Bella Fortuna
by Rosanna Chiofalo
Chiofalo's debut tells the story of Valentina DeLuca, a young woman in Queens who is set to marry her childhood crush, Michael Carello. She and her mother run a faux-couture bridal shop in Astoria, but while Valentina's life is all wedding gowns and lacy veils, she has yet to walk down the aisle. With her dream wedding in Venice just a month away, her fiance suddenly breaks off the engagement. Devastated, Valentina resolves to go to Venice on her own and see the city of her dreams. There she meets Stefano, a handsome tour guide with whom she has a whirlwind romance, and whose affections force Valentina to reconsider all she knows of love, forgiveness, and family. Chiofalo, a first-generation Italian-American whose parents emigrated from Sicily in the 1960s, brings the Italian immigrant community and neighborhoods richly to life.
Parlor Games
by Maryka Biaggio
Based on a
true story, comes a sweeping historical novel about a beautiful con artist
whose turn-of-the-century escapades take her around the world as she's doggedly
pursued by a Pinkerton Agency detective. The novel opens in 1917 with our
cunning protagonist, May Dugas, standing trial for extortion. As the trial
unfolds, May tells her version of events. In 1887, at the tender age of
eighteen, May ventures to Chicago in hopes of earning enough money to support
her family. Circumstances force her to take up residence at the city's most
infamous bordello, but May soon learns to employ her considerable feminine
wiles to extract not only sidelong looks but also large sums of money from the
men she encounters. Insinuating herself into Chicago's high society, May
lands a well-to-do fiancé--until, that is, a Pinkerton Agency detective named
Reed Doherty intervenes and summarily foils the engagement. Unflappable May quickly rebounds, elevating seduction and social climbing to an
art form as she travels the world, eventually marrying a wealthy Dutch Baron.
Unfortunately, Reed Doherty is never far behind and continues to track May in a
delicious cat-and-mouse game as the newly-minted Baroness's misadventures take
her from San Francisco to Shanghai to London and points in between. The
Pinkerton Agency really did dub May the "Most Dangerous Woman,"
branding her a crafty blackmailer and ruthless seductress. To many,
though, she was the most glamorous woman to grace high society. Was the real
May Dugas a cold-hearted swindler or simply a resourceful provider for her poor
family? As the narrative bounces back and forth between the trial taking
place in 1917 and May's devious but undeniably entertaining path to the
courtroom--hoodwinking and waltzing her way through the gilded age and into the
twentieth century--we're left to ponder her guilt as we move closer to finding
out what fate ultimately has in store for our irresistible adventures.
by Lachlan Smith
Leo Maxwell
grew up in the shadow of his older brother, Teddy, a successful yet reviled
criminal defense attorney who racked up enemies as quickly as he racked up
acquittals. As children, their father was jailed for the murder of their
mother, and Teddy was left to care for Leo who tried to emulate his older
brother, even following him into the legal profession.The two are at lunch one
day when Teddy, supposed to give the closing argument of his current trial that
afternoon, is shot: in public, in cold blood, the shooter escaping without Leo
being able to identify him. As Teddy lies in a coma, Leo comes to the
conclusion that the search for his brother's shooter falls upon him and him
alone, as his brother's enemies were not merely the scum on the street but
embedded within the police department as well. As he begins to examine the
life of a brother he realizes he barely knew, Leo quickly realizes that the list
of possible suspects is much larger than he could have imagined.The deeper Leo
digs into Teddy's life, the more questions arise: questions about Teddy and his
ex-wife, questions about the history of the Maxwell family, even questions
about the murder that tore their family apart all those years ago. And
somewhere, the person who shot his brother is still on the loose, and there are
many who would happily kill Leo in order to keep it that way.
