Praise from Publishers Weekly

The January issue of Publishers Weekly has just appeared and The Grand Mirage was one of only two dozen self-published works of fiction selected for a review.

"Delamaide provides a fascinating look at a little-examined period: the Great Game period before WWI," the reviewer writes. This reviewer considers British Orientalist Lord Richard Leighton and American spy William Morrison "unlikely heroes," but concludes "this makes them all the more likable."

Unlike the new incarnation of Kirkus Reviews, which requires a payment of several hundred dollars from authors to get a review, Publishers Weekly selects a handful of books for review from the hundreds submitted for listing (for a much more modest fee) in its annual special section on self-publishing.

The positive editorial review, complete with a thumbnail of the cover, can be found on p. 44 of the January edition.

Readers

Many nice comments about The Grand Mirage. A neighbor tells me her boyfriend started it because she had bought a copy for him at my book party and, somewhat to his surprise, I gather, found it "really good" and had trouble putting it down after the first session.

An old friend from grad school says she enjoyed the book and bought copies as gifts for Christmas. A woman in Andrea's book group says her husband has started it and is enjoying it. There's a nice new 5-star review on Amazon that says "Delamaide has told the story so vividly it comes alive."

I think the fact that Mel Parker, my agent, was so enthusiastic about the book and that many men in their 40s or so are liking it indicates that the book has special appeal for a male audience. In retrospect, it's clear that this is not the profile of the initial decision makers at publishing houses.