T Is for Trespass
by Sue Grafton
Published 2007 by G. P. Putnam's Sons

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780399154485

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tresA pass 'trespes n: a transgression of law involving one's obligations to God or to one's neighbor; a violation of moral law; an offense; a sin "-Webster's New International Dictionary," Second Edition, Unabridged In what may be her most unsettling novel to date, Sue Grafton's "T is for Trespass" is also her most direct confrontation with the forces of evil. Beginning slowly with the day-to-day life of a private eye, Grafton suddenly shifts from the voice of Kinsey Millhone to that of Solana Rojas, introducing readers to a chilling sociopath. Rojas is not her birth name. It is an identity she cunningly stole, an identity that gives her access to private caregiving jobs. The true horror of the novel builds with excruciating tension as the reader foresees the awfulness that lies ahead. The suspense lies in whether Millhone will realize what is happening in time to intervene. Though set in the late eighties, "T is for Trespass" could not be more topical: identity theft; elder abuse; betrayal of trust; the breakdown in the institutions charged with caring for the weak and the dependent. It reveals a terrifying but all-too-real rip in the social fabric. Once again, Grafton opens up new territory with startling results.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 09/17/2007

The 20th Kinsey Millhone crime novel (after 2005'sS Is for Silence ), a gripping, if depressing, tale of identify theft and elder abuse, displays bestseller Grafton's storytelling gifts. By default, Millhone, "a private investigator in the small Southern California town of Santa Teresa," assumes responsibility for the well-being of an old neighbor, Gus Vronsky, injured in a fall. After Vronsky's great-niece arranges to hire a home aide, Solana Rojas, Millhone begins to suspect that Rojas is not all that she seems. Since the reader knows from the start that an unscrupulous master manipulator has stolen the Rojas persona, the plot focuses not on whodunit but on the battle of wits Millhone wages with an unconventional and formidable adversary. Grafton's mastery of dialogue and her portrayal of the limits of good intentions make this one of the series' high points, even if two violent scenes near the end tidy up the pieces a little too neatly.Author tour. (Dec.)

Twenty Wishes
by Debbie Macomber
Published 2008 by Mira Books

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780778325505

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Widow Anne Marie Roche owns a successful bookstore on Seattle's Blossom Street, but still feels empty. Anne Marie creates a list of 20 wishes, which leads her to volunteer at a school, where she meets eight-year-old Ellen. Soon, both learn that wishes can come true.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 03/03/2008

Macomber returns to Seattle's fictional Blossom Street of A Good Yarn (and others) for a hopeful tale of four widows who meet at 38-year-old Anne Marie Roche's bookstore. Separated from her husband after he refused to have a baby with her, Anne Marie felt certain they would reconcile-until he suddenly died. Lillie Higgins lost her husband in the same plane crash that claimed the husband of their daughter, Barbie Foster. Elise Beaumont entered widowhood after cancer claimed her husband. Together, the four make life-fulfillment wish lists. With Elise's prodding, Anne Marie decides to fulfill one of her wishes-do good for someone else-and becomes a "lunch buddy" to an at-risk third grader. Anne Marie, meanwhile, must deal with the reappearance of her adult stepdaughter, Melissa, who always held her in disdain. Elise mainly serves as a catalyst for Anne Marie's journey, but there is plenty of focus on Lillian and Barbie, who find purpose in unexpected and difficult relationships. Though stilted dialogue can pull readers out of the moment, Macomber's assured storytelling and affirming narrative is as welcoming as your favorite easy chair. (May)

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy
by Carlos Eire
Published 2003 by Free Press

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780743219655

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REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 12/23/2002

