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Books about libraries always hold a special place in our hearts, and Felicity Hayes-McCoy's The Library at the Edge of the World is no exception.  The author's U.S. debut follows a local librarian who must find a way to rebuild her community and her own life in this touching, enchanting novel set on Ireland’s stunning West Coast.  Check out the lovely letter below about how this book came to be and the beautiful Irish setting:

***

Dear Librarian,

One day, while eating lemon-drizzle cake with my agent in the café at the Charles Dickens' Museum in London, I conceived the idea of an Irish librarian who gives up her career for love and, twenty-five years later, discovers that her marriage has been a sham. What would she do? Where could she go? What are the consequences of ditching your life and starting off again where you began?

Soon Hanna, her difficult teenage daughter and her monstrous mother had possessed me, but the turning-point for The Library at the Edge of The World was the creation of my fictional peninsula. It's the physical world that shapes Finfarran’s characters, and their shared social and cultural inheritance that unites them to fight for their identity. I myself knew the magic of life in rural Ireland: I was raised in Dublin, and now divide my time between London and my home in an Irish-(Gaelic) speaking community which, while utterly modern, is rooted in an inheritance of storytelling; and my love of the particular colors and patterns of Irish speech comes from a lifetime of listening in two languages.  

I sketched the Peninsula on a paper napkin that day and thereafter the characters and the outline for a series of books came easily.

During one of her weekly trips in the Peninsula’s mobile library van Hanna realizes that “for millennia, written words had conveyed dreams, visions, and aspirations across oceans and mountains, and that, as she steered between puddles and potholes she was part of a process that stretched across distance and time, linking handwritten texts from Egypt and Mesopotamia with the plastic-covered novels, CDs, and celebrity cookbooks lined up in the back of her van.”

As a librarian, you too are part of this enchanting process. So I hope that, like Hanna, you’ll find a feeling of belonging in Finfarran. A sense of recognition. A desire to cross boundaries and embrace new colors, patterns and ideas. Most of all, I want you to enjoy the people and places you find there, and to keep coming back. 

Happy Reading,

Felicity

***

If libraries or reading have ever played an important part in your life (seems like a safe assumption if you're on the Library Love Fest website reading this) or if you want to live on the coast of Ireland, request the egalley now and dive right in.

-Amanda

HarperCollins is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year and we need YOUR help to celebrate!

Starting yesterday and running through April 30th, we have an amazing sweepstakes for librarians, with the grand prize winner receiving 50 books for their library!

What do you need to do? First, if you don't already have a 200th anniversary poster, email us, and we'll send you one! If you subscribe to Booklist, your poster is already on its way. Then, display said poster anywhere in your library. Be creative! Use it as part of a book display, take a selfie with it, throw a party for it. The possibilities are endless.

Then post your pic on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram using both hashtags #hc200poster and #SweepstakesEntry between 3/15 and 4/30. We will randomly select and announce two librarian winners by May 5, 2017. The grand prize winner will receive 50 books for their library plus cupcakes and swag! The runner up with receive 25 books for their library plus cupcakes and swag.

For sweepstakes rules, visit http://www.harpercollins.com/hcpostersweepstakes

-The Library Love Fest team

LLF wishes a happy book birthday to Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy by Nicholas Reynolds! Reynolds, a former CIA officer and curator of the CIA Museum, began researching a series of clues pointing towards Ernest Hemingway's involvement in World War II as a spy for both the Americans and the Soviets. Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy is the result of this groundbreaking research—part espionage thriller, part detailed portrait of one of the most revered and enigmatic authors of all time.

Reynolds was recently interviewed by Anthony Mason on CBS This Morning. You can watch that interview by clicking here.

Happy book birthday to Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy and congratulations to Nicholas Reynolds for crafting an incredible piece of non-fiction. We're celebrating by giving away a free copy to the first five people to email us at librarylovefest@harpercollins.com. For more details on the book, click here.

-Chris

You voted, and the results are in.  Public librarians across the country chose Miss You by Kate Eberlen as the #4 pick for April!

