The Lighthouse Road. A novel by Peter Geye. October 2, 2012. Hardcover $24.99. Unbridled. ISBN: 9781609530846.

The Lighthouse Road

“To be submerged in the frothing, watery world of Peter Geye’s The Lighthouse Road is to be baptized anew in the promise of American letters. I defy you to bear witness to the tormented tenderness of Odd Eide, to suffer and love and row beside him in his skiff, without throwing down your nets. Here is an epic that spans more than generations. Here is an epic that spans the topography between hell-dark bear dens and moonlit lake water. Here is a novel that charts the whole of the human heart.” —Bruce Machart, author of The Wake of Forgiveness

Against the wilds of sea and wood, Thea Edie, a young immigrant, settles into life outside Duluth in the 1890s, still shocked to learn that her resident family has fallen apart and that she is adrift; in the early 1900s, her orphan son, now grown, falls in love with the one woman he shouldn’t and uses his best skills to build them their own small ark to escape. But their pasts travel with them, threatening to capsize even their fragile hope.

In his triumphant return, Peter Geye crafts another deeply moving tale of a family defined in part by the rough landscape in which they live, and in part by the rough edges of their own breaking hearts.

Publicity contact: Caitlin Hamilton Summie, caitlin@unbridledbooks.com.

Peter Geye received his BA from The University of Minnesota, his MFA from the University of New Orleans, and his PhD from Western Michigan University, where he was editor of Third Coast. He was born and raised in Minneapolis and continues to live there with his wife and three children. He is the author of the award winning novel, Safe from the Sea.

Book jacket
Author photo
Praise for The Lighthouse Road
Flyer
Shelf-talker

An Echo through the Snow. A novel by Andrea Thalasinos. August 21, 2012. Hardcover $23.99. Forge Book/Macmillan. ISBN: 9780765330369.

An Echo through the Snow

“Destined to become a classic” — Susan Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of One Good Dog

An inspiring story of how a single act of kindness can transform your life.

Rosalie MacKenzie is headed nowhere until she sees Smokey, a Siberian husky suffering from neglect. Rosalie finds the courage to rescue the dog, and—united by the bond of love that forms between them—they save each other.

Soon Rosalie and Smokey are immersed in the world of competitive dogsled racing. Days are filled with training runs, the stark beauty of rural Wisconsin, and the whoosh of runners on snow. Rosalie discovers that behind the modern sport lies a tragic history: the heartbreaking story of the Chukchi people of Siberia. When Stalin’s Red Army displaced the Chukchi in 1929, many were killed and others lost their homes and their beloved Guardians—the huskies that were the soul and livelihood of their people.

Alternating between past and present, telling of a struggling Chukchi family and a young woman discovering herself, An Echo Through the Snow takes readers on a gripping, profound, and uplifting dogsled ride to the Iditarod and beyond, on a journey of survival and healing.

Publicity contact: Stephanie Flanders, Stephanie.Flanders@tor.com.

Andrea Thalasinos, Ph.D., is a professor of sociology at Madison College. Her respect for huskies grew while she was running her own sled team of six dogs. She helped found a dog rescue group in the upper Midwest for displaced northern breeds. Andrea lives and writes in Madison, Wisconsin. An Echo Through the Snow is her first novel.

Book jacket
Author photo
Flyer
Shelf-talker

Spirit of the Ojibwe: Images of Lac Courte Oreilles Elders. Nonfiction by Sara Balbin, James R. Bailey, and Thelma Nayquonabe. June 30, 2012. Perfectbound with full-color illustrations. $28.95. Holy Cow! Press. ISBN: 9780982354506. Distributed by Consortium.

