Prepub Alert

Abrahams, Peter. End of Story. Morrow. Apr. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-06-072665-2. $24.95. Aspiring author Ivy, who teaches creative writing at a maximum-security prison, is convinced that her most talented student has been wrongly convicted. But someone doesn't want her to discover the truth.

Andrews, Mary Kay. Savannah Breeze. HarperCollins. Apr. 2006. 448p. ISBN 0-06-056466-0. $24.95; lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-06-085346-8. $24.95. CD: HarperAudio. To survive, Savannah belle BeBe Loudermilk is reduced to spiffing up a broken-down motor court—the one thing her slick-talking boyfriend didn't steal from her. When she hears he's back in the area, she gathers her friends and plots a very neat sting. With a nine-city tour.

Chabon, Michael. The Yiddish Policemen's Union. HarperCollins. Apr. 2006. 400p. ISBN 0-00-714982-4. $26.95. CD: HarperAudio. It's post–World War II, and Alaska has become the homeland for the Jews (as Franklin D. Roosevelt actually proposed). There, the murder of a former chess prodigy sends Det. Meyer Landsman on a hunt that leads back to the formidable Rebbe Gold. Chabon's first full-length adult novel since The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay; with a ten-city tour.

Chiaverini, Jennifer. Circle of Quilters: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel. S. & S. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-7432-6020-1. $23. A couple of surprise openings at the artists' retreat familiarly known as Elm Creek Quilts brings a host of intriguing candidates. With a 15-city tour.

Clark, Mary Higgins. Two Little Girls in Blue. S. & S. Apr. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-7432-6490-8. $25.95. Cassette/CD: S. & S. Audio. Twin three-year-old girls are kidnapped and one reputedly murdered, even when her sister is ransomed. But little Kathy keeps insisting to Mom that Kelly is somewhere, crying for her. With a six-city tour.

Cleage, Pearl. Baby Brother's Blues. One World: Ballantine. Apr. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-345-48110-0. $23.95. R&B singer Blue Hamilton has abandoned a skyrocketing career to serve as a community leader in Atlanta. Peace reigns in his neighborhood until battered women in need of protection start appearing—and just as promptly disappear. Is Blue responsible? With a six-city tour.

Donohue, Keith. The Stolen Child. Doubleday. Apr. 2006. 272p. ISBN 0-385-51616-9. $23.95. Remember Yeats's poem about changelings? In Donohue's reconfiguring, a debut novel, these ageless beings kidnap seven-year-old Henry and replace him with a look-alike who craftily fits right in—except that he plays the piano so remarkably well.

Dorsey, Tim. The Big Bamboo. Morrow. Apr. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-06-058562-5. $24.95. Serge Storms storms Hollywood—and murder follows. With an eight-city tour.

Feist, Raymond. The Darkwar Saga. Bk. 1: Flight of Nighthawks. Eos: HarperCollins. Apr. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-06-079278-7. $25.95. Last seen in Exile's Return, top sorcerer Pug has such a nasty dream that he calls for a Conclave of Shadows. When two boys arrive at the conclave by accident, they're drafted to battle the evil Nighthawks.

Gruber, Michael. Night of the Jaguar. Morrow. Apr. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-06-057768-1. $24.95. In this wrap-up to the trilogy featuring Tropic of Night and Valley of Bones, a shaman lands in southern Florida to unleash the fury of his Jaguar god, and soon unfortunate Cuban American businessmen are being chewed up by one very large pussy.

Harrigan, Stephen. Challenger Park. Knopf. Apr. 2006. 416p. ISBN 0-375-41205-0. $24.95. Her personal life in tatters, astronaut Lucy Kincheloe bravely readies herself for her first shuttle flight—but the real trouble starts in space. With an 11-city tour.

Hendra, Tony. The Messiah of Morris Avenue. Holt. Apr. 2006. 256p. ISBN 0-8050-7964-5. $24. Controversial author of the best-selling Father Joe, Hendra tosses off a first novel set in a deeply devout future America where church and state are linked. Cynical journalist Johnny Greco aims to challenge authorities by writing a piece proclaiming a rabble-rousing young idealist named Jay as the Second Coming—and then becomes a believer himself.

Hoag, Tim. Prior Bad Acts. Bantam. Mar. 2006. 496p. ISBN 0-553-80198-8. $26. Cassette/CD: Random Audio. Dust to Dust homicide detective Sam Kovac and partner Nikki Liska are stuck with protecting an unpopular judge—and then she is kidnapped.

