2014's "Top Ten"s and "Best Of"s, a NYT bestseller, and a winner of the most "Best Of"s prize!

This year, JVNLA had seven books on a huge breadth of year-end “Top Ten” and “Best Of” lists! Including one book that topped lists ABOUT the top lists of the year: The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters.

Below is the round-up of these phenomenal books:

Lost in Translation by Ella Frances Sanders (Ten Speed Press, September 2014)

Amazon chose this gorgeous book of illustrations that depict untranslatable words for its Best Books of the Year: Art and Photography list!

Lost in Translation also recently hit the New York Times bestseller list in the Travel section! It reached #6 in December and climbed to #4 in January. Congrats, Ella!

Songs Only You Know by Sean Madigan Hoen (Soho Press, April 2014)

In its list of 10 Best Music Books of 2014, Rolling Stones spotlighted Hoen's “gritty, gripping punk-rock memoir” (as they called it), and heaped praise on it: "It's funny at times, always brutally honest; a half-healed bruise, tender and multi-colored. Few books convey the fever-pitch intensity of youth with such vividness and so little glamorization, or as deeply explore the heartbreaking complexity of family—both those we're born into and the ones we choose."

This Is a Moose written by Richard Morris and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, May 2014)

Morris and Lichtenheld's picture book collaboration is about a moose being filmed in a nature documentary who just wants to be an astronaut (to the chagrin of the director). Kirkus named it to its Best Children's Books of 2014 list, calling it “a humorous—make that hysterical—homage to movies and big dreams.”

Booklist named it to its Editors' Choice: Books for Youth 2014 list, raving that “this rambunctious picture book is stuffed with delightfully absurd chaos.”

This Is a Moose was also featured in ABC's Best Books for Children 2014 catalog!

And Amazon picked it for its Best Books of the Year: Ages 3-5 list!

The Swan Gondola by Timothy Schaffert (Riverhead, February 2014)

The Kansas City Star named The Swan Gondola, a "love story set at a steampunk carnival in turn-of-the-century Omaha, with a clever take on The Wizard of Oz" to their Best Books of 2014 list!

Archetype by M.D. Waters (Dutton, February 2014 hardcover, June 2014 paperback)

Pop Sugar featured this futuristic suspense novel reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale on its Best Books for Women 2014 list!

The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carleson (Knopf Books for Young Readers, February 2014)

Kirkus named The Tyrant's Daughter to its Best Teen Books of 2014 list, calling this YA about a girl whose family relocates to the US after her father is killed in a coup "smart, relevant, required reading."

Amazon also named it to its Best Books of the Year: Teen and Young Adult list!

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (Riverhead, September 2014)

In a unique “Top Ten” approach, The Wall Street Journal decided to look at ten “Best Of” lists to find the books most often at the top. They named the “suspenseful and sensual” The Paying Guests as the winner who appeared most often! The Paying Guests is about a widow and her spinster daughter who must take in lodgers in 1922--though things are not nearly as simple as they seem. It won by appearing on the six below lists:

The New York Times's Notable Books of 2014

The Washington Post's Best Books of 2014

The Guardian's Best Books of 2014, chosen by various writers; Ruth Rendell chose The Paying Guests.

Kirkus's Best Fiction Books of 2014; The Paying Guests was also a finalist for 2014's Kirkus Prize.

The Telegraph's Best Books of 2014

Barnes and Noble's Words of the Year: The Best Things They Read in 2014, chosen by various writers; Michael Dirda chose The Paying Guests. Barnes and Noble also included The Paying Guests among its Top Fiction Books for the Holiday list.

Beyond these, there is an incredibly lengthy list of places that included The Paying Guests as one of their “top ten” or “best of” books! Below is just a very brief sampling of some of the rest:

People Magazine's Ten Best Books of 2014

Pop Sugar's Best Books for Women 2014, the #1 pick!

Entertainment Weekly's 10 Best Fiction Books of 2014

NPR Fresh Air's Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books of 2014; The Paying Guests was also front and center on NPR's Book Concierge, their Guide to 2014's Great Reads.

Slate's Best Books of 2014

The Seattle Times's Best Books of 2014

The Kansas City Star's Best Books of 2014

Amazon's Best Books of the Year: Literature and Fiction

Congrats to all!

Newly minted NYT bestseller Sarah Waters's THE PAYING GUESTS is a "tour de force"

We are so excited that Sarah Waters's The Paying Guests (Riverhead, October 2014) is a New York Times bestseller! It debuted at #12 last week, hits #7 this week, and will be #9 next week! This marks the first time one of Waters's novels--perennial bestsellers in the UK--has hit the US bestseller lists. Congratulations, Sarah!

