SMSA (Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts)New Book Highlights
ANIMAL STORIES
| Jones, Darryl | Feeding the birds at your table |
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BIOGRAPHY
| Bingham, Charlotte | Spies and stars |
| Harding, Lesley | Mirka & Georges |
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GENERAL FICTION
| Alexander, Kirsten | Riptides |
| Bertino, Marie-Helene | Parakeet |
| Candlish, Louise | The other passenger |
| Cosby, S. A. | Blacktop wasteland |
| DeWitt, Jasper | The patient |
| Durrant, Sabine | Finders, keepers |
| Edwards, Mark | The house guest |
| Ellis, T.W. | A knock at the door |
| Foenkinos, David | The mystery of Henri Pick |
| Hannan, Victoria | Kokomo |
| Hirano, Keiichiro | A man |
| Knight, Rebecca Dinerstein | Hex |
| Lecoat, Jenny | The Viennese girl |
| Lefevre, Carol | Murmurations |
| Lemoine, Sanae | The Margot affair |
| Lester, Natasha | The Paris secret |
| Manning, Kirsty | The lost jewels |
| Matayoshi, Naoki | Spark |
| Mitchell, David | Utopia Avenue |
| O’Flanagan, Sheila | The woman who ran away |
| Persaud, Ingrid | Love after love |
| Petrie, Nicholas | The drifter |
| Petrie, Nick | Burning bright |
| Schaitkin, Alexis | Saint X |
| Shakespeare, Nicholas | The sandpit |
| Silva, Daniel | The order |
| Straub, Emma | All adults here |
| Tan, Elizabeth | Smart ovens for lonely people |
| Tu, Jessie | A lonely girl is a dangerous thing |
| Turow, Scott | The last trial |
| Winslow, Don | Broken |
Blacktop wasteland / S. A. Cosby
A gifted getaway driver desperately wants to go straight, but he’s towing around a lot of baggage. Beauregard Montage is a good mechanic in a bad fix. A son needs braces. His daughter needs tuition. His cancer-stricken mom’s nursing home is demanding a lot of cash, fast. But his repair shop is about to go belly up. He needs money—and a lot more than he can make in illegal drag races in his classic Duster, because everybody in Red Hill County, Virginia, knows he’s the fastest driver around. Is it any wonder he’s thinking of returning to his criminal past for one more job that will solve all his problems—and feed his need for thrills to boot? The stage is eventually set for a big-dollar diamond heist—but the story’s not that simple. This is also a novel about the struggles of being an African American man with an absent father who’s “a ghost without a grave.” The Montages have a family tradition for violence that Beauregard doesn’t want to pass down. It’s a true curse, he feels. “Money can’t fix it and love can’t tame it. Push it down deep and it rots you from the inside out. Give in to it and you end up doing five years in some hellhole.” Beauregard’s anguish makes him a sympathetic lead. But the supporting cast isn’t nearly as compelling, and some turns of phrase (“Pockets of rust covered the hood like some oxidizing eczema,” “Even after all these years, she still captivated the savage that lived between his legs”) are as painful as anything anybody suffers in the bloody climax. The at-times action-packed ride can’t hide the fact that this one doesn’t fire on all cylinders. (Kirkus Reviews, April 2020)
A man / Keiichiro Hirano
Hirano’s English-language debut, a shape-shifting psychological thriller, begins with the death of Daisuké Taniguchi, a forester crushed by a cryptomeria tree. After Daisuké’s wife, Rié, tells Daisuké’s estranged brother the news, Rié discovers that the man she was married to was not Daisuké, but someone using the real Daisuké’s identity. The story follows Akira Kido, a divorce attorney with a failing marriage, as she investigates the identity of the dead man and slowly becomes obsessed with the case—and with the real Daisuké. Kido interviews a bartender who makes mouthwatering vodka gimlets, a con man who believes people can live to be 300 years old, and a former pro boxer who, once upon a time, had been bullied. As back-alley gritty and entertaining as a Raymond Chandler novel, the book asks what it means to be “you,” and suggests that the answer means nothing at all. Hirano’s stylish, suspenseful noir should earn him a stateside audience. (Publishers Weekly, June 2020)
All adults here / Emma Straub
