TOMORROW TO BE BRAVE: A Memoir of the Only Woman Ever to Serve in the French Foreign Legion
by Susan Travers.
Free Press
An exceptional spy and soldier story of an young English girl who signed up with the Free French in 1940 , fell in love with a Foreign Legion General, led a daring breakout through enemy lines and served as the only official female member of the Legion ever. A first hand account of "heroism and heart break."

YANKS: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I
by John S.D. Eisenhower.
Free Press
At last, a WWI book in the midst of this season's endless stream of WWII books. Eisenhower focuses on the often misrepresented story of the American Expeditionary Force which grew from an under-equipped band of 120,000 troops into a dominant force of four million and created our modern American army.

THE SLAMMERKIN
by Emma Donoghue
Harcourt Brace
Big seller in U.K. by an unusual young talent. The story was inspired by a teenage girl who murdered her mistress in 1763 because she "longed for fine clothes." An 18th century story told with a 21st century sensibility about class and gender.

AN HONORABLE DEFEAT: The Last Days of the Confederate Government
by William C.Davis
Harcourt Brace
HBJ's biggest title of the season by well-known author who is Director of Programs at the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. This is the dramatic tale of the fall, flight and capture of the Confederate Government.

THE AMERICAN DREAM: Stories From the Heart of Our Nation
by Dan Rather
William Morrow
An inspirational new book that, with true stories of success American style, examines how our nation's earliest ideals resonate today. "American Dream" segments, narrated by Rather will air on CBS News this spring. Sounds like Rather is doing a "Brokaw" in a more general way.

MISCONCEPTION
by Robert Shapiro and Walt Becker
William Morrow
Shapiroís (yes, the defense lawyer himself) second thriller-diller taken from todayís headlines. A good beach book, perhaps?

THE BRONZE HORSEMAN
by Paullina Simons
William Morrow
Billed as a Russian Thorn Birds, this is a sweeping epic of passion, betrayal and survival set during the German invasion of the USSR in 1941. Her last book, Tully, was an ìinternational bestseller.

REGGAE EXPLOSION: The Story of Jamaican Music
by Chris Silas & Adrian Boot
Abrams
With over 400 photos, they chart the course of "the rhythmic revolution that began on the tiny island and took over the world."

MATISSE: FATHER & SON
by John Russell
Abrams
Trade paper edition of this widely acclaimed duel bio by former NY Times chief art critic.

OHIO
WISCONSIN
Abrams
Two new titles in the Abrams series of illustrated guide/history/heritage books that "celebrate the essence of each of the 50 states." Inexpensive, thorough. MR. MAYBE
by Jane Green
Broadway Books
Wildly funny story of the universal quest for the perfect mate. Her last book, Jemima J, did very well -- even more is expected from this title. Big bestseller in the UK.

ALL ELEVATIONS UNKNOWN: An Adventure in the Heart of Borneo
by Sam Lightner
Broadway Boooks
A super climbing story by one of our most accomplished climbers who scaled Batu Lawi which had never been mapped and was only rumored to exist. Good armchair adventure/travel with a little-known piece of WWII history thrown in.

THE BEST A MAN CAN GET: A Novel of Fatherhood and Its Discontents
by John O'Farrell
Broadway Books
"Hilarious, touching" debut novel in the Nick Hornby tradition. the hero lives a double life -- one wit his family and one with his buddies indulging in "all the stupid...stuff that most men dream about."

DARK
by Kenji Jasper
Broadway Books
Trade paper original -- good African-American, gritty, urban coming-of-age story.

SEVEN UP
by Janet Evanovich
St. Martin's
The 7th Stephanie Plum caper -- with murder, kidnapping, extortion, fast cars, fast men, fast food, what more could anyone ask? Bound to do well.

THE FINAL SEASON: Fathers, Sons, and One Last Season in a Classic American Ballpark
by Tom Stanton
St. Martin's
A "powerful" memoir about the loss of a beloved ballpark (Tiger Stadium) and coming to terms with a parent's mortality.

WISE WORDS FOR GOLFERS: A Dazzling Compendium of Quotes, Anecdotes,, and Gems of Wisdom from the Royal and Ancient Game
by Dale Concannon
St. Martin's
Light-hearted look at golf, with wit and wisdom from the greats.

