Author name: Library Love Fest

There is only one more week until Harper Lee's lost novel goes on sale, and anticipation is high! Be part of the conversation by following #GoSetAWatchman on Twitter and Facebook, and order your copy now.

Definitely check out this video, as well. Michael Morrison (President & Publisher, HarperCollins) and Jonathan Burnham (SVP & Publisher, HarperCollins) discuss their thoughts, and the coolest part – you get to see the book being printed! 

Is anyone using it as a book club book or community read? We'd love to hear from you. Write to us at librarylovefest@harpercollins.com.

– Annie  

If you liked Holly Brown's debut novel, Don't Try To Find Me, you are in luck because she has a second book on sale today! 

A Necessary End is a riveting novel of psychological suspense about a woman determined to be a mother despite a past full of secrets, a husband who’s nowhere near ready for fatherhood, and a teenaged birth mother with a mysterious agenda of her own.

story of thirty-nine-year-old Adrienne who has tried before to adopt a child, but this time, nothing is going to get in her way. 

Sure, her husband, Gabe, is ambivalent about fatherhood. But she knows that once he holds their baby, he’ll come around. He’s just feeling a little threatened, that’s all. Because once upon a time, it was Gabe that Adrienne wanted more than anything; she was willing to do anything…But that was half a lifetime ago. She’s a different person now. There are lines she wouldn’t cross, not without extreme provocation. 

And sure, she was bitten by another birth mother-clear to the bone-and for most people, it’s once bitten, twice shy. But Adrienne isn’t exactly the retiring type. 

Enter Leah. At nineteen, she bears a remarkable resemblance to the young woman Adrienne once was. Which is why Adrienne knows the baby Leah is carrying is meant to be hers. But Leah’s got ideas of her own. If Gabe and Adrienne let her live with them for a year, they get the baby, free and clear. All Leah wants is a fresh start in California, and a soft landing. Or so she says.

It seems like a small price for Adrienne to pay to get their baby. And with Gabe suddenly on board, what could possibly go wrong?

The latest CD in our Beyond the Book series has arrived! From the creators of Welcome to Night Vale, one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes, comes a novel of the same name. Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor have used their fictitious desert town where ghosts, angels, aliens, and government conspiracies are all commonplace parts of everyday life as the setting for two women whose lives converge as they try to solve two separate mysteries. 

This CD (which you can access via Soundcloud and which we are giving away at ALA) includes clips from the famous podcast, the authors discussing the roles of libraries in their imaginary town of Night Vale and original music featured in the podcast.

 Check it out and see what all the talk is about!

"Encompasses The Twilight Zone, Stephen King, and Twin Peaks, with a bit of Tremorsthrown in." —The Guardian

"Brilliant, hilarious, and wondrously strange. I'm packing up and moving to Night Vale!" —Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

 "There is nothing like Night Vale, in the best possible way." —Maureen Johnson, author of 13 Little Blue Envelopes and The Name of the Star

– Annie

Lucy Sanna's The Cherry Harvest is a memorable coming-of-age story and love story, laced with suspense, which explores a hidden side of the home front during World War II, when German POWs were put to work in a Wisconsin farm community . . . with dark and unexpected consequences.  In this recent piece from BookPage, Lucy describes how important physical setting is to her writing.  Many of the settings in the novel stem from actual locations in Door County in Wisconsin, where Lucy spent a lot of time to develop that particular sense of place.

WWII historical fiction fans will really enjoy The Cherry Harvest for its unique perspective on middle-American during the war, where many farms were left short-handed when all the men went off to fight and German POWs were brought in to replace them as field workers.

Also some great news for WWII buffs, Lucy will be attending the American Library Association conference next week, and will be signing copies and speaking about her book along with two other WWII authors, Bruce Henderson and Meg Waite Clayton.  Click here for more details and our full conference schedule.

We hope to see you there!

-Amanda

If you were able to attend the Shout 'n' Share Panel at BEA you heard several librarians raving about the book Spectacle by Pamela Newkirk. 

This nonfiction story reads like a novel and traces the tragic life of Ota Benga, a young Congolese man sold by slave traders to Samuel Philips Verner who then brought him to America to be featured in an anthropology exhibit at the St. Louis World’s Fair.

