Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. Their mission is to help people find and share books they love. They have 55 million members and there are over 50 million readers on their website. Their Spring list contains the top 25 books that readers are adding to their “Want to Read” shelves. We’ll be publishing the following of these buzz books in large print.
Fiction
Exit West
by Mohsin Hamid
9781410499486
Accolades abound for this love story that unfolds across the rapidly changing face of a volatile world. Spellbinding writing” says a starred Booklist review. Named an Indie Next pick and Publishers Weekly Top 10 for Spring Literary Fiction, “Libraries would do well to acquire this,” says a starred Library Journal review, “In an unnamed city . . . Saeed and Nadia meet, find love, and expect to share a future, but a militant takeover forces them to flee their homeland. Hamid reveals their tenuous journey from a dreamlike distance that perfectly blends reality with fablelike parable.” The story follows the remarkable characters as they emerge into an uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage. (Core — 5/3/2017)
Beartown
by Fredrik Backman
9781410498120
Backman, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, delivers a poignant, charming novel about a forgotten town fractured by scandal, and the amateur hockey team that might just change everything. In a description of this LibraryReads Pick, Publishers Weekly says, “Lest readers think hockey is the star here, it’s Backman’s rich characters that steal the show, and his deft handling of tragedy and its effects on an insular town. While the story is dark at times, love, sacrifice, and the bonds of friendship and family shine through, ultimately offering hope and even redemption.” For readers who enjoyed A Man Called Ove. (Core — 5/3/2017)
Nonfiction
The Stranger in the Woods
by Michael Finkel
Through letters and interviews, the author of this Indie Next and LibraryReads Pick explains how Christopher Knight lived alone in the Maine woods for 27 years. Unexplained burglaries of camping gear, books and other random items were answered when Knight was finally caught on surveillance footage and arrested for stealing food in 2013. The book attempts to answer why the “North Pond Hermit” left home, what he learned and the challenges he faced re-assimilating with society. “[A] fascinating account of Knight’s renunciation of humanity… [D]eeply compelling,” said Publishers Weekly. For fans of wilderness survival stories and psychological profiles. (Biography and Memoirs — 3/8/2017)
Mystery/Thriller
Say Nothing 
by Brad Parks
9781410499134
“Shamus Award-winner Parks’s excellent domestic thriller credibly portrays a family under severe stress. Federal judge Scott Sampson’s tranquil and fulfilling personal life in rural tidewater Virginia with his wife, Alison . . . is shattered when someone impersonating Alison abducts [their twins] Sam and Emma from their school . . . The tension the catastrophe causes in Scott and Alison’s marriage is palpable, and Parks makes even Scott’s most paranoid suspicions reasonable in the circumstances,” says a starred Publishers Weekly review. This LibraryReads Pick also received a starred Library Journal review. Will keep genre fans on the edge of their seats. (Mystery — 5/3/2017)
Never Let You Go
by Chevy Stevens
9781410497444
This Indie Next Pick from New York Times bestselling Stevens tells the story of Lindsey, who along with her daughter Sophie has escaped her abusive husband, Andrew. The story of the marriage, fraught with trouble, is told in flashbacks. After Andrew is released from prison, terrible things begin to happen. Sophie is curious about her father and secretly communicates and meets with him. Booklist calls this a must for public libraries, saying: “Those of us who’ve endured domestic violence will recognize our lasting terrors and looking-over-our-shoulder habits . . . Stevens’ portrayal is spot-on. At the same time, survivors will want to pass the book on to everyone who ever asked them why they didn’t just leave.” A starred Publishers Weekly review calls this “a superlative psychological thriller.” For readers who liked Gone Girl. (Basic 5 — 3/8/2017)
Historical Fiction
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
by Lisa See
9781410498014
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, this novel is set within the traditional Akhas culture in the tea-producing mountains of China. Li-Yan gives birth to a daughter out of wedlock and places the child for adoption. She struggles for a modern Chinese existence while her biological daughter lives a half a world away, loved and nurtured by a Caucasian family in an upper middle-class California home. “With strong female characters, See deftly confronts the changing role of minority women, majority-minority relations, East-West adoption, and the economy of tea in modern China,” says a Library Journal review. This LibraryReads Pick also contains vivid and precise details about life in rural China. For readers who enjoyed Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. (Wheeler Hardcover — 3/22/2017)
The Alice Network
by Kate Quinn
9781432839406
From nationally bestselling author Kate Quinn comes an enthralling new historical fiction novel based on the true story of French aristocrat Louise de Bettignies, known as “The Queen of Spies.” De Bettignies, a French secret agent under the pseudonym of Alice Dubois, led a network that collected intelligence and smuggled men to safety. This is the story of two women — a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947 — brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption. For fans of untold women’s history and spy novels. (Perspectives — 6/22/2017)
Science Fiction
The Collapsing Empire
by John Scalzi
9781432839079
Is travel faster than light possible? New York Times bestselling author Scalzi’s dreamed up the Flow, an extradimensional field humans can access at certain points in space-time for a trip to other worlds. Humans have used the Flow to spin out from Earth, with their various outposts governed by the Interdependency that assures both interstellar peace and the imperial rulers’ absolute control. Bad news, though: the Flow is shifting, possibly cutting off worlds from one another and threatening light travel forever. Publishers Weekly said: “Scalzi delivers a strong opener for his fast-paced new space opera series . . . [his] storytelling centers on dynamic and quick-thinking players with strong personalities who engage in spirited social interactions.” Kirkus adds “brutal politics and pitiless physics threaten an interstellar empire built on trade . . . Scalzi continues to be almost insufferably good at his brand of fun but think-y sci-fi adventure.” For fans of Game of Thrones and Dune. (Basic 8 — 6/7/2017)
To learn more about Thorndike Press or to place an order for any of these titles on the Goodreads Big Books of Spring list visit gale.com/thorndike or contact your Thorndike Press representative. Don’t forget…shipping is always free!Nike