKS TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT ISBN DATE PRICE UNITS YTD 1 – 1 The Whistler John Grisham Dell 9781101967683 Jul 2017 $ 9.99 36,234 37,114

2 1 3 Chaos Patricia Cornwell Morrow 9780062436702 Jun 2017 $ 9.99 13,008 45,086 TOP 25 3 2 7 See Me Nicholas Sparks Vision 9781455520602 May 2017 $ 7.99 11,677 111,054 4 3 3 Missing Patterson/Fox Vision 9781455568123 Jun 2017 $ 9.99 9,320 30,571 5 4 3 Serenity Harbor RaeAnne Thayne HQN 9780373799398 Jun 2017 $ 7.99 8,697 34,300 6

9 3 The Husband’s Secret Liane Moriarty Berkley 9780451490049 Jun 2017 $ 9.99 8,323 24,160

7 5 3 High Stakes Fern Michaels Zebra 9781420140675 Jun 2017 $ 7.99 8,221 31,651 MASS MARKET PAPERBACK 8 8 10 Night School Lee Child Dell 9780804178822 May 2017 $ 9.99 7,914 186,633 9 16 3 The Gunslinger (movie tie-in) Stephen King Pocket 9781501166112 Jun 2017 $ 9.99 6,885 16,965 10 6 3 The Jensen Brand William W. Johnstone Pinnacle 9780786040636 Jun 2017 $ 7.99 6,872 28,563 11 10 8 Rushing Waters Danielle Steel Dell 9780425285435 May 2017 $ 8.99 6,769 96,749 12 7 3 Colter’s Journey William W. Johnstone Pinnacle 9780786038114 Jun 2017 $ 7.99 6,386 24,390 13 11 7 Home Harlan Coben Dutton 9781101984260 May 2017 $ 9.99 5,925 70,674 14 12 3 Summer on Blossom Street Debbie Macomber Mira 9780778330233 Jun 2017 $ 7.99 5,741 18,702 15 13 3 Part of the Bargain Linda Lael Miller Harlequin 9780373537846 Jun 2017 $ 6.99 5,156 17,434 16 15 7 15th Affair Patterson/Paetro Grand Central 9781455585281 May 2017 $ 9.99 4,832 66,010 17 14 3 Sex, Lies & Serious Money Stuart Woods Putnam 9780399573958 Jun 2017 $ 9.99 4,580 16,038 18 17 3 Robert & Cybil Nora Roberts Silhouette 9780373282265 Jun 2017 $ 7.99 4,425 13,757 19 19 3 Texas Tall Janet Dailey Zebra 9781420133783 Jun 2017 $ 7.99 3,992 13,284 20 21 9 Foreign Agent Brad Thor Pocket 9781476789361 May 2017 $ 9.99 3,891 68,283 21 20 8 Curious Minds Evanovich/Sutton Bantam 9780553392708 May 2017 $ 8.99 3,603 56,785 22 22 7 The Good Girl Mary Kubica Mira 9780778319252 May 2017 $ 9.99 3,579 32,965 23 26 3 Here’s to Us Elin Hilderbrand Little, Brown 9780316375177 Jun 2017 $ 8.99 3,572 10,809 24 18 4 Power Game Christine Feehan Berkley 9780399585463 Jun 2017 $ 7.99 3,503 25,367 25 29 7 Orchard Valley Brides Debbie Macomber Mira 9780778330219 May 2017 $ 7.99 3,299 40,428

PUB RANK LW WKS TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT ISBN DATE PRICE UNITS YTD 1 1 14 The Woman in Cabin 10 Ruth Ware Scout 9781501132957 Apr 2017 $ 16.00 24,020 281,361 2 2 20 Lilac Girls Martha Hall Kelly Ballantine 9781101883082 Feb 2017 $ 17.00 14,331 281,024 3 6 2 Behind Closed Doors B.A. Paris Griffi n 9781250132369 Jul 2017 $ 16.99 13,219 23,440 4 3 15 All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr Scribner 9781501173219 Apr 2017 $ 17.00 13,033 224,548 5 – 1 The Whistler John Grisham Bantam 9781101967676 Jul 2017 $ 17.00 12,836 12,893 6 – 1 Never Never Patterson/Fox Grand Central 9781478944775 Jul 2017 $ 15.99 12,168 12,270

7 4 7 The Couple Next Door Shari Lapena Penguin Books 9780735221109 May 2017 $ 16.00 11,730 81,392 TOP 25 8 9 9 The Offi cial SAT Study Guide, 2018 ed. – College Board 9781457309281 May 2017 $ 28.99 9,957 72,125 9 5 24 All the Missing Girls Megan Miranda Simon & Schuster 9781501107979 Jan 2017 $ 16.00 8,734 207,682 10 – 1 The Chemist Stephenie Meyer Back Bay 9780316387842 Jul 2017 $ 16.99 8,485 8,557 11 8 12 The Nightingale Kristin Hannah Griffi n 9781250080400 Apr 2017 $ 16.99 8,428 144,036

12 7 3 Behold the Dreamers Imbolo Mbue Random House 9780525509714 Jun 2017 $ 17.00 8,266 30,402 TRADE PAPERBACK 13 10 3 Dunkirk (movie tie-in) Joshua Levine Morrow 9780062740304 Jun 2017 $ 16.99 5,754 15,870 14 12 20 On Tyranny Timothy Snyder Crown/Duggan 9780804190114 Feb 2017 $ 7.99 5,643 149,423 15 14 11 Commonwealth Ann Patchett Harper Perennial 9780062491831 May 2017 $ 16.99 5,179 90,722 16 11 13 The Handmaid’s Tale (TV tie-in) Margaret Atwood Anchor 9780525435006 Apr 2017 $ 15.95 5,033 86,980 17 – 1 The Complete Make-Ahead Cookbook – America’s Test Kitchen 9781940352886 Jul 2017 $ 29.95 4,828 11,456 18 – 1 Sneezing Jesus Brian Hardin NavPress 9781631467400 Jul 2017 $ 14.99 4,750 5,068 19 26 49 Uninvited Lysa Terkeurst Nelson 9781400205875 Aug 2016 $ 16.99 4,518 181,581 20 13 15 The Nest Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney Ecco 9780062414229 Apr 2017 $ 16.99 4,509 111,428 21 16 8 Cross the Line James Patterson Grand Central 9781455585311 May 2017 $ 16.99 4,481 69,368 22 – 1 Love Her Wild Atticus Atria 9781501171239 Jul 2017 $ 17.99 4,477 4,789 23 21 4 News of the World Paulette Jiles Morrow 9780062409218 Jun 2017 $ 15.99 4,358 20,153 24 – 1 Monstress, Vol. 2 Liu/Takeda Image 9781534300415 Jul 2017 $ 16.99 4,204 4,427 25 – 1 Instant Pot Obsession Janet A. Zimmerman Sonoma 9781943451586 Mar 2017 $ 17.99 4,174 32,371

LW – Last Week WKS – Weeks on List YTD – Year to Date

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 13 CHILDREN’S BESTSELLERS JULY 10–16, 2017

PUB RANK WKS TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT ISBN DATE PRICE UNITS YTD 1 1 Worlds Collide (The Land of Stories #6) Chris Colfer Little, Brown 9780316355896 Jul 2017 $ 19.99 35,836 36,767 2 20 Everything, Everything Nicola Yoon Ember 9780553496673 Mar 2017 $ 10.99 12,873 332,400 3 29 Dog Man Unleashed (Dog Man #2) Dav Pilkey Graphix 9780545935203 Dec 2016 $ 9.99 7,246 238,307 4 8 Rise of the Isle of the Lost (Descendants) Melissa de la Cruz Disney-Hyperion 9781484781289 May 2017 $ 17.99 6,450 60,933 5 11 The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo #2) Rick Riordan Disney-Hyperion 9781484746424 May 2017 $ 19.99 6,423 175,018 6 20 The Hate U Give Angie Thomas HC/Balzer + Bray 9780062498533 Feb 2017 $ 17.99 6,099 102,631 7 50 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 and 2 J.K. Rowling et al. Scholastic/Levine 9781338099133 Jul 2016 $ 29.99 6,059 209,794 8 37 Double Down (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #11) Jeff Kinney Amulet 9781419723445 Nov 2016 $ 13.95 5,783 340,321 9 46 Dog Man Dav Pilkey Graphix 9780545581608 Aug 2016 $ 9.99 5,522 138,041 10 4 Descendants 2 (junior novel) Eric Geron Disney Press 9781484799703 Jun 2017 $ 10.99 5,492 21,467 11 6 Middle School Mayhem (Misadventures of Max Crumbly #2) Rachel Renée Russell Aladdin 9781481460033 Jun 2017 $ 13.99 4,748 39,847 12 15 Everything, Everything (movie tie-in) Nicola Yoon Ember 9781524769604 Apr 2017 $ 10.99 4,645 108,280 13 1 Loved (House of Night Other World #1) Cast/Cast Blackstone 9781538431122 Jul 2017 $ 18.99 4,535 4,794 14 5 Pottymouth and Stoopid Patterson/Grabenstein LB/Patterson 9780316349635 Jun 2017 $ 13.99 3,999 28,653 15 9 The Isle of the Lost (Descendants) Melissa de la Cruz Disney-Hyperion 9781484725443 Apr 2017 $ 9.99 3,954 30,811 16 19 13 Reasons Why Jay Asher Razorbill 9780451478290 Mar 2017 $ 10.99 3,859 187,235 17 7 One of Us Is Lying Karen M. McManus Delacorte 9781524714680 May 2017 $ 17.99 3,497 20,703 18 15 Fish in a Tree Lynda Mullaly Hunt Puffi n 9780142426425 Mar 2017 $ 8.99 3,468 48,882 19 35 Tales from a Not-So-Friendly Frenemy (Dork Diaries #11) Rachel Renée Russell Aladdin 9781481479202 Nov 2016 $ 13.99 3,442 153,343 20 9 Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifi ces #2) Cassandra Clare McElderry 9781442468405 May 2017 $ 24.99 3,375 77,623 CHILDREN’S FRONTLIST FICTION CHILDREN’S FRONTLIST 21 3 The Twisted Ones (Five Nights at Freddy’s) Cawthon/Breed-Wrisley Scholastic 9781338139303 Jun 2017 $ 9.99 3,156 16,443 22 44 Ghosts Raina Telgemeier Graphix 9780545540629 Sep 2016 $ 10.99 3,096 110,535 23 6 Once and for All Sarah Dessen Viking 9780425290330 Jun 2017 $ 19.99 3,086 32,786 24 50 Gravity Falls: Journal 3 Alex Hirsch Disney Press 9781484746691 Jul 2016 $ 19.99 3,083 96,362 TOP 25 TOP 25 28 The Sun Is Also a Star Nicola Yoon Delacorte 9780553496680 Nov 2016 $ 18.99 3,007 68,031

PUB RANK WKS TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT ISBN DATE PRICE UNITS YTD 1 8 The Rainbow Fish Marcus Pfi ster NorthSouth 9781558580091 Jan 1999 $ 18.95 12,096 140,196 2 126 First 100 Words Roger Priddy Priddy 9780312510787 May 2011 $ 5.99 8,869 210,486 3 7 She Persisted Clinton/Boiger Philomel 9781524741723 May 2017 $ 17.99 8,420 114,551 4 862 Goodnight Moon Brown/Hurd HarperFestival 9780694003617 Oct 1991 $ 8.99 8,373 216,653 5 857 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Martin/Carle Holt 9780805047905 Sep 1996 $ 7.95 7,546 157,800 6 1 What If Everybody Did That? Javernick/Madden Cavendish Square 9780761456865 Mar 2010 $ 12.99 7,498 21,643 7 797 The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle Philomel 9780399226908 Mar 1994 $ 10.99 7,477 169,100 8 28 Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Dr. Seuss Random House 9780679805274 Jan 1990 $ 18.99 7,223 495,073 9 83 Giraffes Can’t Dance Andreae/Parker-Rees Cartwheel 9780545392556 Mar 2012 $ 6.99 6,993 162,191 10 116 The Going to Bed Book Sandra Boynton Little Simon 9780671449025 Nov 1982 $ 5.99 6,023 150,863 11 130 Love You Forever Robert Munsch Firefl y 9780920668375 Sep 1995 $ 5.95 5,997 176,780 12 2 The Night Before Kindergarten Wing/Durrell Grosset & Dunlap 9780448425009 Jul 2001 $ 4.99 5,522 58,034 13 100 Little Blue Truck (board book) Schertle/McElmurry HMH 9780544568037 Jul 2015 $ 7.99 5,366 138,504 14 19 Dear Zoo Rod Campbell Little Simon 9781416947370 May 2007 $ 6.99 5,340 105,588 15 2 If Animals Kissed Good Night Paul/Walker FSG 9780374300210 Jun 2014 $ 7.99 5,034 91,057 16 354 Dr. Seuss’s ABC Dr. Seuss Random House 9780679882817 Nov 1996 $ 4.99 4,904 168,999 17 117 Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Martin/Archambault Little Simon 9781442450707 Aug 2012 $ 7.99 4,900 105,898 18 27 On the Night You Were Born Nancy Tillman Feiwel and Friends 9780312601553 Jan 2010 $ 7.99 4,606 114,306 19 1 What Do You Do with a Problem? Yamada/Besom Compendium 9781943200009 Jun 2016 $ 16.95 4,430 56,295 20 18 The Pout-Pout Fish Diesen/Hanna FSG 9780374360979 Aug 2013 $ 7.99 4,258 96,752 CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOKS 21 1 Rocket Science for Babies Chris Ferrie Sourcebooks Jabberwocky 9781492656258 May 2017 $ 9.99 4,079 8,386 22 1 The Night Before First Grade Wing/Zemke Grosset & Dunlap 9780448437477 Jul 2005 $ 4.99 4,049 17,127 23 42 The Wonderful Things You Will Be Emily Winfi eld Martin Random House 9780385376716 Aug 2015 $ 17.99 4,044 131,950 24 1 Quantum Physics for Babies Chris Ferrie Sourcebooks Jabberwocky 9781492656227 May 2017 $ 9.99 4,019 8,375 TOP 25 TOP 25 29 Dragons Love Tacos Rubin/Salmieri Dial 9780803736801 Jun 2012 $ 16.99 3,854 104,418

14 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 iBook Bestsellers For the week ended July 16, 2017

Daniel Silva’s House of Spies debuted at #1 in Mysteries and Thrillers, bumping John Grisham to #2 and Brad Thor to #3. Elin Hilderbrand’s latest novel about a rivalry between twin sisters, The Identicals, maintained its #1 perch in Fiction and Literature, coming in right ahead of Jen Waite’s new memoir on marriage, A Beautiful, Terrible Thing, which debuted at #2. In Romance, heavyweights Nora Roberts and Debbie Macomber slipped to #3 and #4, respectively, losing ground to Abbi Glines’s newly released Because of Lila. TOP 15 TOP 10 FICTION & LITERATURE RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY

RANK TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT ISBN RANK TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT ISBN 1 The Identicals Elin Hilderbrand Little, Brown 9780316375207 1 Boundaries in Cloud/ Zondervan 9780310319245 2 The Silent Sister Diane St. Martin’s 9781250010728 Marriage Townsend Chamberlain 2 The Return of the Henri Nouwen Image 9780804152129 Prodigal Son 3 Into the Water Paula Hawkins Riverhead 9780735211216 3 4 The Handmaid’s Margaret HMH 9780547345666 Jesus on Every Page David Murray Thomas 9781400205356 Tale Atwood Nelson 4 Zip It Karen Ehman Zondervan 9780310345848 5 The Duchess Danielle Steel Delacorte 9780425285367 5 Uninvited Lysa TerKeurst Nelson 9781400205882 6 All Quiet on the Erich Maria Random 9780812985535 Western Front Remarque House 6 NIV Cultural – Zondervan 9780310431671 Backgrounds 7 A Gentleman Amor Towles Viking 9780399564048 Study Bible in Moscow 7 Boundaries Cloud/Townsend Zondervan 9780310296034 8 The Peach Sarah Addison Bantam 9780553908138 8 Keeper Allen Present over Perfect Shauna Niequist Zondervan 9780310343042 9 The Love Dare Kendrick/Kendrick B&H 9781433679681 9 Wired Julie Garwood Berkley 9780698190825 10 Jesus Calling Sarah Young Thomas 9781418537685 10 Milk and Honey Rupi Kaur Andrews 9781449478650 Nelson McMeel 11 Behold the Imbolo Mbue Random 9780812998498 TOP 10 Dreamers House HEALTH, MIND & BODY 12 The Woman in Ruth Ware Scout 9781501132940 Cabin 10 RANK TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT ISBN 13 Tell the Wolves Carol Rifka Brunt Dial 9780812992922 1 The Subtle Art of Mark Manson HarperOne 9780062457738 I’m Home Not Giving a F*ck 14 The Kitchen Boy Robert Penguin 9781101200360 2 I Can’t Make This Up Kevin Hart 37 Ink 9781501155581 Alexander Books 3 You Are a Badass Jen Sincero Running 9780762448319 15 Kiss Carlo Adriana Trigiani Harper 9780062319241 Press 4 The Easy Anti- Karen Frazier Rockridge 9781623159399 Infl ammatory Diet 5 Fat-Burning Machine Mike Berland Regan Arts 9781942872511 6 The Complete DASH Jennifer Koslo Rockridge 9781623159603 Diet for Beginners 7 The Plant Paradox Steven R. Gundry Harper 9780062427144 Wave 8 The List Yuval Abramovitz Skyhorse 9781510718470 9 Remember Everything Stanley D. Frank Crown 9780307820440 You Read 10 The Four Agreements Don Miguel Ruiz Amber-Allen 9781934408018

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 15 JUNE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERS

GERMANY Fiction Nonfiction Die Geschichte der Bienen Wunder wirken wunder 1 The History of Bees Miracles Work Wonders Maja Lunde Eckart von Hirschhausen BTB Rowohlt

Zeiten des Aufbruchs Heilen mit der kraft der natur 2 An Era of New Beginnings Healing with the Power of Nature Carmen Korn Andreas Michalsen ‘History of Bees’ Kindler Insel Still Buzzing Corruption Das geheime Leben der Bäume 3 The Force The Secret Life of Trees Don Winslow Peter Wohlleben or the second month running, Droemer Ludwig Germany’s fi ction list was led Buchreport by Norwegian author Maja For the week ended June 25; used by arrangement with Lunde’s novel The History SPAIN Fof Bees in June. The multigenerational speculative fi ction tale will be pub- Fiction Nonfiction lished in August in the U.S. by Patria En la oscuridad Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone 1 Fatherland In the Dark imprint. In the second position is The Fernando Aramburu Antonio Pampliega Era of New Beginnings by Carmen Korn, Tusquets Península the second in a trilogy about four women from Hamburg. Physician and Más allá del invierno Qué nos ha pasado, España comedian Eckart von Hirschhausen’s 2 In the Midst of Winter What Happened to Us, Spain? memoir Miracles Work Wonders tops Isabel Allende Fernando Ónega the nonfi ction bestseller list. Plaza & Janes Plaza & Janes Fatherland by Fernando Aramburu, Escrito en el agua 1936 a literary thriller about Basque ter- 3 Into the Water Roberto Villa García & Manuel Álvarez rorism, tops the fiction bestseller Paula Hawkins Tardí list in Spain, followed by Chilean Planeta Espasa bestseller Isabel Allende’s latest novel,

In the Midst of Winter. At the top of For the week ended June 22; used by arrangement with El Cultural the nonfiction list is In the Dark by Antonio Pampliega, a memoir of SWEDEN the journalist’s year as a hostage of terrorists in Syria. In the second slot is Fiction Nonfiction Fernando Ónega’s What Has Happened Det förlorade barnet Omgiven av idioter to Us, Spain?, an analysis of the past 1 The Story of the Lost Child Surrounded by Idiots 40 years of Spanish history after the Elena Ferrante Thomas Erikson fall of the dictator Franco. Norstedts Hoi Förlag Italian author Elena Ferrante’s final volume in her Naples quartet, The Top Dogg Underkänd Story of the Lost Child, is #1 on the 2 Top Dog F in Exams Swedish fiction charts. It is followed Jens Lapidus Richard Benson Wahlström & Widstrand Tukan Förlag by a pair of new releases from perennial Swedish bestsellers: Top Dog, the Bakom din rygg Omgiven av psykopater latest thriller from Jens Lapidus, and 3 Behind Your Back Surrounded by Psychopaths Behind Your Back, the new mystery Sofie Sarenbrant Thomas Erikson novel from Sofie Sarenbrant. Bookmark Förlag Bokförlaget Forum —Ed Nawotka For the week ended June 17; used by arrangement with Svensk Bokhandel

16 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 JUNE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERS

UNITED KINGDOM Combined Fiction and Nonfiction

RANK TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT UNIT SALES FORMAT At the top of the U.K. 1 The World’s Worst Children 2 David Walliams HarperCollins 148,507 Hardcover fiction list is David 2 Cooking for Family and Friends Joe Wicks Bluebird 87,514 Hardcover Walliams’s The Worst Children in the World 2, 3 The Couple Next Door Shari Lapena Corgi 54,587 Paperback a collection of tales about 4 When the Music’s Over Peter Robinson Hodder 51,542 Paperback awful offspring. Joe 5 Hidden Killers Lynda La Plante Simon & Schuster 47,214 Paperback Wick’s entertainment 6 Night School Lee Child Bantam 43,077 Paperback guide, Cooking with Family and Friends, is in 7 I See You Clare Mackintosh Sphere 42,887 Paperback the second slot, with 8 Bullseye James Patterson Arrow 42,342 Paperback Canadian Shari Lapena’s 9 The Wrong Side of Goodbye Michael Connelly Orion 41,430 Paperback 2016 thriller The Couple 10 Rather Be the Devil Ian Rankin Orion 38,987 Paperback Next Door just behind in the third position.

AUSTRALIA In Australia it is mid- Combined Fiction and Nonfiction winter; people are thinking about their RANK TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT UNIT SALES FORMAT “second brain” (as the 1 The Clever Gut Diet Michael Mosley Simon & Schuster 28,471 Paperback gut is known) and have Australia put Michael Mosley’s 2 The Barefoot Investor Scott Pape John Wiley & Sons 25,850 Paperback The Clever Gut Diet at #1. Australia Scott Pape’s The Barefoot 3 Come Sundown Nora Roberts Piatkus 17,263 Paperback Investor is at #2, followed by Nora Roberts’s latest 4 Lord of Shadows Cassandra Clare Simon & Schuster 14,172 Paperback Children’s romance, Come Sundown. 5 Into the Water Paula Hawkins Doubleday 13,748 Paperback 6 The World’s Worst Children 2 David Walliams HarperCollins 12,936 Paperback 7 Camino Island John Grisham Hodder & Stoughton 12,757 Paperback

NEW ZEALAND Walliams’s out-of-control Combined Fiction and Nonfiction kids have caught the imagination of the Kiwis, RANK TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT UNIT SALES FORMAT and they too have put his 1 The World’s Worst Children 2 David Walliams HarperCollins 3,929 Paperback The Worst Children in the World 2 at #1. Lee Child’s 2 No Middle Name Lee Child Bantam Dell 2,627 Paperback No Middle Name, a collec- 3 Come Sundown Nora Roberts Piatkus 1,553 Paperback tion of short stories about 4 Moo and Moo and the Little Jane Millton & Allen & Unwin 1,102 Paperback ex-MP Jack Reacher, takes Calf Too Deborah Hinde the #2 spot. 5 Essential Annabel Langbein Annabel Langbein Annabel Langbein 1,024 Hardcover Media 6 Into the Water Paula Hawkins Doubleday 990 Paperback 7 Jake Bailey Jake Bailey Penguin Books 925 Paperback New Zealand

Source: NPD BookScan

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 17 Column|OPEN BOOK Glastonbury Talking books at the world’s biggest music festival By Louisa Ermelino

lare Conville of Conville-Walsh, a boutique literary agency within Curtis Brown in the U.K., has pitched her tent in the garden of the Pilton cottage belonging to our mutual friend, mosaic artist Candace Bahouth. Clare and I are here for Cthe Glastonbury Festival, but over tea in the cottage kitchen, the conversation turns to books she’s representing—in partic- ular, Matt Haig’s new novel How to Stop Time. I’m all ears. The novel, which is being published by Viking in the U.S. next year, follows Haig’s memoir, Reasons to Stay Alive, about his overcoming the depression he suffered at age 24. Published by Cannongate in the U.K., Reasons sold more than 300,000 copies there, and, Clare says, “put him on the map,” although Haig has written seven other titles for adults and several successful children’s books. Haig, Clare tells me, is an example of a writer whose career has grown steadily over the years, and with How to Stop Time he’s found “a fascinating central concept, a man destined to live a very long life over 400 years.” She adds that she “loved its read- ability, power, and depth, and ultimately its sense of hope and regeneration.” This new novel, according to everyone I speak with, is poised to be big, and is likely to be his breakout book in the U.S. Back in the U.S. after Glastonbury, I call Cannongate publisher Jamie Byng, who above Australia,” to name a few set- is equally enthusiastic about Haig and tings. It’s logical for the story to cover How to Stop Time. Byng calls Haig a so much ground, since the narrator, “dream writer” and says that “in my 23 Tom, was born “on the third of March years, I’ve never felt as confident about the in the year 1581.” commercial success of a book as I do about The opening line of the book is, “I this one.” He compares How to Stop Time am old.” And within this involving, to Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, “the third book expansive story there are wonderful of a little-known Canadian with a first observations about living such a long printing of 6,000.” And he quotes author life. “It occurred to me that human Jeanette Winterson (Oranges Are Not the beings didn’t live beyond a hundred Only Fruit), who has said of Haig, “He because they simply weren’t up for it,” uses words like a tinner... and we are the Tom notes. “You grew too bored of tin.” your own mind.” When I ask Byng and others about the And just when you’re nodding your portability of a U.K. book to the U.S., head, a little depressed at the thought, there doesn’t seem to be any concern. The themes are universal: Haig brings his character to the office of the doctor who first love and history and aging. And when I read How to Stop Time, described progeria, the condition of premature aging, convinced I have to agree. The story moves back and forth hundreds of he’s found someone who can help him with the problem of years between the present and the past, and around the globe, living endlessly. You’re also believing help is near, until the from London to L.A. to New York to Paris and “somewhere doctor’s taciturn suggestion that Tom should get himself imme-

18 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 OPEN BOOK|Column

L. to r.: Clare Conville, revelers at the Glastonbury Festival, the observation tower at the festival, and author Matt Haig.