Tenth of December
by George Saunders
One of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and Tenth of December is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet. In the taut opener, "Victory Lap," a boy witnesses the attempted abduction of the girl next door and is faced with a harrowing choice: Does he ignore what he sees, or override years of smothering advice from his parents and act? In "Home," a combat-damaged soldier moves back in with his mother and struggles to reconcile the world he left with the one to which he has returned. And in the title story, a stunning meditation on imagination, memory, and loss, a middle-aged cancer patient walks into the woods to commit suicide, only to encounter a troubled young boy who, over the course of a fateful morning, gives the dying man a final chance to recall who he really is. A hapless, deluded owner of an antiques store; two mothers struggling to do the right thing; a teenage girl whose idealism is challenged by a brutal brush with reality; a man tormented by a series of pharmaceutical experiments that force him to lust, to love, to kill-the unforgettable characters that populate the pages of Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders's signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation. Writing brilliantly and profoundly about class, sex, love, loss, work, despair, and war, Saunders cuts to the core of the contemporary experience. These stories take on the big questions and explore the fault lines of our own morality, delving into the questions of what makes us good and what makes us human. Unsettling, insightful, and hilarious, the stories in Tenth of December -through their manic energy, their focus on what is redeemable in human beings, and their generosity of spirit-not only entertain and delight; they fulfill Chekhov's dictum that art should "prepare us for tenderness." Praise for George Saunders "An astoundingly tuned voice-graceful, dark, authentic, and funny-telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times."-Thomas Pynchon "Saunders is a writer of arresting brilliance and originality, with a sure sense of his material and apparently inexhaustible resources of voice. . . . Scary, hilarious, and unforgettable."-Tobias Wolff "Not since Twain has America produced a satirist this funny."-Zadie Smith "George Saunders makes the all-but-impossible look effortless. We're lucky to have him."-Jonathan Franzen "A multifaceted writer, very easy on the surface to pin down but incredibly difficult once you actually read him with any depth."-Joshua Ferris "Saunders's satiric vision of America is dark and demented; it's also ferocious and funny."-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "George Saunders is so funny and inventive he makes you love words and so wide-eyed wistful he talks you into loving people."-Sarah Vowell
Black Irish
By Stephen Talty
In this explosive debut thriller by the New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Blue Water, a brilliant homicide detective returns home, where she confronts a city's dark demons and her own past while pursuing a brutal serial killer on a vengeful rampage. Absalom "Abbie" Kearney grew up an outsider in her own hometown. Even being the adopted daughter of a revered cop couldn't keep Abbie's troubled past from making her a misfit in the working-class Irish American enclave of South Buffalo. And now, despite a Harvard degree and a police detective's badge, she still struggles to earn the respect and trust of those she's sworn to protect. But all that may change, once the killing starts. When Jimmy Ryan's mangled corpse is found in a local church basement, this sadistic sacrilege sends a bone-deep chill through the winter-whipped city. It also seems to send a message--one that Abbie believes only the fiercely secretive citizens of the neighborhood known as "the County" understand. But in a town ruled by an old-world code of silence and secrecy, her search for answers is stonewalled at every turn, even by fellow cops. Only when Abbie finds a lead at the Gaelic Club, where war stories, gossip, and confidences flow as freely as the drink, do tongues begin to wag--with desperate warnings and dire threats. And when the killer's mysterious calling card appears on her own doorstep, the hunt takes a shocking twist into her own family's past. As the grisly murders and grim revelations multiply, Abbie wages a chilling battle of wits with a maniac who sees into her soul, and she swears to expose the County's hidden history--one bloody body at a time. With Black Irish, Stephen Talty stakes a place beside Jo Nesbø , John Sandford, and Tana French on the cutting edge of psychological crime thrillers.