Spirit of the Ojibwe: Images of Lac Courte Oreilles Elders

“These extraordinary portraits of Ojibwe elders convey the warmth, the kindness, the humor, and the ongoing endurance of our people. What a thoughtful celebration.”–Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe), recipient of the Nelson Algren Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction

In the 1740s, a group of Ojibwe Indians left Madeline Island, in Lake Superior, and traveled south to Odaawaa Zaaga’igan, the place where they found the dead Ottawa. Like other tribes and bands in the area, these people, who became the Lac Courte Oreilles Band, had most of their land taken by legal chicanery and were relegated to a reservation. Many found work in the burgeoning lumber industry, but after the virgin forest was cut down, they fell upon hard times. And this was not all that they encountered. Facing the detrimental attitudes of the time, and with their children forced to attend off-reservation boarding schools, the Ojibwe were told that their elaborate culture was of no account and that their ancient language was worthless. Confronting this challenge, the thirty-two elders whose stories are told here, and many others, with courage and quiet determination, maintained their traditions and rebuilt their heritage. It is to tell their story that this book was written.

Publicity contact: Jim Perlman, holycow@holycowpress.org.

Book jacket
Author photo
Flyer
Shelf-talker

Locally Grown: Portraits of Artisanal Farms from America’s Heartland

This beautiful book by writer and photographer Anna H. Blessing introduces readers to the story of the modern heartland farm. The book explores how sustainable practices–and close ties to high-profile chefs and restauranteurs–have propelled the “locally grown” culinary movement into a central feature of life in major cities like Chicago. Blessing lays out the rich histories of 25 Midwestern farms through beautiful photography, fascinating anecdotes from farmers and chefs, and up-close looks at what makes each farm so unique.

Looking at esteemed chefs like Charlie Trotter and Paul Kahan, who scour farmers markets for natural ingredients and develop personal business relationships with small-time farmers, Locally Grown shows how both long-standing and newly founded farms, along with urban farms and metropolitan nonprofit organizations like Growing Power and City Provisions, are boosting the sustainable food movement throughout Chicago and its neighborhoods.

Anna Blessing researched, wrote, and photographed 14 editions of the eat.shop book series in addition to being a regular contributor to many other print and online publications, including Lucky, for which she was Chicago editor for six years. She lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter.

Publicity contact: Doug Siebold, seibold@agatepublishing.com.

Book jacket
Author photo
Press kit
BLAD

Obsidian Blade. YA novel by Pete Hautman. April 10, 2012. Hardcover $16.99. Candlewick Press. ISBN: 9780763654030.

Obsidian Blade

“This might be Hautman’s most daring book yet. Throughout, Hautman raises significant issues concerning family, faith, and destiny. Well-developed and complex characters, a fascinating time travel framework (including dispatches from the far future), and a heart-stopping conclusion will leave readers looking forward to the next book.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Vivid imagination and deft storytelling make for refreshing speculative fiction in this time-travel tale… Part science fiction, part adventure, part mystery, but every bit engrossing; be sure to start the hold list for the sequel.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Kicking off a riveting sci-fi trilogy, National Book Award winner Pete Hautman plunges us into a world where time is a tool-and the question is, who will control it?

The first time his father disappeared, Tucker Feye had just turned thirteen. The Reverend Feye simply climbed on the roof to fix a shingle, let out a scream, and vanished–only to walk up the driveway an hour later, looking older and worn, with a strange girl named Lahlia in tow. In the months that followed, Tucker watched his father grow distant and his once loving mother slide into madness. But then both of his parents disappear.

Now in the care of his wild Uncle Kosh, Tucker begins to suspect that the disks of shimmering air he keeps seeing-one right on top of the roof-hold the answer to restoring his family. And when he dares to step into one, he’s launched on a time-twisting journey-from a small Midwestern town to a futuristic hospital run by digitally augmented healers, from the death of an ancient prophet to a forest at the end of time. Inevitably, Tucker’s actions alter the past and future, changing his world forever.

Publicity contact: Heather Wilks-Jones at Heather.Wilks-Jones@candlewick.com.

