Hamilton East Public Library

Multiple Copies for Book Groups
The followig books are available in multiple copies and are suitable for Book Discussion Groups.

Ackroyd, Peter   The Plato Papers : In the year 3700, a public orator named Plato  educates the masses     about the important texts and beliefs of previous ages. It's an imperfect archeology, though, since     destroyed texts and lost information cause him to attribute On the Origin of Species not to Charles     Darwin, but to Charles Dickens. He also puzzles over the computer age, ruing the "despair     engendered by the cult of webs and nets which spread among the people."  Eventually, Plato     begins to suspect that his knowledge about earlier culture is fundamentally incorrect, but as he     moves beyond generally accepted assumptions, he runs afoul of those in power. He's placed on     trial and is forced to defend himself against accusations of "corrupting the young by spinning lies     and fables."  (6 copies)

Adams, Douglas  The Hitchhiker;s Guide to the Galaxy :  Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a     galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide.     Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space.      (16 copies)

Akpan, Uwem   Say You’re One of Them :  A collection of tales about modern African children in crisis     includes "An Ex-Mas Feast," in which an eight-year-old child shares in his family's sacrifices to     obtain enough food and enable his education.  (12 copies)

Akunin, Boris   Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk : As the terrifying figure of a Black Monk stalks the     inhabitants of the centuries-old island monastery of New Ararat, claiming the lives of a number of     victims, including the envoys from     the bishop Mitrofanii, Sister Pelagia, forbidden from visiting     New Ararat because of traditions that forbid women, goes undercover to reveal the truth about     who--or what--is responsible.  (12 copies)

Albom, Mitch   Five People You Meet in Heaven : Killed in a tragic accident at a seaside amusement park     while trying to save a little girl, Eddie, an elderly man who believes that he had lived an uninspired     life, awakens in the afterlife, where he discovers that heaven consists of having five people,     acquaintances and strangers, explain the meaning of one's life.  (2 large print; 13 copies)

Alexander, Robert   The Kitchen Boy :  A novel based on the 1918 Bolshevik revolution and the murders of     Czar Nicholas II and the rest of the Russian royal family is told from the perspective of the event's     only surviving witness, a young kitchen boy.  (12 copies)

Allen, Sarah Addison  The Peach Keeper : It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail     from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue     Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather and once the finest home in Walls of Water,     North Carolina—has stood for years as a monument to misfortune and scandal. Willa has lately     learned that an old classmate—socialite Paxton Osgood—has restored the house to its former     glory, with plans to turn it into a top-flight inn. But when a skeleton is found buried beneath the     property’s lone peach tree, long-kept secrets come to light, accompanied by a spate of strange     occurrences throughout the town. Thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded     mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the passions and betrayals that once bound their     families—and uncover the truths that have transcended time to touch the hearts of the living. (2     large print; 12 copies)

Anaya, Rudolpho   Bless Me, Ultima : Chronicles the story of an alienated New Mexico boy who seeks an     answer to his questions about life in his relationship with Ultima, a magical healer.  (12 copies)

Arruda, Suzanne   The Mark of the Lion :  Still recovering from the trauma of the Great War, Jade del     Cameron, a tough New Mexico rancher's daughter and former front-line ambulance driver, heads     for Africa to help fulfill a man's dying wish, only to come face to face with murder and mystery.      Indiana Author (12 copies)

Arsenault, Emily  The Broken Teaglass :  In the maze of cubicles at Samuelson Company, editors toil away     in silence, studying the English language, poring over new expressions and freshly coined words–    all in preparation for the next new edition of the Samuelson Dictionary. Among them is editorial     assistant Billy Webb, just out of college, struggling to stay awake and appear competent. But there     are a few distractions. His intriguing coworker Mona Minot may or may not be flirting with him. And     he’s starting to sense something suspicious going on beneath this company’s academic facade.      Mona has just made a startling discovery: a trove of puzzling citations, all taken from the same     book, The Broken Teaglass. Billy and Mona soon learn that no such book exists. And the     quotations from it are far too long, twisting, and bizarre for any dictionary. They read like a     confessional, coyly hinting at a hidden identity, a secret liaison, a crime. As Billy and Mona ransack     the office files, a chilling story begins to emerge: a story about a lonely young woman, a long-    unsolved mystery, a moment of shattering violence. And as they piece together its fragments, the     puzzle begins to take on bigger personal meaning for both of them, compelling them to redefine     their notions of themselves and each other.  (12 copies)

Atwood, Margaret   The Handmaid’s Tale :  A chilling look at the near future presents the story of Offred, a     Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, once the United     States, an oppressive world where women     are no longer allowed to read and are valued only as long as they are viable for reproduction.  (12     copies)

Baker, Frank   Miss Hargreaves :  When, on the spur of the moment, Norman Huntley and his friend Henry     invent an eighty-three-year-old woman called Miss Hargreaves, they are inspired to post a letter to     their new fictional friend. It is only meant to be a silly, harmless game—until Miss Hargreaves     arrives on their doorstep. She is, to Norman’s utter disbelief, exactly as he had imagined her:     enchanting, eccentric, and endlessly astounding. He hadn’t imagined, however, how much havoc     an imaginary octogenarian could wreak on his sleepy Buckinghamshire hometown.  (12 copies)

Barbery, Muriel  The Elegance of the Hedgehog :  In a bourgeois apartment building in Paris, we encounter     Renée, an intelligent, philosophical, and cultured concierge who masks herself as the stereotypical     uneducated “super” to avoid suspicion from the building’s pretentious inhabitants. Also living in the     building is Paloma, the adolescent daughter of a parliamentarian, who has decided to commit     suicide on her thirteenth birthday because she cannot bear to live among the rich. Although they     are passing strangers, it is through Renée’s observations and Paloma’s journal entries that The     Elegance of the Hedgehog reveals the absurd lives of the wealthy. That is until a Japanese     businessman moves into the building and brings the two characters together.  (12 copies)

Barnes, Julian   The History of the World in 10 ½  Chapters : An entertaining melange of stories, starting     with a contemporary account of the launch of Noah s Ark, takes us into unexpected areas of human     foibles, activities and tendencies.      (10 copies)

Barry,  Brunonia   The Lace Reader :  Towner Whitney, the self-confessed unreliable narrator, hails from a     family of Salem women who can read the future in the patterns in lace, and who have guarded a     history of secrets going back generations. Now the disappearance of two women is bringing     Towner back home to Salem—and is bringing to light the shocking truth about the death of her twin     sister.  (2 large print; 12 copies)

Barry, Sebastian   The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty : As he searches for work in post-World War I     Ireland, Eneas McNulty makes the fatal mistake of joining the British police. The nationalists issue     a death warrant and McNulty flees     to wander the world, until an assassin catches up.  (2     large     print; 7 copies)

Benson, Ann   The Plague Tales : Two parallel stories, one set in the fourteenth century, the other in the     twenty-first century, feature two unwitting heroes who confront the release of the bubonic plague on     an unsuspecting world.  (10 copies)

Blake, Sarah  The Postmistress :  In 1940, single, 40-year-old postmistress Iris James and young newlywed     Emma Trask are both new arrivals to Franklin, Mass., on Cape Cod. While Iris and Emma go about     their daily lives, they follow American reporter Frankie Bard on the radio as she delivers powerful     and personal accounts from the London Blitz and elsewhere in Europe. While Trask waits for the     return of her husband—a volunteer doctor stationed in England—James comes across a letter with     valuable information that she chooses to hide. Blake captures two different worlds—a naïve nation     in denial and, across the ocean, a continent wracked with terror—with a deft sense of character     and plot, and a perfect willingness to take on big, complex questions, such as the merits of truth     and truth-telling in wartime.  (14 copies; 2 large print)

Bohjalian, Chris   Midwives :  The time is 1981, and Sibyl Danforth has been a dedicated midwife in the rural     community of Reddington, Vermont, for fifteen years. But one treacherous winter night, in a house     isolated by icy roads and failed telephone lines, Sibyl takes desperate measures to save a baby's     life. She performs an emergency Caesarean section on its mother, who appears to have died in     labor. But what if--as Sibyl's assistant later charges--the patient wasn't already dead, and it was     Sibyl who inadvertently killed her?  (2 large print; 8 copies)

Bradley, C. Alan  The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie :  Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring     chemist with a passion for poison, begins her adventure when a dead bird is found on the doorstep     of her family's mansion in the summer of 1950, thus propelling her into a mystery that involves an     investigation into a man's murder where her father is the main suspect.  (12 copies)

Brennert, Alan   Moloka’i : Dreaming of far-off lands away from her loving 1890s Honolulu home, seven-    year-old Rachel is forcibly removed from her family when she contracts leprosy and is placed in a     settlement, where she loses a series of new friends before new medical discoveries enable her     reentry into the world.  (8 copies)

Broadbent, Tony   The Smoke :  Brought up in one of London’s famed street markets, Jethro the cat burglar     is as smart as he is streetwise, which is just as well, as he always needs all of his wits about him to     pull off the perfect job and not get caught. After he breaks into the Soviet embassy and steals     jewels belonging to the ambassador's wife, Jethro comes to the attention of His Majesty’s Secret     Service, who forces him to revisit the place again to retrieve a code book for them. But this is all     just a set up for a thief to catch a thief, and it leads to a deadly game of cat and mouse to see who     will get to Jethro first: London’s gangsters, MI5, or one of the Soviet’s most formidable secret     agents.  (12 copies)

Buchheim, Lothar-Gunther   Das Boot (The Boat) :  The thrilling wartime novel that inspired Wolfgang     Petersen's Academy Award-nominated, blockbuster film, Das Boot.   Written by an actual survivor     of Germany's U-boat fleet, Das Boot is one of the most exciting stories of naval warfare ever     published, a tale filled with almost unbearable tension and suspense. In autumn 1941, a German     U-boat commander and his crew set out on yet another hazardous patrol in the Battle of the     Atlantic. Over the coming weeks they brave the ocean's stormy waters and seek out British supply     ships to destroy. But their targets travel in well-guarded convoys. When contact finally occurs, the     hunter quickly becomes the hunted, and a cat-and-mouse game begins as the U-boat hides deep     beneath the surface of the sea. Soon, claustrophobia becomes an enemy almost as frightening as     the depth charges exploding around them. The release of this supremely gripping, merciless     intense story commemorates the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.  (13 copies; 2     DVDs)

Buck, Pearl S.   The Good Earth :   A Chinese peasant overcomes the forces of nature and the frailties of     human nature to become a wealthy landowner.  (1 large print;  15 copies)

