Paper & Ink Recommended Titles July to Sept 2020
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9780771059834 Hardcover FICTION / Political On Sale Date:June 02, 2020$32.00 CAD 5.26 x 8.53 x 1.13 in | 0.91 lb | 304 pages Carton Quantity:12 McClelland & Stewart-
Marketing Copy
Description
For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise—to the middle class, to politcal power, to fame in the movies—and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India.
Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party, and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan’s fall. Lovely—an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humour—has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear.
Taut, symphonic, propulsive, and riveting from its opening lines, A Burning has the force of an epic while being so masterfully compressed it can be read in a single sitting. Majumdar writes with dazzling assurance at a breakneck pace on complex themes that read here as the components of a thriller: class, fate, corruption, justice, and what it feels like to face profound obstacles and yet nurture big dreams in a country spinning toward extremism. An extraordinary debut.
A novel about fate, power, opportunity, and class; about innocence and guilt, betrayal and love, and the corrosive media cycle that manufactures falsehoods masquerading as truths—A Burning is a debut novel of exceptional power and urgency, haunting and beautiful, brutal, vibrant, impossible to forget.Bio
MEGHA MAJUMDAR is Associate Editor at Catapult in New York City, where she works on both books and the magazine (catapult.co). She grew up in India, and studied anthropology at Johns Hopkins and Harvard. She lives in Brooklyn.
Author Residence: Brooklyn, NYMarketing & Promotion
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Marketing: Paid social advertising
Influencer outreach
Goodreads giveaways
Goodreads advertising
Publicity: Targeted review coverage in literary outlets like Maisonneuve, Hazlitt, Walrus
Blogger/influencer mailing
Tour to Toronto, possibly MTL for events paired with similar author
Author Social Media: @MeghaMaj -
Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
One of Time’s Must-Read Books of 2020
One of the most anticipated books of the summer by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, O, Elle, The Millions, Lit Hub
“Riveting…. This is a novel of our pandemic times, an exploration of precarity in all its forms…. Majumdar excels at depicting the workings of power on the powerless…. Fate has rarely been so many-faced, so muscular, so mercurial, so mesmerizing as it is in A Burning.” —New York Times Book Review
“Powerful…propulsive…. This is a book to relish for its details, for the caress of the writer’s gaze against the world…. The interplay of choice and circumstance has always been the playing field of great fiction, and on this terrain, a powerful new writer stakes her claim.” —Parul Sehgal, New York Times
“The must-read novel of the summer…. Megha Majumdar’s debute novel, A Burning, is aptly named. This all-consuming story rages along, bright and scalding, illuminating three intertwined lives in contemporary India. Majumdar…demonstrates an uncanny ability to capture the vast scope of a tumultuous society by attending to the hopes and fears of people living on the margins. The effect is transporting, often thrilling, finally harrowing…Majumdar’s outrage is matched only by her sympathy for these ordinary people…. A damning critique of a culture that generates constant upheaval but no systemic change.” —Ron Charles, Washington Post
“Immersive…masterly…the elements of a thriller are transmuted into prismatic portraiture…. A Burning has a similar urgency of appeal [to Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying]. Its characters are the very front of the stage, and we can feel their breath…. Her spare plot moves with arrowlike determination. —James Wood, The New Yorker
”Powerful…a gripping thriller with compassionate social commentary…. It’s hard not to feel intense heartache while reading A Burning. Majumdar’s powerful debut is carefully crafted for maximum impact, carving out the most urgent parts of its characters for the whole world to see. This novel rightfully commands attention.“ —USA Today
”A Burning by Megha Majumdar is quietly beautiful and devastating. Its tone and pacing are measured perfectly. It is as funny as it is sad. This book won’t let you go, and you won’t want it to end.“ —Tommy Orange
”In her captivating debut novel A Burning, Megha Majumdar presents a powerful corrective to the politcal correvtive to the political narratives that have dominated in contemporary India.“ —Time
”Propulsive…ambitious…beautiful and supple…heartbreaking." —Boston Globe
“A Burning is an excellently crafted, utterly thrilling novel full of characters that I won’t soon forget. Megha Majumdar writes about the ripple effects of our choices, the interconnectedness of our humanity, with striking beauty and clarity. A stunning debut.”
—Yaa Gyasi
“This is a novel of now: a beautifully constructed literary thriller from a rare and powerful new voice.”
—Colum McCann
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9780525645610 Paperback YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Girls & Women Age (years) from 14, Grade (US) from 9 On Sale Date:June 02, 2020$14.99 CAD 5.56 x 8.19 x 0.84 in | 0.69 lb | 400 pages Carton Quantity:24 Ember
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Marketing Copy
Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
“The perfect kind of story for our current era.”—Hypable
From the author of Burn Our Bodies Down, a feminist Lord of the Flies about three best friends living in quarantine at their island boarding school, and the lengths they go to uncover the truth of their confinement when one disappears. This fresh debut is a mind-bending novel unlike anything you’ve read before.
It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there’s more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.
And don’t miss Rory Power’s second novel, Burn Our Bodies Down!
Praise for Wilder Girls:
4 STARRED REVIEWS!
“Take Annihilation, add a dash of Contagion, set it at an all-girls’ academy, and you’ll arrive at Rory Power’s occasionally shocking and always gripping Wilder Girls.”—Refinery29
“This thrilling saga…is sure to be one of the season’s most talked-about books, in any genre.”—EW
“Fresh and horrible and beautiful….readers will be consumed and altered by Wilder Girls.”—NPR
Story Locale: unspecified time, Island off the Eastern coast of the U.S.Bio
Rory Power grew up in Boston, received her undergraduate degree at Middlebury College, and went on to earn an MA in prose fiction from the University of East Anglia. She lives in Massachusetts. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls and Burn Our Bodies Down. To learn more about Rory, go to itsrorypower.com and follow @itsrorypower on Twitter and Instagram.
