A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk

One Woman’s Trek Along the Shorelines of All Five Great Lakes

Travel and Tourism by Loreen Niewenhuis. June 1, 2013. Paperback, $16.95. Crickhollow Books. ISBN: 9781933987217.

“With sensitivity and humor, Loreen’s writings give a gentle message to the reader to care for the great natural resource we have here.” – Black River Books, South Haven, Michigan

This book chronicles Loreen Niewenhuis’s latest adventure: a 1,000-mile walk along the shorelines of all five Great Lakes. The book takes the reader on a ground-level walk through the beauty, the history, and the tender ecology of Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Superior, and Ontario, including portions of trail found in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk also leads us on an exploration of self, as the author sets out on foot to explore a region.

Like her earlier book of a long trek around Lake Michigan, this new grand hike on the shores of five magnificent bodies of freshwater explores the natural and human history of the Great Lakes . . . and raises important questions about preserving our wild places and protecting fragile ecosystems on which we all depend.

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Loreen Niewenhuis writes short stories and essays, with her work published in literary journals, including the Antioch Review and Bellevue Literary Review. Her short-story collection, Scar Tissue, was a finalist in the 2009 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. Her first book, A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach, spent time on the Heartland Indie Bestseller List.

The Night Gwen Stacy Died

a novel by Sarah Bruni. July 2, 2013. Paperback, $14.95. Mariner Books. ISBN: 9780547898162

“Engaging… The novel’s quirky tone and accessible themes of rescue and recovery make for a likeable read.” – Publishers Weekly

“In this sterling debut, a pseudo Bonnie and Clyde with Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy delusions go on the lam in Iowa and hide out in Chicago, but the pleasures here go far beyond the propulsive narrative. The prose is blade-sharp, the eerie love story is leavened with moments of unforced wit, and the nuanced observations are utterly idiosyncratic. It’s as if Lorrie Moore wrote a taut thriller–not an updated Western, but a modern Midwestern.” – Teddy Wayne , author of The Love Song of Jonny Valentine
“A brave and bold new voice, Bruni takes us on an unexpected adventure of love and loss, of beginnings and ends, all the while showing us what it really means to be a hero.” -Alison Espach, author of The Adults

A debut novel and quirky love story about the adventures and mutual rescue of an Iowan girl and a mysterious stranger who begins to cast her in the image of Spider-Man’s first love.

An offbeat love story about the adventures and mutual rescue of a young woman out of place in her hometown and a mysterious stranger who calls himself Peter Parker (and begins to cast her in the role of Spider-Man’s first sweetheart), The Night Gwen Stacy Died is about first loss, first love, and finding our real identities.

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Sarah Bruni is a graduate of the MFA program in Fiction Writing at Washington University in St. Louis and holds a degree in English Literature from the Univeristity of Iowa. Since growing up in and around Chicago, she has taught creative writing in St. Louis, volunteered as a writing and English tutor with youth in San Francisco and Montevideo, Uruguay, and currently lives in Brooklyn. The Night Gwen Stacy Died is her first novel.

The Quirks: Welcome to Normal

a middle-grade book by Erin Soderberg (illustrated by Kelly Light). June 4, 2013. Hardcover, $13.99. Bloomsbury USA Children’s. ISBN: 9781599907895

A charmingly offbeat new series about a family that is anything but ordinary.

The Quirk family never stays in one place for very long. Every time they think they’ve found a home, one of the family slips up and sends them packing. You see, the Quirks are a bit, well, quirky. Each family member has a touch of magic, and it’s usually good for one thing: causing trouble.

Mom can control minds; Grandpa twists time; Penelope has an all-too-real imagination that makes her ideas come alive; Finn is the pesky kid brother—who’s invisible; and then there’s Molly, the most unusual Quirk of all. Molly may be Penelope’s identical twin, but they are nothing alike. Molly is completely, utterly, normal.

Molly’s greatest desire is to fit in, and she’s found the perfect spot: Normal, Michigan. Despite the town’s obsession with breaking world records, its cookie cutter houses and welcoming committees seem like just the place for an ordinary life. Or so Molly hopes.

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Erin Soderberg has written numerous books for children, but this is her first middle-grade series. Before turning to writing fulltime, Erin worked as a children’s book editor and marketer, cookie taster, and brand manager for Nickelodeon. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her delightfully quirky family.

Jewelweed

A novel by David Rhodes. May 14, 2013. Hardcover, $26.00. Milkweed Editions. ISBN: 9781571311009.

