New Releases by Susan Juby

Buddhist butler and reluctant investigator Helen Thorpe bands together with her fellow butler school graduates to rescue her very wealthy employer and his son in this new mystery by bestselling author Susan Juby. Butler Helen Thorpe is not one to judge, but the participants in Close Encounters for Global Healing are astonishingly unpleasant. The five-day program brings together people from across the political spectrum with the goal of helping them bridge their ideological and personal differences. Helen and her employer, Mr. Levine, have come to Side Island to assist David, his youngest son, who is facilitating the course. The motley assortment of participants includes a burned-out environmental activist, an internet troll, a clueless consumerist, an alleged white nationalist and a man who was arrested at the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. No one seems interested in a civil conversation, much less global healing, and each person has shown up with their own secret agenda. No rapprochement between the warring, or at least endlessly bickering, parties seems possible. But when something deadly happens, they must learn to work together. First, they have to figure out who among them can be trusted.

Butler-detective Helen Thorpe returns to help a wannabe influencer get her life in order—and solve the murders of her fellow content creators—in this hilarious sequel to Mindful of Murder by bestselling author Susan Juby When Buddhist butler Helen Thorpe is loaned out to help Cartier Hightower get her life in order, Helen finds herself working for a young woman entirely unbound by the fetters of good taste or sound judgment. One of Cartier’s fellow content creators has recently died in a strange accident. Soon after Helen arrives, another is killed in an equally bizarre way. Cartier begins to drag Helen around on the influencer circuit, where neither of them is particularly welcome. Then comes the terrible incident at the EDM nightclub that turns Cartier into a global pariah, at least according to social media. Helen hopes a period of simplicity and reflection and an internet detox will help Cartier find her true nature and maybe acquire some social graces. But Helen’s job gets much harder when Cartier’s friends show up at the lavish ranch where Cartier and Helen have retreated. Soon, Helen finds herself trying to avoid becoming Instafamous while bringing some peace to a girl who very much needs it. This task turns out to be even more impossible when it becomes clear that they have been followed to Weeping Creek Ranch by a murderer.

Allegations against his father turn eleven-year-old Rodney's life upside down in a powerful and surprisingly funny novel about new beginnings, friendships and a fresh look at the way things really are, by critically acclaimed author Susan Juby. Eleven-year-old Rodney is starting sixth grade in a new school, in a new home in a new state. The new school is really old and smells like someone ate a couple of pounds of glue and then barfed it back up, and he's in a class with a bunch of kids who seem to sort of hate him. Even his best friend won't write him back. It's strange, because just a couple of months ago, Rodney was one of the most popular guys in his fifth-grade class. He lived in Las Vegas, with his mom, older sister and his dad, who was a successful professional poker player. Now his old life is over -- his mom even says they shouldn't tell anyone their real last name. Because of something his dad did. Or something people said that he did. His dad says it's all a big misunderstanding, but he's now staying in a center "for people who are having problems, like being addicted to drugs or gambling, or because other people don't understand that you are just funny and friendly and sometimes you give people hugs or put your arm around them and they accuse you of taking liberties and ruin everything." Rodney is confident that it won't be long until the misunderstanding is all cleared up and they can all go back to their old life. But he can only keep the truth at bay for so long . . .

Meet Helen Thorpe. She’s smart, preternaturally calm, deeply insightful and a freshly trained butler. On the day she is supposed to start her career as an unusually equanimous domestic professional serving one of the wealthiest families in the world, she is called back to a spiritual retreat where she used to work, the Yatra Institute, on one of British Columbia’s gulf islands. The owner of the lodge, Helen’s former employer Edna, has died while on a three-month silent self-retreat, leaving Helen instructions to settle her affairs. But Edna’s will is more detailed than most, and getting things in order means Helen must run the retreat for a select group to determine which of Edna’s relatives will inherit the institute. Helen’s classmates, newly minted butlers themselves, decide they can’t let her go it alone and arrive to help Helen pull things off. After all, is there anything three butlers can’t handle? As Helen carries out the will’s instructions, she begins to think that someone had reason to want Edna dead. A reluctantly suspicious investigator, Helen and her band of butlers find themselves caught up in the mystery.

"The Fashion Committee is another winner by one of my all time favorite authors."--Meg Cabot, New York Times bestselling author of the The Princess Diaries and Mediator series Charlie Dean is a style-obsessed girl who eats, sleeps, and breathes fashion. John Thomas-Smith is a boy who forges metal sculptures in his garage and couldn’t care less about clothes. Both are gunning for a scholarship to the private art high school that could make all their dreams come true. Whoever wins the fashion competition will win the scholarship—and only one can win. Told in the alternating voices of Charlie’s and John’s journals, this hilarious and poignant YA novel perfectly captures what it’s like to have an artistic drive so fierce that nothing—not your dad’s girlfriend’s drug-addicted ex-boyfriend, a soul-crushing job at Salad Stop, or being charged with a teensy bit of kidnapping—can stand in your way. With black and white art custom-created by fashion and beauty illustrator Soleil Ignacio, the book is a collector’s item, perfect for anyone with a passion for fashion.