Author Residence: Providence, RI
Author Hometown: MassachusetsMarketing & Promotion
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Author Website: itsrorypower.com
Author Social Media: @itsrorypower on Twitter and Instagram -
Awards & Reviews
Awards
Pennsylvania Keystone State Reading Association Book Award 2020, Nominated
Reviews
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
★ “Power’s evocative, haunting, and occasionally gruesome debut will challenge readers to ignore its bewitching presence.” —Booklist, starred review
★ “This gritty, lush debut chronicling psychological and environmental tipping points…weaves a chilling narrative that disrupts readers’ expectations through an expertly crafted, slow-burn reveal of the deadly consequences of climate change….Part survival thriller, part post-apocalyptic romance, and part ecocritical feminist manifesto, a staggering gut punch of a book.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ “An ode to empowering women and a testament to the strength of female bonds….Far more than just an unsettling horror story, this powerful debut novel about a strange disease at an all-girls boarding school explores female empowerment, friendship and survival with tenacity and brilliance.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review
★ “Electric prose, compelling relationships, and visceral horror illuminate Power’s incisive debut…[and its] environmental and feminist themes are resonant, particularly the immeasurable costs of experimentation on female bodies, and the power of female solidarity and resilience amid ecological and political turmoil.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Tightly coiled narration moves between quietly reserved to vividly but coldly detailed, doubling the horror.” —Bulletin
“Your new favorite book.” —Cosmopolitan
“Everything about this thrilling, unnerving debut will make you want to immediately read it. For fans of Mindy McGinnis and Gillian French.” —Paste
“Wilder Girls is so sharp and packs so much emotion in such wise ways. I’m convinced we’re about to witness the emergence of a major new literary star.” —Jeff VanderMeer, author of the New York Times bestseller Annihilation
“Wilder Girls is the bold, imaginative, emotionally wrenching horror novel of my dreams—one that celebrates the resilience of girls and the earthshaking power of their friendships. An eerie, unforgettable triumph.” —Claire Legrand, New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn
“A nightmarish survival story that’s as much literary fiction as it is young adult…I couldn’t look away.“ —Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White, and Royal Blue
”The eeriness of Raxter Island permeates every scene, and Rory Power’s characters are fierce and honest, blazing from the pages. This is a groundbreaking speculative story—brutal and beautiful, raw and unflinching. I adored this book.“ —Emily Suvada, author of This Mortal Coil
”A feminist, LGBT+, sci-fi-horror story with all the tantalizing elements of gore, mystery, war, and love you can ask for. Real, flawed, brave girls against a world gone mad. A shudderingly good read!” —Dawn Kurtagich, author of Teeth in the Mist
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9780525645627 Hardcover YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Girls & Women Age (years) from 14, Grade (US) from 9 On Sale Date:July 07, 2020$24.99 CAD 5.88 x 8.56 x 1.13 in | 1 lb | 352 pages Carton Quantity:12 Delacorte Press-
Marketing Copy
Description
“[A] deliriously creepy tale…that’ll keep your nightmares up at night.”—Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Wilder Girls comes a feverishly twisty thriller about a girl whose past has always been a mystery—until she decides to return to her mother’s hometown…where history has a tendency to repeat itself.
Ever since Margot was born, it’s been just her and her mother, struggling to get along. But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she may have just found the answer: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for.
As soon as they see her face, everyone in town knows who Margot belongs to. It’s unmistakable—she’s a Nielsen. And when a mysterious girl who could be Margot’s twin is pulled from a fire, Margot realizes that her mother left Phalene for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there?
The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape.
Praise for Wilder Girls:
4 STARRED REVIEWS!
“Fresh and horrible and beautiful….readers will be consumed and altered by Wilder Girls.”-NPR
“This thrilling saga…is sure to be one of the season’s most talked-about books, in any genre.”--EW
“The perfect kind of story for our current era.”—Hypable
“Your new favorite book.”—Cosmopolitan
Story Locale: unspecified time; Nebraska, U.S.Bio
Rory Power grew up in Boston, received her undergraduate degree at Middlebury College, and went on to earn an MA in prose fiction from the University of East Anglia. She lives in Massachusetts. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls and Burn Our Bodies Down. To learn more about Rory, go to itsrorypower.com and follow @itsrorypower on Twitter and Instagram.
Author Residence: Providence, RI
Author Hometown: MassachusettsMarketing & Promotion
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Author Website: itsrorypower.com
Author Social Media: @itsrorypower on Twitter and Instagram -
Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
Praise for Burn Our Bodies Down:
“Wow, this was amazing. Rory Power does it again! Burn Our Bodies Down is a masterpiece: an incredible and unnerving mystery that will creep up on you, twisty and labyrinthine, like the eerie cornfields of its setting.” —Holly Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
“With this bloodcurdling blend of agriculture, advanced genetics, and interpersonal turmoil, Rory Power reminds us that seemingly disparate things in life can come together in horrifying ways. I will keep a candle lit after this one.” —Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin
“Rory Power’s prose hits like a lightning strike in this deliriously creepy tale, the kind of slow-crawling horror that’ll keep your nightmares up at night.” —Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood
★ “Gritty and strange, this sophomore novel is utterly compelling.” —Booklist, starred review
★ “Creates a vivid world with a gothic horror–like setting…. A riveting, often frightening read.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ “Strong, suspenseful writing and pitch-perfect touches of horror.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review
“A creepy mystery recommended for readers who enjoy character-driven stories with elements of horror.” —SLJ
“Burn Our Bodies Down is a tightly woven tale … that will leave readers unsettled in the best way.” —BookPage
Praise for Wilder Girls:
“Take Annihilation, add a dash of Contagion, set it at an all-girls’ academy, and you’ll arrive at Rory Power’s occasionally shocking and always gripping Wilder Girls.” —Refinery29
“Everything about this thrilling, unnerving debut will make you want to immediately read it.” —Paste
★ “Power’s evocative, haunting, and occasionally gruesome debut will challenge readers to ignore its bewitching presence.” —Booklist, starred review
★ “Part survival thriller, part post-apocalyptic romance, and part ecocritical feminist manifesto, a staggering gut punch of a book.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ “An ode to empowering women and a testament to the strength of female bonds.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review
★ “Electric prose, compelling relationships, and visceral horror illuminate Power’s incisive debut.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Wilder Girls is so sharp and packs so much emotion in such wise ways. I’m convinced we’re about to witness the emergence of a major new literary star.” —Jeff VanderMeer, author of the New York Times bestseller Annihilation
“Wilder Girls is the bold, imaginative, emotionally wrenching horror novel of my dreams—one that celebrates the resilience of girls and the earthshaking power of their friendships. An eerie, unforgettable triumph.” —Claire Legrand, New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn
“A nightmarish survival story that’s as much literary fiction as it is young adult…. I couldn’t look away." —Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White, and Royal Blue
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9780385695404 Hardcover FICTION / Asian American On Sale Date:June 30, 2020$34.95 CAD 6.5 x 9.6 x 1.3 in | 1.49 lb | 336 pages Carton Quantity:12 Doubleday Canada-
Marketing Copy
Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The iconic author of the bestselling phenomenon Crazy Rich Asians returns with a glittering tale of love and longing as a young woman finds herself torn between two worlds—the WASP establishment of her father’s family and George Zao, a man she is desperately trying to avoid falling in love with.
On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can’t stand him. She can’t stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have the view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can’t stand that he knows more about Curzio Malaparte than she does, and she really can’t stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin, Charlotte. “Your mother is Chinese so it’s no surprise you’d be attracted to someone like him,” Charlotte teases. Daughter of an American-born-Chinese mother and blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton where Lucie is weekending with her new fiancé, Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucy is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiancé, the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment, and ultimately herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world—and her heart. Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story, a daring homage to A Room with a View, and a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures.Bio
KEVIN KWAN is the author of the international bestsellers Crazy Rich Asians, a major motion picture, China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems. Born in Singapore, he has called New York’s West Village home since 1995.
