April 2022 Adult Top-Picks
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An Unthinkable Thing Nicole Lundrigan
9780735242678 Paperback FICTION / Thrillers On Sale Date:April 12, 2022$22.95 CAD 5.51 x 8.24 x 0.87 in | 0.76 lb | 352 pages Carton Quantity:24 Viking-
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A tragedy brings a young boy into the home of a “perfect” family—one whose dark secrets begin closing in, until a horrifying moment changes everything.
Tommie Ware’s life is turned upside down the summer of 1958, just after his eleventh birthday. When his beloved aunt—the woman who raised him—doesn’t return after her shift as a night nurse and is later found murdered, there is only one place left for Tommie to go: “home” to the mother who handed him over the day he was born.
All is not as it seems behind the hedgerow surrounding the lavish Henneberry estate where Tommie’s mother, Esther, works as live-in housekeeper. Her employers have agreed he can stay until she “sorts things out,” but as she’s at the family’s beck and call around the clock, Tommie is mostly left on his own to navigate the grounds, the massive house, and the twisted family inside.
Soon he is enmeshed in the oppressive attentions of matriarch Muriel, who is often heavily medicated, and of fifteen-year-old Martin, who treats Tommie sometimes like a kid brother, sometimes like a pawn in a confusing game. While Dr. Henneberry mostly ignores Tommie, he also seems eager for him to be gone. Then there’s the elderly neighbour, who may know more about the family’s past than anyone else will say.
By summer’s end, the secrets and games tighten around Tommie and his mother, until a horrific crime is discovered and we are faced with an unthinkable question: could an eleven-year-old boy really have committed cold-blooded murder?
Story Locale: Westlake and Washbourn, a fictional town and suburb in northeastern North America
Publication History: Original Trade PaperbackBio
NICOLE LUNDRIGAN is the author of several critically acclaimed novels, including Hideaway, which was shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel, The Substitute, and Glass Boys. Her work has appeared on “best of” selections from The Globe and Mail, Amazon.ca, Chatelaine, Now magazine, and others. She grew up in Newfoundland, and now lives in Toronto.
Author Residence: Toronto, Ontario
Author Hometown: Upper Gullies, NewfoundlandMarketing & Promotion
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#1 LoanStars Pick for April 2022
One of:
CBC’s “Fiction Books to Watch for in Spring 2022”
The Globe and Mail’s “Six thrillers to help soothe the crime of summer’s end”
CBC’s “22 Canadian books that will get you in the Halloween spirit”
CBC’s “30 Canadian books for the thriller, horror mystery and crime fan this holiday season”
“In Nicole Lundrigan’s An Unthinkable Thing we meet 11-year-old Tommie Ware, whose life is forever changed by the dark secrets of the wealthy family his estranged mother works for. Gothic horror meets literary suspense, this novel showcases Lundrigan’s impressive talent for crafting a story that is propulsive yet measured, never giving up its mysteries too easily. Flawlessly captivating, this is the book I’ve been waiting to read all year.”
—Karma Brown, # 1 national bestselling author of Recipe for a Perfect Wife
“From the enticing first pages to the shocking last lines (don’t peek!), Nicole Lundrigan’s An Unthinkable Thing explores the trauma of loneliness and the power of belonging, through the eyes of a tender, unforgettable young narrator. You’ll be deeply moved by this thoughtful and atmospheric page-turner.”
—Ashley Audrain, #1 national bestselling author of The Push
“In An Unthinkable Thing, Nicole Lundrigan goes deep behind the glittering curtain of a perfect family, skillfully revealing their darkest secrets one shocking layer at a time. Expertly paced, with a voice that’s both tender and innocent, this twisted suspense story’s jaw-dropping events kept me glued to the pages until the ultimate satisfying surprise. A must read.”
—Hannah Mary McKinnon, internationally bestselling author of You Will Remember Me
“A magnificent example of all the elements of fine fiction—an engaging narrative voice, a profound evocation of time and place, a complex braiding of plot lines—converging to create the perfect tale. Add to this enticing mix a deeply compelling mystery that doesn’t wholly reveal itself until the final page, and what more could any reader ask for? If I were a judge on the Edgar Committee for Best Novel, this story would be at the top of my short list.”
—William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land
“I read An Unthinkable Thing with my heart in my throat. Nicole Lundrigan masterfully sets the stage with a nostalgic late-1950s backdrop, then ratchets up the tension as she slowly reveals that nothing is quite what it seems. This slow burn mystery builds to an inferno that will keep readers riveted until the final, satisfying page. Five enthusiastic stars!”
—Nicole Baart, bestselling author of Everything We Didn’t Say
“A superb read about helplessness, power, wealth, honesty, and truth—nightmarishly compelling.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Perfect reading for the last lazy golden days of September…. Lundrigan maintains the pace and keeps the tension and suspense right to the end and there are some really good twists.”
—The Globe and Mail
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9781982156657 Paperback FICTION / Historical On Sale Date:April 05, 2022$24.99 CAD 155.57 x 234.95 x 27.94 mm | 0.88 lb | 352 pages Carton Quantity:40 Canadian Rights: Y Simon & Schuster
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A dazzling novel set during the Great War and postwar Prohibition about a young nurse, a soldier, and a family secret that binds them together for generations to come—from USA TODAY and repeat #1 bestselling author Genevieve Graham.
Present day
Cassie Simmons, a museum curator, is enthusiastic about solving mysteries from the past, and she has a personal interest in the history of the rumrunners who ferried illegal booze across the Detroit River during Prohibition. So when a cache of whisky labeled Bailey Brothers’ Best is unearthed during a local home renovation, Cassie hopes to find the answers she’s been searching for about the legendary family of bootleggers...