The Paying Guests is also a finalist for the inaugural Kirkus Prize (winners to be announced October 23) and is an Indie Next and Library Reads pick. It's hit #8 on the Indie Bestseller List and debuted at #3 on the UK Sunday Times bestseller list. The regional US has been taken by storm as well, with The Paying Guests recently reaching #4 on the New England list, #8 on the Southern list, #13 on the Mountains and Plains, #7 on the Pacific NW, #7 on the Heartland, #6 for SoCal, #8 for NoCA, and #9 for New Atlantic.

So just how did The Paying Guests explode across the literary scene?

Part of its success has had to do with Riverhead's publishing team, which garnered extensive national coverage (see below) and completely repackaged Waters's five-book backlist to echo The Paying Guests's gorgeous cover. But, really, their efforts have only served to illuminate for the nation something anyone who reads Waters's books already knows: Sarah Waters is immensely talented and writes amazing, haunting, heart-stoppingly good novels.

Slate's review describes Waters's particular talent perfectly:

Her six novels, beginning with Tipping the Velvet in 1998, could be called historical fiction, but that doesn’t begin to capture their appeal. It is closer to say that she is creating pitch-perfect popular fiction of an earlier time, but swapping out its original moral engine for a sensibility that is distinctly queer and contemporary, as if retrofitting a classic car.

While Waters's previous books have taken place in Victorian- or 1940s-era England, The Paying Guests marks her first foray into the 1920s. It was a particularly rich and complex time in England, as Waters explains in her New York Times interview:

“It’s that shift, that moment of modernity," Ms. Waters said. "The impact of the First World War was to shake things up enormously, loosening up old mores, fashions and behaviors. The early ’20s were like the waist of an hourglass. Lots of things were hurtling toward it and squeezing through it and then hurtling out the other side.”

In The Paying Guests, as with all her books, Waters captures historical details so precisely it feels like you're living and breathing the 1920s the moment you open the book. Waters describes how she achieves this in a recent Out Magazine interview:

“Just as we’re sitting here, the way our clothes feel, the things we can hear, all the food we’re eating—we don’t notice because it’s just a part of the fabric of our lives,” she says. “You have to think about those things that are so much a part of the fabric of your characters’ lives that they cease to notice them, and yet try to convey them to a reader quietly.”

While a central plot point in The Paying Guests revolves around a crime, the book is about so much more. “I wanted to write a love story that’s complicated by a crime, not a crime story complicated by love,” Waters told Vogue in her recent interview.

It's smart choices like this, combined with her retrofitting talent, historical precision, and more that have contributed to a simply must-read book. For a taste, check out the Wall Street Journal excerpt.

And if, somehow, you still need convincing, here are only a portion of the glowing reviews:

"Some novels are so good, so gripping or shattering that they leave you uncertain whether you should have ever started them. You open The Paying Guests and immediately surrender to the smooth assuredness of Waters’s silken prose. Nothing jars. You relax. You turn more pages. You start turning them faster. Before long, you resemble Coleridge’s Wedding-Guest: You cannot choose but read. The book has you in thrall. You will follow Waters and her story anywhere. Yet when that story ends, you find yourself emotionally sucked dry, as much stunned as exhilarated by the power of art." --The Washington Post

“Will keep you sleepless for three nights straight and leave you grasping for another book that can sustain that high.” --Entertainment Weekly, "A" rating

The Paying Guests was also ranked #3 on Entertainment Weekly's “Must” list; they called it “one of the year’s most engrossing and suspenseful novels…a love affair, a shocking murder, and a flawless ending."

“The Paying Guests is a knockout… As alert as Waters is to historical detail, she's also a superb storyteller with a gift for capturing the layered nuances of character and mood….Spellbinding…The Paying Guests is one of those big novels you hate to see end.” --NPR

"Perhaps Waters’s most impressive accomplishment is the authentic feel she achieves, that the telling—whether in its serious, exciting, comic or sexy passages—has no modern tinge. ..The story appears not merely to be about the novel’s time but to have been written by someone living in that time, thumping out the whole thing on a manual typewriter." --The New York Times Book Review

“[A] tour de force of precisely observed period detail and hidden passions.” --Wall Street Journal

“An exquisitely tuned exploration of class in post-Edwardian Britain—with really hot sex...Waters is a master of pacing, and her metaphor-laced prose is a delight...As life-and-death questions are answered, new ones come up, and until the last page, the reader will have no idea what’s going to happen. Waters keeps getting better, if that’s even possible after the sheer perfection of her earlier novels.” --Kirkus, starred review

“Dazzling. [Waters] can, it seems, do everything: the madness of love; the squalor of desire; the coexistence of devotion and annoyance; 'the tangle of it all'...At her greatest, Waters transcends genre...The Paying Guests is the apotheosis of her talent.” --The Financial Times