"Metaphors matter to me, especially perfect ones," Yale historian Eire writes in this beautifully fashioned memoir, as he recounts one of many wonderfully vibrant stories from his boyhood in 1950s Havana. As imaginatively wrought as the finest piece of fiction, the book abounds with magical interpretations of ordinary boyhood events-playing in a friend's backyard is like a perilous journey through the jungle; setting off firecrackers becomes a lyrical, cosmic opera; a child's birthday party turns into a phantasmagoria of American pop cultural icons. Taking his cue from his father, a man with "a very fertile, nearly inexhaustible imagination, totally dedicated to inventing past lives," Eire looks beyond the literal to see the mythological themes inherent in the epic struggle for identity that each of our lives represents. Into this fantastic idyll comes Castro-"Beelzebub, Herod, and the Seven-Headed Beast of the Apocalypse rolled into one"-overthrowing the Batista regime at the very end of 1958 and sweeping away everything that the author holds dear. A world that had been bursting with complicated, colorful meaning is replaced with the monotony of Castro's rhetoric and terrorizing "reform." Symbols of Jesus that had once provided spiritual enlightenment by popping up in the author's premonitions and dreams were now literally being demolished and destroyed by a government that has outlawed religion. The final cataclysm comes when Eire and his brother, still young boys, are shipped off to the United States to seek safety and a better life (another paradise, perhaps). They never see their father again. As painful as Eire's journey has been, his ability to see tragedy and suffering as a constant source of redemption is what makes this book so powerful. Where his father believed that we live many lives in different bodies, Eire sees his own life as a series of deaths within the same body. "Dying can be beautiful," he writes, "And waking up is even more beautiful. Even when the world has changed." Taking his cue from his beloved Jesus, the author believes that we repeatedly die for our sins and are reborn into a new awareness of paradise. How fortunate for readers, then, that by way of Eire's "confessions," they too will be able to renew their souls through his transcendent words. BOMC, QPB alternates. (Feb. 5) Forecast: The Free Press has high hopes for this exceptional memoir. With the right review, aided by the author's seven-city tour, it should sell extremely well.

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms
by Gail Tsukiyama
Published 2007 by St. Martin's Press

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780312274825

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The bestselling author of "Women of the Silk" and "The Samurais Garden" has written a powerfully moving story of tradition and change, of loss and renewal, and above all, of the enduring strength of family ties.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 06/11/2007

In her ambitious sixth novel (Dreaming Water ;The Samurai's Garden ), Tsukiyama tackles life in Japan before, during and after WWII. The story follows brothers Hiroshi and Kenji Matsumoto through the devastation of war and the hardships of postwar reconstruction. Orphaned when their parents were killed in a boating accident, the boys are raised by their grandparents in Tokyo. In 1939, Hiroshi is 11 and dreams of becoming a sumo champion, and soon Kenji will discover his own passion, to become a master maker of Noh masks. Their grandparents, Yoshio and Fumiko Wada, are vividly rendered; the war years and early postwar years, centered in their home on the street of the novel's title, are powerfully portrayed. Hiroshi and Kenji reach pinnacles of success in their chosen fields as well as in love, and while Tsukiyama's close attention to historical and geographical detail enriches the narrative, she isn't as successful when describing Hiroshi's wrestling career; the matches all begin to blur together. The lingering effects of war, on the other hand, are clear, and these, combined with a nation's search for pride and hope after surrender comprise the novel's oversized heart.(Sept.)

Vineyard Chill: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery
by Philip R. Craig
Published 2008 by Scribner Book Company

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781416535584

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The final installment of the popular Martha's Vineyard mystery series from late author Craig reveals the dark side of the off-season at one of America's celebrated vacation destinations.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 04/07/2008

Craig's final Martha's Vineyard mystery (after 2007's Vineyard Stalker), completed just before his death last spring, offers all the familiar pleasures his fans have come to relish-a swift-moving plot, appealing characters and beautifully described settings. In the dead of winter, retired Boston cop J.W. Jackson and his family are surprised by a visit from an old buddy of J.W.'s, Clay Stockton. Sailor, boat-builder, pilot and adventurer, Clay charms them all, but brings trouble in his wake. When two armed strangers later show up looking for Clay, J.W. steers them to the police for information while warning Clay, now employed by a local boat builder, to watch out. Meanwhile, the discovery of a bird's nest interwoven with the red hair of a young woman missing since the previous summer may implicate a bird-watcher devoted to J.W. in a crime. Three delicious recipes round out the volume. (June)