Author Residence: New York, NY
Author Hometown: SingaporeMarketing & Promotion
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Marketing: Pre-pub—
Paid social advertising
Goodreads advertising
Focus of Penguin Random House Canada and Doubleday Canada social media accounts and newsletters
On-sale—
Paid social advertising
Google Search/Display ads
Print and/or Transit advertising
Goodreads personal selection mailer
Focus of Penguin Random House Canada and Doubleday Canada social media accounts and newsletters
Publicity: Influencer mailing
Long lead review mailing to print media
Tour to Toronto and Vancouver, marquee events in both cities
Pitch for A list broadcast and print interviews (eg. Chatelaine, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, The National, The Social, eTalk )
Author Website: www.kevinkwanbooks.com
Author Social Media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @KevinKwanBooks -
Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
BEST BOOK OF 2020: Marie Claire, NPR, New York Post, Kobo
A PENGUIN BOOK CLUB PICK
“Kevin Kwan’s new book is his most decadent yet.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Kevin Kwan has had a singular influence on Asian American storytelling and Hollywood’s pop cultural landscape.” —Yoonj Kim, Los Angeles Times
“Kevin Kwan has dedicated his fourth novel, Sex and Vanity, to two unique destinations. One is New York…the other is the Italian island of Capri…. Both locales—rich, glamorous, and filled with their share of both insiders and outsiders looking for their ticket in—serve as backdrops for Kwan’s latest ode to love, class, and the problematic, hilarious search for happiness in a world spinning with too much of pretty much everything. Kwan…is an urban romantic and he’s also a keen observer of social mores and the Teflon charms of an offbeat character. Sex and Vanity is sharp, clever, and irresistibly drawn.” —Interview
“Another riveting tale of privilege, culture and romance…in a world of extravagant fashion and deceit, resulting in one truly modern love story that you won’t be able to put down.” —CNN
“A summer romp with a satirical sting.” —NPR
“When the room with a view is Kevin Kwan’s, things might get wild…. There’s no other way you’re getting to Capri this summer. Here’s a ticket.” —Janet Maslin, New York Times Book Review
“Part of the novel’s fun is that Kwan is in on the joke: He excels at satirizing the uber-rich. He’s also an Olympic-level name-dropper. If I had a dollar for every reference to an A-list designer or brand mentioned here, I’d be—well, still not a fraction as wealthy as these characters…. Kwan’s trademark snark, which hooked Crazy Rich Asians fans, remains on display in this new offering…readers who follow suit can revel in the kind of extravagances that sound like a dream after months of isolation and anxiety during the coronarvirus pandemic.” —Washington Post
“The Shakespeare of Status Anxiety…. Dishy and delightful, filled with all sorts of bad behavior performed in couture. But as loose and fun and compulsively readable as they are, Kwan’s novels are also very clearly the work of someone who spends much of his social time paying extremely close attention.” —The Atlantic
“A razor-sharp rake on the one percent….Like Truman Capote or Dominick Dunne before him, Kwan seems to be writing from inside the rarefied rooms where his stories take place—and he doesn’t pull any punches.” —Town & Country
“Deliciously modern…drama, diamonds, and satire galore.” —Vanity Fair
“On its face, the story is a zippy beach read, but Kwan engages with serious subject matter (racism, identity, and deep-rooted Asian classism) all while thoroughly lampooning the extravagance of the ultrarich…. The best part is that like all of Kwan’s work, Sex and Vanity also functions as a vacation read—it’s funny, there are ridiculous, steamy sex scenes, and part of the book takes place at a luxurious destination wedding. It’s the kind of thing you can take to whatever beach substitute you’re working with right now (the bedroom with the most sun, or a patch of asphalt at the nearest park) and escape for a little while.” —The Cut
“Kwan’s latest novel Sex and Vanity is a retelling of E. M. Forster’s A Room With a View. In Kwan’s hands, the classically white, British tale’s setting gets an update from the early 1900s to the 2010s, trading in a cast of characters from England’s stuffy upper crust for one of lavish, jet-setting Asian socialites.” —Bustle
“A deliciously fun romp from Capri to Manhattan and East Hampton. Kwan is in fine form, gleefully name-dropping luxury brands and socialites as he spins a heartfelt, satirical tale that observes the price of fame, fortune and following your heart.” —BookPage
“True love will find a way, even among the status-obsessed and filthy rich…[With] irresistibly knowing humor and delightful central characters… While he’s engineering the timeless love story and continuing our postgraduate education in all the things money can buy, Kwan manages to take a few swipes against snobbery and racism. Nice. This is the only way you’re getting to Capri this year. Why resist?” —Kirkus Reviews
“Kwan follows up his Crazy Rich Asians trilogy with an intoxicating, breezy update of E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View…. Kwan exploits the Forster frame for clever references—including Merchant and Ivory—and provides amusing footnotes. Kwan also relishes describing lavish meals and haute couture clothing, as well as Isabel’s decadent wedding and Cecil’s imaginative, over-the-top proposal. There are moments both catty and witty…. [A] delectable comedy of manners—the literary equivalent of white truffle and caviar pizza.” —Publishers Weekly
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Blue Ticket A Novel9780735239166 Paperback FICTION / Dystopian On Sale Date:June 30, 2020$24.95 CAD 5.69 x 8.2 x 0.94 in | 0.89 lb | 304 pages Carton Quantity:24 Hamish Hamilton
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Marketing Copy
Description
THE GUARDIAN’S “BEST BOOKS OF 2020 - picked by our acclaimed guest authors”
BELLETRIST’S AUGUST 2020 BOOK PICK
“[Mackintosh’s] writing is clear and sharp, with piercing moments of wisdom and insight that drive toward a pitch-perfect ending…Blue Ticket adds something new to the dystopian tradition set by Orwell’s 1984 or Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.”—New York Times Book Review
From the author of the Man Booker Prize longlisted novel The Water Cure comes another mesmerizing, refracted vision of our society: In a world where women can’t have it all, don’t underestimate the relief of a decision being taken away from you.
Calla knows how the lottery works. Everyone does. On the day of your first bleed, you report to the station to learn what kind of woman you will be. A white ticket grants you marriage and children. A blue ticket grants you a career and freedom. You are relieved of the terrible burden of choice. And once you’ve taken your ticket, there is no going back. But what if the life you’re given is the wrong one?
When Calla, a blue ticket woman, begins to question her fate, she must go on the run. But her survival will be dependent on the very qualities the lottery has taught her to question in herself and on the other women the system has pitted against her. Pregnant and desperate, Calla must contend with whether or not the lottery knows her better than she knows herself and what that might mean for her child.