THE GIRL FROM PURPLE MOUNTAIN: Love, Honor, War and One Family's Journey from China to America
by May-Lee Chai and Winberg Chai
St. Martin's
Father and daughter team reconstruct the his mother's story and her life in turbulent 20th century China. "Captures the soul of a family...the essence of 20th century China." Well written and reads like a novel.

BEL CANTO
by Ann Patchett
HarperCollins
New novel from the bestselling author of The Magician's Assistant, deals with a terrorist takeover at an embassy party in South America and surprising events of the imprisonment of an American opera singer, a Japanese CEO and his translator.

SHERMAN: A soldier's Life
by Lee Kennett
HarperCollins
Bold new interpretation of the Civil War general based on previously untapped sources.

SHARPE'S TRAFALGAR: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805
by Bernard Cornwell
HarperCollins
The "break-out" novel of the multi-volume Richard Sharpe series. Big seller in UK and quite overtly in the "tradition of Patrick O'Brian."

MURDER IN SPOKANE: Catching a Serial Killer
by Mark Fuhrman
HarperCollins
Yes, the same Mark Fuhrman of O.J. fame is back again with a real-life police procedural (he should know!) that track the tracking, and mis-tracking, of a man who killed 23. Fuhrman maintains that Spokane police should have been able to find the perp 2 years earlier.

WIDOWER'S HOUSE: A Study in Bereavement or How Margot and Mella Forced Me to Flee My Home
by John Bayley
Norton
The third book by Bayley since his wife, Iris Murdoch, died (Elegy for Iris was a big bestseller). This is billed as "a hilarious comedy of errors and a delightful love story by England's most improbable sex symbol."

THE SEVEN DAUGHTERS OF EVE: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
by Bryan Sykes
Norton
Sykes, an Oxford University geneticist, lays the foundation for an entirely new branch of DNA study, one that reveals how we (Europeans in the greater sense, that is) are descended from seven prehistoric women. He will do the same for Africa, Asia, etc. Should have scientific and cultural reverberations.

GRAND AMBITION
by Lisa Michaels
Norton
Debut novel about love, adventure and one couple's reckless daring set in 1928. Newlyweds run the Grand Canyon rapids and disappear -- based on a real story.

BASE INSTINCTS: What Makes Killers Kill
by Jonathan Pincus, M.D.
Norton
"Groundbreaking" exploration of the origins of violent behavior. He gets inside the mind of serial killers and explains their compulsion by a combo of abuse and frontal lobe damage.

NATASHA: The Biography of Natalie Wood
by Suzanne Finstad
Crown
An "explosive" new book that reals things that "even Dominick Dunne doesn't know" and that will put an end to the mysteries about her puzzling death and turbulent life.

A FORTUNE-TELLER TOLD ME: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
by Tiziano Terzani
Crown
A high-powered, jet-age, jet-traveling correspondent recounts his year in the Far East traveling by foot, boat, bus, car and train -- no planes -- and rediscovering the land, the people and himself. "Gorgeously written."

THE DEARLY DEPARTED
by Elinor Lipman
Random House
Lipman, called an "urbane romantic," blends social comedy, pointed wit and precise pacing in this new novel about the return of a young woman to the scene of her unhappy adolescence in a tiny New Hampshire town.

GAME FACE: What Does a Female Athlete Look Like?
Random House
An extraordinary collection of photos and personal stories that document the enormous impact of female sports on society and on women of all ages. Will be published to coincide with a major exhibition at the Smithsonian that will then tour for five years.

THE TALE OF THE ROSE: The Passion That Inspired The Little Prince
by Consuelo de Saint-Exupery
Random House
The newly discovered memoir by Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Argentinean wife that was the love letter, in the form of a fable just as magical and tragic as The Little Prince, she wrote a year after her husband disappeared while flying a reconnaissance mission over occupied France in 1944.

THE TRUTH IS...My Life in Love and Music
by Melissa Etheridge
Villard
This is expected to be a Biggy. Etheridge talks "unflinchingly" about her Kansas roots, her brilliant rise to stardom, becoming a female superstar in the male dominated rock world and her public coming-out.

