Cross of Vengeance by Cora Harrison (Jan 1st) September, 1517: when fire destroys the famous relic of the Holy Cross in Kilnaboy church and then a pilgrim is found murdered, it is up to Mara, as Brehon of the Burren, and her law students, to find out who did such a thing - and why.
Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell
(in PB Jan 2nd)
In 1002, fifteen-year-old Emma of Normandy crosses the
Narrow Sea to wed the much older King Athelred of England, whom she meets for
the first time at the church door. Thrust into an unfamiliar and treacherous
court, with a husband who mistrusts her, stepsons who resent her and a
bewitching rival who covets her crown, Emma must defend herself against her
enemies and secure her status as queen by bearing a son. Determined to outmaneuver her adversaries,
Emma forges alliances with influential men at court and wins the affection of
the English people. But her growing love for a man who is not her husband and
the imminent threat of a Viking invasion jeopardize both her crown and her
life.
Close your eyes and you could be in fifth-century Egypt.
With his trademark ability to step into the shoes of his fifth-century
protagonists, once again Christian Cameron plunges us headlong into the thick
of the action. This time, the indomitable Arimnestos of Plataea finds himself
caught up in the ill-fated Spartan expedition to the land of the Sphinx, while
on the horizon, forces gather for the colossal naval battle of Artemesium.
Whether it's in the unforgiving furnace of the Egyptian desert or the
blood-frothed seas off the coast of Greece, Christian Cameron brings these
momentous events to thrilling life as we watch the epic story unfold.
The Royal Succession by
Maurice Druon (Jan 2nd)
'No
woman shall succeed in Salique land' Louis X is dead, poisoned, murdered, by
the hand of Mahaut d'Artois. Her plan is simple - to clear the path to the
throne for her son-in-law Philippe. However, there is the small matter of Queen
Clemence and her unborn child. As the country is thrown into turmoil, Philippe
of Poitiers must use any means necessary to save his country from anarchy.
However, how far is he willing to go to clear his path to the throne and become
King in his own right?
The Kept by James Scott
(Jan 7th)
In
the winter of 1897, a trio of killers descends upon an isolated farm in upstate
New York. Midwife Elspeth Howell returns home to the carnage: her husband, and
four of her children, murdered. Before she can discover her remaining son
Caleb, alive and hiding in the kitchen pantry, another shot rings out over the
snow-covered valley. Twelve-year-old Caleb must tend to his mother until she
recovers enough for them to take to the frozen wilderness in search of the men
responsible.
She Shall be Praised: A Women of Hope novel by Ginny Aiken (Jan 7th)
When
socialite Emma Crowell stops the carriage on the way to Portland to
'exercise' her fussy poodle, she does not expect to become stranded in
the woods in decidedly unsuitable attire. The pair of men who find her
decide to take her back to their cave, where they've hidden sheep they
rustled from a nearby rancher. The rancher turns out to be Peter Lowery,
and he arrives, furious, to retrieve his property. But when he
discovers Emma, he does the Christian thing and brings her, her dog, and
the thieves back to his cabin. Peter may have to shelter the motley
group, but he expects them to earn their keep until he can take them to
Bountiful, the nearest town. Emma suddenly finds herself in charge of
the house and the care of Peter's imaginative young son Robby. She's
surprised to find that she enjoys the challenges of life at the cabin,
and feels drawn to Peter. But though willing to learn, no matter how she
tries, she can never seem to live up to expectations. As she seeks
God's guidance, she faces the picture of womanhood shown by the lady in
the 31st chapter of Proverbs. Between that picture and the one of
Peter's late wife, Emma must decide who she has been, who she is, and
who she really wants to be. What is to be her worth as a woman? What is
to be her legacy?
The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon (in PB Jan 7th)
Mary,
the spirited youngest daughter of an angry, violent man, is sent to
work for the local vicar and his invalid wife. Her strange new
surroundings offer unsettling challenges, including the vicar’s
lecherous son and a manipulative fellow servant. But life in the
vicarage also offers unexpected joys, as the curious young girl learns
to read and write—knowledge that will come at a tragic price.
Life after Life by Kate Atkinson (in PB Jan 7th)
On
a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English
banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On
that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty
wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual.
For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while
the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.
Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to
save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can -- will
she?
Belle Cora by Philip Margulies (Jan 7th)
Some
people remember her as Arabella Godwin, others as Harriet Knowles, and
still more as Frances Andersen or other names too numerous to list. But
let there be no confusion, this is the legendary story of Belle Cora
(1828-1919), who survived by her wits and made a fortune off the greed
and lust of men. Orphaned at age nine, Belle and her brother, Lewis, are
sent to live with their devoutly religious aunt and uncle in rural
upstate New York. Nothing can prepare her for the cruelty of her
watchful, jealous cousin Agnes, who would become a lifelong rival and
enemy. Yet there, Belle also meets the love of her life, Jeptha Talbot.