“With Jewelweed, David Rhodes has once more produced a moving, deeply thoughtful novel, of poor people doing difficult things often against their best interests in a little town in the upper Midwest. He is the same writer, maybe better, as the author of Driftless. A lovely book.” —Paul Ingram, Prairie Lights Bookstore (Iowa City, IA)

“A benevolent sort of rural American magical realism . . . profound.”  —Publishers Weekly

“David Rhodes takes seemingly mundane events, and makes them magic. The glimpses into the everyday made spectacular through his telling, and his ability to let you see the world through another set of eyes. He truly gets you into his characters, and leaves you feeling like you’ve got a new set of friends looking out for you. Jewelweed has been my first foray into his writing, but will certainly not be my last.” —Jack Hannert, Brilliant Books, Traverse City, MI

When David Rhodes burst onto the American literary scene in the ’70s, he was hailed as “a brilliant visionary” (John Gardner). In Driftless, his “most accomplished work yet” (Joseph Kanon), Rhodes made Words, Wisconsin, resonate with readers across the country.

Now with Jewelweed this beloved author returns to the same out-of-the-way community and introduces a cast of characters who must overcome the burdens left by the past. After serving time for a dubious conviction, Blake Bookchester is paroled. As Blake attempts to adjust, he reconnects with Danielle Workhouse, a single mother whose son, Ivan, explores the woods with his precocious friend, August. While Danielle goes to work for Buck and Amy Roebuck in their mansion, Ivan and August befriend Lester Mortal, a recluse who lives in a melon field; a wild boy; and a bat, Milton. These characters — each flawed, deeply human, and ultimately universal — approach the future with a combination of hope and trepidation. Jewelweed offers a vision in which the ordinary becomes mythical, the seemingly mundane transformed into revelatory beauty.

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David Rhodes grew up near Des Moines where he attended a Quaker School. He dropped out of Beloit College in the 60′s and eventually graduated from Marlboro College in Vermont. After receiving an MFA in Writing from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1971, he published three novels in rapid succession to acclaim: The Last Fair Deal Going Down (Atlantic/Little, Brown, 1972), The Easter House (Harper & Row, 1974), and Rock Island Line (Harper & Row, 1975). A motorcycle accident in 1976 left him paralyzed from the chest down. He continued writing, but did not publish again until 2008 when his novel, Driftless, was published. It received a Milkweed National Fiction prize, was read on Wisconsin Public Radio, and was chosen as an All Iowa Reads selection. Milkweed has reissued all of his previous books. He currently lives with his wife, Edna, in Wisconsin.

Theory of Remainders

A novel by Scott Dominic Carpenter. May 22, 2013. Hardcover $27.99. ISBN:9780988904903. June 1, 2103: Paperback, $16.99. ISBN: 9780988904910. Winter Goose Publishing.

“A rare and wondrous novel”  —Reader’s Favorite

“Theory of Remainders challenged me to examine words, to puzzle through conversations and scenes, to rely on the thought process rather than tangible evidence. That engagement of the reader sets this novel apart . . . For anyone who values a literary novel of substantial depth in character development, language, sense of place and reader engagement, Theory of Remainders ranks as a must-read.”

— Audrey Kletscher Helbling, Minnesota Prairie Roots.

 

“Carpenter creates an incredible sense of place as he evokes Normandy and its people. The writing, elegant and subtle, draws the reader into this thoroughly gripping tale.” — Tripp Ryder, President, Midwest Independent Booksellers Association

 

“Fully realized characters, a remarkable fluency of language, wit, and an extensive comprehension of French culture and history make this literary novel a stellar achievement.” — Kirkus Review (starred review)

At fifty-two, psychiatrist Philip Adler is divorced, alone, and gutted of passion. When a funeral draws him back to his ex-wife’s homeland of France, the trip reunites him with a trauma he has struggled to forget: the brutal death of his teenage daughter fifteen years earlier. Prodded by his former brother-in-law and stirred by the unspent embers of his marriage, he embarks on a mission to resolve lingering questions about this past, hoping to heal himself along the way. The search leads to a disturbed man who may hold more answers than anyone expects—if only Philip can hear what he’s trying to say.

A suspenseful literary novel set in the lush backgrounds of Normandy, Theory of Remainders explores the secret ties between love, trauma, and language.

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Galleys available by request–email Anne Maple: wintergoosepublishing@gmail.com

Scott Dominic Carpenter teaches French literature and critical theory at Carleton College (MN), where he has written extensively on the representation of madness in the novel, political allegory, and literary hoaxes. His fiction has appeared in such journals as Chamber Four, Ducts, Midwestern Gothic, The MacGuffin, Prime Number and Spilling Ink. A Pushcart Prize nominee and a semi-finalist for the MVP competition at New Rivers Press, his first collection of stories, This Jealous Earth (MG Press) is also available.

