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The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
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Publisher: Harper Pub Date: Nov 11, 2008
ISBN-10: 0060393491
ISBN-13: 978-0060393496
Literary Fiction
Check AvailabilityWhen forty-seven-year-old high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his
younger wife, Maureen, a school nurse, move to Littleton, Colorado,
they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, Caelum
returns home to Three Rivers, Connecticut, to be with his aunt who has
just had a stroke. But Maureen finds herself in the school library at
Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed, as two
vengeful students go on a carefully premeditated, murderous rampage.
Miraculously she survives, but at a cost: she is unable to recover from
the trauma. Caelum and Maureen flee Colorado and return to an illusion
of safety at the Quirk family farm in Three Rivers. But the effects of
chaos are not so easily put right, and further tragedy ensues. While
Maureen fights to regain her sanity, Caelum discovers a cache of old
diaries, letters, and newspaper clippings in an upstairs bedroom of his
family's house. The colorful and intriguing story they recount spans
five generations of Quirk family ancestors, from the Civil War era to
Caelum's own troubled childhood. Piece by piece, Caelum reconstructs
the lives of the women and men whose legacy he bears. Unimaginable
secrets emerge; long-buried fear, anger, guilt, and grief rise to the
surface.
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Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews
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Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Publication Date: July 8, 2008
ISBN-10: 0312377150
ISBN-13: 978-0312377151
Mystery Check Availability
When her old friend Karen drops by with two-year-old son Timmy, Meg
Langslow reluctantly agrees to babysit "just for a little while." But
when nightfall comes, the toddler is still in residence and Karen isn't
answering any phone calls. Meg decides she must find out what's
happening, so the next morning, with Timmy in tow, she retraces her
friend's footsteps---and begins to suspect that Karen's disappearance
is tied to at least one serious crime. Has Karen been killed or
kidnapped? Is she on the run from the bad guys? Or is she one of the bad guys? The police don't seem to care, so Meg once again plays sleuth---this time with a toddler as her sidekick.
As
usual, Meg's extended family adds to the complications in her life.
What covert animal welfare project are Dad and the curmudgeonly
zoologist Dr. Montgomery Blake working on---and will Meg have to make
another late-night trip to bail them out of jail? Why does Meg's
brother keep disappearing---is he merely trying to avoid babysitting,
or is he involved in something more mysterious? Will taking care of
Timmy dampen newly married Meg and Michael's enthusiasm for starting a
family of their own? And are any of Meg's relatives reliable enough to
be trusted with a two-year-old---especially a two-year-old whose
whereabouts might be of interest to some very dangerous people? |
Ater You've Gone by Jeffrey Lent
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Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Publication Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN-10: 0871138948
ISBN-13: 978-0871138941 Literary Fiction Check Availability
A widower, suddenly bereft, finds an unexpected future when he goes to
Amsterdam looking for his past in Lent's intricate and rewarding fourth
novel. Henry Dorn is an upright college professor whose relatively
tranquil existence is upended when his wife and son are killed in a car
accident in the 1920s. As the novel follows Henry in flashbacks to
before and after the crash, we get a closeup view of the loss of
innocence of a person and a world. Henry's relationship with his son, a
morphine-addicted WWI veteran, had grown deeply fraught, while glimpses
of Henry's childhood in Nova Scotia reveal a hardscrabble fishing
family torn apart. After the accident, Henry travels to Amsterdam to
research his family history, and an unexpected affair kicks off a
period of indulgence on a continent whose need for postwar recovery
matches his own psychic wounds. At times, the dialogue can feel wooden,
but the narrative's course back and forth through time and across the
Atlantic creates an aura of mystery and tension that's amplified by
Lent's vivid depiction of the era. It's a nice contrast to the aimless
youngsters often associated with the lost generation canon.
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The Believers by Zoe Heller
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Publisher: Knopf Canada Publication Date: March 3, 2009
ISBN-10: 0676978053
ISBN-13: 978-0676978056 Literary FictionCheck Availability
Audrey and Joel Litvinoff have attempted to pass on to their children
their lefty passions-despite Audrey's decidedly bourgeois attitude and
attorney Joel's self-satisfied heroism, including the defense of a
suspected terrorist in 2002 New York City. When Joel has a stroke and
falls into a coma, Audrey grows increasingly nasty as his secrets
surface. The children, meanwhile, wander off on their own adventures:
Rosa's inherited principles are beleaguered by the unpleasant realities
of her work with troubled adolescents; Karla, her self-image crushed by
Audrey, has settled into an uncomfortable marriage and the accompanying
pressure to have children; and adopted Lenny, the best metaphor for the
family's troubles, dawdles along as a drug addict and master
manipulator. Though some may be initially put off by the characters'
coldness - the Litvinoffs are a severely screwed-up crew-readers with a
certain mindset will have a blast watching things get worse.
