Our picks this week include a Girlchild and That Woman, Darlings and Disenchantments, Beautiful Souls and bunny detectives, Dark and Darker, the Emergency State and The Last Great Senate, Friends and Family, and more. We’re all mightily impressed with Tupelo Hassman’s debut, a weird outsider’s journey into Girl Scouting (which by chance coincides with the release of Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts, out from Viking on the 15th); Eyal Press’s reporting on the banality of good (see our Q&A); Elizabeth Hand’s masterful sequel to the much-lauded Generation Loss; and the debut of Christina Alger, who may just have a runaway bestseller on her hands: a Devil Wears Prada for our Too Big to Fail times. And speaking of bestsellers: two big releases that didn’t quite make the list are the new James Patterson collaboration (forgive us for being less than thrilled) and the Anne Rice werewolf novel, which one editor points out has been met with seeming indifference; with a PW review of The Wolf Gift coming up later this month, the Tip Sheet is taking a wait-and-see approach.
Adults
February 13
The End of Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers—and the Coming of Cashless Societyby David Wolman (Da Capo, $25; ISBN 978-0-306-81883-7).
Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $23; ISBN 978-0-374-16257-3).
Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times by Eyal Press (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $25; ISBN 978-0-374-14342-8).
To Free a Family: The Journey of Mary Walker by Sydney Nathans (Harvard Univ., $29.95; ISBN 978-0-674-06212-2).
Friends Like Us by Lauren Fox (Knopf, $23.95; ISBN 978-0-307-26811-1).
Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand (Minotaur, $23.99; ISBN 978-0-312-58594-5).
The Last Great Senate: Courage and Statesmanship in Times of Crisis by Ira Shapiro (PublicAffairs, $24.99; ISBN 978-1-58648-936-6).
February 14
I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella (Dial, $26; ISBN 978-0385342063). Review forthcoming.
A Darker Shade of Blue: Stories by John Harvey (Pegasus Crime, Norton dist., $25; ISBN 978-1-60598-284-7).
That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Anne Sebba (St. Martin's, $27.99; ISBN 978-1-250-00296-9).
February 15
The Emergency State: America's Pursuit of Absolute Security at All Costs by David C. Unger (Penguin Press, $27.95; ISBN 978-1-59420-324-4).
The Darlings by Cristina Alger (Viking/Pam Dorman, $26.95; ISBN 978-0-670-02327-1).
Children’s YA
February 14
Mr. and Mrs. Bunny: Detectives Extraordinare!by Polly Horvath, illus. by Sophie Blackall (Random/Schwartz & Wade, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-375-86755-2).
February 16
The Disenchantmentsby Nina LaCour (Dutton, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-525-42219-8).
