Prepub Alert

Beauman, Sally. The Sisters Mortland. Warner. Jan. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-446-57819-3. $24.95. CD: Time Warner Audio. Even as young Maisie sits for a portrait with her older sisters, tragedy strikes the family. Thirty years later, friend Daniel still can't shake his obsession with what happened.

Bradford, Barbara Taylor. Just Rewards. St. Martin's. Jan. 2006. 496p. ISBN 0-312-30706-3. [ISBN 978-0-312-30706-6] $24.95. CD: Audio Renaissance. Wrapping up the Harte family saga; with a national tour.

Conrad, Christine. Mademoiselle Benoir. Houghton. Jan. 2006. 192p. ISBN 0-618-57479-4. $20. Film commissioner, book editor, screenwriter, women's health advocate, author (Jerome Robbins): What's Conrad's next move? A debut novel about a man who buys a farmhouse in France and is soon proposing marriage to the aristocratic (and much older) Mademoiselle Benoir.

Davis, Kathryn. The Thin Place. Little, Brown. Jan. 2006. 256p. ISBN 0-316-73504-3. $23.95. Life changes dramatically in the town of Varennes when 12-year-old Mees Kipp manages to revive the dead man she and her friends find near the lake. From a prize-winning author.

Desai, Kiran. The Inheritance of Loss. Atlantic Monthly. Jan. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-87113-929-4. $24. Having triumphed with Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, Desai returns with the tale of a crusty old judge whose retirement to a desolate house near Mount Kanchenjunga is disrupted by an orphaned granddaughter and, eventually, Nepalese insurgency. With a 12-city tour.

Egolf, Tristan. Kornwolf. Black Cat: Grove Atlantic. Jan. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-8021-1816-X. $25; pap. ISBN 0-8021-7016-1. $14. The story of a Pennsylvania town upended by the maraudings of…a teenaged Amish werewolf? Only the author of Lord of the Barnyard could pull off a tale like this.

Fielding, Joy. Mad River Road. Atria: S. & S. Jan. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-7434-8802-4. $25; lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-7432-8467-4. $26. Freshly sprung, Ralph heads for Mad River Road and the ex-wife who sent him to prison. Meanwhile, her life a shambles, Jamie finds tender love with a stranger. What do these stories have in common?

French, Nicci. Catch Me When I Fall. Warner. Jan. 2006. 336p. ISBN 0-446-57848-7. $24.95. Business success Holly Krauss has it all—including a well-hidden wild side that leads to stalking, blackmail, and worse.

Harris, Joanne. Gentlemen & Players. Morrow. Jan. 2006. 368p. ISBN 0-06-055914-4. $24.95. Someone is out to destroy St. Oswald's School for Boys, and the only person standing in his way is Roy Straitley, the venerable if slightly crackpot teacher of classics. Chocolat author Harris once taught at an English boys' school.

Kelßy, N.M. Whale Season. Shaye Areheart Bks: Crown. Jan. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-307-33677-8. $23. It's Christmas in Whale Harbor, FL, and a man in a loincloth is proclaiming himself the Son of God. Some weird things (otherwise known as miracles) result. This work, by the author of the acclaimed Theater of the Stars and In the Company of Angels, is getting a big push.

Lindbergh, Judith. The Thrall's Tale. Viking. Jan. 2006. 464p. ISBN 0-670-03464-9. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio. An Irish Christian now serving as thrall (slave) to a Viking lord; her daughter, borne of rape; and a pagan prophetess—all are in Greenland when Leif Eriksson drops by, bringing Christianity in his wake. Inspired by the Norse Sagas; Lindbergh worked on the Smithsonian's recent "Vikings" exhibition. With a five-city tour.

Martinez, Michele. The Finishing School. Morrow. Jan. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-06-072400-5. $23.95. CD: HarperAudio. Federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas returns after her Most Wanted debut to hunt for the killer of two upper-crust, Upper East Side girls. With a 12-city tour.

Meek, James. The People's Act of Love. Canongate, dist. by Grove Atlantic. Jan. 2006. 400p. ISBN 1-84195-730-5. $24. In 1919, an escaped Russian prisoner startles a town caught up in the civil war. British novelist Meek's book is getting a big send-off, with a 75,000-copy first printing here and publication in 20 countries.

Reilly, Matthew. Seven Deadly Wonders. S. & S. Jan. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-7432-7053-3. $23. Broken into seven pieces by Alexander the Great, the Golden Capstone once crowning the Great Pyramid of Giza protects the world from savage floods and heat occurring every 4500 years. Now that we're up for another blast, someone had better find those pieces.

Sherrill, Martha. The Ruins of California. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Jan. 2006. 320p. ISBN 1-59420-080-7. $24.95. Poor Inez; she's caught between the security afforded by her mom and immigrant grandmother and the sophistication promised by her glamorous but irresponsible dad. With a West Coast tour.

