"Embattled Belief"

New from Cambridge University Press: Embattled Belief: Religion and the British Army from Korea to Afghanistan by Michael Snape.

About the book, from the publisher:

This book examines the neglected role of religion in the British Army in an era of rapid and far-reaching change. Covering the Cold War, the end of empire, seismic shifts in Britain's cultural and religious landscape, and the dramatic shrinkage of the armed forces, Michael Snape reveals religion's abiding importance at an institutional, individual and operational level. He explores the religious contexts of the Army's warfighting, counterinsurgency and peacekeeping operations, including the Korean, Falklands and Gulf Wars; the 'Emergencies' in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus; the Northern Ireland conflict; UN and NATO operations in the Balkans; and Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11. He also charts the religious responses of British soldiers to allies, adversaries and civilian populations. This is a unique and significant contribution to our understanding of the secularisation of British society, the social and cultural history of the British Army, and religion and war in the contemporary world.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Killing Sadie"

Coming August 4 from Simon Pulse: Killing Sadie by Rachel Peterson.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Perfect for fans of How to Survive Your Murder and Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets, this young adult thriller unspools the truth behind a tragic murder through multiple unreliable narrators who all have secrets to keep.

Here’s what we do know: there was another infamous barn party at the McClain family farm last night, and things went horribly wrong. By the end of the night, there were two dead bodies in the old barn: seventeen-year-old Sadie Cooper and her killer, Mason Vreeland. The murder was heartbreakingly witnessed by Sadie’s twin sister, Jayne, and Sadie died in her arms. Mason was killed by Sadie’s boyfriend, Ben, in an attempt to save Sadie.

Aside from figuring out Mason’s motive, it should be an open and shut case.

But it’s not.

The story unfolds just after the murders, and Jayne, Ben, and Sadie’s best friend, Liz, are telling the cops what transpired at the party and the events leading up to it. But little details don’t match. And those little details start to add up to big discrepancies. But who’s lying, and why?

The shocking truth is revealed in the third act, when the POV shifts to victim Sadie herself, in the days leading up to the party. Witness exactly what happened—and see if you can piece it all together. Because poor Sadie totally missed what was right in front of her.

Visit Rachel Peterson's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Chasing Independence"

New from Princeton University Press: Chasing Independence: Growing Old in the Shadow of an American Ideal by Guillermina Altomonte.

About the book, from the publisher:

How independence works as an unquestioned ideal for aging in America—and why it is never quite realized

In twenty-first-century America, as people live longer than ever before, it’s taken for granted that older adults should be active and self-reliant. News stories describe nonagenarians who run marathons, reality shows feature attractive older women competing for the love of a widowed bachelor, and policymakers encourage aging "in place” rather than in a nursing home. In Chasing Independence, Guillermina Altomonte turns a critical eye on these expectations and asks what happens when independence becomes the yardstick by which we measure the quality of old age. Drawing on ethnographic observations in a skilled nursing facility in New York City, interviews with older adults and healthcare workers, and historical materials, she shows how independence operates as an unquestioned standard for medical assessments, allocation of services, and even as a way to determine an older person’s identity and self-worth.

Despite the elevation of independence as the dominant ideal of aging, Altomonte reports, it is always a moving target, redefined and pushed out of reach by individual, economic, and social constraints. She examines the immense effort that older people, their families, and healthcare workers invest as they chase independence—and what happens when those efforts fall short. Exploring the conundrums and dramas, the meanings and connections that older people experience in the relentless struggle to maintain independence, Altomonte shows that the American obsession with this cultural value often obscures real needs for support and care.

Visit Guillermina Altomonte's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Harbour of Hungry Ghosts"

New from Orbit: Harbour of Hungry Ghosts (Chronicles of the Yiugwai Hunters, 1) by Eliza Chan.

About the novel, from the publisher:

"My name is not Kim, it's Kiamling. It means Sword Spirit. I was forged to cut down the undead. Demons and monsters aren't just in your storybooks, they walk among us."

The Au family serve the people of Hong Kong: blessing shrines, honouring the dead and dealing with dangerous monster incursions. The expectations on eldest daughter Kiamling are high, which is not something her strict grandmother will let her forget.

