On Sale Next Week: Jane Smiley's Ten Days in the Hills

by Charlotte Abbott, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 2/7/2007

The inimitable Jane Smiley is one of the few literary authors contending for a bestseller slot this winter—and the plot of her new Hollywood novel is sexier than Norman Mailer's.

February 13

Sisters by Danielle Steel (Delacorte, $27) finds four stunningly beautiful sisters facing down tragedy by moving into a Manhattan brownstone together. 800,000 copies.

Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley (Knopf, $26) is a "delightful, subtly observant sendup of Tinseltown folly," in which the bestselling author treats her characters' "perpetual quest to capture reality through artifice with warmth and seriousness," said PW in a starred review. 150,000 copies

The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian (Crown/Shaye Areheart, $25) interweaves the story of a woman's recovery from a brutal assault with details from The Great Gatsby, leading to a climactic explanation that "generally pulls off a tricky and intriguing premise," according to PW. 100,000 copies.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $22) goes beyond even the best journalistic efforts in revealing the life and mind of a 12-year-old boy forced into the horrors of Sierra Leone's civil war. 75,000 copies.

Past Perfect by Susan Isaacs (Scribner, $25), featuring a CIA agent turned bestselling author, is more about dragnets than flying sparks, but fans of Isaacs's previous 10 novels "won't mind a bit, given the amount of outside-the-bedroom adventure," said PW. 75,000 copies.

Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan (Random, $27.95), author of the acclaimed Paris 1919, turns the story of Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to Beijing to open relations with Communist China into "a fascinating study in high-wire diplomacy," according to PW.

For a complete listing of major titles on sale between now and April, 2007, go to PW's exclusive online calendar.

To contact PW about any corrections or additions to the calendar, e-mail onsale@reedbusiness.com.