“Waters seems to revel in 19th and 20th century British history as a dolphin does in water: Her literary depictions of domestic life, manners, architecture, class structure, the weight of war and the volatility of love all appear as effortless as they are beautifully executed…Moving and delicately wrought.”--Los Angeles Times

“Waters turns to the 1920s and delivers what feels like three novels for the price of one…a meticulously observed comedy of awkward manners… a story of torrid, forbidden trysts conducted behind a facade of conventional feminine respectability…[and] a tense tale of crime, mystery and suspense that culminates in a nail-biting courtroom drama…Exceedingly difficult to put down, The Paying Guests should scratch the same big-novel itch that Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch satisfied last year.” --Salon

“[A] delicious hothouse of a novel…There's palpable tension from page one, so buckle up and prepare for a wild ride--one that's under perfect authorial control…Somehow, Waters pulls off this improbable feat with fine-tuned prose that's by turns crisply cool and pressure-cooker hot. The Paying Guests channels the past via E.M. Forster, Dickens and Tolstoy, quickened with a dollop of contemporary Dennis Lehane noir…This is a fever dream of a novel—Waters' best—that will leave you all wrung out.” --USA Today

“[A] pulse-pounder of a novel that feels…personal and raw…even while it delivers the genre goods…Waters remains a master of her genre, the historical novel rewritten as a dissection of the individual conscience…Undeniably fascinating.” --The Chicago Tribune

“The new Sarah Waters novel, which finds the author at the height of her powers, weaves her characteristic threads of historical melodrama, lesbian romance, class tension, and sinister doings into a fabric of fictional delight that alternately has the reader flipping pages as quickly as possible, to find out what happens next, and hesitating to turn the page, for fear of what will happen next.” --Boston Globe

“If you haven’t already embraced the novels of Sarah Waters, now is the moment. Don’t think twice. Collect all six and devour them with the same feverish abandon of the lovers who can be found between their covers…[The Paying Guests]  is no romance novel or mere thriller, but a well-wrought, closely observed drama of a tumultuous period in British history… Herein lies the deliciousness of this book, and the others Waters has written: As much as Frances longs to give her heart to someone who will cherish it, we can never be sure, when she opens the final door, whether she will find the lady or the gallows.” --St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“It's been a while since a book kept me up until 3:30 a.m., but The Paying Guests grabbed me and would not let me go until I turned page 566 and closed the cover with a sigh. The wonderfully melodramatic plot, the brilliant characterization of protagonist Frances Wray, the vivid depiction of the zeitgeist in post-WWI London--each of these elements was equally responsible for the kidnapping of this unsuspecting reader.” --Newsday

“A singular novel of psychological tension, emotional depth and historical detail.” --BookPage

“An absorbing character study [and] expertly paced and gripping psychological narrative...Readers of Water’s previous novels know that she brings historical eras to life with consummate skill, rendering authentic details into layered portraits of particular times and places...Breathtaking.” --Publishers Weekly, starred review

“So brilliantly unexpected, and so nerve-shreddingly tense, that it keeps the reader guessing until the very last paragraph.” --The Bookseller

“A beautiful and turbulent novel about the complexity, and often futility, of personal and social change…With The Paying Guests, Waters has not only crafted a vivid portrait of class dissolution in post-WWI London, but also a look at the achingly human need for a sense of purpose and, if we’re lucky, a little intimacy.” --AV Club

How to Become an International Bestseller in 8 Steps!

1. Write novels about famous maligned women in history and Tudor spies.

C.W. Gortner tells the stories of famous historical figures as you've never heard them before. The Last Queen (Ballantine 2008) is about “Juana La Loca,” the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country's throne. The Confessions of Catherine de Medici (2010) is about the last legitimate descendant of the Medici line who became—according to some—a most ruthless queen of France. The Queen's Vow (2012) is about Isabella of Castile, the warrior-queen who sent Columbus to America. In 2016, Ballantine will publish a stunning, new Gortner novel about Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Italy's first crime family.

Gortner's The Tudor Secret (St. Martin's Press 2011), The Tudor Conspiracy (2013), and The Tudor Vendetta (forthcoming October 2014) follow the story of a spy in the Tudor court during the reigns of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.

Gortner's next novel, coming from William Morrow in March 2015, imagines the life of the woman who revolutionized fashion, built an international empire, and become one of the most influential and controversial figures of the twentieth century—Coco Chanel! Look out for Mademoiselle Chanel in the spring!