Two years later, Ota Benga was acquired by the New York Zoological Gardens. He was caged in the Primate House along with an orangutan, and displayed to visitors with a sign designating him “The African Pygmy.” Tens of thousands of visitors came to see Ota Benga. He commanded headlines from New York to California, and across Europe, sparking a firestorm of criticism and intrigue.

Spectacle follows Ota from Africa to St. Louis, to the Bronx, Long Island, and finally Lynchburg, VA., where, at the age of 32, he committed suicide.  It charts the evolution of science and race relations in New York City during the early years of the 20th Century, and much like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Spectacle reveals a little-known episode in American history.

Would you like a copy? We are giving away 5, so email librarylovefest@harpercollins.com to win!

– Annie

*EDIT: this giveaway is now closed

David Nicholl's novel Us got a lot of love when it first came out last year: it was a #1 Indie Next Pick for December 2014, the #1 LibraryReads Pick for November 2014, received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist, and, most importantly, was a particular favorite of our very own Virginia Stanley.  The paperback will go on sale at the end of June (heads up, book clubs!), but we also just heard some more exciting news!

Us will be adapted into a BBC mini series by playwright Nick Payne, the mind behind Constellations, If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, Wanderlust, and many more.  It's still early, so no word on any casting yet, but definitely keep your eyes peeled for what's sure to be an excellent show.

-Amanda 

Stephen P. Kiernan might be a familiar name to you because he wrote The Curiosity, which received numerous accolades in 2013.

He is back with his second novel, The Hummingbird (on sale 9/8), about a woman who must take care of two wounded men —one, her soldier-husband, just home from the war in Iraq; the other, a dying World War II scholar-historian who harbors a long-buried secret.

Stephen has dropped by the blog today to share the importance of libraries in his life. 

*****

When I was ten, a librarian handed me the Ray Bradbury short story collection, R is for Rocket. Over the next six months I read every word Bradbury had ever written, culminating in Fahrenheit 451. There’s a book to open young minds.

When I was twelve, a librarian suggested I try The Hobbit. I spent that entire summer lying on my side in the grass with Tolkien before me, one volume after another, rolling over to my other side when my wrist grew sore from holding my head up. 

…

Guest Blogger: Stephen P. Kiernan, author of The HummingbirdRead More »

Learn the tricks of the trade and get a treat from Diane Mott Davidson at the What's Cooking stage at ALA Annual!

Diane Mott Davidson is the author of seventeen bestselling mysteries featuring caterer/sleuth Goldy Schulz. Each Goldy novel includes recipes for scrumptious dishes from the adored character’s kitchen. Now Davidson has collected these treasured recipes and some brand-new dishes in one volume for the first time in Goldy's Kitchen Cookbook.

This June at ALA in San Francisco, Diane Mott Davidson will be at the What's Cooking stage in the exhibit hall (located mid 2100 aisle) on Saturday, June 27 from 11:30am-12:30pm for a cooking demo, Q&A, and signing.  As a yummy bonus, attendees will get to taste a sample from one of her recipes.  

If you can't attend the What's Cooking demo, Davidson will also be signing back at the HarperCollins Booth 3101 the same day from 1:00-2:00pm.  Don't miss out!

The American Library Association's Annual Conference is coming up soon, and HarperCollins Publishers has a lot going on!  Come see us in booth 3101 in the Exhibit Hall to meet all our great authors, and make sure to mark your calendars with the exciting panels and events happening throughout the conference!

Saturday, June 27

8:30-10:00am

HarperCollins Adult Book Buzz: come hear about upcoming Fall titles from the LLF gals!

Moscone Convention Center - Room 3006 (W)

RSVP to librarylovefest@harpercollins.com 

9:00-10:00am

Steven Pressman/50 CHILDREN booth signing

10:30am-12:00pm

Now Showing: 50 Children

See the Emmy-nominated documentary and participate in a brief post-screening Q&A with author/director Steven Pressman.

