SMSA (Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts)
New Book Highlights
BIOGRAPHY
| Gottlieb, Lori | Maybe you should talk to someone |
| Scorah, Amber | Leaving the witness |
Maybe you should talk to someone / Lori Gottlieb
With great empathy and compassion, psychotherapist and Atlantic columnist and contributing editor Gottlieb chronicles the many problems facing the “struggling humans” in her stable of therapy patients. The intimate connection between patient and therapist established through the experience of psychic suffering forms the core of the memoir, as the author plumbs the multifaceted themes of belonging, emotional pain, and healing. Through Gottlieb’s stories of her sessions with a wide array of clients, readers will identify with the author as both a mid-40s single mother and a perceptive, often humorous psychotherapist. In addition to its smooth, conversational tone and frank honesty, the book is also entertainingly voyeuristic, as readers get to eavesdrop on Gottlieb’s therapy sessions with intriguing patients in all states of distress. She also includes tales of her appointments with her own therapist, whom she turned to in her time of personal crisis. Success stories sit alongside poignant profiles of a newly married cancer patient’s desperation, a divorced woman with a stern ultimatum for her future, and women who seem stuck in a cycle of unchecked alcoholism or toxic relationships. These episodes afford Gottlieb time for insightful reflection and self-analysis, and she also imparts eye-opening insider details on how patients perceive their therapists and the many unscripted rules psychotherapists must live by, especially when spotted in public. Throughout, the author puts a very human face on the delicate yet intensive process of psychotherapy while baring her own demons. Saturated with self-awareness and compassion, this is an irresistibly addictive tour of the human condition. (Kirkus Reviews, 15 February 2019)
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GENERAL FICTION
| Acampora, Lauren | The paper wasp |
| Beech, Louise | Call me star girl |
| Berg, Mattias | The carrier |
| Brodesser-Akner, Taffy | Fleishman is in trouble |
| Dahl, Kjell Ola | The courier |
| Elliott, Lexie | The missing years |
| Elton, Ben | Identity crisis |
| Faber, Toby | Close to the edge |
| Featherstone, Nigel | Bodies of men |
| Feeney, Alice | I know who you are |
| Ghosh, Amitav | Gun Island |
| Ginder, Grant | Honestly, we meant well |
| Hadley, Tessa | Late in the day |
| Harrison, Melissa | All among the barley |
| Hislop, Victoria | Those who are loved |
| Jackson, Lisa | Paranoid |
| Jalaluddin, Uzma | Ayesha at last |
| Koch, Herman | The ditch |
| Kwok, Jean | Searching for Sylvie Lee |
| Landragin, Alex | Crossings |
| Lombardo, Claire | The most fun we ever had |
| Mackintosh, Clare | After the end |
| Maden, Mike | Tom Clancy’s enemy contact |
| Mallery, Susan | The summer of Sunshine & Margot |
| McCall Smith, Alexander | The second worst restaurant in France |
| Monroe, Mary Alice | The summer guests |
| Phillips, Julia | Disappearing Earth |
| Pitoniak, Anna | Necessary people |
| Pyun, Hye-young | City of ash and red |
| Ramos, Joanne | The farm |
| Re, Carolyn | Secrets of the in-group |
| Reilly, Carmel | Life before |
| Thynne, Jane | The scent of secrets |
| Upson, Nicola | Stanley and Elsie |
| Vuong, Ocean | On earth we’re briefly gorgeous |
| Weiner, Jennifer | Mrs. Everything |
| Wilson, Rohan | Daughter of bad times |
| Woods, Stuart | Skin game |
| Yu, Miri | Tokyo Ueno station |
Ayesha at last / Uzma Jalaluddin
In this excellent modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, aspiring poet Ayesha Shamsi juggles her dreams and the stifling expectations of Toronto’s Indian-Muslim community. She picks a practical career as a high school teacher and watches as her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, collects marriage proposals like trading cards. After a misunderstanding, Ayesha pretends to be Hafsa while planning a youth conference, where she is required to collaborate with conservative Khalid, a newcomer to the area. Ayesha pegs Khalid as rigid and judgmental on their first meeting because of his white robes and reserved behaviour. She doesn’t object to arranged marriages, but believes compatibility is important, and she scorns Khalid’s complacency with accepting his mother’s choice of bride. Family loyalty is a recurring theme, as Ayesha puts her hopes of being a poet on hold while she earns money to repay her wealthy uncle and Khalid refuses to question his overbearing mother. As Ayesha and Khalid work on the conference together, Khalid learns to accommodate different viewpoints. With humour and abundant cultural references, both manifest in the all-seeing all-criticizing aunty brigade, Jalaluddin cleverly illustrates the social pressures facing young Indian-Muslim adults. Jalaluddin stays true to the original Austen while tackling meatier issues likes workplace discrimination, alcoholism, and abortion. Even readers unfamiliar with Austen’s work will find this a highly entertaining tale of family, community, and romance. (Publishers Weekly, 12 March 2019)