Daddy Long Legs: The Natural Education of a Father

A memoir by John Price. May 14, 2013. Paperback, $14.95. Trumpeter Books. ISBN: 9781611800029.

“If David Sedaris and Annie Dillard had a literary love child and raised him in Iowa, he would write like this.” —The Iowan

“Like America’s best essayists-think E.B. White-John Price’s side-splitting stories about his family develop in their own time into heart-rending reflections on living and dying, and why living must be whole-hearted if it is to be anything at all, and why dying can be as beautiful as an emerging moth.” —Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Wild Comfort

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To request a copy of this title email Julie Saidenberg: jsaidenberg@shambhala.com

John T. Price is an award-winning teacher of creative writing and literature at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He earned a BA in religion, an MFA in nonfiction writing, and a PhD in English from the University of Iowa. He is the author of two memoirs: Man Killed by Pheasant and Other Kinships (Merloyd Lawrence Books/Da Capo Press, 2008)-which won the 2009 Orion Magazine Readers’ Choice Award-and Not Just Any Land (University of Nebraska Press, 2004).

Sinners and the Sea

A novel by Rebecca Kanner. April 2, 2013. Hardcover, $22.99. Howard Books. ISBN: 9781451695236.

“Kanner animates a harsh, almost dystopic world of fallen people struggling to survive. Noah’s unnamed wife is a powerful, memorable character.”
— Publisher’s Weekly on Sinners and the Sea

“Kanner successfully undertakes a formidable task retelling a familiar religious story through the eyes of Noah’s wife. The narrative’s well-articulated, evenly balanced, and stimulating—but it’s definitely not the familiar tale that’s so frequently illustrated in children’s books.”
— Kirkus Reviews on Sinners and the Sea

“Sinners and the Sea is a rare find—a bold and vivid journey into the antediluvian world of Noah. Kanner’s is a fresh, irresistible story about the unnamed woman behind the famous ark-builder. Compelling and masterfully written.”
— Tosca Lee, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Books of Mortals series

Cursed with a birthmark that many think is the brand of a demon, the young heroine in The Sinners and the Sea is deprived even of a name for fear that it would make it easier for people to spread lies about her. But this virtuous woman has the perfect voice to make one of the Old Testament’s stories live anew.

Desperate to keep her safe, the woman’s father gives her to the righteous Noah, who weds her and takes her to the town of Sorum, a land of outcasts. Noah, a 600-year-old paragon of virtue, rises to the role of preacher to a town full of sinners. Alone in her new life, Noah’s wife gives him three sons, but is faced with the hardship of living with an aloof husband who speaks more to God than with her. She tries to make friends with the violent and dissolute people of Sorum while raising a brood that, despite a pious upbringing, have developed some sinful tendencies of their own. But her trials are nothing compared to what awaits her after God tells her husband that a flood is coming—and that Noah and his family must build an ark so that they alone can repopulate the world.

Kanner weaves a masterful tale that breathes new life into one of the Bible’s voiceless characters. Through the eyes of Noah’s wife we see a complex world where the lines between righteousness and wickedness blur. And we are left wondering: Would I have been considered virtuous enough to save?

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Rebecca Kanner’s writing has won an Associated Writing Programs Award and a Loft Mentorship Award. Her stories have been published in numerous journals, including The Kenyon Review and The Cincinnati Review. She is a freelance writer and teaches writing at The Loft in Minneapolis.

Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old-Fashioned Experience

A book by Ron Faiola. April 16, 2013. Hardcover $35.00. Agate Midway. ISBN:9781572841420.

From documentary filmmaker Ron Faiola comes a resource for and about supper clubs throughout Wisconsin.

PRAISE FOR RON FAIOLA AND HIS DOCUMENTARY WISCONSIN SUPPER CLUBS:

“[A] compelling, delightful and-not to make too much of it-important documentary…. Ron Faiola [is] a genius filmmaker.” -Rick Kogan, WGN Radio

“A couple years ago, we jaunted up to Milwaukee’s Times Cinema to see the premiere of filmmaker Ron Faiola’s Fish Fry Night Milwaukee…. Faiola’s latest offering is even tastier; Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old Fashioned Experience is a mouthwatering tour of rarefied restaurants from another era that has me thinking of excursions northward.” -Peter Exley, Chicago Reader

“Ron Faiola has become Wisconsin’s legacy filmmaker.” -David Luhrssen, Express Milwaukee

“In his terrific documentary, Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old Fashioned Experience, [Ron] Faiola profiled 14 restaurants that have held on, even against the tide of changing tastes, aging clientele and struggling economy.” -Kevin Pang, Chicago Tribune

Wisconsin Supper Clubs includes beautiful photographs of the unique supper club interiors, proprietors, and customers, as well as fascinating archival materials. Also recorded in this book are the regional specialties served at these clubs, ranging from popovers and fried pickles in the northern part of the state to Shrimp de Jonghe in the south. One Northwoods supper club even features fry bread, a traditional Native American dish uncommon to most any restaurant.

