Archives de catégorie : Nos incontournables

SONGS IN URSA MAJOR de Emma Brodie

Inspired by the often-overlooked romance between Joni Mitchell and James Taylor that preceded the release of Mitchell’s seminal album Blue, this electrifying story is equal parts tender and tough as it uncovers the forgotten relationship of fictional pop stars Jane Quinn and Jesse Reid. The pair’s paths cross in the summer of 1969, resulting in a complicated romance that unfolds in tandem with their unpredictable careers.

SONGS IN URSA MAJOR
by Emma Brodie
Knopf, June 2021

Jane Quinn is a street-smart, young, blonde with music in her blood: raised a stone’s throw from the beachfront Bayleen Island Folk Fest, Jane’s mother was a songwriter who was tragically robbed of proper credit for her work. Jane writes the music and fronts the small time local rock band Harpoon, while her guitarist writes the lyrics. It’s 1969, and this year’s Folk Fest is rabid for the appearance of Jesse Reid, the tall, soft-spoken singer with a baritone voice that’s made him the heir apparent of folk rock. When Jesse crashes his motorcycle en route to the concert, Harpoon takes the stage in his place, and Jane’s confident soaring vocals steal the show. As Jane prepares to settle back into Island life with her cousin, aunt, and grandmother, her work as a caregiver soon thrusts her into the path of none other than Jesse Reid, in town recovering from the near-fatal crash. Romance blossoms between Jane and Jesse just as Jane embarks on her recording career, with Jesse acting as a guardian angel as she contends with the rampant sexism in the industry. With Jesse’s encouragement, Jane begins to write her own lyrics, and the world begins to take notice when Harpoon go on tour as Jesse’s opener. Just as Jane is beginning to carve out a legacy for herself in the shadow of Jesse’s fame, she realizes that Jesse is battling heroin addiction and overnight everything she is building unravels. Jane wants honesty from Jesse, but she’s keeping a secret of her own and the resulting turmoil ultimately adds fodder to her confessional groundbreaking album Songs in Ursa Major.

Emma Brodie is an Executive Editor at Little Brown’s Voracious imprint. In her ten years in book publishing, she’s worked at Trident Media Group, William Morrow, and Clarkson Potter, where she authored over twenty gift books and games, including the bestselling Punderdome, Deal or Duel, Come As You Aren’t, and Dear Jane. Emma is a longtime contributor to HuffPost and a faculty member at Catapult, Co.

THE LIFE AND MEDIEVAL TIMES OF KIT SWEETLY de Jamie Pacton

A debut contemporary young-adult novel in which Kit Sweetly battles sexism, bad bosses, and bad luck to be named a restaurant knight and save her future.

THE LIFE AND MEDIEVAL TIMES OF KIT SWEETLY
by Jamie Pacton
Page Street Publishing, May 2020

Working as a wench—i.e. waitress—at a cheesy medieval-themed restaurant in the Chicago suburbs, Kit Sweetly dreams of being a knight like her brother. She has the moves, is capable on a horse, and desperately needs the raise that comes with knighthood, so she can help her mom pay the mortgage and hold a spot at her dream college. But company policy only allows guys to be knights. So when Kit takes her brother’s place and reveals her identity at the end of the show, she rockets to internet fame and a whole lot of trouble with the management. The Girl Knight won’t go down without a fight, though. As other wenches join her quest, a protest forms, and in a joust before Castle executives, they’ll have to prove that gender restrictions should stay medieval—if they don’t get fired first. Filled with witty historical and pop culture references, this book has a sweet, clean friends-to-lovers romance that will satisfy readers looking for a love story without overwhelming the main action.

Jamie Pacton grew up minutes away from the National Storytelling Center in the mountains of East Tennessee. She adores architecture, gardens, art museums, beaches, cake, and whiskey. She even kind-of likes getting stuck in airports if she has a good book. Currently, she lives in rural Wisconsin with her husband, their two kids, and a dog named Lego.

UNSEEN MAGIC de Emily Lloyd-Jones

The magic-infused town of Aldermere is the first place eleven-year-old Fin has ever felt safe—and she’ll do whatever it takes to save her home when she accidentally unleashes a shadow self who wreaks havoc everywhere she goes. Emily Lloyd-Jones’s middle grade debut is an enchanting exploration of self-discovery and finding the place you truly belong. For fans of A Wish in the Dark and A Tangle of Knots.