In Straub’s witty, topical fourth novel (after Modern Lovers), members of a Hudson Valley family come to terms with adolescence, aging, sexuality, and gender. After 68-year-old widow Astrid Strick witnesses an acquaintance get struck and killed by a bus in the center of Clapham, N.Y., she feels compelled to come clean with her children about her new relationship with Birdie, the local hairdresser, before it’s too late (“there were always more school buses,” she reasons). Astrid’s kids have their own issues to contend with. Thirty-seven-year-old Porter, pregnant via a “stud farm” (aka a sperm bank), is having an affair with her old high school boyfriend, while Elliott, the oldest, is preoccupied with a hush-hush business proposal. Nicky, the youngest, and his wife have shipped their only child, 13-year-old Cecilia, up to live with Astrid after a messy incident at her Brooklyn school involving online pedophilia. Despite Cecilia’s fear of not fitting in, she finds friendship with a boy who longs to be recognized as a girl but isn’t ready to come out as trans. As per usual, Straub’s writing is heartfelt and earnest, without tipping over the edge. There are a lot of issues at play here (abortion, bullying, IVF, gender identity, sexual predators) that Straub easily juggles, and her strong and flawed characters carry the day. This affecting family saga packs plenty of punch. (Publishers Weekly, May 2020)
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HISTORICAL FICTION
| Nunn, Kayte | The silk house |
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MYSTERY
| Atkins, Ace | The revelators |
| Billingham, Mark | Cry baby |
| Burton, Mary | Never look back |
| Cook, Robin | Genesis |
| Dean, Will | Black river |
| Kellerman, Jonathan | Lost souls |
| Koomson, Dorothy | All my lies are true |
| Lapena, Shari | The end of her |
| Martin, Faith | A fatal truth |
| Meyrick, Denzil | Jeremiah’s bell |
| Nesser, Hakan | The Summer of Kim Novak |
| North, Alex | The shadow friend |
| Raybourn, Deanna | A murderous relation |
| Robotham, Michael | When she was good |
| Sigurdardottir, Yrsa | Gallows Rock |
Cry baby / Mark Billingham
Set in 1996, Billingham’s superb 17th novel featuring Det. Sgt. Tom Thorne, a prequel to the series debut, 2001’s Sleepyhead, focuses on the search for seven-year-old Kieron Coyne, who’s kidnapped while playing in North London’s Highgate Wood with his best friend, Josh Ashton. Though their mothers, Cat Coyne and Maria Ashton, are supervising nearby, a distraction makes Maria look away when Kieron is snatched. Josh is too distraught to give details of the kidnapper. Thorne and a team from the Metropolitan Police comb the area and interview possible witnesses. That Maria is divorced from Josh’s father, and Cat’s boyfriend, Kieron’s father, is in prison for violent assault create complications. Suspects include Dean Meade, who claims to be Kieron’s biological father, and the boy’s teacher, Simon Jenner. Despite being embroiled in a nasty divorce, and contending with his antagonistic boss, Det. Insp. Gordon Boyle, Thorne tenaciously perseveres. Billingham adds tantalizing red herrings throughout. The book’s masterly ending features a heart-stopping chase to apprehend Kieron’s surprising kidnapper. Established fans and newcomers alike will be thrilled. (Publishers Weekly, August 2019)
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NON FICTION
| Dartnell, Lewis | Origins | 599.938 DART |
| Gillard, Julia | Women and leadership | 303.34 GILL |
| O’Toole, Fintan | Three years in hell | 341.242 OTOO |
Women and leadership / Julia Gillard
An inspirational and practical book written by two high-achieving women, sharing the experience and advice of some of our most extraordinary women leaders, in their own words. As a result of their broad experience on the world stage in politics, economics and global not-for-profits, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Julia Gillard have some strong ideas about the impact of gender on the treatment of leaders.Women and Leadership takes a consistent and comprehensive approach to teasing out what is different for women who lead. Almost every year new findings are published about the way people see women leaders compared with their male counterparts. The authors have taken that academic work and tested it in the real world. The same set of interview questions were put to each leader in frank face-to-face interviews. Their responses were then used to examine each woman’s journey in leadership and whether their lived experiences were in line with or different from what the research would predict. Women and Leadership presents a lively and readable analysis of the influence of gender on women’s access to positions of leadership, the perceptions of them as leaders, the trajectory of their leadership and the circumstances in which it comes to an end. By presenting the lessons that can be learned from women leaders, Julia and Ngozi provide a road map of essential knowledge to inspire us all, and an action agenda for change that allows women to take control and combat gender bias. Featuring Jacinda Ardern, Hillary Clinton, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Theresa May, Michelle Bachelet, Joyce Banda, Erna Solberg, Christine Lagarde and more. (Arts Review, June 2020)