1918
Corporal Jeremiah Bailey of the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company is tasked with planting mines in the tunnels beneath enemy trenches. After Jerry is badly wounded in an explosion, he finds himself in a Belgium field hospital under the care of Adele Savard, one of Canada’s nursing sisters, nicknamed “Bluebirds” for their blue gowns and white caps. As Jerry recovers, he forms a strong connection with Adele, who is from a place near his hometown of Windsor, along the Detroit River. In the midst of war, she’s a welcome reminder of home, and when Jerry is sent back to the front, he can only hope that he’ll see his bluebird again.
By war’s end, both Jerry and Adele return home to Windsor, scarred by the horrors of what they endured overseas. When they cross paths one day, they have a chance to start over. But the city is in the grip of Prohibition, which brings exciting opportunities as well as new dangerous conflicts that threaten to destroy everything they have fought for.
Pulled from the pages of history, Bluebird is a compelling, luminous novel about the strength of the human spirit and the power of love to call us home.Bio
Genevieve Graham is the USA TODAY and #1 bestselling author of eleven novels, including The Forgotten Home Child, which has been optioned for TV, Letters Across the Sea, and Bluebird. She is passionate about breathing life back into history through tales of love and adventure. She lives in Alberta. Visit her at GenevieveGraham.com or on Twitter and Instagram @GenGrahamAuthor.Marketing & Promotion
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“From the battlefields of World War I to Prohibition-era Canada, Bluebird swept me away. Once again, Genevieve Graham writes brilliantly about how the past impacts the present. This meticulously researched page-turner will keep you reading into the night.”
— JANET SKESLIEN CHARLES, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library
“Full of wartime heroics, rollicking rumrunners, and star-crossed lovers, Bluebird has it all. But most of all, it is full of compassion for the men and women who served in the first global conflict facing our world. No one writes Canadian historical fiction with more heart than Genevieve Graham, and this pure and ennobling tale is exactly what our own hearts need now.”
— NATALIE JENNER, internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society
“From the battlefields of war-torn France to the speakeasies of Canada’s prohibition-flaunting towns, Bluebird weaves a compelling, emotional story of love, second chances, and sacrifice. Genevieve Graham is uniquely talented at bringing history to light with characters who stay with you long after the last page. Bluebird is why I never miss a new Genevieve Graham book!”
— JULIA KELLY, internationally bestselling author of The Last Garden in England
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9781982188771 Hardcover FICTION / Humorous Publication Date:April 12, 2022$36.00 CAD 139.7 x 212.72 x 25.4 mm | 0.86 lb | 304 pages Carton Quantity:20 Canadian Rights: Y Atria Books
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The self-appointed mayor of a tiny Italian village is determined to save his hometown no matter the cost in this charming, hilarious, and heartwarming debut novel.
Vacuum repairman and self-appointed mayor of Prometto, Italy (population 212) Signor Speranza has a problem: unless he can come up with 70,000 euros to fix the town’s pipes, the water commission will shut off the water to the village and all its residents will be forced to disperse. So in a bid to boost tourism—and revenue—he spreads a harmless rumor that movie star Dante Rinaldi will be filming his next project nearby.
Unfortunately, the plan works a little too well, and soon everyone in town wants to be a part of the fictional film—the village butcher will throw in some money if Speranza can find roles for his fifteen enormous sons, Speranza’s wistfully adrift daughter reveals an unexpected interest in stage makeup, and his hapless assistant Smilzo volunteers a screenplay that’s not so secretly based on his undying love for the film’s leading lady. To his surprise—and considerable consternation, Speranza realizes that the only way to keep up the ruse is to make the movie for real.
As the entire town becomes involved (even the village priest invests!) Signor Speranza starts to think he might be able to pull this off. But what happens when Dante Rinaldi doesn’t show up? Or worse, what if he does?
A “hilariously funny and beautifully written” (Julia Claiborne Johnson, author of Better Luck Next Time) novel about the power of community, The Patron Saint of Second Chances is perfect for fans of Fredrik Backman and Maria Semple.Bio
Christine Simon grew up in a very large and very loud Italian family and now lives with her husband and four children. The Patron Saint of Second Chances is her first novel.Marketing & Promotion
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"A charming farce that highlights the triumph of hope and community in an often unforgiving world.” —PEOPLE
"The Patron Saint of Second Chances is a rare treasure: both hilariously funny and beautifully written. I was sad to say goodbye to these delightful, large-hearted characters when I turned the final page. Sequel, please.” —Julia Claiborne Johnson, author of Better Luck Next Time and Be Frank With Me
"The Patron Saint of Second Chances is the most charming, original and hilarious novel I have read in ages. I laughed out loud on almost every page. Simon is the master of creating lovable, quirky and relatable characters that feel like your best friends. All I want for Christmas is to meet Signor Speranza and have my vacuum cleaner repaired at his shop. And I'm desperate to be in the movie, with or without Dante Rinaldi. This novel is something special. Everyone with a sense of humor must pick this up immediately." —Elyssa Friedland, author of Last Summer at The Golden Hotel
"A joyful, charming, and delightfully funny story! Take a trip to Italy and meet a gaggle of villagers whose well-intentioned mayor will stop at nothing to save his town from financial ruin. Simon’s warm-hearted, original gem of a novel is the feel-good read we all need."
