Jackie's Very Fond of This Colletion of Debut Authors from 2014

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A Wonderful Book To Start The New Year With

The incredible journey of one man who sets out to circumnavigate the globe on a vintage motorbike fueled by kindness.

Follow the inspirational journey of a former stockbroker who leaves his unfulfilling desk job in search of a meaningful life. He sets out from Los Angeles on a vintage motorbike, determined to circumnavigate the globe surviving only on the kindness of strangers. Incredibly, he makes his way across the U.S., through Europe, India, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and finally to Canada and back to the Hollywood sign, by asking strangers for shelter, food, and gas. Again and again, he's won over by the generosity of humanity, from the homeless man who shares his blanket to the poor farmer who helps him with his broken down bike, and the HIV-positive mother who takes him in and feeds him. At each stop, he finds a way to give back to these unsuspecting Good Samaritans in life-changing ways, by rebuilding their homes, paying for their schooling, and leaving behind gifts big and small.

The Kindness Diaries will introduce you to a world of adventure, renew your faith in the bonds that connect people, and inspire you to accept and generate kindness in your own life.

Deb Perelman Offers Up A Tasty Treat For The New Year (They Are NOT Just a Holidays!)

A Holiday Recipe

Big Breakfast Latkes

Just about everyone who makes breakfast has a version of breakfast potatoes, be they hash browns or home fries or skillet-smashed potatoes. And just about all cooks make them their very own way—the way they think potatoes should be—and though they may tolerate other breakfast–potato formats, they secretly always think that their personal method, the one they learned from their mama/that diner on Main Street/their friend the chef is the best.

Personally, I just want to eat latkes all year round, and I maintain that if you're limiting your latke consumption to the eight nights of Hanukkah, you are missing out. The latke, at its base, is the ideal breakfast potato—humble russets and everyday onions, shredded, mixed with the slimmest amounts of egg and flour, and fried until brown and crisp on both sides. Latkes hold together better than hash browns, which allows you to make them bigger. And the bigger they are, the more ideal base they become for the other perfect breakfast, a fried egg.

Yield: Four large (5-inch) latkes

1 large baking potato (1 pound or 455 grams), peeled 1 small onion (1/4 pound or 115 grams), peeled 1/4 cup (30 grams) all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 3/4 teaspoon table salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 large egg, lightly beaten Vegetable or olive oil, for frying Fried eggs, to serve (optional)


Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, and keep in oven until needed.

In a food processor or on a box grater, coarsely shred the potato and onion. For longer, moplike strands, I prefer to lay the potato sideways in the chute of the food processor. Transfer the shredded mixture to a square of cheesecloth or lint-free dishtowel, and gather the ends to wring out as much water as possible. Let it stand for 2 minutes, then squeeze it out again.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and egg together. Stir in the potato-onion mixture until all the pieces are evenly coated.

In a small, heavy skillet (cast-iron, if you have one), heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil until it shimmers. Drop one-quarter of the potato mixture into the skillet, and flatten with the back of a spoon to a 5-inch round. Cook the latke over moderate heat until the edges are golden, about 4 to 5 minutes; flip, and cook until golden on the bottom, about 3 to 4 minutes more.

Transfer latke to the prepared baking sheet in the oven. Repeat process with remaining latke batter in three batches, creating a total of four large latkes, being sure to add more oil as needed and letting it fully reheat between pancakes. Keep latkes warm in oven until needed. Serve latkes warm in four wedges with eggs or whole with a fried egg atop each.

Do Ahead: Latkes are a do-aheader's dream. You can also keep the latkes warm in the oven, on low heat, for an hour or more, if you're waiting for stragglers to arrive. If already cooked, they keep well in the fridge for a day or two, or in the freezer, well wrapped, for up to 2 weeks. Reheat the latkes in a single layer on a cookie sheet in a 300-degree oven until they're crisp again. Bonus: If you undercooked them a bit, or didn't get them as brown as you'd hoped, you can compensate for this in the oven.

Cooking Note: For neat edges and a thinner rostilike appearance, you can press each pancake into a 6-inch skillet and proceed to cook according to directions. For lacy, craggyedged latkes, form the pancakes in a larger pan.

The First Book In This Planned Series Hooked Jackie Right Away

In the predominantly Mormon city of Draper, Utah, some seemingly perfect families have deadly secrets.

Linda Wallheim is a devout Mormon, the mother of five boys and the wife of a bishop. But Linda is increasingly troubled by her church’s structure and secrecy, especially as a disturbing situation takes shape in her ward. One cold winter night, a young wife and mother named Carrie Helm disappears, leaving behind everything she owns. Carrie’s husband, Jared, claims his wife has always been unstable and that she has abandoned the family, but Linda doesn’t trust him. As Linda snoops in the Helm family’s circumstances, she becomes convinced that Jared has murdered his wife and painted himself as a wronged husband.

Linda’s husband asks her not to get involved in the unfolding family saga. But Linda has become obsessed with Carrie’s fate, and with the well-being of her vulnerable young daughter. She cannot let the matter rest until she finds out the truth. Is she wrong to go against her husband, the bishop, when her inner convictions are so strong?

Inspired by a chilling true crime and written by a practicing Mormon, The Bishop’s Wife is both a fascinating look at the lives of modern Mormons as well as a grim and cunningly twisted mystery.