"Eberlen…excels in creating realistic characters whom readers will adore… [and] shines at keeping the story moving through 16 years of friendship, purpose, and love. Swoon-worthy." —Booklist starred review

“If ever a couple was ‘meant to be’ it’s Tess and Gus. This is such a witty, poignant and uplifting story of two lives criss-crossing over the years, with near-miss after near-miss… I couldn’t put it down.” —Sophie Kinsella

“Hugely enjoyable romantic comedy with a great premise…. Thoroughly deserving comparison with David Nicholls’ One Day (and I don’t say that lightly), this is commercial fiction of the very highest order.” —Alice O'Keeffe, The Bookseller (UK)

There's still time to download the egalley for yourself before Miss You goes on sale in April, so start reading and find out why everyone is crazy about this book!

You can find the rest of the April winners at LibraryReads.org.

-Amanda

Christopher Bollen's novel Orient hit the scene in 2015 to great critical acclaim, so we are very excited for his next book, The Destroyers—an explosive tale of wealth, deceit, and murder, perfect for fans of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley and Noah Hawley’s Before the Fall.  In additon to the great praise, Orient received a lot of support from libraries, so Christopher has stopped by LLF to share his experience and give a little taste of his next novel.

***

One of the exciting parts about setting a novel in a real-life place—and also one of the most daunting parts—is learning the reactions from readers who live there. My last novel Orient [Harper, 2015] was set in the very real-life place of Orient Point on the far North Fork of Long Island, and I have to be honest, I was nervous about the responses from locals. After all, I had used the beautiful, sea-swept town of Orient as the backdrop for murders, affairs, deceptions, and even the dumping site for mutant animal corpses. The strange thing is I truly loved my time spent in Orient researching the novel (I can imagine a few readers guffawing, “if this is how he treats a place he loves…”).

            Not long after Orient was published, I received invitations from libraries to come and speak at their book clubs or mystery groups or simply for their general members—and the vast majority of those invitations came from libraries on Long Island. Some were in the hamlets just outside of New York City in Nassau County, and others were located hours out on the East End in Suffolk County. Each time I said yes without hesitation, simply because, growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, my local library was an invaluable escape hatch for me, a rocket ship to everywhere built on the Dewey Decimal System. My hesitation was reserved for my drive out to the library, where I envisioned baskets of tomatoes—or rocks—near the entrance for patrons to throw at me in retaliation. I was sure there would be neighborhood cabals waiting for my car to appear in the library parking lot, ready for vengeance—this will teach you to set a murder mystery in greater Long Island! Each time, the very opposite happened. My library visits reminded me of what readers of literature are by nature: open-minded, empathetic, willing to entertain disparate, even conflicting, opinions, able to discern the difference between fact and fiction and yet sharp as to how each informs the other. I hope that I was an interesting speaker for my hour standing at the podium and talking to the crowd. I certainly learned more from hearing the audiences’ comments and questions and takes—particularly on the ending of Orient—than the attendants must have learned listening to me. Mostly, these conversations renewed my faith in the excitement and devotion of readers to new fiction being published. People showed up with lists of questions and observations, copies dog-eared (and need I mention these events were often held on gorgeous, warm days where a beach was in driving distance?). When you sit alone at a desk writing a book, it’s hard to imagine who will be reading your book at the end of the line. Those library visits proved to me that the communities of eager readers still exists (and special recognition goes to the Bryant Library in Roslyn, New York, who created a buffet of Orient-themed lunch items down to killer-bee cupcakes).

            My next novel, The Destroyers, is set on the Greek Island of Patmos. Alas, there is no library on Patmos that I’m aware of, and I can only imagine at this point what the locals will think of my literary thriller. I will miss the Long Island libraries where we could chat about more regional events. But I do hope to win over some of the Orient readers—there are still murders and deceptions, just a little farther out at sea this time.

—Christopher Bollen

***

Thanks, Christopher!  The egalley of The Destroyers is available now for download, so head on over to Edelweiss now to check out this vivid and suspenseful story of identity, power and fate, fathers and sons, self-invention and self-deception.  Enjoy!

-Amanda

Join the Library Love Fest team LIVE on Wednesday, March 15 at 10:30am EST to hear about some of our favorite upcoming genre fiction titles!

Do you like genre fiction?  Do you want to dive into exhilarating stories of action, romance, and fantasy?

Tune into the Library Love Fest Facebook page at 10:30am EST next Wednesday to hear Amanda and Chris talk about the upcoming romance, fantasy, sci-fi, and horror novels you should read next.

