October 2018

In Heirloom Kitchen, Anna Francese Gass, a regular contributing editor at Food52.com and contributing writer for msn.com, brings together the stories and dishes of forty strong, exceptional women—all immigrants to the United States—whose heirloom recipes have helped shape the landscape of American food. On the latest podcast episode of Editors Unedited, Anna sat down with her editor at Harper Design, Cristina Garces, to discuss Heirloom Kitchen.

Born in Italy, Anna Francese Gass came to the United States as a young child and grew up eating her mother’s Italian cooking. But when this professional cook realized she did not know how to make her family’s beloved meatballs—a recipe that existed only in her mother’s memory—Anna embarked on a project to record and preserve her mother’s recipes for generations to come.

In addition to her recipes, Anna’s mother shared stories from her life in Italy that her daughter had never heard before, fascinating tales that whetted Anna’s appetite to learn more. So, Anna began reaching out to her friends whose mothers were also immigrants, and soon she was cooking with dozens of women who were eager to share their unique memories and the foods of their homelands.

Accented with 175 photographs, including food shots, old family photographs, and ephemera of the cooks’ first years in America—such as Soon’s recipe book pristinely handwritten in Korean or the measuring cup Anke tucked into her suitcase before leaving Germany—Heirloom Kitchen is a testament to female empowerment and strength, perseverance, diversity, and inclusivity. It is a warm and inspiring reminder that the story of immigrant food is, at its core, a story of America.

Be sure to check out Anna's website for a sneak peek at some of these recipes (YUM!) and listen to our latest episode of Editors Unedited to hear more about the inspiring women in Heirloom Kitchen, out on April 9, 2019.

-Lainey

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is America’s Best-Loved Novel!

October 24, 2018

The grand finale episode of The Great American Read aired on PBS on Tuesday (10/23), counting down America’s 100 favorite novels and, after more than 4 million votes, To Kill a Mockingbird was named America’s best-loved novel! The finale was part of an eight-episode series that explored and celebrated the power of reading; you can watch it here.

One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father—a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

We also have a new illustrated version of Harper Lee's classic tale, To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel illustrated by Fred Fordham, coming out next week (10/30)!

Thanks to everyone who voted! We are giving away copies to the first 10 people who email librarylovefest@harpercollins.com.

-Lainey

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Happy Book Birthday to MARILLA OF GREEN GABLES by Sarah McCoy!

October 23, 2018

The day is finally here! Sarah McCoy's Marilla of Green Gables is officially available!

Based on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s famous Anne of Green Gables series, Marilla of Green Gables illuminates the early life of one of the most beloved women in 20th century literature, Marilla Cuthbert. We first meet Marilla Cuthbert as a spinster, running a farm in rural Prince Edward Island with her unmarried brother, Matthew. Who was she as a young woman? Why did she never marry? Marilla's early life was only hinted at, until now. Anne fans will finally get to hear Marilla's story: why she fought with her beau, John Blythe, why she stayed at Green Gables with her brother, and ultimately, how Marilla and Matthew decided to take in a red-headed orphan that would change their lives forever. Sarah McCoy brings it into full flower with this marvelously entertaining and moving novel.

Check out some of the rave reviews!

“Another girl once came of age at Green Gables. Spunky, smart, buffeted by tides of duty and ambition, loss and love, young Marilla finds her voice in Sarah McCoy’s beautiful rendering of a beloved place, a complex woman, and a long-ago time. Deftly and tenderly told, Marilla of Green Gables is a must read for anyone who adored Avonlea and Anne and ever wondered, what came before?”
—Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours

“L.M. Montgomery’s Marilla Cuthbert flares to life in Sarah McCoy’s enchanting novel of Avonlea. Her story of wrenching family sacrifice and the enduring pleasures of home, is as much a love letter to the world of Green Gables as it is a breath of fresh air. Hats off to McCoy for enlivening this classic with such heart and grace.”
—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin

Be sure to check out our interview with Sarah McCoy on our podcast, below!

In celebration of this wonderful day, the Library Love Fest team brought in a birthday cake for Marilla, joined by a few book friends.

We are giving away finished copies to the first 10 people to email librarylovefest@harpercollins.com.

Congratulations, Sarah!

-Lainey

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BABY, YOU’RE GONNA BE MINE by Kevin Wilson Gets a Stellar Review from Ann Patchett!

October 16, 2018

When asked about her favorite new Fall books on the Today Show, Ann Patchett—New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth—picked Kevin Wilson's Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine. She exclaimed: “Hands down my favorite book of the year…It should win the Pulitzer!” WOW! What a recommendation! Watch the full video here!

Kevin Wilson's first story collection in nearly a decade, Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine, combines his signature quirkiness with his keen eye for emotional complexity to explore the fraught relationship between parents and children.

“Wildfire Johnny” is the story of a man who discovers a magic razor that allows him to travel back in time. And “Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine,” the title story, is about a narcissistic rock star who moves back home during a rough patch. The stories all build on each other in strange and remarkable ways, showcasing Wilson’s crackling wit and big heart.