Smith, Ali. The Accidental. Pantheon. Jan. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-375-42225-0. $22.95. Amber looks so innocent when she arrives barefoot at the Norfolk summer cottage of Eve Smart and her family, but her presence causes major disruption—even after she's sent packing. With a six-city tour.

Stevenson, Jane. Good Women: Three Novellas. Mariner: Houghton. Jan. 2006. 256p. ISBN 0-618-46217-1 [ISBN 978-0-618-46217-9]. pap. $12. The author of an acclaimed trilogy recently completed with The Empress of the Last Days returns with three tart novellas whose heroines are trying to behave.

Umrigar, Thrity. The Space Between Us. Morrow. Jan. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-06-079155-1. $24.95. Family crisis closes up the space between wealthy Parsi widow Sera Dubash and her hardworking domestic, Bhima, whose granddaughter Sera is putting through university.

Barnes, Fred. Rebel in Chief. Crown Forum. Jan. 2006. 192p. ISBN 0-307-33649-2. $23.95. CD: Random Audio. For this report on how Bush's radical conservatism is changing America, Fox News host Barnes was granted exclusive interviews with top administration officials—and Bush himself.

Barry, Dave. Dave Barry's Money Secrets: Like, Why Is There a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar? Crown. Jan. 2006. 256p. ISBN 1-4000-4758-7. $24.95. Funny money talk from the irrepressible Barry.

Bremer, L. Paul, III, with Malcolm McConnell. My Year in Iraq: The Struggle To Build a Future of Hope. S. & S. Jan. 2006. 416p. ISBN 0-7432-7389-3. $27. This just in from Simon & Schuster, and it's embargoed, but we can tell you that when retired diplomat Bremer was sent to Baghdad as ambassador, he immediately demanded more funds for reconstruction. With an eight-city tour.

Brinkley, Douglas & Julie M. Fenster. Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and the Knights of Columbus. Morrow. Jan. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-06-077684-6. $24.95; lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-06-085348-4. CD: HarperAudio. Father Michael McGivney, up for canonization for founding the Knights of Columbus, gets his due from popular historians Brinkley (Tour of Duty) and Fenster (Race of the Century).

Carville, James & Paul Begala. Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future. S. & S. Jan. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-7432-7752-X. $23. Cassette/CD: S. & S. Audio. It's not the Democrats who are out of touch, argue noted Democratic strategists Carville and Begala, but the Radically Right Republicans.

D'Antonio, Michael. Hershey: The Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams. S. & S. Jan. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-7432-6409-6. $25. From a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, the story of Milton (Hershey) and the Chocolate Factory. With a three-city tour.

Egan, Timothy. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. Houghton. Jan. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-618-34697-X. $28. What happened when dust clouds settled over the Plains during the Depression? A Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for the New York Times revisits the little-told story. An in-house favorite that's attracting huge attention.

Ghosh, Amitav. Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Time. Houghton. Jan. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-618-37806-5 [ISBN 978-0-618-37806-7]. $25. Not just a laudable novelist (e.g., The Hungry Tide) but a top journalist, Ghosh collects reports on events from 9/11 to last year's tsunami.

Grossman, Vasily. A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army, 1941–1945. Pantheon. Jan. 2006. 416p. ISBN 0-375-42407-5 [ISBN 978-0-375-42407-6]. $27.50. Author of the celebrated novel Life and Fate (confiscated by the KGB), Grossman reported for the Red Army's newspaper during World War II. Here's a peak at his notebooks.

Jefferson, Margo. On Michael Jackson. Pantheon. Jan. 2006. 144p. ISBN 0-375-42326-5. $20. From a Pulitzer Prize–winning critic; with a seven-city tour.

Judd, Naomi. Aging Gratefully. S. & S. Jan. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-7432-7515-2. $22. A tuneful take on aging.

McManus, James. Physical: An American Checkup. Farrar. Jan. 2006. 272p. ISBN 0-374-23202-4. $24. CD: Audio Renaissance. McManus considers his lifestyle, short-lived forebears, and two young children and heads straight for the Mayo clinic.

Stout, Harry S. Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War. Viking. Jan. 2006. 544p. ISBN 0-670-03470-3. $29.95. The publisher has great expectations for Yale religious historian Stout's account of the Civil War as righteous cause.

Thompson, Hunter S. The Mutineer: Rants, Ravings and Missives from the Mountaintop 1977–2005. S. & S. Jan. 2006. 752p. ISBN 0-684-87317-6. $30. This work completes the three-volume edition of Thompson's correspondence with a bang.

Vincent, Norah. Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again. Viking. Jan. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-670-03466-5. $24.95. CD: Penguin Audio. Former Los Angeles Times columnist Vincent went undercover as a man—and reports back that it's a tough job.