Moscone Convention Center – Room 123

11:00am-12:00pm

Shannon Kopp/POUND FOR POUND booth signing 

11:30am-12:30pm

What’s Cooking @ ALA

Featuring Diane Mott Davidson/GOLDY’S KITCHEN COOKBOOK 

Moscone Convention Center, Exhibit Hall, mid 2100 aisle

12:00-1:00pm

Bruce Henderson/RESCUE AT LOS BAÑOS, Meg Waite Clayton/THE RACE FOR PARIS, and Lucy Sanna/THE CHERRY HARVEST booth signing

1:00-2:00pm

Diane Mott Davidson/GOLDY’S KITCHEN COOKBOOK booth signing

1:00-2:00pm

PopTop Stage: WWII Faction: Experience This Historic Conflict Through Fact and Fiction

Featuring Bruce Henderson/RESCUE AT LOS BAÑOS, Meg Waite Clayton/THE RACE FOR PARIS, and Lucy Sanna/THE CHERRY HARVEST

Moscone Convention Center, Exhibit Hall, mid 1400 aisle

1:00-2:30pm

Welcome to Night Vale and Libraries—The Role of Librarians in the Podcast and Forthcoming Novel

Featuring Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, authors of WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE

Moscone Convention Center – Room 3011 (W)

1:30-2:30pm

Book Buzz Theater: hear about forthcoming titles from HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan, and Sterling

2:00-3:00pm

M.P. Cooley/FLAME OUT and Glen Erik Hamilton/PAST CRIMES booth signing

3:00-4:00pm

Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor/WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE booth signing

4:30-6:00pm

Beyond Genre panel featuring Shannon Kopp/POUND FOR POUND

Moscone Convention Center – Room 125 (N)

Sunday, June 28

11:00am-12:00pm

Kim van Alkemade/ORPHAN #8 booth signing

1:00-2:00pm

UFL – First Author, First Book panel featuring Kim van Alkemade/ORPHAN #8

Moscone Convention Center – Room 232-234 (S)

3:00-4:00pm

David Crabb/BAD KID and Charlyne Yi/OH THE MOON booth signing

5:30–7:30pm

UFL – Laugh’s On Us featuring David Crabb/BAD KID and Charlyne Yi/OH THE MOON

Marriott Marquis, Golden Gate A

 Call 1-800-545-2433 ext 2161 for tickets

Monday, June 29

9:00-10:00am

Read ‘n Rave: Come hear six collection development specialists rave about their favorite titles gathered from the exhibit floor.

Moscone Convention Center – Room 122 (N)

9:00-10:00am

Kate White/THE WRONG MAN booth signing

10:00-11:00am

Adriana Trigiani/ALL THE STARS IN THE HEAVENS booth signing

10:30-11:30am

AAP/LibraryReads’ Mystery Panel featuring Kate White/THE WRONG MAN

Moscone Convention Center – Room 122 (N)

RSVP to bworthington@publishers.org 

12:30pm

HarperCollins Publishers booth book giveaway!

2:00-4:00pm

UFL – Gala Author Tea featuring Adriana Trigiani/ALL THE STARS IN THE HEAVENS

Hilton Union Square, Continental 6

Call 1-800-545-2433 ext 2161 for tickets

 You can find out more about ALA's 2015 Conference here.  We can't wait to see you all in San Francisco!

Just in time for summer reading, Sophie Hannah's take on Agatha Christie is on sale in paperback. 

The Monogram Murders got rave reviews when it went on sale last September—starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal, praise from fellow mystery writers and acclaim from the Christie estate:

“Sophie Hannah’s idea for a plot line was so compelling and her passion for my grandmother’s work so strong, that we felt that the time was right for a new Christie to be written.” —Mathew Prichard, grandson of Agatha Christie 

Be sure to stick a copy in your beach bag!

– Annie

I know you are thinking, Annie – Peter Pan came out like a century ago. WTD? (that means what the deuce, btw), but for real you should immediately order a copy of this beautiful, amazing edition (as I did). 

MinaLima, the award-winning design studio behind the graphics for the Harry Potter films, have re-imagined the story and added full-color, all-new illustrations and ten removable interactive features to the text. There is a detailed map of Neverland, a croc o’clock with hands you can rotate to tell time, and Peter’s shadow, just to name a few.

This might be more of a personal purchase than a library one, but I wanted to share because it is very special.

– Annie

PS: Unrelated but also fun, who loves grown-up coloring books?

