by David Crow
Growing up on the Navajo Indian Reservation, David Crow and his three siblings idolized their dad, a self-taught Cherokee who loved to tell his children about his World War II feats. But as time passed, David discovered the other side of Thurston Crow, the ex-con with his own code of ethics that justified cruelty, violence, lies--even murder. Intimidating David with beatings, Thurston coerced his son into doing his criminal bidding. David's mom, too mentally ill to care for her children, couldn't protect him. Through sheer determination, and with the help of a few angels along the way, David managed to get into college and achieve professional success. When he finally found the courage to refuse his father's criminal demands, he unwittingly triggered a plot of revenge that would force him into a deadly showdown with Thurston Crow. David would have only twenty-four hours to outsmart his father--the brilliant, psychotic man who bragged that the three years he spent in the notorious San Quentin State Prison had been the easiest time of his life. Raw and palpable, The Pale-Faced Lie is an inspirational story about the power of forgiveness and the strength of the human spirit. (Amazon.com)
by Jamie Ducharme
A propulsive, eye-opening work of reporting, chronicling the rise of Juul and the birth of a new addiction. It began with a smoke break. James Monsees and Adam Bowen were two ambitious graduate students at Stanford, and in between puffs after class they dreamed of a way to quit smoking. Their solution became the Juul, a sleek, modern device that could vaporize nicotine into a conveniently potent dosage. The company they built around that device, Juul Labs, would go on to become a $38 billion dollar company and draw blame for addicting a whole new generation of underage tobacco users. Time magazine reporter Jamie Ducharme follows Monsees and Bowen as they create Juul and, in the process, go from public health visionaries and Silicon Valley wunderkinds to two of the most controversial businessmen in the country. With rigorous reporting and clear-eyed prose that reads like a nonfiction thriller, Big Vape uses the dramatic rise of Juul to tell a larger story of big business, Big Tobacco, and the high cost of a product that was too good to be true. (Amazon.com)
by Mike Lindell
What Are the Odds? is a raw, authentic account by a man many thought would never rise above his serial, addiction-fueled failures. Mike's gripping narrative transports readers from his small-town tavern with its colorful cast of "Regulars" to Mexico and a drug deal gone awry. From Las Vegas casinos, where Mike won and lost fortunes as a professional gambler, to a jail-cell beatdown. From failed rehabs to his 20-year marriage, an ideal union decimated by addiction. And finally, to the redemption of the most shameful moment of his life. An unvarnished account of the ravages of cocaine, crack, and gambling addiction, What Are the Odds? tells the improbable tale of how a small-town guy with a dream somehow made it a reality. More importantly, Mike opens up about the God who relentlessly chased him down, turning him from a casual believer to a passionate evangelist with an absolute, mathematical certainty that God is real. What Are the Odds? will not only speak to entrepreneurs and those struggling with addiction, but also to anyone looking for a message of hope. (Amazon.com)
by Ingrid Seward
Discover the full and fascinating story of Prince Philip—one of the most important, influential, and elusive royals—in this colorful and revelatory biography written by the renowned royal family expert and editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine. The son of Greek and Danish royalty, consort to the queen, and the grandfather of Princes Harry and William, Prince Philip has been at the heart of the royal family for decades—yet he remains an enigma to many. Now, Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, brings her decades of experience covering the royal family to this fascinating and insightful biography of Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, and father, grandfather, and great-grandfather of the next three kings of England. From his early childhood in Paris among aristocrats and his mother’s battle with schizophrenia to his distinctive military service during World War II and marriage to Elizabeth in 1947, Seward chronicles Philip’s life and reveals his many faces—as a father, a philanthropist, a philanderer, and a statesman. Though it would take years for Philip to find his place in a royal court that initially distrusted him, he remained one of the most complex, powerful, yet confounding members of Britain’s royal family. Entertaining, eye-opening, and informative, Prince Philip Revealed is perfect for any anglophile and fans of the series The Crown.(Amazon.com)
by Beatriz Williams
In the autumn of 1948, Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her American diplomat husband and their two children. The world is shocked by the family’s sensational disappearance. Were they eliminated by the Soviet intelligence service? Or have the Digbys defected to Moscow with a trove of the West’s most vital secrets? Four years later, Ruth Macallister receives a postcard from the twin sister she hasn’t seen since their catastrophic parting in Rome in the summer of 1940, as war engulfed the continent and Iris fell desperately in love with an enigmatic United States Embassy official named Sasha Digby. Within days, Ruth is on her way to Moscow, posing as the wife of counterintelligence agent Sumner Fox in a precarious plot to extract the Digbys from behind the Iron Curtain. But the complex truth behind Iris’s marriage defies Ruth’s understanding, and as the sisters race toward safety, a dogged Soviet KGB officer forces them to make a heartbreaking choice between two irreconcilable loyalties. (Goodreads.com)
