When Vera decides to travel to an old house in the New England countryside for a month-long escape from some devastating news about her daughter, Cassie, she has no idea her life is about to change forever. It begins innocently enough—peeling the old wallpaper from the walls as a favor to the house’s owner. What she discovers underneath—written in India ink on the very walls of the house by a woman named Beth, in 1919—is the beginning of the reader’s unsettling crossing into the unknown world underneath the paper. The Writing on the Wall is a brilliantly realized journey into the connected lives of three women whose stories span a century, linked by the house they all briefly inhabit, and by the tragedies they've had to endure. And it's not just their own stories that reveal themselves. A brilliant schoolteacher, back from the war in the trenches, finds the pupils of his dreams. A young Vietnam draftee makes a stubbornly quirky separate peace. The moody, dangerously charismatic leader of a commune becomes the unlikeliest of heroes. An “ordinary” housewife's lonely battle propels her onto the national stage. A girl sent to Iraq tries making sense of the chaos and the pain. The Writing on the Wall is about stories that can't be told, but must be told—about secrets that can't be shared, but must be shared—and the surprising ways people find to confront the truth.From BooklistIn his latest novel, Wetherell (Hills like White Hills, 2009) finds a unique way to tell the stories of three women. Vera Savino retreats to the old New England house her sister owns in the wake of her daughter’s disgrace during a stint in the army. Vera insists on undertaking the remodeling project her sister planned, and she begins by stripping off the wallpaper. Underneath the many layers, she discovers a memoir of sorts written in tiny handwriting by Beth, a young woman who resided in the house in 1919. Vera becomes caught up in Beth’s confessions about her desire to continue her education after her marriage and her feelings for a charismatic teacher. As Vera strips the walls to follow Beth’s story, she discovers that another woman has followed suit. Dottie, a housewife who lived in the house in the 1960s, hid her son Andy, who went AWOL from the army. Beth’s and Dottie’s struggles help Vera find the courage to take her pen to the wall to recount the horrifying secret her daughter shared with her. --Kristine Huntley Review“W. D. Wetherell is a fearless acrobat with words and narrative structures. His work, filled with humor, warmth and wisdom, asks us to re-examine our recent history.” (Chicago Tribune )“W.D. Wetherell has a sharp, fresh eye and a complicated view of our dislocations, pains and dreams.” (New York Times ) Views: 48
Gia Kearns would rather fight with boys thankiss them. That is, until Arik, a leather clad hottie in the BostonAthenaeum, suddenly disappears. While examining the book of worldlibraries he abandoned, Gia unwittingly speaks the key that sucks herand her friends into a photograph and transports them into a Parislibrary, where Arik and his Sentinels-magical knights charged withprotecting humans from the creatures traveling across the gatewaybooks-rescue them from a demonic hound.Jumping into some of theworld's most beautiful libraries would be a dream come true for Gia, ifshe weren't busy resisting her heart or dodging an exiled wizard seeking revenge on both the Mystik and human worlds. Add a French flirtobsessed with Arik and a fling with a young wizard, and Gia must choosebetween her heart and her head, between Arik's world and her own, before both are destroyed. Views: 48
Derek Strange is a black ex-cop in Washington D.C. who now makes a living running his own private detective agency. He is hired to investigate the killing of an off-duty black policeman by a white police officer -- a killing that was supposedly accidental, but that has opened difficult questions about racism on the force. In the course of that investigation the white officer, Terry Quinn, becomes Strange's friend and then his partner. Together they try to uncover what really happened that night, when Quinn came upon a confusing and treacherous crime scene. Along the way they confront the kingpins of a flourishing drug trade and some of the most implacable, dead-eyed killers ever to grace the pages of a novel. Views: 48
You'll love Libby's heartwarming journey as her life changes in ways she'd never have expected... A warm, light, brilliantly romantic story.' 5/5 GirlsLovetoRead.comA Barefoot Summer is a beautiful, touching story about coming home, the importance of family, and the special place that first loves hold in our hearts. Fans of Carole Matthews, Trisha Ashley, Susan Mallery and Susan Wiggs – and anyone looking for a perfect, feel-good summer read will enjoy this.Sometimes you find perfect where you least expect it ...Libby Potter has just lost the perfect job, the perfect apartment and the perfect boyfriend. Moving back to the home town that she couldn't wait to escape when she was younger was definitely not on her to-do list. Especially as it means running into the man whose heart she broke when she left.Pete Bennett can still make Libby's world stop with just the sound of his voice – even ten years on. Only now, she is the last person in the world that he wants to... Views: 48
After staring death in the eye one last time, Quinn Langley decides she's had enough of her boyfriend's out of control rock star lifestyle. She leaves her Los Angeles life behind, along with the first man she ever loved in search of a fresh start. Six years later, her seemingly perfect life suddenly takes a unexpected turn when she meets two devilishly handsome men. Nick Davenport may be a divorcee, but that doesn't stop him from looking for love again. Only this time around, he has to compete with a millionaire in order to win her heart and might break his own in the process. Jaysen Beckett may be tall, dark and brooding, but he also has a reputation that precedes him. Coincidentally, he's also the CEO of the second largest investment firm in the country...the same firm Quinn works for. Now, she finds herself caught in a love triangle of epic proportions— A love triangle filled with secrets and deadly consequences. Views: 48
Winner of the Scholastic Montegrappa Prize for New Children's Writing. Poppy Pym has grown up in the circus...but when her family decides she needs a more traditional education she is sent to boarding school. When dangerous accidents start occurring at St Smithen's, it's up to Poppy to solve the mystery of the Pharaoh's curse! Views: 48
In the spirit of #1 New York Times bestseller The Fault in Our Stars, a “lovely, touching book” (Alexander McCall Smith) about two estranged brothers who come together when one of them discovers he has a brain tumor and the other emerges as his caretaker.This is the life: Not the one you thought you had yesterday. Or the one that might not be here tomorrow. Just this one. Here and now… This is the story of Louis, who never quite fit in, and of his younger brother, who always tried to tag along. As they got older, they grew apart. And as they got older still, one of them got cancer, and the other became his caretaker. Then they became close again, two brothers on one final journey together, wading through the stuff that’s thicker than water. Told in anecdotes as his brother remembers them, we discover who this cranky, cancerous Louis once was. That before his brain surgery he had a mind that was said to be... Views: 48
