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City of Hustle: A Sioux Falls Anthology (Belt City Anthologies)
by Belt PublishingA part of Belt's City Anthology Series, a unique take on the South Dakota town residents call "the Best Little City in America." In 1992, Money magazine named Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the best place to
Awakening: A Novel
by Sharon BoltonClara Benning, a veterinary surgeon in charge of a wildlife hospital in a small English village, is young and intelligent, but nearly a recluse. Disfigured by a childhood accident, she generally prefers the company of animals to people. But when a local man dies following a supposed snakebite, Clara's expertise is needed. She's chilled to learn that the victim's postmortem shows a higher concentration of venom than could ever be found in a single snake—and that therefore the killer must be human.Assisted by a soft-spoken neighbor and an eccentric reptile expert, Clara unravels sinister links to an abandoned house, an ancient ritual, and a fifty-year-old tragedy that has left the survivors secretive. But for someone the truth must remain buried in the past—even if they have to kill to keep it there.Awakening is a disturbing tale of dark secrets and insidious rituals that will have readers unable to stop for a breath until they've reach the stunning climax of this extraordinary read from the author of the acclaimed debut novel Sacrifice.
Blood: A Novel
by Patricia TraxlerFrom talented newcomer Patricia Traxler comes a brilliant literary suspense novel about how desire can become jealousy, obsession, and finally murderous rage. Blood is equal parts auspicious literary debut, pageturner, and erotic novel about four people whose lives become irrevocably intertwined during one year at Radcliffe College. The narrator, Norrie Blume, is a painter who has accepted a prestigious fellowship at the college; she's excited to leave her job as a commercial graphic designer and take up the artist's life. But she's also in the middle of an intense love affair with a married colleague, an affair that is threatening to consume both their lives. At Radcliffe, Norrie develops friendships with two other fellows, a journalist and a poet. One is deep, comforting; the other ruled by need and guilt. These three intense relationships quickly begin to infringe upon each other, and soon the four of them seem to be hurtling toward some shocking-and perhaps tragic-end. Blood is a triumph of suspense writing, a true psychological thriller about the nature of desire and the danger of love.
Hangman Blind: A Mystery (Abbess Hildegard of Meaux #1)
by Cassandra ClarkIn November 1382, the month of the dead, Abbess Hildegard rides out for York from the Abbey of Meaux. This is no ordinary journey—it is a time of rival popes, a boy king, and a shaky peace in the savage aftermath of Wat Tyler's murder—and Hildegard has embarked on a perilous mission to try to secure the future of her priory. Traveling alone, she discovers danger, encountering first a gibbet with five bloodied corpses and then the body of a youth, brutally butchered. Who was the boy, how was he connected to the men hanging from the gibbet, and what do these gruesome deaths mean? Hildegard is determined to uncover the truth, no matter how terrible it may be. When even her childhood home, Castle Hutton, turns out not to be a safe haven from murder, Hildegard realizes she will have to summon all of her courage and wisdom to counter the dark forces that threaten her friends and family as well as her country.
The Damnation of Theron Ware: Or, Illumination (Belt Revivals)
by Harold FredericFirst published in 1896, this unsung masterpiece of American literature details the rise and fall of a Methodist minister in upstate New York. Part of Belt's Revivals series and with a new introduction by Ruth Graham. Th
Conspiracy to Riot: The Life and Times of One of the Chicago 7
by Lee WeinerA memoir of a life in activism by one of the original defendants in the Trial of the Chicago 7, subject of the 2020 Oscar-nominated Aaron Sorkin film of the same name. In March 1969, eight young men were indicted by the federal
The Post-Pandemic Liberal Arts College: A Manifesto for Reinvention
by Steve Volk Beth BenedixA succinct and impassioned call to reimagine the small liberal arts college, by two veteran educators. Private liberal arts colleges have struggled for decades; now, as the COVID-19 pandemic widens cracks latent in many American
A House by the Side of the Road
by Jan GleiterSomeone in a peaceful Pennsylvania town has a brutal murder on his conscience......but who and why remain a mystery-- until Meg Kessinger moves in. The house she's inherited from an aunt is dilapidated, but she adores it-- and sets about restoring it with the help of a hunky, laid-back lawyer; a handsome, witty artist; and the secretive husband of her new girlfriend down the road. But soon Meg's rustic rhapsody is blighted by telltale traces of an unseen intruder's search for...what? Her determination to piece together rumors about the sexpot who lived there before her, and the convenient death of an old lady with a twitchy heart, will drag her into a perilous undertow of greed, cunning, and desperation that could turn her dream house into a waking nightmare...
Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen: Recipes, Resources, and Stories
by Belt PublishingA varied, handy collection of Rust Belt culinary favorites, updated for today&’s vegan diet. The Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen is a community cookbook created by professional and home chefs who live and work in the Rust Belt. Recipes collected here represent the diversity of the region, and include vegan versions of:Polish pierogisDetroit coney dogsHungarian paprikashSlovak kolachesMexican conchasGerman sauerkraut ballsCincinnati chiliSlovenian fish fryChitterings, and many more.The cooks and chefs collected here offer stories about their recipes as well as family and culinary traditions. The book also includes resources on how to stock a vegan pantry, guides to useful equipment, and basic how-tos for &“veganizing&” staples. Infusing old world recipes with a new level of creativity for a changing audience, The Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen is unpretentious, accessible, and fun.
Cleveland Neighborhood Guidebook (Belt Neighborhood Guidebooks)
by Belt PublishingThis book is for those who want to understand what radiates away from Terminal Tower, and who understand that as lovely as the city often is, it can sometimes be brutal, too. You will read about places no longer here, such as the Little Italy Historical Museum and League Park, as well as increasingly popular areas, such as North Collinwood and Asiatown. You will learn about Cleveland Heights s natural history, Mount Pleasant back in the day, and Opportunity Corridors missed. The writers tell you stories about starting a business in Ohio City, marketing Larchmere, first time home buying in Detroit Shoreway, self-loathing in South Euclid, troubling developments in Tremont, closed schools in Lee-Miles, and a vineyard in Hough. Bound together, they conjure a Cleveland as complex as are its residents.
Love and Industry: A Midwestern Workbook
by Sonya HuberSonya Huber, author of the award-winning Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, and Other Essays from a Nervous System , offers a candid, lyrical look inside the unsung world of exurban Illinois. New Lenox, Illinois, is a
The Doctor and the Detective: A Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
by Martin BoothThis entertaining, smart biography of Arthur Conan Doyle presents a modern day interpretation of the man who, contrary to his best efforts, will always be known as the creator of the great detective, Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was, however, much more, as Booth shows us in this intriguing study of a man who thrived on the times in which he lived. While Holmes fans will be captivated by the various tidbits that offer insight into their hero's creation; others will be fascinated by this living embodiment of the Victorian masculine ideal.
Tales of Bunjitsu Bunny (Bunjitsu Bunny Ser. #1)
by John HimmelmanIntroducing Isabel, aka Bunjitsu Bunny! She is the BEST bunjitsu artist in her school, and she can throw farther, kick higher, and hit harder than anyone else! But she never hurts another creature . . . unless she has to. This series of brief stories about Isabel's adventures are a beguiling combination of child-friendly scenarios and Eastern wisdom perfect for the youngest readers.
Yukon Alone: The World's Toughest Adventure Race
by John BalzarIn the tradition of Into the Wild, John Balzar's Yukon Alone is a story of daring and determination in one of nature's harshest, loneliest, and most beautiful places.The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race is among the most challenging and dangerous of all the organized sporting events in the world. Every February, a handful of hardy souls sps over two weeks racing sleds pulled by fourteen dogs over 1,023 miles of frozen rivers, icy mountain passes, and spruce forests as big as entire states. It's not unusual for the temperature to drop to 40-below or for the night to be seventeen hours long.Why would anyone want to run this race? To find out, John Balzar moved to Alaska months before The Quest began and he spent time in the homes of many of the mushers. Balzar then spent many days and nights on the trail, and the result is a book that not only treats us to a vivid day-by-day account of the grueling race itself but also offers an insightful look at the men and women who have moved to this rugged and beautiful place, often leaving behind comfortable houses and jobs in the lower forty-eight states for the sense of exhilaration they find in their new lives. Readers will also be fascinated by Balzar's account of what goes into the training and care of the majestic dogs who pull the sleds and whose courage, strength, and devotion make them the true heroes of this story. For anyone captivated by the wild north country, this riveting tale of courage and adventure will inspire and entertain.
