July 2015

We are counting down the days until GO SET A WATCHMAN, Harper Lee’s eagerly anticipated sequel of sorts to her classic TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, which goes on sale on Tuesday. There have been no galleys of this book provided (a few of you asked), and in fact the boxes of books shipped to stores have been marked with “do not open until July 14th signage.”

I am pulling together lots of WATCHMAN and Harper Lee trivia factoids for tomorrow evening’s Bookreporter.com newsletter, but here is one to share now. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was published on July 11, 1960, and 55 years later --- almost to the day --- GO SET A WATCHMAN will be published on July 14, 2015. It first hit the New York Times bestseller list on August 8, 1960. Trivia factoid of the day. Much more tomorrow! Oh, and for those of you asking about a discussion guide for GO SET A WATCHMAN, we’ve been told that it’s in the works! And we will post it as soon as we can.

In this month’s poll, we want to know if your group is planning on reading it! Click here to take our poll and let us know by Wednesday, August 5th at noon ET.

Our second countdown is to note the end date of the ReadingGroupGuides.com 2015 Book Group Survey, which closes the 15th; easy to remember as 2015 is the 15th anniversary of RGG! A huge thank you to those of you who have already answered our survey. For our version of “boldfaced type," we remind you that this survey is open until July 15th, and we are hoping to hear from ALL of you! That means you have LESS THAN ONE WEEK to let us know all about your book group, which will be enormously helpful when we work to deliver the information you want and need. People always ask us what book groups are interested in, and your participation will ensure that we can provide those answers!

We know your time is valuable and this is a lengthy survey; we had a lot to ask and we thought one comprehensive survey was better than a number of little ones. So, pour a glass of wine, a mug of coffee, or whatever your favorite beverage is (these suggestions courtesy of Jamie Ford, author of HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, who is in a book group --- all men --- and answered the survey) and share your thoughts. Once you complete the survey, you can opt to enter to win one of the following: a Grand Prize of one $250 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice, ten (10) $100 gift certificates to the bookstore of your choice and fifty (50) $25 gift certificates, again to the bookstore of your choice. We did the math for you; that is a $2,500 prize package! And if you are in more than one book group, feel free to take the survey for each group you belong to --- you’ll be helping us tremendously and you’ll increase your chance to win a prize!

Summer is not quiet at RGG. We have contests for two wonderful books to share with you this month. The first is an ongoing contest for THE SILVER SWAN, Elena Delbanco’s stunning debut. This book got on my radar when I heard that at Elena’s event at Politics & Prose in Washington, DC, they sold out of books! I had to see what people were excited about. It’s the story of a young woman who is coping with the passing of her father, a famous cellist, when she learns a number of secrets about his life --- and the surprising plan for his Stradivarius cello.

Elena writes about this subject with authority as her own father, Bernard Greenhouse, was a famous cellist from the Beaux Arts Trio. When he died, she sold his Stradivarius cello, specifically the Countess of Stainlein ex-Paganini Stradivarius violoncello of 1707. We’re giving three groups the chance to win 12 copies PLUS a chat with the author. Ten additional copies will be given away to individual winners. Enter here by Wednesday, July 15th at noon ET. I loved this book so much I chose it as a Bets On pick, and you can read all my thoughts on it here. I have been hearing great feedback on this book from Bookreporter readers who followed my lead and read it.

Our prize book in July’s “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest is THE NIGHTINGALE from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah. This book has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 22 weeks now! We’ve already heard from so many groups and individual readers who LOVED this book, and we want to make sure you and your group have this great read on their radar. It's an epic novel of love and war --- spanning from the 1940s to the present day --- about the secret lives of those who live in a small French town during World War II. To enter, please fill out the form below by Wednesday, August 5th at noon ET. As usual, we’re giving three groups the chance to win 12 copies of the book; enter here and let us know what your group is reading this month for your chance to win. The deadline for entries is Wednesday, August 5th at noon ET.

Looking for a perfect summer read full of fame and love, try THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SOPHIE STARK by Anna North. This provocative novel follows the rise of artist Sophie Stark, a filmmaker whose first project is a documentary about college basketball star Daniel. But when Sophie’s obsession grows too invasive, she becomes the victim of a cruel prank. Undeterred by humiliation, Sophie begins to pull stories from the lives of people around her to create movies, quickly gaining critical recognition and praise --- at the risk of betraying the person closest to her. Click here for more about the book.