As she blossoms into a true beauty, however, two horrendous events
separate her from Jeptha and Lewis. Heartbroken, Belle flees the
countryside and finds work in a mill, where she is exposed to the looser
morals of hard luck women and begins to harden into the powerful,
cunning woman she will become. Soon Belle finds herself in New York,
where life takes a dark but alluring turn as she succumbs to the
indulgent lifestyle of a highly sought-after prostitute to the city's
wealthiest men. But beneath the silk and taffeta layers, she harbors a
deep longing to be reunited with Jeptha, now a respected preacher. The
road back to him will take her on a treacherous journey from the town
houses of Manhattan to the dusty streets of San Francisco at the height
of the Gold Rush. It's a road of good intentions, but paved with secrets
and lies on which the conniving, sometimes ruthless Belle must
transform herself again and again to get what she wants.
Rebellion: A Thriller in Napoleon's Paris by James McGee (Jan 7th) October 1812: Britain and France are still at war. France is engaged on two battle fronts—Spain and Russia—and her civilians are growing weary of the fight. Rebellion is brewing. Since Napoleon Bonaparte appointed himself as First Consul, there have been several attempts to either kill or overthrow him. All have failed, so far! Meanwhile in London, Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood has been seconded to the foreign arm of the Secret Service. There, he meets the urbane Henry Brooke, who tells him he's to join a colleague in Paris on a special mission. Brooke's agent has come up with a daring plan and he needs Hawkwood's help to put it into action. If the plan is successful it could lead to a negotiated peace treaty between France and the allies. Failure would mean prison, torture and a meeting with the guillotine.
Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer (in PB Jan 7th)In the summer of 1957, Frances and Bernard meet at an artists' colony. She finds him faintly ridiculous, but talented. He sees her as aloof, but intriguing. Afterward, he writes her a letter. Soon they are immersed in the kind of fast, deep friendship that can take over-and change the course of-our lives. From points afar, they find their way to New York and, for a few whirling years, each other. The city is a wonderland for young people with dreams: cramped West Village kitchens, rowdy cocktail parties stocked with the sharp-witted and glamorous, taxis that can take you anywhere at all, long talks along the Hudson River as the lights of the Empire State Building blink on above. Inspired by the lives of Flannery O'Connor and Robert Lowell, Frances and Bernard imagines, through new characters with charms entirely their own, what else might have happened. It explores the limits of faith, passion, sanity, what it means to be a true friend, and the nature of acceptable sacrifice. In the grandness of the fall, can we love another person so completely that we lose ourselves? How much should we give up for those we love? How do we honor the gifts our loved ones bring and still keep true to our dreams?
Lanore
McIlvrae has been on the run from Adair for hundreds of years, dismayed
by his mysterious powers and afraid of his temper. She betrayed Adair’s
trust and imprisoned him behind a stone wall to save Jonathan, the love
of her life. When Adair was freed 200 years later, she was sure that he
would find her and make her existence a living hell. But things turned
out far different than she’d imagined. Four years later, Lanore has
tracked Adair to his mystical island home, where he has been living in
self-imposed exile, to ask for a favor. She wants Adair to send her to
the hereafter so she may beg the Queen of the Underworld to release
Jonathan, whom she has been keeping as her consort. Will Lanore honor
her promise to Adair to return? Or is her intention to reunite with
Jonathan at any cost?
The King Arthur Trilogy Book 2: Warrior of the West by M.K. Hume (Jan 7th)
Twelve
long, blood-soaked years, have passed since Artor fulfilled his destiny
and was crowned the High King of the Britons. Against all odds, Artor
has united Celtic Britain and with a last great campaign, has banished
the Saxon scourge. The legend of Camlann has begun. But even as Artor's
kingdom is at its zenith, even as he has succeeded in conquering all
external threats to his rule, his kingdom is being undermined from
within. Not only is Artor betrayed by the one person he should be able
to trust, he has also learned of appalling perversion at the heart of
his kingdom. He must make a terrible choice. Does he commit a deed that
leaves him open to comparison with the despotic Uther Pendragon, or does
he let evil go unchecked? The burden of leadership, of power, now rests
solely - and heavily - on Artor's shoulders for Myrddion Merlinus,
master tactician, guiding light for so many years, has left Artor to his
fate. Could all that Artor has fought for, the destiny of Britain, be
lost? Will Britain be torn apart?
The Scent of Pine by Lara Vapnyar (Jan 7th)
Though only
thirty-eight, Lena finds herself in the grips of a midlife crisis. She
feels lost in her adoptive country, her career is at a dead end, and her
marriage has tumbled into a spiral of apathy and distrust—it seems
impossible she will ever find happiness again. But then she strikes up a
precarious friendship with Ben, a failed artist turned reluctant
academic, who is just as lost as she is. They soon surprise themselves
by embarking on an impulsive weekend adventure, uncharacteristically
leaving their middle-aged responsibilities behind. On the way to Ben’s
remote cabin in Maine, Lena begins to talk, for the first time in her
life, about the tumultuous summer she spent as a counselor in a Soviet
children’s camp twenty years earlier, when she was just discovering
romance and her own sexuality. At a time when Russia itself was in
turmoil, the once-placid world of the camp was equally unsettled, with
unexplained disappearances and mysterious goings-on among the staff;
Lena and her friend Inka were haunted by what they witnessed, or failed
to witness, and by the fallout from those youthful relationships. As
Lena opens up to Ben about secrets she has long kept hidden, they begin
to discover together not only the striking truths buried in her puzzling
past, but also more immediate, passionate truths about the urgency of
this short, stolen time they have together.
