The ten hours’ light is abating, / And a late bird wings across, / Where the pines, like waltzers waiting, / Give their black heads a toss. / Beech leaves, that yellow the noontime, / Float past like specks in the eye. ~Thomas Hardy
Here’s some new and forthcoming books to look for, with a preview of some full reviews to come from me later in the month.
The Correspondents
Judith Mackrell
from the publisher: On the front lines of the Second World War, a contingent of female journalists were bravely waging their own battle. Barred from combat zones and faced with entrenched prejudice and bureaucratic restrictions, these women were forced to fight for the right to work on equal terms with men. From chasing down sources and narrowly dodging gunfire to conducting tumultuous love affairs and socializing with luminaries like Eleanor Roosevelt, Picasso, and Man Ray, these six women are captured in all their complexity. With her gripping, intimate, and nuanced portrait, Judith Mackrell celebrates these courageous reporters who risked their lives for the scoop.
Publisher: Doubleday (November 2, 2021)
Language: English
Hardcover: 464 pages
ISBN-10: 0385547668
The Lincoln Highway
By Amor Towles
from the publisher: In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett’s intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles’s third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes.
Publisher: Viking; 1st Edition (October 5, 2021)
Language: English
Hardcover: 592 pages
ISBN-10: 0735222355
The Spirit Engineer
By AJ West
from the publisher:
Belfast, 1914. Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, high society has become obsessed with spiritualism. In their collective grief they are attempting to reach their departed through séances. William Jackson Crawford is a man of science and a sceptic, but one night with everyone sitting around the circle, voices come to him seemingly from beyond the veil, placing doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind. Based on the true story of William Jackson Crawford and famed medium Kathleen Goligher, and with a cast of characters that includes Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, West conjures a haunting tale that will keep you guessing until the end.
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0715654330
Duckworth Books (Oct. 7, 2021)
The City of Mist
By Carlos Ruiz Zafón
from the publisher: Bestselling author Carlos Ruiz Zafón conceived of this collection of stories as an appreciation to the countless readers who joined him on the extraordinary journey that began with The Shadow of the Wind. Comprising eleven stories, most of them never before published in English, The City of Mist offers the reader compelling characters, unique situations, and a gothic atmosphere reminiscent of his beloved Cemetery of Forgotten Books quartet. The stories are mysterious, imbued with a sense of menace, and told with the warmth, wit, and humor of Zafón’s inimitable voice.
Publisher: Harper (November 23, 2021)
Language: English
Hardcover: 176 pages
ISBN-10: 0063143151
The Woman They Could Not Silence
By Kate Moore
from the publisher: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. Her husband of twenty-one years is plotting against her because he feels increasingly threatened―by Elizabeth’s intellect, independence, and unwillingness to stifle her own thoughts. So he makes a plan to put his wife back in her place. One summer morning, he has her committed to an insane asylum. The horrific conditions inside the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, are overseen by Dr. Andrew McFarland, a man who will prove to be even more dangerous to Elizabeth than her traitorous husband.
Publisher: Sourcebooks (June 22, 2021)
Language: English
Hardcover: 560 pages
ISBN-10: 1492696722