When the British disrupt the Hungry Ghosts festival and her grandmother is seized by a strange new monster, Kiamling must step up and lead the search. She is aided by unexpected allies: Archie, an earnest civil servant, Hoi gor, childhood sweetheart turned merchant-pirate and Jingling, her younger sister keeping secrets of her own. Kiamling must figure out who is behind the incursion and more importantly, how to defeat them.

With British fables mingling with local Chinese monsters, can Kiamling prove herself, when the old rules no longer seem to apply?

Babel meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer—a family of demon hunters find their hands full when unfamiliar monsters start stalking the streets of Opium War-era Hong Kong, in this historical fantasy adventure from No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller Eliza Chan.

Visit Eliza Chan's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Lady Daredevils"

New from the University of Illinois Press: Lady Daredevils: American Women and Early Aviation by Barbara Ganson.

About the book, from the publisher:

Though often restricted as aviators, women helped build a stable aircraft industry that became the envy of the world. Barbara Ganson delves into the lives of the women whose work as test pilots, flight school owner-operators, airport managers, and in other roles impacted and reflected larger trends in society.

Women aviators challenged social norms that considered them inept with machinery and incapable of handling early flight’s very real dangers. Ganson follows how the New Woman ethos of freedom of movement and career inspired engagement with aviation. Despite resistance, women pushed limits by setting records for speed, altitude, distance, and endurance. The fashions of airwomen, meanwhile, reflected changing attitudes of women toward traditional roles and the pursuit of their career aspirations.

Informed by interviews and rare archival information, Lady Daredevils tells the stories of the pioneering women of early aviation history and reveals their dynamic interactions with social and technological change.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Night of Madness"

Coming September 29 from Simon Pulse: Night of Madness by Ryan Douglass.

About the book, from the publisher:

Teen influencers compete in a horror movie–themed overnight competition, only to realize the real test is staying alive in this chilling, blood-soaked horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston and the production company behind Clown in a Cornfield.

Mara is a horror buff whose only fond memories of her dad are bonding over movies by Jack Stanley—the producer of the eighties. Stanley’s campy slasher movies may have kept Mara’s fraught parental relationship on life support and gained a cult following, but the man himself has faded from the public eye…until he announces a contest centered around Asylum, his most terrifying film. Five teen influencers will be invited to spend the night on the fully constructed set; whoever sticks it out until morning wins a hundred thousand dollars.

Stuck in a dead-end job, Mara seriously needs that cash. She may not be a famous influencer, but there has to be a way to manufacture an online presence that will capture Stanley’s attention. With the help of her brother and best friend, Mara finds some creative solutions to her dilemma and lands herself onto the roster of the lucky chosen few by way of her engaging authenticity.

When Mara and the other contestants arrive on set, it’s a horror fan’s dream being immersed in the asylum setting, but as the night wears on, they realize the danger is more than movie magic… They’re not there to win or lose but to live or die. As Mara fights to survive, she discovers an inner ruthlessness she didn’t know she had. Just how far will she go to see the sunrise—and will she still recognize herself by the end?

Visit Ryan Douglass's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Writerly Hate in Eighteenth-Century Britain"

New from Oxford University Press: Writerly Hate in Eighteenth-Century Britain by Thomas Leonard-Roy.

About the book, from the publisher:

The eighteenth century was the great age of hate-writing and hate-reading. Hatred, contempt, resentment, and disdain were immensely generative feelings for authors in Britain, written into not only malicious satires and belligerent pamphlets but also novels, biographies, letters, journals, and the margins and flyleaves of books. Writerly Hate restores the animosities of major authors from across the century--Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Horace Walpole, and Frances Burney--and shows how hatred and its sister feelings were creative forces in a thriving print market and combative literary culture.

There was no shortage of invective and abuse in eighteenth-century writing. But authors also hated in a rich variety of other styles: half-joking prejudice, withering criticism, confessional self-hate, haughty 'indifference and contempt', resentful doublespeak. Hate could be harsh and jarring, but it could also be subtle, refined, and dazzling. One does not have to look far to find warnings about hate's harmfulness, but the feeling could also be good in the way it staked out moral principles, condemned cruelty and sin, gave pleasure, and entertained loved ones. Hate vitalized eighteenth-century literary culture, and later helped shape the field of eighteenth-century studies.