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ROMANCE
| Laurens, Stephanie | The pursuits of Lord Kit Cavanaugh |
The pursuits of Lord Kit Cavanaugh / Stephanie Laurens
When Lord Christopher “Kit” Cavanaugh launches a yacht-building company, he inadvertently displaces a school run by Sylvia Buckleberry, a bridesmaid from his brother’s wedding. As the two fight mysterious enemies to keep both ventures progressing, their negative first impressions give way to tender feelings. Realizing his passion for sailing could be directed into a business, Kit prepares to take “his first true step into the future he was determined to craft and claim.” Unfortunately, when he rents warehouse space in Bristol’s dock area, he’s unaware that it will effectively kick a school out of the building. When the school’s director confronts him, they recognize each other from his brother’s wedding, where vicar’s daughter Sylvia served as a bridesmaid. Sylvia knows Kit as a feckless aristocrat from her season, and she impressed Kit at the wedding as cold, rigid, and distant. He is stunned by the impassioned advocate who demands his intervention. For Kit, sponsoring a new space for the school is the right thing to do, but it also garners community good will and, thanks to the students’ connections, introduces him to a wealth of skilled but unemployed tradesmen, since the shipbuilding industry has shifted to iron while his yachts will be built from wood. Getting his enterprise off the ground and the school settled keeps Kit and Sylvia close, yet as their feelings toward each other shift into a courtship, a series of dangerous attacks against her school and his workshop escalate. Longtime romance favorite Laurens continues the Cavanaugh series by connecting two figures who demonstrate courage and discernment in presenting their true selves and looking beyond their initial misconceptions in order to find happiness. Laurens’ subtle nods to forgiveness, community-building, and second chances lend extra character and warmth to a winning love story. (Kirkus Reviews, March 2019)
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SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
| Barry, Max | Providence |
Providence / Max Barry
Australian author Barry made his bones on satires of corporate life before diverging into fast-paced fantasy with his last offering. Seven years later, he swerves yet again into hard science fiction that bears influences from everything from Ender’s Game to The Martian to 2001: A Space Odyssey with a dash of Starship Troopers and the Alien franchise here and there. The title refers to a massive starship, the fifth of its kind, which has been dispatched to find and kill an invasive alien species known to most earthlings simply as “salamanders.” This follows a first-contact skirmish seven years earlier that left its survivors devastated and led Earth’s leadership to develop massive AI–driven ships designed for zero-casualty warfare. While Providence is a big ship, it has a small crew, consisting of commander Jolene Jackson, weapons specialist Paul Anders, life manager Talia Beanfield, and intelligence officer Isiah “Gilly” Gilligan, the civilian tasked to the starship by the Surplex corporation. They’re a diverse bunch, representing a lot of character tropes, from the square-jawed captain to the secretive madman to an unlikely survivor. Their current mission is to go into what the military terms the “Violet Zone,” a communications dead zone akin to Star Trek’s intergalactic nebulas. After a series of successful raids on the salamanders, things go awry when the ship’s AI starts malfunctioning and the enemy grows more tactical, ultimately forcing the crew to the surface of a planet where they’re forced not only to struggle to survive, but also to face their enemy instead of simply nuking them from orbit. (It’s the only way to be sure). Yes, the plot and the technology are lightly derivative of other works in the SF canon, but at least Barry is pinching all the cool stuff from the best influences. Something for everyone: space combat, interpersonal tension, and aliens, ultimately leading to a story about survival. (Kirkus Reviews, January 2020)
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New additions to eBooks at SMSA
EBOOKS
| Biography | Dial, Roman | The adventurer’s son |
| Biography | Kwong, Adnrew | One bright moon |
| General | Challinor, Deborah | The Jacaranda House |
| General | Davis, Fiona | The lions of Fifth Avenue |
| General | Fannin, Hilary | The weight of love |
| General | Ko-Eun, Yun | The disaster tourist |
| General | Silva, Daniel | The order |
