Random House New Releases - Fiction

The Lovebird by Natalie Brown

2013-06-18T00:30:00-05:00

The Lovebird
Written by Natalie Brown

Hardcover, 336 pages | Doubleday | Fiction - Contemporary Women; Fiction - Coming Of Age; Fiction - Humorous | $24.95 | 978-0-385-53675-2 (0-385-53675-5)

A spectacularly vibrant, original debut, The Lovebird takes us from the orange-scented streets of Southern California to the vast prairie landscape of Montana, and introduces us to Margie Fitzgerald, a spirited and unforgettable heroine for our times.

Margie has always had a soft spot for helpless creatures. Her warm heart breaks, her left ovary twinges, and she is smitten with sympathy. This is how she falls in love with Simon Mellinkoff, her charismatic, obviously troubled Latin professor. As the two embark on an unconventional romance, Simon introduces Margie to his small coterie of animal rights activists, and with this ragtag group she finds her apparent mission in life. But Margie’s increasingly reckless and dangerous actions force her to flee her California college town, say goodbye to her fragile dad, and seek shelter on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. Here, against a backdrop of endless grass and sky, Margie meets a soap opera-loving grandmother, an intriguing, ink-splattered man, and an inscrutable eleven-year-old girl—and makes unexpected discoveries about her heart.

Suffused with humor and compassion, The Lovebird is a radiant novel about one young woman’s love of animals, yearning for connection, and search for her place in this world.

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen

2013-06-11T00:30:00-05:00

Bad Monkey
Written by Carl Hiaasen

Hardcover, 336 pages | Knopf | Fiction - Humorous; Fiction - Thrillers; Fiction - Satire | $26.95 | 978-0-307-27259-1 (0-307-27259-1)

Andrew Yancy—late of the Miami Police and soon-to-be-late of the Monroe County sheriff’s office—has a human arm in his freezer. There’s a logical (Hiaasenian) explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its shadowy owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig (it’s not called the roach patrol for nothing). But first—this being Hiaasen country—Yancy must negotiate an obstacle course of wildly unpredictable events with a crew of even more wildly unpredictable characters, including his just-ex lover, a hot-blooded fugitive from Kansas; the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; two avariciously optimistic real-estate speculators; the Bahamian voodoo witch known as the Dragon Queen, whose suitors are blinded unto death by her peculiar charms; Yancy’s new true love, a kinky coroner; and the eponymous bad monkey, who with hilarious aplomb earns his place among Carl Hiaasen’s greatest characters.

Here is Hiaasen doing what he does better than anyone else: spinning a tale at once fiercely pointed and wickedly funny in which the greedy, the corrupt, and the degraders of what’s left of pristine Florida—now, of the Bahamas as well—get their comeuppance in mordantly ingenious, diabolically entertaining fashion.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

2013-06-11T00:30:00-05:00

Crazy Rich Asians
Written by Kevin Kwan

Hardcover, 416 pages | Doubleday | Fiction - Asian American; Fiction - Contemporary Women; Fiction - Family Life | $25.95 | 978-0-385-53697-4 (0-385-53697-6)

Crazy Rich Asians is the outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.
When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back. Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets Astrid, the It Girl of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick's formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should--and should not--marry. Uproarious, addictive, and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider's look at the Asian JetSet; a perfect depiction of the clash between old money and new money; between Overseas Chinese and Mainland Chinese; and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love, and gloriously, crazily rich.

The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan

2013-06-11T00:30:00-05:00

The Engagements
Written by J. Courtney Sullivan

Hardcover, 400 pages | Knopf | Fiction - Contemporary Women; Fiction - Family Saga; Fiction - Literary | $26.95 | 978-0-307-95871-6 (0-307-95871-X)

From the New York Times best-selling author of Commencement and Maine comes a gorgeous, sprawling novel about marriage—about those who marry in a white heat of passion, those who marry for partnership and comfort, and those who live together, love each other, and have absolutely no intention of ruining it all with a wedding.