The “supper club experience” is a tradition embodied by many long-standing restaurants scattered throughout the small towns of Wisconsin. It is based around a bygone idea that going out to dinner is an experience that lasts an entire evening. The clubs emphasizing food made from scratch, slow-paced dining, and family-run businesses. Combine this with stately dark-panel decor, complimentary relish trays, and the best brandy Old Fashioned sweet you’ll ever have, and you have barely scratched the surface of the Wisconsin supper club’s appeal.

Author Ron Faiola is the critically acclaimed director and producer of the documentary by the same name. Supper clubs are hugely popular with Wisconsin locals and regularly frequented by all Midwestern foodies “in the know.” With Wisconsin Supper Clubs as a guide, these establishments are primed to be choice summer road trip destinations for anyone looking for low-cost vacations this summer. After the successful debut of Faiola’s documentary, this book is sure to be a hit throughout the region and beyond.

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Ron Faiola is an author and filmmaker who has produced and directed numerous critically acclaimed documentaries. He is the president and founder of Push Button Gadget Inc., which has been specializing in audio visual and business theater production for nearly 20 years.

Sleeping in Eden

A novel by Nicole Baart. May 21, 2013. Paperback, $16.00. Howard Books. ISBN: 9781439197363.

“Ripe with complex emotion and vivid prose . . . this story sticks around long after the last page is turned.” — Publisher’s Weekly on Sleeping in Eden

“Sleeping in Eden mesmerized me from the first heart-stopping page. Nicole Baart draws her characters beautifully while crafting a plot that kept me up all night. A highly emotional and gripping read.” —Anita Hughes, author of Monarch Beach

“Nicole Baart has written a novel that satisfies on every level. Sleeping in Eden is a compelling mystery, a tragic love story, a perceptive consideration of the callous whim of circumstance and, perhaps most important, a beautiful.” – William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author

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Nicole Baart was born and raised in a small town in Iowa. She and her husband have three young sons. After the adoption of their infant son, Nicole discovered a deep passion for global issues and co-founded a nonprofit organization, One Body One Hope, that works alongside a church and orphanage in Monrovia, Liberia. Nicole was the coauthor of Glenn Beck’s bestselling Christmas novel, The Snow Angel.

Orphan Train

A novel by Christina Baker Kline. April 2, 2013. Paperback $14.99. William Morrow Paperbacks/HarperCollins. ISBN: 9780061950728.

“I was so moved by this book. I loved Molly and Vivian, two brave, difficult, true-hearted women who disrupt one another’s lives in beautiful ways, and loved journeying with them, through heartbreak and stretches of history I’d never known existed, out of loneliness toward family and home.” –Marisa de los Santos, New York Times-bestselling author of Belong to Me and Falling Together

“I loved this book: its absorbing back-and-forth story, its vivid history, its eminently loveable characters. ORPHAN TRAIN wrecked my heart and made me glad to be literate.” –Monica Wood, author of When We Were the Kennedys

“Christina Baker Kline writes exquisitely about two unlikely friends . . . each struggling to transcend a past of isolation and hardship. ORPHAN TRAIN will hold you in its grip as their fascinating tales unfold.” –Cathy Marie Buchanan, New York Times-bestselling author of The Painted Girls

Detailed and beautifully drawn, Orphan Train illuminates a little-known part of America’s history:  Between 1854 and 1929, so-called “orphan trains” transported more than 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, and homeless children between the ages of 2 and 14 from the East Coast to the Midwest for foster care and adoption. But their treatment often amounted to indentured servitude. Chosen first were infants, for more traditional adoptions, and older boys, for their manual labor; adolescent girls were typically selected last. While some children quickly found love and acceptance, many walked a harder road.

Orphan Train is set in modern-day Maine and early twentieth-century Minnesota.  Kline spends every summer on the coast of Maine and has built a large fan base in the area.  She has also spent 25 years traveling to Minnesota where her husband’s family lives, and has strong ties to the orphan-train riders’ community in the state.

