Happy Holidays from JVNLA!

January and February 2011 Releases

THE VIEW FROM LAZY POINT by Carl Safina

In the elegant, lyrical prose we have come to expect from Carl Safina's earlier books, SONG FOR THE BLUE OCEAN, EYE OF THE ALBATROSS and VOYAGE OF THE TURTLE, THE VIEW FROM LAZY POINT offers profound insights and environmental wisdom. The book follows Safina (New York Times contributer, MacArthur Genius Grant winner, and co-founder of the Blue Ocean Institute) through one year of observation and discovery from his home in Long Island, New York, to Alaska, Central and South America, and the Pacific and Polar regions. According to Safina, the environment's problems drive very real matters of human justice, well-being, and our prospects for peace. Nature and human dignity require one another.

But in Safina's hands, all is not doom and gloom. THE VIEW FROM LAZY POINT grants new insights into how our world is changing and what our responses should be.

“Solid science and excellent storytelling. A superb work of environmental reportage and reflection.” --Kirkus, starred review

Henry Holt, January 2011

TRAVELING LIGHT: POEMS by Linda Pastan

A new collection from a poet long recognized for her “unfailing mastery of her medium” (New York Times). Linda Pastan meditates on themes of aging and memory, language and art in this moving collection, where she travels from the Thanksgiving table, a “palimpsest / with traces of the past / showing through,” to Japan, where she dreams in haiku. “Pastan . . . expresses a full range of the possibilities and potencies of the human, feminine voice” (Boston Globe).

From "In the Forest"
The trees are lit
from within like Sabbath candles
before they are snuffed out.
Autumn is such a Jewish season,
the whole minor key of it.
Hear how the wind trembles
through the branches, vibrato
as notes of cello music.

W.W. Norton & Company, January 2011

PALE ROSE OF ENGLAND by Sandra Worth

Beauty is both a blessing and a curse for Lady Catherine, the Pale of Rose England. It is a blessing when it helps win her the heart and hand of Richard, Duke of York—pretender to the throne of England. But the gift becomes a curse when Richard is captured during his war waged against the crown and she is laid at the feet of the King in chains.

The King is as smitten with her beauty as was the challenger to his throne; ordering the chains removed, he names her lady in waiting to his Queen. But can his passion for her change the course of her affection for Richard--the disgraced, tormented husband who is trapped in the King's halls, who is planning the most daring of escapes?

“Luminous . . . impressive . . . Worth examines Elizabeth's life with a journalist's eye.” --Publishers Weekly, on THE KING'S DAUGHTER

Berkley, February 2011

THE TUDOR SECRET by C.W. Gortner

THE TUDOR SECRET introduces Brendan Prescott, a foundling reared in the Dudley household, as he arrives at court to serve as squire to the arrogant Lord Robert Dudley. Keen and ambitious, Brendan hopes to gain advancement in his post—until Lord Robert dispatches him on an illicit mission to the King's sister, Princess Elizabeth. A dark plot brews around Elizabeth's quest to unravel the truth of her brother King Edward VI's disappearance. Lured into her service as a spy, with only a bold stable boy and an audacious lady-in-waiting at his side, Brendan plunges into a ruthless gambit of half-truths and lies, pitted against the wiles of a vengeful opponent who may know the secret of his birth—a secret that could shatter everything he believes and cast a shadow over him, Elizabeth, and the future of England.

THE TUDOR SECRET is the first book in The Spymaster Chonicles, which depicts the rise of Brendan Prescott as a spymaster for Elizabeth I.

“Riveting...In Gortner’s capable hands, Prescott is a believable and enjoyable hero...Robert has depth...Gortner handles action with aplomb, adding a riveting, fast-paced thriller to...Tudor fiction.” --Publishers Weekly

St. Martin's Press, February 2011

HOLLYWOOD FOREVER by Susan Goldstein

April is a lovely month in Beverly Hills, California, but things are not going well for wealthy, spoiled Samantha Crowley, whose superstar husband has filed for divorce. Unhappy with what the law has to offer, Samantha embarks on her own agenda for "divorce justice.” But every person to whom she turns for aid in her scheme is dead within 24 hours of meeting Samantha. Then her husband is murdered. Samantha's life begins to resemble a 1940's noir in which she is both leading lady and number one suspect.

HOLLYWOOD FOREVER is a smart and humorous mystery chronicling the journey of a gutsy and irreverent heroine, from the pampered life to the alleys and landmarks of Hollywood, in search of a cold-blooded and cool-headed killer.

“Delightful...Goldstein supplies one surprise after another as the action builds to a suitable Hollywood ending.” --Publishers Weekly

Five Star, February 2011