| General | Tyler, Anne | Redhead by the side of the road |
| Mystery | Barrie, Sarah | Deadman’s track |
| Mystery | Garcia-Aguilera, Carolina | Bloody waters |
| Mystery | Cummins, Fiona | When I was ten |
| Mystery | Hewson, David | Shooter in the shadows |
| Mystery | Holahan, Cate | One little secret |
| Mystery | McCoy, Shirlee | Hidden witness |
| Mystery | Murray, J. G. | The bridal party |
| Mystery | Qiu, Xiaolong | Hold your breath, China |
| Mystery | Rowland, Laura | A mortal likeness |
| Mystery | Slaughter, Karin | The silent wife |
| Mystery | Woo, Sung J. | Skin deep |
| Mystery | Woodland, Greg | The night whistler |
The adventurer’s son / Roman Dial
Rarely does a parent share with such candid emotion their experience of losing a child as Dial (Packrafting: An Introduction & How-To Guide) does in his memoir, which begins with the author’s early life and passion for the outdoors, then explores how he shared that passion with his children. Dial tells stories of sheltering in tents during storms, traversing rivers, and trekking remote paths with his young son, also named Roman, by his side. In the second half of the book, the author describes his search for his son, who went missing while on a solo trek in Central America. Navigating cultural, geographical, and linguistic barriers, the challenge seemed overwhelming, and Dial leaves no emotion unaddressed, sharing his grief, panic, guilt, fear, hope, confusion, and frustration throughout his long search for answers. While heartbreaking to read, Dial’s story is also a powerful testament to the bond between parent and child and the need to do the things we love, even when fear seeks to stop us. Dial’s memoir is a beautiful book that will speak most ardently to parents, but also to adventurers, travelers, scientists, and all those who find joy in exploring the world. (Library Journal, March 2020)
The lions of Fifth Avenue / Fiona Davis
Returning to her trademark depictions of historic Manhattan buildings, Davis has set her latest in the New York Public Library. The NYPL has a special significance for three generations of the Lyons family, whose surname appears to be a nod to the institution’s sentry lions. In 1913, library superintendent Jack Lyons, his wife, Laura, and their two children, Pearl and Harry, inhabit seven rooms on the library’s mezzanine. In alternating sections set in 1993, Sadie Donovan, Pearl’s daughter, is also a library administrator, curating the Berg Collection of rare books. This collection includes mementos of Laura Lyons, whose reputation as an early feminist essayist is enjoying a resurgence. Shortly before Pearl, who lives with Sadie’s brother, Lonnie, dies at 87, she hints at a long-kept secret concerning Tamerlane, a volume of Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry that disappeared from the library on Jack Lyons’ watch. As it happens, this novel is less a paean to architecture than a tale of two book heists, 80 years apart. On the continuum of crime, pilfering books–even invaluable artifacts like a first edition of Leaves of Grass, a page from a Shakespeare First Folio, the last diary Virginia Woolf kept before her suicide, and that priceless edition of Poe–ranks rather low on the thrill-o-meter. So Davis attempts to inject juicier conflicts. Laura’s struggle to get a degree from Columbia’s journalism school is doomed to fail thanks to flagrant sexism (though a professor plagiarizes her thesis). Sadie, who’s still reeling from a difficult divorce, is a suspect in the book thefts, as was her grandfather, Jack. The tension needle is hardly moved by flat characterizations or improbable plot developments while the writing is strictly functional: long on exposition, short on atmosphere. A story as lively as those stone lions. (Kirkus Reviews, May 2020)
One little secret / Cate Holahan
While their children are at summer camp, three couples meet at a beach house in the Hamptons. They don’t know one another well, but at the end of the night, after drinking too much wine, secrets are spilled and one person is dead. DS Gabby Watkins suspects each of the other people in turn. Is the killer the husband whose alibi was attendance at a party with underage drinkers? What about the abusive husband, or the victim of that abuse who tries to hide it? Maybe it was the man whose start-up is threatened by a lawsuit, or the stay-at-home mother of two boys homeschooling a son on the autism spectrum. Gabby will stumble through a series of mistakes as her investigation collides with another case, a party in which there may have been drugged drinks and sexual assault. This unconventional psychological thriller alternates between views of the day of the murder and the day after to reveal secrets that could destroy marriages and lives. Holahan’s latest stand-alone is a great beach read for those with a penchant for scandalous secrets and gossipy, suspenseful mysteries. (Library Journal, June 2019)