Nolan is just as bullish on How to Stop Time. Again he felt that this was a book he had to publish. He sees How to Stop Time as “what you’d expect after the memoir,” adding: “All the realiza- tions of the memoir are in the novel. What is the meaning of life? Of love? The story of the 400-year-old character is serious, but Haig handles it with a light touch.” Nolan is excited by the in-house enthusiasm for How to Stop Time. The day of the sales conference, a week after the book launched in the U.K. on July 13, How to Stop Time hit #3 on the London Sunday Times hardcover fiction list. “And we’re publishing it here on Valentine’s Day, 2018,” Nolan says. “It’s a love story and we want to play that up.” I am in concert with Haig’s fans as I read the book, turning pages for the story but also stopping to underline passages. I diately to Bethlem Hospital (the infamous Bedlam for the want to remember the lines. I want to read them out loud to criminally insane). someone. Nothing like a love that lasts 400 years. We understand, though, that living 400 years is not easy. Our Thinking back to Glastonbury, there was an amazing assort- hero suffers from headaches: “And the memories break through ment of music and characters: Katie Perry, Bee Gees founder like water bursting a dam. My head pulses with a pain even Barry Gibb, the Foo Fighters, and Johnny Depp (who arrived stronger than I’d had in the class earlier, and for a moment, in in a vintage baby blue Cadillac). I heard Turkish writer Elif a lull between the sound of cars, I feel it, I feel the living history Shafik—whose latest novel, Three Daughters of Eve, is being of the road, the residue of my own pain lingering in the air, and published in the U.S. by Bloomsbury in December—in conver- I feel as weak as I did in 1599, when I was still heading west, sation. And a first at this year’s festival was a bookstore on the delirious and ready to be saved.” fairway, set up by the Bath bookstore Mr. B’s Emporium of Patrick Nolan, Haig’s U.S. editor at Viking, whom I talk with Reading Delights. On a recommendation I bought The Dig by after Byng, tells me that he first met Haig as a sales director in Cynan Jones, a novel set in rural Wales about a sheep farmer and the office of Kathryn Court (president and publisher of Penguin), a badger baiter (we were in the U.K., after all). and remembers thinking, “What a nice guy.” (I’ve heard this And as to How to Stop Time is doing? After reaching #3 in again and again, unprompted, from Clare, and Byng.) Nolan its first week in the U.K., it was, according to Byng, “forced published Reasons to Stay Alive in the U.S. and calls that book back to press three times” with 40,000 copies in print. As of “his passion project.” this writing, the number has moved to 60,000. The book’s “My first thought when I read it was that I had to publish it,” been optioned for film by Benedict Cumberbatch’s production Nolan says, and he was pleased with the 20,000 in U.S. sales. company—he’d play the lead—with a budget of $25 million. He felt it was not only a wonderful book but one that could A serendipitous beginning for a book discovered over a cup really help people. of tea. ■

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 19 Column|DIGITAL PERSPECTIVES A Watermarking Update Watermarking has been held up by some industry members as an effective By Laura Dawson way to deter e-book piracy that doesn’t require more restrictive DRM technology. I recently discussed the state of watermarking with Bill Rosenblatt, founder of Giant Steps Media Technology Strategies.

Do you have a sense of how many U.S. publishers are using embed a watermark and then encrypt an e-book. The reason why watermarking in their e-books? major retailers don’t do this has to do with incentives. Retailers The biggest use of watermarking so far is the U.S. market is in have incentive to use DRM because it helps them protect their STM. An increasing number of STM publishers are using it. The “walled gardens,” but they don’t have similar incentive to pioneer has been O’Reilly Media, which has been watermarking implement watermarking. its PDF e-books for years. That’s especially interesting given Some white-label retail service providers, like Aerio and O’Reilly’s longtime and very public stance against DRM. Firebrand, offer watermarking as an option, as do a couple of Springer uses watermarking. MIT Press recently announced that small independent distribution platforms. I do know of a few it’s giving up DRM and moving to watermarking for e-books instances of watermarking combined with DRM, but they aren’t sold on its own site. STM publishers dislike DRM because it for e-books; they are used for things like sensitive corporate interferes with the spread of scholarship, so they are turning to documents and high-priced training materials. But I wouldn’t watermarking as a scheme that gives them some protection expect to see Amazon or Apple or B&N support watermarking without hindering sharing. In all of these cases we’re talking anytime soon. Maybe they’d consider it if the big trade pub- about PDFs [rather than ePub formats]. lishers decided to drop DRM. Otherwise, watermarking is more prevalent in other countries, such as in parts of Europe—the Netherlands, Germany, Do we know how prevalent e-book piracy is, and whether Italy, and elsewhere. U.S. trade publishers tend not to use it; the watermarking has any impact? big exception is J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore, which uses it on Research on the impact of piracy mitigation techniques such as Harry Potter e-books in ePub format. watermarking is virtually nonexistent. The only decent study I Generally I find that there’s very scattered awareness of water- know of is the one that Prof. Imke Reimers of Northeastern marking among publishers. There are several independent sup- University published last year using data from Rosetta Books pliers of watermarking technology out there, and some pub- and Digimarc. That was a peer-reviewed study published in a lishers do it themselves. But watermarking is not a thing the prestigious academic journal, the Journal of Law and Economics. way DRM has been a thing, and in fact some people confuse She presented her paper at [Rosenblatt’s] copyright and tech- watermarking with DRM because it’s been referred to as “social nology conference this past January. The study showed a 14% DRM.” I consider the two technologies to be distinct. increase in e-book sales with certain antipiracy measures in place. But it didn’t cover watermarking; it covered searching for Are U.S. publishers using e-book watermarking in addi- unauthorized copies of e-books on the Internet based on meta- tion to traditional DRM, or instead of it? data, such as filenames and book titles. Watermarking and DRM can be used together, but the major I believe that a few publishers have done their own studies of U.S. e-book retailers aren’t supporting it. So in practice, it’s antipiracy techniques and are keeping the results confidential. generally either one or the other, or neither. I think it would serve the industry if there were more publicly The key to effective watermarking is to embed data in each available, independent, peer-reviewed studies of this type, and downloaded e-book file that identifies the individual purchaser. I’ve tried to pitch industry bodies on doing them, to no avail so It could be human-readable, such as a name or email address—as far. But I’m confident that watermarking does work to reduce O’Reilly and Springer do—or it could be an obfuscated ID that piracy, for the simple reason that savvy publishers like O’Reilly only the retailer understands, as Pottermore does. That requires continue to use it. From my experience with O’Reilly, including that the retailer do this embedding on the fly, just before it sends as an author, I can say for sure that O’Reilly wouldn’t use a the file out to the user, which in turn requires integration with technique like that unless it believed that it works. ■ the retailer’s user database. E-book retailers do the equivalent for e-books with DRM: Laura Dawson, CEO of Numerical Gurus, is a book supply chain consul- they typically encrypt each file using a key that’s different for tant. She also facilitates Metadata Boot Camp, a webinar series tackling each user just before sending it out. It’s certainly possible to metadata issues in publishing.

20 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Print moderator: On

Jim Milliot Demand Editorial Director Publishers Weekly

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THE HUMAN SIDE © nicole kerstetter of War Personal narratives offer a window into the Jon experience of combat, while practical manuals Kerstetter ease the transition from soldier to civilian

BY ALEX GREEN

ince American troops first deployed to Afghanistan 16 years © rey contreas ago, readers have been transfixed by their stories, as well as by those that have emerged from the subsequent American mili- Stary engagements in Iraq and Syria. Bestselling books including Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor (Little, Brown, 2007) and Mark Owen’s No Easy Day (Dutton, 2012) reflect this interest, and their success continues to spur similarly themed acquisitions. The volume of books means that “it’s as difficult an area to publish in as up a career in business. any right now in American publishing,” says Marc Resnick, executive Then, in his late 30s, he editor at St. Martin’s Press. “Maybe eight years ago, if a Navy SEAL was entered medical school and willing to write a book, you’d sign them up.” Now, Resnick says, editors joined the National Guard. are more selective, seeking Written after he recov- nontraditional narratives that show a ered from a stroke, Crossings (Crown, more personal side of conflict. Sept.) tells of Kerstetter’s experience as a Forthcoming titles speak to this appe- doctor-soldier, practicing surgery tite for confessional stories of military through three tours at the height of the service and war. These books document Iraq War and putting together the joint the varied experiences of soldiers and Iraqi-U.S. forensic team to identify the noncombatants, and follow diverse nar- remains of Saddam Hussein’s sons. ratives of predeployment experience, William Thomas, publisher and combat, and the often-disorienting editor-in-chief at Doubleday, which is return to civilian life that retired sol- releasing Ben Blum’s Ranger Games in diers face. September, says an “elevated nonfiction” emerges from such personal accounts of Starting from Home the intersection of civilian and military Jason Delgado’s Bounty Hunter 4/3 life, leading readers to think about the (St. Martin’s, Oct.), which Resnick choices we all make by asking, “At what edited, is one of several books that are as point are we morally culpable?” LETTERS lost then found much about how citizens become sol- In Ranger Games, Blum explores mili- diers as they are about military life itself. tary culture. The subject of the book, the Award-Winning Author The book opens on the streets of the author’s cousin Alex, trained with the Amy L. Johnson Bronx, where Delgado grew up amid elite Army Rangers and then committed shares a conversation between poverty and crime before finding a dis- armed robbery in Tacoma with a small two brothers from 1942-1945 tinguished career as a sniper and a mili- group under the sway of a charismatic shining a unique spotlight tary trainer in the Marines. fellow Ranger. Blum’s attempt to under- on the Great War. Though Delgado’s journey to military stand what happened results in what our service was relatively direct, Jon starred review called “an unsettling dis- splatteredinkpress.com Kerstetter took a more circuitous path. section of the moral corruptions, small 616-638-0877 Kerstetter left the Oneida Nation of and great, that bedevil the culture of [email protected] Wisconsin to attend college, postponed military honor.” his dream of becoming a doctor, and took Thomas says the book “is not condem-

22 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 ““FREEDOMFREEDOM ISIS NOTNOT FREEFREE”” — Julian Kulski, WWII Veteran

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““AtAt onceonce ABSORBINGABSORBING,, inspiring,inspiring, andand tragic.”tragic.” — Publishers Weekly AQUILA More info: www.polww2.com/AboutCourage ® Available at ﬁne bookstores, online retailers and major wholesalers. POLONICA Distributed by National Book Network, www.nbnbooks.com www.AquilaPolonica.com

War & Military Books

natory of military culture, but it puts it under a microscope, including the Army’s use of © ned & aya rosen © ned & aya deep psychological research into how you create effective soldiers.” Ben Blum Views of Combat All sorts of stories emerge from war zones, and not all of them are about military service. This season brings several titles authored or coauthored by journalists who’ve covered combat. These books share a common theme with soldiers’ accounts, says Rakesh Satyal, senior editor at Atria, who edited photographer Jonathan Alpeyrie’s The Shattered Lens (Oct.). “Regardless of the atrocities you witness, regardless of the dangers that you face,” he says, “journalists feel called to do this work.” A veteran journalist who had travelled the world covering conflict zones, Alpeyrie was kidnapped and held hostage by Syrian rebels in 2013, during his third trip to the region to document the civil war. Unsure whether he would survive the ordeal, Alpeyrie relied on a revived sense of religious faith, and was ultimately released after 81 days captivity. Another photojournalist, Finbarr O’Reilly, found strength in his friendship with now-retired Marine Sgt. Thomas J. Brennan. The two met when O’Reilly Jonathan Alpeyrie was embedded with Brennan’s squad in Afghanistan, © antoine chauvel and have coauthored Shooting Ghosts (Viking, Aug.), after helping each other grapple with the lasting psychological trauma of their wartime expe-

© j.l. campbell riences (see “In My Own Words,” p. 34). Deborah Campbell’s A Disappearance in Damascus (Picador, Sept.) is also a story of a bond forged in the midst of conflict. Campbell saw Ahlam, her “fixer” (a local who helps journalists navigate Deborah Campell foreign places), kidnapped in front of her. She recounts her feelings of guilt and responsibility and her efforts to gain Ahlam’s release. James Meader, executive director of publicity at Picador, says such accounts remind the reader that “most of us reading the news in the Western world have no idea what goes on” in war zones. Meader says he felt that way when he read Campbell’s book, which was published in Canada in 2016 and received the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. He briefly shifted roles in order to act as the book’s acquiring editor, something he does a handful of times each year. Soldiers’ accounts, of course, also shed light on events COMPELLING STORIES, CAPTIVATING ART

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that might otherwise go unnoticed back at home. After of 21st-cen- a troubled childhood, Matt Young joined the military, tury war,” serving three tours of duty in Iraq. He has emerged according to

with an account that draws together his personal Matt monterosso © tara the publisher. narrative and wider questions of war, its meaning, and Young Flo Groberg its effect on those who enlist to fight. Young’s Eat the emigrated to Apple (Bloomsbury, Feb. 2018) uses various literary the United styles, and even infographics, to “lay bare the absurdism States from France as a child and received the Congressional Medal of Honor for tackling a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. Robert Bender, v-p and executive editor at S&S, says he was taken aback by the “extraordinary story” of Groberg’s actions, his survival, and “also by the fact that he’s the first immigrant to receive the medal of honor since the Vietnam days.” Groberg tells that story, with Tom Sileo, in 8 Seconds of Courage (Simon & Schuster, Nov.). Returning from War After the hardships of war, the return to civilian life poses its own challenges, and publishers including Rowman & Littlefield have titles that aim to help. November’s Mission Transition, by career counselor Janet I. Farley, offers financial planning advice and civilian job strategies for life after military retirement. It joins a roster of similarly themed Rowman titles that includes the second edition of The Wounded Warrior Handbook by Janelle B. Moore, Don Philpott, and Cheryl Lawhorne-Scott

26 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 War & Military Books

U.S., dog in tow. The book will be subjects like war and conflict, so long as released simultaneously in the adult edi- there is an element that conveys an tion and in a young readers’ edition, for underlying humanity. “Writers have ages eight and up. come around to the idea that weaving in Morrow’s bet that Craig & Fred will the personal element is something that appeal to a wide audience resonates with more readers want,” he says. “The best Craig Picador’s Meader, who believes that hard nonfiction books always have that Grossi readers will not shy away from difficult personal element to them.” ■ courtesy craig grossi

(2015), which guides veterans through the necessary steps to receive support for injuries suffered during their service. In April 2018, Potomac is releasing a second edition of 2011’s Out of Uniform, updated with a new foreword, an additional chapter on social media, and new resource lists. Author Tom Wolfe, a Navy veteran, has been counseling retiring veterans on returning to civilian life for three decades. In contrast to these practical guides geared toward servicepeople, books like Craig Grossi’s Craig & Fred (Morrow, Oct.) offer a narrative look at how soldiers adjust when they return from combat. After finding a stray dog wan- dering the streets of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Grossi, then a U.S. Marine sergeant, felt such a strong bond that he enlisted the help of fellow soldiers to sneak the newly named Fred back to the U.S. It’s a story that “doesn’t feed us military heroism,” says Rachel Kahan, an editor at Morrow. Instead, Grossi recounts his efforts to heal from his wartime experiences while traversing the

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 27 War & Military Books Publishers Roll out the In time for the centenary of the Russian Revolution, new books revisit the pivotal era

ne hundred years ago, Russian workers sparked the revolution that led to the creation of the Soviet Union. Now, as stories about Russo-American relations top the news, publishers are marking the centennial of the ORussian Revolution with titles that look back on the events that set the course of the world as we know it today. Self-described radical publisher Verso Books has branded and reissued roughly a dozen backlist titles for the anniversary in the last year, but a new book turned out to be the publisher’s surprise success. October, by science fiction author and academic China Miéville, has sold almost 6,000 print copies since it pubbed in May, per NPD BookScan. In addition to mining its backlist and bringing out new titles, Verso has hosted online contests and seized on the anniversary as an opportunity to ask readers to share their suggestions of notable revolutionary voices. The response has guided Verso editors to writers previously unpublished in the U.S, whose work they plan to print in the coming years. All of this, says Anne Rumberger, Verso marketing manager, is part of the publisher’s effort “to be deeply grounded in history but also with this lens of, ‘What relevance does the Russian Revolution have for us today?’ ” Pulitzer Prize–finalist Arthur Herman (Gandhi and Churchill, 2008) speaks to that question in 1917 (Harper, Nov.), a study of Woodrow Wilson and Vladimir Lenin’s views of statecraft and war in the context of revolution. Herman proposes that the two leaders established a new kind of imperialism that has dominated global affairs for the past hundred years. Eric Nelson, executive editor at Harper, cautions against looking to history books to divine the future, but says that the relevance of the revolution today is clear in some of Herman’s conclusions, one of which is that “we’re at a moment where the major world powers are pulling back from that vision [from 1917] of trying to remake other countries in their image.” Histories, commentaries, memoirs, and ideas from the present day join newly discovered accounts from a hundred years ago, all of them lining up to mark the revolution’s anniversary this fall. Here’s a look at what’s in store.

Bloodstained Edited by friends of Aron Baron. AK Press, Oct. Dedicated to Baron, a Russian anarchist who was executed by Stalin in 1937, Bloodstained is a leftist rebuke of Lenin and the Russian Revolution, which the publisher describes as a “murderous dictator- ship” and a “criminal enterprise.” New and vintage essays by Mark Leier, Emma Goldman, and others challenge what the publisher calls “the darker echoes” of the revolution.

The House of Government Yuri Slezkine. Princeton Univ., Aug. Slezkine voyages through a Moscow apartment building, telling detailed stories of its residents in the years after the revolution. The book follows senior Bolshevik leaders, tracing the ways their lives change as they careen from positions of power to total loss at the hands of Josef Stalin. War & Military Books NEW FROM Red Carpet NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS

Lenin 2017 V.I. Lenin and Slavoj Žižek. Verso, Sept. Philosopher Žižek turns to Lenin’s obscure later works, arguing that they’re essential for understanding the revolutionary leader’s views on the successes and failures of the revolution. Lenin’s writings are reproduced with commentary by Žižek, who contends that one of the Soviet leader’s most notable Hardcover | October 2017 Hardcover | October 2017 intellectual achievements was his ability to remain hopeful ISBN: 978-1-59114-679-7 | $29.95 ISBN: 978-1-68247-219-4 | $29.95 while acknowledging that the revolution had not delivered on many of its promises.

No Less Than Mystic John Medhurst. Repeater, Aug. Chronicling the 1903–1921 period, Medhurst devotes his attention to Russian leftist groups that were essential to the rise of socialism there but whose stories are often overlooked. The author expresses disdain for Leninism in an analysis intended to provide, in the words of his publisher, “a way forward for a nonauthoritarian left.” Hardcover | September 2017 Hardcover | October 2017 Overtaken by the Night ISBN: 978-1-68247-150-0 | $27.95 ISBN: 978-1-68247-165-4 | $35.00 Richard G. Robbins Jr. Univ. of Pittsburgh, Nov. Using archival documents and memoirs, Robbins introduces Vladimir Dzhunkovsky, a largely forgotten but highly influential member of Czar Nicholas II’s court, a governor of Moscow, and a head of the czar’s political police. After being shunned for turning against Rasputin, Dzhunkovsky fought in World War I and was spared by Communist revolutionaries but was executed by Stalin in 1938.

Red at Heart Elizabeth McGuire. Oxford Univ., Nov. The story of the rise of Communism is recast in this volume that looks at the lives of Chinese Hardcover | Available Now Hardcover | Available Now revolutionaries studying in Soviet Russia. ISBN: 978-1-68247-096-1 | $29.95 ISBN: 978-1-68247-067-1 | $35.00 McGuire explores connections between China and Russia through these individuals, including Visit us at www.usni.org or call 800.233.8764 a son of Chang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong’s third wife. Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Red Petrograd www.facebook.com/NavalInstitute @USNIBooks S.A. Smith. Haymarket, Nov. Follow Us Follow Us Originally published in 1983 by Cambridge University Press, U.S. Naval Institute @navalinstitute Smith’s study of factory councils—which were influential

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 29 War & Military Books

worker-run labor com- the foundation of the Soviet state was history uses repro- mittees—provides established. ductions of posters, insight into the lives of newspapers, pho- workers, their strategies Russia in Flames tographs, maps, for organizing during Laura Engelstein. Oxford Univ., Oct. and postcards to the revolution, and their Russia scholar Engelstein delivers an illuminate the visions for a communist extensive history of Russia’s involve- revolution. state. ment in World War I, the October Revolution, and the What You Did Not Tell Revolution! subsequent civil war. Mark Mazower. Other Press, Oct. Edited by Pete Ayrton. Pegasus, Sept. Through the stories of After discovering his grandfather’s H.G. Wells, Somerset Maugham, Louise individuals, events, and work as an agent for the Bryant, and Langston Hughes were institutions, Engelstein Jewish socialist Bund, among the writers who flocked to Russia details the continuous Mazower, a Columbia during and after the revolution and violence of 1914–1921, University historian, documented their expe- beginning with czarist explored the efforts riences. Ayrton antholo- rule and progressing through the estab- people later took to hide gizes these travelers’ lishment of the Soviet Union. their involvement in the accounts alongside those revolution. Through the of their Russian coun- Russian Revolution story of his grandfather, Mazower recon- terparts, sharing the Edited by Ekaterina Rogatchevskaia. British structs the history of this largely for- daily challenges they Library, Aug. gotten Jewish socialist group that, he encountered and the Published in concert with an exhibi- writes, was instrumental to the revolu- ideological battles they witnessed as tion at the British Library, this visual tion’s success. —A.G.

