June Publications

As Robert J. Conley (Spanish Jack, etc.) points out in an author's note to Sequoyah: A Novel of the Real People, little is known for certain about the great Cherokee leader, who was born late in the 18th century. Most believe he was the first to create a Cherokee alphabet and written language, and it is this feat that Conley (of Cherokee ancestry himself) documents in his sympathetic and convincingly detailed portrait of the enigmatic hero. Conley's prose and dialogue can be a little stiff, but few writers are better equipped to attempt a fictional version of Sequoyah's life. (St. Martin's, $22.95 240p ISBN 0-312-28134-X)

A single, saucy British woman delivers her narcissistic rants in diary form (sound familiar?) in Adèle Lang's Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber. Katya Livingston is a vain, nasty advertising copywriter who lands a gig producing a gossip column for a London tabloid—really just an outlet to crow about her prolific intake of alcohol and the search for "bonkable bachelors." The column leads to a book deal and even a brush with B-movie stardom as Katya rails against vegans, foreigners and the poorly dressed. What this sendup of the tired Bridget genre lacks in originality is made up for in sheer bitchiness. (St. Martin's, $22.95 196p ISBN 0-312-28811-5)

May Publications

Loosely based on the story of her own grandparents, Sheltering Rain is the impressive debut of U.K. author Jojo Moyes. Joy and her husband, Edward, meet during coronation festivities in Hong Kong in 1953. Forty years later, they are living on a ramshackle Irish estate, where Edward's health is rapidly declining. Their spunky granddaughter Sabine arrives and is at first miserable in the grim surroundings. Weeks later, she is followed by her flighty mother, Kate, from whom Joy has been estranged for years. There are plenty of fireworks among the three and the strong supporting cast as old secrets come to the surface in this absorbing family drama. National advertising.(Morrow, $24.95 368p ISBN 0-06-001288-9)

Sarah Pemberton Strong debuts with Burning the Sea, the story of two drifting souls who come together in the Dominican Republic. Michelle, an American and a lifelong wanderer, has just left a lover in Berlin. She arrives on the island and meets Tollomi, a young man from St. Croix whose history is just as fraught as hers, and each tries to fill in the gaps in their respective pasts. Michelle wants to rebuild a ruined house once owned by her grandparents, and Tollomi begins an affair with a local boy named Carlitos as various tensions simmer across the island. Strong's narrative meanders at times, but overall her story is beautiful and affecting. National advertising. (Alyson, $13.95 paper 344p ISBN 1-55583-644-5)

New York Times bestseller James Michael Pratt (Ticket Home) returns with a painfully corny tale about a son in search of a connection to a father he never knew in Paradise Bay. Levi Harper, injured in Vietnam, remained in a coma for 30 years and awoke long enough to launch a successful musical career and revive an affair with the love of his life, Janna. When she fell ill, the stress was too much for Levi and he relapsed. Now his son, Jack Santos, seeks to learn about the man (and himself) through Levi's journals. The unbridled sentimentality, wooden dialogue and hokey plot will be hard for even Pratt's fans to endure. (St. Martin's, $23.95 352p ISBN 0-312-26634-0)

Boot Hill, edited by Robert J. Randisi (The Gunsmith), takes its name from the cemetery in the notorious Kansas town of Dodge City. With the exception of John Jakes's "The Naked Gun," all the stories were written expressly for this anthology. They include James Reasoner's "The Guns of Dusty Logan," about a pair of pearl-handled revolvers that have a lethal influence on all who possess them, and Randy Lee Eikhoff's "Anonymous," in which deadly tensions rise among a group of travelers caught in a snowstorm. Other contributors include Elmer Kelton, Robert Vaughn and Richard Wheeler. (Forge, $24.95 352p ISBN 0-765-30081-8)

Understated integrity and quiet dignity are the hallmarks of Kathryn Larrabee's debut novel, An Everyday Savior. Harley Cookson has been married barely six months to his Russian bride, Sonia, when he must bring his ailing mother to live with them. A chance encounter with an old girlfriend, Lynette, gives him another reason to worry—it seems Lynette's husband has been beating her. Larrabee's sure hand with her material and her feel for the rituals of home life make this a richly textured and rewarding novel. (Four Walls Eight Windows, $24.95 336p ISBN 1-56858-225-0)