Visit Thomas Leonard-Roy's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"My Best French Wedding"

Coming August 11 from St. Martin's Griffin: My Best French Wedding: A Novel by Amanda Sellet.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Will it be l’amour the merrier or too haute to handle when rival reporters with a tangled history compete to tell the story of the year at a ritzy destination wedding?

Once upon a time, Walter was Hildy’s favorite person―until he crushed her teenage dreams. A decade later, she has a new beloved: the magazine she built from the ground up. Unfortunately, getting rid of Walter isn’t as easy as shedding her romantic illusions. He’s always around, vying for the juiciest scoops on the elite wedding circuit and provoking her into public displays that don’t scream “mature and sophisticated media maven.”

When Hildy scores exclusive access to the wedding of the season―a week-long parade of luxury in southern France―it’s a chance for her magazine to finally make its mark. Except Walter isn’t sitting at home crying; he’s right there in France, trying to steal Hildy’s story. Again.

Now it’s a head-to-head battle to see whose coverage will make it to print. The problem? Between the champagne and the chateaux, it’s easy to lose sight of the prize. Hildy knows better than to believe in fairy tales, but Walter is doing his best to convince her they could have a part deux.

In this gender-flipped twist on His Girl Friday, Hildy has seven days to prove she is totally over it, living her best life, and definitely not hung up on the past . . . or Walter.

Visit Amanda Sellet's website.

Q&A with Amanda Sellet.

The Page 69 Test: By the Book.

Writers Read: Amanda Sellet (December 2022).

Writers Read: Amanda Sellet (August 2024).

The Page 69 Test: The Odds of Getting Even.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Too Darn Hot"

New from Oxford University Press: Too Darn Hot: Kiss Me, Kate & the Making and Remaking of a Broadway Musical by Hannah Robbins.

About the book, from the publisher:

When Kiss Me, Kate premiered in its first try-out performance, its future was anything but certain. Conceived and staged in just nine months of intense, sometimes chaotic collaboration, the show was a bold experiment: a backstage musical built around a Shakespearean comedy. But once the reviews rolled in, all doubts vanished. The production was a triumph, becoming the most successful stage work of both Cole Porter and the writing duo Sam and Bella Spewack.

Yet Kiss Me, Kate has never been without controversy. At its heart, the show is a backstage comedy built around a play-within-a-play adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. That choice has long invited scrutiny. From its earliest performances to its most recent revivals, Kiss Me, Kate has sparked discussion about adaptation, gender politics, and the evolving tastes of audiences. From its 1948 debut to its 75th anniversary revival, the musical has been both celebrated and critiqued, reflecting shifting cultural attitudes and artistic sensibilities.

In Too Darn Hot, author Thuraisingam Robbins traces the remarkable journey of this enduring musical, charting its development from concept to curtain call, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the artistic decisions that shaped its legacy. Through several case studies--including the lavish MGM film adaptation, a Viennese operetta-style staging, and modern Broadway revivals--Robbins examines how Kiss Me, Kate has remained relevant, provocative, and beloved. Too Darn Hot offers a compelling portrait of a show that continues to ignite conversation and captivate audiences.

Visit Hannah Robbins's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Killer Art"

New from Crooked Lane Books: Killer Art: A Novel by Jon St. Denis.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A pair of newbie academics find themselves reluctant sleuths and even more reluctant targets when a fellow professor turns up dead.

When art professor Vika Chen discovers the strangled body of Professor McGuire in a campus art studio, she becomes the prime suspect in a murder connected to an exhibition exposing AI-generated art.

Since local law enforcement fails to find any optional leads, Vika and her partner, journalism professor Sam Worthing, take the investigation into their own hands. Vika, who until recently worked as a curator at MoMA, and Sam, a former crime reporter for the New York Times, find themselves uniquely suited for the job.

Much to the chagrin of the police chief, the pair’s investigation pinpoints multiple suspects who might have felt threatened by the exhibition. But the stakes become deadly when someone tries to run Vika off the road.

As more bodies pile up, Vika and Sam uncover a collage of secrets that someone would kill to keep buried.

Visit Jon St. Denis's website.

--Marshal Zeringue