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The Last Dragon Charmer: Quest Maker (The Last Dragon Charmer #2)
by Laurie McKayThis second book in the epic Last Dragon Charmer series is perfect for fans of Soman Chainani’s School for Good and Evil and Chris Colfer’s Land of Stories. When mysterious magic transported Prince Caden from the Greater Realm to seemingly normal Asheville, North Carolina, he was shocked to discover it was home to the most dangerous villains ever banished from his homeland. And that a great and powerful Elderdragon rules them all. Now Caden suspects that dark forces are conspiring on both sides of the magical divide between his world, and this one. The Elderdragon gives Caden a quest: uncover the dangerous plan and protect the Greater Realm from banished villains hungry for revenge. Because if they find a way home before Caden can, everyone he loves may be in danger. With its perfect blend of wit, action, and heart, Laurie McKay’s Last Dragon Charmer series will captivate readers young and old, and remind them what it truly means to be a hero.“A sometimes-amusing, sometimes-thrilling, and always entertaining sequel.” —Kirkus Reviews
Frannie in Pieces
by Delia EphronWhat does you in—brain or heart? Frannie asks herself this question when, a week before she turns fifteen, her dad dies, leaving her suddenly deprived of the only human being on planet Earth she feels understands her. Frannie struggles to make sense of a world that no longer seems safe, a world in which one moment can turn things so thoroughly for the worse. She discovers an elegant wooden box with an inscription: Frances Anne 1000. Inside, Frannie finds one thousand hand-painted and -carved puzzle pieces. She wonders if her father had a premonition of his death and finished her birthday present early. Feeling broken into pieces herself, Frannie slowly puts the puzzle together, bit by bit. But as she works, something remarkable begins to happen: She is catapulted into an ancient foreign landscape, a place suspended in time where she can discover her father as he was B.F.—before Frannie. Delia Ephron makes you laugh and makes you cry—often at the same time!
Patriots in Arms (Scott St. Andrew Series #3)
by Ben WeaverScott St. Andrew has managed to escaped the hellish mining colony that was his homeworld, joining the Corps and fighting to save the Seventeen Worlds. Aided by an alien technology that makes him the best of the best—and simultaneously destroys him—Scott has dedicated his life to saving the free worlds. Now one of the enigmatic Wardens—a covert group that may hold the key to the saving the government—Major St. Andrew is sent back to the harsh moon where he trained, and to the alien caves that could save his life. But enemy forces and countermeasures make the mission unbelievably difficult, and divided loyalties hold the officer at a knife's edge. Scott has faced many tough decisions, but when a traitor's betrayal puts him into a POW camp, he faces the hardest choice of his life—save the woman he loves, or the world he's sworn to protect?
Dietland: A Novel
by Sarai WalkerAN AMC ORIGINAL SERIES FROM EXECUTIVE PRODUCER MARTI NOXON, STARRING JOY NASH AND JULIANNA MARGULIESA Best Book of the YearEntertainment Weekly • Bustle • Amazon • Women&’s National Book Association • Kirkus Reviews • BookPage • Kobo • LitReactor &“Audacious and gutsy and heartbreaking — Dietland completely blew me away.&” — Jennifer WeinerThe diet revolution is here. And it&’s armed. Plum Kettle does her best not to be noticed, because when you&’re fat, to be noticed is to be judged. With her job answering fan mail for a teen magazine, she is biding her time until her weight-loss surgery. But when a mysterious woman in colorful tights and combat boots begins following her, Plum falls down a rabbit hole into the world of Calliope House — an underground community of women who reject society&’s rules — and is forced to confront the real costs of becoming &“beautiful.&” At the same time, a guerilla group begins terrorizing a world that mistreats women, and Plum becomes entangled in a sinister plot. The consequences are explosive. &“A giddy revenge fantasy that will shake up your thinking and burrow under your skin&” (Entertainment Weekly), Dietland takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our weight-loss obsession — with fists flying.
