BEA Book Group Speed Dating Session: Part 2

**NB: Imprint Friday will return next with the results of my survey (there is still time to answer the 7 questions) and hints of what's to come.

Yesterday I mentioned that my favorite panel at BEA each year is the one geared to book clubs. Here is Part 2 of my recap of that event, covering four of the eight publishers that stopped by my table to present their hottest book club titles for the coming seasons. (Be sure to check out BEA Book Group Speed Dating Session: Part 1, which I posted yesterday.)

Here are the books I learned about at the session, plus my top pick from each publisher. Titles in boldface are books that made it to my wish list.

Random House Publishing Group

• The Boleyn Deceit by Laura Andersen: alternate history in which Anne has a son who becomes king; second in a series
• The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin: historical novel focusing on the life and accomplishments of Anne Morrow Lindbergh
• Defending Jacob by William Landay: contemporary novel; a lawyer must defend his young son who has been accused of murder
• A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee: contemporary novel; can a family survive a man's poor choices?
• Perfect by Rachel Joyce: contemporary novel; how much does a young teen really know about his perfect mother? [This is my real top pick, but the publisher's summary and book cover are currently unavailable.]

Once a privileged and loving couple, the Armsteads have now reached a breaking point. Ben, a partner in a prestigious law firm, has become unpredictable at work and withdrawn at home—a change that weighs heavily on his wife, Helen, and their preteen daughter, Sara. Then, in one afternoon, Ben’s recklessness takes an alarming turn, and everything the Armsteads have built together unravels, swiftly and spectacularly.

Thrust back into the working world, Helen finds a job in public relations and relocates with Sara from their home in upstate New York to an apartment in Manhattan. There, Helen discovers she has a rare gift, indispensable in the world of image control: She can convince arrogant men to admit their mistakes, spinning crises into second chances. Yet redemption is more easily granted in her professional life than in her personal one.

As she is confronted with the biggest case of her career, the fallout from her marriage, and Sara’s increasingly distant behavior, Helen must face the limits of accountability and her own capacity for forgiveness.

What will book clubs talk about? Marriage, trust, forgiveness, how far can a family bend without breaking, moving on, second chances. On sale August 6; ISBN 13: 9780812983388

Sourcebooks / Landmark

• Book of Someday by Dianne Dixon: contemporary novel; three women unexpectedly connected and forever changed over the course of a summer
• Lies You Wanted to Hear by James Whitfield Thomson: contemporary novel; two points of view; how a couple tears apart their family
• Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure: historical fiction; how an architect creates hiding places for Jews during the German occupation

Like most gentiles in Nazi-occupied Paris, architect Lucien Bernard has little empathy for the Jews. So when a wealthy industrialist offers him a large sum of money to devise secret hiding places for Jews, Lucien struggles with the choice of risking his life for a cause he doesn't really believe in. Ultimately he can't resist the challenge and begins designing expertly concealed hiding spaces--behind a painting, within a column, or inside a drainpipe--detecting possibilities invisible to the average eye. But when one of his clever hiding spaces fails horribly and the immense suffering of Jews becomes incredibly personal, he can no longer deny reality.

Written by an expert whose knowledge imbues every page, this story becomes more gripping with every life the architect tries to save.

What will book clubs talk about? Morality, ethical dilemmas, selflessness, religion, tolerance. On sale October 1; ISBN 13: 9781402284311

William Morrow

• Swimming in the Moon by Pamela Schoenewaldt: historical fiction about a mother and daughter in the early 1900s during a time of social change
• Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson: southern fiction; messy love story
• The Tilted World by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly: historical fiction about the 1927 Mississippi flood
• The Whole Golden World by Kristina Riggle: contemporary fiction; a happy, successful family is torn apart when the parents discover that their teenage daughter is having an affair with a married teacher
• Help for the Haunted by John Searles: contemporary novel; the deeper a young girl looks into the death of her parents the more she realizes she cannot trust anyone
• The House Girl by Tara Conklin: contemporary and historical; intertwined stories of two women: one a New York lawyer and one a runaway slave

It begins with a call in the middle of the snowy February evening. Lying in her bed, young Sylvie Mason overhears her parents on the phone across the hall. This is not the first late-night call they have received, since her mother and father have an uncommon occupation, helping "haunted souls" find peace. And yet, something in Sylvie senses that this call is differnt than the rest, especially when they are lured to the old church on the outskirts of town. Once there, her parents disappear, one after the other, behnd the church's red door, leaving Sylvie alone in the car. Not long after, she drifts off to sleep only to wake to the sound of gunfire.

Nearly a year later, we meed Sylvie again, struggling with the loss of her parents, and living in the care of her older sister, Rose, who may be to blame for what happened the previous winter. As the story moves back and forth in time, through the years leading up to the crime and the months following, the ever inquisitive and tender-hearted Sylvie pursues the mystery, moving closer to the knowledge of what occurred that night, as she comes to terms with her family's past and uncovers secrets that have haunted them for years. (Note: copy from publicity memo; no summary available.)