Butler, Octavia   Kindred : Inexplicably pulled pack in time to the antebellum South, a comtemporary Black     woman, raised in the age of Civil Rights and Black Power, must confront the harsh realities of Black     history in America.  (10 copies)

Caldwell, Ian   The Rule of Four : Endeavoring to decipher a five-hundred-year-old text that weaves a mathematical labyrinth within a love story, researchers Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris obtain a diary that may contain the key to the code, but when a fellow researcher is killed, they realize that the book contains a dangerous secret. (2 large print; 16 copies)

Card, Orson Scott   Ender’s Game : An expert at simulated war games, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin believes that he is engaged in one more computer war game when, in truth, he is commanding the last Earth fleet against an alien race seeking Earth's complete destruction.  (18 copies)

Carey, Peter   The True History of the Kelly Gang : Ned Kelly, the son of Irish immigrants, outlaw, and legendary nineteenth-century Australian folk-hero, describes in his own words how he, his brother, and two friends led authorities on a twenty-month manhunt, marked by widespread populist support, before his capture and execution.  (10 copies)

Carleton, Jetta   The Moonflower Vine :  On a farm in western Missouri during the first half of the twentieth century, Matthew and Callie Soames create a life for themselves and raise four headstrong daughters. Jessica will break their hearts. Leonie will fall in love with the wrong man. Mary Jo will escape to New York. And wild child Mathy's fate will be the family's greatest tragedy. Over the decades they will love, deceive, comfort, forgive—and, ultimately, they will come to cherish all the more fiercely the bonds of love that hold the family together.  (10 copies)

Carner, Talia  Jerusalem Maiden :  In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, a young Orthodox Jewish     woman in the holy city of Jerusalem is expected to marry and produce many sons to help hasten     the Messiah's arrival. While the feisty Esther Kaminsky understands her obligations, her artistic     talent inspires her to secretly explore worlds outside her religion, to dream of studying in Paris—    and to believe that God has a special destiny for her. When tragedy strikes her family, Esther views     it as a warning from an angry God and suppresses her desires in order to become an obedient     "Jerusalem maiden."   But when a surprising opportunity forces itself on to her preordained path,     Esther finds her beliefs clashing dangerously with the passions she has staved off her entire life—    forcing her to confront the most difficult and damning question of all: To whom must she be true,  God or herself?  (12 copies)

Chandler, Raymond  The Big Sleep :  Chandler established the modern PI  with Philip Marlowe, a cynical, perfectly hard-boiled private investigator who is hired by an old millionaire to find the husband of his beautiful, bitchy wildcat daughter. (12 copies)

Chevalier, Tracy   The Girl with the Pearl Earring :  A poor seventeenth-century servant girl knows her place in the household of the painter Johannes Vermeer, but when he begins to paint her, nasty whispers and rumors circulate throughout the town.  (2 large print; 10 copies)

        The Lady and the Unicorn :  Interweaving historical fact with fiction, this richly textured novel explores the mystery and personal stories behind the creation of the remarkable Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, woven at the end of the fifteenth century, which today hang in the Cluny Museum in Paris.  (2 large print; 8 copies)

        Remarkable Creatures :  Marked for greatness after being struck by lightning in infancy, Mary Anning discovers a fossilized skeleton near her 19th century home that triggers attacks on her character and upheavals throughout the religious, scientific, and academic communities.  (2 large print; 10 copies)

Christie, Agatha  And Then There Were None :  Ten people, who have previously been complicit in the deaths of others but have escaped notice and/or punishment, are tricked into coming onto an island. Even though the guests are the only people on the island, they are all mysteriously murdered one by one, in a manner paralleling the old nursery rhyme “Ten Little Indians.”  (13 copies)

Clarke, Breena   River, Cross My Heart : After the drowning death of their daughter in the Potomac River, a family leaves their rural North Carolina world in search of a better life among friends and relatives in Georgetown, as they deal with their loss and struggle to move forward.  (2 large print; 10 copies)

Cleage, Pearl   What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day : When Ava Johnson discovers she is HIV     positive, she journeys back to her sleepy northern Michigan hometown, where she manages to find     new love.  (2 large print; 6 copies)
            
Coelho, Paulo  The Alchemist :  An Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasures found within. (2 large print; 6 copies)
        Veronika Decides to Die : Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything --     youth and beauty, boyfriends and a loving family, a fulfilling job. But something is missing in her life.     So, one cold November morning, she takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up.     But she does -- at a mental hospital where she is told that she has only days to live. Inspired by     events in Coelho's own life, Veronika Decides to Die questions the meaning of madness and     celebrates individuals who do not fit into patterns society considers to be normal. Bold and     illuminating, it is a dazzling portrait of a young woman at the crossroads of despair and liberation,     and a poetic, exuberant appreciation of each day as a renewed opportunity.  (12 copies)

Collins, Wilkie   The Woman in White : The mysterious appearance of a woman dressed in all white leads Walter Hartright to the discovery of a complicated plot involving a stolen inheritance and an escape from a mental institution.  (10 copies)

Cunningham, Michael   The Hours : A trio of stories based around the writer, Virginia Woolf. In the first, set in 1923, Woolf is writing her novel, Mrs. Dalloway. In the second, in 1949 Los Angeles, Laura Brown can't seem to stop reading Woolf. In the present, 52-year-old Clarissa Vaughan is planning a party for her oldest love, a poet dying of AIDS. These women's lives are linked both by the 1925 novel and by the few precious moments of possibility.  (2 large print; 11 copies)

Dai, Sijie   Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress : During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, two boys are sent to the country for reeducation, where their lives take an unexpected turn when they meet the beautiful daughter of a local tailor and stumble upon a forbidden stash of Western literature. (10 copies)

Dallas, Sandra   Tallgrass : Her life turned upside-down when a Japanese internment camp is opened in their small Colorado town, Rennie witnesses the way her community places suspicion on the newcomers when a young girl is murdered, an event that prompts Rennie's own perspective change and the discovery of dangerous secrets.  (12 copies)

Danticat, Edwidge   Breath, Eyes, Memory :  A young Haitian girl comes of age torn between two cultures--the Haiti of her Tante Atie and Grandmother Ife, and the New York of her mother Martine.  (2 large print; 10 copies)

DeBernieres, Louis   Corelli’s Mandolin : The idyllic world of the Greek island of Cephallonia is forever changed by the inexorable changes of World War II, as the inhabitants struggle to cope with the Axis invasion and occupation.  (10 copies)

Devoto, Pat Cunningham   The Summer We Got Saved : Embracing the conservative and discriminatory belief systems of her Southern hometown, Tab witnesses profound changes in the attitudes of her friends and family throughout the course of a 1960s gubernatorial campaign, which is marked by the establishment of a voting school for church members.  (10 copies)

Diamant, Anita   The Red Tent : In a story based on the Book of Genesis, Jacob's only daughter, Dinah, shares her unique perspective on the origins of many of our modern religious practices and sexual politics, eager to impart the lessons in endurance and humanity she has learned from her father's wives.  (2 large print; 14 copies)

Dick, Philip K.  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? : Captures the strange world of twenty-first-century Earth, a devastated planet in which sophisticated androids, banned from the planet, fight back against their potential destroyers, while bounty hunter Rick Deckard sets out to track down the replicants.  (13 copies)

Dickens, Charles   Great Expectations : Pip escapes from his troubled childhood experiences to learn for himself the perils of love, the dangers of wealth, and how to sort his friends from his enemies.  (13 copies)

Dorner, Marjorie    The Seasons of Sun and Rain :  The relationship between six women who bonded in college and have remained friends ever since is challenged when one of their number turns up at their reunion suffering from the early onset of Alzheimer's disease.  (10 copies)

Dorsey, Tim   The Big Bamboo : Putting his failure to find everlasting life behind him, loveable serial killer Serge Storms and his stoned-out sidekick Coleman head west in order to put the Sunshine State back on Hollywood's radar, encountering a hilarious blend of mayhem, kidnapping, madness, and murder amid the glamour of Tinseltown.  (10 copies)

Du Maurier, Daphne  Rebecca :  The reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten—a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house's current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.  (1 large print; 19 copies)

Dubus, Andre   The House of Sand and Fog : When a former colonel of the Iranian Air Force and his family purchase a small California home at auction, they are faced with a great conflict as the former owner and her police officer boyfriend fight to get it back at any cost.  (2 large print; 7 copies)

Edgerton, Clyde   Walking Across Egypt :  She had as much business keeping a stray dog as she had walking across Egypt--which not so incidentally is the title of her favorite hymn. She's Mattie Rigsbee, an independent, strong-minded senior citizen, who at 78, might be slowing down just a bit. When young, delinquent Wesley Benfield drops in on her life, he is even less likely a companion than the stray dog. But, of course, the dog never tasted her mouth-watering pound cake....Wise witty, down-home and real.  (10 copies)

Edwards, Kim   The Memory Keeper’s Daughter : In a tale spanning twenty-five years, a doctor delivers his newborn twins during a snowstorm and, rashly deciding to protect his wife from their baby daughter's affliction with Down Syndrome, turns her over to a nurse, who secretly raises the child.  (10 copies)

Ellroy, James   The Black Dahlia: The murder of a beautiful young woman in 1947 Los Angeles sparks a great investigation in which Bucky Bleichert, Lee Blanchard, L.A.P.D. Warrants Squad cops, ex-boxers, friends, and adversaries become obsessed by the case.  (10 copies)

Enger, Lief   Peace Like a River : Eleven-year-old Reuben shares the story of how his father, trying to raise his sons alone in 1960s Minnesota, takes their family on a quest to find Reuben's older brother, who has been charged with murder.  (10 copies)

Erickson, Carolly  The Memoirs of Mary, Queen of Scots :  Here, in a riveting first-person account, is the     enchanting woman whose name still evokes excitement and compassion—and whose death under     the headsman’s axe still draws forth our sorrow.  (1 Audio CD; 12 copies)

Essex, Karen   Kleopatra : A fictional account of the life and times of ancient Egypt's most famous queen follows the intelligent and charismatic Kleopatra from childhood, through her youthful exile in Rome with her father, to her remarkable rise to the throne of Egypt and her seductive alliances with such powerful men as her kinsman Archimedes and Julius Caesar.  (7 copies)

Eugenides, Jeffrey   Middlesex : Calliope's friendship with a classmate and her sense of identity are compromised by the adolescent discovery that she is a hermaphrodite, a situation with roots in her grandparents' desperate struggle for survival in the 1920s.  (12 copies)

Fergus, Jim   One Thousand White Women : Based on actual historical events, this novel follows the indomitable May Dodd as she travels to the Cheyenne, becomes the bride of Little Wolf, chief of that tribe, and struggles with living in and being loyal to two different worlds.  (10 copies)