BOOKENDS: Two Women, One Enduring Friendship
by Leona Rostensberg and Madeleine Stern
Free Press
An intimate look at the joys of a friendship that has lasted for over 50 years and a shared passion for literature. Now, in their late 90s, these two former rare book dealers (they wrote Old Books, Rare Friends) recount their fascinating personal histories that are, too, a chronicle of the cultural changes in 20th century American life. A friend at Free Press calls this book "especially lovely."

CASINO MOSCOW: A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism's Wildest Frontier
by Matthew Brzezinski
Free Press
An irreverent, truly funny tale of how a Wall St. Journal stringer, trying to make sense of the financial markets in the roaring Russia of the 90s, was instantly plunged into the crazed world of the Wild Wild East where the capitalist market has gone haywire in an era of boundless hope and despair. BookPage read the first few chapters and it is truly fun, funny and very well written. Watch for the author on the Today Show.

ELVIS IN THE MORNING
by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Harcourt Brace
A novel about friendship, celebrity, social change and Elvis Presley set against the panorama of the turbulent '60s. Buckley and Elvis make strange bedfellows, bound to get mucho attention.

I WISH I HAD A RED DRESS
by Pearl Cleage
William Morrow
Bestselling, Oprah Book club author with a new novel featuring one of the characters from her last, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day. Sources say she should do well again.

AMERICAN GODS
by Neil Gaiman
William Morrow
A premier SF writer returns with a new novel that "delves into the murky depths where reality and imagination meet." Not hard core SF. Big expectations for this one -- good "Beach Read."

MOVING TARGET
by Elizabeth Lowell
William Morrow
Newest entry from a major romantic suspense author, "teeming with adventure, desire and intrigue.." Another promising "Beach Read."

BREAD ALONE
by Judith Ryan Hendricks
William Morrow
Baking bread and its "unexpected and wondrous healing power" is the focus of this debut novel (perhaps kneading for the needy??), with recipes. Author is -- guess what? -- a baker. A "yummy" read for Like Water for Chocolate fans.

MICROSOFT ENCARTA COLLEGE DICTIONARY
St. Martin's
The first entirely new college dictionary in more than 30 years with up-to-the-minute coverage of new words, correct usage. This could be a big deal!

MARIA CALLAS:An Intimate Biography
by Anne Edwards
St. Martin's
Friends at the publisher say that it is more comprehensive than Nick Gage's biggy of last season.

A THEORY OF RELATIVITY
by Jacquelyn Mitchard
HarperCollins
Two sets of grandparents fight over the custody of a grandchild when her parents are killed in a car crash -- family love tested and "the frontiers of the human heart pushed to unimagined limits." Bound to be a bestseller!!

THE CATSITTERS
by James Wolcott
HarperCollins
Much anticipated novel by Vanity Fair favorite deals sex, maleness and romance.

BABE IN PARADISE
by Marisa Silver
Norton
A "hot book" -- sexy, edgy collection of stories set in contemporary LA. Silver has written for The New Yorker.

THE SALT LETTERS
by Christine Balint
Norton
Debut novel -- "sensuous" evocation of a young woman's journey from refined England, to the wilds of Australia. Set in 1854.

Jacqueline Susann's SHADOW OF THE DOLLS
by Rae Lawrence
Crown
Jackie's estate selected Rae Lawrence, a pseudonym for a Random House editor who wrote Satisfaction, to write this "dream-come-true" sequel to Valley of the Dolls that matches Jackie shock for shock. Lawrence used Jackie's first draft screen play that continued the stories of Anne, Neely and Lyon to work from. Crown is printing 200,000 copies, which I think, makes this the BEACH READ of the new century.

JUSTICE: Crimes, Trials and Punishments
by Dominick Dunne
Norton
A new collections of Dunne's courtroom writing including von Bulow, Simpson. the Menendez Bros., Michael Skakel, etc. No one does celebrity crime better. He'll be on the TODAY show, etc. and big sales are anticipated. Printing 75,000 copies. His big new celeb murder book should be coming out late this year.

