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The last Russian doll / by Loesch, Kristen,author.;
"A haunting, remarkable debut about secrets, revenge, and redemption that follows three generations of Russian women, from the 1917 revolution to the last days of the Soviet Union, and the enduring love story at the center. In a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land ... Rosie lived peacefully in Moscow and her mother told her fairy tales. Magical stories that could have been the folklore of their people, or her mother's own imaginings-Rosie was never sure. But one summer night, all of that came abruptly to an end when her father and sister were gunned down. Now, a decade later and studying at Oxford University, Rosie has a fiancé who knows nothing of her former life. When her reclusive mother dies and leaves behind a notebook full of eerie handwritten tales, Rosie returns to Russia and uncovers a devastating family history that spans the 1917 Revolution, the siege of Leningrad, Stalin's purges, and beyond. At the heart of this stands a young noblewoman, Tonya, as pretty as a porcelain doll, and idealistic, handsome Valentin, who dreams of a better Russia. Both of their actions will set off a sweeping story that reverberates across the century."--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Family secrets; Generations; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A spy in the family : a true story of espionage and betrayal / by Henderson, Paul,author.; Gardner, David,1960-author.;
"Johanna van Haarlem never wanted to abandon her son, Erwin. But the Nazis had occupied Europe and the teenager felt she had little choice. Her father had kicked her out, telling her she could return, without the child -- or not at all. Johanna realized that together, she and her newborn wouldn't survive; separated, at least Erwin had a fighting chance. So she surrendered the baby to an orphanage and tearfully went back home, vowing to return for Erwin one day. Johanna lives to see the Nazis defeated, and to deeply regret abandoning her child. When, decades later, at the height of the Cold War, she receives a letter from Erwin, it feels like a miraculous second chance. But at their joyful reunion in London, Johanna makes a disturbing discovery: Erwin's eyes are the wrong colour. In a decision that will come to haunt her, she quickly buries the seed of her doubt and welcomes the young man into her life. It will take more than a decade for the imposter's deceit to come to light, even longer to untangle the lies shielding his real identity -- and his motives. Unfolding in a series of astonishing twists and turns, A Spy in the Family reveals the true story of a notorious Soviet Bloc agent who took advantage of a mother's heartbreak to hide in plain sight"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Haarlem, Johanna Hendrika van, 1924-; Haarlem, Johanna Hendrika van, 1924-; Jelínek, Václav, 1944-; Espionage, Communist; Espionage; Impostors and imposture; Spies; Spies;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The other Dr. Gilmer : two men, a murder, and an unlikely fight for justice / by Gilmer, Benjamin,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A rural physician learns that a former doctor at his clinic committed a shocking crime, leading him to uncover an undiagnosed mental health crisis in our broken prison system--a powerful true story expanding on one of the most popular This American Life episodes of all time. When family physician Dr. Benjamin Gilmer began working at the Cane Creek clinic in rural North Carolina, he was following in the footsteps of a man with the same last name. His predecessor, Dr. Vince Gilmer, was beloved by his patients and community--right up until the shocking moment when he strangled his ailing father and then returned to the clinic for a regular day of work after the murder. He'd been in prison for nearly a decade by the time Benjamin arrived, but Vince's patients would still tell Benjamin they couldn't believe the other Dr. Gilmer was capable of such violence. The more Benjamin looked into Vince's case, the more he knew that something was wrong. Vince knew, too. He complained from the time he was arrested of his "SSRI brain," referring to withdrawal from his anti-depressant medication. When Benjamin visited Vince in prison, he met a man who was obviously fighting his own mind, constantly twitching and veering off into nonsensical tangents. Enlisting This American Life journalist Sarah Koenig, Benjamin resolved to get Vince the help he needed. But time and again, the pair would come up against a prison system that cared little about the mental health of its inmates--despite an estimated one third of them suffering from an untreated mental illness. In The Other Dr. Gilmer, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer tells of how a caring man was overcome by a perfect storm of rare health conditions, leading to an unimaginable crime. Rather than get treatment, Vince Gilmer was sentenced to life in prison--a life made all the worse by his untrustworthy brain and prison and government officials who dismissed his situation. A large percentage of imprisoned Americans are suffering from mental illness when they commit their crimes and continue to suffer, untreated, in prison. In a country with the highest incarceration rates in the world, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer argues that some crimes need to be healed rather than punished"--
