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All our summers / by Chamberlin, Holly,1962-author.;
It came as no surprise to anyone in Yorktide when glamorous Carol Ascher fled the little Maine town for New York City. While Carol found success as an interior designer, her younger sister, Bonnie, stayed behind, embracing marriage and motherhood. She even agreed to take in Carol's teenage daughter during a tumultuous patch. Now both their girls are grown and Bonnie, recently widowed, is anticipating the day she'll retire to Ferndean House, the nineteenth-century family home on the rocky Maine coast. But forty-five years after leaving Yorktide, Carol suddenly announces that she's moving back--into Ferndean. Bonnie is indignant. She's the one who kept the homestead in order and tended to their dying mother. Now Carol expects to simply buy her out? As far as Bonnie is concerned, Ferndean is part of their heritage--not just another of Carol's improvement projects, to be torn apart and remade according to her whim. The entire Ascher family is in flux, uncovering secrets that upend their relationships. Carol's longing to be welcomed home is fueled by a painful truth she's carried for years. It will take an extraordinary summer--in a remarkable place--to lead these women back to each other, buoyed by the tides of friendship and forgiveness.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Sisters; Small cities; Inheritance and succession; Family secrets;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A summer love affair / by Chamberlin, Holly,1962-author.;
Sometimes you sense something, deep inside, long before it's proven true. Thirty-year-old Petra Quirk has always felt as if a vital element of her life is missing. It's not until she moves back to the small town of Eliot's Corner for the summer that she learns why. Rummaging in the attic, Petra comes across a diary. The discovery prompts her mother, Elizabeth, to make a confession to her three daughters. Decades ago, she fell in love with her husband's best friend, Chris--and Petra is Chris's child ... Elizabeth ended the affair before she learned she was pregnant, and Chris has no idea he's a father. Hugh, who Petra believed to be her dad, was a good-natured but self-centered, blustering man. He and Chris seemed to have little in common, though their friendship was genuine. Elizabeth loved Chris deeply yet refused to tear her family apart. Even since Hugh's death, she's resisted contacting Chris. But Petra, floundering and unsure of her path, is compelled to search out her biological father, though she knows it will complicate her relationship with her family.Over the course of two summers, decades apart, romance will be kindled and rekindled, life-altering decisions made, and secrets of the heart will come to light at last.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Adultery; Diaries; Family secrets; Female friendship; Mothers and daughters;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Riviera house / by Lester, Natasha,1973-author.;
"Paris, 1939: The Nazis think Éliane can't understand German. They're wrong. They think she's merely cataloging the art collection in The Louvre while they steal national treasures for their private collections. They have no idea she's carefully decoding their notes to ensure every painting can be recovered after the war. But Éliane is playing a very dangerous game. Does she dare trust the man she once loved, or will he only betray her once again? She can't know for sure ... until a visit to a stunning home on the Riviera dramatically changes the course of her life. Present Day: Seventy years after the end of WWII, Remy heads to a home she's mysteriously inherited on the French Riviera, wanting to forget the tragedy that has left her life in shambles and taken away those she loved most. But when she discovers a painting known to have been stolen decades ago, she begins to question everything she ever knew about her heritage. Maybe the Riviera house holds more secrets than she's ready to deal with. Or maybe, to find the answers she needs, she'll have to learn to open her heart once again"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Musée du Louvre; Cryptography; Art thefts; World War, 1939-1945; Inheritance and succession; Family secrets;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 3
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The resistance painter : a novel / by Jonathan, Kath,author.;
"1939. Irena Marianowka's dreams of attending art school in Paris are crushed when the Nazis invade Poland. Instead, she joins the Home Army and, together with her young husband, risks her life every day in the sewers of Warsaw. In 1944, after a harrowing mission, she returns home to learn that her sister, Lotta, has been abducted by the Gestapo. Determined to find her, Irena is willing to risk everything--all but the safety of her unit. 2011. Jo Blum lives in Toronto with her beloved grandmother, a lauded painter of WWII and a decorated war hero. Jo has a flourishing career creating sculptures for grave sites based on the life stories of her dying clients. Her recorded interviews with Stefan, her new Polish client, unveil a heroic wartime past eerily similar to her grandmother's. But Jo's quest to uncover the truth about Stefan and her grandmother opens an explosive Pandora's box with shockwaves that threaten all she has known. The Resistance Painter will resonate with fans of Woman with the Blue Star, The Book of Lost Names, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The German Girl, and The Dutch Wife, confronting the questions of the accuracy of the stories we tell about our lives and whether buried secrets stay buried."