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An unthinkable thing / by Lundrigan, Nicole,author.;
"A tragedy brings a young boy into the home of a "perfect" family--one whose dark secrets begin closing in, until a horrifying moment changes everything. Tommie Ware's life is turned upside down the summer of 1958, just after his eleventh birthday. When his beloved aunt--the woman who raised him--doesn't return after her shift as a night nurse and is later found murdered, there is only one place left for Tommie to go: "home" to the mother who handed him over the day he was born. All is not as it seems behind the hedgerow surrounding the lavish Henneberry estate where Tommie's mother, Esther, works as live-in housekeeper. Her employers have agreed he can stay until she "sorts things out," but as she's at the family's beck and call around the clock, Tommie is mostly left on his own to navigate the grounds, the massive house, and the twisted family inside. Soon he is enmeshed in the oppressive attentions of matriarch Muriel, who is often heavily medicated, and of fifteen-year-old, Martin, who treats Tommie sometimes like a kid brother, sometimes like a pawn in a confusing game. Dr. Henneberry mostly ignores Tommie, and seems eager for him to be gone. Then there's the elderly neighbour, who may know more about the family's past than anyone else will say. By summer's end, the secrets and games tighten around Tommie and his mother, until a horrific crime is discovered and we are faced with an unthinkable question: could an eleven-year-old boy really have committed cold-blooded murder?"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Domestic fiction.; Historical fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Boys; Families; Mothers and sons; Murder; Secrecy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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How to pronounce knife : stories / by Thammavongsa, Souvankham,1978-author.;
A young man painting nails at the local salon. A woman plucking feathers at a chicken processing plant. A father who packs furniture to move into homes he'll never afford. A housewife learning English from daytime soap operas. In her stunning debut book of fiction, O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa focuses on characters struggling to make a living, illuminating their hopes, disappointments, love affairs, acts of defiance, and above all their pursuit of a place to belong. In spare, intimate prose charged with emotional power and a sly wit, she paints an indelible portrait of watchful children, wounded men, and restless women caught between cultures, languages, and values. As one of Thammavongsa's characters says, "All we wanted was to live." And in these stories, they do--brightly, ferociously, unforgettably. A daughter becomes an unwilling accomplice in her mother's growing infatuation with country singer Randy Travis. A boxer finds an unexpected chance at redemption while working at his sister's nail salon. An older woman finds her assumptions about the limits of love unravelling when she begins a relationship with her much younger neighbour. A school bus driver must grapple with how much he's willing to give up in order to belong. And in the Commonwealth Short Story Prize-shortlisted title story, a young girl's unconditional love for her father transcends language. Unsentimental yet tender, and fiercely alive, How to Pronounce Knife announces Souvankham Thammavongsa as one of the most striking voices of her generation.
Subjects: Short stories.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Christmas lights / by Swan, Karen(Writer),author.;
Norway, 1936. Fifteen-year old Signy Odegard is sent with her sister and village friends to the summer pastures. As milk maids, they will protect the herd and produce dairy that will sustain the farm throughout the winter months. But miles from home and the safety of their families, threats begin to lurk in friendly faces. December 2018. Free-spirited and untethered, Bo Loxley and Zac Elliott live a life of wanderlust most people can only dream of. With a social media following in the millions, they're paid to travel the globe, sharing their adventures with legions of fans. But with so many eyes on them, it's a struggle to keep anything about their lives private. Though Zac relishes the attention, Bo doesn't always feel safe, especially after one follower once went too far. Booked to spend Christmas in Norway, they set up home in a ramshackle farm owned by taciturn local guide Anders and his fierce grandmother, Signy, who are reluctant neighbours in the off-season period. Zac persuades Anders to help him find extreme locations for the most beautiful shots - and their follower engagement goes through the roof. But the camera can lie. With every post, the perfect life he and Bo are portraying is diverging from the truth as their relationship comes under strain. Something Bo can't explain is wrong at the very heart of their lives and where once she felt free, she now feels lost. As Bo grows closer to Signy, she stumbles upon a dark parallel between their lives - one that ended in tragedy many years ago, and which she fears can surely only end the same way again, now.