Jackie says:

"I found this book to be fascinating in many ways. I have an BA in religious philosophy/history, but I have never been privileged to learn any inside information about Mormonism. This book, and my long talk with the author, answered so many questions for me. I would have loved the novel for that reason alone, but within the plot there are several mysteries brewing in the church ward for which the bishop is responsible. People are dying or disappearing, families are breaking up, and the bishop's wife Linda is trying to get to the bottom of it. I'm so happy to know that Harrison has written two more books in this planned series, with notes and intentions for several more. This is a great story, and I look forward to reading more from Harrison."

Fresh Ink: Spotlight on Debut Books of All Kinds

Luke Slade, a young Congressional aide, begins this business trip to China like all other international travel he's endured with "Lyin' Leo" buried under a slew of diplomatic runarounds, non-functioning cell phones, and humiliation from the Congressman at every turn. But on day two, a new challenge rears its ugly head: Leo goes on a drunken bender and disappears into the night. Unsure what dubious business his corrupt and buffoonish boss had planned, Luke must piece together the Congressman's lies while maintaining appearances with their Chinese contacts.

Amidst the confusion, a little bleary from jet-lag and alcohol, Luke receives a briefcase full of money from the mayor of a rural Chinese province. Luke accepts the "gift" in his daze, but when he later realizes his mistake and tries to return the cash, he discovers even more anxiety-inducing news. The mayor is dead.

As Luke tries to unravel the complex minefield of corruption he's tumbled into, he must also confront his own role in the events. Unwitting marionette? Fall guy? Or perhaps someone more capable of moral compromise than he would have liked to believe.

Last Days in Shanghai is an unforgettable debut by a writer to watch. It's both a hold-on-to-your-seat thriller and a pitch-perfect exploration of present day China--the country's rapacious capitalism, the shocking boom of its cities and the wholesale eradication of its traditions.

Read an excerpt HERE.

Read an article about the shaping of this book HERE.

Praise for the book:

"Walker's shockingly plausible literary debut...[is] an outrageous tale of embezzlement into a rollicking moral drama." ~Publisher's Weekly

"Slimy all-American graft oozes from beneath the economic aspirations of contemporary China in this witty, illuminating thriller.Walker's impressive debut novel is a post-millennial noir thriller in which the grubbier impulses of two superpowers intersect with life-altering results.…Though its observations about China's construction boom and the dismal state of American politics are as fresh as the morning news feed, Walker's novel also feels like a disquieting peek deep into the coming decades of global economic upheaval." ~Kirkus

"This edgy first novel delivers a scathing indictment of congressional politics as it follows a young aide on a business trip to China.…Walker’s smart writing on a host of issues, including China’s frenzied construction boom, which has paved over ancient traditions block by block, and the sorry state of American politics, gives this cautionary tale frisson." ~Booklist

"Last Days in Shanghai is both a comedy and a horror story about mistaken identity and moral inertia; it's also a dreamlike tour through the backalleys of Shanghai, a fever-bright landscape that corresponds to the mental labyrinth of fear and desire.The story is fabulous; the language will knock you flat." ~Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!

"Last Days in Shanghai is about how easily we live our lives in thrall to our own evasions and how fervently we hope for redemption, and its protagonist, who imagines himself to be hardboiled but is really mostly softheaded, is one of those functionaries who helps our corrupt global system toot along despite being all confusion and hopeless compromise. For all his appeal, he presents himself as yet another Innocent Abroad for the same reason most of us do: to deny our complicity in the damage that follows in our wake." ~Jim Sheppard, author of Like You'd Understand, Anyway

Just A Few of the New Fiction On Our Shelves

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Dispatch From the Field: "David Leavitt's novel is well-paced, funny, sexy, and at times sad. Although his characters are in a very unique situation, he brings out the universal humanity in their story." ~Joe

It is the summer of 1940, and Lisbon, Portugal, is the only neutral port left in Europe—a city filled with spies, crowned heads, and refugees of every nationality, tipping back absinthe to while away the time until their escape. Awaiting safe passage to New York on the SS Manhattan, two couples meet: Pete and Julia Winters, expatriate Americans fleeing their sedate life in Paris; and Edward and Iris Freleng, sophisticated, independently wealthy, bohemian, and beset by the social and sexual anxieties of their class. As Portugal’s neutrality, and the world’s future, hang in the balance, the hidden threads in the lives of these four characters—Julia’s status as a Jew, Pete and Edward’s improbable affair, Iris’s increasingly desperate efforts to save her tenuous marriage—begin to come loose.
Gorgeously written, sexually and politically charged, David Leavitt’s long-awaited new novel is an extraordinary work.

Joe says:
"The latest from David Leavitt came out in paperback this year, and it is a book you don't want to miss. This is the story of two couples, displaced by the advancing Nazis to Lisbon, Portugal. Both couples are waiting for safe passage to New York. Pete and Julia Winters are Americans who were living in Paris, and Edward and Iris Freleng are wealthy bohemians. The two couples meet at a streetside cafe, and we follow the impact of their meeting through the eyes of Pete. Lisbon in 1940 was a city brimful of spies, expatriots, and refugees, biding their time waiting to leave by drinking and intrigue. This is a lively, sexy novel with lots of tableside drama as well as a dizzying affair in a city none of the characters really knows. 

Displaced, the characters' lives in this kind of situation takes on a new set of rules, at times thrilling and other times horrifying. David Leavitt's novel is well-paced, funny, sexy, and at times sad. Although his characters are in a very unique situation, he brings out the universal humanity in their story. This is not a novel easily forgotten, thankfully."