--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Poland. Polskie Siły Zbrojne. Armia Krajowa; Grandmothers; Married people; Sisters; Survival; Women painters; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The celestial wife : a novel / by Howard, Leslie,1953-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Keep sweet no matter what, for this is the way to be lifted up Keep sweet with every breath, for it is a matter of life or death 1964. Fifteen-year-old Daisy Shoemaker dreams of life beyond her small, isolated fundamentalist Mormon community of Redemption on the Canada--US border--despite Bishop Thorsen's warning that the outside world is full of sin. According to the Principle, the only way to enter the celestial kingdom is through plural marriage. While the boys are taught to work in the lucrative sawmill that supports their enclave, Daisy and her best friend, Brighten, are instructed to keep sweet and wait for Placement--the day the bishop will choose a husband for them. But Daisy wants to be more than a sister-wife and a mother. So when she is placed with a man forty years her senior, she makes the daring decision to flee Redemption. Years later, Daisy has a job and a group of trustworthy friends. Emboldened by the ideas of the feminist and counterculture movements, she is freer than she has ever been ... until Brighten reaches out with a cry for help and Daisy's past comes hurtling back. But to save the women she left behind, Daisy must risk her newfound independence and return to Redemption, where hellfire surely awaits. For readers of Emma Cline's The Girls and Ami McKay's The Virgin Cure comes an arresting coming-of-age novel about a fearless young girl's fight for freedom at a time of great historic change."--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Bildungsromans.; Novels.; Communal living; Latter Day Saints; Nineteen sixties; Self-actualization (Psychology) in women; Teenage girls;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Tiananmen Square / by Wen, Lai,author.;
As a child in Beijing in the 1970s, Lai lives with her family in a lively, working-class neighborhood near the heart of the city. Thoughtful yet unassuming, she spends her days with her friends beyond the attention of her parents: Her father is a reclusive figure who lingers in the background, while her mother, an aging beauty and fervent patriot, is quick-tempered and preoccupied with neighborhood gossip. Only Lai's grandmother, a formidable and colorful maverick, seems to really see Lai and believe that she can blossom beyond their circumstances. But Lai is quickly awakened to the harsh realities of the Chinese state. A childish prank results in a terrifying altercation with police that haunts her for years; she also learns that her father, like many others, was broken during the Cultural Revolution. As she enters adolescence, Lai meets a mysterious and wise bookseller who introduces her to great works-Hemingway, Camus, and Orwell, among others-that open her heart to the emotional power of literature and her mind to thrillingly different perspectives. Along the way, she experiences the ebbs and flows of friendship, the agony of grief, and the first steps and missteps in love. A gifted student, Lai wins a scholarship to study at the prestigious Peking University where she soon falls in with a theatrical band of individualists and misfits dedicated to becoming their authentic selves, despite the Communist Party's insistence on conformity-and a new world opens before her. When student resistance hardens under the increasingly restrictive policies of the state, the group gets swept up in the fervor, determined to be heard, joining the masses of demonstrators and dreamers who display remarkable courage and loyalty in the face of danger. As 1989 unfolds, the spirit of change is in the air.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Bildungsromans.; Novels.; Books and reading; College students; Politicians; Protest movements; Young women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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You can't catch me / by McKenzie, Catherine,author.;
"Assumed identities. A con game. Unwitting victims. Recently fired from her investigative journalism job for plagiarism, Jessica Williams is looking for a break from the constant press coverage-and potential new coverage of her past as a noted cult survivor. She decides to escape for a week to a resort in Mexico boasting no connections to the outside world. While waiting at the airport for her flight, she encounters a woman with the same name, who she dubs Jessica Two. Drawn together by the coincidence, they play a game of twenty questions to see what other similarities they share, and exchange contact information. A week later, Jessica returns home and is bombarded with alerts that there have been large cash withdrawals from her bank account. Security footage from the bank confirms her suspicions-Jessica Two has stolen her money. She goes to the police, but soon realizes that the crime is a low priority to them. Frustrated, shemeets up with her old friend, Liam, an investigator who helped her escape the cult. When Liam and Jessica Google "Jessica Williams," they get thousands of hits-Jessica was the most popular girl's name in 1985 and the name Williams is almost as ubiquitous as Smith. But Jessica is determined to catch the imposter, and writes a Facebook post hoping to chase down more people with the same name. When she gets a number of responses, she sets in motion a plan to catch the thief. But then Jessica begins to receive threatening messages. Filled with incredible twists and turns, You Can't Catch Me is a tantalizing, character-driven exploration of how far people will go to get revenge."--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Psychological fiction.; Identity theft; Women journalists; Cults; Revenge;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The African Samurai : a novel / by Shreve, Craig,author.;