View a video trailer for Orphan Train

Christina Baker Kline is the author of five novels, including Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be. Writer-in-Residence at Fordham University from 2007-2011, Kline is a recent recipient of a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Fellowship and several research fellowships (to Ireland and Minnesota), and has been a Writer-in-Residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She lives with husband and three sons in Montclair, New Jersey, and spends as much time as possible in northern Minnesota and on the coast of Maine, where she grew up.

Ordinary Grace

A novel by William Kent Krueger. March 26, 2013. Hardcover $24.99. Atria Books/Simon & Schuster. ISBN: 9781451645828.

From New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger comes a brilliant new novel about a young man, a small town, and murder in the summer of 1961.

“It’s been a while since a story forced me to abandon my plans for the day. This book has all the elements of a great mystery.  The careful plot, skillful placement of evidence, and trajectory of suspense are all immensely satisfying. What sets this story apart is the unsettling detail of family love and the experience of grief.” –Ann Woodbeck, Excelsior Bay Books

“ Set in the early 60’s, it’s a story told from the perspective of 13-year-old Frank Drum when tragedy comes to call on his family. The author has really captured the era, the small town atmosphere, the Drum family and all the other memorable characters that make up this brilliant novel. Ordinary Grace will stay with me for a long time. ” –Kathleen Eddy, Manager, Valley Bookseller, Stillwater, MN

All the dying that summer began with the death of a child . . .

New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.

Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family, which includes his Methodist minister father, his passionate, artistic mother, Juilliard-bound older sister, and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother—he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.

Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, Ordinary Grace is a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.

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William Kent Krueger is the award-winning author of twelve previous Cork O’Connor novels, including Northwest Angle and Trickster’s Point, as well as the novel Ordinary Grace. He lives in the Twin Cities with his family.

Being Esther

A novel by Miriam Karmel. April 2, 2013. Hardcover $22.00. Milkweed Editions. ISBN: 9781571310965.

The debut novel from Miriam Karmel paints an irresistible portrait of Esther Lustig, an eighty-five year-old widow living in Chicago.

“In this beautiful vignette, the 85 year old protagonist, Esther Lustig, engages in time travel, the kind we all do every day . . . I was charmed by Esther’s wonderful observations of life, her love of literature and clarity of vision. Karmel has created a character I will not soon forget.” —Terri Weiner, Village Books, Bellingham, WA

“What a beautiful gift Miriam Karmel has given us! She got it all right: the aging thing, the generational thing, the Chicago thing, the Jewish thing, and the continuing loss of personal contact in our sadly alienated world. Told through the eyes and mind of the richly complex and loveable Esther, and without a wasted word, Being Esther is a novel I will treasure. And I’ll sell the hell out of it when it comes out.” —David Unowsky, SubText Bookstore, St. Paul, MN

“Being Esther is a beautiful, touching novel.” —Pierre Camy, Schuler Books, Grand Rapids, MI

In spare, refreshingly unsentimental prose, Miriam Karmel has given us one of literature’s finest portraits of the last days of a woman’s life. At once sad and amusing, unpretentious and ambitious, Karmel’s fiction debut brings understanding and tremendous empathy to the character of Esther Lustig, a woman readers will recognize and embrace.

Born to parents who fled the shtetl, Esther Lustig has led a seemingly conventional life—marriage, two children, a life in suburban Chicago. Now, at the age of eighty-five, her husband is deceased, her children have families of their own, and most of her friends are gone. Even in this diminished condition, life has its moments of richness, as well as its memorable characters. Being Esther is an exploration of aging, a search for meaning, and about the need, as Esther puts it, for better roadmaps for growing old.

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View a video trailer for Being Esther.

Miriam Karmel has worked as a newspaper reporter and magazine editor. Her fiction has won numerous regional prizes, and her stories have been published in Bellevue Literary Review and Minnesota Monthly, as well as anthologized in Fiction on a Stick (Milkweed Editions, 2008).  She lives in Minneapolis, MN and Sandisfield, MA. Being Esther is her first novel.

Limping Through Life: A Farm Boy’s Memoir

A memoir by Jerry Apps. April 2, 2013. Hardcover $22.95. Wisconsin Historical Society Press. ISBN: 9780870205804.

Native Midwesterner Jerry Apps introduces his new memoir by saying, “Families throughout the United States lived in fear of polio throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, and now the disease had come to our farm. I can still remember that short winter day and the chilly night when I first showed symptoms. My life would never be the same.”