An urgent inquiry into free will, social expectation, and the fraught space of motherhood, Blue Ticket is electrifying in its raw evocation and desire and riveting in its undeniable familiarity.
Publication History: Original Trade PaperbackBio
SOPHIE MACKINTOSH is the author of The Water Cure, which was longlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize. In 2016 she won the White Review Short Story Prize and the Virago/Stylist Short Story competition, and has been published in the New York Times, Elle, and Granta magazine, among others.
Author Residence: London, UKMarketing & Promotion
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Marketing: ‘Blue Ticket’ proof and influencer mailing
Paid social advertising
Potential opportunity in audio, narrator dependent
‘Women in work’ influencer and agency outreach - paid and organic
Reading guide
Publicity: Pitch for national coverage with women’s publications - Elle, FASHION, FLARE, Refinery29, National Post, Globe
Pitch for national radio like CBC Writers & Co.
Galleys and finished copies to key influencers who cover/talk about/write on related issues
Author Social Media: Twitter @fairfairisles (5.8k followers); Instagram @sophmackintosh (2.4k followers) -
Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
One of:
The Guardian’s “BEST BOOKS OF 2020 – picked by our acclaimed guest authors”
Toronto Star’s “New Sci-Fi books to keep you one page ahead of the headlines”
ELLE’s “30 Most Anticipated New Books of Summer 2020” Good Housekeeping’s “20 Best New Fiction Books You Need to Add to Your Summer Reading List”
The Guardian’s “2020 in books: a literary calendar”
Lit Hub’s “Most Anticipated Books of 2020”
Five Books’ “Editors’ Picks: Notable Novels of Summer 2020”
PopSugar’s “35 Must-Read 2020 Books Written by Women”
Bustle’s “25 Most Anticipated Books Of June”
The Guardian’s “50 brilliant books to transport you this summer”
Oprah Magazine’s “28 of the Best Books to Transport You This Summer, Written By Women Around the World”
Esquire’s “20 Must-Read Books of Summer 2020”
Lit Hub’s “12 new books for the long weekend”
Esquire’s “10 Must-Read Books of Summer 2020”
The Guardian’s “Best Books of Autumn 2020”
Belletrist Book Club’s August picks
Praise for Blue Ticket:
“Blue Ticket is a darkly brilliant allegory…The protagonist is such a lovely rebel, whose inner thoughts on having a female body are astute, revelatory and heartbreaking. A beautiful read.”
—Heather O’Neill, author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel
“[Mackintosh’s] writing is clear and sharp, with piercing moments of wisdom and insight that drive toward a pitch-perfect ending…allegorical and dreamlike…. Blue Ticket adds something new to the dystopian tradition set by Orwell’s 1984 or Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.”
—The New York Times
“In this dark fable, Mackintosh explores the strictures inhibiting a woman’s right to choose…[and] sensitively conveys resonant questions about motherhood, female solidarity, queer love, and bodily autonomy.”
—The New Yorker
“The cool intensity and strange beauty of Blue Ticket is a wonder – be sure to read everything Sophie Mackintosh writes.”
—Deborah Levy, author of Hot Milk and The Man Who Saw Everything
“Mackintosh’s second novel is even more hallucinatory and spiraled than her first…Terrifying and enchanting in equal measure.”
—Lit Hub
“Expect [Blue Ticket] to top every reading list – and to start impassioned conversations.”
—Vogue UK, British Vogue Introduces An Electric Cast Of Faces Set To Define The Decade Ahead
“[a] thrilling account of what it means to be a woman.”
—The Irish Times
“A rich, sharp, and daring book. To read Blue Ticket is to feel so vigorously alert you can feel the world turning.”
—Heidi Sopinka, author of The Dictionary of Animal Languages
“Utterly exquisite – clever and brilliant and heartbreaking. From the dusty road to the salving forest, I absolutely adored it.”
—Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Adults and Animals
“Strange and luminous, beautifully spare and precise: Sophie Mackintosh constructs her disturbing premise with such skill that I found myself forgetting that the world of Blue Ticket is not (quite) our own. A thrilling and nuanced exploration of what it means to follow one’s own longing to the point of destruction and beyond.”
—Rosie Price, author of What Red Was
“Blue Ticket manages to be both claustrophobic and expansive, dream-like and heart-stoppingly tense. Lushly textured and stunningly written, you will want to languish in its world for a very long time.”
—Lara Williams, author of Supper Club
“This book left me breathless – it is gloriously subversive in its exploration of motherhood and desire. I’ll be pressing it on everyone.”
—Angela Chadwick, author of XX
“Mackintosh renders Calla’s internal struggle with deft, lyric precision…[and] brings a new sense of pathos to the dystopian novel…A heartbreaking bid for self-determination, self-worth, and self-knowledge—no matter the cost. A moving and original meditation on freedom, fate, and women’s rage.”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS **STARRED**
“In her thought-provoking novel about fate, control, and biology, Mackintosh keeps the reader turning pages as Calla’s due date approaches. A must for Handmaid’s Tale aficionados.”
—BOOKLIST **STARRED**
“Mackintosh’s haunting, dystopian tale explores the emotional fallout of forced birth control in a near-future society …[A] tense, visionary drama.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“From the powerful imagination behind The Water Cure comes a Handmaid’s Tale-esque dip into the fraught choice of motherhood.”
—ELLE (The 30 Most Anticipated New Books of Summer 2020)
“Told with ragged prose that catches the breath, Calla’s journey articulates the irrepressible desires and wounds that can lie deep within, and is marked by a claustrophobia that never stops pressing in from the margins. This unsettling reimagining of the anxieties and pressures around motherhood lays bare the alienation that comes when your body is not truly yours.”
—The Herald
“For millions of women around the world a thin blue line means one thing: ‘You’re pregnant’…. Sophie Mackintosh cleverly subverts that trope in her new book…. [Blue Ticket] opens on an Ishiguro-esque society with strict rules in place about the roles of women and men. Mackintosh lays bare many of the fears and realities that face any society’s women as they contemplate when their choices begin, and where they might end.”
—The Boston Globe
“[C]hilling speculative fiction set in a feminist dystopia…. [Blue Ticket] wrestles with timely, thought-provoking questions of fate, free will, and bodily autonomy.”
—Esquire
“Mackintosh isn’t one to shy away from difficult, messy, daring interrogations of how women are seen—and treated—in so-called modern society…. Blue Ticket considers female pain, power dynamics, and how we define the true self in a way that sometimes makes the prose physically painful to read. Yet underneath the layers of toughness, a tenderness comes through—one that asks not to be judged; an understanding that resists being reductive.”
—Hazlitt
“[In Blue Ticket,] Mackintosh’s prose…[is] beautiful and otherworldly, violent and tender, reverberating into the darkness.”