The disaster tourist / Yun Ko-Eun
South Korean author Yun’s spare but provocative novel (after the collection Table for One) offers perceptive satire laced with disconcerting imagery. In her mid-30s, Yona Ko has devoted the last decade of her life to her employer, Jungle, which offers package tours to areas of the world ravaged by disasters, from hurricanes to nuclear meltdowns. After being sexually assaulted by her boss and assigned to a new role, Yona suspects she’s being pushed out of the company. On the verge of quitting, she’s given a new opportunity: evaluate the disaster ecosystem on a Vietnamese island (a sinkhole, a volcano) and determine whether the destination should be kept in Jungle’s portfolio. Upon arriving, Yona soon realizes that the island’s power brokers are aware that their tourist income is imperiled, and she is appalled when an investor tells her of a plan to engineer a sinkhole during a village festival that would kill at least 100 people, after which they would use international aid for urban redevelopment. In Yona’s increasingly bizarre encounters, she learns just how severe the local environmental degradation is and the frightening extent of corporate greed. Yun cleverly combines absurdity with legitimate horror and mounting dread. With its arresting, nightmarish island scenario, this work speaks volumes about the human cost of tourism in developing countries. (Publishers Weekly, June 2020)
How your breath, China / Xiaolong Qiu
Qiu’s outstanding 10th novel featuring Chief Insp. Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau (after 2015’s Shanghai Redemption) finds Chen shelved for vigorously investigating corruption involving high-ranking Communist Party officials. But the capable Chen is soon back in action, along with his partner, Det. Yu Guangming, after the Special Case squad fails to make progress on a serial killer case; someone has murdered three people by shattering their skulls, apparently with a hammer. The victims share no obvious connections, and the Party Secretary himself requests Chen and Yu’s involvement. Chen is later pulled away from the case by the retired first secretary of the Party Central Discipline Committee, who wants him to spy on a group of antipollution activists bent on forcing the government to address China’s air quality. That the group’s leader is a woman Chen knows well complicates his task. Qiu’s execution matches his ambition. Fans of mysteries about honest cops working for compromised regimes won’t want to miss this one. (Publishers Weekly, April 2020)
This mortal likeness / Laura Joh Rowland
In Rowland’s The Ripper’s Shadow, London photographer Sarah Bain, with the aid of such friends as Lord Hugh Staunton, “solved the Jack the Ripper case via a combination of mishaps, wild ideas, and luck.” In this so-so sequel, Sarah and Hugh, an outcast from his family because of his sexual orientation, have started a detective agency, but their investigative skills are still unimpressive. A job to surveil a husband suspected of infidelity takes them to the Crystal Palace, where Sarah succeeds in photographing him cheating in the dinosaur park. Meanwhile, she inadvertently takes a picture of a man connected to the kidnapping of the toddler son of Sir Gerald Mariner, who left a ransom in the park around the time Sarah and Hugh were there. Sir Gerald hires the duo to search for the kidnapper among the members of his own household. Once again, they fly by the seat of their pants to a solution. Those who don’t mind less-than-credible sleuths will have the most fun. (Publishers Weekly, November 2017)
The silent wife / Karin Slaughter
In bestseller Slaughter’s macabre 10th thriller featuring Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Will Trent (after 2019’s The Last Widow), Will and his partner, Faith Mitchell, are investigating a prison murder when inmate Daryl Nesbitt extends an offer. Nesbitt will tell them who the killer is if the GBI will look into eight incidents—one recent—that he believes are connected to the rape of Beckey Caterino eight years earlier. Nesbitt is serving time for child pornography discovered on his computer during the cops’ investigation of the Caterino case, but Nesbitt maintains that Chief Jeffrey Tolliver—the now-deceased husband of Will’s girlfriend, medical examiner Sara Linton—framed him, and that a sadistic serial attacker remains at large. Will’s scrutiny of Jeffrey’s detective work sends Sara on a wistful trip down memory lane, leaving Will uncertain of their future. Will and Jeffrey’s inquiries, unfolding through frequent flashbacks, add nuance and complexity to an already intricate plot. Slaughter delivers an unflinching, deeply empathetic exploration of the stigma surrounding rape and the enduring trauma suffered by its survivors. (Publishers Weekly, May 2020)