Searching for Sylvie Lee / Jean Kwok
Kwok’s thoughtful thriller explores the Chinese immigrant experience in New York and Amsterdam, as the death of a grandmother leads two sisters to discover secrets about their family’s past. Beautiful, high-achieving older sister Sylvie was raised by relatives in the Netherlands until she was nine while her newly emigrated parents tried to make a life for themselves in the U.S. In her 30s, Sylvie returns to say goodbye to her grandmother and becomes romantically involved with both a second cousin to whom she has always been attracted and a mysterious musician. When Sylvie disappears, having told her family in Amsterdam that she is returning to New York, her shy younger sister, Amy, sets off to find out what happened. Amy gets to know the family members she has never met, and begins to formulate theories about what happened to Sylvie. Kwok builds suspense by alternating between the points of view of Sylvie and Amy. The story is at its best when it delineates the struggles of second-generation Chinese immigrants in the two countries, and at its weakest when it falls into swooning romance clichés. Because most readers will solve the mysteries before Amy does, this one will satisfy those interested in the immigrant experience more than those looking for a complex plot to puzzle over. (Kirkus Reviews, 18th February 2019)
Tokyo Ueno Station / Miri Yu
In 1923, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9 struck Tokyo and Yokohama. A huge area of Tokyo burned. But, Ueno Park, protected by the water of Shinobazu pond, survived unscathed, as did many of the people from around Tokyo who sought refuge there. Emperor Hirohito visited the park and its new homeless residents soon after, and presented it as a gift to the people of the city, renaming it Ueno Imperial Gift Park. Almost a century on from the Great Kanto Earthquake, the homeless victims of a different type of disaster — the 1990 economic crash — have set up huts and tents there. Unlike the victims of the earthquake, however, they are not welcome; when the imperial family visit the galleries in the park, the 500 huts that make up the homeless ‘village’ are ‘cleaned up’ and the occupants instructed to leave. The spirit of Kazu — a man born in the same year as the current emperor — which lingers in the park, eavesdropping on conversations and reminiscing about life as one of the park’s homeless residents, narrates. In life, Kazu is impoverished; he starts working at the age of 12, farming rice, wakame and clams; as an adult, he leaves his parents, wife and two young children to work in Tokyo, building stadiums for the 1963 Olympics. While his work takes him close to key aspects of Japanese society — the Olympics and farming traditional Japanese ingredients — he is forever denied a place in it, and ends up marooned, lost and barely considered a person in Ueno Park. His outsider status follows him everywhere. During hydrangea-viewing season, he sees in the shape of a flower’s petals the face of a type of demon that often guards temples to ward off strangers and evil spirits. Miri, a Zainichi-Korean (born in Japan, of Korean descent and with South Korean nationality) is an outsider herself in Japan’s largely homogenous society where racism against ethnic minorities prevails unchecked. Because of this, perhaps, she writes about marginal people with deep understanding and sensitivity, using the location of Ueno Park to challenge the hypocrisies of a society that purports to cherish hospitality, kindness and cooperation. The emperor’s ‘gift’, she demonstrates, extends only so far. Her writing — laconic, strange, haunting and beautifully preserved in this translation by Morgan Giles — is exceptional. To read this novel is to feel possessed by Kazu’s spirit, to feel the effects of injustice, his pain and his grief deeply, and to wish better for those like him. (The Spectator, 6 April 2019)
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HISTORICAL FICTION
| Weir, Alison | Anna of Kleve |
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MYSTERY
| Albert, Susan Wittig | The Darling Dahlias and the unlucky clover |
| Atkinson, Kate | Big sky |
| Black, Cara | Murder on the Left Bank |
| Carter, Chris | Hunting evil |
| Corris, Peter | The big drop |
| Dams, Jeanne | A dagger before me |
| Davidson, Hilary | One small sacrifice |
| Ellroy, James | This storm |
| Evanovich, Janet | The big kahuna |
| Fowler, Christopher | The lonely hour |