Ferraris, Zoe  Finding Nouf :  When sixteen-year-old Nouf goes missing, her prominent family calls on Nayir     al-Sharqi, a pious desert guide, to lead the search party. Ten days later, just as Nayir is about to     give up in frustration, her body is discovered by anonymous desert travelers. But when the     coroner’s office determines that Nouf died not of dehydration but from drowning, and her family     seems suspiciously uninterested in getting at the truth, Nayir takes it upon himself to find out what     really happened.   He quickly realizes that if he wants to gain access to the hidden world of women,     he will have to join forces with Katya Hijazi, a lab worker at the coroner’s office who is bold enough     to bare her face and to work in public. Their partnership challenges Nayir, as he confronts his     desire for female companionship and the limitations imposed by his beliefs.  (12 copies)

Fitch, Janet   White Oleander : The struggle to build an authentic identity lies at the heart of Astrid's life as a foster child in Los Angeles after her poet mother, who has kept Astrid isolated from the world, is imprisoned for murder.  (2 large print; 9 copies)

Fitzgerald, F. Scott   The Great Gatsby : Jay Gatsby is the man who has everything. But one thing will always be out of his reach! Everybody who is anybody is seen at his parties. For Gatsby, always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting, though no one knows what for. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life he is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled.  (11 copies)

Faherty, Terence  In a Teapot :  A film version of THE TEMPEST, William Shakespeare's final play, featuring the cream of Hollywood's aristocratic British Colony? When the project is announced in 1948, it sounds like an idea that can't miss. But then the whispers start about one of those British actors and a burlesque queen, and murder follows shortly. Enter Scott Elliott, top operative of Hollywood Security and the soon-to-be husband of the lovely Ella Englehart. To get to the altar, Elliott must dodge blonde bombshells and gangsters, and solve a mystery that echoes Shakespeare's crowning work. (14 copies)

Follett, Ken  Pillars of the Earth :  Tom Builder's dream is to build a cathedral, but in the meantime, he must scrounge about to find a lord that will hire him. His search pulls him and his family into the politics of 12th-century England, as different lords vie to gain control of the throne in the wake of the recently deceased king. Prior Phillip, a man raised in the monastery since childhood, also finds himself drafted into the brewing storm as he must protect the interests of a declining church.  (13 copies)

Ford, Jamie   The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet :  When artifacts from Japanese families sent to internment camps during World War II are uncovered during renovations at Seattle's Panama Hotel, Henry Lee embarks on a personal quest that leads to memories of growing up Chinese in a city rife with anti-Japanese sentiment and of Keiko, a Japanese girl whose love transcended cultures and generations.  (12 copies)

Forster, E.M.   Room with a View : The love of a young British woman named Lucy Honeychurch for a     British expatriate living in Italy is condemned by her stuffy, middle-class guardians, who prefer an     eligible man of their own choosing.  (9 copies)

Fowler, Christopher   The White Corridor : Heading for the International Spiritualists' Convention, John May     and Arthur Bryant find themselves stranded along with dozens of other motorists by a massive     blizzard and soon discover that a notorious killer is also stuck along the same remote stretch of     highway, forcing them into a desperate race against time to stop him before he claims his next     victim.  (12 copies)

Franklin, Ariana   City of Shadows :  In a decadent and turbulent Berlin of the 1920s and 1930s, Nick, a     scheming cabaret owner, enlists the aid of his secretary, Esther Solomonova, to pass off a woman     in a local asylum as the Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of the murdered Russian czar, in     order to claim the Romanov fortune, only to discover that they have unleashed a nightmare of     murderous violence.  (12 copies)

Franklin, Ariana   The Mistress of the Art of Death : Sent to medieval Cambridge in order to exonerate a     group of Jewish prisoners with financial ties to King Henry I, University of Salerno medical     examiner Adelia and a group of companions struggle to avoid being accused of witchcraft and     discover that the killer may be a former crusader. (8 copies)

Frayn, Michael   Headlong : When a frustrated philosopher uncovers what he believes is a lost painting by     Bruegel in a boorish neighbor's basement, he embarks on a hilarious quest to separate the work     from its owner. (12 copies)

Gaines, Ernest J.   A Lesson Before Dying :  Grant Wiggins, a college-educated man who returns to his     hometown to teach, forms an unlikely bond with Jefferson, a young Black man convicted of murder     and sentenced to death, when he is asked to impart his learning and pride to the condemned man.      (11 copies)

Galloway, Steven  The Cellist of Sarajevo :  In a city ravaged by war, a musician plays his cello for twenty-    two days at the site of a mortar attack, in memory of the fallen. Among the strangers drawn into the     orbit of his music are a young father in search of water for his family, an older man in search of the     humanity he once knew, and a young woman, a sniper, who will decide the fate of the cellist and     the kind of person she wants to be.  (10 copies)

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel   Love in the Time of Cholera : The story of a fantastic wedding, the return of the     bride to her parents in disgrace, her brothers' resolve     to seek revenge on her corruptor, and the     townspeoples' refusal to depart from routine. (12 copies)
    
One Hundred Years of Solitude : A celebration of the endless variety of life in the mythical village of     Macondo chronicles the story of the Buendia family, set against the background of the evolution     and eventual decadence of the small South American town.  (7 copies)

Gellis, Roberta   A Mortal Bane : The death of a messenger in medieval London lands a knight, Sir Bellamy     of Itchen, at the head of an investigation into the goings-on at the notorious Old Priory Guesthouse     in Southwark.  (12 copies)

Gentle, Mary   A Sundial in a Grave 1610 : In 1610 Europe, Valentin Rochefort, a notorious duelist,     impoverished aristocrat, and spy for the Duc de Sully,     France's powerful finance minister, is drawn     into a treacherous plot to kill King James I of England.  (8 copies)

Gibbons, Kaye  A Virtuous Woman :  The daughter of prosperous farmers, Ruby runs off with a migrant     worker who treats her badly, then abandons her far from home. When she meets Jack, a man 20     years her senior, she's working as a cleaning woman in another prosperous farmer's house. Jack is     a man women don't look at even once, let alone twice; Ruby is a woman who needs someone to     take care of her. Out of this unlikely union grows a quiet kind of love that is no less powerful for     being unstated.  (8 copies)

Gold, Glen David  Carter Beats the Devil : A powerful and richly textured novel set in 1920 follows Charles     Carter, a.k.a. Carter the Great, who has become a master illusionist borne out of loneliness and     desperation, as he creates the most outrageous stunt of all involving President Harding--one     that could cause his downfall.  (12 copies)

Goldberg, Myla   Bee Season : An ordinary girl with an exceptional gift for spelling, young Eliza Naumann     embarks on the rough-and-tumble "spelling bee" circuit, where her quirky family will collide with the     harsh realities of life.  (9 copies)

Goodman, Carol   The Seduction of Water : After writing a story about her late mother Katherine Morrissey,     that includes a dark Irish fairy tale told to her by her mother, Iris Greenfeder returns her childhood     home at the remote Hotel Equinox in the Catskills, intending to write her mother's biography and     search for a long-lost manuscript written by Katherine, only to stumble into the middle of a haunting     mystery.  (2 large print; 8 copies)

Goodwin, Jason   The Janissary Tree : When the Ottoman Empire of 1836 is shattered by a wave of      political murders that threatens to upset the balance     of power, eunuch intelligence agent Yashim         Togalu conducts an investigation into clues within the empire's once-elite military forces, which had     been crushed by the Sultan when they became too powerful.  (8 copies)

Gregson, Julia  East of the Sun :  This powerful historical novel follows the lives of three British women     travel to India in the late 1920: Rose, engaged to a handsome cavalry officer she barely knows;     Tor, determined to find a husband of her own to escape a loveless home in England; and Viva, an     impoverished orphan returning to the country of her birth in search of answers. As these women set     out on their individual paths, they confront personal and political challenges that reshape the     courses of their lives and forge unbreakable bonds between them.  (12 copies)

Gruen, Sara   Water for Elephants :  Ninety-something-year-old Jacob Jankowski remembers his time in the     circus as a young man during the Great Depression, and his friendship with Marlena, the star of the     equestrian act, and Rosie, the elephant, who gave them hope.  (2 lareg print; 8 copies)

Gulland, Sandra   Tales of Passion and Woe : Continues the story of Josephine's marriage to Napoleon     Bonaparte, as she witnesses the political intrigues, betrayals, triumphs, and ruin of those around     her.  (12 copies)

Haddon, Mark  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time :  Christopher Boone is a 15-year old     autistic savant in Swindon, England. He hates being touched, cannot tell a lie, or understand     metaphors or jokes. He is a whiz at math and enjoys puzzles. When the neighbor's dog is killed     with a pitchfork, he seizes upon it as a puzzle and math problem in hopes of understanding     something that makes no sense to him. This begins a journey for Christopher that takes him places     he never imagined, both physically and emotionally.  (12 copies)

Hamilton, Jane   The Book of Ruth : The black sheep of her troubled family, Ruth struggles to keep the     peace between her mother, her young son, and her slightly off-the-wall husband and to put the     pieces back together when a heated situation boils over.  (1 large print; 8 copies)   
     A Map of the World : While under the care of Alice Goodwin, a neighbor's child drowns in the     Goodwins' pond, a devastating accident that has profound repercussions for the entire Goodwin     family, in a story set in a small Midwestern farm town.  (1 large print; 8 copies)

Hart, Erin   Lake of Sorrows : Pathologist Nora Gavin investigates two bodies discovered at the site of an     Irish midland industrial site--one ancient, the     other recent--and teams up with archaeologist     Cormac Maguire, with whom she has fallen in love, for an unexpectedly dangerous case.  (12     copies)

Haruf, Kent   Plainsong : From the unsettled lives of a small-town teacher struggling to raise two boys alone     in the face of their mother's retreat from life, a pregnant teenage girl with nowhere to go, and two     elderly bachelor farmers emerges a new vision of life and family as their diverse destinies     intertwine.  (2 large print; 8 copies)

Haynes, Melinda   Mother of Pearl : In a small Mississippi town during the late 1950s, Even Grade, a twenty-    eight-year-old black man who grew up as an orphan, and Valuable Korner, the teenage white     daughter of the local prostitute, search for love, family, and commitment as their lives intersect with     that of Joody Two Sun, a seer who becomes Even's lover.  (4 large print; 3 copies)

Hegi, Ursula   Stones from the River : Follows Trudi Montag, a dwarf who serves as her town's librarian,     unofficial historian, and recorder of the secret stories of her people, in a novel that charts the     course of German history in the first half of the twentieth century.  (2 large print; 6 copies)