Redhead by the side of the road / Anne Tyler
A fastidious everyman weathers a spate of relationship stresses in this compassionate, perceptive novel from Tyler (Clock Dance). Micah Mortimer, 43, makes house calls for his Tech Hermit business and moonlights as the superintendent of his Baltimore apartment building, where the residents observe his regimented routine and wonder, through Tyler’s gossip-inflected narration, “Does he ever stop to consider his life?” The disruptions begin with a call from his schoolteacher girlfriend, Cassia Slade, who is in a panic because she is facing eviction. Then college freshman Brink Adams shows up on his stoop and claims to be his son. Micah knows it isn’t true, because he never slept with Brink’s mother, Lorna, an old girlfriend, but he tolerates the languid, starry-eyed kid who claims to look up to him for living a working-class life and who fixated on a photo of Micah kept by Lorna. After Micah tries to put Brink in touch with Lorna, he disappears. When Cassia dumps him for not immediately offering to let her move in, Micah descends into a funk that just might push him to prove himself worthy of her companionship. While Micah’s cool indifference occasionally feels like a symptom of Tyler’s spare, detached style, his moments of growth bring satisfaction. This quotidian tale of a late bloomer goes down easy. (Publichers Weekly, January 2020)
Skin deep / Sung J Woo
Siobhan O’Brien is marking her second anniversary at the Ed Baker Investigative Agency when she finds her boss dead at his desk and then learns that he has left his business to her. A Korean American adoptee, who must explain her name constantly, she takes her first solo case from an old acquaintance. Josie Sykes’ daughter, Penny, cut off contact with her mother just months into her freshman year at Llewellyn College in upstate New York, and after Josie’s efforts to reach the girl are rebuffed by a feminist contingent protesting changes in the direction the college is taking, Josie hires Siobhan to find Penny. It’s a job that takes the neophyte detective into the inner workings of Llewellyn, whose former-model president, despite the college’s supposed financial straits, is launching a yoga and healing center and pursuing bizarre research on forestalling aging. Despite a somewhat hasty wrap-up, this first in a series holds promise, given Woo’s punchy prose style, diverse milieu, and the potential romantic relationship between Siobhan and the lawyer whose office is down the hall. A series to watch. (Bookist, May 2020)
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AUDIOBOOKS
| Biography | Mifflin, Margot | The blue tattoo |
| General novels | Armstrong, K. L. | Every step she takes |
| General novels | Bennett, Brit | The mothers |
| General novels | Burnham, Gabriella | It is wood, it is stone |
| General novels | Dave, Saumaya | Well behaved Indian women |
| General novels | McKinlay, Jenn | Paris is always a good idea |
| General novels | Rindell, Suzanne | The two Mrs. Carlyles |
| General novels | West, Catherine Adel | Saving Ruby King |
| Mystery | Andrews, Donna | Delete all suspects |
| Mystery | Crombie, Deborah | Now you may weep |
| Mystery | Graham, Heather | Deadly touch |
| Mystery | Harrison, Helen | An accidental corpse |
| Mystery | Seaenz, Eva Garcia | The silence of the White City |
| Mystery | Stone, Lisa | Doctor |
| Mystery | Walters, Alex | Winterman |
| Mystery | Young, Kate | Southern sass and a crispy corpse |
| Mystery | Yu, Ovidia | Aunty Lee’s deadly specials |
| Non fiction | Dow, Mike | The brain fog fix |
| Non fiction | Robinson, Phoebe | You can’t touch my hair |
| Non fiction | Walther-Toews, David | On pandemics |
The mothers / Brit Bennett