—The Guardian
“Like The Handmaid’s Tale, [Blue Ticket] deals with the politics of reproduction…. characters [are] so fully written—thin-skinned and fleshy and all-feeling…while typical feminist dystopias gain much of their power from a riveting event-heavy plot, the most captivating moments in Mackintosh’s novels are almost always confined to the parameters of her narrator’s own flesh and bones.”
—The Independent
“[S]trange and powerful…[Blue Ticket is] a little like The Handmaid’s Tale as told by David Lynch…While doomy tales based on the struggle for reproductive rights have become something of a boom genre in recent years, Blue Ticket stands apart from the crowd, not least for its anaesthetic style, straight out of a 1960s French-style anti-novel.”
—The i (UK)
“[A] thoughtful and haunting exploration of freedom, fate and a woman’s right to choose her destiny.”
—The Observer
“Mackintosh has a particular gift for coolly articulating visceral primal instincts and shaping them into controlled, striking prose. This is a potent exploration of biology and agency, motherhood and childlessness, which confirms her as a writer of note.”
—Daily Mail
“Blue Ticket has two modes, two paces. There’s reverie, in the elegant passages where Calla ruminates on motherhood. And there’s the thrill of the chase…. Both are expertly fashioned, and Mackintosh’s prose is relentlessly fine.”
—The Sunday Telegraph
“[E]legant and sparse…”
—New Statesman
Praise for The Water Cure:
”A gripping, sinister fable!“
—MARGARET ATWOOD, via Twitter
”Darkly gratifying, primal and arresting…ingenious and incendiary“
—NEW YORKER
”An extraordinary otherworldly debut…[Mackintosh] is writing the way that Sofia Coppola would shoot the end of the world: Everything is luminous.“
—THE GUARDIAN
”Sensational…Mackintosh’s taut novel turns a keen, unsparing eye on violence, patriarchy, and desire.“
—ESQUIRE
”[A] chilling, beautifully written novel…the tautness and tension of the writing are staggering.“
—Judges Panel Citation, MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018
”I loved this book. It rushes you through to the end on a tide of tension and closely held panic. Eerie, beautiful, electric.“
—DAISY JOHNSON, author of EVERYTHING UNDER
”Sophie Mackintosh casts an exquisite, irresistible spell…"
—LENI ZUMAS, author of RED CLOCKS
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9780385693981 Paperback FICTION / Historical On Sale Date:June 30, 2020$19.95 CAD 5.14 x 7.98 x 0.65 in | 0.5 lb | 224 pages Carton Quantity:24 Anchor Canada-
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Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Fiction
Finalist for the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award
Finalist for the 2021 DUBLIN Literary Awards
Longlisted for the 2019 National Book Awards
Longlisted for the 2020 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
In this bravura follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning #1 New York Times bestseller The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.
As the Civil Rights movement begins to reach the black enclave of Frenchtown in segregated Tallahassee, Florida, Elwood Curtis takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to heart: he is “as good as anyone.” Abandoned by his parents, but kept on the straight and narrow by his grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college—but one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future. Elwood is sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called The Nickel Academy, whose mission statement says it provides “physical, intellectual and moral training” so the delinquent boys in their charge can become “honorable and honest men.”
In reality, The Nickel Academy is a grotesque chamber of horrors, where the sadistic staff beats and sexually abuses the students, corrupt officials and locals steal food and supplies, and any boy who resists is likely to disappear “out back.” Stunned to find himself in such a vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold on to Dr. King’s ringing assertion “throw us in jail and we will still love you.” His friend Turner thinks Elwood is worse than naive, that the world is crooked and the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble, leading to decisions that reverberate for years to come.
Based on the true story of a reform school in Florida that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers.Bio
COLSON WHITEHEAD is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Underground Railroad, which won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and the National Book Award. His other books include Zone One, Sag Harbor, The Intuitionist and The Colossus of New York. A recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, he lives in New York City.
Author Residence: New York, NY
Author Hometown: New York, NYMarketing & Promotion
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Awards & Reviews
Awards
IMPAC Dublin Award 2021, Short-listed
Kirkus Prize for Fiction 2019, Winner
National Book Awards 2019, Long-listed
National Book Critics Circle Awards 2019, Short-listed
Orwell Prize 2020, Long-listed
Pulitzer Prize 2020, Winner
Reviews
WINNER OF THE 2020 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS
WINNER OF THE 2019 KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST
LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2020
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES AND WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF 2019
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2019 BY The Globe and Mail • CBC • TIME • Entertainment Weekly • The Guardian • Esquire • Variety • USA Today • NPR • Kirkus Revews • NOW • Buzzfeed • Slate • Vox • BBC • Chicago Tribune • Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal • Literary Hub • Financial Times • Town & Country • Parade • AV Club • PureWow • E! News • Paste
A PENGUIN BOOK CLUB PICK
“A necessary read.” —President Barack Obama
“This is a powerful book by one of America’s great writers…. Without sentimentality, in as intense and finely crafted a book as you’ll ever read, Whitehead tells a story of American history that won’t allow you to see the country in the same way again.” —Toronto Star
“Colson Whitehead continues to make a classic American genre his own.…The narration is disciplined and the sentences plain and sturdy, oars cutting into water. Every chapter hits its marks…. Whitehead comports himself with gravity and care, the steward of painful, suppressed histories; his choices on the page can feel as much ethical as aesthetic. The ordinary language, the clear pane of his prose, lets the stories speak for themselves…. Whitehead has written novels of horror and apocalypse; nothing touches the grimness of the real stories he conveys here” —The New York Times
“Inspired by a real school in Florida, The Nickel Boys is a haunting narrative that reinforces Whitehead’s prowess as a leading voice in American literature.” —TIME
“[The Nickel Boys] should further cement Whitehead as one of his generation’s best.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Were Whitehead’s only aim to shine an unforgiving light on a redacted chapter of racial terrorism in the American chronicle, that would be achievement enough. What he is doing in his new novel, as in its immediate predecessor, is more challenging than that…. He applies a master storyteller’s muscle…. The elasticity of time in The Nickel Boys feels so organic that only when you put the book down do you fully appreciate that its sweep encompasses much of the last century as well as this one…. A writer like Whitehead, who challenges the complacent assumption that we even fathom what happened in our past, has rarely seemed more essential.” —The New York Times Book Review
”A masterpiece squared, rooted in history and American mythology and, yet, painfully topical in its visions of justice and mercy erratically denied…. A great American novel.“ —NPR
”Whitehead’s brilliant examination of America’s history of violence is a stunning novel of impeccable language and startling insight.“ —Publishers Weekly, starred review
”Whitehead’s magnetic characters exemplify stoicism and courage, and each supremely crafted scene smolders and flares with injustice and resistance, building to a staggering revelation. Inspired by an actual school, Whitehead’s potently concentrated drama pinpoints the brutality and insidiousness of Jim Crow racism with compassion and protest…. A scorching work.“ —Booklist, starred review
