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The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

News and Reviews

• The Splendor Of Suffering In 'The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne'

The Love Song of Jonny Valentine

Jonny Valentine, 11-year-old superstar, is worried about his album sales, his party-loving manager mother and his safety. He's also on a quest — like one of the heroes in his video games — to find his missing father. Teddy Wayne's second novel is not just a witty critique of America's pop-music machine, but also the story of a compelling child narrator's journey toward adulthood.

News and Reviews

• Manufactured On YouTube, Teen Pop Star Searches For His True Voice

No Time Like The Present

Interracial couple Steve and Jabulile are able to live happily together with their two children in a newly free South Africa, but their lives are defined by the constant struggle to marry their nation's past with its present.

News and Reviews

• Feb. 4-10: Werewolves, Nano-Horror And Apartheid's Aftermath
• 'Present': For Nadine Gordimer, Politics Hit Home

House Of Earth

The only finished novel from the legendary American folk singer portrays life in Dust Bowl America with the story of Tike and Ella May Hamil, who struggle to plant roots in the arid land of the Texas Panhandle.NPR Bestseller

News and Reviews

• Woody Guthrie's 'House Of Earth' Calls 'This Land' Home

Lying Awake

Sister John of the Cross, an elderly nun, experiences a series of dazzling visions, but she is confronted with a difficult choice between her spiritual gifts and curing the powerful headaches that accompany her visions.

News and Reviews

• Desert Flowers: Three Books That Are Anything But Dry

The Guardians

Discovering that her brother has vanished while crossing the border from Mexico into the United States, Regina, a middle-aged widow, and her nephew, Gabo, embark on a perilous search for him, joining forces with an amorous, divorced schoolteacher and his grandfather, as well as a priest losing his faith. By the author of Peel My Love Like an Onion. Reprint.

News and Reviews

• Desert Flowers: Three Books That Are Anything But Dry

In One Person

A tale inspired by the U.S. AIDS epidemic in the 1980s follows the experiences of individuals — including the bisexual narrator — who are torn by devastating losses, and whose perspectives on tolerance and love are shaped by awareness of what might have been.NPR Bestseller

News and Reviews

• Jan. 28-Feb. 3: Teen Lust, Gothic Fright And A History Of Introverts
• 'In One Person': A Tangled Gender-Bender

The Dinner

Meeting at an Amsterdam restaurant for dinner, two couples move from small talk to the wrenching shared challenge of their teenage sons' act of violence that has triggered a police investigation and revealed the extent to which each family will go to protect those it loves.NPR Bestseller

News and Reviews

• 'The Dinner' Offers Food For Thought
• 'The Dinner' Asks: What Will You Do To Protect Your Family?
• Exclusive First Read: 'The Dinner' By Herman Koch

Artful

The Whitbread Award-winning author of The Accidental presents a meditative collection of stories on the nature of art and storytelling. The pieces in this book are based on her2012 Weidenfeld lectures on European comparative literature at St. Anne's College, Oxford, and incorporated with tributes to iconic writers and artists throughout history.

News and Reviews

• An 'Artful' Approach To Literary Criticism

Tenth Of December

A collection of stories includes "Home," a wryly whimsical account of a soldier's return from war; "Victory Lap," a tale about an inventive abduction attempt; and the title story, in which a suicidal cancer patient saves the life of a young misfit.NPR Bestseller

News and Reviews

• George Saunders On Absurdism And Ventriloquism In 'Tenth Of December'
• George Saunders Lives Up To The Hype
• From George Saunders, A Dark 'December'

Sylvia

A young Manhattan couple struggles to survive in the early 1960s when they get caught up in drugs, sexual fantasias, paranoia, and self-destructive violence.

News and Reviews

• Fiction Truer Than Fact: A Haunting Autobiographical Novel

The Past

Chronicles the story of a man searching for the truth about his parents' romantic and mysterious history, a tale he pieces together from the reminiscences of his mother's friend.

News and Reviews

• After 30 Years, Neil Jordan Returns To 'The Past'

The Original of Laura

A landmark publication of the literary master's unfinished final work is a fragmented draft as hand-written on 138 index cards that were originally requested for destruction and have been released by his son. Edited by Dmitri Nabokov.

News and Reviews

• Jan. 14-20: Tales Of Pharaohs, Balloonists, Lovers And Yogis