James Patterson will again support independent booksellers with a Holiday Bookstore Bonus Program for which he has pledged a total of $300,000, Bookselling This Week reported. The $500 bonuses will be distributed to 600 booksellers from ABA member bookstores.

James Patterson

Nominations can be made online by completing and submitting a nomination form that asks one question: "In 250 words or less, why does this bookseller deserve a holiday bonus?" The nomination form will open tomorrow Friday, October 4. The deadline to nominate a bookstore employee for a holiday bonus is November 8.

Booksellers can self-nominate to be considered for a bonus, or they can be nominated by bookstore customers, owners, employees, managers, fellow booksellers, publishing professionals, or authors. Past recipients of James Patterson bonuses and grants are eligible for another bonus.

ABA CEO Allison Hill said, "We are all so grateful for Mr. Patterson's ongoing support of independent booksellers. His generosity is incredible, and his recognition of booksellers and the valuable role they play in the industry is especially meaningful to us."

Authors Jason Reynolds and Ling Ma are among the 22 recipients of this year's MacArthur Foundation "genius" grants. Each MacArthur Fellow receives a no-strings-attached, $800,000 award. The list of 2024 fellows includes the following authors, poets, and writers:

Loka Ashwood, "a sociologist examining the intersection of environmental injustice, corporate and state power, and anti-government sentiment in American rural communities. Ashwood reveals how state support for some corporate interests can come at a high cost for rural residents. She draws from her own experience on her family’s farm and ethnographic research in rural communities facing ecological, economic, and social challenges. By analyzing specific local issues in the context of larger institutional structures, she sheds light on rural identity, culture, and politics."

Ruha Benjamin, "a transdisciplinary scholar and writer illuminating how advances in science, medicine, and technology reflect and reproduce social inequality. By integrating critical analysis of innovation with attentiveness to the potential for positive change, Benjamin demonstrates the importance of imagination and grassroots activism in shaping social policies and cultural practices."

Jericho Brown, "a poet reflecting on contemporary culture and identity in works that combine formal experimentation and intense self-examination. He reimagines well-known poetic forms and rhythmic structures in ways that heighten a poem’s emotional charge. Across three collections, Brown explores themes of masculinity, spirituality, family, sexuality, and racial identity from a personal perspective as well as from feelings inspired by pop culture and contemporary America."

Juan Felipe Herrera, "a poet, educator, and writer uplifting Chicanx culture and amplifying shared experiences of solidarity and empowerment through poetry and prose for adults and children. Herrera’s literary output, in both English and Spanish, crosses genres and spans five decades; his work is united by deep empathy and joy for all groups in the act of artistic creation."

Ling Ma, "a fiction writer mixing speculative and realist modes of storytelling to reflect on the systems that structure our lives in a globalized, capitalist era. Many of her characters navigate jobs, relationships, cultural expectations, and hyphenated, immigrant identities that both trap and liberate them in various ways. Ma often grounds her fictions in familiar settings and scenarios—corporate offices, a one-night stand, a shopping mall—and then surprises readers with fantastical plot turns. Delivered with a deadpan sense of humor, these turns throw into relief the surreal aspects of our contemporary condition and our attachments to routines and consumer goods in the face of loss and disconnection."

Jennifer L. Morgan, "a historian deepening understanding of how the system of race-based slavery developed in early America. Using a range of archival materials—and what is missing from them—Morgan brings to light enslaved African women’s experiences during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She shows that exploitation of enslaved women was central to the economic and ideological foundations of slavery in the Atlantic world."

Shailaja Paik, "a historian of modern India exploring the intersection of caste, gender, and sexuality through the lives of Dalit (“Untouchable”) women. Paik provides new insight into the history of caste domination and traces the ways in which gender and sexuality are used to deny Dalit women dignity and personhood. Across her work, Paik centers Dalit perspectives. In addition to English, Marathi, and Hindi-language source materials, she is creating a new archive comprised of her interviews and fieldwork with contemporary Dalit women."

