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RFPL Staff PicksApril 2018
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Click on the title to check availability, and to log in and place holds online. To place holds by phone, please call us at (708) 366-5205. During open hours, you can also chat with us at www.riverforestlibrary.org. It's easy! Got library fines? In honor of National Library Workers Day, River Forest Public Library will waive overdue fines April 8-April 14. To waive your fines, visit the library in person any day during this week. (Sorry, we can not waive fines accruing for items which have not yet been returned.)
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The chalk man : a novel
by C. J. Tudor
Three decades after his circle of friends is traumatized by the discovery of a murder victim while passing secret messages through a chalk-figure code of their invention, Eddie finds himself targeted by an unknown adversary who is using their former communication methods to torment and kill his friends. A first novel.
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Night moves : an Alex Delaware novel
by Jonathan Kellerman
When an affluent family returns home from Sunday dinner to discover the murdered body of a complete stranger in their house, psychologist Alex Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis navigate unexpected consequences in a case that tests their intellectual and emotional limits. By the best-selling author of Heartbreak Hotel.
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Fifty fifty
by James Patterson
Violating protocol in her efforts to defend her brother against murder charges, Detective Harriet Blue is forced to relocate to a virtual ghost town in the outback, where a diary found on the roadside reveals shocking plans to massacre the community's few remaining residents. By the #1 best-selling authors of Never Never. 500,000 first printing.
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Don't Let Go by Harlan CobenSuburban New Jersey Detective Napoleon "Nap" Dumas hasn't been the same since senior year of high school, when his twin brother Leo and Leo's girlfriend Diana were found dead on the railroad tracks--and Maura, the girl Nap considered the love of his life, broke up with him and disappeared without explanation. For fifteen years, Nap has been searching, both for Maura and for the real reason behind his brother's death. And now, it looks as though he may finally find what he's been looking for.
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The day she disappeared
by Christobel Kent
When a fly-by-night party girl disappears from a bar in Cornwell, her best friend, Natalie, refuses to believe that the missing woman has simply left of her own accord, a situation that is complicated by an older alcoholic's struggles to remember something he may have witnessed. By the author of The Drowning River.
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Girl unknown : a novel
by Karen Perry
A strong marriage that has endured parenthood, aging grandparents, job stresses and a brief infidelity is put to a difficult test when a beautiful young girl arrives in the husband's university office, declaring that she is his daughter. By the award-winning authors of The Innocent Sleep.
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Right behind you : a novel by Lisa GardnerAfter a double murder signals the start of a shooting spree through the wilds of Oregon, Quincy and Rainie's main suspect is the older brother of the thirteen-year-old orphan they plan to adopt.
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You'll never know, dear : a novel of suspense
by Hallie Ephron
When a one-of-a-kind porcelain doll that went missing the day her sister was abducted decades earlier resurfaces, Lissie uncovers sinister clues about a mysterious individual who would threaten the lives of the women in her family. By the best-selling author of Night Night, Sleep Tight. 35,000 first printing.
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Bring her home by David BellWhen his teen daughter is found beaten beyond recognition beside the body of her best friend, a grieving widower begins a bedside vigil while struggling to come to terms with devastating secrets from his daughter's life. By the award-winning author of Since She Went Away.
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Love by Hanne ØrstavikWhen a mother and son go separate ways on a winter’s night in a small village in northern Norway, each of their journeys take different turns with fatal consequences, in a novel that illustrates how distance is found not only between human beings, but also within each individual.
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After Henry by Joan DidionThe observant author of Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album presents insightful essays that discern the social and political importance behind the day's most lurid news. 75,000 first printing.
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Under the egg
by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
Her grandfather's dying words lead 13-year-old Theodora Tenpenny to a valuable, hidden painting she fears may be stolen, but it is her search for answers in her Greenwich Village neighborhood that brings a real treasure.
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Cannery row by John SteinbeckVividly depicts the colorful, sometimes disreputable, inhabitants of a run-down area in Monterey, California.
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The answers
by Catherine Lacey
A formerly paralyzed woman applies for a job on Craigslist to be the “Emotional Girlfriend” of an eccentric and narcissistic actor desperate to find the perfect relationship. By the author of Nobody Is Ever Missing.