Shooting Star
by Cynthia Riggs
Published 2007 by St. Martin's Minotaur

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780312370275

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Victoria Trumbull, 92-year-old poet and deputy, has written a play for Martha's Vineyard's community theater. But when one actor after another drops dead, she hopes to finger the murderer through a cast of eccentric supporting characters.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 04/02/2007

Riggs's pleasing seventh Martha's Vineyard mystery (after 2006'sIndian Pipes ) finds her 92-year-old heroine, Victoria Trumbull, a poet and deputy police officer, becoming a playwright for a summertime stage adaptation ofFrankenstein. The amateur theatrical troupe-which includes such locals as DEA agent Howland Atherton (playing the monster) and high school student Dawn Haines (playing Frankenstein's bride)-prepares for opening night under the dictatorial leadership of artistic director Dearborn Hall. The production is beset by tragedy when its eight-year-old star, Teddy Vanderhoop, goes missing, and his neighbor, also an actress in the show, is found murdered. Demoralized by the death and disappearance, much of the cast drops out, but Dearborn insists the show must go on-with farcical results. Riggs delivers yet another irresistible beach read.(May 29)

Up Island
by Anne Rivers Siddons
Published 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780060176150

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REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 05/05/1997

Heroines who are beset by crises while trying to do their best by family and friends are Siddons's stock-in-trade. The appealing protagonist of her 12th novel (after Heartbreak Hotel) is Molly Redwine of Atlanta, who for two decades has devoted herself to her Coca Cola-exec husband, Tee, her two children--and the mythic concept of family togetherness. Now with 10 extra pounds bulking her statuesque figure and a nearly empty nest, Molly is devastated when Tee announces he's leaving her for a young attorney in Coke's legal department. When her manipulative, fault-finding mother suddenly dies shortly after they have had a rancorous conversation, an emotionally destroyed Molly takes temporary refuge with a friend on Martha's Vineyard--a terrain and atmosphere that Siddons evokes with insightful accuracy. Then, locked out of her own house by Tee's incredibly uncouth and presumptuous mistress, Molly impulsively decides to stay on the Vineyard through the winter as caretaker to two sick elderly women, the cancer-stricken adult son of one of them, two hostile swans and, eventually, her own father, a widower sunk in a deep depression. Naturally, this is the catalyst for a typical Siddons situation in which a woman whose life is in shambles finds love, security and meaning just where she least expected it. Siddons's main fault is laying on drama and complications with a trowel, as she again does here, especially in allowing Molly's mother to maraud in Molly's dreams. Yet her novels, including this one, are redeemed by her ability to deal with larger issues--here, loss of many kinds--while her engaging characters find their destinies in a suspenseful story. 250,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo; simultaneous audio; author tour; first serial and dramatic rights: Virginia Barber. (June)

12/01/1997 REVIEW: School Library Journal

YA--For Molly Redwine, maintaining her family is the essence of her existence. When her husband announces he is leaving her for another woman, her world collapses. The "other woman" quickly takes over Molly's social position, her house, and even the affection of her son. With the sudden death of her domineering mother, Molly is truly set adrift. Escaping with friends to Martha's Vineyard, she starts the search for her own identity. When her friends depart, she stays on in a small cottage. As a renter, she must also assume the duties of caretaker of two cantankerous old women who share a haunting secret, a gravely ill and estranged son of one of those women, and two territorial swans. Through the winter, Molly struggles to nurture them as she searches for a future for herself. As with most of Siddons's heroines, Molly is an engaging woman who battles successfully with adversity and remains unsinkable. The author's fans will be delighted with her latest novel and its setting.--Katherine Fitch, Lake Braddock Middle School, Burke, VA

