Search:

The Martha's Vineyard beach and book club [text (large print)] : a novel / by Kelly, Martha Hall,author.;
"2016: Thirty-four-year-old Mari Starwood is still grieving from the loss of her mother as she travels to the storied island of Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. She's come all the way from California with nothing but a name on a piece of paper: Elizabeth Devereaux, the famous but reclusive Vineyard painter. When Mari makes it to Mrs. Devereaux's stunning waterfront farm under the guise of taking a painting class with her, Mrs. Devereaux begins to tell her the story of the Smith sisters, who once lived there. As the tale unfolds, Mari is shocked to learn that her relationship to this island runs deeper than she ever thought possible. 1942: The Smith girls -- nineteen-year-old aspiring writer Cadence and sixteen-year-old, war-obsessed Briar -- are faced with the impossible task of holding their failing family farm together during World War II as the U.S. Army arrives on Martha's Vineyard. When Briar spots German U-boats lurking off the island's shores, and Cadence falls into an unlikely romance with a sworn enemy, their quiet lives are officially upended. In an attempt at normalcy, Cadence and her best friend Bess start a book club, which grows in both members and influence as they connect with a fabulous New York publisher who could make all of Cadence's dreams come true. But all that is put at risk by a mysterious man who washes ashore -- and whispers of a spy in their midst. Who in their tightknit island community can they trust? Could this little book club change the course of the war -- before it's too late?"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Large print books.; Novels.; Book clubs (Discussion groups); Mothers; Sisters; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The second sun / by Deutermann, P. T.(Peter T.),1941-author.;
"A taut, suspenseful historical thriller set in the months of WWII: Did Japan also have an atomic weapon, and did America bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki to pre-empt an attack on its fleet? A masterful historical thriller set during the waning months of World War II, The Second Sun poses a provocative question: Did Japan test an atomic weapon, and did America know about it in advance of its own decision to drop two nuclear bombs? March 1945: After a career of commanding destroyers in the Pacific theater of WWII, Captain Wolfe Bowen is based in Washington, DC, working for the Chief of Naval Operations. Bowen receives an urgent call from the commander of the naval shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire: A German U-boat has been captured and brought to port. But what grabs Bowen's attention is the presence of two Japanese civilians on board, along with the massive size of the U-boat itself. What these civilians know about the cargo of the U-boat, as well as its destination, begins a race against time that will change the course of history. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies, Harry Truman ascends to office with no prior knowledge of the Manhattan Project. Bowen is assigned a dangerous mission: Discover whether Japan has the technology to produce an atomic weapon, and find out how close the desperate enemy is to deploying it. Working with a small team-including Captain Villem Amherst Van Rensselaer, part of the inner circle on the Manhattan Project, and Lieutenant Commander Janet Waring, a naval intelligence officer and skilled translator of Japanese-Bowen must report back to President Truman with the information that will transform the war-and the world. Brilliantly imagined and deeply informed by P. T. Deutermann's long history as a navy captain, as well as his family's service in the Pacific theater, The Second Sun is a compelling novel timed for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; War fiction.; Novels.; Manhattan Project (U.S.); World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

An affair of spies : a novel / by Balson, Ronald H.,author.;
"From the winner of the National Jewish Book Award-Ronald H. Balson's An Affair of Spies tells of a spy mission to rescue a defector from Germany and prevent the Nazis from creating an atomic bomb. Nathan Silverman grew up in Berlin in the 1920s, the son of a homemaker and a theoretical physicist. His idyllic childhood was soon marred by increasing levels of bigotry against his family and the rest of the Jewish community, and after his uncle is arrested on Kristallnacht, he leaves Germany for New York City with only his mother's wedding ring to sell for survival. While attending an evening course at Columbia in 1941, Nathan notices a recruitment poster on a university wall and decides to enlist in the military and help fight the Nazi regime. To his surprise, he is quickly selected for a special assignment; he is trained as a spy, and ordered to report to the Manhattan Project. There he learns that the Allies are racing to develop a nuclear weapon before the Nazis, and a German theoretical physicist is hoping to defect. The physicist was a friend of his father's, and Nathan's mission is to return to Berlin via France and smuggle him out of Europe. Nathan will be accompanied by Dr. Allison Fisher, a brilliant young scientist who can speak French; he travels to her lab at the University of Chicago for a crash course in nuclear physics, then they embark on their adventure. Nathan and Allison soon develop feelings for one another, but as their relationship deepens they move ever closer to their dangerous goal. Will they be able to escape Europe with the defector and start a new life together, or will they fail their mission and become two more casualties of war? An Affair of Spies is an action-packed tale of heroism and love in the face of unspeakable evil. Author Ronald H. Balson has applied his unmatched talent for evocative and painstakingly authentic storytelling to the high-stakes world of espionage and created his most thrilling novel yet"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Historical fiction.; Spy fiction.; Novels.; Manhattan Project (U.S.); Attempted defection; Physicists; Spies; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Urban jungle : the history and future