Bennett’s brilliant, tumultuous debut novel is about a trio of young people coming of age under the shadow of harsh circumstances in a black community in Southern California. Deftly juggling multiple issues, Bennett addresses the subjects—abortion, infidelity, religious faith, and hypocrisy, race—head-on. At 17, Nadia Turner’s life is topsy-turvy. Six months after learning of her mother’s suicide, Nadia winds up pregnant and decides to abort the baby. The unborn baby’s father, Luke—a preacher’s son—gives Nadia the money to terminate but falls back on his promise to pick her up at the clinic after her appointment, causing a fissure in their relationship. Nadia’s secret decision haunts her for decades—through college in Michigan, law school, and an extended trip back home to care for her ailing father. Meanwhile, the slow-to-build trust between Luke and Aubrey, Nadia’s bible-thumping childhood best friend, who knows nothing of Nadia’s past, is threatened when Nadia and Luke reunite and rip open old wounds after Luke and Aubrey’s wedding. There’s much blame to go around, and Bennett distributes it equally. But she also shows an extraordinary compassion for her flawed characters. A Greek chorus of narrating gossipy “Mothers” (as they’re referred to in the text) from the local Upper Room Chapel provides further context and an extra layer to an already exquisitely developed story. (Publishers Weekly, July 2016)
It is wood, it is stone / Gabrielle Burnham
Burnham’s captivating debut is told in a surprisingly seamless second person. Linda, the narrator, tells her husband, Dennis, about the year the American couple spent in Brazil, after Dennis was awarded an academic appointment at the University of São Paulo. There, after weeks of hapless depression, Linda is invigorated when she meets an enticing woman named Celia (a person who uses “romance as gunpowder”) in a bar. Later, she returns home, giddy with desire for Celia, and destroys Dennis’s favorite suit, the anxious logic of this action meted out by Burnham with painstaking clarity. At her most gawky and strange, Linda is reminiscent of a character out of Clarice Lispector’s oeuvre. Observant and obsessive, Linda feels the pulse of desire (“No matter how steady I trained my mind to be, my body reigned over all”). Throughout is the mysterious presence of Dennis and Linda’s São Paulo housekeeper, Marta, whose competence intimidates Linda. Burnham dazzles by exploring the overlapping circles of need and care though tensions of race, privilege, sexuality, history, and memory. Thanks to Burnham’s precise, vivid understanding of her characters, this stranger-comes-to-town novel has the feel of a thriller as it illuminates the obligations of emotional labor. Burnham pulls off an electrifying twist on domestic fiction. (Publishers Weekly, June 2020)
Now you may weep / Deborah Crombie
Michael Deehy convincingly renders a wide range of Scottish and English accents in his superb reading of Now you may weep, a recent installment in Deborah Crombie’s popular series of English mysteries featuring Scotland Yard detectives and lovers Duncan Kinkaid and Gemma James. This time, Duncan and Gemma take a busman’s holiday when the host of Gemma’s bed-and-breakfast in Glenlivet Valley, Scotland, is murdered. Old romances and festering resentments, both historic and current, provide the context for an entertaining whodunit. In addition to accents, Deehy manages to make clear the frequent shifts in time and place without disturbing the flow of the engaging narration. This is a very good performance of a mystery so satisfying it will have you curled up for the entire weekend. (Audiofile 2006)
Paris is always a good idea / Jenn McKinlay
Love takes a trip over the Atlantic Ocean and finds its way back home again in this vibrant romance from McKinlay (The Good Ones). When Chelsea Martin’s mother died seven years ago, her life changed completely. No longer the free spirit she once was, the now 30-year-old Chelsea is addicted to structure and afraid of new experiences. She hasn’t even been on a date since a series of flings on a trip abroad before her mother’s death. She’s snapped out of her funk by her father’s announcement that he is engaged to a woman he’s only known for two weeks. In an effort to remember that kind of wild, reckless love, Chelsea decides to retake her European trip and revisit the men she dated in Ireland, France, and Italy. But while she’s overseas, Jason Knightley, her work rival, needs her help on the largest project of either of their careers, and she agrees to give him some of her time. She never could have anticipated that their video calls would lead to romance. Chelsea’s European adventure leads to some uproarious mishaps and, though they’re worlds away from each other, readers will have no trouble investing in Chelsea and Jason’s enemies-to-lovers romance. Their witty banter and complimentary personalities make them an easy couple to root for. This flawless rom-com is sure to delight. (Publishers Weekly, May 2020)
The two Mrs Carlyles / Suzanne Rindell
