Editorial Content for Tinderbox
Book
Teaser
From a breakout talent, a gimlet-eyed look at the entanglements that arise when Myra, a Manhattan analyst, hires a Peruvian woman from a mestizo-Jewish community to be the nanny for her grandchild.
Promo
From a breakout talent, a gimlet-eyed look at the entanglements that arise when Myra, a Manhattan analyst, hires a Peruvian woman from a mestizo-Jewish community to be the nanny for her grandchild.
About the Book
Myra leads a life that, from the outside, many would have cause to envy: An analyst in Manhattan, she enjoys an engaging and prosperous career, seeing patients from the comfort of her brownstone and writing a thoughtful meditation on the teleology of love. Beneath that professional veneer, though, her family is coming apart. When her grown son, his wife, and their young son move in with her, the obligations and latent hostilities of life at home threaten to cause permanent rifts.
Hoping to ease the burden, Myra hires Eva, a Peruvian immigrant newly arrived in New York, as a nanny. But as Eva insinuates herself into the family, becoming ever more invaluable but behaving ever more strangely, what seemed at first like a felicitous arrangement becomes an even greater strain --- and as resentments begin to accrue, the household reaches a disastrous boiling point.
Lisa Gornick is a practicing psychologist and a first-rate novelist, and in TINDERBOX, her extraordinary powers of observation are on display as never before. This is a generous, acute, compassionate novel about the inevitable tangle of guilt and bitterness when the bonds of family collide with the complexities of money and privilege.
Editorial Content for The Night Guest
Book
Teaser
Widowed Ruth lives a quiet life by the sea until a woman claiming to be a government case worker comes to her door one wet night and stays. Frida’s presence subtly changes the environment, as Ruth suddenly starts recalling her childhood in Fiji and seems to hear a tiger roaming outside her window. Yes, there’s a dark secret in the past, but THE NIGHT GUEST is more concerned with creeping fear, the long road of aging, and the inviolable presence of the colonial past.
Promo
Widowed Ruth lives a quiet life by the sea until a woman claiming to be a government case worker comes to her door one wet night and stays. Frida’s presence subtly changes the environment, as Ruth suddenly starts recalling her childhood in Fiji and seems to hear a tiger roaming outside her window. Yes, there’s a dark secret in the past, but THE NIGHT GUEST is more concerned with creeping fear, the long road of aging, and the inviolable presence of the colonial past.
About the Book
A mesmerizing first novel about trust, dependence and fear, from a major new writer
Ruth is widowed, her sons are grown, and she lives in an isolated beach house outside of town. Her routines are few and small. One day a stranger arrives at her door, looking as if she has been blown in from the sea. This woman --- Frida --- claims to be a care worker sent by the government. Ruth lets her in.
Now that Frida is in her house, is Ruth right to fear the tiger she hears on the prowl at night, far from its jungle habitat? Why do memories of childhood in Fiji press upon her with increasing urgency? How far can she trust this mysterious woman, Frida, who seems to carry with her her own troubled past? And how far can Ruth trust herself?
THE NIGHT GUEST, Fiona McFarlane’s hypnotic first novel, is no simple tale of a crime committed and a mystery solved. This is a tale that soars above its own suspense to tell us, with exceptional grace and beauty, about ageing, love, trust, dependence, and fear; about processes of colonization; and about things (and people) in places they shouldn’t be. Here is a new writer who comes to us fully formed, working wonders with language, renewing our faith in the power of fiction to describe the mysterious workings of our minds.
Editorial Content for Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison
Teaser
With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money 10 years ago. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to 15 months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187-424 --- one of the millions of women who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system.
Promo
With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money 10 years ago. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to 15 months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187-424 --- one of the millions of women who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system.
About the Book
NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES • #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money 10 years ago. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to 15 months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187-424 --- one of the millions of women who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system. From her first strip search to her final release, Kerman learns to navigate this strange world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior and arbitrary rules, where the uneasy relationship between prisoner and jailer is constantly and unpredictably recalibrated. She meets women from all walks of life, who surprise her with small tokens of generosity, hard words of wisdom, and simple acts of acceptance.
Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Kerman’s story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison --- why it is we lock so many away and what happens to them when they’re there.
Editorial Content for Approaching the Speed of Light
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Child abuse is sickening. It is so difficult to believe that any adult would be capable of such a horrendous thing. It is hardest of all, though, to see the world through the victim's eyes. However, Victoria Lustbader forces us to comprehend a child's helplessness and then come to some understanding of what the toll could be with the story of Christopher in her second novel, APPROACHING THE SPEED OF LIGHT. Christopher changes his name to Jody Kowalczyk after he is adopted by one of the officers who rescued him from the violence of his home. Read More
Teaser
Jody is a likable young man getting by in New York City at the turn of the millennium. On the surface, he seems to have it together. But a secret history has left him scarred and broken inside, lacking faith in the future or himself. Jody’s buried secrets hold him back until his trajectory crosses the path of three very different women, who, in their own ways, hold out the tantalizing possibility of healing, connection…or self-destruction.
Promo
Jody is a likable young man getting by in New York City at the turn of the millennium. On the surface, he seems to have it together. But a secret history has left him scarred and broken inside, lacking faith in the future or himself. Jody’s buried secrets hold him back until his trajectory crosses the path of three very different women, who, in their own ways, hold out the tantalizing possibility of healing, connection…or self-destruction.
About the Book
It’s said that the flapping of a butterfly’s wing can start a chain reaction that leads to an unstoppable storm. In the same way, random twists of fate and transitory acts of kindness and cruelty can shape our destinies, just as weaffect the people around us…sometimes in ways we can’t possibly imagine.
Jody is a likable young man getting by in New York City at the turn of the millennium. On the surface, he seems to have it together, with friends, family, a decent job, and a steady string of girlfriends. But a secret history has left Jody scarred and broken inside, lacking faith in the future or himself. Like the ceaseless pull of a black hole, his buried secrets hold him back, defining him, until his trajectory crosses the path of three very different women, who, in their own ways, hold out the tantalizing possibility of healing, connection…or self-destruction.
Editorial Content for The Book of Someday
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Olivia Gray’s childhood memories are ones of loneliness, fear and isolation. Kept at home with her uncaring and fanatical stepmother and educated by her moody and unpredictable father, she longed for a normal and loving home. Olivia kept her wishes in a secret journal she called the Book of Someday, an “evolving map” of her heart. Almost 20 years later, Olivia, now called Livvi, has made her Book of Someday a reality of sorts by thinly veiling her early sadness and abuse in a work of fiction. Read More
Teaser
California girl Livvi Gray has always been haunted by a terrifying nightmare of an eerily beautiful stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Shortly before Livvi’s 30th birthday, she will come face to face with the stranger from her dream, an encounter that will not only alter Livvi’s future, but change much of what she thinks she knows about the past.
Promo
California girl Livvi Gray has always been haunted by a terrifying nightmare of an eerily beautiful stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Shortly before Livvi’s 30th birthday, she will come face to face with the stranger from her dream, an encounter that will not only alter Livvi’s future, but change much of what she thinks she knows about the past.
About the Book
California girl Livvi Gray has always been haunted by a terrifying nightmare of an eerily beautiful stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Shortly before Livvi’s 30th birthday, she will come face to face with the stranger from her dream, an encounter that will not only alter Livvi’s future, but change much of what she thinks she knows about the past.
THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY tells Livvi’s story in parallel with that of a brilliant Boston photographer named Micah and a young Long Island wife and mother named AnnaLee. Like Livvi, these two women are swiftly moving toward events that will prove to be the ultimate turning points in their lives, the places where devastating secrets will be exposed --- secrets about the unexpected ways in which we choose to protect, and betray, the people we love.
