A really mixed selection of books upcoming....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION/DEBUT:

John Pipkin's WOODSBURNER chronicles the lives of a lovesick Norwegian immigrant farm hand, a struggling bookseller, a fire and brimstone preacher, and a pencil maker named Henry David Thoreau as their stories intersect over a fire Thoreau accidentally set which burned 800 acres near Walden Pond, to Janet Silver at Houghton Mifflin, in a pre-empt, by Marly Rusoff at Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA).

Professor of history at Brandeis Jane Kamensky and professor of history at Harvard University Jill Lepore's BLINDSPOT, an erotic romp about a fallen woman who disguises herself as a boy to serve as the apprentice to a portrait painter in Boston as the American Revolution is waged, to Cindy Spiegel at Spiegel & Grau, at auction, by Tina Bennett at Janklow & Nesbit (NA).
Nafisa Haji's THE WRITING ON MY FOREHEAD, the story of a free-spirited and rebellious Muslim-American of Indo-Pakistani descent who finds herself caught in a struggle between her family's traditions and her desire for independence, to Laurie Chittenden at William Morrow, by BJ Robbins at BJ Robbins Literary Agency (World).
BJRagency@aol.com Juliette.Shapland@harpercollins.com

MYSTERY/CRIME:
Tasha Alexander's TEARS OF PEARL, taking continuing heroine Lady Emily to Ottoman Constantinople where her visit is interrupted by the slaying of one of the sultan's harem girls, plunging her investigation into an alien world of luxury and deadly intrigue, to Andrew Martin and Charles Spicer at Minotaur, in a pre-empt, for two books, by Anne Hawkins at John Hawkins & Associates (world). ahawkins@jhalit.com

THRILLER:

NYT bestselling author and editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, Kate White's three new thrillers, the first a stand-alone set in New York with a new lead character, moving to Kathy Schneider at Harper, with Marjorie Braman editing, for publication beginning in 2009, by Sandra Dijkstra of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency (world English).

UK:
INCENDIARY author Chris Cleave's LITTLE BEE, about a Nigerian girl who fled to the UK after her family was killed and her village destroyed and goes looking for the couple who saved her, to Suzie Doore at Hodder, in a two-book deal, for publication in August 2008, by Peter Straus at Rogers, Coleridge & White.

NON-FICTION/BIOGRAPHY:

Younger brother of William F. Buckley, Jr., Reid Buckley's THE BUCKLEYS, a look at the iconic American conservative family, to Anthony Ziccardi for Threshold Editions, by Alex Hoyt of Alexander Hoyt Associates.

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

NYT Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author of bestselling LEGACY OF ASHES: The History of the CIA, Tim Weiner's two additional books "on the American struggle for national security in an open democracy," THE ENEMY WITHIN: The FBI and the Search for National Security, about the Bureau's long practice of sweeping up loyal Americans in its dragnets and the deep disorganization within its own ranks, and THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE ON EARTH: How the American Military Shaped the World will be a narrative history of our armed forces and their civilian leaders since the end of WWII, to Bob Loomis at Random House, by Kathy Robbins at The Robbins Office (NA).

NPR foreign correspondent Deborah Amos' THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS, about the millions of Iraqi refugees spilling over into neighboring countries, and the impact this displacement will have upon the region and the world, to Clive Priddle at Public Affairs, by Larry Weissman at Larry Weissman Literary (world English).

MEMOIR:

Army Chaplain Roger Benimoff's FAITH UNDER FIRE, with Newsweek writer Eve Conant, a memoir centered on his struggles with his faith and post-traumatic stress disorder during his second tour of duty in Iraq and while working at Walter Reed Hospital after he returned home, to Mary Choteborsky at Crown, in a pre-empt, by Alice Martell at Alice Martell Agency.

Doreen Orion's QUEEN OF THE ROAD, the true tale of 22,000 miles, 200 shoes, two cats, a poodle, a husband and a bus -- a humorous, heart-felt account of two married mid-40's psychiatrists who have it all until they decide to squeeze it all into a 340-square-foot bus, taking a year-long road trip across the country, to Stacy Creamer at Doubleday, in a pre-empt, in a very nice deal, at Mollie Glick at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.

REFERENCE:

Eric Hanson's A BOOK OF AGES, an idiosyncratic miscellany of biographical facts of the famous and infamous, including failures, rejections, dead ends, as well as early masterpieces, second chances and lifetime achievements, organized by ages one to one hundred, to Shaye Areheart at Harmony, at auction, by Marly Rusoff at Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA).

Wrap...