House of Bathory by Linda Lafferty (Jan 7th)
In the early 1600s, Elizabeth Báthory, the infamous Blood Countess, ruled Čachtice
Castle in the hinterlands of Slovakia. During bizarre nightly rites,
she tortured and killed the young women she had taken on as servants. A
devil, a demon, the terror of Royal Hungary—she bathed in their blood to
preserve her own youth. 400 years later, echoes of the
Countess’s legendary brutality reach Aspen, Colorado. Betsy Path, a
psychoanalyst of uncommon intuition, has a breakthrough with sullen
teenager Daisy Hart. Together, they are haunted by the past, as they
struggle to understand its imprint upon the present. Betsy and her
troubled but perceptive patient learn the truth: the curse of the House
of Bathory lives still and has the power to do evil even now. The story,
brimming with palace intrigue, memorable characters intimately
realized, and a wealth of evocative detail, travels back and forth
between the familiar, modern world and a seventeenth-century Eastern
Europe brought startlingly to life.
The Two Mrs. Abbotts by D.E. Stevenson (Jan 7th)
The third book in D.E. Stevenson's beloved Miss Buncle series, The Two Mrs. Abbotts
takes us back to the delightful English town of Wandlebury, where
Barbara Abbott (formerly Buncle) has her hands full raising two children
in the midst of World War II along with keeping an eye on her niece,
Jerry Abbott. Of course, Barbara isn't too busy to observe her
neighbors' lives, and her curiosity and tendency toward matchmaking
leads her into some sticky situations. Readers will enjoy the new
characters and hilarious social situations in the latest Buncle
adventure.
The Lion and the Rose by Kate Quinn (Jan 7th)
As
the cherished concubine of the Borgia Pope Alexander VI, Giulia Farnese
has Rome at her feet. But after narrowly escaping a sinister captor,
she realizes that the danger she faces is far from over—and now, it
threatens from within. The Holy City of Rome is still under Alexander’s
thrall, but enemies of the Borgias are starting to circle. In need of
trusted allies, Giulia turns to her sharp-tongued bodyguard, Leonello,
and her fiery cook and confidante, Carmelina. Caught in the deadly
world of the Renaissance’s most notorious family, Giulia, Leonello, and
Carmelina must decide if they will flee the dangerous dream of power.
But as the shadows of murder and corruption rise through the Vatican,
they must learn who to trust when every face wears a mask . . .
Scent of Butterflies by Dora Levy Mossanen (Jan 7th)
Soraya
flies to America from Iran to plot revenge against her husband and her
best friend who have betrayed her in the cruelest possible way. Against
the backdrop of momentous historical events in Iran, we follow Soraya to
Bel Air where she creates a haven for her butterfly obsession. When
Soraya lures her friend to town, she arrives with Soraya's husband in
tow. The unexpected secret they reveal to Soraya is far more devastating
than anything she had imagined, threatening to further unhinge her.
The Wind is not a River by Brian Payton (Jan 7th)
Following
the death of his younger brother in Europe, journalist John Easley is
determined to find meaning in his loss, to document some part of the
growing war that claimed his own flesh and blood. Leaving his wife,
Helen, behind in Seattle, he heads to the Territory of Alaska to
investigate the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands, a story
censored by the U.S. government. While accompanying a crew on a bombing
run, John’s plane is shot down over the island of Attu. But surviving
the crash is only the beginning of his ordeal in this harsh and
unforgiving fury of a wilderness known as “the Birthplace of Winds.” In
the days ahead, John must battle the elements, starvation, and his own
regrets while evading discovery by the Japanese. Alone in their home
3,000 miles to the south, Helen struggles with her husband’s absence—a
silence that exposes the truth of her sheltered, untested life. Caught
in extraordinary circumstances, in this new world of the missing, she is
forced to reimagine who she is—and what she is capable of doing.
Somehow, she will find John and bring him home, a quest that takes her
into the farthest reaches of the war, beyond the safety of everything
she knows.
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (Jan 7th)
Hetty
“Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century
Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose
her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah,
has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the
world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women. Kidd’s
sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she
is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid.We
follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as
both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s
destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance,
estrangement and the uneasy ways of love. As the stories build to a
riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage
and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes,
betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to
find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one
of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.