Jason Reynolds, "a writer of children’s and young adult literature whose books reflect the rich inner lives of kids of color and offer profound moments of human connection. He writes to fill a void he experienced as a young Black boy from Oxon Hill, Maryland, who seldom saw communities like his depicted in the books he was encouraged to read at school. With a poet’s ear for rhythm and a storyteller’s sense of narrative pacing and structure, Reynolds weaves humor, joy, and playfulness into his works. At the same time, he does not shy away from depicting the challenging realities of racism, economic inequity, police brutality, and grief for his young readers. The characters featured in his fiction forge friendships, discover talents, act out, seek forgiveness, face fears, and care for parents with cancer."

Dorothy Roberts, "a legal scholar and public policy researcher exposing racial inequities embedded within health and social service systems. Roberts’s work encompasses reproductive health, bioethics, and child welfare. She sheds light on systemic inequities, amplifies the voices of those directly affected, and boldly calls for wholesale transformation of existing systems."

Alice Wong, "a writer, editor, and disability justice activist cultivating a vibrant and diverse community of disabled people rooted in joy, abundance, mutual aid, and care. Wong is steeped in disability justice and uses the power of storytelling across various media platforms. She publishes personal stories that expose ableist attitudes, policies, and practices across a society that pushes disabled people to the margins. She also shares her own experiences navigating the world as a disabled person with a progressive neuromuscular disease."

Stephanie Fryling

Stephanie Fryling has been appointed senior v-p, adult retail sales, at Penguin Random House, effective October 28. She joins the compay from Barnes & Noble, where she held a variety of leadership positions in her 12-year tenure, most recently as v-p, commercial strategy and category management. Fryling will oversee PRH's B&N, BAM, field sales, and client sales teams.

PRH chief revenue officer Jaci Updike, to whom Fryling will report, said, "Throughout her tenure at B&N, Stephanie has been a highly collaborative partner to the PRH, PRHPS, and DK publishing programs, across key categories and formats. She has demonstrated a deep understanding of the retail book market, and a strong ability to motivate teams to adapt quickly and successfully to a rapidly shifting marketplace. She has a proven track record of driving sales growth, and developing programs that build reader excitement for both frontlist and backlist."

This past week, Shelf Awareness sent our monthly pre-order e-blast to nearly 920,000 of the country's best book readers. The e-blast went to 917,974 customers of 259 participating independent bookstores.

The mailing features 11 upcoming titles selected by Shelf Awareness editors and a sponsored title. Customers can buy these books via "pre-order" buttons that lead directly to the purchase page for the title on each sending store's website. A key feature is that bookstore partners can easily change title selections to best reflect the tastes of their customers and can customize the mailing with links, images and promotional copy of their own.

The pre-order e-blasts are sent the last Wednesday of each month; the next will go out on Wednesday, October 30. Stores interested in learning more can visit our program registration page or contact our partner program team via e-mail.

For a sample of the September pre-order e-blast, see this one from the Yankee Bookshop, Woodstock, Vt.

The titles highlighted in the pre-order e-blast were:

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Scribner)
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami (Knopf)
Cher: The Memoir: Part One by Cher (Dey Street)
The Half King by Melissa Landers (Entangled: Red Tower Books)
The Author's Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White (Morrow)
What the Chicken Knows by Sy Montgomery (Atria)
The Mirror by Nora Roberts (St. Martin's)
To Die For by David Baldacci (Grand Central)
Insignificant Case by Phillip Margolin (Minotaur)
The Bad Guys in One Last Thing by Aaron Blabey (Scholastic)
Games Untold by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Author Tom Spanbauer, best known for his cult classic The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon and his award-winning final novel, I Loved You More, as well as his long-running Dangerous Writing workshop, died September 21. He was 78.

