January 2015

As the new year broke, I started thinking about creating a list of reading resolutions for book clubs --- ways to explore new genres, authors and other ways to get members of your group out of their comfort zones. I stopped short since we work here to not make reading a chore with another “to do” list, but rather a time of relaxing stimulation --- and yes, both of those words do go together in my book. I could be wrong! If you would like us to compile a list of ideas for you, we happily will do it. Shoot me a note at [email protected] if you are interested.

This month, we want to know if you’d be interested in joining an online book club hosted by ReadingGroupGuides.com. Let us know by taking our poll here before Wednesday, February 4th at noon ET. We have been brainstorming a few exciting ideas for a format on this for a bit now, so please weigh in if this will be of interest. It could be a nice way to supplement your book group’s regular meetings.

Speaking of online book clubs, clearly this is something on people’s minds as both NPR and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook have started book clubs in the first days of this year. The first NPR Morning Edition Book Club selection is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Héctor Tobar's DEEP DOWN DARK: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free. It was selected by Ann Patchett, author of BEL CANTO and co-owner of Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore in Nashville. Patchett says it was the best book she read last year. You can read more about the book club here and join in the conversation. We also have a guide for it this month, which you can find here.

Mark Zuckerberg is challenging himself to read a book every two weeks and will be sharing his picks and encouraging discussion about them through a Facebook group called A Year of Books. The first book is THE END OF POWER: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn’t What It Used to Be, by Moises Naim. Zuckerberg has formed a community page on Facebook for those interested in reading together. You can read more about this here. I was amused that he asked that all conversation be relevant to this book. Guess he has heard that book groups can get off topic!

We have a wonderful lineup of books for discussion this month, kicking off what I think is going to be a terrific year for reading. I read eight books over the break and already have added to my Bookreporter.com Bets On selections for 2015, which you can see here. Last year I ended up selecting 32 titles as Bookreporter.com Bets On selections. And drumroll here…

I am happy to share that you have until Monday to enter our Fourth Annual Bookreporter.com Bets On Contest, featuring an opportunity to win all of my Bookreporter.com Bets On picks from 2014. One very lucky grand prize winner will receive all 32 titles, while 32 other winners will win a copy of one of the featured titles. Among the books you can win are ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr, THE CHILDREN ACT by Ian McEwan, DOLLBABY by Laura Lane McNeal, THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL by Nadia Hashimi, and THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs. I had such fun looking back over these titles. I am happy to say that every single one still holds up for me as a Bets On. To enter, please fill out this form by Monday, January 12th at noon ET.

We’re ringing in the new year with four contests.

First up, we're giving three groups the chance to win 12 copies of Christopher Scotton's THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH. I’ve been raving about this book since I first discovered it over the summer and had an opportunity to have a discussion about it with Christopher at the Hachette Book Group Day event. It was wonderful to see close to 200 readers enthusiastically participating in this conversation. I chose it as one of my first Bets On selections of 2014, and it’s a #1 Indie Next Pick from indie booksellers across the country. It’s a deeply moving novel about an act of violence in a small, Southern town and the repercussions that will forever change a young man’s view of human cruelty and compassion. Enter here by Wednesday, February 4th at noon ET. Get the discussion guide here, and you can read our Bookreporter.com review of it here. I think that those who enjoyed ORDINARY GRACE by William Kent Krueger will enjoy THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH.

Three groups have the opportunity to win 12 copies of Greer Macallister's THE MAGICIAN'S LIE, the spellbinding story of an illusionist accused of murder, which also is an Indie Next selection. When the Amazing Arden swaps her saw for a fire ax, Officer Virgil Holt will have to decide if it's a new trick or an all-too-real murder --- but will Arden reveal her secrets, even when her life's at stake? Winners will also get the chance to Skype with the author in the spring. Enter here by Wednesday, February 4th at noon ET. This title was a Bookreporter.com Sneak Peek title last fall where we gave readers an opportunity to weigh in about it. You can read those comments here. We plan on having our review and an interview with Greer posted on Bookreporter.com on Friday, January 16th.

We're also giving 10 readers the chance to win a copy of BEFORE I GO, Colleen Oakley's funny, heartbreaking novel about a young woman with stage four breast cancer who undertakes a mission to find a “replacement wife” for her husband before she passes away. Fans of the tearjerker P.S. I Love You will definitely not want to miss this one! Enter here by Wednesday, February 4th at noon ET. And this, too, is an Indie Next selection!