Heller, Joseph   Catch-22 : The struggles of a United States airman attempting to survive the lunacy and     depravity of a World War II airbase.  (8 copies)

Helprin, Mark   Memoir from an Antproof Case : Writing his memoirs from a mountain garden in Brazil, an     elderly American recounts his experiences as a World War II ace, an investment banker, a resident     in a Switzerland insane asylum, a murderer, and a slave to his coffee addiction.  (12 copies)

Hemingway, Ernest   For Whom the Bell Tolls : Drawing on his involvement in the Spanish Civil War, the     Nobel prize-winning author's masterpiece of time and place tells the story of Robert Jordan, an     American fighting in Spain, and his suicidal stand for his beliefs.  (12 copies)

Hemmings, Kaui Hart  The Descendants :  Fortunes have changed for the King family, descendants of     Hawaiian royalty and one of the state’s largest landowners. Matthew King’s daughters—Scottie, a     feisty ten-year-old, and Alex, a seventeen-year-old recovering drug addict—are out of control, and     their charismatic, thrill-seeking mother, Joanie, lies in a coma after a boat-racing accident. She will     soon be taken off life support. As Matt gathers his wife’s friends and family to say their final     goodbyes, a difficult situation is made worse by the sudden discovery that there’s one person who     hasn’t been told: the man with whom Joanie had been having an affair. Forced to examine what     they owe not only to the living but to the dead, Matt, Scottie, and Alex take to the road to find     Joanie’s lover, on a memorable journey that leads to unforeseen humor, growth, and profound     revelations.  (12 copies)

Hewson, David   The Villa of Mysteries :  Detective Nic Costa joins forces with police pathologist Teresa     Lupo to investigate the abduction of a teenage girl, a crime that bears a haunting similarity to the     disappearance of another girl whose mummified corpse has just been discovered, racing against     time to save the victim who is destined for a bizarre ancient Bacchanalia and sacrificial murder.       (10 copies)

Highsmith, Patricia   The Talented Mr. Ripley : In order to convince his son to come home, Herbert     Greenleaf, a rich shipbuilder, sends the suave con man Tom Ripley to Italy, but is unaware of his     son's friend's criminal activities.  (12 copies)

Hockensmith, Steve  Holmes on the Range :  1893 is a tough year in Montana, and any job is a good job.     When brothers Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer sign on as ranch hands at a secretive ranch,     they're not expecting much more than hard work, bad pay, and a few free moments to enjoy their     favorite pastime: reading stories about Sherlock Holmes.  When another hand turns up dead, Old     Red sees the perfect opportunity to employ his Holmes-inspired "deducifyin'" skills and sets out to     solve the case. Big Red, like it or not (and mostly he does not), is along for the wild ride in this     clever, compelling, and completely one-of-a-kind mystery. (14 copies)

Hoffman, Alice   Practical Magic : Sorcery is the legacy of Gillian and Sally Owens, a two-hundred-year-old     family legacy they both try to escape--one through marriage, the other through running away--until     they realize that their magic is a gift, rather than an affliction.  (12 copies)

Holeman, Linda   The Moonlit Cage :  Set against the backdrop of 1850s Afghanistan, India, and London, a     historical novel follows Darya, a young Muslim woman, as she flees an abusive and cruel husband     to seek a better life, first in India and then amidst the social perils of British polite society.  (10     copies)

Holmqvist, Ninni  The Unit :  One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank     Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she     will make new friends, enjoy the state of the art recreation facilities, and live the few remaining days     of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women over the age of fifty and men     over sixty–single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries–are sequestered for their     final few years; they are considered outsiders. In the Unit they are expected to contribute     themselves for drug and psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until     the final donation. Despite the ruthless nature of this practice, the ethos of this near-future society     and the Unit is to take care of others, and Dorrit finds herself living under very pleasant conditions:     well-housed, well-fed, and well-attended. She is resigned to her fate and discovers her days there     to be rather consoling and peaceful. But when she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love,     the extraordinary becomes a reality and life suddenly turns unbearable. Dorrit is faced with    compliance or escape, and…well, then what?  (12 copies)

Horan, Nancy  Loving Frank :  Fact and fiction blend in a historical novel that chronicles the relationship     between seminal architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney, from their meeting in Oak Park,     Illinois, when they were each married to another, to the clandestine affair that shocked Chicago     society.  (12 copies)

Hosseini, Khaled   The Kite Runner : Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy     Afghan youth and a     servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of     the present day.  (2 large print: 10 copies)
    
A Thousand Splendid Suns :  Two women born a generation apart witness the destruction of their     home and family in wartorn Kabul, incurring losses over the course of thirty years that test the limits     of their strength and courage.  (2 large print; 12 copies)

Irving, John   A Prayer for Owen Meany : While playing baseball in the summer of 1953, Owen Meany hits a     foul ball that kills his best friend's mother, and he becomes convinced that he is an instrument of     God.  (12 copies)

Jin, Ha   Waiting : An ambitious and dedicated Chinese doctor, Lin Kong finds himself torn between two     very different women--the educated and dynamic nurse with whom he has fallen in love and his     traditional, meek, and humble wife.  (2

Jones, Lloyd   Mister Pip : On a copper-rich tropical island shattered by war, on which survival is daily     struggle, eccentric Mr. Watts, the only white man left     after the other teachers flee, spends his day     reading to the local children from Charles Dickens's classic Great Expectations, capturing the     imaginations of thirteen-year-old Matilda and her peers with the London adventures of a young     orphan named Pip.  (8 copies)

Kalpakian, Laura   American Cookery : Eden Douglass's talent for and love of cooking mark the milestones     of her life, from growing up in a quarrelsome     family, to her adventures in war-torn Europe, to the     post-war boom years and her marriage to filmmaker Matt March, feeding her family at baptisms,     weddings, funerals, and celebrations, in a novel complemented by twenty-seven delicious recipes.       (8 copies)

Kerr, Philip   The One from the Other:  Working as a private detective in Munich in 1949, Bernie Gunther     copes with the chaos of postwar Germany when a woman hires him to find out the fate of her     missing husband, a war criminal whose death she wants to confirm.  (12 copies)

Kingsolver, Barbara   Animal Dreams : Hallie Nodine fights for justice in Nicaragua while her sister, Codi,     returns to Arizona to confront her dying father, as myths, dreams, and flashbacks blend to examine     life's commitments.  (11 copies)
     The Poisonwood Bible :  The family of a Baptist missionary begins to unravel after they embark on     a 1959 mission to the Belgian Congo, where     they find their lives transformed over the course of     three decades.  (2 large print; 10 copies)

Kirino, Natsuo   Out : After strangling her husband, Masako Katori, a middle-aged wife and mother working     the night shift at a Tokyo factory, enlists the aid of four co-workers to conceal the crime.  (8 copies)

Kostova, Elizabeth   The Historian :  In 1972, a 16-year-old American living in Amsterdam finds a mysterious     book in her diplomat father's library. The book is ancient, blank except for a sinister woodcut of a     dragon and the word "Drakulya," but it's the letters tucked inside, dated 1930 and addressed to "My     dear and unfortunate successor," that really pique her curiosity. Her widowed father, Paul,     reluctantly provides pieces of a chilling story; it seems this ominous little book has a way of forcing     itself on its owners, with terrifying results. Paul's former adviser at Oxford, Professor Rossi, became     obsessed with researching Dracula and was convinced that he remained alive. When Rossi     disappeared, Paul continued his quest with the help of another scholar, Helen, who had her own     reasons for seeking the truth. As Paul relates these stories to his daughter, she secretly begins her     own research.  (2 large print; 10 copies)

Larsen, Nella   Passing : Larsen wrote this novel in 1929. It follows Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield, two     light-skinned black women who try to escape racism.     Kendry chooses to sever all ties with her     background and passes herself off as white, while Redfield simply denies that racism exists. Both,     however, eventually are forced to face the awful truth.  (11 copies)

Lawton, John  A Lily of the Field :  Spanning the tumultuous years 1934 to 1948, John Lawton's A Lily of the     Field is a brilliant historical thriller from a master of the form. The book follows two characters—    Méret Voytek, a talented young cellist living in Vienna at the novel's start, and Dr. Karel Szabo, a     Hungarian physicist interned in a camp on the Isle of Man. Lawton moves seamlessly from Vienna     and Auschwitz to the deserts of New Mexico and the rubble-strewn streets of postwar London,     following the fascinating parallels of the physicist Szabo and musician Voytek as fate takes each far     from home and across the untraditional battlefields of a destructive war to an unexpected     intersection at the novel's close. The result, A Lily of the Field, is Lawton's best book yet, an     historically accurate and remarkably written novel that explores the diaspora or two Europeans     from the rise of Hitler to the post-atomic age. (12 copies)

LeCarre, John   The Constant Gardener : When the young and beautiful wife of a much older embassy     worker and amateur gardener is found murdered near northern Kenya's Lake Turkana, his personal     pursuit of the killers not only sets him up as their next target, but as a suspect among his embassy     colleagues.  (4 large print; 10 copies)

Lee, Harper   To Kill a Mockingbird :  A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-    age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage     inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father -- a crusading local lawyer -- risks     everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.  (3 large print; 12     copies)

Lehane,  Dennis  Shutter Island :  U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, come to Shutter     Island's Ashcliffe Hospital in search of an escaped mental patient, but when an ominous storm     strands them there, true wickedness is uncovered as Ashcliffe's mysterious patient treatments and     an unexposed source propel them to the brink of insanity. By the author of Mystic River.  (2 large     print; 12 copies)

Leon, Donna   Acqua Alta :  The beating of renowned art historian Dotoressa Brett Lynch draws the     contemporary Venetian police detective, Commissario Guido Brunetti, out of his warm and loving     home and into the yearly onslaught of acqua alta, the torrential winter rains. Brett, an American     who spearheaded a recent exhibition of Chinese pottery in Venice, lives with her lover, Flavia     Petrelli, the reigning diva of La Scala.  Brunetti's deliberate and humane investigation to uncover a     motive for Brett's beating takes him to dark, wet corners of Venice and into a sinister web of art     theft, fakery and base human desires.  (10 copies)

Lethem, Jonathan   Motherless Brooklyn :  Lionel Essrog, a detective suffering from Tourette's syndrome,     spins the narrative as he tracks down the killer of his     boss, Frank Minna. Minna enlisted Lionel     and his friends when they were teenagers living at Saint Vincent's Home for Boys, ostensibly to     perform odd jobs (we're talking very odd) and over the years trained them to become a team of     investigators. The Minna men face their most daunting case when they find their mentor in a     Dumpster bleeding from stab wounds delivered by an assailant whose identity he refuses to     reveal--even while he's dying on the way to the hospital.  (9 copies)