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Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke
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Publisher: Kensington Publication Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN-10: 0758210221
ISBN-13: 978-0758210227
MysteryCheck AvailabilityWinter in Lake Eden, Minnesota, is the perfect time to curl up by a
cosy fire with something - and someone - sweet. But while bakery owner
Hannah Swensen can provide herself with the confections, cuddling will
have to take a back seat to sleuthing when her sometime-squeeze becomes
a murder suspect...With the launch party of her mother's novel around
the corner, Hannah has a dress to fit into and a date with her sister,
Andrea, at Lake Eden's new health club, Heavenly Bodies. Dragging
herself out of bed on a frigid Minnesota morning for exercise, of all
things, is bad enough. Discovering a dead body floating in the gym's
Jacuzzi? Okay, that's worse. Nor does it help that there's a plate of
The Cookie Jar's very own cream puffs garnishing the murder scene. The
fact that they were purchased by none other than Hannah's part-time
flame, Detective Mike Kingston, is simply the icing on what's shaping
up to be one very messy cake...Mike may be the prime suspect in the
murder of man-eating bombshell Ronni Ward, but he's by no means the
only one. Ronni, a fitness instructor at both the Sheriff's department
and Heavenly Bodies, made a nasty habit of throwing her own heavenly
body at every man, eligible or not, who crossed her path. Plenty of
Lake Eden's ladies won't miss Ronni, including her ex-fiance's former
girlfriend, the angry mother of one of her would-be conquests, and even
the mayor's wife. Could any of them have wanted her gone badly enough
to make it happen? Mike's recruited Hannah to find out, and, as any
suspended, suspected detective would, he's micromanaging her every step
of the way...Between trying to narrow the list of Ronni's enemies down
to fewer than half the town's female population and resisting the urge
to remove Mike from the running by throttling him herself, Hannah has
her plate full. Trouble is, when it comes to cookies - and to murder -
there's always room for one more.
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Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult
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Publisher: Atria Publication Date: March 3, 2009
ISBN-10: 0743296419
ISBN-13: 978-0743296410
Literary FictionCheck AvailabilityEvery expectant parent will tell you that they don't want a perfect
baby, just a healthy one. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe would have asked
for a healthy baby, too, if they'd been given the choice. Instead,
their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the
pitying stares of "luckier" parents, and maybe worst of all, the
what-ifs. What if their child had been born healthy? But it's all worth
it because Willow is, well, funny as it seems, perfect. She's smart as
a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and
for a five-year-old an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. Willow is
Willow, in sickness and in health. Everything changes, though,
after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront
the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte should have known
earlier of Willow's illness? What if things could have been different?
What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice,
Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more. What
constitutes a valuable life? |
Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne
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Publisher: Doubleday Canada Publication Date: February 17, 2009
ISBN-10: 0385666357
ISBN-13: 978-0385666350
Historical FictionCheck Availability
An action-packed fictional telling of the events on the HMS Bounty from the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
Fourteen-year-old
John Jacob Turnstile has gotten into trouble with the police on one too
many occasions and is on his way to prison when an offer is put to him
- a ship has been refitted over the last few months and is about to set
sail with an important mission. The boy who was expected to serve as
the captain's personal valet has been injured and a replacement must be
found immediately. The deal is struck and Turnstile finds himself
onboard, meeting the captain, just as the ship sets sail.
The ship is the HMS Bounty, the captain is William Bligh, and their destination is Tahiti. Mutiny on the Bounty
is the first novel to explore all the events relating to the Bounty's
voyage, from their long journey across the ocean to their adventures on
the island of Tahiti and the subsequent forty-eight-day expedition
towards Timor. A vivid recreation of the famous mutiny, the story is
packed with humour, violence, and historical detail, presenting a very
different portrait of Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian than has been
shown before.