Tom Spanbauer

Born in Pocatello, Idaho, he attended Idaho State University and Columbia, and was also a member of the Peace Corps in Kenya. He returned to Idaho until 1978, when he moved to New Hampshire, then Vermont, then Key West, Fla. Eventually he landed on the Lower East Side of New York, where he began writing stories. He earned his MFA at Columbia University in 1988. 

As a gay man in 1980s Key West and New York, he outlived the AIDS epidemic and detailed its devastation in his third novel, In the City of Shy Hunters, a story he believed it was his solemn duty to tell, but was much bigger than sickness.
 
"Shy Hunters is as much about AIDS as Romeo and Juliet is about teen suicide," he wrote. "Shy Hunters is the story of a man searching for his lost love in a world that has gone mad, but it is also an homage to my beloved New York City and to try to tell of the days of the plague and the horror that gay men went through." His other books include Faraway Places and Now Is the Hour.

In 2002, at a Ghost Dance in Wolf Creek, Ore., he met Michael Sage Ricci, who would be his spouse and partner of 22 years. Ricci said that Spanbauer's stories "have always been about him finding family, finding the characters of his heart, and he created such families. All those queer kids who had no family, he gave them (The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon's) Shed and Ida and all of those characters." 

Spanbauer's impact on the literary world reached far beyond the pages of his books, influencing a lineage of writers and students who continue to publish, teach, and pass on his philosophy and language.

In 1991, shortly after the publication of The Man Who Fell ln Love With The Moon, he moved to Portland, Ore., where he began teaching Dangerous Writing at his dining room table. The workshop continued for more than 25 years in his home and around the world.

The Dangerous Writing workshops produced hundreds of writers who consider what they learned to be "basement table MFAs." More than 50 of his students went on to publish novels and memoirs, most famously Chuck Palanuik, who wrote Fight Club and Invisible Monsters during his five years in the workshop.

Spanbauer won the 2015 Lambda Literary Award in the gay general fiction category for I Loved You More. The same year, he won the Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award, from Literary Arts in Oregon. He was also the winner of the 1992 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award for best fiction.

In one of his last essays, Spanbauer wrote: "Given all the weirdness of being raised in rural Idaho in the '50s, though, I've got to say that walking the mile home after changing the water (irrigating) on a summer evening--that long solitary walk at sunset down the dusty roads through the sugar beet fields, the alfalfa fields, the barley and wheat fields, was something close to a miracle. Really the connection I felt to the sky and to the earth and to the water created in me a feeling of being connected to an abiding deep mystery.

"Idaho: such an enigma. But isn't that what home is?

"The dreaded place where your heart sings."

Book Passage, Corte Madera, Calif., hosted authors (from left) Kristin Vuković (The Cheesemaker's Daughter, Regalo Press), Kimberley Lovato (Pisa Loves Bella, MB Publishing), Faith Adiele (Her Voice, Texas A&M Press, and Voice/Over, Texas Review Press), and Bridget Quinn (Portrait of a Woman, Chronicle Books). The authors discussed their new books and explored how different genres capture a sense of place through narrative.  

Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown (Bantam) is the October pick for Reese's Book Club, which described the novel as: "In this twisty thriller, Maya returns to her alma mater to solve her younger sister's murder and is forced to confront the dark secrets of her past, including her involvement in an elite secret society. Lauren Ling Brown's debut explores collegiate scandals, the bonds of sisterhood, and how far some people will go in the name of power."

Reese Witherspoon wrote: "If you're looking for a page-turner that keeps you on the edge of your seat this spooky season, this one is a must-read."

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Incidentally yesterday Grand Central Publishing announced that Witherspooon and Harlan Coben will write a suspense novel together that will be published in fall 2025. Grand Central said that the novel, Witherspoon's debut, is "based on her original idea, while Coben's dozens of number one bestsellers promise the inventive storytelling and signature twists his millions of readers know so well." The two have been developing the concept, creating characters, writing for many months, and a screen adaptation is already in development.