London, Jack   The Call of the Wild/White Fang :  The Call Of The Wild is the story of Buck, a dog stolen     from his home and thrust into the merciless life of the     Arctic north to endure hardship, bitter cold,     and the savage lawlessness of man and beast. White Fang is the adventure of an animal -- part     dog, part wolf --turned vicious by cruel abuse, then transformed by the patience and affection of     one man.  (4 copies)

MacDonald, Ann-Marie  Fall on Your Knees :  This epic tale of family history, family secrets, and music     centers on four sisters and their relationships with each other and with their father. Set in the coal-    mining communities of Nova Scotia in the early part of this century, the story also shifts to the     battlefields of World War I and the jazz scene of New York City in the 1920s.  (7 copies)

Marshall, James Vance  Walkabout :  A plane crashes in the vast Northern Territory of Australia, and the     only survivors are two children from Charleston, South Carolina, on their way to visit their uncle in     Adelaide. Mary and her younger brother, Peter, set out on foot, lost in the vast, hot Australian     outback. They are saved by a chance meeting with an unnamed Aboriginal boy on walkabout. He     looks after the two strange white children and shows them how to find food and water in the     wilderness, and yet, for all that, Mary is filled with distrust.  On the surface Walkabout is an     adventure story, but darker themes lie beneath. Peter's innocent friendship with the boy met in the     desert throws into relief Mary's half-adult anxieties, and the book as a whole raises questions about     what is lost and may be saved when different worlds meet. And in reading Marshall's extraordinary     evocations of the beautiful yet forbidding landscape of the Australian desert, perhaps the most     striking presence of all is a reckoning with the mysteriously regenerative powers of death.  (12     copies)

Martel, Yann   Life of Pi :  Pi Patel, a young man from India, tells how he was shipwrecked and stranded in a     lifeboat with a Bengal tiger for 227 days. This outlandish story is only the core of a deceptively     complex three-part novel about, ultimately, memory as a narrative and about how we choose     truths.  (9 copies)

Mason, Daniel   The Piano Tuner :  In 1886, piano tuner Edgar Drake leaves his quiet life in London for the     jungles of Burma, where he has been asked to repair a rare Erard grand piano belonging to a     British army surgeon-major who uses the piano and music to help keep the peace among warring     local Burmese princes.  (2 large print; 8 copies)

Maugham, Somerset   The Painted Veil :  Kitty Fane's affair with Assistant Colonial Secretary Townsend, a     married man, is interrupted when she is taken from Hong Kong by her vengeful bacteriologist     husband to accompany him to his new post amid a raging cholera epidemic.  (9 copies)

McCarthy, Cormac   The Road :  In a novel set in an indefinite, futuristic, post-apocalyptic world, a father and     his young son make their way through the ruins of a devastated American landscape, struggling to     survive and preserve the last remnants of their own humanity.  (1 large print; 13 copies)
 
McDermid, Val   The Grave Tattoo :  Suspense master McDermid spins a psychological thriller in which     a present-day murder has its roots in the eighteenth century and the mutiny on the H.M.S.     Bounty. After torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside,     long discarded old wives' tales takes on a chilling new plausibility. For centuries, Lakelanders have     whispered that Fletcher Christian staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home.     And there, he told his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into     a long narrative poem--a poem that remained hidden lest it expose Wordsworth to the gallows for     harboring a fugitive. Wordsworth specialist Jane Gresham, herself a native of the Lake District,     feels compelled to discover once and for all whether the manuscript ever existed--and whether it     still exists today. But as she pursues each new lead, death follows hard on her heels. Suddenly     Jane is at the heart of a 200-year-old mystery that still has the power to put lives on the line.     Against the dramatic backdrop of England's Lake District a drama of life and death plays out, its     ultimate prize a bounty worth millions.  (12 copies)

McEwan, Ian   Atonement :  In 1935 England, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses an event involving     her sister Cecilia and her childhood friend Robbie Turner, and she becomes the victim of her own     imagination, which leads her on a lifelong search for truth and absolution.  (2 large print; 9     copies)

Mendelsohn, Jane  American Music :  Honor is a physical therapist with a mysterious patient in Milo, the Iraq     war veteran whose destroyed back is the only testament to his emotional scars. When Honor     touches him, she and Milo are overwhelmed by startling visions of the past: Of 1930s New York,     where a young marriage is tested by the arrival of an intriguing cousin; of a female photographer     whose life's work is irrevocably stolen; of a young mother determined to make it on her own; and of     17th-century Turkey, where the forbidden love affair of a eunuch and the sultan’s concubine     threatens a tragic end. As the stories converge in a crescendo of revelations, they bring Honor and     Milo closer to healing and understanding. A breathtaking mystery and meditation on love, American     Music is a compassionate and wondrous novel.  (12 copies)

Meyer, Kurt   Stardust  (Indiana Author):  Stardust examines the effects of cultural and technological     changes to life in small-town America during the past     century. One of the many underlying themes     of such change is that most places in America are losing their sense of place. So, Stardust is     written with a strong sense of place - Indiana.  (6 copies)

Michaels, Anne   Fugitive Pieces :  In 1940, Jakob Beer, a seven-year-old boy, bursts from the mud of a     war-torn Polish city, where he has buried himself to hide from Nazi soldiers who have killed his     family. Though he should have died with his family, he has not only survived but been rescued by a     Greek geologist. With this electrifying backdrop, Anne Michaels propels us into her rapturously     acclaimed novel of loss, memory, history, and redemption. Michaels lets us witness Jakob's     transformation from a half-wild casualty of the Holocaust to an artist who extracts meaning from the     abyss.  (1 large print; 11 copies)

Min, Anchee   Empress Orchid :  A fictional portrait of the infamous last empress of China follows the life of     Orchid, a beautiful teenager from an aristocratic but impoverished family, who is chosen to become     a low-ranking concubine of the emperor and who uses her seductive talents and intelligence to rise     to a position of power in the Chinese court.  (10 copies)

Mistry, Rohinton   A Fine Balance :  In India during the mid-1970s, after a "state of internal emergency" is     declared, four different people--a widowed seamstress, a student, and a man and his nephew who     have fled their village's caste violence--find their lives becoming inextricably intertwined.  (2 large     print; 10 copies)

Mitford, Nancy   Pursuit of Love/Love in a Cold Climate :  Few aristocratic English families of the twentieth     century enjoyed the glamorous notoriety of the infamous Mitford sisters. Nancy Mitford's most     famous novels, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, satirize British aristocracy in the     twenties and thirties through the amorous adventures of the Radletts, an exuberantly         unconventional family closely modelled on Mitford's own. The Radletts of Alconleigh occupy the     heights of genteel eccentricity, from terrifying Lord Alconleigh (who, like Mitford's father, used to     hunt his children with bloodhounds when foxes were not available), to his gentle wife, Sadie, their     wayward daughter Linda, and the other six lively Radlett children. Mitford's wickedly funny prose     follows these characters through misguided marriages and dramatic love affairs, as the shadow of     World War II begins to close in on their rapidly vanishing world.  (12 copies)

Morris, Mary   Songs in Ordinary Time :  A novel set in a small town in Vermont in 1960 offers the story of     lonely and vulnerable Marie Fermoyle, her three children, and a dangerous con man.  (7 copies)

Morrison, Toni   Sula :  The intense friendship shared by two black women raised in an Ohio town changes         when one of them leaves to roam the countryside and returns ten years later.  (2 large print; 3     copies)

Munro, Alice   Love of a Good Woman :  A collection of eight stories explores such themes as the     complexities of love, the unexpected implications of passion, and the strange, frequently whimsical     desires of the human heart.  (12 copies)

Nemirovsky, Irene   Suite Francaise :  Published more than sixty years following the author's death at      Auschwitz, a remarkable story of life under the Nazi occupation includes two parts--"A Storm in     June," set amid the chaotic 1940 exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion, and "Dolce,"     set in a German-occupied provincial village rife with jealousy, resentment, resistance, and     collaboration. (1 large print; 10 copies)

Neville, Katherine  The Eight :  About to embark on a business trip to Algeria, Catherine Velis meets a     mysterious man who offers her an enormous sum of money if she will find the pieces of an old     chess service reputed to be in Algeria.  (11 copies)

Niffenegger, Audrey  The Time Traveler’s Wife :  This is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a     dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an     artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair endures     across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap.  (8 copies)

Oates, Joyce Carol   We Were the Mulvaneys :  The Mulvaneys, at first a close and very lucky family, drift     apart over the years, until the youngest son, Judd, discovers the secret of their downfall and sets     out to help reunite the family.  (2 large print; 8 copies)

Obrecht, Tea  The Tiger’s Wife :  In a Balkan country mending from war, Natalia, a young doctor, is     compelled to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent     death. Searching for clues, she turns to his worn copy of The Jungle Book and the stories he told     her of his encounters over the years with “the deathless man.” But most extraordinary of all is the     story her grandfather never told her—the legend of the tiger’s wife.  (2 Audio CD; 10 copies)

O’Brien, Tim   The Things They Carried :  Heroic young men carry the emotional     weight of their lives to war     in Vietnam, in a patchwork account of a modern journey into the heart of darkness.  (8 copies)

O’Flynn, Catherine  What Was Lost  :  O'Flynn's debut begins with self-made detective and ten-year-    old orphan Kate Meaney as she buses her way to the Green Oaks Shopping Mall, where she'll     survey the various customers who may want to commit crimes: "Crime was out there. Undetected,     unseen." With notebook and stuffed monkey in tow, Kate spends her days when not in school     either outside the mall looking to catch a thief or at a neighborhood store sharing her observations     with the shop owner's son, 22-year-old Adrian Palmer. When Kate disappears one day, never to be     seen again, suspicion falls     on Adrian, and the two-decade-spanning, unsolved case wreaks     destruction on the lives of those who had touched Kate's life in one way or another. This     seamlessly written, character-driven novel offers up well-appreciated humor along with its darker     material, and readers who enjoy sideswiping surprises will not be disappointed.  (11 copies)

Oliveira, Robin  My Name is Mary Sutter :  Mary Sutter is a brilliant young midwife who dreams of becoming     a surgeon. Eager to run away from recent heartbreak, Mary travels to Washington, D.C., to help     tend the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of two surgeons, who both fall     unwittingly in love with her, and resisting her mother's pleas to return home to help with the difficult     birth of her twin sister's baby, Mary pursues her medical career against all odds.  (10 copies)