What will book clubs talk about? Family secrets, sisters, spirituality, truth, ghosts, loss, death. On sale September 17; ISBN 13: 9780060779634

Norton

• The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood: historical fiction (1919 and 1961); two women living in different time periods that were marked by great changes in women's rights
• Dirty Love by Andre Dubus III: contemporary; stories about finding fulfillment via food, sex, work, and love
• A Guide for the Perplexed by Dara Horn: contemporary and historical novel involving twin sisters; about jealousy, memory, and secrets from the historic past
• Brewster by Mark Slouka: historical fiction about two teens and their dreams for a better life beyond the confines of their small town

The year is 1968, a year after the summer of love and the peak of the Vietnam War. The world is changing, and sixteen-year-old Jon Mosher is determined to change with it. Racked by guilt over his older brother's childhood death, Jon turns his rage into victories running track. When he meets Ray Cappicciano, a local legend in the making, a rebel as gifted with his fists as Jon is with his feet, he recognizes a friendship with the potential to save him. Realizing that Ray needs saving too, Jon sets off on the race of his life--a race to redeem his past and save them both. Reverberating with compassion, heartache, and grace, Brewster is sure to remind readers of Andre Dubus III and Richard Russo.

What will book clubs talk about? Redemption, forgiveness, hopes, dreams, friendship, life before modern technology, social change On sale August 5; ISBN 13: 9780393239751

Don't forget that discussion guides will be available for all these titles. Check ReadingGroupGuides.com and the publishers' websites for more information about book club resources, the books, and the authors.

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BEA Book Group Speed Dating Sesson: Part 1

My favorite panel at BEA each year is the one geared to book clubs. For the second year, the Reading Groups Guides panel has been set up in a speed-dating format. Attendees sit at round tables, and the publicity and marketing people from various publishing houses move from table to table to tell us about their hottest titles that will prompt the best discussions. Here is Part 1 of my recap of that event, covering four of the eight publishers that stopped by my table. (Come back on tomorrow for BEA Book Group Speed Dating Session: Part 2.)

Here are the books I learned about at the session, plus my top pick from each publisher. Titles in boldface are books that made it to my wish list.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

• Man Alive! by Mary Kay Zueavleff: a contemporary novel of family and values
• Someone by Alice McDermott: a woman scorned in the 1930s; we are all fools for something
• Tinderbox by Lisa Gornick: contemporary novel about how a nanny disrupts a family's dynamics
• Hild by Nicola Griffith: historical novel; a seer in 7th-century Britain, just as Christianity is taking hold in the kingdom

All it takes is a quarter to change pediatric psychiatrist Dr. Owen Lerner’s life. When the coin he’s feeding into a parking meter is struck by lightning, Lerner survives, except that now all he wants to do is barbecue. What will happen to his patients, who rely on him to make sense of their world? More important, what will happen to his family?

The bolt of lightning that lifts Lerner into the air sends the entire Lerner clan into free fall. Mary Kay Zuravleff depicts family-on-family pain with generosity and devastating humor as she explores how much we are each allowed to change within a family—and without. Man Alive! captures Owen and Toni Lerner and their nearly grown children so vividly you’ll be looking over your shoulder to make sure the author hasn’t been watching your own family in action.

What will book clubs talk about? Family, the importance of money, ambition, the true meaning of success, marriage and expectations, adapting to change. On sale September 3; ISBN 13: 9780374202316

Grove / Atlantic

• Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly: contemporary novel about a woman whose friend's child disappears while she is in charge
• Wash by Margaret Wrinkle: historical novel; effects of slave breeding in early 1800s Tennessee
• It's Not Love, It's Just Paris by Patricia Engel: focuses on the inhabitants of a woman's rooming house in Paris

In this luminous debut, Margaret Wrinkle takes us on an unforgettable journey across continents and through time, from the burgeoning American South to West Africa and deep into the ancestral stories that reside in the soul. Wash introduces a remarkable new voice in American literature.

In early 1800s Tennessee, two men find themselves locked in an intimate power struggle. Richardson, a troubled Revolutionary War veteran, has spent his life fighting not only for his country but also for wealth and status. When the pressures of westward expansion and debt threaten to destroy everything he’s built, he sets Washington, a young man he owns, to work as his breeding sire. Wash, the first member of his family to be born into slavery, struggles to hold onto his only solace: the spirituality inherited from his shamanic mother. As he navigates the treacherous currents of his position, despair and disease lead him to a potent healer named Pallas. Their tender love unfolds against this turbulent backdrop while she inspires him to forge a new understanding of his heritage and his place in it. Once Richardson and Wash find themselves at a crossroads, all three lives are pushed to the brink.