Homes, A.M. This Book Will Save Your Life. Viking. Apr. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-670-03493-2. $24.95. CD: Penguin Audio. It's no fun landing in the hospital and having a sinkhole start sucking up your house, but it does help put the disaffected Richard Novak back in touch with life. With an eight-city tour.

Iggulden, Conn. Emperor: The Gods of War; A Novel of Julius Caesar. Delacorte. Apr. 2006. 448p. ISBN 0-385-33767-1. $25. In the “Emperor” series finale, Caesar crosses the Rubicon—and launches civil war.

Kellerman, Jonathan. Gone: An Alex Delaware Novel. Ballantine. Apr. 2006. 400p. ISBN 0-345-45261-5. $26.95. The abduction of two art students turns out to have been faked, but the murder that follows is very real. Alex Delaware tries to figure it all out.

Kuhlman, Evan (text) & Brendon Faim & Brian Faim (illus.). Wolf Boy. Shaye Areheart Bks: Crown. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-307-33696-4. $23. When Francis dies, his parents spin apart, his little sister dreams of pop-star romance, and his fiancée communes with his ghost. Meanwhile, Wolf Boy, his 13-year-old brother, becomes the center of a comic-strip universe he creates with a friend.

Lawrence, Starling. The Lightning Keeper. HarperCollins. Apr. 2006. 432p. ISBN 0-06-082524-3. $26.95. CD: HarperAudio. Toma Pekocevic is a brilliant inventor, but he's also a poor immigrant in 1900s New York, having escaped from the bloody Balkans, and his love for upper-crust Harriet seems doomed. A second novel from Norton's editor in chief.

Lipman, Elinor. My Latest Grievance. Houghton. Apr. 2006. 224p. ISBN 0-618-64465-2 [ISBN 978-0-618-64465-0]. $25. Saddled with “the most annoyingly evenhanded parental team in the history of civilization,” Frederica is delighted when brassy ex-Rockette Laura Lee blows into town. Even better, it turns out that she was once married to Frederica's high-minded dad. With a national tour.

McCafferty, Megan. Charmed Thirds. Crown. Apr. 2006. 400p. ISBN 1-4000-8042-8. $21. After Sloppy Firstsand Second Helpings, what else but Charmed Thirds? Jessica has finally made it to Columbia University, but will she find true love with any number of eligible (and not-so-eligible) young men?

McPhee, Martha. L'America. Harcourt. Apr. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-15-101171-0. $25. After meeting in Greece post-9/11, full-of-himself Italian boy Cesare and Beth, the high-reaching daughter of hippies, fall in love and replicate the clash between Europe and L'America. With a four-city author tour.

Mitchell, David. Black Swan Green. Random. Apr. 2006. 272p. ISBN 1-4000-6379-5. $22.95. After the brilliantly digressive Cloud Atlas, Mitchell returns with a tale that focuses tightly on a year in the life of 13-year-old Jason, stuck in backwater Worcestershire.

Moore, Christopher. A Dirty Job. Morrow. Apr. 2006. 336p. ISBN 0-06-059027-0. $24.95. Cassette: HarperAudio. Weird things start happening after poor, craven Charlie learns that his wife has died postchildbirth—just moments after he spots a black gent in flashy golf clothes at her bedside. With an eight-city tour.

Mosley, Walter. Fortunate Son. Little, Brown. Apr. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-316-11471-5. $23.95. CD: Time Warner Audio. A tale of two friends: golden boy Eric, made wary by tragedy, and Tommy, who's poor, lame, black, and determinedly optimistic.

Reynolds, Sheri. Firefly Cloak. Shaye Areheart Bks: Crown. Apr. 2006. 256p. ISBN 0-609-61008-2. $23. Even as a teenager, Tessa Lee still clings to the firefly-print housecoat her mom used to cover her sleeping daughter and son before abandoning them. No wonder she finally heads out to find her wayward parent. From the author of The Rapture of Canaan.

Robards, Karen. Vanished. Putnam. Apr. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-399-15338-1. $24.95. Ten years after the disappearance of six-year-old Lexie, her mom gets a call from someone who sounds exactly like her daughter.

