Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at 14 after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family’s winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to their small Napa town, and Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate. But the grumpy professor isn’t the teenager she remembers, and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly. One wine-fueled girls’ night later, Hallie can’t shake the sense that she did something reckless --- and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. On sabbatical from his ivy league job, Julian plans to write a novel. But having Hallie garden right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. There’s something so familiar about her...and her very presence is turning his world upside down.
Environmental activist Satish Kumar is well known for his epic walk for world peace in his youth in the 1960s from India to the nuclear capitals of Moscow, Paris, London and Washington, DC. Wherever he traveled, he found that human beings were capable of a love that could overcome hatred and division. Settling down in the UK, he married his wife, June Mitchell, and founded eco-university Schumacher College in Devon, eventually becoming a leading figure in the UK green movement. RADICAL LOVE distills the author's lifetime of experience as a lover, parent, activist and educator into simple lessons on transforming our time of ecological crisis, conflict and scarcity into one in which we experience harmony with nature, safety and abundance.
Maureen and Harold Fry have settled into a quiet life, but when an unexpected message from the North disturbs their peaceful equilibrium, Maureen realizes that it’s now her turn to make a journey. But she is not like her affable, easygoing husband. By turns outspoken, then vulnerable, she struggles to form bonds with the people she meets --- and the landscape she crosses has radically changed. Maureen has no sense of what she will find at the end of the road. All she knows is that she has to get there.
On Kaumaha Island (est. 1850), the statue of Amyas Lathrop conceals a terrible secret --- a legacy of massacres and madness that infects the island itself. Some will go to any lengths to keep it hidden, others to set it free. But which of them would kill? Cultural expert Winnie Te Papa, our very own Ms. Marple, will sift through the pieces to track a ruthless murderer through a tangled maze of family alliances, greedy developers, scholars, protestors and gangsters. Told in a dual timeline, Doug Burgess' intricate puzzle box mystery traces the consequences of an island's frenetic beginnings as they snowball through generations. Fans of HBO's “The White Lotus” will be intrigued by the ever hotly debated questions: What happens next, and who gets to decide?
Powerful executive Eliel Zetterborg has been found murdered in his upscale Helsinki home. What at first seems like a straightforward case soon proves to be anything but when it becomes clear the murderer has other targets. The only clue the police have is a photo of Zetterborg with three men whose faces have all been scratched off. Detective Jessica Niemi has taken some time off from her work with the Helsinki police to track down the coven that nearly killed her, and her partner, Yusuf, is assigned to lead the investigation. But as Yusuf delves into the case, he realizes he needs Jessica’s help. And as they dig deeper, they realize that the evil they’ve been hunting all along has returned and is lying in wait for the right moment to strike.
Rosemary Chivers is haunted by the choices she made as a teenager --- and by those made for her by a controlling mother. Now, in the Cold War era of conformity and suspicion, Rosemary is a modern new teacher at a school for troubled girls. She happens to know that one of the students is the child she gave up. But which one? Ignoring warnings, Rosemary forms an impenetrable bond with the three girls who are the right age. But these are no ordinary girls, and what begins as an effort to bring closure to her own rebellious youth soon spirals dangerously out of control. Rosemary is prepared to do anything to find her daughter. What she isn’t prepared for are the deadly consequences that come with discovery --- or just how wicked wayward girls can be.
Behind the events you know are the killers you don’t. When diplomacy fails, we're the ones who gear up. Officially we don’t exist, but every government in the world uses our services. We’ve been saving the world for 100 years. Sixteen people have done this job before me. I am Seventeen. The most feared assassin in the world. But to be the best, you must beat the best. My next target is Sixteen, just as one day Eighteen will hunt me down. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and it gets lonely at the top. Nobody gets to stay for long. But while we're here, all that matters is that we win.
The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces that the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs. Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children --- the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear.
Lively widow Varina Paladino has lived in the same house in Wyldale, New Jersey, her entire life. The town might be slightly stuck in the 1960s, but its population is getting younger and the Paladinos are embracing the change. What Varina is not embracing is dating. Running Paladino’s Italian Specialties grocery, caring for her mother and keeping her large, loud Jersey Italian family from killing one another take up all of Varina’s energy anyway. Sylvia Spini worries about her daughter being left all alone when she dies; she knows what it is to be old and alone. So when her granddaughter, Donatella, comes to her with an ill-conceived plan to find Varina a man, she dives in. The three men of the family are each secretly plotting their own big life changes, which will throw everyone for a loop.
As he prepares for a visit from his estranged daughter, Dr K, a retired surgeon enjoying the comforts of retirement in London, rehearses the conversations he will have with her over the course of her visit. It’s been years since he has seen her. He spent much of his time polishing the confession he wants to make to her. As her visit gets closer, he recalls the country, a prosperous oil monarchy, he left India for to make his home and career. A dream job, the hospital he worked was just a 10-minute walk from home. He had access to a lifestyle that he never would have had back home. Money and success came quickly, but the price was steep and often unbearable, especially to a wife and daughter who watch him walk the perilous path of lifelong ambition.
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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.
August's Books on Screen roundup includes the films The Thursday Murder Club, My Oxford Year and Night Always Comes on Netflix, the Providence Falls trilogy on Hallmark, The Map That Leads to You on Prime Video, and She Rides Shotgun in theaters; the conclusion of "And Just Like That..." on HBO Max and "The Institute" on MGM+; the series premieres of "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" on STARZ and "The Terminal List: Dark Wolf" on Prime Video; the season premieres of "The Marlow Murder Club" on PBS "Masterpiece" and "My Life with the Walter Boys" on Netflix; and the DVD/Blu-ray releases of The King of Kings and How to Train Your Dragon.