Nebraska Author

Omaha Reads Finalist!

| Ted Wheeler

The War Begins in Paris has been named a finalist for the 2024 Omaha Reads selection!

The winner will be chosen by a community vote. You can vote for my book, as many times as you like, at this link. Voting ends on April 1.

The War Begins in Paris is a historical noir novel set among a cohort of American foreign correspondents who gather in Europe in 1938. The books tells the story of how a young woman’s life is propelled by a series of visions that take her from a Mennonite farm in Iowa, to a job as a foreign correspondent in Paris, to what she comes to see as a secret mission to assassinate a Nazi propagandist in wartime Germany.

The novel was recently listed as a national bestseller by USA Today.

Omaha Reads, a program of the Omaha Public Library, is an annual event that celebrates the power of literature by bringing the community together to read and explore the themes of one book. The book is selected through a public vote and promoted through book talks, author visits, and related programs.

If you have a spare moment, GO VOTE NOW!

The War Begins in Paris is a Bestseller!

| Ted Wheeler

Big news from last week!

The War Begins in Paris popped up on the USA Today BESTSELLER list!

I’m still a little bit in awe of the moment. I have always hoped something like this could happen, of course, though the process seemed so random, the prospects so miniscule that it felt ridiculous to even mention the possibility. But here we are!

Traveling around the country over the last two months, getting such a warm reception from readers and booksellers alike, has been an amazing experience in itself. This is just the cherry on top.

The War Begins in Paris is officially a national bestseller. Cheers!

THE WAR BEGINS IN PARIS IS OUT NOW!

| Ted Wheeler

Tuesday last week was publication day for THE WAR BEGINS IN PARIS!!!

This is the first novel I wrote from start to finish as a published author, and the first since I became a bookseller. Every day when I got to work on these pages I tried to keep my audience in mind, treating the writing as a sort of performance and an invitation to engage. (As a book written mostly during the pandemic, maybe this was a matter of emotional survival.) The result is, I believe, my best work yet: an imaginative war novel that will challenge, delight, and resonate with many of the scores of readers I have met over the last six years, and hopefully many more.

All my work is topical in some way, but I think this is my most timely novel yet, as a novel about American fascism, but also about strained friendship and lost family. The idea for this story was born out of my experience as a political reporter during the last two presidential elections. The threats against journalists, the denigration of honest reporters, and the cynicism of propagandists—all this was on my mind as I worked on these pages.

Thanks so much to my family for putting up with my shenanigans. This is the fourth book we’ve launched together in seven years. That’s a lot of author relations work on their part, which isn’t easy. All my love. The same to my publishing family, especially my agent Stephanie Delman and editor Vivian Lee. Three novels together! And hopefully many more yet to come.

I hope you enjoy The War Begins in Paris at least a quarter as much as I did while writing it. Let me know what you think; share reviews online; come see me on my book tour; invite me to come visit your book club; request that your local library or bookstore put the book in stock; or suggest the book to a friend who might enjoy reading it. Most of all, I hope you have the time and inclination to read The War Begins in Paris. Whatever support you can give, I appreciate it, truly, knowing what it takes.

Best wishes. Yours in solidarity. Keep up the good fight.

Riverside Chats

| Ted Wheeler

Thanks so much to host Tom Knoblauch and producer Courtney Bierman for having me back on Riverside Chats to talk about The War Begins in Paris, American fascism, celebrity journalism, disingenuous political actors, and all sorts of critically-important stuff. This is such a great program; one we’re lucky to have in Omaha.

The conversation aired earlier today on Omaha’s local NPR affiliate, but you can catch it online, of course, at the link below. Or read a transcript here!

James Han Mattson Blurb

| Ted Wheeler

It’s such an honor to have the amazing James Han Mattson lend his support to my new novel, The War Begins in Paris!

We went on a short book tour together in 2018 when both of our debut novels were new and both edited by Vivian Lee, though we hadn’t ever met in person until that first reading at Beaverdale Books in Des Moines. I’m happy to count Jim as a friend now. His novel Reprieve was a powerhouse and he has a new one out next year to add to his debut, The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves.

“Propulsive, immersive, and beautifully rendered, Theodore Wheeler’s The War Begins in Paris is that rare novel that’s both contemplative and energetic, pulse-pounding and utterly devastating. Through Mielle and Jane, Wheeler deftly illuminates themes of friendship, love, sacrifice, and heroism, and shows us how loyalty and conviction can move in unpredictable patterns under wartime duress. This is a major gut-punch of a novel, and I, for one, am thankful it exists.”

—James Han Mattson, author of Reprieve

The War Begins in Paris will be published on November 14, 2023, but you can pre-order your copy now. (Order a signed copy here and have you shipped to you in November.)