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Night of the living head / by Hanna Alkaf.; Ireland, Justina.;
Twelve-year-old Alia has always had the worst luck. Whether it's her parents moving her all the way from Kuala Lumpur to a tiny village or her shoes constantly coming untied, Alia can't help but feel as if the universe has it out for her. To top it all off, her estranged older sister, Ayu, has just reappeared in their lives after years away. Alia's parents are delighted, but Alia is not so sure. She remembers the fights, the tears, the pain her sister caused and knows this is just another case of bad luck following her around. Then Alia's school fills with rumors of a horrifying creature spotted flying in the night sky. And Alia realizes that perhaps it's not just her bad luck this time--but something more sinister is lying just under the surface of her town... and it's up to Alia to put an end to it for once and for all.Ages 8-12.
Subjects: Horror fiction.; Monsters; Fortune;

Searching for Sylvie Lee : a novel / by Kwok, Jean,author.;
"It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother-- and then vanishes. Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn't rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love. But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it's Amy's turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister's movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets ... secrets that will reveal more about Amy's complicated family-- and herself-- than she ever could have imagined."-- Dust jacket flap.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Missing persons; Family secrets; Sisters; Chinese American families; Immigrants;

Joyspan: the art and science of thriving in life's second half / by Burnight, Kerry,author.;
Includes bibliographical references.From America's Gerontologist, a practical guide that offers a radical and optimistic approach to longevity. Dr. Kerry Burnight -- known to her many followers as "Dr. Kerry" -- is sparking a revolution to make older better. Fed up with the fear driven, anti-aging hysteria, hundreds of thousands of people turn to Dr. Kerry for her practical, effective and uplifting approach to navigating longevity -- our parents' and our own. In Joyspan, Dr. Kerry shares her popular philosophy and tools in a comprehensive resource that moves readers from fear to peaceful confidence. Dr. Kerry's insights, along with those of her inspiring 95 year-old mother Betty, are based upon a profound truth: the key to good longevity isn't the length of your life, it's the quality of your life. Books that advance lifespan and "healthspan" don't address the whole picture. Dr. Kerry introduces readers to the critical concept of "joyspan" based on the science of well-being, contentment, connection, meaning, growth, choice, and purpose. Part manifesto, part how-to guide, Joyspan proves that internal strength is as critical as external fitness. Filled with both perspective-shifting strategies and troubleshooting for the specific challenges of aging -- including caregiving, dementia, unexpected diagnoses, isolation, uncoupling via death or divorce, financial concerns, and more -- this book is an essential resource for a generation looking for a better way to grow older -- and to help our aging parents do the same.
Subjects: Self-help publications.; Aging.; Aging; Longevity.; Longevity;

The Bittlemores [electronic resource] : by Arden, Jann.aut; CloudLibrary;
A heartfelt, comic, and deeply satisfying debut novel from the #1 bestselling author, singer-songwriter, member of Canada's Music Hall of Fame and star of her own hit TV sitcom. A little bit All Creatures Great and Small, a little bit Fargo and all Jann Arden! On mean Harp Bittlemore’s blighted farm, hidden away in the Backhills, nothing has gone right for a very long time. Crops don’t grow, the pigs and chickens stay skinny and the three aged dairy cows, Berle, Crilla and Dally, are so desperate they are plotting an escape. The one thing holding them back is the thought of abandoning young Willa, the single bright point in their life since her older sister, Margaret, ran away.      But Willa Bittlemore, just turning 14, is planning her own rebellion. Something doesn’t add up in the story she’s been told about her missing sister, and she's beginning to question if her horrible parents are even her parents at all. Just as things are really coming to a head, a bright young police officer starts investigating a cold case involving a baby stolen from a little rural hospital 28 years earlier, and Willa and the cows find out exactly how far the Bittlemores will go to protect a festering secret.      Written with Jann’s trademark outrageous humour and full of her down-to-earth wisdom, The Bittlemores is a rural fairytale, a coming-of-age story and a prairie mystery all-in-one, saturated with her observations of the world she grew up in and her deep connection to the animals we exploit. This marvel of a first novel digs into how people come to be so cruel, but it also glories in the miracle of human kindness.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Magical Realism; Coming of Age;
© 2023., Random House of Canada,

Death and the Seaside. by Moore, Alison.;
Nearing thirty, with an abandoned degree and half-hearted dreams of becoming a writer, Bonnie Falls finally moves out of her parents home and into a shabby flat. When her landlady takes an interest in her, and one of her unfinished stories, Bonnies aspirations are rekindled, and shes quickly persuaded by the older womans suggestion that they go on holiday to a seaside town like the one in the story. 'Death and the Seaside' is a masterpiece of form and gripping psychological novel about the stories that we tell ourselves. Perfect for readers of Claire Messud.Library Bound Incorporated
Subjects: FICTION / Literary; FICTION / Psychological; FICTION / Romance / Gothic;

