Adult

New Guinea was a battleground far more deadly than the most fanatical of enemy troops. Japanese forces numbering some 600,000 men began landing in January 1942, determined to seize the island as a cornerstone of the Empire’s strategy to knock Australia out of the war. Allied Commander-in-Chief General Douglas MacArthur committed 340,000 Americans, as well as tens of thousands of Australian, Dutch and New Guinea troops, to retake New Guinea at all costs. What followed was a four-year campaign that involved some of the most horrific warfare in history.

Last spring, a body was recovered from one of Los Angeles’s overwhelmed storm sewers. The victim was identified as James Ballantine, a middle-aged African-American who worked as a research scientist for a prestigious company. But two bullets to the back of the head looked like nothing if not foul play. Now, with the case turning cold, Ballantine’s former employers bring in detectives Sid and Ronnie Abel to succeed where the police have failed. Meanwhile, assassins-for-hire Ed and Nicole Hoyt’s mysterious contractors want to make sure that the facts about Ballantine’s death stay hidden.

Eight-year-old Rocky worships his older brother, Paul. Then one day, in an act of vengeance against their father, Paul picks up Rocky from school and nearly abandons him in the woods. Afterward, Paul disappears. Seven years later, Rocky is a teenager himself. He hasn’t forgotten being abandoned by his boyhood hero, but he’s getting over it. But after a mysterious double murder brings terror and suspicion to their small town, Rocky and his family must reckon with the past and find out how much forgiveness their hearts can hold.

COMETH THE HOUR, the penultimate book in the Clifton Chronicles, opens with the reading of a suicide note, which has devastating consequences for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington and Lady Virginia. Harry Clifton remains determined to get Anatoly Babakov released from a gulag in Siberia, following the international success of his acclaimed book, Uncle Joe. But then something unexpected happens that none of them could have anticipated.

Everyone’s lives are touched by mental illness: if we do not suffer from it ourselves, then we have a friend or loved one who does. Matt Haig’s frankness about his experiences is both inspiring to those who feel daunted by depression and illuminating to those who are mystified by it. Above all, his humor and encouragement never let us lose sight of hope. Speaking as his present self to his former self in the depths of depression, Matt is adamant that the oldest cliché is the truest --- there is light at the end of the tunnel.

On the evening of May 3, 1937, 97 people board the Hindenburg for its final, doomed flight. Among them are a frightened stewardess who is not what she seems; the steadfast navigator determined to win her heart; a naive cabin boy eager to earn a permanent position; an impetuous journalist who has been blacklisted in her native Germany; and an enigmatic American businessman with a score to settle. Over the course of three champagne-soaked days, their lies, fears, agendas and hopes for the future will be revealed --- and one in their party will set a plot in motion that will have devastating consequences for them all.

Growing up in the suburban hell of Misery Saga (a.k.a. Mississauga), Lizzie has never liked the way she looks. She starts dating guys online but is afraid to send pictures, even when her skinny friend, China, does her makeup. So she starts to lose. With punishing drive, she counts almonds consumed, miles logged and pounds dropped. She grows up and gets thin, navigating double-edged validation from her mother, friends, husband and reflection in the mirror. But no matter how much she loses, will she ever see herself as anything other than a fat girl?

On June 28, 1980, Kelly Michelle Lund shoots and kills Oscar-nominated director John McFadden at a party in his home. For years, speculation swirls over the enigmatic seventeen-year-old’s motives, information she’s refused to share. Convicted of the murder, she loses her youth and her freedom --- but keeps her secrets to herself. Thirty years later, the past has come back to haunt Kelly. Her father-in-law, movie legend Sterling Marshall, is found dead from a shot to the head, just like his old friend John McFadden. Once again, Kelly is suspected of the high profile murder. But this time, she’s got some unexpected allies who believe she’s innocent --- of both killings --- and want to help her clear her name. But is she?

Joe Goldberg is no stranger to hiding bodies. In the past 10 years, this thirty-something has buried four of them, collateral damage in his quest for love. Now he’s heading west to Los Angeles, determined to put his past behind him. But the problem with hidden bodies is that they don’t always stay that way. They re-emerge, like dark thoughts, multiplying and threatening to destroy what Joe wants most: true love. And when he finds it in a darkened room in Soho House, he’s more desperate than ever to keep his secrets buried.