2. Make them good.

Simply put, Gortner's “meticulously researched,”¹ “page-turner”² novels “spi[n] grand tale[s] of opulence and deception, privilege and destruction, madness and fragile love”³ that “captiv[ate] audiences with their complexity,”⁴ “com[ing] together with a beauty and passion that can't be found anywhere in the pages of history books”⁵; they are “masterwork[s] by a skilled craftsman...that will delight romantics and historians alike.”⁶

---

<sup>1. Publishers Weekly on The Confessions of Catherine de Medici
2. Historical Novel Society on The Tudor Conspiracy
3. Historical Novel Review on The Last Queen
4. Examiner.com on The Tudor Secret
5. Romantic Times Book Reviews on The Queen's Vow
6. New York Journal of Books on The Queen's Vow</sup>

3. Sell your novels in 23 countries and counting.

Bulgaria * China * Croatia * Czech Republic * Estonia * Germany * Hungary * Indonesia * Italy * Latvia * Lithuania * Norway * Poland * Portugal * Romania * Russia * Serbia * Slovenia * Spain * Sweden * Turkey * United Kingdom * United States

4. Get a great Polish publicist—and a great Polish publisher and Polish coagent, etc, etc.

Above is Gortner (right) pictured with his publicist (center) from Polish publisher Znak.

5. Get sent to Poland on an international tour.

6. While in Poland, appear on popular TV and radio programs; speak at major bookstores; and get reviewed and interviewed in newspapers, magazines, websites, and blogs.

Above, Gortner talks at Matras bookstore and answers reader questions about The Queen's Vow. Among many other places, he was interviewed at Newsweek Polska and NaTemat.pl!

And check out the gorgeous banner ad for The Queen's Vow!

7. Sign lots of people's books.

8. Congratulations, you are now an international bestseller!

The Queen's Vow rocketed up the bestseller list throughout Poland soon after its release, making individual bestseller lists at Matras bookstores, Empik bookstores, and many internet bookstore outlets.

Congratulations, C.W. Gortner!

Next Step: Repeat Steps 1 – 3 and look for another great opportunity!

A new bestseller, 20 years after publication

THE ORACLE GLASS by internationally beloved and critically acclaimed author Judith Merkle Riley was re-published in November by Sourcebooks. Now, almost twenty years since its original publication by Viking in 1994, the book has hit The New York Times bestseller list AND the USA Today bestseller list! The climb came just after THE ORACLE GLASS was featured as a Kindle Daily Deal and a Nook Daily Find on a Monday in early May.

As might be expected, the most significant impact appeared among e-book sales. In The New York Times rankings, THE ORACLE GLASS reached #7 on the E-Book Fiction list:

But e-book sales were most definitely not operating in an e-book bubble. THE ORACLE GLASS also hit #8 on The New York Times Combined Print and E-Book Fiction list:

On USA Today's overall bestseller list, THE ORACLE GLASS climbed to #16:

This bestseller success reflects the hard work and tactical strategy behind Sourcebooks's relaunch scheme. Sourcebooks bought rights to another Riley book at the same time as they bought rights to THE ORACLE GLASS.  This other book was THE MASTER OF ALL DESIRES, originally published by Viking in 1999.  It will be released in July, eight months after THE ORACLE GLASS's release.  Sourcebooks's two-part plan allows each book to capitalize on the promotions, sales, and successes of the other.

With THE ORACLE GLASS now a bestseller a month-and-a-half before Part II of Riley's Sourcebooks relaunch, THE MASTER OF ALL DESIRES is sure to reap much of the first book's success.

Sourcebooks also gave the books new, updated covers.  Below are the older covers so you can get a sense of the changes made:

And below are the two new covers!  Notice the commonalities: the font, layout, mystical tone, and the stars sprinkled throughout.  These commonalities brand the books as a pair. The print copy of THE ORACLE GLASS also has a lovely metallic sheen to it, with the title in raised lettering.  We're looking forward to seeing the print copy of THE MASTER OF ALL DESIRES when it arrives in July!

Furthermore, Sourcebooks paired new praise with the fabulous quotes the books had already garnered upon their original publication.  A sampling of the praise is below:

“Take a full cup of wit, two teaspoons of brimstone, and a dash of poison, and you have Judith Merkle Riley's mordant, compelling tale of an ambitious young woman who disguises herself as an ancient prophetess in order to gain entry into the dangerous, scheming glamour of the Sun King's court. Based on scandalous true events, THE ORACLE GLASS brims with our human foibles, passions, and eccentricities; it's a classic of the genre and unlike any historical novel you have ever read.” --C.W. Gortner, author of THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI, on THE ORACLE GLASS

“Open the pages and out comes a whiff of brimstone, as THE ORACLE GLASS transports you to the Paris of kings and witches, on a guided tour of corruption, love, and sorcery.” --Diana Gabaldon, bestselling author of OUTLANDER, on THE ORACLE GLASS