The Memory of Lost Sense by Judith Kinghorn (in PB Jan 7th) Cecily Chadwick is idling away the long, hot summer of 1911 when a mysterious countess moves into the large, deserted country house on the edge of her sleepy English village. Rumors abound about the countess’s many husbands and lovers, her opulent wealth, and the tragedies that have marked her life. As Cecily gets to know her, she becomes fascinated by the remarkable woman—riveted by her tales of life on the Continent, and of the famous people she once knew. But the countess is clearly troubled by her memories, and by ruinous secrets that haunt her… Staying with the countess is a successful novelist and dear friend who has been summoned to write the countess’s memoirs. For aspiring writer Cecily, the novelist’s presence only adds to the intrigue of the house. But it is the countess’s grandson, Jack, who draws Cecily further into the tangled web of the countess's past, and sweeps her into an uncertain future…
The Harlot’s Tale by Samuel Thomas (Jan 7th)
It
is August, 1645, one year since York fell into Puritan hands. As the
city suffers through a brutal summer heat, Bridget Hodgson and Martha
Hawkins are drawn into a murder investigation more frightening than
their last. In order to appease God’s wrath—and end the heat-wave —the
city’s overlords have launched a brutal campaign to whip the city’s
sinners into godliness. But for someone in York, this is not enough.
First a prostitute and her client are found stabbed to death, then a
pair of adulterers are beaten and strangled. York’s sinners have been
targeted for execution. Bridget and Martha—assisted once again by Will,
Bridget’s good-hearted nephew—race to find the killer even as he adds
more bodies to his tally. The list of suspects is long: Hezekiah Ward, a
fire and brimstone preacher new to York; Ward’s son, Praise-God, whose
intensity mirrors his father’s; John Stubb, one of Ward’s fanatic
followers, whose taste for blood may not have been sated by his time in
Parliament’s armies. Or could the killer be closer to home? Will’s
brother Joseph is no stranger to death, and he shares the Wards’ dreams
of driving sin from the city. To find the killer, Bridget, Martha, and
Will must uncover the city’s most secret sins, and hope against hope
that the killer does not turn his attention in their direction.
Eighty-nine-year-old
Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis.
It's a big one. Isabelle wants Dorrie, a black single mom in her
thirties, to drop everything to drive her from her home in Arlington,
Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. With no clear explanation why.
Tomorrow. Dorrie, fleeing problems of her own and curious whether she
can unlock the secrets of Isabelle's guarded past, scarcely hesitates
before agreeing, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both
their lives. Over the years, Dorrie and Isabelle have developed more
than just a business relationship. They are friends. But Dorrie,
fretting over the new man in her life and her teenage son's
irresponsible choices, still wonders why Isabelle chose her. Isabelle
confesses that, as a willful teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell deeply in
love with Robert Prewitt, a would-be doctor and the black son of her
family's housekeeper--in a town where blacks weren't allowed after dark.
The tale of their forbidden relationship and its tragic consequences
makes it clear Dorrie and Isabelle are headed for a gathering of the
utmost importance and that the history of Isabelle's first and greatest
love just might help Dorrie find her own way.
In this evocative and thrilling epic novel, fifteen-year-old Yoshi Kobayashi, child of Japan’s New Empire, daughter of an ardent expansionist and a mother with a haunting past, is on her way home on a March night when American bombers shower her city with napalm—an attack that leaves one hundred thousand dead within hours and half the city in ashen ruins. In the days that follow, Yoshi’s old life will blur beyond recognition, leading her to a new world marked by destruction and shaped by those considered the enemy: Cam, a downed bomber pilot taken prisoner by the Imperial Japanese Army; Anton, a gifted architect who helped modernize Tokyo’s prewar skyline but is now charged with destroying it; and Billy, an Occupation soldier who arrives in the blackened city with a dark secret of his own. Directly or indirectly, each will shape Yoshi’s journey as she seeks safety, love, and redemption.
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley (Jan 14th)
Bishop's Lacey is never short of two things: mysteries to solve and pre-adolescent detectives to solve them. In this New York Timesbestselling
series of cozy mysteries, young chemist and aspiring detective Flavia
de Luce once again brings her knowledge of poisons and her indefatigable
spirit to solve the most dastardly crimes the English countryside has
to offer, and in the process, she comes closer than ever to solving her
life's greatest mystery--her mother's disappearance. .
The Visionist by Rachel Urquhart (Jan 14th)
In
this exquisite, transporting debut, 15-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire
to the family farm, killing her abusive father. She and her young
brother find shelter in a Massachusetts Shaker community called The City
of Hope. It is the Era of Manifestations, when young girls in Shaker
enclaves all across the Northeast are experiencing extraordinary
mystical visions, earning them the honorific of "Visionist" and bringing
renown to their settlements. The
City of Hope has not yet been blessed with a Visionist, but that
changes when Polly arrives and is unexpectedly exalted. As she struggles
to keep her dark secrets concealed in the face of increasing scrutiny,
Polly finds herself in a life-changing friendship with a young Shaker
sister named Charity, a girl who will stake everything--including her
faith--on Polly's honesty and purity.
