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The attic child : a novel / by Jaye, Lola,author.;
Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret. Early 1900s London: Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of the time locked away in the attic of a large house by the sea. The only time Celestine isn't bound by confines of the small space is when he is acting as an unpaid servant to English explorer Sir Richard Babbington, As the years pass, he desperately clings on to memories of his family in Africa, even as he struggles to remember his mother's face, and sometimes his real name ... 1974: Lowra, a young orphan girl born into wealth and privilege whose fortunes have now changed, finds herself trapped in the same attic. Searching for a ray of light in the darkness of the attic, Lowra finds under the floorboards an old-fashioned pen, a porcelain doll, a beaded necklace, and a message carved on the wall, written in an unidentifiable language. Providing comfort for her when all hope is lost, these clues will lead her to uncover the secrets of the attic.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Africans; Attics; Child slaves; Family secrets; Imprisonment; Orphans; Slavery;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Confessions of a forty-something / by Potter, Alexandra,author.;
Nell Stevens' life is a mess. When her business goes bust and her relationship with it, Nell's happy ever after in California falls apart and she moves back to London to start over. But a lot has changed since she's been gone. All her single friends are now married with children, sky-high rents force her to rent a room in a stranger's house and in a world of perfect instagram lives, she feels like a f*ck up. Even worse, a forty-something f*ck-up. But when an old work contact lands her a job writing obituaries, Nell meets the fabulous Cricket, an eighty-something widow, who is also adjusting to her new life and they strike up an unlikely friendship. Together they help each other heal their aching hearts, cope with the loss of the lives they had planned, and push each other into new adventures and unexpected joys. Because Nell is determined. She's going to completely turn her life around. This time next year things are going to be very different. First, though, she has a confession.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Single women; Middle-aged women; Widows; Female friendship; Social media;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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My sweet girl / by Jayatissa, Amanda,author.;
"Paloma thought her perfect life would begin once she was adopted and made it to America, but she's about to find out that no matter how far you run, your past always catches up to you ... Ever since she was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage, Paloma has had the best of everything-schools, money, and parents so perfect that she fears she'll never live up to them. Now thirty years old and recently cut off from her parents' funds, she decides to sublet the second bedroom of her overpriced San Francisco apartment to Arun, who recently moved from India. Paloma has to admit it feels good helping someone find their way in America-that is until Arun discovers Paloma's darkest secret, one that could jeopardize her own fragile place in this country. Before Paloma can pay Arun off, she finds him facedown in a pool of blood. She flees the apartment, but by the time the police arrive, there's no body-and no evidence that Arun ever even existed in the first place. Paloma is terrified this is all somehow tangled up in the desperate actions she took to escape Sri Lanka so many years ago. Did Paloma's secret die with Arun or is she now in greater danger than ever before?"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Psychological fiction.; Adoption; Murder; Secrecy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Vera, or faith : a novel / by Shteyngart, Gary,1972-author.;
"The Bradford-Shmulkin family is falling apart. A very modern blend of Russian, Jewish, Korean, and New England WASP, they love one another deeply but the pressures of life in an unstable America are fraying their bonds. There's Daddy, a struggling, cash-thirsty editor whose Russian heritage gives him a surprising new currency in the upside-down world of twenty-first-century geopolitics; his wife, Anne Mom, a progressive, underfunded blue blood from Boston who's barely holding the household together; their son, Dylan, whose blond hair and Mayflower lineage provide him pride of place in the newly forming American political order; and, above all, the young Vera, half-Jewish, half-Korean, and wholly original. Observant, sensitive, and always writing down new vocabulary words, Vera wants only three things in life: to make a friend at school; Daddy and Anne Mom to stay together; and to meet her birth mother, Mom Mom, who will at last tell Vera the secret of who she really is and how to ensure love's survival in this great, mad, imploding world"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Adopted children; Families; Multiracial families; Preteen girls; Geopolitics;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Unsheltered : a novel / by Kingsolver, Barbara,author.;
Willa Knox has always prided herself on being the embodiment of responsibility for her family. Which is why it's so unnerving that she's arrived at middle age with nothing to show for her hard work and dedication but a stack of unpaid bills and an inherited brick home in Vineland, New Jersey, that is literally falling apart. The magazine where she worked has folded, and the college where her husband had tenure has closed. The dilapidated house is also home to her ailing and cantankerous Greek father-in-law and her two grown children: her stubborn, free-spirited daughter, Tig, and her dutiful debt-ridden, ivy educated son, Zeke, who has arrived with his unplanned baby in the wake of a life-shattering development. In an act of desperation, Willa begins to investigate the history of her home, hoping that the local historical preservation society might take an interest and provide funding for its direly needed repairs. Through her research into Vineland's past and its creation as a Utopian community, she discovers a kindred spirit from the 1880s, Thatcher Greenwood.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Historical fiction.; Middle-aged women; Families; Life change events; History; Dwellings;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 3