The Falls
by Joyce Carol Oates
Published 2004 by Ecco

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780060722289

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REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 07/05/2004

Oates is not only on her authentically rendered home ground in this sprawling novel set in the city of Niagara Falls during the 1950s, she is also writing at the top of her form. Her febrile prose is especially appropriate to a story as turbulent as the tumultuous waters that have claimed many lives over the years. Widowed on her wedding night when her new husband, a young minister and latent homosexual, throws himself into the falls, Ariah Littrell, the plain, awkward daughter of a minister, henceforth considers herself damned. Her bleak future becomes miraculously bright when Dirk Burnaby, a handsome, wealthy bon vivant with an altruistic heart, falls in love with the media-dubbed Widow-Bride. Their rapturous happiness is shadowed only by Ariah's illogical conviction over the years that Dirk will leave her and their three children someday. Her unreasonable fear becomes self-fulfilling when her increasingly unstable behavior, combined with Dirk's obsessed but chaste involvement with Nina Olshaker, a young mother who enlists his help in alerting the city fathers to the pestilential conditions in the area later to be known as Love Canal, opens a chasm in their marriage. His gentle heart inspired by a need for justice, Dirk takes on the powerful, corrupt politicians, his former peers and pals, in a disastrous lawsuit that ruins him socially and financially and results in his death. Oates adroitly addresses the material of this "first" class action lawsuit and makes the story fresh and immediate. "In the end, all drama is about family," a character muses, and while the narrative occasionally lapses into melodrama in elucidating this theme, Oates spins a haunting story in which nature and humans are equally rapacious and self-destructive. Agent, Jane Hawkins.Author tour.(Sept. 16) Forecast: This is likely to be one of Oates's biggest sellers-its heft, striking settingand sheerexcellence should make it her highest-profile novel since Blonde.

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil
by Deborah Rodriguez
Published 2007 by Random House

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781400065592

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In the tradition of "Reading Lolita in Tehran," Rodriguez tells the story of the beauty school she founds in the middle of the Afghan city of Kabul, and lifts the veil of secrecy about the vibrant women who were her students there.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 12/18/2006

A terrific opening chapter-colorful, suspenseful, funny-ushers readers into the curious closed world of Afghan women. A wedding is about to take place, arranged, of course, but there is a potentially dire secret-the bride is not technically a virgin. How Rodriguez, an admirably resourceful and dynamic woman, set to marry a nice Afghan man, solves this problem makes a great story, embellished as it is with all the traditional wedding preparations. Rodriguez went to Afghanistan in 2002, just after the fall of the Taliban, volunteering as a nurse's aide, but soon found that her skills as a trained hairdresser were far more in demand, both for the Western workers and, as word got out, Afghans. On a trip back to the U.S., she persuaded companies in the beauty industry to donate 10,000 boxes of products and supplies to ship to Kabul, and instantly she started a training school. Political problems ensued ("too much laughing within the school"), financial problems, cultural misunderstandings and finally the government closed the school and salon-though the reader will suspect that the endlessly ingenious Rodriguez, using her book as a wedge against authority, will triumph in the end. This witty and insightful (if light) memoir will be perfect for women's reading groups and daytime talk shows.(Apr. 10)

05/01/2007 REVIEW: School Library Journal

Adult/High School -In 2002, just months after the Taliban had been driven out of Afghanistan, Rodriguez, a hairdresser from Holland, MI, joined a small nongovernmental aid organization on a mission to the war-torn nation. That visit changed her life. InKabul , she chronicles her efforts to help establish the country's first modern beauty school and training salon; along with music and kite-flying, hairdressing had been banned under the previous regime. This memoir offers a glimpse into a world Westerners seldom see-life behind the veil. Rodriguez was entranced with the delightful personalities that emerged when her students removed their burqas behind closed doors, but her book is also a tale of empowerment-both for her and the women. In a city with no mail service, she went door-to-door to recruit students from clandestine beauty shops, and there were constant efforts to shut her down. She had to convince Afghan men to work side by side with her to unpack cartons of supplies donated from the U.S. The students, however, are the heroines of this memoir. Women denied education and seldom allowed to leave their homes found they were able to support themselves and their families. Rodriguez's experiences will delight readers as she recounts such tales as two friends acting as "parents" and negotiating a dowry for her marriage to an Afghan man or her students puzzling over a donation of a carton of thongs. Most of all, they will share her admiration for Afghan women's survival and triumph in chaotic times.-Pat Bangs, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Dream When You're Feeling Blue
by Elizabeth Berg
Published 2007 by Random House