Subjects: Christmas fiction.; Domestic fiction.; Christmas; Man-woman relationships;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Pebble & Dove / by Jones, Amy,1976-author.;
"In the tradition of Karen Russell's Swamplandia!, a once-famous but now-abandoned aquarium-in-a-ship in Florida is the captivating backdrop for a novel of family secrets and dysfunction, and the ways in which it can sometimes take an animal to remind us how to be human. This is the story of a family falling apart, only to be brought back together again by an unlikely champion--a 1,000-pound aquatic mammal named Pebble. Lauren's life is a mess. She has a storage unit full of candles she can't sell, a growing mountain of debt, and a teenage daughter, Dove, who barely speaks to her. Then her husband sends her a text that changes everything. Eager to escape her problems, she drives herself and Dove south to her late mother's rundown trailer in Florida. While keeping her eccentric new neighbours at Swaying Palms at bay, Lauren begins to untangle the truth about her estranged mother. How did world-famous portrait photographer Imogen Starr end up at Swaying Palms?And what happened to her fortune and her photographs? Meanwhile, Dove has secrets of her own. A mysterious photograph leads her to discover the abandoned Flamingo Key Aquarium and Tackle, where she meets Pebble, the world's oldest manatee in captivity. It is Pebble, a former star attraction, and her devoted caretaker, Ray, who will hold the key to helping Lauren and Dove come to terms with Imogen's unexpected legacy. Darkly funny and sharply observed, Pebble & Dove is a moving novel about the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters, and learning how to choose between what's worth saving and what needs to be let go."--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Aquariums; Captive wild animals; Dysfunctional families; Family secrets; Manatees; Mothers and daughters;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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The new India : the unmaking of the world's largest democracy / by Bhatia, Rahul,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.The New India is the unforgettable account of the struggle between modern forces and ancient ideas to shape the young country's destiny. It reveals a picture of a nation on the precipice of dramatic change. Based on six years of detailed research and on-the-ground reporting, the book builds -- authoritatively, vividly, indelibly -- to become the story of post-colonial India. Using hundreds of interviews, and letters, diary entries, Partition-era police reports, and an astonishing range of sources, Bhatia shows how history plays a recurring role in the present: in politics, in the minds of citizens, in notions of justice and corruption. Bhatia examines the connections between the Delhi riots of 2020 and the emergence of nineteenth-century revolutionary secret societies, the rise of Hindu nationalism, whose early advocates drew lessons from Hitler and Mussolini, the political use of misinformation and religious targeting, and the Hindu fundamentalist ideology that sparked the creation of the world's largest biometric project. As Bhatia shows, the evolution of this citizen database, in the hands of the BJP, now threatens to deny vast numbers of India's 200 million Muslims their Indian citizenship. Electorates in democracies used to choose their government. Now, in India, the government is choosing its electorate. India has rarely been seen as in The New India, a monumental work of narrative reportage that illuminates the ways in which a supremacist ideology remade the country over decades, resulting in the prodigious rise of Narendra Modi, and forcing many to ask what they truly understood about their neighbours and themselves.
Subjects: Modī, Narendra, 1950-; Democracy; Hindutva; Ideology; Muslims; Secret societies;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Neighbors. [videorecording] / by Andrews, Michael,1967-composer (expression); Barinholtz, Ike,1977-; Byrne, Rose,actor.; Efron, Zac,actor.; Franco, Dave.; Moretz, Chloë,1997-; Rogen, Seth,1982-screenwriter,producer,actor.; Stoller, Nicholas,director,screenwriter,film producer.; Universal Studios Home Entertainment (Firm),publisher.;
Camera, Brandon Trost ; production designer, Theresa Guleserian ; editors, Zene Baker, Michael A. Webber, Peck Prior ; music, Michael Andrews.Seth Rogan, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ike Barinholtz.Now that Mac and Kelly Radner have a second baby on the way, they are ready to make the final move into adulthood: the suburbs. But just as they thought they'd reclaimed the neighborhood and were safe to sell, they learn that the new occupants next door are a sorority even more out of control than Teddy and his brothers. Now forced to turn to the one ex-neighbor with the skills to bring down the new Greeks next door, they bring in charismatic Teddy as their secret weapon.Canadian Home Video Rating: 14A.MPAA rating: R.DVD ; widescreen presentation ; Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0 DVS.