—Amy Poeppel, author of Musical Chairs
“A glorious romp of a book with a cast of characters to fall in love with. Gorgeous, hilarious and brimming with joy. Christine Simon's writing is just a delight.”—Helen Paris, author of Lost Property
“A charming, fast-paced and warm-hearted farce. Upbeat, escapist and a lot of fun.”—Caroline Hulse, author of The Adults
"[A] sparkling, hilarious debut… Simon’s wit pervades every pages, with colorful portrayals of Speranza and the town’s quirky inhabitants. This triumphant farce is a gem.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Full of slapstick humor (including a rescue from a wild goat) and a large cast of quirky characters, Simon’s debut is brimming with heart… Fans of Fredrik Backman, Phaedra Patrick, and other chroniclers of small-town humor will savor this.” —Booklist (starred review)
"A tiny Italian village becomes the center of a media storm in this humorous novel by Christine Simon." —LifeSavvy
“Whimsical, quirky, and heartfelt.”—Buzzfeed
"This charming comedy, filled with devoted and lovable characters, is a breath of fresh air.” —Christian Science Monitor
“[A] tale that will keep you entertained from first page to last. It’s one of the most amusing novels I’ve read in years, which is just what we need in these dark times.” —BookReporter
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9781771513807 Paperback FICTION / Mystery & Detective Publication Date:April 26, 2022$16.95 CAD 5 x 7.5 in | 496 pages Carton Quantity:20 Canadian Rights: Y TouchWood Editions
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Nominated for a 2023 Lefty Award
An April 2022 Loan Stars Top 10A shallow grave, a missing person, and near-fatal arson keep Lane, Darling, and the Nelson police on high alert in the latest mystery in this Globe and Mail bestselling series.
It’s early spring 1948 and Lane arrives in New Denver to find that her friend, Peter Barisoff, is not at home. Instead, in a nearby meadow, she encounters Tom, an Indigenous man in search of his ancestral lands. Lane is intrigued. Unfortunately, once Peter returns home, the day takes a gloomy turn when the trio uncovers human remains next to Peter’s garden, and Lane must tell her husband, Inspector Darling, that she’s inadvertently stumbled into his professional domain—again.
Back in Nelson, the Vitalis, Lane and Darling’s favourite restaurateurs, are victims of arson. Constable Terrell’s investigation suggests prejudice as a motive, and the case quickly escalates, as the Vitalis receive increasingly threatening notes of warning. Meanwhile, Sergeant Ames works a robbery while alienating Tina Van Eyck in his personal time, and a swirling rumour sets the entire station on edge and prompts an RCMP investigation into Darling’s integrity.
Amid the local bustle series readers have come to love, Framed in Fire is bound up in difficult questions of community and belonging, and the knowledge that trusted neighbours can sometimes be as sinister as a stranger in the dark.
Bio
Iona Whishaw is a former educator and social worker whose mother and grandfather were both spies during their respective wars. She is the award-winning author of the Globe and Mail bestselling Lane Winslow Mystery series. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband.
Marketing & Promotion
- Confirmed blurb from #1 New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed and The Lies That Bind, Emily Giffin
- Print features, excerpts, and review coverage in Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, Zoomer Magazine, Quill & Quire, Chatelaine, Vancouver Sun, Pacific Rim Review of Books, Reader's Digest
- Broadcast interviews and coverage on CBC As It Happens, CTV Your Morning (national), Global Morning (national), CTV Morning Vancouver, Global Morning Vancouver, CKNW Vancouver, CityNews Vancouver, CBC Vancouver, CBC The Next Chapter
- Online coverage including interviews, features, excerpts, reviews on CBC Books, CrimeReads, Shelf Awareness, Georgia Straight, The Tyee, The Kit, The Ormsby Review, 49th Shelf
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- Hybrid author tour, in-person launch with Black Bond Books, in-person library events with Vancouver (multiple branches), North Vancouver, Victoria, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Langley, Maple Ridge; Ontario in-person events at TIFA Crime & Mystery Festival, Toronto Public Library Appel Salon, The Bookshelf (Guelph), Little Drummer w. Ian Hamilton (local author) (Burlington), Blue Heron Books (Uxbridge), Words Worth Books (Kitchener), A Novel Idea (Kingston), library events in lieu of bookstore events in South Western Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area; Virtual events with libraries in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Canmore, Lethbridge, Vernon, Kamloops, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Ottawa, Parry Sound
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- FIC022040 FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
- FIC022060 FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Historical
- FIC022100 FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Amateur Sleuth
- ET034 CULTURAL HERITAGE / Canadian
- HL010 HOLIDAY / Christmas
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TP090 TOPICAL / Women's Interest
- FFD Crime and mystery: private investigator / amateur detectives
- FFH Historical crime and mysteries
- FFJ Crime and mystery: cosy mystery
- FFS Crime and mystery: women sleuths
- FV Historical Fiction
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Awards
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Praise for the Lane Winslow MysteriesA Match Made for Murder (#7) is winner of the 2021 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award
A Lethal Lesson is an Indigo Top 10 Best Mystery of 2021