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781400065103

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From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "We Are All Welcome Here" and "Open House" comes Berg's superb new novel, set in the time of World War II, about the three Heaney sisters and the men they love.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 03/19/2007

A Rita Hayworth look-alike and her sister keep the home fires burning for young men going off to fight WWII in Berg's nostalgic tale of wartime romance and family sacrifice. Hoping her boyfriend, Julian, will propose before shipping out to the Pacific, beautiful redhead Kitty Heaney discovers not only is she not engaged, but she's enlisted as the delivery person for her sister Louise's engagement ring from Michael, her boyfriend, who has departed for the European front. Distance makes Louise's and Michael's hearts grow fonder while Kitty discovers independence through her job at a bomber factory. As the months go by, Louise learns she is pregnant and Kitty meets an attractive soldier (one of many the girls encounter) at a USO dance. As the young soldiers offer a range of feelings about war from humor to anger, wonder to despair, Berg (We Are All Welcome Here ;The Handmaid and the Carpenter ; 2000 Oprah pickOpen House ) captures changing attitudes toward working women and single mothers in this sentimental celebration of a bygone era.(May)

Little Earthquakes
by Jennifer Weiner
Published 2004 by Atria Books

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780743470094

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From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "In Her Shoes" comes a hilarious and warmhearted story of three young women who find friendship against the background of new motherhood.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 09/13/2004

In her first and second bestsellers, Good in Bed and In Her Shoes , Weiner came up with female characters so smart, lovable and mordantly funny that they reminded readers that Bridget Jones wasn't the first single woman to light up a bestseller list or the big screen-there were Sheila Levine, Mary and Rhoda, the Golden Girls. Now, just as the star-studded movie version of In Her Shoes is about to be released, Weiner delivers the interwoven tale of four new mothers who come to form a tight posse in contemporary Philadelphia. The heart of this third-person narrative is Becky, an overweight but thoroughly appealing chef at a chic bistro. Married to an adoring doctor and living in a cozy row house, the warm, nurturing Becky is the latest incarnation of Weiner's previous protagonists, as Weiner's fans will recognize as she rushes to help another woman who collapses into sudden, crushing labor pains after a prenatal yoga class ("Being in labor all by herself -no husband around, no friend to hold her hand-was about the worst thing she could imagine," Becky thinks. "Well, that and having her midriff appear on one of those 'Obesity: A National Epidemic' news reports"). The woman whom Becky helps is Ayinde, the gorgeous wife of an NBA superstar. Picturesquely if improbably, she, Becky and another expectant mom, perky blonde Kelly (who was also at the fateful yoga class and lent a helping hand) become fast friends. Eventually, Lia, a beautiful young actress who has left Hollywood for her hometown of Philadelphia in the wake of a tragedy, joins the group. For much of the story, Weiner, a wonderful natural writer and storyteller, renders her characters and their messy, sometimes wrenching lives in details that resonate as the real deal. In the end, alas, she slips in a soapy Hollywood ending. Still, this is a rich portrayal of new motherhood and a fun ride. Weiner's readers will root for her to trust ever more her ability to float between comedy and pathos, leaving the shallows for true and surprising depths. Agent, Joanna Pulcini Literary Management. Major ad/promo; 13-city author tour. (Sept.)