Pete Hautman is the author of many books, including the National Book Award-winning Godless and the time-travel adventure Mr. Was. He splits his time between Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Publisher’s webpage
Sample chapter
Book jacket
Author photo
Flyer
Shelf-talker

Return to Wake Robin: One Cabin in the Heyday of Northwoods Resorts

“With liberal doses of gratitude, humor, and charming period details, Mamminga recounts her family’s more than 60-year history vacationing on Big Spider Lake in Wisconsin’s Northwoods region…. Wake Robin’s old-fashioned routines continue to bring joy to a fifth generation.”—Publishers Weekly Starred Review

“Wonderful, outsized, loving, adventurous people fill Return to Wake Robin.” —Jim Peck, Host of Milwaukee Public Television’s I Remember

Five generations of Marnie O. Mamminga’s family have been rejuvenated by times together in Wisconsin’s Northwoods. In a series of evocative remembrances accompanied by a treasure trove of vintage family photos, Mamminga takes us to Wake Robin, the cabin her grandparents built in 1929 on Big Spider Lake near Hayward, on land adjacent to Moody’s Camp. Along the way she preserves the spirit and cultural heritage of a vanishing era, conveying the heart of a place and the community that gathered there.

Publicity contact: Shannon Sampson, Shannon.Sampson@wisconsinhistory.org.

Marnie O. Mamminga has vacationed every summer on Big Spider Lake near Hayward, Wisconsin. Born and raised in the Chicago area, she attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where she earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in English. Over the years she raised three sons, taught junior high and high school English, and worked as a freelance writer and columnist. Her publishing credits include the Chicago Tribune, Reader’s Digest, the Christian Science Monitor, Lake Superior Magazine, and several Chicken Soup for the Soul books. She is available for interviews and appearances when feasible geographically and for her schedule.

Book jacket
Author photo
Flyer
Shelf-talker

Louise: Amended. A memoir by Louise Krug. April 24, 2012. Paperback $14.00. Black Balloon Publishing. ISBN: 9781936787012.

At Yellow Lake. YA novel by Jane McLoughlin. May 21, 2012. Paperback $8.99. Frances Lincoln Children’s Books. ISBN: 9781847802873.  Distributed by Publishers Group West, a division of Perseus; orderentry@perseusbooks.com.

Louise: Amended

“A  massive  brain  trauma  robbed  fashionable  young  Louise  of  the  shallow  currency  she’d   banked  on  all  her  life,  and  the  resulting  struggle  is  a  page‐turner  in  which  a  person’s  very   soul  deepens  before  your  eyes.  Louise:  Amended  rewards  a  reader’s  time-­‐a  must  read.” —Mary  Karr, New York Times bestselling author of The Liars’ Club

A  beautiful  young  woman  from  Kansas  is  about  to  embark  on  the  life  of  her  dreams (California! Glossy  journalism! French boyfriend!) only  to  suffer  a  brain  bleed  that  collapses   the  right  side  of  her  body,  leaving  her  with  double  vision,  facial  paralysis,  and  a  dragging   foot.  An  unflinching,  wise,  and  darkly  funny  portrait  of  sudden  disability  and  painstaking   recovery,  the  memoir  presents  not  only  Louise’s  perspective,  but  also  the  reaction  of  her   loved  ones–we  see,  in  fictional  interludes,  what  it  must  have  been  like  for  Louise’s   boyfriend  to  bathe  her,  or  for  her  mother  to  apply  lipstick  to  her  nearly  immobile  mouth. Now,  six  years   later,  Louise  has  astounded  doctors  and  loved  ones  by  recovering  not  only  much  of  her   vision  and  mobility,  but  a  ferocious  spirit  and  enviable  grace.

Publicity contact: Sabrina, sabrina@februarypartners.com.

At age twenty-two, Louise Krug suffered a brain bleed and underwent an emergency craniotomy that disrupted her ability to walk, see, and move half her face. Now, six years later, Louise has astounded doctors and loved ones by recovering not only much of her vision and mobility, but a ferocious spirit and enviable grace. She currently lives with her husband Nick and daughter Olive in Lawrence, Kansas, where she’s a PhD candidate and teacher.

