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Week of November 2, 2020

New in Paperback

Week of November 2, 2020

Paperback releases for the week of November 2nd include OLIVE, AGAIN, in which Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout continues the life of her beloved Olive Kitteridge, a character who has captured the imaginations of millions; EDISON by Edmund Morris, the first major life of Thomas Alva Edison in more than 20 years, which portrays the unknown Edison --- the philosopher, the futurist, the chemist, the botanist, the wartime defense adviser, the founder of nearly 250 companies --- as fully as it deconstructs the Edison of mythological memory; POSTSCRIPT, the long-awaited sequel to Cecelia Ahern's PS, I LOVE YOU, which follows Holly Kennedy as she helps strangers leave their own messages behind for loved ones; and WHEN TIME STOPPED, a remarkably moving memoir from Ariana Neumann, who dives into the secrets of her father’s past --- years spent hiding in plain sight in war-torn Berlin, the annihilation of dozens of family members in the Holocaust, and the courageous choice to build anew.

Censorettes by Elizabeth Bales Frank - Historical Fiction

November 5, 2020

For a young woman of exceptional intelligence and courage, being sequestered from the dangers of WWII on the idyllic island of Bermuda is maddening. She is determined to get into the fight --- then the fight is brought to her. Lucy Barrett is a Censorette, part of a branch of British Intelligence stationed on the island to inspect mail between North America and European nations at war. Determined to contribute in a more substantial way, Lucy uses her Cambridge education and love of Shakespeare to detect a Nazi spy ring operating out of Brooklyn. Just as she is promoted to a dangerous job overseas, her good friend is murdered. Should she embrace her new assignment, or seek justice for her friend?

Edison by Edmund Morris - Biography

November 3, 2020

Thomas Alva Edison’s invention of the first practical incandescent lamp 140 years ago so dazzled the world --- already reeling from his invention of the phonograph and dozens of other revolutionary devices --- that it cast a shadow over his later achievements. In all, this near-deaf genius patented 1,093 inventions --- not including others, such as the X-ray fluoroscope --- that he left unlicensed for the benefit of medicine. One of the achievements of this biography, the first major life of Edison in more than 20 years, is that it portrays the unknown Edison --- the philosopher, the futurist, the chemist, the botanist, the wartime defense adviser, the founder of nearly 250 companies --- as fully as it deconstructs the Edison of mythological memory.

The Escape Artist: A Memoir by Helen Fremont - Memoir

November 3, 2020

In the tradition of Alison Bechdel’s FUN HOME and George Hodgman’s BETTYVILLE, Helen Fremont writes with wit and candor about growing up in a household held together by a powerful glue: secrets. Her parents, profoundly affected by their memories of the Holocaust, pass on to both Helen and her older sister a zealous determination to protect themselves from what they see as danger from the outside world. Fremont delves deeply into the family dynamic that produced such a startling devotion to secret keeping, beginning with the painful and unexpected discovery that she has been disinherited in her father’s will.

From These Broken Streets by Roland Merullo - Historical Fiction

November 3, 2020

The Nazi occupation has cemented its grip on the devastated city of Naples. Giuseppe DiPietra, a curator in the National Archives, has a subversive plan to aid the Allies. If he's discovered, he'll have to endure forced labor or a swift execution. Lucia Pastone, secretary for the Italian Fascist government, is risking her own life in secret defiance of orders. And Lucia’s father, Aldo, is a black marketeer who draws Giuseppe and Lucia into the underworld --- for their protection and to help plant the seeds of resistance. Their fates are soon intertwined with those of Aldo’s devoted lover and a boy of the streets who will do anything to live another day. And all of Naples is about to join forces to overcome impossible odds and repel the Nazi occupiers.

Girls of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti - Gothic Thriller/Mystery

November 1, 2020

When Hannah Maloney’s aunt dies in a car accident, she returns to her family’s castle in the Catskills and the epicenter of a childhood trauma: her sister’s unsolved disappearance. It’s been 17 years, and though desperate to start a new life with her fiancé, Hannah is compelled to question the events of her last summer at Brackenhill. When a human bone is found near the estate, Hannah is convinced it belongs to her long-lost sister. She launches her own investigation into that magical summer that ended in a nightmare. As strange happenings plague the castle, Hannah uncovers disturbing details about the past and startling realizations about her own repressed childhood memories.