The Bittlemores [electronic resource] : by Arden, Jann.aut; Arden, Jann.nrt; CloudLibrary;
A heartfelt, comic, and deeply satisfying debut novel from the #1 bestselling author, singer-songwriter, member of Canada's Music Hall of Fame and star of her own hit TV sitcom. A little bit All Creatures Great and Small, a little bit Fargo and all Jann Arden! On mean Harp Bittlemore’s blighted farm, hidden away in the Backhills, nothing has gone right for a very long time. Crops don’t grow, the pigs and chickens stay skinny and the three aged dairy cows, Berle, Crilla and Dally, are so desperate they are plotting an escape. The one thing holding them back is the thought of abandoning young Willa, the single bright point in their life since her older sister, Margaret, ran away.      But Willa Bittlemore, just turning 14, is planning her own rebellion. Something doesn’t add up in the story she’s been told about her missing sister, and she's beginning to question if her horrible parents are even her parents at all. Just as things are really coming to a head, a bright young police officer starts investigating a cold case involving a baby stolen from a little rural hospital 28 years earlier, and Willa and the cows find out exactly how far the Bittlemores will go to protect a festering secret.      Written with Jann’s trademark outrageous humour and full of her down-to-earth wisdom, The Bittlemores is a rural fairytale, a coming-of-age story and a prairie mystery all-in-one, saturated with her observations of the world she grew up in and her deep connection to the animals we exploit. This marvel of a first novel digs into how people come to be so cruel, but it also glories in the miracle of human kindness.
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Magical Realism; Coming of Age;
© 2023., Penguin Random House,

The brightest star : a novel / by Tsukiyama, Gail,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."At the dawn of a new century, America is falling in love with silent movies, including young Wong Liu Tsong. The daughter of Chinese immigrants who own a laundry, Wong Liu and her older sister Lew Ying (Lulu) are taunted and bullied for their Chinese heritage. But while Lulu diligently obeys her parents and learns to speak Chinese, Wong Liu sneaks away to the local nickelodeons, buying a ticket with her lunch money and tips saved from laundry deliveries. By eleven Wong Liu is determined to become an actress and has already chosen a stage name: Anna May Wong. At sixteen, Anna May leaves high school to pursue her Hollywood dreams, defying her disapproving father and her Chinese traditional upbringing, a choice that will hold emotional and physical consequences"--
Subjects: Biographical fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Wong, Anna May, 1905-1961; Chinese American women; Cultural appropriation; Motion picture actors and actresses; Racism in motion pictures;

The South : a novel / by Aw, Tash,author.;
"The South unfolds during a visit by the Lim family to their rural clan estate after a long absence. Jay, in his mid-teens, and his two older sisters are less than thrilled to leave their city for the remote house in the south, but their parents, Sui Ching and Jack, are adamant. Jay finds he's expected to share a room with Chuan, the son of the estate's overseer, a bit older than Jay but seemingly much more mature and capable in the world. The two soon form an intense bond, but with their very different backgrounds, and even more disparate expectations for the future, the course of their relationship is always an unspoken question. Meanwhile, change presses in, including the destruction of the farm's beloved orchards, and the sale of the estate is mooted. The relationships between Chuan's father and Jack and Sui Ching go deep, but pressures both internal and external threaten to sever old bonds and upend an entire way of life. The South, at once sweeping and intimate, is a masterful portrait of a family navigating a period of great transformation."--
Subjects: Queer fiction.; Bildungsromans.; Novels.; Friendship; Inheritance and succession; Interpersonal relations; Teenage boys;

The house on Biscayne Bay / by Cleeton, Chanel,author.;
"With the Great War finally behind them, thousands of civilians and business moguls alike flock to South Florida with their sights set on making a fortune. When wealthy industrialist Robert Barnes and his wife, Anna, build Marbrisa, a glamorous estate on Biscayne Bay, they become the toast of the newly burgeoning society. Anna and Robert appear to have it all, but in a town like Miami, appearances can be deceiving, and one scandal can change everything. Years later following the tragic death of her parents in Havana, Carmen Acosta journeys to Marbrisa, the grand home of her estranged older sister, Carolina, and her husband, Asher Wyatt. On the surface, the gilded estate looks like paradise, but Carmen quickly learns that nothing at Marbrisa is as it seems. The house has a treacherous legacy, and Carmen's own life is soon in jeopardy ... unless she can unravel the secrets buried beneath the mansion's facade and stop history from repeating itself"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Novels.; Conspiracy; Rich people; Secrecy;

The berry pickers / by Peters, Amanda,author.;
"A four-year-old girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that will remain unsolved for nearly fifty years. July 1962. A Mi'kmaw family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family's youngest child, vanishes mysteriously. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on her favourite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain deeply affected by his sister's disappearance for years to come. In Boston, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren't telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret. A stunning debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction, The Berry Pickers is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma and the persistence of love across time."--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Family secrets; Missing children; Mi'kmaq;