The Keepers of the Library (Will Piper #3)
by Glenn CooperProphecy is prologueEngland, 1775. An ambitious American pushes his expedition onward despite dire warnings from the locals. But what Benjamin Franklin discovers on the Isle of Wight isn't just superstition. It's a secret with the power to save the world—or destroy it.In less than four hundred days, most of the world's population will be dead. Nobody knows why, only when: February 9, 2027.Retired FBI Special Agent Will Piper is one of the few who will live "Beyond the Horizon." Fifteen years ago, he revealed the prophecy to the world after the hunt for a madman led him to the mystical Library of Vectis, now housed at Area 51, in an unmarked location in the Nevada desert.Will is determined to live out his days in the Florida sun . . . even as the world sinks into hedonism and despair . . . even as the Doomsday Killer's ominous calling cards resurface . . . until the apocalypse threatens the one thing Will won't compromise on: his own flesh and blood.
Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas
by Roberto LovatoAn LA Times Best Book of the Year • A New York Times Editors' Pick • A Newsweek 25 Best Fall Books • A The Millions Most Anticipated Book of the Year"Gripping and beautiful. With the artistry of a poet and the intensity of a revolutionary, Lovato untangles the tightly knit skein of love and terror that connects El Salvador and the United States." —Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Natural Causes and Nickel and DimedAn urgent, no-holds-barred tale of gang life, guerrilla warfare, intergenerational trauma, and interconnected violence between the United States and El Salvador, Roberto Lovato’s memoir excavates family history and reveals the intimate stories beneath headlines about gang violence and mass Central American migration, one of the most important, yet least-understood humanitarian crises of our time—and one in which the perspectives of Central Americans in the United States have been silenced and forgotten. The child of Salvadoran immigrants, Roberto Lovato grew up in 1970s and 80s San Francisco as MS-13 and other notorious Salvadoran gangs were forming in California. In his teens, he lost friends to the escalating violence, and survived acts of brutality himself. He eventually traded the violence of the streets for human rights advocacy in wartime El Salvador where he joined the guerilla movement against the U.S.-backed, fascist military government responsible for some of the most barbaric massacres and crimes against humanity in recent history. Roberto returned from war-torn El Salvador to find the United States on the verge of unprecedented crises of its own. There, he channeled his own pain into activism and journalism, focusing his attention on how trauma affects individual lives and societies, and began the difficult journey of confronting the roots of his own trauma. As a child, Roberto endured a tumultuous relationship with his father Ramón. Raised in extreme poverty in the countryside of El Salvador during one of the most violent periods of its history, Ramón learned to survive by straddling intersecting underworlds of family secrets, traumatic silences, and dealing in black-market goods and guns. The repression of the violence in his life took its toll, however. Ramón was plagued with silences and fits of anger that had a profound impact on his youngest son, and which Roberto attributes as a source of constant reckoning with the violence and rebellion in his own life.In Unforgetting, Roberto interweaves his father’s complicated history and his own with first-hand reportage on gang life, state violence, and the heart of the immigration crisis in both El Salvador and the United States. In doing so he makes the political personal, revealing the cyclical ways violence operates in our homes and our societies, as well as the ways hope and tenderness can rise up out of the darkness if we are courageous enough to unforget.
Prodigal: New and Selected Poems, 1976–2014
by Linda GregersonIn her first book of collected work, prize-winning poet Linda Gregerson mines nearly forty years of poetry, bringing us a full range of her talents. Ten new poems introduce Prodigal, followed by fifty poems, culled from Gregerson's five collections, that range broadly in subject from class in America to our world's ravaged environment to the wonders of parenthood to the intersection of science and art to the passion of the Roman gods, and beyond. This selection reinforces Gregerson&’s standing as &“one of poetry&’s mavens . . . whose poetics seek truth through the precise apprehension of the beautiful while never denying the importance of rationality&” (Chicago Tribune). A brilliant stylist, known for her formal experiments as well as her perfected lines, Gregerson is a poet of great vision. Here, the growth of her art and the breadth of her interests offer a snapshot of a major poet's intellect in the midst of her career.
Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind (P. S. Ser.)
by Loung UngAfter enduring years of hunger, deprivation, and devastating loss at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, ten-year-old Loung Ung became the "lucky child," the sibling chosen to accompany her eldest brother to America while her one surviving sister and two brothers remained behind. In this poignant and elegiac memoir, Loung recalls her assimilation into an unfamiliar new culture while struggling to overcome dogged memories of violence and the deep scars of war. In alternating chapters, she gives voice to Chou, the beloved older sister whose life in war-torn Cambodia so easily could have been hers. Highlighting the harsh realities of chance and circumstance in times of war as well as in times of peace, Lucky Child is ultimately a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and to the salvaging strength of family bonds.