"There are days when nothing suits a reader like a good old-fashioned classic cozy with a puzzle plot, a country setting and some nice slight characters. When that urge strikes, Iona Whishaw's delightful B.C. series featuring Lane Winslow and, now, husband, Inspector Darling of the King's Cove constabulary, are just the ticket. . . A really good book in a terrific series." —Globe and Mail
"Whishaw nicely captures the rhythms and dynamics of small-town life while maintaining suspense. Maisie Dobbs and Phryne Fisher fans will be pleased." —Publishers Weekly
"A winsome cozy set in the Kootenays in 1947 . . . it's the perfect series for fans of Miss Fisher and Maisie Dobbs." —Zoomer Magazine
"I absolutely love the modern sensibility of these novels, of their feminism, sense of justice, their anti-racism, their progressiveness, which somehow never seems out of place in a tiny BC hamlet in 1948. . . But it's never preachy or pedantic, and Whishaw continues to use her murder mysteries to explore the limitations on women's lives and freedom that were contemporary to the period, and which are not yet so far away in the rear view mirror." —Kerry Clare, author of Mitzi Bytes and Waiting for a Star to Fall
"The ‘find of the year', Iona Whishaw's Lane Winslow series is a real treat. Set after WWII, Lane has left England for Canada . . . settling in the small village of King's Cove. With a quaint cast of characters and the feel of Louise Penny's Three Pines, the independence and quick wit of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher and the intelligence of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs, this mystery series has it all!" —Murder by the Book, Texas
"Relentlessly exciting from start to finish." —Kirkus Reviews
"Whishaw deftly intertwines plot and psychology, giving readers insight not only into Lane's crime-solving strategies, but the perspectives and lives of her neighbors. The series also follows Lane's inner journey, from complicated family history to postwar trauma to the beginning of new love. Well plotted and laced with dry wit, Lane's adventures are entirely satisfying summer reading." —Shelf Awareness
"There's no question you should read it—it's excellent." —Toronto Star
“Iona Whishaw's writing is worthy of taking its place alongside the works of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers. . . deftly crafted and briskly paced.” —Fiona Valpy, author of The Dressmaker's Gift
"Another fantastic entry in the unique and compelling Lane Winslow series!" —Anna Lee Huber, author of the Lady Darby Mysteries
"Complex, suspenseful, and deeply felt, this is a smart series for the ages." —Francine Mathews, author of the Nantucket Mysteries
"Exquisitely written, psychologically deft." —Linda Svendsen, author of Sussex Drive
"Iona Whishaw has again raised the bar . . . This is seriously good storytelling." —Don Graves, Canadian Mystery Reviews
"In the vein of Louise Penny . . . a compelling series that combines a cozy setting, spy intrigue storylines, and police procedural elements—not an easy task, but one that Whishaw pulls off." —Reviewing the Evidence
"The setting is fresh and the cast endearing." —CrimeReads
"An enthralling mystery." —Historical Novel Society
"This series . . . continues to get better and better." —Reviewing the Evidence
"A simply riveting read by a master of the genre." —Wisconsin Bookwatch
"A series that's guaranteed to please." —Mercer Island Books, Washington
"Full of history, mystery, and a glorious BC setting . . . a wonderful series." —Sleuth of Baker Street, Ontario
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Forbidden City A Novel9780399178818 Hardcover FICTION / Historical On Sale Date:May 10, 2022$37.00 CAD 6.4 x 9.53 x 1.2 in | 1.3 lb | 368 pages Carton Quantity:12 Ballantine Books-
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A teenage girl living in 1960s China becomes Mao Zedong’s protégée and lover—and a heroine of the Cultural Revolution—in this provocative, poignant novel from the bestselling author of A River of Stars.
On the eve of China’s Cultural Revolution and her sixteenth birthday, Mei dreams of becoming a model revolutionary. When the Communist Party recruits girls for a mysterious duty in the capital, she seizes the opportunity to escape her impoverished village. It is only when Mei arrives at the Chairman’s opulent residence—a forbidden city unto itself—that she learns that the girls’ job is to dance with the Party elites. Ambitious and whip-smart, Mei beelines toward the Chairman.
Mei gradually separates herself from the other recruits to become the Chairman’s confidante—and paramour. While he fends off political rivals, Mei faces down schemers from the dance troupe who will stop at nothing to take her place and the Chairman’s imperious wife, who has secret plans of her own.
When the Chairman finally gives Mei a political mission, she seizes it with fervor, but the brutality of this latest stage of the revolution makes her begin to doubt all the certainties she has held so dear.
Forbidden City is an epic yet intimate portrayal of one of the world’s most powerful and least understood leaders during this extraordinarily turbulent period in modern Chinese history. Mei’s harrowing journey toward truth and disillusionment raises questions about power, manipulation, and belief, as seen through the eyes of a passionate teenage girl.
Story Locale: 1960s ChinaBio
Vanessa Hua is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and the author of the novel A River of Stars and a story collection, Deceit and Other Possibilities. A National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, she has also received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and a Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing, as well as awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, among others. She has filed stories from China, Burma, South Korea, and elsewhere, and her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She has taught most recently at the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.
