Release Week: 3 January 2023
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Release Week: 3 January 2023
Posted on 2023-01-03 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
Getting things started off pretty much as 2022 ended, with a fairly quiet release week.
PICKS:
Local: A Memoir By: Jessica Machado, read by Mapuana Makia for Brilliance -- "A powerful, lush memoir about a Hawaiian woman who ran away from paradise to discover who she is and where she belongs."
Age of Vice: A Novel By: Deepti Kapoor, read by Vidish Athavale for Penguin -- "New Delhi, 3 a.m. A speeding Mercedes jumps the curb and in the blink of an eye, five people are dead. It’s a rich man’s car, but when the dust settles there is no rich man at all, just a shell-shocked servant who cannot explain the strange series of events that led to this crime. Nor can he foresee the dark drama that is about to unfold."
In the Time of Our History By: Susanne Pari, read by Mozhan Marnò for HighBridge -- "Inspired by her own family's experiences following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Susanne Pari explores the entangled lives within an Iranian American family grappling with generational culture clashes, the roles imposed on women, and a tragic accident that forces them to reconcile their guilt or forfeit their already tenuous bonds. Set between San Francisco and New Jersey in the late-1990s, In the Time of Our History is a story about the universal longing to create a home in this world—and what happens when we let go of how we've always been told it should look."
The Villa: A Novel By: Rachel Hawkins, read by Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, and Shiromi Arserio for Macmillan -- "As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend. Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder."
The New Life: A Novel By: Tom Crewe, read by Freddie Fox for Simon and Schuster -- "A brilliant and captivating debut, in the tradition of Alan Hollinghurst and Colm Tóibín, about two marriages, two forbidden love affairs, and the passionate search for social and sexual freedom in late 19th-century London."
The House in the Pines: A Novel by Ana Reyes, read b Marisol Ramirez for Books on Tape -- "Armed with only hazy memories, a woman who long ago witnessed her friend’s sudden, mysterious death, and has since spent her life trying to forget, sets out to track down answers. What she uncovers, deep in the woods, is hardly to be believed."
Without a Trace By: Danielle Steel, read by Nick Mills for Recorded Books -- "Charles Vincent seems to have it all—a beautiful wife, two successful children, and a well-paying career. Yet happiness remains out of reach. He is trapped in a loveless marriage and his job is simply a paycheck. But his life changes forever as he drives along the Normandy coast, heading to their lavish château for the weekend. In one terrifying moment, Charles falls asleep at the wheel and veers off the road, plunging thirty feet down the face of a rocky cliff."
SERIES WATCH:
The Stolen Heir: A Novel of Elfhame By: Holly Black, read by Saskia Maarleveld for Little, Brown Young Readers -- "A runaway queen. A reluctant prince. And a quest that may destroy them both."
Star Wars: The High Republic: The Battle of Jedha By: George Mann, read by Raphael Corkhill, Kristen Sieh, Jonathan Davis, Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes, Philip Hernandez, Catherine Ho, Sullivan Jones, January LaVoy, Saskia Maarleveld, Brandon McInnis, Salli Saffioti, Marc Thompson, Shannon Tyo, and a full cast for Random House -- "After the events of The High Republic: Convergence, the Jedi travel to Jedha in this all-new Star Wars audiobook original."
BACKLIST WATCH:
- Medea: Delphic Women, Book 1 By: Kerry Greenwood (1997), read by Lucy Scott and Simon Mattacks for Isis Publishing -- "Sorceress, Princess of Colchis, Securer of the Golden Fleece. Her very name is a byword for infamy. Legend has it that she murdered her own children for revenge. But love in Ancient Greece was often a dangerous game; and legends are not always what they seem."
MOST MISSING:
Scale: A Novel by Greg Egan -- "When electronics importer Cara Leon goes missing, private investigator Sam Mujrif is hired by her sister to investigate. Cara is eight times taller than Sam, but evidence soon points to players much smaller than either of them. As Sam and his cross-scale colleagues pursue the case, it becomes apparent that Cara’s disappearance is linked to the development of technology with the potential to reshape their whole society, and radically alter the balance of power between the scales."
The Devil's in the Flaws: And Other Dark Truths by David Niall Wilson (Crossroad Press) -- " This new collection of stories from USA Today bestselling, multiple Bram Stoker winning author David Niall Wilson presents twenty-stories and a brand new, unpublished novella. Wilson’s work has been collected several times in digital only formats. This is the first major collection released since his award-nominated Defining Moments, and the subsequent collection Ennui & Other States of Madness. Included are several previously published works chosen by the author, along with seven previously unpublished stories, and the title piece, “The Devil’s in the Flaws,” a previously unpublished novella."
Poor Man's Sky: Rich Man's Sky, Book 2 by Wil McIntosh (Baen) -- "Homicide detective Raimy Vaught is a losing contestant on the biggest reality show ever: the colonization of Mars. Brother Michael is a Benedictine monk who just wants to help the future happen. Andrei Bykhovski is an asteroid miner desperately escaping indentured servitude. Bridget Tobin is a hydroponic farmer studying the greenhouses of Luna. But when a fellow Mars contestant drops dead at a Lunar monastery, these four souls will find themselves on a collision course with forces far beyond the control of trillionaires or nation states. As labor disputes erupt across cislunar space, the actions of individual people will determine whose future will prevail . . . and whose will perish."