Our latest prize book for our monthly “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest is Jan Ellison's debut, A SMALL INDISCRETION. For readers of Amy Bloom, Meg Wolitzer and Lorrie Moore, it’s a gripping and ultimately redemptive novel of love and its dangers, marriage and its secrets, youth and its treacherous mistakes. To enter, tell us what YOUR book group is reading here by Wednesday, February 4th at noon ET.

For our fourth contest…you’ve heard of binge watching television, so why not binge read a book series. We have link to a contest that will give you the perfect way to get started with The Clifton Chronicles from #1 worldwide bestselling author and master storyteller Jeffrey Archer. This series is a thrilling episodic saga of love, loss, betrayal and ambition. Journey from the back alleys of Bristol to the teeming streets of New York City in stories that span the last 100 years and that follow Harry Clifton and a memorable cast of characters. It’s the perfect time to read and discuss, just in time for the February 24th release of Jeffrey Archer’s newest book, MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD. Enter here for your chance to be one of 500 readers who will win the first book, ONLY TIME WILL TELL, in the series! This giveaway is open to residents of the US only and is being hosted by the publisher, St. Martin's Press. Binge reading….you heard it here!

I am absolutely crazy about VANESSA AND HER SISTER by Priya Primar, which we are featuring on Bookreporter.com with a contest, which you can enter here. I confess that I was not up-to-speed on the Bloomsbury Movement and Virginia Woolf, but after reading this book about Vanessa Bell (the painter) and her sister Virginia Woolf, I am ready for a quiz about them. Fans of THE PARIS WIFE and LOVING FRANK will appreciate this book, which is told in a very clever epistolary format. I also loved the listing of all the characters in the front of the book, which were handy as I was reading. We have a discussion guide here and a review on Bookreporter.com here. I already have made this a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection; you can see why here. We plan on having an interview with Priya on Bookreporter.com on Friday, January 16th.

With Virginia Woolf on our minds after reading VANESSA AND HER SISTER, Nicole Sherman curated a bookshelf of her work so you can consider a book group pairing of this novel, along with a work from Woolf. If you don't want to read a whole book of Woolf’s, consider instead reading some of her short stories. You can see our bookshelf, "We're Not Afraid of Virginia Woolf," here. And yes, we had fun coming up with that title!

Make sure to check out our monthly Reading Roundup feature, which highlights selected titles from Indie Booksellers (Indie Next Picks), Librarians (LibraryReads), Target and Costco (Pennie’s Pick). THREE of our contest prize books are in the top picks this month: THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH (surprise, surprise!), THE MAGICIAN’S LIE and BEFORE I GO. Other favorites include THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins, THE BISHOP’S WIFE by Mette Ivie Harrison and VANESSA AND HER SISTER by Priya Parmar (both Bets On picks this month), as well as Krassi Zourkova’s debut, WILDALONE, which Emily cannot put down.

More daily contests will be starting up in just a few weeks over on Bookreporter.com with our NEW "Winter Reading Dedicated Contests." On select days in January and February, we’ll be awarding new and upcoming releases to lucky readers. Our Winter Reading newsletters will be starting on January 20th, so be sure you’re signed up to receive them so you know what book we’re giving away on each of the contest days. We do not send you our themed newsletters unless you opt-in, so sign up here. If you are having trouble doing so, please write John Maher at [email protected].

Over the holiday I saw Unbroken. While I thought that Angelina Jolie created a very good film from a beloved book that was difficult to create a movie from, I wish there was a sequel planned that took up Louie’s story when he returned to the States. The few lines at the end did not do enough justice to a large part of his story. The Imagination Game was brilliant. Still planning to see Wild, American Sniper, Selma and a few others, and note that Still Alice will be in theaters on January 16th, which would make for a great book group outing. Happy to see how many of this year’s big films again were based on books.

As I was wrapping up this newsletter, I got word that THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah is the #1 Indie Pick for February. This book will be in stores on February 3rd, and every early reader who I have spoken to about it is giving it high marks. We will have more on this in the weeks to come both on Bookreporter.com and here on ReadngGroupGuides.com.

Hope I made good on my promise that we would be kicking this year off in style…..here’s to lots of great reading in the year ahead.

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping for books, if you use the store links below, ReadingGroupGuides.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!
 

We're giving three groups the chance to win 12 copies of Christopher Scotton's THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH, a deeply moving novel about an act of violence in a small, Southern town and the repercussions that will forever change a young man’s view of human cruelty and compassion. To enter, please fill out this form by Wednesday, February 4th at noon ET.

THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH by Christopher Scotton (Fiction)
After seeing the death of his younger brother in a terrible home accident, 14-year-old Kevin and his grieving mother are sent for the summer to live with Kevin’s grandfather. In this peeled-paint coal town deep in Appalachia, Kevin quickly falls in with a half-wild hollow kid named Buzzy Fink who schools him in the mysteries and magnificence of the woods. The events of this fateful summer will affect the entire town of Medgar, Kentucky.

Medgar is beset by a massive mountaintop removal operation that is blowing up the hills and back filling the hollows. Kevin’s grandfather and others in town attempt to rally the citizens against the “company” and its powerful owner to stop the plunder of their mountain heritage. When Buzzy witnesses a brutal hate crime, a sequence is set in play that tests Buzzy and Kevin to their absolute limits in an epic struggle for survival in the Kentucky mountains.

Redemptive and emotionally resonant, THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH is narrated by an adult Kevin looking back on the summer when he sloughed the coverings of a boy and took his first faltering steps as a man among a rich cast of characters and an ambitious effort to reclaim a once great community.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
-Click here to read why we're betting you'll love this book.
 

We're giving three groups the chance to win 12 copies of Greer Macallister's THE MAGICIAN'S LIE --- the spellbinding story of a notorious illusionist who is accused of murder --- PLUS a Skype chat with the author (to be scheduled for April, May or June). To enter, please fill out this form by Wednesday, February 4th at noon ET.

THE MAGICIAN'S LIE by Greer Macallister (Historical Mystery)
Will a magician ever reveal her secrets --- even when her life’s at stake?

The Amazing Arden is the most notorious female illusionist of her day, renowned for sawing a man in half. One night, with policeman Virgil Holt in the audience, she swaps her saw for a fire ax. A new trick or an all-too-real murder? When a dead body is discovered, the answer seems clear. But under Holt's interrogation, what Arden’s story reveals is both unbelievable and spellbinding. Even handcuffed and alone, she is far from powerless. During one eerie night, Holt must decide whether to turn Arden in or set her free...and it will take all he has to see through the smoke and mirrors.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to see our Bookreporter.com Sneak Peek reader comments.
 

We're giving 10 readers the chance to win a copy of BEFORE I GO, Colleen Oakley's heartfelt novel about a young woman with stage four breast cancer who undertakes a mission to find a “replacement wife” for her husband before she passes away. To enter, please fill out this form by Wednesday, February 4th at noon ET.

BEFORE I GO by Colleen Oakley (Fiction)
On the eve of what was supposed to be a triumphant “Cancerversary” with her husband Jack to celebrate three years of being cancer-free, Daisy suffers a devastating blow: Her doctor tells her that the cancer is back, but this time it’s an aggressive stage-IV diagnosis. She may have as few as four months left to live. Having already endured brutal rounds of chemo and radiation in her early 20s, Daisy decides that she doesn’t want to go through it all over again --- especially when the odds are already stacked against her. Instead, she forgoes treatment and focuses on what suddenly becomes her most pressing concern: What will happen to her brilliant but otherwise charmingly helpless husband when she’s no longer there to take care of him?

This alarming thought sparks a selfless undertaking: Daisy decides that in the time she has left, she needs to find her husband a “replacement wife” who can be there for him when her time comes. After scouting the local singles scene in her hometown of Athens, Georgia, and scouring online dating sites unbeknownst to Jack, Daisy finds the perfect match…only to realize that this potential “replacement” already volunteers at the animal hospital where Jack works as a vet-in-training. Suddenly, as the reality of seeing her husband with another (decidedly more compatible) woman becomes all too real, Daisy regrets having set everything in motion in the first place…but is it too late to take it all back?

-Click here for the reading group guide.
 

VANESSA AND HER SISTER by Priya Parmar (Historical Fiction)
For fans of THE PARIS WIFE and LOVING FRANK comes a captivating novel that offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of Vanessa Bell, her sister Virginia Woolf, and the controversial and popular circle of intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury Group.

London, 1905: The city is alight with change, and the Stephen siblings are at the forefront. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby and Adrian are leaving behind their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde Bloomsbury. There they bring together a glittering circle of bright, outrageous artistic friends who will grow into legend and come to be known as the Bloomsbury Group. And at the center of this charmed circle are the devoted, gifted sisters: Vanessa, the painter, and Virginia, the writer.

Each member of the group will go on to earn fame and success, but so far Vanessa Bell has never sold a painting. Virginia Woolf’s book review has just been turned down by The Times. Lytton Strachey has not published anything. E. M. Forster has finished his first novel but does not like the title. Leonard Woolf is still a civil servant in Ceylon and John Maynard Keynes is looking for a job. Together, this sparkling coterie of artists and intellectuals throw away convention and embrace the wild freedom of being young, single bohemians in London.