Ein Häppchen Wahrheit gefällig? Oder darf's doch ein bisschen mehr sein? Das Leben ist nichts für Feiglinge... ... denken sich die drei Freunde Dusk, Neil und Normandy, zu Beginn des 11. Schuljahres und starten ein gewagtes Experiment: Einmal jede Woche wird abwechselnd einer der drei einem Menschen aus ihrer Schule eine Frage stellen, die bisher keiner auszusprechen wagte, obwohl alle nach der Antwort lechzen. Hasst die ewig grantige Sekretärin wirklich alle Schüler, ist der schöne Tyler jetzt schwul oder nicht, nimmt der Freak aus der 12. Drogen und hat die Coole aus dem Langlaufteam mit einem ihrer beiden Teamkollegen was oder gar mit beiden? Was die drei besten Freunde allerdings damit lostreten, hätten sie nie geahnt. Ein kluges Buch über Freundschaft, Liebe und die Frage, was wir mit uns und unserem Leben anfangen und, was das eigentlich alles zu bedeuten hat.

A Book Riot Best Book of 2015 So Far Four starred reviews! “Susan Juby’s The Truth Commission knocked my socks off. You should read it!”—Gayle Forman, best-selling author of If I Stay “Susan Juby is a marvel. Wise, witty, and full of heart, her writing draws you in and won’t let go. And just when you think it can’t get any better, it does.”—Meg Cabot This was going to be the year Normandy Pale came into her own. The year she emerged from her older sister’s shadow—and Kiera, who became a best-selling graphic novelist before she even graduated from high school, casts a long one. But it hasn’t worked out that way, not quite. So Normandy turns to her art and writing, and the “truth commission” she and her friends have started to find out the secrets at their school. It’s a great idea, as far as it goes—until it leads straight back to Kiera, who has been hiding some pretty serious truths of her own. Susan Juby’s The Truth Commission: A story about easy truths, hard truths, and those things best left unsaid. * “With a deft hand and an open mind, Juby presents many layers of truth. This is a sharp-edged portrait of a dysfunctional family with some thought-provoking ideas about what is real.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review * “A surprising, witty, and compulsive read.” —School Library Journal, starred review * “Hilarious, deliciously provocative and slyly thought-provoking.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review * “Juby’s bright dialogue and vivid, appealing characters draw readers along as the three young artists navigate truths both light and dark, discovering themselves in the process.”—The Horn Book, starred review * “A smart, savvy YA novel about what constitutes the truth; its ideas will linger long after the last page.”—Shelf Awareness, starred review “I absolutely loved The Truth Commission. Every page made me laugh aloud, while all the time the tears were creeping up on me. The characters are so real that I wouldn’t be surprised if they knocked on my door right now. I hope they do, I want to spend more time with them.”—Jaclyn Moriarty, author of The Year of Secret Assignments and A Corner of White

Prudence Burns is an overly idealistic Brooklyn girl who has inherited a derelict plot of land named Woefield Farm. Her motley crew of farm hands consists of Earl, an elderly, reclusive bluegrass legend; Seth, an agoraphobic heavy-metal blogger in early recovery from alcoholism; and Sara, an 11-year-old girl with a flock of elite show poultry. When Prudence is felled by a thyroid condition, things on the farm begin to fall apart, resulting in valiant and sometimes ill-advised attempts to restore domestic bliss. Efforts are complicated by a renegade mule, attempts to turn a hideously ugly child’s playhouse into a high-yield roadside farm stand, and an electrical station’s worth of crossed wires. Will Prudence get well? Will Seth finally get rid of his pesky virginity? Will Earl rescue Sara? And will anyone, ever, admit they might be wrong? Told in four highly distinct, unforgettably hilarious, and sometimes heartbreaking voices, Republic of Dirt is about what happens when passions collide with pride and what it takes to save each other, our small part of the planet, and ourselves.

Like all the girls at the House of Gear, Bright has a higher purpose: to be, like, awesome. That means Bright’s engineered body must always look perfect. It means she must be appealing at all times. The minders are watching, after all. The minders see everything. One of them, Grassly, is on a mission that will lead Bright toward a new future while exposing her to incredible danger. If the other minders catch a whiff of curiosity, rebelliousness or free will, they may decide it’s time to reboot the entire population—just as Bright is discovering a whole new purpose within herself. Susan Juby brings her trademark humour to a dark, dystopian world in this thrilling new addition to the genre.