| Gott, Robert | The autumn murders |
| Gray, Lisa | Thin air |
| Herron, Mick | Joe Country |
| Jonasson, Ragnar | The island |
| Kristjansson, Snorri | Kin |
| MacBride, Stuart | All that’s dead |
| Marston, Edward | The unseen hand |
| Mina, Denise | Conviction |
| Nadel, Barbara | A knife to the heart |
| Nesser, Hakan | Intrigo |
| North, Alex | The whisper man |
| Patterson, James | Hush hush |
| Patterson, James | Unsolved |
| Persson Giolito, Malin | Beyond all reasonable doubt |
| Sheridan, Sara | Indian summer |
| Slaughter, Karin | The last widow |
| Walker, Martin | The body in the castle well |
| Wilkins, Susan | The killer |
Big sky / Kate Atkinson
This is Atkinson’s fifth Jackson Brodie novel but fans know that the phrase “Jackson Brodie novel” is somewhat deceptive. Yes, he is the hero in that he is a private investigator—former cop, military veteran—who solves (usually) mysteries. But he is not so much the central character as the grumpy, anxious, largehearted gravitational field that attracts a motley assortment of lost souls and love interests. In this latest outing, Jackson is a half-duty parent to his teenage son while the boy’s mother, an actor, finishes her run on a detective series. Vince Ives is a more-or-less successful middle-class husband and father until his wife leaves him, his boss makes him redundant, and he becomes a murder suspect. Crystal Holroyd—not her real name—has built a brilliant new life for herself, but someone from her past is threatening her daughter. Both Vince and Crystal seek help from Jackson, with varying results. Meanwhile, Jackson’s protégée, Reggie Chase, has risen through the ranks in the police force and is taking a fresh look at an old case. That these stories intertwine is a given. A small cast of characters collides and careens in a manner that straddles Greek tragedy and screwball comedy. The humor is sly rather than slapstick, and Atkinson is keenly interested in inner lives and motivations. There are villains, certainly—human trafficking and the sexual abuse of children figure prominently here—but even the sympathetic characters are complicated and compromised. Jackson has a strong moral code, but his behavior is often less than ethical. The same is true of Vince, Crystal, and Reggie. The deaths and disappearances that Jackson investigates change with every book, but the human heart remains the central mystery. The welcome return of an existential detective. (Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2019)
Conviction / Denise Mina
After her award-winning fictionalised account of a 1950s serial killer, The Long Drop, Denise Mina returns to the present day with Conviction, a thoroughly modern tale of sexual and financial predation and social media. Anna McDonald is on the run from an unspecified traumatic incident in her past. Having fled London, she has reinvented herself in Glasgow, and is now partner to lawyer Hamish and mother to Jess and Lizzie. A fan of true crime podcasts, she has just started Death and the Dana, the story of a sunken yacht with a murdered family on board, when Hamish announces that he is leaving her. Distraught, Anna runs away once more and finds herself trying to determine what really happened to Leon Parker, the man found dead on the yacht, with whom she has a connection. The initial impetus for the investigation may be a stretch, but the narrative is plausible and compelling, as the mysteries of Parker’s fate and Anna’s past unfold in parallel and collide, dangerously, in the present. (The Guardian, 17 May 2019)
The whisper man / Alex North
In North’s superb thriller, a police procedural with supernatural overtones, Det. Insp. Amanda Beck heads the search for six-year-old Neil Spencer, who has gone missing from the English village of Featherbank. Neil may have been lured from his home by someone who whispered at his window at night, the same m.o. as incarcerated serial child killer Frank Carter (aka the Whisper Man), who was apprehended 20 years earlier by Det. Insp. Pete Willis. Beck brings in Willis to assist, specifically because he’s the only person Carter will talk to. Meanwhile, author Tom Kennedy, still reeling from his wife’s death, seeks a fresh start in Featherbank with his seven-year-old son, Jake. The sensitive Jake talks to a little girl who isn’t there and fears “the boy under the floor” in their odd new house. A strange man snooping at the Kennedy house and an attempt to lure Jake away during the night become connected to Beck’s investigation as she and Willis struggle to make a connection to Carter. Readers will have a tough time putting down this truly unnerving tale, with its seemingly unexplainable elements and glimpses of broken and dangerous minds. (Books and Publishing, 31 May 2019)
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NON FICTION