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Life 3.0 : being human in the age of artificial intelligence / by Tegmark, Max,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."What jobs should be automated? How should our legal systems handle autonomous systems? How likely is the emergence of suprahuman intelligence? A.I. is the future of science, technology, and business--and there is no person better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark. What has A.I. brought us? Where will it lead us? The story of A.I. is the story of intelligence--of life processes as they evolve from bacteria (1.0) to humans (2.0), where life processes define their own software, to technology (3.0), where life processes design both their hardware and software. We know that A.I. is transforming work, laws, and weapons, as well as the dark side of computing (hacking and viral sabotage), raising questions that we all need to address: What jobs should be automated? How should our legal systems handle autonomous systems? How likely is the emergence of suprahuman intelligence? Is it possible to control suprahuman intelligence? How do we ensure that the uses of A.I. remain beneficial? These are the issues at the heart of this book and its unique perspective, which seeks a ground apart from techno-skepticism and digital utopia"--
Subjects: Artificial intelligence; Artificial intelligence; Automation; Artificial intelligence; Automation; Technological forecasting.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Life and other love songs / by Gray, Anissa,author.;
"A father's sudden disappearance exposes the private fears, dreams, longings, and joys of a Black American family in the late decades of the twentieth century, in this page-turning and intimate new novel from the author of The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls. It's a warm, bright October afternoon, and Ozro Armstead walks out into the brilliant sunshine on his thirty-seventh birthday. At home, his wife Deborah and daughter Trinity prepare a surprise celebration; down the street, his brother waves as Oz heads back to his office after having lunch together. But he won't make it to the party or even to his briefcase back at his desk. He's about to disappear. In the days, months, and years to follow, Deborah and Trinity look backward and forward as they piece together the life of the man they love, but whom they come to realize they might never have truly known. In a gripping narrative that moves from the Great Migration to 1970s Detroit and 1990s New York, we follow the hopes, triumphs, losses, and secrets that build up and tear apart an American family"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; African American families; African Americans; Missing persons;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Keep smiling through : my wartime story / by Lynn, Vera,author.; Lewis-Jones, Virginia,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In the year of her 100th birthday, Dame Vera Lynn's fascinating and life-affirming wartime memoir from the forces' sweetheart of her adventures entertaining the troops in far-flung Burma. 'I was just twenty-seven years old when I went to Burma. It was an experience that changed my life for ever. Up until that time I had not really travelled anywhere at all, apart from one touring visit to Holland with a band I was singing with before the war, and I had certainly never been in an aeroplane. But I wanted to make a difference, to do my bit.' And she did. Written with her daughter, Virginia Lewis-Jones this is a powerful and life-affirming account of the time she spent with troops in wartime Burma. Based, in part on a diary she kept, alongside unpublished personal letters and photographs from surviving veterans and their families, it explores why it was such a life-defining event for her and shows how her presence helped the soldiers, airmen and others who heard her sing."--Publisher's description.
Subjects: Biographies.; Lynn, Vera.; World War, 1939-1945; Women singers; Singers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The song of the jade lily : a novel / by Manning, Kirsty,author.; Manning, Kirsty.Jade lily.;
Includes bibliographical references.1939: Two young girls meet in Shanghai, also known as the "Paris of the East". Beautiful local Li and Jewish refugee Romy form a fierce friendship, but the deepening shadows of World War II fall over the women as they slip between the city's glamorous French Concession district and the teeming streets of the Shanghai Ghetto. Yet soon the realities of war prove to be too much for these close friends as they are torn apart. 2016: Fleeing London with a broken heart, Alexandra returns to Australia to be with her grandparents, Romy and Wilhelm. Her grandfather is dying, and over the coming weeks Romy and Wilhelm begin to reveal the family mysteries they have kept secret for more than half a century. As fragments of her mother's history finally become clear, Alexandra struggles with what she learns while more is also revealed about her grandmother's own past in Shanghai. After Wilhelm dies, Alexandra flies to Shanghai, determined to trace her grandparents' past. Peeling back the layers of their hidden lives, she is forced to question what she knows about her family-- and herself.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Jews; Family secrets; Female friendship; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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Jade legacy / by Lee, Fonda,author.;
"Jade, the mysterious and magical substance once exclusive to the Green Bone warriors of Kekon, is now known and coveted throughout the world. Everyone wants access to the supernatural abilities it provides, from traditional forces such as governments, mercenaries, and criminal kingpins, to modern players, including doctors, athletes, and movie studios. As the struggle over the control of jade grows ever larger and more deadly, the Kaul family, and the ancient ways of the Kekonese Green Bones, will never be the same. The Kauls have been battered by war and tragedy. They are plagued by resentments and old wounds as their adversaries are on the ascent and their country is riven by dangerous factions and foreign interference that could destroy the Green Bone way of life altogether. As a new generation arises, the clan's growing empire is in danger of coming apart. The clan must discern allies from enemies, set aside bloody rivalries, and make terrible sacrifices ... but even the unbreakable bonds of blood and loyalty may not be enough to ensure the survival of the Green Bone clans and the nation they are sworn to protect"--
Subjects: Fantasy fiction.; Novels.; Families; Imaginary wars and battles; Jade; Magic;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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