Spring Trade Paperbacks: Fiction/First Novels & Collections

Academy Chicago

The Long Journey Home (July, $16.95) by Laurel Means. This post–Civil War pioneer adventure is set in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Algonquin Books

Dorothy on the Rocks (July, $13.95) by Barbara Suter. What happens when an alcoholic middle-aged actress takes on the role of Dorothy?

Bantam

Birmingham, 35 Miles (Mar., $12) by James Braziel recounts the struggles of the youngest clay miner in southern Alabama. 25,000 first printing.

Bywater Books

Red Audrey and the Roping (Apr., $14.95) by Jill Malone. Jane Elliot, a 30-something Latin professor in Hawaii, struggles to let love back into her life after her mother’s death.

Canongate U.S.

Apples (June, $15) by Richard Milward. Eve’s adolescent life is so booze- and drug-filled that she barely has time to notice Adam’s attentions—but is he too preoccupied to notice her?

Coach House Books

(dist. by Northwestern Univ. Press)

Stunt (May, $16.95) by Claudia Dey. A synaesthetic girl hunts for her dad through a world of quirky characters.

Coral Press

Getting in Tune (June, $14.95) by Roger L. Trott depicts the travails of a rock ’n’ roll band on the cusp of punk rock in 1976.

Dafina

After the Dance (Apr., $15) by Lori Johnson. A 30-something woman is torn between an old love and a divorced father of three.

Unfaithful (May, $15) by Devon Scott. A married man’s desire for his best friend’s wife unravels his life.

Delta

Banana Heart Summer (May, $12) by Merlinda Bobis portrays a 12-year-old Filipino girl’s attempt to appease her family’s hunger. 40,000 first printing. Ad/promo.

Featherproof Books

(dist. by PGW)

Boring boring boring boring boring boring boring (Aug., $14.95) by Zach Plague posits that romance fails amid bad drugs, bad sex and dysfunctional education.

Grove/Black Cat

Playing (Apr., $13) by Melanie Abrams chronicles a young woman’s unconventional sexual reawakening.

Harper Perennial

The Summer of Naked Swim Parties (June, $13.95) by Jessica Anya Blau traces a girl’s coming-of-age in 1970s Southern California, replete with stoners, surfers and more. 40,000 first printing.

Candy Everybody Wants (July, $13.95) by Josh Kilmer-Purcell follows a young Midwestern man’s search for fame and fortune in New York City and Los Angeles. 75,000 first printing.

Hawthorne Books

(dist. by PGW)

The Well and the Mine (Mar., $15.95) by Gin Phillips. In a 1930s Alabama coal-mining town, a nine-year-old girl witnesses a baby thrown down a well.

Henry Holt

What Was Lost (July, $14) by Catherine O’Flynn. A lost little girl who appears at a shopping center near London evokes memories of junior detective Kate Meaney, missing for 20 years.

Holy Cow! Press

(dist. by Consortium)

Shelter Half (June, $15.95) by Carol Bly exposes corporate-sponsored murder in Minnesota.

Kensington

Peach Blossom Pavilion (June, $14) by Mingmei Yip. A courtesan vows to avenge her father’s execution and her mother’s banishment to a nunnery.

Manic D Press

(dist. by Consortium)

Train Wreck Girl (May, $14.95) by Sean Carswell examines one man’s quest to face the future now that he’s too old to die young. Author tour.

Random House

Love Marriage (Apr., $13.95) by V.V. Ganeshananthan portrays the American-born daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants caught in the tradition of arranged marriage. 6-city author tour.

Unbridled Books

Marriage of True Minds (May, $14.95) by Stephen Evans follows a couple of divorced environmental lawyers who can’t quite separate. Ad/promo.

Waterbrook Press

Ruby Among Us (May, $9.99) by Tina Ann Forkner follows three generations of women in Sonoma Valley.

Wave Books

(dist. by Consortium)

The Most of It (June, $11.95) by Mary Ruefle presents the poet’s first story collection.