Polio was epidemic in the United States starting in 1916. By the 1930s, quarantines and school closings were becoming common, as isolation was one of the only ways to fight the disease. The salk vaccine was not available until 1955; in that year, Wisconsin’s Fox River valley had more polio cases per capita than anywhere in the United States. In his most personal book, Jerry Apps, who contracted polio at age twelve, reveals how the disease affected him physically and emotionally, profoundly influencing his education, military service, and family life and setting him on the path to becoming a professional writer.

A hardworking farm kid who loved playing softball, young Jerry Apps would have to make many adjustments and meet many challenges after that winter night he was stricken with a debilitating, sometimes fatal illness. In Limping through Life he explores the ways his world changed after polio and pays tribute to those family members, teachers, and friends who helped him along the way.

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Jerry Apps has been a rural his­torian and environmental writer for more than forty years. He has published fiction and nonfiction books on many rural topics, including Ringlingville USA, Casper Jaggi: Master Swiss Cheese Maker, Horse-Drawn Days, Old Farm, and Garden Wisdom for the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. In addition, Wisconsin Public Television created a documentary about his rural life “Jerry Apps: A Farm Story” that has been picked up PBS nationally and will air throughout the US in 2013. He is a former county extension agent and professor at the University of Wis­consin College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Jerry and his wife, Ruth, divide their time between their home in Madison and their farm, Roshara, west of Wild Rose.

The Truth about Love and Lightning

A novel by Susan McBride. February 12, 2013. Paperback $14.99. William Morrow Paperbacks/HarperCollins. ISBN: 9780062027283.

From the author of Little Black Dress comes a new novel about family, lies, and getting what you wish for…

“Seamlessly toggling between decades, McBride delivers a poignant page-turner with flawed but lovable characters.” —Publisher’s Weekly

“McBride’s novel is a gentle reminder of the unexpected and inevitable nature of change.” —Booklist

“A tender story of a mother and daughter in search of the man they love. Part mystery, part romance, it’s an emotional tale of the power of forgiveness. A truly notable book highlighting the importance of family, this novel is a must-read pick.” –MomTrends.com

Susan McBride weaves a tapestry of words, and balances wry humor with a deeply touching narrative in the story of one family, and the history of the lies that built it up. Pregnant with her ex-boyfriend’s child, Abby Brink returns home to the family farm on the day of a twister, only to discover a mysterious man, struck by lightning—who might be the father she’s wished would reappear in her life for years. In the midst of this chaos, Gretchen Brink, Abby’s mother and a compulsive teller of white-lies, becomes the caretaker for Abby and the mysterious stranger—all while nursing a fib that could shatter her family.

Susan’s own life is the stuff stories are made of. After being named one of St. Louis Magazine’s top 20 singles, McBride met and married her personal prince-charming, Ed, only to have this highpoint of personal happiness marred by the trauma of her battle with breast cancer. Now, McBride is stronger than ever, a survivor—and a new mother! Ed and Susan welcomed daughter Emily Alice into their family on June 28^th. In the midst of all this familial bliss, it makes sense then that McBride’s latest novel revolves around the bond between a mother and a daughter. In the midst of all this familial bliss, it makes sense then that McBride’s latest novel revolves around the bond between a mother and a daughter.

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Susan McBride is the author of women’s fiction, including The Truth About Love and Lightning, Little Black Dress, and The Cougar Club, as well as the award-winning Debutante Dropout Mysteries. She calls herself an “accidental cougar” after meeting a man nine years younger in 2005 when she was a St. Louis Magazine “top single.” They were married in February 2008 and live happily ever after in a suburb of St. Louis. She is a six-year breast cancer survivor and often speaks to women’s groups about her experience. In January 2012, she was named one of St. Louis’ “Most Dynamic People of the Year” by the Ladue News. In April 2012, she was given the “Survivor of the Year” Award by the St. Louis affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. In late June of 2012, Susan and her husband, Ed, had their first child, Emily. As Susan likes to say, “Life is never boring!”

Inspired by a “Read Freely” philosophy and a passion for innovation, Kobo is one of the world’s fastest-growing eReading services. Read Freely stems from Kobo’s belief that consumers should have the freedom to read any book, anytime, anyplace – and on any device. As a result, Kobo has attracted millions of readers from more than 170 countries and features one of the world’s largest eReading catalogs with over 2.5 million eBook, newspaper and magazine titles.

Bookstores work hard to bring you reading you will love. Please visit one of these indie bookstores to see the Kobo eReaders firsthand, and visit their websites to purchase an eBook. By supporting local bookstores through your eReading, you’ll give back to your community and enjoy a great read at the same time.

