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Dewey Divas and Dudes - Ann Ledden's Fall 2009 Picks
Dewey Divas and Dudes - Ann Ledden's Fall 2009 Picks
Event photos: check out photos from The Book Lover's Ball!
Sounding Line – Anne DeGrace – Fiction – September – 978 1 55278 797 7 hardcover $29.95.
On the evening of October 4, 1967, the tiny fishing village of Perry’s Harbour, Nova Scotia, is invaded: by the “incident”—which sends local fishermen scrambling to find survivors of an assumed plane crash—and by everything that comes after.
Young Pocket Snow has a lot to contend with even before the unidentified flying object crashes into the harbour, bringing in its wake military and media interest. That’s because, just as the UFO incident creates a vortex, another is happening within the Snow household as Pocket’s mother approaches death, and his father tries to cope.
At Crosbey’s General Store, Shirley presides as information clearing-house and coffee-pourer, and it is here that locals gather to discuss how the Coast Guard, RCMP, Canadian Navy and U.S. military—a knot of vessels squatting mysteriously out on the Sound—aren’t talking to the people of Perry’s.
Sounding Line is based on a true incident that occurred in 1967 in Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia. The incident attracted national and international news media, and has been the subject of books and documentaries. It is considered Canada’s most significant UFO incident, and is sometimes referred to as “Canada’s Roswell.”
The Twelve – William Gladstone – Fiction – September – 978 1 55278 799 1 trade paperback $19.95; 288 pp.
THE TWELVE is an extraordinary and unforgettable novel about a most unusual man. As a child, Max lives in a world of colors and numbers, not speaking until the age of six. As an adult, Max ventures on a journey of destiny to discover the secret behind the ancient Mayan prophecy about the “end of time,” foretold to occur on December 21, 2012.
When he is fifteen years old,Max has a near death experience during which he has a vision that reveals to him the names of twelve unique individuals. While Max cannot discern the significance of these twelve names, he is unable to shake the sense that they have deep meaning. Eight years pass before Max meets the first of the twelve. With this,Max’s voyage of discovery begins, as he strives to uncover the identities and implications of “the twelve”—individuals he will meet during his journey towards truth, all of whom seem connected, and all of whom may hold the answer to what will happen at the exact moment the world may end. The novel takes the reader on a series of global adventures, culminating in a revelation of why and how Max and the twelve are destined to unite to discover the magnitude of the meaning of December 21, 2012.
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he Gathering Night – Margaret Elphinstone – Fiction – September – 978 1 55278 800 4 trade paperback $24.95; 375 pp.
Between Grandmother Mountain and the cold sea, Alaia and her family live off the land. But when one of her brothers goes hunting and never returns, the fragile balance of life is upset. Half-starved and maddened with grief, Alaia's mother follows her visions and goes in search of her lost son. Then a stranger from a rival tribe appears on their hearth seeking shelter. Are his stories of a great wave and a people perished really to be believed? What else could drive a man to travel alone between tribes in the depths of winter? Hopes of resolution come when Alaia's mother returns home as a Go-Between, one able to commune with the spirits. But as all the Auk people come together for their annual Gathering Night, who there will listen to the voice of a woman? The Gathering Night is a story of conflict, loss, love, adventure and devastating natural disasters. This utterly enchanting pre-historical novel is set deep in our stone-age past, but resonates as a parable of our troubled planet 8000 years on.
The Mistress of Nothing – Kate Pullinger – September – 978 1 55278 798 4 trade paperback $24.95; 248 pp.
Lady Duff Gordon is the toast of Victorian London. But when her debilitating tuberculosis means exile, she and her devoted lady’s maid, Sally, set sail for Egypt. It is Sally who describes, with a mixture of wonder and trepidation, the odd ménage marshalled by the resourceful Omar, which travels down the Nile to a new life in Luxor. When Lady Duff Gordon undoes her stays and takes to native dress, throwing herself into weekly salons; language lessons; excursions to the tombs; Sally too adapts to a new world, affording her heady and heartfelt freedoms never known before. But freedom is a luxury that a maid can ill-afford, and when Sally grasps more than her status entitles her to, she is brutally reminded that she is mistress of nothing.
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he Prodigal Wife – Marcia Willett – Fiction – 978 1 55278 801 1 trade paperback $24.95; 336 pp.
The Keep - that beautiful, ancient family home where the Chadwick family had lived for generations - is still a haven from the heartbreaks and storms of life. Jolyon Chadwick, a famous television presenter, takes his new girlfriend Henrietta home to meet his extended family - and also to meet Marie, the mother who deserted him and his father many years ago, now re-appeared and seeming to want forgiveness. Jolyon, however, is not in the mood for forgiveness - although his father Hal, now married to his cousin and childhood sweetheart, feels a lingering guilt about Marie and wants them all to be friends. And Henrietta, still vulnerable from the break-up of her own parents' marriage, is not sure whether she can move on.
The Ice Lovers – Jean McNeil – Fiction – October – 978 1 55278 802 8 hardcover $29.95; 328 pp.