We have two featured guides this month! Our latest is for New York Times bestselling author David Nicholls’ US, which is now available in paperback. From the author of the #1 bestseller ONE DAY comes a witty and touching story about a man surprised to find his marriage crumbling. When he takes his family on a last trip to Europe, he experiences a powerful awakening of his own --- which might just inspire him to turn his marriage, and maybe even his whole life, around. Click here for the featured guide and here for our review on Bookreporter.com.

And we also wanted to let you know that in celebration of the paperback release of US, the publisher is running a special book club sweepstakes. They’re offering one book club the chance to win copies of the paperback for their group, PLUS a Skype chat with bestselling author David Nicholls. The contest is open until July 31st. Click here to enter.

We’re also featuring the guide for bestselling author Patti Callahan Henry’s THE IDEA OF LOVE. Ella is young, beautiful and deeply in love --- until her husband dies in a tragic sailing accident while trying to save her. Or so she'll have everyone believe. Screenwriter Hunter needs a hit, and he's on the lookout for a love story...it doesn't matter who it belongs to. When Hunter and Ella meet in Watersend, South Carolina, it feels like the perfect match. But one lie leads to another, and soon they find themselves caught in a web of deceit. As Hunter and Ella try to untangle their lies, they feel something stronger is keeping them together. And so they wonder: Can two people come together for all the wrong reasons and still make it right? Click here for the featured guide.

We’re also happy to have finally gotten our hands on the discussion questions for Jeff Hobbs’s THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE, as I loved this book and many of you have been asking for the guide since its release last year. You can find the guide here. And look out for its paperback release at the end of July! And speaking of guides we’ve been eagerly anticipating, we also now have discussion questions for Lisa Genova’s INSIDE THE O’BRIENS; you can find those here.

A few months ago, we featured the guide for Jamie Brickhouse’s poignant, moving and funny debut (it’s truly all three), DANGEROUS WHEN WET. Recently, we heard from a group that had Jamie attend their meeting. Group member Jennifer Ferguson was kind enough to share some highlights of their experience, including some of the topics her group discussed with Jamie, and how having the author at their meeting changed the conversation (for the better!). Click here to read the full interview.

We also heard from Andrea DeWerd, who we wanted to interview as she had shared with me that she listens to many of her book group’s selections on audio. Also, Andrea works in publishing and we wanted to hear how an “insider” organizes her book group. The reality; much like the rest of you! Click here to read all about that.

We also have an exciting contest from Audiobooks.com. From now until Friday, July 17th at noon ET, we are giving away five (5) three-month subscriptions to Audiobooks.com. With quick, easy downloads straight from their app, Audiobooks.com makes the process of downloading and enjoying your audiobooks seamless. I literally downloaded the app while sitting in my garage, clicked on a title to listen to, and was on my way listening in minutes. No need to put another disc in the CD changer. Then, when home, I was able to continue listening on my laptop and my iPad, giving me a chance to do a lot more listening. Intrigued? Click here to enter our contest.

Want to try it right now? Click here to learn more about Audiobooks.com and start a free one-month trial today. It’s a GREAT way to test out this experience! Oh, and those who start free trials on Audiobooks.com now, and then are selected as one of the five winners of our contest, will receive an additional free three-month subscription to Audiobooks.com. (Each winner will receive a gift code via email that they can enter on Audiobooks.com to activate the three-month subscription.) Talk about a win-win!

While we’re on the subject of audiobooks, we encourage you to participate in our new “Sounding Off on Audio” feature, which we like to think of as “Word of Mouth” for audiobooks. Let us know what audiobooks you’ve listened to, along with comments about both the audio performance and the content of the story, and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. The deadline for the current contest period is tomorrow, Friday, July 10th at noon ET, and three winners will be randomly chosen to receive either a digital version or CD of both IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT by Judy Blume, narrated by Kathleen McInerney, and THE WRIGHT BROTHERS by David McCullough, narrated by the author. The next contest period will open tomorrow, and we will announce two more prize titles then.