Pushing Murder: A Clara Gamadge Mystery (The Clara Gamadge Mysteries)
by Eleanor BoylanClara Gamadge's latest adventure finds the white-haired sleuth in the hospital, at Christmas of all times, a victim of a bad hors d'oevre consumed at the opening of a friend's new mystery book shop, Pushing Murder, in Greenwich Village. A poisoning attempt at the hospital, however, convinces Clara and her family that the mishap at the party was no accident, but attempted murder! Who could possibly want to kill Clara, and why? She hasn't been involved in anycases for quite some time, so the murder attempts must mean she's been drawn into a new case without her knowledge. She suspects that someone will need her services in the near future.Sure enough, an old friend suddenly appears on the scene seeking Clara's help, and a web of ancient deceptions and green ensnares both women, involving them in a deadly game of extortion and murder.As Clara's family, including her charming yet irascible cousin Sadd, rallies to protect both women, Clara directs the investigation from her hospital bed. To her sorrow, however, she finds that the spirit of Christmas is proof against only the chill and is not strong enough to protect them all from the malice of one ambitions man.
Here Comes the Corpse: A Tom And Scott Mystery (Tom & Scott Mysteries #9)
by Mark Richard ZubroChicago area high school teacher Tom Mason and his lover, professional baseball player Scott Carpenter have had a taxing year. After publicly coming out, Scott and Tom have had to deal with a firestorm of publicity, a major loss of privacy, a great outpouring of support and an equal number of cranks. Now, finally, they are going to do something that they've always wanted - get married in a service before their family and close friends. Despite the potential problems of such of an event, the ceremony comes off with nary a hitch. With the reception in full swing - with a guest list ranging from long-time family friends and co-workers to the cream of the social elite - a small problem emerges. Tom happens to stumble over an ex-boyfriend from many years ago in the bathroom. Unfortunately, what he stumbles across is actually the corpse of the murdered ex-boyfriend and in addition to casting something of a pall across the proceedings, it puts Tom in the awkward position of being the prime suspect in the murder. If he's ever going to get to go on his long-planned honeymoon, Tom is going to have to uncover the truth behind the murder of this unwanted guest.
Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, from Scout to Go Set a Watchman
by Charles J. ShieldsAn extensively revised and updated edition of the bestselling biography of Harper Lee, reframed from the perspective of the recent publication of Lee's Go Set a WatchmanTo Kill a Mockingbird—the twentieth century's most widely read American novel—has sold thirty million copies and still sells a million yearly. In this in-depth biography, first published in 2006, Charles J. Shields brings to life the woman who gave us two of American literature's most unforgettable characters, Atticus Finch and his daughter, Scout.Years after its initial publication—with revisions throughout the book and a new epilogue—Shields finishes the story of Harper Lee's life, up to its end. There's her former agent getting her to transfer the copyright for To Kill a Mockingbird to him, the death of Lee's dear sister Alice, a fuller portrait of Lee’s editor, Tay Hohoff, and—most vitally—the release of Lee's long-buried first novel and the ensuing public devouring of what has truly become the book of the year, if not the decade: Lee's Go Set a Watchman.
The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno: A Novel
by Ellen BrysonWater for Elephants meets Geek Love in this riveting first novel, an enchanting love story set in P. T. Barnum's American Museum in 1865 New York CityBartholomew Fortuno, the World's Thinnest Man, believes that his unusual body is a gift. Hired by none other than P. T. Barnum to work at his spectacular American Museum—a modern marvel of macabre displays, breathtaking theatrical performances, and live shows by Barnum's cast of freaks and oddities—Fortuno has reached the pinnacle of his career. But after a decade of constant work, he finds his sense of self, and his contentment within the walls of the museum, flagging. When a carriage pulls up outside the museum in the dead of night, bearing Barnum and a mysterious veiled woman—rumored to be a new performer—Fortuno's curiosity is piqued. And when Barnum asks Fortuno to follow her and report back on her whereabouts, his world is turned upside down. Why is Barnum so obsessed with this woman? Who is she, really? And why has she taken such a hold on the hearts of those around her? Set in the New York of 1865, a time when carriages rattled down cobblestone streets, raucous bordellos near the docks thrived, and the country was mourning the death of President Lincoln, The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno is a moving novel about human appetites and longings. With pitch-perfect prose, Ellen Bryson explores what it means to be profoundly unique—and how the power of love can transcend even the greatest divisions.