Publisher’s press release
Reader’s guide
Book jacket
Author photo
Flyer
Shelf-talker

At Yellow Lake

 ”A page turning story, which oozes menace… A fantastic debut and a treat for young adult
readers.” –Anne Cassidy, award-winning author of Looking for JJ

Three days at the lake will change their lives forever.

Etta, Peter and Jonah all find themselves at a cabin by the shore of Yellow Lake in northern Wisconsin, former strangers brought together in a terrifying series of events that follows. Jonah has come to Yellow Lake to try to get in touch with his Ojibwe roots. Peter is there to bury a lock of his mother’s hair — her final request before her death. Etta is on the run from her mother’s creepy boyfriend, Kyle, and his criminal friends. But as the three take shelter in the cabin and find surprising, if reluctant, solace in each other’s company, they soon realize that they have inadvertently stumbled onto the scene of a horrifying crime. And Kyle and his cronies have no intention of letting them escape the lake alive.

A sparkling debut from new YA author and Minnesota native Jane McLoughlin. At Yellow Lake will keep readers gripped until the final page, and is a perfect summertime cross-over read for parents and children to enjoy together.

Publicity contact: Jennifer Abel Kovitz, jennifer.d.abel@gmail.com.

Jane McLoughlin is an American from Minnesota who has lived in the U.K. for twenty years. She’s written screenplays, radio dramas, and has had several adult short stories published. McLoughlin lives in Brighton with her husband and teenage children, and teaches English in a secondary school. At Yellow Lake is her debut novel.

Book jacket
Author photo
Flyer
Shelf-talker

Boarded Windows

“Boarded Windows is a shrewd and soulful novel. References (high and low, familiar and obscure) abound in this eloquent and unusual story of not-quite innocence lost. Hicks uses his intimate knowledge of American music to give us a precise portrait of Wade Salem, a self-taught, fast-talking half-genius.” —Dana Spiotta, author of Stone Arabia

When I Was a Child I Read Books. Essays by Marilynne Robinson. March 13, 2012. Hardcover $24.00. Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan. ISBN: 9780374298784.

When I Was a Child I Read Books

“Author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel Gilead, Robinson weighs in with a series of tightly developed essays, some personal but mostly more general, on the Big Themes: social fragmentation in modern America, human frailty, faith. Her project is a hard-edged liberalism, sustained by a Calvinist ethic of generosity . . . In these times of the ever-ascending religious right, in the aftermath of what she sees as the ideologically secularist-driven cold war, Robinson bravely explores the corrosive potion of ‘Christian anti-Judaism’ and what it really ought to mean to be ‘a Christian nation.’”—Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

“The indomitable Marilynne Robinson radiates genius in her collection of essays.” —Vanity Fair

Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our essential writers.

Publicity contact: Tom Leigh, Tom.Leigh@macmillan.com.

Marilynne Robinson is the author of the novels Housekeeping (FSG, 1981), Gilead (FSG, 2004), winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and Home (FSG, 2008), and three books of nonfiction, Mother Country (FSG, 1989), The Death of Adam (1998) and Absence of Mind (2010). She teaches at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Book jacket
Author photo
Flyer
Shelf-talker

“I couldn’t imagine a more appropriate person to help us celebrate independent bookselling in the Midwest,” says Carrie Obry, MIBA’s executive director. Common Good Books (with the motto “Live Local, Read Large”) is steadfastly independent, known for such quirks as a large poetry section for the size of the store. In April, Common Good is moving to a new storefront. According to the store’s website, “The new, larger, sunnier location will let us bring even more great books to St. Paul readers. We’ll also be able to expand our events schedule to bring you great authors from around the world.”

