Books published by Random House Publishing Group

#1NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL,ANDBOSTON GLOBEBESTSELLER*;NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYTHE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW*;ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR*; BILL GATES'S HOLIDAY READING LIST*; FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE'S AWARD IN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *; FINALIST FORTHENATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE'S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK*; FINALIST FOR THE PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD*; FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES BOOK PRIZENAMED ONE OF PASTE'S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE *; NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post *; O: The Oprah Magazine *; Time *; NPR *; Good Morning America *; San Francisco Chronicle *; The Guardian *; The Economist *; Financial Times *; Newsday *; New York Post *; theSkimm *; Refinery29 *; Bloomberg *; Self *; Real Simple *; Town & Country *; Bustle *; Paste *; Publishers Weekly *; Library Journal *; LibraryReads *; BookRiot *; Pamela Paul, KQED *; New York Public LibraryAn unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge UniversityBorn to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.';Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Tara Westover's] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?'Vogue';Westover has somehow managed not only to capture her unsurpassably exceptional upbringing, but to make her current situation seem not so exceptional at all, and resonant for many others.'The New York Times Book Review

THE BOOK BEHIND THE THIRD SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES,AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO.Here is the third volume in George R. R. Martin's magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin's stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.A STORM OF SWORDSOf the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King's Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. . . .But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others--a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords. . . .

THE BOOK BEHIND THE SECOND SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES,AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO. A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK TWO In this thrilling sequel to A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has created a work of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination. A Clash of Kings transports us to a world of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare unlike any we have ever experienced. A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

It's five years after the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Death Star, defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, and drove the remnants of the old Imperial Starfleet to a distant corner of the galaxy. Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting Jedi twins. And Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of Jedi Knights. But thousands of light-years away, the last of the Emperor's warlords, Grand Admiral Thrawn, has taken command of the shattered Imperial fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the New Republic. For this dark warrior has made two vital discoveries that could destroy everything the courageous men and women of the Rebel Alliance fought so hard to build.Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

A special fiftieth anniversary edition of Kurt Vonnegut's masterpiece, ';a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century' (Time), featuring a new introduction by Kevin Powers, author of the National Book Award finalist The Yellow BirdsSelected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber's son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming ';unstuck in time.' An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut's writingthe political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive witthat have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Authors as wide-ranging as Norman Mailer, John Irving, Michael Crichton, Tim O'Brien, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, David Sedaris, Jennifer Egan, and J. K. Rowling have all found inspiration in Vonnegut's words. Jonathan Safran Foer has described Vonnegut as ';the kind of writer who made peopleyoung people especiallywant to write.' George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be ';the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.' Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era's uncertainties. ';Poignant and hilarious, threaded with compassion and, behind everything, the cataract of a thundering moral statement.'The Boston Globe

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *; OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK *; Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout continues the life of her beloved Olive Kitteridge, a character who has captured the imaginations of millions.';Strout managed to make me love this strange woman I'd never met, who I knew nothing about. What a terrific writer she is.'Zadie Smith,The Guardian';Just as wonderful as the original . . .Olive, Againpoignantly reminds us that empathy, a requirement for love, helps make life ';not unhappy.''NPRNAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PEOPLE AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time *; Vogue *; NPR *;The Washington Post*; Chicago Tribune*; Vanity Fair *;Entertainment Weekly*; BuzzFeed*;Esquire *; Real Simple *;Good Housekeeping *; The New York Public Library *; The Guardian*; Evening Standard*;Kirkus Reviews *; Publishers Weekly *; BookPagePrickly, wry, resistant to change yet ruthlessly honest and deeply empathetic, Olive Kitteridge is ';a compelling life force' (San Francisco Chronicle).TheNew Yorkerhas said that Elizabeth Strout ';animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,' and she has never done so more clearly than in these pages, where the iconic Olive struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the unforgettable Olive will continue to startle us, to move us, and to inspireusin Strout's words';to bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace as we can.'Praise for Olive, Again';Olive is a brilliant creation not only because of her eternal cantankerousness but because she's as brutally candid with herself about her shortcomings as she is with others. Her honesty makes people strangely willing to confide in her, and the raw power of Ms. Strout's writing comes from these unvarnished exchanges, in which characters reveal themselves in all of their sadness and badness and confusion. . . . The great, terrible mess of living is spilled out across the pages of this moving book. Ms. Strout may not have any answers for it, but she isn't afraid of it either.'The Wall Street Journal

