On Sale This Week
On Sale This Week previews a selection of Penguin Random House fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young readers books being published each week. The choices are a mix of titles by both bestselling and emerging authors. We hope this serves as a useful reference for hot new reads hitting shelves everywhere.
FICTION
CONCLAVE by Robert Harris (Knopf)
The best-selling author, Robert Harris, turns to today’s Vatican in a ripped-from-the-headlines novel, and gives us his most ambitious, page-turning thriller yet–where the power of God is nearly equaled by the ambition of men. The pope is dead. Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election. They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals. Over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on Earth.
NOVELS, TALES, JOURNEYS by Alexander Pushkin (Knopf)
The father of Russian literature, Pushkin is beloved not only for his poetry but also for his brilliant stories, which range from dramatic tales of love, obsession, and betrayal to dark fables and sparkling comic masterpieces, from satirical epistolary tales and romantic adventures in the manner of Sir Walter Scott to imaginative historical fiction and the haunting dreamworld of “The Queen of Spades.” The five short stories ofThe Late Tales of Ivan Petrovich Belkin are lightly humorous and yet reveal astonishing human depths, and his short novel, The Captain’s Daughter, has been called the most perfect book in Russian literature.
PRESENCE: COLLECTED STORIES by Arthur Miller (Penguin Classics)
Though best known for creating some of the greatest dramas of the twentieth century, Arthur Miller was also a master of the short story. Initially published in prestigious venues like the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and Esquire, his fiction constitutes a fascinating and indispensable portion of his life’s work. PRESENCE: COLLECTED STORIES revives and reintroduces these masterly works, making available in one volume stories previously scattered across various collections. Here, as in his best plays, Miller pulls apart the threads of American life with tender humanism and unmatched psychological realism. These stories build on the landscape of Miller’s drama, of Broadway dives and Brooklyn shipyards where businessmen, writers, bums, and blue-collar workers struggle for self-worth.
THE SPY by Paulo Coelho (Knopf)
When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. Within months she was the most celebrated woman in the city. As a dancer, she shocked and delighted audiences; as a courtesan, she bewitched the era’s richest and most powerful men. But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari’s lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917, she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees, and accused of espionage. Told in Mata Hari’s voice through her final letter, THE SPY is the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to defy convention and who paid the ultimate price.
NONFICTION
THE PRINCESS DIARIST by Carrie Fisher (Blue Rider Press)
When Carrie Fisher recently discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first Star Wars movie, she was astonished to see what they had preserved—plaintive love poems, unbridled musings with youthful naiveté, and a vulnerability that she barely recognized. Today, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon is indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a teenager with an all-consuming crush on her costar, Harrison Ford. With these excerpts from her handwritten notebooks, THE PRINCESS DIARISTis Fisher’s intimate and revealing recollection of what happened on one of the most famous film sets of all time—and what developed behind the scenes.
VICTORIA: THE QUEEN by Julia Baird (Random House)
This page-turning biography reveals the real woman behind the myth: a bold, glamorous, unbreakable queen—a Victoria for our times. In a world where women were often powerless, during a century roiling with change, Victoria went on to rule the most powerful country on earth with a decisive hand. Drawing on sources that include fresh revelations about Victoria’s relationship with John Brown, Julia Baird brings vividly to life the fascinating story of a woman who struggled with so many of the things we do today: balancing work and family, raising children, navigating marital strife, losing parents, combating anxiety and self-doubt, finding an identity, searching for meaning.
THE KEYS by DJ Khaled (Crown Archetype)
From Snapchat sensation, business mogul, and recording artist DJ Khaled, the book They don’t want you to read reveals his major keys to success: Stay away from They; Don’t ever play yourself; Secure the bag; Respect the code; Glorify your success; Don’t deny the heat; Keep two rooms cooking at the same time; Win, win, win no matter what.
ISLAND PEOPLE by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro (Knopf)
From the moment Columbus gazed out from the Santa María‘s deck in 1492 at what he mistook for an island off Asia, the Caribbean has been subjected to the misunderstandings and fantasies of outsiders. Running roughshod over the place, they have viewed these islands and their inhabitants as exotic allure to be consumed or conquered. The Caribbean stood at the center of the transatlantic slave trade for more than three hundred years, with societies shaped by mass migrations and forced labor. But its people, scattered across a vast archipelago and separated by the languages of their colonizers, have nonetheless together helped make the modern world—its politics, religion, economics, music, and culture. Jelly-Schapiro gives a sweeping account of how these islands’ inhabitants have searched and fought for better lives.
YOUNG READERS
TROUBLE MAKES A COMEBACK by Stephanie Tromly (Kathy Dawson Books)
Now that the infuriating and irresistible Philip Digby has left town for a lead on his sister who disappeared years ago, Zoe Webster is looking forward to a quiet spring semester. She’s dating a cute quarterback, hanging out with new friends, and enjoying being “a normal.” Which is of course when Digby comes back. He needs Zoe’s help, and not just to find his sister. Zoe can either choose to stay on her current path toward popularity, perfect SAT scores, and Princeton, or she can take a major detour with Digby, and maybe find out what that kiss he stole from her really meant. Digby and his over-the-top schemes always lead somewhere unexpected and Zoe’s beginning to learn she might just like jumping into the unknown. When it comes to Digby, for Zoe at least, the choice might already be made.
PLENTY OF LOVE TO GO AROUND by Emma Chichester Clark (Nancy Paulsen Books)
Based on the adventures of Emma Chichester Clark’s real-life dog, Plum, this delightful romp gently tackles feelings of jealousy and the difficulties of sharing, in endearing, dynamic illustrations that readers will love. Plum the dog loves being her family’s Special One. So when Binky the cat moves in next door and everyone showers him with attention, Plum feels left out. Cats are not her favorite thing! Binky follows Plum everywhere, even to the park, which everyone knows is not for cats. And on top of that, Binky is so annoyingly clever. Is he the new Special One? Or is there enough love for both of them?
DAN AND PHIL BOXED SET by Dan Howell and Phil Lester (Random House Books for Young Readers)
YouTube sensations Dan Howell (danisnotonfire) and Phil Lester (AmazingPhil) present their NYT bestselling THE AMAZING BOOK IS NOT ON FIRE and DAN AND PHIL GO in one amazing box. Now you can own their complete collection! In your hands is a box (pretty heavy, huh?) containing two books created by two awkward guys who share their lives on the Internet. Dan and Phil invite you on a journey inside their world!