“Absorbing and arresting.” --The New York Times, on THE ORACLE GLASS

“Fascinating and factual.” --Los Angeles Times, on THE ORACLE GLASS

“Chilly, witty, and completely engrossing...Great, good fun.” --Kirkus, on THE ORACLE GLASS

“A delicious, romantic romp.” --The Seattle Times, on THE MASTER OF ALL DESIRES

“[A] dazzling mix of history, romance, and the occult...Riley [is] a writer who excels at getting the background right and creating strong, intelligent heroines.” --Kirkus, on THE MASTER OF ALL DESIRES

“Delightfully rich in history, humor, and imagination.” --San Jose Mercury News, on THE MASTER OF ALL DESIRES

“A tightly woven, suspenseful and fiendishly funny novel.” --Publishers Weekly, on THE MASTER OF ALL DESIRES

“A delightful blend of history, romance, and the supernatural, served with generous helpings of wit and humor.” --Booklist, on THE MASTER OF ALL DESIRES

Margolin's SLEIGHT OF HAND on multiple bestseller lists

Phillip Margolin's newest, SLEIGHT OF HAND, has just hit three bestseller lists! The book came out from HarperCollins the other week, and it has made bestseller status in the following places...

The New York Times's Bestseller List.  This makes SLEIGHT OF HAND Margolin's seventeenth New York Times bestseller!

USA Today's Bestseller List:

Publishers Weekly's Bestseller List:

In their review of SLEIGHT OF HAND, Publishers Weekly called the book “stylish” and “clever.” The Associated Press also gave a glowing review, which was picked up in newspapers across the US, including The Miami Herald and Salon.com. Below is the full rave:

Private investigator Dana Cutler returns in SLEIGHT OF HAND, Phillip Margolin's best book in years. Deception is prominent, and the villain is truly vile.

Charles Benedict is a criminal defense lawyer, amateur magician and cold-blooded killer. Ten years earlier, millionaire Horace Blair persuaded the prosecutor in his DUI case to marry him. He also persuaded her to sign a prenuptial agreement that promised her $20 million if she remained faithful for the first 10 years of their marriage.

Two days before the payout, Benedict slips her a date-rape drug and videotapes the deed. When she confronts him and demands the truth, he kills her. Benedict then frames Blair for the crime.

Meanwhile, Cutler receives a cryptic offer to investigate the theft of a scepter with origins in the Ottoman Empire. As it takes her across the country, she realizes the pieces don't fit and she might have been set up.

A magician never reveals his secrets, and like the best prestidigitators, Margolin manipulates readers into believing one thing, then reveals the surprising truth. In SLEIGHT OF HAND, he has created a legal thriller that's guaranteed to mislead and shock readers.

HarperCollins, April 2013

Prepare for a spine-tingling read in bestselling THE FATE OF MERCY ALBAN

“The thing that inspires me to think up a story is the place,” Wendy Webb says in an interview with Publishers Weekly for her newest book, THE FATE OF MERCY ALBAN, released from Hyperion this February. “When I go into or see an old house, I wonder, what could happen there? What secrets are lurking around every corner?”

As Webb writes in her guest post on She Reads, Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, Minnesota, sparked her first imaginings of Alban House, the family home around which THE FATE OF MERCY ALBAN revolves. Like Glensheen Mansion, Alban House was built on the edge of Lake Superior in the 1800s by a powerful family. Local legend has it that Glensheen is haunted, and Webb's novel is nothing if not a modern-day haunted house story.

In THE FATE OF MERCY ALBAN, Grace Alban has successfully avoided her family home for more than twenty years when her mother dies and she returns to attend the funeral and settle her mother's estate. Chilling discoveries soon follow concerning long-buried family secrets, a lost manuscript, and the decades-old mystery of a party at Alban House during which a famous author committed suicide and Grace's aunt disappeared.

Since its release, THE FATE OF MERCY ALBAN has climbed to the #3 spot on the Heartland Indie Bestseller List. It was an Indie Bound Next Pick and a Midwest Connections Pick. iTunes declared it among the Best Fiction and Literature of February. Some of the excellent reviews received so far follow:

“Webb plots a tale rife with dark family secrets, hidden passageways, love, intrigue and witchcraft.” --Kirkus

“If you're craving a good old-fashioned ghost story to scare you on these cold nights, this is it.” --St. Paul Pioneer Press

“This second novel by Minnesota Book Award-winning writer Wendy Webb has all the elements of a downright haunting story—and it is. But there’s also romance along the way to provide relief...Be prepared to be scared—and entertained.” --Star Tribune