In The Breaking Point, the ninth installment of the Body Farm series, forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton is drawn into an FBI investigation to identify the charred remains of a body found in a plane crash. Is it Richard Janus, a maverick humanitarian whose daring airlifts to international disaster sites have made him a celebrity? And was the nighttime crash on a mountainside an accident, suicide or murder?

At the same time, Brockton must deal with a prior case that has come back to haunt him. A decade ago a serial killer named Satterfield came dangerously close to murdering Brockton's wife and son, and now he is sending the family threats. 

Worst of all, and what might cause Brockton to push the boundaries of his breaking point, Brockton's beloved wife has just blindsided him news that could tear apart his entire life. With so much pressure with Dr. Brockton survive or snap?

For fans of Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, and Karin Slaughter.

The Breaking Point is on sale June 9, so get your copy for summer-time beach reading.

– Annie

Lucy Sanna is the debut novelist of The Cherry Harvest, a memorable coming-of-age story that explores the consequences that occur when a Wisconsin farm community invites Nazi POWs to work the local orchards.

Lucy's book goes on sale today, so she has stopped by to tell us a little about it, and about how libraries have been part of her journey to novelist.

****

When I think library, I recall my own first library, the Mabel Tainter Library, built in the 1880s on Main Street in Menomonie, Wisconsin.

Lumber baron Captain Andrew Tainter and his wife, Bertha, spared no expense in building the memorial to their daughter, Mabel, who had enjoyed music and the arts during her short lifetime; she died at 19. The imposing stone building (which I thought of as a castle) was cool as marble inside—marble floors, marble staircase. It had hand-stenciled walls and ceilings, stained glass windows, fireplaces, brass fixtures, and walnut and oak woodwork. Though it was called a library, the memorial building was actually best known for its impressive theater.

…

Guest Blogger: Lucy Sanna, author of The Cherry HarvestRead More »

I am a big fan of Patrick’s first novel, The Sisters Brothers – highly recommend if you haven’t already read it. It’s a darkly funny and slightly odd take on old westerns.

Undermajordomo Minor is also wonderfully weird but in its approach to fairytales. 

Lucien (Lucy) Minor is sorely out of place in his village of Bury. Friendless and loveless, Lucy is a compulsive liar and a weakling in a town famous for producing brutish giants. Sick of feeling out of place and being unloved even by his own parents, Lucy applies to a job as the Undermajordomo of the remote, foreboding Castle Von Aux.

While tending to his new post, Lucy soon discovers the place harbours many dark secrets, not least of which is the whereabouts of the castle’s master, Baron Von Aux. He also encounters the oh so colourful characters of the local village-thieves, madmen, aristocrats, and Klara, a beautiful woman whose love Lucy must compete for with the exceptionally handsome soldier, Adolphus.

Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven says “Undermajordomo Minor wears a fairytale cloak, but at its wondrous and fantastical heart lies an unexpectedly moving story about love, home, and the difficulty of finding one’s place in the world. Elegant, beautifully strange, and utterly superb.”

Anyone interested in a galley, let us know.

 - Annie

If you haven't already found that perfect thriller to satisfy your summer craving, definitely turn your eye to Disclaimer by Renée Knight.  I am a huge fan of this remarkable debut novel, about a woman who picks up a seemingly innocuous book from her bedside table and discovers it tells the story of the most horrible moment in her life.  Disclaimer went on sale last week, and now everyone can join in this love fest!

One very exciting new fan is New York Times book reviewer Janet Maslin, who recently called it "the Gone Girl of the season," saying "Once the gears start moving, Ms. Knight switches her pace to a gallop and keeps the sinister promises her narrative made at the start."

Library Journal also shared their love with a starred review, saying "Deliciously captivating, brilliantly twisty, and enticingly addictive, it hits the trifecta for a strong thriller!"

Make sure you put Disclaimer on top of your summer TBR pile and prepare to be captivated.

-Amanda

 Martha (M.P.) Cooley launched her literary career with last year's Ice Shear, which introduced us to June Lyons, a police officer in the rust belt town of upstate New York.  In its sequel, Flame Out, which went on sale a week ago, June faces long-held secrets and obsessions when she digs into a 30-year-old case.  