Subjects: Clemency; Mentally ill offenders;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A Spy in the Family A True Story of Espionage and Betrayal [electronic resource] : by Henderson, Paul.aut; Gardner, David.aut; CloudLibrary;
A can’t-believe-it’s-true wartime page-turner that tells the incredible story of a mother, the son she was forced to give up for adoption, and the spy who, decades later, infiltrated her life with a devastating lie.  Johanna van Haarlem never wanted to abandon her son, Erwin. But the Nazis had occupied Europe and the teenager felt she had little choice. Her father had kicked her out, telling her she could return, without the child—or not at all. Johanna realized that together, she and her newborn wouldn’t survive; separated, at least Erwin had a fighting chance. So she surrendered the baby to an orphanage and tearfully went back home, vowing to return for Erwin one day. Johanna lives to see the Nazis defeated, and to deeply regret abandoning her child. When, decades later, at the height of the Cold War, she receives a letter from Erwin, it feels like a miraculous second chance. But at their joyful reunion in London, Johanna makes a disturbing discovery: Erwin’s eyes are the wrong colour. In a decision that will come to haunt her, she quickly buries the seed of her doubt and welcomes the young man into her life. It will take more than a decade for the imposter’s deceit to come to light, even longer to untangle the lies shielding his real identity—and his motives. Unfolding in a series of astonishing twists and turns, A Spy in the Family reveals the true story of a notorious Soviet Bloc agent who took advantage of a mother’s heartbreak to hide in plain sight. 
Subjects: Electronic books.; Historical; World War II;
© 2025., HarperCollins Canada,
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Funny you should say that / by Dee, Gerry,1968-author.;
"In a hilarious collection of comedic essays, Canada's top comic shares the funniest stories from his life and career. For nearly two decades, Gerry Dee has made audiences laugh, first as a hard-working stand-up comedian and then as the star of his own CBC television program, Mr. D. The former varsity hockey player and gym teacher has drawn from a lifetime of material, from growing up in the suburbs of Toronto to getting cut from his hockey team to becoming a physical education teacher and living what he figured would be the high life: summers off, short hours, great pay. Dee found in teaching an avocation, experiences, and adversity he never expected and hung on for the ride. Then one day, after years of dreaming of a career change to comedy, he turned in his whistle for a microphone and became one of Canada's top comics. He fought his way to the top after years of being told he just wasn't funny enough and that he had no chance. In his new book of comedic essays, Dee writes about the funniest moments in his life, whether stories of his childhood, becoming a father, starring in his own TV show, on the road in dank clubs as a stand-up comedian, behind the scenes at Last Comic Standing and Mr. D, and everywhere in between. As Johnny Cash once sang, "I've been everywhere, man," and the same is true for Gerry Dee, who's just about seen it all. He shares his choicest anecdotes in this new book of comedic essays for his legion of fans."--
Subjects: Essays.; Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Dee, Gerry, 1968-; Comedians; Comedians; Stand-up comedy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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If I knew then : finding wisdom in failure and power in aging / by Arden, Jann,author,illustrator.;
"Jann Arden--bestselling author, recording artist and late-blooming TV star--is back with this funny, heartfelt and fierce memoir on becoming a woman of a certain age. The power, gravity and freedom she's found at fifty-seven are superpowers she believes all of us can unleash. Digging deep into her strengths, her failures and her losses, Jann Arden brings us an inspiring account of how she has surprised herself, in her fifties, by at last becoming completely her own person. Like many women, it took Jann a long time to realize that trying to be pleasing and likeable and beautiful in the eyes of others was a loser's game. Letting it rip, and damning the consequences, is not only liberating, it's a hell of a lot of fun: "Being the age I am--that so many women are--is just the best time of my life." Jann weaves her own story together with tales of her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, and the father she came close to hating, to show her younger self--and all of us--that fear and avoidance is no way to live. "What I'm thinking about now aren't all the ways I can try to hang on to my youth or all the seconds ticking by in some kind of morbid countdown to death," she writes, "but rather how I keep becoming someone I always hoped I could be. If I'm lucky one day a very old face will look back at me from the mirror, a face I once shied away from. I will love that old woman ferociously, because she has finally figured out how to live a life of purpose--not in spite of but because of all her mistakes and failures.""--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Arden, Jann.; Actresses; Aging.; Singers;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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The secret history of Audrey James : a novel / by Marshall, Heather(Heather J.),author.;