by Alka Joshi
It’s the spring of 1969, and Lakshmi, now married to Dr. Jay Kumar, directs the Healing Garden in Shimla. Malik has finished his private school education. At twenty, he has just met a young woman named Nimmi when he leaves to apprentice at the Facilities Office of the Jaipur Royal Palace. Their latest project: a state-of-the-art cinema. Malik soon finds that not much has changed as he navigates the Pink City of his childhood. Power and money still move seamlessly among the wealthy class, and favors flow from Jaipur’s Royal Palace, but only if certain secrets remain buried. When the cinema’s balcony tragically collapses on opening night, blame is placed where it is convenient. But Malik suspects something far darker and sets out to uncover the truth. As a former street child, he always knew to keep his own counsel; it’s a lesson that will serve him as he untangles a web of lies. In New York Times bestselling author Alka Joshi’s intriguing new novel, henna artist Lakshmi arranges for her protégé, Malik, to intern at the Jaipur Palace in this tale rich in character, atmosphere, and lavish storytelling. (Goodreads.com)
by Judy Batalion
A riveting reclamation of a previously lost history and testimony to the powerful impact during WWII of Jewish female resistance fighters from the ghettoes of Poland. Battalion’s is a remarkable and keenly important feat of research and historical sleuthing. While Light of Days may read like hair-raising historical fiction, these stories of terrifying bravery at great personal risk are as real, as moving, and inspiring as they get.
by Gabriela Garcia
In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction. Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to learn more about her family history from her reticent mother and makes the snap decision to take in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. Carmen, still wrestling with the trauma of displacement, must process her difficult relationship with her own mother while trying to raise a wayward Jeanette. Steadfast in her quest for understanding, Jeanette travels to Cuba to see her grandmother and reckon with secrets from the past destined to erupt.
by Camille Aubray
Meet the Godmothers: Filomena is a clever and resourceful war refugee with a childhood secret, who comes to America to wed Mario, the family's favored son. Amie, a beautiful and dreamy French girl from upstate New York, escapes an abusive husband after falling in love with Johnny, the oldest of the brothers. Lucy, a tough-as-nails Irish nurse, ran away from a strict girls' home and marries Frankie, the sensuous middle son. And the glamorous Petrina, the family’s only daughter, graduates with honors from Barnard College despite a past trauma that nearly caused a family scandal. All four women become godmothers to one another’s children, finding hope and shelter in this prosperous family and their sumptuous Greenwich Village home, and enjoying New York life with its fine dining, opulent department stores and sophisticated nightclubs. But the women’s secret pasts lead to unforeseen consequences and betrayals that threaten to unravel all their carefully laid plans. And when their husbands are forced to leave them during the second World War, the Godmothers must unexpectedly contend with notorious gangsters like Frank Costello and Lucky Luciano who run the streets of New York City. Refusing to merely imitate the world of men, the four Godmothers learn to put aside their differences and grudges so that they can work together to protect their loved ones, and to find their own unique paths to success, love, forgiveness, and the futures they’ve always dreamed of. (Goodreads.com)
by Catherine Raven
A solitary woman’s inspiring, moving, surprising, and often funny memoir about the transformative power of her unusual friendship with a wild fox, a new window onto the natural world, and the introduction of a remarkable literary talent. Catherine Raven left home at 15, fleeing an abusive father and an indifferent mother. Drawn to the natural world, for years she worked as a ranger in National Parks, at times living in her run-down car (which lacked a reverse gear), on abandoned construction sites, or camping on a piece of land in Montana she bought from a colleague. She managed to put herself through college and then graduate school, eventually earning a Ph.D. in biology. Yet she never felt at home with people, and though she worked at various universities and taught field classes in the National Parks, she built a house on a remote plot of land in Montana and, except when teaching, spoke to no one. One day, she realized that the fox who had been appearing at her house was coming by every day at 4:15. He became a regular visitor, who eventually sat near her as she read to him from The Little Prince or Dr. Seuss. Her scientific training had taught her not to anthropomorphize animals, but as she grew to know him, his personality revealed itself—and he became her friend. But friends cannot always save each other from the uncontained forces of nature. Though this is a story of survival, it is also a poignant and dramatic tale of living in the wilderness and coping with inevitable loss. This uplifting fable-like true story about the friendship of a woman and a wild fox not only reveals the power of friendship and our interconnectedness with the natural world but is an original, imaginative, and beautiful work that introduces a stunning new voice. (Goodreads.com)