Garrison Keillor is best known for his hugely popular radio program A Prairie Home Companion, distributed via American Public Media. The show attracts more than 4 million listeners on more than 600 public radio stations weekly. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including the novels of Lake Wobegon, a fictional town modeled on small towns in the Midwest, and Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny (forthcoming May 2012).

Keillor was born in Anoka, MN, in 1942 and graduated from the University of Minnesota. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and daughter. He has two grandsons. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters and the Episcopal church.

For more information about the Heartland Fall Forum, please contact Deb Leonard (deb@gliba.org) or Carrie Obry (carrie@midwestbooksellers.org).

Well-loved authors and top-notch bookseller education are coming to Watermark Books and Cafe for an evening. Join ABA board member Sarah Bagby of Watermark Books, CEO Oren Teicher, and Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger for a Booksellers Forum in conjunction with the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association.

The day’s schedule includes programming from both ABA and MIBA:

• 11:00 am-12:30 pm: ABA’s “The Best of Winter Institute 7′s Best Practices Sessions”
• 12:30 pm-2:30 pm: ABA Booksellers Forum over lunch
• 2:30 pm-3:00 pm: MIBA update on the Heartland Fall Forum
• 3:00 pm-4:30 pm: MIBA author reception

Mingle with these authors and learn more about their titles.

• Laura Moriarty, The Chaperone, also a Midwest Connections pick for June
• Alex Grecian, The Yard
• Louise Krug, Louise: Amended
• Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest
• Jason Malott, Evolution of Shadows
• Jean Zimmerman, The Orphanmaster
• Albert Goldbarth, Everyday People (not yet confirmed)  

To provide ABA with a headcount for the forum lunch, booksellers who are planning to attend are asked to RSVP by March 19 to Nathan Halter, ABA’s member relationship manager for the MIBA region.

We hope to see you there!

Finding Our Way Home. A novel by Charlene Baumbich. March 13, 2012. Trade paperback original $13.99. WaterBrook Press/Random House. ISBN: 9780307444738.

Finding Our Way Home

“The book is an enthralling read that made me both laugh and cry. I literally couldn’t put it down. I suspect you will feel the same way.”
—Midwest Book Review Bookwatch, reviewer Alma Bond

When the road home becomes daunting—a very capable girl on a bicycle can help find the way.

Beloved writer Charlene Baumbich turns her pen to the topic of unlikely friendships and lavish grace in her newest novel. Set in small-town Minnesota, the novel’s warm humor and small town feel will resonate with Baumbich fans. Meanwhile, the ballet backdrop provides an exciting glimpse into the world of dance.

When principal ballerina Sasha Davis suffers a career-ending injury at age thirty-eight, she retreats to her recently deceased mother’s home to recover. Reluctantly accepting that she can’t recover alone, she hires nineteen year-old übercapable Evelyn Burt. As the wounds begin to mend, the women form an unlikely alliance and discover the astounding power of even the smallest act done in the name of love.

Publicity contact: Kelly Blewett, kelly@kbkpublicrelations.com.

Charlene Ann Baumbich is the author of the Dearest Dorothy series, Stray Affections, and Divine Appointments, as well as several nonfiction books of humor and inspiration. She is also a popular speaker, an award-winning journalist, and lives with her husband in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

Flyer
Shelf-talker
Press release
Book jacket
Author photo
Reader’s Guide

Expand this post to be lead to all the promo materials for these titles. Follow this link for the Midwest Connections February rebate form.

A Good American

Praise for Alex George’s A Good American

“A Good American is a quixotic immigration tale wrapped in exquisite finery, from the opening promise of everlasting music, to the closing declaration that one’s own ordinary life is anything but ordinary. Don’t miss this new voice in American fiction.” —Sarah Bagby, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kansas

“Stunning, just stunning. Meet the Meisenheimer family through the eyes of grandson James as he relates the story of his immigrant family through nearly a century of American history. Peppered with remarkable characters: a jazz trumpeter who cooks a mean gumbo, a promiscuous school teacher, a dwarf… need I say more? You will laugh out loud, then cry your eyes out. This novel is priceless, and a gem of a read.” —Carol Katsoulis, Anderson’s Bookshop, Naperville, Illinois

An uplifting novel about the families we create and the places we call home.