What will book clubs talk about? Slavery, breeding programs, spirituality, cultural differences. On sale November 9; ISBN 13: 9780802122032

Harlequin Mira

• The Sweetest Hallelujah by Elaine Hussey: described as The Help meets Beaches; 1950s Mississippi
• The Returned by Jason Mott: contemporary novel; what if your loved ones could return from the dead?
• Teatime for the Firefly by Shona Patel: early 1940s India; unlikely love story at the brink of great social change; the author grew up on a tea plantation in India
• The Tulip Eaters by Antionette Van Heugten: contemporary and historical (World War II); thriller in which the crime has roots in the Dutch resistance

Harold and Lucille Hargrave's lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him, their wounds tempered through the grace of time. . . . Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep—flesh and blood, their sweet, precocious child, still eight years old.

All over the world people's loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why this is happening, whether it's a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he's their son. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family finds itself at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality and a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human.

With spare, elegant prose and searing emotional depth, award-winning poet Jason Mott explores timeless questions of faith and morality, love and responsibility. A spellbinding and stunning debut, The Returned is an unforgettable story that marks the arrival of an important new voice in contemporary fiction.

What will book clubs talk about? Death, spirituality, religion, love, hope, what happens when wishes come true. Extra: this has been picked up as a television series, which will be called Resurection. On sale August 27; ISBN 13: 9780778315339

Penguin USA

• Margot by Jillian Cantor: contemporary novel with flashbacks to World War II; what if Anne Frank's sister escaped to the United States and now must relive past horrors when her sister becomes posthumously famous
• Me before You by Jojo Moyes: contemporary novel; UK setting; love story
• A Working Theory of Love by Scott Hutchins: what happens when a man tries to build the first sentient computer using his late-father's journals
• The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles by Katherine Pancol: translated from French; two sisters try to help each other out with unexpected results

When her chronically unemployed husband runs off to start a crocodile farm in Kenya with his mistress, Joséphine Cortès is left in an unhappy state of affairs. The mother of two—confident, beautiful teenage Hortense and shy, babyish Zoé—is forced to maintain a stable family life while making ends meet on her meager salary as a medieval history scholar. Meanwhile, Joséphine’s charismatic sister Iris seems to have it all—a wealthy husband, gorgeous looks, and a très chic Paris address—but she dreams of bringing meaning back into her life. When Iris charms a famous publisher into offering her a lucrative deal for a twelfth-century romance, she offers her sister a deal of her own: Joséphine will write the novel and pocket all the proceeds, but the book will be published under Iris’s name. All is well—that is, until the book becomes the literary sensation of the season.

What will book clubs talk about? Marriage, sisters, motherhood, get-rich-quick schemes, honesty, jealousy. On sale December 31; ISBN 13: 9780143121558

Don't forget that discussion guides will be available for all these titles. Check ReadingGroupGuides.com and the publishers' websites for more information about book club resources, the books, and the authors.

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Wordless Wednesday 240

Reflections, Bryant Park, New York City

Click image to enlarge. For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

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Today's Read: Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown

What if your life depended on your cooking skills? Now imagine that your kitchen is on a pirate ship and that your pantry is rarely restocked. Would you last even one night? Each Sunday, Owen Wedgewood must produce a stellar meal for Mad Hannah Mabbot, captain of the Flying Rose, or face the wrath of his abductor.

This body is not brave. Bespeckled with blood, surrounded by enemies, and bound on a dark course whose ultimate destination I cannot fathom—I am not brave.

The nub of a candle casts quaking light on my damp chamber. I have been afforded a quill and a blank logbook only after insisting that measurement and notation are crucial to the task with which I've been yoked.

—Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown (Macmillan / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013, p. 3)

Quick Facts

• Setting: the high seas, various ports around the world, 1819
• Circumstances: female pirate Mad Hannah demands her weekly gourmet meal while hunting down her sworn enemies and obtaining wealth; Owen cooks for his life
• Characters: Owen, world-famous chef; Hannah, world-famous pirate; the crew; a love interest
• Genre: historical fiction; food fiction; adventure
• Themes: friendship; loyalty; making the best of things; the darker side of the British Empire
• Miscellaneous: I was lucky enough to meet Eli Brown at BEA, and he has promised us a guest post; the novel has been described as "the Scheherazade story turned on its head, at sea, with food"

ISBN-13: 9780374123666
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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Giveaway: Looking for Me (Audio) by Beth Hoffman

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Beth Hoffman's new novel Looking for Me, which is about family and the power and sacrifices of following one's dreams. I concluded my review by saying that Beth "writes from the heart and with such an authentic voice, we come by our love for her work as naturally as if we were reading about our own kin."

Thanks to Beth's generosity, I am able to offer one of my readers a copy of the unabridged audiobook edition of Looking for Me (Penguin Audio; 12 hr, 14 min) read by Jenna Lamia. I haven't yet listened to the audiobook, but Lamia is one of my favorite narrators, and I've never been disappointed when she's behind the mic.

This giveaway is open to everyone around the world. Just fill out the form, and I'll pick a winner via random number generator on June 15. Once I've confirmed the winner, I'll delete all personal information from my computer.



Good luck, and happy June Is Audiobook Month!

Buy Looking for Me at an indie or other bookstore near you.
Published by Viking / Pamela Dorman Books, May 2013
ISBN-13: 9780670025831 (print)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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