of nature in the city / by Wilson, Ben,1980-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In this exhilarating look at cities, past and future, Ben Wilson proposes that, in our world of rising seas and threatening weather, the natural world may prove the city's savior. Since the beginning of civilization, humans have built cities to wall nature out, then glorified it in beloved but quite artificial parks. In Urban Jungle, Ben Wilson--the author of Metropolis, a seven-thousand-year history of cities that the Wall Street Journal called "a towering achievement"--looks to the fraught relationship between nature and the city for clues to how the planet can survive in an age of climate crisis. Whether it was the market farmers of Paris, Germans in medieval forest cities, or the Aztecs in the floating city of Tenochtitlan, pre-modern humans had an essential bond with nature. But when the day came that water was piped in and food flown from distant fields, that relationship was lost. Today, urban areas are the fastest-growing habitat on Earth and in Urban Jungle Ben Wilson finds that we are at last acknowledging that human engineering is not enough to protect us from extremes of weather. He takes us to places where efforts to rewild the city are under way: to Los Angeles, where the city's concrete river will run blue again, to New York City, where a bleak landfill will be a vast grassland preserve. The pinnacle of this strategy will be Amsterdam: a city that is its own ecosystem, that makes no waste and produces its own energy. In many cities, Wilson finds, nature is already thriving. Koalas are settling in Brisbane, wild boar may raid your picnic in Berlin. Green canopies, wildflowers, wildlife: the things that will help cities survive, he notes, also make people happy. Urban Jungle offers the pleasures of history--how backyard gardens spread exotic species all over the world, how war produces biodiversity--alongside a fantastic vision of the lush green cities of our future. Climate change, Ben Wilson believes, is only the latest chapter in the dramatic human story of nature and the city"--
Subjects: Climatic changes.; Urban ecology (Biology); Urban ecology (Sociology);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The traitor's daughter : captured by Nazis, pursued by the KGB, my mother's odyssey to freedom from her secret past / by Spicer, Roxana,author.;
"The masterful narration of a daughter's decades-long quest to understand her extraordinary mother, who was born in Lenin's Soviet Union, served as a combat soldier in the Red Army, and endured three years of Nazi captivity -- but never revealed her darkest secrets. As a child, Roxana Spicer would sometimes wake to the sound of the Red Army choir. She would tip-toe downstairs to find her mother, cigarette in one hand and Black Russian in the other, singing along. Roxana would keep her company, and wonder ... Everyone in their village knew Agnes Spicer was Russian, that she had been a captive of the Nazis. And that was all they knew, because Agnes kept her secrets close: how she managed to escape Germany, what the tattoo on her arm meant, even her real name. Discovering the truth about her beloved, charismatic, volatile mother became Roxana's obsession. Throughout her career as a journalist and documentarian, between investigations across Canada and around the world, she always went home to ask her mother more questions, often while filming. Roxana also took every chance to visit the few places that she did know played a role in her mother's story: Bad Salzuflen, Germany, home to POW slave labourers during the war; notorious concentration camps; and Russia. Under Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and the early years of Putin, she was able to find people, places, and documents that are now -- perhaps forever -- lost again. The Traitor's Daughter is intimate and exhaustively researched, vividly conversational, and shot through with Agnes Spicer's irrepressible, fiery personality. It is a true labour of love as well as a triumph of blending personal biography with sweeping history."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Spicer, Agnes.; Spicer, Roxana; Auschwitz (Concentration camp); Ex-Nazi concentration camp inmates; Family secrets.; Mothers and daughters.; World War, 1939-1945; Russian Canadians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The Alice Network / by Quinn, Kate,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."It's 1947 and American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a fervent belief that her beloved French cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive somewhere. So when Charlie's family banishes her to Europe to have her "little problem" take care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister. In 1915, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance to serve when she's recruited to work as a spy for the English. Sent into enemy-occupied France during The Great War, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents, right under the enemy's nose. Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launching them both on a mission to find the truth ... no matter where it leads"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Spy fiction.; War fiction.; Women spies; World War, 1914-1918;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Book and dagger : how scholars and librarians became the unlikely spies of World War II / by Graham, Elyse,1985-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The untold story of the academics who became OSS spies, invented modern spycraft, and helped turn the tide of the war At the start of WWII, the US found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today's CIA, was quickly formed -- and, in an effort to fill its ranks with experts, the OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work -- and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts. In Book and Dagger, Elyse Graham draws on personal histories, diaries, and declassified OSS files to tell the story of a small but connected group of humanities scholars turned unlikely spies. Among them are Joseph Curtiss, a literature professor who hunted down German spies and turned them into double agents; Sherman Kent, a smart-mouthed history professor who rose to become the head of analysis for all of Europe and Africa; and Adele Kibre, an archivist who was sent to Stockholm to secretly acquire documents for the OSS. These unforgettable characters would ultimately help lay the foundations of modern intelligence and transform American higher education when they returned after the war. Thrillingly paced and rigorously researched, Book and Dagger is an inspiring and gripping true story about a group of academics who helped beat the Nazis -- a tale that reveals the indelible power of humanities to change the world"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Curtiss, Joseph T., 1901-1992.; Kent, Sherman.; Kibre, Adele.; United States. Office of Strategic Services; College teachers; Espionage, American; Librarians; Spies; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Last twilight in Paris / by Jenoff, Pam,author.;
