AGATE
Freshwater Road (Aug., $23.95) by Denise Nicholas centers on a young black woman who becomes a Freedom Rider in 1964 Mississippi. 4-city author tour.
ALGONQUIN
Responsible Men (Apr., $23.95) by Edward Schwarzchild. His son's impending bar mitzvah spurs a salesman to reassess his relationships with his offspring, his ailing father and his uncle. 10-city author tour.
BALLANTINE
The Poet of Tolstoy Park (Mar., $21.95) by Sonny Brewer. Told by his doctor that he has a year to live, a man survives for two decades. Ad/promo.8-city author tour.
Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue: A Novel of Pastry, Guilt, and Music (Apr., $24.95) by Mark Kurlansky. The James A. Beard Award—winning author offers a comedic tale about a Lower East Side neighborhood in the 1980s. Ad/promo.5-city author tour.
The Bad Mother's Handbook (Apr., $21.95) by Kate Long. A bestseller in the U.K., this is the story of three generations of women living under one roof in northern England. Ad/promo.
Soapsuds (June, $23.95) by Finola Hughes and Digby Diehl. Soap actress Hughes and book critic Diehl join forces to produce this novel about a soap star who blurs the line between daytime drama and real life. Ad/promo.8-city author tour.
BANTAM
Dialogues (May, $23) by Stephen Spignesi. Dialogues with her doctor, lawyer, mother and others give insight into a young woman in a mental hospital facing charges of felony murder. Ad/promo.Author publicity.
BERKLEY
The Town That Came a Courtin' (May, $22.95) by Ronda Rich. A former obituary writer becomes a bestselling author, but still lacks a husband.
BERKLEY SIGNATURE
The Turquoise Ring (May, $22.95) by Grace Tiffany offers a new slant on The Merchant of Venice from five women's perspectives.
CARROLL & GRAF
Acqua Calda (Mar., $24) by Keith McDermott follows a young American's attempt to forge a new life in Italy.
CHRONICLE
Chuck Dugan Is AWOL: A Novel with Maps (May, $19.95) by Eric Chase Anderson uses artwork to advance the plot of a young naval officer obsessed with stamping out corruption. Advertising. Author tour.
DIAL PRESS
The Red Carpet: Bangalore Stories (May, $23) by Lavanya Sankaran juxtaposes tradition with contemporary mores in a collection set in India. 25,000 first printing. Advertising. Author publicity.
DOUBLEDAY
The JAP Chronicles (May, $22.95) by Isabel Rose is the screenwriter and actress's take on life among seven upper-crust women who met at an elite Jewish camp for girls.
The Traveler (June, $24.95) by John Twelve Hawks begins a trilogy of a parallel world.
DOUBLEDAY/NAN A. TALESE
The Icarus Girl (June, $23.95) by Helen Oyeyemi. The 19-year-old author employs Nigerian folklore in her coming-of-age tale about a young female torn between cultures.
Sky Burial (July, $18.95) by Xinran is based on the true story of a woman's 30-year search for her husband in Tibet.
DUTTON
Snakes and Earrings (May, $16.95) by Hitomi Kanehara follows a young girl's exploits in Tokyo's underbelly. Advertising. Author tour.
FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX
The Almond Picker (Mar., $23) by Simonetta Agnello Hornby. Perplexing instructions in her will raise questions about the motives of "the almond picker," born poor in Sicily but fabled to be extravagantly rich at her death.
The Coast of Akron (May, $25) by Adrienne Miller moves from mid-'70s London to present-day Ohio in a story about a screwed-up family.
In the Shadow of the Law (June, $24) by Kermit Roosevelt. The milieu is a D.C. law firm with multibillion-dollar corporations as clients.
FORGE
Nam-A-Rama (Mar., $24.95) by Phillip Jennings revisits the war in Vietnam for black humor and absurdity. Advertising. Author publicity.
Corrupts Absolutely (Apr., $24.95) by Alexa Hunt. The war on drugs threatens to escalate to WWIII. Advertising.
FOURTH ESTATE
The Sad Truth About Happiness (May, $23.95) by Anne Giardini, the eldest daughter of the late Carol Shields, addresses the elusive nature of happiness. 40,000 first printing.
The Testing of Luther Albright (Aug., $23.95) by MacKenzie Bezos has a protagonist determined to avoid his father's mistakes.
HARCOURT
We're in Trouble (Apr., $23) by Christopher Coake contains seven stories dramatizing love in the face of death. Advertising. Author publicity.
Novel (June, $24) by George Singleton. A snake handler who is writing his autobiography in a motel room in Gruel, S.C., stumbles across strange doings. Author publicity.