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PRESENTED BY PW Audio Is On Demand War & Military Books Wherever You Listen The Casemate Group publishes as many as 50 titles on military subjects annually, so company president David Farnsworth speaks from experience when he says that many books about war are too specialized for a general readership. The result, Farnsworth says, is that publishers “run the risk of forgetting that new people are coming into the interest [area] every year.” In order to reach those readers, Casemate is launching the Casemate Short History series, a line of single-subject introductory volumes. Unlike the large, detailed, and often expensive titles many readers associate with military history, these paperbacks retail for $12.95, are each about 160 pages long, and are narrative-driven. Each book contains break- outs, sidebars, images, and quotations to make it more inviting and less dense. The first four volumes publish in August: Tanks by Oscar E. Gilbert and Romain Cansière, Big Guns by Angus Konstam, Hosted by PW Fighter Aces by John Sadler and Rosie Serdiville, and Sharpshooters by Gary Yee. editors Rose Fox Four more follow in October, with another eight titles slated for release in 2018. and Mark Rotella, Casemate’s editorial team came up with the books’ subjects and commissioned PW Radio brings experienced authors to tackle them. Tanks coauthor Gilbert, for example, is a retired U.S. Marine Corps you lively talk about books and artilleryman who spent over three decades working for the U.S. government. He and Cansière wrote an earlier volume for bestsellers, author interviews and more! Casemate, 2015’s Tanks in Hell (Casemate, 2015), which won the 2016 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award for distinguished nonfiction. The publisher is taking a reserved approach to marketing the titles in the near term. A larger push is planned after the first eight titles have published, because once the series is well underway, Farnsworth says, Casemate can present it as a whole to readers Now on and to booksellers: “There are eight books out already, there are eight books next year, and we’ve got the sample copies.” Already, he says, preliminary discussions with Barnes & Noble have been encouraging. “They get what we’re trying to do.” The opportunity to publish for a general audience, says Farnsworth, a 20-year veteran of military history publishing, has obvious benefits for business. With their consumer-friendly format and price point, he says, “There’s a wide possibility of markets for these books.” —A.G. PublishersWeekly.com/podcasts • @PubWklyRadio

32 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Military History from the Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Spy UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESS

The First Infantry Division and the U.S. Army Transformed THE FOUNDATION Road to Victory in Desert Storm, OF THE 1970–1991 CIA The Foundation GREGORY FONTENOT Harry Truman, the Missouri Gang, of the CIA and the origins of the Cold War $24.95 hardcover “Sheds fresh light and understand- 978-0-8262-2137-7 ing on the combat experiences of soldiers and units in the 1991 Gulf War. Greg Fontenot, an accomplished soldier and historian as well as a veteran of that war, explains how that lopsided victory was Richard E. Schroeder rooted in the Army’s Renaissance aft er the Vietnam War. In his expert + $0(5,&$¶¶ 6 + telling, Fontenot makes clear that 6$,/256,17+( understanding the experience of the *5($7:$5 America’s First Infantry Division in Desert 6($66.,(6 Sailors in the $1' Great War Storm is important to preparing for 68%0$5,1(6 $36.95 hardcover future armed confl ict.” 978- 0-8262- 2059- 2 —LIEUTENANT GENERAL H. R. MCMASTER, Assistant to the President for National Security Aff airs $36.95 hardcover | 978-0-8262-2139-1 Lisle A. Rose + +

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[In My Own Words]

The Emotional © michael o’reilly Fallout from War

BY FINBARR O’REILLY

In Shooting Ghosts (Viking, Aug.),

photographer Finbarr O’Reilly y camera shutter whirred as I photographed the and his coauthor, retired Marine rocket-propelled grenade fired at U.S. Marine Sgt. Thomas James Brennan during a Taliban ambush Sgt. Thomas J. Brennan, explore Min late 2010. I had woken up beside Brennan that OV^JVTIH[HɈLJ[ZSP]LZVUHUK morning, the rails of our camp cots just inches apart under an open sky in the desert of Afghanistan’s Helmand VɈ[OLIH[[SLÄLSK province. Now the explosion from the warhead was about to change the course of his life, and mine.

34 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 War & Military Books The Ex-suicide A Mountain Brook Novel Katherine Clark A high-society Southern satire about an heir’s battle with his domineering moth- Being under fire together forged a bond between us that er, society’s expectations, deepened when he returned home in 2011 and struggled with and his own mental health a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress from combat 232 pp, hc, $27.99; eb, $17.99 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. By that time, I too had begun Story River Books to feel the weight of too many assignments in war zones. We The Cage-maker kept in touch and worked together as he began to write about his experiences and pursue a career in journalism. A Novel Nicole Seitz Then, in early 2015, after more than a decade spent as a newswire photographer covering conflicts, coups, and disasters Set in turn-of-the-20th- across Africa and the Middle East, I put down my cameras. It century New Orleans and was shortly after the 2014 war in Gaza, where I photographed featuring illustrations by entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble by an Israeli offensive the author, an engrossing and the broken bodies of countless men, women, and children epistolary novel with fresh blown apart by bombs. twists on the Southern I was no stranger to violence and suffering. My career as a Gothic genre journalist was built on it. I bounced for years from one trouble 256 pp, 19 b&w illus., hc, $27.99; eb, $19.99 zone to the next, a willing witness with cameras. Awards and Story River Books accolades followed. But now, the conflicts I’d covered—Congo, Sudan, Chad, Afghanistan, and Libya—had become an One Good Mama unending blur. Too many friends and colleagues were being Bone injured and killed. And I burned out. My desire to photograph A Novel faded. My work hardly seemed to help those I photographed. Bren McClain This felt especially so in Gaza, with its recurring images of A thought-provoking novel explosions rising over cities and of dead, dying, and grieving of courageous parental love Palestinians. My pictures offered nothing new. I began to feel and the instructive, healing complicit in the violence I sought to condemn. Rather than bonds that form between capturing an image, I was maintaining one. humans and animals Since stepping back from the front lines, I’ve spent the past 280 pp, hc, $27.99; eb, $19.99 two years collaborating with Brennan on a book about the Story River Books emotional fallout of war. In Shooting Ghosts, we confront our motivations for seeking out combat and examine our different Duck and Cover roles—mine as a witness, and his as a combatant—as well as A Nuclear Family the impact that violence has had on us as we try to shape our Kathie Farnell new identities. A wry, laconic, short story We didn’t want to write a book that glorifies war. Our story memoir of life in the segregat- is about how and why war changes people, and what happens ed South as seen through the as we come to terms with the things we’ve seen and done. innocent eyes of a smart- Trauma untethers us from a world that was once familiar. After mouthed, overly optimistic war, we struggle to find again the purpose, the bonds and—in young white girl truth—the love that exists on the battlefield. We drift and 152 pages, 10 b&w illus. come undone. The journey back is a lonely one, but we cannot hc, $24.99; eb, $19.99 make it alone. Friendship, family, and a sense of belonging helps us find our way again. At local and online booksellers or from My friendship with Brennan steered me in a new direction. I still make pictures, but writing and mentoring others has become my new focus. Some photographs may be remembered for holding history, but most won’t. Instead of images, the legacy I now hope to leave behind is through those lives I might influence and touch in invisible ways. ■ 800-768-2500 • www.uscpress.com

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 35 Review_FICTION

a metafictional history of romantic ballet and the story of a young man’s missteps in Reviews L.A.’s underworld. The unnamed narrator’s ©martin boulocq interest in dance comes from his daughter, whose tragic early death also broke up his marriage, sending him from Chicago to Fiction L.A. to build a new life as a masseur. Falling under the spell of the charming club owner ★ Five-Carat Soul Cosmo and his girlfriend Rachel, a dancer, James McBride. Riverhead, $27 (320p) he behaves recklessly, losing more money ISBN 978-0-7352-1669-3 than he can afford in a poker game run by Humming with invention and energy, the mob. Entwined with this noirlike the stories collected in McBride’s first fic- account are the narrator’s musings on the tion book since his National Book Award– plots of famous ballets—including Giselle, winning The Good Lord Bird again affirm Petrushka, and Swan Lake—and the lives his storytelling gifts. In the opening story, Rodrigo Hasbún’s Affections is a spare and moody of balletomanes (like Joseph Cornell) “The Under Graham Railroad Box Car novel about the family of a cinematographer who and dancers (including Anna Pavlova, Set,” vintage toy dealer Leo Banskoff gets shot Nazi propaganda films (reviewed on this page). Baryshnikov, Nijinsky, and Nureyev), a lead on a priceless collectible: the long- which help the narrator reflect on the lost train set made for Robert E. Lee’s Hasbún’s moody and spare novel. Hans turns of his own life. In imaginative, ana- son Graham by one of Smith & Wesson’s Ertl was a famous Nazi cinematographer lytical, affectless prose, Haskell gives new founders. In one of several surprises that exiled to Bolivia after World War II, where life to well-known stories danced onstage, upend his assumptions about value, he became obsessed with finding the Lost constructing interiorities and motivations Banskoff prepares for fierce negotiation City of Paititi. His eldest daughter, for the characters, and drawing connec- but finds that the train’s impoverished, Monika, who accompanied him on an tions between the emotions of the ballets devoutly evangelical owner wants to give expedition to find the mythological land, and his narrator’s story (which to readers it away. In “The Fish Man Angel,” a weary married into a wealthy family before well versed in cinema may begin to seem President Lincoln makes a late-night visit becoming radicalized, joining the Marxist familiar, too). Meeting a stranger, the nar- to his dead son Willie’s horse, weeping revolutionary movement, and becoming a rator thinks that “I could see in her face alone before overhearing words that change guerilla fighter. All of this is known as the same kind of eagerness my daughter history. In “The Christmas Dance,” a fact, but through his measured and oddly used to have, the same willingness Ph.D. candidate begs two of the only sur- ethereal writing (reminiscent somewhat Nijinsky had, to risk his common sense.” viving members of the African-American of Paulo Coelho), Hasbún creates a sort of (Sept.) Ninety-Second Infantry Division to double exposure of the Ertl family’s slow describe its role in a senselessly bloody demise over the upheaval roiling through The Salt Line World War II encounter; though their South America. The impact of Hans’s Holly Goddard Jones. Putnam, $26 (400p) reluctance jeopardizes his thesis, ulti- restlessness on his family—his three ISBN 978-0-7352-1431-6 mately the men—unlike the government daughters and their mother—frames the Set in the near future, this second novel they served—honor even unspoken narrative, which unfolds through multiple from Jones (The Next Time You See Me) promises. One of two groups of linked points of view. Somehow, it is Trixi, the introduces readers to a U.S. separated into stories reimagines the animal world, sister who stayed behind with her mother territories behind giant vibrating walls while the other visits a gritty neighbor- while the rest of the family sought Paititi, (called “the salt line”) designed to keep out hood of Uniontown, Penn., during the whose staid narrative provides the most tiny ticks that carry the fatal Shreve’s dis- Vietnam War as teenagers grapple with powerful moments: from her unhappy, ease. While life behind the salt line feels limitation and longing. McBride adopts a cancerous mother deliberately introducing very similar to our social media–driven variety of dictions without losing his own her to cigarettes at age 12, to the devastating contemporary world, extreme tourism distinctively supple, musical voice; as paragraph in which Monika corrects Trixi’s expeditions into the wild offer the rich identities shift, “truths” are challenged, naive belief that her older sister’s lover and famous an opportunity to remember a and justice is done or, more often, sub- died accidentally: “They kicked his spine natural setting free from physical borders. verted. (Sept.) until it snapped.” This is an inventive, The narrative focuses on one such expedi- powerful novel. (Sept.) tion, introducing a full cast of complex Affections characters with hidden motivations—a Rodrigo Hasbún, trans. from the Spanish by The Complete Ballet rock star and his girlfriend, a tech mogul, Sophie Hughes. Simon & Schuster, $23 John Haskell. Graywolf (FSG, dist.), $16 trade and an unassuming housewife. As the (144p) ISBN 978-1-5011-5479-9 paper (216p) ISBN 978-1-55597-787-0 group leaves behind the comfort of life The Ertl family produced two infamous Fiction and essay share the stage in behind the salt line and acclimates to the members whose lives are fictionalized in Haskell’s captivating, erudite novel, both dangers normally kept at bay, allegiances

36 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Buy, Sell & Showcase at the

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Hame Something Like Happy Annalena McAfee. Knopf, $28.95 (592p) ISBN 978-1-5247-3172-4 Eva Woods. Graydon House, $26.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-525-81135-7 McAfee’s long novel about a small island isery takes a back seat in this uplifting, humorous, is at once fascinating and frustrating. It and touching novel. Londoner Annie Hebden has centers on Grigor McWatt, a fictional given up hope of finding happiness. Her baby, Scots nationalist bard who arrives on the Jacob, dies unexpectedly; her husband, Mike, (also fictional) Hebridean island of Fascaray M in 1942, declares it his soul’s true home, leaves her for her best friend, Jane, and now, due to early-onset dementia, her mother, Annie’s given in to and remains until his death in January her despair. She loathes her job as a finance officer, 2014. That August, Mhairi McPhail, the neglects her flat, and barely communicates with her granddaughter of a Fascaray legend who roommate. After visiting her mother in the hospital, a was raised in Canada, comes to Fascaray to organize a McWatt museum and write a colorful whirlwind named Polly Leonard barrels into scholarly book on him. Mhairi has her Annie. In Annie, Polly believes she has found the per- young daughter in tow but has left her fect person to assist her in her latest, and final, project: problematic husband in Brooklyn. As she One Hundred Happy Days. Polly may only have 100 days left, as she’s got terminal struggles to reorient and reinvent herself, brain cancer (a tumor lovingly named Bob), and refuses to let her remaining time Mhairi discovers inexplicable gaps in be miserable or go unnoticed. Reluctantly, Annie agrees to Polly’s plan to do or McWatt’s life story. The novel interweaves think of one happy thing a day. Soon, Polly has commandeered Annie’s life, Mhairi’s first-person narrative with excerpts making her jump in fountains, ride roller coasters, and listen to orchestras. Annie from her study of McWatt and his texts, realizes that Polly is dying far better than Annie has ever lived, so maybe happiness including lists and jottings from his does have a place in her life after all. Delightful page-turning awaits readers, even 14,000-page Fascaray Compendium and with Polly’s inevitable finale. Polly is a wonderful character with a positively numerous classic poems he has rewritten infectious attitude—memorable and magnetic, with a healthy dose of gallows in Scots. Mhairi’s voice is witty, and the humor. Joy shines through the tears, as this novel is a life lesson that should not metafictional play—which, like McAfee’s be ignored. (Sept.) 2012 debut novel, The Spoiler, exploits tensions between authenticity and invention, subject and writer—is clever. But are tested and new friendships are forged. first three each 13 yarns long and the last the narrative’s momentum and Fascaray’s Fans of Jones will appreciate her return to a single story, the book engages both the resonance as an emblem of both Scotland an ensemble-driven narrative, and new fans profound and the frivolous. Reality flirts and the notion of home get buried in the will find social commentary and intense with and sometimes gives way to the avalanche of “nonfictional” detail. The thrills rolled into one seamless story. bizarre, the economy and style of lan- novel can be tough going for anyone not Outwardly an adventure story, this sus- guage making a man with disappearing fascinated by and knowledgeable about all penseful novel uses a thrilling premise to body parts (“Missing”) and a sloth seeking things Scottish. (Sept.) examine the fallout of abandoning uni- work in the city (“The Sloth”) equally versal freedoms in order to ensure collective vivid. Each of these microcosms, whether George & Lizzie safety. (Sept.) involving well-known people and places Nancy Pearl. Touchstone, $25 (288p) ISBN 978- or anonymous characters and locales, car- 1-5011-6289-3 Tales of Falling and Flying ries the appropriate emotional weight to Librarian and NPR commentator Pearl Ben Loory. Penguin, $17 trade paper (224p) enchant without overwhelming. Loory is has made a living recommending great ISBN 978-0-14-313010-9 at his best in worlds tilted slightly from books; in this debut novel about love, Life and death are treated with equal reality involving quests tinged with mys- regret, and forgiveness she tries her hand gravity and levity in this nimble, tery and heartache, such as the man at fiction with mixed results. Her heroine refreshing collection of shorts from Loory seeking a woman who vanished after is Lizzie, the only child of two famous but (Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day). falling from a cliff in “The Fall” and the emotionally distant psychologists who use Each of these stories is a deceptively small treasure-hunting crew that meets a dif- Lizzie to test their theories. Against the bite, its depth of flavor often growing and ferent kind of siren in “The Island.” (Sept.) backdrop of this loveless childhood, Lizzie lingering. Divided into four sections, the embarks on the “Great Game” of sleeping ▲ Our Reviewers Roberta Alexander Donis Casey Donna Freitas Bob Hahn Dionne Obeso Gil Sewall Chris Barsanti Donna Chavez Erin Fry Katrina Niidas Holm Mary Pender-Coplan Misty Urban Nancy Bilyeau Oline H. Cogdill Shaenon Garrity Michael M. Jones Leonard Picker Rona Wilk Vicki Borah Bloom John DiBello Lila Garrott Shannon Maughan Gwyn Plummer Andrew Wilmot Steve Bunche Steven Filippi Rebecca George Elaine Maurer Ingrid Roper Maryelizabeth Yturralde Lisa Butts Jordan Foster Sara Grochowski Alice McClintock Joseph L. Sanders Henry Carrigan Suzanne Fox Patricia Guy Julie Naughton Antonia Saxon

38 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_FICTION Advertisement with every starter on the high school foot- building and lose patience as Hanna vacil- ball team, but her attention-seeking efforts lates between doing what the community fail to generate anything more than nega- expects and doing what feels right for tive voices in her head and a deep-seated her. Agent: Anne Bohner, Pen & Ink Literary. self-hatred. When later her lust-filled (Sept.) relationship with college classmate Jack falls apart, Lizzie worries the Great Game Unrest is to blame. In steps George, a dental stu- Sandra Heath. Sandra Ann Heath, $24.99 dent with a “marshmallow” heart who (350p) ISBN 978-0-9965517-2-4 wants nothing more than to make Lizzie Heath’s debut novel masterfully incor- happy. But even after Lizzie and George porates family, romance, tension, and fully say “I do,” Lizzie finds herself pining for realized characters into a wonderfully Jack. Pearl doesn’t give readers enough written piece of historical fiction set in time to witness the deepening of George 1978 Tehran, during the lead-up to the An Idiot in and Lizzie’s relationship for it to be con- Iranian Revolution. Seventeen-year-old Marriage vincing, and at times the characters seem Annette Patterson—aka Annie—arrives out of step with the realities of 1990s-era in Tehran with her mother, her 18-year-old David Jester. early adulthood. Still, the path George sister, and 11-year-old brother. They’re David Jester. Skyhorse, $14.99 trade paper (276p) and Lizzie’s relationship takes toward joining their father, Colonel Jack Patterson, ISBN 978-1-5107-0434-3 wholeness points to truths about the way at his new military assignment of helping people self-sabotage, the complexity of to procure equipment for the Air Force, but love, and the importance of being able to unlike where they’ve lived before—which Jester’s slice-of-life sequel to An let go of the past. (Sept.) has ranged from the U.S. to Greece—Iran Idiot in Love is fi lled with risqué is almost overwhelmingly exotic to them. humor and littered with forehead- Hanna Who Fell from the Sky The strange desert landscapes, the local slapping moments. It’s not much of Christopher Meades. Park Row, $24.99 customs, unique foods, and awesome a romance, but it delivers dozens of (352p) ISBN 978-0-7783-2873-5 landmarks threaten to overpower Annie’s laughs with a few cleverly disguised Hanna, the heroine of this uneven senses. Sibling rivalry between Annie and moments of thoughtfulness mixed in. coming-of-age novel with a fantasy element her sister, Debbie, escalates when the Kieran is the titular self-proclaimed from Canadian author Meades (The Last family befriends 18-year-old Amir and “idiot.” He’s in his 20s and can’t keep Hiccup), lives in Clearhaven, an idyllic rustic both girls start to fall for him. As tension a job to save his life; instead he takes town whose inhabitants practice polygamy. grows within the family, so too does it care of his infant son, Ben, while his As Hanna nears her 18th birthday, she grow in the country: killings and demon- wife, Lizzie, has employment that becomes formally betrothed to a middle- strations occur with increasing frequency. pays the bills. Kieran’s life is fi lled aged man who watched her grow up and When a restaurant the family had patron- with stunning misadventures and already has four ized is bombed, Annie realizes “this hap- over-the-top friends, especially his wives. But then pened two weeks to the night we’d cele- best friend, Matthew, a womanizing, she meets brated Debbie’s birthday there.” The time vulgar miscreant with delusions of Daniel, a period is accurately captured from the adequacy. Kieran’s neighbors are Clearhaven resi- viewpoint of the Pattersons as well as equally absurd and think nothing dent who has from the Iranian characters’ perspectives. of accusing him of catnapping. Yet recently This is a superb accomplishment of char- somehow he manages to stumble returned from a acter development, as well as an immer- through life, possibly learning a nearby city. As sive journey through Tehran’s many land- lesson or two about himself and others along the way—including how her wedding marks. (BookLife) to function outside the psychiatric day approaches, facility where he and Lizzie met. The her growing autobiographical style lends itself attraction to Daniel causes her to question Mystery/Thriller well to full immersion in the laugh- not only her role in Clearhaven but the out-loud situations encountered by Hidden Scars: town’s entire culture. Her father, Jotham, Kieran and those unfortunate enough has a financial stake in her union, which A Sam Blackman Mystery to love him. The delightfully biting, becomes more muddled when her mother, Mark de Castrique. Poisoned Pen, $26.95 tongue-in-cheek British sensibility Kara, Jotham’s second wife, discloses the (254p) ISBN 978-1-4642-0894-2; $15.95 trade occasionally overwhelms, but the secret about Hanna’s origins suggested by paper ISBN 978-1-4642-0896-6 ridiculous situations are usually the title. Hanna’s plight is sure to move In De Castrique’s superior sixth mys- balanced with dashes of normalcy. many readers. Others, however, will be put tery featuring Asheville, N.C., PI Sam (July) off by the vague, unimaginative world- Blackman (after 2015’s A Specter of Justice), david-jester.com