In 2016 Helen, an historian and David, a government official, journey to a slowly disintegrating Antarctic. Helen is in search of a story; three years before Nara, a young woman scientist disappeared from an Antarctic base; she is presumed dead, though her body has never been recovered. When an international emergency forces Helen and David to overwinter in the Antarctic, a more complex story than the official record emerges – of what happened to Nara, Luke the pilot and Nara’s lover Alexander, and of what is happening to the ice. Sitting at Nara's desk, reading her diaries on a snowed-in Antarctic base, Helen wonders if the ice will ever give up its secrets. The Ice Lovers is a haunting story of ghosts and ice, of beauty and obsession, and the terrible consequences of unrequited love.
Bloodline – Mark Billingham – Fiction/Mystery – October – 978 1 55278 803 5 trade paperback $24.95; 352 pp.
When a dead body is found in a North London flat, it seems like a straightforward domestic murder until a bloodstained sliver of X-ray is found clutched in the dead woman's fist - and it quickly becomes clear that this case is anything but ordinary. DI Thorne discovers that the victim's mother had herself been murdered fifteen years before by infamous serial killer Raymond Garvey. The hunt to catch Garvey was one of the biggest in the history of the Met, and ended with seven women dead. When more bodies and more fragments of X-ray are discovered, Thorne has a macabre jigsaw to piece together until the horrifying picture finally emerges. A killer is targeting the children of Raymond Garvey's victims. Thorne must move quickly to protect those still on the murderer's list, but nothing and nobody are what they seem. Not when Thorne is dealing with one of the most twisted killers he has ever hunted.
Death Spiral – James W. Nichol – Fiction/Mystery – October – 978 1 55278 792 2 trade paperback $24.95; 360 pp.
This complex, multi-layered thriller opens with a hero’s welcome for wounded Wilf McLauchlin, a celebrated WW11 Canadian Spitfire fighter pilot. Almost immediately a series of bizarre murders erupt in his hometown. Wilf finds himself both solving them and coming to the terrifying realization that he is somehow causing them. How is this possible? He follows his own trail back to when he was shot down over Germany in the last days of the war and makes the shattering connection. It has to do with the scientists and doctors on trial at Nuremberg. It has to do with death camps. And most of all it has to do with himself.
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till Midnight – Denise Mina – Fiction/Mystery – October – 978 1 55278 804 2 trade paperback $24.95; 368 pp.
It's a peaceful Sunday evening in suburban Glasgow. TVs are on and dinner is in the oven. But this peace is rudely shattered when a battered van pulls up to the door of one of the somnolent homes and disgorges a group of armed men in balaclavas. They smash into the house and hold the family within at gunpoint and demand millions of pounds. Baffled, the assembled people protest that they don't have access to that sort of money. The attackers kidnap the elderly grandfather and storm off into the night. Now, senior policewoman Alex Morrow has been summoned to investigate the case. But there are so many mysteries. Who were the men? And why did they think a normal household concealed untold riches? The family is certainly not talking. But as she starts to delve deeper, she realises that there are dark secrets all around.
The Ides of March – Valerio Massimo Manfredi – Fiction – October – 978 1 55278 815 8 trade paperback $24.95; 296 pp.
This is a gripping tale of ancient Rome from the bestselling author of the astoundingly successful "Alexander" trilogy. March, 44 BC. Rome, in all her glory, has expanded her territories beyond the wildest dreams of her citizens, led by Caius Julius Caesar - Pontifex Maximus, dictator perpetuo, invincible military leader and only fifty-six years old. He is a man in command of his destiny, who wields enormous power throughout the vast empire. However his god-given mission - to end the blood-splattered fratricidal wars, reconcile implacably hostile factions and preserve Roman civilization and world order - is teetering dangerously close to collapse. His power is draining away. None of his supporters can stop the inexorably evolving plot against him and prophecy will explode into truth on the Ides of March and the world will change forever. This is political thriller laced through with all the intrigue and action surrounding one of the most crucial turning points in the history of western civilization.
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ishing for Stars – Bryce Courtenay – Fiction – October – 978 1 55278 806 6 hardcover $34.95; 606 pp.
Set in Australia, the Pacific islands, Japan and Indonesia during the latter half of the twentieth century, Nick Duncan is an ingenuous male with a great deal more female on his hands than he can possibly hope to understand. The contest he is called upon to referee is the clash between the two great loves of his life: the seductive Anna Til, and the older, equally fascinating Marg Hamilton. Nick struggles between their worlds: one exploiting the world’s riches for profit, the other fighting to save the environment and its creatures, large and small.
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he Great Silence, Living in the Shadow of the Great War 1918-1920 – Juliet Nicolson – History – September – 978 1 55278 813 4 hardcover $34.95; 320 pp.
Peace at last, after Lloyd George declared it had been ‘the war to end all wars’, would surely bring relief and a renewed sense of optimism? But this assumption turned out to be deeply misplaced as people began to realise that the men they loved were never coming home.
