Barnes & Noble’s Latest Recommends “Main Selection” Adds Mystery and a Touch of Magic to an “Unputdownable” Summer Read: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

2009-06-08 17:20:05 -

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, announced today that Katherine Howe’s The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (Hyperion/Voice) is the latest “Main Selection” in the Barnes & Noble Recommends program. The book goes on sale tomorrow, June 9, and can be purchased at any Barnes & Noble store or online at Barnes & Noble.com ( www.bn.com/recommends

: cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. ).

“The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is both thrilling and romantic at the same time,” said Jaime Carey, chief merchandising officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “This debut novel from Katherine Howe deftly intertwines the Salem Witch trials of the 1690s with a modern woman’s story of discovery.”


The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels between the Salem of three centuries ago and the current summer residence of Ph.D. candidate Connie Goodwin. Though Connie should be spending her summer doing research for her American History dissertation, she agrees to handle the sale of her deceased grandmother’s home near Salem. While exploring the dusty bookshelves in the study, Connie discovers an antique key with a piece of paper tucked inside it, bearing the words “Deliverance Dane.” Obsessed with solving the mystery of the key and the meaning of “Deliverance Dane,” Connie is led down a path she never would have believed or anticipated, including an introduction to a steeplejack who helps her uncover truths about her family’s history and herself. A suspenseful page-turner with links to an especially intriguing period of American history, in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, Katherine Howe guides readers into an unexpectedly magical realm.

One Barnes & Noble bookseller who voted for this selection said, “I devoured this book! An academic mystery for fans of The Historian, Garden Spells, Possession, or Anne Rice’s Mayfair books.” Another bookseller added, “Read this book and feel history being rewritten.”


The Barnes & Noble Recommends program includes.

- Barnes & Noble store events. Reading group discussions of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane will be held in select Barnes & Noble stores across the country.


- A free reading group guide. A free reader’s guide, including discussion questions and more about the author, is available at any Barnes & Noble store and at www.bn.com/recommends : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .


- Advice for reading groups. Customers can ask any Barnes & Noble bookseller for a copy of our free guide on how to start a reading group. The guide can also be found online at www.bn.com/bookclubs : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .

Additionally, Katherine Howe is the guest in this week’s edition of Barnes & Noble Tagged! ( www.bn.com/tagged : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. ), a weekly web video show featuring what’s new in the world of books.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane was also a recent selection of Barnes & Noble.com’s First Look Book Club, an online discussion where readers get advance copies of pre-release books. Participants in the First Look discussion with Katherine Howe also gave the book rave reviews, and started a discussion that continues today at www.bn.com/bookclubs : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .

Barnes & Noble Recommends Main Selections are chosen by the company’s booksellers from across the country. Each selection is a book that Barnes & Noble recommends unconditionally, believes is “unputdownable” and is especially appropriate for book discussion groups. The books can be discussed online at www.bn.com/recommends : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .

The previous 13 Barnes & Noble Recommends Main Selections are.

- Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale (Atria Books).


- Chris Bohjalian’s The Double Bind (Shaye Areheart Books).


- Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Harcourt).


- Paulette Jiles’ Stormy Weather (William Morrow).


- Sarah Addison Allen’s Garden Spells (Bantam Books).


- Maggie O’Farrell’s The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (Harcourt).
- Marisa de los Santos’ Belong to Me (William Morrow).


- Tom Rob Smith’s Child 44 (Grand Central Publishing).


- Ethan Canin’s America America (Random House).


- Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’ The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (The Dial Press).


- Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (Knopf).


- Spencer Quinn’s Dog On It (Simon & Schuster).


- Sarah Dallas’ Prayers For Sale (St. Martin’s Press).



About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 777 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble is the nation’s top bookseller in quality, and for the fifth year in a row, the top bookseller brand, as determined by a combination of the brand’s performance on familiarity, quality, and purchase intent, according to the EquiTrend® Brand Study by Harris Interactive®. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com ( www.bn.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. ), one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .

Barnes & Noble, Inc.Carolyn J. Brown, 212-633-4062Corporate
Communications cbrown@bn.com : mailto:cbrown@bn.com