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Cinder
by Marissa Meyer
When Cinder, a gifted cyborg with a mysterious past, becomes entangled with the handsome Prince Kai, she finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle to save humankind from a deadly plague and ruthless lunar beings.
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Slasher girls & monster boys by April Genevieve TucholkeAn anthology of stories inspired by classic horror tales features contributions by leading suspense and young adult authors, including Stefan Bachmann, Leigh Bardugo and Kendare Blake.
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Queer, there, and everywhere : 23 people who changed the world by Sarah PragerA LGBTQ chronicle for teens shares hip, engaging facts about 23 influential gender-ambiguous notables from the era of the Roman Empire to the present, exploring how they defied convention to promote civil rights, pursue relationships on their own terms and shape culture. A first book. 35,000 first printing.
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Thunderhead
by Neal Shusterman
A follow-up to Scythe finds Rowan pursuing a vigilante life a year after going off the grid, while Citra, as Scythe Anastasia, openly challenges the ideals of the "new order" in ways that cause her life to be threatened. By the award-winning author of the Unwind Dystology. By the National Book Award-winning author of Challenger Deep.
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Princess princess ever after by Katie O'NeillWhen the heroic princess Amira rescues the kind-hearted princess Sadie from her tower prison, the two band together to defeat a jealous sorceress with a dire grudge against Sadie.
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History of wolves : a novel
by Emily Fridlund
Living with her parents in a nearly abandoned counterculture commune, 14-year-old Linda finds her perspectives and desires changed by the scandal-marked arrest of a teacher and the secrets of a new neighbor family as she wrestles with the consequences of actions and failures in the name of love.
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Autumn
by Ali Smith
A debut installment in a series about aging, time, love and the nature of stories examines the dynamics of pop culture, meditation and harvests in a world growing more bordered and exclusive. By the Booker Prize-nominated author of How to Be Both.
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Winter
by Ali Smith
A follow-up to Autumn depicts in wry observations a bleak, post-truth era rooted in history, memory, art and laughter at a time of endurance and survival. By the award-winning author of The Accidental.
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The juniper tree by Barbara ComynsBella Winter is homeless and jobless. The mother of a toddler by a man whose name she didn't quite catch, her once pretty face is now marred by a scar from a car accident. She's recently disentangled herself from a selfish and indifferent boyfriend and a cruel and indifferent mother. But she shares a quality common to Barbara Comyns's heroines: a bracingly unsentimental ability to carry on. It's not long before Bella has found not only a job but a vocation; not only a place to live but a home and a makeshift family. As Comyns's novel progresses, the story echoes and inverts the Brothers Grimm fairy-tale The Juniper Tree. Will Bella's hard-won restoration to life and love come at the cost of others' happiness?
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An American Marriage by Tayari JonesWhen her new husband is arrested and imprisoned for a crime she knows he did not commit, a rising artist takes comfort in a longtime friendship only to encounter unexpected challenges in resuming her life when her husband's sentence is suddenly overturned. By the author of Silver Sparrow.
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The Story of Our Lives (Hoopla audiobook)by Helen WarnerFour best friends reunite for the holidays throughout 20 years also marked by difficult parenting dynamics, troubled marriages, an escalating addiction, questions about a child's paternity and a deeply rooted secret that threatens to tear them apart. By a Sunday Times best-selling author. 70,000 first printing.
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Bringing up bébé: one American mother discovers the wisdom of French parenting by Pamela DruckermanThe runaway New York Times bestseller that shows American parents the secrets behind France's amazingly well-behaved children. When American journalist Pamela Druckerman had a baby in Paris, she didn't aspire to become a "French parent." But she noticed that French children slept through the night by two or three months old. They ate braised leeks. They played by themselves while their parents sipped coffee. And yet French kids were still boisterous, curious, and creative. Why? How? With a notebook stashed in her diaper bag, Druckerman set out to investigate-and wound up sparking a national debate on parenting.
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The lost girls of camp forevermore
by Kim Fu
Attending a remote sleepaway camp in the Pacific Northwest, a group of young girls embark on an overnight kayaking trip to a nearby island, only to be separated from their adult counselors and subjected to a life-changing event. By the award-winning author of For Today I Am a Boy. 35,000 first printing.