The Shadow War: Inside Russia's and China's Secret Operations to Defeat America
by Jim SciuttoAre we losing a war few of us realize we’re fighting? Jim Sciutto, CNN’s Chief National Security Correspondent, reveals the invisible fronts that make up 21st century warfare, from disinformation campaigns to advanced satellite weapons.Poisoned dissidents. Election interference. Armed invasions. International treaties thrown into chaos. Secret military buildups. Hackers and viruses. Weapons deployed in space. China and Russia (and Iran and North Korea) spark news stories by carrying out bold acts of aggression and violating international laws and norms. Isn’t this just bad actors acting badly?That kind of thinking is outdated and dangerous. Emboldened by their successes, these countries are, in fact, waging a brazen, global war on the US and the West. This is a new Cold War, which will not be won by those who fail to realize they are fighting it. The enemies of the West understand that while they are unlikely to win a shooting war, they have another path to victory. And what we see as our greatest strengths—open societies, military innovation, dominance of technology on Earth and in space, longstanding leadership in global institutions—these countries are undermining or turning into weaknesses.In The Shadow War,CNN anchor and chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto provides us with a revealing and at times disturbing guide to this new international conflict. This Shadow War is already the greatest threat to America’s national security, even though most Americans know little or nothing about it. With on-the-ground reporting from Ukraine to the South China Sea, from a sub under the Arctic to unprecedented access to America’s Space Command, Sciutto draws on his deep knowledge, high-level contacts, and personal experience as a journalist and diplomat to paint the most comprehensive and vivid picture of a nation targeted by a new and disturbing brand of warfare.Thankfully, America is adapting and fighting back. In The Shadow War, Sciutto introduces readers to the dizzying array of soldiers, sailors, submariners and their commanders, space engineers, computer scientists, civilians, and senior intelligence officials who are on the front lines of this new kind of forever war. Intensive and disturbing, this invaluable and important work opens our eyes and makes clear that the war of the future is already here.
Fifty Shades of Kale: 50 Fresh & Satisfying Recipes That are Bound to Please
by Drew Ramsey Jennifer IserlohKale gets sexy in Fifty Shades of Kale by Drew Ramsey, M.D., and Jennifer Iserloh, with 50 recipes that are mouth-wateringly delicious and do a body good. Release yourself from the bondage of guilt and start cooking meals with the ingredients you love: meat, cheese, and yes—even butter. Nutrient-rich kale provides essential vitamins and minerals to keep you healthy, happy, and lean—so you can indulge in your most delicious desires. Whether you’re a cooking novice or a real kale submissive, you will undoubtedly succumb to Kale’s charms.From Mushroom and Kale Risotto to Kale Kiwi Gazpacho, Fifty Shade of Kale offers simple ways to have your kale and eat it, too, as well as nutritional information, cooking tips, and a tutorial on kale in all her glorious shades. Indulge your culinary passions with Fifty Shades of Kale: 50 Fresh and Satisfying Recipes That Are Bound to Please.
Nazi Germany and the Jews, Volume 1: The Years of Perdecution, 1933–1939
by Saul FriedländerA great historian crowns a lifetime of thought and research by answering a question that has haunted us for more than 50 years: How did one of the most industrially and culturally advanced nations in the world embark on and continue along the path leading to one of the most enormous criminal enterprises in history, the extermination of Europe's Jews? Giving considerable emphasis to a wealth of new archival findings, Saul Friedlander restores the voices of Jews who, after the 1933 Nazi accession to power, were engulfed in an increasingly horrifying reality. We hear from the persecutors themselves: the leaders of the Nazi party, the members of the Protestant and Catholic hierarchies, the university elites, and the heads of the business community. Most telling of all, perhaps, are the testimonies of ordinary German citizens, who in the main acquiesced to increasing waves of dismissals, segregation, humiliation, impoverishment, expulsion, and violence.
Somewhere South of Here: A Novel
by William KowalskiI'd wondered about my mother all my life -- what she looked like, how she smelled and sounded and acted. Lately this wondering had grown to encompass a curiosity about the kind of people she herself came from, because they were my family, too, after all, even though I knew nothing about them. I'd no idea whether they were loud or soft-spoken, funny or boring, preferred chocolate to vanilla, if they liked movies over books or the other way around. I wondered whether any of them had ever done anything magnificent in their lives, or if they were the kind of folks who were satisfied with just getting by. These things were important -- knowing them would help me to know myself, and the only way that would happen was if I went and looked for her.With all his possessions on his motorcycle, Billy Mann sets off on a cross-country odyssey from New York to Santa Fe in search of a mother who deserted him long ago. What Billy discovers, however, is a life rich with possibility -- the chance for love, friendship, and, finally, a family to call his own.
