Articles tagged "Indie Next list"
Happy #BookBday (4/10/2018 Edition)
Oh what a lovely day for a #BookBday!
AFTER ANNA by Lisa Scottoline
An April 2018 Indie Next Pick!
“In this nail-biting domestic thriller from Scottoline, prominent Pennsylvania pediatric allergist Noah Alderman, a widower, finds love again with Maggie Ippolitti. She adores his son, and they have a happy life. But everything changes when Maggie gets a call from her daughter, Anna, whom she lost custody of when the girl was six months old . . . Filled with plenty of twists and complex characters, this entertaining story builds to a satisfying conclusion.“ —Publishers Weekly
HOTEL ON SHADOW LAKE by Daniela Tully
Tully’s first novel, an intricate read-it-in-one-sitting mystery-cum-family saga, spans a hundred years, two continents, and two world wars . . . Told from the point of view of three central characters—and including its own fairy tale—this is a story about murder, greed, love (won then lost), and, above all, intrigue.“ —Publishers Weekly, starred review
Sneak Peek: May 2018 Indie Next List
Four Macmillan titles made the May 2018 Indie Next List!
A LUCKY MAN by Jamel Brinkley
“It’s difficult to single out any story as most outstanding since they are each distinguished by Brinkley’s lyrical invention, precise descriptions of both emotional and physical terrain, and a prevailing compassion toward people as bemused by travail as they are taken aback by whatever epiphanies blossom before them. A major talent.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
HOW TO WALK AWAY by Katherine Center
Margaret Jacobson has a bright future ahead of her, with a fiancé and a promising career, until an accident on what should be one of the happiest days of her life takes it all away. “With its appealing characters and wisdom about grappling with life’s challenges, Center’s sixth novel has all the makings of a breakout hit.” —Booklist, starred review
MY EX-LIFE by Stephen McCauley
Many years after their divorce, David Hedges and Julie Fiske—each in the midst of a midlife crisis—find their paths crossing again. “As always, McCauley’s effervescent prose is full of wit and wisdom on every topic—college application essays, Airbnb operation, weed addiction, live porn websites, and, most of all, people . . . A gin and tonic for the soul.” —Kirkus Reviews
MOTHERHOOD by Sheila Heti
“The subject of the new novel from Heti is neither birth nor child-rearing, but the question of whether to want a child, which the unnamed narrator calls ‘the greatest secret I keep from myself’ . . . A book of sex (the real, unsensational kind), mood swings, and deep feminist thought, this volume is essentially a chronicle of vacillating ruminations of this big question . . . This lively, exhilaratingly smart, and deliberately, appropriately frustrating affair asks difficult questions about women’s responsibilities and desires, and society’s expectations.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
Sneak Peek: April 2018 Indie Next List
Four Macmillan titles made the April 2018 Indie Next list!
THE ITALIAN PARTY by Christina Lynch
“In her gracefully written debut, as effervescent as spumante, Lynch dramatizes the allure and power of secrets—in politics and marriage—while depicting with sly humor the collision between American do-gooder naïveté and Italian culture. Italophiles and anyone interested in spying and the expat experience (think Chris Pavone’s THE EXPATS) will love the spot-on social commentary.” — Library Journal, starred review
AFTER ANNA by Lisa Scottoline
Anna is a drop-dead gorgeous sixteen-year-old with a secret dark side and when she turns up dead, all fingers point to her stepfather. “[A] nail-biting domestic thriller…. Filled with plenty of twists and complex characters, this entertaining story builds to a satisfying conclusion.” — Publishers Weekly
WAITING FOR TOMORROW by Nathacha Appanah
This compelling novel tracks the complicated relationship of a married couple, who struggle with preserving their separate identities within their relationship, their individual artistic freedoms, and integrity, and how it all relates back to their nanny. “…the characters are complicated and well-drawn and the story immersive.” — Publishers Weekly readmoreremove
Sneak Peek: February 2018 Indie Next List
Four Macmillan titles made the February 2018 Indie Next list!
THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah
One of Publishers Weekly‘s Spring 2018 Literary Fiction picks with two starred reviews! From the author of the worldwide phenomenon, THE NIGHTINGALE, comes a story of a family in crisis and a young girl struggling to survive at the edge of the world, in America’s last true frontier: Alaska. “Hannah’s follow-up to her series of blockbuster bestsellers will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet-like coming-of-age story, and domestic potboiler. A tour de force.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
MOTHERS OF SPARTA by Dawn Davies
A Winter/Spring 2018 Indies Introduce pick! Discovered by Michael Ondaatje, Davies’ dazzling literary memoir has shades of Mary Karr, Anne Lamott, and Jenny Lawson as she examines motherhood and what it’s like to be a woman trying to carve a place for herself in the world, no matter how unyielding the rock can be. “Davies’ first book is magnetic attraction in memoir form: it will pull readers in with stories that are funny, insightful, and bordering on farce while also pushing them away with darker pieces about loss, mental illness, and an immense amount of physical pain. Readers will laugh and cry, probably at the same time.” — Booklist
THE MITFORD MURDERS by Jessica Fellowes
New York Times bestselling author Fellowes draws on a true unsolved crime from the 1920s in a mystery starring a maid working for the Mitford sisters. “…the heroine is appealingly plucky, and the reader sinks into the rich period detail as pleasantly as into an overstuffed sofa.” — Kirkus Reviews readmoreremove
Sneak Peek: January 2018 Indie Next List
Three Macmillan titles made the January 2018 Indie Next list!
THE WIFE BETWEEN US by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
Two starred reviews and big movie news for this novel of suspense that explores the complexities of marriage and the dangerous truths we ignore in the name of love. “Readers who were enthralled by B.A. Paris’s BEHIND CLOSED DOORS and Gillian Flynn’s GONE GIRL will love the skewed psychology and shifting perspectives of this domestic thriller.” — Library Journal, starred review
GRIST MILL ROAD by Christopher J. Yates
THREE starred reviews! The author of BLACK CHALK, an NPR Best Book of the Year optioned for film by Ron Howard, returns with a thriller about Patrick, Matthew, and Hannah, who are bound together in a love triangle held tighter by one seemingly senseless but decidedly criminal act that has devastating results 26 years later. “Mesmerizing and impossible to put down, this novel demands full attention, full empathy, and full responsibility; in return it offers poignant insight into human fragility and resilience.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review readmoreremove
Sneak Peek: December 2017 Indie Next List
Ho ho ho! These four Macmillan titles made the December 2017 Indie Next list!
YEAR ONE: Chronicles of the One by Nora Roberts
Two starred reviews! In the stunning beginning to an epic hardcover trilogy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts weaves an enthralling saga of suspense, survival, and the journey that will unite a desperate group of people to fight the battle of their lives. “Roberts’ new direction is electric and ground-breaking. A fast-paced, mesmerizing, and thought-provoking novel that will no doubt add to Roberts’ legions of fans.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
THREE DAUGHTERS OF EVE by Elif Shafak
Peri, a married, wealthy, beautiful Turkish woman, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrests it back, a photograph falls to the ground: an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor. This relic from a past unearths a love that Peri has tried desperately to forget and the scandal that tore the three women apart. “Shafak’s…portrait of a woman in existential crisis feels universal, shining clarifying light on Islam—and religious spirituality in general—within the frame of today’s world.” — Kirkus Reviews readmoreremove
Sneak Peek: November 2017 Indie Next List
These two Macmillan titles made the November 2017 Indie Next list!
MR. DICKENS AND HIS CAROL: A Novel of Christmas Past by Samantha Silva
Shakespeare in Love meets A Christmas Carol in this debut novel set as Charles Dickens writes his beloved classic. “With the wit and sprightly tone of a classic storyteller, Silva presents a heartwarming tale of friendship and renewal that’s imbued with the true Christmas spirit.” — Booklist
THE WINE LOVER’S DAUGHTER: A Memoir by Anne Fadiman
With all her characteristic wit and feeling, celebrated essayist Fadiman examines her relationship with her father, Clifton Fadiman, a renowned literary critic, editor, and radio host whose greatest love was wine. “In this crisp, scintillating, amusing, and affecting memoir, Anne incisively and lovingly portrays her brilliant and vital father and brings into fresh focus the dynamic world of twentieth-century books and America’s discovery of wine.” — Booklist, starred review
Sneak Peek: September 2017 Indie Next List
The September 2017 Indie Next list includes 3 Macmillan titles!
[updated 8/23]
The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas
3 starred reviews!