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Now that you mention it
by Kristan Higgins
Returning to her hometown in the hopes of reconciling with her estranged family, a woman who recently survived a brush with death makes discoveries with the potential to heal the rift or permanently separate her from her surviving relatives. By the New York Times best-selling author of If You Only Knew.
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Twin Peaks (DVD)Follows Special Agent Dale Cooper as he investigates the death of Laura Palmer in the strange town of Twin Peaks.
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Summer hours at the Robbers Library : a novel (Hoopla audiobook)by Sue HalpernA head librarian who would leave behind the painful realities of her suburbia past unexpectedly bonds with a teenager performing community service, a disgruntled former Wall Street high flyer and other offbeat regulars who encourage her out of her self-imposed isolation. By the author of A Dog Walked Into a Nursing Home. 20,000 first printing.
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A Generation of Sociopaths : How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America by Bruce Cannon GibneyGibney shows how America was hijacked by a generation whose reckless self-indulgence degraded the foundations of American prosperity. Acting without empathy, prudence, or respect for facts-- acting, in other words, as sociopaths-- they turned American dynamism into stagnation, inequality, and bipartisan fiasco. In the 2030s damage to Social Security, public finances, and the environment will become catastrophic and possibly irreversible. Gibney argues that younger generations have a fleeting window to hold the boomers accountable and begin restoring America.
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The power : a novel by Naomi AldermanWhen a new force takes hold of the world, people from different areas of life are forced to cross paths in an alternate reality that gives women and teenage girls immense physical power that can cause pain and death.
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Get Out (DVD)A young African-American man visits his Caucasian girlfriend's mysterious family estate.
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Lady Bird (DVD)Seventeen-year-old Lady Bird McPherson struggles to balance the challenges of her last year of high school with her family relationships.
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Prairie fires : the American dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
by Caroline Fraser
A comprehensive historical portrait of Laura Ingalls Wilder draws on unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries and official records to fill in the gaps in Wilder's official story, sharing lesser-known details about her pioneer experiences while challenging popular misconceptions about how her books were ghostwritten.
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Why poetry by Matthew ZapruderAn impassioned call for a return to reading poetry and an incisive argument for poetry's accessibility to all readers, by critically acclaimed poet Matthew Zapruder.
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Vertigo 42 : a Richard Jury mystery
by Martha Grimes
A latest Richard Jury tale is partially inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and follows the inimitable Scotland Yard Superintendent's investigation into a cold-case involving a vertigo sufferer's fatal accident after a young girl's death in the same house. By the award-winning author of Double Double.
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The largesse of the sea maiden : Stories
by Denis Johnson
A posthumous story collection by the National Book Award-winning author of Jesus' Son contemplates subjects ranging from old age and mortality to the unexpected ways the mysteries of the universe manifest, depicting haunted characters who would atone for the past, remember departed loved ones or come to terms with lifelong obsessions.
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In the midst of winter : a novel (audiobook)by Isabel AllendeA minor traffic accident becomes a catalyst for an unexpected bond among a human rights scholar, his Chilean lecturer tenant and an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, who explore firsthand the difficulties of immigrants and refugees in today's world. By the best-selling author of The House of the Spirits.
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Sisters first : Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life - Library Edition (audiobook)by Jenna Bush HagerThe fraternal twin daughters of the 43rd U.S. president share personal stories and reflections from their lives within a political dynasty, from their grandfather's presidency through their subsequent upbringing under the eyes of the Secret Service, public, and paparazzi.
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Two girls down : a novel
by Louisa Luna
Hired by the devastated mother of two young girls who have gone missing from a small Pennsylvania town strip mall, enigmatic bounty hunter Alice Vega is rebuffed by the overextended local police and partners with disgraced former cop, Max Caplan, on a case involving a dangerous web of lies, false leads and complex relationships.
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Before we were yours : a novel
by Lisa Wingate
A tale inspired by firsthand accounts about the notoriously corrupt Tennessee Children's Home Society follows the efforts of a Baltimore assistant D.A. to uncover her parents' fateful secrets in the wake of a political attack and a chance encounter with a stranger. By the best-selling author of Tending Roses.
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A gentleman in Moscow
by Amor Towles
Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal in 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin, where he endures life in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold. By the best-selling author of Rules of Civility.
