I am not the sort of person about whom stories are told. And so begins Elise Dalriss’s story. When she hears her great-granddaughter recount a minstrel’s tale about a beautiful princess asleep in a tower, it pushes open a door to the past, a door Elise has long kept locked. For Elise was the companion to the real princess who slumbered --- and she is the only one left who knows what actually happened so many years ago.
Sam Dryden, retired special forces, encounters a young girl who is running from a group of heavily armed men intent on killing her. He learns that the 11-year-old has been kept in a secret prison by forces within the government. She only remembers the past two months of her life and that she has a skill that makes her very dangerous to these men. Dryden agrees to help her try to unravel her own past and make sense of it, to protect her from the people who are moving heaven and earth to find them both.
The year is 1729, and Resolute Talbot and her siblings are captured by pirates, taken from their family in Jamaica, and brought to the New World. Resolute and her sister are sold into slavery in New England and taught the trade of spinning and weaving. She struggles to find her way in a society that is quick to judge a young woman without a family. As the seeds of rebellion against England grow, Resolute is torn between following the rules and breaking free.
Particle physicist Jon Grady is ecstatic when his team achieves what they've been working toward for years: a device that can reflect gravity. Their research will revolutionize the field of physics, and Grady expects widespread acclaim for his entire team. Instead, his lab is locked down by a shadowy organization whose mission is to prevent at all costs the social upheaval sudden technological advances bring.
ELIOT NESS follows the lawman through his days in Chicago and into his forgotten second act. As the public safety director of Cleveland, he achieved his greatest success: purging the city of corruption so deep that the mob and the police were often one and the same. And it was here, too, that he faced one of his greatest challenges: a serial killer known as the Torso Murderer who terrorized the city for years.
In a decrepit, long-empty New York building, Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s husband begins the demolition process by swinging a sledgehammer into a wall. When the dust clears, there are two skeletons wrapped in plastic behind it. He summons his wife immediately --- and by the time she’s done with the crime scene, there are 12 murders to be solved.
London, 1385. A book of poems prophesying the death of English kings, including the newly crowned King Richard II, is all anyone can talk about. John Gower --- a poet himself, but more importantly, a man with connections --- must find the book to save his friend, the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. What he doesn’t know or understand are his personal connections to the book that could also get him killed.
THE ADVENTURES OF HENRY THOREAU --- chronicling the 10 years in his life beginning with Harvard in 1837 and ending as he walked away from Walden Pond after living in his long dreamed-of cabin for only two years --- tells the dramatic (and at times heartbreaking) story of how a troubled young man found a meaningful life in a tempestuous era.
Jess’ life is falling apart. Her husband has done a vanishing act, her teenage stepson is being bullied, and her math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that she can’t afford to pay for. But then an unexpected knight in shining armor offers to rescue them --- Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. Driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages…maybe ever.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HARRY QUEBERT AFFAIR is the #1 internationally bestselling thriller, and ingenious book within a book, about the disappearance of a 15-year-old New Hampshire girl and, 33 years later, a young American writer’s determination to clear his mentor’s name --- and find the inspiration for his next bestseller.
Tell us about the books you’ve finished reading with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from December 19th to January 9th at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of THE FIRST TIME I SAW HIM by Laura Dave and SKYLARK by Paula McLain.
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Coming Soon
Curious about what books will be released in the months ahead so you can pre-order or reserve them? Then click on the months below.
December's Books on Screen roundup includes the films The Housemaid, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, 100 Nights of Hero,The Chronology of Water and Not Without Hope; the series premiere of Paramount+'s "Little Disasters"; the season premiere of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" on Disney+ and Hulu; the season finales of HBO's "IT: Welcome to Derry" and Apple TV+'s "Down Cemetery Road"; the midseason finales of "Tracker" and "Watson" on CBS; and the DVD/Blu-ray releases of Karen Kingsbury's The Christmas Ring and Black Phone 2.