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 39 Review_FICTION

80-year-old Violet Baker asks Sam to look men. Meanwhile, the release from prison Melody Chapa, the most famous murder into the suspicious death of her brother, of the father of Lucius’s fiancée’s child cre- victim in America. Seven years earlier in Paul Weaver, a WWII vet who was a stu- ates personal complications for Lucius. 2010, seven-year-old Melody was allegedly dent at nearby Black Mountain College Mullen again brilliantly combines a sus- murdered by her parents, though her body when he took a fatal fall into a ravine in penseful plot with a searing look at a racist was never found. Cara soon goes down the 1946. With the aid of his detective agency South. Agent: Susan Golomb, Writers House. internet rabbit hole of the Chapa case and partner, Nakayla Robertson, Sam investi- (Sept.) looks up transcripts of Nancy Grace–type gates. Meanwhile, a movie that’s being true crime TV shows, most hosted by the filmed on the Black Mountain campus, The Visitors overly opinionated Bonnie Juno, an early based on a sappy romance novel set at the Catherine Burns. Scout, $26 (304p) ISBN 978- believer in the guilt of Melody’s parents, college around the time of Paul’s death, is 1-5011-6401-9 despite a dearth of evidence. The present- plagued by sabotage. The stakes rise when British author Burns’s disquieting debut day plot devolves into a kidnapping free- a member of the movie crew, octogenarian focuses on Marion Zetland, a 54-year-old for-all, with Cara inexplicably at the center. Harlan Beale, who knew Weaver and has spinster who has never held a job, had a Hannah, known for her labyrinthine plots, some information to share with Sam about friend, or known love. She passes time by loses her way early on. (Sept.) the cold case, is murdered in the local daydreaming, watching TV, and trying to library. Either someone is using the shadow please her cruel and imperious older brother, Final Stop, Algiers of past misdeeds to cover up present crimes, John, with whom she shares her dead Mishka Ben-David, trans. from the Hebrew by the past isn’t really dead, or both. De parents’ dilapidated Northport, England, Ronnie Hope. Overlook, $26.95 (368p) Castrique combines an examination of home. John, a disgraced former school- ISBN 978-1-4683-1022-1 the South’s troubled racial history with a teacher, spends his days in the house’s Mickey Simhoni, the narrator of this smart probe of current political-financial cellar, where he allegedly builds model fine spy thriller from Israeli author Ben- shenanigans. Agent: Linda Allen, Linda airplanes, but that explanation doesn’t David (Forbidden Love in St. Petersburg), has Allen Literary Agency. (Oct.) account for the sobs and screams that found purpose after his army service as a occasionally escape the air vents. Marion high school art teacher in Tel Aviv. But ★ Lightning Men tries not to dwell on what might actually what should have been a moment of cele- Thomas Mullen. 37 Ink, $26 (384p) ISBN 978- be happening in the cellar—she’s power- bration—the opening of an exhibit of 1-5011-3879-9 less to change the situation, so why Mickey’s paintings—turns tragic when a Set in 1950, Mullen’s outstanding sequel bother?—but then John falls ill, forcing suicide bomber strikes nearby, killing to 2016’s Darktown showcases the diffi- Marion to face some harsh truths. Burns Mickey’s girlfriend, Dolly. Keen to avenge culties of effectively policing the mean blurs the line between crime fiction and her, Mickey readily accepts a pitch to join streets of Atlanta when some cops belong horror in this relentlessly bleak tale of the Mossad, the Israeli spy service, although to the Ku Klux Klan. Denny Rakestraw, loneliness and neglect. Marion’s emotional his recruiter insists that Mickey agree that who’s not a Klan member, is distrusted instability and proclivity for denial cause going after the person behind the attack by his fellow officers for his suspected role readers to question her reliability. Deliberate must be secondary to thwarting future in the disappearance of his former partner. pacing, a claustrophobic setting, and vivid, threats to Israel. Before long, Mickey is Denny’s problems increase when his wildly unsympathetic characters comple- tasked with impersonating a Canadian Klansman ment the twisted plot and grim conclusion. who recently died of an overdose in Sinai. brother-in-law, Agent: David Forrer, Inkwell Management. In Toronto, his commitment is tested by Dale Simpkins, (Sept.) an encounter with an old flame. Ben-David gets involved in manages to inject some lightness into his a plot to stop Keep Her Safe descriptions of Mickey’s training, but as the influx of Sophie Hannah. Morrow, $26.99 (352p) in the best espionage novels, the focus on African- ISBN 978-0-06-238832-2 the spy’s inner conflicts is the main hook. Americans into In this unnecessarily complex stand- (Sept.) his neighbor- alone from bestseller Hannah (A Game hood. The perfor All the Family), Englishwoman Cara An Echo of Murder: sonal and the Burrows, who’s frustrated with her family, A William Monk Novel professional also leaves her husband and two children behind Anne Perry. Ballantine, $28 (304p) ISBN 978- intersect for Lucius Boggs, one of the city’s in the U.K. and flies to Phoenix, Ariz., 0-425-28501-5 first black officers. They are not only not where she stays at the exclusive Swallowtail Set in the summer of 1870, bestseller allowed to arrest whites but are “barely Resort in the foothills of Camelback Perry’s skillful 23rd William Monk novel even supposed to interact with white people,” Mountain. Pregnant with an unintended (after 2016’s Revenge in a Cold River) opens which proves troublesome when Lucius third child, Cara anticipates relaxing swims with the Thames River Police commander’s and another black cop, Tommy Smith, start and soaking up the desert sun, until she’s arrival at a riverfront warehouse, where to investigate a moonshine smuggling accidentally assigned the wrong room and Hungarian businessman Imrus Fodor lies ring that turns out to include some white sees a teenage girl who closely resembles dead, impaled by a bayonet. Fodor’s fingers

40 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_FICTION are broken, and 17 candles are arrayed the offending shark, whom onlookers on thriller. Callie Farrow, who works in a nearby, all bloody and two of an unusual the beach have spotted. The beast is soon London bookstore, becomes obsessed blue. The victim’s enigmatic countryman, strung up on a dock, where Teddy slits its with every aspect of the life of her glam- Antal Dobokai, who discovered the body, belly, which contains more body parts. ourous twin sister, Tilda, a well-known serves as translator as Monk investigates Teddy and other police officials set out to actress, after Tilda marries the controlling London’s close-knit Hungarian commu- find anyone who might be able to iden- Felix Nordberg, a wealthy financier. nity. Leads are few, until identical murders tify the woman. Teddy has an amusing Callie believes that Felix’s mania for per- occur. Londoners panic, ethnic tensions encounter with attractive Jeanne fection, from the order of his silverware to flare, and Monk’s wife, Hester, becomes Trengrouse and her scarlet macaw, Sir his volatile reaction to a minor error, sig- involved when a friend is suspected. Though Winston Churchill, who repeats the sus- nals a penchant for domestic violence. the book’s final quarter feels rushed, Perry picious words (e.g., “de fuzz”) of his less- Convinced that Tilda is in danger, the smoothly intertwines themes—war’s lin- than-law-abiding previous owners. Jeanne’s increasingly unstable Callie monitors gering cost, tensions around immigration shy eight-year-old son puts Teddy on a Tilda, snoops in her home, and reads her and otherness—that challenge in both her trail that leads him to suspect that the hidden diary. Callie also contributes to a period and our own. Her gritty depictions woman—eventually identified as Michele website about domestic abuse and of Victorian medicine at home and on the Konnerth, a cancer researcher at Duke becomes fixated on women killed by battlefield ground the story in wrenching University who came to Virgin Gorda as their partners. As she teeters on the realism. Agent: Donald Maass, Donald part of her work—was the victim of a brink of insanity, Callie considers taking Maass Literary. (Sept.) crime. Keyse-Walker effortlessly conveys drastic measures to save her sister. The the balmy charm of island life. Agent: plot slowly but forcefully builds to a Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed Danielle Burby, Nelson Literary Agency. shocking finale as Robins skillfully John Keyse-Walker. Minotaur, $25.99 (304p) (Sept.) explores the dynamics between sisters, ISBN 978-1-250-14847-6 mental health issues, and manipulative Keyse-Walker’s entertaining sequel to ★ White Bodies behavior. Agent: Natasha Fairweather, 2016’s Sun, Sand, Murder begins when Jane Robins. Touchstone, $24.99 (304p) United Artists (U.K.). (Sept.) the remains of a young woman, evidently ISBN 978-1-5011-6508-5 the victim of a shark attack, wash up on the British author Robins (The Trial of Caribbean island of Virgin Gorda. Constable Queen Caroline) makes her fiction debut Teddy Creque takes on the task of killing with a deliciously creepy psychological Looking for a career? Looking for a new job? ★ The Western Star Look no further... Craig Johnson. Viking, $28 (304p) ISBN 978-0-399-17606-7

estseller Johnson pays homage to Agatha Christie JOB3 in his cleverly plotted 13th Walt Longmire novel ZONE (after 2016’s An Obvious Fact), which takes place in www.Publishersweekly.com/JOBZONE Bboth the past and the present. In 1972, Walt, an Absaroka County deputy and newly returned Vietnam Connect to the War vet, joins his boss, Sheriff Lucian Connelly, for the best Wyoming Sheriffs’ Association annual excursion across job opportunities in the state aboard the steam train Western Star. In Walt’s the publishing industry pocket is a copy of Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. On the train, Walt attracts the attention of Kim LeClerc, New listings every day the comely companion of Sheriff George McKay, who warns the deputy to stay away from her. Soon afterward, UHDFKTXDOLÀHG during a station stop, someone knocks Walt out just as he’s about to reboard the professionals every train. Walt hitches a ride to the next stop, where he learns that McKay has disap- minute of the day peared and another sheriff has been shot dead. In the present day, Walt is opposed to the release of a serial killer, who’s dying and has been imprisoned for decades, 5HÀQHWKHVHDUFKIRU for a personal reason that will catch readers by surprise. Witty dialogue abounds; when Kim asks Walt if he killed many babies in Vietnam, he replies, “Hardly any, the best with the they’re small… Hard to hit.” And Johnson winds up the whodunit with a solution industry’s leading that Christie could never have imagined. 15-city author tour. Agent: Gail Hochman, resource Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents. (Sept.)

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 41 Review_FICTION

When They Come for You Ross and Leo, who have both been shot Wicked Leaks James W. Hall. Thomas & Mercer, $15.95 dead. Assisted by her brother, Nick, a Matt Bendoris. Skyhorse, $24.99 (312p) trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-4778-4867-8 resettlement specialist for the World ISBN 978-1-5107-2578-2 Harper McDaniel, the heroine of this Bank, and her gangster grandfather, she In this cleverly imagined thriller from thrilling series launch from Edgar-winner sets off to track down the killer. Her Scottish author Bendoris (DM for Murder), Hall (The Big Finish and 11 other Thorn quest leads her to Africa, Switzerland, the normal world of Glasgow nurse Kelly novels), has recently lost her celebrity and Spain, where she pieces together a Carter collides with the world of conspira- photographer mother to suicide, but she mosaic of crimes linked to the deaths of cies, cover-ups, and deadly agents inhabited takes comfort in her loving husband, Ross, scores of innocent people. A woman of by terminal patient Mad Malky Monahan. an investigative reporter for the Miami action, Harper fights her own battles, Twenty years after Monahan engineered News, and their baby son, Leo, with whom takes her own risks, and sets her own traps. the car crash that killed Princess Diana in she lives in Coconut Grove, Fla. Then This intricately plotted novel delivers a 1997, he hints to Carter that he knows how one evening Harper returns home from a protagonist to root for and villains worthy it happened and that he has a key piece of charity event to find cops and firefighters of the name. Agent: Ann Rittenberg, Ann evidence. When a fire destroys the aban- outside the remains of her house, which Rittenberg Literary Agency. (Sept.) doned garage hiding that evidence, Carter has been destroyed by fire. Inside she finds realizes her fate is inextricably bound to

[In My Own Words] Inside the Asylum BY A.F. BRADY

Brady draws on her own experiences as a New York City psychotherapist in her first novel, The Blind (Park Row, Sept.).

hen the effects of the 2008 financial things started to get extremely messy at collapse trickled into the mental work. At the time, I felt I was tied up in health world, mental health services bureaucratic red tape and was trying to find

W lost funding all around New York ©ron nicolaysen a way to do more than one therapist could City. People seeking counseling and assis- possibly do. So many people needed services, tance were often turned away due to over- time, and help. I was stretched to my breaking crowding, shuffled around from one agency point. I would come home from work crying, to another, or fell out of treatment altogether. completely depleted, wishing I could’ve been The mental health agency I was working at a superhero. in Brooklyn was suddenly flooded with new Sam’s descent into disarray and the chaotic clients, and it became an exceptionally chaotic environment at Typhlos are reflections of environment. how each part of the mental health machine My friend asked me how I was dealing affects the other parts. As therapists, our with the chaos going on at work, and I told unresolved issues and behaviors affect our him, “You have to be crazy to work here.” clients, just as their issues affect us. Sam is From that statement alone, a story line developed in my head, struggling to be superhuman, suppressing her own problems and The Blind was born. so she can use her energy to help her patients. That feeling The characters, locations, and relationships I wrote about was pervasive among professionals during the fallout of the in the book are informed by my years of working in various recession, myself included. mental health facilities around New York City—I started at a While writing the novel, I was careful to authentically private hospital’s psychiatric ward, and worked my way around represent the state of mental health treatment in our country. publicly funded inpatient programs, private practices, research While there are so many talented and caring professionals out facilities, and day treatment programs. Typhlos, the hospital there, facilities are woefully underfunded, and stigmas pre- in the book, is a combination of a few of them, with a dash of vail in the common consciousness. The story in The Blind creative license. echoes my real-life experience of realizing that we are all Sam, the narrator in The Blind, is not based on me nor any human beings and, like Sam, none of us have it all together. of my coworkers, but the feeling she has of losing herself and The line that divides the mentally well and mentally ill can her stability is very much based on the experience I had when be paper thin.

42 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_FICTION

Monahan’s. Meanwhile, sarcastic Connor Dark Road Home. She has renewed her Medhat’s excellent debut and series launch, “Elvis” Presley and food-loving April relationship with her high school boy- a refreshing take on Navajo country’s crime, Lavender, who work for the declining friend, contractor Jake Crosby, who culture, and history. After the discovery Daily Chronicle’s special investigations played a key role in the earlier book. of a man’s body carefully laid out near desk, sniff a big story as Monahan tries to Then things start to disrupt Gin’s tran- Chimney Rock, white policeman Franz keep the sensitive information on public quil routine. First, Jake begins to display Kafka (aka K), who has settled in fictional figures from all those who want it. Monahan a subtle, inexplicable coolness. Later, a Milagro, San Matteo County (“one of proves amazingly resilient for someone fire (eventually determined to be arson) the few places left in the Western hemi- supposedly dying, and Carter, a divorced breaks out at the construction site of sphere—and possibly the Eastern too— mother of two, shows how tough she can high-end homes into which Jake has where his name be under pressure. Bendoris’s amusing sunk all his money. Finally, firefighters rings no bells”), send-up of conspiracy theories will reso- unearth the badly decomposed remains teams with nate with many readers. (Sept.) of a murder victim buried at the site. Robbie Begay, a Attempts on Gin’s life raise the stakes, tracker with the Burgundy: Twisted Roots; and she must face some old nemeses. Redwater A Vengeance in the Vineyard Gin, Jake, and secondary characters all Navajo Tribal Mystery gain complexity in this above-average Police. At the Janet Hubbard. Poisoned Pen, $15.95 trade psychological mystery. Agent: Barbara crime scene, paper (230p) ISBN 978-1-4642-0559-0 Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary Agency. Begay makes a Hubbard’s sprightly third Vengeance (Sept.) number of in the Vineyard mystery (after 2014’s impressive Bordeaux: The Bitter Finish) takes NYPD Berlin Syndrome deductions from shoe and tire marks. Det. Maxine “Max” Maguire; her Melanie Joosten. Scribe, $14.95 trade paper Dental records identify the victim as recently retired police detective father, (256p) ISBN 978-1-922070-36-4 28-year-old Noah George, a member of Hank; and her French mother, Juliette, Australian architectural photographer a Navajo family known for its bad luck. to France, to visit Max’s grandmother Clare, the heroine of Australian author As they investigate Noah’s troubled past, Isabelle, who lives in a stately home 10 Joosten’s claustrophobic, carefully crafted Begay and K swap stories, insights, and miles from the ancient walled town of first novel, accepts charming English insults that brilliantly illuminate the Beaune. Max’s paramour, Olivier teacher Andi’s offer of a night in his Berlin daily obstacles that Native Americans Chaumont, an antiterrorist magistrate apartment, then finds herself locked there encounter. Medhat, who holds a Ph.D. in based in Paris who grew up in the region, indefinitely, until, as Andi tells her, “in medical anthropology, uses pathos and joins them. Max and Olivier are not the time you will understand.... You will want humor, tragedy and comedy, to spin an only ones getting in touch with their to stay.” Joosten offers just enough of the entertaining and original mystery. (Sept.) ancestral roots: 17-year-old American panoramic and stark beauty of the city to Lucy Kendrick, who has been working emphasize Clare’s isolation, and effectively A Murder Too Soon for a local vigneron, is also in Burgundy communicates the development of Clare’s Michael Jecks. Crème de la Crime, $28.99 searching for the father she never knew. confused attachment to her captor, while (224p) ISBN 978-1-78029-098-0 When Lucy goes missing and a local presenting Andi’s deluded self-perception In Jecks’s Rebellion’s Message (2016), private detective falls to his death from of himself as normal. But she stops short gambler Jack Blackjack, who lives among his balcony, Max, Olivier, and Hank of letting Clare’s thoughts become disor- “the purse-snatchers and pilferers” of investigate. Steeped in wine lore, this dered enough to throw the reader off-bal- London, got caught up in the 1554 rebel- entry has an authentic feel for the wines ance, as the conceit of the plot demands. lion that sought to overthrow Queen Mary. and people of Burgundy. Great meals As a result, the story sometimes feels tim- In this engrossing sequel set in the same and great wines accompany the mystery. idly depressing where it could have been year, the kingdom of England is calm only Series fans will thoroughly enjoy its forthrightly nightmarish. This becomes on the surface. Since he’s eager to escape a elegant, satisfying finish. Agent: Kimberly most evident in the anticlimactic ending, paramour’s jealous husband in London, Cameron, Kimberly Cameron & Associates. in which the consequences of Clare’s final Jack agrees to undertake a distasteful job (Sept.) move play out offstage. A film based on for his patron, Sir Thomas Percy—to travel this thriller is due for U.S. release this beyond Oxford to the palace of Woodstock, All the Secret Places: summer. (Sept.) where Princess Elizabeth is confined, and A Gin Sullivan Mystery murder one of Elizabeth’s guardians, Lady Anna Carlisle. Crooked Lane, $25.99 (288p) ★ The Quality of Mercy: Margery, who poses a threat to the princess’s ISBN 978-1-68331-287-1 A Milagro Mystery security and safety. When Jack arrives in Former Chicago medical examiner Katayoun Medhat. Leapfrog (Consortium, Woodstock, “a place steeped in misery Virginia “Gin” Sullivan has returned to dist.), $16 trade paper (286p) ISBN 978-1- and deceit,” he’s astonished to discover live in her hometown of Trumbull, Pa., 935248-95-8 that Lady Margery has already been mur- in Carlisle’s enjoyable sequel to 2016’s Tony Hillerman fans will welcome dered. Jack, himself a suspect, faces the

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 43 Review_FICTION

daunting task of identifying the real killer. a quick jaunt into an unnamed village to paying job at Howell Hall, a psychiatric Plot twists abound, but the novel’s greatest pick up supplies, Marlene makes the star- hospital in the Galloway countryside, strength is its jaunty tone, plunging the tling discovery that something has killed despite her lack of experience with spe- reader into raucous Elizabethan England, the village’s residents. Despite a lack of a cial-needs clients. On the home front, when the lady herself was still but “a trim cell phone signal, she’s able to learn that her husband has run his business into the little thing.” (Sept.) whatever killed these people isn’t ground, and her beloved 15-year-old son restricted to Shropshire, but may involve is sullen and uncommunicative. At Cat Got Your Secrets: the whole of the U.K. Furniss does a fine Howell Hall, Ali develops a fondness for A Kitty Couture Mystery job of portraying the campers’ desperate Sylvie and Julia, two young patients, but Julie Chase. Crooked Lane, $26.99 (320p) situation as Marlene, Joni, and their kids can’t figure out why they’ve been con- ISBN 978-1-68331-283-3 try to reach safety. Tragedies only add to fined there. Nor does the director provide Chase’s love of New Orleans is apparent the escalating tension, which helps high- satisfactory answers to Ali’s questions. on every page of her droll third Kitty light the quiet moments sprinkled The discovery of a body on the hospital Couture Mystery (after 2017’s Cat Got Your throughout. The flawed characters, both grounds increases her anxiety. In this uni- Cash). Lacy Marie Crocker’s fortunes are child and adult, demonstrate strength and verse, no one is to be trusted, and Ali is on the upswing: Furry Godmother, her resilience. An abrupt ending might frus- forced to rely on herself—despite all the pet boutique on New Orleans’ historic trate some readers, but hopefully a sequel questions about her own tenuous grip on Market Street, is forthcoming. Agent: Danielle Egan- sanity. McPherson keeps the suspense is doing well. Miller, Browne & Miller Literary Assoc. level high; her heroine comes across as Her rocky rela- (Sept.) clinically interesting but not particularly tionship with sympathetic. Agent: Lisa Moylett, Coombs her socialite None But the Dead Moylett Literary Agency. (Sept.) mother has mel- Lin Anderson. Pan (IPG, dist.), $14.95 trade lowed. And paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-5098-0700-0 Resurrection America she’s being British author Anderson’s busy 11th Jeff Gunhus. Seven Guns, $3.99 e-book wooed by two Rhona MacLeod novel (after The Special (405p) ISBN 978-0-9982177-2-7 wildly eligible Dead) takes the Glasgow forensic expert In this taut, thought-provoking apoca- bachelors, to the remote Orkney island of Sanday, lyptic thriller from Gunhus (Night Chill), homicide where a digger has unearthed the bones of hard times have hit the little hamlet of detective Jack Oliver and lawyer Chase a child on the grounds of an old school- Resurrection, Colo., and the mayor has Hawthorne. Lacy’s life is humming along house that an incomer to the island is reinstated the local fall festival in the nicely until one of her Furry Godmother fixing up. Rhona excavates the grave, hope that the food, music, crafts, and fun customers, Wallace Becker, is found dead while Det. Sgt. Michael McNab and other will lift the community’s spirits. When in his walk-in freezer, and the last person members of the police team interview someone erects a high electric fence in to see him alive was Lacy’s own beloved Sanday’s residents. Predictably, the locals front of the entrance to a long-abandoned veterinarian father. Lacy sets out to clear all have secrets—some recent, some long mine, Sheriff Rick Johnson is concerned. her father’s name, but her investigation hidden—that they’re reluctant to share A series of small, easily dismissed inci- has barely started when she’s targeted by with outsiders. A series of disturbing incidents niggle at his mind, but he decides the same blackmailer who threatened dents raises the stakes: the skull found at to let things ride until after the festival. Becker. The recurring characters have the dig site disappears, someone attacks Soon, grave problems develop that directly developed nicely, and Chase provides some McNab, a young girl goes missing. A involve every citizen of Resurrection and satisfying answers to a story arc that has murder in Glasgow has an unusual link to eventually spiral into a technological carried through the series. Agent: Jill Marsal, Sanday. The weather on the island, wild threat so cataclysmic that Rick can hardly Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (Sept.) and unpredictable, plays a big role, as comprehend its significance. Will Rick and does the dangerous and deceptive topog- his allies, including AI expert Cassandra All the Little Children raphy. Anderson keeps the reader guessing Baker, be able Jo Furniss. Lake Union, $14.95 trade paper in a stew of motives and suspects as the to thwart the (354p) ISBN 978-1-5420-4568-1 search for answers builds to an exciting mad plans of Furniss’s first novel, a slow-burning conclusion. (Sept.) Hank Keefer, apocalyptic thriller, doesn’t pull any the mine’s new punches. Englishwoman Marlene House. Tree. Person. owner, and the Greene, who owns a factory in China, Catriona McPherson. Midnight Ink, $24.99 unbridled greed and her sister-in-law, Joni, have taken (360p) ISBN 978-0-7387-5216-7 of Cassandra’s their kids on a weekend camping trip in Ali McGovern, the mentally unstable narcissistic bil- Shropshire as a bonding experience, but narrator of this unsettling thriller set in lionaire boss, also so Marlene’s husband can move out Scotland from Edgar-finalist McPherson Brandon Morris? without upsetting the children. While on (Quiet Neighbors), manages to land a well- Readers will

44 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_FICTION keep turning the pages to find out as the thing she has to the power of the dark manders Anatin and Payl. The book action builds to a surprising conclusion. waters from which she draws her prophe- opens with a rescue gone awry that gets (BookLife) cies, growing weaker with each one This the Cards in trouble with the religious is overall a strong collection, though it is Knights-Charnel, and soon the merce- weakened by a number of stories that are naries are fleeing a number of dangerous SF/Fantasy/Horror thematically pertinent yet lacking in one enemies. Lynx was an increasingly reluc- respect or another—A.M. Dellamonica’s tant participant in the wars of conquest of ★ Raising Fire “Bottleneck,” for example, relies too his native nation, So Han, and this history James Bennett. Orbit, $15.99 trade paper much on worldbuilding and loses all lends depth to his character. Lloyd (the (400p) ISBN 978-0-316-39073-6 semblance of character as a result. Twilight Reign series) makes good use of Bennett’s inventive and vivid continua- Fortunately, the book starts and ends on limited magic, mostly in the form of cre- tion of the tale that began with Chasing high notes that balance out the disap- atively deadly weapons, and the detailed Embers focuses primarily on the struggles pointing entries and make it worth battle scenes will keep readers engaged, of Ben Garston, the human form of the reading. (Sept.) even when the pace falters a little in the last dragon left on Earth. The others— final third of the book. Agent: Simon along with all magical beings such as Stranger of Tempest: Kavanagh, Mic Cheetham Literary (U.K.). witches, trolls, giants, etc.—have The God Fragments, Book 1 (Sept.) accepted the Sleep that let humans forget Tom Lloyd. Gollancz, $24.99 (480p) ISBN 978- about them for centuries. But now the 1-4732-1317-3 Horizon magic truce is failing, some humans are Dark humor and mayhem are the order Fran Wilde. Tor, $27.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0- seeking a talisman that would let them of the day in Lloyd’s enjoyable epic fantasy 7653-7787-6 destroy the “monsters,” and Garston is series launch. Interwoven multiple point- Spanning the ground and sky in a city beginning to suspect that he’s only a pawn of-view characters and timelines immerse of spires where people sail between their to Blaise Von Hart, last representative of the reader immediately in the action, towers grown from living bone on wings the fay, who is capable of playing a very while allowing for gradual revelations of silk, the conclusion to Wilde’s fantas- subtle and very long game. Readers will about the world and greater context. tical trilogy (after Cloudbound) takes on be swept along by the vivid writing and Soldier and occasional mercenary Lynx violent political divisions, ecological des- frequent explosions of extreme violence. brings both muscle and strategic skills to olation, and the imminent death of the This is smart action storytelling, and the Cards, a merc team led by com- only world the characters have ever Bennett is assembling the materials for a terrific conclusion. Agent: John Jarrold, John Jarrold Literary (U.K.). (Sept.) ★ Iraq + 100: The Sum of Us: The First Anthology of Science Tales of the Bonded and Bound Edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law. Fiction to Have Emerged From Iraq Laska Media (Ingram, dist.), $17.95 trade Hassan Blasim. Tor, $18 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-250-16132-1 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-9939696-9-0 This anthology of 23 speculative stories n this landmark anthology, a question is posed to 10 focuses on caregivers, whose own lives Iraqi writers, living both in Iraq and abroad: what and needs often seem to fade into “the will your country look like after 100 years? The province of ghosts.” In Ian Creasey’s answers to this question are vast and varied. In “The Dunschemin Retirement Home for I “Kuszib,” Hassan Abdulrazzak imagines a cruel future Repentant Supervillains,” a lowly minion in which the farming of humans by aliens is rendered in cares for his aging supervillain partner. gruesome, visceral detail. In “The Corporal,” Ali Bader Colleen Anderson’s “The Healer’s Touch” follows a nanomedicine doctor who’s tells the tale of one soldier’s quest for redemption in the overwhelmed by her capacity for face of religious and political turmoil. Editor Blasim’s empathy. In Tyler Keevil’s “Blinders,” “The Gardens of Babylon” imagines a digital paradise an unusual guide dog helps a welder gone overtaking the Middle East, where people’s lives are almost completely blind from years of compartmentalized into video game stories and insects grueling work. And in the collection’s are the new drug of choice. Inventive and surprising, these tales, many of which strongest story, the profoundly sad “The are translated, blend the surreal with the commonplace, pushing the boundaries Oracle and the Warlord,” by Karina of speculative fiction. Readers will savor each story as it probes the deeper ques- Sumner-Smith, Andra is forced to watch tions of existence and the possibilities and perils of the future. This is a must-read her charge and would-be lover, a powerful for all science fiction enthusiasts. (Sept.) oracle named Sayenne, surrender every-