| Ellis, Bret Easton | White | 814.6 ELLI |
| Faber, Toby | Faber & Faber | 070.5 FABE |
| Macfarlane, Robert | Underland | 551.447 MACF |
| Sheridan, Peter | Sydney Art Deco | 720.99441 SHER |
| Timms, Peter | Silliness | 809.7 TIMM |
| Tolle, Eckhart | A New earth | 204.4 TOLL |
| Wilson, Bee | The way we eat now | 641.3 WILS |
The way we eat now / Bee Wilson
British food historian Wilson who writes a monthly column on food for the Wall Street Journal and has been named BBC Radio’s food writer of the year, avers that diets are getting worse across most of the world. “We snack more, we eat out more, and yet we often enjoy food less,” she writes. In her view, we are in the fourth stage of diet transitions, following the low-fat one of prehistoric hunter-gatherers to the cereal-rich one of the agricultural revolution to the third healthier, more varied one that followed. In stage four, diets are getting sweeter, fatter, and meatier—and not just in the rich countries. The author has talked to researchers, economists, and other experts, gathering data from around the world. Happily, she presents the data in an appealing, informal, almost chatty fashion. If readers want to know more about, say, the decline in cooking oil prices in China or the rising cost of green vegetables relative to ice cream in the U.K., a few charts provide this information. More interesting is Wilson’s discussion of trendy foods, where she exposes frauds and fads; she gives close attention to such foods as quinoa, yogurt, skyr, kale, pomegranate juice, and coconut water. The author also explores the dilemma of eating out versus cooking at home and examines the rise in popularity of meal kits, which provide customers with all the ingredients and instructions for making a home-cooked meal. She optimistically predicts that we may be entering another dietary transition to healthier foods, and she offers tips for enjoying our food while waiting for this new food culture to emerge. Though not a complete picture, this book is an entertaining choice for naturalists, foodies, and health-conscious readers. (Kirkus Reviews, 12 March 2019)
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SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
| Chambers, Becky | A closed and common orbit |
| Chambers, Becky | Record of a spaceborn few |
| Crouch, Blake | Recursion |
| Gwynne, John | Malice |
| Gwynne, John | Valour |
| Jemisin, N. K. | How long ’til black future month? |
Recursion / Blake Crouch
In 2018, NYPD Detective Barry Sutton unsuccessfully tries to talk Ann Voss Peters off the edge of the Poe Building. She claims to have False Memory Syndrome, a bewildering condition that seems to be spreading. People like Ann have detailed false memories of other lives lived, including marriages and children. For some, like Ann, an overwhelming sense of loss leads to suicide. Barry knows loss: Eleven years ago, his 15-year-old daughter, Meghan, was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Details from Ann’s story lead him to dig deeper, and his investigation leads him to a mysterious place called Hotel Memory, where he makes a life-altering discovery. In 2007, a ridiculously wealthy philanthropist and inventor named Marcus Slade offers neuroscientist Helena Smith the chance of a lifetime and an unlimited budget to build a machine that allows people to relive their memories. He says he wants to “change the world.” Helena hopes that her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, will benefit from her passion project. The opportunity for unfettered research is too tempting to turn down. However, when Slade takes the research in a controversial direction, Helena may have to destroy her dream to save the world. Crouch delivers a bullet-fast narrative and raises the stakes to a fever pitch. A poignant love story is woven in with much food for thought on grief and the nature of memories and how they shape us, rounding out this twisty and terrifying thrill ride. An exciting, thought-provoking mind-bender. (Kirkus Reviews, 1 April 2019)
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TRAVEL
| Hope, Christopher | The Café de Move-on Blues | 968.07 HOPE |
| Iyer, Pico | Autumn Light | 952.1 IYER |
| Mayle, Peter | My twenty-five years in Provence | 914.4 MAYL |
My twenty-five years in Provence / Peter Mayle
Fans of Mayle will be delighted by this final book from Provence’s most impassioned booster. The memoir takes the form of delightfully quaint anecdotes from the years since Mayle and his wife, Jennie, escaped office life in New York and London in the 1980s for “a simpler, sunnier life” in Provence. The chapters alternate between self-deprecating accounts of settling into the rhythms of café life and side notes on their favorite lunch spots. Mayle happily plays the transplanted Englishman, bemused by the habits of the curiously emphatic Continentals. He departs from cozy travelogue material for several unique experiences, such as being awarded the Legion d’Honneur or watching Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe make a movie out of one of his books. Composed in a uniformly bright and jocular voice, this is a breezy valedictory note for a much admired writer. (30 April 2019)