"For more than a decade, Nate DiMeo has brought the big and small of American history to life in The Memory Palace, a podcast of crystalline short stories that are all completely true. In this beautifully designed collection, where DiMeo takes advantage of the visual form of a book by creating striking juxtapositions between images and text, he gathers the best of the show and adds brand-new stories exclusive to the book, which especially take their inspiration from photographs and the emergence of photography. The collection adds up to a unique take on the past that asks what gets to count as history in the first place, draws deep meaning from forgotten lives, and often dives into past crazes and the sometimes humorous and sometimes devastating fact that what or who is popular in one moment can become a barely remembered curiosity in the next. He resurrects stories that deserve to be memorialized, like that of the Surfmen of the Outer Banks who saved countless sailors' lives and the workers who risked theirs daily to dig the base of the Brooklyn Bridge"--

"At once familiar and elusive, Lincoln tends to be seen in popular minds as the greatest of American presidents--a remote icon--or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. This ... portrait gives us a very human Lincoln--an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment was essential to the story of justice in America. Here is the Lincoln who, as a boy, was steeped in the sermons of emancipation by Baptist preachers; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he put it, to do right as God gave him light to see the right. This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier in 1809 to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination at Ford's Theater on Good Friday 1865: his rise, his self-education through reading, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end"--

"Cam Walker goes head-to-head with the villains who have been after Futureland from the start."--

"When four strangers rent bargain-basement rooms in an old hotel near the beach, they embark on the summer of their lives. First there's Ariel Spencer, who has big dreams of becoming a writer and is looking for inspiration in Nantucket's high society. Her new friend Sheila Murphy is a good Catholic girl from Ohio whose desire for adventure is often shadowed by her apprehension. Then there's small-town Missourian Wyatt Smith-who's immediately taken with Ariel. The last of the four, Nick Volkov, is looking to make a name for himself and have a blast along the way. Despite their differences, the four bond over Wednesday night dinners, trips to the beach, and all that Nantucket has to offer. But venturing out on their own for the first time, with all its adventure and risks, could change the course of their future ... Twenty-six years after that amazing summer, Ariel, Sheila, Wyatt, and Nick come together again at the hotel where they first met. Now it's called The Lighthouse and Nick owns the entire operation with his wife and daughter. Ariel and Wyatt, married for decades, arrive with their son, and Sheila's back too, with her daughter by her side. Life hasn't exactly worked out the way they had all hoped. Ariel's dreams have since faded and been pushed aside, but she's determined to rediscover the passion she once had. Nick has the money and reputation of a successful businessman, but is it everything he had hoped for? And Sheila has never been able to shake the secret she's kept since that summer. Being back together again at last will mean confronting the past and finding themselves again. Meanwhile, the next generation discovers Nantucket, exploring the island together, experiencing love and heartbreak, and forging lifelong bonds just as their parents did all those years ago. It's sure to be one unforgettable reunion."--Page 4 of cover.

A savvy former street child working at a law office in Mumbai fights for redemption and a chance to live life on her own terms in this “smart, haunting, and compulsively readable” (Amy Jones, author of We’re All in This Together) debut novel about fortune and survival.  “A heartbreaking yet hopeful story about the resilience of the human spirit in the face of insurmountable odds.”—Etaf Rum, New York Times bestselling author of A Woman Is No ManWith a sharp wit and sharper tongue, twenty-three-year old Rakhi Kumar is nobody’s fool. Sure, she lives alone in a slum and works as a lowly office assistant for the renowned lawyer, Gauri Verma, who gave her a fresh start. But she’s come a long way from her childhood on the streets of Mumbai. Most important, she’s busy enough to distract herself from the nightmares of a grisly childhood incident that led to the disappearance of her best friend. Fiercely intelligent, Rakhi could be doing so much more than making chai, but she allows herself to be underestimated by her colleagues at Justice For All, Gauri’s cash-strapped rights law office. These days, it’s becoming harder for Rakhi to keep her head down as Gauri desperately tries to save her organization by recruiting former Bollywood actress and infamous nineties “thong girl,” Rubina Mansoor, to be their celebrity ambassador. But not all money is good money. Convincing Gauri to make increasingly brash moves, Rubina demands an internship for a young family friend, Harvard-bound graduate student, Alex Lalwani-Diamond. An ambitious, naïve rich kid with a savior complex, Alex persuades Rakhi to show him “the real India.” In exchange, he’ll do something to further Rakhi’s dreams, in a transaction that seems harmless, at first. As old guilt and new aspirations collide, everything Rakhi once knew to be true is set ablaze. And as the stakes mount, she will come face-to-face with the difficult choices and moral compromises one must make in pursuit of self-preservation, and ultimately, survival. Such Big Dreams is a moving, smart, and arrestingly clever look at the cost of reclaiming one’s story.