Filled with imagination, humor, and wit, Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine is an exuberant collection of captivating and charmingly bizarre stories that promise to burrow their way into your heart and soul.

Check out some more rave (and starred!) reviews that this book has received:

“Saying it’s as good as Tunneling to the Center of the Earth doesn’t do it justice….Wilson never moralizes, much less sensationalizes, any predicament he sketches; rather he makes us feel and wonder at the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”
—Booklist review

“Wilson triumphantly returns to short stories….Evocative, compassionate, and exquisitely composed stories about the human condition.”
—Kirkus Reviews review

Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine is available now! In celebration of these amazing reviews, we are giving away finished copies to the first 10 people that email librarylovefest@harpercollins.com!

-Lainey

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A Presentation from Juliet Grames, Author of THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA

October 12, 2018

Juliet Grames—Associate Publisher at Soho Press—has written a stunning debut novel, The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna, about a young woman telling the story behind two elderly sisters’ estrangement, unraveling family secrets stretching back a century and across the Atlantic to early twentieth-century Italy.

For Stella Fortuna, death has always been a part of life. Stella’s childhood is full of strange, life-threatening incidents—moments when ordinary situations like cooking eggplant or feeding the pigs inexplicably take lethal turns. Even Stella’s own mother is convinced that her daughter is cursed or haunted.

In present-day Connecticut, one family member tells this heartrending story, determined to understand the persisting rift between the elderly Stella and her sister, Tina. A richly told debut, The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna is a tale of family transgressions as ancient and twisted as the olive branch that could heal them.

The Library Love Fest team recently hosted an event featuring Juliet Grames, who talked about the inspiration behind her novel—the yearning to preserve the memory of her grandmother.

Be sure to watch Juliet's presentation below and check out The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna, out on May 7, 2019!

-Lainey

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HarperCollins Guide to LibraryReads Voting on Edelweiss

October 12, 2018

Dear public librarians, important question: do you participate in LibraryReads? If you're unfamiliar with the program, LibraryReads is the monthly nationwide library staff picks list for adult fiction and non-fiction. It is a wonderful readers advisory and collection development tool AND any staff at a public library can participate! You can visit their website—www.LibraryReads.org—to learn more!

If you've ever had a question about LibraryReads or how to submit your votes, we have you covered! We've put together a wealth of resources to help. Lainey Mays, library marketing assistant at HarperCollins, traveled to BookOps in Long Island City, NY, to interview Stephanie Anderson, Assistant Director of Selection for BookOps and Chair of the LibraryReads Steering Committee, to discuss LibraryReads and how to vote on Edelweiss. You can watch the walk-through below or listen to the podcast episode. We also put together a handy printable guide, which you can download here.

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A Look Inside Matt Gutman’s THE BOYS IN THE CAVE

October 11, 2018

After a practice in June 2018, a Thai soccer coach took a dozen of his young players to explore a famous but flood-prone cave. It was one of the boys’ birthday, but neither he nor the dozen resurfaced. Worried parents and rescuers flocked to the mouth of a cave that seemed to have swallowed the boys without a trace. Ranging in age from eleven to sixteen, the boys were all members of the Wild Boars soccer team. When water unexpectedly inundated the cave, blocking their escape, they retreated deeper inside, taking shelter in a side cavern. While the world feared them dead, the thirteen young souls survived by licking the condensation off the cave’s walls, meditating, and huddling together for warmth.

Matt Gutman, Chief National Correspondent for ABC News, covered the rescue of the Thai soccer team on the ground in Thailand and returned to report on the story behind the story in The Boys in the Cave. Matt covered the story intensively, went deep inside the caves himself, and interviewed dozens of rescuers, experts, and eye-witnesses around the world. The result is this pulse-pounding page-turner that vividly recreates this extraordinary event in all its intensity—and documents the ingenuity and sacrifice it took to succeed.

Aspects Matt covers in The Boys in the Cave include:

-The miraculous rescue that was almost fatal: As Gutman reports for the first time, two of the boys nearly died during the rescue. One stopped breathing under sedation multiple times, forcing the divers to cradle him in the mud to keep his airway open. The other nearly died of hypothermia when his rescuer became hopelessly lost in the cave.

-An inside look at the cave with the rescue team: Through exclusive access to the rescuers, Gutman brings readers inside the cave with the divers, detailing what they saw, heard, and smelled as they worked to free the boys.

-The sedation of the boys: For the first time, Gutman details the dangerous sedation of the boys during each of the rescue dives, in which a cocktail of sedatives was used that left the boys comatose.

-The frantic early moments in the cave: Through exclusive reporting from the boys, their parents, and the first search teams on the scene, Gutman details the chaotic initial hours after the boys went missing and the boys’ first terrifying night.

Hear Matt talk about the book below!

Make sure to check out The Boys in the Cave, out on November 13, 2018.