”[A] stunning new novel…. The understated beauty of his writing, combined with the disquieting subject matter, creates a kind of dissonance that chills the reader. Whitehead has long had a gift for crafting unforgettable characters, and Elwood proves to be one of his best…. The final pages of the book are a heartbreaking distillation of the story that preceded them; it’s a perfect ending to a perfect novel. The Nickel Boys is a beautiful, wrenching act of witness, a painful remembrance of an ’infinite brotherhood of broken boys,’ and it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Whitehead is one of the most gifted novelists in America today.“ —NPR
”Magnificent…. Whitehead’s prose is meticulous; he nimbly shifts between the 1960s and present day, creating a fully fleshed-out picture of violence and (in)justice.“ —Buzzfeed
”Colson Whitehead’s follow-up to The Underground Railroad is devastating and powerful, a harrowing novelization on another dark aspect of American history. …Never didactic, but always illuminating—even in those darkest of places in our collective story—The Nickel Boys is a brilliant, horrifying look into the legacy of Jim Crow, and the ways in which racism and oppression don’t exist in defiance to the American Dream, but rather as its fuel.“ —NYLON
”[The Nickel Boys’s] dialogue, the efficient character sketches and the unobtrusive but always-advancing plot are evidence of mature ability…spry and animated and seamed with dark humor…[with] a dazzling final twist that Mr. Whitehead stages with such casual skill that one only begins to unpack its meanings well after the book has ended…. The excellence of The Nickel Boys carries an added feeling of hope because it’s evidence of a gradual, old-fashioned artistic progression that fewer and fewer writers are allowed the time to pursue…. The Nickel Boys demonstrate the versatile gifts of a writer who is rounding into mastery. The impression left is that Mr. Whitehead can succeed at any kind of book he takes on. He has made himself one of the finest novelists in America.“ —The Wall Street Journal
”The book is a phenomenal demonstration of Whitehead’s expansive talent…. The Nickel Boys is a stunning follow up to his equally stunning novel The Underground Railroad. Reading it I couldn’t help think how lucky we are to be living at a time when such a gifted writer is working at the top of his art.“ —The National Book Critics Circle
”Whitehead’s new novel…is in many ways a continuation of his reassessment of African American history. But The Nickel Boys is no mere sequel…it’s a surprisingly different kind of novel…. Whitehead reveals the clandestine atrocities of Nickel Academy with just enough restraint to keep us in a state of wincing dread…. It shreds our easy confidence in the triumph of goodness and leaves in its place a hard and bitter truth about the ongoing American experiment.“ —The Washington Post
”You want to put it down because of how it makes you feel, but then you want to keep reading because the story’s so engaging and gripping and you don’t want to look away…. I would recommend highly that everyone read [The Nickel Boys]…. A powerful story by an amazing writer.“ —Trevor Noah, The Daily Show
”Again [Whitehead is] wrestling with American history’s reverberations…. Since its moral concern is multigenerational anguish, the sense of mourning in The Nickel Boys is subvisceral—not detached, but restrained…. We are called to remember, ’The past is never dead. It’s not even past.’“ —O: The Oprah Magazine
”Possibly the single most anticipated novel of the year.“ —Los Angeles Times
”A powerful meditation on suffering and injustice…. His subject could not be more demanding, but Whitehead’s writing is spare and stately. He handles Elwood’s and Turner’s suffering—and questions—gently. And he holds the reader carefully…. For the darkest of tales, that is the most a writer can do.“ —Winnipeg Free Press
”Whitehead’s signature knack for creating unforgettable characters and spinning compelling stories out of even the darkest places is on display once again—and while it’s not always an easy story to read, we’d venture to say it’s essential.“ —Town and Country
”If you thought Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad was a tour de force, wait until you get your hands on The Nickel Boys.“ —Harper’s Bazaar
”The Nickel Boys is straight-ahead realism, distinguished by its clarity and its open conversation with other black writers: It quotes from or evokes the work of Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison and more. Whitehead has made an overt bid to stand in their company—to write a novel that’s memorable, and teachable, for years to come. The Nickel Boys is its fulfilment.“ —USA Today
”The Nickel Boys is a strictly realist work, albeit still ripe with Whitehead’s signature deadpan wit…. The heart of The Nickel Boys is this extended dialogue between Elwood and Turner…[and] often feels like Whitehead’s conversation with both the idealistic forerunners of the civil rights generation and, by implication, the woke youth of today. Like perhaps his single greatest influence, Ralph Ellison, Whitehead negotiates a tightrope walk between the need to depict the experience of race and racism and a stubborn individualistic resistance to the claims of collective identity.“ —Slate
”[Whitehead’s] prose here is elegant yet straightforward…these short sentences spur the action on, creating a pace that’s almost as breath-taking as the novel’s depiction of cruelty…. Whitehead’s novel is certainly revelatory, but more for the ways in which it traces these atrocities to the past and present, weaving tragedy into multiple lifetimes. The Nickel Boys isn’t just a testament to systemic racism; it’s an archaeology of pain.“ —A.V. Club
”[The Nickel Boys is] a marvellous play between the real situation and a novelistic artifice—one which, in the end, proves to be inherent in the human story…. This is a heartbreakingly good novel. Its excellence doesn’t lie in the attitude it takes to a social problem…. Rather, this is a book which should last because of the elegant refinement of its treatment, and the harmonious and deeply affecting balance it strikes between real-life conditions, and the requirements of the finest and most penetrating art.“ —The Spectator
”[A] remarkable novel.“ —Roxane Gay, bestselling author of Bad Feminist
”A gripping and brilliant novel based on a true story about a boys’ reformatory school in Florida in the 1960s. Whitehead is one of the most daring and gifted authors writing these days, and I will never miss one of his books.“—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of City of Girls
”[Whitehead] is a splendidly talented writer, with more range than any other American novelist currently working—he can be funny, lyrical, satirical, earnest—whatever is needed by the work." —George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo,
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9780385693288 Paperback FICTION / Historical On Sale Date:June 30, 2020$19.95 CAD 5.17 x 7.97 x 0.77 in | 0.59 lb | 368 pages Carton Quantity:24 Anchor Canada-
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Description
A thrilling tale of secretaries turned spies, of love and duty, and of sacrifice—the real-life story of the CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia, not with propaganda, but with the greatest love story of the twentieth century: Doctor Zhivago.
At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dares publish it, and help Pasternak’s magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world—using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and under Sally’s tutelage quickly learns how to blend in, make drops and invisibly ferry classified documents.
The Secrets We Kept combines a legendary literary love story with a narrative about two women empowered to lead lives of extraordinary intrigue and risk. The Secrets We Kept captures a watershed moment in the history of literature—told with soaring emotional intensity and captivating historical detail. And at the centre of this unforgettable debut is the powerful belief that a piece of art can change the world.
