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The Queen's Captain by Peter WattIn October 1863, Ian Steele, having taken on the identity of Captain Samuel Forbes, is fighting the Pashtun on the north-west frontier in India. Half a world away, the real Samuel Forbes is a lieutenant in the 3rd New York Volunteers and is facing the Confederates at the Battle of Mission Ridge in Tennessee. Neither is aware their lives will change beyond recognition in the year to come. In London, Ella, the love of Ian's life, is unhappily married to Count Nikolai Kasatkin. As their relationship sours further, she tries to reclaim the son she and Ian share, but Nikolai makes a move that sees the boy sent far from Ella's reach. As 1864 dawns, Ian is posted to the battlefields of the Waikato in New Zealand, where he comes face to face with an old nemesis. As the ten-year agreement between Steele and Forbes nears its end, their foe is desperate to catch them out and cruel all their hopes for the future.
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Whistling in the Wind by Caroline Erwin Just how many secrets can one family keep...? The three Southgate sisters are about to find out. BROOKE... has just started seeing someone she's not allowed to... and she's determined to keep it a secret at all costs. Otherwise, it could mean the biggest fall from grace (within the Australian music industry) for the pair of them. But how do you keep a relationship under wraps when the paparazzi and media are following your every move? MAGGIE... is also trying to keep something hidden - herself! But will escaping to London really keep her safe from all the trouble she left behind? And what surprise is waiting for her over there? Someone from the past that will make her question her future. TESSA... knew having a newborn wasn't going to be all cupcakes and roses, but she wasn't expecting the ride to be so full of thorns either. She's determined to keep up a happy facade though or risk having her precious baby taken away. Brooke, Maggie and Tessa return with more romance, drama and secrets than ever before in this exciting second instalment of the Southgate Sisters trilogy.
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While Paris slept
by Ruth Druart
A debut told from alternating perspectives follows the experiences of a traumatized survivor of the Nazi occupation in France and a Jewish woman in wartime Paris who entrusts her most precious possession to a stranger.
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The Smallest Man by Frances QuinnThe smallest man. The biggest heart. The mightiest story ... Nat Davy longs to grow tall and strong and be like other boys, but at the age of ten, he's confronted with the truth; he's different, and the day when the stares and whispers stop is never going to come. Narrowly escaping life in a freak show, he's plucked from his family and presented as a gift to the new young queen of England - a human pet to add to her menagerie of dogs and monkeys. But when Nat realises she's as lost and lonely as he is, the two misfits begin an unlikely friendship - one that takes him on an unforgettable journey, as England slides into the civil war that will tear it apart and ultimately lead the people to kill their king. Inspired by a true story, and spanning two decades that changed England for ever, The Smallest Man is narrated by an irrepressible hero with his own unique perspective on life. His story is about being different, but not letting it hold you back. About being brave enough to take a chance, even if the odds aren't good. And about how, when everything else is falling apart, true friendship holds people together.
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The children's train : a novel
by Viola Ardone
"Based on true events, a heartbreaking story of love, family, hope, and survival set in post-World War II Italy-written with the heart of Orphan Train and Before We Were Yours-about poor children from the south sent to live with families in the north to survive deprivation and the harsh winters. Though Mussolini and the fascists have been defeated, the war has devastated Italy, especially the south. Seven-year-old Amerigo lives with his mother Antonietta in Naples, surviving on odd jobs and his wits likethe rest of the poor in his neighborhood. But one day, Amerigo learns that a train will take him away from the rubble-strewn streets of the city to spend the winter with a family in the north, where he will be safe and have warm clothes and food to eat. Together with thousands of other southern children, Amerigo will cross the entire peninsula to a new life. Through his curious, innocent eyes, we see a nation rising from the ashes of war, reborn. As he comes to enjoy his new surroundings and the possibilities for a better future, Amerigo will make the heartbreaking choice to leave his mother and become a member of his adoptive family. Amerigo's journey is a moving story of memory, indelible bonds, artistry, and self-exploration, and a soaring examinationof what family can truly mean. Ultimately Amerigo comes to understand that sometimes we must give up everything, even a mother's love, to find our destiny"
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| Here Is the Beehive by Sarah CrossanWhat it is: a novel in verse that follows estate lawyer Ana as she comes to terms with the sudden death of Connor, her married lover and client.
About Ana: Married herself, Ana cannot grieve openly, and takes the audacious step of altering Connor's will and befriending his widow in an effort to keep him close a little longer.
Why you might like it: this free-form poem is a heart-wrenching exploration of guilt and grief. |
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| Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoWhat it is: a much-lauded portrayal of the broadness of the Black British experience through the stories of 11 women and one nonbinary person whose lives intertwine in sometimes surprising ways.
Read it for: vivid, unique characters; a finely tuned exploration of intersectionality; a mixture of prose and poetry; a history lesson.
Book buzz: This co-winner of the 2019 Man Booker Prize landed on too many "best of" book lists to count and also won Fiction Book of the Year at the 2020 British Book Awards. It's currently being adapted for television. |
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| Everything Under by Daisy JohnsonWhat it is: a horror-tinged contemporary retelling of the ancient Greek play Oedipus Rex, which has its origins in epic poetry and myth.
What happens: After a long estrangement, English lexicographer Gretel reunites with her mother Sarah, who now suffers from dementia. Her reappearance will force Gretel to reckon with monsters from their shared past on a houseboat in Oxford.
For fans of: Maria Dahvana Headley's Beowulf adaptation The Mere Wife. |
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| The Long Take: A Noir Narrative by Robin RobertsonWhat it is: an award-winning novel, written mostly in free verse and set in 1946 Los Angeles; a post-war portrait of that city; a Canadian veteran's disillusionment with himself and, even more so, the societal values he fought to protect.
For readers interested in: noir films; mid-century urban planning; novels of place (especially of LA and NYC); stark language; the history of nativism in the U.S.; the post-war years in general. |
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| Conversations with Friends by Sally RooneyStarring: college students Frances, a poet, and Bobbi, her best friend and former lover, who fall in (and in love) with an older heterosexual couple, photographer Melissa and actor Nick.
It's complicated: Frances' secret (but "ironic") affair with Nick affects her relationship with Bobbi; the harm she's doing to herself by refusing to be vulnerable is only slowly revealed.
For more novels featuring poets: Chanelle Benz' The Gone Dead; Danzy Senna's New People. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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