The God Game by Danny Tobey - Technothriller

November 3, 2020

They call themselves the Vindicators. Targeted by bullies and pressured by parents, these geeks and gamers rule the computer lab at Turner High School. One day, they each receive an invitation to play The God Game. Created by dark-web coders and maintained by underground hackers, the video game is controlled by a mysterious artificial intelligence that believes it is God. Obey the almighty A.I. and be rewarded. Defiance is punished. Through their phone screens and high-tech glasses, Charlie and his friends see and interact with a fantasy world superimposed over reality. The quests they undertake on behalf of "God" seem harmless at first, but soon the tasks have them questioning and sacrificing their own morality.

The Haunting of Brynn Wilder by Wendy Webb - Gothic Thriller/Mystery

November 1, 2020

After a devastating loss, Brynn Wilder escapes to Wharton, a tourist town on Lake Superior, to reset. Checking into a quaint boardinghouse for the summer, she hopes to put her life into perspective. In her fellow lodgers, she finds a friendly company of strangers. But in this inviting refuge, where a century of souls has passed, a mystery begins to swirl. The frail Alice knows things about Brynn, about all of them, that she shouldn’t. Bad dreams and night whispers lure Brynn to a shuttered room at the end of the hall, a room still heavy with a recent death. And now she’s become irresistibly drawn to Dominic --- even in the shadow of rumors that wherever this unsettlingly handsome man goes, suspicious death follows.

Keeping Lucy by T. Greenwood - Historical Fiction

November 3, 2020

Ginny Richardson's heart was torn open when her baby girl, Lucy, born with Down Syndrome, was taken from her. Under pressure from his powerful family, her husband, Ab, sent Lucy away to Willowridge, a special school for the “feeble-minded." Ab tried to convince Ginny it was for the best. But two years later, when Ginny's best friend, Marsha, shows her a series of articles exposing Willowridge as a hell-on-earth, she knows she can't leave her daughter there. With Ginny's six-year-old son in tow, Ginny and Marsha drive to the school to see Lucy for themselves. What they find sets their course on a heart-racing journey across state lines --- turning Ginny into a fugitive.

The Last Stand of Payne Stewart: The Year Golf Changed Forever by Kevin Robbins - Sports/Biography

November 3, 2020

Written off as a pompous showman past the prime of his career, Payne Stewart emerged from a long slump in the unforgettable season of 1999 to capture the U.S. Open and play on the victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team. He appeared to be a new man that summer: wiser, deeper and on the verge of a new level of greatness. Then his journey to redemption ended in October, when his chartered Learjet flew aimlessly for more than a thousand miles, ran out of fuel, and fell to earth in a prairie in South Dakota. With exclusive access to Stewart's friends, family and onetime colleagues, Kevin Robbins provides a long-overdue portrait of one of golf's greats in one of golf's greatest seasons.

Lessons From Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog by Dave Barry - Humor

November 3, 2020

As Dave Barry turns 70 --- not happily --- he realizes that his dog, Lucy, is dealing with old age far better than he is. She has more friends, fewer worries and way more fun. So Dave decides to figure out how Lucy manages to stay so happy, to see if he can make his own life happier by doing the things she does (except for drinking from the toilet). He reconnects with old friends and tries to make new ones --- which turns out to be a struggle, because Lucy likes people a lot more than he does. And he gets back in touch with two ridiculous but fun groups from his past: the Lawn Rangers, a group of guys who march in parades pushing lawnmowers and twirling brooms (alcohol is involved), and the Rock Bottom Remainders, the world’s oldest and least talented all-author band.