The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepard (Jan 14th)
LONDON
1812: For forty years Britain has dreamed of the Pacific island of
Tahiti, a dark paradise of bloody cults and beautiful natives. Now,
decades after the first voyage of Captain Cook, a new ship returns to
London, crammed with botanical specimens and, it seems, the mysteries of
Tahiti. When, days after the Solander's arrival, some of its crew are
found dead and their sea-chests ransacked - their throats slashed, faces
frozen into terrible smiles - John Harriott, magistrate of the Thames
river police, puts constable Charles Horton in charge of the
investigation. But what connects the crewmen's dying dreams with the
ambitions of the ship's principal backer, Sir Joseph Banks of the Royal
Society? And how can Britain's new science possibly explain the
strangeness of Tahiti's floral riches now growing at Kew? Horton must
employ his singular methods to uncover a chain of conspiracy stretching
all the way back to the foot of the great dead volcano Tahiti Nui,
beneath the hungry eyes of ancient gods.
Revolutionary by Alex Myers (Jan 14th)Set during the American Revolution, Revolutionarytells the story of Deborah Samson Gannett, a young woman who runs away from her home in Middleborough Massachusetts, disguises herself as a man and enlists in the Continental Army, serving as a soldier for over a year and a half. Hewing closely to the historical truth, the novel chronicles Deborah’s departure from her hometown in 1782, her service at West Point, the action she faced in skirmishes throughout Westchester, and her travel with General Paterson to quell the mutiny in Philadelphia in 1783. Amid this historical narrative, Deborah also struggles with her own transformation and her ability to live as a man, wrestling with the question of what this means for her future and how she should live once the war is done. Before she can face that future, though, she must survive not only the physical battles but also the emotional strains brought on by warfare, treason, friendship and, ultimately, love.
For Today I Am a Boy by Kim Fu (Jan 14th)
Peter Huang and his sisters—elegant Adele, shrewd Helen, and Bonnie the bon vivant—grow
up in a house of many secrets, then escape the confines of small-town
Ontario and spread from Montreal to California to Berlin. Peter’s own
journey is obstructed by playground bullies, masochistic lovers,
Christian ex-gays, and the ever-present shadow of his Chinese father. At
birth, Peter had been given the Chinese name juan chaun,
powerful king. The exalted only son in the middle of three daughters,
Peter was the one who would finally embody his immigrant father's ideal
of power and masculinity. But Peter has different dreams: he is certain
he is a girl.
Haya
Tedeschi sits alone in Gorizia, in northeastern Italy, surrounded by a
basket of photographs and newspaper clippings. Now an old woman, she
waits to be reunited after sixty-two years with her son, fathered by an
SS officer and stolen from her by the German authorities as part of
Himmler’s clandestine Lebensbornproject. Haya reflects on her
Catholicized Jewish family’s experiences, dealing unsparingly with the
massacre of Italian Jews in the concentration camps of Trieste. Her
obsessive search for her son leads her to photographs, maps, and
fragments of verse, to testimonies from the Nuremberg trials and
interviews with second-generation Jews, and to eyewitness accounts of
atrocities that took place on her doorstep. From this broad collage of
material and memory arises the staggering chronicle of Nazi occupation
in northern Italy.
Palmerino by Melissa Pritchard (Jan 14th)
Welcome
to Villa il Palmerino, the British enclave in rural Italy where Violet
Paget, known to the world by her pen name and male persona, Vernon Lee,
held court. In imagining the real life of this brilliant, gender
bending, lesbian polymath known for her chilling supernatural stories,
Melissa Pritchard creates a multilayered tale in which the dead writer
inhabits the heart and mind of her lonely, modern-day biographer.
Positing the art of biography as an act of resurrection and possession,
this novel brings to life a vividly detailed, subtly erotic tale about
secret loves and the fascinating artists and intellectuals—Oscar Wilde,
John Singer Sargent, Henry James, Robert Browning, Bernard Berenson—who
challenged and inspired each other during an age of repression.
Kate
Chase Sprague was born in 1840 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the second daughter
to the second wife of a devout but ambitious lawyer. Her father, Salmon
P. Chase, rose to prominence in the antebellum years and was appointed
secretary of the treasury in Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet, while aspiring
to even greater heights. Beautiful, intelligent, regal, and entrancing,
young Kate Chase stepped into the role of establishing her
thrice-widowed father in Washington society and as a future presidential
candidate. Her efforts were successful enough that The Washington Star
declared her “the most brilliant woman of her day. None outshone her.”
None, that is, but Mary Todd Lincoln. Though Mrs. Lincoln and her young
rival held much in common—political acumen, love of country, and a
resolute determination to help the men they loved achieve greatness—they
could never be friends, for the success of one could come only at the
expense of the other. When Kate Chase married William Sprague, the
wealthy young governor of Rhode Island, it was widely regarded as the
pinnacle of Washington society weddings. President Lincoln was in
attendance. The First Lady was not.
The
women meet for the first time just before their journey begins: Katie,
an Irish maid from Dorchester, Massachusetts; Minnie, wife of an
immigrant Russian Jewish chicken farmer; Bobbie, a wealthy Boston
socialite ; Wilhelmina, a former tennis star in precarious mental
health; and Cora Blake, a single mother and librarian from coastal
Maine. In Paris, Cora meets a journalist whose drug habit helps him hide
from his own war-time fate-facial wounds so grievous he's forced to
wear a metal mask. This man will change Cora's life in wholly unexpected
ways. And when the women finally travel to Verdun to visit the
battlegrounds where their sons fought as well as the cemeteries where
they are buried, shocking events-a death, a scandal, a secret
revealed-will guarantee that Cora's life and those of her traveling
companions will become inextricably intertwined, and only now will they
be able to emerge from their grief and return home to their loved ones.