"A story of pain, injustice, love, resistance, and hope, this glorious book will lodge inside you and make you feel everything.” —Helena Fox, award-winning author of How It Feels to FloatNow in paperback, a queer, YA Handmaid's Tale meets Never Let Me Go about a dystopian society bent on relentless conformity, and the struggle of one girl to save herself and those she loves from a life of lies.Everyone hopes for a letter—to attend the Estuary, the Glades, the Meadows. These are the special places where only the best and brightest go to burn even brighter. When Eleanor is accepted at the Meadows, it means escape from her hardscrabble life by the sea, in a country ravaged by climate disaster. But despite its luminous facilities, endless fields, and pretty things, the Meadows keeps dark secrets: its purpose is to reform students, to condition them against their attractions, to show them that one way of life is the only way to survive. And maybe Eleanor would believe them, except then she meets Rose.Five years later, Eleanor and her friends seem free of the Meadows, changed but not as they’d hoped. Eleanor is an adjudicator, her job to ensure her former classmates don’t stray from the lives they’ve been trained to live. But Eleanor can’t escape her past . . . or thoughts of the girl she once loved. As secrets unfurl, Eleanor must wage a dangerous battle for her own identity and the truth of what happened to the girl she lost, knowing, if she’s not careful, Rose’s fate could be her own.A raw and timely masterwork of speculative fiction, The Meadows will sink its roots into you. This is a novel for our times and for always—not to be missed.

"By day, AWOL Navy SEAL Finn is hiding out on Vieques, a tiny island paradise off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, living in a spare room behind a seafood restaurant owned by a blind local. By night he scours the dark web, hunting for the rogue officer responsible for the crimes he is accused of committing. But Finn's world is about to be turned upside down by a new nightmare, when his employer's two grandchildren go missing. To find them, he'll have to infiltrate the island's dangerous criminal underbelly and expose a shadowy crime network known as La Empresa--even if it means exposing himself in the process."--

A woman’s second act on the island of Nantucket delivers much more than she expected in this captivating novel by New York Times bestselling author Nancy Thayer.“A beautiful, hope-filled, heartwarming story about new beginnings and second chances.”—RaeAnne Thayne, author of The Cafe at Beach EndHeather Willette has a good life in Concord, Massachusetts. But when her marriage fizzles out, Heather has to decide what sort of life to live next. Ready to seek out her own happiness and discover herself again, Heather decides to leave her husband and rent a cottage on Nantucket. And her plan is going perfectly—until her son, Ross, announces he’s moving to Nantucket to work at his girlfriend’s family’s construction business instead of going back home to work with his own father, like he'd promised. Worst of all for Heather, this means having to get along with her. Kailee Essex is thrilled that Ross is willing to move to her hometown. She has big hopes for their happily ever after, especially now that her parents are finally showing interest in her career. She’s less thrilled, however, about his mother living nearby. Kailee has clashed with Heather since the day they met. But anything is possible in the summer sun and sea breezes of Nantucket—even reconciliation. And when change comes sooner than either Heather or Kailee expect, they must learn to overcome their differences to fight for the future they want. With All the Days of Summer, beloved storyteller Nancy Thayer delivers a moving novel that explores the complexity of family and the unexpected ways fate can guide you forward.

"Nicole Maines knows a little something about a "happily-ever-after." Not just because she's a self-professed expert in the Disney princess canon (Ariel's flowing orange hair? ICONIC). But also, she's lived it. After coming out at the age of three, her family had not only come to terms with her transgender identity and accepted her, but they won a landmark court case in the Maine Supreme Court. She graduated high school and got into college. She got her first gender-affirming surgery at eighteen and a boyfriend. She achieved her lifelong goal of becoming an actress when she landed a major role in CW's Supergirl, based on the comics she had always loved. Cue sappy music and sunsets, because we've got ourselves a happy ending, right? Ha! Please! Life isn't actually like that! For the first time, in her own words, Nicole tells her story, bringing us on her journey from her childhood in rural Maine to the spotlights of Hollywood, sharing the lessons she's learned along the way. With clever wit and unflinching honesty, she tackles some of the most insidious messaging absorbed by queer kids and all young women, from the idea that any one thing can (or should) ever really "fix" you, to wondering what's wrong with you when things don't always feel better, and reminding us that, sometimes, a happy ending is only the beginning of the story"--