SPEAKING OF BOOKS: The Best Things Ever Said About Books and Book Collecting
by Rob Kaplan and Harold Rabinowitz
Norton
1000 memorable quotes to delight book lovers.

IF WE HAD WINGS: The Enduring Dream of Flight
by Rinker Buck
Norton
An interactive celebration of flight from the Renaissance dreamers to the astronauts. Aimed at the millions who are fascinated by the subject. Large format, illustrated throughout.

THE MYTH OF EXCELLENCE: Why Great Companies Never Try to Be the Best at Everything
by Fred Crawford and Ryan Mathews
Norton
Advice from the very successful -- pick two things and do them very, very well, the rest will fall into place.

THE OUTDOOR LIVING ROOM: Stylish Ideas for Porches, Patios and Pools
by Martha Baker
Crown
How to treat outdoor spaces as extensions of your home, with 45 "enlightened" approaches to the great outdoors and over 250 color photos.

THE FOURTH HAND
by John Irving
Random House
A new Irving novel is always a major event and this one sounds particularly Irvingesque -- with a plot that involves a TV journalist having his hand eaten off by a lion in full view of million of watchers, a renowned Boston surgeon awaiting his big opportunity to perform a hand transplant and a Wisconsin woman who wants to donate her husband's hand, but the husband is alive and well. May sound like satire, but becomes a "penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change."

JUNIOR'S LEG
by Ken Wells
Random House
Junior Guidry, broke, drunk, one-legged and living in a trailer at the edge of swamp in Cajun country, narrates this dark, funny tale of a bully, his comeuppance and one last chance at redemption. Billed as ribald, sexy, poignant and unsettling.

CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS
by Katherine Tanney
Villard
Debut novel of coming-of-age in LA in the late 1970s. "Sparkles with pitch-perfect dialogue, and an astonishing sense of place." Also promises "belly laughs and heartbreak."

ON DOCTORING: Stories, Poems, Essays
Free Press
This is the a new, revised, expanded third edition of an inspiring volume of writings on the world of doctors and medicine. This will be a great gift for medical students, doctors. etc.

THE HUNTERS
by Claire Messud
Harcourt Brace
Two short novels about isolation . Her last novel, The Last Life, got extraordinary review attention.

THE RIDDLE OF THE COMPASS: The Invention That Changed the World
by Amir Aczel
PUBLISHER
Bestselling science writer (wrote Fermat's Last Theorem) unfolds the fascinating story of the compass and its impact on the world.

THE FORGOTTEN
by Faye Kellerman
William Morrow
Her new spine-tingling Peter and Rina Decker mystery with multiple murders and fearless psychopath on the rampage. Perfect "Beach Read."

UNTITLED
by Christopher Anderson
William Morrow
That of course is not the title -- there is no title yet. And the subject is bound to be insider scoop on a celeb (he wrote The Day That John Died and The Day That Diana Died) It too, is yet to be revealed as is the "one day laydown." Sound like the "Emperor's New Hype"? Well, stay tuned...

TOO MANY MEN
by Lily Brett
William Morrow
"Funny and moving" Australian bestseller.

COMING BACK ALIVE: The Final Voyage of the La Conte in Alaska's High Seas
by Spike Walker
St. Martin's
A true-life look at the U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue Teams who flew their choppers into the heart of a powerful storm to save a five man fishing boat crew from 90-foot seas and freezing water. A beach read for boys??

WILDLIFE WARS: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures
by Richard Leakey and Virginia Morell
St. Martin's
"Long-awaited" memoir by inspirational, influential, controversial man who has led the crusade to save Kenya's wildlife, made headlines and made enemies.

THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
by Simon Winchester
HarperCollins
Story of the 19th century engineer who became obsessed with creating the world's first geological map by the author of "The Madman and the Professor." It should be a Biggy.

EVEN DOGS GO HOME TO DIE
by Linda St. John
HarperCollins
Moving, funny original memoir of white-trash girlhood told in a series of literary snapshots.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
by John Colapinto
HarperCollins
"Literary" thriller and dark comedy about a severe case of writer's block and a unique way to get around it. Colapinto wrote As Nature Made Him. This is his first novel.

