Intriguing August 2017 Book Releases

Lots of interesting books coming next month! The ones I'm most looking forward to are "The Luster of Lost Things," "Young Jane Young" (I hope it's as good as "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry"!) and "How to Find Love in a Bookshop," which is a bit out of my normal wheelhouse but sounds utterly charming. What August releases are you excited about?

(All summaries adapted from Goodreads, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.)

Impossible Views of the World by Lucy Ives // A witty, urbane, and sometimes shocking novel, set in a hallowed New York museum, in which a co-worker's disappearance and a mysterious map change a life forever. "Impossible Views of the World" is a dazzling debut novel about how to make it through your early thirties with your brain and heart intact.

The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley // In 1859, ex-East India Company smuggler Merrick Tremayne is trapped at home in Cornwall after sustaining an injury that almost cost him his leg and something is wrong; a statue moves, his grandfather’s pines explode, and his brother accuses him of madness. "The Bedlam Stacks" is the story of a profound friendship that grows in a place that seems just this side of magical.

Brave Deeds by David Abrams // "Brave Deeds" is a powerful novel of war, brotherhood, and America. Spanning eight hours, the novel follows a squad of six AWOL soldiers as they attempt to cross war-torn Baghdad on foot to attend the funeral of their leader, Staff Sergeant Rafe Morgan. Moving, thoughtful, funny, and smart, "Brave Deeds" is a gripping story of combat and of brotherhood, and an important addition to the oeuvre of contemporary war fiction.

Morningstar: Growing Up With Books by Ann Hood // A memoir about the magic and inspiration of books from a beloved and best-selling author. In her admired works of fiction, Ann Hood explores the transformative power of literature. Now, with warmth and honesty, Hood reveals the personal story behind these works of fiction.

The Readymade Thief by Augustus Rose // Lee Cuddy is seventeen years old and on the run. Betrayed by her family after taking the fall for a friend, she finds refuge in a cooperative of runaways holed up in an abandoned building they call the Crystal Castle, but the façade of the Castle conceals a far more sinister agenda, one hatched by a society of fanatical men set on decoding a series of powerful secrets hidden in plain sight. They believe Lee holds the key to it all. Aided by Tomi, a young hacker and artist with whom she has struck a wary alliance, Lee escapes into the unmapped corners of the city, but the deeper she goes underground, the more tightly she finds herself bound in the strange web she’s trying to elude.

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt //  In this riveting debut novel, Sarah Schmidt recasts one of the most fascinating murder cases of all time into an intimate story of a volatile household and a family devoid of love. On the morning of August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden calls out to her maid: Someone’s killed Father. The brutal ax-murder of Andrew and Abby Borden in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts, leaves little evidence and many unanswered questions. Shifting among the perspectives of the unreliable Lizzie, her older sister Emma, the housemaid Bridget, and the enigmatic stranger Benjamin, the events of that fateful day are slowly revealed through a high-wire feat of storytelling.

Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka // When a beloved high schooler named Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched -- not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the officer assigned to investigate her murder. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters -- Cameron, Jade, and Russ -- must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both.

The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker // Since the death of Ragnvald Eysteinsson's father in battle, he has worked hard to protect his sister Svanhild and planned to inherit his family's land when he comes of age. But when the captain of his ship tries to kill him on the way home from a raiding excursion, he must confront his stepfather's betrayal, and find a way to protect his birthright. It is no easy feat in Viking-Age Norway, where a hundred petty rulers kill over parcels of land, and a prophesied high king is rising.

The Lauras by Sara Taylor // I didn’t realise my mother was a person until I was thirteen years old and she pulled me out of bed, put me in the back of her car, and we left home and my dad with no explanations. I thought that Ma was all that she was and all that she had ever wanted to be. I was wrong. As we made our way from Virginia to California, returning to the places where she’d lived as a child in foster care and as a teenager on the run, repaying debts and keeping promises, I learned who she was in her life-before-me and the secrets she had kept – even from herself. But when life on the road began to feel normal I couldn’t forget the home we’d left behind, couldn’t deny that, just like my mother, I too had unfinished business.

The Address by Fiona Davis // Fiona Davis returns with a compelling novel about the thin lines between love and loss, success and ruin, passion and madness, all hidden behind the walls of The Dakota, New York City's most famous residence.With rich historical detail, nuanced characters, and gorgeous prose, Fiona Davis once again delivers a compulsively readable novel that peels back the layers of not only a famed institution, but the lives -- and lies -- of the beating hearts within.

Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber // "Serial" meets Ruth Ware’s "In A Dark, Dark Wood" in this inventive and twisty psychological thriller about a mega-hit podcast that reopens a murder case -- and threatens to unravel the carefully constructed life of the victim’s daughter.