Iowa
Book People, Sioux City
Book Vault, Oskaloosa
Burlington by the Book, Burlington
Cornerstone Cottage Kids, Hampton
Dragonfly Books, Decorah
Pioneer Bookshop, Grinnell
Prairie Lights Bookstore, Iowa City
River Lights Bookstore, Dubuque

Illinois
Book Mouse, Ottawa
Bookstore, Glen Ellyn

Kansas
Bluebird Books, Hutchinson
Mysteryscape, Overland Park
Pages Books & Coffee, Newton
Rainy Day Books, Fairway
Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita

Minnesota
Beagle Books/Sister Wolf Books, Park Rapids
Book Mark at Gustavus College, Saint Peter
Book Shelf, Winona
Bookcase, Wayzata
Buffalo Books, Buffalo
Carleton College Bookstore, Northfield
Cherry Street Books, Alexandria
Common Good Books, St. Paul
Excelsior Bay Books, Excelsior
Little Professor Book Center, Owatonna
Moon Palace Books, Minneapolis
Paperbacks & Pieces, Winona
Reading Frenzy BookShop, Zimmerman
Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul
Turtle Town Books & Gifts, Nisswa
Valley Bookseller, Stillwater
Wild Rumpus, Minneapolis

Missouri
All on the Same Page Bookstore, Creve Coeur
Dog-Eared Books, Independence
Left Bank Books, St. Louis
Pudd’nhead Books, St. Louis
Subterranean Books, St. Louis

Nebraska
Bookworm, Omaha
Chapters Books & Gifts, Seward
Indigo Bridge Books, Lincoln

South Dakota
Prairie Pages Bookseller, Pierre

Wisconsin
A Room of One’s Own, Madison
Arcadia Books, Spring Green
Books & Company, Oconomowoc
Chapter2Books, Hudson
Dragonwings Bookstore, Waupaca
Northwind Book & Fiber, Spooner
Redbery Books, Cable
Tribeca GalleryCafe & Books, Watertown
Velveteen Rabbit Bookstore, Fort Atkinson

Kobo powers eBooks and eReaders for local bookstores

NEW YORK – August 29, 2012 – Kobo, a leader in eReading with over 10 million registered users worldwide, and the American Booksellers Association (ABA) today announced a new partnership to bring Kobo’s world-class eReading platform to independent bookstores across the United States.  By partnering with the nearly 2,000 ABA-member stores, Kobo continues its successful strategy of working with booksellers around the world, and America’s indie booksellers grow their ability to discover and deliver great reads, in any format, to their customers.

In partnership with the ABA, Kobo has developed a unique program designed for independent booksellers and their customers.   Booksellers will be able to offer a total experience for their customers including a full line of eReaders, eReading accessories, and ebooks from Kobo’s catalog of nearly 3 million titles. ABA members will share in the revenue on every sale.  The program includes valuable training, in-store merchandising, marketing, sales, and logistics solutions to help independents be successful. ABA members will also be able to offer ebooks directly to their customers online.   Kobo expects to launch with the first 400 bookstores this fall.

“We are very excited to work with the ABA and independent bookstores across America to bring an Indie alternative to the eReading market,” said Mike Serbinis, CEO, Kobo. “With this partnership, we are confident that independents will a world class offering for their loyal customers and a voice in the digital transformation.”

“We are pleased to offer our ABA members a competitive eBook retailing solution uniquely crafted to meet the needs of independent booksellers and their customers,” said Oren Teicher, CEO, American Booksellers Association. “Through this partnership with Kobo, indie bookstore customers will have access to a broad and diverse inventory of eBooks.  Today’s readers want a first-class shopping experience, both in-store and online, and this new partnership allows indie booksellers to meet the ever-changing needs of shoppers in a dynamic marketplace.”

KOBO – A GLOBAL STANDARD

Since its inception in 2009, Kobo has built a global base of over 10 million registered users in 190 countries, and one of the largest eBook stores in the world with 3 million books, newspapers and magazines with titles ranging from the NYT bestseller list, the hottest new releases, Indie Next List and Bestseller List titles, and over a million free books with titles in 60 languages.  With one of the largest content catalogs in the world, a line of award winning eReaders available in 7 languages, free eReading Apps, and the newly launched self-publishing program, Kobo Writing Life – Kobo has a rich eReading ecosystem and a unique win-win approach to the market.