UNSEEN MAGIC
by Emily Lloyd-Jones
Greenwillow/HarperCollins, February 2022
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

Aldermere is a town with its own set of rules: there’s a tea shop that vanishes if you try to force your way in, crows that must be fed or they’ll go through your trash, and a bridge that has a toll that no one knows the cost of. Some say that there may even be bigfoots wandering through the woods.
For Fin, Aldermere is her new home. But she’s worried that she’ll do something to mess it up—that she was the reason she and her mother have constantly moved from place to place for so long. When an upcoming presentation at her school’s science fair gives her increasing anxiety, Fin turns to magic to ease her fears. The cost is a memory, but there are things from her past Fin doesn’t mind forgetting. This will be the last time she relies on magic anyway, she’s sure.
Except things don’t go exactly as planned. And instead of easing her anxiety, Fin accidentally unleashes an evil doppelganger. Suddenly Aldermere is overrun with unusual occurrences—and Fin is the only one who knows why. She will have to face her fears—literally—to stop it.
Emily Lloyd-Jones crafts an atmospheric novel full of magic and mischief while exploring what it means to stand up to your fears and accept yourself. UNSEEN MAGIC will captivate readers of Anna Meriano’s Love, Sugar, Magic series and Natalie Lloyd’s A Snicker of Magic.

Emily Lloyd-Jones grew up on a vineyard in rural Oregon, where she played in evergreen forests and learned to fear sheep. She has a BA in English from Western Oregon University and a MA in publishing from Rosemont College. She is a former bookseller and the author of four young adult novels, including the Indie Next Pick The Bone Houses. Emily Lloyd-Jones lives in Northern California.

GOOD EGGS de Rebecca Hardiman

Charmingly irreverent and relatable, this is a vibrant and uplifting story about three imperfect humans each at a time of change in their lives, when absolutely nothing feels right. A debut novel about forgiveness and love, coupled with a healthy dose of adventure and the particular kind of crazy that only family can deliver.

GOOD EGGS
by Rebecca Hardiman
Atria, publication date TBD

When Kevin Gogarty’s irrepressible 83-year-old mum Millie is caught shoplifting yet again, he’s got no choice but to hire a caretaker to look after her, despite her protestations about losing her independence. Kevin is already at his wits’ end since losing his job over a year ago, and he’s grown increasingly restless and resentful that the responsibilities of managing children and home have fallen on him, while his wife is off pursuing her demanding career. Their wayward 16-year-old daughter Aideen feels deeply misunderstood, but her fraught relationships with just about everyone lead to her being sent quite miserably off to boarding school, where her troubles only escalate. Into the Gogartys’ calamitous world steps Sylvia Phenning, a brash American home aide who quickly earns Millie’s trust but unfortunately isn’t all she appears to be. Her deceptions will lead to the greatest Gogarty crisis yet, including two family members going AWOL on an international adventure. But what tears these family members apart ultimately brings them back together, better than ever before. Set primarily in Dublin and told from the points-of-view of its three main characters, GOOD EGGS is a funny and heartfelt study in self-determination, the notion that it’s never too late to start living, and the unique redemption that family, despite its maddening flaws, can offer. Fans of A Man Called Ove, Where’d You Go Bernadette, and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine will appreciate Rebecca Hardiman’s buoyant voice-driven narrative style and admire the astute observations of human nature they’ll find on every page of GOOD EGGS.

Rebecca Hardiman is a dual Irish-American citizen, raised by an Irish mom, who has lived in Dublin and attended boarding school there as a teenager. She currently lives in New Jersey. She has been an editor at magazines including In Style, Movieline, and People en Español, and has written for various other publications. GOOD EGGS is her first novel.

HOW TO STAY HUMAN IN A F*CKED UP WORLD de Tim Desmond

How can we be more mindful when the world is this f*cked up? HOW TO STAY HUMAN IN A F*CKED UP WORLD is the fresh, engaging answer to this important question.

HOW TO STAY HUMAN IN A F*CKED UP WORLD:
Mindful Practices for Real Life
by Tim Desmond
HarperOne, June 2019

If you’ve tried mindfulness before and failed, we get it. Likely you were told to sit on a pillow in a dark room, meditate, or count your breaths. But mindfulness isn’t about separating ourselves from the problems in the world. Instead, it is about re-learning how to get out there, connect with the suffering of every living being and in so doing, embrace your own personal suffering to heal, transform, grow, and finally find peace. Tim Desmond—an esteemed Buddhist philosopher who has lectured on psychology at both Harvard and Yale and studied under Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh—has spent his life cultivating new ways to bridge the gap between the ancient tradition of mindfulness and modern life. With How to Stay Human in a F*cked Up World Desmond gets right to the heart of our collective pain with a life-changing mindfulness practice for surviving the sometimes-miserable world we live in, featuring strategies and guidance you can start using to feel more connected, joyful, and present today.

Timothy Ambrose Desmond is a Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Antioch University teaching professional psychology rooted in self-compassion. He has lectured at Yale School of Medicine, and taught mindfulness in all 50 states. After having grown up poor in Boston with a single alcoholic mother and having been homeless as a teenager, Desmond was exposed to the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, and eventually studied closely with Thich Nhat Hanh and his senior monastics at Plum Village. In 2011, Desmond co-founded Morning Sun Mindfulness Center, an intentional community and retreat center in Alstead, NH. When he isn’t teaching, advising, or on retreat, Desmond is organizing progressive political demonstrations, and was one of the core organizers of Occupy Wall Street.