Dear Burning Questions,
I always seem to be waiting for the next Rosamunde Pilcher novel to be published (only to finish it within a couple of days). Is she currently working on a new novel and when is it expected? Also, what other authors write in the same vein as Pilcher and would hold me over while awaiting her next book?

Cindy Gardere
Marietta, Georgia

Dear Burning Questions,
Just finished reading Marcia Willett's A Week in Winter which reminded me so much of Rosamunde Pilcher and Shell Seekers, I had to write and ask you if she and/or her son Robin have any books forthcoming? Thanks for any info on her (them) and for your interesting monthly column!

Donna Krejci
Rhinelander, Wisconsin

We just love it when BookPage readers answer each other's questions—it save us some work and gives us a chance to comment on how smart our readers are. Fans yearning for more Pilcher-style fiction would indeed be wise to check out A Week in Winter, the first novel by British writer Marcia Willett to be published in the U.S. The charming story revolves around a widow's efforts to sell her country house in Cornwall.

Scottish writer Pilcher, 78, indicated in at least one recent interview that she might not write another book, but we hear she has changed her mind. Thomas Dunne, her editor at St. Martin's, visited Pilcher in Scotland late last year and reports that she is indeed writing a novel. Ditto for son Robin, who is also said to be working on another book. St. Martin's doesn't have an estimate on publication dates for either, but at least Pilcher fans can take heart that more books are on the way.

IN THE BLACK

Dear Burning Questions,
I would like to know if Gwynn Hyman Rubio is writing anything new. I read and fell in love with Icy Sparks and am waiting patiently for her to come out with another book.

Lisa Eickler
Amity Harbor, NY

Rubio's Icy Sparks (1998), an Oprah's Book Club selection about a young Kentucky girl with Tourette's syndrome, left many readers hoping for more from this first-time author. Her publicist at Viking tells us Rubio has signed for two more novels, the first of which—Black Pitch—is scheduled for publication in January 2004. The daughter of No Time for Sergeants author Mac Hyman, Rubio lives in Berea, Kentucky.

LIBRARIANS TO THE RESCUE

Reader Mary Stanton of Tupelo, Mississippi wrote last month to ask for help in recalling the title of a book she enjoyed as a teenager. Wouldn't you know a librarian solved the mystery:

Dear Burning Questions,
One of my talented co-workers came up with an answer for Mary Stanton's question in the December 2002 issue. Mad, Mad Monday by Herma Silverstein (E.P. Dutton, 1988) seems to fit Mary's description. The summary: "In trying to cast a spell with a love potion designed to bewitch handsome but conceited Stormy, fourteen-year-old Miranda actually conjures up the ghost of a boy who died in 1958."

Carol Tracy
Reference Librarian, Mokena Community Public Library
Mokena, Illinois

Remembrance of books past

Before we plunge into another year of searching for books worth reading, we pause here (ever so briefly) to recall some of the best titles we encountered in 2002:

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides: The author of The Virgin Suicides managed to accomplish something rare in fiction—writing a second novel that exceeded expectations. Middlesex is a surprisingly down-to-earth tale about—of all things—a hermaphrodite. The star of Eugenides' book is a gender-blending individual named Calliope, who spends the first 14 years of her life as a girl, only to switch sexes. Sounds strange, but this book is no freak show. A nine-year labor on Eugenides' part, the novel is an ambitious, expansive and original narrative, the product of a writer with an uncanny ability to channel the teenage female voice.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold: The most talked about book of the year, Sebold's debut novel was a surprise hit that reigned atop the bestseller lists for weeks, beating out several old pros for the number-one spot. Narrated by a murdered teenaged girl looking down from heaven at the trials of her surviving family and friends, The Lovely Bones is an inventive portrait of loss, alienation and hope.

Enemy Women by Paulette Giles: Set in the Ozarks during the Civil War, this remarkably assured, starkly beautiful debut features 18-year-old Adair Colley, a headstrong, black-eyed beauty who's falsely accused of being a Confederate spy. Imprisoned in a house of detention for women in St. Louis, Adair falls in love with the Union major who interrogates her there. The obstacles they must overcome in order to be together make for an unforgettable romance.

Jesse James by T. J. Stiles: Offering a fresh perspective on a folk hero, Stiles situates the storied gunslinger and his followers in the context of the Reconstructionist South, depicting the James gang as a posse with a purpose—to maintain a slave-holding society. With its exciting accounts of bushwhacking, banditry and brutality, Stiles' book was one of the year's best biographies, an invaluable re-evaluation of the man and his myth.

Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz: This salty, swashbuckling, high-seas adventure story retraces the journeys of 18th century English explorer James Cook. Putting in at exotic ports like Tahiti, Bora-Bora and Australia, Horwitz follows in the captain's footsteps while navigating smoothly between memoir, humor and historical fact.

Unless by Carol Shields: In what might be her last book, the Pulitzer-Prize winning Canadian writer, who is suffering from cancer, captures the struggles of a mother trying to understand why her much-loved daughter has gone off track. Shields excels at depicting the texture of everyday life, while addressing profound questions about happiness and meaning.

Three Junes by Julia Glass: Already an accomplished painter, Glass took home the National Book Award in fiction for her first novel, surprising almost everyone in publishing. Told in three parts, each set in the month of June, Glass' debut is a moving and beautifully written examination of heartache and its aftermath. Read our May 2002 interview with Glass at www.bookpage.com.