June 2014

Yannick Murphy is the award winning author of The Call and her next novel, This Is the Water, will be coming to shelves near you in July. Get a behind the scenes look at Yannick's thoughts about her new novel and some of her summer reading recommendations.

*****

Q: In a recent summer books preview, the Los Angeles Times categorized THIS IS THE WATER as a “mystery/thriller”? Does that placement surprise you? How would you classify your novel? 

All fiction should have an element of mystery. It’s the mystery of not knowing where the writer is going to take the reader next that keeps the reader engaged. And it’s the writer not knowing how they’re going to solve their character’s dilemma that energizes the writing, because the reader can then feel the struggle taking place. Maybe that’s why This Is the Water has been categorized as a mystery. If the writer manipulates the reader too much, and takes them on an obvious journey, then there’s no real newness, no real mystery. If readers find the novel mysterious and suspenseful, I’m pleased—I take it to mean I’ve done my job. 

Q: As with your earlier work, like THE CALL where the story is told through a veterinarian’s journal entries, THIS IS THE WATER also tells a tale through a unique structure—in this case the point of view. At times, the reader sees things through the second-person perspective of Annie, a New England swim mother. At other times, the narration is omniscient, giving the reader the full view of all the characters and players involved, including a serial killer. How would you describe the point of view of THIS IS THE WATER? And, how did you decide on this sort of style and structure? 

…

Q&A with Yannick Murphy, author of This Is the WaterRead More »

Drum Roll, please! I am thrilled to announce that the Library Love Fest team has put together a website with almost 150 title suggestions specifically for book clubs. So, now in addition to HarperReads – our Community Wide Reading Programs site – we offer the…  

We have divided the books into several categories to make it easier to peruse:

    • Choice Classics
    • Back in Time (a.k.a. Historical Fiction) 
    • Literary Grab Bag 
    • Love & Loss 
    • Mull It Over Mysteries 
    • Notable Nonfiction
    • LibraryReads Selections

We encourage you to visit www.HarperLibraryBookClub.com and start planning your next meeting.

– Annie

The dead of winter.
An isolated island off the coast of Maine.
A gorgeous, haunted man.
A funny, sassy woman.
A sinister house full of history…

I totally ate Heroes Are My Weakness up in a day – what a fabulously fun read! 

Annie Hewitt is a down on her luck ventriloquist/failed actress forced to return to her recently deceased mother's cottage in order to search for her "legacy," which she hopes will prove enough to balance the massive amount of debt she owes.

Theo Harp is the debonair and vicious (or is he??) man of the manor who unexpectedly shows up and upsets Annie's whole life – just the way he did when they were teenagers. 

So much drama! So much hotness! So much miscommunication that drives the reader crazy in the best ways. 

Please download an egalley off Edelweiss. It's perfect summer reading.

– Annie

To celebrate the publication of the paperback edition of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman and William Morrow have created a special poster specifically for librarians.

If you’re planning to attend the ALA conference in Las Vegas later this month, be sure to stop by the HarperCollins booth (#502) and pick up a copy of this limited edition Neil Gaiman poster for your library.  A limited number of posters will be available each day of the conference.  Simply print out this page and bring it with you to the HarperCollins booth.

If you’re not attending ALA, fear not! The first 100 people to register here to request a poster will receive one in the mail.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

 In August, we will release a special video greeting from Neil Gaiman to readers, urging them to visit their local library.  This video will be available through LibraryLoveFest and Booklist Online.  Simply post this video on your library’s website, send a screen shot or link to librarylovefest@harpercollins.com and you will be entered in a raffle to win a year’s subscription to Booklist magazine.

This offer will launch in August, so be sure you’ve subscribed to our newsletter and liked our Facebook page to receive notification that the video is live and the raffle’s open to entrants!

Good luck!

Hope to see you in Vegas!

-The Library Lovefest Team

As some of you may know, Sophie Hannah has been chosen by the Agatha Christie estate to write the first Hercule Poirot novel since the death of the great Mystery Writer. The Monogram Murders goes on sale in Septemeber and it's going to be GOOD!

Sophie Hannah stopped by the office to tape a message to librarians. She is funny and charming, and that accent is fabulous!

So check out her video below, brush up on your Agatha backlist, and prepare for the most exciting mystery novel of the year!

 - Annie

As a former prosecutor and teacher of criminal law, bestselling author Alafair Burke is no stranger to the ins and outs of detective work and the inner workings of the court room.  In All Day and a Night, her latest novel featuring NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher, Ellie and her partner Rogan are assigned to a cold case that could free a convicted killer, and their search for new evidence leads to a secret that someone will do anything to keep hidden.  All Day and a Night recently received this stellar review from the Associated Press:

“Burke’s talent as a writer continues to grow along with Ellie’s character. Although this is the fifth book in the Ellie Hatcher series, there isn’t a better starting point than ‘All Day and a Night,’ which will keep the reader up all night.” (6/10/14)

All Day and a Night went on sale this week, so there’s no need to wait to dive into this thrilling mystery from “one of the finest young crime writers working today” (Dennis Lehane).

