New & Notable - Adults
Blue Ticket : A Novel.
Mackintosh, Sophie.
2019
On the day of your first bleed, you report to the station to learn what kind of woman you will be. A white ticket grants you marriage and children. A blue ticket grants you a career and freedom. You are relieved of the terrible burden of choice. When Calla, a blue ticket woman, begins to question her fate, she must go on the run. But her survival will be dependent on the very qualities the lottery has taught her to question in herself. Calla must contend with whether or not the lottery knows her better than she knows herself and what that might mean for her child. Author of "The Water Cure." Print run 10,000.
Don't turn around : a novel
Barry, Jessica (Novelist), author
2020
Cait Monaghan and Rebecca McRae are on a desolate road that slices through the New Mexican desert. They've never met before tonight. Both have secrets to protect. When a truck pulls up fast behind them, it becomes clear that whoever is driving the truck is hunting them for sport - and they are out to draw blood. Someone wants one of them dead. But which one?
The end of October
Wright, Lawrence, 1947- author
2020
At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When Henry Parsons - microbiologist, epidemiologist - travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will soon have staggering repercussions across the globe: an infected man is on his way to join the millions of worshippers in the annual Hajj to Mecca. Now, Henry joins forces with a Saudi prince and doctor in an attempt to quarantine the entire host of pilgrims in the holy city. Pulitzer Prize winner for "The Looming Tower."
Fair warning
Connelly, Michael, 1956- author
2020
When a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a particularly brutal way, veteran reporter Jack McEvoy realizes he might be facing a criminal mind unlike any he's ever encountered. As McEvoy investigates, he makes a shocking discovery that connects the crime to other mysterious deaths. McEvoy's findings point to a serial killer working under the radar of law enforcement for years, and using personal data shared by the victims themselves to select and hunt his targets.
Feasting wild : in search of the last untamed food
La Cerva, Gina Rae, 1983- author
2020
Two centuries ago, nearly half the North American diet was found in the wild. Today, so-called "wild foods" are becoming expensive commodities. Geographer and anthropologist Gina Rae La Cerva traces our relationship to wild foods and shows what we sacrifice when we domesticate them - including biodiversity, Indigenous knowledge, and an important connection to nature. Along the way, she samples wild foods herself, sipping elusive bird's nest soup in Borneo and smuggling Swedish moose meat home in her suitcase. Thoughtful, ambitious, and wide-ranging, Gina challenges us to take a closer look at the way we eat today.
Firing point
Maden, Mike, author
2020
While on vacation in Barcelona, Jack Ryan, Jr. is surprised to run into an old friend at a small café. After making plans to meet later, Renee is killed. As she dies in Jack’s arms, Renee utters one word, “Sammler.” A mysterious sequence of events sends the young Campus operative on an unrelenting search to find out the reason behind Renee’s death. Along the way, he discovers that his old friend had secrets of her own--and some of them may have gotten her killed.
Hello, summer
Andrews, Mary Kay, 1954- author
2020
Stuck as a sleepy small town newspaper reporter, Conley Hawkins grows bored with her daily grind. But trouble stirs when a beloved politician dies mysteriously, and Conley aims to find out why.
How to talk to your kids about climate change : turning angst into action
Shugarman, Harriet, 1961- author
2020
If it bleeds : new fiction
King, Stephen, 1947- author
2020
"The four never-before-published novellas in this collection represent horror master King at his finest, using the weird and uncanny to riff on mortality, the price of creativity, and the unpredictable consequences of material attachments. A teenager discovers that a dead friend's cell phone, which was buried with the body, still communicates from beyond the grave in 'Mr. Harrigan's Phone,' which reads like a Twilight Zone episode infused with an EC Comics vibe. In the profoundly moving 'The Life of Chuck,' a series of apocalyptic incidents bear out one character's claim that 'when a man or a woman dies, a whole world falls to ruin.' 'Rat' sees a frustrated writer strike a Faustian bargain to complete his novel, and in the title story, private investigator Holly Gibney, the recurring heroine of King's Bill Hodges trilogy and The Outsider, faces off against a ghoulish television newscaster who vampirically feeds off the anguish he provokes in his audience by covering horrific tragedies"--Publishers Weekly (03/09/2020).
The Jane Austen society
Jenner, Natalie, author
2020
Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable. One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England's finest novelists. Now it's home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen's legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen's home and her legacy. These people-a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others-could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen.
Mexican Gothic
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia.
2019
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. Noemí's only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family's youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family's past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. But as Noemí digs deeper, she unearths stories of violence and madness. Author of "Gods of Jade and Shadow." Hometown: Vancouver, B.C. Print run 35,000.
The New One : Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad.
Birbiglia, Mike.
2019
With laugh-out-loud observations on the rollercoaster ride that is being a new parent, comedian Mike Birbiglia delivers a book that is perfect for anyone who has ever raised a child, been a child, or refuses to stop acting like a child. Along with hilarious and poignant stories he has never shared before, these pages are sprinkled with poetry Jennifer Hope Stein wrote as she navigated the same rocky shores of new parenthood. Print run 200,000.
Orwell : a man of our time
Bradford, Richard, 1957-, author
2020
For an author whose work has been regarded as the most important in terms of the turbulent years of the mid-20th century and who eroded the boundaries between literature, journalism and political commentary, there have been relatively few attempts to present a vibrant portrait of the man behind the writings. An interest in him endures, principally because it is difficult to differentiate between the man who recorded the terrible events of the depression and the fiction writer who used literature to predict grim possibilities and diagnose horribly endemic inclinations.
Sand talk : how indigenous thinking can save the world
Yunkaporta, Tyson, author
2020
"A paradigm-shifting book from Aboriginal scholar Tyson Yunkaporta, who brings a crucial Indigenous perspective to history, education, money, power, and sustainability-and offers a new template for living"-- Provided by publisher.
Seven Years of Darkness : A Novel.
Jeong, You-.
2019
Three men - Yongje, the girl's father, and two security guards at the nearby dam, each of whom has something to hide about the night of Yongje's death - find themselves in an elaborate game of cat and mouse as they race to uncover what happened to her, without revealing their own closely guarded secrets. After a final showdown at the dam results in a mass tragedy, one of the guards is convicted of murder and sent to prison. After seven years, the guard's son receives a package that promises to reveal at last what really happened at Seryong Lake. Author of "The Good Son." Print run 10,000.
The silence : a novel
Allott, Susan, author
2020
Isla Green is awakened by a call in the middle of the night: her father phoning from Sydney. Thirty years ago, in the suffocating heat of summer 1967, the Greens' next-door neighbour Mandy disappeared. Isla's father Joe was allegedly the last person to see her alive, and now he's under suspicion of murder. Isla unwillingly plans to go back to Australia for the first time in a decade to support her father. The more Isla asks about the past, the more she learns about both young couples and the secrets each marriage bore. And is there another secret in this community which has held them in a conspiracy of silence?
The world : a brief introduction
Haass, Richard, author.
2020
"This book is designed to provide readers with the background and building blocks they need in order to answer for themselves the critical questions about what is taking place around the world and why. It explains what makes each region of the world tick, the many challenges globalization presents, and the most influential countries, events, and ideas. Its aim is to help readers become more informed, discerning citizens, better able to arrive at sound, independent judgments and less vulnerable to being misled"-- Provided by publisher.