New Books! 5/5/15

New in Hardback

Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry

New York, 1895. Sylvan Threadgill, a night-soiler cleaning out the privies behind the tenement houses, finds an abandoned newborn baby in the muck. An orphan himself, Sylvan rescues the child, determined to find where she belongs. Odile Church and her beautiful sister, Belle, were raised amid the applause and magical pageantry of the Church of Marvels, their mother’s spectacular Coney Island sideshow. But the Church has burnt to the ground, their mother dead in its ashes. Now Belle, the family’s star, has vanished into the bowels of Manhattan, leaving Odile alone and desperate to find her. A young woman named Alphie awakens to find herself trapped across the river in Blackwell’s Lunatic Asylum-sure that her imprisonment is a ruse by her husband’s vile, overbearing mother. On the ward she meets another young woman of ethereal beauty who does not speak, a girl with an extraordinary talent that might save them both. As these strangers’ lives become increasingly connected, their stories and secrets unfold. In magnetic, luminous prose, Leslie Parry offers a richly atmospheric vision of the past in a narrative of astonishing beauty, full of wondrous enchantments, a marvelous debut that will leave readers breathless.

It’s a Long Story: My Life by Willie Nelson

“Unvarnished. Funny. Leaving no stone unturned.” . . . So say the publishers about this book I’ve written. What I say is that this is the story of my life, told as clear as a Texas sky and in the same rhythm that I lived it. It’s a story of restlessness and the purity of the moment and living right. Of my childhood in Abbott, Texas, to the Pacific Northwest, from Nashville to Hawaii and all the way back again. Of selling vacuum cleaners and encyclopedias while hosting radio shows and writing song after song, hoping to strike gold. It’s a story of true love, wild times, best friends, and barrooms, with a musical sound track ripping right through it. My life gets lived on the road, at home, and on the road again, tried and true, and I’ve written it all down from my heart to yours.
Signed,
Willie Nelson

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.

On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio changed history. But it would take the world some time to believe what had happened: the age of flight had begun, with the first heavier-than-air, powered machine carrying a pilot. Who were these men and how was it that they achieved what they did?

In this thrilling book, master historian David McCullough draws on the immense riches of the Wright Papers, including private diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks, and more than a thousand letters from private family correspondence to tell the human side of the Wright Brothers’ story, including the little-known contributions of their sister, Katharine, without whom things might well have gone differently for them.

The Ingenious Mr. Pyke: Inventor, Fugitive, Spy by Henry Hemming

“A very absorbing tome about a genius who no one really knows about. Geoffey Pyke was an original thinker who was not afraid to try out new ideas – he escaped from a World War I prison camp and published a bestseller about his experience; he created a new school system that was unconventional, but nevertheless led to reform in the English school system; he became wealthy by trading in metal futures and was innovative in establishing new types of financial speculation that are in use to this day; he also famously convinced Churchill about the feasibility of creating aircraft carriers out of ice – really. Behind this brilliant and tragic man were suspicions by MI5 that he was actually a Russian spy, and Hemming does a thorough job of examining the details to hammer out a plausible and fitting role for Pyke in some of the most important events of his day. Some files on Pyke are still classified, as he notes, so the story may be far from over.” – Raul

The Ghost Network by Catie Disabato

Has the world’s hottest pop star been kidnapped, joined a secret sect, or simply gone into hiding? One minute insanely famous pop singer Molly Metropolis is on her way to a major performance in Chicago, and the next, she’s gone. A journalist who’s been covering Molly joins the singer’s personal assistant in an increasingly desperate search to find her, guided by a journal left behind in her hotel room, and possible clues hidden in her songs–all of which seem to point to an abandoned line in the Chicago subway system. It leads them to a map of half-completed train lines underneath Chicago, which in turn leads them to the secret, subterranean headquarters of an obscure intellectual sect–and the realization that they’ve gone too far to turn back. And if a superstar can disappear without a trace . . . what can happen to these young women? Suspenseful and wildly original, The Ghost Network is a novel about larger-than-life fantasies–of love, sex, pop music, amateur detective work, and personal reinvention. Debut novelist Catie Disabato bursts on the scene with an ingeniously plotted, witty, haunting mystery.

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson

“He had been reconciled to death during the war and then suddenly the war was over and there was a next day and a next day. Part of him never adjusted to having a future.” Kate Atkinson’s dazzling Life After Life explored the possibility of infinite chances and the power of choices, following Ursula Todd as she lived through the turbulent events of the last century over and over again. A God In Ruins tells the dramatic story of the 20th Century through Ursula’s beloved younger brother Teddy–would-be poet, heroic pilot, husband, father, and grandfather-as he navigates the perils and progress of a rapidly changing world. After all that Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge is living in a future he never expected to have. An ingenious and moving exploration of one ordinary man’s path through extraordinary times, A God In Ruins proves once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age.

The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915-1964 by Zachary Leader

In the words of Joe: “Saul Bellow is one of my favorite writers with his novels Herzog and Ravelstein being frequent touchstones of mine. His real life antics and foibles, as chronicled in the above Ravelstein and also in Martin Amis’s Experience, are seemingly larger than life. It is with that in mind that I am stoked beyond words to read this first volume of a two volume biography of the man, one of the titans of 20th century American literature. Huzzah!”

New in Paperback

The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham

“Love is blurry. Brother, friend, wife, boyfriend. Michael Cunningham deftly explores how mutable our relationships are in The Snow Queen, a slim novel that asks all the big questions. It tells the story of brothers Barrett and Tyler Meeks, who are each grappling with the terminal illness of Tyler’s fiance Beth. Barrett turns to religion after he sees a curious light in the sky, what he believes to be a sign from the universe. Struggling musician Tyler relies on drugs to tap into his creativity and write a song that is worthy of Beth, that she will be proud of. Cunningham, like his The Hours inspiration, Virginia Woolf, can hone into the small details that make us human with such accuracy. While he focuses on these brief moments, he beautifully captures the bigger picture – a story about love, faith, talent, mortality, and family. His precision is flawless, each turn of the page amplifying the empathy for his characters and passion of his words.” –Consuelo

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos

As the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party’s struggle to retain control. He asks probing questions: Why does a government with more success lifting people from poverty than any civilization in history choose to put strict restraints on freedom of expression? Why do millions of young Chinese professionals-fluent in English and devoted to Western pop culture-consider themselves “angry youth,” dedicated to resisting the West’s influence? How are Chinese from all strata finding meaning after two decades of the relentless pursuit of wealth?Writing with great narrative verve and a keen sense of irony, Osnos follows the moving stories of everyday people and reveals life in the new China to be a battleground between aspiration and authoritarianism, in which only one can prevail.

Revival by Stephen King

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs–including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town. Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties–addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate–Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that “revival” has many meanings. This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It’s a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe.

New YA

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Sydney has always felt invisible. She’s grown accustomed to her brother, Peyton, being the focus of the family’s attention and, lately, concern. Peyton is handsome and charismatic, but seems bent on self-destruction. Now, after a drunk-driving accident that crippled a boy, Peyton’s serving some serious jail time, and Sydney is on her own, questioning her place in the family and the world. Then she meets the Chatham family. Drawn into their warm, chaotic circle, Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance for the first time. There’s effervescent Layla, who constantly falls for the wrong guy, Rosie, who’s had her own fall from grace, and Mrs. Chatham, who even though ailing is the heart of the family. But it’s with older brother Mac–quiet, watchful, and protective–that Sydney finally feels seen, really seen, at last. Saint Anything is Sarah Dessen’s deepest and most psychologically probing novel yet, telling an engrossing story of a girl discovering friendship, love, and herself.