Today we want to give a warm welcome Martha to LibraryLoveFest who's come to share her own love of libraries.

***

I moved a lot as a child, living in thirteen houses in the first thirteen years. The moves involved new schools, new friends, new parks, and always, new libraries.  My Dad was a person who slotted his library card right behind his license in his brown leather wallet, and he would take my sisters and I on weekly trips to pick up as many new books as we could carry, upping our visits to twice a week in the summer. 

It was those trips that made me a reader—a compulsive one at that.  When I started reading the Nancy Drew books I was a completest.  No skipping from book seven, Clue in the Diary, to book nine, The Sign of the Twisted Candles—I needed to first read book eight, Nancy’s Mysterious Letter. We lived in Auburn, NY at the time, and the librarian at the Seymour Library kindly ordered the missing books from other branches within the regional network so I didn’t skip even one. When I began to push for bigger reading challenges, they let me check out books in the adult section despite the fact that I wasn’t yet thirteen. Reading Stephen King books might have been a questionable choice for an eleven-year-old—although it is a testament to his storytelling that Salem’s Lot scared me so much that I threw is across the room—but I also had the opportunity to read Steinbeck, Hemingway, Daphne du Maurier and Agatha Christie.  Even today, when the internet means you can research a whole book without leaving the house, I have been enriched by libraries.  While researching my most recent novel, Flame Out, I needed information about the life of Ukrainians in the 1930s and 40s. I was pointed to a collection of oral histories that gave me a sense of the horror of living in a place where millions of people died every year from starvation and genocide in a way that traditional histories could not.

But these libraries give the community so much more than books they lend.  As a child, in a new place, the libraries give me a safe place to play.  Even now, I’ve had fun talking with book groups at libraries around the Bay Area, and got to see so much that they do:  movie nights for teens, story hours for toddlers, and even nutrition programs that combat food insecurity among kids during the summer.

At the end of my first novel, Ice Shear, Hale Bascom asks June for the hot spots in Hopewell Falls (a fictitious town based on the real city of Cohoes, NY).  June points him to the only hot spot she knows—the library.   

 ***

Thank you, Martha!  If you're planning on attending ALA Annual in San Francisco, make sure to stop by our booth 3101 on Saturday, June 27 at 2 to meet Martha—hailed by the BBC as “a writer to watch”—and pick up a copy of Flame Out, her latest June Lyons mystery.

-Amanda

The PopTop Stage at ALA conferences is always a great opportunity to hear from authors on all sorts of topics while you're in the exhibit hall.  This year, make sure to mark your calendars to come hear authors Meg Waite Clayton, Bruce Henderson, and Lucy Sanna discuss various aspects of WWII as told through their latest publications:

WWII Faction: Experience This Historic Conflict Through Fact and Fiction

Saturday, June 27

1:00-2:00

Exhibit Hall, Moscone Center (mid 1400 aisle behind booths 1428 and 1424)

The Race for Paris by Meg Waite Clayton: a moving and powerfully dynamic WWII novel about two American women, a journalist and a photographer, and the British man who changes their lives forever by helping them break the story of Paris’s liberation from Nazi occupation.

Rescue at Los Baños by Bruce Henderson: the incredible untold true story of one of the greatest military rescues of all time, the 1945 Los Baños prison camp raid in the Philippines.

The Cherry Harvest by Lucy Sanna: A memorable coming-of-age story exploring a hidden side of the home front during World War II, in which a Wisconsin farm community invites Nazi POWs to work the local orchards…with consequences no one could have imagined.

Don't miss out on this great panel!  And make sure to stop by the HarperCollins Publishers booth 3101 throughout the show for even more great titles and author signings.

-Amanda

Today we welcome a very special guest to LibraryLoveFest to share some exciting news.  Say hello to Jean Marie Kelly, publisher of Harper360, who has come to talk about Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and The Shed That Fed a Million Children.

***

One of the books presented at the HarperCollins adult buzz at ALA Midwinter earlier this year was The Shed That Fed a Million Children, about the founding of Mary’s Meals, a charity based on the simple idea that if you give a child one meal a day in a place of education, you can begin to change the world. They have programs running in 13 countries including Malawi, Haiti, Liberia, Kenya, and South Sudan. The book is going on sale on May 26 but today the organization reached a huge milestone: they are now feeding 1 million children every school day. And it all began with one man, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, and a shed in the Highlands of Scotland.