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Night and Day by Robert B. Parker
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Publisher: Putnam Publication Date: February 24, 2009
ISBN-10: 0399155414
ISBN-13: 978-0399155413 Mystery / SuspenseThings are getting strange in Paradise, Massachusetts. Police Chief
Jesse Stone is called to the junior high school when reports of lewd
conduct by the school's principal, Betsy Ingersoll, filter into the
station. Ingersoll claims she was protecting the propriety of her
students when she inspected each girl's undergarments in the locker
room. Jesse would like nothing more than to see Ingersoll punished, but
her high-powered attorney husband stands in the way. At the same time,
the women of Paradise are faced with a threat to their sense of
security with the emergence of a tormented voyeur, dubbed "The Night
Hawk." Initially, he's content to peer through windows, but as times
goes on, he becomes more reckless, forcing his victims to strip at
gunpoint, then photographing them at their most vulnerable. And
according to the notes he's sending to Jesse, he's not satisfied to
stop there. It's up to Jesse to catch the Night Hawk, before it's too
late.
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Under the Radar by Fern Michaels
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Publisher: Kensington Publishing Publication Date: February 2009
ISBN-10: 0758235232
ISBN-13: 978-0758235237 MysteryCheck AvailabilityA Sister's work is never done - not when there are wrongs to right and
underdogs to defend. Just returned to their mountaintop hideaway after
their latest successful mission, the seven fearless friends enjoy a
celebratory dinner and retire to bed. But within an hour, an alarm
sounds, and the ladies rush into the compound in time to see Myra and
their mentor, Charles, climbing aboard a helicopter. All that's left is
a mysterious note, signed by Charles. Still
reeling, the Sisters receive an urgent call from retired justice Pearl
Barnes. Pearl runs an underground railroad to help abused and displaced
women, and she's just rescued fourteen pregnant teenagers who belong to
a highly secretive and controversial polygamy sect. But keeping the
girls safe will require the kind of help only the Sisterhood can
provide - if they can band together and go it alone.
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Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer
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Publisher: St. Martin's Press Publication Date: March 3, 2009
ISBN-10: 0312539517
ISBN-13: 978-0312539511
Historical Fiction Check Availability
Some people have dreams that are so magnificent that if they were to
achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. Francis
Drake, Robert Scott, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hilary,
Neil Armstrong, and Lewis and Clark are among such individuals.
But what if one man had such a dream, and once he'd fulfilled it, there was no proof that he had achieved his ambition?
Jeffrey Archer's latest book, Paths of Glory,
is the story of such a man---George Mallory. Mallory once told an
American reporter that he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, "because it's
there." On his third attempt in 1924, at age thirty-seven, he was last
seen six hundred feet from the top. His body was found in 1999, and it
still remains a mystery whether he ever reached the summit.
But
only after you've turned the last page of this extraordinary novel,
inspired by a true story, will you be able to decide if George
Mallory's name should be added to the list of legends, in which case
another name would have to be removed. Paths of Glory is truly a triumph.
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The Second Opinion by Michael Palmer
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Publisher: St. Martin's Press Publication Date: February 17, 2009
ISBN-10: 0312343558
ISBN-13: 978-0312343552
Medical Thriller Check Availability
Dr. Thea Sperelakis, diagnosed as a teen with Asperger's syndrome,
has always been an outsider. She has a brilliant medical mind, and a
remarkable recall of details, but her difficulty in dealing with hidden
agendas and interpersonal conflicts have led her to leave the complex,
money-driven dynamics of the hospital, and to embrace working with the
poor, embattled patients of Doctors Without Borders. Her father,
Petros, is one of the most celebrated internal medicine specialists in
the world, and the founder of the cutting-edge Sperelakis Center for
Diagnostic Medicine at Boston's sprawling, powerful Beaumont Clinic.
Thea's
rewarding life in Africa is turned upside-down when Petros is severely
injured by a hit-and-run driver. He is in the Beaumont ICU, in a deep
coma. No one thinks he will survive. Thea must return home. Two of
Petros' other children, both physicians, battle Thea and her eccentric
brother, Dimitri, by demanding that treatment for their father be
withheld. As Thea uncovers the facts surrounding the disaster,
it seems more and more to be no accident. Petros, himself, is the only
witness. Who would want him dead? The answers are trapped in his brain
. . . until he looks at Thea and begins slowly to blink a terrifying
message.