A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan
by Michael K. DeaverThe New York Times bestselling memoir of Ronald Reagan by his longtime aide and friend"These are memories of a friend and they span over the 35 years that I have known and loved Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Primarily anecdotal, there will be no footnotes, simply my best efforts to reconstruct these years and what they have meant to me."--Michael DeaverRONALD REAGAN AND ME will be comprised of six parts:The Early Years: Deaver and his first meeting with Reagan during his campaign for governor of California in 1966. His first impressions of Reagan's his management style, media savvy and incredible ability to communicate.Reagan: The Man: A look at the traits that make the man: perfectionist, competitor, unwavering discipline, and a deep sense of purpose and destiny.Sincerely, Ronald Reagan: Never-before-published excerpts from letters Reagan wrote to people of various backgrounds.The Campaigner: On the stump during the presidential campaigns.Mr. President: Reagan in action in the Oval Office. How he changed after he was shot, and his battles with Congress and Communism.The Long Goodbye: With Nancy's cooperation, a look at the Reagans' struggle with Alzheimers and the impact it has had on their marriage and the family.
Pop Salvation: A Novel
by Lance ReynaldCaleb Watson is not like the other children at his Washington, D.C., private school. Having skipped a grade—and being younger and smaller than the rest of the boys—he finds that his Southern accent and sensitive, reserved nature set him even further apart. Caleb simply does not belong. But on a field trip to the art museum, Caleb discovers his hero—his icon—when he is exposed to the art of Andy Warhol. In the beauty of the things that don't fit, in the art and philosophy of Pop plus the glorious camp of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and its creatures of the night, Caleb will find sanctuary, transforming himself and the eccentric friends he meets along the way into his own little version of Warhol's Factory.
T2: Infiltrator (Terminator Series #1)
by S.M. StirlingSarah Connor and her son, John, know the grim tomorrow that awaits their species if the Cyberdyne Corporation gets their Skynet system on-line. Targeted for annihilation because of their future destinies, the Connors have already survived two separate attempts on their lives by advanced Terminator killing machines. But enough T-800 detritus remains from their last life-and-death struggle to enable Cyberdyne to recover. The nightmare is back on track. And the most fearsome and relentless cyborg weapon of all has been dispatched through time to ensure Skynet's victory: a machine so like its human prey that detection is virtually impossible. Considered a dangerous terrorist by the U.S. government and hiding out in Paraguay, Sarah sees another T-800 similar to the cybernetic killer from whom she once narrowly escaped. But while his form and features will eventually be duplicated on many Terminator units, former counterterrorism operative Dieter von Rossback is very much a man, irresistibly drawn to the puzzling, beautiful, deadly serious Sarah Connor and her brilliant teenage son. And once Sarah reveals her dark history and awakens him to the impending possible extermination of all human life, Dieter is drawn to her revolution as well. But the machine masters of the near future have ensured that they will not be thwarted again. A new breed of enforcer, on designed to effortlessly infiltrate the ranks of the enemy, has been firmly entrenched in the uppermost level of Cyberdyne Corporation. With a vengeance-seeking FBI agent on a tight leash and the inexhaustible resources of Cyberdyne to support the hunt for the Connors and their allies, the 1-950 Infiltrator is relentless, programmed to pursue Skynet's goal until all targets are dead. But unlike its technological predecessors, the Infiltrator understands how humans think and feel...and she truly enjoys the blood and the chase. Exploding out of the long shadows cast by Terminator 2: Judgement Day—the cinematic action masterwork that rocked the world-T2: Infiltrator marks a bold new beginning in the stunning apocalyptic epic that has already become a legend.
