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Week of October 12, 2020

Paperback releases for the week of October 12th include A MRS. MIRACLE CHRISTMAS, an uplifting holiday tale from Debbie Macomber, whose beloved protagonist, Mrs. Miracle, shows an ordinary family that they are blessed beyond belief; HOME WORK, a follow-up to Julie Andrews' critically acclaimed memoir, HOME, in which she reflects on her astonishing career, including such classics as Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and Victor/Victoria; THE SIBERIAN DILEMMA, a continuation of Martin Cruz Smith's series featuring Arkady Renko, who travels deep into Siberia to find missing journalist Tatiana Petrovna; NO STOPPING US NOW, a lively social history of American women and aging from acclaimed New York Times columnist Gail Collins, who illustrates the ways in which age is an arbitrary concept that has swung back and forth over the centuries; and JANIS, Holly George-Warren's intimate biography of Janis Joplin that establishes the Queen of Rock & Roll as the rule-breaking musical trailblazer and complicated, gender-bending rebel she was.

Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain

Hugh “Shuggie” Bain's mother, Agnes, walks a wayward path: she is Shuggie’s guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. Married to a philandering taxi-driver husband, she keeps her pride by looking good. But under the surface, she finds increasing solace in drink and drains away the lion’s share of each week’s benefits on cans of extra-strong lager hidden in handbags and poured into tea mugs. Agnes’ older children find their own ways to get a safe distance from their mother. Meanwhile, Shuggie is struggling to somehow become the normal boy he desperately longs to be, but everyone has realized that he is “no right,” a boy with a secret that all but him can see. Agnes is supportive of her son, but her addiction has the power to eclipse everyone close to her --- even her beloved Shuggie.