Last night I stopped at the store on my way home to grab some things for dinner: some pasta, a can of tomatoes, parmesan cheese, some salad fixings. The total at the register came to a little over $19.00. And it struck me that $19.50 is the amount that Mary’s Meals says it costs to feed a child in Malawi or Liberia or Haiti for one year. And I was going to eat that in one night! It got me thinking about the things I take for granted in our world of plenty. But what can I, one person, do to make a difference? I think the lesson from Mary’s Meals is that one person can make a difference. And that one person can influence another person and that person influences the next. And so on.

So tonight instead of having my dinner, I’m going to donate the $19.50 to @marysmeals and hope you will help me #feeditforward I will post about this on Facebook and I’m going to ask three of my friends to do the same. Hey, it’s a lot easier (and drier) than pouring a bucket of ice water over your head!

***

Thank you, Jean Marie, and a huge congratulations to Mary's Meals for feeding one million school children every school day!  Let's see if we can help feed it forward.  Please check out this link to learn more about how you, too, can donate to Mary's Meals and help provide food for children in need around the world.

-Amanda

Today is a day for reading! Or at least for getting copies of great books to add to your TBR pile. 

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson – all you Neal Stephenson fans, prepare to be excited because this is another amazing novel filled with meticulously researched science and speculative futuristic awesomeness. The Earth is destroyed with only a handful of women remaining, and 5,000 years later their progeny set out to reclaim their planet.

The Jesus Cow by Michael Perry – this is Mr. Perry's first adult novel. Known for his humorous non-fiction like Visiting Tom and Population: 485, this novel has the same very funny voice, and explores real questions about faith and love. Harley Jackson, a low-key, bachelor farmer, discovers the face of Jesus imprinted upon the flank of his calf one cold Christmas Eve and must deal with the consequences of sharing it with the world.

Disclaimer by Renée Knight – a remarkable debut in the vein of Before I Go to Sleep and Gone Girl, this is a brilliantly conceived, deeply unsettling psychological thriller about a woman with a terrible secret determined to keep it and the book she is mysteriously sent that could destroy everything in her life.

So many varied and excellent choices to pick from today. Happy Book Birthday to all!

– Annie

WANTED: YOU at the HarperCollins
Adult Book Buzz!

Stop by during visiting hours to hear about our stash of hot titles!

Saturday, June 27, 2015
8:30-10am
Moscone Convention Center
Room 3006 (W)

Refreshments will be served and seating is limited, so RSVP to librarylovefest@harpercollins.com today!

See you there!

 Virginia, Annie and Amanda

The next installment in the Faith Fairchild mystery series went on sale this week. In The Body in the Birches Faith finds the body of the housekeep in the woods near The Birches, a lovely summer cabin whose ownership is currently being hotly contested. The very valuable estate has been in the Proctor family for generations, and with this much money involved, it’s just a matter of time before trouble arises.

Meanwhile, Faith's own children are finding themselves in situations that could very well be related to the murder, and Faith must figure out who the criminal is before her family becomes the next target.

Get your copy now – it's perfect holiday weekend reading!

– Annie

Texas Rising is a thrilling narrative history of the Texas Revolution and the rise of the legendary Texas Rangers (anyone else a Walker fan??) who patrolled the violent western frontier.

In 1836 Texas was an incredibly dangerous place to be. But it was also a time of bravery, a time to die for what you believed in and a time to stand up against the cruelty of the Mexican army. Hence the Texas Rangers were born! A ragtag crew of men fighting on horseback, often outnumbered by as many as fifty to one. Yet under General Sam Houston they achieved victory against nearly impossible odds, earning a legendary place in American history.

Now, acclaimed Texas historian Stephen L. Moore’s Texas Rising, brings to life the Rangers’ heroic deeds during the Texas Revolution and on the Texas frontier. It is also the official nonfiction companion to the Memorial Day 2015 History Channel series TEXAS RISING (produced by the same team that made the Hatfields & McCoys).

So get a copy, read it, and then check out the History Channel for an education on this interesting time in American history.

