Title: Unwanted
Author: Kristina Ohlsson
Genre: mystery
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publishing Date: February 28 (originally 2009, recently translated)
Summary: In the middle of a rainy Swedish summer, a little girl is abducted from a crowded train. Despite hundreds of potential witnesses, no one noticed when the girl was taken, and, in what seems to be merely a coincidence, her mother has been left behind at the previous station. Inspector Frederika Bergman and her team of federal investigators are called in and assigned to what at first seems to be a classic custody dispute.  But when the child is found dead in the far north of Sweden with the word “unwanted” scribbled on her forehead, the case soon turns into the investigation team’s worst nightmare—the pursuit of a brilliant and ruthless killer.

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Title: May the Road Rise Up to Meet You
Author: Peter Troy
Genre: historical fiction
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publishing Date: February 28
Summary: Ethan McOwen is an Irish immigrant whose endurance is tested in Brooklyn and the Five Points at the height of its urban destitution; he is among the first to join the famed Irish Brigade and becomes a celebrated war photographer. Marcella, a society girl from Spain, defies her father to become a passionate abolitionist. Mary and Micah are slaves of varying circumstances, who form an instant connection and embark on a tumultuous path to freedom. All four lives unfold in two beautiful love stories, which eventually collide. Written in gorgeous language that subtly captures the diverse backgrounds of the characters, and interspersed with letters, journals, and dreams, this unforgettable story, rendered in cinematic detail, is about having faith in life’s great meaning amidst its various tangles.

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Finally, a list of books to look forward to in the future:

• Former Politico writer Karin Tanabe’s THE CAPITOLIST, in which a 20-something journalist leaves a cushy NYC magazine job for DC’s hottest (and most cut-throat) political rag, where she uncovers a juicy scandal involving a senator that could make or break her career
• CEO of the Special Olympics Tim Shriver’s book about the athletes who “have taught me more about how to live this life than anyone,” presenting “really important lessons for a time and an age when people are really looking and seeking ways to find more fulfillment, more purpose, more peace … in their lives”
• KILLING LINCOLN authors Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s KILLING KENNEDY: The End of Camelot, the second book in O’Reilly’s presidential history series, promising “a dramatic work of history and a dynamic way to relive the presidency of John F. Kennedy’s White House, the horrific assassination and the crucial hours that followed”