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Week of June 15, 2020

New in Paperback

Week of June 15, 2020

Paperback releases for the week of June 15th include THE GUARDIANS, a legal thriller from John Grisham but with a twist --- as a man who was convicted of murdering his lawyer but maintains his innocence turns to Guardian Ministries, a small nonprofit run by Cullen Post, a lawyer who travels the country fighting wrongful convictions and taking on clients forgotten by the system; ORDINARY GIRLS, a searing memoir from Jaquira Díaz, who writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age; THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON by Meg Waite Clayton, a pre-World War II-era story centering on the Kindertransports that carried thousands of children out of Nazi-occupied Europe --- and one brave woman who helped them escape to safety; and Clay Risen's THE CROWDED HOUR, the dramatic story of the most famous regiment in American history --- the Rough Riders, a motley group of soldiers led by Theodore Roosevelt, whose daring exploits marked the beginning of American imperialism in the 20th century.

After the End by Clare Mackintosh - Fiction

June 16, 2020

Max and Pip are the strongest couple you know. They're best friends, lovers --- unshakable. But then their son gets sick, and the doctors put the question of his survival into their hands. For the first time, Max and Pip can't agree. They each want a different future for their son. What if they could have both?

America Was Hard to Find by Kathleen Alcott - Historical Fiction

June 16, 2020

Ecuador, 1969: An American expatriate, Fay Fern, sits in the corner of a restaurant. She and her young son, Wright, turned away from the television where Vincent Kahn becomes the first man to walk on the moon. Years earlier, Fay and Vincent meet at a pilots’ bar in the Mojave Desert. Their casual affair ends quickly, but its consequences linger. Though their lives split, their senses of purpose deepen in tandem, each becoming heroes to different sides of the political spectrum of the 1960s and ’70s. With her last public appearance, a demonstration that frames the Apollo program as a vehicle for distracting the American public from its country’s atrocities, Fay leaves Wright to contend with her legacy, his own growing apathy, and the misdeeds of both his mother and his country.

The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century by Clay Risen - History

June 16, 2020

When America declared war on Spain in 1898, the US Army had just 26,000 men spread around the country --- hardly an army at all. In desperation, the Rough Riders were born. A unique group of volunteers, ranging from Ivy League athletes to Arizona cowboys and led by Theodore Roosevelt, they helped secure victory in Cuba in a series of gripping, bloody fights across the island. Roosevelt called their charge in the Battle of San Juan Hill his “crowded hour” --- a turning point in his life, one that led directly to the White House. As THE CROWDED HOUR reveals, it was a turning point for America as well, uniting the country and ushering in a new era of global power.

The Guardians by John Grisham - Legal Thriller

June 16, 2020

In the small Florida town of Seabrook, a young lawyer named Keith Russo was shot dead at his desk as he worked late one night. The killer left no clues. But the police soon came to suspect Quincy Miller, a young black man who was once a client of Russo’s. Quincy was tried, convicted and sent to prison for life. For 22 years he languished in prison, maintaining his innocence. But no one was listening. In desperation, he writes a letter to Guardian Ministries, a small nonprofit run by Cullen Post, a lawyer who is also an Episcopal minister. Powerful, ruthless people murdered Keith, and they do not want Quincy exonerated. They killed one lawyer 22 years ago, and they will kill another without a second thought.

I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman - Fiction

June 16, 2020

Jessica and Emily Burnstein have very different ideas of how their college tour should go. For Emily, it's a preview of freedom, exploring the possibility of her new and more exciting future. Maybe the other kids on the tour will like her more than the ones at school. For Jessica, it's a chance to bond with the daughter she seems to have lost. She isn't even sure if Emily likes her anymore. To be honest, Jessica isn't sure she likes herself. Together with a dozen strangers --- and two familiar enemies --- Jessica and Emily travel the East Coast, meeting up with family and old friends along the way. Surprises and secrets threaten their relationship and, in the end, change it forever.