Hold Tight
by Harlan Coben
Published 2008 by Dutton Books

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780525950608

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The "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Woods" asks the provocative and terrifying question: How much do parents really want to know about their kids and how far will they go to find out?

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 02/18/2008

Parents will find this compulsive page-turner from Edgar-winner Coben (The Woods) particularly unnerving. A sadistic killer is at play in suburban Glen Rock, N.J., outside New York City, but somehow he's less frightening than the more mundane problems that send ordinary lives into chaos. How do you weigh a child's privacy against a parent's right to know? How do you differentiate normal teenage rebelliousness from out-of-control behavior? When and how do you intervene if suicidal signs appear? Other issues include single parenting; career versus family; marital honesty; and how much information you should share with a child at what age. Coben plucks each of these strings like a virtuoso as Mike and Tia Baye try to deal with the increasing withdrawal of their 16-year-old son, Adam, after a friend's suicide. A pair of brutal, seemingly senseless killings, punctuate the unfolding domestic troubles that ratchet up the tension and engulf the Baye family, their friends and neighbors in a web of increasing tragedy. The "this could be me" factor lends poignancy to the thrills and chills. (Apr.)

Honor Thyself
by Danielle Steel
Published 2008 by Delacorte Press

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780385340243

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A world-renowned actress falls victim to a terrifying explosion in Paris, and begins a courageous journey of survival, memory, and self-discovery, in Steels mesmerizing new novel.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 12/24/2007

Supreme spinner of romantic yarns, Steel (Amazing Grace, etc.), in her lamentable latest fable of female courage, fortune, fame and fashion, features Oscar-winning actress Carole Barber, who, at age 50 and trying to write a novel, travels to Paris, scene of a tragic love affair 15 years before. On her first night in the City of Light, she's badly injured during a terrorist attack, after which she is left with no memory and no choice but to rebuild her life with a new perspective on her career, family and personal relationships. Steel flirts with themes of motherhood, second chances and writing, never settling on any one for long as Carole discovers the importance of pursuing her own desires while being generous to others and of keeping the men she wants in her life close but not too close. The best part is Carole's rehabilitation; as she reacquaints herself with family and friends, Carole the patient shows the patience author Steel lacks to probe beneath the surface. Though the message is murky at best, Steel delivers a sympathetic heroine and a scene or two that makes the heartstrings quiver. (Feb.)

Duma Key
by Stephen King
Published 2008 by Scribner Book Company

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781416552512

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The #1 bestselling author delivers a new novel about a man whose near-fatal accident gives him access to vast powers of creativity--and destruction.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 12/10/2007

In bestseller King's well-crafted tale of possession and redemption, Edgar Freemantle, a successful Minnesota contractor, barely survives after the Dodge Ram he's driving collides with a 12-story crane on a job site. While Freemantle suffers the loss of an arm and a fractured skull, among other serious injuries, he makes impressive gains in rehabilitation. Personality changes that include uncontrollable rages, however, hasten the end of his 20-year-plus marriage. On his psychiatrist's advice, Freemantle decides to start anew on a remote island in the Florida Keys. To his astonishment, he becomes consumed with making art-first pencil sketches, then paintings-that soon earns him a devoted following. Freemantle's artwork has the power both to destroy life and to cure ailments, but soon the Lovecraftian menace that haunts Duma Key begins to assert itself and torment those dear to him. The transition from the initial psychological suspense to the supernatural may disappoint some, but even those few who haven't read King (Lisey's Story) should appreciate his ability to create fully realized characters and conjure horrors that are purely manmade. (Jan. 22)

Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
by Barbara Wertheim Tuchman
Published 1987 by Ballantine Books

Paperback, English. ISBN: 9780345349576

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Jacket Notes:

"Wise, witty, and wonderful . . . A great book, in a great historical tradition." Commentary

The 14th century gives us back two contradictory images: a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry, and a dark time of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world plunged into a chaos of war, fear and the Plague. Barbara Tuchman anatomizes the century, revealing both the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life as it was lived.