“After reading this book, I plan to keep Wendy on my radar...THE FATE OF MERCY ALBAN is a chilling, good read!” --Cheryl's Book Nook Blog

“Webb has crafted a modern take on a classic genre--the Gothic ghost story… What did I love the most? The house--I want to explore all those hidden passages and back staircases to unused rooms.” --A Bookworm's World Blog

“Webb's novel had me hooked from the get go and I would not put it down until I had finished the last page...I got goosebumps a number of times whilst reading this book...I would definitely recommend THE FATE OF MERCY ALBAN to anyone and everyone who loves to read spooky novels” --A Bookish Way of Life Blog

“If Sarah Waters and Stephen King had a love child, it would be Wendy Webb!” --M.J. Rose, international bestselling author of THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES

“In the gothic tradition of REBECCA, Wendy Webb's intoxicating mystery follows one family's effort to confront the secrets of its own sordid past as they haunt the last remaining members of the storied Alban clan. Hidden passages, portraits with moving eyes, and the conflicting mandates of wealth, power, and love weave together to create a story that will send chills down your spine. Read in a well-lit room!” --Katherine Howe, New York Times bestselling author of THE PHYSICK BOOK OF DELIVERANCE DANE

“A perfect read for a dark and stormy night.” --Phillip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author of PROOF POSITIVE.

Hyperion, February 2013

C.W. Gortner's THE QUEEN'S VOW taking the world by storm

C.W. Gortner's THE QUEEN'S VOW, a novel about Isabella of Castile, the warrior-queen who united Spain and sent Columbus to America, has been receiving fabulous reviews since its release last week!  Published by Ballantine in the US, the book will also be published in the UK, Germany, and Norway...with more countries on the way.  The book has done incredibly well in the US so far, even reaching #2 on Amazon's Bestsellers in Biographical Fiction list!  Read some of the excellent reviews below:

"A beautifully crafted piece of historical fiction...The fear, joy, and anguish of the story all come together with a beauty and passion that can't be found anywhere in the pages of history books." --RT Book Reviews, 4 1/2 stars

"Isabella is most often remembered as the queen who financed Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas, but in this vivid novel, Gortner reveals that she is much more than this.  She is an inspiring young woman who bravely faced the turmoil that surrounded her and managed to hold on to her crown.  Her resolve and courage helped her face the numerous problems in her realm as she and Fernando began to unite Spain.  Gortner has again produced a richly detailed book that is hard to put down." --Historical Novels Review

"Gortner avoids romanticizing and sentimentalizing and presents a believable account of a woman determined to control her own fate and shape Spain into a great country." --Booklist

"Gortner's latest historical novel is set at the beginning of the extremely popular Tudor era, but it feels fresh owing to his choice of subject and the focus on events in Spain rather than England.  It should thus have strong appeal for historical fiction fans looking for a new perspective on a favorite time period." --Library Journal

"[Isabella] is a controversial figure in history, yet Gortner digs deep into her personality to reconcile some of her more difficult decisions with the person he believes she is, and he makes a very convincing case...Gortner is perhaps the best author currently writing historical fiction today.  He balances extensive research with smart, sympathetic characters.  He really gets inside Isabella's head, and it's clear he knows her inside and out.  If you're a fan of historical fiction, Gortner's books are absolutely not to be missed." --S. Krishna's Books Blog

"Gortner has done it again, creating a mesmerizing and unforgettable portrait of Isabella of Castile...What makes Gortner's Isabella so unique is that while she is brave and daring she is also conflicted...In her, we can see ourselves...THE QUEEN'S VOW reminds us that in the end, Isabella was human, a woman of conviction and strength in a time of upheaval, who forged her destiny despite every odd, to become Spain's most beloved queen." --Michelle Moran, internationally bestselling author of NEFERTITI

You can learn more about the book via the beautiful trailer below, or through Gortner's website here:

CAPITOL MURDER now a New York Times bestselling title!

The New York Times has just released its bestseller lists reflecting sales ending the week of April 7--or, what we know as the first possible week for Phillip Margolin's CAPITOL MURDER to hit the lists.  And hit the lists it did!  In hardcover fiction, CAPITOL MURDER reached #20, while on the e-book fiction list, it reached #25! 

The book has received fantastic media coverage since its release, including wonderful journal/magazine reviews and a TV interview with AM Northwest, both of which we highlighted in last week's post.  Margolin was also recently interviewed by The Oregonian's book editor, Jeff Baker, regarding the conclusion of the Washington D.C. trilogy (CAPITOL MURDER being the last book in the trilogy, after EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE and SUPREME JUSTICE).  You can read the full interview at this link, but here's a brief excerpt to whet your appetite:

For [CAPITOL MURDER], Margolin got to hang out in the offices of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., an old friend, and pick up some inside knowledge and details.