It is 1904. When Frederick and Jette must flee her disapproving mother, where better to go than America, the land of the new? Originally set to board a boat to New York, at the last minute, they take one destined for New Orleans instead (“What’s the difference? They’re both new”), and later find themselves in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri. Not speaking a word of English, they embark on their new life together.

Beatrice is populated with unforgettable characters: a jazz trumpeter from the Big Easy who cooks a mean gumbo, a teenage boy trapped in the body of a giant, a pretty schoolteacher who helps the young men in town learn about a lot more than just music, a minister who believes he has witnessed the Second Coming of Christ, and a malevolent, bicycle-riding dwarf.

A Good American is narrated by Frederick and Jette’s grandson, James, who, in telling his ancestors’ story, comes to realize he doesn’t know his own story at all. Poignant, funny, and heartbreaking, A Good American is a novel about being an outsider—in your country, in your hometown, and sometimes even in your own family.

Publicity contact: Katie Grinch, Katie.Grinch@us.penguingroup.com.

Alex George is an Englishman who lives, works, and writes in Missouri. He studied law at Oxford University and worked for eight years as a corporate lawyer in London and Paris before moving to the United States in 2003.

Flyer
Shelf-talker
Book jacket
Author photo (Credit: Carole Patterson)
Press release
Author Q&A
Author’s note
Bookseller praise

The Golden Hour

“This smoothly written debut . . . captures the innocence and impetuousness of youth…. Wurtele carefully looks beyond religious and cultural stereotypes and her heroine’s character growth is moving and realistic.” –Booklist

“Offers a strong sense of time and place.” –Publishers Weekly

“Set in the danger and drama of Italy during the Second World War, The Golden Hour is an enthralling story of love, family, and courage. Margaret Wurtele has delivered a lush, suspenseful, and thoroughly engaging read.” –Lynn Sheene, author of The Last Time I Saw Paris

World War II-set fiction captivates readers with its irresistible combination of fear and hope set against one of the most turbulent times in history. New American Library is proud to publish talented debut novelist Margaret Wurtele, whose beautiful and moving story is a testament to the indomitable spirit of the people struggling to survive during the strife of the World War II era.  The Golden Hour begins in the summer of 1944 in Tuscany and portrays love and hope in a war-torn nation.  In a story woven with historical detail, Wurtele explores the emotion, fear, and hope that permeate the rarely explored landscape of World War II Italy.

Seventeen-year-old Giovanna Bellini sees firsthand the devastating effects of the war.  Following the Italian government’s peace agreement with the Allies, Giovanna watches as the German military invades her town, forming a hostile occupying army. At first, Giovanna is fascinated by the Nazi officers, but as the war strips away Giovanna’s naïveté and harsh realities are exposed, her brother Giorgio recruits her to aid in the Italian Resistance. When she is asked to hide wounded Jewish freedom fighter Mario Rava, Giovanna finds herself falling for the brave young man. The world around her is in constant turmoil and when terrible truths are revealed, threatening the lives of everyone Giovanna cares about, she is forced to make unimaginable sacrifices and decisions.

Publicity contact: Erin Galloway, Erin.Galloway@us.penguingroup.com.

Margaret Wurtele is the author of two memoirs. She and her husband split their time between Minnesota and Napa Valley, where they are owners of Terra Valentine Winery.

Flyer
Shelf-talker
Book jacket
Author photo
Press release
Reader’s guide

Confirmed bookstore dates for Margaret Wurtele:

2/8/2012 – St. Paul, MN – Literary Loft, 7 PM
2/9/2012 – Wayzata, MN – The Bookcase, 7 PM
2/18/2012 – Corte Madera, CA – Book Passage, 4 PM