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New additions to eBooks at SMSA
EBOOKS
| Biography | Stapleton, Susannah | The adventures of Maud Wes, Lady Detective |
| General | Baldacci, David | One good deed |
| General | Marks, Nadia | Between the orange groves |
| General | Sakhlecha, Trisha | Your truth or mine |
| General | Weaver, Pam | Come rain or shine |
| Historical fiction | Anastasios, Meaghan Wilson | The honourable thief |
| Mystery | Castillo, Linda | In plain sight |
| Mystery | De Costa, Caroline | Missing pieces |
| Mystery | Goldenbaum, Sally | A thread of darkness |
| Science fiction | Hamilton, Peter | Salvation |
The honourable thief / Meaghan Wilson Anastasios
Set in Crete and Turkey in the years around World War II, The Honourable Thief centres on the adventures and misfortunes of Benedict Hitchens, an archaeologist and reluctant dealer of fake artefacts. We are introduced to Ben at his lowest point, after his obsession with the Homeric hero Achilles has led to professional downfall and questionable employment as an endorser of counterfeit treasures. The chance of redeeming his reputation hinges on the almost impossible task of locating the mythical tomb of Achilles and unearthing the genuine treasures within. The world of forgeries and art theft is engagingly depicted in this historical adventure as a complex system of misunderstood artists, shadowy smugglers and ordinary people trying to scrape a living in volatile times. There is action and drama aplenty, however the book is let down by the superficial nature of the main characters. The female love interests are one-dimensional, the evil villain is almost cartoonish in his villainy, and Benedict Hitchens is never quite believable as the Indiana Jones-like central figure. The true stars of Anastasios’ solo debut are the archaeological details, both real and fictional, as well as the Mediterranean setting. Both are beautifully described with the passion and knowledge expected from an author whose former occupation was as an archaeologist. (Books and Publishing, 1 June 2018)
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AUDIOBOOKS
| General | Reay, Katherine | The Brontë plot |
| General | Shapiro, B. A. | The collector’s apprentice |
| Historical | McElwain, Julie | A twist in time |
| Mystery | Amphlett, Rachel | Call to arms |
| Mystery | Blackmoore, Stephanie | Engaged in death |
| Mystery | Griffin, J. M. | Left fur dead |
| Mystery | Jones, Tayari | Atlanta noir |
| Mystery | Lin, Harper | Espressos, eggnogs, and evil exes |
| Mystery | McCoy, Shirlee | Dangerous sanctuary |
| Romance | Jody Hedlund | A reluctant bride |
A reluctant bride / Jody Hedlund
Hedlund opens the Bride Ships series with a lively story about the Victorian class system; the workings of bride ships, which traveled to the English settlement of Vancouver Island; and the place of women in that society. In 1862, Mercy Wilkins lives in the London slums, and after finding a dying infant and bringing her to the hospital, she meets Lord Joseph Colville, an aristocrat filling in for the regular doctor. Then, desperate to escape her destitution, Mercy reluctantly signs up for a bride ship sailing for Vancouver, and she meets Joseph again onboard the Tynemouth, where Joseph is the ship’s surgeon. Although she gets onboard by agreeing to become a bride, she actually has no intention of marrying once she arrives. Mercy becomes Joseph’s assistant when seasickness strikes the passengers, and he comes to admire her caring spirit. There are many who want to keep them apart, with the rigid class system of the day and the ship’s gossip forming a barrier between Mercy and Joseph. Once in Vancouver, they encounter new prejudices, but also new freedoms that allow them to get to know one another. Weaving in faith elements organically, Hedlund explores the prejudices, restrictions, and moral codes of the Victorian era, as well as what it means to know oneself and to love someone. This excellent series launch will leave fans eager for the next entry. (Publishers Weekly, 13 May 2019)
Atlanta noir / Tayari Jones