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Blackstrap Hawco by Kenneth J. Harvey
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Publisher: Random House Canada Publication Date: September 2, 2008
ISBN-10: 0679314296
ISBN-13: 978-0679314295
Literary Fiction / Historical FictionCheck Availability
Fifteen years in the making, this book is the one Canada's "heavyweight
champ of brash and beautiful literature" was meant to write. An epic
masterwork about Newfoundland's working class, Blackstrap Hawco
spans more than a century in gorgeous and widely varied prose,
reminding us that even when writing about the degradation of identity
and language, Harvey does it magnificently. Named in a moment of
anger, Blackstrap Hawco is heir to an island dominion picked over by
its adoptive nation. From the arrivals of the indentured Irish to the
Victorian drawing rooms of the English merchants, from the perilous
seal hunt to the raucous iron ore mines, from a notorious disaster at
sea to the relocation of outport communities, the family legend might
be all his people have left to live for. But as Blackstrap Hawco
- a novel that will consume you in its dazzling swirl of voices,
legends and beautiful hearsay - testifies, a story this haunting, this
powerful, might just be enough.
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The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris
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Publisher: William Morrow Publication Date: April 8, 2008
ISBN-10: 0061431621
ISBN-13: 978-0061431623
Literary Fiction
Check Availability
Harris revisits characters from 1999's bestselling Chocolat
in this equally delectable modern fairy tale published in the UK as The Lollipop Shoes.
More than four years have
passed since Vianne Rocher pitted her enchanted chocolate confections
against the local clergy's interpretation of Lent in smalltown France;
since then, Vianne has renounced magic, changed her name to Yanne
Charbonneau and moved with her two daughters to Paris's Montmartre
district. There, Yanne embraces conformity and safety, much to the
dismay of her increasingly troubled older daughter, Anouk. When Anouk
becomes entranced with Zozie de l'Alba, an exotic itinerant who happens
upon a job at the new shop, and the relationship grows increasingly
sinister, Yanne must call up all of Vianne's powers, culinary and
mystical, to save her family. Harris again structures the narrative
(told in alternate chapters by Zozie, Yanne and Anouk) around a
liturgical season (in this case Advent). Harris gives fans much to
savor in this multilayered novel, from the descriptions (including
Yanne's mouthwatering chocolate confections, Zozie's whimsical footwear
and Anouk's artistic efforts) to the novel's classic, enduring theme of
good vs. evil-and the difficulty of telling the difference.
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Fool by Christopher Moore
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Publisher: William Morrow Publication Date: February 10, 2009
ISBN-10: 0060590319
ISBN-13: 978-0060590314
A man of infinite jest, Pocket has been King Lear's cherished fool for
years, from the time the king's grown daughters-selfish, scheming
Goneril, sadistic (but erotic-fantasy-grade-hot) Regan, and sweet,
loyal Cordelia-were mere girls. So naturally Pocket is at his
brainless, elderly liege's side when Lear-at the insidious urging of
Edmund, the bastard (in every way imaginable) son of the Earl of
Gloucester-demands that his kids swear their undying love and devotion
before a collection of assembled guests. Of course Goneril and Regan
are only too happy to brownnose Dad. But Cordelia believes that her
father's request is kind of . . . well...stupid, and her blunt
honesty ends up costing her her rightful share of the kingdom and earns
her a banishment to boot. Well, now the bangers and mash have
really hit the fan. The whole country's about to go to hell in a
handbasket because of a stubborn old fart's wounded pride. And the only
person who can possibly make things right...is Pocket, a small and
slight clown with a biting sense of humor. He's already managed to
sidestep catastrophe (and the vengeful blades of many an offended
nobleman) on numerous occasions, using his razor-sharp mind, rapier wit...and the equally well-honed daggers he keeps conveniently hidden
behind his back. Now he's going to have to do some very fancy
maneuvering-cast some spells, incite a few assassinations, start a war
or two (the usual stuff)-to get Cordelia back into Daddy Lear's good
graces, to derail the fiendish power plays of Cordelia's twisted
sisters, to rescue his gigantic, gigantically dim, and always randy
friend and apprentice fool, Drool, from repeated beatings...and to have every luscious wench who's amenable to being had along
the way. Pocket may be a fool...but he's definitely not an idiot.
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