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.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Anti-Nazi movement; Female friendship; Jewish families; Jewish women; Music students; Secrecy; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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In the lives of puppets / by Klune, TJ,author.;
"New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune invites you deep into the heart of a peculiar forest and on the extraordinary journey of a family assembled from spare parts. In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots--fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They're a family, hidden and safe. The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled 'HAP,' he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio--a past spent hunting humans. When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio's former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic's assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming. Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached? Inspired by Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, and like Swiss Family Robinson meets Wall-E, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful stand-alone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door"--
Subjects: Fantasy fiction.; Novels.; Androids; Gay men; Robots;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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We Came to Welcome You A Novel of Suburban Horror [electronic resource] : by Tirado, Vincent.aut; iiKane.nrt; cloudLibrary;
The Other Black Girl meets Midsommar in this spine-chilling, propulsive psychological adult debut from highly acclaimed author Vincent Tirado, in which a married couple moves into a gated “community” that slowly creeps into a pervasive dread akin to the social horror of Jordan Peele and Lovecraft County—We Came to Welcome You cleverly uses the uncanny to illuminate the cultish, shocking nature of systemic racism. Where beauty lies, secrets are held…ugly ones. Sol Reyes has had a rough year. After a series of workplace incidents at her university lab culminates in a plagiarism accusation, Sol is put on probation. Dutiful visits to her homophobic father aren’t helping her mental health, and she finds her nightly glass of wine becoming more of an all-day—and all-bottle—event. Her wife, Alice Song, is far more optimistic. After all, the two finally managed to buy a house in the beautiful, gated community of Maneless Grove. However, the neighbors are a little too friendly in Sol’s opinion. She has no interest in the pushy Homeowners Association, their bizarrely detailed contract, or their never-ending microaggressions. But Alice simply attributes their pursuit to the community motto: “Invest in a neighborly spirit”…which only serves to irritate Sol more.   Suddenly, a number of strange occurrences—doors and stairs disappearing, roots growing inside the house—cause Sol to wonder if her social paranoia isn’t built on something more sinister. Yet Sol’s fears are dismissed as Alice embraces their new home and becomes increasingly worried instead about Sol’s drinking and manic behavior. When Sol finds a journal in the property from a resident that went missing a few years ago, she realizes why they were able to buy the house so easily… Through Sol’s razor-sharp tongue and macabre sense of humor, Tirado explores the very real pressures to assimilate with one’s surroundings to “survive,” while also asking the question: Is it survival when you’re no longer your true self? Because in Maneless Grove, either you become a good neighbor—or you die.
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Lesbian; Horror;
© 2024., HarperCollins,
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The good women of Safe Harbour : a novel / by French, Bobbi,1968-author.;
Frances Delaney is staring down the last days of her life. Looking back over her fifty-eight years with wit and no small amount of regret, she sees not the life she wanted but the one that happened. An idyllic childhood in the small Newfoundland fishing town of Safe Harbour was darkened by the loss of her father at sea, an unwanted pregnancy and a betrayal by her closest friend, Annie Malone. Frances and Annie were inseparable, and this rupture rocked Frances to the core. In the aftermath, she fled to St. John's and a solitary life nothing like what she and Annie had dreamed of as their grand escape. Now, with the help of her young, optimistic friend Edie, Frances begins a journey toward resolution and back to Annie and Safe Harbour. With these good women in her corner, Frances can at last chart her course to living on her own terms, right to the very end. A powerfully touching celebration of friendship and forgiveness, The Good Women of Safe Harbour is about a woman who finally gives herself a chance to love and be loved. It's a story that is impossible to read with dry eyes.
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Female friendship; Forgiveness; Homecoming; Terminally ill;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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