Ondaatje, Michael   Anil’s Ghost :  A forensic pathologist returns to Sri Lanka--after 15 years abroad--to     assist in identifying victims of the country's civil war.  (2 large print; 11 copies)

Orczy, Baroness   The Scarlet Pimpernel :  Revered by some and despised by others, the Scarlet     Pimpernel--an Englishman who works to save aristocrats during the height of the French     Revolution--is pursued by a blackmailing agent of the new Republic. (13 copies)

Orringer, Julie  The Invisible Bridge :  Set in 1937 Europe, this novel tells the story of three Hungarian     Jewish brothers bound by history and love, of a marriage tested by disaster, of a Jewish family's     struggle against annihilation by the Nazis, and of the dangerous power of art in the time of war.  (14     copies)

Paton, Alan  Cry the Beloved Country : In search of missing family members, Zulu priest Stephen Kumalo     leaves his South African village to traverse the deep and perplexing city of Johannesburg in the     1940s. With his sister turned prostitute, his brother turned labor protestor and his son, Absalom,     arrested for the murder of a white man, Kumalo must grapple with how to bring his family back from     the brink of destruction as the racial tension throughout Johannesburg hampers his attempts to     protect his family. The most famous and important novel in South Africa's history, and an     immediate worldwide bestseller when it was published in 1948, Alan Paton's impassioned novel     about a black man's country under white man's law is a work of searing beauty.  (17 copies)

Pearl, Matthew   The Dante Club :  In 1865, the preparations of the Dante Club--led by Henry Wadsworth     Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes--to release the first translation of Dante's "The Divine     Comedy" are threatened by a series of murders that re-create episodes from "Inferno." (1 large     print; 10     copies)

Perez-Reverte, Arturo   The Nautical Chart :  Coy, a suspended sailor with time on his hands, meets the     beautiful Tánger Soto in Barcelona at a maritime auction and embarks on an adventure to recover     the Dei Gloria, a Jesuit ship sunk in the seventeenth century by pirates.  (10 copies)

Perona, Tony  Saintly Remains:  Freelance investigative reporter Nick Bertetto and his wife and young     daughter are visiting his in-laws in Jasper, Indiana, when his mother-in-law’s cat comes home after     having been skinned alive. After a furious Nick vows to find out who tortured the cat, he learns     other cats and dogs in the area have turned up missing or hurt. When the body of a teenager who     died in a Columbine-like shooting spree turns up missing from her grave, Nick is asked to report on     the case for his newspaper. As he investigates, trying to scoop the local reporter, he hears rumors     of a cult operating in the area and begins to wonder if the grave-robbing and animal abuse are     connected.  Perona lives in Plainfield, Indiana.  (10 copies)

Pickard, Nancy  The Virgin of Small Plains :  Seventeen years after the discovery of an unidentified female     murder victim, whose brutalized body is found outside Small Plains, Kansas, the young girl's grave     has become the source of a series of strange miracles and legends, until the return of prodigal son     Mitch Newquist, along with a devastating tornado, threatens to bring old secrets to light.  (10     copies)

Picoult, Jodi   My Sister’s Keeper :  Conceived to provide a bone marrow match for her leukemia-stricken     sister, teenage Kate begins to question her moral obligations in light of countless medical     procedures and decides to fight for the right to make decisions about her own body.  (2 large print;     11 copies)

Proulx, Annie   The Shipping News :  Surprising transformations take place when a newspaperman's elderly     aunt and two daughters decide to move back to their family home on the coast of Newfoundland.     (6 copies)

Quindlen, Anna   Blessings :  When a teenage couple abandons their baby at the gate of the estate owned     by Lydia Blessing, Skip Cuddy, the estate caretaker, decides to raise the child himself, a decision     that has a profound effect on the lives of everyone in the community, in a story of love, secrets, and     redemption.  (2 large print; 10 copies)

Reynolds, Sheri   The Rapture of Canaan :  Ninah Huff, a member of an isolated     religious community, only     sees the outside world at school, where she is labeled as odd, and when it is discovered that she is     pregnant, Ninah maintains her belief that she carries a holy child.  (2 large print; 11 copies)

Rivers,  Francine  Redeeming Love :  In this retelling of the biblical story of Hosea, Redeeming Love is a     heartbreaking romance between a prostitute and the upright and kind farmer who marries her. It     opens with the Gold Rush of 1850 and its rough-and-tumble atmosphere of greed and desire.     Angel, who was sold into prostitution as a child, has learned to distrust all men, who see her only     as a way to satisfy their lust. When the virtuous and spiritual-minded Michael Hosea is told by God     to marry this "soiled dove," he obeys, despite his misgivings. As Angel learns to love him, she     begins to hope again but is soon overwhelmed by fear and returns to her old life.  (9 copies)

Rosnay, Tatiana de   Sarah’s Key :    Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her     family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother     in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May     2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about     this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail     of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the     girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into     Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and     her life.  Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under     occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.  (2 large print; 8     copies)

Roth, Philip   The Plot Against America :  In a novel of alternative history, aviation hero and isolationist     Charles A. Lindbergh defeats Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, negotiating a     cordial accord with Adolf Hitler, accepting his conquest of Europe and anti-Semitic policies, and     igniting a storm of fear for Jewish families throughout America.  (10 copies)

Ruiz  Zafon, Carlos   The Shadow of the Wind :  A boy named Daniel selects a novel from a library of rare     books, enjoying it so much that he searches for the rest of the author's works, only to discover that     someone is destroying every book the author has ever written.  (10 copies)

Sabatini, Rafael   The Sea Hawk :  Oliver Tressilian, a Cornish gentleman who helped the English defeat the     Spanish Armada, is betrayed by his ruthless half-brother and seeks refuge in the Middle East,     where he takes on a new role as a Barbary pirate.  (10 copies)

Salzman, Mark   Lying Awake :  In a Carmelite monastery outside of Los Angeles, Sister John of the Cross,     an elderly nun, experiences a series of dazzling and incisive visions, but she is confronted with a     difficult choice when she discovers that she must choose between her spiritual gifts and the     medical establishment that seeks to cure the powerful headaches that accompany her visions.  (11     copies)

Sansom, C. J.  Dark Fire:  In 1540, during the reign of Henry VIII, hunchback lawyer Matthew Shardlake     is asked to help a young girl accused of murder. She refuses to speak in her defense even when     threatened with torture. But just when the case seems lost, Thomas Cromwell, the king's feared     vicar general, offers Shardlake two more weeks to prove his client's innocence. In exchange,     Shardlake must find a lost cache of Dark Fire, a legendary weapon of mass destruction. What     ensues is a page-turning adventure, filled with period detail and history.  (12 copies)

Schwartz, Christina   Drowning Ruth :  Worn out from nursing soldiers at a Milwaukee hospital and     struggling to recover from a traumatic love affair, Amanda Starkey returns to her family's rural     Wisconsin farm to stay with her beloved sister, Mattie, and young niece, Ruth, in a mesmerizing     tale of obsession, the dangers of keeping secrets, and the terrifying repercussions of revealing     them.  (2 large print; 6 copies)

See, Lisa   Snow Flower and the Secret Fan  :  An evocative story of friendship set against the backdrop of a     nineteenth-century China in which women suffered from foot binding, isolation, and illiteracy follows     an elderly woman and her companion as they communicate their hopes, dreams, joys, and     tragedies through a unique secret language.  (9 copies)

See, Lisa  Shanghai Girls :  Forced to leave Shanghai when their father sells them to California suitors,     sisters May and Pearl struggle to adapt to life in 1930s Los Angeles while still bound to old     customs, as they face discrimination and confront a life-altering secret.  (2 large print; 14 copies)

Shaffer, Mary Ann   The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society  :  In 1946, as England emerges     from the shadow of World War II, writer Juliet Ashton finds inspiration for her next book in her     correspondence with a native of Guernsey and his eccentric friends, who tell her about their island,     the books they love, German occupation, and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a     book club born as an alibi during German occupation.  (2 large print; 12 copies)

Shelley, Mary  Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus :  Shelley's enduringly popular and rich gothic tale     confronts some of the most feared innovations of evolutionism and science--topics such as     degeneracy, hereditary disease, and humankind's ability to act as creator of the modern world.  (19     copies)

Shreve, Anita   Fortune’s Rock :  At a turn-of-the-century coastal resort in New Hampshire, young Olympia     Biddeford is drawn into an intense love affair with a much older man, John Haskell, a married     physician and activist, an affair that has a profound and long-reaching impact on everyone around     them.  (2 large print; 7 copies)

Shute, Nevil   A Town Like Alice:  Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the     invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women     and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her.     However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the     villagers who saved her life. But it turns out that they have a gift for her as well: the news that the     young Australian soldier, Joe Harmon, who had risked his life to help the women, had miraculously     survived. Jean’s search for Joe leads her to a desolate Australian outpost called Willstown, where     she finds a challenge that will draw on all the resourcefulness and spirit that carried her through her     war-time ordeals.

