2012 CATALOGUE « Two Roads

TWO ROADS CATALOGUE 2012

TWO ROADS

Two Roads is a new imprint of Hodder & Stoughton that started publishing in 2011.

Our mantra is stories voices places lives – we publish strong narrative-led fiction and non-fiction. Books of distinction published in a distinctive way. Books that are compelling and wonderfully written, books that you want to press into the hands of your friends and say . . . you must read this.

Oh, and in answer to those who’ve asked why it is called Two Roads? It takes its name from the famous Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken (you know, the one about two roads diverging in a wood and a road less travelled). I don’t know about less travelled, but we’re hoping to find a direct path by doing things a little differently. Please visit our website and see what’s happening – maybe even send us a comment.

I hope you enjoy what we have coming up in 2012.

Lisa Highton

Publisher

February

THE SEA ON OUR SKIN

Madeleine Tobert

A debut novel from an exceptional writer. . .

In a small village on a remote island in the South Pacific, a young girl is married to a man who is her opposite in every way. The Sea on Our Skin is the lyrical story of their marriage, their children and the past that haunts them all, told with the dreamlike rhythms of an island storyteller.

Madeleine Tobert was born in Scotland and travelled to the South Seas when she was just seventeen. She now lives in Auckland with her Fijian husband.

February

A CENTURY OF WISDOM: lessons from thelife of Alice Herz-Sommer, the world’s oldest living Holocaust survivor

Caroline Stoessinger

Some of the valuable life lessons from Alice’s extraordinary and long life. The story of one woman’s lifelong determination – in the face of some of the worst evils known to man – to bring good to the world.

I am still grateful for life. Life is a present.

Alice Herz-Sommer

Caroline Stoessinger is a prominent pianist and professor of music. She has known Alice for several years and is currently working on a documentary film about Alice. She lives in New York.

April

THE VET: the big wild world

Luke Gamble

More heart-warming tales from the West Country vet. Luke’s marrying the girl of his dreams while launching his own practice. On top of that, he’s managing his international vet charity. Busy from the New Forest to The Gambia, Luke is a very 21st century vet.

Luke Gamble is a West Country treasure . . . like Dr Dolittle but real!

Martin Clunes

Luke is a vet based primarily in the New Forest, but his work with the Worldwide Veterinary Service charity takes him much further afield and was the subject of two TV series on Sky 1.

April

CATS AND DAUGHTERS: they don’t always come when called . . .

Helen Brown

The eagerly anticipated follow-up to the bestseller, Cleo. Cats and Daughters is Helen Brown’s frank and often funny account of age and stage — a power struggle between a mother and a daughter, some major life events — from illness to weddings — and the added bonus of the insane family cat called Jonah.

Helen’s previous book, Cleo, was an international bestseller and is currently being made into a film. It is also available from Two Roads.

May

DREAM NEW DREAMS: reimagining my life after loss

Jai Pausch

The real story behind The Last Lecture , Dream New Dreams is the remarkably frank and deeply moving memoir about death, dying and the grieving process, by the wife of the late Randy Pausch.

Also available from Two Roads, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

September

HAPPIER AT HOME: kiss more, jump more, abandon a project, read Samuel Johnson, and my other experiments in the practice of everyday life

Gretchen Rubin

In the spirit of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin embarks on a new project to make home a happier place.

Gretchen Rubin is the author of several books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Happiness Project. She lives in New York city with her husband and two daughters.

September

THE STOCKHOLM OCTAVO

Karen Engelmann

A debut novel set in Stockholm’s Golden Age of the 18th century. Emil Larsson is a contented bachelor until he is told that his government position depends on his finding a wife. Mrs Sparrow, proprietor of an exclusive gaming house, fortune teller (and confidante of King Gustav III) offers to lay an Octavo for him — a form of cartomancy which can divine his future if he can find the eight individuals who can help him realise his vision.

Karen Engelmann lived and worked in Sweden for nine years. She now lives in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

October

THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB

Will Schwalbe

The moving and wide-ranging story of Will and his mother Mary Anne and their special book club during the last two years of her life while she was undergoing cancer treatment. Joyous and inspiring, this unique book club discussion shows how books shape and define us and help make sense of it all.

If you love books about books, enjoyed The Last Lecture, Tuesdays with Morrie and Reading Lolita in Tehran, then The End of Your Life Book Club is for you…

Here are just some of the books they read and shared and loved:

A Fine Balance

A Long Way Gone

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Brooklyn

The Year of Magical Thinking

Crossing to Safety

St Joan

The Uncommon Reader

The Last Lecture

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Price of Salt

Mary Anne Schwalbe (pictured on left) died in 2009. She was a tireless humanitarian worker whose last project was helping to build libraries in Arghanistan. Will Schwalbe (pictured on right) worked in New York publishing for many years before founding the website Cookstr.

GREAT NON-FICTION, ALREADY PUBLISHED . . .

Out in paperback this year, we have THE VET: my wild and wonderful friends, West Country vet Luke Gamble’s first book about the vet life; SIGNS OF LIFE, Natalie Taylor’s memoir of moving from wife to widow to mother; THE READING PROMISE: 3,218 nights of reading with my father, Alice Ozma’s incredible story of the reading ‘streak’ she shared with her father; FARANGI GIRL: growing up in Iran, a daughter’s story, Ashley Dartnell’s memoir of her childhood in Iran during the time of the Shah; and THE PUPPY DIARIES: living with a dog named Scout, tales of puppy-dom from New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson.

A gamut of emotions; laughter, serious weeping, but always enjoyable.

CLARISSA DICKSON WRIGHT (on THE VET)

See if you can stop after page one.

ELIZABETH BERG (on SIGNS OF LIFE)

a must-read treasure for parents, especially, and bibliophiles, certainly.

BOOKLIST (on THE READING PROMISE)

a fascinating and heartbreaking insight into a childhood interrupted.

COSMOPOLITAN (on FARANGI GIRL)

Unaffected, unironic and lovingly goofy . . .

NEW YORK TIMES (on THE PUPPY DIARIES)

GREAT FICTION, ALREADY PUBLISHED . . .

Sara Gruen’s phenomenal bestseller Water for Elephants has now sold almost 5 million copies worldwide and is a book group favourite as well as a highly successful film. Her new novel, Ape House, is another study of our relationship with animals, this time with our nearest animal relative, the bonobo.