by George Saunders
One of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and Tenth of December is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet. In the taut opener, "Victory Lap," a boy witnesses the attempted abduction of the girl next door and is faced with a harrowing choice: Does he ignore what he sees, or override years of smothering advice from his parents and act? In "Home," a combat-damaged soldier moves back in with his mother and struggles to reconcile the world he left with the one to which he has returned. And in the title story, a stunning meditation on imagination, memory, and loss, a middle-aged cancer patient walks into the woods to commit suicide, only to encounter a troubled young boy who, over the course of a fateful morning, gives the dying man a final chance to recall who he really is. A hapless, deluded owner of an antiques store; two mothers struggling to do the right thing; a teenage girl whose idealism is challenged by a brutal brush with reality; a man tormented by a series of pharmaceutical experiments that force him to lust, to love, to kill-the unforgettable characters that populate the pages of Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders's signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation. Writing brilliantly and profoundly about class, sex, love, loss, work, despair, and war, Saunders cuts to the core of the contemporary experience. These stories take on the big questions and explore the fault lines of our own morality, delving into the questions of what makes us good and what makes us human. Unsettling, insightful, and hilarious, the stories in Tenth of December -through their manic energy, their focus on what is redeemable in human beings, and their generosity of spirit-not only entertain and delight; they fulfill Chekhov's dictum that art should "prepare us for tenderness." Praise for George Saunders "An astoundingly tuned voice-graceful, dark, authentic, and funny-telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times."-Thomas Pynchon "Saunders is a writer of arresting brilliance and originality, with a sure sense of his material and apparently inexhaustible resources of voice. . . . Scary, hilarious, and unforgettable."-Tobias Wolff "Not since Twain has America produced a satirist this funny."-Zadie Smith "George Saunders makes the all-but-impossible look effortless. We're lucky to have him."-Jonathan Franzen "A multifaceted writer, very easy on the surface to pin down but incredibly difficult once you actually read him with any depth."-Joshua Ferris "Saunders's satiric vision of America is dark and demented; it's also ferocious and funny."-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "George Saunders is so funny and inventive he makes you love words and so wide-eyed wistful he talks you into loving people."-Sarah Vowell
By Stephen Talty
In this explosive debut thriller by the New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Blue Water, a brilliant homicide detective returns home, where she confronts a city's dark demons and her own past while pursuing a brutal serial killer on a vengeful rampage. Absalom "Abbie" Kearney grew up an outsider in her own hometown. Even being the adopted daughter of a revered cop couldn't keep Abbie's troubled past from making her a misfit in the working-class Irish American enclave of South Buffalo. And now, despite a Harvard degree and a police detective's badge, she still struggles to earn the respect and trust of those she's sworn to protect. But all that may change, once the killing starts. When Jimmy Ryan's mangled corpse is found in a local church basement, this sadistic sacrilege sends a bone-deep chill through the winter-whipped city. It also seems to send a message--one that Abbie believes only the fiercely secretive citizens of the neighborhood known as "the County" understand. But in a town ruled by an old-world code of silence and secrecy, her search for answers is stonewalled at every turn, even by fellow cops. Only when Abbie finds a lead at the Gaelic Club, where war stories, gossip, and confidences flow as freely as the drink, do tongues begin to wag--with desperate warnings and dire threats. And when the killer's mysterious calling card appears on her own doorstep, the hunt takes a shocking twist into her own family's past. As the grisly murders and grim revelations multiply, Abbie wages a chilling battle of wits with a maniac who sees into her soul, and she swears to expose the County's hidden history--one bloody body at a time. With Black Irish, Stephen Talty stakes a place beside Jo Nesbø , John Sandford, and Tana French on the cutting edge of psychological crime thrillers.
by Whitney Otto
Bestselling author Whitney Otto' s Eight Girls Taking Pictures i s a profoundly moving portrayal of the lives of women, imagining the thoughts and circumstances that produced eight famous female photographers of the twentieth century. This captivating novel opens in 1917 as Cymbeline Kelley surveys the charred remains of her photography studio, destroyed in a fire started by a woman hired to help take care of the house while Cymbeline pursued her photography career. This tension-- between wanting and needing to be two places at once; between domestic duty and ambition; between public and private life; between what's seen and what's hidden from view--echoes in the stories of the other seven women in the book. Among them: Amadora Allesbury, who creates a world of color and whimsy in an attempt to recapture the joy lost to WWI; Clara Argento, who finds her voice working alongside socialist revolutionaries in Mexico; Lenny Van Pelt, a gorgeous model who feels more comfortable photographing the deserted towns of the French countryside after WWII than she does at a couture fashion shoot; and Miri Marx, who has traveled the world taking pictures, but also loves her quiet life as a wife and mother in her New York apartment. Crisscrossing the world and a century, Eight Girls Taking Pictures is an affecting meditation on the conflicts women face and the choices they make. These memorable characters seek extraordinary lives through their work, yet they also find meaning and reward in the ordinary tasks of motherhood, marriage, and domesticity. Most of all, this novel is a vivid portrait of women in love--in love with men, other women, children, their careers, beauty, and freedom. As she did in her bestselling novel How to Make an American Quilt, Whitney Otto offers a finely woven, textured inquiry into the intersecting lives of women. Eight Girls Taking Pictures is her most ambitious book: a bold, immersive, and unforgettable narrative that shows how the art, loves, and lives of the past influence our present.
