'Holes' author Louis Sachar to publish new young adult novel

Louis Sachar, author of the internationally best-selling children's book Holes, is due to publish his first work of fiction in four years, announced Bloomsbury Children's Books on March 30. The Cardturner will be published in North America on May 11 and in the UK in June.

Sachar, an American author, is best known for his children's book series Sideways Stories From Wayside School as well as for his 1998 novel Holes, which was adapted into a 2003 Disney film. The Cardturner is Sachar's first book since 2006's Small Steps, a follow-up to Holes.

The publisher offers this description of The Cardturner:

"The summer holidays are looking bleak for Alton Richards. His girlfriend has dumped him for his best friend. He has no money, no job, and, if that wasn't bad enough, his parents are insisting that he drive his great-uncle Lester to his bridge club four times a week to be his cardturner - whatever that means. Lester Trapp is old, blind, very sick, and very rich.

"But Alton's parents aren't the only ones trying to worm their way into Lester Trapps's good graces. They're in competition with his longtime housekeeper, his alluring young nurse, and the crazy Castaneda family, who seem to have a mysterious hold over him.

"Alton soon finds himself intrigued by his uncle, by the game of bridge, and especially by the pretty but shy Toni Castaneda. As the summer goes on, he struggles to figure out what it all means and ultimately to figure out the meaning of his own life."

The Cardturner will be published in the UK by Blooomsbury Children Books and in North America by Delacorte Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House.