Under Purple Skies: The Minneapolis Anthology (Belt City Anthologies)
by Frank BuresIn recent years, Minneapolis has become one of America’s literary powerhouses. With over fifty poems and essays, Under Purple Skies: The Minneapolis Anthology collects some of the most exciting work being done in, or about, Minneapolis and the Twin Cities area, with narrative threads that stretch back not just to Scandinavia, but across the world. Edited by Frank Bures (The Geography of Madness), the writers included here have won, or been shortlisted for, the Newbery Award, the Man Booker Prize, the Pulitzer, the Caldecott Award, the National Book Award, the Minnesota Book Award, and many others.
The Boy at the Top of the Mountain
by John BoyneThe Boy at the Top of the Mountain by John Boyne, the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is another extraordinary historical fiction about World War II and innocence in the face of evil. When Pierrot becomes an orphan, he must leave his home in Paris for a new life with his aunt Beatrix, a servant in a wealthy Austrian household. But this is no ordinary time, for it is 1935 and the Second World War is fast approaching; and this is no ordinary house, for this is the Berghof, the home of Adolf Hitler.Pierrot is quickly taken under Hitler's wing and thrown into an increasingly dangerous new world: a world of terror, secrets, and betrayal from which he may never be able to escape. This title has Common Core connections.
City of Tranquil Light: A Novel
by Bo Caldwell"What ardent, dazzling souls emerge from these American missionaries in China . . . A beautiful, searing book that leaves an indelible presence in the mind." —Patricia Hampl, author of The Florist's Daughter Will Kiehn is seemingly destined for life as a humble farmer in the Midwest when, having felt a call from God, he travels to the vast North China Plain in the early twentieth-century. There he is surprised by love and weds a strong and determined fellow missionary, Katherine. They soon find themselves witnesses to the crumbling of a more than two-thousand-year-old dynasty that plunges the country into decades of civil war. As the couple works to improve the lives of the people of Kuang P'ing Ch'eng— City of Tranquil Light, a place they come to love—and face incredible hardship, will their faith and relationship be enough to sustain them? Told through Will and Katherine's alternating viewpoints—and inspired by the lives of the author's maternal grandparents—City of Tranquil Light is a tender and elegiac portrait of a young marriage set against the backdrop of the shifting face of a beautiful but torn nation. A deeply spiritual book, it shows how those who work to teach others often have the most to learn, and is further evidence that Bo Caldwell writes "vividly and with great historical perspective" (San Jose Mercury News).
Midwest Pie: Recipes That Shaped a Region
by Meredith PangraceA historical tour of midwestern pies that recalls when recipes were shared through faded note cards and junior league cookbooks. New England may say it's the "Great American Pie Belt," but pie has a rich and varied h
Expiration Date: A Novel
by Duane SwierczynskiIf you thought Duane Swierczynski's The Blonde and Severance Package were page turners, hold on to your seat. Expiration Date is a detective novel with a time-travel twist that will leave readers gasping.In this neighborhood, make a wrong turn… and you're history. Mickey Wade is a recently-unemployed journalist who lucked into a rent-free apartment—his sick grandfather's place. The only problem: it's in a lousy neighborhood—the one where Mickey grew up, in fact. The one he was so desperate to escape. But now he's back. Dead broke. And just when he thinks he's reached rock bottom, Mickey wakes up in the past. Literally. At first he thinks it's a dream. All of the stores he remembered from his childhood, the cars, the rumble of the elevated train. But as he digs deeper into the past, searching for answers about the grandfather he hardly knows, Mickey meets the twelve-year-old kid who lives in the apartment below. The kid who will grow up to someday murder Mickey's father.
The Girls (Belt Revivals)
by Edna FerberFrom the best-selling author of Giant and So Big , a sweeping look at the lives of three generations of women on Chicago's South Side. Part of Belt's Revivals series and with a new introduction by Kathleen Rooney (
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
by Elizabeth CatteIn 2016, headlines declared Appalachia ground zero for America's "forgotten tribe" of white working class voters. Journalists flocked to the region to extract sympathetic profiles of families devastated by poverty, abandoned by establishment politics, and eager to consume cheap campaign promises. What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The book analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The book offers a must-needed insider's perspective on the region.