Notes from a Publicist: Yes, I Really Do Like Penny Vincenzi This Much

A Love Story, by Kate in Publicity



This is a picture of my bookshelf, taken last night. I don't really have an organizational system and promise I didn't re-organize it to look more impressive (or I definitely would have replaced that Adriana Trigiani book with David Foster Wallace or something equally highbrow).

Those of you familiar with Overlook's highest-selling titles might realize the books in the middle--the Penny Vincenzi "Spoils of Time" trilogy. I actually applied for this job having read most of Penny's books, and am ridiculously excited to be working on her new one, Forbidden Places, that comes out in October.

But as I pitch these books, I find myself trying to prove that I'm not just being a publicist--these are historical romances that I actually think are fantastic. Sure, they're not the most literary thing we publish here, but they're pretty high-end commercial romance and I love the historical aspects as well.


I kind of want to attach this picture of my much-loved copy of No Angel to the pitches I'm sending out to reviewers, producers, and bloggers. "I'm one of you!" it seems to say. "Once upon a time, I wasn't a publicist. I was just a reader. And look how many times I read this book!"

In my cover letter that I submitted when applying for this job, I mentioned how I recommended these books to all of my girlfriends (after my grandmother recommended them to me. Generations coming together!). The upside? They loved the books too, and are badgering me for advance copies of Forbidden Places. The downside? I have to explain to them that my job is just slightly less glamorous than that of Lady Celia Lytton.

Anyways, I just wanted to share that it's incredibly fun to be a fan of an author and also get to work with her titles--and that this isn't me fluffing Forbidden Places, I actually AM that big of a fan of Penny Vincenzi.

Do you love her, too? Leave a comment, and be sure to pre-order Forbidden Places (or the paperback of Windfall, out this month!)--I think it's the best non-Celia Lytton book yet. And Penny fans know that that is high praise, indeed.

Happy reading!

Missing Since August 6, 1930: The Man Who Never Returned

This is the original Missing Person poster for the Honorable Joseph F. Crater, gone missing on August 6, 1930. The story of Judge Crater is one of the most interesting unsolved cases in New York--the New York State Supreme Court Justice was last seen leaving a restaurant near Times Square, and simply disappeared.

80 years later, the case is still alive in the public consciousness (here's a quick primer for those who are unfamiliar with Judge Crater). Beloved Overlook author Peter Quinn has taken this story and woven together true crime and historical fiction in The Man Who Never Returned (coming August 5, 2010). Private investigator Fintan Dunne, the hero of The Hour of the Cat, is hired in 1955 to solve the crime.

Here's a picture of Peter Quinn holding one of the first copies of his new book fresh off the presses.

Early Praise for The Man Who Never Returned:

"Quinn delivers a satisfying solution to the real-life mystery of Joseph Crater... Quinn not only makes the existence of clues at such a late date plausible but also concocts an explanation that's both logical and surprising. The depth and complexity of the lead character is a big plus." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Freely mixing history, mystery, and novelistic license, Quinn offers a noirish tale... Quinn’s rich, insightful, evocative descriptions of New York, both in Crater’s time and in 1955, will certainly please fans of historical crime novels." --Booklist

"This hybrid of mystery and history builds a compelling case." --Kirkus

RIFLING PARADISE by Jem Poster Receives Rave Kirkus Review

Rifling Paradise, the new historical fiction novel by master storyteller and author of Courting Shadows Jem Poster, just received a lovely review from Kirkus:

A dubious character experiences a shattering change of heart during his specimen-collecting expedition to Australia, in a vivid historical novel by a renowned British poet.

Blamed for the suicide of a young boy and hounded out of his home by a mob, Charles Redbourne, the well-born but spendthrift hero of Poster's second work of fiction (Courting Shadows, 2008), is something of a lost soul in search of redemption. And he will find it at the end of the nightmarish trip he makes to the Antipodes, escaping his past while pursuing his inclination to become a naturalist. Although his host in Sydney, Edward Vane, offers hospitality, he too is a questionable figure, whose relationship with his headstrong, artistic daughter Eleanor seems violent, possibly abusive. Despite his earlier interest in boys, Redbourne is drawn to Eleanor, whose attunement to the land, its spirit and wildlife argues for a sustainable, noninterventionist relationship, unlike Redbourne's, whose specimen-hunting is done with a gun. Matters become more polarized when Redbourne leaves on his expedition into the hinterland, in the company of brutal Bullen and a half-aboriginal boy, Billy. Trapped between Bullen's cruelty and Billy's ancestral sensitivity, Redbourne barely survives and returns a different man. Poster's storytelling is notably fresh and pacey, and his characters have definition, even if they are often emblematic. Redbourne and Eleanor will leave Australia together, but their future is far from certain. Edgy, intense and engrossing work that delivers lessons astutely."

More Praise for THE REPUBLIC OF VENGEANCE by Paul Waters

Historical Novels Review offers a glowing tribute to Paul Waters's new novel The Republic of Vengeance, just released this month: "In the late third century BC, Marcus, a 14-year-old Roman journeying to Greece with his father, is captured by pirates. His father is killed, but Marcus escapes. He becomes the friend of Titus Flamininus, and participates, under Flamininus’s leadership, in Rome’s fight to liberate her Greek allies from Macedonian rule, learning hard lessons about tyranny, democracy, and war. He falls in love with a young Greek aristocrat named Menexenos who has much to teach him about commitment and honor. Like Mary Renault’s classic historical, The Last of the Wine, this novel depicts the forging of a young man’s character in turbulent times, and posits a society in which homosexual love is completely accepted. Waters’s style is flawless. The voice of the first person narrator is absolutely believable. Few novelists I have read other than Renault bring the ancient world alive as well as Waters does here. Among the novel’s strengths are its vivid battle scenes and the restrained, tender love story. . . Paul Waters is an extraordinary new talent. An “epic series” is promised by the publisher, and I will be looking forward to the next book. Republic of Vengeance is a breathtaking trip to the past: moving, thought-provoking, and a literary treat."