The Light After the War by Anita Abriel - Historical Fiction

November 3, 2020

Spring, 1946: Best friends Vera Frankel and Edith Ban arrive in Naples. Refugees from Hungary, they managed to escape from a train headed for Auschwitz and spent the rest of the war hiding on an Austrian farm. Now, the two young women are starting new lives abroad. Armed with a letter of recommendation from an American officer, Vera finds work at the United States embassy, where she falls in love with Captain Anton Wight. But as Vera and Edith grapple with the aftermath of the war, so too does Anton, and when he suddenly disappears, Vera is forced to change course. Their quest for a better life takes Vera and Edith from Naples to Ellis Island to Caracas as they start careers, reunite with old friends and rebuild their lives after terrible loss.

Marley by Jon Clinch - Fiction

November 3, 2020

“Marley was dead, to begin with,” Charles Dickens tells us at the beginning of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. But in Jon Clinch’s novel, Jacob Marley, business partner to Ebenezer Scrooge, is very much alive: a rapacious and cunning boy who grows up to be a forger, a scoundrel, and the man who will be both the making and the undoing of Scrooge. With their business interests inextricably bound together, and instincts for secrecy and greed bred in their very bones, the two men engage in a shadowy war of deception, false identities, forged documents, theft and cold-blooded murder. Marley and Scrooge are destined to clash in an unforgettable reckoning that will echo into the future and set the stage for Marley’s ghostly return.

Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce - Historical Fiction

November 3, 2020

It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life. One day, she reaches her breaking point and sets out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist --- the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind. Fun-loving Enid Pretty seems to attract trouble wherever she goes. But together these two British women find themselves drawn into a cross-ocean adventure that exceeds all expectations and delivers something neither of them expected to find: the transformative power of friendship.

The Mitford Scandal: A Mitford Murders Mystery by Jessica Fellowes - Historical Mystery

November 3, 2020

The year is 1928, and after the death of a maid at a glamorous society party, fortune heir Bryan Guinness proposes to 18-year-old Diana, the most beautiful of the six Mitford sisters. The maid's death is ruled an accident, and the newlyweds put it behind them to begin a whirlwind life zipping between London's Mayfair, chic Paris and hedonistic Berlin. Accompanying Diana as her lady's maid is Louisa Cannon, as well as a coterie of friends, family and hangers-on, from Nancy Mitford to Evelyn Waugh. When a second victim is found in Paris in 1931, Louisa begins to see links with the death of the maid two years previously. Now she must convince the Mitford sisters that a murderer could be within their midst.

The Museum of Forgotten Memories by Anstey Harris - Fiction

November 3, 2020

Four years after her husband Richard’s death, Cate Morris is let go from her teaching job and unable to pay rent on the London flat she shares with her son, Leo. With nowhere else to turn, they pack up and venture to Hatters Museum of the Wide Wide World, Richard’s ancestral Victorian museum in the small town of Crouch-on-Sea. Despite growing pains and a grouchy caretaker, Cate begins to fall in love with the quirky taxidermy exhibits and sprawling grounds, and she makes it her mission to revive them. But threats from both inside and outside the museum derail her plans and send her spiraling into self-doubt. As Cate becomes more invested in Hatters, she must finally confront the reality of Richard’s death --- and the role she played in it --- in order to reimagine her future.

Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens - Mystery

November 3, 2020

Boady Sanden is the new kid at St. Ignatius High School. When Thomas Elgin moves in across the road, Boady's life begins to twist and turn. Coming to know the Elgins, a black family, forces Boady to rethink his understanding of the world he's taken for granted. Secrets hidden in plain sight begin to unfold, the biggest of which is the disappearance of Lida Poe, the African-American woman who keeps the books at the local plastics factory. Word has it that Ms. Poe left town, along with a hundred thousand dollars of company money. As the mystery of her fate plays out, Boady begins to see the stark lines of race and class that both bind and divide this small town --- and he will be forced to choose sides.

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout - Fiction

November 3, 2020

Prickly, wry and resistant to change, yet ruthlessly honest and deeply empathetic, Olive Kitteridge struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the unforgettable Olive will continue to startle us, move us and inspire us --- in Strout’s words --- “to bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace as we can.”