Evelyn has been married to her husband for forty years—forty years since he slipped off her first wedding ring and put his own in its place. Delphine has seen both sides of love—the ecstatic, glorious highs of seduction, and the bitter, spiteful fury that descends when it’s over. James, a paramedic who works the night shift, knows his wife’s family thinks she could have done better; while Kate, partnered with Dan for a decade, has seen every kind of wedding—beach weddings, backyard weddings, castle weddings—and has vowed never, ever, to have one of her own.

As these lives and marriages unfold in surprising ways, we meet Frances Gerety, a young advertising copywriter in 1947. Frances is working on the De Beers campaign and she needs a signature line, so, one night before bed, she scribbles a phrase on a scrap of paper: “A Diamond Is Forever.” And that line changes everything.

A rich, layered, exhilarating novel spanning nearly a hundred years, The Engagements captures four wholly unique marriages, while tracing the story of diamonds in America, and the way—for better or for worse—these glittering stones have come to symbolize our deepest hopes for everlasting love.

One Thousand and One Nights by Mary Gaitskill

2013-06-11T00:30:00-05:00

One Thousand and One Nights A Retelling
Translated by Hanan al-Shaykh
Foreword by Mary Gaitskill

Hardcover, 320 pages | Pantheon | Fiction - Folklore; Fiction - Classics; Fiction - Literary | $26.00 | 978-0-307-95886-0 (0-307-95886-8)

Gathered and passed down over the centuries from India, Persia, and across the Arab world, the mesmerizing stories of One Thousand and One Nights tell of the real and the supernatural, love and marriage, power and punishment, wealth and poverty, and the endless trials and uncertainties of fate. They are related by the beautiful, wise, young Shahrazad, who gives herself up to murderous King Shahrayar. The king has vowed to deflower and then kill a virgin every night—but Shahrazad will not be defeated by the king’s appetites. To save herself, she cunningly spins a web of tales, leaving the king in suspense each morning, and thus prolonging her life for another day.

Acclaimed Lebanese writer Hanan al-Shaykh has selected nineteen of these stories, retold them in modern English, and knitted them together into an utterly intoxicating collection. In al-Shaykh’s hands, Shahrazad’s tales are lush and evocative, rich with humor, and utterly captivating.

Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith

2013-06-11T00:30:00-05:00

Trains and Lovers A Novel
Written by Alexander McCall Smith

Hardcover, 256 pages | Pantheon | Fiction - Contemporary Women; Fiction - Romance - Contemporary; Fiction - Literary | $22.00 | 978-0-307-90854-4 (0-307-90854-2)

The rocking motion of the train as it speeds along, the sound of its wheels on the rails . . . There’s something special about this form of travel that makes for easy conversation, which is just what happens to the four strangers who meet in Trains and Lovers.

As they journey by rail from Edinburgh to London, the four travelers pass the time by sharing tales of trains that have changed their lives. A young, keen-eyed Scotsman recounts how he turned a friendship with a female coworker into a romance by spotting an anachronistic train in an eighteenth-century painting. An Australian woman shares how her parents fell in love and spent their life together running a railroad siding in the remote Australian Outback. A middle-aged American patron of the arts sees two young men saying goodbye in a train station and recalls his own youthful crush on another man. And a young Englishman describes how exiting his train at the wrong station allowed him to meet an intriguing woman whom he impulsively invited to dinner—and into his life.

Here is Alexander McCall Smith at his most enchanting, exploring the nature of love—and trains—in a collection of romantic, intertwined stories.

A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers

2013-06-04T00:30:00-05:00

A Hologram for the King A Novel
Written by Dave Eggers

Trade Paperback, 352 pages | Vintage | Fiction - Literary | $15.95 | 978-0-307-94751-2 (0-307-94751-3)

A National Book Award Finalist
One of the New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of the Year
One of the Best Books of the Year from The Boston Globe and San Francisco Chronicle

In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman named Alan Clay pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter's college tuition, and finally do something great. In A Hologram for the King, Dave Eggers takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together.