Author Residence: San Francisco, CA
Author Hometown: San Francisco, CAMarketing & Promotion
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Author Website: www.vanessahua.com
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“In…her masterful new novel Forbidden City, Vanessa Hua reflects that ‘fiction flourishes where the official record ends.’ Her novel bears this out: Hua dares to pen the story of the women who fought, sacrificed and endured during China’s Cultural Revolution…. Sweeping… [Hua’s] novel is eye-opening, vital and timely now more than ever.”—The Washington Post
“Make room for a new classic about China’s Cultural Revolution…. Think ‘Succession,’ but add death and mayhem to the palace intrigue…. The echoes [of time] I heard in Forbidden City—narcissistic leadership, a revenge-thirsty body politic, women and girls treated as things—both unsettled and compelled me to consider the present anew. I can think of no higher praise for this ambitious and impressive novel.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Ambitious…[Hua is a] quietly unstoppable author.”—Nob Hill Gazette
“Vanessa Hua has written a grand, cinematic, and captivating novel. With robust and compassionate imagination, Hua brings to life a heroine who has been relegated to the dustbins of history.”—Cathy Park Hong, author of Minor Feelings
“In this intriguing and suspenseful story, Hua tells of a girl who becomes a lover and worshipper of Chairman Mao, plotting revolution after revolution. How to negotiate the maze of the Forbidden City? How to escape?”—Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Woman Warrior
“Forbidden City is a wonderful novel, immersive and fascinating. Vanessa Hua writes with an audacious mix of intimacy and narrative sweep about one of the most enigmatic figures and most misunderstood moments in history.”—Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins
“Arresting, beautiful, and epic, Forbidden City left me breathless by the last page. Hua’s writing is propulsive and packed with rich historical details and exquisitely crafted characters. Mei’s story will stay with you long after reading.”—Lara Prescott, author of The Secrets We Kept
“Gripping and vital, Forbidden City charts the sensual, intellectual, and moral awakening of a young woman who forges her own identity from beneath the shadow of Mao Zedong.”—C Pam Zhang, author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold
“Hua’s provocative latest (after A River of Stars) follows a bold and shrewd woman as she navigates China’s political scene amid the Cultural Revolution…. Hua masterly presents Mei’s attempts to leave the Lake Palaces with their ‘power, secrecy, and isolation’ behind as she processes her trauma. This finds a brilliant new perspective on familiar material via its story of a young woman’s brush with power. It’s magnificent.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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The Candy House A Novel9781476716763 Hardcover FICTION / Literary On Sale Date:April 05, 2022$34.00 CAD 152.4 x 228.6 x 25.4 mm | 1.11 lb | 352 pages Carton Quantity:20 Canadian Rights: Y Scribner
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* Named a Top Ten Best Book of 2022 by The New York Times Book Review, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Slate * Named a Best Book of 2022 by The New Yorker, NPR, Oprah Daily, Time, Harper's Bazaar, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, Vogue, and many more! *
“A compelling read that showcases Egan’s masterful storytelling.” —Time
“Dazzling.” —Vogue
“Radiant, exhilarating.” —Slate
“Mesmerizing…A thought-provoking examination of how and why we change.” —People
From one of the most celebrated writers of our time comes an “inventive, effervescent” (Oprah Daily) novel about the memory and quest for authenticity and human connection.
The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is “one of those tech demi-gods with whom we’re all on a first name basis.” Bix is forty, with four kids, restless, and desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or “externalizing” memory. Within a decade, Bix’s new technology, “Own Your Unconscious”—which allows you access to every memory you’ve ever had, and to share your memories in exchange for access to the memories of others—has seduced multitudes.
In the world of Egan’s spectacular imagination, there are “counters” who track and exploit desires and there are “eluders,” those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles—from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter, and a chapter of tweets. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also a moving testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for connection, family, privacy, and love.
“A beautiful exploration of loss, memory, and history” (San Francisco Chronicle), “this is minimalist maximalism. It’s as if Egan compressed a big 19th-century novel onto a flash drive” (The New York Times).Bio
Jennifer Egan is the author of six previous books of fiction: Manhattan Beach, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction; A Visit from the Goon Squad, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; The Keep; the story collection Emerald City; Look at Me, a National Book Award Finalist; and The Invisible Circus. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Granta, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. Her website is JenniferEgan.com.Marketing & Promotion
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Praise for The Candy House
“The novel — with its prismatic plotting and ever-shifting chorus of seekers, kooks, and visionaries — feels less like a house than a honeycomb full of fantastical rooms, each one alive and thrumming with bright, weird humanity.” —Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
"The Candy House is really an incredible feat... astonishing, even a little bewildering! Jenny is shockingly underrated. She should have the kind of fawning sycophants that dudes like Franzen and Denis Johnson do. Let the cult begin herewith!"
—James Hannaham, New York Times Book Review
“This is minimalist maximalism. It’s as if Egan compressed a big 19th-century triple-decker novel onto a flash drive… Egan goes all in on the power of storytelling and of fiction.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times
“A brilliant demonstration of the unquantifiable pleasures of great fiction.”
—Ron Charles, The Washington Post
“Radiant… an exhilarating delight…Egan opens windows on entrancing new worlds, in which what happened depends on who’s telling the story.” —Laura Miller, Slate
“You don't have to read A Visit From the Goon Squad to love this sibling novel to Egan's stellar hit… complex and intimate.” —Good Housekeeping
“May be the smartest novel you read all year… Fiction at its best... gets at our secret selves in ways the internet can’t… Egan’s audacity is welcome.” —Mark Athitakis, USA Today
“This is a beautiful exploration of loss, memory and history, a not too subtle critique of what is lost when we live our lives online.” —Allison Arieff, The San Francisco Chronicle
“A fast-paced polyvoiced romp thru America in the grip of a sinister tech that allows others into your mind. EEK!” —Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments
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Memphis A Novel9780593230480 Hardcover FICTION / Literary On Sale Date:April 05, 2022$36.00 CAD 6.3 x 9.52 x 0.9 in | 1.06 lb | 272 pages Carton Quantity:12 The Dial Press-
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Description
A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s discovery that she has the power to change her family’s legacy.
In the summer of 1995, ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s violence, seeking refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. Half a century ago, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass—only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in Memphis. This wasn’t the first time violence altered the course of Joan’s family’s trajectory, and she knows it won’t be the last. Longing to become an artist, Joan pours her rage and grief into sketching portraits of the women of North Memphis—including their enigmatic neighborMiss Dawn, who seems to know something about curses.
Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of voices, Memphis weaves back and forth in time to show how the past and future are forever intertwined. It is only when Joan comes to see herself as a continuation of a long matrilineal tradition—and the women in her family as her guides to healing—that she understands that her life does not have to be defined by vengeance. That the sole weapon she needs is her paintbrush.