HARPERENTERTAINMENT
Chore Whore: Adventures of a Celebrity Personal Assistant (Apr., $23.95) by Heather H. Howard dishes deep dirt about Hollywood's beautiful and powerful. 50,000 first printing.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
The Every Boy (July, $19.95) by Dana Adam Shapiro. A father reads the secret ledger of his 15-year-old son after the adolescent's mysterious death. Advertising. 6-city author tour.
HYPERION
The Washingtonienne (June, $23.95) by Jessica Cutler is a roman à clef about scandalous doings on Capitol Hill. 100,000 first printing.
INTERLINK
Everything Good Will Come (Mar., $24.95) by Sefí Atta observes the friendship between two Nigerian females from childhood into adulthood.
KNOPF
Cast of Shadows (Mar., $24.95) by Kevin Guilfoile. When his daughter is raped and murdered, a Chicago doctor specializing in reproductive cloning plans to clone her killer. 75,000 first printing.Ad/promo. 7-city author tour.
LITTLE, BROWN
Misfortune (Apr., $23.95) by Wesley Stace. An English lord adopts an abandoned baby and raises the boy as a girl in 19th-century England. Ad/promo.15-city author tour.
The Historian (June, $25.95) by Elizabeth Kostova. A young girl resumes her late father's unfinished quest: to track down Dracula. Ad/promo.10-city author tour.
LONG RIVER PRESS
When the Purple Mountain Burns: A Novel of China (Mar., $22.95) by Shouhua Qi is set in Nanking during the six days following its fall to the Japanese in 1937. Author tour.
LOUISIANA STATE UNIV. PRESS
The Bone People (Mar., $26.95) by Keri Hulme revolves around three outcasts in New Zealand. Advertising.
MIRAMAX
Margarettown (May, $TBA) by Gabrielle Zevin. Would that all men were like N., who adores the many sides and complexities of the woman he loves.
MORROW
Most Wanted (Mar., $23.95) by Michele Martinez. A young prosecutor races to solve a murder before the killer comes after her. 50,000 first printing.
NEMO (dist. by Univ. of Wisconsin Press)
Sand Mansions (Mar., $24.95) by Norman Gilliland. In 1876, a stuffed ballot box for the presidential election is discovered in Florida.
W.W. NORTON
Blue Beyond Blue: Extraordinary Tales for Ordinary Dilemmas (June, $23.95) by Lauren Slater is a series of fairy tales for adults in which mermaids, seal women and little girls born of eggs appear.
OTHER PRESS
And the Word Was (Apr., $24) by Bruce Bauman is a retelling of the Abraham and Isaac sacrifice myth. Author tour.
Hosack's Folly (Apr., $25) by Gillen D'Arcy Wood. A doctor strives to save old New York from an outbreak of yellow fever and from the corrupt politicians belittling the threat. Author tour.
PANTHEON
Mother of Sorrows (Apr., $20) by Richard McCann focuses on family life in the post-WWII suburbs of Washington, D.C., as told by a narrator whose father died when the boy was 11. Advertising. 4-city author tour.
The Lake, the River & the Other Lake (May, $25) by Steve Amick unfolds during the summer of 2001 in a resort town on Lake Michigan's eastern shore. Advertising. 7-city author tour.
PERMANENT PRESS
The Last Refuge (May, $26) by Chris Knopf. A middle-aged corporate dropout ponders why the old lady next door ended up floating dead in her bathtub.
PUTNAM
As Simple as Snow (Mar., $23.95) by Gregory Galloway. A young man attempts to decode a puzzle that his missing girlfriend may (or may not) have left before her disappearance.
RANDOM HOUSE
Metropolis: A Novel (Mar., $24.95) by Elizabeth Gaffney weaves a tale of the wonder, violence and magic in post—Civil War New York City as a young immigrant couple struggle to achieve the American dream. Advertising. 6-city author tour.
Rules for Old Men Waiting: A Novel (Apr., $21.95) by Peter Pouncey. Elderly Robert MacIver confronts the memories of three major wars, his dearly beloved wife and the grief of a lost son. Advertising. 6-city author tour.
The Company Car: A Novel (May, $24.95) by C.J. Hribal. Opening with a marriage in 1952, this generational saga looks at a family caught in the changing landscape of American life. Advertising. 6-city author tour.
Pretty Birds: A Novel (May, $24.95) by Scott Simon is a darkly comic tale set during the siege of Sarajevo about a high school girl and her perilous life in a city torn apart. 5-city author tour.