THE DANCE OF CONNECTION: How to Talk to Someone When You're Mad, Hurt, Scared, Frustrated, Insulted, Betrayed or Desperate
by Harriet Lerner
HarperCollins
Now there's a sub-title that says it all. Lerner is the bestselling author of The Dance of Anger and has a big following.

VENUS ENVY: A Sensational Season Inside the Women's Tennis Tour
by L. Jon Wertheim
HarperCollins
Chronicle of the most tumultuous year on the women's circuit with intimate portraits of the superstars. Women's tennis is b-i-g and this will be just in time for the U.S. Open.

AROUND AMERICA: A Tour of Our Magnificent Coastline
by Walter Cronkite
Norton
A travelogue of the history and natural beauties of America's coast, with little known facts about the coastlines he loves to sail.

THE INVISIBLE REVOLUTION
by Michael Lewis
Norton
An exploration, as only Lewis can do, of the brave new world spawned by the Internet. As in "THE NEW NEW THING," Lewis profiles 3 people who exemplify the new order.

GREAT WATERS: An Atlantic Passage
by Deborah Cramer
Norton
A scientific meditation, based on research from oceanographers, geologists, biologists, and chemists on the devastating environmental damage inflicted on the Atlantic Ocean. Norton hopes that Cramer will be compared to Rachel Carson.

THE COLOSSAL BOOK OF MATHEMATICS: Classic Puzzles, Paradoxes and Problems
by Martin Gardner
Norton
The grand old man of mathematical puzzles offers up the ultimate compendium for the amateur.

THE CHILD OF THE HOLY GRAIL
by Rosalind Miles
Norton
The concluding "unexpected, unforgettable" volume in the Guenevere trilogy. Don't worry, she has another trilogy in the works, or in the oven, or wherever you keep germinating trilogies. The first volume of this series is out in paper and the second will be released in June. There is a discussion group guide available for all three.

THE QUANTUM AND THE LOTUS: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet
by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan
Crown
An "Important" book for Crown. A dialogue between a molecular biologist who became a Buddhist monk and an astrophysicist who was raised as a Buddhist that explores the remarkable connections between modern science and Buddhism.

THE LANGUAGE OF CELLS: Life as Seen Under the Microscope
by Spencer Nadler
Random House
A surgical pathologist takes us on a journey into the tiny, beautiful and sometimes deadly world of cells and into the lives of people affected by them. Very well written.

STILL I RISE
by Maya Angelou
Random House
One of Angelou's most inspiring poems in a new gift edition illustrated with vivid paintings by Diego Rivera.

CHESTY: The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller
by Lt. Col. Jon Hoffman, USMCR
PUBLISHER
A new and forceful portrait of a great Marine Corps hero -- whom some consider the greatest of them all. Interestingly, his son wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning memoir, Fortunate Son.

ZIGZAGGING DOWN A WILD TRAIL
by Bobbie Ann Mason
Random House
A collection of "stunning" new short stories that "capture the essence of contemporary America in a time of transition and change...."

BAREFOOT-HEARTED
by Kathleen Meyer
Villard
Fresh, funny memoir by the author of How to Shit in the Woods, which has sold over 1.5 million copies, about her travels with an Irish-gypsy-farrier across the West by horse and wagon and the household they establish in Montana's Bitterroot Valley.

THE FIRE OF HIS GENIUS: Robert Fulton and the American Dream
by Kirkpatrick Sale
Free Press
A new biography of the complex man whose innovation brought about the Industrial Revolution and opened the American West.

MILKING THE MOON: A Southerner's Story of Life on This Planet
by Eugene Walter as told to Katherine Clark
PUBLISHER
Foreword by George Plimpton. Walter was in all the right places at all the right times, he grew up in Mobile, was in Greenwich Village in the 40s, Paris in the 50s, Rome in the 60s. His stories with personal glimpses of many of the 20th century's cultural giants (Faulkner, Fellini, Martha Graham, Mastroianni, to name but a few) form what should be a fascinating, entertaining oral biography.

WUHU DIARY: On Taking My Adopted Daughter Back to Her Hometown in China
by Emily Prager
Random House
A mother and daughter's unique journey to understand a heritage they share. Prager has written three novels and short stories.