the north. His passion and affection
for the places, history, music and
people shines through and I defy all
readers—even southerners—not to
enjoy his witty and wry observations.
Robert Crais
The Watchman
Orion, 21st February, £6.99, 9780752881911
An up-and-coming crime author
whose fantastically portrayed
characters, lyrical descriptions,
cracking plot and LA setting are
reminiscent of Michael Connelly
at his best. In this title, series
characters Joe Pike and Elvis Cole
are enlisted to protect a young
socialite who witnessed a murder.
This could be Crais’ breakout novel.
Lee Child
Bad Luck & Trouble
Transworld, Corgi, 6th March, £6.99,
9780553818109
Transworld’s post-9/11 thriller sees
lone avenger Jack Reacher teaming
up with his special investigator unit.
Now a serious rival to Andy McNab
and Chris Ryan in the action thriller
stakes, Child’s latest outing will be
no exception—expect this one to
race to the top of the bestseller lists.
Lucy Dawson
His Other Lover
Little, Brown (Sphere), 20th March, £6.99,
9780751540529
His Other Lover is a title written with
wit, insight and pace. One of the
clutch of 21st-century commercial
fiction novels that bring a woman’s
perspective as happily-ever-after
doesn’t work out as it first seems.
Anita Amirrezvani
The Blood of Flowers
Headline Review, 3rd April, £7.99, 9780755334216
A fantastic, moving and sensual
story of a young woman’s coming
of age in 17th-century Iran as she
moves to the city following the
death of her father. The story is as
brilliantly painted as the carpets
that the unnamed narrator of the
novel weaves. Offering insight
and commentary on love, desire,
childhood, art, history and the role
of women in society, this will surely
be in the running for some awards in
2008. A brilliant read.
Mark Billingham
Death Message
Sphere (Little, Brown), 15th May, £6.99,
9780751537253
This is British crime writing at its
best. Billingham’s series novels are
going from strength to strength
and the new jacket treatment
has brought new readers into
the troubled world of Detective
Inspector Thorne. Expect the best
sales ever for this brilliantly penned,
gritty and disturbing thriller.
Kate Mosse
Sepulchre
Orion, 26th June, £7.99, 9780752893440
A huge hit with Labyrinth has
ensured that Mosse’s follow-up,
Sepulchre, was eagerly awaited. The
success of the hardback release
this Christmas has heightened the
possibilities for the paperback, and
with a gripping storyline of intrigue,
mystery, revenge and obsession, it
has all the ingredients of another
sure-fire bestseller.
MIKE STONEHAM
Buyer, Gardners
Books
Carolyn Jessop
Escape
Penguin Viking,
3rd January, £6.99,
9780141031514
With a little help
from Oprah
this has been a
huge hit in the US and Penguin has
high hopes for it over here. I can
see why—Escape is the dramatic
and gripping account of the author’s
attempt to save herself and her eight
children from her all-controlling
polygamous husband and the grip
of the ultra-fundamentalist religious
sect led by the now infamous Warren
Jeffs. Expect plenty of coverage.
Sara Gruen
Water for Elephants
Hodder, £7.99, 7th February, 9780340962725
Running away to join the circus may
be something of a cliché, but Jakob
Jankowski does it by accident in Sara
Gruen’s wonderfully evocative novel.
Set in the US during the Depression,
this is a beautifully written love story.
It’s anything but mere “romantic
fiction” though. More than anything,
it’s a simply great story and has the
potential to do really well.
Owen Sheers
Resistance
Faber, 6th March, £7.99, 9780571229642
The Normandy Landings have
failed and the subsequent German
counter-attack has seen Britain
invaded. This is the premise behind
Owen Sheers’ glorious début novel.
Well known for his prize-winning
poetry, Sheers shows a wonderfully
deft touch as a storyteller too. This
is beautifully written literary fiction
of the highest order, but with real
commercial potential.
Rjiv Chandrasekaran
Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Bloomsbury, 3rd March, £8.99, 9780747592891
www.thebookseller.com The Bookseller Spring Paperback Preview | 4 January 2008 7
“Offering
insight and
commentary
on love,
desire,
childhood,
art, history
and the role
of women
in society,
this [The
Blood of
Flowers] will
surely be in
the running
for some
awards in
2008”
Stephanie
Bateson, Asda
BOOKSELLERS’ CHOICE
The Samuel Johnson Prize-
winning account of life in the Green
Zone—how the liberation of Iraq
turned into chaos and bloody
carnage. The New York Times
quote on the cover, which reads
“like something out of Catch-22”, is
amazingly pertinent. The absurdity
of much that Chandrasekaran
recounts in this extraordinary
book beggars belief and would
be comical if it were not all so
horrifically tragic.
Betty G Birney
Trouble According to Humphrey
Faber, 3rd April, £4.99, 9780571236145
The Chinese may have the Year of
the Rat but Faber most certainly
has the Year of the Hamster. It has
sold more than 110,000 Humphrey
books in the UK to date and with
our favourite rodent playing a major
part in World Book Day, plus this
excellent next instalment in the
series, he’s not likely to be confined
to his cage much during 2008.
My seven-year-old gives this a big
thumbs-up!
Mohsin Hamid
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Penguin, 3rd April, £7.99, 9780141029542
This is my personal favourite
from the Man Booker shortlist.
There’s a quiet, disturbing menace
that creeps into this story that makes
it totally compelling. The ambiguous
ending becomes embedded in
the mind and rattles around like a
grenade in a dustbin. Good hardback
sales, but the paperback should
see it achieve the success it really
deserves.
Patrick Bishop
3 Para
HarperCollins, 2nd June, £7.99, 9780007257805
I didn’t expect to enjoy this and
picked it up almost grudgingly, but
such is Bishop’s skill and mastery in
describing the reality of life as a Para
in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province,
that it quickly became a truly
compulsive read. Military non-fiction
is a crowded genre, but this one is
shockingly good.
Nigel Slater
Eating for England
HarperCollins, 2nd June, £7.99, 9780007199471
In my book, anyone who can ponder
over what a custard cream would
make of the gay wedding in “The
Archers” deserves all the plaudits
he can get. Slater’s ruminations
on all things to do with English
food culture—from tripe to Midget
Gems—are simply delicious and a
delight for foodies and non-foodies
alike, although he’s plainly deluded
about pork scratchings.
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