Summer is a terrific time to catch up on your favorite books and prepare for them to hit the big screen, so to get you ready, we’ve prepared our Books on Screen bookshelf featuring June through December releases. Although you’re probably already familiar with some of these movies, such as Jurassic World, our bookshelf also features other highly anticipated films, such as Gillian Flynn’s second movie adaptation, Dark Places, and autumn’s Everest, based on several books about the 1996 Everest tragedy. Whether you’re looking for high-tech thrills or new iterations of classic stories, you’re sure to find something exciting in our latest bookshelf.

Here’s to a great book group discussion this month…and for those of you whose groups skip a July meeting….happy pleasure reading. Find something to share with your group!

And don’t forget to answer our survey!

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 want to know about you and your book group! Let us know by taking our 2015 Book Group Survey.

Those who complete the survey will be eligible to win one of the following prizes:
1 (one) Grand Prize - $250 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice.
10 (ten) First Prizes - $100 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice.
50 (fifty) Second Prizes - $25 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice.

The survey will be open through Wednesday, July 15, 2015.

Our last survey was done in 2009 --- and lots has changed since then! As we celebrate the 15th anniversary of ReadingGroupGuides.com, we want to pause and ask our RGG readers how you discover and select books, as well as how you influence readers beyond book groups.

The results of this survey will be shared with publishers and authors for the purposes of creating programs and promotions to enhance YOUR book club experience.

If you belong to more than one group, as you answer the survey, please select one group to answer the questions about. If you would like to supply replies about another group, please take the survey again once you have completed it --- this will increase your chances of winning one of our prizes, listed above.
 

We are celebrating the release of THE SILVER SWAN, Elena Delbanco's stunning debut, by giving three groups the chance to win 12 copies of the book, PLUS a chat with the author (to be scheduled for August, September or October). We will also be giving away single copies to 10 additional readers! To enter, please fill out this form by Wednesday, July 15th at noon ET.

THE SILVER SWAN by Elena Delbanco (Fiction)
A debut novel about a daughter grappling with the legacy of her famous and imposing cellist father, the secrets he has hidden from her and the fate of his Stradivarius.

Alexander Feldmann is a revered and sought-after performer whose prodigious talent, striking good looks and worldly charm prove irresistible to all who hear and encounter him. After years of searching, he acquires a glorious cello, the Silver Swan, a rare Stradivarius masterpiece long lost to the world of music.

Mariana is Alexander’s only child and the maestro has large ambitions for her. By the age of 19 she emerges as a star cellist in her own right, and is seen as the inheritor of her father’s genius. There are whispers that her career might well outpace his. Mariana believes the Silver Swan will one day be hers, until a stunning secret from her father’s past entwines her fate and that of the Silver Swan in ways she could never have imagined.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
 

Each month, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries, three winners will be selected, and each will win 12 copies of that month’s prize book for their group. Note: To be eligible to win, let us know the title of the book that YOUR book group is CURRENTLY reading, NOT the title we are giving away.

Our latest prize book is THE NIGHTINGALE, the latest hit from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah. It's an epic novel of love and war --- spanning from the 1940s to the present day --- about the secret lives of those who live in a small French town. Enter here by Wednesday, August 5th at noon ET.

THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah (Historical Fiction)
In love we find out who we want to be.

In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious 18-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. THE NIGHTINGALE tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France --- a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
-Click here to read a Q&A with the author.
 

Love audiobooks? Or eager to try them out? Here's an opportunity to listen to books wherever you are!

Since last fall, we've been enjoying --- and talking about --- audiobooks at Bookreporter.com. To share our growing passion for this great way to enjoy books (we see it as a way to read a lot more books), we have a very special opportunity for both current listeners and those who are curious about audiobooks.

From now until Friday, July 17th at noon ET, we are giving away five (5) three-month subscriptions to Audiobooks.com. With quick, easy downloads straight from their app, Audiobooks.com makes the process of downloading and enjoying your audiobooks seamless. And with a free one-month trial, you cannot go wrong on testing out this experience!

Click here to learn more about Audiobooks.com, and start a free one-month trial today. Oh, and those who start free trials on Audiobooks.com now, and then are selected as one of the five winners of our contest, will receive an additional free three-month subscription to Audiobooks.com. (Each winner will receive a gift code via email that they can enter on Audiobooks.com to activate the three-month subscription.) Talk about a win-win!
 

Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that, against all odds, seduces beautiful Connie into a second date…and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades after their relationship first blossomed in London, they live more or less happily in the suburbs with their moody 17-year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells him she thinks she wants a divorce.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Hoping to encourage her son’s artistic interests, Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family, and she can’t bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead with the original plan is for the best anyway? Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage, and might even help him to bond with Albie.

Narrated from Douglas’s endearingly honest, slyly witty and at times achingly optimistic point of view, US is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves, and learning how to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger. US is a moving meditation on the demands of marriage and parenthood, the regrets of abandoning youth for middle age and the intricate relationship between the heart and the head. And in David Nicholls’s gifted hands, Douglas’s odyssey brings Europe --- from the streets of Amsterdam to the famed museums of Paris, from the cafés of Venice to the beaches of Barcelona --- to vivid life just as he experiences a powerful awakening of his own. Will this summer be his last as a husband, or the moment when he turns his marriage, and maybe even his whole life, around?

Now available in paperback!

-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
 

Book Club Sweepstakes (hosted by HarperCollins):
To celebrate the paperback release of US --- the #1 international bestseller from the author of ONE DAY --- one book club has the chance to win copies of the paperback for their group, plus a Skype chat with bestselling author David Nicholls.

“I loved this book. Funny, sad, tender: for anyone who wants to know what happens after the Happy Ever After.” — Jojo Moyes, author of ME BEFORE YOU and ONE PLUS ONE

Sweepstakes runs until July 31st.

-Click here to enter for a chance to win.
 

THE IDEA OF LOVE by Patti Callahan Henry (Fiction)
Ella's life has been completely upended. She's young, beautiful, and deeply in love --- until her husband dies in a tragic sailing accident while trying save her. Or so she'll have everyone believe. Screenwriter Hunter needs a hit, but crippling writers' block and a serious lack of motivation are getting him nowhere. He's on the look-out for a love story. It doesn't matter who it belongs to.

When Hunter and Ella meet in Watersend, South Carolina it feels like the perfect match, something close to fate. In Ella, Hunter finds the perfect love story, full of longing and sacrifice. It's the stuff of epic films. In Hunter, Ella finds possibility. It's an opportunity to live out a fantasy --- the life she wishes she had because hers is too painful. And more real. Besides. what's a little white lie between strangers?

But one lie leads to another, and soon Hunter and Ella find themselves caught in a web of deceit. As they try to untangle their lies and reclaim their own lives, they feel something stronger is keeping them together. And so they wonder: can two people come together for all the wrong reasons and still make it right?

-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.
 

Jamie Brickhouse Joins Book Group for a Discussion of DANGEROUS WHEN WET
A few weeks ago, author Jamie Brickhouse joined Jennifer Ferguson and her group for a discussion of his memoir, DANGEROUS WHEN WET. Jennifer was kind enough to share some of the highlights of the evening, including some of the topics her group discussed with Jamie, how having the author at their meeting changed the conversation (for the better!), and why DANGEROUS WHEN WET works so well for book groups. She even shares tips for making the most of an author visit. And scroll all the way down to see a photo of Jamie and the group.

Andrea DeWerd on Her Casual (and Fun!) Book Group and Listening to Audiobooks
Two things we love here at The Book Report Network are book groups and audiobooks. So when we heard that Andrea DeWerd loves to listen to audiobooks of her book group's selections, we couldn’t resist asking her to tell us all about it! Here, Andrea shares some background on her group --- where they meet, how they choose books, some of their best discussions --- and explains why she started listening to books in the first place...and why she's hooked.
 

Tell us your current audiobook listening recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for both the performance and the content. During the contest period from June 16th to July 10th at noon ET, THREE lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win the digital version or a CD of both IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT by Judy Blume, narrated by Kathleen McInerney, and THE WRIGHT BROTHERS by David McCullough, narrated by the author.

To make sure other readers will be able to find the audiobook, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For complete rules and guidelines, click here.
 

A few months ago, we brought you a roundup of the Books on Screen that released from January to May. Entertainment enthusiasts know that there's still plenty of films adapted from books to anticipate in 2015.

This summer alone has already brought us Jurassic World, and we're still looking forward to Dark Places and The Fantastic Four in August. When temperatures cool later in the year, we'll have Everest --- based on a number of books about the 1996 Everest tragedy, including Jon Krakauer's INTO THIN AIR and Lou Kasischke's memoir, AFTER THE WIND --- as well as a darkly intense iteration of Macbeth.

