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The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
 | A novel by Katarina Bivald Sourcebooks Landmark January 19, 2016 Paperback Original, $16.99. ISBN: 9781492623441 When a young woman from Sweden arrives in Broken Wheel, Iowa, she opens a bookstore that changes the lives of everyone in town. “Every word on every page is sheer perfection. I haven’t been this in love with a book in ages! …I’ll carry this book in my heart for years to come.” -- Bess Bleyaert, McLean & Eakin, Petoskey, Michigan “This heartwarming story is the answer for those who loved The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Book lovers will applaud Sara and her love of books. Book clubs will delight in this delightful caper through book-loving middle America. Read this and smile!” -- Nancy Simpson-Brice, Book Vault, Oskaloosa, Iowa “The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a book for everyone. It is a charming, light-hearted story. If you're not a booklover already, Sara and the town of Broken Wheel may just turn you into one!” -- Jen Steele, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
“Literary references abound. And what could be better than being along for the ride as Sara opens her bookshop? A relatable tale of how sometimes we all just get a little stuck. Sometimes you just need a different perspective. Come see how the community of Broken Wheel—and Sara herself, reblooms.” -- Kristen Gilligan, Tattered Cover, Denver, Colorado
| Broken Wheel, Iowa, has never seen anyone like Sara, who traveled all the way from Sweden just to meet her pen pal, Amy. When she arrives, however, she finds that Amy's funeral has just ended. Luckily, the townspeople are happy to look after their bewildered tourist—even if they don't understand her peculiar need for books. Marooned in a farm town that's almost beyond repair, Sara starts a bookstore in honor of her friend's memory. All she wants is to share the books she loves with the citizens of Broken Wheel and to convince them that reading is one of the great joys of life. But she makes some unconventional choices that could force a lot of secrets into the open and change things for everyone in town. Reminiscent of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, this is a warm, witty book about friendship, stories, and love. Katarina Bivald lives outside of Stockholm, Sweden. This is her first novel. She grew up working part-time in a bookshop. To inquire about booking an author event with Katarina, please contact Lathea Williams. |  |
The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America
 | Nonfiction by Ethan Michaeli Houghton Mifflin Harcourt January 12, 2016 Hardcover, $32. ISBN: 9780547560694 Veteran reporter Ethan Michaeli tells the story of Chicago’s iconic black newspaper, the family and the journalists who made it great, and the hidden history of black America in the twentieth century. “In the spring of 1905 Robert Abbott sat at a card table squeezed into a corner of a realtor’s office on Chicago’s South Side to put together the first issue of a newspaper he called The Defender. In the 110 years since it has more than lived up to its name, its pages filled with searing reports of racial injustice and fierce editorials in support of its readers’ rights. Now Ethan Michaeli has recreated The Defender’s remarkable history—and reminded us of the power of the press at its courageous best.” -- Kevin Boyle, author of the National Book Award-winning Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age “Ethan Michaeli’s compelling book represents social history at its finest. The Defender explores America’s long struggle with race through the unique lens of an essential and underappreciated Chicago newspaper at the center of it all.” -- David Maraniss, author of Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story |
“For more than a century, the South Side of Chicago has been a hub of African-American history, and throughout the years, that saga has been told through the pages of the Chicago Defender newspaper. In this compelling book, Ethan Michaeli shares the story of the Defender and the essential role it has played in Chicago's black community and beyond.” -- David Axelrod, author of Believer: My Forty Years in Politics
| Giving voice to the voiceless, the Chicago Defender condemned Jim Crow, catalyzed the Great Migration, and focused the electoral power of black America. Robert S. Abbott founded The Defender in 1905, smuggled hundreds of thousands of copies into the most isolated communities in the segregated South, and was dubbed a "Modern Moses," becoming one of the first black millionaires in the process. His successor wielded the newspaper’s clout to elect mayors and presidents, including Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy, who would have lost in 1960 if not for The Defender’s support. Along the way, its pages were filled with columns by legends like Ida B. Wells, Langston Hughes, and Martin Luther King. Drawing on dozens of interviews and extensive archival research, Ethan Michaeli constructs a revelatory narrative of race in America and brings to life the reporters who braved lynch mobs and policemen’s clubs to do their jobs, from the age of Teddy Roosevelt to the age of Barack Obama. |  |
Ethan Michaeli is an award-winning author, publisher and journalist based in Chicago. He was a copy editor and investigative reporter at The Defender from 1991 to 1996.
To inquire about booking an author event with Ethan, please contact Laura Gianino.
Noah's Wife
 | A novel by Lindsay Starck GP Putnam & Sons/Penguin Random House January 26, 2016 Hardcover, $27. ISBN: 9780399159237 When Noah’s wife arrives with her minister husband to this small coastal town, she is driven by her desire to help revive the congregation. However, she is thwarted by the resistance of her eccentric new neighbors and her failure to realize that her husband is battling his own internal crisis “Starck’s unusual, often charmingly phrased fable is constructed around the responses of a band of individuals to life’s unpredictable challenges…. Variously romantic, symbolic, philosophical, feminist, and fanciful, this is an atmospheric tale that meanders to a sweetly rousing conclusion. Forget the ark, forget the patriarch. It’s the women who tend to triumph in this modern take on an Old Testament parable.” -- Kirkus Reviews “A riveting fable based loosely on the biblical story of Noah’s Ark. Although the novel is filled with such exquisite detail that you may want to read this while sitting under an umbrella, Starck’s strength is in her characters…compelling, often hilarious individuals, each of whom will remain with you long after you turn the last page.” -- Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator’s Wife |
“Through a compelling cast of characters, Starck illustrates the struggle to maintain hope and faith when confronted with loss and destruction…[a] stunning first novel.” -- The Post and Courier
Mary McGarry Morris says it best: “Noah’s Wife may be a contemporary allegory, but Lindsay Starck is a classic storyteller…her novel is an engrossing fusion of wisdom and beautiful writing.” Noah’s Wife is a gorgeously written, brilliantly introspective fable-like novel.
Noah’s Wife is a story of a community battered by a relentless downpour from the heavens, a gray and wet little town teeming with eccentric characters who have learned to endure the extraordinary circumstances of the rain with astonishing human fortitude and willfulness.
Noah’s Wife is a story of a community battered by a relentless downpour from the heavens, a gray and wet little town teeming with eccentric characters who have learned to endure the extraordinary circumstances of the rain with astonishing human fortitude and willfulness.
| As Noah and his wife strive to bring the townspeople to the church—and keep the strains on their marriage at bay—the rain intensifies, impeding their efforts. Soon the river waters rise, flooding the streets of the town and driving scores of wild animals out of the once-renowned zoo. And so, Noah, his wife, and the townspeople must confront the savage forces of nature and attempt to reinforce the fragile ties that bind them to each other before their world is washed away. Full of whimsy and gentle ironic humor, Noah’s Wife is a wise and poignant novel that draws upon the motifs of the biblical flood story to explore the true meaning of community, to examine the remarkable strength of the human spirit, and to ask whether hope can exist even where faith has been lost Lindsay Starck was born in Wisconsin and raised in the Milwaukee Public Library. She studied literature at Yale and creative writing at Notre Dame. She is editor in chief of Carolina Quarterly and teaches writing in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and a golden retriever. Although she moves around a lot, she remains a true Midwesterner at heart. Noah’s Wife is her first book. To inquire about booking an author event with Lindsay, please contact Ashley Hewlett at ahewlett@penguinrandomhouse.com. |  |