-Amanda

The months of summer are traditionally filled with vacations and travel.  Luckily, you don’t necessarily have to spend boat-loads of money to experience new places.  Check out these exciting reads that can take you all around the world from the exquisite comfort of your couch.

Gutenberg’s Apprentice by Alix Christie: an enthralling literary debut about the birth of printing in medieval Germany, told through the lives of the three men who made it possible.

Us by David Nicholls: a new novel from the author of One Day about a man who takes his family on vacation across Europe in an attempt to save his marriage and repair his relationship with his son.

Lives in Ruins by Marilyn Johnson: the author of This Book is Overdue! turns to the lives of real-life Indiana Joneses—the archaeologists who fight through swamps, jungles, and volcanoes to reclaim history for the rest of us.

You can download Gutenberg’s Apprentice today on Edelweiss, so go ahead and set off on your summer of adventurous reading.

-Amanda

Word has just been announced that The Queen of the Tearling is #4 on the July LibraryReads list! There has been such huge anticipation of this book, the first in a trilogy, and we here at LLF LOVE IT! 

There is still time to get an egalley on Edelweiss, so SUPER recommend that you read it immediately. And then spend the next year jonesing for the second one. 

It's also going to be a movie in the not too terribly distant future which is great. Emma Watson, the Harry Potter producers, an awesome script…what's not to love?

Enjoy!

– Annie

So, our brains tell us magic isn’t real.  That whenever a magician makes a coin disappear and reappear or reads our minds, we know there’s some trick, some form of misdirection he’s using to make us believe something otherworldly is occurring.  We know it’s not real, but we believe it anyway.  Enter Angel Killer, by real-life magician Andrew Mayne. 

FBI agent Jessica Blackwood believes she left her family and past as a rising-star magician behind after a life-threatening accident during a routine performance.  And she’s right, until the FBI encounters a killer whose crime scenes absolutely baffle reality.  A woman dead for two years is found half-way out of the grave, as if she’d been brought back to life.  A woman with feathers in her arms is found in the middle of Times Square, as if she’d fallen from Heaven.  Jessica must use her magician background and knowledge of the art of misdirection to figure out what’s really happening, to see beyond what the killer wants people to see.

Angel Killer was a self-published ebook bestseller, and I can totally see why.  The author melds his own experience as a magician with his family’s knowledge of FBI proceedings (both his father and brother are agents) to create a character who knows how to see what’s going on besides what’s in front of her eyes, and uses that knowledge to explain the unbelievable.  I was completely absorbed by Jessica’s unique thought processes, but the novel also pays homage to the mundane but vital inner workings of the FBI, an insight I also enjoyed reading about.  While reading, you’ll constantly be asking yourself, “how did he do that?!”  Sometimes you get answers, sometimes you don’t, but as with any magical trick, it’s the uncertainty and wonder that pull you in.  Definitely make sure to grab it from Edelweiss, and as an added bonus, you might just learn some of the carefully guarded secrets from the captivating world of magicians.

-Amanda

Let's send up a couple fireworks for Smith Henderson's Fourth of July Creek!  This literary debut is stunning, and if you don't believe me, just check out this awesome review from The Washington Post:

“The best book I’ve read so far this year… The product of more than a decade’s work, this richly plotted novel is another sign, if any were needed, that new fiction writers are still telling vibrant, essential stories about the American experience… Like those other ad-men-turned-novelists Peter Carey and Salman Rushdie, Henderson knows how to create the sensation that we’re being propelled through a story that’s just as poignant as it is frightening.  Infused with psychological complexity and lush with the landscape of the Northwest, the novel barrels along with the chaotic demands of Pete’s job and family, from crisis to crisis to quiet scenes of despair. At unexpected moments, the narration shifts briefly into the second person, placing us right in Pete’s life. And that larger story is interrupted by snippets of dialogue between two unnamed figures talking about the harrowing plight of Pete’s daughter. It’s a complex structure that could easily grow unwieldy, but Henderson choreographs these parts so masterfully that the novel is never less than wholly engaging… All week I was looking for opportunities to slip back into these pages and follow the trials of this rural social worker. The greatness of ‘Fourth of July Creek’ stems from Henderson’s ability to subtly tie the struggles of one ordinary man to the broader currents of American culture, both its blessings and its evils. The result is a story that is simultaneously intimate and grand, written in a style athletic enough to capture a spectacular range of harrowing events. These may be the End Times for Jeremiah Pearl, but they’re just the beginning for Smith Henderson.” -Ron Charles (6/3/14)

Fourth of July Creek is already on sale, so don't wait to check it out!

-Amanda