Ross, Ann B. Miss Julia Stands Her Ground. Viking. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-670-03492-4. $24.95. Heavens! Brother Vernon Pluckett blows into town with what he claims is solid proof that Little Lloyd is not the son of Miss Julia's cheatin' (and now dead) husband.

Saramago, José. Seeing. Harcourt. Apr. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-15-101238-5. $25. Is it revolution? First, no one votes because of torrential rain; then, when the sun emerges, the ballots cast are mostly blank. Another timely fable from the Nobel prize winner.

Schaeffer, Susan Fromberg. Poison. Norton. Apr. 2006. 608p. ISBN 0-393-06101-9. $25.95. Family, friends, children, wife, ex-wives, biographers—all are at one another's throats when high-profile novelist Peter Grosvenor dies unexpectedly.

Sherwood, Frances. Night of Sorrows. Norton. Apr. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-393-05825-5. $24.95. Nights of passion, too. This is the tale of Malintzín—Aztec princess, slave, and, finally, lover to conquistador Hernán Cortés.

Vapnyar, Lara. Memoirs of a Muse. Pantheon. Apr. 2006. 224p. ISBN 0-375-42296-X. $22.95. Imbued with tales of Dostoyevsky, the Russian-born Tanya arrives in New York, ready to serve as muse to a great novelist. Unfortunately, the novelist she does find spends more time at the gym. With a five-city tour.

Viswanathan, Kaavya. How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. Little, Brown. Apr. 2006. 208p. ISBN 0-316-05988-9. $21.95. CD: Time Warner Audio. HOWGIH (How Opal Will Get into Harvard): that's the plan, complete with flowcharts, devised by the Mehtas for daughter Opal. But when she blows her interview because she can't tell the dean what she does for fun, a new plan is launched: HOWGAL (How Opal Will Get a Life). Does Harvard sophomore Viswanathan know whereof she speaks?

Wall, Paula. The Wilde Women. Atria: S. & S. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-7434-9621-3. $24. When Pearl catches her fiancé with her sister, she goes wild. Five years later, she's still out for revenge. A follow-up to The Rock Orchard; with a five-city tour.

Wasserstein, Wendy. Elements of Style. Knopf. Apr. 2006. 352p. ISBN 1-4000-4231-3. $24.95. For her debut novel, Wasserstein takes us on a tour of upscale New York, where we meet Upper East Side doctors, Carnegie descendants, society matrons, Oscar winners, and more. With a ten-city tour.

Woods, Stuart. Dark Harbor. Putnam. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-399-15342-X. $25.95. Did Stone Barrington's cousin Dick Stone—an unassuming man who happened to work for the CIA—really kill himself and his wife and daughter? Barrington thinks not.

Allgor, Catherine. A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation. Holt. Apr. 2006. 496p. ISBN 0-8050-7327-2. $30. A multi-award-winning historian at the University of California, Riverside, Allgor shows that one President's wife had a genius for a lot more than just serving ice cream.

Andersen, Christopher. Barbra: The Way She Is. Morrow. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-06-056256-0. $25.95. Jack, Jackie, Diana, Diana's boys, John Lennon, and George and Laura—Andersen would have to follow up his parade of subjects with an icon like Barbra Streisand.

Anderson, Joan. A Weekend To Change Your Life. Broadway. Apr. 2006. 224p. ISBN 0-7679-2054-6. $23.95. Maybe it won't take just a weekend, but the author of the best-selling A Year by the Seadoes give women techniques for finding themselves and realizing their dreams.

Armstrong, Karen. The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions. Knopf. Mar. 2006. 464p. ISBN 0-375-41317-0. $30. The author who gave us A History of God now gives us a history of religion's beginnings, explaining how belief began emerging in the ninth century B.C.E.

Barich, Bill. A Fine Place To Daydream: Racehorses, Romance, and the Irish. Knopf. Mar. 2006. 320p. ISBN 1-4000-4279-8. $24. A staff writer for The New Yorker and literary laureate of the San Francisco Public Library, novelist and sportswriter Barich recently upped and left the Bay Area for Dublin. Here are some reasons why.

Berman, Morris. Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire. Norton. Apr. 2006. 416p. ISBN 0-393-05866-2. $25.95. Freedom of choice? It's Wendy's vs. Burger King, according to Berman in this critique of the U.S. economy—a nice follow-up to The Twilight of American Culture, which condemned the country's corporate, consumerist culture.