Nickolas Butler's LibraryReads-winning novel The Hearts of Men hits shelves today, and we could not be more excited to finally have this book out in the world.  In addition to being picked by librarians across the country as the #5 LibraryReads pick for March—and being a special favorite of Virginia's—this sweeping, panoramic novel from the author of Shotgun Lovesongs also received multiple starred reviews:

“Butler demonstrates enormous command over the material and sympathy for his flawed characters. This beautiful novel might be his best yet.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Across three generations and as many wars, this earnest novel explores the ways boys become men and how even flawed men may stand as models for the young… A well-paced, affecting read.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Butler’s latest delves into the meaning of loyalty and friendship, how some rise to life’s challenges while others fail… Fans of Butler’s award-winning Shotgun Lovesongs will welcome this impressive work with an outstanding ensemble cast. Top of the class for Butler on this one.” —Library Journal (starred review)

Because we love this book so much, we want to share the love with you!  The first 5 people who email us at librarylovefest@harpercollins.com mentioning this post will receive a complimentary copy of The Hearts of Men.  Get those fingers typing!  Otherwise, The Hearts of Men is available now on shelves near you.

-Amanda

Dear Librarians,

This year marks the 200th anniversary of HarperCollins Publishers. J. and J. Harper, Printers was a start-up founded in 1817 by two tenacious twenty-something brothers from Long Island. At that time, New York City had a population of 120,000, the average city employee made about 75 cents per day, and James Monroe had just been inaugurated as the fifth American President.
 
Even in its nascency, the firm knew how important libraries were to the community. In 1825, the Harper brothers rented part of their office space to the newly formed Mercantile Library, a forerunner of the amazing public library system that we Americans are so blessed to enjoy today. This was just the start of the outstanding relationship HarperCollins has enjoyed with libraries, now entering its third century.
 
As we celebrate this milestone anniversary, we wanted to take the opportunity to recognize and thank you – the nation's librarians – who have been, and continue to be, our critical partners in bringing together our authors and their readers. 

I invite you to learn more about the history of HarperCollins by visiting our anniversary website, www.hc.com/200, and following HarperCollins on social media. We have many exciting initiatives planned throughout the remainder of our anniversary year, starting with the launch of our website today. We also have a few special things planned just for librarians, including collateral, contests and more. If you haven’t already heard from us about our anniversary initiatives, I encourage you to reach out. Click here to help us celebrate and learn more about getting involved.
 
Here's to the next hundred years and beyond!
 
Josh Marwell
President of Sales

Hallie Ephron is the New York Times bestselling author of Night Night, Sleep Tight; Never Tell a Lie; Come and Find Me; and There Was an Old Woman, and is the mystery reviewer for the Boston Globe.  Hallie came by the offices to shoot a special message to librarians about her new book, You'll Never Know, Dear, an addictive novel of psychological suspense about three generations of women haunted by a little girl’s disappearance, and the porcelain doll that may hold the key to the truth.

Check out the video above, and once that and the insanely creepy cover have piqued your interest, go straight to Edelweiss and request the egalley.

-Amanda

What does the Library Love Fest team (possibly) love more than books? Yep, that would be ice cream.

What better way to celebrate our new Book Club Catalog than with a great big gooey ice cream cake?!

Though Chris and I pitched in, the bulk of producing this catalog fell squarely on Amanda’s shoulders. She pulled together a terrific list of titles for book clubs, went over this catalog with a fine-tooth comb, worked with a designer and got this puppy printed in record time in order to have it at Midwinter.

The word is out!  HarperCollins Publishers has TWO books on the March LibraryReads list, and let me tell you, you public librarians have great taste!

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck: Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined—an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Hazards of Good Breeding.

The Hearts of Men by Nickolas Butler: An epic novel of intertwining friendships and families set in the Northwoods of Wisconsin at a beloved Boy Scout summer camp—from the bestselling author of Shotgun Lovesongs.

We wish a hearty congratulations to all winners this month.  And to all librarians out there, don't forget to submit your votes for the April list by February 20!

