Imprint Friday: 13 Books to Look for from William Morrow

Yesterday, HarperCollins hosted a video preview of many of the summer books they're particularly excited about. We got a sneak peek at some of the upcoming titles from almost a dozen imprints, covering all kinds of genres, from memoir and history to fantasy, beach reads, and literary fiction.

In today's Imprint Friday, I share all the presented titles from William Morrow Hardcovers and William Morrow Paperbacks and highlight my top pick from each imprint. Ready? Here we go.

William Morrow Hardcovers

Sons and Soldiers by Bruce Henderson (July): Just when you think you've read all there is to read about World War II, there comes along a book that tells us something new. This nonfiction account tells us all about a group of Jewish men who escaped Germany before the war and later became U.S. soldiers who worked in army intelligence, interviewing prisoners of war. Here's the publisher's summary:

In 1942, the U.S. Army unleashed one of its greatest secret weapons in the battle to defeat Adolf Hitler: training nearly 2,000 German-born Jews in special interrogation techniques and making use of their mastery of the German language, history, and customs. Known as the Ritchie Boys, they were sent in small, elite teams to join every major combat unit in Europe, where they interrogated German POWs and gathered crucial intelligence that saved American lives and helped win the war.

Though they knew what the Nazis would do to them if they were captured, they eagerly joined the fight to defeat Hitler. As they did, many of them did not know the fates of their own families left behind in occupied Europe. Taking part in every major campaign in Europe, they collected key tactical intelligence on enemy strength, troop and armored movements, and defensive positions. A postwar Army report found that more than sixty percent of the credible intelligence gathered in Europe came from the Ritchie Boys.

Bruce Henderson draws on personal interviews with many surviving veterans and extensive archival research to bring this never-before-told chapter of the Second World War to light. Sons and Soldiers traces their stories from childhood and their escapes from Nazi Germany, through their feats and sacrifices during the war, to their desperate attempts to find their missing loved ones in war-torn Europe. Sons and Soldiers is an epic story of heroism, courage, and patriotism that will not soon be forgotten.

• The Baker's Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan (May): Historical fiction set in a small town in coastal Normandy, this novel tells the story of one woman's fight to save her town and undermine the German occupation.
• The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal (July): This is a psychological thriller set in western Canada with themes of parenthood, foster care, and facing the past.
• Cocoa Beach by Beatriz Williams (June): From New York City to the battlefields of World War I to Jazz Age Florida, Willilams's newest novel promises to be a good mix of intrigue, romance, and historical detail as we follow the adventures and heartache of a young woman trying to find her place in the world.
• Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson (June): If it's a Jackson novel, you know it will have family drama, great characters, and Southern charm. A 38-year-old woman becomes pregnant after a one-night stand and must find a way to break the news to her loved ones.
• Same Beach, Next Year by Dorothea Benton Frank (May): I love Frank's mature women characters; her smart, sharp sense of humor; and her good storytelling--perfect for the beach bag. Here we meet two couples with a complicated past who look forward to their annual getaway, as they weather the ups and downs of life.

William Morrow Paperbacks

The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor (July): This dual time-period novel set in England reexamines the historical phenomenon of the Cottingley fairies, which were photographed by two cousins in the early 1900s. I'm very curious how Gaynor will weave this story. Here's the publisher's summary

1917 . . . It was inexplicable, impossible, but it had to be true—didn’t it? When two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright from Cottingley, England, claim to have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden, their parents are astonished. But when one of the great novelists of the time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, becomes convinced of the photographs’ authenticity, the girls become a national sensation, their discovery offering hope to those longing for something to believe in amid a world ravaged by war. Frances and Elsie will hide their secret for many decades. But Frances longs for the truth to be told.

One hundred years later . . . When Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript in her late grandfather’s bookshop she becomes fascinated by the story it tells of two young girls who mystified the world. But it is the discovery of an old photograph that leads her to realize how the fairy girls’ lives intertwine with hers, connecting past to present, and blurring her understanding of what is real and what is imagined. As she begins to understand why a nation once believed in fairies, can Olivia find a way to believe in herself?

• Goodnight from London by Jennifer Robson (May): This is the story of a young American woman journalist who is covering World War II in London. When the Blitz begins, she discovers how strong and caring people can be under duress. Inspired by the experiences of the author's grandmother.
• The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (May): This dual time-period novel brings together a woman spy from World War I and an American socialite searching for a relative in the aftermath of the second war. The book tells the story of real-life Alice Network, made up of women spies. 
• My Sister's Bones by Nuala Ellwood (June): This contemporary thriller touches on issues of PTSD, the war in Syria, and family. A woman journalist returns home to bury her mother and discovers she can't get the war out of her head and may be losing her grip on reality.
• The Sworn Virgin by Kristopher Dukes (August): This sounds like a fascinating bit of historical fiction based on a little-known Albanian tradition of a hundred years ago, which allowed women great freedoms, if they held to a vow of lifelong celibacy. All goes fine for our hero, until she meets an injured stranger.
• The Daughters of Ireland by Santa Montefiore (August): This is the second installment of a loosely tied trilogy that spans the twentieth century and follows three Irish women's loves and losses. An Irish castle, a reconnection with a first love, a difficult choice. This for romance lovers.
• The Marriage Bureau by Penrose Halson (May): This nonfiction title introduces us to two 24-year-old single women who opened a matchmaking service in London on the eve of World War II. This well-research account of how the friends managed their Bond Street business sounds like a great read.