A Chain of Thunder by Jeff Shaara

2013-05-21T00:30:00-05:00

A Chain of Thunder A Novel of the Siege of Vicksburg
Written by Jeff Shaara

Hardcover, 592 pages | Ballantine Books | Fiction - Historical; Fiction - War; Fiction - Adventure | $28.00 | 978-0-345-52738-7 (0-345-52738-0)

Continuing the series that began with A Blaze of Glory, New York Times bestselling author Jeff Shaara returns to chronicle another decisive chapter in America’s long and bloody Civil War. In A Chain of Thunder, the action shifts to the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. There, in the vaunted “Gibraltar of the Confederacy,” a siege for the ages will cement the reputation of one Union general—and all but seal the fate of the rebel cause.

In May 1863, after months of hard and bitter combat, Union troops under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant at long last successfully cross the Mississippi River. They force the remnants of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton’s army to retreat to Vicksburg, burning the bridges over the Big Black River in its path. But after sustaining heavy casualties in two failed assaults against the rebels, Union soldiers are losing confidence and morale is low. Grant reluctantly decides to lay siege to the city, trapping soldiers and civilians alike inside an iron ring of Federal entrenchments. Six weeks later, the starving and destitute Southerners finally surrender, yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces on July 4—Independence Day—and marking a crucial turning point in the Civil War.

Drawing on comprehensive research and his own intimate knowledge of the Vicksburg Campaign, Jeff Shaara once again weaves brilliant fiction out of the ragged cloth of historical fact. From the command tents where generals plot strategy to the ruined mansions where beleaguered citizens huddle for safety, this is a panoramic portrait of men and women whose lives are forever altered by the siege. On one side stand the emerging legend Grant, his irascible second William T. Sherman, and the youthful “grunt” Private Fritz Bauer; on the other, the Confederate commanders Pemberton and Joseph Johnston, as well as nineteen-year-old Lucy Spence, a civilian doing her best to survive in the besieged city. By giving voice to their experiences at Vicksburg, A Chain of Thunder vividly evokes a battle whose outcome still reverberates more than 150 years after the cannons fell silent.

PRAISE FOR JEFF SHAARA’S ACCLAIMED CIVIL WAR NOVELS

Gods and Generals

“Powerful . . . Though the story of the Civil War has been told many times, this is the rare version that conveys what it must have felt like.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“Compelling . . . a work of vivid drama and skill.”—The Dallas Morning News

The Last Full Measure

“The Last Full Measure is more than another historical novel. It is rooted in history, but its strength is the element of humanity flowing through its characters. . . . The book is compelling, easy to read, well researched and written, and thought-provoking. . . . In short, it is everything that a reader could ask for.”—Chicago Tribune

“Masterful . . . These characters come alive as complex, heroic, and flawed men.”—The Baltimore Sun

A Blaze of Glory

“Brilliant . . . riveting . . . a work to be embraced.”—Bookreporter

“Dynamic portrayals [of] Johnston, Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman.”—The Wall Street Journal

The Redeemer by Don Bartlett

2013-05-21T00:30:00-05:00

The Redeemer
Written by Jo Nesbo
Translated by Don Bartlett

Hardcover, 416 pages | Knopf | Fiction - Mystery & Detective; Fiction - Mystery & Detective - Police Procedural; Fiction - Crime | $25.95 | 978-0-307-59585-0 (0-307-59585-4)

A fantastically gripping thriller from the best-selling author of The Snowman.

Christmas shoppers stop to hear a Salvation Army concert on a crowded Oslo street. A gunshot cuts through the music and the bitter cold: one of the singers falls dead, shot in the head at point-blank range. Harry Hole—the Oslo Police Department’s best investigator and worst civil servant—has little to work with: no suspect, no weapon, and no motive. But Harry’s troubles will multiply. As the search closes in, the killer becomes increasingly desperate, and Harry’s chase takes him to the most forbidden corners of the former Yugoslavia.

Yet it’s when he returns to Oslo that he encounters true darkness: among the homeless junkies and Salvationists, eagerly awaiting a savior to deliver them from misery—whether he brings new life or immediate death.

With its shrewdly vertiginous narrative, acid-etched characters, and white-hot pace, The Redeemer is resounding proof of Jo Nesbø’s standing as one of the best crime writers of our time.