"Really a lot of fun," the Portland author [Margolin] said [of the experience].  "I worked in the U.S. Senate when I got out of college--as a file clerk, nothing important--and it was neat to go back and see it.  I got to see the room where the Select Committee on Intelligence meets and some other back areas that people don't normally see."

Readers are loving CAPITOL MURDER so far, as evidenced by rave reader reviews on Goodreads.  One reviewer in particular, identified as Barbara Tom, had several glowing comments to make about CAPITOL MURDER, including "The reason Phillip Margolin is a New York Times bestselling author is because he can tell a good story" and "Margolin has one humdinger of a twisty, twisted ending."  To end her review, she concluded, "This is my favorite book by Phillip Margolin so far.  You go, guy!"  We love that ending; indeed, you go, guy!

Be sure to check out Margolin's website at this link for more information about the author and the book!

HarperCollins, April 2012

Ten books on year-end "Top Ten" and "Best Of" lists!

The end of the year marks the moment when book reviewers closely scrutinize all the books they've reviewed in a year's span, seeking out those titles that rise to the top, that can be lauded "The Best."  We've been excitedly gathering the reviewers' notifications as they've come in over the past several weeks.  Now that 2011 is officially over, we are proud to announce that ten of our books have been honored among 2011's "Top Ten" and "Best Of" lists! 

IF JACK'S IN LOVE by Stephen Wetta

According to The Wall Street Journal, today is "a new Golden Age of crime fiction," a Golden Age which encompasses everything from detective novels to more literary crime novels.  Among the top ten 2011 titles the newspaper highlighted as perfect evidence of such an age is Stephen Wetta's debut novel.  The Wall Street Journal called IF JACK'S IN LOVE "funny and suspenseful, poignant and joyous--a one-of-a-kind work worthy of any Golden Age."  Link here.

IF JACK'S IN LOVE was also featured on About.com in their "Top 10 Books of 2011" list.  About.com called IF JACK'S IN LOVE "a debut novel not to miss."  Link here.  The website praised the book glowingly: "IF JACK'S IN LOVE has that spark of a writer who fully invests himself and writes with a startlingly bittersweet humor, infusing his first novel with a tinge of something special...Wetta is an author to watch."

IF JACK'S IN LOVE published in September 2011 by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam.

A DOUBLE LIFE by Lisa Catherine Harper

The National Book Critics Circle named A DOUBLE LIFE their #4 choice for the year's "Best of the Small Presses"!  The NBCC lauded Harper's memoir as "incredibly rich and enlightening...a clear example of the successful merging of memoir and scientific study."  They added, "[Harper] remains centered...with frequent moments of self-awareness and grace."  Link here.

The memoir came out in March 2011 from University of Nebraska Press.

Lisa Catherine Harper has appeared on another "Best Of" list as well.  Her essay "Poems from My Ex" was named the #5 most read article on PoetryFoundation.org.  Link here.

THE LAST NUDE by Ellis Avery

This novel was only released yesterday, but it made Library Journal's 2011 list of top 25 books to look forward to in 2012.  In the Library Journal starred review, the novel was called "an evocative, heart-cutting work" and "absorbing, affecting, and agitating...highly recommended."  Link here.  THE LAST NUDE was also named a January 2012 Book Pick from Library Journal. 

Riverhead published THE LAST NUDE in January 2012.

BEFORE VERSAILLES by Karleen Koen

Library Journal's "Best Of's" don't end with THE LAST NUDE!  The journal also released a list of "Best Books of 2011 in Historical Fiction," on which BEFORE VERSAILLES was featured.  "Lush prose illuminates one of the most powerful and glittering courts in European history," Library Journal wrote in a rave review.  Link here.

Additionally, The Houston Chronicle's book review blog, Bookish, named a list of top 2011 Texas book picks.  Prominent among them was Texan author Karleen Koen's BEFORE VERSAILLES.  Link here.

BEFORE VERSAILLES was released in June 2011 by Crown.

HEARTSTONE by C.J. Sansom

Marilyn Stasio, columnist for The New York Times Book Review, created a list of "Notable Crime Books for 2011."  Featured among these was British author C.J. Sansom's HEARTSTONE.  Link here.  In an earlier review, The New York Times Book Review said "HEARTSTONE may be the best novel in [Sansom's] richly entertaining and reassuringly scholarly series...History never seemed so real."

HEARSTONE appeared in January 2011 from Viking.