Editorial Content for MaddAddam
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In MADDADDAM, Margaret Atwood returns to the terrifying vision of the future she first imagined in ORYX AND CRAKE and further explored in THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD, concluding this spectacular trilogy. In it, she examines the fragility of nature, the dangers of power, the risks of science, and the meaning and limits of humanity. Read More
Teaser
Bringing together ORYX AND CRAKE and THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD, this final book in Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction trilogy points toward the ultimate endurance of community and love. MADDADDAM combines adventure, humor and romance to create a moving and dramatic conclusion to this internationally celebrated dystopian series.
Promo
Bringing together ORYX AND CRAKE and THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD, this final book in Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction trilogy points toward the ultimate endurance of community and love. MADDADDAM combines adventure, humor and romance to create a moving and dramatic conclusion to this internationally celebrated dystopian series.
About the Book
Bringing together ORYX AND CRAKE and THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD, this thrilling conclusion to Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction trilogy points toward the ultimate endurance of community, and love.
Months after the Waterless Flood pandemic has wiped out most of humanity, Toby and Ren have rescued their friend Amanda from the vicious Painballers. They return to the MaddAddamite cob house, newly fortified against man and giant pigoon alike. Accompanying them are the Crakers, the gentle, quasi-human species engineered by the brilliant but deceased Crake. Their reluctant prophet, Snowman-the-Jimmy, is recovering from a debilitating fever, so it's left to Toby to preach the Craker theology, with Crake as Creator. She must also deal with cultural misunderstandings, terrible coffee, and her jealousy over her lover, Zeb.
Bestselling Author Mary Burton Shares Secrets of Her Success
The Unknown Early Work of Michael Crichton - Part Two
November 2013
As I write this note, I am working at home, and the wind is kicking up the leaves and tossing them up and down the block. And a huge flock of birds landed on the front lawn a few hours ago tweeting loudly as they seem to have ordered a rest stop on their way to a place further south. They lingered so long that I wondered if they were waiting for me to join them!
Editorial Content for The Last BreathBookContributorsReviewer (text)Renee Yeager
THE LAST BREATH is an impressive debut novel that is set in the hills of Appalachia in Eastern Tennessee, where the author, Kimberly Belle, grew up. In its opening pages, the year is 1994 and we meet Ella Mae Andrews shortly before she is brutally murdered during what she calls a “crime of passion.” The consequences to others, as well as the inherent mystery surrounding Ella Mae’s murder, make up the heart of this fast-paced, page-turning novel. Read More TeaserGia Andrews’ father was imprisoned 16 years ago for brutally killing her stepmother. Now he’s come home to die of cancer, and she’s responsible for his care. As the past unravels before her, Gia will find herself torn between the stories that her family, their friends and neighbors have believed to be real all these years. But in the end, the truth --- and all the lies that came before --- may have deadlier consequences than she ever could have anticipated. PromoGia Andrews’ father was imprisoned 16 years ago for brutally killing her stepmother. Now he’s come home to die of cancer, and she’s responsible for his care. As the past unravels before her, Gia will find herself torn between the stories that her family, their friends and neighbors have believed to be real all these years. But in the end, the truth --- and all the lies that came before --- may have deadlier consequences than she ever could have anticipated. About the BookFrom a remarkable new voice in suspenseful women's fiction comes an emotionally searing drama about a woman who risks her life to discover the devastating truth about her family… Humanitarian aid worker Gia Andrews chases disasters around the globe for a living. It’s the perfect lifestyle to keep her far away from her own personal ground zero. Sixteen years ago, Gia’s father was imprisoned for brutally killing her stepmother. Now he’s come home to die of cancer, and she’s responsible for his care --- and coming to terms with his guilt. Gia reluctantly resumes the role of daughter to the town’s most infamous murderer, a part complete with protesters on the lawn and death threats that are turning tragedy into front-page news. Returning to life in small-town Tennessee involves rebuilding relationships that distance and turmoil have strained, though finding an emotional anchor in the attractive hometown bartender is certainly helping Gia cope. As the past unravels before her, Gia will find herself torn between the stories that her family, their friends and neighbors, and even her long-departed stepmother have believed to be real all these years. But in the end, the truth --- and all the lies that came before --- may have deadlier consequences than she could have ever anticipated... |