Ben Sevier, president & publisher of Grand Central, said, "Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben working together is a powerhouse collaboration that I wouldn't have dared to dream up. These two masters each possess a virtuoso command of character and an unrivaled reputation for suspense storytelling--across screen and page--and jaws hit the floor as they described their incredible idea to the publishing team at Grand Central. It is clear that their book will be supercharged by the combination of their enormous storytelling gifts."

Congratulations to Alkebu-Lan Images, the Black bookstore and lifestyle center in Nashville, Tenn., that will unveil a city historical marker honoring the store and founder Yusef Harris. The event, which will also feature music, food, drinks, and more, takes place this coming Saturday, October 5, 1-4 p.m.

Founded in 1986, Alkebu-Lan Images has "gone from just a bookstore to more of a Black lifestyle center," owner Jordan Harris, son of the late Yusef Harris, told WTVF. "We are Nashville's only Black bookstore and have been that for the whole time, we've been open."

Noting his father died in 2022, Jordan Harris added, "I'm sad he's not here to see the city honor him and his work this way."

Catan: The Novel by Klaus Teuber (Blackstone Publishing).

Tomorrow:
CBS Mornings: Chris Wallace, author of Countdown 1960: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the 312 Days that Changed America's Politics Forever (Dutton, $35, 9780593852194).

Good Morning America: Chuck Hughes, author of Chuck's Home Cooking: Family-Favourite Recipes from My Kitchen to Yours (Penguin, $30, 9780735243668).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, October 5
3:45 p.m. Jonathan Schroeder, editor of The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery by John Swanson Jacobs (‎University of Chicago Press, $20, 9780226684307).

4:55 p.m. Tore C. Olsson, author of Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past (St. Martin's Press, $30, 9781250287700).

6:05 p.m. John L. Smith, Jr., author of The Unexpected Abigail Adams: A Woman "Not Apt to be Intimidated" (Westholme Publishing, $32.50, 9781594164217).

Sunday, October 6
8 a.m. Melissa B. Jacoby, author of Unjust Debts: How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal (The New Press, $27.99, 9781620977866), at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C. (Re-airs Sunday at 8 p.m.)

9 a.m. Tevi Troy, author of The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry (‎Regnery, $32.99, 9781684515400). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m.)

10 a.m. Timothy Snyder, author of On Freedom (Crown, $32, 9780593728727). (Re-airs Sunday at 10 p.m.)

2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Coverage of the 2024 Mississippi Book Festival, which took place September 14 in Jackson, Miss. Highlights include:

• 2 p.m. A discussion on African American history with Andrew W. Kahrl, author of The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America, Mark Whitaker, author of Saying It Loud: 1966--The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement and Jasmine L. Holmes, author of Yonder Come Day: Exploring the Collective Witness of the Formerly Enslaved.
• 3:03 p.m. Garrett M. Graff, author of When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day (Avid Reader Press/S&S, $32.50, 9781668027813).
• 4:06 p.m. A discussion on money in politics with Luke and Brody Mullins, authors of The Wolves of K Street: The Secret History of How Big Money Took Over Big Government (Simon & Schuster, $34.99, 9781982120597), and Shad White, author of Mississippi Swindle: Brett Favre and the Welfare Scandal that Shocked America (Steerforth, $29, 9781586423865).
• 5:01 p.m. Jerry Mitchell, author of Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era (Simon & Schuster, $18, 9781451645149).
• 5:54 p.m. Jonathan Eig, author of King: A Life (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $35, 9780374279295), and Robert Samuels, author of His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice (Penguin Books, $20, 9780593490822).

The winners of the 2024 Ned Kelly Awards, sponsored by the Australian Crime Writers Association and celebrating the best in Australian crime writing, have been named. This year's winners are:

Crime fiction: Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
Debut crime fiction: Murder in the Pacific--Ilfira Point by Matt Francis
True crime: Crossing the Line by Nick McKenzie
International crime fiction: The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish

The judges praised Hepworth’s novel as "cleverly written and exquisitely plotted"; Francis's book as "complex and well written with a great sense of place and community"; McKenzie's work as " an explosive investigation"; and Candlish as being "at her best, a deserved international bestselling author."