BECOMING FAULKNER by Philip Weinstein

This book was actually released in hardcover at the end of 2009 and will appear in paperback in 2012, but it was a big book under consideration in 2011 for the C. Hugh Holman Award.  And win the award it did!  The C. Hugh Holman Award is given by the Society for Southern Literature for the best and most significant book of Southern Literary Studies for the year.  More information about the award can be found here.

BECOMING FAULKNER will soon arrive in paperback, in April 2012, from Oxford University Press.

THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES by Jean M. Auel

THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES hit three top ten bestseller lists of the year!  It was #6 in hardcover fiction for the ABA's "Indie Bestsellers List of 2011," and it was #9 in fiction for the UK's The Sunday Times.  Also in the UK, The Guardian newspaper printed the top 2011 books listed on the Nielsen UK sales charts.  Here, THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES appeared at #7 in hardcover fiction.

THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES, the sixth book in Jean M. Auel's bestselling Earth's Children® series, came out in March 2011 from Crown.

THE COFFINS OF LITTLE HOPE by Timothy Schaffert

Rachel Manwill at BookRiot.com named five "Best Books of 2011," and ranking high on her list was THE COFFINS OF LITTLE HOPE.  She lauded the book as having "so many striking elements and...language...so evocative, that [COFFINS] manages to be the rare book where both the forest AND the trees are perfect."  Link here.

This book has received outrageously phenomenal reviews over the course of the year.  The New York Times called "each of Schaffert's books...a quirky little gem," People praised COFFINS (in no less than a four stars review) as "memorably narrated" and "a witty...profound story," and The Washington Post deemed it "alluringly strange to the very last page."

THE COFFINS OF LITTLE HOPE was released in April 2011 by Unbridled Press.

A SEA IN FLAMES by Carl Safina

A SEA IN FLAMES was named by the Project on Government Oversight as one of "Ten Books That Matter" for 2011.  According to their website, the Project on Government Oversight is "a nonpartisan independent watchdog that champions good government reforms."  Link here.  Elsewhere, A SEA IN FLAMES has been praised as "an illuminating, monitory study" (Kirkus), full of "factual elegance" (The Washington Post), and "a revealing, thoughtful history...an insightful work" (The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice).

Crown published A SEA IN FLAMES in April 2011. 

THE VIEW FROM LAZY POINT by Carl Safina

Another book by Carl Safina received acclaim in "Best Of" lists this past year: this time THE VIEW FROM LAZY POINT in Newsday's "Best Books of 2011" list.  In a separate review, Newsday said the following about the nonfiction work: "Before Carl Safina, environmentalists could often be heard wondering where the next Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, or Henry Beston might be hiding...[Safina writes] pure sensuous detail, seeing the natural world from a variety of angles."  Link here.

After reviewing this book, the New York Post called Safina "a Thoreau for the 21st century"; The New York Times featured THE VIEW FROM LAZY POINT on a full page feature, named it Editors' Choice, and remarked that "Safina's book soars"; and Huffington Post praised it as "striking," a book "about what it means to be human in a world where the rhythms of life have been thrown askew, indeed, burst asunder."

THE VIEW FROM LAZY POINT appeared in hardcover in January 2011 from Henry Holt, and it arrived in paperback this month from Picador.

THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES is still going strong!

Congratulations to Jean Auel, whose THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES was released in paperback and mass market last month and whose name has been hitting bestseller lists ever since! THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES was first released in hardcover in March (Crown), after which it was on the New York Times bestseller list for 19 weeks. Now, the mass market edition, published by Bantam, has reached #5 on the New York Times mass market list for December 11! And on December 18, it will be #6 on the mass market list.

Since its initial release, THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES has also been on the Publishers Weekly's bestseller list for 13 weeks.  It reached #4 on the mass market list this week.

So be sure to open up your New York Times Book Review this weekend to find THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES!

Bantam, November 2011

POPE JOAN author on the Oprah Winfrey Network

On Wednesday, September 21, at 10 pm, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) will be airing a Primetime special on the fascinating and controversial history of Pope Joan, featuring author Donna Woolfolk Cross!

Cross's historical novel POPE JOAN (Crown 2009 reprint) has been a smashing success since its initial release in 1996. The international bestseller has sold in 33 countries and has been described as "a fascinating and moving account" by Library Journal. The Los Angeles Times Book Review said it had "all the elements one wants in a historical drama--love, sex, violence, duplicity, and long-buried secrets."

The Primetime special originally aired on ABC in 2005. According to the OWN website, the special takes "a look at the mystery and lore behind the medieval legend of Pope Joan, believed by many to be the only female pointiff of the Roman Catholic Church."

Be sure to tune in! Plus, learn more about the author of POPE JOAN and her novel at www.popejoan.com!

Crown, 2009