Inspired by the author’s own family history, Memphis—the Black fairy tale she always wanted to read—explores the complexity of what we pass down, not only in our families, but in our country: police brutality and justice, powerlessness and freedom, fate and forgiveness, doubt and faith, sacrifice and love.
Story Locale: Memphis, TennesseeBio
Poet, former attorney, Northwestern University MFA graduate, and semifinalist for the Fulbright Fellowship, Tara M. Stringfellow has written for Collective Unrest, Minerva Rising, Jet Fuel Review, Women Arts Quarterly Journal, and Apogee Journal, among other publications. After having lived in Okinawa, Ghana, Chicago, Cuba, Spain, Italy, and Washington, D.C., she moved back home to Memphis, where she sits on her porch swing every evening with her hound, Huckleberry, listening to records and chatting with neighbors.
Author Residence: Memphis, Tennessee
Author Hometown: Kansas City, MissouriMarketing & Promotion
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Marketing: Pre-pub consumer outreach and reviews
National advertising campaign
Social media and influencer campaign
Goodreads campaign targeting fans of Homegoing and The Vanishing Half
Targeted email marketing
Major book club outreach
Random House e-newsletters and websites
Extra content available to booksellers
Reading group guide online
Library and academic outreach
Publicity: National media attention
National/local review and feature print attention
National/local radio attention
Digital review and feature attention
NPR campaign
Local author promotion: [Memphis, TN]
Author tour
Social Media Campaign
Targeted blogger outreach
Author Website: www.tarastringfellow.com/
Author Social Media: @tarastringfellow -
Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
“An engrossing debut novel…beautifully written prose, unforgettable characters, messages of sisterhood and community… The author shows tremendous insight into the effects of violence on Black women in America, told from a captivating Southern female perspective that makes Memphis one of the most compelling must-reads of 2022 and beyond.”—NPR, “Best Books of 2022”
“Readers will come to see that Stringfellow is demonstrating the erratic movements of history, the false starts and reversals and, yes, the moments of progress that are reflected in our haphazard march toward realizing King’s vision for America…. With her richly impressionistic style, Stringfellow captures the changes transforming Memphis in the latter half of the 20th century.”—The Washington Post
“Written with the grace of a poet, Memphis is as hopeful as it is heartbreaking. I fell in love with this family, from Joan’s fierce heart to her grandmother Hazel’s determined resilience. Tara Stringfellow will be an author to watch for years to come…. A stellar debut.”—Jacqueline Woodson, bestselling author of Red at the Bone
“Memphis is an evocative, compelling tale that mines the depths of collective Black pain to arrive at something that might be, for once, Black healing. Writing in the ancestral tradition of stories passed from one generation to the next—relived, revised, revealed—Tara M. Stringfellow assembles an endearing and unforgettable cast of characters who find strength in vulnerability, safety in art, and liberation in telling the truth. This is a shining, splendid testimony in the vein of Gloria Naylor, Delores Phillips, Ayana Mathis, and Honorée Jeffers.”—Robert Jones, Jr., New York Times bestselling author of The Prophets
“In luminous, lyrical prose, Tara Stringfellow sings the song of the North women—and the North men—with wisdom, humor, and deep humanity. Memphis is an American epic, a tribute to life in all of its sorrow and joyful resilience.”—Chloe Benjamin, bestselling author of The Immortalists
“This vivid debut novel examines the tragedies, joys, and deep connections of one extraordinary Memphis family. . . . A story populated with unforgettable characters. Stringfellow’s prose is evocative…. A powerful family saga from a promising writer.”—Booklist
“A rich tapestry of women’s familial relationships…a well-written debut by an author worth watching for years to come…Recommended for anyone who appreciates Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, or Gloria Naylor.”—Library Journal (starred review)
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Series: RIVERS OF LONDONAmongst Our Weapons9780756414832 Hardcover FICTION / Fantasy On Sale Date:April 12, 2022$36.00 CAD 8.53 x 5.86 x 1.01 in | 0.88 lb | 304 pages Carton Quantity:12 DAW-
Marketing Copy
Description
The ninth novel of the bestselling Rivers of London urban fantasy series returns to the adventures of Peter Grant, detective and apprentice wizard, as he solves magical crimes in the city of London.
There is a world hidden underneath this great city.
The London Silver Vaults—for well over a century, the largest collection of silver for sale in the world. It has more locks than the Bank of England and more cameras than a paparazzi convention.
Not somewhere you can murder someone and vanish without a trace—only that’s what happened.
The disappearing act, the reports of a blinding flash of light, and memory loss amongst the witnesses all make this a case for Detective Constable Peter Grant and the Special Assessment Unit.
Alongside their boss DCI Thomas Nightingale, the SAU find themselves embroiled in a mystery that encompasses London’s tangled history, foreign lands and, most terrifying of all, the North!
And Peter must solve this case soon, because back home his partner Beverley is expecting twins any day now. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s about to encounter something—and somebody—that nobody ever expects…
Effortlessly original, endlessly inventive and hugely entertaining—step into the world of the much-loved, bestselling Rivers of London series.
Story Locale: London
Series Overview: This bestselling UK series follows Peter Grant, an ordinary constable turned magician’s apprentice, as he solves crimes across London in a sensational blend of inventive urban fantasy, gripping mystery thriller, and hilarious fantasy caper.Bio
Ben Aaronovitch started his writing career in screenwriting, most prominently on the TV show Doctor Who, before becoming a bookseller. He returned to writing with his London-based criminal investigative fantasy, The Rivers of London, which launched the thrilling and wry adventures of magician and police officer Peter Grant.
