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Historical Fiction January 2020
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New and Recently Released |
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| Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict In 1909, Clementine steps off a train with her new husband, Winston. An angry woman emerges from the crowd to attack, shoving him in the direction of an oncoming train. Just before he stumbles, Clementine grabs him by his suit jacket. This will not be the last time Clementine Churchill will save her husband. Lady Clementine is the ferocious story of the ambitious woman beside Winston Churchill, the story of a partner who did not flinch through the sweeping darkness of war, and who would not surrender either to expectations or to enemies. |
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The Second Sleep by Robert Harris1468. A young priest, Christopher Fairfax, arrives in a remote Exmoor village to conduct the funeral of his predecessor. The land around is strewn with ancient artefacts--coins, fragments of glass, human bones--which the old parson used to collect. Did his obsession with the past lead to his death? Fairfax becomes determined to discover the truth. Over the course of the next six days, everything he believes--about himself, his faith, and the history of his world--will be tested to destruction.
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News of the World by Paulette JilesItinerant veteran Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd earns his living by giving public readings from newspapers to rural audiences with an interest in current events. After one such performance, he's offered a $50 gold piece to escort ten-year-old Johanna from Wichita Falls to San Antonio. Rescued by the U.S. Army, which has decided to send her to relatives in Texas, Johanna has spent the past four years in captivity since Kiowa raiders killed her family. She has forgotten her English, but demonstrates her unwillingness to accompany Kidd by escaping at every turn. It's not the most promising beginning to a friendship, yet a strong bond develops between Kidd and Johanna as they endure many trials on their journey.
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The Accomplice by Joseph KanonAmerican CIA desk analyst Aaron Wiley is entreated by his dying Auschwitz-survivor uncle Max to track down a Nazi war criminal (Dr. Otto Schramm) who committed atrocities at the side of Mengele. Unable to deny Max, Aaron travels to Buenos Aires and discovers a city where Nazis thrive in plain sight, mingling with Argentine high society. He ingratiates himself with Otto’s alluring but wounded daughter, whom he’s convinced is hiding her father. Enlisting the help of a German newspaper reporter, an Israeli agent, and the obliging CIA station chief in Buenos Aires, he hunts for Otto—a complicated monster, unexpectedly human but still capable of murder if cornered. Unable to distinguish allies from enemies, Aaron will ultimately have to discover not only Otto, but the boundaries of his own personal morality, how far he is prepared to go to render justice.
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| The Dream Lover by Elizabeth BergAurore Dupin is leaving her loveless marriage, and her family’s estate in the French countryside to start a new life in Paris. There, she gives herself a new name—George Sand—and pursues her dream of becoming a writer, embracing an unconventional and even scandalous lifestyle. Paris in the nineteenth century comes vividly alive, illuminated by the story of the loves, passions, and fierce struggles of a woman who defied the confines of society. Sand’s many lovers and friends include Frédéric Chopin, Gustave Flaubert, Franz Liszt, Eugène Delacroix, Victor Hugo, Marie Dorval, and Alfred de Musset. As Sand welcomes fame and friendship, she fights to overcome heartbreak and prejudice, failure and loss. Though considered the most gifted genius of her time, she works to reconcile the pain of her childhood, of disturbing relationships with her mother and daughter, and of her intimacies with women and men. Will the life she longs for always be just out of reach—a dream? |
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| The Tenth Muse by Catherine ChungM.I.T. in the early 1960's isn't the easiest place for half-Chinese female graduate student Katherine to be. As she strives to take her place in the world of higher mathematics, she also becomes involved with a brilliant and charismatic professor. When she embarks on a quest to conquer the Riemann hypothesis, the greatest unsolved mathematical problem of her time, she turns to a theorem with a mysterious history that may hold both the lock and the key to her identity, and to secrets long buried during World War II. Forced to confront some of the most consequential events of the twentieth century and rethink everything she knows of herself, she finds kinship in the stories of the women who came before her, and discovers how seemingly distant stories, lives, and ideas are inextricably linked to her own. |
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| City of Girls by Elizabeth GilbertVivian Morris is a spirited but naïve young woman whose parents send her to live with her Aunt Peg in Manhattan after she flunks out of Vassar in 1940. Aunt Peg owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves - and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. It will also lead to the love of her life, a love that stands out from all the rest. Now eighty-nine years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life - and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it. |
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| Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney She took 1930s New York by storm, working her way up writing copy for R.H. Macy’s to become the highest paid advertising woman in the country. It was a job that, she says, “in some ways saved my life, and in other ways ruined it.” Now it’s the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party. It’s chilly enough out for her mink coat and Manhattan is grittier now―her son keeps warning her about a subway vigilante on the prowl―but the quick-tongued poetess has never been one to scare easily. On a walk that takes her over 10 miles around the city, she meets bartenders, bodega clerks, security guards, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be, while reviewing a life of excitement and adversity, passion and heartbreak, illuminating all the ways New York has changed―and has not. |
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Saturday, January 25 Meditation for Health and Well-being3:00 p.m. Guided meditation followed by questions and answers. Presented by local resident and certified meditation teacher Anjali Joshi. Monday, January 27 Literary Conversation Cafe6:30 p.m. Talk about your favorite reads in 2019! Wednesday, January 30 Kick the Sugar Habit - 7 Simple Ways6:30 p.m. Start the year off on the right foot! Let Dom Campbell show you how to beat your sugar addiction. Mr. Campbell is a certified Master Health & Life coach specializing in Personal Development & Behavior Transformation. He strives to improve client health & overall well-being by helping clients smash through old, destructive habits and beliefs that are keeping them stuck. Thursday, February 6 Alice's Ordinary People6:30 p.m. View this documentary about Alice Tregay, a woman who refused to stand still in the face of injustice. Tuesday, February 11 Great Decisions Screening & Discussion6:30 p.m. Discuss the most critical foreign policy issues facing America today. Watch a half-hour documentary followed by a discussion of the topic. Briefing books will be available for checkout in January. The first topic is "Climate Change and the Global Order." Thursday, February 13 Craft a Special Valentine Card1:30 p.m. Craft a distinctive handmade card with Alicia Vincelette. Registration required. Monday, February 24 Literary Conversation Cafe6:30 p.m. What are you reading in 2020? Saturday, February 29 Voting Rights for African Americans: From the Civil War to the Present1:00 p.m. Learn the history of voting rights for African Americans and to what extent their rights are guaranteed and protected today. Presented by Frank Marlowe.
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Second Mondays of the Month, or By Appointment Tech Talk with Jay 11:30 a.m. Ask Jay your tech questions. Bring your tablet, smart phone, or laptop. First and Third Tuesdays of the Month Spinning Yarns Craft Circle6:30 p.m. Join us in the Gambino Room for an hour of knitting, crocheting, crafts and conversation. All levels welcome. Third Wednesdays (1:30 p.m.), Fourth Tuesdays (6:30 p.m.) Library Book Discussion Groups New members always welcome! See us on GoodReads at Cranbury Public Library Book Chat.
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