by Jodi Picoult
Some stories live forever . . . Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day's breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother's death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage's grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can't, and they become companions. Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret--one that nobody else in town would ever suspect--and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she's ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she's made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy? In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths we will go in order to protect our families and to keep the past from dictating the future.
by Terry Francona and Dan Shaughnessy
From 2004 to 2011, Terry Francona managed the Boston Red Sox, perhaps the most scrutinized team in all of sports. During that time, every home game was a sellout. Every play, call, word, gesture-on the field and off-was analyzed by thousands. And every decision was either genius, or disastrous. In those eight years, the Red Sox were transformed from a cursed franchise to one of the most successful and profitable in baseball history-only to fall back to last place as soon as Francona was gone. Now, in Francona: The Red Sox Years , the decorated manager opens up for the first time about his tenure in Boston, unspooling the narrative of how this world-class organization reached such incredible highs and dipped to equally incredible lows. But through it all, there was always baseball, that beautiful game of which Francona never lost sight. As no book has ever quite done before, Francona escorts readers into the rarefied world of a twenty-first-century clubhouse, revealing the mercurial dynamic of the national pastime from the inside out. From his unique vantage point, Francona chronicles an epic era, from 2004, his first year as the Sox skipper, when they won their first championship in 86 years, through another win in 2007, to the controversial September collapse just four years later. He recounts the tightrope walk of managing unpredictable personalities such as Pedro Martinez and Manny Ramirez and working with Theo Epstein, the general managing phenom, and his statistics-driven executives. It was a job that meant balancing their voluminous data with the emotions of a 25-man roster. It was a job that also meant trying to meet the expectations of three owners with often wildly differing opinions. Along the way, readers are treated to never-before-told stories about their favorite players, moments, losses, and wins. Ultimately, when for the Red Sox it became less about winning and more about making money, Francona contends they lost their way. But it was an unforgettable, endlessly entertaining, and instructive time in baseball history, one that is documented and celebrated in Francona , a book that examines like no other the art of managing in today's game.
by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett
Scripture's greatest stories and most compelling characters come to life in this sweeping new novel by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. Beginning with the creation of man and ending with the revelation of a new world, readers will revel in this epic saga of warriors, rebels, poets, and kings, all called upon by God to reveal His enduring love for mankind. Ultimately, God's plan is fulfilled in the story of Jesus the Messiah, whose life, death and resurrection brings salvation to one and all. A STORY OF GOD AND ALL OF US is a companion to The Bible , the epic ten-hour mini-series produced by the authors and televised around the world.
Lady of Ashes
by Christine Trent
In 1861 London, Violet Morgan is struggling to establish a good reputation
for the undertaking business that her husband has largely abandoned. She
provides comfort for the grieving, advises them on funeral fashion and
etiquette, and arranges funerals. Unbeknownst to his wife, Graham, who has
nursed a hatred of America since his grandfather soldiered for Great Britain in
the War of 1812, becomes involved in a scheme to sell arms to the South.
Meanwhile, Violet receives the commission of a lifetime: undertaking the funeral
for a friend of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. But her position remains
precarious, specially when Graham disappears and she begins investigating a
series of deaths among the poor. And the closer she gets to the truth, the
greater the danger for them both.
Reviews are from TitlePeak, of the Follett Software Company