We can look forward to movies about men with high-tech gadgets (Spectre, Jobs), impressive literary pedigrees (Brooklyn, The Light Between Oceans, Victor Frankenstein) and forward-thinking social politics (The Danish Girl, Carol). Not to mention movies based on books with built-in, eager fan bases, like Room and The Martian.

Check out our bookshelf here for our top 20 titles hitting the big screen later this year, and be sure to keep up with our monthly Books on Screen feature for a more in-depth look at the adaptations we'll be watching in theaters and at home.
 

DISCLAIMER by Renée Knight (Thriller)
I relish a good psychological thriller, and this is precisely what I got with DISCLAIMER, Renée Knight’s debut novel. In it, Catherine Ravenscroft has received a book in the mail. As she opens and reads it, she realizes that she is reading pages about a story from her own life. Detailed is a precise portrait of a very difficult time --- a time that unraveled her world and spun it around. She cannot figure out where it came from, as the only person who could tell this story is dead.

-Click here to read more of Carol's thoughts on the book.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review on Bookreporter.com.


THE SILVER SWAN by Elena Delbanco (Fiction)
I love when I pick up a book, and it takes me on a journey beyond its pages. That happened as I was reading THE SILVER SWAN by Elena Delbanco. It got on my radar as I heard that during Elena’s event at Politics & Prose in Washington, DC, they sold out of books! I had to see what people were excited about. It’s the story of a young woman, Mariana Feldmann, who is coping with the passing of her father, a famous cellist, when she learns a number of secrets about his life --- and the surprising plan for his Stradivarius cello. Elena writes about this subject with authority as her own father, Bernard Greenhouse, was a famous cellist from the Beaux Arts Trio. When he died, she sold his Stradivarius cello, specifically the Countess of Stainlein ex-Paganini Stradivarius violoncello of 1707.

-Click here to read more of Carol's thoughts on the book.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here for the guide.
 

July’s roundup of New in Paperback fiction titles includes Anne Rice's PRINCE LESTAT, a long-awaited novel that picks up where THE VAMPIRE LESTAT left off more than a quarter of a century ago; LOVE LETTERS, Debbie Macomber's latest book set at Cedar Cove’s cozy Rose Harbor Inn, a celebration of the power of love --- and a well-timed love letter --- to inspire hope and mend a broken heart; and NO SAFE HOUSE, the follow-up to Linwood Barclay's NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, in which a family’s troubled past is about to return in more ways than one --- and this time, they may not be able to escape.

Among this month’s nonfiction offerings are THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE by Jeff Hobbs, a riveting account of the short life of a talented young African-American man who escapes the slums of Newark for Yale University only to succumb to the dangers of the streets --- and of one’s own nature --- when he returns home; WATCH ME, a follow-up memoir to A STORY LATELY TOLD, in which Academy Award-winning actress Anjelica Huston chronicles her 17-year love affair with Jack Nicholson, her rise to stardom, and her mastery of the craft of acting; and I MUST SAY, Martin Short's witty, wise and heartfelt memoir of how a showbiz-obsessed kid from Canada transformed himself into one of Hollywood's favorite funnymen.

-Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of July 6th, July 13th, July 20th and July 27th.
 

The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

ALL THE SINGLE LADIES by Dorothea Benton Frank (Fiction)
The perennial New York Times bestselling author returns with an emotionally resonant novel that illuminates the power of friendship in women’s lives, filled with her trademark wit, poignant and timely themes, sassy, flesh-and-blood characters, and the steamy Southern atmosphere and beauty of her beloved Carolina Lowcountry.

DEATH AND MR. PICKWICK by Stephen Jarvis (Historical Fiction)
DEATH AND MR. PICKWICK is a vast, richly imagined, Dickensian work about the rough-and-tumble world that produced Dickens and is, like the great writer’s immortal novels, full of preposterous characters, shaggy-dog stories, improbable reversals, skulduggery, betrayal and valor.

THE IDEA OF LOVE by Patti Callahan Henry (Fiction)
From New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan Henry comes a riveting drama about the about the lengths we go to for love.