In West Mills by De'Shawn Charles Winslow - Fiction

June 16, 2020

When motherhood looms, Azalea “Knot” Centre begins to learn that her freedom has come at a high price. Low on money, ostracized from her parents and cut off from her hometown, Knot turns to her neighbor, Otis Lee Loving, in search of some semblance of family and home. A lifelong fixer, Otis Lee is determined to steer his friends and family away from decisions that will cause them heartache and ridicule. After his failed attempt to help his older sister, who lives a precarious life in the North, Otis Lee discovers a possible path to redemption in the chaos Knot brings to his doorstep. But while he's busy trying to fix Knot's life, Otis Lee finds himself powerless to repair the many troubles within his own family, as the long-buried secrets of his troubled past begin to come to light.

The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton - Historical Fiction

June 16, 2020

For the tourists traveling on Henry Flagler’s legendary Overseas Railroad, Labor Day weekend is an opportunity to forget the economic depression gripping the nation. But one person’s paradise can be another’s prison, and Key West native Helen Berner yearns to escape. After the Cuban Revolution of 1933 leaves Mirta Perez’s family in a precarious position, Mirta agrees to an arranged marriage with a notorious American whose illicit business interests may threaten not only her relationship, but her life. Elizabeth Preston's trip to Key West is a chance to save her once-wealthy family from their troubles after the Wall Street crash. Over the course of the holiday weekend, the women’s paths cross unexpectedly as a deadly storm threatens the Keys.

The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton - Historical Fiction

June 16, 2020

In 1936, the Nazis are little more than loud, brutish bores to 15-year-old Stephan Neuman, the son of a wealthy and influential Jewish family and budding playwright. Stephan’s best friend and companion is the brilliant Žofie-Helene, a Christian girl whose mother edits a progressive, anti-Nazi newspaper. But the two adolescents’ carefree innocence is shattered when the Nazis take control. Truus Wijsmuller, a member of the Dutch resistance, risks her life smuggling Jewish children out of Nazi Germany to the nations that will take them. It is a mission that becomes even more dangerous after the Anschluss --- Hitler’s annexation of Austria --- as, across Europe, countries close their borders to the growing number of refugees desperate to escape.

Lifelines by Heidi Diehl - Fiction

June 16, 2020

It’s 1971 when Louise leaves Oregon for Düsseldorf, a city grappling with its nation’s horrific recent history, to study art. Soon she’s embroiled in a scene dramatically different from the one at home, thanks in large part to Dieter, a mercurial musician. Their romance ignites quickly, but life gets in the way: an unplanned pregnancy, hasty marriage, the tense balance of their creative ambitions, and --- finally, fatally --- a family secret that shatters Dieter and drives Louise home. But in 2008, she’s headed to Dieter’s mother’s funeral. As she flies into the heart of her past, she reckons with the choices she made, and the ones she didn’t, just as her family --- current and former --- must consider how Louise’s life has shaped their own, for better and for worse.

Lockdown: Stories of Crime, Terror, and Hope During a Pandemic edited by Nick Kolakowski and Steve Weddle - Thriller/Short Stories

June 16, 2020

A mysterious virus sweeps across the country, mutating rapidly as it jumps from person to person. Cities are locked down. The skies are clear as all planes are grounded. Some people panic, while some go to heroic lengths to save those they love --- and others use the chaos as an opportunity to engage in purest evil. In LOCKDOWN, 19 of today’s finest suspense, horror and crime writers explore how humanity reacts to the ultimate pandemic. From New York City to the Mexican border, from the Deep South to the misty shores of Seattle, their characters are fighting for survival against incredible odds. Proceeds from the book will go to support BINC, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, as it seeks to help booksellers recover from the devastating COVID-19 crisis.

Ordinary Girls: A Memoir by Jaquira Díaz - Memoir

June 16, 2020

While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Jaquira Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of ORDINARY GIRLS vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope, to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be.