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 45 Review_FICTION

known. Unaware of the extent of the danger threatening the bone spires, polit- ★ Royal Pain: ical leader Macal is trying to breathe life into his desperate community. Below, a His Royal Hotness, Book 1 young woman named Kirit and her com- Tracy Wolff. Loveswept, $3.99 e-book (230p) ISBN 978-0-425-28589-3 panions have survived a fall from the sky only to discover that their city’s progen- olff’s laugh-out-loud rags-to-riches contempo- itor, an unimaginably giant creature, is rary is brimming with charm. Prince Kian of being crushed and starved by the weight the nonexistent nation of Wildemar, the twin of the towers. When disaster hastens the brother of the crown prince Garrett, is forced to city’s demise, some of the fallen begin to W tame his philandering ways when Garrett is kidnapped climb, hoping to save those who still live and Kian takes his place as heir to the throne. When above, but the solution they devise for audacious American Savannah “Savvy” Breslin jumps in evacuation seems needlessly complicated; to save Kian from an awkward situation during one of there’s no plausible reason that most of his new princely duties, she’s surprised to fall for the the citizens can’t simply glide down on handsome, free-spirited aristocrat, especially considering their own wings. Despite this flaw, fans of her poor past experiences with his family. Familiar with the series will be satisfied by its conclu- the demands of the aristocracy, she knows that any kind of involvement would be sion. (Sept.) a bad idea, but she finds it impossible to resist Kian’s laid-back attitude, excep- tional good looks, and loveable entourage of three good-hearted guards. Kian’s Romance/Erotica strength of character is exhibited through his ability to balance his desire for Savvy against his concern for his brother and the requirements of his position, The Betting Vow: especially during the kidnapping’s fallout. He gives Savvy plenty of attention, but Unconventional Brides, Book 3 her fear of loss leads her to doubt his ability to commit to her, and that doubt K.M. Jackson. Dafina, $7.99 mass market threatens their relationship. With witty repartee, well-developed characters, and (368p) ISBN 978-1-4967-0572-3 a splash of suspense, Wolff has turned what could be a ridiculous premise into a Jackson charms with the third in her clever and refreshing love story. Agent: Emily Sylvan Kim, Prospect. (Sept.) Unconventional Brides series (after Insert Groom Here and To Me I Wed), a snappy contemporary that can be read as a stand- connection develops between Leila and his father, an encounter with wealthy alone. Brazen supermodel and aspiring Carter that has nothing to do with busi- beauty Susan Rutledge makes him actress Leila Darling is ready to swear off ness, as is evident in Jackson’s thoughtful wonder what it might be like to marry men thanks to characterization. Leila and Carter are sur- and settle down there instead. Besides, her slimy ex- prisingly sweet to each other, despite the he’d rather die than sell Rimrock to Ham boyfriend, who marriage’s beginnings, and Jackson even Prescott, a vulturelike neighboring made it big at manages to sell the poker game as a per- rancher who’s hellbent on getting the her expense fectly normal motivation for marriage. ranch—and Susan—for his own by any with a humili- Agent: Rachel Brooks, L. Perkins Agency. means possible. If becoming a rodeo star ating, chart- (Sept.) was tough, the odds against saving topping song Rimrock and marrying upper-class Susan called “Darling Texas Fierce are staggering. The ensuing plot, charac- Leila.” Janet Dailey. Kensington, $26 (264p) ters, and happy ending are as satisfying Straitlaced TV ISBN 978-1-4967-0957-8 and comfy as well-worn boots. Agent: producer Carter Dailey’s easy prose pairs perfectly with Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Agency. Bain is aiming to land a big ad client by the low-key Texas town revisited in her (Sept.) casting Leila in a mindless Three’s fourth Tylers of Texas contemporary (after Company–style production, but Leila has Texas Tall). With aspirations of being a Miss Leslie’s Secret her eye on a smart legal drama he’s rodeo star, 20-year-old Virgil “Bull” Tyler Jennifer Moore. Covenant Communications, casting. After losing a bet with Leila’s is breaking his neck riding the meanest $14.99 mass market (218p) ISBN 978-1-5244- manager during an improbable poker bulls. He’s barely scraping by when old 0415-4 game dare in Las Vegas, Leila and Carter friend Jasper Platt shows up to tell him This inspirational Regency romance by make a cold business decision to marry. If that Bull’s father has died, leaving every- Moore (Miss Whitaker Opens Her Heart), set they stay married for six months, Leila thing to Bull. He knows that comprises a in the Scottish Highlands, is sweet and will have her choice of TV roles; if they dilapidated house on a 2,000-acre scrub uplifting. When ex-soldier Sgt. Conall can’t hack it, Leila will star in the sitcom. ranch called Rimrock. Even though he’d Stewart catches a young lad, Jamie, To their surprise, a satisfying and deep just as soon be as shut of that as he was of stealing from him, he returns the boy to

46 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_FICTION his headstrong, independent mother, to being grounded as prince consort. The Haus (guest house), a grandmother and Aileen Leslie, who excuses away her son’s forgettable political plot brings a little mother (both widowed) and an unmar- mischievous ways. Then Aileen discovers structure to what would otherwise be hot ried daughter are all smitten, but a one- Conall’s war medal in her son’s pocket quasimilitary porn, but the stereotyped to-one pairing is not without its compli- and realizes Conall was telling the truth. antagonists are given little more motiva- cations. Clipston’s “The Christmas Cat” She orders Jamie to work for Conall as tion than a facile power grab. (Sept.) is a tale of remembered love as well as punishment, and it becomes a labor of love of neighbor. Emma Bontrager is love, honor, and respect. Conall becomes lonely on her first Christmas without her a surrogate father to Jamie, leading to Inspirational husband of 45 years. After a rotund spending more time with Aileen, who orange tabby arrives and makes himself sees in Conall everything she’s ever ★ An Inconvenient Beauty at home during a snowstorm and four wanted in a father for her son and a hus- Kristi Ann Hunter. Bethany House, $14.99 local youth come to check on her, she band for herself. The trio naturally form a trade paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-7642-1827-9 shares the memories of her long-ago family unit, and, rather abruptly, Conall Hunter’s final installment in the courtship and early married life. Irvin’s asks Aileen to marry him. But then a Hawthorne House series will delight “Snow Angels” features David Byler who truth known only to Aileen and her nosy those already invested in the series as must choose between a faith-filled future spitfire neighbor, Dores, is revealed, well as any reader who enjoys stories set with his Amish sweetheart or leaving the making their prospects as damp as their in Regency-era England. Finally it’s time community to pursue a woman he had beloved city of Dunaid. Moore flawlessly for family patriarch Griffith, Duke of romanced during his rumspringa. In works in a lot of cultural references, and Riverton, to find love after seeing all his Reid’s “Home for Christmas,” Ella though the romance is thin, it will still siblings happily married. His chosen Whetstone and her canine companion warm readers’ hearts. (Sept.) bride, Miss Frederica St. Claire, isn’t sure Lulu inherit her aunt’s farm, forcing her about the attentions of a duke though, to return to the Amish community she In His Majesty’s Service and may be in love with another anyway. left at six years old. The four novellas vary Elizabeth Silver and Jenny Urban. Riptide, It’s her cousin, Isabella Breckenridge, in style and substance, but all are feel- $18.99 trade paper (368p) ISBN 978-1- who is the center of attention instead, good stories perfect to indulge in during 62649-649-1 with her stunning beauty and flirting the busy holiday season. (Sept.) In this space opera romance from ways. Griffith is attracted to her, and she Silver and Urban (Fae Haven), the leads is beginning to warm up to him, but there These Healing Hills just can’t keep their hands off each other, is much more to her story than anyone Ann H. Garhart. Revell, $15.99 (368 p) fast-tracking the central relationship guesses. Although she maintains a beau- ISBN 978-0-8007-2363-7 from casual lust to mutually protective tiful façade for her society debut, Isabella’s Gabhart (The Outsider) paints an love. This inevitably leads to short- uncle has been pressuring her to use her endearing portrait of WWII Appalachia changing the cultural implications of a single status to help him out of financial in this enjoyable tale about two people mystical system in which soulmates have straits. Will the duke ever dance with trying to find their place in the world matching birthmarks but marriage and Isabella? Will her uncle’s plans succeed? and discern what it means to truly be the deeper “bonding” of bloodborne As the London Season plays out, secrets home. After Francine Howard’s boyfriend telepathy can happen without a match. are revealed, past loves return, and hearts dumps her for an English war bride, she Lord Anders Hawthorne, aka Crown align—despite a fair amount of under- heads to Hyden, Ky., as a member of the Prince Philip, is traveling in disguise to handed conniving—to create a fitting Frontier Nursing Service to be trained as the funeral of the king of the Drion finale to the series and a lovely addition a midwife. The local customs are different Collective. He starts an intense fling to the Regency genre. Agent: Natasha Kern from any she has ever known, and she with flight-loving Capt. Zachary Literary Agency (Sept.) soon discovers she may be in over her O’Connell. After an attack on the ship, head. Meanwhile, Ben Locke has been Anders discloses both his true identity An Amish Christmas Love: serving his country as a medic in Europe and their birth- Four Novellas and wants nothing more than to go back mark match to Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Ruth Reid, and home to the mountains he loves. When Zach. He feels Kelly Irvin. Thomas Nelson, $15.99 trade paper an unexpected injury allows him to do that public (400p) ISBN 978-0-5291-1870-7 just that, one of the first people he acknowledge- Wiseman (An Amish Year), Clipston encounters is Fran. The two are attracted ment of the (The Beloved Hope Chest), Irvin (Upon a to each other, but he is from the rural relationship is Spring Breeze), and Reid (A Dream of parts of the mountain. In her community, the only way to Miracles) lend their considerable talents she knows things would be contentious if protect his to this enjoyable Christmas collection. In the two became close. Garhart handles the claim to the “Winter Kisses,” Wiseman provides a Appalachian landscape and culture with throne, but multigenerational romance. When three skill, bringing them to vibrant life. (Sept.) Zach is resistant men of similar ages rent out their Daadi

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The Rector: previous comic and its imitators. For the The Death of Stalin A Christian Murder Mystery third installment, Miller teams with a Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin. Titan, $24.99 Michael Hicks Thompson. Shepherd King, $18 squadron of more grounded creators, pri- hardcover (120p) ISBN 978-1-78586-340-0 trade paper (342p) ISBN 978-0-9845282-6-4 marily writer Azzarello (100 Bullets) and This French graphic novel served as the Thompson’s engaging, high-energy artist Kubert (X-Men). The result is a basis for the upcoming film of the same Christian murder mystery is narrated by reasonably coherent and attractively name from Scottish director Armando Martha McRae, a woman living in a small drawn story that continues Miller’s vision Ianucci, and it’s easy to see why the polit- Mississippi town who seeks to solve the of Batman’s later days. In a still-crime- ical shenanigans within appealed to the mystery of the sudden death of pastor ridden future Gotham, former sidekick creator of Veep. Upon suffering a debili- David Baddour. Throughout the novel, Carrie Kelley has taken over for the tating stroke that renders him paralyzed, readers are introduced to the cast of char- elderly Bruce Wayne when superpowered Stalin lays frozen in his bed as ambitious acters who inhabit the small Delta town Kryptonian cultists invade the Earth, politicos do everything in their power to in the 1950s. The book gleefully mixes all bringing the old Justice League out of thwart his recovery and insert themselves the elements of a small-town murder mys- retirement and forcing Lara, the rebel- into the top spots in the Soviet govern- tery—gossip, foul play, backstabbing— lious daughter of Superman and Wonder ment. Oozing with sleazy, appalling chi- and, as more is revealed about Pastor Woman, to choose a side. It’s a compe- canery, the narrative by writer Nury (I Am Baddour and the other townspeople, more tently executed comic book that lacks Legion) and artist Robin (Death to the Tsar) mysteries, hypocrisies, and dangers add to either the lightning-in-a-bottle brilliance captures a turbulent and disturbing period the intrigue. In spite of the danger McRae of Returns or the neon-saturated looniness with solid visual storytelling. Robin faces, she leaves no stone unturned. As she of Strikes Again. It’s the last thing anyone depicts the sordid goings-on with elegant moves closer to solving the mystery, she could have expected from a Miller Batman caricatures that give a clear view of the must grapple with difficult truths about comic with a Nazi reference in the title: complete and utter awfulness of the cast, faith, honesty, sin, and redemption. With forgettable. (Oct.) adding enough historical flair to nail down its exploration of small-town life in and the era. It’s proof of the theory that tragedy close examination of the inhabitants of the Diary of a Reluctant Dreamer: plus time equals (very dark) comedy. (July) town, Thompson’s tale looks intimately Undocumented Vignettes from a at what it means to function in a commu- Pre-American Life The Black Hood, Vol. 1: nity—how a population can reveal and Alberto Ledesma. Mad Creek, $17.95 trade The Bullet’s Kiss obscure the truth. Folded into the narra- paper (144p) ISBN 978-0-8142-5440-0 Duane Swierczynski and Michael Gaydos. tive are many Christian lessons, musings, As a teacher and administrator at Dark Circle, $14.99 trade paper (144p) and references, which can be interesting University of California, Berkeley, ISBN 978-1-61988-962-0 and edifying for some readers of faith. Ledesma doesn’t fit the stereotypical Since debuting from Archie Comics in (BookLife) image of the undocumented immigrant. the 1940s, the Black Hood has been But that’s the point of this book, which through many incarnations and publishers is part graphic memoir and part cri de but has stayed a superhero crime fighter. Comics coeur. Ledesma and his parents, who Back at Archie for a new version, this brought him over from Mexico in 1974, Black Hood targets corruption and injus- The Dark Knight: Master Race were given legal status by Ronald tice in the inner city with a bloodier Frank Miller, Brian Azzarello, and Andy Reagan’s 1986 amnesty bill. The tension approach. This origin story is by the Kubert. DC, $29.99 (392p) ISBN 978-1-4012- and need for camouflage that preceded crime-fighter’s book: cop is disfigured 6513-7 their change in status, as well as the in a bust gone bad. For therapy as well as Miller’s 1986 graphic novel The Dark rising nativist backlash, fuel his politi- revenge, he becomes a masked vigilante Knight Returns is one of the seminal post- cally barbed autobiographical cartoons. to ruthlessly take down every crook in modern American comics, its stylish, Much of Ledesma’s concern is directed at the city. Crime novelist Swierczynski gritty take on Batman forever altering the people for whom the possibility of (Revolver) writes an efficient, driven inner the way super- being unmasked as “undocumented” monologue, but his script hunts down hero stories are remains a constant threat—no matter vigilante clichés and displays them like told. The widely how hard they work, how civically dedi- a police line-up. Gritty artwork from panned 2001 cated they are, and what professional Gaydos (Alias) gives the tale a suitable sequel, The achievements they attain. Although his noir feel, although the heavy inking and Dark Knight art is rudimentary and his writing can be thick outlines on the characters some- Strikes Again, repetitive, this is a powerful document of times look like rotoscoped photographs. was slapdash the unspoken anxieties felt by Americans This entertaining reinvention of a classic and self-indul- like him who worry that their immigra- mystery man character is a thrill ride: gent, but at tion status and history will overshadow exciting and tense, but the adrenaline’s least an original everything else in their lives. (Sept.) gone quickly after it’s over. (July) punk riff on the

48 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_NONFICTION

Nonfiction

The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson. Oxford Univ., $34.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-19-049599-2 Coauthors Simler, a software engineer, and Hanson (The Age of Em), an economics professor, bring a light touch in this thought-provoking exploration of how little understanding people have of their own motivations. The thesis is serious: we get into trouble because, while we “don’t always know what our brains are up to,” “we often pretend to know.” The authors do not claim that this notion is original, but do effectively synthesize a wide range of scholarship to demonstrate that self- deception is rampant and strategic, “a ploy our brains use to look good while behaving badly.” Not all of the self-deception discussed is malign; the authors sug- The binding of Chip Kidd’s novel The Learners, featuring a sketch of the author by his colleague Charles Burns, as seen in Chip Kidd: Book Two (reviewed on p. 50). gest, counterintuitively, that something as seemingly straightforward as seeking satisfaction, and consumer culture can London’s St. James’s Street, home to fine- medical care can come from the desire for fuel mental-health issues. Chasing pos- wine merchants Berry Bros. & Rudd since “social support” as well as for good health. sible solutions to these problems, Hari’s 1698. Along the way, Veseth tours Given the book’s unsettling implications research takes him throughout the world. Bordeaux and Burgundy, where some of for human nature, the authors are wise not He stops in a Berlin housing project the world’s best wines are made, and visits to distance themselves from their findings where tenants waged a yearlong protest the more uncharted wine-growing territo- but to apply the same treatment to their against rising rents, fostering a sense of ries of Bali, Thailand, and Tasmania. own motivations. For instance, Simler empowerment and unity among them- Veseth chooses the wines he profiles based reveals that in part the book was a “vanity selves. He also visits a London mental- on the ability of each to excite the palate, project” for him, one aimed at getting his health clinic where doctors prescribe com- and the imagination: “Each of [the] name onto a book cover. This is a fasci- munity volunteer projects instead of pills eighty wines must tell a story, [but they] nating and accessible introduction to an and a Baltimore bicycle shop that uses a must not just each tell their own story.... important subject. Agent: Teresa Hartnett, nonhierarchical workplace to give They must collectively form a picture and Hartnett Inc. (Jan. 2018) employees a sense of having a voice in the tell a story that reveals a greater truth,” he business. Hari aims to demonstrate that writes. As a result, reading his book is Lost Connections: Uncovering the the feelings of depression and anxiety rather like attending a swanky cocktail Real Causes of Depression—and experienced by individuals are symptom- party: it contains a vast and varied buffet, the Unexpected Solutions atic of a larger societal ailment that must with loads of interesting conversational Johann Hari. Bloomsbury, $28 (400p) be addressed. He makes a good case for tidbits. The book makes for an enter- ISBN 978-1-63286-830-5 this theory, supplying the reader with taining introduction to the world of Journalist Hari (Chasing the Scream) overwhelming (and engrossing) evidence, wines. As an added bonus, the author also explores common causes of anxiety and though his preferred solutions are some- provides a bibliography for those wishing depression in contemporary society, pro- what grandiose and utopian. Agent: Peter to delve deeper into the topic. (Nov.) posing that antidepressants do not address Robinson, Rogers, Coleridge & White (U.K.) the true nature of the problem. Critiquing (Jan. 2018) Cartoon County: the chemical-imbalance theory of depres- My Father and His Friends in sion as an idea sponsored by the self-inter- Around the World in Eighty Wines the Golden Age of Make-Believe ested pharmaceutical industry, he quotes Mike Veseth. Rowman & Littlefield, $24.95 Cullen Murphy. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27 one psychologist as saying, “The symp- (224p) ISBN 978-1-4422-5736-8 (272p) ISBN 978-0-374-29855-5 toms [of depression] are a messenger of a Inspired by Jules Verne’s Around the Vanity Fair editor at large Murphy deeper problem.” Hari interviews World in 80 Days, Veseth’s personal (God’s Jury) captures a slice of American numerous psychologists who explain how journey through the complex and compel- pop culture from the mid-20th century, factors such as loneliness, work-based dis- ling world of wine starts and ends on when a prominent group of comic-strip

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and gag cartoonists, known as the sages, he describes the country’s untamed Chip Kidd: Book Two Connecticut School, resided in the town wilderness with relish yet wonders if the Chip Kidd. Rizzoli, $60 (320p) ISBN 978-0- of Greenwich, Conn. Murphy draws from new nation can survive being composed of 8478-6008-1 his own life—his father was John Cullen a people with no common past or inter- One of the publishing industry’s most Murphy, known as the illustrator of such ests. He also records the customs of native revered graphic designers follows his strips as Big Ben Bolt and Prince Valiant— tribes, including the Iroquois and the 2005 monograph, Book One, with another to paint a sprawling portrait of many of Seminoles, with an anthropologist’s eye, equally satisfying art book, this time the scene’s luminaries, including Mort gathering information indispensable to showcasing his work from the years Walker (Beetle Bailey), Dik Browne (Hägar his later novels. Writing decades after the 2006–2017. Kidd, an art director at the Horrible), and dozens of others who actual events, Chateaubriand displays the Knopf and editor at large of graphic were members of this group, examining sense of destiny, swirling ambition, and novels at Pantheon, shares the stories their family and social lives, their work ego that marked his long, distinguished behind his high-profile cover designs for habits, their art techniques, and more. career. This memoir, ably translated by big-name authors in genres across the Having spent a good portion of his life Andriesse with an introduction from his- board: the cover stories of Cormac among these people, even taking the torian Anka Muhlstein, reveals to English- McCarthy’s novel The Road, Mark Strand’s writing reins of Prince Valiant after writer speaking readers the famously aphoristic Collected Poems, and a paperback reissue of Hal Foster retired while his father still and flamboyant style that other French James Ellroy’s short story collection drew it, Cullen crafts an immensely evoca- writers, including Baudelaire and Proust, Hollywood Nocturnes, as well as of nonfic- tive look at an art colony many don’t know admired and sought to emulate. (Nov.) tion works by Henry Louis Gates Jr., Mary existed. He writes with a personable mix Roach, and Oliver Sacks are all featured of affection and realism that offers a vivid Supernormal: here. Kidd’s love of the written word and sense of what it was like to be in that The Untold Story of Resilience the publishing industry shines through as crowd, and to be a working cartoonist in Meg Jay. Twelve, $28 (400p) ISBN 978-1-4555- he details his meticulous and considered the decades following WWII. Particularly 5915-2 approach to book design. Some design fascinating are the parts of the book on Clinical psychologist Jay (The Defining concepts came to him in a flash, while Cullen’s father’s experiences in the Army Decade) makes an “empathic choice” on others were developed in more iterative and on his father’s relationship with his behalf of resilient people, defined here as processes. Readers will find the scrapped mentor, Norman Rockwell. Color illus. those who exhibit “unexpected compe- ideas are often more interesting than the (Nov.) tence” despite traumatic experiences. She final designs themselves, for they provide challenges the idea that such people are insight into the hard work of conceptual- Memoirs from Beyond the Grave damaged and abnormal by redefining ization that goes into each book’s jacket François-René de Chateaubriand, trans. from them as “supernormal” heroes. Jay shares design (not to mention the corporate the French by Alex Andriesse. New York Review stories collected from celebrity memoirs machinations). Kidd is quick to share Books, $18.95 trade paper (576p) ISBN 978- alongside the stories of her own clients. credit with his collaborators and, of 168137-129-0 Though Jay provides a strong enough course, the writers, relaying the discus- Statesman de Chateaubriand (1768– overview of the current scholarship on sions and debates he has had with authors 1848) was the undisputed father of responses to adversity to make this a solid such as Augusten Burroughs, Jay French literary romanticism and one of pop-psychology text, her real target McInernay, and David Sedaris as each con- the 19th century’s great autobiographers. readers are not fans of the genre but the cept evolves. The result is a richly illus- In these early resilient themselves. Her messages to trated keepsake for book lovers and memoirs, he them include the following: therapy is designers. Color illus. (Oct.) recalls his good and not shameful, rewriting our youthful adven- own stories is powerful, and being at risk The Collected Essays of tures—coming is not the same as being destined to fail. Jay Elizabeth Hardwick of age as a keeps up the superhero conceit throughout Edited by Darryl Pinckney. New York Review young aristocrat the book, giving her subjects “origin sto- Books, $19.95 trade paper (640p) ISBN 978- in rustic ries,” framing their responses to stress as 168137-154-2 Normandy and, “fighting the good fight,” and calling trau- This fine, revealing career retrospective during the matic surprises from the past “kryptonite,” showcases the late Hardwick, a novelist French but she never lets her framework get in the and cofounder of the New York Review of Revolution, way of her message. Instead, she uses her Books, honing her favorite form, the lit- traveling in Canada and the United theme to help make the people whose sto- erary review, to razor-sharp precision. States. He also recalls, after a disastrous ries she shares more relatable, in the way Pinckney, her onetime student, has chosen return to France that saw him wounded that children, especially children in diffi- certain essays, notably reflections on the after joining the antirevolutionary roy- cult situations, look to their fictional civil rights era, to illustrate her work as a alist forces, enduring eight years of forced heroes for affinity and affirmation. (Nov.) journalist; other pieces are meditations on exile in England. In the America-set pas- place, both close to home (Maine) and far

