Hot off the press and in your hands
“The Bride Test” and other new books.
1. “The Bride Test”
by Helen Hoang (Berkley, fiction, on sale now)
What it’s about: A young Vietnamese woman travels to the U.S. in search of a better life and is matched with an autistic Vietnamese-American man. Things don’t go as planned, but together they both learn a lesson in love. The buzz: In a starred review, Publishers Weekly says the book “will find a special place in the hearts of autistic people and those who love them.”
2. “Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself”
by Jill Biden (Flatiron, nonfiction, on sale now)
What it’s about: The lifelong educator shares stories of her life with husband Joe Biden in this often-poignant memoir that charts her journey from a rebellious teen to young divorcee to the second lady of the United States.
The buzz: “This generous and inspiring portrait of the Biden family is sure to be widely welcomed and enjoyed,” Publishers Weekly says.
3. “Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis”
by Jared Diamond (Little, Brown and Company, nonfiction, on sale now)
What it’s about: The Pulitzer Prize-winning UCLA geography professor and author of best-seller “Guns, Germs, and Steel” takes a critical look at how societies respond to crises and why some nations recover from trauma while others don’t.
The buzz: The Guardian says, “Only the most obtuse reader of his latest book, on national resilience, could miss the signs and portents with which it is studded.”
4. “The Farm”
by Joanne Ramos (Random House, fiction, on sale now)
What it’s about: At a secret facility, women in need of money carry the children of the world’s elite, ultra-wealthy women. All the surrogates’ needs are met, with dietitians and organic meals, personal trainers and massages. But at what personal cost? And how far will one desperate woman go to reconnect with her life outside the Farm?
The buzz: “Excellent,” according to a starred review on Kirkus Reviews, “both as a reproductive dystopian narrative and as a social novel about women and class.”
5. “Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee”
by Casey Cep (Knopf, non-fiction, on sale now)
What it’s about: After helping her friend Truman Capote write the classic “In Cold Blood,” famed “To Kill a Mockingbird” writer Harper Lee spent years researching and working on her own would-be true-crime story about the Rev. Willie Maxwell, a rural preacher accused of murdering five family members for insurance money. Why was it never published? The buzz: Publishers Weekly calls the book “essential reading for anyone interested in Lee and American literary history.”