INSIDE THE O'BRIENS by Lisa Genova (Fiction)
From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova comes a powerful new novel that does for Huntington’s Disease what her debut STILL ALICE did for Alzheimer’s.

LOVE MAY FAIL by Matthew Quick (Fiction)
An aspiring feminist and underappreciated housewife embarks on an odyssey to find human decency and goodness --- and her high school English teacher --- in New York Times bestselling author Matthew Quick’s offbeat masterpiece, a quirky ode to love, fate and hair metal.

A NECESSARY END by Holly Brown (Psychological Thriller)
The author of DON'T TRY TO FIND ME returns with a taut, riveting novel of psychological suspense --- a domestic drama full of secrets and twists --- about a woman determined to have a child, her ambivalent husband and a pregnant teenager with a secret agenda of her own.

NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman (Fiction)
The #1 New York Times bestselling author’s ultimate edition of his wildly successful first novel --- about a young London businessman who is plunged through the cracks of reality into a world of shadows and darkness called the Neverwhere --- featuring Gaiman's “preferred text.”

NEWPORT by Jill Morrow (Fiction)
Following in the steps of Beatriz Williams and Amor Towles, this richly atmospheric, spellbinding novel transports readers to the dazzling, glamorous world of Newport during the Roaring Twenties and to a mansion filled with secrets as a debonair lawyer must separate truth from deception.

PLEASANTVILLE by Attica Locke (Thriller)
In this sophisticated thriller, lawyer Jay Porter, hero of Attica Locke’s bestseller BLACK WATER RISING, returns to fight one last case, only to become embroiled once again in a dangerous game of shadowy politics and a witness to how far those in power are willing to go to win.

THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs (Biography)
A heartfelt and riveting biography of the short life of a talented young African-American man who escapes the slums of Newark for Yale University only to succumb to the dangers of the streets --- and of one’s own nature --- when he returns home.

THE SILVER SWAN by Elena Delbanco (Fiction)
Rich in detail and so cleanly wrought, Elena Delbanco’s debut novel, THE SILVER SWAN, is a delicious read that dives into the romances and idiosyncrasies of the world’s top musicians --- it is bound to inspire excitement and plenty of discussion for any book club.

THE TIDE WATCHERS by Lisa Chapin (Fiction)
In the tradition of Jennifer Robson, comes this compelling debut that weaves the fascinating story of a young woman who must risk her life as a spy to help stop Napoleon’s invasion of Great Britain in the winter of 1803.

WHISPER BEACH by Shelley Noble (Fiction)
The next perfect beach read from the New York Times bestselling author of BEACH COLORS and BREAKWATER BAY.

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

THE CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF LIES: A Novel of the Great War by Jacqueline Winspear (Historical Fiction)
The New York Times bestselling author of the Maisie Dobbs series turns her prodigious talents to a World War I standalone tale of romance and intrigue --- to be published in time for the Great War’s centennial.

DARING: My Passages by Gail Sheehy (Memoir)
The author of the classic New York Times bestseller PASSAGES returns with her inspiring memoir --- a chronicle of her trials and triumphs as a groundbreaking “girl” journalist in the 1960s, to iconic guide for women and men seeking to have it all, to one of the premier political profilers of modern times.

DOLLBABY by Laura Lane McNeal (Historical Fiction)
A sweeping family saga of Southern eccentricities and secrets set against the backdrop of civil-rights era New Orleans, DOLLBABY weaves together the lives of five women who prove family can be found where you least expect it.

EYRIE by Tim Winton (Fiction)
Australia’s most decorated literary novelist Tim Winton brings to light the corners of humanity where hope prevails in even the most trying circumstances --- episodes that are by turns tough and tender, captured in scenes of unflinching realism.

THE REMEDY FOR LOVE by Bill Roorbach (Romantic Thriller)
Intensely moving, frequently funny, THE REMEDY FOR LOVE is a harrowing story about the truths we reveal when there is no time or space for artifice.

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.

US by David Nicholls (Fiction)
The highly anticipated new novel from David Nicholls, author of the mega-bestselling fiction sensation ONE DAY, which follows one man’s efforts to salvage his marriage --- and repair his troubled relationship with his teenaged son --- during the course of a trip around Europe.
 

Do you plan to discuss Harper Lee's GO SET A WATCHMAN with your group?

Yes
No
Maybe