Story Locale: Moscow; Washington, DC; Paris and MilanBio
LARA PRESCOTT received her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin. She was previously an animal protection advocate and a political campaign operative. Her stories have appeared in The Southern Review, The Hudson Review, Crazyhorse, Day One and Tin House Flash Fridays. She won the 2016 Crazyhorse Fiction Prize for the first chapter of The Secrets We Kept. She lives in Austin, Texas.
Author Residence: Austin, TX
Author Hometown: PennsylvaniaMarketing & Promotion
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Author Website: www.laraprescott.com
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Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
A New York Times Bestseller
“A gorgeous and romantic feast of a novel.” —The New York Times
“One of the biggest fiction releases of the year…. A blend of romance and political intrigue that parallels Pasternak’s [Doctor Zhivago] [with] propulsive storytelling and evocative mid-century detail.” —Vulture
“Enthralling…. This is the rare page-turner with prose that’s as wily as its plot.” —Vogue
“The Secrets We Kept is simply sensational. Two gripping narratives unfold in the pressure cooker of the Cold War: passionate, courageous Olga who stands in the shadow of Soviet author Boris Pasternak yet inspires him to write a heroine for the ages, and the cynical, equally-overshadowed women of the CIA who help bring Pasternak’s masterpiece Dr. Zhivago to bear as a weapon against Soviet oppression. From the gulags of the USSR to the cherry blossom trees of Washington DC, the story grips and refuses to let go. Lara Prescott is a star in the making.” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network
“Through lucid images and vibrant storytelling, Prescott creates an edgy postfeminist vision of the Cold War, encompassing Sputnik to glasnost, typing pool to gulag, for a smart, lively page-turner. This debut shines as spy story, publication thriller and historical romance with a twist.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Delightful…. An intriguing and little-known chapter of literary history is brought to life with brio.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“This rich and well-researched narrative has an almost epic sweep, with alternating dramatic plots involving spies and espionage, many fascinating characters (both historical and fictional) from East and West, and a gifted writer and storyteller to tie it all together. For a debut novelist, Prescott writes with astonishing assurance, enthralling readers with tales of secret agents and intrigue, love and betrayal. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal, starred review
“[A] propulsive slice of historical fiction…. Prescott combines Mad Men-esque period style with a spy story worthy of John Le Carré.” —Entertainment Weekly
“If spy novels, the fifties and stories of deceit and deception are your cup of tea then you have to get your hands on The Secrets We Kept…. [It] won’t be like any spy novel you’ve read before.” —Bustle
“This intelligent, mixed-genre page-turner is part historical novel, part spy thriller, part romance fiction and more besides…. Prescott tells this story in an energetic and readable way, particularly highlighting the roles played by women on both sides of the Iron Curtain.” —The Sydney Morning Herald
“Epic in scope, deliciously meaty, and utterly convincing.” —Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
“Stylish, thrilling, smart, vivid.” —Elizabeth McCracken, author of Thunderstruck & Other Stories
“Provocative, haunting and a damn good read.” —H.W. Brands, author of The First American
“A first-rate novel, and it signals the arrival of a major new writer.” —Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Remember Me Like This
“One of the most unique and devastating novels [I have] read in years.” —Deb Olin Unferth, author of Minor Robberies
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The Ghost in the House Sara O'Leary
9780385686259 Paperback FICTION / Literary On Sale Date:July 07, 2020$22.95 CAD 5.44 x 8.01 x 0.57 in | 0.48 lb | 208 pages Carton Quantity:24 Doubleday Canada-
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What if you found out that there was a ghost haunting your home? What if you found out that you were the ghost?
In the middle of her life, Fay wakes up on the top of her piano with a strong intuition that something is not right. To all appearances everything is perfect: married to a man she loves, living in the house she dreamt of as a child, her life is full of possibility. Except—for reasons not immediately clear to Fay—she is now haunting her own once-happy home.
Everything that should be familiar is suddenly altered. But furniture in the wrong places and walls the wrong colour are nothing compared to the fact that there is another woman in the house. A woman who is sharing Fay’s husband’s bed. There is also a strange, wan girl roaming the house and claiming that she has “brought Fay back.”
Somehow her husband has moved on and made a new life without her and now he finds himself in the unenviable position of sharing a house with two wives, one of whom harbours thoughts of revenge.
As Fay begins to come to terms with the reality of her situation, she must confront all of the choices she has made, as well as those she hasn’t—and now never will.
This glimmering and darkly comedic novel explores both the domestic and the existential, delving into the dark heart of marriage and the meaning of a life.
The Ghost in the House strips away all that seems less than essential, leaving behind a story that is raw and polished and as close to true as fiction can be.
Story Locale: Vancouver, BCBio
SARA O’LEARY is a writer of fiction for both adults and children. She is the author of a collection of short stories, Comfort Me With Apples; a series of postcard stories, Wish You Were Here; as well as a number of picture books, including (in collaboration with Julie Morstad) the beloved This Is Sadie. She first studied fiction at the Saskatchewan School of the Arts and went on to complete an MFA at the University of British Columbia. She has taught screenwriting and writing for children at Concordia University in Montreal.
Author Residence: Hudson, QCMarketing & Promotion
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Author Website: 123oleary.blogspot.ca
Author Social Media: Twitter: @saraoleary; Instagram: @123olearyo -
Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
Advance Praise for The Ghost in the House:
“Sara O’Leary’s The Ghost in the House, riven by ambiguities and dissolutions, is a story of both love and profound solitude. Piercing, disorienting and tender.” —Madeleine Thien, author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing
“Sorrowful, lovely and funny in equal parts, The Ghost in the House depicts overwhelming love in heartbreaking counterbalance with an inescapable loneliness.” —Lynn Coady, author of Watching You Without Me
“Sara O’Leary opens the front of Fay’s dollhouse life to examine love and grief as only she can, with a penetrating view of the smallest things that make us eternally loving, endlessly lonely and forever indelibly ourselves.” —Marina Endicott, author of The Difference
“I so loved this deeply moving tale of loss and acceptance. A ghost stuck in her house, haunting her husband and his new family. (An extraordinary tale for these housebound times.)” —Edward Carey, author of Little
“The Ghost in the House is a beautiful reverie on how we live and love, a dream of a novel that left me stealing furtive glances at my loved ones, willing myself to appreciate them more and tell them so while we’re all still here. If you’ve lost someone you love, or wondered what it will feel like when it happens, O’Leary’s ghost will haunt you—in the best way.” —Jessica Francis Kane, author of Rules for Visiting
“A thirty-something ghost yearning for her life, a teenage girl toying with ending hers. Can they help each other to move on? This is the extraordinary premise of Sara O’Leary’s The Ghost in the House, a novel written with such aching delicacy it will haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page.” —Esta Spalding, author of The Fitzgerald-Trout series
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Chances Are . . . A novel9781101971994 Paperback FICTION / Literary On Sale Date:July 07, 2020$22.00 CAD 5.19 x 7.97 x 0.71 in | 0.51 lb | 320 pages Carton Quantity:24 Vintage-
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Description
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls comes a new revelation: a riveting story about the abiding yet complex power of friendship.
