Just Let Me Lie Downby Kristin van Ogtrop
A tongue-in-cheek survival guide for working mothers
Every working mother knows that balancing work, kids, and everything in between is a constant juggling act, and Kristin van Ogtrop is no exception. With three kids and a national magazine to edit, van Ogtrop has taken matters into her own hands, putting together this tongue-in-cheek survival guide for the millions of women in the same predicament. Full of anecdotes, tips, and key phrases, van Ogtrop has created an entire lexicon for modern parenting to make the life of a working mother that much easier, not to mention funnier.
Dimanche and Other Storiesby Irene Nemirovsky
Seminal wartime stories, translated for the first time
Since 2006 when her daughter discovered her never-published 1940 novel Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky has joined the ranks of authors and artists who find their audience only posthumously. Prior to her untimely death in Auschwitz, Nemirovsky crafted what The New York Times Book Review called “some of the greatest, most humane and inclusive fiction that conflict has produced.” Dimanche and Other Stories marks the much-anticipated English translation of her collection of short stories. Written between 1934 and 1942, Nemirovsky’s vignettes provide a haunting depiction of France during the war years, and have been heralded as a major addition to the world of literature.
The Swimming Poolby Holly LeCraw
A searing debut novel shows a family falling apart
In her debut novel, Holly LeCraw has constructed a family drama so visceral it’s hard to believe it’s not an autobiography. In the wake of one married couple’s tragic deaths, each person connected to them faces their own demons in an austere Cape Cod town. Even in the midst of a web of affairs, LeCraw treats her characters with empathy, and Publishers Weekly writes, “It is a story of deep and searing love, between siblings and lovers, but most powerfully, between parents and their children.”
Nowhere to Runby C.J. Box
C.J. Box is in top form with his riveting new Joe Pickett novel
It takes a certain kind of crime writer to make a story as psychologically complex as it is nail-biting, and with the 10th book featuring small town warden Joe Pickett, C.J. Box has mastered the form. In Nowhere to Run, the longtime policeman heads out on a routine patrol in the Wyoming mountains, only to encounter something far more sinister than he could have possibly anticipated that quickly unravels a chain of murders and conspiracy, simultaneously revealing the complicated dynamics of life in a town that is glorified wilderness. “Box inexorably builds Joe's harrowing personal quest into a complex meditation on human greed and government corruption,” raves Publishers Weekly.
Nothing Happened and Then It Did: A Chronicle in Fact and Fictionby Jake Silverstein
A provocative mix of fiction and fact, but all great stories
A few years ago, Jake Silverstein, editor of Texas Monthly, set off into the desert (and into the swamps of Louisiana; and the dilapidated hotels of Reno, Nevada) and came out with the tales that make up his new book, Nothing Happened and Then It Did. Some of Silverstein’s stories, like that of an amateur poetry contest, are true. Others, like a hunt for lost bayou treasure, are fictional. You soon realize he is using both approaches to pin down these mythic places—to lead toward a greater truth, wherever it may reside. Silverstein is a hugely talented storyteller, and this collection is big-time.
Plus: Check out Book Beast, for more news on hot titles and authors and excerpts from the latest books.
