The Puzzle King (39 page)

“As magical as it is macabre.”—
The New Yorker

“Hugely enjoyable … A compelling tour de force, a surreal but thoroughly accessible page-turner.”—
Houston Chronicle

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-61620-018-3

In the Time of the Butterflies
, a novel by Julia Alvarez

In this extraordinary novel, the voices of Las Mariposas (The Butterflies), Minerva, Patria, María Teresa, and Dedé, speak across the decades to tell their stories about life in the Dominican Republic under General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s dictatorship. Through the art and magic of Julia Alvarez’s imagination, the martyred butterflies live again in this novel of valor, love, and the human cost of political oppression.

A National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Selection

“A gorgeous and sensitive novel … A compelling story of courage, patriotism, and familial devotion.”—
People

“A magnificent treasure for all cultures and all time.”—
St. Petersburg Times

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-976-4

How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
, a novel by Julia Alvarez

In Julia Alvarez’s brilliant and buoyant first novel, the García sisters, newly arrived from the Dominican Republic, tell their most intimate stories about how they came to be at home—and not at home—in America.

“A clear-eyed look at the insecurity and yearning for a sense of belonging that are part of the immigrant experience … Movingly told.”—
The Washington Post Book World

“Subtle … Powerful … Reveals the intricacies of family, the impact of culture and place, and the profound power of language.”—
The San Diego Tribune

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-975-7

A Reliable Wife
, a novel by Robert Goolrick

Rural Wisconsin, 1907. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt stands alone on a train platform anxiously awaiting the arrival of the woman who answered his newspaper ad for “a reliable wife.” The woman who arrives is not the one he expects in this
New York Times
#1 bestseller about love and madness, longing and murder.

“[A] chillingly engrossing plot … Good to the riveting end.”—
USA Today

“Deliciously wicked and tense … Intoxicating.”—
The Washington Post

“A rousing historical potboiler.”—
The Boston Globe

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-977-1

Water for Elephants
, a novel by Sara Gruen

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski is tossed by fate onto a rickety train, home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Amid a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, Jacob becomes involved with Marlena, the beautiful young equestrian star; her husband, a charismatic but twisted animal trainer; and Rosie, an untrainable elephant who is the great gray hope for this third-rate show. Now in his nineties, Jacob at long last reveals the story of their unlikely yet powerful bonds, ones that nearly shatter them all.

“[An] arresting new novel … With a showman’s expert timing, [Gruen] saves a terrific revelation for the final pages, transforming a glimpse of Americana into an enchanting escapist fairy tale.”
—
The New York Times Book Review

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-560-5

Breakfast with Buddha
, a novel by Roland Merullo

When his sister tricks him into taking her guru, a crimson-robed monk, on a trip to their childhood home, Otto Ringling, a confirmed skeptic, is not amused. Six days on the road with an enigmatic holy man who answers every question with a riddle is not what he’d planned. But along the way, Otto is given the remarkable opportunity to see his world—and more important, his life—through someone else’s eyes.

“Enlightenment meets
On the Road
in this witty, insightful novel.”—
The Boston Sunday Globe

“A laugh-out-loud novel that’s both comical and wise … balancing irreverence with insight.”—
The Louisville Courier-Journal

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-616-9

Between Here and April
, a novel by Deborah Copaken Kogan

When a deep-rooted memory suddenly surfaces, Elizabeth Burns becomes obsessed with the long-ago disappearance of her childhood friend April Cassidy.

“The perfect book club book.”—
The Washington Post Book World

“[A] haunting page-turner … [A] compelling look at what it means to be a mother and a wife.”—
Working Mother

“Extraordinary … This is a story that needs to be told.”
—
Elle
, #1 Reader’s Pick

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-932-0

Every Last Cuckoo
, a novel by Kate Maloy

In the tradition of Jane Smiley and Sue Miller comes this wise and gratifying novel about a woman who gracefully accepts a surprising new role in life just when she thinks her best years are behind her.

Winner of the ALA Reading List Award for Women’s Fiction

“Truly engrossing … An excellent book club selection.”
—
Library Journal

“A tender and wise story of what happens when love lasts.”
—Katharine Weber, author of
Triangle

“Inspiring … Grabs the reader by the heart.”—
The New Orleans Times-Picayune

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-675-6

Mudbound
, a novel by Hillary Jordan

Mudbound
is the saga of the McAllan family, who struggle to survive on a remote ramshackle farm, and the Jacksons, their black sharecroppers. When two men return from World War II to work the land, the unlikely friendship between these brothers-in-arms—one white, one black—arouses the passions of their neighbors. In this award-winning portrait of two families caught up in the blind hatred of a small Southern town, prejudice takes many forms, both subtle and ruthless.

Winner of the Bellwether Prize for Fiction

“This is storytelling at the height of its powers … Hillary Jordan writes with the force of a Delta storm.”—Barbara Kingsolver

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-677-0

Saving the World
, a novel by Julia Alvarez

While Alma Huebner is researching a new novel, she discovers the true story of Isabel Sendales y Gómez, who embarked on a courageous sea voyage to rescue the New World from smallpox. The author of
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
and
In the Time of the Butterflie
s captures the worlds of two women living two centuries apart but with surprisingly parallel fates.

“Fresh and unusual and thought-provokingly sensitive.”
—
The Boston Globe

“Engrossing, expertly paced.”—
People

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-558-2

The Ghost at the Table
, a novel by Suzanne Berne

When Frances arranges to host Thanksgiving at her idyllic New England farmhouse, she envisions a happy family reunion, one that will include her estranged sister, Cynthia. But as Thanksgiving Day arrives, the tension between Frances and Cynthia mounts, as each struggles with a different version of the mysterious circumstances surrounding their mother’s death twenty-five years earlier.

“Wholly engaging, the perfect spark for launching a rich conversation around your own table.”—
The Washington Post Book World

“A crash course in sibling rivalry.”—
O: The Oprah Magazine

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-579-7