"London, 1953. Louise is still adjusting to her postwar role as a housewife when she discovers a necklace in a box at a secondhand shop. The box is marked with the name of a department store in Paris, and she is certain she has seen the necklace before, when she worked with the Red Cross in Nazi-occupied Europe--and that it holds the key to the mysterious death of her friend Franny during the war. Following the trail of clues to Paris, Louise seeks help from her former boss Ian, with whom she shares a romantic history. The necklace leads them to discover the dark history of Lévitan--a once-glamorous department store that served as a Nazi prison, and Helaine, a woman who was imprisoned there, torn apart from her husband when the Germans invaded France. Louise races to find the connection between the necklace, the department store and Franny's death. But nothing is as it seems, and there are forces determined to keep the truth buried forever. Inspired by the true story of Lévitan, Last Twilight in Paris is both a gripping mystery and an unforgettable story about sacrifice, resistance and the power of love to transcend in even the darkest hours"-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Department stores; Jews; Nazi concentration camps; Necklaces; Women; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 3
unAPI

The Secret History of Audrey James [electronic resource] : by Marshall, Heather.aut; cloudLibrary;
The #1 bestselling author of Looking for Jane returns with a poignant, gripping novel about a pianist in Berlin on the cusp of WWII and the choices she makes that echo across generations. Sometimes the best place to hide is the last place anyone would look. Northern England, 2010 After a tragic accident upends her life, Kate Mercer leaves London to work at an old guest house near the Scottish border, where she hopes to find a fresh start and heal from her loss. When she arrives, she begins to unravel the truth about her past, but discovers the mysterious elderly proprietor is harbouring her own secrets… Berlin, 1938 Audrey James is weeks away from graduating from a prestigious music school in Berlin, where she’s been living with her best friend, Ilse Kaplan. As she prepares to finish her piano studies, Audrey dreads the thought of returning to her father in England and leaving Ilse behind. Families like the Kaplans are being targeted, and the stakes grow higher by the day. Restrictions tighten, the borders close to Jews, and rumours swirl about people being apprehended in the street and shipped off to work camps. When Ilse’s parents and brother suddenly disappear, two high-ranking Nazi party members confiscate the Kaplans’ upscale home, believing it to be empty. In a desperate attempt to keep Ilse safe, Audrey becomes housekeeper for the officers while Ilse is forced into hiding in the attic—a prisoner in her own home. As war in Europe threatens, it isn’t long before a shocking turn of events pushes Audrey to become embroiled in cell of the anti-Hitler movement: clusters of resisters working to bring down the Nazis from within Germany itself. But resistance comes with risk, and before the war is over, Audrey must decide what matters most: saving herself, her friend, or sacrificing everything for the greater good. Inspired by true stories of courageous women and the German resistance during WWII, this is a captivating novel about the unbreakable bonds of friendship, the sacrifices we make for those we love, and the healing that comes from human connection.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Contemporary Women;
© 2024., Simon & Schuster,
unAPI

Strangers in time / by Baldacci, David,author.;
"Fourteen-year-old Charlie Matters is up to no good, but for a very good reason. Without parents, peerage, or merit, ducking school but barred from actual work, he steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he's old enough to enlist to fight the Germans. After barely surviving the Blitz, Charlie knows there's no telling when a falling bomb might end his life. Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has just returned to a nearly unrecognizable London. One of millions of people to have been evacuated to the countryside via "Operation Pied Piper," Molly has been away from her parents-from her home-for nearly five years. Her return, however, is not the homecoming she'd hoped for as she's confronted by a devastating reality: neither of her parents are there, only her old nanny, Mrs. Pride. Without guardians and stability, Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver, and solace at his book shop, The Book Keep, where A book a day keeps the bombs away. Mourning the recent loss of his wife, Ignatius forms a kinship with both children, and in each other-over the course of the greatest armed conflict the world had ever seen-they rediscover the spirit of family each has lost. But Charlie's escapades in the city have not gone unnoticed, and someone's been following Molly since she returned to London. And Ignatius is reeling from a secret Imogen long kept from him while she was alive-something so shocking it resulted in her death, and his life being turned upside down. As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Bookstores; Interpersonal relations; Orphans; Secrecy; Survival; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 5
unAPI