Subjects: Comedy films.; Feature films.; Fiction films.; College students; Greek letter societies; Neighbors;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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All together now : a Newfoundlander's light tales for heavy times / by Doyle, Alan,1969-author.;
"One of Newfoundland's funniest and most beloved storytellers offers his cure for the Covid blues. Is there a more sociable province than Newfoundland and Labrador? Or anywhere in Canada with a greater reputation for coming to the rescue of those in need? At this time of Covid, singer, songwriter and bestselling author Alan Doyle is feeling everyone's pain. Off the road and spending more days at home than he has since he was a child hawking cod tongues on the wharfs of Petty Harbour, he misses the crowds and companionship of performing across the country and beyond. But most of all he misses the cheery clamour of pubs in his hometown, where one yarn follows another so quickly 'you have to be as ready as an Olympian at the start line to get your tale in before someone is well into theirs already.' We're all experiencing our own version of that deprivation, and Alan, one of Newfoundland's finest storytellers, wants to offer a little balm. All Together Now is a gathering in book form--a virtual Newfoundland pub. There are adventures in foreign lands, including an apparently filthy singalong in Polish (well, he would have sung along if he'd understood the language), a real-life ghost story involving an elderly neighbour, a red convertible and a clown horn, a potted history of his social drinking, and heartwarming reminiscences from another past world, childhood--all designed to put a smile on the faces of the isolated-addled. Alan Doyle has never been in better form--nor more welcome. As he says about this troubling time: 'We get through it. We do what has to be done. Then, we celebrate. With the best of them.'"--
Subjects: Anecdotes.; Doyle, Alan, 1969-; Doyle, Alan, 1969-; Great Big Sea (Musical group); Great Big Sea (Musical group); Musicians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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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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The last days of Kira Mullan : a novel / by French, Nicci,author.;
Nancy North is ready to put her life back together. After suffering a psychotic break that ruined friendships, stalled her fledgling restaurant, and forced her to move out of her comfortable flat, she'll do anything to get back to normal. She and her partner Felix - who has been a saint through her recent troubles - move into a new flat for a fresh start. Nancy is taking her pills, seeing her therapist, and avoiding unnecessary stress. She's doing absolutely everything right, but something is still very, very wrong. On the first day in the new flat, she hears them again; the mysterious voices that triggered her first episode. It could just be the unfamiliar sounds of water in the pipes, or the screaming baby across the hall, but deep down she knows something more sinister is going on. Her fears are confirmed when the young woman in the downstairs flat, Kira, is found dead. Felix, her neighbours, and even the police insist it's a tragic suicide, but the pieces aren't adding up for Nancy. Can she trust her own instincts, or is it all in her head? Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O'Connor has misgivings about her colleagues' investigation of Kira's death. The boys club at the top seems intent on closing the case as quickly as possible, especially since the only person who thinks it could be anything other than suicide is known to be unreliable. But Maud knows what it's like to be dismissed as an overemotional woman and isn't so quick to discount Nancy's claims. As tensions reach an explosive breaking point, the line between fact and delusion becomes dangerously blurred, but Maud will stop at nothing to ensure that the truth comes to light.
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Delusions; Interpersonal relations; Mental illness; Moving, Household; Murder; Neighbors; Suicide;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Oil people : a novel / by Huebert, David,author.;
"Weaving together family saga, gothic myth, and eco-fiction, Oil People is an audacious debut novel about history and family, land and power, and oil as both contaminant and an object of wonder. It's 1987, and thirteen-year-old Jade Armbruster lives with her parents and older sister on their family petroleum museum--an old and decaying property that their father is desperately trying to sell. While she tries to live out a normal teenage existence, avoiding her best-friend-turned-nemesis and vying for the attention of a cute farmer boy, the oil swirling beneath her family's home has left a mark on all of them. For Jade, it appears as a haunting yet familiar presence that she can't quite place. It's 1862, and Clyde Armbruster catches his big break, striking Lambton County's first gusher and helping to form a community that will be known as Oil Springs. The discovery brings wealth and opportunity to him and his wife, but his daily proximity to oil leaves him infertile and may be the cause of his periodic hallucinatory visions of a red-haired girl in strange clothing. At the same time, Clyde and his wife develop a tense friendship with their eccentric and wealthy neighbours, a relationship that promises even more success until a fateful moment intertwines the two families forever, locking them into a bitter rivalry that lasts generations. As the two narratives twist and tangle together, family secrets and deceits are slowly unveiled, and the slick and lucid spectre of oil seeps off the page, revealing a portrait of a world and a land physically bleeding from the actions of the greedy and powerful. Intense and visceral, agile and lyrical, Oil People signals the arrival of a profound and vital voice."--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Gothic fiction.; Sagas.; Novels.; Families; Family secrets; Petroleum industry and trade; Secrecy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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