Woefield Farm is a sprawling thirty acres of scrub land, complete with dilapidated buildings and one half-sheared, lonely sheep named Bertie. It's "run"--in the loosest possible sense of the word--by Prudence Burns, an energetic, well-intentioned twenty-something New Yorker full of back-to-the-land ideals, but without an iota of related skills or experience. Prudence, who inherited the farm from her uncle, soon discovers that the bank is about to foreclose on Woefield Farm, which means that she has to turn things around, fast. But fear not! She'll be assisted by Earl, a spry seventy-something, banjo-playing foreman with a distrust of newfangled ideas and a substantial family secret; Seth, the alcoholic, celebrity-blogging boy-next-door who hasn't left the house since a scandal with his high school drama teacher; and Sara Spratt, a highly organized eleven-year-old looking for a home for her prize-winning chickens, including one particularly randy fellow soon to be christened Alec Baldwin. Full of off-beat charm and characters you won't soon forget, The Woefield Poultry Collective is a heartwarming novel about learning how to take on a challenge, facing your fears and finding friendship in the most unlikely of places.

"I laughed out loud more times reading this book than any book I've read in years....I never wanted to leave Woefield, and you won't, either." —Meg Cabot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Princess Diaries and Insatiable Susan Juby, already a reader-favorite YA author, makes her triumphant first foray into adult contemporary fiction with Home to Woefield, a hilarious, wildly original, and wonderfully insightful tale of no-so-ordinary life down on the farm. Told in four delightfully distinct narrative voices—a crusty 70-something farmer, a hair band-loving teen, a precocious 11-year old, and an earnest New Yorker in her 20s— Home to Woefield will enchant readers of all ages, as its motley cast struggles to avoid foreclosure with outlandish schemes and prize-winning chickens.

Meet Sherman Mack. Short. Nerdy. Amateur P.I. And prepared to do anything for Dini Trioli, tenth-grade goddess. Nobody knows how the tradition began, but every girl at Harewood Tech fears being D-listed, a ritual that wipes her off the social map forever. When Sherman believes Dini is in danger of being D-listed, he launches a full-scale investigation to save her. Part comedy, part mystery, and with all of Juby’s trademark laugh-out-loud style, Getting the Girl takes on the cruelest aspect of high school social life. Meet Sherman Mack, the only one willing to fight back.

From the author of Alice, I Think comes a riveting memoir of addiction and recovery. Susan Juby started out as a bright and creative student with an innate ability to write incredible stories. At the age of thirteen her life began to unravel, and like many teens, she turned to alcohol to get her through the awkward stages of trying to find her own unique identity and fit in with her peers at school. In this revealing memoir, she details the painful and sometimes funny experiences of trying to be clean and sober at a time when most young adults are just starting their drinking careers. Juby also looks into how the situation has changed for young people washing up on the shores of addiction today through a series of interviews with recovering addicts and alcoholics. Told with honesty and Juby's wry wit, Nice Recovery is a candid memoir from one of Canada's most beloved writers.

For Alex Ford, dressage is an oasis. In the stable, he can slip into his riding pants, shed the macho cowboy image, and feel like himself for a change. For Cleo O'Shea, dressage is a fresh start. She's got a new boarding school, absentee parents, and, best of all, no one to remember her past. . . . They're an unlikely pair. Cleo's looking for love, but Alex has a secret he's not ready to give up, and a flirtation with Cleo is the last thing on his mind. But you can't find romance before you know real friendship, and sometimes the last person you'd ever think of as a friend ends up being the one you need the most. Susan Juby's trademark humor brings life and laughter to this remarkable story of relationships, mixed signals, and the soul-searching that sometimes takes two.

ALICE MACLEOD has officially graduated from the ranks of the weirdly marginal into the realm of the practically normal. Except for the fact that she’s just been abandoned by her boyfriend, Goose, and her tree hugger mom has been busted at an environmental protest and sent up to the Big House for two months, everything’s going just great. Thankfully, these misfortunes are giving Alice plenty of material for the screenplay she’s writing (populated by Very Attractive People), which is going to make her rich, famous and fabulous. With the family finances squeezed even tighter than normal, Alice is forced to score not one but three part-time jobs, none particularly well suited to her eclectic but limited range of talents. The jobs do, however, introduce her to an interesting range of older—and younger—potential new boyfriends.

Sixteen-year-old Alice MacLeod's life as an outcast begins to change when she experiments with being friends with different sorts of people, tries drinking alcohol and eating meat, and competes in the Miss Smithers beauty pageant.

From the author of the hilarious I'm Alice (I think), comes the irresistibly funny sequel, with further adventures of Alice's adolescent angst. Sixteen-year old Alice suspects that this is the year she's going to bloom, graduating from the ranks of the marginal into the realm of the practically normal. That's immediately confirmed when, lured by the $400 clothing allowance, she becomes the official Rod & Gun Club candidate in the town's Miss Smithers, BC, Beauty Pageant. Now that she's practically normal, Alice is anxious to try new things. But she can't decide whether to push her sort-of boyfriend, Goose, into having sex with her, or to take a vow of chastity with the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) movement. Alice, fresh from her hit debut in I'm Alice, I Think - and complete with satirical wit and unique thrift-shop style - is back in this uniquely funny take on surviving the tough teen years.

This brilliantly observed debut novel was short-listed for two Canadian literary awards and is certain to appeal to fans of "Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging." Wise, witty, and entirely original, "Alice, I Think" is a chronicle of small-town life and a window into the soul of an utterly appealing heroine.