May Sarton's powerful and profound novel of an extraordinary life, and of one woman's efforts to preserve the force and vitality of her experiences on the pages of a bookFor the second time in my life—and I am now seventy—I am embarking on an effort which may well come to nothing but which has possessed my mind, haunts, and will not let me sleep. From her opening statement, Cam, the narrator of The Magnificent Spinster, declares her grand intentions: to write a novel—a worthy and important one in celebration of her recently deceased friend and teacher, Jane Reid, whose dearth of family threatens the memory of her almost tangible greatness. And so she writes, re-creating Jane's childhood, adolescence, and years as a teacher—including the one in which Cam was her student. She writes of Jane's irrepressible spirit and the charming letters Jane penned about her adventures, and she recounts Jane's growing isolation as... Views: 65
Drowning in whiskey, war veteran Captain John Grayson is shocked when a pregnant woman bursts into his room and claims to be his wife in a wrenching story of mistaken identity, misguided honor, and true love. Original. Views: 65
Five years ago, Sam O'Connor's sister Chloe died in New York, just another accidental overdose at the Chelsea Hotel. But now, someone has sent Sam a mysterious postcard claiming that Chloe actually died of gunshot wounds and that she was investigating a political conspiracy. Sam has to find out what really happened. As she navigates the twisted trail between fact and fantasy, she is forced to confront some difficult truths about her sister and, more frightening, about herself. Nairne Holtz, a writer, librarian, and bibliographer, lives in Montreal. This is her first novel. Views: 65
Time Siege, a fast-paced time-travel adventure from award-winning author Wesley ChuHaving been haunted by the past and enslaved by the present, James Griffin-Mars is taking control of the future.Earth is a toxic, sparsely inhabited wasteland—the perfect hiding place for a fugitive ex-chronman to hide from the authorities.James has allies, scientists he rescued from previous centuries: Elise Kim, who believes she can renew Earth, given time; Grace Priestly, the venerated inventor of time travel herself; Levin, James's mentor and former pursuer, now disgraced; and the Elfreth, a population of downtrodden humans who want desperately to believe that James and his friends will heal their ailing home world.James also has enemies. They include the full military might of benighted solar system ruled by corporate greed and a desperate fear of what James will do next. At the forefront of their efforts to stop him is Kuo, the ruthless security... Views: 65
Starred Review. At the start of Smith's superb third thriller to feature Ana Grey (after 2003's Good Morning, Killer), the FBI special agent, who's still recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder after shooting a crazed detective on a suicide mission seven months earlier, learns that the skeletal remains of her missing onetime fiancé, fellow special agent Steve Crawford, have turned up in Oregon's Cascade Mountains. Ana later finds out Steve was murdered by members of an anarchist group with a penchant for homemade bombs. After training at the FBI's undercover school, Ana uses an alias to penetrate the group, which includes a former FBI agent gone bad, Dan Stone. As Allfather Stone plots a terrorist act he calls the Big One, Ana must burrow through layers of paranoia to discover the precise threat the FBI is dealing with. Ana's nuanced and coolly observational narrative voice perfectly complements the well-paced action, which builds to a satisfying conclusion that leaves open the next chapter of Ana's story. Views: 65
Chloe is the first in a four-book series that tracks one family through four generations of empowered women during the twentieth century. Views: 65
In Jeremiah, Ohio, Adam Sol reinvents the Biblical prophet and doomsayer Jeremiah for the postmodern age, and sends him on a reeling road trip through the strip malls and back roads of the United States with an ordinary, everyman companion, Bruce. The mismatched pair are thrown together by accident, but come to value each other as they travel in early September toward the promised city of New York.The verse in this ambitious, politically charged, and beautiful book alternates between the two main characters while Jeremiah delivers strange, super-charged prophecies full of incendiary language and deliberately mixed metaphors, Bruce offers down-to-earth catalogues of mundane details and daily struggles in the American empire. With these inspired creations, Adam Sol fully delivers the mastery of language and subtlety of insight promised in his earlier work. Views: 65
From Publishers WeeklyUsually adept at fusing well-developed characters with edge-of-your-seat action and adventure, bestseller Johansen (_Pandora's Daughter_) stumbles in this novel of romantic suspense revolving around a tumultuous relationship. Veterinarian Devon Brady and enigmatic former navy SEAL Jude Marrok meet on a small Caribbean island recently devastated by an earthquake. When a sniper shoots Marrok's rescue dog, Ned, while searching for survivors in the rubble of a village, Marrok orders Brady to treat the black Lab, then promptly disappears. In a note he leaves for Brady, he promises to pick up Ned from her later. Soon after returning to her home on the outskirts of Denver with Ned, Brady finds herself a target in a deadly conflict involving international intelligence agents, ruthless billionaire entrepreneurs and Native American shamanism. An unnecessarily convoluted and at times unbelievable plot builds to a predictable conclusion. 650,000 first printing. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistDogs with miraculous healing abilities are at the heart of a volatile and complicated battle for power in which Dr. Devon Brady, a deeply principled veterinarian, becomes emotionally and physically attracted to a man who gives her every reason to distrust him. While working a disaster relief mission on an earthquake-ravaged Caribbean island, Devon is enlisted to save the life of Ned, a superbly sensitive search-and-rescue dog wounded in action. The bullet that nearly killed Ned did not come from the gun of a rampaging looter, as Devon first suspects, but rather from a sniper hired to destroy Ned and his handler, the inscrutable and disturbingly charismatic Jude Marrok. When Jude leaves Ned in Devon’s care, he knowingly places her life in jeopardy by making her both a target for the man who has spent his life hunting Jude and his uniquely gifted dogs, and a pawn to be used to draw Jude into a lethal trap. Though readers must wade in confusion through nearly half the book before they can fully understand the basic premise behind this unusual conflict, once the motivation is made clear, Johansen’s knack for delivering robust action and commanding characters kicks into high gear. --Carol Haggas Views: 65
After a whirlwind courtship, Kern Lowery whisked his young bride away to the mountains of Tennessee to start a new life. Unfortunately, Trisha’ s sheltered Grosse Pointe upbringing didn’ t prepare her for marriage or the hardships of country living, so she left with barely a goodbye. Five years later, an accident brings Trisha back to Tennessee. No longer the shy, helpless girl she was, she keeps her composure when she comes face-to-face with the stranger she is still technically married to. Inside, however, her emotions are a riot of passion-and fear. Fear of falling for the man she loves once again… Views: 65