The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley (Jan 16th)
Under the Jeweled Sky by Alison McQueen (Jan 21st)
Spanning four generations and two very different cultures,
it sweeps from the glittering palaces of the great maharajahs of India to the
majestic stately homes of England, following the extraordinary life of a girl,
Anahita Chaval, from 1911 to the present day...In the heyday of the British
Raj, eleven-year-old Anahita, from a noble but impoverished family, forms a
lifelong friendship with the headstrong Princess Indira, the privileged
daughter of rich Indian royalty. Becoming the princess' official companion,
Anahita accompanies her friend to England just before the outbreak of the Great
War. There, she meets the young Donald Astbury, reluctant heir to the magnificent,
remote Astbury Estate, and his scheming mother. Eighty years later, Rebecca
Bradley - a young American film star - has the world at her feet. But when her
turbulent relationship with her equally famous boyfriend takes an unexpected
turn, she's relieved that her latest role, playing a 1920s debutante, will take
her away from the glare of publicity to the wilds of Dartmoor in England.
Shortly after filming begins at the now-crumbling Astbury Hall, Ari Malik,
Anahita's great-grandson, arrives unexpectedly, on a quest for his family's
past. What he and Rebecca discover begins to unravel the dark secrets that
haunt the Astbury dynasty...
Under the Jeweled Sky by Alison McQueen (Jan 21st)
India, 1947.
As daughter to the personal physican of an Indian Maharaja, Sophie
Schofield has spent her teenage years with a palace as her playground.
But everyone has to grow up sometime, and for Sophie, growing up means
losing her heart - to the one person she shouldn't fall in love with. On
the night of Indian independence, something happens that sends Sophie
away from everything she knows, and ultimately back to postwar England.
Years later, Sophie has put the past behind her. But when her diplomat
husband is posted to Delhi, suddenly her secret won't stay buried. As
India struggles with its new identity, Sophie realizes her own story is
about to fall apart. Facing the truth will mean a journey back into
her past and to the memory of a young boy with tourmaline eyes.
Worthy Brown’s Daughter by Philip Margolin (Jan 21st)
One
of a handful of lawyers in the new state of Oregon, recently widowed
Matthew Penny agrees to help Worthy Brown, a newly freed slave, rescue
his fifteen year old daughter, Roxanne, from their former master, a
powerful Portland lawyer. Worthy’s lawsuit sets in motion events that
lead to Worthy’s arrest for murder and create an agonizing moral dilemma
that could send either Worthy or Matthew to the hangman. At the same
time, hanging judge Jed Tyler, a powerful politician with a barren
personal life, becomes infatuated with a beautiful gold-digger who is
scheming to murder Benjamin Gillette, Oregon’s wealthiest businessman.
When Gillette appears to die from natural causes, Sharon Hill produces a
forged contract of marriage and Tyler must decide if he will sacrifice
his reputation to defend that of the woman who inspired his irrational
obsession. At Worthy’s trial, Matthew saves Worthy by producing a
stunning courtroom surprise and his attempt to stop the deadly fortune
hunter ends in a violent climax.
The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson (Jan 21st)
Regina
Robichard works for Thurgood Marshall, who receives an unusual letter
asking the NAACP to investigate the murder of a returning black war
hero. It is signed by M. P. Calhoun, the most reclusive author in the
country. As a child, Regina was captivated by Calhoun’s The Secret of Magic,
a novel in which white and black children played together in a magical
forest. Once down in Mississippi, Regina finds that nothing in the
South is as it seems. She must navigate the muddy waters of racism,
relationships, and her own tragic past. The Secret of Magicbrilliantly explores the power of stories and those who tell them.
Under the Wide Starry Sky by Nancy Horan (Jan 21st)
Under
the Wide and Starry Sky chronicles the unconventional love affair of
Scottish literary giant Robert Louis Stevenson, author of classics
including Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, and American divorcee Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne. They meet in
rural France in 1875, when Fanny, having run away from her philandering
husband back in California, takes refuge there with her children.
Stevenson too is escaping from his life, running from family pressure to
become a lawyer. And so begins a turbulent love affair that will last
two decades and span the world.
On
May 30, 1593, a celebrated young playwright was killed in a tavern
brawl in London. That, at least, was the official version. Now
Christopher Marlowe reveals the truth: that his "death" was an elaborate
ruse to avoid a conviction of heresy; that he was spirited across the
English Channel to live on in lonely exile; that he continued to write
plays and poetry, hiding behind the name of a colorless man from
Stratford—one William Shakespeare. With the grip of a thriller and the
emotional force of a sonnet, this remarkable novel in verse gives voice
to a man who was brilliant, passionate, and mercurial. A cobbler's son
who counted nobles among his friends, a spy in the Queen's service, a
fickle lover and a declared religious skeptic, Christopher Marlowe
always courted trouble.