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away (Brazil). music journalists, Bowie’s bandmates and primes as Hollywood stars and into their But the bulk childhood neighbors, and fellow musi- twilight years, maintained a steady, and best of the cians such as John Lennon and Iggy Pop. unwavering friendship that sustained selections are Jones incorporates honest, even biting, both men. In this breezy, entertaining dual considerations observations (“David grew up petted and biography, Eyman (John Wayne: The Life of literary privileged,” biographer Wendy Leigh and Legend) avoids hagiography, though he greats, notes. “He wasn’t a working-class hero by clearly admires his subjects. Fonda was including any stretch”)—and such inclusions con- liberal and Stewart conservative, but both Elizabeth tribute to the well-roundedness of this came from small-town stock, were decid- Bishop, Henry remarkable volume. (Oct.) edly professional, often insecure, and, James, Vladimir together, boyishly fun loving, bringing Nabokov, and ★ The Education of a Young Poet out the best in each other. They first Edith Wharton. Reading straight David Biespiel. Counterpoint (PGW, dist.), $26 became friends as roommates in New through the chronologically ordered col- (208p) ISBN 978-1-61902-993-4 York City after spending time with the lection demonstrates Hardwick’s develop- In his beguiling voice, Biespiel (A Long, University Players, a summer theater ment as an essayist. The early essays are High Whistle) guides readers through his troupe. Eyman highlights WWII’s impor- witty, arch, and detached, attempts by an coming-of-age as a poet, narrating his tance in both men’s lives—Fonda served in urban sophisticate at remaining journey from a childhood and youth in naval intelligence and Stewart in the unseduced by cultural trends such as new Houston to college days in Boston and his Army Air Corps, and Stewart remained in journalism. As Hardwick matures, her early postcollege experiences on a Vermont the Air Force Reserves after the war, rising confident declarations begin to ring truer, farm. Biespiel became fascinated with lan- to the rank of brigadier general. Fonda’s her impressive grasp of the literary canon guage early in life, but it was in his high fraught relationship with his children also seems more thoughtful and less orna- school Latin class that he really discovered comes to the fore, especially through quo- mental, and her insights grow in accuracy, the beauty and mystery of words. In 1984, tations from the extensive interviews humor, and heart. Curiously, while care- he joined an amateur diving team for a Eyman conducted with family and friends fully and beautifully crafted, Hardwick’s couple of years, and he compares writing of both Fonda and Stewart. Balanced anal- essays read more like accumulations of poetry to diving: “When it’s going well yses of their film and stage performances beautiful sentences than cohesive wholes, you don’t worry if you’re OK or if you’re pepper the study, as Eyman perceptively and rarely add up to a lasting impression. breathing.... Your chest lifts, your nostrils charts the courses of two legendary Nevertheless, this book contains ample inhale, your eyes Hollywood careers. Agent: Mort Janklow, examples of literary criticism that might narrow toward a Janklow & Nesbit. (Oct.) be imitated or even matched but not sur- threshold ahead passed in its style, insight, and genuine as you keep up How to Think: A Survival Guide love for literature. (Oct.) your typing.” for a World at Odds Biespiel shows Alan Jacobs. Convergent, $23 (160p) David Bowie: A Life himself to be ISBN 978-0-451-49960-8 Dylan Jones. Crown Archetype, $28 (544p) exhilarated as Thinking is “the power to be finely ISBN 978-0-451-49783-3 much by failure aware and richly responsible,” and this In this comprehensive oral history, GQ as by success in handbook by Jacobs (The Narnian: The editor Jones delves deeply into the details writing; his Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis), a of rock icon David Bowie’s fame, financial poetry reveals Baylor University English professor, rep- problems, drug use, sexuality, Buddhist aspects of his inner world to him and resents an erudite attempt to tap into that practices, and romantic entanglements. shows him how to live better. Biespiel’s potential. For those who share Jacobs’s But it’s Jones’s focus on Bowie’s friendships supple memoir of becoming a poet will values—thinking self-critically about that truly shines. He has compiled exten- surely inspire other writers to embrace the one’s own beliefs and being willing to sive selections from over 180 articles, bodily character of writing and feel the empathize with those with whom one dis- books, and original interviews (including power and, sometimes, the emptiness of agrees—this guide on how to navigate an several interviews Jones conducted with the act of writing poetry. (Oct.) intellectual landscape dominated by snap Bowie before his death in 2016). Jones judgments and polarization will be a doesn’t dwell on his personal feelings Hank and Jim: delight. Jacobs initially focuses on C.S. toward Bowie, except in his introduction, The Fifty-Year Friendship of Lewis’s concept of the “Inner Ring,” where he writes: “Like everyone who grew Henry Fonda and James Stewart which describes how the urge to belong to up with the man, Bowie would confound, Scott Eyman. Simon & Schuster, $29 (416p) groups can promote conformity, but then annoy, and occasionally disappoint me, but ISBN 978-1-5011-0217-2 branches out across the philosophical I never found him less than fascinating.” Henry Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath) and spectrum, tying in the ideas of Thomas All these facets of Bowie’s personality and James Stewart (It’s a Wonderful Life), from Aquinas, Søren Kierkegaard, John Stuart more are on display in anecdotes from their days as starving stage actors to their Mill, and David Foster Wallace, among

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others. Interspersing the intellectual nug- riveting memoir navigates the absences, nosed her with Lyme. Hadid, once an gets are colorful anecdotes, including on silences, and solitudes that follow trauma. active mother, found herself unable to basketball great Wilt Chamberlain’s sex Perry, who now lives in Brooklyn and was converse, socialize, or attend her chil- life, the Westboro Baptist Church and its the publisher of Columbia: A Journal of dren’s events; she spent most of her time abandonment by member Megan Phelps- Literature and Art, wonderfully evokes her in a mentally paralyzing cocoon. Two of Roper, and the landmark social-psy- mother even as she struggles to unravel her children eventually contracted the chology book When Prophecy Fails, about the mystery of her death. In the 12 years disease as well. The author takes readers the groupthink of a 1950s UFO cult. between on an intense journey in search of a cure, Witty, engaging, and ultimately hopeful, Crystal’s murder seeking relief through various treatments Jacobs’s guide is sorely needed in a society and the killer’s in Germany, Mexico, South Korea, where partisanship too often trumps the conviction, Switzerland, and across the U.S., visiting pursuit of knowledge. (Oct.) Perry tried to scores of physicians and clinics. Hadid’s move forward, suffering and frustration lead her to a The Origins of Creativity even as she faced resolve to help others and to unravel the Edward O. Wilson. Liveright, $24.95 (256p) police interro- puzzle of this “global epidemic.” Readers ISBN 978-1-63149-318-8 gations and will cheer her on as she digs deeper into Wilson (Half-Earth) makes a case for scrutiny from her story, revealing her spiritual nature, blending an understanding of the sciences officers who her maternal devotion, and an unwavering into the humanities in his latest work, believed she and admirable determination to “turn a raising provocative questions in the pro- remembered more from the night than mess into a message.” (Sept.) cess. He ponders what sets humans apart she was telling. Perry reveals a family from other hominids and what societal fac- shattered in the wake of tragedy. She was ★ Crash Override: tors may be suppressing the humanities as shuttled among relatives and friends, How GamerGate (Nearly) Destroyed a field of study, but despite his title’s living in Texas and then in Maine again, My Life, and How We Can Win the promise he only provides brief glimpses of where she worried the killer still lived, Fight Against Online Hate answers to his central question. As Wilson haunting her small-town streets. Perry Zoë Quinn. PublicAffairs, $26 (256p) ISBN 978- is one of the world’s leading evolutionary vividly portrays her mother, and she 1-61039-808-4 biologists, it is not surprising that he introduces the troubled men in her moth- In 2014, indie game developer Quinn focuses so much on the evolutionary his- er’s life: her estranged husband, Tom; her became the target of death threats, hate tory of our species. “Because the creative ex-boyfriends Dale and Tim; and her mail, and other online abuse after an arts entail a universal, genetic trait, the fiancé, Dennis. Other men and women internet vendetta devised by her abusive answer to the question [of what it means to move in this circle, all with secrets of their ex-boyfriend spiraled into a harassment be human] lies in evolutionary biology,” he own, such as Teresa, Tom’s new girlfriend. campaign that came to be known as posits. He argues that the humanities have Perry’s memoir is a testament to one Gamergate, in which several women in failed to make enough progress on this child’s ability to survive the unspeakable, the video game industry become the tar- front and have lost public support because one woman’s ability to recapture what was gets of largescale, coordinated online “they remain largely unaware and uncaring lost, and a fascinating small-town mystery abuse. Quinn uses her personal experi- about the evolutionary events of prehis- with breathtaking revelations at the end. ences to advo- tory that created the human mind, which (Sept.) cate practical after all created the history on which the steps toward humanities focus.” He integrates examples Believe Me: creating a safe largely from literature and the visual arts My Battle with the Invisible and open to analogize cultural innovation to genetic Disability of Lyme Disease internet culture. mutation. Wilson concludes by calling for Yolanda Hadid, with Michele Bender. St. She rejects tired a “third enlightenment” in which the Martin’s, $26.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-250- advice such as humanities and the sciences draw more 12165-3 “don’t feed the heavily on one another but, even as he Dutch-American TV personality trolls” and “just professes otherwise, he appears to place far Hadid (The Real Housewives of Beverly go offline,” more weight on the latter. (Oct.) Hills) describes a five-year battle with instead advising chronic neurological Lyme disease in this social media users to secure passwords and ★ After the Eclipse: A Mother’s raw and intricately detailed medical to keep active records of any incidents of Murder, a Daughter’s Search memoir. Though her initial Lyme tests in abuse and contact law enforcement. She Sarah Perry. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27 2012 were negative, the 48-year-old calls on readers to resist the temptation (368p) ISBN 978-0-544-30265-5 divorced mother of three suffered from toward vigilante justice. Instead of using When Perry was 12, her mother, numerous physical complaints, including the same tactics as the internet trolls, Crystal, was murdered in their home in brain fog, migraines, hair loss, fatigue, which just feeds the online outrage cul- rural Maine, outside Perry’s bedroom. Her and insomnia. Eventually doctors diag- ture, Quinn encourages readers to focus

52 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_NONFICTION their efforts on restorative justice by University and author of Our Declaration, tions on the tale’s genesis (she’s inspired to seeking out perspectives of people—par- tells the story of her late cousin Michael, write about a discourse between “a sophis- ticularly voices of trans women and who spent his years “from adolescent ticated, rational man and a precocious, women of color who are often targets of bloom to full manhood” in prison. In intuitive girl”): among the reflections are online abuse. For Quinn, winning the doing so, she puts a face to the numbing her descriptions of a trip to Paris while “cultural battle for the web” starts with statistics of incarcerated young black boys obsessing over Simone Weil and Soviet reframing the issue as not a matter of and men. Michael’s story is not simple: he deportations; a remembered photograph good vs. bad people fueling hate culture didn’t have a criminal history when he taken decades before; and wood carvings, on the internet, but rather “acceptable was arrested for attempted carjacking in seen on a visit to the home Albert Camus, and unacceptable ways to treat each 1995, but he was charged as an adult that Camus bought with his Nobel Prize other.” It’s a remarkably clear-eyed view with multiple offenses, thus exposing money. The lesson is obvious: that a writer that’s all the more powerful in light of him to California’s three-strikes law and draws on every detail of his or her life for Quinn’s backstory. (Sept.) leading to a plea bargain and 11 years in the alchemical, often unconscious process prison. While serving time, Michael of creation. But seeing the process in The Curious World of Samuel flourished, becoming a firefighter and action is a profound experience. Smith’s Pepys and John Evelyn completing his GED and some college writing in the essays is as beautifully Margaret Willes. Yale Univ., $27.50 (304p) correspondence courses. After his release structured as her poetry, so the novella’s ISBN 978-0-300-22139-8 in 2006, and mundanity comes as something of a Drawing deeply on the diaries of Pepys with Allen’s shock: an orphaned young girl with an and Evelyn, as well as on archival research, help, Michael obsession for ice skating is stalked, Willes (Reading Matters) skillfully probes obtained a driv- groomed, and abused by an older man, the diarists’ wide-ranging reflections on er’s license, bank and both meet tragic ends. Smith’s and often strong opinions about account, library writing about her novella is much more Restoration England. Although Pepys’s card, job, and thoughtful and captivating than the earthy reports on two notable London housing. At the novella itself. (Sept.) catastrophes, the Great Plague of 1665 and time, Allen was 1666 and the Great Fire of 1666, have hopeful that The Expanding Blaze: long been anthologized, Evelyn’s less col- with the help How the American Revolution orful accounts of the same events are com- and support of Ignited the World, 1775–1848 paratively obscure. Willes corrects this his family “Michael could defy the pat- Jonathan Israel. Princeton Univ., $39.95 oversight in her thoughtful readings of tern of parolees” and straighten his life (744p) ISBN 978-0-691-17660-4 both men’s diaries while also tracing the out. Alas, in July 2009, barely three Israel (Revolutionary Ideas), professor deep friendship that grew between them years out of prison, Michael was found emeritus of modern history at Princeton’s in spite of their many differences. For shot dead in his car. Allen attributes Institute for Advanced Study, stoutly example, Pepys loved music and theater Michael’s tragic death to two elements. makes the case that the American and became proficient in the former; Evelyn One was that Michael found himself Revolution was “of immense consequence appreciated but had no ability to play music trapped in “a war between sovereigns: for America’s future and for the rest of and detested what he saw as the theater’s the parastate of a drug world increasingly globe.” Though not a new argument, it vulgarity. Both men, on the other hand, linked to gangs on one side, and the has never before been made so fully or enjoyed the “exotic extravagances” newly California and federal governments on the with such convincing force. Known for available through overseas trade, with other.” The other was his love for a trans- many works on the Enlightenment, Israel Evelyn especially intrigued by the importa- sexual woman he met in prison who in the here carries onto the American scene his tion of tropical plants. He wrote prolifically end was charged with his murder. At its controversial argument that there were on gardening, publishing a short but signif- heart, Allen’s book is both an outcry and two “Enlightenments”: the “moderate” icant book, Fumifugium, on the threat posed entreaty as she grapples with a painful and the “radical.” Only American repre- to plant life by coal pollution. Although reality: “I no longer knew a way of sentatives of the radical one, he argues, Willes adds little regarding Pepys not to be helping.” (Sept.) fully gave up on traditional religion, found in Claire Tomalin’s energetic 2002 mixed government, and superstition in biography, Samuel Pepys, her splendid book Devotion favor of secular representative government has performed the yeoman’s work of recov- Patti Smith. Yale Univ., $18 (112p) ISBN 978-0- and thought. While open to the same crit- ering Evelyn and his diary for us. (Sept.) 300-21862-6 icisms that his moderate-radical Musician and author Smith (M Train) dichotomy has long faced, i.e. that it is Cuz: The Life and Times of tries her hand at that most meta of proj- oversimplistic, Israel’s argument here Michael A. ects: writing a book about writing. This is doesn’t detract from the work’s exhila- Danielle Allen. Liveright, $24.95 (256p) no craft manual, however; instead, her rating urgency. Nor does it mar Israel’s ISBN 978-1-63149-311-9 slim volume contains a single novella success in showing the American Allen, a professor of history at Harvard bookended by a pair of personal reflec- Revolution’s influence on spurring revo-

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lutionary activity in such places as Haiti, like slavery, internment, or the bombing prisingly effective amateur sleuth in this Ireland, and Latin America. He follows of Hiroshima—only the disorienting gripping examination of a 1964 slaying in others in placing American events into reality they produce and the legacy of Nashville that was apparently solved at their broadest transatlantic context and he pain, distrust, and shame they leave the time. In 1997, after agreeing to help a puts intellectual currents at the center of behind. (Sept.) friend research a history of major crimes his story by arguing against others that committed in that city, Bishop found a the relevance of the American Revolution Little Soldiers: An American file on the murder of college student to world affairs has never ended. Like Boy, a Chinese School, and the Paula Herring, who was babysitting her Israel’s previous books, this bravura, com- Global Race to Achieve younger brother in their home when she plex, learned interpretation of 75 years of Leonora Chu. Harper, $27.99 (336p) ISBN 978- was killed, and became fascinated by the revolutionary history is sure to stir debate. 0-06-236785-3 case. His review of the public records and (Sept.) An American journalist living in interviews with local residents bolstered Shanghai, Chu enrolls her toddler son in a his suspicions that John Randolph Clarke Letters to Memory local school and comes face-to-face with was wrongfully convicted for the killing. Karen Tei Yamashita. Coffee House the methods used to achieve the famed By doggedly following every lead and (Consortium, dist.), $19.95 trade paper excellence of Chinese students: strict dis- using a salesman’s skills to gain the trust (184p) ISBN 978-1-56689-487-6 cipline including coercion and threats, of the witnesses he interviewed, Bishop Novelist Yamashita (I Hotel) explores relentless study, high parental involve- uncovers evidence that Clarke was framed, her family’s experience in a Japanese- ment, and a classroom structure that oper- and, in so doing, builds a plausible and American internment camp during ates on military precision, extras and gifts, chilling theory as to the identity of the WWII using Chinese Communist indoctrination, and actual murderer. His first-person account stories, letters, high-stakes pressure. Concerned about of the steps he took to ascertain the truth photos, art- the system to which she has committed gives the narrative a sense of immediacy. work, and other her son, Chu begins a personal investiga- (Sept.) records from her tion and confronts, in discussions with family archive. Chinese teachers, students, and parents, ★ The Riviera Set: In five themati- and with foreigners, the central paradoxes Glitz, Glamour, and the Hidden cally linked sec- facing China’s traditional culture and World of High Society tions on pov- booming economy. Attempts by the Mary S. Lovell. Pegasus, $27.95 (448p) erty, modernity, school’s administrator at integrating a ISBN 978-1-68177-515-9 love, death, and kinder, gentler Western approach to edu- The Château de l’Horizon served as a laughter, cation collide with the Chinese emphasis social hub on the French Riviera between Yamashita sketches the humiliation, on test taking and competitiveness, just as the 1920s and ’60s, and here Lovell (The absurdity, and cruelty collectively suffered the Communist ideal of collectivity con- Churchills: In Love and War) presents a tex- by her extended family, with special focus fronts the market impulses driving a still- tured and meticulously researched history on her grandmother Tomi; mother, Asako; developing country. The lively anecdotes, of a scintillating era on the Mediterranean and father, John. In one particularly scenes, and conversations that Chu relates coast. The author deftly juggles a vast haunting scene she imagines what it was while describing her encounters with the array of characters, most notably the châ- like for her family to frantically pack their Chinese education system will amuse or teau’s indomitable visionary and hostess house in one day before leaving for the appall Western readers, and she outlines a nonpareil, Maxine Elliott, and her close relocation camp. Yamashita positions system that, despite its high ideals, cre- friend Winston Churchill, whose rejuve- these stories within larger questions— ates broad gaps in income and achieve- nating visits, as Lowell reveals, were vital what is the meaning of evil, justice, war, ment. By the end, the successes of Chu’s to his reemergence onto the political stage and forgiveness?—and considers the son, who demonstrates mathematical on the eve of World War II. The first answers suggested in classics including ability and self-discipline along with quarter of the book serves as a prechâteau the Iliad, the Mahabharata, the jataka buoyancy, curiosity, and leadership skills, biography of tales, and King Lear. The immediacy and persuade her that, going forward, the Elliott, high- poignancy of the struggles of Yamashita’s global ideal is a blend of Chinese rigor and lighting the family members are deflated by inter- Western individuality, whatever that allure of her posed epistolary conversations with five might look like. (Sept.) beloved prop- mythic authors and pseudonymous erty as a site for scholars, who never take shape with the A Murder in Music City: the rich and richness, complexity, urgency, or character Corruption, Scandal and the royal to revel in of Yamashita’s family and friends. Framing of an Innocent Man the architecture, Yamashita’s hopscotch approach makes Michael Bishop. Prometheus Books, $18 fashion, and the deeper claim that there is no explana- trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-63388-345-1 decor. Lovell tion and no possible reparation for events Bishop, a sales executive, proves a sur- illustrates that

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Elliott’s guests were well-known around can play; you the world, and their dalliances at the châ- need to get her ONLINE teau were both historically relevant and out of the NOW www.publishersweekly.com highly entertaining. Lovell bridges the country to a NONFICTION Edwardian age and postwar Europe, as place where she Cheap Sex: The Transformation of Men, cultural and political shifts brought more can develop her Marriage, and Monogamy Mark Regnerus. Oxford Univ., ISBN 978-0-1906-7361-1, Sept. Americans and money usurped style as the game.” What most valuable currency in the region. ensued for ★ Huê´ 1968: A Turning Point of the Ameri- Photos. (Sept.) Maria was a life can War in Vietnam Mark Bowden. Atlantic Monthly, ISBN 978-0-8021-2700-6, June lived on tennis Shopping Mall courts—either ★ No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Matthew Newton. Bloomsbury, $14.95 trade playing in tour- Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need Naomi Klein. Haymarket, ISBN 978-1- paper (176p) ISBN 978-1-5013-1482-7 naments or toiling in academies—par- 60846-890-4 Debut author Newton’s uneven entry in tially funded by whatever work Yuri could Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series, which find. Maria excelled quickly, though at the are billed as “short, beautifully designed cost of a typical childhood. After winning tion” with his publication of The Whole books about the hidden lives of ordinary Wimbledon at 17, she entered another iso- Earth Catalog (once described by Steve things,” provides some interesting lated sphere, one of celebrity and its trap- Jobs as “the bible” of his generation). Foer insights into American culture, but pings. “In short,” she writes, “winning argues that Brand's vision is the basis for mostly feels like a missed opportunity. fucks you up.” She is similarly blunt when Silicon Valley's corporate culture, where Reading more like an overlong personal discussing how to lose and her rivalry with monopoly is seen as part of the natural order essay than a cohesive narrative, the book Serena Williams, whom Sharapova dis- (it is telling that startups no longer aspire to juxtaposes the history of the American covered bawling after Sharapova beat her displace giants such as Facebook or Google shopping center, which Newton consis- at Wimbledon in 2004 (“I think she hated but rather to be acquired by them). The tently makes interesting, against his own me for seeing her at her lowest moment”). result is of extraordinary detriment to personal history, which he does not. Sharapova’s eloquent self-awareness pro- American culture, writes Foer, who blames Newton begins promisingly with a pil- vides a rare glimpse into the disorienting the collapsing value of knowledge, on the grimage to the first indoor mall, Southdale push and pull of a famous athlete’s life. “I absent-minded entrepreneurs leading Center in Edina, Minn., but quickly loses know you want us to love this game—us Amazon, Facebook, and Google. He goes focus, indulging in stories of his teenage loving it makes it more fun to watch,” she on to argue that Google’s evolving mission years that feel simultaneously too specific writes. “But we don’t love it. And we statement as “a to be relatable and too generic to be reso- don’t hate it. It just is, and always has company with nant. The best passages are those about the been.” 16 pages of full-color photos. ever-expanding actual idea of the mall, designed by figures (Sept.) boundaries,” such as the Viennese Victor Gruen as a new Facebook’s focus sort of civic space that could replace the World Without Mind: on increasingly lost town square in a post-WWII America The Existential Threat of Big Tech complex algo- reshaped by the rise of suburbia. Newton Franklin Foer. Penguin Press, $27 (250p) rithms, and wraps up with evocative reflections on ISBN 978-1-101-98111-5 Amazon’s instances of violence in shopping malls Former New Republic editor Foer (How growing stran- and questions about a possible renewal for Soccer Explains the World) constructs a glehold on these spaces, the popularity of which has scathing critique of tech culture and commerce have flagged since their heyday nearly 30 years breaks down the collective history and played a role in “the catastrophic collapse ago. To put it into the vernacular, this impact of giant corporations such as of the news business and the degradation book about the mall is at its best when it’s, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Silicon of American civic culture.” Foer is neither like, totally about the mall. (Sept.) Valley companies “have eroded the integ- subtle nor impartial (he notes early on his rity of institutions—media, publishing— falling out with Facebook cofounder Unstoppable: My Life So Far that supply the intellectual material that Chris Hughes, who bought the New Maria Sharapova. FSG/Crichton, $28 (304p) provokes thought and guides democracy,” Republic in 2012), and this is more a call to ISBN 978-0-374-27979-0 Foer states in his introduction, already arms than a wake-up call. It’s a rousing— In this insightful memoir, 30-year-old showing a pointed antipathy toward his though oversimplified—spin on the tennis star Sharapova details her life from subject. He traces the origins of big tech Silicon Valley origin story and the cultural her earliest memories to the present day. monopolies back to the 1960s and specifi- impact of technology. (Sept.) Her father, Yuri, whisked six-year-old cally to the “crown prince of hippiedom,” Maria from Russia to Florida because of Stewart Brand, who spread the vision of a Editor’s note: Reviews noted as “BookLife” are for her tennis skills, at tennis star Martina “world healed by technology, brought self-published books received via BookLife, PW’s Navratilova’s suggestion: “Your daughter together into a peaceful model of collabora- program for indie authors.