Silbert, Leslie  The Intelligencer :  London, 1593: It is three weeks before the murder of Christopher     Marlowe, playwright and spy in Queen Elizabeth I's secret service -- a crime that remains unsolved     to this day. Marlowe is hoping to find his missing muse as he sets off on a new intelligence     assignment...and closes in on the secret that will seal his fate.  New York City, present day:     Renaissance scholar turned private eye Kate Morgan investigates a shocking heist and murder     involving a mysterious, antique manuscript recently unearthed in central London. What secret lurks     in those yellowed, ciphered pages...and how, centuries later, could it drive someone to kill?      Propelling us from the shadows of the sixteenth-century underworld to the chambers of a     clandestine U.S. intelligence unit, from the glitter of the Elizabethan court to the catacombs of     ancient Rome, The Intelligencer's dual narratives twist, turn, and collide as they race toward a     stunning finale.  (12 copies)

Silvis, Randall  In a Town Called Mundomuerto :  This beautiful, melancholy novella unfolds as a timeless     Central American seaside fable from the shifting memories of an old man with only a 15-year-old     boy as his tireless audience. The man, called Grandfather Alberto, recalls his passion for Lucia     Luna, who once (when she was 17 and he was two years younger) thrilled the village men with her     melodious voice and seductive beauty. Now a mad vieja (old woman), Lucia had fended off male     attention until a visiting stranger named Arcadio Martín seduced her at a dance and vanished after     impregnating her. The fishing villagers blame Lucia when their luck takes an extraordinary     downturn, believing Arcadio to be a "dolphin-man" or shape-shifting "angel of the sea," and his tryst     with Lucia to be the source of the town's misfortune. After the mysterious death of a jealous widow     who tagged Lucia a bruja (witch), Alberto remains her only defender. His subsequent journey leads     to a heartbreaking revelation.  (8 copies)

Simonson, Helen  Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand :  The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that     Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea.     But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani     shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their     respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something     more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the     permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in     the face of culture and tradition?  (2 large print; 12 copies)
 
Sinclair, Upton   The Jungle :  A documentary novel portraying the meat industry's conditions at the end of     the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Sinclair's novel prompted public outrage which led     President Theodore Roosevelt to demand an official investigation. This eventually led to the     passage of the Pure Food and Drug laws.  (12 copies)

Smiley, Jane  Private Life:  By the time she reaches the age of 27, Margaret Mayfield has known a lot of     tragedy in her life. She has lost two brothers, one to an accident, the other to illness, as well as her     father, who committed suicide. Her strong-minded mother, Lavinia, knows that her daughter’s     prospects for marriage are dim and takes every opportunity to encourage Margaret’s friendship with     eccentric scientist Andrew Early. When the two marry and move to a naval base in San Francisco,     Margaret becomes more than Andrew’s helpmeet—she is also his cook, driver, and typist as well     as the captive audience for his rants against Einstein and his own quirky theories about the     universe. As Smiley covers in absorbing detail both private and world events—a lovely Missouri     wedding, the chaos of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the wrenching death of a baby—she     keeps at the center of the narrative Margaret’s growing realization that she has married a madman     and her subsequent attempts to deal with her marriage by becoming adept at “the neutral smile, the     moment of patient silence,” before giving in to bitterness. A riveting and nuanced novel of marriage     and family, Private Life reveals the mysteries of intimacy and the anonymity that endures even in     lives lived side by side.   (2 large print; 12 copies; 2 audio CD)

Smith, Martin Cruz   Gorky Park :  In contemporary Moscow, Chief Homicide Investigator Arkady Renko     unravels the mystery of a triple murder--involving three corpses buried in the snow with their faces     and fingers missing--complicated by the shadowy and uncooperative presence of the KGB, the FBI,     and the NYPD and by his falling in love.  (10 copies)

Smith, Tom Rob  Child 44 :  Stalin's Soviet Union strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of     their needs. One of its fundamental pillars is that its citizens live free from the fear of ordinary crime     and criminals.  But in this society, millions do live in fear ... of the State. Death is a whisper away.     The mere suspicion of ideological disloyalty - owning a book from the decadent West, the wrong     word at the wrong time sends millions of innocents into the Gulags or to their executions.     Defending the system from its citizens is the MGB, the State Security Force. And no MGB officer is     more courageous, conscientious, or idealistic than Leo Demidov.  A war hero with a beautiful wife,     Leo lives in relative luxury in Moscow, even providing a decent apartment for his parents. His only     ambition has been to serve his country. For this greater good, he has arrested and interrogated.      Then the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal - a murderer - is on the loose, killing at     will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, his world turned     upside down, and every belief he's ever held shattered. The only way to save his life and the lives     of his family is to uncover the criminal. But in a society that is officially paradise, it’s a crime against     the State to suggest that a murderer - much less a serial killer - is in their midst. Exiled from his     home, with only his wife remaining at his side, Leo must find and stop a criminal that the State     won't admit even exists.  (2 large print;  12 copies)

Sofer, Dalia   The Septembers of Shiraz :  Their serene villa life devastated by a     wrongful imprisonment,     the wife and children of Tehran gentleman Isaac Amin face potential betrayals within their own     household and eventually plan a dangerous escape.  (8 copies)

Stanley, Michael   A Carrion Death :  Smashed skull, snapped ribs, and a cloying smell of carrion. Leave the     body for the hyenas to devour—no body, no case.   But Kalahari game rangers stumble on the     human corpse mid-meal. The murder wasn't perfect after all. Enter Detective David "Kubu" Bengu     of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department, an investigator whose personality and     physique match his moniker, the Setswana word for hippopotamus—which is a seemingly docile     beast, but one of the deadliest, and most persistent, on the continent.   Beneath a mountain of lies     and superstitions, Kubu uncovers a chain of crimes leading to the most powerful figures in the     country—cold-bloodedly efficient and frighteningly influential enemies who can make anyone who     gets in their way disappear.   (14 copies)
Stein, Garth  The Art of Racing in the Rain  :   On the eve of a faithful canine's death, Enzo takes stock of his     life while recalling the sacrifices, unexpected losses, and person struggles of his would-be race-car     driver human, Denny, in the latter's efforts to retain custody of his daughter.  (2 large print; 10     copies)

Steinbeck, John  The Grapes of Wrath :  Shocking and controversial when it was first published in 1939,     Steinbeck's Pulitzer prize-winning epic remains his undisputed masterpiece. Set against the     background of dust bowl Oklahoma and Californian migrant life, it tells of the Joad family, who, like     thousands of others, are forced to travel West in search of the promised land. Their story is one of     false hopes, thwarted desires and broken dreams, yet out of their suffering Steinbeck created a     drama that is intensely human, yet majestic in its scale and moral vision; an eloquent tribute to the     endurance and dignity of the human spirit.  (22 copies)

Stockett, Kathryn  The Help :  Limited and persecuted by racial divides in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three     women, including an African-American maid, her sassy and chronically unemployed friend and a     recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project against a backdrop of the     budding civil rights era.  (4 Audio CD; 3 large print; 9 copies)

Stout, Rex  Some Buried Caesar :  A car accident in upstate New York strands Nero Wolfe, America's     largest detective, and Archie Goodwin, his confidential assistant, in the midst of a family feud. The     feud, over $45,000 worth of prize bull, turns ugly when the beef in question is found pawing the     mangled body of a family scion. Solving the mystery is no problem -- but, alas, the evidence keeps     disappearing.  (12 copies)

Stuart, Julia  The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise :  Balthazar Jones has lived and worked in the Tower of     London for the past eight years. Being a Beefeater is no easy job, and when Balthazar is tasked     with setting up an elaborate menagerie of the many exotic animals gifted to the Queen, life at the     Tower gets all the more interesting. Penguins escape, giraffes go missing, and the Komodo dragon     sends innocent tourists running for their lives. Still, that chaos is nothing compared to what     happens when his wife, Hebe, makes a surprise announcement. What’s a Beefeater to do? (12     copies)

Tademy, Lalita   Cane River :  Follows four generations of African American women, from slavery to the     early twentieth century, as they struggle for economic     security and the future of their families along     the Cane River in rural Louisiana.  (2 large print; 6 copies)

Umrigar, Thrity  The Weight of Heaven :  Having lost their beloved only child to a sudden illness, Frank and     Ellie Benton hope to rebuild their lives by accepting an unexpected job offer in India but find their     new home compromised by Frank's misguided efforts to heal his grief through a friendship with a     bright young boy.  (2 large print; 12 copies)

Urrea, Luis Alberto   The Hummingbird’s Daughter :  When sixteen-year-old Teresita, the illegitimate and     beloved daughter of a powerful late-nineteenth-century rancher, arises from death possessing the     power to heal, she is declared a saint and finds her family and faith tested by the impending     Mexican civil war.  (12 copies)

Vargas, Fred   Have Mercy On Us All :  When a Parisian town crier receives anonymous, ominous     messages warning of an imminent outbreak of the Black Death, genius detective Commissaire      Adamsberg and his straight-edged sidekick, Danglard, begin to suspect that the predictions     are linked to strange marks that have appeared on doorways, a mystery that is complicated by a     suspicious death.  (11 copies)

Walberg, Kate   The Gardens of Kyoto :  A coming-of-age story set during wartime retraces one woman's     struggles with romance as her favorite cousin Randall is called away to the battlefields of the South     Pacific.  (10 copies)

Wall, Carolyn  Sweeping Up Glass:  Living behind Harker's Grocery with a young boy named Will'm in 1938     Kentucky, Olivia is stunned when members of the exclusive Hunt Club suddenly turn their sights on     the two of them, a dangerous situation complicated by the return of Will'm's mother and the     exposure of the Rowe Street community's horrifying secrets.  (12 copies)

West, Jessamyn   Friendly Persuation : The classic American story of the life of the Birdwells, a Quaker     family living in Indiana at the time of the Civil War. Jess and Eliza Birdwell are the parents of an     extraordinary American family. Their commitment to "the friendly persuasion" forms the firm, steady     basis for their turbulent life together. Jess' weakness for fast horses exasperates Eliza, and Eliza's     stubborn devotion to her celebrated "pacing goose," Samantha, is a trial for them all. The wild     misadventures of the older boys, Josh and Labe; the spunky independence of their daughter     Mattie; the terrible threat of war in the countryside; all test the patience, courage, and abiding love     of the Birdwells.  (10 copies)

West, Jessamyn   The Massacre at Fall Creek :  The reactions of a small 1824 Indiana settlement to the     capture, trial, conviction and execution of five white men for the premeditated murder of nine     peaceful men, women and children of the Seneca tribe.  Recounts an actual incident that happened     in Pendleton, Indiana.  (1 large print; 12 copies)

Westerson, Jeri  Veil of Lies :  Crispin Guest is a disgraced knight, stripped of his rank and his honor - but     left with his life - for plotting against Richard II.  Having lost his betrothed, his friends, his patrons     and his position in society, and with no trade to support him and no family willing to acknowledge     him, Crispin has turned to the one thing he still has - his wits - to scrape a living together on the     mean streets of London.  In 1383, Guest is called to the compound of a merchant - a reclusive     mercer who suspects that his wife is being unfaithful and wants Guest to look into the matter.  Not     wishing to sully himself in such disgraceful, dishonorable business but in dire need of money,     Guest agrees and discovers that the wife is indeed up to something, presumably nothing good.  But     when he comes to inform his client, he is found dead - murdered in a sealed room, locked from the     inside.  Now Guest has come to the unwanted attention of the Lord Sheriff of London and most     recent client was murdered while he was working for him.  And everything seems to turn on a      religious relic - a veil reported to have wiped the brow of Christ - that is now missing.  (12 copies)

Wolfe, Thomas   Look Homeward, Angel :  A Southern family with a great appetite for living is dominated by     the father until an older son, Eugene, is able to free himself from his rural North Carolina hometown     to seek the challenges of an Ivy League education and big city life.  (9 copies)

