Instantly sold in nine foreign countries at the 2001 London Book Fair (and now published in 18 countries worldwide), Mary Lawson's debut novel, Crow Lake, received glowing reviews when published last year by Dial. It was a Book Sense 76 pick and a New York Times Notable Book, and went through three printings. Then came the book's selection—by Mary Higgins Clark—as Today's eighth Book Club pick, and voilà! The just-published Delta trade paperback now has nearly 100,000 copies in print after two trips to press. And it's still, er, crowing strong: on January 28 Lawson, who lives in England, made her second Today appearance.

With reporting by Dick Donahue