Inferno by Dan Brown

2013-05-14T00:30:00-05:00

Inferno A Novel
Written by Dan Brown

Hardcover, 480 pages | Doubleday | Fiction - Thrillers; Fiction - Suspense; Fiction - Adventure | $29.95 | 978-0-385-53785-8 (0-385-53785-9)

In his international blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, Brown returns to his element and has crafted his highest-stakes novel to date.

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

Little Green by Walter Mosley

2013-05-14T00:30:00-05:00

Little Green An Easy Rawlins Mystery
Written by Walter Mosley

Hardcover, 304 pages | Doubleday | Fiction - Mystery & Detective; Fiction - Mystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled; Fiction - African American - Mystery & Detective | $25.95 | 978-0-385-53598-4 (0-385-53598-8)

When Walter Mosley burst onto the literary scene in 1990 with his first Easy Rawlins mystery, Devil in a Blue Dress—a combustible mixture of Raymond Chandler and Richard Wright—he captured the attention of hundreds of thousands of readers (including future president Bill Clinton). Eleven books later, Easy Rawlins is one of the few private eyes in contemporary crime fiction who can be called iconic and immortal. In the incendiary and fast-paced Little Green, he returns from the brink of death to investigate the dark side of L.A.’s 1960s hippie haven, the Sunset Strip.

We last saw Easy in 2007’s Blonde Faith, fighting for his life after his car plunges over a cliff. True to form, the tough WWII veteran survives, and soon his murderous sidekick Mouse has him back cruising the mean streets of L.A., in all their psychedelic 1967 glory, to look for a young black man, Evander “Little Green” Noon, who disappeared during an acid trip. Fueled by an elixir called Gator’s Blood, brewed by the conjure woman Mama Jo, Easy experiences a physical, spiritual, and emotional resurrection, but peace and love soon give way to murder and mayhem. Written with Mosley’s signature grit and panache, this engrossing and atmospheric mystery is not only a trip back in time, it is also a tough-minded exploration of good and evil, and of the power of guilt and redemption. Once again, Easy asserts his reign over the City of (Fallen) Angels.

No Child of Mine by Susan Lewis

2013-05-14T00:30:00-05:00

No Child of Mine A Novel
Written by Susan Lewis

Trade Paperback, 560 pages | Ballantine Books | Fiction - Contemporary Women; Fiction - Psychological; Fiction - Family Saga | $15.00 | 978-0-345-54775-0 (0-345-54775-6)

From internationally bestselling British author Susan Lewis comes an unflinching, thoroughly suspenseful novel—perfect for readers of Jodi Picoult—about the darkest secrets a family can hide.

Alex Lake’s life is centered on helping people. Her job as a social worker in a British seaside town is more than a career: It’s the very essence of who she is. And though there are frustrations, Alex takes to heart the rewards of placing a child in a safe and loving home. But when she encounters three-year-old Ottilie Wade, Alex is completely unprepared for the effect the sweet, shy little girl has on her. Though on the surface Ottilie seems to want for nothing—she’s perfectly healthy and lives in a very nice home—she’s mysteriously silent and asocial. Alex knows that something is not right in the Wade house. And the deeper she looks into the case, the more Alex comes to feel that she and Ottilie are being drawn together by fate.

As disturbing evidence mounts and Alex’s superiors seem unwilling to help, Alex knows she will have to risk everything—her job and the life she loves—to save Ottilie. But Alex will also have to wrestle the demons of her own past before she can secure a future for this child in need.

Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more.

The Year of Luminous Love by Lurlene McDaniel

2013-05-14T00:30:00-05:00

The Year of Luminous Love
Written by Lurlene McDaniel

Hardcover, 384 pages | Delacorte Books for Young Readers | Juvenile Fiction - Family; Juvenile Fiction - Love & Romance; Juvenile Fiction - Social Situations - Friendship | $16.99 | 978-0-385-74171-2 (0-385-74171-5)

In the vein of Eat, Pray, Love, but for teens, this inspirational novel is set against the backdrop of Tennessee horse country as well as the historic cities of Italy and the Italian countryside. The story unfolds as three teenage girls, recently graduated from high school, plan the next phase of their lives while dealing with immediate life issues. McDaniel subtly explores the many types of love the girls experience--including love for one's family, one's friends, and intimate love--and the sacrifices they choose to make (or not) for each of them.