“This breathtaking…novel will do for motherhood what Gone Girl did for marriage. ‘A story requires two things: a great story to tell and the bravery to tell it,’ Joan observes. Wolas’ debut expertly checks off both boxes.”—Booklist, starred review
“Like John Irving’s The World According to Garp, this is a look at the life of a writer that will entertain many nonwriters. Like Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies, it’s a sharp-eyed portrait of the artist as spouse and householder. From the start, one wonders how Wolas is possibly going to pay off the idea that her heroine is such a genius. Verdict: few could do better.”–Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Debut author Wolas’s sure hand applies layer upon layer of precisely meshed poetic and cinematic scenes to realize a life of such quiet majesty and original consideration of family interplay that she does the impossible. Readers not only will mourn coming to the end, they will feel compelled to start over to watch the miracle of this novel unfold again. Breathtaking.”—Library Journal, starred review
The Hidden Light of Northern Fires by Daren Wang
“Action packed, taut with tension, and filled with memorable characters, this powerful debut displays the currents of history as they run through one small town, carrying away lives in their wake.”–Booklist
“A vivid, compelling portrayal of the heartbreaking price exacted for freedom.”–Kirkus Reviews
Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems by Danez Smith
“Smith follows the Lambda Literary Award–winning debut [insert] boy with a further display of transcendent talent for close-to-the bone articulation, celebrating the lives of “we citizens/ of an unpopular heaven// & low-attended crucifixions.” Poised at the bruising intersection of black and queer identity, poems such as “dear white america” (“I tried to love you, but you spent my brother’s funeral making plans for brunch”) lose no impact moving from spoken-word stage to page. Smith brilliantly metaphorizes the experience of receiving an HIV diagnosis in Lorca-esque fashion, as becoming “a book of antonyms” and leavens the gravity with moments of mordant wit. An erasure of Diana Ross lyrics leaves the message “if there’s a cure for this/ i want it,” capturing camp’s confrontation with the intolerable. Though visually and formally varied, the collection’s most striking pyrotechnics are rhetorical: “& he will say tonight, I want to take you/ how the police do, unarmed & sudden.” Describing a “down-low house party,” a speaker observes: “we say yo meaning let my body// be a falcon’s talon & your body be the soft innards of goats.” Luminous and piercing, this collection reassembles shattering realities into a shimmering and sharp mosaic.”–Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Remarkable… The content as well as the writing is transcendent… VERDICT Highly recommended.”–Library Journal, starred review
Sneak Peek: August 2017 Indie Next List
The August 2017 Indie Next list includes 4 Macmillan titles!
EMMA IN THE NIGHT by Wendy Walker
“Both twisted and twisty, this smart psychological thriller sets a new standard for unreliable narrators.” — Booklist, starred review
“Walker’s portrayal of the ways in which a narcissistic, self-involved mother can affect her children deepens the plot as it builds to a shocking finale.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
HAPPINESS: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After by Heather Harpham
“An award-winning writer, performer, and teacher of physical theater/improvisation, Harpham tells a heartrending story of young love, getting pregnant, her partner’s lack of interest in having children, returning home alone, then discovering hours after giving birth that something was dangerously wrong with her baby. There are terrible choices to make and a crooked little road to follow toward some kind of radiant happiness.”–LJ Pre-Pub Alert
“Harpham’s ability to capture an audience’s emotions takes center stage as a memoirist. Her deeply personal yet witty narrative style makes the reader feel instantly connected, as if Harpham is a close friend traveling a familiar ‘crooked little road to semi-ever after.’ Hers is a journey evoking a spectrum of emotions: hope, sadness, anger and, yes, happiness.” — Shelf Awareness
THE BEDLAM STACKS by Natasha Pulley
“The imagination [Pulley] showed in her impressive debut was no fluke…Pulley understands her genre–swashbuckling costume fantasy–but she deals in surprises, not clichés…[A] meditation on love, trust, and the passage of time.”–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Fans of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (who will be pleased that a character from that novel makes a cameo appearance) know that Pulley has a way with damaged characters who are looking for a new purpose in life. While there are steampunk elements, including clockwork lamps, there’s also a subtle inexplicable magic running throughout the unusual, remote setting.”–Library Journal
BEAST by Paul Kingsnorth
“A tour de force, reminiscent of the best of John Fowles and David Mitchell.”–Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Summer 2017 Indie Next Picks for Book Clubs
The Summer 2017 Indie Next List for Reading Groups includes seven Macmillan titles!
Top Ten
SLEEPING ON JUPITER by Anuradha Roy
ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY by Charlie Jane Anders
Small Bites
100 ESSAYS I DON’T HAVE TIME TO WRITE by Sarah Ruhl
WHEREAS by Layli Long Soldier readmoreremove