"Before, Scopuli. It has been centuries since Thelia made the mistake that cost her the woman she loved. As the handmaidens charged with protecting Proserpina, the goddess of spring, Thelia and her sisters are banished to the island of Scopuli, cursed to live as sirens--winged half-woman, half-bird creatures. In luring men to their death, they hope to gain favor from the gods who could free them. But then ships stop coming and Thelia fears a fate worse than the underworld. Just as time begins to run out, a voice emerges--Proserpina's voice--and what she asks of Thelia will spark a daring and dangerous quest for freedom. Now, Roanoke. Thelia can't bear to reflect on her last moments in Scopuli, where she left behind her sisters. After weeks drifting at sea, Thelia's renewed human body is close to death. Luckily, an unfamiliar island appears on the horizon: Roanoke"--

"The holidays are fast approaching, and the Belvedere siblings are a mess. Liz, Hollywood showrunner and responsible eldest, has no idea how to follow up her hit show's first season, or how to deal with her big fat crush on its star, Violet Grace. Birdie turned her chronic middle child syndrome into a career as a stand-up comic, but since she spends more time wooing women than working on new material, she's facing one-hit wonder status, especially once she gets axed by her manager. And Rafi, sensitive romantic and the baby golden boy, proposes to his coworker girlfriend in front of his entire company, only to be turned down by the woman he thought was the love of his life. Born to three different fathers, the three adult children share one mother: famed actress and singer Babs Belvedere. Seeking direction and holiday cheer, all three siblings head up to their mother's house in the Catskills, determined to swear off love and focus on themselves and their work. But the spirit of the season seems to have different plans for them, and their best intentions are quickly derailed in the most delightful and festive of ways"--

The Positive Power series introduce self-esteem and empathy to young readers. I Am Powerful is a fun and encouraging Step 2 Step Into Reading about believing in yourself!Even a young kid can make a difference in their community! I Am Powerful follows a young girl as she learns to trust in her abilities. In this installment of the Positive Power early reader series, children will learn the affirmation "I am powerful" through an encouraging story of self-confidence, self-empowerment and activism.Step 2 Readers use basic vocabulary and short sentences to tell simple stories, for children who recognize familiar words and can sound out new words with help. Rhyme and rhythmic text paired with picture clues help children decode the story.

"An eye-wateringly expensive watch is found discarded on the land days prior to a dead body turning up. "Sister" Jane Arnold sets out to find the connection between the two, with a little help from her friend-both two legged and four-in this transportive mystery from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown"--

A mesmerizing novel of deception and betrayal from the acclaimed author of Wartime Lies and About Schmidt.John North, a prize-winning American writer, is suddenly beset by dark suspicions about the real value of his work. Over endless hours and bottles of whiskey consumed in a mysterious café called L'Entre Deux Mondes, he recounts, in counterpoint to his doubts, the one story he has never told before, perhaps the only important one he will ever tell. North's chosen interlocutor-who could be his doppelgänger-is transfixed by the revelations and becomes the narrator of North's tale. North has always been faithful to his wife, Lydia, but when one of his novels achieves a special success, he allows himself a dalliance with Léa, a starstruck young journalist. Coolly planning to make sure that his life with Lydia will not be disturbed, North is taken off guard when Léa becomes obsessed with him and he with her elaborate erotic games. As the hypnotic and serpentine confession unfurls, we gradually discover the extraordinary lengths to which North has gone to indulge a powerful desire for self-destruction. Shipwreck is a daring parable of the contradictory impulses that can rend a single soul-narcissism and self-loathing, refinement and lust.

Join a young girl and her dog in this Step 2 reader as they joyfully prepare to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights! Perfect for readers ages 4-6.Raina is excited to celebrate Diwali, a Hindu holiday that symbolizes the victory of light over darkness. Along with her family and her best friend, Lion (a little dog with a big sweet tooth!), Raina helps prepare for the celebration. She decorates the house with clay lamps called diyas, makes beautiful rangoli designs with sand, watches colorful fireworks, and shares sweet treats with Lion. It’s a Diwali to remember!Step 2 Readers use basic vocabulary and short sentences to tell simple stories, for children who recognize familiar words and can sound out new words with help. Rhyme and rhythmic text paired with picture clues help children decode the story.

"When the magic tree house returns it whisks Jack and Annie away to the Galapagos Islands where they become World Turtle Experts and must save a tortoise in danger of an erupting volcano"--

At the playground, Brother and Sister Bear agree to teach bossy Too-Small how to play fair and get along with others in this faith-based Berenstain Bears Gifts of the Spirit storybook!When Too-Small tries to be bossy at the playground, no one wants to play with him. Thankfully, Brother and Sister Bear agree to teach him how to be fair and play well with others! This Berenstain Bears Gifts of the Spirit storybook, created by Mike Berenstain, son of Stan and Jan Berenstain, features a soon-to-be classic story about being polite and playing fair with others!The Berenstain Bears Gifts of the Spirit series celebrates the joy of faith, family, and friends—values essential to a wholesome and fulfilling life!