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

2013-05-07T00:30:00-05:00

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena A Novel
Written by Anthony Marra

Hardcover, 400 pages | Hogarth | Fiction - Literary; Fiction - Family Saga; Fiction - War | $26.00 | 978-0-7704-3640-7 (0-7704-3640-4)

A resilient doctor risks everything to save the life of a hunted child, in this majestic debut about love, loss, and the unexpected ties that bind us together.

In his brilliant, haunting novel, Stegner Fellow and Whiting Award winner Anthony Marra transports us to a snow-covered village in Chechnya, where eight-year-old Havaa watches from the woods as Russian soldiers abduct her father in the middle of the night, accusing him of aiding Chechen rebels. Across the road their lifelong neighbor and family friend Akhmed has also been watching, fearing the worst when the soldiers set fire to Havaa’s house. But when he finds her hiding in the forest with a strange blue suitcase, he makes a decision that will forever change their lives. He will seek refuge at the abandoned hospital where the sole remaining doctor, Sonja Rabina, treats the wounded.
For the talented, tough-minded Sonja, the arrival of Akhmed and Havaa is an unwelcome surprise. Weary and overburdened, she has no desire to take on additional risk and responsibility. And she has a deeply personal reason for caution: harboring these refugees could easily jeopardize the return of her missing sister. But over the course of five extraordinary days, Sonja’s world will shift on its axis and reveal the intricate pattern of connections that weave together the pasts of these three unlikely companions and unexpectedly decides their fate. A story of the transcendent power of love in wartime, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is a work of sweeping breadth, profound compassion, and lasting significance.

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

2013-05-07T00:30:00-05:00

The Dog Stars
Written by Peter Heller

Trade Paperback, 336 pages | Vintage | Fiction - Literary; Fiction - Adventure | $15.00 | 978-0-307-95047-5 (0-307-95047-6)

A San Francisco Chronicle and Atlantic Monthly Best Book of the Year

Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. Now his wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley.

But when a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail, only to find something that is both better and worse than anything he could ever hope for.

A Dual Inheritance by Joanna Hershon

2013-05-07T00:30:00-05:00

A Dual Inheritance A Novel
Written by Joanna Hershon

Hardcover, 496 pages | Ballantine Books | Fiction - Literary; Fiction - Psychological; Fiction - Family Saga | $26.00 | 978-0-345-46847-5 (0-345-46847-3)

For readers of Rules of Civility and The Marriage Plot, Joanna Hershon’s A Dual Inheritance is an engrossing novel of passion, friendship, betrayal, and class—and their reverberations across generations.

Autumn 1962: Ed Cantowitz and Hugh Shipley meet in their final year at Harvard. Ed is far removed from Hugh’s privileged upbringing as a Boston Brahmin, yet his drive and ambition outpace Hugh’s ambivalence about his own life. These two young men form an unlikely friendship, bolstered by a fierce shared desire to transcend their circumstances. But in just a few short years, not only do their paths diverge—one rising on Wall Street, the other becoming a kind of global humanitarian—but their friendship ends abruptly, with only one of them understanding why.

Can a friendship define your view of the world? Spanning from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the present-day stock market collapse, with locations as diverse as Dar es Salaam, Boston, Shenzhen, and Fishers Island, A Dual Inheritance asks this question, as it follows not only these two men, but the complicated women in their vastly different lives. And as Ed and Hugh grow farther and farther apart, they remain uniquely—even surprisingly—connected.

Advance praise for A Dual Inheritance

“Sharply observed and masterfully constructed, Hershon’s fourth novel is her strongest yet, a deft and assured examination of ambition, envy, longing, and kinship.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Hershon deftly explores how individuals often sabotage their chances for happiness. . . . The characters in this novel are fully realized, the story moves along at a fast pace, and the author is well informed about her subject. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“[A] searing novel about class, ethnicity, and love . . . The intensely detailed love triangle is reminiscent of an East Coast elite answer to the Midwestern trio of Freedom, but with mere keen observation in place of that other novel’s sweeping moral pronouncements. Hershon explores the ways we can, and can’t, escape our backgrounds.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A Dual Inheritance is a big, captivating, multigenerational sweep of a romance, ranging from Africa to China to New England’s blue-blooded enclaves. With deftness and swagger, Joanna Hershon spins the intertwining of two Harvard men’s lives into a searching exploration of class and destiny in late-twentieth-century America.”—Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad

“Joanna Hershon has written a vivid, elegant novel that deftly roams the decades and the globe in telling a story about friendship, family, and the murky area in between. A Dual Inheritance is a rich and satisfying read.”—Maggie Shipstead, author of Seating Arrangements

“Simultaneously a riveting story of two very different families and a portrait of the United States through the boom and bust decades . . . Think of Anne Tyler and Tom Wolfe, both. This marvelous novel is a mix of heartache and history. I just couldn’t stop reading, and when it was over I felt sad the experience had ended.”—Victor LaValle, author of The Devil in Silver

Montaro Caine by Sidney Poitier

2013-05-07T00:30:00-05:00

Montaro Caine A Novel
Written by Sidney Poitier

Hardcover, 320 pages | Spiegel & Grau | Fiction - Literary; Fiction - Suspense; Fiction - Visionary & Metaphysical | $26.00 | 978-0-385-53111-5 (0-385-53111-7)

A baby is born with a coin in her hand. An orphan crafts a mysterious wooden object. The CEO of a large corporation finds himself under extraordinary pressure at work and at home. And on a remote hilltop on a Caribbean island, a medicine man seems to understand the meaning of all these events and to hold the key to the future.

Montaro Caine, CEO of the Fitzer Corporation, is losing control of the company he built just as his teenage daughter is experiencing her own difficulties. At this moment of crisis, a man and woman appear at his office with a coin of unknown provenance, composed of a metal unknown on Earth. Montaro immediately recognizes it as the companion of a coin he analyzed as a graduate student working in a lab at MIT, which was later returned to its unidentified owner. The coin’s appearance draws the attention of scientists, collectors, financiers, and thieves, all of whom vie to get their hands on it, and Montaro himself hopes that the discovery of the coin will save his company. But the value of the coin lies not in its monetary worth but in its hold on the people who come into contact with it. These include the young woman who is not aware of the object that was found in her hand at birth; an old man who, as a boy, crafted a wooden compact as a gift for a young Montaro Caine; and the elusive healer Matthew Perch, who, from his hut on a small Caribbean island, knows precisely why these people have been brought together and what wisdom the coin imparts.

In his first novel, the beloved actor and director Sidney Poitier takes us on a wild and unexpected adventure—from New York to Europe to the Caribbean and beyond. The novel offers Poitier’s heartfelt message about the potential each of us has within ourselves, and about being open to the possibility that there are mysteries in the universe, and here on Earth, far greater than we can imagine. An enthralling journey into the magic of existence, Montaro Caine is a radiant debut from an American legend.

Praise for Montaro Caine

“Some might feel it’s quintessentially Poitier. Elegant, if a book can be elegant, with a bit of mystery and Caribbean flavor thrown in for good measure. Like his famed movie roles in Lilies of the Field and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, he once again offers up a moving performance.”—USA Today

“An intricate, electrifying journey. Academy Award winner Poitier creates multifaceted characters, with Montaro in particular exhibiting a rare realism; Montaro’s encounters with others are at once honest, intense, and mesmerizing. While the narrative has an urgency that will keep readers anticipating, it is also poetic. . . . Part mystery, part science fiction, this book excites like Agatha Christie’s Murder of Roger Ackroyd and will appeal especially to lovers of suspense.”—Library Journal

“[A] captivating blend of corporate intrigue and science fiction . . . a thought-provoking tale of caution and hope that is as elegant and riveting as the legendary actor and director himself.”—Booklist

“Surprisingly intricate . . . sure to please his many fans.”—Publishers Weekly

“Elegantly written and keenly observed . . . a Little Prince for grown-ups.”—Kirkus Reviews

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead

2013-05-07T00:30:00-05:00

Seating Arrangements
Written by Maggie Shipstead

Trade Paperback, 320 pages | Vintage | Fiction - Contemporary Women; Fiction - Family Life | $15.00 | 978-0-307-74395-4 (0-307-74395-0)

A San Francisco Chronicle and Daily Candy Best Book of the Year
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction
Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize

The Van Meters have gathered at their family retreat on the island of Waskeke to celebrate the marriage of daughter Daphne to the impeccably appropriate Greyson Duff. The weekend is full of champagne, salt air and practiced bonhomie, but long-buried discontent and simmering lust stir beneath the surface.