Campbell, James T. Middle Passages: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787–2005. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Apr. 2006. 592p. ISBN 1-59420-083-1. $29.95. Edited by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and eventually to total 50 titles, “The Penguin History of American Life” gets a send-off with this account by Brown professor Campbell of African Americans who have reencountered Africa. With a four-city tour.

Child, Julia with Alex Prud'homme. Bon Appétit: My Life in France with Paul. Knopf. Apr. 2006. 352p. ISBN 1-4000-4346-8. $24.95. Begun just months before her death and completed by her grandnephew, this memoir resurrects Julia's early days in France—when she didn't even know how to cook.

Cohen, Rich. Sweet and Low: A Family Story. Farrar. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-374-27229-8 [ISBN 978-0-374-27229-6]. $25. The story of the short-order cook in Brooklyn who invented the sugar packet and Sweet 'N Low and hence built a family fortune—by a grandson who was disinherited along with his mother and siblings.

Englert, Jonathan. The Collar: A Year of Striving and Faith Inside a Catholic Seminary. Houghton. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-618-25146-4. $25.95. Journalist and Catholic convert Englert takes us to Milwaukee's Sacred Heart Seminary (having had access to two dioceses revoked), where he follows five students who have abandoned previous careers to become men of the cloth.

Feinstein, Elaine. Anna of All the Russias: A Life of Anna Akhmatova. Knopf. Mar. 2006. 336p. ISBN 1-4000-4089-2. $26.95. The Union of Soviet Writers famously condemned her as “half nun, half harlot,” but Akhmatova outlasted them all. A renowned biographer of Pushkin and Ted Hughes tells us why.

Flanagan, Caitlin. To Hell with All That: Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife. Little, Brown. Apr. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-316-73687-2. $22.95. Acidulous social critic Flanagan, now with The New Yorker, holds forth on the mommy wars, the nanny wars, sexless marriages, the work/life balance, and more.

Fuhrman, Mark. A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963. Morrow. Apr. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-06-072154-5. $25.95. The retired LAPD cop who has reported on high-profile cases in Murder in Brentwood, Murder in Greenwich, and more here takes on one of the biggest murders of all.

Gorenberg, Gershom. The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967–1977. Times Bks: Holt. Mar. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-8050-7564-X. $27.50. Associate editor at the Jerusalem Report, Gorenberg recounts how Israelis came to settle the occupied territories and the governmental inaction—both Israeli and American—that allowed it to happen.

Hirsch, E.D., Jr. The Knowledge Deficit: Closing the Shocking Education Gap for American Children. Houghton. Apr. 2006. 192p. ISBN 0-618-65731-2 [ISBN 978-0-618-65731-5]. $22. Pointing out that American students are generally outshone by the competition and that they do worse and worse the longer they stay in school, the author of Cultural Literacyargues that we need to teach not just reading but reading comprehension.

Hirsch, Edward. Poet's Choice. Harcourt. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-15-101356-X. $25. Poetry 101: Hirsch here collects over 130 of his popular “Poet's Choice” columns, which he has been writing for the Washington Post Book Worldsince 2002.

Junger, Sebastian. A Death in Belmont. Norton. Apr. 2006. 256p. ISBN 0-393-05980-4. $23.95. From The Perfect Storm to a perfectly horrendous crime: a 1963 murder in Belmont, MA, that mimicked the Boston Strangler scenario. The wrong man—black, of course—was convicted.

Kinzer, Stephen. Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. Times Bks: Holt. Apr. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-8050-7861-4. $26. A topnotch New York Times foreign correspondent comments on America's tendency to boot out regimes it doesn't like, starting with the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.

Klein, Joe. Turnip Day: The Lost Music of American Politics. Doubleday. Apr. 2006. 208p. ISBN 0-385-51027-6. $23.95. Though he sings a lament for today's corrupt, unbalanced political system, Time's longstanding Washington correspondent isn't quite ready for a dirge; he does offer suggestions on how to clean things up.

Lloyd, Seth. Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos. Knopf. Apr. 2006. 256p. ISBN 1-4000-4092-2. $25.95. Is the universe analogous to a computer? Just how much information is out there? An MIT computer science guru answers the tough questions. With a ten-city tour.