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right behind Humpty during his Children’s/YA moment of triumph, allowing them to share in it. When fear is conquered, we don’t just endure the experience, Santat Picture Books contends; we become new beings. More than a nursery rhyme remix, Santat’s Leap! story speaks boldly to the grip of fear and JonArno Lawson, illus. by Josée Bisaillon. Kids trauma, and to the exhilaration of mas- Can, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-77138-678-4 tering it. Ages 4–8. Agent: Jodi Reamer, In appropriately propulsive verse, Writers House. (Oct.) Lawson (Sidewalk Flowers) creates a chain of leaping animals, starting with a flea ★ La La La: A Story of Hope that awakens from a nap “in the deep Kate DiCamillo, illus. by Jaime Kim. green moss.” The flea lands in the path of Candlewick, $17.99 (72p) ISBN 978-0-7636- a grasshopper, who jumps onto a rabbit, 5833-5 whose startled leap sets off a dog: “The A small girl with blunt-cut hair and a bunny bounds out as the clouds roll in./ determined look shuts her eyes and folds Caldecott Medalist Santat imagines the difficult A dog gets a whiff and barks at the aftermath of Humpty Dumpty’s infamous tumble her hands. “La,” she sings. She tries a few wind—/ bouncing, bouncing, springing (reviewed on this page). more notes: “La La La.” Nothing happens. and lunging!/ Down the bank that dog She wanders across the pages and outdoors, goes plunging.” Lawson times each leap grandmother reads to two children snug- singing to falling maple leaves. They don’t to a page turn—his blithe verse almost gled under blankets; most of the families sing back. She sings to the starry purple demands to be read faster and faster with are white, though a few have brown skin. sky. Nothing. She drags a ladder outside each progressive jump—creating a cre- Many scenes simply focus on the children and climbs up to the full moon: “La La.” scendo of energy that eventually abates as playing on their own, a subtle suggestion, No response. Though the girl is singing, the dog and flea nestle down in the moss, perhaps, that although their families are she’s not performing or showing off. She’s not to leap but to do something that very present, these kids have room to simply saying: “See me! Acknowledge me! rhymes with it. Bisaillon (Mom, Dad, Our explore and experience things on their Play with me!” And though recognition is Books, and Me) uses digitally collaged ele- own—support without smothering. Ages a long time coming, when the full golden ments, watery bursts of bright color, and 4–7. Author’s agency: John Hawkins & moon finally sings back to her, it’s a tri- a slightly jittery line to create a radiant Associates. Illustrator’s agency: Bright umph. Kim’s spreads form a long, almost summery landscape for Lawson’s Agency. (Sept.) cinematic sequence. The girl is adorable, bounding cast, which also includes a though the night world she moves fish, frog, and horse. Expect children to ★ After the Fall (How Humpty through is dazzling rather than cute—it show off their own joyful jumps after Dumpty Got Back Up Again) takes bravery and audacity to sing to that hearing this one. Ages 3–7. Illustrator’s Dan Santat. Roaring Brook, $17.99 (40p) beauty. DiCamillo’s story, told with a agency: Morgan Gaynin. (Sept.) ISBN 978-1-62672-682-6 single word, is one even youngest readers What happened to Humpty Dumpty can understand. Everyone wants to be Love You Always after his great fall? Santat’s tale about seen, and everyone wants someone to sing Eileen Spinelli, illus. by Gillian Flint. Ideals, facing fear imagines a long recovery. back to them. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8249-5686-8 Humpty’s lofty perch was his favorite: “I Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. Illustrator’s Spinelli (Thankful) composes a breezy, loved being close to the birds.” But after agent: Claire Easton, Painted Words. (Oct.) reassuring ode to the people in children’s his accident, he’s scared of heights. lives who love them. Her poem moves Caldecott Medalist Santat (The Adventures ★ The Antlered Ship from family member to family member of Beekle) paints him sleeping on the floor Dashka Slater, illus. by Eric Fan and Terry Fan. (“Seasons come and seasons go./ Mama because his bunk bed is too high; sugary Beach Lane, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-4814- loves you always./ Sometimes rain and cereals on the topmost grocery shelf are 5160-4 sometimes snow./ Mama loves you sadly out of reach. The story is set in an Marco, a fox, thirsts to know every- always”), checking fathers, grandparents, otherworldly urban cityscape where bill- thing: “Why don’t trees ever talk? How aunts, uncles, cousins, and even a family boards and telephone lines frame the deep does the sun go when it sinks into friend off the list. Mixing curving ink spreads; emotional lows are underscored the sea?” A ship appears off the coast of lines with warm splashes of watercolor with dim shadows, while high moments Marco’s forest. It’s crewed by deer (they’re and crayon, British illustrator Flint high- are filled with warm, golden light. poor sailors, they admit), and its figure- lights an array of families in bucolic Humpty finds some consolation in head is a stag with a massive set of antlers. scenes of play: a girl and her mother toss making and flying paper airplanes, but Together with a flock of pigeons, Marco autumn leaves into the air, a father helps when his plane sails over his wall, he embarks on a nautical adventure in hopes his daughter collect fireflies in a jar, and a resolves to scale it. Santat places viewers of locating foxes who can answer his ques-

56 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_CHILDREN’S tions. The sailors encounter storms, dan- lumberjack form a mutual admiration largely sticks to a palette of muted gray- gerous rocks, and pirates before finding society in Weinberg’s exuberant tale about blues and violets in her watercolor scenes; the island refuge they seek. In spreads that building friendships. Fred, the beaver, has rough splashes of paint give the pages a evoke seafaring motifs from the Odyssey to clearly invested a lot of time, effort, and hazy, dreamlike quality that dovetails Treasure Island, the Fan brothers (The craftsmanship into his “perfect dream with the whispers of the oak and owl the Night Gardener) lavish care on every deli- den,” which is cozily appointed with care- boy hears. “Wake!” the oak tells him. cate detail, from the ship’s rigging to the fully gnawed logs that form a table, “Feel the current of the secret spring deep foam on the waves. Breathtaking sea- shelves, bunk beds, and even a video game beneath us.” Though not a restful story, scapes alternate with cozy scenes below system. But something’s missing, and per say, it’s a contemplative reminder of decks as predators and prey huddle peace- Fred “can’t sink his teeth into” what it the intense connections one can make ably. Slater (Escargot) creates a story to lose might be. As he puzzles out potential with nature. Ages 5–7. (Sept.) oneself in, an adventure packed with risk improvements, a roaring noise draws him and possibility. The ship becomes a com- into the forest, where he spies the work of a ★ The Best Tailor in Pinbauê munity, and Marco and his questions part female lumberjack with noteworthy Eymard Toledo. Triangle Square, $18.95 (32p) of its journey. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: chainsaw skills. Although Fred’s efforts to ISBN 978-1-60980-804-4 Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary. impress her go awry, the pair discovers a A boy with a skilled tailor for an uncle Illustrators’ agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird shared passion narrates this elegant and poignant story of Agency. (Sept.) for wood- the way industrialization reshapes a ficti- working (and tious Brazilian town, the English- Chicken in the Kitchen flannel), joining language debut for author-artist Toledo, Nnedi Okorafor, illus. by Mehrdokht Amini. forces to dream herself born in Brazil. With his parents Lantana (Lerner, dist.), $17.99 (32p) ISBN up creative ren- busy working, Edinho spends his days 978-1-9113-7315-5 ovations for a with Uncle Flores, who once sewed col- Okorafor (Akata Witch) brings readers shared den. orful clothing but now mainly creates gray to Nigeria where a girl named Anyaugo Blending tradi- overalls for the factory that transformed awakens in the middle of the night to find tional and dig- the village into a larger town, turned its a giant chicken occupying the family’s ital media, Weinberg (Rex Finds an Egg! river murky, and has left Pinbauê coated kitchen. With a resplendent coat of Egg! Egg!) uses boldly crawled lines and with dust most days. When the factory feathers in eye-popping oranges, golds, blasts of color to set a scene that’s simulta- starts importing cheap uniforms from and greens, the chicken is already making neously bucolic and chaotic, and his overseas, Uncle Flores is out of work, but a mess, and Anyaugo worries that it bubble-eyed characters and their outsize with his nephew’s help he begins sewing might ruin the New Yam Festival that emotions and movements add further vivid curtains that lead to bigger transfor- begins the next day: “Anyaugo couldn’t oomph to an already energetic story. Ages mations and a renewed sense of commu- let the chicken ruin the yam dishes in the 4–8. Agent: Marcia Wernick, Wernick & nity in Pinbauê. The interactions between fridge!” With help from the Wood Wit, a Pratt. (Sept.) Edinho and his uncle unfold with tender- mischievous wood spirit, Anyaugo real- ness, but it’s Toledo’s arresting collages, izes that the “chicken” is actually a mas- Wake created with exacting precision and querade spirit looking for a snack. Shawn Dougherty, illus. by Leah Busch. Blue striking attention to detail, that will cap- Iranian-British illustrator Amini’s illus- Manatee (IPG, dist.), $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978- tivate readers. Carefully constructed from trations bring a rough-and-tumble energy 1-936669-60-8 cut, folded, and torn paper, as well as pho- to this nighttime adventure; while Newcomer Dougherty and illustrator tographic elements, her subtly textured Anyaugo is working up the courage to Busch (Your Red Shoes) trace a boy’s night- scenes bring readers intimately close to a confront the chicken, readers see the time escapade. After being awakened by changing way of life. An afterword Wood Wit—essentially a floating head an owl’s call, he dashes outdoors, barefoot thoughtfully discusses the story’s real-life with broad lips and lanky arms—teasing and dressed only in pajama pants, and influences. Ages 5–8. (Sept.) and tangling with the enormous fowl. In scrambles up a rocky hill on his way to an addition to providing a boisterous story of enormous oak tree. Dougherty’s text The Blue Pool of Questions things that go bump in the night, leaves no question about how deeply the Maya Abu-Alhayyat, trans. from the Arabic by Okorafor includes just enough informa- boy feels about his natural surroundings, Hanan Awad, illus. by Hassan Manasrah. tion about the New Yam Festival to make but the poetic quality of the writing is Penny Candy (Itasca, dist.), $13.95 paper unfamiliar readers feel in the know. Ages mismatched to the first-person narration. (40p) ISBN 978-0-9972219-8-5 4–8. (Sept.) Though lovely, such phrases as Originally published by the Palestine “Grandmother’s moonflowers tickle my Writing Workshop, this 2016 winner (for Fred & the Lumberjack ankles and toes, fragile trumpets open text) of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Steven Weinberg. S&S/McElderry, $17.99 wide to the silver moonlight” don’t come Children’s Literature tells an elliptical, (40p) ISBN 978-1-4814-2983-2 across as terribly believable expressions of allegorical story of a lonely man whose A winsome beaver and an accomplished the boy’s thoughts and reactions. Busch many questions set him apart from a busy

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 57 Review_CHILDREN’S

Letters You Can Count On

A bevy of counting and alphabet books ring in fall.

One Leaf, Two Leaves, Count with Me! scheme, Nielsen’s mixed-media images have a sturdy, poster- John Micklos Jr., illus. by Clive McFarland. Penguin/Paulsen, $16.99 like presence. Most of the stories alluded to come from (32p) ISBN 978-0-399-54471-2 European traditions, though Masson also includes Japan’s In a counting book that doubles as an introduction to the Inch Boy (aka Issun-boshi), China’s “Herd Boy” (from “The seasons, a boy counts the leaves on the tree outside his home. Cowherd and the Weaver Girl”), and Brer Rabbit, popularized In the spring, leaves keep appearing (“Five leaves, six leaves/ in the American South. It’s a clever, well-constructed collec- way up high./ Seven leaves,/ eight leaves/ touch the sky”). By tion of some beloved literary figures and types, though readers summer, there are too many leaves to count, but as the “air will need to look to outside sources for more detailed informa- grows chilly,” the leaves change color tion about them. Ages 3–5. (Sept.) and fall, bringing the count back down to zero. In addition to high- Penguins Love Their ABC’s lighting how the tree changes, Sarah Aspinal. Blue Sky, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-338-13420-9 McFarland’s grainy mixed-media The six penguins from Penguins Love Colors return to go on graphics reveal a revolving assortment an alphabet hunt, “but did the little penguins even know all of animals, including a steadfast the letters of the alphabet?” asks Aspinal. “Do you know?” The squirrel that appears in each scene. penguins’ mother places objects corresponding to each letter Micklos’s punchy rhymes and in the snow, and Aspinal’s high-energy cartoons show the pen- McFarland’s bold artwork create a breezy counting tale that guins goofing around with each of them, often in extreme encourages readers to observe subtle changes in the world close-up. Questions for readers (“Which color flower do you around them. Ages 1–3. Author’s agent: Erin Murphy, Erin like best?”) and commentary from the young penguins Murphy Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Anne Moore Armstrong, (“Wheeeeeeee!” shouts Violet, rolling down a hill inside the Bright Group. (Sept.) subject of “t is for tire”) break up the recitation of letters and objects, while dialing up the story’s exuberance. The objects I Know Numbers! themselves will be familiar to many young children (jump Taro Gomi. Chronicle, $15.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4521-5918-8 rope, key, lock) and the book’s unflagging energy should make This cheerful picture book is less about counting and more for raucous read-alouds. Ages 3–5. (Aug.) about exploring the concept of numbers and the many ways they are used, from telling time to keeping score and creating ★ The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned home addresses so mail gets to the right place. Though num- His ABC’s (the Hard Way) bers themselves don’t really change, some things have since Patrick McDonnell. Little, Brown, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-316- this book was first published in Japan in 1985: “These num- 50246-7 bers are used to call someone,” writes Gomi as a woman This gloriously fun escapade from McDonnell follows the punches digits on a corded telephone; nearby, an elderly man misadventures of the eponymous red cat, who dashes out the pushes the number 4 on the front of a TV set to change the front door of his home, only to be set upon, almost instantly, channel. But dated technology doesn’t detract from this by an alligator, bear, chicken, and dragon. The book is word- book’s charm in the slightest: the text, while direct, is infec- less, other than capital and lowercase letters that correspond tiously enthusiastic, and Gomi’s characteristically vivid to each new character or event, images clearly illustrate just how multifaceted numbers are. creating a guessing game for Ages 3–5. (Sept.) readers in the process. In one scene, the pursuers and pursued Once upon an ABC are slipping and sliding on a Sophie Masson, illus. by Chrisopher Nielsen. Little Hare (IPG/ patch of ice for I; a page turn, and Trafalgar Sq., dist.), $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-76012-843-2 they’re swinging from vines in a Oblique references to folk and fairy tale characters carry jungle. A king and his daughter readers through the alphabet in this sprightly rhyming pic- get involved, parachutes manifest after a tumble off a cliff ture book. Beginning with Anansi the spider, “both clever and (“Nnnnnnnn Oooooooo!”), and there’s even a bathroom break. neat,” Masson name-checks specific characters (“C is for Cat, It’s teeming with visual wit, and McDonnell’s cartoons illus- wearing elegant boots”) and describes more general figures trate the emotional dramas of the chase with telegraphic (“D is for dragon, safeguarding his loot”). Textured with clarity. Ages 3–6. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & scratches and speckles and given a muted primary color Lerner. (Sept.)

58 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_CHILDREN’S

I Spy 123: Totally Crazy Numbers flashy bikes come around the Pickwick pickup, heading for Ulrike Sauerhöfer, illus. by Manuela Ancutici. Firefly, $14.95 (32p) the box-girder bridge”), and when everyone finally gets to ISBN 978-1-77085-999-9 that all-important bridge, it’s closed for repairs, leading to In a striking seek-and-find book, Ancutici meticulously “an unplanned Pickwick picnic by the box-girder bridge!” organizes toys, currency, puppets, sweets, and more into the Through playful repetition and some very expressive vocabu- shapes of numbers one through 20 as Sauerhöfer’s accompa- lary, Brendler turns traffic-clogged roads and construction nying text invites readers to find specific objects hidden delays into an adventure, and Kurilla’s airy cartoons magnify within each image. The photographed numerals consist of the sense of fun. Party at the box-girder bridge! Ages 4–7. items organized by color or theme: “3” is made up entirely of Author’s agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. marbles and small rubber balls, and an assortment of tiny Illustrator’s agent: Jennifer Rofé, Andrea Brown Literary. (Sept.) green toys create a “4” on the facing page. Numerous name- brand objects are tucked into the spreads (Disney and ★ ABCs from Space: A Discovered Alphabet Pokémon characters, Lego figurines, etc.) and occasionally Adam Voiland. S&S/Wiseman, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4814-9428-1 mentioned in the text (“Superman completes your search!”). This remarkable bird’s-eye (okay, satellite’s-eye) view of the Though the text can be flat and/or awkward (“Two crows are planet peers down at dramatic overhead images of lakes, still hidden here, you’ll find them, do not worry”), Ancutici’s clouds, rivers, fjords, and other phe- intricately assembled images captivate. Available simultane- nomena, finding the letters of the ously: I Spy ABC. Ages 3–7. (Sept.) alphabet hidden within them. Science writer Voiland smartly keeps the book My First Book of Vietnamese Words: An ABC wordless, allowing the satellite images Rhyming Book of Vietnamese Language and Culture to speak for themselves, but several Tran Thi Minh Phuoc, illus. by Nguyen Thi Hop and Nguyen Dong. closing pages let readers know exactly Tuttle, $10.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8048-4907-4 what they are looking at: the widening Readers gain a useful introduction to the Vietnamese lan- Congo River forms a Q around Bamu guage, alphabet, and culture in this companion to similar Island, cracks in Arctic sea ice create a spindly W, and a zig- books on Indonesian, Chinese, Korean, and other Asian lan- zagging band of snow in the U.S. closes out the book with a Z. guages. An opening note details the differences between the The dramatic coloring of many of the images owes to false- Vietnamese and English alphabets, color photography, explained in one of two FAQs (the other as well as how diacritical marks delves into geological science). In more ways than one, it’s a affect the pronunciation of vowels. book that lets readers see Earth—and the alphabet—in a new Although the Vietnamese alphabet light. Ages 4–8. Agent: Farley Chase, Chase Literary. (Aug.) has 29 letters and doesn’t include f, j, w, and z, Tran uses the familiar Dig Dig Digging ABC 26 English letters as she moves Margaret Mayo, illus. by Alex Ayliffe. Holt, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1- through the alphabet; the rhythms 62779-516-6 of the verse can be somewhat rocky (“I is for Ít./ Filled with Originally published in the U.K. in 2015, this noisy vehic- coconut and mung bean/ is a rice flour ball/ in a banana leaf so ular alphabet book takes readers down roads, over and under green”), and the Nguyens’ scenes of Vietnamese life are some- the waves, and into the skies and beyond. As she introduces what stiff and posed. But supplemental cultural details, bulldozers, express trains, icebreaker ships, and more, Mayo included in brief asides, add valuable context to a book with maintains a sturdy beat, complete with plenty of sound effects, few competitors on bookstore shelves. Ages 3–8. (Aug.) that itself creates a sense of forward motion and momentum: for the ever-tricky X, “Extra-big-wheeeled monster truck/ The Pickwicks’ Picnic: A Counting Adventure grrhumm, grrhumm, grrhumming./ Fast racing, high Carol Brendler, illus. by Renée Kurilla. Clarion, $16.99 (40p) ISBN jumping, and—/ wham!—crazy wheel-standing.” Ayliffe’s 978-0-544-83958-8 crisp, brightly colored collage-style illustrations match the Dog lovers and vehicle-obsessed readers will all get a kick text’s energy, surveying the vehicles from a variety of perspec- out of this counting book, which follows the Pickwicks, a tives and featuring a cast of toylike farmers, cyclists, construc- family of fluffy white dogs, as they attempt to visit the shore. tion workers, and other professionals and children, including a But they aren’t the only ones on the road (“4 family vans chug boy riding his scooter through a park and a windsurfer “swerve, by the Pickwick pickup, heading for the box-girder bridge; 5 swerve, swerving” on her board. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)