Winn Van Meter, father of the bride, is not having a good time. Barred from the exclusive social club he’s been eyeing since birth, he’s also tormented by an inappropriate crush on Daphne’s beguiling bridesmaid, Agatha, and the fear that his daughter, Livia—recently heartbroken by the son of his greatest rival—is a too-ready target for the wiles of Greyson’s best man. When old resentments, a beached whale and an escaped lobster are added to the mix, the wedding that should have gone off with military precision threatens to become a spectacle of misbehavior.

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

2013-04-30T00:30:00-05:00

Someday, Someday, Maybe A Novel
Written by Lauren Graham

Hardcover, 352 pages | Ballantine Books | Fiction - Contemporary Women; Fiction - Romance; Fiction - Humorous | $26.00 | 978-0-345-53274-9 (0-345-53274-0)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From Lauren Graham, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, comes a witty, charming, and hilariously relatable debut novel about a struggling young actress trying to get ahead―and keep it together―in New York City.

It’s January 1995, and Franny Banks has just six months left of the three-year deadline she set for herself when she came to New York, dreaming of Broadway and doing “important” work. But all she has to show for her efforts so far is a part in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters, and a gig waiting tables at a comedy club. Her roommates―her best friend Jane, and Dan, an aspiring sci-fi writer―are supportive, yet Franny knows a two-person fan club doesn’t exactly count as success. Everyone tells her she needs a backup plan, and though she can almost picture moving back home and settling down with her perfectly nice ex-boyfriend, she’s not ready to give up on her goal of having a career like her idols Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep. Not just yet. But while she dreams of filling their shoes, in the meantime, she’d happily settle for a speaking part in almost anything—and finding a hair product combination that works.

Everything is riding on the upcoming showcase for her acting class, where she’ll finally have a chance to perform for people who could actually hire her. And she can’t let herself be distracted by James Franklin, a notorious flirt and the most successful actor in her class, even though he’s suddenly started paying attention. Meanwhile, her bank account is rapidly dwindling, her father wants her to come home, and her agent doesn’t return her calls. But for some reason, she keeps believing that she just might get what she came for.

Someday, Someday, Maybe is a story about hopes and dreams, being young in a city, and wanting something deeply, madly, desperately. It’s about finding love, finding yourself, and perhaps most difficult of all in New York City, finding an acting job.

Praise for Someday, Someday, Maybe

“A winning, entertaining read . . . [Lauren Graham] has smartly mined just the right details from her own experience, infusing her work with crackling dialogue and observations about show business that ring funny and true. . . . Just like the screenwriters of the best romantic comedies, she has taken elements of the familiar and spun them into a novel that’s heartfelt, hilarious and, hopefully, just the first example of what she can do with the written word.”—The Washington Post

“Warm and funny, charming and smart.”—Diane Keaton, New York Times bestselling author of Then Again

“Graham deftly captures what it’s like to be young, ambitious, and hopeful in New York City.”—Candace Bushnell, New York Times bestselling author of Sex and the City and The Carrie Diaries

“A thoroughly charming story.”—Entertainment Weekly

“With insight, care, and an abundance of humor, [Graham] demonstrates that her acting chops are not her only talent.”—Library Journal

“Fresh and funny and full of zingers, Lauren Graham’s charming writing style instantly drew me in, but it was her relatable characters (complete with doodled date-book entries!), irresistible romantic twists, and delicious plot that kept me turning the pages until well past my bedtime.”—Meg Cabot, bestselling author of the Princess Diaries and Heather Wells Mystery series

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

2013-04-30T00:30:00-05:00

The Woman Upstairs
Written by Claire Messud

Hardcover, 272 pages | Knopf | Fiction - Literary; Fiction - Contemporary Women; Fiction - Urban Life | $25.95 | 978-0-307-59690-1 (0-307-59690-7)

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Emperor’s Children, a masterly new novel: the riveting confession of a woman awakened, transformed and betrayed by a desire for a world beyond her own.