One beautiful September day, three men convene on Martha’s Vineyard, friends since meeting in college circa the sixties. They couldn’t have been more different then, or even today—Lincoln’s a commercial real estate broker, Teddy a tiny-press publisher, and Mickey a musician beyond his rockin’ age. But each man holds his own secrets, in addition to the monumental mystery that none of them has ever stopped puzzling over since a Memorial Day weekend on the Vineyard in 1971: the disappearance of the woman each of them loved—Jacy Rockafellow. Now, more than forty years later, as this new weekend unfolds, three lives are displayed in their entirety while the distant past confounds the present like a relentless squall of surprise and discovery. Shot through with Russo’s trademark comedy and humanity, Chances Are… also introduces a new level of suspense and menace that will quicken the reader’s heartbeat. For both longtime fans and lucky newcomers, Russo’s latest is a stunning demonstration of a highly acclaimed author deepening and expanding his remarkable achievement.
Publication History: Knopf hardcover, July 2019Bio
RICHARD RUSSO is the author of eight previous novels, two collections of stories, a collection of essays, and the memoir Elsewhere. In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls, which like Nobody’s Fool was adapted to film, in a multiple-award-winning HBO miniseries; in 2016 he was given the Indie Champion Award by the American Booksellers Association; and in 2017 he received France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine. He lives in Portland, Maine, where his daughter Emily runs Print, a terrific indie bookstore.
Author Residence: Portland, ME
Author Hometown: Gloversville, NYMarketing & Promotion
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Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
“[Russo’s] first novel in ten years hits the ball out of the park…Along with his wry eye for irony and regret, [Russo] offers up a compelling mystery…When the denouement comes, it’s a stunner. Nevertheless, all bombshells feel earned. If you’re on a hammock in the Vineyard or under a tent in Acadia, or slumped over the fire escape of your hot city apartment, chances are your chances are awfully good that you’ll lap up this gripping, wise, and wonderful summer treat.”— Mameve Medwed, The Boston Globe
“A cascade of charm…Each [character is] so appealing that you hate to let him go, though you’ll quickly feel just as fond of the next one…One of the great pleasures of Chances Are… stems from how gracefully Russo moves the story along two time frames, creating that uncanny sense of memories that feel simultaneously near and remote…Russo is an undeniably endearing writer, and chances are this story will draw you back to the most consequential moments in your own life.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post
“Chances Are… is, at heart, less a mystery than an evocation of what happens when [its characters] discover that ’the membrane separating sympathy from pity could be paper thin’…. The cloud of remorse that hangs over [the novel] can be affecting precisely because these old friends have so much difficulty articulating their emotions. Will they be able to open up to whatever the future holds?” —Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review
“Irresistible…with the complexities of human relationships, from first love to parenthood to aging [and] rich with humor.” —Colette Bancroft, Tampa Bay Times
“No one understands men better than Russo, and no one is more eloquent in explaining how they think, suffer, and love. At a rough time for masculinity, Russo’s flawed but always decent characters are repositories of the classic virtues of their gender…. [Chances Are…] blends everything we love about this author with something new. Yes, this is a novel about male friendship, fathers and sons, small-town class issues, and lifelong crushes, and it provides the familiar pleasure of immersion in the author’s distinctive, richly observed world and his inimitable ironic voice. But this is also a mystery about a 1971 cold case.”—Kirkus (starred)
“For his first stand-alone novel in 10 years, Russo has written a bewitching tale of male friendship with thriller elements…This is vintage Russo with a cunning twist.”—Carol Haggas, Booklist (starred)
“A surprising work that is as much a mystery as a meditation on secrets and friendship…a moving portrait of aging men who discover the world’s worst-kept secret: You may not know the people you thought you were closest to.” —Michael Magras, BookPage
“Russo’s first standalone novel in a decade mixes his signature themes—father-and-son relationships, unrequited love, New England small-town living, and the hiccups of aging—with stealthy clue-dropping in a slow-to-build mystery…In the final stretch, surprising, long-kept secrets are revealed. This is vintage Russo.”—Publishers Weekly
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Open Secrets A Novel9780143135180 Paperback FICTION / Thrillers On Sale Date:July 07, 2020$22.00 CAD 5.17 x 7.96 x 0.67 in | 0.48 lb | 272 pages Carton Quantity:24 Penguin Books-
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Description
The lies between a husband and wife are revealed, unraveling their family in this thrilling novel that moves between the French Riviera, Switzerland, and Amagansett
When Michel, a Swiss banker, discovers his wife Alice’s betrayal he turns for help to a Russian client who leads him into unknown territory, endangering not only his own life but that of Alice, and above all, his fourteen-year-old daughter, Pamela. Their charmed life—a beautiful house on the French Riviera, elegant vacations, and boarding school in Switzerland for Pamela—is not all that it seems. As the repercussions of Michel’s illicit deals move closer in around them, Alice finds herself in Amagansett with her artist sister who is having a crisis of her own, while the danger circles around Pamela. Open Secrets is a suspenseful novel about relationships, family, love and the inescapable consequences of one’s own actions.
Story Locale: French Riviera, Switzerland, and AmagansettBio
Sheila Kohler was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is the author of fourteen works of fiction including the novels Dreaming for Freud, Becoming Jane Eyre, and Cracks, which was nominated for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and made into a film starring Eva Green. Her work has been featured in the New York Times and O Magazine and included in the Best American Short Stories. She has twice won an O’Henry Prize, as well as an Open Fiction Award, a Willa Cather Prize, and a Smart Family Foundation Prize. She teaches at Princeton University and lives in New York City.
Author Residence: New York, NY
Author Hometown: Johannesburg, South AfricaMarketing & Promotion
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Marketing: Social media and online promotion
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Publicity: National print and online reviews and features
Author Website: sheilakohler.com
Author Social Media: twitter.com/sheilakohler -
Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
Praise for Sheila Kohler
“Sleekly written, suspenseful, and richly atmospheric.” —Joyce Carol Oates
“Open Secrets is a riveting and elegant suspense novel in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith. Sheila Kohler’s razor-sharp language dazzles and beguiles.” —Carol Goodman, New York Times bestselling author of The Lake of Dead Languages and The Sea of Lost Girls
“Her stories are elegant, smooth, and gorgeously sensual, belying the tension that crackles beneath. Long after I’ve finished reading one of her stories, the image continues to pulse.” —Amy Tan
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