But the landscape shifts when Vanessa unexpectedly falls in love and her sister feels dangerously abandoned. Eerily possessive, charismatic, manipulative and brilliant, Virginia has always lived in the shelter of Vanessa’s constant attention and encouragement. Without it, she careens toward self-destruction and madness. As tragedy and betrayal threaten to destroy the family, Vanessa must decide if it is finally time to protect her own happiness above all else.

The work of exciting young newcomer Priya Parmar, VANESSA AND HER SISTER exquisitely captures the champagne-heady days of prewar London and the extraordinary lives of sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
-Click here to enter the Historical Fiction Author Spotlight contest on Bookreporter.com.
-Click here to read why we're betting you'll love this book.

 

As our Holiday Cheer contests come to an end, another series of contests will begin shortly --- our "Winter Reading Dedicated Contests." On select days in January and February, we’ll be awarding new and upcoming releases to lucky readers. Our Winter Reading newsletters will be starting on January 20th, so be sure you’re signed up to receive them so you know what book we’re giving away on each of the contest days. We do not send you our themed newsletters unless you opt-in, so sign up here. If you are having trouble doing so, please write John Maher at [email protected].

.

• ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr
• THE BLESSINGS by Elise Juska
• CHARLESTON by Margaret Bradham Thornton
• THE CHILDREN ACT by Ian McEwan
• A CIRCLE OF WIVES by Alice LaPlante
• A DEADLY WANDERING: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention by Matt Richtel
• THE DEEPEST SECRET by Carla Buckley
• DELICIOUS! by Ruth Reichl
• DOLLBABY by Laura Lane McNeal
• FIVE DAYS LEFT by Julie Lawson Timmer
• THE FORTUNE HUNTER by Daisy Goodwin
• GEMINI by Carol Cassella
• THE HIDDEN CHILD by Camilla Läckberg
• IN THE BLOOD by Lisa Unger
• THE INNOCENT SLEEP by Karen Perry
• LITTLE MERCIES by Heather Gudenkauf
• MY SISTER'S GRAVE by Robert Dugoni
• THE PARIS ARCHITECT by Charles Belfoure
• THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL by Nadia Hashimi
• RUNNER by Patrick Lee
• THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs
• SHOTGUN LOVESONGS by Nickolas Butler
• THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin
• THAT NIGHT by Chevy Stevens
• ’TIL THE WELL RUNS DRY by Lauren Francis-Sharma
• THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HARRY QUEBERT AFFAIR by Joël Dicker
• UNREMARRIED WIDOW: A Memoir by Artis Henderson
• UNTIL I SAY GOOD-BYE: My Year of Living with Joy by Susan Spencer-Wendel with Bret Witter
• THE VACATIONERS by Emma Straub
• WE ARE NOT OURSELVES by Matthew Thomas
• WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart
• YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN by Jean Hanff Korelitz

THE BISHOP'S WIFE by Mette Ivie Harrison (Crime Fiction)
I am intrigued by the Mormon culture, thus when I saw that THE BISHOP’S WIFE is set in that community in Salt Lake, I was eager to read it. The bishop’s wife, Linda Wallheim, is a devout Mormon, the mother of five boys and the wife of a bishop. While tending to parishioners in their ward with meals and baked goods, Linda is seeing an undercurrent that is troubling her. There is a fear among some of the women who seem to harbor secrets in their obedient lives.

-Click here to read more about the book.
 

VANESSA AND HER SISTER by Priya Parmar (Historical Fiction)
Confession here: As I was not an English major, I do not have an encyclopedic memory of the work of Virginia Woolf. I had heard of the Bloomsbury Group, but knew little about their members. I am happy to share that after reading VANESSA AND HER SISTER, I am pop quiz-worthy on the latter topic. In this book, Priya Parmar has crafted a fictionalized diary of Vanessa Stephen Bell, otherwise known as the sister of Virginia Woolf.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.

THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH by Christopher Scotton (Mystery/Thriller)
THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH by Christopher Scotton blends a coming-of-age story with a look inside the world of modern-day coal mining, known as fracking, and its impact on a community.

Fourteen-year-old Kevin and his mom have moved from Indiana to Medgar, Kentucky, a coal town deep in Appalachia following the death of his three-year-old brother, Joshua, in a horrific accident for which Kevin has been blamed. His mom’s grief has overwhelmed and paralyzed her, leaving Kevin to reach out to his grandfather, Pops, to help him heal. This man, a veterinarian, brings a lot of heart and soul, as well as wisdom, to the story, besides being an anchor for Kevin.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
 

The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

10% HAPPIER: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story by Dan Harris (Self-Help)
“Nightline” anchor Dan Harris embarks on an unexpected, hilarious and deeply skeptical odyssey through the strange worlds of spirituality and self-help, and discovers a way to get happier that is truly achievable.