Adverbs: A Novel
by Daniel HandlerHello.I am Daniel Handler, the author of this book. Did you know that authors often write the summaries that appear on their book's dust jacket? You might want to think about that the next time you read something like, "A dazzling page-turner, this novel shows an internationally acclaimed storyteller at the height of his astonishing powers."Adverbs is a novel about love -- a bunch of different people, in and out of different kinds of love. At the start of the novel, Andrea is in love with David -- or maybe it's Joe -- who instead falls in love with Peter in a taxi. At the end of the novel, it's Joe who's in the taxi, falling in love with Andrea, although it might not be Andrea, or in any case it might not be the same Andrea, as Andrea is a very common name. So is Allison, who is married to Adrian in the middle of the novel, although in the middle of the ocean she considers a fling with Keith and also with Steve, whom she meets in an automobile, unless it's not the same Allison who meets the Snow Queen in a casino, or the same Steve who meets Eddie in the middle of the forest. . . . It might sound confusing, but that's love, and as the author -- me -- says, "It is not the nouns. The miracle is the adverbs, the way things are done." This novel is about people trying to find love in the ways it is done before the volcano erupts and the miracle ends. Yes, there's a volcano in the novel. In my opinion a volcano automatically makes a story more interesting.
Secrets From the Eating Lab: The Science of Weight Loss, the Myth of Willpower, and Why You Should Never Diet Again
by Traci MannA provocative expose of the dieting industry from one of the nation’s leading researchers in self-control and the psychology of weight loss that offers proven strategies for sustainable weight loss.From her office in the University of Minnesota’s Health and Eating Lab, professor Traci Mann researches self-control and dieting. And what she has discovered is groundbreaking. Not only do diets not work; they often result in weight gain. Americans are losing the battle of the bulge because our bodies and brains are not hardwired to resist food—the very idea of it works against our biological imperative to survive.In Secrets From the Eating Lab, Mann challenges assumptions—including those that make up the very foundation of the weight loss industry—about how diets work and why they fail. The result of more than two decades of research, it offers cutting-edge science and exciting new insights into the American obesity epidemic and our relationship with eating and food.Secrets From the Eating Lab also gives readers the practical tools they need to actually lose weight and get healthy. Mann argues that the idea of willpower is a myth—we shouldn’t waste time and money trying to combat our natural tendencies. Instead, she offers 12 simple, effective strategies that take advantage of human nature instead of fighting it—from changing the size of your plates to socializing with people with healthy habits, removing “healthy” labels that send negative messages to redefining comfort food.
The Saboteur: The Aristocrat Who Became France's Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando
by Paul KixIn the tradition of Agent Zigzag comes this breathtaking biography, as fast-paced and emotionally intuitive as the very best spy thrillers, which illuminates an unsung hero of the French Resistance during World War II—Robert de La Rochefoucald, an aristocrat turned anti-Nazi saboteur—and his daring exploits as a résistant trained by Britain’s Special Operations Executive.A scion of one of the most storied families in France, Robert de La Rochefoucald was raised in magnificent chateaux and educated in Europe's finest schools. When the Nazis invaded and imprisoned his father, La Rochefoucald escaped to England and learned the dark arts of anarchy and combat—cracking safes and planting bombs and killing with his bare hands—from the officers of Special Operations Executive, the collection of British spies, beloved by Winston Churchill, who altered the war in Europe with tactics that earned it notoriety as the “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” With his newfound skills, La Rochefoucauld returned to France and organized Resistance cells, blew up fortified compounds and munitions factories, interfered with Germans’ war-time missions, and executed Nazi officers. Caught by the Germans, La Rochefoucald withstood months of torture without cracking, and escaped his own death, not once but twice.The Saboteur recounts La Rochefoucauld’s enthralling adventures, from jumping from a moving truck on his way to his execution to stealing Nazi limos to dressing up in a nun’s habit—one of his many disguises and impersonations. Whatever the mission, whatever the dire circumstance, La Rochefoucauld acquitted himself nobly, with the straight-back aplomb of a man of aristocratic breeding: James Bond before Ian Fleming conjured him.More than just a fast-paced, true thriller, The Saboteur is also a deep dive into an endlessly fascinating historical moment, telling the untold story of a network of commandos that battled evil, bravely worked to change the course of history, and inspired the creation of America’s own Central Intelligence Agency.
Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of BTK, the Serial Killer Next Door
by Roy Wenzl Tim Potter L. Kelly Hurst LavianaFor thirty-one years, a monster terrorized the residents of Wichita, Kansas. A bloodthirsty serial killer, self-named "BTK"—for "bind them, torture them, kill them"—he slaughtered men, women, and children alike, eluding the police for decades while bragging of his grisly exploits to the media. The nation was shocked when the fiend who was finally apprehended turned out to be Dennis Rader—a friendly neighbor . . . a devoted husband . . . a helpful Boy Scout dad . . . the respected president of his church.Written by four award-winning crime reporters who covered the story for more than twenty years, Bind, Torture, Kill is the most intimate and complete account of the BTK nightmare told by the people who were there from the beginning. With newly released documents, evidence, and information—and with the full cooperation, for the very first time, of the Wichita Police Department’s BTK Task Force—the authors have put all the pieces of the grisly puzzle into place, thanks to their unparalleled access to the families of the killer and his victims.
Fruits of the Harvest: Recipes to Celebrate Kwanzaa and Other Holidays
by Eric V. CopageFruits of the Harvest: Recipes to Celebrate Kwanzaa and Other Holidays offers more than 125 treasured recipes from people of African descent all over the world: Jerked Pork Chops and Fresh Papaya Chutney from Jamaica; New-Fashioned Fried Chicken, a dish from the Deep South; and Tiebou Dienne, Senegalese herb-stuffed fish steaks with seasoned rice. In addition to main courses, there are recipes for a full range of dishes, from appetizers to soups, salads, side dishes, vegetables, breads, beverages, and, of course, desserts. Fried Okra, Antiguan Pepper Pot, Ambrosia Salad and Potato Salad, Garlic-Chedder Grits Soufflé, Caipirinha, and Sweet Potato Tarts in Peanut Butter Crusts are but a few of the delights featured here.And along the way, learn about African American culture, including the seven principles of Kwanzaa and how people of African descent all across the globe celebrate the best their cultures have to offer through food and communion. Fruits of the Harvest: Recipes to Celebrate Kwanzaa and Other Holidays isn't just a cookbook -- it's a source of inspiration for the most extravagant of holiday gatherings as well as for a simple Sunday dinner.
Neighborhood Girls
by Jessie Ann FoleyA powerful coming-of-age story about a girl whose encounters with loss, broken friendships, and newfound faith leave her forever changed, from Printz Honor winner and Morris Award Finalist Jessie Ann FoleyWhen Wendy Boychuck’s father, a Chicago cop, was escorted from their property in handcuffs, she knew her life would never be the same. Her father gets a years-long jail sentence, her family falls on hard times, and the whispers around their neighborhood are impossible to ignore. If that wasn’t bad enough, she gets jumped walking home from a party one night. Wendy quickly realizes that in order to survive her father’s reputation, she’ll have to make one for herself. Then Wendy meets Kenzie Quintana—a foul-mouthed, Catholic uniform-skirt-hiking alpha—and she knows immediately that she’s found her savior. Kenzie can provide Wendy with the kind of armor a girl needs when she’s trying to outrun her father’s past. Add two more mean girls to the mix—Sapphire and Emily—and Wendy has found herself in Academy of the Sacred Heart’s most feared and revered clique. Makeover complete. But complete is far from what Wendy feels. Instead, she faces the highs and lows of a toxic friendship, the exhaustion that comes with keeping up appearances, and a shattering loss—the only one that could hurt more than losing herself.
The Eulogist: A Novel
by Terry GambleFrom the author of The Water Dancers and Good Family, an exquisitely crafted novel, set in Ohio in the decades leading to the Civil War, that illuminates the immigrant experience, the injustice of slavery, and the debts human beings owe to one another, witnessed through the endeavors of one Irish-American family.Cheated out of their family estate in Northern Ireland after the Napoleonic Wars, the Givens family arrives in America in 1819. But in coming to this new land, they have lost nearly everything. Making their way west they settle in Cincinnati, a burgeoning town on the banks of the mighty Ohio River whose rise, like the Givenses’ own, will be fashioned by the colliding forces of Jacksonian populism, religious evangelism, industrial capitalism, and the struggle for emancipation.After losing their mother in childbirth and their father to a riverboat headed for New Orleans, James, Olivia, and Erasmus Givens must fend for themselves. Ambitious James eventually marries into a prosperous family, builds a successful business, and rises in Cincinnati society. Taken by the spirit and wanderlust, Erasmus becomes an itinerant preacher, finding passion and heartbreak as he seeks God. Independent-minded Olivia, seemingly destined for spinsterhood, enters into a surprising partnership and marriage with Silas Orpheus, a local doctor who spurns social mores.When her husband suddenly dies from an infection, Olivia travels to his family home in Kentucky, where she meets his estranged brother and encounters the horrors of slavery firsthand. After abetting the escape of one slave, Olivia is forced to confront the status of a young woman named Tilly, another slave owned by Olivia’s brother-in-law. When her attempt to help Tilly ends in disaster, Olivia tracks down Erasmus, who has begun smuggling runaways across the river—the borderline between freedom and slavery. As the years pass, this family of immigrants initially indifferent to slavery will actively work for its end—performing courageous, often dangerous, occasionally foolhardy acts of moral rectitude that will reverberate through their lives for generations to come.