A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith by Timothy Egan - Memoir/History

June 16, 2020

Moved by his mother's death and his Irish Catholic family's complicated history with the church, Timothy Egan decided to follow in the footsteps of centuries of seekers to force a reckoning with his own beliefs. He embarked on a thousand-mile pilgrimage through the theological cradle of Christianity to explore the religion in the world that it created. Egan sets out along the Via Francigena, once the major medieval trail leading the devout to Rome, and travels overland via the alpine peaks and small mountain towns of France, Switzerland and Italy, accompanied by a quirky cast of fellow pilgrims and by some of the towering figures of the faith. The goal: walking to St. Peter's Square, in hopes of meeting the galvanizing pope who is struggling to hold together the church through the worst crisis in half a millennium.

Roar by Cecelia Ahern - Fiction/Short Stories

June 16, 2020

In ROAR, Cecelia Ahern explores the endless ways in which women blaze through adversity with wit, resourcefulness and compassion. She takes the familiar aspects of women's lives --- the routines, the embarrassments, the desires --- and elevates these moments to the outlandish and hilarious with her astute blend of magical realism and social insight. One woman is tortured by sinister bite marks that appear on her skin; another is swallowed up by the floor during a mortifying presentation; yet another resolves to return and exchange her boring husband at the store where she originally acquired him. The women at the center of this curious universe learn that their reality is shaped not only by how others perceive them, but also by how they perceive the power within themselves.

Say Say Say by Lila Savage - Fiction

June 16, 2020

Ella is nearing 30, and not yet living the life she imagined. Her artistic ambitions as a student have given way to an unintended career in caregiving. One spring, Bryn --- a retired carpenter --- hires her to help him care for his wife Jill, who was left verbally diminished after a car crash. As Ella is drawn into the couple's household, she finds that this is unlike the other caregiving jobs she’s held. She is profoundly moved by the tenderness Bryn shows toward the wife he still fiercely loves, and is startled by the yearning this awakens in her. She finds herself looking differently at her relationship with her girlfriend, Alix, and questioning what she knows about relationships of all kinds --- between partners, between employer and employee, and above all between men and women.

This Little Family written by Inès Bayard, translated by Adriana Hunter - Fiction

June 16, 2020

Marie and Laurent, a young, affluent couple, have settled into their large Paris apartment and decide to start trying for a baby. This picture-perfect existence is shattered when Marie is assaulted by her new boss. Deeply shaken by the attack, she discovers she is pregnant, and is convinced her rapist is the father. Marie closes herself off in a destructive silence, ultimately leading her to commit an irreparable act.

Touch the Night by Max Booth III - Supernatural Thriller/Horror

June 16, 2020

Something sinister is hiding in the small town of Percy, Indiana, and 12-year-old Joshua Washington and Alonzo Jones are about to find themselves up close and personal with it. After a harmless night of petty property damage leads to the unthinkable, the red and blue lights of a cop car are the last things these boys want to see. Especially a cop car driven by something not quite human. Enter Mary Washington and Ottessa Jones. Their sons have been best friends for years, and now Josh and Alonzo have been abducted in the dead of night. Worst of all, the local sheriff refuses to believe they're missing, leaving it up to Mary and Ottessa to take the law into their own hands before a family of ungodly lunatics can complete a ritual decades in the making.

We Came Here to Shine by Susie Orman Schnall - Historical Fiction

June 16, 2020

WE CAME HERE TO SHINE is set at the iconic 1939 New York World’s Fair. Gorgeous Vivi is the star of the Aquacade synchronized swimming spectacular, and plucky Max is a journalist for the fair’s daily paper. Both are striving to make their way in a world where men try to control their actions and where secrets are closely kept. But when Vivi and Max become friends and their personal and professional prospects are put in jeopardy, they team up to help each other succeed and to realize their dreams during the most meaningful summer of their lives.