RIVERHEAD
The Harmony Silk Factory (Apr., $23.95) by Tash Aw. In 1940s Malaysia, the central figure is either a hero or a betrayer. Author publicity.
First Love (June, $24.95) by Adrienne Sharp imagines George Balanchine as a key character in this story about two young ballet dancers in early 1980s New York City. Advertising.
ST. MARTIN'S
The Illuminator (Mar., $24.95) by Brenda Vantrease explores art, religion and free expression in 14th-century England.
The Bitch Posse (May, $22.95) by Martha O'Connor. Reunited after 15 years, three high school friends determine to keep a secret hidden.
ST. MARTIN'S/THOMAS DUNNE
The Nanny Murders (May, $23.95) by Merry Jones offers up a new take on the woman-in-jeopardy genre. 40,000 first printing.
SCRIBNER
The Loss of Leon Meed (July, $24) by Josh Emmons. A mysterious man's disappearance affects various townspeople.
Q&A (Aug., $24) by Vikas Swarup. How has a barely literate Indian waiter correctly answered the dozen questions on Who Will Win a Billion?
SIMON & SCHUSTER
Speak Softly (Mar., $23) by Pam Lewis. An unlikely friendship between two girls at an exclusive New York City prep school in 1965 leads to a death. 125,000 first printing. Ad/promo. 10-city author tour.
The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole (July, $24) by Stephanie Doyon concerns a fierce rivalry between two boys in a town of underachievers. 50,000 first printing.Ad/promo.7-city author tour.
SOHO PRESS
The Fat Man's Daughter (June, $24) by Caroline Petit. In 1937 Hong Kong, a young woman travels to emperor Henry Pu Yi's court in Manchukuo to help smuggle out precious jewels.
SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIV. PRESS
The Road from Prosperity (May, $22.50) by Nancy Welch is a 12-story collection set in the post-1970s industrial landscape of Ohio.
STATE UNIV. OF NEW YORK PRESS
Keeping House: A Novel in Recipes (Apr., $25) by Clara Sereni. Food preparation is instrumental in a young Italian woman's struggle to discover her identity.
TOBY PRESS
The Genizah at the House of Shepher (Apr., $19.95) by Tamar Yellin. A young scholar returns to her family home in Jerusalem. Author tour.
TOR
Elantris (May, $24.95) by Brandon Sanderson. A princess learns that her intended prince is already dead and that she is believed his widow. Advertising.
UNIV. PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI
Cry Uncle (Mar., $28) by Alan Michael Parker. Racism and hardball politics greet a man hired to downsize small industries.
UNIV. OF OKLAHOMA PRESS
Miracle (May, $17.95) by Leo Dubray introduces a seasoned Native American cop.
VIKING
Dear Zoe (Apr., $21.95) by Philip Beard is an epistolary novel with letters from a 15-year-old to her little sister who died accidentally on September 11, 2001.
Three Day Road (May, $23.95) by Joseph Boyden follows two Cree Indians who become infantry snipers in WWI. 6-city author tour.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter (July, $24.95) by Kim Edwards. Instructed by the father to deposit his child with Down's syndrome in an institution, a nurse keeps the girl herself.
VILLARD
Sex with the Serpent Girl: A Novel (Mar., $19.95) by Matthew Carnahan. Through excess and sheer stupidity, Bailey Quinn somehow has to survive the terrible and sometimes life-threatening choices he's made.
The Other Shulman: A Novel (June, $23.95) by Alan Zweibel. A chubby, middle-aged man has lost 35 pounds enough times to equal another entire person—like another Shulman himself—and now he's actually encountered him.
WALK WORTHY PRESS
Plenty Good Room (Apr., $23.95) by Cheri Paris Edwards. A child-care worker takes in 14-year-old outspoken, church-going Sienna—temporarily. Advertising. Author publicity.
Choose Me (June, $23.95) by Xenia Ruiz. Eva, a celibate Latina Christian, and Adam, an African-American cancer survivor, aren't interested in love until their paths cross. Advertising. Author publicity.
WARNER
Gods in Alabama (Apr., $19.95) by Joshilyn Jackson. Heading to college, Arlene Fleet makes three promises to God on the proviso that the body of a high school quarterback is never found. It's now 10 years later. Ad/promo. 10-city author tour.
Dark Harbor (June, $21.95) by David Hosp. A rising Boston attorney inherits a high-profile client after the body of an old flame and co-worker handling the case is found floating in Boston Harbor. Advertising.
Adored (July, $23.95) by Tilly Bagshawe is a sexy epic about a Hollywood dynasty and its latest meteoric star. Ad/promo. Author publicity.