In the introduction to the Atlanta volume in Akashic’s groundbreaking noir series, Jones admits that several of the 14 entries “are not, by any stretch, crime fiction.” Still, these stories, most of them by relative unknowns, offer plenty of human interest. David James Poissant’s “Comet” effectively uses Stone Mountain as the setting for a boy and his father’s climb to see Halley’s Comet. In Brandon Masey’s “The Prisoner,” a parolee finds staying clean comes at a very heavy price. The plight of the homeless and the shortcomings of shelters are poignantly explored in Anthony Grooms’s “Selah.” In Jennifer Harlow’s unsettling “The Bubble,” two rich, bored high school girls plan a thrill murder that will bind them forever. A mentally disturbed neighbor’s actions become more and more troublesome for an out-of-work school teacher in Sheri Joseph’s edgy “Kill Joy.” Oddly, while all the tales have a Southern feel, none evokes Atlanta’s past, such as the Civil War period. (Publishers Weekly, 5 June 2017)
A twist in time / Julie McElwain
This sequel to A Murder in Time has FBI agent Kendra Donovan still in 1815 London, working as a rather unorthodox ladies maid at Aldridge Castle. She strives to downplay her investigative talents; nonetheless, she was instrumental in capturing a serial murderer. Now Kendra plans to return to the stairwell one month from the day she was transported from her own time, hoping the portal opens again and returns her to her former life. In the meantime, Lady Dover is found murdered. The main suspect is Alec Morgan, nephew to the Duke of Aldridge, Kendra’s employer. Handsome and charming, Alec is also Kendra’s confidant and perhaps soul mate. With his support and standing in the community, Kendra immediately inserts herself into the investigation. Lacking a modern-day forensic lab, she uses her wit and keen observations to solve the puzzle. For the full effect, read the acclaimed series launch before delving into this treasure. The author does not address whether, as a time traveler, Kendra’s actions will affect the future, but the intricacy of the plot teamed with the romance between Alec and Kendra make this a nonissue. (Library Journal, 15 February 2017)
The Brontë plot / Katherine Reay
Lover and seller of rare books Lucy Alling likes to add a little something special to her treasured finds, in order to make the buying and selling of books and memorabilia more lucrative. When the lawyer she is beginning to date confronts Lucy with authoring the inscriptions and tampering with the provenance of the books, her unethical embellishments shame her. But even as her disillusioned boyfriend, James, retreats, his wealthy grandmother Helen unexpectedly hires Lucy as a literary consultant on a buying trip to London. The idea of visiting the home of the Brontë sisters particularly excites both of them. Once in London, Helen has a secret agenda that helps Lucy consider the morality of her actions, and both must confront their pasts in order to find peace with their decisions. Quotations and allusions flow freely in Reay’s third tribute to the female giants of English literature. While some readers may miss the more obscure references, the finely drawn characters, flawed and authentic, dominate and ground the story emotionally. Lucy realizes that her beloved Brontë characters know more about God and grace than she ever suspected. Fans may find themselves unearthing their classic novels after savoring this skillfully written homage. (Publishers Weekly, 14 August 2015)
The collector’s apprentice / B. A. Shapiro
Shapiro delivers a clever and complex tale of art fraud, theft, scandal, murder, and revenge. Nineteen-year-old Paulien Mertens is alone and on the run in Paris in 1922, disowned by her Belgian family and hunted by the police, falsely accused of participating with George, her con artist fiancé, in a financial scam that ruined her father. She creates a new identity as art expert Vivienne Gregsby, landing a job working for wealthy Philadelphia art collector Edwin Bradley as a translator and secretary for his buying trips. In Paris, she becomes friends with Gertrude Stein and with Henri Matisse’s lover. All the while, she vows to prove her innocence and restore her father’s wealth, which she plans to do by obtaining possession of Bradley’s art collection, either by marrying him, becoming his heir, or staging a robbery. Vivienne has learned much about the art of the con from George, but when Bradley is suddenly murdered, derailing Vivienne’s plans and landing her in jail, she’ll need all her skills to set things right. Shapiro’s portrayal of the 1920s art scene in Paris and Philadelphia is vibrant, and is populated by figures like Alice B. Toklas and Thornton Wilder; readers will be swept away by this thoroughly rewarding novel. (Publishers Weekly, 8 July 2019)
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New Books — July 2019
The new books for July 2019 are now available to borrow, with new ebooks and audiobooks.
We hope you enjoy them!
- New books may be borrowed for a period of two weeks only and may not be renewed.
- Books remain listed as “New Books” for two months.
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