Author Residence: London, EnglandMarketing & Promotion
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Marketing:
Targeted online advertising
Pre-publication consumer outreach
Social media campaign
Consumer sweepstakes
E-mail marketing campaign
Backlist promotions
Publicity:
National print publicity
Online publicity campaign
Blog campaign
Author Website: the-folly.com
Author Social Media: Facebook.com/ben.aaronovitch.9; Twitter @Ben_Aaronovitch -
Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
Praise for the Rivers of London series
“A low-income housing tower gone awry, an old enemy with a bone to pick…and a shocker of an ending—Broken Homes is a delight.” —Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times-bestselling author
“The most entertaining book that I have read in such a long time…. It’s very funny, it’s very clever, it’s very nicely written…. It’s such a treat.” —Nancy Pearl, bestselling author
“This series is a constant joy to read….I’ve been looking forward all year to find out what happened next, and the book did not disappoint.” —Genevieve Cogman, author of The Invisible Library
“The prose is witty, the plot clever, and the characters incredibly likeable.” —Time Out
“Aaronovitch showcases a superlative blend of whimsy and grit in the eighth Rivers of London urban fantasy…. Jim Butcher meets Douglas Adams in this winning series installment.” —Publishers Weekly (starred)
“Amongst Our Weapons will clearly appeal to the legions of Aaronovitch fans, but those unfamiliar with the series will find a playful mix of the supernatural and the historical within in an intriguing murder mystery.” —The Canberra Times
“The perfect blend of CSI and Harry Potter.” —io9
“This book is, at its heart, a police procedural with an overlay of urban fantasy elements. The voice is persuasive and funny as all get-out, and the reader is engaged with the narrative from the very first page. Aaronovitch has written a diverse cast of characters who all feel like real people with their own specific motivations. This book is simply wonderful.” —RT Reviews (top pick)
“The Rivers of London series continues to shine as one of the best and most impressive urban fantasy series with Amongst our Weapons.” —The Unseen Library
“The Rivers of London is an incredibly addicting series of magic and wonder and mystery with snarky observations by Peter to liven things up.” —The Nameless Zine
“The most satisfying fantasy thriller to hit bookshelves in quite some time.” —SFX Magazine
“As always, Ben Aaronovitch takes the reader on an unforgettable ride into the fantastic.” —Starburst Magazine
“Aaronovitch makes the story sing, building momentum until the ending is literally breathless.” —SF Revu
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9780385675376 Paperback FICTION / Romance On Sale Date:April 05, 2022$24.00 CAD 6.02 x 8.93 x 1.21 in | 1.21 lb | 472 pages Carton Quantity:24 Doubleday Canada-
Marketing Copy
Description
From internationally bestselling author Marian Keyes comes the eagerly awaited sequel to Rachel’s Holiday.
Back in the long ago nineties, Rachel Walsh was a mess.
But a spell in rehab transformed everything. Life became very good, very quickly. These days, Rachel has love, family, a great job as an addiction counsellor, she even gardens. Her only bad habit is a fondness for expensive sneakers.
But with the sudden reappearance of a man she’d once loved, her life wobbles.
She’d thought she was settled. Fixed forever. Is she about to discover that no matter what our age, everything can change?
Is it time to think again, Rachel?Bio
MARIAN KEYES is the multimillion-copy, internationally bestselling author of some of the most widely loved ,genre-defying novels of the past thirty years, including Rachel’s Holiday and Grown Ups. She lives in Dublin, Ireland.
Author Residence: Dublin, IrelandMarketing & Promotion
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Author Website: mariankeyes.com
Author Social Media: Twitter: @MarianKeyes; Instagram: marian_keyes -
Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
Winner of the British Book Awards 2022 Author of the Year
Named one of the best books of 2022 by The Globe & Mail
“It will break your heart and nourish your soul…. Her finest novel yet.” —Nigella Lawson
“Rachel’s Holiday changed my life—it taught me everything I know about being a writer and a human. This sequel is even warmer, funnier and more profound than the original. This is such a wise book about love and grief.” —Daisy Buchanan
“Beautifully written, funny, heart-breaking and always wise. A proper treat.” —Daily Mail
“A sequel worth the wait…. This garrulous, fast-paced read offers the joy of a reunion with not just Rachel, but the rambunctious Walsh clan. An entertaining, growingly poignant contemporary tale.” —Sunday Times
“Rachel herself remains flawed, gorgeous and real…. Keyes wisely resists the temptation to make Rachel a martyr, or a wise woman who has all the answers…. Like its predecessor, Again, Rachel is a complicated love letter to the human experience.” —Daisy Buchanan for iNews
“A witty and warm-hearted sequel…. Effortlessly segueing from tragedy to comedy…. A novel replete with beautifully well-rounded secondary characters…. Again, Rachel has all of Keyes’s trademark wit, humour and whip-smart dialogue, but it’s also a novel teeming with compassion and redemption.” —The Observer
“Simply superb…. [Keyes] is hands down the funniest writer in the business.” —The Irish Times
“Keyes delivers punchy home truths with wit and charm…. Keyes’s beady-eyed observations and sparky, sweary dialogue…lighten another agonisingly painful story. There is a real genius to the way Keyes brings deep, awful truths to the surface. The plotting is more skillfully turned than in Rachel’s Holiday, and Keyes’s ability to keep the balance between realism and fantasy works like a kind of fairy charm…. Keyes has mastered the art of writing books that read like treats, but turn out to be good for you.” —The Telegraph
“Assured, wise and witty with superb observational detail, the characters and dialogue are so on point that reading Marian Keyes is like being cradled in safe arms…. Keyes fans won’t be disappointed and this is destined to be as successful as its forerunner.” —Woman & Home
“Rachel’s recovery storyline…is expertly crafted, as Keyes delves into what happens when a loss is so overwhelming that your usual support systems stop providing comfort. That portrait of grief, in particular the challenge it poses to those in recovery, is rendered with great compassion and acute emotional honesty.” —Independent (Ireland)
“Again, Rachel is fabulous. Beautifully written, pure 5-star Keyes—clever, lively, funny, compelling.” —Nina Stibbe
“Funny, heartbreaking, achingly real—Keyes has done it again. Gorgeous. I absolutely loved it.” —Jane Fallon
“Wow! It’s excellent and it’s everything. Funny, gorgeous, exquisite.” —Daisy Buchanan
“Utterly brilliant, wise and funny. So fabulous. I adore it.” —Cathy Kelly
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Unlikely Animals A Novel9780593160220 Hardcover FICTION / Literary On Sale Date:April 12, 2022$37.00 CAD 6.33 x 9.52 x 1.26 in | 1.29 lb | 368 pages Carton Quantity:12 Ballantine Books-
Marketing Copy
Description
A lost young woman returns to small-town New Hampshire under the strangest of circumstances in this one-of-a-kind novel of life, death, and whatever comes after from the acclaimed author of Rabbit Cake.