-Amanda

I don't know about the rest of the world, but tomorrow New York City and the surrounding areas are supposed to be blanketed in at least a foot of snow.  Which promises a very boring day stuck inside.  Thus, here are a few exciting books that'll sweep you in and hold you close until it doesn't matter what the weather is like outside.  So without further ado:

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine: A mesmerizing debut psychological thriller about a coolly manipulative woman who worms her way into the lives of a wealthy “golden couple” from Connecticut, befriending the wife and seducing the husband to achieve the privileged life she wants. But expect multiple mind-blowing twists before you turn the last page.  Request the egalley here.

Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane: Since We Fell follows Rachel Childs, a former journalist who, after an on-air mental breakdown, now lives as a virtual shut-in. In all other respects, however, she enjoys an ideal life with an ideal husband. Until a chance encounter on a rainy afternoon causes that ideal life to fray. Sucked into a conspiracy thick with deception, violence, and possibly madness, Rachel must find the strength within herself to conquer unimaginable fears and mind-altering truths. By turns heart- breaking, suspenseful, romantic, and sophisticated, Since We Fell is a novel of profound psychological insight and tension. It is Dennis Lehane at his very best.  Request the egalley here.

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz: From the author of Moriarty and Trigger Mortis, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery.  A missing last chapter from the final book in a bestselling mystery series leads an editor into a quest of her own to discover the secret links between the manuscript and real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.  Request the egalley here.

I guarantee any one of these books will totally envelope you in their story, whether you're stuck inside or staying up late, just because you can.  Pick one (or three), download, and dive in.

-Amanda

Joyce Carol Oates’ latest novel, A Book of American Martyrs, has already received a starred review Library Journal and another from Booklist calling it "robust, relentless, inquisitive, and astutely balanced."  This whopper of a review just came in from Ron Charles of the Washington Post, and we couldn't resist sharing.  Check it out!

“Joyce Carol Oates’s new novel, 'A Book of American Martyrs,' arrives splattered with our country’s hot blood. As the Republican Congress plots to cripple Planned Parenthood and the right to choose hinges on one vacant Supreme Court seat, 'American Martyrs' probes all the wounds of our abortion debate. Indeed, it’s the most relevant book of Oates’s half-century-long career, a powerful reminder that fiction can be as timely as this morning’s tweets but infinitely more illuminating. For as often as we hear that some novel about a wealthy New Yorker suffering ennui is a story about 'how we live now,' here is a novel that actually fulfills that promise, a story whose grasp is so wide and whose empathy is so boundless that it provides an ultrasound of the contemporary American soul…. They are American families so separated by opportunity and ideology that they could be living in different countries, but Oates’s sympathetic attention to the dimensions of their lives renders both with the clarity we first saw in her classic 1969 novel, “them.”… For 'American Martyrs,' Oates has mastered an extraordinary form commensurate to her story’s breadth. The book is written in a structure fluid enough to move back and forth in time, to shift from first to third person without warning, sometimes breaking into italics as though this febrile text couldn’t contain the fervency of these words…. Although Oates’s Twitter feed leaves little doubt about her personal views, as an artist, she’s far too good to allow her book to descend into such polemics, and gradually the story moves away from that endlessly cycling debate between evangelicals and civil libertarians…. To enter this masterpiece is to be captivated by the paradox of that tragic courage and to become invested in Oates’s search for some semblance of atonement, secular or divine. Regardless of your own faith or politics, the real miracle here is how, even after 700 pages, we can still be racing along, steeling ourselves for the very last line, a line we’re desperate to reach — but not too soon.”

You can read the full review here.  This is definitely one to check out, people.  A Book of American Martyrs goes on sale February 7, so there's still a little time left to request the egalley and dive in before it hits shelves!  You won't want to miss out.

-Amanda

Colin Thubron's Night of Fire follows the preoccupations, memories, and fates of six tenants of a burning house, and this searing, poetic masterwork of memory went on sale earlier this month to rave reviews.  In addition to earning starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus, Night of Fire also received this fantastic praise from Ron Charles of the Washington Post: "Night of Fire may be the hottest novel of the year, but the real heat is generated by Thubron’s gorgeous prose and his reflections on the persistence of memory…. A profound and exquisite novel.”  

Today, I'm very excited to share a special message about libraries from the author himself.  Read on!

