Happy #BookBday (3/28/17 Edition)

BONUS: two weeks of new releases in one! Happy #BookBday to:

THE RIVER OF KINGS by Taylor Brown
An April 2017 Indie Next pick with two starred reviews! Two brothers travel a storied river’s past and present in search of the truth about their father’s death in the second novel by the acclaimed author of FALLEN LAND. “Drawing comparisons to James Dickey’s DELIVERANCE and Charles Frazier’s COLD MOUNTAIN, Brown’s impressive second novel is an intense, solidly written story of family loyalty, Southern traditions, and haunting historic landscapes, all bound up in the mythical powers of the Altamaha River.” — Library Journal, starred review

THE COLLAPSING EMPIRE by John Scalzi
The first novel of a new space-opera sequence set in an all-new universe! “Scalzi mixes science, history, and politics with sharp action and intriguing characters. Readers will be thrilled to take another wild ride across the universe with the author of the ‘Old Man’s War’ series.” — Library Journal, starred review

THE HOPE CHEST by Viola Shipman
From the beloved author of Indie Next pick THE CHARM BRACELET comes a story about an heirloom hope chest and the connection it inspires among three people in need of hope: a fiercely independent woman battling ALS, her husband, and their struggling caregiver. “Shipman’s sentimental tearjerker is a good choice for fans of gentle, heartwarming fiction. Readers of Christian fiction may also appreciate its messages of hope and faith in the face of adversity.” — Booklist

BEFORE THE WAR by Fay Weldon
It’s 1922 and Vivien is twenty-four and many other things: six feet tall, intelligent, and a spinster. Fortunately, Vivien is rich, so she can travel to London and bribe a charismatic gentleman publisher to marry her. But what he doesn’t know is that Vivien is already pregnant by another man…. “Fans will relish Weldon’s latest concoction, part domestic comedy, part social commentary, and part bedroom farce, enlivened by her characteristic sly humor and arch tone.” — Booklist

THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN CARSON IN SEVERAL QUARTERS OF THE WORLD: A Novel of Robert Louis Stevenson by Brian Doyle
An inspired take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s planned-but-unwritten picaresque novel and the great Scottish author’s early life in 1880s San Francisco. “It’s a wondrous sort of paradox that a fiction nested inside another fiction can convey many poignant truths. Doyle’s irresistible novel, which practically begs to be read aloud, is a triumphant ode to the power of storytelling.” — Booklist

LENIN ON THE TRAIN by Catherine Merridale
Two starred reviews for this gripping, meticulously researched account of Lenin’s fateful 1917 rail journey from Zurich to Petrograd, where he ignited the Russian Revolution and forever changed the world. “A superbly written narrative history that draws together and makes sense of scattered data, anecdotes, and minor episodes, affording us a bigger picture of events that we now understand to be transformative.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review