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Three finalists have been selected for the $75,000 2024 Cundill History Prize, which is administered by McGill University and honors "the book that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality and diverse appeal." The winner will be announced October 30.

The finalists:
Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia by Gary J. Bass (Vintage). "A landmark history of the post-World War II trials of Japan's leaders as war criminals, which has shaped relationships throughout modern Asia."
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal (Random House). "A sweeping 1,000-year history of the power of Indigenous North America, from ancient cities to fights for sovereignty that continue today."
Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights by Dylan C. Penningroth (Liveright). "Stretching from the last decades of slavery to the 1970s, Before the Movement is an account of Black legal lives that looks beyond the Constitution and the criminal justice system, to recover a rich, broader vision of Black life."

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, October 8:

What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella (The Dial Press, $22, 9780593977569) follows a novelist recovering from a brain tumor operation.

Shock Induction by Chuck Palahniuk (Simon & Schuster, $26.99, 9781668021446) is a satirical parable about a high school where high achievers are auctioned to billionaires.

Murder Island by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (Grand Central, $32, 9781538721902) is the second Doc Savage thriller.

The Last One at the Wedding: A Novel by Jason Rekulak (Flatiron, $28.99, 9781250895783) follows a father reuniting with his estranged daughter for an ominous wedding.

Identity Unknown by Patricia Cornwell (Grand Central, $30, 9781538770382) is the 28th Kay Scarpetta thriller.

From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough (Random House, $32, 9780593733875) is a memoir by Elvis Presley's daughter, finished posthumously by Lisa Marie's daughter.

John Lewis: A Life by David Greenberg (Simon & Schuster, $35, 9781982142995) is a biography of the Civil Rights leader and member of Congress.

Operation Biting: The 1942 Parachute Assault to Capture Hitler's Radar by Max Hastings (Harper, $35, 9780063341081) chronicles a British commando raid in occupied France during World War II.

Ottolenghi Comfort: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh (Ten Speed Press, $37.99, 9780399581779) contains 100 comfort food recipes from around the world.

Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment by Jason Schreier (Grand Central, $30, 9781538725429) explores a once legendary video game company in deep decline.

A Moving Story by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld, illus. by Tom Booth (HarperCollins, $19.99, 9780063218666), is a picture book from the authors of Stick and Stone about two young pandas preparing for a big move.

Where to Hide a Star by Oliver Jeffers (Philomel, $22.99, 9780593622247) is a sequel to How to Catch a Star, Jeffers's 2004 picture book debut.

Paperbacks:
The Wedding Witch: A Novel by Erin Sterling (Avon, $18.99, 9780063297593).

Wise Women: Myths and Stories for Midlife and Beyond by Sharon Blackie and Angharad Wynne (New World Library, $19.95, 9781608689668).

Christmas in Chestnut Ridge: A Novel by Nancy Naigle (St. Martin's Griffin, $19, 9781250794154).

Snowy Mountain Christmas by Sharon Sala (Sourcebooks Casablanca, $16.99, 9781728296265).

You Can Heal Your Life: 40th Anniversary Edition by Louise Hay (Hay House, $19.99, 9781401976910).

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
The Examiner: A Novel by Janice Hallett (Atria, $29.99, 9781668023426). "When faced with a new Janice Hallett mystery, there's nothing to do but dive in and swim for the end. There's no stopping along the way--you don't want to get lost in the clues before you've figured out the solution. (Ha! Good luck with that.)" --Linda Bond, Auntie's Bookstore, Spokane, Wash.

The Book Swap: A Novel by Tessa Bickers (Graydon House, $27.99, 9781525836701). "I am a sucker for a well-written and meaty romance and The Book Swap delivers. Erin and James are both imperfect people, but they also both have such a capacity for love and growth. Them falling in love through margin-writing in books is just the cherry on top." --Amelia Yasuda, Queen Takes Book, Columbia, Md.