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world with no time for them. “He sang Renzo both become caretakers of the strange tunes. Dried flowers fell from his Fiction small pig, which he names Marty after his sleeves. Books slept inside his coat like late father, an Army sergeant. As the shoes in a closet,” writes Abu-Alhayyat of ★ Auma’s Long Run months pass, Renzo faces several life- the man, whom Manasrah paints with a Eucabeth Odhiambo. Carolrhoda, $17.99 changing situations, including his friend streak of bright blue hair and a green scarf (304p) ISBN 978-1-5124-2784-4 Paloma’s musical success and revelations that’s forever swirling around his neck. This gripping novel set in a Kenyan about his father; Marty has become such a The questions in the man’s books gather village in the 1980s chronicles the ram- steadying force that Renzo can’t imagine into an enormous pool that disrupts city pant and little-understood AIDS epi- life without him. Griffin infuses kindness life; eventually, the man works up the demic through the perspective of ambi- into almost every scene, his well-drawn courage to dive in, egged on by an entity tious 13-year-old Auma, a track star who characters leave lasting impressions, and within the pool’s depths called the dreams of becoming a doctor. Debut he gracefully delves into themes that Answer. Though the man finds compan- novelist Odhiambo builds suspense as include love, sacrifice, friendship, and ionship and a kind of contentment in his Auma gains knowledge about the disease accountability. Many readers will know a new home, readers may have lingering (often called “slim”) from the deaths of Renzo, the big-hearted kid who’s a little questions. Is seeking the answers to big, her best friend’s parents and the whispers different and has both hardships and difficult questions worth it, if it results in of gossip; matters become intensely per- undiscovered talents. There are no easy near-total isolation? Regardless, sonal when her father, who had been solutions to the characters’ problems, nor Manasrah’s richly multilayered illustra- working in Nigeria, falls ill. “Were the outright villains, just struggling people tions mesh gracefully with Abu-Alhayyat deaths connected, or was it all just coin- navigating life. Ages 10–14. Agent: Jodi abstract writing in a haunting meditation cidence?” Reamer, Writers House. (Sept.) on one man’s search for belonging and Auma wonders. meaning. Ages 5–up. (Sept.) After her father ★ Slider dies, the family Pete Hautman. Candlewick, $16.99 (288p) Night Shift is economically ISBN 978-0-7636-9070-0 Debi Gliori. Razorbill, $13.99 (32p) ISBN 978- imperiled, and Hautman (Eden West) is both funny 0-451-48173-3 as Auma and uplifting in this good-natured story In a small-format picture book aimed at matures, she of incoming high school freshman David a teenage and adult audience, Gliori (Side deals with Miller, whose chief talent is the ability by Side) uses stark language and somber restrictive to eat an entire pizza in under five min- charcoal-like artwork to reflect on the gender roles, utes. When an accidental charge to his weight and intensity of depression. A girl the pressure to mother’s credit card puts him $2,000 in with chin-length hair who looks to be marry, and difficult decisions as others the hole, David attempts to earn the around 12 or 13 (a depiction of her in the close to her sicken and die; in one scary money back by winning the Super shower shows that her body is beginning instance, she must fend off the advances Pigorino Bowl, a pizza-eating contest. to develop) describes the arrival of some- of a sick neighbor who thinks a virgin To compete with the nation’s fastest thing beyond description. “Words left might cure him. The novel spans two eaters, he must train through the me,” she explains. “There was no language years, and Odhiambo smoothly weaves in summer and somehow find time to bab- for this feeling.” Gliori alternately shows medical details throughout, along with ysit his younger brother, Mal, who the nameless sensation as a hollow inside the evolving understanding of AIDS. A would probably be labeled autistic if the the girl’s stomach, a heavy fog, and spiky hard-hitting story of a resilient and boys’ mother allowed labels. David’s sar- dragons that assail her. Although depres- intelligent girl who bravely confronts a donic musings—about everything from sion isn’t mentioned explicitly until an devastating health crisis. Ages 8–up. life in Vacaville, Iowa, to the growing endnote, Gliori’s metaphors leave little (Sept.) weirdness between his friends Cyn and doubt about the magnitude of what the HeyMan—are authentic, humorous, and girl is facing, particularly in a scene that ★ Saving Marty endearing. It’s impossible not to root for takes aim at well-meaning but useless Paul Griffin. Dial, $16.99 (208p) ISBN 978-0- David as he devours pizzas, burgers, and platitudes (“Pull yourself together. Get a 399-53907-7 even cabbage in substantial quantities, grip. Think of the starving millions”). Griffin (When Friendship Followed Me and even less possible not to dig his rela- Significantly, her struggle is not as simple Home) delivers a tender, sensitive por- tionship with potato-chip-loving, twig- as outrunning her enemies—rather, the trayal of a boy beginning to wonder about collecting Mal. Hautman offers lots of tide begins to shift at the moment when his place in the world. Lorenzo Ventura, great takeaways about loyalty, friend- she accepts weakness. By giving depres- over six feet tall and 250 pounds at age ship, and perseverance, wrapped in a sion physical dimension, Gliori diffuses 11, discovers a runt piglet left behind on wholly enjoyable story about a kid who, some of its strange, persistent power. his family’s Pennsylvania peach orchard. in the end, just loves to eat pizza. Ages Ages 13–up. (Sept.) Bella, the family’s pet Lab, has just given 10–14. (Sept.) birth to a litter of puppies, so she and

60 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_CHILDREN’S

Here’s Looking at You

Five books aim to help teens become their best selves.

Can Your Smartphone Change the World? quizzes, questionnaires, and fill-in-the-blank exercises. One Erinne Paisley. Orca, $14.95 trade paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-4598- spread, labeled “What Do You Believe?,” helps readers define 1303-8 their values by rating the degree to which they agree with 10 In the first book in the PopActivism series, first-time statements, such as, “I follow religious teachings and customs” author Paisley highlights the power of the internet as a tool and “Protecting the environment is the most important thing.” for activism. In 2015, when Paisley was a high school senior Future goals, looking back at how one has changed, habits, and in British Columbia, she created her prom dress from old other topics are presented in boldly designed spreads that make homework assignments, donating the money she would have a strong visual impact. Readers overwhelmed by the noisy spent on one to the Malala Fund; her story went viral. Over world will likely welcome the chance to reflect on where they eight chapters dotted with photos and inspirational quotes, have been and where they are going. Ages 13–up. (July) Paisley highlights activists making the most of digital tools and celebrity, including rapper Sofia Ashraf, who uses her Project You: More Than 50 Ways to Calm Down, music to speak out against pollution; vlogger Zoella, who De-stress, and Feel Great raises mental health awareness; and Miley Cyrus, who has pro- Aubre Andrus, with Karen Bluth, illus. by Veronica Collignon. Switch, moted a variety of causes. Striking a casual but persuasive $14.95 trade paper (160p) ISBN 978-1-63079-091-2 tone, Paisley demonstrates that fighting for one’s beliefs can Andrus offers more than 50 ideas for handling stress and be fun, creative, and effective—especially when social media enhancing one’s well being. Suggestions include mindfulness is involved. Ages 12–up. (Sept.) exercises and yoga, as well as practical tasks that aim to revi- talize the mind and body, such as volunteering, having a cup of Superhero Therapy: tea, spending time with animals, and listening to music. Mindfulness Skills to Help Teens and Young Collignon provides breezy watercolor images of (mostly) girls Adults Deal with Anxiety, Depression, and Trauma taking part in the activities, intermixed Janina Scarlet, illus. by Wellinton Alves. Instant Help, $17.95 trade with photographs of girls practicing yoga paper (112p) ISBN 978-1-68403-033-0 poses, writing in journals, and more. Psychologist Scarlet, a childhood survivor of the Chernobyl Many of the ideas are intuitively obvious nuclear explosion, draws on the techniques of acceptance and (“listen to happy music”); guided sections commitment therapy (ACT) in this innovative approach to on meditation and visualization may prove helping readers with emotional and psychological difficulties. more enlightening. And for readers who Explaining how she found solace and inspiration through “need more help than this book can offer,” superhero movies and comics as a child, Scarlet introduces five Audrus includes a list of mental health and other resources. original characters who are beset by anx- Ages 14–up. (Sept.) iety, depression, anger, and shame, represented as a variety of monsters; both School of Awake the heroes and the villains they face are Kidada Jones, illus. by Koa Jones. New World Library, $18.95 trade brought to life in full-color panels paper (160p) ISBN 978-1-60868-458-8 drawn by comics artist Alves. At the Jones, the older sister of actor Rashida Jones (who contrib- Superhero Training Academy, Scarlet utes a foreword), offers a guide to living freely and mindfully, teaches the besieged heroes mindfulness techniques, along presented as a course of study at the “School of Awake.” Using with readers. Watching these superheroes openly challenge science as a loose springboard (“Breaking it down to a micro their fears and wounding self-conceptions should prove level, the main ingredient everything in the known universe encouraging to readers who know that all heroes have their shares is carbon”), Jones suggests that individuals are tied to a weaknesses. Ages 13–up. (Aug.) greater cosmic universe. Exercises, projects, and recipes guide readers to engage with what Jones refers to as “HeartStars” This Book Is About You: (intuitive internal guides) through mindfulness, spending Discover, Decode, and Express Who You Truly Are time in nature, and cultivating a healthy body and mind. The Rachel Kempster Barry, Joannah Ginsburg, and Allison Singer. DK, accompanying artwork, featuring anthropomorphic hearts and $15.99 trade paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-4654-5657-1 stars, splashed with pink and blue, feels overly juvenile, and This interactive handbook offers a forum for teens to explore Jones’s philosophy can come across as overreaching and under- what makes them tick as individuals. The book’s three chapters developed, but readers may still take away some empowering focus on readers’ past, present, and future selves, featuring ideas. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 61 Review_CHILDREN’S

★ The Glass Town Game north to catch them. Though the trek friend drive home from a party. Racked Catherynne M. Valente. S&S/McElderry, proves perilous, Kamzin refuses to turn with guilt and struggling to admit the $17.99 (544p) ISBN 978-1-4814-7696-6 back—partly due to sibling rivalry, and truth of what happened, Lena pushes her Valente (Radiance) delivers a linguisti- partly because she knows that Lusha won’t friends away, including Sebastian, her best cally dazzling novel that draws on the survive an attempted ascent. Deftly drawn friend and longtime crush, who has just Brontë siblings’ real-life childhood writ- characters and a richly imagined fictional started to become something more. With ings about Glass Town, an invented land universe distinguish Fawcett’s debut, first a powerful message about the destructive where they escaped the difficulties of their in a planned duology. Abundant adventure effects of drunk driving and the far- lives. Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and drives the pace, a love triangle fuels con- reaching consequences of small decisions, Branwell are grieving the deaths of two flict while adding romance, and Kamzin’s Armentrout (The Problem with Forever) older sisters and dreading the “Beastliest familiar—a mischievous fox named presents an effective story of raw grief and Day” when Charlotte and Emily are forced Ragtooth—provides humor and heart. gradual acceptance. Lena’s guilt is almost to go off to school. As Branwell and Anne Ages 13–up. Agent: Brianne Johnson, tangible (“Talking openly about the acci- accompany Writers House. (Sept.) dent, about everything leading up to it, them to the car- just made me want to take a wire brush to riage, a detour Feral Youth my memories”); readers will easily under- to the local train Shaun David Hutchinson, et al. Simon Pulse, stand her difficulty in moving forward, station leads $17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4814-9111-2 accepting help and comfort from those them to escape Nine perspectives interweave in a novel around her, and finding a way to forgive to Glass Town, composed of divergent, unsettling stories herself. Lena’s budding romance with which turns from authors that include Brandy Colbert, Sebastian fits well within the narrative, out to be even Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, and illustrating that life goes on even in the wilder and more Stephanie Kuehn. A group of delinquent darkest of times. Ages 14–up. Agent: bizarre than teens is sent to Zeppelin Bend, an outdoor Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Sept.) they ever imag- education program that dumps them in ined. “Don’t worry, Em,” Charlotte reas- the wilderness to teach lessons about hard Right Where You Left Me sures her sister. “We’re only in an insane, work and connection. There, they take Calla Devlin. Simon & Schuster, $17.99 upside-down world populated by our toys, turns recounting maybe-true stories in an (256p) ISBN 978-1-4814-8699-6 our stories, and Napoleon riding a giant effort to win a promised $100 from Seventeen-year-old Lottie Lang has chicken on fire. Nothing so bad as School.” Hutchinson’s character, who guides always felt that her globetrotting, disaster- The plot picks up after Anne and readers through their haphazard three-day chasing journalist father, Jeremiah, is the Branwell get kidnapped, but the story’s trip. A gay teen obsessed with film leg- glue keeping her family together. Her real delights come from the wit and clev- ends gets appropriately cinematic revenge mother, Valentina, never seemed to recover erness woven into every description and after being spurned in Tim Floreen’s story, from the death of her first child, Lena, at 11 conversation, as well as the sharp insights while Robin Talley’s eerie “Look Down” months, or from the stroke she had while Valente brings to the children’s insecuri- immerses readers in classic summer-camp giving birth to Lottie. When Jeremiah is ties, longings, and hidden desires, which fare: pranks, romance, and ghosts. kidnapped by extremists in Ukraine, Lottie burst to the surface in this magical and Marieke Nijkamp’s character, Jenna, hits believes that she may lose her mother to perilous world. Ages 10–up. (Sept.) on the deeper truth of these intercon- depression. Devlin (Tell Me Something Real) nected stories: “If hope is a thing with relies heavily on Russian folklore to give Even the Darkest Stars feathers... then secrets are things with Lottie an uncommonly mature perspective Heather Fawcett. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, talons.” The kids are considered “human (“She worries I was born with a curse, that I $17.99 (432p) ISBN 978-0-06-246338-8 garbage,” as Hutchinson’s character puts was born a potercha, the troubled spirit of a When royal explorer River Shara arrives it, but their choices and situations are dead child.... I wonder if she’s Umershey in Azmiri seeking a navigator to help him born of sharp, complicated moments and Materi. The Dead Mother”). Jeremiah’s retrieve a talisman from the top of Raksha, realities. Though the voices are distinct, kidnapping is the catalyst that allows the world’s highest mountain, 17-year-old it’s the overall experience of disparate Lottie and her mother to finally have a Kamzin is elated: she and her older sister, people finding common understanding frank conversation about their relationship: Lusha, are the only ones who know the way that lingers. Ages 14–up. (Sept.) Lottie spent her childhood believing she to Raksha, and Kamzin is the stronger was a consolation prize for Lena, while climber. To Kamzin’s dismay, River If There’s No Tomorrow Valentina tried desperately not to hold her chooses Lusha to be his guide, but then Jennifer L. Armentrout. Harlequin Teen, child too close. Though the initial setup is Lusha and the expedition’s official chroni- $18.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-373-21222-4 fraught with potential problems, Devlin cler disappear with half of River’s supplies. In her final year of high school, Lena carefully orchestrates the plot so the pieces Certain that the duo seeks to beat him to Wise learns that one split-second decision fall together almost too perfectly. Ages 14– the summit, River recruits Kamzin and can alter the future. Four lives are lost up. Agent: Faye Bender, Book Group (Sept.) her best friend, Tem, to join him and races after Lena reluctantly lets an inebriated

62 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 Review_CHILDREN’S

★ Too Shattered for Mending parts of the club, including its illegal a ballooning accident as she attempted to Peter Brown Hoffmeister. Knopf, $17.99 activities, and most of the obstacles the confirm the existence of aether, the boy (384p) ISBN 978-0-553-53805-2 characters face, both physical and emo- and his father receive a mysterious note, Gavin “Little” McCardell attempts to tional, could have been avoided by having summoning them to Bavaria from their navigate life in his small Idaho town, but conversations. Ages 14–up. (BookLife) home in northern France. Soon they are it’s not easy with his dysfunctional family, working for none other than the Bavarian learning disability, and crush on his king to create an aethership, but spies, imprisoned older brother’s girlfriend, Comics sabotage, and threats of Prussian aggres- Rowan. It seems as though everyone in sion threaten the project, as well as their town has secrets, including why his ★ The Dam Keeper lives. Despite unfolding over just three grandfather, the infamous Big McCardell, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsuma. First Second, chapters, Alice’s story is dense with dia- has vanished, and why the cops are so $19.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-62672-426-6 logue, information, and visual detail, interested in his disappearance. When the Kondo and Tsutsuma expand on the playing fast and loose with science and sheriff starts blackmailing Little, he has world of their Oscar-nominated animated history as Seraphin joins forces with a no choice but to seek out his wayward rel- short film of the same name, about a brave maid and a know-it-all adventurer ative, and the answers he uncovers aren’t young pig who keeps his town safe from a to safeguard the project. Lushly painted what anyone expects. Meanwhile, Little terrifying black fog. The school-age pig is scenes, an abundance of banter among the grows closer to his classmate Zaylie, only essentially tethered to the dam that pro- young heroes, and plenty of action and to discover she has her own struggles, and tects Sunrise Valley; designed by his late gadgetry make for an engrossing tale of Rowan seems hell-bent on self-destruc- father, the dam’s windmill requires reg- discovery and betrayal, which builds to a tion. In this gritty, complicated drama, ular winding, isolating the already-lonely cliffhanger ending to set up the second Hoffmeister (This Is the Part Where You pig, who also fears becoming “crazy” like and final volume. Ages 10–14. (Sept.) Laugh) draws out the harsh realities of his father. After the surging fog sweeps living on the edge, and of attempting to the pig, his fox best friend, and a com- Marco Polo: Dangers and Visions stay afloat when things get messy. His bative hippo classmate outside the safe Marco Tabilio, trans. from the Italian by characters are complex and authentic, and confines of their Kerstin Schwandt. Graphic Universe, $11.99 his subtle, stripped-down writing town, their (208p) ISBN 978-1-5124-3069-1 changes the narrative in startling ways as understanding At the beginning of the 14th century, the story unfolds and more details come to of the larger the Venetian Marco Polo accompanied his light. Ages 14–up. Agent: Adriann Ranta, world is father and uncle through Jerusalem, Foundry Literary + Media. (Sept.) reshaped by Baghdad, and Persia to the court of the what they dis- Great Khan. They returned to Venice, then Riding with the Hides of Hell cover. Though set out again for the Khan’s court, where Stacia Leigh. Espial Design, $10.70 paper created digi- Marco served for nearly 20 years. Based on (256p) ISBN 978-0-692-79727-3 tally, the panels the Travels of Marco Polo, Italian illustrator Alternating between tough Miki Holtz have a rich, painterly quality that never Tabilio’s acccount doubles back and forth and easygoing Will Sullivan, both 17, looks away from the story’s many in time through Marco’s life, peopling his Leigh’s uneven tale of family and motor- moments of emotional turmoil or actual graphic novel with thinly outlined, empty- cycle clubs suffers from a frustrating lack peril, particularly when the pig confronts eyed figures and writing in blunt prose of communication. After Will wipes out the spectral presence of his father or the (“Venice is a salty hole,” Marco tells a on his motorcycle while drunk, his father raging fog itself. The tug-of-war between Mongol courtier). Panel sequences follow forces him to come along on a bike rally in light and dark extends out of the plot and Marco on sea voyages and desert treks, the Pacific Northwest as a final memorial right into the images in a haunting story through battles and privations (“When for Will’s mother, who died in a car acci- that contrasts the power of friendship there is nothing to eat,” Marco says about dent the previous year. Will winds up with the weight of responsibility and the the Mongols, “a warrior opens the vein of sharing a bike with Miki, the daughter of capacity for growth. Ages 7–11. (Sept.) his horse and drinks the blood”). the acting president of the Hides of Hell Renaissance-style maps accentuate the motorcycle club, who is head over heels for Castle in the Stars: strangeness of unfamiliar lands with flat Will despite his seeming lack of interest. The Space Race of 1869 perspective. Followed in the book from Then the two make a decision that puts Alex Alice. First Second, $19.99 (64p) ISBN boyhood to old age, Marco is tender, steely, them in the middle of a conflict between 978-1-62672-493-8 ready for battle, and open to love. Though the Hides of Hell and a rival club. Leigh Aether—the theoretical fifth element dense and sometimes hard to follow, the (Dealing with Blue) creates rounded charac- conceived of by Greek philosophers—is resulting epic casts a spell; readers won’t ters in both Will and Miki: his inability to pursued by scientists and heads of state soon forget Marco’s kaleidoscopic journey— move on from his mother’s death and her alike in this alternate historical adventure or the miracle that he survived to tell his self-confidence are highlights of the novel. from this French graphic novelist. One story. Ages 14–up. (Sept.) ■ However, Leigh glosses over the unsavory year after Seraphin Dulac’s mother dies in

WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 63 Soapbox

“Now I have to draw attention to myself with something other than writing in order to draw attention to my writing?”

No, they won’t. They have Brave New World mob wives and sister wives, makeover moms and dance A satirist bemoans the need for a social moms, Kardashians and media presence as she tries to get back Jenners, and that teen mom who does pornos and fights into the literary game with her mother. I force myself to try to under- By Mollie Fermaglich stand the complexities of self- publishing, but it’s no use. It’s like explaining to me what I started my writing career in the early pug playing shuffleboard on the QE2. toner is and how to replace it in a xerox 1980s as a satirical essayist. I wrote a Then I’ll get a book deal. For my pug. machine. And just when I’m thinking book but was eventually lured away by Will there ever be a new writer, I about Hemingway and The Sun Also the crazy money writers make in film and wonder, who hasn’t the time or the Rises, and then about The Jersey Shore’s television. A few years ago, having interest to tweet, who is too busy writing Snooki eating jars of pickles and getting accrued some cash and a Writer’s Guild a novel to write a blog about writing a soused on the Seaside Heights boardwalk pension, I returned to more literary novel? Will no writer ever again be dis- and the big advance she got for her novel, pursuits. covered by an agent or an editor until he A Shore Thing, my phone rings. It’s an or she gets enough hits on Tumblr, agent who I’d assumed wasn’t interested. y reentry into the publishing which, by the way—and I hold the entire I figured that out when he didn’t respond. world’s atmosphere was stag- publishing world responsible for the “Your writing’s terrific,” he says. Mgering. I was the 1950s air- internet grammar laissez-faire atti- “But I don’t have a social media...” plane passenger—accustomed to flying tude—is missing an e. “Reminds me of Fran Lebowitz. in style—walking onto a flight today According to my math, people with real Problem is, she’s iconic. So’s Sedaris. Even and being trampled by earbud-wearing stories to tell and the ability to tell them Dave Barry. You left and want in again passengers in velour running suits hog- are at a premium. Yet probably fewer but no one remembers who you are.” ging the overhead bins with skate- people have credit cards than have blogs “No one’s following me or viewing me boards. When did this happen? How? where they throw up prose and fashion tips or connecting with me,” I tell him. “It’s And why? onto the internet like bad Chinese food. just me.” I sent a proposal for a book of satirical “You’re bitter,” I tell myself. He paused. “ ‘Me’ is good,” he says. essays to several agents. Responses “I know,” I reply. “I’m willing to take a chance on ‘me’ ”. ranged from radio silence to the standard “Shape up,” I tell myself “That’s ridiculous.” “humor is subjective” to, “In today’s I start a blog. I stop. I create a public “I’ll bet on your talent. A little market, if it came down to Oscar Wilde Facebook page. I never look at it. I open madcap, no?” or Grumpy Cat, most agents would sign an Instagram account. I close it. And I “My career as a screwball comedy...” the cat. I know I would.” will never understand how or why anyone “Who knows, maybe we’ll start a trend. “You’re a very funny writer,” another would have a YouTube channel. Truth is, we’ll be lucky to get a deal.” said. “What’s your platform? You need “You’ll have to self-publish,” I tell “Then why are you...” followers on Twitter and Facebook.” myself, recalling the snickers just the “Occasionally, just to keep me on my But getting followers is a job in itself. mention of Vantage Press garnered in the toes, I go with my gut. Hasn’t paid off I’m a writer. That takes up my day. ’80s. “Some self-published books have yet, but who knows?” Writing is hard and even harder to do become bestsellers,” I say, trying to con- I signed agency papers this week. well. Now I have to draw attention to vince myself, dangling a most unappe- #Whoknows? ■ myself with something other than tizing carrot. Yes! Fifty Shades of Mollie. writing in order to draw attention to my The Joy of Mollie. The Mollie Prophecy. Satirist Mollie Fermaglich is currently working writing? Maybe I’ll post pictures of my Those agents will rue the day. on a book of essays.

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64 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 24, 2017 www.selectbooks.com

he Bergman-Deketomis Law Firm built their powerhouse legal team fully understanding that Ttheir opponents rarely play by the rules, but the gruesome murder of one of their senior partners has placed them on a playing ﬁeld where there are no rules. They are caught up in a war that has to be won outside of a courtroom. One of America’s largest weapons manufacturers has them in its crosshairs, and a negoti- ated settlement is not an option. Sometimes the pursuit of justice isn’t enough. Some- times the law of vengeance is the only path.

LLL Mike Papantonio oﬀers the rare combination of a top-ﬂight trial lawyer who can write with a high level of skill and spin a yarn right up there with John Grisham and David Baldacci. F. Lee Bailey, author, former criminal defense attorney for Sam Sheppard and O. J. Simpson No one can bring to life the complexity and danger of the justice system in Chicago quite like Mike Papantonio. Publication date: September 2017 ISBN 13: 978-1-59079-436-4 Kerry Kennedy, human rights activist and presi- Hardcover; $24.95 U.S. dent of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Distributed by Perseus Distribution MORE THRILLERS FROM SELECTBOOKS FOR FALL 2017

The Atwelle Confession Race to Judgment The Judas Dilemma ISBN 978-1-59079-430-2 ISBN 978-1-59079-438-8 ISBN 978-1-59079-441-8 Sometimes the LAW of VENGEANCE is the only path!