From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:
Hardcover
When All Is Said: A Novel by Anne Griffin (Thomas Dunne, $26.99, 9781250200587). "Dark and unflinching yet packed with heart and humanity, When All Is Said is Irish storytelling at its best. Maurice Hannigan sits in a bar on a Saturday night and toasts five people who have been important in his life and who have left him, either through death or distance. The 84-year-old widower spools out his story like tangled fishing line, raising one glass to each of his departed loved ones. It all leads up to a startling yet inevitable end to an unsettling yet satisfying story." --Grace Harper, Mac's Backs, Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Hardcover: An Indies Introduce Title
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls: A Memoir by T Kira Madden (Bloomsbury, $27, 9781635571851). "Madden has no limits when it comes to the ones she loves--her cool and free older friends, her Internet-famous first girlfriend, her mother, her father, and us, the fortunate readers. She accomplishes one of the great feats of a memoir: in telling the story of her life, she translates its remarkable aspects (for one, her father worked for Jordan Belfort and was, yes, a wolf of Wall Street) while making the commonplace (love for one's parents) remarkable. Her prose is a Lisa Frank-racetrack-Hawaiian shirt phantasmagoria that I couldn't get enough of. And, man, that last section--it'll knock you loose." --Molly Moore, BookPeople, Austin, Tex.
Paperback
Lying in Wait: A Novel by Liz Nugent (Gallery/Scout Press, $16, 9781501178474). "Liz Nugent returns with another riveting tale of intrigue and domestic drama. Teenage Laurence suspects that his father might be involved in the mysterious death of a young woman. After his father suddenly dies, Laurence becomes even more bound by the smothering love of his overly attentive mother. When Laurence falls in love with the dead girl's sister, lies ensue, complications arise, and the hidden depths of evil lurking in the manor house are exposed. Readers will be mesmerized by Lying in Wait, and the ending is so devious that it will knock your socks off."--Pamela Klinger-Horn, Excelsior Bay Books, Excelsior, Minn.
For Ages 4 to 8
Hope by Matthew Cordell (Disney-Hyperion, $16.99, 9781484773413). "I loved Hope, which I thought of as a love letter to one's grandchildren. We wonder if what we teach our children stays with them when we are gone. In this book, it does." --Kathi Rauscher, Hockessin Bookshelf, Hockessin, Del.
For Ages 9 to 12
The Moon Within by Aida Salazar (Arthur A. Levine, $17.99, 9781338283372). "An absolute gem! Aida Salazar perfectly captures the anxiety, excitement, and embarrassment that come with middle school. Celi slowly grows into a better understanding of her mother's hopes for her and what it means to be a good friend. Her moon ceremony--at first a strange and new idea--becomes an opportunity to show her strength and the person she is becoming. Beautiful and powerful." --Cecilia Cackley, East City Bookshop, Washington, D.C.
For Teen Readers
Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner (Crown, $17.99, 9781524720209). "This is a story of true friendship, of joy and laughter, of loss and pain, of heartbreak and love, and in the end it's a story of growth and hope. Josie and Delia each hold half of my heart. I saw different parts of myself in them in deep ways; their words felt like my own stolen from a place where I feared to speak them aloud. This book left me laughing with tears streaming down my face and warmth in my heart!" --Meghan Vanderlee, Schuler Books, Grand Rapids, Mich.
[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]
