Nicholas Evans, author of such best sellers as “The Horse Whisperer” and “The Loop,” returns with “The Divide,” a novel about how divorce can tear a family apart. Former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart takes part in Henry Holt’s American Presidents Series with his “James Monroe.” In paperbacks, look for Anita Shreve’s “Light on Snow,” the story of what happens when a 12-year-old girl and her father find a baby wailing on the side of the road. Looking ahead, you can expect “The Lost Painting,” by “A Civil Action” author Jonathan Harr. This one is about the search for a painting by the master Caravaggio.
FICTION
“The Divide,” by Nicholas Evans, Putnam, 403 pages, $26.95|When two skiers find the body of an eco-terrorist, an examination of her life reveals a family’s dirty little secrets.
“School Days,” by Robert B. Parker, Putnam, 295 pages, $24.95|Parker’s famous character Spenser is back with a case involving a teenager accused of a horrific crime.
“The Saint of Lost Things,” by Christopher Castellani, Algonquin, 336 pages, $23.95|Set in 1953 in a tight-knit Italian neighborhood, three people take solace from their losses under the spires of St. Anthony’s Church, named for the patron saint of lost things.
NONFICTION
“James Monroe,” by Gary Hart, Times Books, 170 pages, $20|Hart takes a different approach to Monroe and his famous doctrine, calling him the “first national security president.”
“Women’s Letters: America From the Revolutionary War to the Present,” edited by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler, Dial Press, 704 pages, $35|Often the only way that women had to express themselves, these letters represents American women’s thoughts from the Revolution to 9/11.
“Sundown Towers: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism,” by James W. Loewen, New Press, 562 pages, $29.95|The first book ever written about “sundown towns,” in which residents used violence, laws and “tradition” to keep nonwhites out.
PAPERBACKS
“Light on Snow,” by Anita Shreve, Back Bay, 305 pages, $14.95|After finding a baby in the snow, a young girl and her father go about resurrecting a life that was shattered earlier.
“Spice: The History of a Temptation,” by Jack Turner, Vintage, $14.95|Some of the condiments that we consider common once were held as valuable as gold and fought over. This is the history of spices from ancient times through the Renaissance.
“Kung Fu High School,” by Ryan Gattis, Harcourt, 278 pages, $13|As a result of the Columbine High School tragedy, Gattis tells a fictional tale of a school where violence is a way of life.
COMING UP
“The Lost Painting,” by Jonathan Harr, Random House, 272 pages, $24.95, October|The author of the widely acclaimed “A Civil Action” returns with the story of the search for a Caravaggio painting that was last seen about 200 years ago.
“Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt,” by Anne Rice, Knopf, 336 pages, $25.95, November|The author of the incredibly popular Vampire Series turns her attention to the childhood life of Jesus, based on the Gospels and New Testament scholarship.
“Zane Grey: His Life, His Adventures, His Women,” by Thomas H. Pauly, University of Illinois, 392 pages, $34.95, October|Grey was the top-selling author of the 1920s and is credited with informing the world about the American West. This is his story.