BEFORE I GO by Colleen Oakley (Fiction)
A heartfelt novel in the bestselling tradition of P.S. I Love You about a young woman in Georgia with stage four breast cancer who undertakes a mission to find a “replacement wife” for her husband before she passes away.

COLD COLD HEART by Tami Hoag (Psychological Thriller)
#1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag delivers a shocking new thriller.

DEEP DOWN DARK: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Hector Tobar (Biography)
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Héctor Tobar tells the story of the 33 miners who were trapped in the San José mine for 69 days, and crafts a haunting masterwork from their surreal experiences and from his intensive research on the extraordinary rescue mission.

A FINE SUMMER'S DAY: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd takes readers into Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge’s past --- to his perplexing final case before the outbreak of World War I.

FIRST FROST by Sarah Addison Allen (Fiction)
A magical new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of LOST LAKE, featuring characters from her beloved novel GARDEN SPELLS.

HUMAN CAPITAL by Stephen Amidon (Thriller)
A gripping novel of new money, old jealousies and the secret lives of parents and children in the suburbs --- soon to be a major motion picture on January 16th.

THE MAGICIAN'S LIE by Greer Macallister (Historical Mystery)
When the Amazing Arden, a notorious female illusionist, swaps her saw for a fire ax, Officer Virgil Holt will have to decide if it's a new trick or an all-too-real murder --- but will Arden reveal her secrets, even when her life's at stake?

MY FATHER'S WIVES by Mike Greenberg (Fiction)
The co-host of ESPN’s "Mike and Mike" follows up his New York Times bestseller ALL YOU COULD ASK FOR with this poignant story of one man’s search to understand himself, his marriage and his father.

A PLEASURE AND A CALLING by Phil Hogan (Psychological Suspense)
In the tradition of Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels comes a deliciously unsettling, darkly funny novel about a man who quietly spies on the private lives of his neighbors.

THE REVENANT: A Novel of Revenge by Michael Punke (Historical Fiction)
THE REVENANT is a remarkable tale of obsession, the human will stretched to its limits and the lengths that one man will go to for retribution --- soon to be a major motion picture starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

SAVING GRACE by Jane Green (Fiction)
From the New York Times bestselling author of TEMPTING FATE comes a powerful and riveting novel about a woman whose life begins to unravel in the face of infidelity and addiction.

THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH by Christopher Scotton (Fiction)
Timely and timeless, this is a dramatic and deeply moving novel about an act of violence in a small, Southern town and the repercussions that will forever change a young man’s view of human cruelty and compassion.

A SMALL INDISCRETION by Jan Ellison (Fiction)
A SMALL INDISCRETION fixes an unflinching eye on the power of desire and the danger of obsession as it unfolds the story of one woman’s reckoning with a youthful mistake.

VANESSA AND HER SISTER by Priya Parmar (Historical Fiction)
A captivating novel that offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of Vanessa Bell, her sister Virginia Woolf, and the controversial and popular circle of intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury Group.

WILDALONE by Krassi Zourkova (Supernatural Fantasy/Romance)
In this darkly imaginative debut novel full of myth, magic, romance and mystery, a Princeton freshman is drawn into a love triangle with two enigmatic brothers and discovers terrifying secrets about her family and herself --- a bewitching blend of TWILIGHT, THE SECRET HISTORY, JANE EYRE and A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.

THE WORLD MADE STRAIGHT by Ron Rash (Suspense)
Vivid, harrowing yet ultimately hopeful, THE WORLD MADE STRAIGHT is Ron Rash’s exploration of the painful conflict between the bonds of home and the desire for independence --- soon to be a major motion picture from Millennium Entertainment, starring Haley Joel Osmont, Minka Kelly and Jeremy Irvine.


Please note that the following titles, for which we already had the guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now available in paperback:

THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL by Nadia Hashimi (Fiction)
Debut Afghan-American author Nadia Hashimi’s THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL is the entwined stories of two Afghan women separated by a century who find freedom in the tradition of bacha posh, which allows girls to dress and live as boys…until they are of marriageable age.

RADIANCE OF TOMORROW by Ishmael Beah (Fiction)
When Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A LONG WAY GONE, was published in 2007, it became an instant classic that turned the world’s attention to the plight of child soldiers on the front lines of Sierra Leone’s civil war. With RADIANCE OF TOMORROW, Beah brings us an astonishing novel of postwar life in Sierra Leone.