It's
1629, and King Charles I and his French queen Henrietta-Maria have
reigned in England for less than three years. Young dwarf Jeffrey Hudson
is swept away from a village shambles and plunged into the Stuart court
when his father sells him to the most hated man in England—the Duke of
Buckingham. Buckingham trains Jeffrey to be his spy in the household of
Charles’ seventeen-year-old bride, hoping to gain intelligence that will
help him undermine the vivacious queen’s influence with the king.
Desperately homesick in a country that hates her for her nationality and
Catholic faith, Henrietta-Maria surrounds herself with her "Royal
Menagerie of Freaks and Curiosities of Nature"—a "collection" consisting
of a giant, two other dwarves, a rope dancer, an acrobat/animal trainer
and now Jeffrey, who is dubbed "Lord Minimus." Dropped into this family
of misfits, Jeffrey must negotiate a labyrinth of court intrigue and
his own increasingly divided loyalties. For not even the plotting of the
Duke nor the dangers of a tumultuous kingdom can order the heart of a
man. Though he is only eighteen inches tall, Jeffrey Hudson's love will
reach far beyond his grasp—to the queen he has been sent to destroy.
The Wife, the Maid and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon (Jan 28th)
They say behind every great man, there's a woman. In this case, there are three.
Stella Crater, the judge's wife, is the picture of propriety draped in
long pearls and the latest Chanel. Ritzi, a leggy showgirl with Broadway
aspirations, thinks moonlighting in the judge's bed is the quickest way
off the chorus line. Maria Simon, the dutiful maid, has the judge to
thank for her husband's recent promotion to detective in the NYPD.
Meanwhile, Crater is equally indebted to Tammany Hall leaders and the
city's most notorious gangster, Owney "The Killer" Madden. On a sultry
summer night, as rumors circulate about the judge's involvement in
wide-scale political corruption, the Honorable Joseph Crater steps into a
cab and disappears without a trace. Or does he? After 39 years
of necessary duplicity, Stella Crater is finally ready to reveal what
she knows. Sliding into a plush leather banquette at Club Abbey, the
site of many absinthe-soaked affairs and the judge's favorite watering
hole back in the day, Stella orders two whiskeys on the rocks-one for
her and one in honor of her missing husband. Stirring the ice cubes in
the lowball glass, Stella begins to tell a tale-of greed, lust, and
deceit. As the novel unfolds and the women slyly break out of their
prescribed roles, it becomes clear that each knows more than she has
initially let on.
The Ghost of the Mary Celeste by Valerie Martin (Jan 28th)
In 1872 the American merchant vessel Mary Celeste
was discovered adrift off the coast of Spain. Her cargo was intact and
there was no sign of struggle, but the crew was gone. They were never
found. This maritime mystery lies at the center of an intricate
narrative branching through the highest levels of late-
nineteenth-century literary society. While on a voyage to Africa, a
rather hard-up and unproven young writer named Arthur Conan Doyle hears
of the Mary Celeste and decides to write an outlandish short
story about what took place. This story causes quite a sensation back in
the United States, particularly between sought-after Philadelphia
spiritualist medium Violet Petra and a rational-minded journalist named
Phoebe Grant, who is seeking to expose Petra as a fraud. Then there is
the family of the Mary Celeste's captain, a family linked to the
sea for generations and marked repeatedly by tragedy. Each member of
this ensemble cast holds a critical piece to the puzzle of the Mary Celeste.
These three elements-a ship found sailing without a crew, a famous
writer on the verge of enormous success, and the rise of an unorthodox
and heretical religious fervor-converge in unexpected ways, in diaries,
in letters, in safe harbors and rough seas. In a haunted, death-obsessed
age, a ghost ship appearing in the mist is by turns a provocative
mystery, an inspiration to creativity, and a tragic story of the
disappearance of a family and of a bond between husband and wife that,
for one moment, transcends the impenetrable barrier of death.
Yorkshire,
1904. On Netherwood Common, Russian émigré Anna Rabinovich shows her
dear friend Eve Williams a house: a Victorian villa, solidly built from
local stone. This is Ravenscliffe, and it’s the house Anna wants them to
live in. It’s their house, she says. It was meant to be. As Anna
transforms Ravenscliffe, an attraction grows between her and union man
Amos. But when Eve’s long-lost brother Silas turns up in the
closely-knit mining community of Netherwood, cracks begin to appear in
even the strongest friendships. Meanwhile, at Netherwood Hall,
cherished traditions are being undermined by the whims of the feckless
heir to the title, Tobias Hoyland, and his American bride Thea Stirling.
Below stairs, the loyal servants strive to preserve the noble family’s
dignity and reputation. But both inside the great house and in the world
beyond, values and loyalties are rapidly changing.