The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor // Hazel Gaynor turns the clock back one hundred years to a time when two young girls from Cottingley, Yorkshire, convinced the world that they had done the impossible and photographed fairies in their garden. 1917: When two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright from Cottingley, England, claim to have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden, their parents are astonished. But when one of the great novelists of the time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, becomes convinced of the photographs’ authenticity, the girls become a national sensation, their discovery offering hope to those longing for something to believe in amid a world ravaged by war.

The Woman Who Smashed Codes: The True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies by Jason Fagone // Joining the ranks of "Hidden Figures" and "In the Garden of Beasts," the incredible true story of the greatest codebreaking duo that ever lived, an American woman and her husband who invented the modern science of cryptology together and used it to confront the evils of their time, solving puzzles that unmasked Nazi spies and helped win World War II. Blending the lively pace and compelling detail that are the hallmarks of Erik Larson's bestsellers with the atmosphere and intensity of "The Imitation Game," "The Woman Who Smashed Codes" is page-turning popular history at its finest.

The Luster of Lost Things by Sophie Chen Keller // Walter Lavender Jr. is a master of finding. A wearer of high-tops. A maker of croissants. A son keeping vigil, twelve years counting. But he wouldn’t be able to tell you. Silenced by his motor speech disorder, Walter’s life gets lonely. Fortunately, he has The Lavenders -- his mother’s enchanted dessert shop, where marzipan dragons breathe actual fire. He also has a knack for tracking down any missing thing -- except for his lost father. So when the Book at the root of the bakery’s magic vanishes, Walter, accompanied by his overweight golden retriever, journeys through New York City to find it -- along the way encountering an unforgettable cast of lost souls.

The Great Quake: How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet by Henry Fountain // In the tradition of Erik Larson's "Isaac's Storm," a riveting narrative about the biggest earthquake in recorded history in North America -- the 1964 Alaskan earthquake that demolished the city of Valdez and obliterated the coastal village of Chenega -- and the scientist sent to look for geological clues to explain the dynamics of earthquakes, who helped to confirm the then controversial theory of plate tectonics.

The Amber Shadows by Lucy Ribchester // During the dangerous days of World War II, Honey Deschamps is spending her days transcribing decrypted messages at Bletchley Park, when she starts to receive bizarrely coded packages. When everyone is keeping secrets, who can you trust?

The Education of a Coroner: Lessons in Investigating Death by John Bateson // In the vein of Dr. Judy Melinek’s Working Stiff, an account of the hair-raising and heartbreaking cases handled by the coroner of Marin County, California throughout his four decades on the job -- from high-profile deaths to serial killers, to Golden Gate Bridge suicides. Complete with poignant anecdotes, "The Education of a Coroner" provides a firsthand and fascinating glimpse into the daily life of a public servant whose work is dark and mysterious yet necessary for society to function.

How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry // The enchanting story of a bookshop, its grieving owner, a supportive literary community, and the extraordinary power of books to heal the heart.

How to Change a Life by Stacey Ballis // Eloise is happy with her life as a successful private chef. But when her long-lost trio of high school friends reunites, Eloise realizes how lonely she really is. Eloise, Lynne, and Teresa revamp their senior-class assignment and dare one another to create a list of things to accomplish by the time they each turn forty in a few months. Control freak Lynne has to get a dog, Teresa has to spice up her marriage, and Eloise has to start dating again. Enter Shawn, a hunky ex-athlete and the first man Eloise could see herself falling for. Suddenly forty doesn't seem so lonely -- until a chance encounter threatens the budding romance and reveals the true colors of her friends. Will the bucket listers make it to forty still speaking to one another? Or do some friendships come with an expiration date?

The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne // From the author of "The Boy In the Striped Pajamas," a sweeping, heartfelt saga about the course of one man's life, beginning and ending in post-war Ireland. In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. "The Heart's Invisible Furies" is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.

Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin // Aviva Grossman, an ambitious congressional intern in Florida, makes the mistake of having an affair with her boss -- and blogging about it. When the affair comes to light, the beloved congressman doesn’t take the fall. But Aviva does, and her life is over before it hardly begins: slut-shamed, she becomes a late-night talk show punch line, anathema to politics. She sees no way out but to change her name and move to a remote town in Maine. This time, she tries to be smarter about her life and strives to raise her daughter, Ruby, to be strong and confident. But when, at the urging of others, Aviva decides to run for public office herself, that long-ago mistake trails her via the Internet and catches up -- an inescapable scarlet A. In the digital age, the past is never, ever, truly past. And it’s only a matter of time until Ruby finds out who her mother was and is forced to reconcile that person with the one she knows.