Includes bibliographical references.In 1579, a Portuguese trade ship sails into port at Kuchinotsu, Japan, loaded with European wares and weapons. On board is Father Alessandro Valignano, an Italian priest and Jesuit missionary whose authority in central and east Asia is second only to the pope's. Beside him is his protector, a large and imposing East African man. Taken from his village as a boy, sold as a slave to Portuguese mercenaries, and forced to fight in wars in India, the young but experienced soldier is haunted by memories of his past. From Kuchinotsu, Father Valignano leads an expedition pushing inland toward the capital city of Kyoto. A riot brings his protector in front of the land's most powerful warlord, Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga is preparing a campaign to complete the unification of a nation that's been torn apart by over one hundred years of civil war. In exchange for permission to build a church, Valignano "gifts" his protector to Nobunaga, and the young East African man is reminded once again that he is less of a human and more of a thing to be traded and sold. After pledging his allegiance to the Japanese warlord, the two men from vastly different worlds develop a trust and respect for one another. The young soldier is granted the role of samurai, a title that has never been given to a foreigner; he is also given a new name: Yasuke. Not all are happy with Yasuke's ascension. There are whispers that he may soon be given his own fief, his own servants, his own samurai to command. But all of his dreams hinge on his ability to protect his new lord from threats both military and political, and from enemies both without and within.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Enslaved persons; Respect; Samurai; Soldiers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Tomorrow is for the brave / by Bowen, Kelly(Romance fiction writer),author.;
Includes bibliographical references."When France falls to Germany in 1940, wealthy socialite Violet St. Croix could honor her parent's wishes and ride out the war on the French Riviera in comfort with lavish parties and couture gowns. Instead she defies the expectations of her time and travels to London to join General de Gaulle's Free French forces. Despite doubts because she's never worked a day in her life, Violet uses her love of driving fast cars to her advantage and eventually proves her worth. With her reputation for nerves of steel and her extraordinary aptitude for navigating dangerous conditions, she earns an assignment driving senior officers for the French Foreign Legion. As the war escalates, Violet finds herself in North Africa as the Allies try desperately to defend the advances of Rommel's Nazi forces. All women are ordered to leave the front but Violet insists on staying and won't abandon the fight. After a series of failures, Violet begins to suspect that there is a traitor in their midst, sabotaging their efforts by providing intel to the enemy. Then her supervising officer dies, and she is certain that it is not an accident but murder, although convincing her colleagues proves nearly impossible. So together with the one man who believes in her and her theory, she must identify the spy. Determining who else to trust in order to survive might just be her most dangerous assignment of all. Based on the true life story of Susan Travers - the only woman to ever serve in the French Foreign Legion - this novel celebrates a daring woman who used her courage and strength of will to not only save lives but save her country"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Biographical fiction.; War fiction.; Novels.; Travers, Susan; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Nothing good happens in Wazirabad on Wednesday : a novel / by Aram, Jamaluddin,author.;
In this novel about peace in a time of war, debut author Jamaluddin Aram masterfully breathes life into the colourful characters of the town of Wazirabad, in early 1990s Kabul, Afghanistan. It is the early 1990s, in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Russian occupation has ended, and civil war has broken out, but life roars on in full force in the working-class town of Wazirabad. A rash of burglaries has stolen people's sleep. Fifteen-year-old Aziz awakens from a dark dream that prompts him to plant shards of glass along the wall surrounding his house to protect his family against theft. Aziz's sister, Seema, decorates kites with her calligraphy and sells fresh scorpions to spare her mother from servicing the local soldiers. Along the main street, three militiamen wait for the fighting to resume, while the Baker, the Watchmaker, the Tailor, and the Vegetable Seller make their modest living and the Bonesetter reads poetry to his cat. And every day at noon, a flaming red rooster walks three blocks to visit his favourite hens. But tensions rise among the town's people. The burglaries have put everyone on edge. The militiamen are on the hunt for the thief who stole their dog--and their ammunition. And a widow, who is the target of men's lust and women's scorn, soon finds herself on the periphery of a terrible violence. While the armed conflict rages on in the background, rumours swirl with a feverish frenzy, culminating in the collective chorus of the town's living, breathing dreams. In this brilliantly kaleidoscopic, darkly funny, and wholly captivating novel about peace in a time of war, Jamaluddin Aram breathes life into the families and friends, lovers and loners, neighbours and sworn enemies who wander the winding alleys of Wazirabad.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Political fiction.; Novels.; City and town life; Civil war; Communities;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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