Lovell, Mary S. Bess of Hardwick: Empire Builder. Norton. Apr. 2006. 576p. ISBN 0-393-06221-X. $27.95. Elizabeth wasn't the only powerful woman in 16th-century England, as shown by famed biographer Lovell (The Sisters) in this account of a poor nobleman's daughter who after four marriages practically founded a dynasty of her own.

Maraniss, David. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero. S. & S. Apr. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-7432-1781-0. $26. The Pulitzer Prize–winning associate editor of the Washington Postdelivers the story of Roberto Clemente, “baseball's last hero” and the first Latino to enter the Hall of Fame.

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 1-59420-082-3. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio. Examining current means of food production—industrialized, organic, and hunted-and-gathered—Pollan (The Botany of Desire) points out that we still have to consider “the omnivore's dilemma”: what we eat could kill us.

Press, Eyal. Absolute Convictions: My Father, a City, and the Conflict That Divided America. Holt. Mar. 2006. 336p. ISBN 0-8050-7731-6. $26. Journalist Press returns to 1973 Buffalo for the start of the abortion wars with the gunning down of Dr. Barnett Slepian, the only other physician in the city aside from Press's father who performed abortions.

Richmond, Peter. Fever: The Life and Music of Miss Peggy Lee. Holt. Apr. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-8050-7383-3. $27.50. Richmond, a noted GQfeature writer, explains how Norma Delores Engstrom skipped out of her North Dakota town and became Peggy Lee.

Rusesabagina, Paul with Tom Zoellner. An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography. Viking. Apr. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-670-03752-4. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio. “Today I am convinced that the only things that saved those people in my hotel was words,” says Rusesabagina of the 12,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates he sheltered during Rwanda's genocidal violence in the early 1990s. Now, thankfully, we have not just his words but a whole book. With a 12-city tour.

Schwartz, Gary E. The God Experiments: How Science Is Discovering God in Everything, Including Us. Atria: S. & S. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-7434-7740-5. $25. A professor at the University of Arizona's Human Energy Systems Laboratory argues that contrary to popular opinion science leads us toward, not away, from God.

Tabor, James D. The Jesus Dynasty. S. & S. Apr. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-7432-8723-1. $27. CD: S. & S. Audio. Chair of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Tabor stirs up a bit of controversy by drawing on recent archaeological findings (including his own) to argue that Jesus intended to found a messianic dynasty aimed at redeeming Israel, a plan that was blown out of the water when Paul began preaching to the gentiles.

Talese, Gay. A Writer's Life. Knopf. Apr. 2006. 400p. ISBN 0-679-41096-1. $26. An exquisite journalist who's covered everything from civil rights to Frank Sinatra turns his sights on a very special subject: himself.

Thomas, Marlo. The Right Words at the Right Time. Vol. 2: Your Turn. Atria: S. & S. Apr. 2006. 384p. ISBN 0-7434-9743-0. $25. Thomas follows up her best-selling collection of inspirational stories with a second set told to her by ordinary Americans.

Toffler, Alvin & Heidi Toffler. Revolutionary Wealth. Knopf. Apr. 2006. 512p. ISBN 0-375-40174-1. $27.95. Future shock: who will be making “revolutionary wealth,” how they will make it, why “prosumers” will be looking to make things go their way, and who will get left behind in the rapidly changing global economy.

Trussoni, Danielle. Falling Through the Earth. Holt. Mar. 2006. 256p. ISBN 0-8050-7732-4. $23. Winner of the Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award for best workshop book, this memoir recounts Trussoni's life on the road from a tender age with her troubled Vietnam vet dad.

Uchitelle, Louis. The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences. Knopf. Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 1-4000-4117-1. $26. Layoffs aren't bad only for workers, they're bad for business, argues this George Polk award winner from the New York Times. With a nine-city tour.

Vincent, Fay. On Baseball. S. & S. Apr. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-7432-7317-6. $26. Who better than a former baseball commissioner to tell the story of how baseball changed from the Thirties to the Fifties.

Wade, Nicholas. Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Apr. 2006. 320p. ISBN 1-59420-079-3. $24.95. Recent scientific discoveries, especially those involving the human genome, are radically changing our perception of what happened to our ancestors “before the dawn.” Wade, a fixture of the New York Times “Science Times” section, reports.

White, Edmund. My Lives: An Autobiography. Ecco: HarperCollins. Apr. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-06-621397-5. $25.95. Having hit 60, novelist/biographer White has decided to share memories of the celebrity-studded life he led from New York to Paris.