On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl - Fiction

November 3, 2020

Muriel is newly married and restless, transplanted from her rural Kansas hometown to life in a dusty bungalow in San Diego. She misses her freethinking mother, dead before Muriel's 19th birthday, and her sly, itinerant brother-in-law, Julius, who made the world feel bigger than she had imagined. And so she begins slipping off to the Del Mar racetrack to bet and eavesdrop, learning the language of horses and risk. Meanwhile, Julius is testing his fate in Las Vegas, working at a local casino where tourists watch atomic tests from the roof, and falling in love with Henry, a young card cheat. When Henry is eventually discovered and run out of town, Julius takes off to search for him in the plazas and dives of Tijuana, trading one city of dangerous illusions and indiscretions for another.

Postscript by Cecelia Ahern - Fiction

November 3, 2020

Seven years after her husband's death --- six since she read his final letter --- Holly Kennedy has moved on with her life. When Holly's sister asks her to tell the story of the "PS, I Love You" letters on her podcast --- to revisit the messages Gerry wrote before his death to read after his passing --- she does so reluctantly, not wanting to reopen old wounds. But after the episode airs, people start reaching out to Holly, and they all have one thing in common: they are terminally ill and want to leave their own missives behind for loved ones. Suddenly, Holly finds herself drawn back into a world she's worked tirelessly to leave behind --- but one that leads her on another incredible, life-affirming journey.

The Preserve by Ariel S. Winter - Noir Mystery

November 3, 2020

Decimated by plague, the human population is now a minority. Robots --- complex AIs almost indistinguishable from humans --- are the ruling majority. Nine months ago, in a controversial move, the robot government opened a series of preserves, designated areas where humans can choose to live without robot interference. Now the preserves face their first challenge: someone has been murdered. Chief of Police Jesse Laughton on the SoCar Preserve is assigned to the case. As he digs for information, robots in the outside world start turning up dead from bad drug-like programs that may have originated on SoCar land. And when Laughton learns that his murder victim was a hacker who wrote drug-programs, it appears that the two cases might be linked.

The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era by Gareth Russell - History

November 3, 2020

In April 1912, six notable people were among those privileged to experience the height of luxury --- first-class passage on “the ship of dreams,” the RMS Titanic. Using previously unpublished sources, deck plans, journal entries and surviving artifacts, Gareth Russell peers through the portholes of these first-class travelers to immerse us in a time of unprecedented change in British and American history. Through their intertwining lives, he examines social, technological, political and economic forces, such as the nuances of the British class system, the explosion of competition in the shipping trade, the birth of the movie industry, the Irish Home Rule Crisis, and the Jewish-American immigrant experience, while also recounting their intimate stories of bravery, tragedy and selflessness.

Spellbreaker by Charlie N. Holmberg - Historical Fantasy/Mystery

November 1, 2020

The orphaned Elsie Camden learned as a girl that there were two kinds of wizards in the world: those who pay for the power to cast spells and those, like her, born with the ability to break them. Commissioned by an underground group, Elsie uses her spellbreaking to push back against the aristocrats and help the common man. Elite magic user Bacchus Kelsey is one elusive spell away from his mastership when he catches Elsie breaking an enchantment. To protect her secret, Elsie strikes a bargain. She’ll help Bacchus fix unruly spells around his estate if he doesn’t turn her in. Working together, Elsie’s trust in --- and fondness for --- the handsome stranger grows. So does her trepidation about the rise in the murders of wizards and the theft of the spellbooks their bodies leave behind.

The Survivors: A Story of War, Inheritance, and Healing by Adam Frankel - Memoir

November 3, 2020

Adam Frankel’s maternal grandparents survived the Holocaust and built new lives, with new names, in Connecticut. Though they tried to leave the horrors of their past behind, the pain they suffered crossed generational lines --- a fact most apparent in the mental health of Adam’s mother. When Adam sat down with her to examine their family history in detail, he learned another shocking secret. In the midst of piecing together a story of inherited familial trauma, Adam discovered he was only half of who he thought he was, knowledge that raised essential questions of identity. Who was he, if not his father’s son? Does it matter? What defines a family’s bonds? To rewrite his story in truth and to build a life for his own young family, Adam had to navigate his pain to find answers and a way forward.

