Adult

A small-town newspaper columnist with old-fashioned views of the modern world. A World War II veteran grappling with his emotional and physical scars. A second-rate actor plunged into sudden stardom and a whirlwind press junket. Four friends traveling to the moon in a rocketship built in the backyard. These are just some of the stories that Tom Hanks captures in his first work of fiction: a collection of shorts that explore the human condition in all its foibles. The stories are linked by one thing: in each of them, a typewriter plays a part --- sometimes minor, sometimes central.

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend the unveiling of a discovery that “will change the face of science forever.” The evening’s host is Edmond Kirsch, who is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch’s precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao, accompanied by Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch’s secret.

Henry Dunbar, the once all-powerful head of a global media corporation, is not having a good day. In his dotage he hands over care of the corporation to his two eldest daughters, Abby and Megan, but as relations sour he starts to doubt the wisdom of past decisions. Now imprisoned in Meadowmeade, an upscale sanatorium in rural England, with only a demented alcoholic comedian as company, Dunbar starts planning his escape. As he flees into the hills, his family is hot on his heels. But who will find him first --- his beloved youngest daughter, Florence, or the tigresses Abby and Megan, so keen to divest him of his estate?

When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines, Armand Gamache and the rest of the villagers are at first curious. Then wary. From the moment its shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec, suspects the creature has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized. But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied. Months later, as the trial for the accused begins, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion, from which there is no going back.

One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: 15-year-old Cass and 17-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn't add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family, Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister's return might just be the beginning of the crime.

Amber Patterson is tired of being a nobody. She deserves more --- a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted. To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life --- the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards; if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.

Patrick Bisher’s career as a Navy SEAL should have ended after a parachuting accident nearly crippled him. But overcoming adversity, even an injury as serious as a broken hip, was nothing new for him. He'd spent a portion of his childhood in leg braces. Doctors told him he’d never walk again thanks to a degenerative hip condition. He wasn’t about to give up then, any more than he was in the wake of that parachute training accident. Instead, he went on to serve in combat as a member of SEAL Team Seven, seeing action in Iraq and ultimately winning the Army Commendations Medal, among other awards. Now Patrick wants to take the lessons he learned on and off the battlefield and apply them to everyday life. He offers inspiration to all who've faced the kind of adversity he has.

On All Hallow’s Eve in 1517, a young monk named Martin Luther posted a document he hoped would spark an academic debate, but that instead ignited a conflagration that would forever destroy the world he knew. Five hundred years after Luther’s now famous Ninety-five Theses appeared, Eric Metaxas paints a startling portrait of the wild figure whose adamantine faith cracked the edifice of Western Christendom and dragged medieval Europe into the future. MARTIN LUTHER tells the searing tale of a humble man who, by bringing ugly truths to the highest seats of power, caused the explosion whose sound is still ringing in our ears.

After getting her start as a stand-up comic and then breaking out with her wildly successful CBS sitcom "2 Broke Girls" (she's the creator, writer and executive producer), Whitney Cummings has seen a few things and is turning to the written word to tell us all the stuff she doesn't say on stage. This book contains some delicious schadenfreude in which Whitney recalls such humiliating debacles as breaking her shoulder while trying to impress a guy, coming very close to spending her life in a Guatemalan prison, and having her lacerated ear sewn back on by a deaf guy after losing it in a torrid love affair.

Bailey Ruth finds herself comforting a distraught sister when she’s sent to Adelaide, Oklahoma, on her latest mission. Susan Gilbert receives a $100,000 ransom demand for her younger sibling. When the caller wants Susan to pay a visit to her wealthy boss and take the cash from his safe, Bailey Ruth follows Susan to the home. But she finds herself in a quandary, knowing that robbery is hardly a Heavenly pursuit.