– Annie

Fans of magic and mystery, rejoice! The next book from the author of Angel Killer is on Edelweiss and coming out this summer.

Name of the Devil finds FBI superstar, Jessica Blackwood, back in action at the center of a very strange and religious-themed multiple murder. Horribly mangled bodies have been found in trees and a church appears to have spontaneously combusted. 

Jessica uses her unique abilities to suss out a pattern that no one can see that takes her from Mexico to Miami and may or may not involve his eminence, the Pope. 

This is a fast, fun, action-packed read with more of the details about magic that magician, Andrew Mayne, wove into his first story. There is also more backstory on Jessica's childhood, filled with questionable adult behavior on the parts of her father and grandfather. And of course…Damien plays a large role in helping Jessica out of binds.

However, the most interesting part of the book for me was the character of Max who collects data. He has figured out how to tap into information that was housed on computers at the dawn of the internet, plane manifests, adoption records – forgotten information on old hard drives. It's a very cool (albeit slightly terrifying if in the wrong hands) concept.

Download an egalley now!

– Annie

My favorite book of the year (yes, I know we aren't supposed to play favorites) goes on sale today! Happy Book Birthday to Leslie Parry and her wonderful debut historical fiction novel, Church of Marvels.

If you haven't heard me rave about this then we haven't hung out recently. Set in turn-of-the-century NYC, it's the story of three characters on the fringes of society, desperately searching for love and acceptance and uncovering a lot of secrets on their journeys. 

There are side shows and lunatic asylums and opium dens involved and the writing is fantastic. 

Go get yourself a copy now!

Congratulations, Leslie!

– Annie

Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County is part investigative journalism, part sweeping, multigenerational family story, that reveals a little known event in American history: the period after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision when one Virginia school system—that of the author’s hometown—refused to integrate.  Today we welcome author Kristen Green to LibraryLoveFest to talk about her experience with libraries as a place of welcome and encouragement.

***

Parenting young children is always difficult, but it was particularly challenging in Massachusetts, a state of seemingly endless winters.

In 2009, I had just completed a stimulating graduate school program and was now home with my newborn and two-year-old daughters. I wanted to get out of the house every day—even bitterly cold ones—to connect with other people and get fresh air. But where to go? Restaurants, coffee shops, and stores were difficult to navigate with my spontaneous, sometimes ill tempered, children. I could feel the other patrons staring through me whenever we entered a business.

Then, it dawned on me to check out the place I had felt at home as a child: the local library. Cambridge’s renovated flagship library had just reopened.

I bundled up the girls and zipped them into blankets on their stroller, then walked briskly to the beautiful new library. Informed by a librarian that I was welcome to take my stroller inside, I smiled and headed for the elevator. At the third floor, the door opened onto a world tailor-made for children and their families. The ceiling was decorated in a canopy of leaves; the reading carpet felt like a bed of river rocks, only softer. The librarians had planned a full schedule of storytelling and sing-along sessions. Children ate snacks brought from home at child-sized tables and chairs. I could nurse in a private spot and change my baby’s diaper in a clean bathroom with a changing table.

Kristen Green's daughter, Amaya, searched for the Cambridge Public Library's oversized Curious George whenever the family visited the main branch.

I started taking the girls to the library every weekday. When we arrived, my eldest daughter, Amaya, would run up and down the aisles looking for the library’s toddler-sized Curious George stuffed monkey, then lug it around as we perused books. I would park the stroller next to the reading carpet while Selma, my younger daughter, slept. Then I would read with Amaya and watch as she interacted with other children, played with blocks and baby dolls, and colored on paper with crayons the library provided. On the reading carpet, we met up with friends, and we made new ones.

In this town where few indoor spaces felt welcoming to a mother of small children, the librarians embraced my girls and me, and even accepted their unpredictable behavior. Spending time at the public library kept me from feeling isolated and helped us to build community. All the while, books were the backdrop, offering hope that my girls would grow up loving to read as much as I do.

***

Thank you, Kristin!  Make sure you check out Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County, which Jesmyn Ward, author of Men We Reaped, calls, "Moving and clear-eyed, damning and hopeful: this is an essential read," on sale June 9.

-Amanda