Nora Eldridge, an elementary school teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts, long ago compromised her dream to be a successful artist, mother and lover. She has instead become the “woman upstairs,” a reliable friend and neighbor always on the fringe of others’ achievements. Then into her life arrives the glamorous and cosmopolitan Shahids—her new student Reza Shahid, a child who enchants as if from a fairy tale, and his parents: Skandar, a dashing Lebanese professor who has come to Boston for a fellowship at Harvard, and Sirena, an effortlessly alluring Italian artist.

When Reza is attacked by schoolyard bullies, Nora is drawn deep into the complex world of the Shahid family; she finds herself falling in love with them, separately and together. Nora’s happiness explodes her boundaries, and she discovers in herself an unprecedented ferocity—one that puts her beliefs and her sense of self at stake.

Told with urgency, intimacy and piercing emotion, this brilliant novel of passion and artistic fulfillment explores the intensity, thrill—and the devastating cost—of embracing an authentic life.

Random House New Releases - Fiction

The Lovebird by Natalie Brown

The Lovebird Written by Natalie Brown

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen

Bad Monkey Written by Carl Hiaasen

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Crazy Rich Asians Written by Kevin Kwan

The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan

The Engagements Written by J. Courtney Sullivan

One Thousand and One Nights by Mary Gaitskill

One Thousand and One Nights A RetellingTranslated by Hanan al-Shaykh Foreword by Mary Gaitskill

Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith

Trains and Lovers A NovelWritten by Alexander McCall Smith

A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers

A Hologram for the King A NovelWritten by Dave Eggers

A Chain of Thunder by Jeff Shaara

A Chain of Thunder A Novel of the Siege of VicksburgWritten by Jeff Shaara

The Redeemer by Don Bartlett

The Redeemer Written by Jo Nesbo Translated by Don Bartlett

Inferno by Dan Brown

Inferno A NovelWritten by Dan Brown

Little Green by Walter Mosley

Little Green An Easy Rawlins MysteryWritten by Walter Mosley

No Child of Mine by Susan Lewis

No Child of Mine A NovelWritten by Susan Lewis

The Year of Luminous Love by Lurlene McDaniel

The Year of Luminous Love Written by Lurlene McDaniel

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena A NovelWritten by Anthony Marra

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

The Dog Stars Written by Peter Heller

A Dual Inheritance by Joanna Hershon

A Dual Inheritance A NovelWritten by Joanna Hershon

Montaro Caine by Sidney Poitier

Montaro Caine A NovelWritten by Sidney Poitier

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead

Seating Arrangements Written by Maggie Shipstead

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

Someday, Someday, Maybe A NovelWritten by Lauren Graham

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

The Woman Upstairs Written by Claire Messud

The Lovebird
Written by Natalie Brown

Bad Monkey
Written by Carl Hiaasen

Crazy Rich Asians
Written by Kevin Kwan

The Engagements
Written by J. Courtney Sullivan

One Thousand and One Nights A Retelling
Translated by Hanan al-Shaykh
Foreword by Mary Gaitskill

Trains and Lovers A Novel
Written by Alexander McCall Smith

A Hologram for the King A Novel
Written by Dave Eggers

A Chain of Thunder A Novel of the Siege of Vicksburg
Written by Jeff Shaara

The Redeemer
Written by Jo Nesbo
Translated by Don Bartlett

Inferno A Novel
Written by Dan Brown

Little Green An Easy Rawlins Mystery
Written by Walter Mosley

No Child of Mine A Novel
Written by Susan Lewis

The Year of Luminous Love
Written by Lurlene McDaniel

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena A Novel
Written by Anthony Marra

The Dog Stars
Written by Peter Heller

A Dual Inheritance A Novel
Written by Joanna Hershon

Montaro Caine A Novel
Written by Sidney Poitier

Seating Arrangements
Written by Maggie Shipstead

Someday, Someday, Maybe A Novel
Written by Lauren Graham

The Woman Upstairs
Written by Claire Messud