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My Father's Wake : How the Irish Teach Us to Live, Love, and Die
by Kevin Toolis
After his father’s passing, the author offers a surprisingly uplifting message as he describes the history and significance of the Irish wake, which included staying with the corpse and the bereaved throughout the night and digging the grave with their own hands. 20,000 first printing.
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Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian lions
by Mario Giordano
Retiring to Sicily in the hopes of spending her final years enjoying the ocean view, the wine and the company of friends, 60-year-old Auntie Poldi discovers that her new home is not quite as tranquil as anticipated when her handsome young handyman is found murdered. 75,000 first printing.
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The Italian party : a novel
by Christina Lynch
Arriving in 1956 Tuscany, newlyweds Scottie and Michael find their sensory experiences in the ancient city overshadowed by dark secrets, the disappearance of a troubled teen and unsettling revelations about their roles in a dangerous political game. A first novel.
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The woman in the window
by A. J. Finn
An agoraphobic recluse languishes in her New York City home, drinking wine and spying on her neighbors, before witnessing a terrible crime through her window that exposes her secrets and raises questions about her perceptions of reality. A first novel. 200,000 first printing.
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Caroline : Little house, revisited
by Sarah Elizabeth Miller
Authorized by the Little House estate, a retelling of the early pioneering journeys of the Ingalls family is told from the perspective of a pregnant Caroline, who in the frigid winter of 1870 leaves the safety of Wisconsin for a life of hazards and promise in unsettled Kansas Indian Territory. 200,000 first printing.
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Still me
by Jojo Moyes
The irrepressible Louisa Clark from Me Before You and After You arrives in New York to start a new life and a long-distance relationship with Ambulance Sam while working for the super-wealthy Gopniks, a job that introduces her to New York high society and a secretive man who reminds her of her own past.
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Only child
by Rhiannon Navin
Surviving a horrific school shooting, a six-year-old boy retreats into the world of books and art while making sobering observations about his mother's determination to prosecute the shooter's parents and the wider community's efforts to make sense of the tragedy. A first novel.
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Surprise me : a novel
by Sophie Kinsella
When the fragile contentment in their marriage is shattered by someone's casual remark about how many more years they will be together, Sylvie and Dan agree to arrange surprises for each other to revitalize their relationship, only to encounter a comical series of mishaps. By the best-selling author of the Shopaholic series.
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Elizabeth the Queen : the life of a modern monarch by Sally Bedell SmithA tribute to the life and enduring reign of Elizabeth II draws on numerous interviews and previously undisclosed documents to juxtapose the queen's public and private lives, providing coverage of such topics as her teen romance with Philip, her contributions during World War II and the scandals that have challenged her family.
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The last girl : my story of captivity, and my fight against the Islamic State
by Nadia Murad
A human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee traces the harrowing and ultimately inspiring story of her captivity by the Islamic State, describing how militants massacred the people of her Iraqi farming village, killing most of her family members and forcing her into prostitution before she escaped and became an advocate for human rights.
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The Magnolia story
by Chip Gaines
The husband-and-wife team from HGTV's Fixer Upper share an in-depth portrait of their lives together and the renovations that have forged their partnership, offering behind-the-scenes stories about their courtship, early marriage and rise as entrepreneurial celebrities. TV tie-in.
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Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi AdeyemiComing of age in a land where her magi mother was killed by the zealous king's guards along with other former wielders of magic, Zélie embarks on a journey alongside her brother and a fugitive princess to restore her people's magical abilities. A first novel.
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Long way down by Jason ReynoldsDriven by the secrets and vengeance that mark his street culture, 15-year-old Will contemplates over the course of 60 psychologically suspenseful seconds whether or not he is going to murder the person who killed his brother. By the National Book Award finalist author of When I Was the Greatest.
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Hello hello by Brendan WenzelIn simple text a set of animals, each one linked to the previous one by some trait of shape, color, or pattern, greet and interact with one another.
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Obama : an intimate portrait by Pete SouzaA visual biography of Barack Obama's historic presidency, captured in unprecedented detail by his White House photographer, includes images documenting the most consequential hours of the Obama administration as well as the 44th President's encounters with world leaders, cultural figures and family members.
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