-Lainey

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A Letter from Etaf Rum, Author of A WOMAN IS NO MAN

October 9, 2018

In a powerful debut novel, Etaf Rum tells the story of three generations of Palestinian-American women struggling to express their individual desires within the confines of their Arab culture in the wake of shocking intimate violence in their community—a story that is both culturally specific and one that resonates with the universal female experiences of silencing and shame.

Set in an America at once foreign to many and staggeringly close at hand, A Woman Is No Man is a story of culture and honor, secrets and betrayals, love and violence. It is an intimate glimpse into a controlling and closed cultural world, and a universal tale about family and the ways silence and shame can destroy those we have sworn to protect.

This is such a heartfelt story that needs to be heard. We are so excited to share a wonderful letter from the author.

***

Dear Reader,

When I started writing A Woman Is No Man, I was constantly swallowed by fear. Telling this story meant challenging many long-held beliefs in my community and violating our code of silence. I thought, Who am I to say this? Who am I to tell this story? Surely I’ll only upset people and fuel further discrimination against a community that’s already stereotyped by a single story. It would be the ultimate shame.

Most of all I was afraid of disappointing my community if I didn’t filter my own experiences. I knew that as long as I stayed away from controversial topics like arranged marriages and domestic abuse, no one would criticize me or call me a traitor. No one would shun me. No one would try to hurt me. Perhaps these fears are why there aren’t many Arab-American women on bookshelves, why, whenever I search for our stories in bookstores and libraries, I cannot find them.

But censoring myself out of fear would have resulted in a story that didn’t reflect the realities of my world. A story that carefully nudged problems and discriminations aside so as not to upset anyone. A story that was filtered, safe, uncontroversial. But most of all, a story with a voice that was inauthentic.

In my many moments of fear and uncertainty while writing this book, I searched for inspiration from brave women like Maya Angelou and Malala Yousafzai and Audre Lorde. I pushed myself to keep writing until I finally understood Lorde when she said, “Your silence will not protect you.” It is through these women’s courage that I wrote A Woman Is No Man.

Growing up, I was taught that there were limits to what women could do in society. Whenever I expressed a desire to step outside the prescribed path of marriage and motherhood, I was reminded over and over again: a woman is no man. And yet later I realized this was also my strength: I began to see the ways the women around me were unique from men in their ability to juggle the demands of culture, family, relationships, and parenting. Though I refuse to turn away from the deeply complicated and sometimes dark aspects of traditional Arab culture, what I hope people from both inside and outside my community see when they read this novel is the strength and resiliency of our women.

Sincerely,

Etaf Rum

***

Be sure to download an egalley of A Woman Is No Man, coming out March 5, 2019. Also be sure to check out Etaf's beautiful Instagram account—@booksandbeans.

-Lainey

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Happy Book Birthday to NOVEMBER ROAD by Lou Berney!

October 9, 2018

It's here, it's finally here! November Road, the latest novel from Lou Berney, is on sale today! If you haven't yet read this propulsive and masterful crime thriller from the Edgar Award-winning author of The Long and Faraway Gone, now is the time. Set against the assassination of JFK and following a young mother, her two daughters, and a desperate mob lieutenant on the run across America, November Road delivers the most complete and absorbing reading experience you'll have all year. This is THE breakout novel of the fall. Just check out the FOUR starred reviews below!

"Berney’s gentle, descriptive writing brilliantly reflects these times of both disillusionment and hope."
—Kirkus Reviews review

"Edgar-winner Berney (The Long and Faraway Gone) takes a familiar plot in unexpected directions in this moving novel…. This is much more than just another conspiracy thriller."
—Publishers Weekly review

"With depth and genre crossover appeal, this literary crime thriller will please fans of Dennis Lehane or George Pelecanos and also satisfy a wider audience."
—Library Journal review

"Berney bends his notes exquisitely, playing with the melody, building his marvelously rich characters while making us commit completely to the love story, even though we hear the melancholy refrain and see the noir cloud lurking in the sky. Pitch-perfect fiction."
—Booklist review

If you'd like to learn more about the story behind this novel, I sat down with Lou for an interview at ALA Annual in New Orleans (where the novel partially takes place!) Give it a listen below! You can also read Lou's superb behind-the-book essay here.

To celebrate the occasion, we'll give away a copy of November Road to the first 10 librarians to email us at librarylovefest@harpercollins.com. You can also get a copy of the book here.

-Chris

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Get Swept Away by These Exciting New Fall Romances

October 1, 2018

We have a lot of great romantic reads coming up this Fall. Here's a list of all the titles that were included in our Library Journal 2018 Fall Romance Ad.

99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne

Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Ryan

Moonlight Scandals by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Other Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

This Scot of Mine by Sophie Jordan

Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler

Governess Gone Rogue by Laura Lee Guhrke

Playing for Keeps by Jill Shalvis

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian

To Wed an Heiress by Karen Ranney

Christmas on the Island by Jenny Colgan

Highland Ever After by Maya Banks