Spring 2009 Hardcovers: Fiction/First Novels & Collections

ALGONQUIN BOOKS

A Reliable Wife (Mar., $24.95) by Robert Goolrick. Trouble ensues when a deceptive woman answers a businessman's ad for a spouse. 40,000 first printing.

ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS

Ultimatum (Apr., $24) by Matthew Glass. This political thriller, set in 2032, focuses on the issue of climate change.

BLOOMSBURY PRESS

Valeria's Last Stand (May, $25) by Marc Fitten celebrates late-flowering love in a Hungarian village.

CANONGATE U.S.

The Earth Hums in B Flat (June, $24) by Mari Strachan centers on a 12-year-old who unravels family secrets in her small Welsh village.

DELACORTE

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Apr., $23) by Alan Bradley introduces a new kind of detective: a pigtailed preteen with a passion for poisons. 75,000 first printing.

Fragment (June, $25) by Warren Fahy imagines a reality TV crew filming on an unexplored island teeming with terrifying creatures. 75,000 first printing.

ECCO

You or Someone Like You (June, $25.95) by Chandler Burr describes an unraveling marriage. 60,000 first printing.

FABER AND FABER

An Elegy for Easterly (June, $22) by Petina Gappah. This story collection captures the confusion of everyday life in Zimbabwe.

FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX

All the Living (Apr., $23) by C.E. Morgan observes a young woman traveling with her lover to an isolated Kentucky tobacco farm.

Come Sunday (June, $25) by Isla Morley. A South African woman living in Hawaii grapples with her past and the death of her three-year-old daughter. 75,000 first printing.

GRAND CENTRAL

April & Oliver (June, $23.99) by Tess Callahan considers two platonic friends who share sexual chemistry. 75,000 first printing.

GROVE PRESS

(dist. by PGW)

A Girl Made of Dust (July, $24) by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi views the 1980s Israeli invasion of Lebanon through the eyes of an eight-year-old girl.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT

Vanessa and Virginia (May, $23) by Susan Sellers imagines the complex relationship between Virginia Woolf and her sister, painter Vanessa Bell.

KNOPF

Swimming (July, $24.95) by Nicola Keegan. Escaping childhood tragedies through her swimming competitions, Pip eventually scores Olympic gold. 100,000 first printing.

The Invisible Mountain (Aug., $24.95) by Carolina De Robertis captures three generations of Uruguayan women as unrest sweeps their nation. 150,000 first printing. 9-city author tour.

NORTHWESTERN UNIV. PRESS

Where I Must Go (June, $24.95) by Angela Jackson follows Magdalena Grace as she negotiates the promise and peril of the civil rights era.

OCEANVIEW PUBLISHING

(dist. by Midpoint Trade)

Spirit Horses (Apr., $25.95) by Alan S. Evans. When a mysterious mustang appears at his farm, a Tennessee horse trainer discovers unexpected promise.

OTHER PRESS

The Unit (June, $23.95) by Ninni Holmqvist, trans. by Marlaine Delargy, asks: are all people of equal worth?

OVERLOOK PRESS

All in the Mind (June, $25.95) by Alistair Campbell. A psychiatrist finds that he has troubles of his own.

PANTHEON

Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire (June, $24) by Margot Berwin. A recently divorced advertising executive becomes obsessed with plants. 100,000 first printing. 8-city author tour.

PENGUIN PRESS

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet (May, $25.95) by Reif Larsen follows the eponymous master mapmaker, age 12, on a cross-country adventure.

RIVERHEAD

The Wish Maker (June, $25.95) by Ali Sethi. In Pakistan, a fatherless boy is being raised by a family of outspoken women.

SEVEN STORIES PRESS

(dist. by Consortium)

The Others (Apr., $24.95) by Siba al-Harez reveals the inner world of an all-girl school in a Shi'ite province of Saudi Arabia.

SOHO PRESS

(dist. by Consortium)

Exiles (Aug., $24) by Elliot Krieger. During the Vietnam War, an American student finds himself at the center of an international web of danger and deception. 35,000 first printing.

ST. MARTIN'S/MINOTAUR

The Cutting (June, $24.95) by James Hayman. A New York City cop moves to Maine, only to confront the most brutal killer of his career.

UNBRIDLED BOOKS

Shimmer (July, $25.95) by Eric Barnes. This thriller spotlights a worldwide corporate Ponzi scheme.

UNIV. OF NEW MEXICO PRESS

A Sandhills Ballad (Apr., $26.95) by Ladette Randolph. A Nebraska ranch woman forges a new life after tragedy strikes.

UNIV. OF WISCONSIN/TERRACE BOOKS

In Love with Jerzy Kosinski (Mar., $24.95) by Agate Nesaule follows a Latvian refugee who, after fleeing Russian confinement to Wisconsin, still feels restricted.