Woolf, Virginia   Mrs. Dalloway :  Clarissa Dalloway is preoccupied with the last-minute details of party she is     to give that evening. As she readies her house she is flooded with memories and, met with the     realities of the present, she re-examines the choices she has made over the course of her life. (2     large print; 11 copies)
Yan, Geling  Flowers of War :  The Flowers of War is based on events that took place when the Japanese     invaded Nanjing in 1937, slaughtering not only soldiers but raping and murdering civilians as well. It     tells the story of an American missionary who sheltered a group of schoolgirls, prostitutes and     wounded Chinese soldiers in the compound of his church--theoretically neutral territory--and what     happened when the Japanese soldiers arrived at his door.  (14 copies)

Yunis, Alia  The Night Counter :  After 85 long years, Fatimah Abdullah is dying, and she knows when her     time will come. In fact, it should come just nine days from tonight, the 992nd nightly visit of     Scheherazade, the beautiful and immortal storyteller from the epic The Arabian Nights.  Just as     Scheherazade spun magical stories for 1,001 nights to save her own life, Fatima has spent each     night telling Scheherazade her life stories, all the while knowing that on the 1,001st night, her     storytelling will end forever. But between tonight and night 1,001, Fatima has a few loose ends to     tie up. She must find a wife for her openly gay grandson, teach Arabic (and birth control) to her 17-    year-old great-granddaughter, make amends with her estranged husband, and decide which of her     troublesome children should inherit her family's home in Lebanon--a house she herself has not     seen in nearly 70 years. All this while under the surveillance of two bumbling FBI agents eager to     uncover Al Qaeda in Los Angeles.  But Fatima’s children are wrapped up in their own chaotic lives     and disinterested in their mother or their inheritances. As Fatima weaves the stories of her     husband, children, and grandchildren, we meet a visionless psychic, a conflicted U.S. soldier, a     gynecologist who has a daughter with a love of shoplifting and a tendency to get unexpectedly     pregnant, a Harvard-educated alcoholic cab driver edging towards his fifth marriage, a lovelorn     matchmaker, and a Texas homecoming queen. Taken in parts, Fatima’s relations are capricious     and steadfast, affectionate and smothering, connected yet terribly alone. Taken all together, they     present a striking and surprising tapestry of modern Arab American life.  (2 large print: 10 copies)

Zusak, Marcus   The Book Thief :  Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the     story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her     family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.  (9 copies)

Nonfiction

Abbott, Karen  Sin in the Second City:  Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America’s Soul     (306.742 Abb 2007) :  A history of America's most famous brothel, Chicago's Everleigh Club, which     catered to some of America's leading moguls, actors, and writers from 1900 to 1911, profiles its     aristocratic proprietors and their efforts to elevate the industry to new heights and details the efforts     by both rivals and crusading reformers to close the establishment.  (12 copies)

Capote, Truman  In Cold Blood  (364.1523 Cap 1994) :  In Cold Blood was a groundbreaking work when released in 1966. With it, author Truman Capote contributed to a style of writing in which the reporter gets so far inside the subject, becomes so familiar, that he projects events and conversations as if he were really there. The style has probably never been accomplished better than in this book. Capote combined painstaking research with a narrative feel to produce one of the most spellbinding stories ever put on the page. Two two-time losers living in a lonely house in western Kansas are out to make the heist of their life, but when things don't go as planned, the robbery turns ugly. From there, the book is a real-life look into murder, prison, and the criminal mind.  (1 large print; 10 copies)

Cooney, Eleanor   Death in Slow Motion:  a Memoir of a Daughter, Her Mother, and the Beast Called Alzheimer’s (616.83109 Coo 2004):  When her once-glamorous and witty novelist-mother got Alzheimer's, Eleanor Cooney moved her from her beloved Connecticut home to California in order to care for her. In tense, searing prose, punctuated with the blackest of humor, Cooney documents the slow erosion of her mother's mind, the powerful bond the two shared, and her own descent into drink and despair.  (10 copies)

Diamond, Jared M.  Guns, Germs, and Steel  (303.4 Dia):  An intriguing study of the rise of civilization argues that human development is not based on race or ethnic differences but rather is linked to biological diversity, discussing the evolution of agriculture, technology, writing, political systems, and religious belief.  (2 Audio CD; 5 copies)

Dully, Howard  My Lobotomy  (617.48109 Dul 2007):  The author describes his victimization at the hands of     Dr. Walter Freeman, who popularized the trans-orbital lobotomy and who performed the procedure     on the author at the age of twelve; the abandonment by his family; his experiences with institutions,     jail, homelessness, and alcoholism; and his courageous determination to find out why he was     forced to undergo a lobotomy.  (12 copies)

Ehrenreich, Barbara  Bright-Sided:  How Positive Thinking is Undermining America (155.232 Her 2010):      Americans are a "positive" people -- cheerful, optimistic, and upbeat: This is our reputation as well     as our self-image. But more than a temperament, being positive is the key to getting success and     prosperity. Or so we are told.  In this utterly original debunking, Barbara Ehrenreich confronts the     false promises of positive thinking and shows its reach into every corner of American life, from     Evangelical megachurches to the medical establishment, and, worst of all, to the business     community, where the refusal to consider negative outcomes--like mortgage defaults--contributed     directly to the current economic disaster. With the myth-busting powers for which she is acclaimed,     Ehrenreich exposes the downside of positive thinking: personal self-blame and national denial. This     is Ehrenreich at her provocative best--poking holes in conventional wisdom and faux science and     ending with a call for existential clarity and courage.  (9 copies; 2 Audio CD)

Friedman, George  The Next Decade:  Empire and Republic in a Changing World (303.49 Fri 2012):  In the     long view, history is seen as a series of events—but the course of those events is determined by     individuals and their actions. During the next ten years, individual leaders will face significant     transitions for their nations: the United States’ relationships with Iran and Israel will be undergoing     changes, China will likely confront a major crisis, and the wars in the Islamic world will subside.     Unexpected energy and technology developments will emerge, and labor shortages will begin to     matter more than financial crises. Distinguished geopolitical forecaster George Friedman analyzes     these events from the perspectives of the men and women leading these global changes, focusing     in particular on the American president, who will require extraordinary skills to shepherd the United     States through this transitional period. The Next Decade is a provocative and fascinating look at the     conflicts and opportunities that lie ahead.  (10 copies; 2 Audio CD)

Grandin, Craig  Fordlandia:  The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City (307.768 Gra 2009):      The story of the auto magnate's attempt to recreate small-town America, along with a rubber     plantation, in the heart of the Amazon details the clash between Ford and the jungle and its     inhabitants, as the tycoon attempted to force his will on the natural world.  (10 copies)

Hillenbrand, Laura  Seabiscuit: An American Legend  (798.401 Hil):  The author     retraces the journey of     Seabiscuit, a horse with crooked legs and a pathetic tail that made racing history in 1938, thanks to     the efforts of a trainer, owner, and jockey who transformed a bottom-level racehorse into a legend.      (2 large print; 7 copies)   
    Unbroken:  a World War II Airman’s Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (940.5472092     Hil 2010):  On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean     and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the     ocean surface, a face appeared--Lt. Louis Zamperini. Captured by the Japanese and driven to the     limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope,     resolve, and humor.  (2 Audio CD; 2 large print; 7 copies)

King, David  Death in the City of Light:  The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris  (364.1523 Kin 2011) :  The     gripping, true story of a brutal serial killer who unleashed his own reign of terror in Nazi-Occupied     Paris. As decapitated heads and dismembered body parts surfaced in the Seine, Commissaire     Georges-Victor Massu, head of the Brigade Criminelle, was tasked with tracking down the elusive     murderer in a twilight world of Gestapo, gangsters, resistance fighters, pimps, prostitutes, spies,     and other shadowy figures of the Parisian underworld.   (12 copies)

Larson, Erik  The Devil in the White City (364.1523 Lar 2003) :  A compelling account of the Chicago World's     Fair of 1893 brings together the divergent stories of two very different men who played a key role in     shaping the history of the event--visionary architect Daniel H. Burnham, who coordinated its     construction, and Dr. Henry H. Holmes, an insatiable and charming serial killer who lured women to     their deaths.  (11 copies)

Lopez, Steve  The Soloist  (B Ayres 2008):  A portrait of gifted violinist Nathaniel     Ayers traces his education     at Juilliard, his struggles with schizophrenia, the factors that led to his homelessness in Los     Angeles, his friendship with the author, and the author's efforts to improve the musician's life.  (10     copies)

Martin, Russell  Beethoven’s Hair  (B Beethoven 2000):  Follows a single lock of hair from Ludwig van     Beethoven, from the great     composer's deathbed in 1827, through its role as a relic in the Hiller     family, into the hands of a doctor in Nazi-occupied Denmark, to its 1994 sale at Sotheby's, and     describes the scientific  research done on the hair to uncover information about Beethoven's life.      (16 copies)

Mortenson, Greg  Three Cups of Tea  (371.822 Mor 2006):  Traces how the author, having been rescued     and resuscitated by Himalayan villagers after a failed     attempt to climb K2, worked to build schools     that would benefit the young girls who were forbidden an education by Taliban restrictions.  (9     copies)

Schiff, Stacy  Cleopatra, a Life  (B Cleopatra) :  Her palace shimmered with onyx and gold but was richer still     in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious     negotiator. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the     first and     poisoned the second; incest and assassination were family specialties. She had children     by Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, two of the most prominent Romans of the day. With Antony she     would attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled both their ends. Famous long     before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Her     supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the     classical sources, Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen     whose death ushered in a new world order.  (2 large print; 2 Audio CD; 12 copies)

Skloot, Rebecca   The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks  (616.0277 Skl 2009):  Henrietta Lacks, a poor     Southern tobacco farmer, was buried in an unmarked grave sixty years ago. Yet her cells -- taken     without her knowledge, grown in culture and bought and sold by the billions -- became one of the     most important tools in medical research. Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey     from the "colored" ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to East Baltimore today, where     Henrietta's family struggles with her legacy.  (2 Audio CD; 5 copies)

Winchester, Simon    The Atlantic:  Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean     of a Million Stories  (551.4613 Win 2010) :  Atlantic is a biography of a tremendous space that has     been central to the ambitions of explorers, scientists, and warriors, and continues profoundly to     affect our character, attitudes, and dreams. Simon Winchester makes the Atlantic come vividly     alive.   Spanning the ocean’s story from its geological origins to the age of exploration—covering     the Vikings, the Irish, the Basques, John Cabot, and Christopher Columbus in the north, and the     Portuguese and the Spanish in the south—and from World War II battles to today’s struggles with     pollution and overfishing, his narrative is epic, intimate, and awe inspiring. More than a mere     history, this is an unforgettable journey of unprecedented scope by one of the most gifted writers in     the English language.   (2 large print; 10 copies)