Rindell’s latest historical tale takes place in San Francisco, just after the 1908 earthquake. Violet, barely out of her teens, uses the earthquake as an excuse to reinvent herself. Such a major upheaval gives her a chance to start over, away from the friends she made as an orphan, and present herself as a young lady of means. When she meets handsome and eligible widower Harry Carlyle, she leaps at the chance to be whisked away and become a rich man’s wife. But Harry also has secrets in his past he’d rather not reveal, and the couple quickly find themselves at odds, shades of Du Maurier’s Rebecca. Violet is a prime example of an unreliable narrator; Rindell crafts her as a liar from the start, but as the story moves forward, readers will be left wondering if Violet even knows what the truth is when it comes to her past. Fans of gothic historical fiction and historical romantic suspense will find much to enjoy here. (Booklist, July 2020)
You can’t touch my hair / Phoebe Robinson
The irreverent tone of the podcast “2 Dope Queens” carries over to this memoir about being a black woman in America. Phoebe Robinson, one of two hosts of the top-rated podcast, mixes pop culture with serious issues about contemporary feminism. She delivers her essay in a conversational tone that fans of the show will appreciate. Some listeners may find her delivery too flippant or the material irrelevant. This title will have the most appeal to millennial listeners and those who are nostalgic about the 1990s. If you haven’t listened to the podcast, this book may inspire you to subscribe, especially if you want to hear more from Phoebe and her cohost, Jessica Williams. (Audiofile 2016)
The silence of the White City / Eva Garcia Sáenz
In the stunning first in Sáenz’s White City trilogy, a mélange of offbeat police procedural, Basque legends, and world mythology, Insp. Unai López de Ayala investigates a series of ritualistic murders in Vitoria, Spain, that eerily resemble the sensational crimes that were committed in the area 20 years earlier, all at prehistoric sites. A prominent archaeologist, Tasio Ortiz de Zárate, was arrested at the time and convicted of the crimes thanks to evidence supplied by his twin brother, Ignacio, a policeman. Since Tasio has been in prison ever since, Unai has to wonder whether Tasio was innocent or had an accomplice. Unai embarks on what becomes a self-sacrificing quest to prevent evil from destroying innocence. Along the way to the shattering conclusion, Sáenz examines the complex relationship between Tasio and Ignacio, as well as Unai’s grief over the death of his wife, who was pregnant with twins. Fascinating local color, a handsomely crafted plot, and exquisite characterization make this a standout. Readers will eagerly await the next volume in the series. (Publishers Weekly, April 2020)
Saving Ruby King / Catherine Adel West
A dynamic cast of narrators portrays the faithful and tight-lipped congregation of a Southside Chicago Church after a senseless murder leaves a child without a mother. Young congregant Ruby King is now at the mercy of her troubled father, Lebanon. He is voiced in a stunning performance by Adam Lazarre-White, whose smooth, deep baritone has an undercurrent as volatile as the generational trauma that fuels Lebanon’s rage. Terra Strong Lyons takes on the role of Ruby’s best friend, Layla. Lyons’s tone is relentlessly optimistic and headstrong as Layla uncovers a secret that could free Ruby from Lebanon. In a surprising role, Ron Butler voices the omniscient church building. His performance is prescient and inquisitive as the church recounts the past and present tragedies that tie this grieving community together. (Audiofile 2020)
Aunty Lee’s deadly specials / Ovidia Yu
In Yu’s energetic second Singaporean mystery (after 2013’s Aunty Lee’s Delights), prosperous widow and self-professed busybody Rosie “Aunty” Lee, the owner of Aunty Lee’s Delights, gets hired to cater a party celebrating attorney Sharon Sung’s new partnership in Sung Law. Sharon’s mother, Mabel Sung, the firm’s proprietor, ask Aunty Lee to bring a chicken dish made from seeds that are poisonous unless specially prepared. Midway through the party, Mabel and her beloved son, Leonard, whose health has been comprised by drug addiction, are found dead next to each other. Though authorities attribute the deaths to a mother’s mercy killing and suicide, Aunty Lee’s Delights is closed pending a health investigation. Sensing foul play, Aunty Lee probes the Sungs’ family conflicts, financial woes, and possible connection to the illegal trafficking of human organs. Aunty Lee and her social circle are as vibrantly colorful as the locale, more than making up for a sometimes repetitive investigation. (Publishers Weekly, August 2014)
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New Books — August 2020
The new books for August 2020 are now available to borrow, along 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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