News in December 2020

News in December 2020

11th December, 2020

The first trade review for Jakob Guanzon’s ABUNDANCE, from Kirkus, calls the book an “impressive debut” and a “compelling picture of poverty, desperation, and pain.” Meanwhile, Soft Punk praises Guanzon’s prose as “surprising and dreamy, stuffed with longing and tenderness,” and the book’s “lyrical and respectful handling” of a story about a Filipino-American single father and son on the margins as “urgent and necessary.” Graywolf Press will publish the book on March 2, 2021.

11th December, 2020

Angie Thomas’s CONCRETE ROSE has its first starred review from Kirkus. They write: “A literary DeLorean transports readers into the past, where they hope, dream, and struggle alongside beloved characters from Thomas’ THE HATE U GIVE… A resounding success.” It has also been named one of Forbes’ “10 Most Anticipated Books of 2021.” Balzer + Bray will publish the book on January 12, 2021.

11th December, 2020

Daniel Hornsby’s VIA NEGATIVA continues to pull in glowing praise. Chapter 16 calls the book “a remarkable performance in narrative voice, a convincing rendition of late-life wisdom captured in evocative sentences,” while Englewood Review applauds it as simultaneously “humorously quirky” and “hauntingly spiritual.” A Buzzfeed list of “46 Books Our Indie Booksellers Were Grateful For This Year” names VIA NEGATIVA “a hidden gem,” and Hornsby “a writer to pay attention to.” Knopf published the book on August 11, 2020.

11th December, 2020

Harvard Review favorably compared Maxim Loskutoff’s debut novel RUTHIE FEAR about “the hardscrabble way of life common to the often-overlooked rural communities of the American West” to his debut collection of short stories, COME WEST AND SEE, commending how he “neither divides his characters into villains and victims nor presents them as objects of condescension or condemnation. His focus is rather on the ways in which conditions that produce despair create and maintain the kind of collective psychic inflammation that can incite the impulse to violence—even rampage—in any of us.” W.W. Norton & Company published the novel on September 1, 2020.

11th December, 2020

Michael Zapata’s debut novel, THE LOST BOOK OF ADANA MOREAU, won the Chicago Review of Books’ 2020 CHIRBy Award for Fiction. He accepted the honor at a virtual ceremony with these words: "In spite of disaster, in spite of the predatory elite, we are here, we are making work and it forms some of the most beautiful communities I've ever participated in.” The book was also named one of NPR's “Best Books of 2020.” Hanover Square Press published the novel on February 4, 2020.

11th December, 2020

THE IMMORTALITY KEY by Brian Muraresku is an Audible Best of the Year in the History category. St. Martin’s Press published the book on September 29, 2020.

11th December, 2020

PHALLACY by Emily Willingham is on Wired’s list of “8 Science Books to Read (Or Gift) This Winter” with hearty praise from Adam Rogers, who praises the book as being “entertainingly, smartly, and expertly” written. Avery published the book on September 22, 2020.

11th December, 2020

GOLDEN GATES by Conor Dougherty is one of Fortune’s “10 best business books of 2020,” who praise the book as “sweeping in scope and intimate in detail” with “propulsive storytelling and ground-level reporting.” GOLDEN GATES also appeared on Apartment Therapy’s “Best books of 2020” list. Penguin Press published the book on February 18, 2020.

11th December, 2020

PERFECT TUNES by Emily Gould is one of Apartment Therapy’s “Must-Read Books of 2020.” They write: “At the heart of PERFECT TUNES is a story about growing up, what ambition means and how it changes, the complexities of motherhood, and the things you inevitably sacrifice so the one person you love doesn’t have to make the same mistakes you did, or so you hope.” Avid Reader Press published the book on April 14, 2020.

11th December, 2020

Connor Towne O’Neill’s DOWN ALONG WITH THAT DEVIL’s BONES was named one of Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “10 best Southern books of 2020.” Algonquin Books published the book on September 29, 2020.

11th December, 2020

Alex McElroy’s THE ATMOSPHERIANS has received two fantastic new blurbs in advance of its May publication. HOUSE OF STONE author Novuyo Rosa Tshuma raves: “What wicked, utterly sublime, laugh-out-loud satire. With deft, shimmering prose, boundless in its capacity for capturing our most visceral desires, McElroy deciphers our age of wokeness and all its seductive kinks.” Meanwhile, YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN author Mary South calls the book “the novel of our age,” deeming its voice one “to get very excited about: darkly perceptive, stylistically bold, and terrifically, inimitably entertaining.” Atria will publish the novel on May 18, 2021.

11th December, 2020

Carole Johnstone’s debut novel, MIRRORLAND, has received a glowing endorsement from bestselling author Stephen King. King raves: "I loved MIRRORLAND…It’s dark and devious, a neo-gothic featuring twin sisters and a deeply frightening old dark house. Beautifully written and plotted with a watchmaker’s precision.” Scribner will publish the book on April 20, 2021.