Paperback
Whalefall: A Novel by Daniel Kraus (MTV Books, $18.99, 9781665918176). "This masterfully researched thriller weaves the story of a young diver's tumultuous relationship with his father with the primal terrors of the deep sea. A heart-pounding tale of humanity, science, and survival you won't soon forget." --Mary Powers, Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington, D.C.

Ages 3-7
Bookie and Cookie by Blanca Gómez (Rocky Pond Books, $18.99, 9780593696804). "Bookie and Cookie are best friends that like their own side of the page. Cookie does not like to leave his page, while Bookie is willing to try. Bookie shares the importance of trying something new with his friend. A fun story for littles." --Margaret Shields, Morgenstern Books, Bloomington, Ind.

Ages 9+
The Beautiful Game by Yamile Saied Méndez (Algonquin Young Readers, $16.99, 9781643753980). "On the day of a very important futbol game--as the only girl on the boys' team--Val aka 'Magic' is side-swiped by her first period. So launches the story of how to be a proud female and stand your ground when challenged by authority, family, or circumstances. Excellent!" --Kathleen Johnson, Roundabout Books, Bend, Ore.

Teen Readers
Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson (HarperTeen, $19.99, 9780063255951). "It starts with a malfunctioning petrichor candle. Soon, the house is up in flames--and so are Marlowe's summer plans. With singular, dry wit, and sinister disquiet, Johnson crafts a novel with such suspenseful foreboding that you'll be racing with shaking fingers to the end." --Emily Gilbow, House of Books, Kent, Conn.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

A New York couple in their late 30s navigate seismic cultural and socio-economic differences in Weike Wang's intimate drama, Rental House. A PEN/Hemingway Award-winner, Wang thematically centers her third novel on a post-pandemic family vacation, as parents and adult offspring who haven't met for some years cautiously reunite. Against the scenic backdrop of a holiday rental in Cape Cod and later in the Catskills, she masterfully probes the inner workings of a contemporary marriage, exposing cracks that linger long after its foundation settled.

Nate and Keru live in Manhattan with their sheepdog, Mantou. He's a scientist in academia and she's in consulting, earning far more than her husband. Keru is a Chinese American raised with a strict, unforgiving work ethic, a product of her parents' immigrant dreams and sacrifices. Nate, meanwhile, escaped his rural, conservative "white trash" upbringing "at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains" to attend college on financial aid.

The novel opens as the couple's parents descend on their Cape Cod vacation rental for staggered visits. Nate adapts easily to Keru's parents--they mostly ignore him and his broken Mandarin to focus with their customary intensity on Keru. She is like a pressure-cooker during their visit. On the other hand, Nate's mother laments her son's emotional distance and his elitist tendencies; toward Keru she is clumsily attentive yet wary. As readers discover in a tense exchange with a beachgoer, she is protective of her, too.

Five years later, Wang's protagonists are on vacation in the Catskills. With skillful precision, Wang (Chemistry) observes them through the lens of their vacationing neighbors, Mircea and Elena, offering tantalizing glimpses into who Keru and Nate might have been had they not married one another. Mircea and his wife, Elena, have a young son; their relaxed contentment irritates Keru and Nate and leaves them vaguely dissatisfied with their lives. Mantou is on anti-anxiety and nausea pills and although the vet can't figure out what truly ails him, readers might notice Mantou's owners' numerous concerns reflected in their sweet dog.

The Catskills trip ends eventfully with an unexpected visitor and a confrontation that marks a new direction in the couple's insulated lives. Keru wants more familial connection, even if it means she must carry the burden of Nate's deeply flawed brother Ethan and his constant need for money. As Wang succinctly points out, "Marriage is fifty-fifty, but who said that? Who believes this to be true?" --Shahina Piyarali

Shelf Talker: A New York couple in their late 30s are at the center of this masterful marriage portrait by the PEN/Hemingway award-winning author of Chemistry.