The Forbidden Queen by Anne O’Brien (Jan 28th)
An innocent pawn, A kingdom without a king, A new dynasty will reign…
1415. The jewel in the French crown, Katherine de Valois, is waiting under lock and key for King Henry V. While he's been slaughtering her kinsmen in Agincourt, Katherine has been praying for marriage to save her from her misery. But the brutal king wants her crown, not her innocent love. For Katherine, England is a lion's den of greed, avarice and mistrust. And when she is widowed at twenty-one, she becomes a prize ripe for the taking—her young son the future monarch, her hand in marriage worth a kingdom. This is a deadly political game, one the dowager queen must learn fast. The players—the Duke of Gloucester, Edmund Beaufort and Owen Tudor—are circling. Who will have her? Who will ruin her? This is the story of Katherine de Valois.
Arcanum
by Simon Morden (Jan 28th)
Hall of Secrets by Cate
Campbell (Jan 28th)
I Shall be Near to You by
Erin Lindsay McCabe (Jan 28th)
The Arnifour Affair by
Gregory Harris (Jan 28th)
An innocent pawn, A kingdom without a king, A new dynasty will reign…
1415. The jewel in the French crown, Katherine de Valois, is waiting under lock and key for King Henry V. While he's been slaughtering her kinsmen in Agincourt, Katherine has been praying for marriage to save her from her misery. But the brutal king wants her crown, not her innocent love. For Katherine, England is a lion's den of greed, avarice and mistrust. And when she is widowed at twenty-one, she becomes a prize ripe for the taking—her young son the future monarch, her hand in marriage worth a kingdom. This is a deadly political game, one the dowager queen must learn fast. The players—the Duke of Gloucester, Edmund Beaufort and Owen Tudor—are circling. Who will have her? Who will ruin her? This is the story of Katherine de Valois.
Arcanum
by Simon Morden (Jan 28th)
Rome was the
center of the most powerful empire the world had ever seen, but that didn't stop
it falling to Alaric the Goth, his horde of barbarian tribesmen and their wild
spell-casting shamans. Having split the walls with their sorcery and
slaughtered the inhabitants with their axes, the victors carved up the empire
into a series of bickering states which were never more than an insult away
from war. A thousand years later, and Europe has become an almost civilized
place. The rulers of the old Roman palatinates confine their warfare to the
short summer months, trade flourishes along the rivers and roads, and farming
has become less back-breaking, all due to the magic, bestowed by gods, that
infuses daily life. Even the barbarians' gods have been tamed: where once human
sacrifices poured their blood onto the ground, there are parties and picnics,
drinking and singing, fit for decent people and their children. But it looks
like the gods are going to have the last laugh before they slip quietly into
ill-remembered obscurity..
Hall of Secrets by Cate
Campbell (Jan 28th)
For
generations, the Benedicts have been one of Seattle's most distinguished
families, residing in the splendid Queen Anne mansion known as Benedict Hall
amid a host of loyal servants. But the dawn of the 1920s and the aftermath of
the Great War have brought dramatic social conflict. Never has this been more
apparent than when daughter Margot's thoroughly modern young cousin, Allison,
comes to stay. But Margot is also shocking many of Seattle's genteel citizens,
and her engineer beau, by advocating birth control in her medical practice. For
amid a tangle of blackmail, manipulation, and old enmities, the Benedicts stand
to lose more than money - they may forfeit the very position and reputation
that is their only tether to a rapidly changing world.
I Shall be Near to You by
Erin Lindsay McCabe (Jan 28th)
Rosetta
doesn't want her new husband Jeremiah to enlist, but he joins up, hoping to
make enough money that they'll be able to afford their own farm someday. Though
she's always worked by her father’s side as the son he never had, now that
Rosetta is a wife she's told her place is inside with the other women. But
Rosetta decides her true place is with Jeremiah, no matter what that means, and
to be with him she cuts off her hair, hems an old pair of his pants, and signs
up as a Union soldier. Rosetta drills with the men, prepares herself for
battle, and faces the tension as her husband comes to grips with having a
fighting wife. Fearing discovery of her secret, Rosetta’s strong will clashes
with Jeremiah’s as their marriage is tested by war.
The Arnifour Affair by
Gregory Harris (Jan 28th)
When
a carriage bearing the Arnifour family crest--a vulture devouring a slaughtered
lamb--arrives at the Kensington home of Colin Pendragon, it is an ominous
beginning to a perplexing new case. Lady Arnifour's husband has been beaten to
death and her niece, Elsbeth, left in a coma. Is the motive passion, revenge,
or something even more sinister? Police suspicions have fallen on the
groundskeeper and his son, yet the Earl's widow is convinced of their
innocence. Even as Colin and his partner Ethan Pruitt delve into the muddy
history of the Arnifour family, a young street urchin begs their help in
finding his missing sister. Ethan, regrettably familiar with London's
underbelly, urges caution, yet Colin's interest is piqued. And in a search that
wends from the squalid opium dens of the East End to the salons of Embassy Row,
the truth about these seemingly disparate cases will prove disquieting,
dangerous, and profoundly unexpected. . .
So much to look forward to! And that's just January. Thanks for the previews.
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