Hunger Point: A Novel
by Jillian Medoff“[An] unusually honest, painfully funny novel about a tight-knit family’s struggle.” —Entertainment Weekly"My parents may love me, but I also know they view me as a houseguest who is turning a weekend stay into an all-expense-paid, lifelong residency, and who (to their horror) constantly forgets to flush the toilet and shut off the lights."Twenty-six-year-old Frannie Hunter has just moved back home. Bright, wry, blunt, and irreverent, she invites you to witness her family's unraveling. Her Harvard-bound sister is anorexic, her mother is having an affair, her father is obsessed with the Food Network, and her grandfather wants to plan her wedding (even though she has no fiancé, let alone a steady boyfriend). By turns wickedly funny and heartbreakingly bittersweet, Hunger Point chronicles Frannie's triumph over her own self-destructive tendencies, and offers a powerful exploration of the complex relationships that bind together a contemporary American family. You will never forget Frannie, a "sultry, suburban Holden Caulfield," whom critics have called "the most fully realized character to come along in years," (Paper) nor will you forget Hunger Point, an utterly original novel that stuns with its amazing insights and dazzles with its fresh, distinctive voice.
She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth
by Helen Castor“Helen Castor has an exhilarating narrative gift. . . . Readers will love this book, finding it wholly absorbing and rewarding.” —Hilary Mantel, Booker Prize-winning author of Wolf Hall In the tradition of Antonia Fraser, David Starkey, and Alison Weir, prize-winning historian Helen Castor delivers a compelling, eye-opening examination of women and power in England, witnessed through the lives of six women who exercised power against all odds—and one who never got the chance. With the death of Edward VI in 1553, England, for the first time, would have a reigning queen. The question was: Who?Four women stood upon the crest of history: Katherine of Aragon’s daughter, Mary; Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth; Mary, Queen of Scots; and Lady Jane Grey. But over the centuries, other exceptional women had struggled to push the boundaries of their authority and influence—and been vilified as “she-wolves” for their ambitions. Revealed in vivid detail, the stories of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, Margaret of Anjou, and the Empress Matilda expose the paradox that England’s next female leaders would confront as the Tudor throne lay before them—man ruled woman, but these women sought to rule a nation.
Blood Brother: 33 Reasons My Brother Scott Peterson Is Guilty
by Anne BirdWhat happens if, after being given up for adoption in childhood, you reestablish contact with your biological family -- only to discover that your newfound brother is a killer?Anne Bird, the sister of Scott Peterson, knows firsthand.Soon after her birth in 1965, Anne was given up for adoption by her mother, Jackie Latham. Welcomed into the well-adjusted Grady family, she lived a happy life. Then, in the late 1990s, she came back into contact with her mother, now Jackie Peterson, and her family -- including Jackie's son Scott Peterson and his wife, Laci. Anne was welcomed into the family, and over the next several years she grew close to Scott and especially Laci. Together they shared holidays, family reunions, and even a trip to Disneyland. Anne and Laci became pregnant at roughly the same time, and the two became confidantes.Then, on Christmas Eve 2002, Laci Peterson went missing -- and the happy façade of the Peterson family slowly began to crumble. Anne rushed to the family's aid, helping in the search for Laci, even allowing Scott to stay in her home while police tried to find his wife. Yet Scott's behavior grew increasingly bizarre during the search, and Anne grew suspicious that her brother knew more than he was telling. Finally she began keeping a list of his disturbing behavior. And by the time Laci's body -- and that of her unborn son, Conner -- were found, Anne was becoming convinced: Her brother Scott Peterson had murdered his wife and unborn child in cold blood.Filled with news-making revelations and intimate glimpses of Scott and Laci, the Peterson family, and the investigation that followed the murder, Blood Brother is a provocative account of how long-dormant family ties dragged one woman into one of the most notorious crimes of our time.