***

My love of libraries began in the great Pantheon-like reading-room of the British Museum.  Marx, Ghandi and Lenin were all readers here, as were Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf.  Astonishing the silence that reigned in that huge, echoing building.  When it closed down and moved, my heart sank.  Its successor was completed three times over budget and years overdue.  Prince Charles famously dubbed its reading room as better suited to a secret police academy.  But in fact it is superb.  The institution has quietly endeared itself to visiting Londoners, and its soft, open-plan spaces mute the noise of more than 1,200 readers.

It is a strange comfort to work here now, in a Britain where libraries have never been more threatened and depleted.  As local councils find their budgets cut, these oases of quiet civilization in the commercial high street disappear.  Every week another library or two closes down: almost 350 in the past six years.

In a lifetime of travelling, it is the fragility of libraries that most strikes me.  Fire, in the end, must be the chief enemy of the book.  The great library of Alexandria was consumed in successive fires over eight centuries, to our incalculable loss.  Among the ruins of ancient Pergamon in Turkey you may see no more than an overgrown stone bench from the 200,000-volume library of the Hellenistic kings; the great imperial library of Constantinople was periodically engulfed in flames.

My publisher has just brought out my novel, Night of Fire, wrapped in an artificially singed jacket, reflective of the fire that ravages the building whose tenants’ stories form the heart of the book.  If an apocalyptic fire should engulf our planet, this novel will be ready for it.  In fact the only library that may escape such a cataclysm is a Confucian temple I visited in the old Chinese capital of Xian.  There, over a millennium ago, a forest of eight-foot-high stones was inscribed in black granite, preserving the laws and songs of ancient China.  It is a bewitching and strange experience to walk down this avenue of words, which—in any final apocalypse—may be the survivor of all our written endeavors.

***

I think we can all agree on the importance of libraries, now more than ever.  Make sure you check out Night of Fire, on shelves now!

-Amanda

If you keep up with our Under the Radar, Over the Moon video series, you'll already know our fearless leader Virginia is in love with Amita Trasi's The Color of Our Sky, a sweeping, emotional journey of two childhood friends in Mumbai, India, whose lives converge only to change forever one fateful night.  But the love for this powerful debut novel doesn't stop there!  The Color of Our Sky just received a starred review from Library Journal, which says, "under Trasi’s deft hand a satisfying intersection of the stories emerges, with an emotional tone that resonates after the final page is turned."

Make sure you download the egalley and dive into this moving story today.  And if you haven't seen our January Under the Radar, Over the Moon episode yet, where Virginia raves about this book, check it out here!

Sign up for our newsletter to receive more videos like this every month.

-Amanda

Yesterday the Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2017 Edgar Allen Poe Awards, which honors the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, and television published or produced in 2016.  We are very proud that many HarperCollins titles are on the list:

Best Novel:

The Ex by Alafair Burke: In this breakout standalone novel of suspense in the vein of Gone Girl and The Girl on a Train, a woman agrees to help an old boyfriend who has been framed for murder—but begins to suspect that she is the one being manipulated.

What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin: The USA Today bestselling author of the Brenna Spector series returns with her most ambitious book to date, a spellbinding novel of psychological suspense, set in the glamorous, wealthy world of Hollywood—a darkly imaginative and atmospheric tale of revenge and betrayal, presumed guilt and innocence lost, dirty secrets and family ties.

Best First Novel by an American Author:

The Lost Girls by Heather Young: A stunning debut novel that examines the price of loyalty, the burden of regret, the meaning of salvation, and the sacrifices we make for those we love, told in the voices of two unforgettable women linked by a decades-old family mystery at a picturesque lake house.

Best Fact Crime:

The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle that Brought Down the Klan by Laurence Leamer: The New York Times bestselling author of The Kennedy Women chronicles the powerful and spellbinding true story of a brutal race-based killing in 1981 and subsequent trials that undid one of the most pernicious organizations in American history—the Ku Klux Klan.

Mary Higgins Clark Award:

Blue Moon by Wendy Corsi Staub: New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub returns to Mundy's Landing—a small town where bygone bloodshed has become big business.

The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd: World War I battlefield nurse Bess Crawford goes to dangerous lengths to investigate a wounded soldier’s background—and uncover his true loyalties—in this thrilling and atmospheric entry in the bestselling “vivid period mystery series” (New York Times Book Review).

Congratulations to all the nominees!  Winners will be announced April 27, so stay tuned!

-Amanda