Happy summer!
Stay cool and read a book during our hottest months!
July launches four terrific books — two exceptional novels which explore the often painful relationships among families and friends; the third suspense hit from a bestselling Minnesota writer; and a unique guide to exploring the natural world with children.
Click on the links below for much more information about these books.
Buy these books from your favorite locally owned and operated Midwest independent bookseller!
Click here for the directory of our member bookstores
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“A fierce and beautiful book…” *

THE QUICKENING
Michelle Hoover
www.otherpress.com
www.michellehoover.net
Other Press / distributed by Random House
$14.95 Trade Paperback Original
ISBN: 978-1-59051-346-0
July 2010
Fiction / Midwest rural farming life
Told in lyrical prose in the voices of two women, within a landscape that binds and challenges all members of their families, THE QUICKENING is a story of survival and hardship, violence and betrayal, and the discovery and loss of lifelong love.
“This is a book about survival under great hardship and an exploration of the lengths to which a person will go in order to survive.”
- Lanora Hurley, Next Chapter Bookshop, Mequon, WI
“I grew up among Iowa farm women, and Michelle Hoover has perfectly captured their voices and stories with great wisdom, tenderness, and beauty.”
—Ted Kooser, U. S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006
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Forgiveness has the power
to transform lives in this compelling novel.
THE CRYING TREE
Naseem Rakha
www.naseemrakha.com
www.randomhouse.com
Broadway Books / Random House
$14.00 Trade Paperback Reprint
ISBN: 9780767931748
July 2010
Fiction / a Midwest family in crisis
Dramatic, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting, THE CRYING TREE is an unforgettable story of love and redemption, the unbreakable bonds of family, and the transformative power of forgiveness.
“THE CRYING TREE is a story about that land and the kinds of people that live and depend on it. People whose farms, communities, history and families are as strongly attached to them as their skin. The book is set in the fictional town of Carlton, Illinois, which sits on a ledge of the Mississippi River in southern Illinois. It is about a family whose child is murdered during a brief move to Oregon’s high desert. When the family returns to Illinois, they struggle with their loss and the secrets it enfolds.”
– author Naseem Rakha
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In this town, gossip kills!
SILENCING SAM
Julie Kramer
www.juliekramerbooks.com
Atria Books / Simon & Schuster
$23.99 Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-4391-7799-0
June 22, 2010
Suspense fiction set in the Twin Cities / third in a series
In her timely and provocative new thriller national award-winning investigative journalist Julie Kramer explores the fine line between news and gossip, an issue that the media struggles to resolve in these days of celebrity journalism, 24/7 twittering, and endless blogging.
“VERDICT: Best-selling author Kramer (Stalking Susan; Missing Mark) has delivered her finest Spartz novel to date; fiction readers will love this riveting, action-packed journey into television news investigations.”
—starred, LIBRARY JOURNAL on Silencing Sam
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A mother and son explore parallels
in the world of people and nature.
EVERY NATURAL FACT
FIVE SEASONS OF OPEN AIR PARENTING
Amy Lou Jenkins
www.holycowpress.org
www.AmyLouJenkins.com
Holy Cow! Press / Consortium
$14.95 Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-9823545-1-3
June 2010
Nature & outdoors/Parenting/Wisconsin
Rich in sensory immediacy, characterization, natural history, and humor, these explorations of natural history, flora and fauna, and parenting themes demonstrate that the mythic thread that winds through everything can still be found, even in a world of wounds.
“If you combined the lyricism of Annie Dillard, the vision of Aldo Leopold, and the gentle but toughminded optimism of Frank McCourt, you might come close to Amy Lou Jenkins, a writer who obliterates the distinction between regional writing and actual, honest-to-god writing. I, for one, would follow her anywhere.”
—Tom Bissell, author of The Father of All Things
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