Natural-born healer Emma Starling once had big plans for her life, but she’s lost her way. A medical school dropout, she’s come back to small-town Everton, New Hampshire, to care for her father, who is dying from a mysterious brain disease. Clive Starling has been hallucinating small animals, as well as having visions of the ghost of a long-dead naturalist, Ernest Harold Baynes, once known for letting wild animals live in his house. This ghost has been giving Clive some ideas on how to spend his final days.
Emma arrives home knowing she must face her dad’s illness, her mom’s judgment, and her younger brother’s recent stint in rehab, but she’s unprepared to find that her former best friend from high school is missing, with no one bothering to look for her. The police say they don’t spend much time looking for drug addicts. Emma’s dad is the only one convinced the young woman might still be alive, and Emma is hopeful he could be right. Someone should look for her, at least. Emma isn’t really trying to be a hero, but somehow she and her father bring about just the kind of miracle the town needs.
Set against the backdrop of a small town in the throes of a very real opioid crisis, Unlikely Animals is a tragicomic novel about familial expectations, imperfect friendships, and the possibility of resurrecting that which had been thought irrevocably lost.
Story Locale: Fictional small-town New HampshireBio
Annie Hartnett is the author of Rabbit Cake, which was listed as one of Kirkus Reviews’s Best Books of 2017 and a finalist for the New England Book Award. She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Associates of the Boston Public Library. She studied philosophy at Hamilton College, has an MA from Middlebury College, and an MFA from the University of Alabama. When she began writing Unlikely Animals, she was living in the groundskeeper’s house in a cemetery. She now lives in a small town in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and darling border collie, Mr. Willie Nelson.
Author Residence: Providence, Rhode Island
Author Hometown: MassachusettsMarketing & Promotion
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Marketing: Pre-pub consumer outreach and reviews
National advertising campaign
Major social media and influencer campaign
Goodreads campaign targeting fans of “The Immoralists,” “Nothing to See Here,” and “Kitchen of the Great Midwest”
Targeted email marketing
Major book club outreach
Random House e-newsletters and websites
Reading group guide online
Library outreach
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Awards & Reviews
Awards
Reviews
“A quirky, poignant novel about family, community and love for our animal friends.”—The Washington Post
“This is a big novel doing big things. It bears some similarity to Hartnett’s much- loved first novel, Rabbit Cake.…But Unlikely Animals is a broader, brassier, and even more fiercely tender story. In this, her second novel, Hartnett lands an astonishing leap as a storyteller.”—The Rumpus
“Wistfully charming…This unapologetically genre-bending tribute to life and death, and the beautiful weirdness found in both, has potential to spark exceptional book club discussions.”—Shelf Awareness
“A beguiling, big-hearted story about life and death and what really matters in the end…. There is no way you will not love this instant classic.”—Bookreporter
“Unlikely Animals possesses such tenderness and empathy for a world that wears us down and ruins us, a world that sometimes offers a glimmer of hope, and Hartnett knows how to turn up the brilliance of that light and wield it to do magical things.”—Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang
“I devoured Annie Hartnett’s Unlikely Animals. She’s created a beautiful menagerie set inside a troubled household and their small New Hampshire town; a delightful mess of tenderness, grief, and despair, but most important, hope.”—Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things and With Teeth
“A wondrous and wonderful story filled with unforgettable characters, both living and dead. An instant classic that will make you question reality even as you embrace a town with a unique relationship to nature and miracles.” —Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times bestselling author of the Southern Reach trilogy
“A riotous, joyful, hilarious romp with the wild and the tamed, the living and the dead, Unlikely Animals is both a love letter to John Irving and a literary accomplishment in its own right…Unlikely Animals is a triumph.”—Rufi Thorpe, author of The Knockout Queen, finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award
“Unlikely Animals is a large-hearted story populated by an original and amiable cast of characters—human, animal, spirit—about living, dying, and all the messiness in between.”—Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin
“Annie Hartnett’s second novel, Unlikely Animals, is striking and richly imagined, with a voice that is wholly its own. … The magic of Hartnett’s novel stems from the balance of these weighty topics with the story’s intrinsic playfulness.”—BookPage (starred review)
“Hartnett masterfully balances a story of deep loss with the perfect amount of hilarity and tenderness.”—Booklist (starred review)
“An absurdist, laugh-out-loud family drama about intergenerational healing.”—Kirkus Reviews
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