The Third Sister by Sara Blaedel - Thriller

November 3, 2020

Ilka Jensen's life is in chaos following the tumultuous events of HER FATHER’S SECRET. The funeral home she inherited after her estranged father's death is bankrupt. Her new business partner, Artie, lies unconscious in the hospital after a savage attack by mysterious assailants, and her father's second wife is in prison. Then, just as Ilka learns a shocking revelation about her father, two menacing strangers turn up at the funeral home. In order to protect herself and those around her, Ilka sets off on a twisting journey to confront the truth about the man who abandoned her as a child. But the long-buried secrets of her father's past are more tangled and perilous than Ilka ever could imagine.

This Magnificent Dappled Sea by David Biro - Fiction

November 1, 2020

In a small Northern Italian village, nine-year-old Luca Taviano catches a stubborn cold and is subsequently diagnosed with leukemia. His only hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant. After an exhaustive search, a match turns up 3,000 miles away in the form of a most unlikely donor: Joseph Neiman, a rabbi in Brooklyn, New York, who is suffering from a debilitating crisis of faith. As Luca’s young nurse, Nina Vocelli, risks her career and races against time to help save the spirited redheaded boy, she uncovers terrible secrets from World War II --- secrets that reveal how a Catholic child could have Jewish genes.

Trace of Evil by Alice Blanchard - Mystery

November 3, 2020

Natalie Lockhart is a rookie detective in Burning Lake, New York, an isolated town known for its dark past. Tasked with uncovering the whereabouts of nine missing transients who have disappeared over the years, Natalie wrestles with the town’s troubled history --- and the scars left by her sister’s unsolved murder years ago. Then Daisy Buckner, a beloved schoolteacher, is found dead on her kitchen floor, and a suspect immediately comes to mind. But it’s not that simple. The suspect is in a coma, collapsed only hours after the teacher’s death, and it turns out Daisy had secrets of her own. Natalie knows there is more to the case, but as the investigation deepens, even she cannot predict the far-reaching consequences --- for the victim, for the missing of Burning Lake and for herself.

When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains by Ariana Neumann - Memoir

November 3, 2020

Of 34 Neumann family members, 25 were murdered by the Nazis. One of the survivors was Hans Neumann, who traveled to Berlin and hid in plain sight under the Gestapo’s eyes. What Hans experienced was so unspeakable that, when he built an industrial empire in Venezuela, he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it. All his daughter Ariana knew was that something terrible had happened. When Hans died, he left Ariana a small box filled with letters, diary entries and other memorabilia. Ten years later, Ariana finally summoned the courage to have the letters translated, and she began reading. What she discovered launched her on a worldwide search that would deliver indelible portraits of a family loving, finding meaning, and trying to survive amid the worst that can be imagined.

The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America's Elite Alpine Warriors by Maurice Isserman - History

November 3, 2020

At the start of World War II, the US Army had two cavalry divisions --- and no mountain troops. The German Wehrmacht, in contrast, had many well-trained and battle-hardened mountain divisions. Starting from scratch, the US Army developed a unique military fighting force, the 10th Mountain Division, drawn from the ranks of civilian skiers, mountaineers and others with outdoor experience. The resulting mix of Ivy League students, park rangers, Olympic skiers and European refugees formed the first specialized alpine fighting force in US history. By the time it deployed to Italy at the beginning of 1945, this ragtag group had coalesced into a tight-knit unit. In the months that followed, at a terrible cost, they spearheaded the Allied drive in Italy to final victory.

Winter Grave: An Embla Nyström Investigation written by Helene Tursten, translated by Marlaine Delargy - Mystery

November 3, 2020

When a little girl disappears a few weeks before Christmas, suspicion falls on the last person she was seen with: the mentally disabled teenage boy who gave her a ride home after school. Complicating the matter is the fact that detectives can hardly get a word out of him. When a second child disappears and a police officer is found dead, tensions in the small town of Strömstad reach an all-time high. As Detective Inspector Embla Nyström hunts for the missing children, she can’t help but think of the case that has been haunting her for years: the disappearance of her childhood best friend. Could the incidents be linked?