THE READ FREELY COMMITMENT

Kobo and the ABA share fundamental values that are rooted in the love of reading. The ABA and its independent bookstore members introduce newly discovered titles to readers, as well as support freedom of speech, literacy, and programs that encourage reading. Kobo’s Read Freely philosophy supports an open platform and adoption of industry standards to ensure that people own the books they buy and are never locked to one device or service. Additionally Kobo offers free eReading apps so people can read conveniently anytime, anyplace from a device they already own. With Kobo, consumers can easily browse and shop from the Kobo eBookstore and automatically sync their library across most popular devices including iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac, PC, and smartphones, as well as all Kobo eReaders.

THE BOOKSELLERS’ CHOICE

In less than three years since the company was founded, Kobo has developed a successful turnkey solution that enables a wide variety of retailers – both large and small – to capitalize on the eReading growth occurring around the world. First-class brick-and-mortar booksellers like Indigo, Fnac, WHSmith, Mondadori, Collins, Future Shop/Best Buy, Target and others have taken advantage of what has become known as Kobo’s “Playbook” to quickly introduce eReading to their customers and ultimately creating new streams of revenue by making eBooks more accessible around the world. Through the partnership with ABA, Kobo adds to this network nearly 2,000 independent bookstores that will be able to take advantage of Kobo’s unique services, including one of the largest content catalogs available today and line-up of accessible eReading devices and free eReading applications.

“This partnership signifies a tipping point for independent booksellers around the world and Kobo is leading the way,” said Serbinis. “We expect to quickly bring our unique offering to independents globally.”

The Fate of Mercy Alban

A novel by Wendy Webb. February 5, 2013. Paperback $15.99. Hyperion/Voice/HarperCollins. ISBN: 9781401341930.

From award-winning novelist Wendy Webb (The Tale of Halcyon Crane, winner of the 2011 Minnesota Book Award for Genre Fiction) comes a spine-tingling, modern-day haunted house story set on Lake Superior.

Grace Alban has spent twenty years away from her childhood home, the stately Alban House on the shores of Lake Superior — for reasons she would rather forget. But when her mother’s unexpected death brings Grace and her teenage daughter home, she finds more than just her own personal demons haunting the halls and passageways of Alban House.

Long-buried family secrets, a packet of old love letters, and a lost manuscript plunge Grace into a decades-old mystery about a scandalous party at Alban House during which a world-famous author took his own life and Grace’s aunt disappeared without a trace. That night has been shrouded in secrecy by the powerful Alban family for all of these years, and Grace realizes her family secrets tangle and twist as darkly as the hidden passages of Alban House. Her mother was intending to tell the truth about that night to a reporter on the very day she died. Could it have been murder, or was she a victim of the supposed Alban curse? With the help of the disarmingly kind — and attractive — Reverend Matthew Parker, Grace must uncover the truth about her home and its curse before she and her daughter become the next victims.

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Wendy Webb is editor-in-chief of Duluth-Superior, an upscale lifestyle magazine. A journalist with two decades of experience, she lives in Minnesota.

The History of Us

A novel by Leah Stewart. January 8, 2013. Hardcover $24.99. Touchstone/Simon & Schuster. ISBN: 9781451672626.

“With a playwright’s precise, sometimes excoriating dialogue and an insightful novelist’s judicious use of interior monologue, Stewart crafts a tearful yet unsentimental family coming-of-age story.” –Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A poignant exploration of the meaning of family…the life they’ve lived was as much a gift as the life they lost.” –Booklist

“Domestic fiction fans favoring strong, intelligent characters will be intrigued by Stewart’s introspective examination of a family.” –Library Journal

 

 

Sometimes home is the hardest place to go.

In the newest novel by the celebrated author of The Myth of You and Me, three grown siblings return to their childhood home and face a family secret that forces them to reexamine their relationships.

Eloise Hempel is on her way to teach a class at Harvard when she receives a devastating phone call. Her sister and her husband have been killed in a tragic accident, and Eloise must return home to Cincinnati to take their three children out of the hands of her own incapable mother. She and her children move back into her mother’s century-old house and, after her mother leaves, pours her own money into its upkeep.

Nearly two decades later, Eloise is still in that house with now-grown children, still thinking about the career and life she left behind, even as she pushes the kids to get a move on. With a child leaving for New York City for a promising ballet career, Eloise has plans to finally sell the house and start a life that’s hers alone. But when her mother creates a competition for which of them gets the house and Claire turns out to have a life-changing secret, their makeshift family begins to fall apart.

The History of Us is a heartrending story of loss, sibling relationships, and the life you make in the path not taken.

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Leah Stewart is the author of the novels Husband and Wife, The Myth of You and Me, and Body of a Girl. The recipient of an NEA Literature Fellowship, she teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Cincinnati and lives in Cincinnati with her husband and two children.