The Great Silence is the story of the pause between 1918 and 1920. A two-minute silence to celebrate those who died was underpinned by a more enduring silence born out of national grief. Those who had danced through settled Edwardian times, now faced a changed world. Some struggled to come to terms with the last four years, while others were anxious to move towards a new future. With her trademark focus on daily life, Juliet Nicolson evokes what England was like during this fascinating hinge in history.
Orion
The Dying Light – Henry Porter – Fiction – September - 978 0 7528 7484 5 hardcover $34.95; 978 0 7528 7638 2 trade paperback $24.95; 400 pp.
One of the most important books of 2009, this paints a chilling portrait of the police state that the UK is about to become. Exhilarating and chillingly believable, The Dying Light is further testament to why Henry Porter is widely regarded as one of the greatest espionage thriller writers of his generation.
Just Watch Me – Peter Grimsdale – Fiction – September - 978 0 7528 9082 hardcover $34.95; 978 0 7528 9083 8 trade paperback $24.95; 384 pp.
The second brilliantly plotted thriller from Britain’s most exciting new suspense writer, with appeal for fans of both John le Carré and Harlan Coben. it tells of Dan Carter, searching for answers after his wife and two children die in a plane crash that he believes was intended for him. His quest will set him on a deadly trail of revenge that will not end until he has found the truth, and meted out justice the only way he knows how.
The Complaints – Ian Rankin – Fiction – October - 978 0 7528 8951 1 hardcover $34.95; 978 0 7528 8952 8 trade paperback $24.95 ; 416 pp.
The first major post-Rebus novel from Britain’s best-loved crime writer
Ian Rankin is one of the literary world’s most recognised and well-loved authors. With an unerring eye for the shadowy secrets beneath the surface of modern life, his gripping crime novels have got under the skin of a nation. He is a writer of rare honesty, perception and skill. This new novel shows a writer at the top of his game, and dares you to turn the pages of a story that will engage, fascinate and intrigue.
The Winter Ghosts – Kate Mosse – Fiction – October - 978 1 4091 1227 3 hardcover; 978 1 4091 1228 0 trade paperback $24.95; 240 pp.The gripping new adventure from the no. 1 bestselling author of Labyrinth and Sepulchre
Set in 1920s France, this is a story of two lives touched by war and transformed by courage. Freddie, mourning the loss of his brother, meets Marie, a woman also marked by grief. Her story will lead Freddie to the caves above the village – and to a shocking secret. By turns thrilling, moving and haunting, this showcases the exceptional storytelling talent that has won Kate Mosse a legion of fans.
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eing a Scot – Sean Connery – Memoir - 978 0 297 85540 8 hardcover $39.95, available June; 978 0 753 82631 7 trade paperback, available Oct.; 416 pp; 430 colour, b & w photos.
A vivid and highly personal portrait of Scotland and its achievements, whilst full of Sir Sean’s desire to shine light upon Scottish success and heroic failure. His personal quest with friend and co-writer Murray Grigor has been to seek to answer some perplexing questions: Why do Scots devise so many new games and sports? What gave fire to the Gothic tendency in Scottish literature? And what about the national tradition of self-deprecation sometimes called the Scottish cringe? Connery offers a correction to misconceptions that many believe are part of the historical record whilst revealing as never before his own vibrant personal history.
Halfway to Hollywood, Diaries 1980-1987 – Michael Palin – Memoir – November 978 0 297 84440 2 hardcover $39.95; 650 pp.
The second volume of Michael Palin’s diaries covers the decade in which the Pythons began to forge separate careers. After touring Canada for The Big Red Book, and a live show at the Hollywood Bowl, their last performance together was in 1983, in the hugely successful Monty Python’s Meaning of Life. Writing and acting in films and TV then took over much of Michael’s life, culminating in the smash hit A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won a BaFta.
Hodder Headline
The Saffron Gate – Linda Holeman – Fiction – October - 978 0 7553 3111 6 hardcover $34.95; 978 0 7553 3112 3 trade paperback $24.95.
A young American woman’s journey to track down her missing lover becomes an enthralling adventure of mystery, passion, danger and self-discovery set against the spellbinding backdrop of 1930s Marrakech. Sidonie O’Shea enjoys the quiet life she shares with fiancé Etienne Duverger in upstate New York. But when Etienne suddenly disappears without a word, she finds a letter amongst his belongings that turns her world upside down. Refusing to believe that Etienne would abandon her, Sidonie travels to Morocco in search of him, determined to know the truth. But nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover, both about the man she thought she loved and an unknown world of dangerous secrets in a country steeped in mystery.
The Brutal Telling – Louise Penny – Fiction/Mystery – October - 978 0 7553 4103 0 hardcover $34.95; 978 0 7553 4104 7 trade paperback $24.95.
When the body of an unidentified man is discovered on the floor of Olivier Brulé’s popular bistro, at the heart of the Canadian town of Three Pines, shockwaves ripple through the tight-knit community. The scene of so many meals, drinks and celebrations is now a crime scene. Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Beauvior begin their investigation but, without the victim’s identity and no obvious motive, they struggle to find sense in this seemingly random act of violence. Old rivalries and suspicions simmer beneath the surface of this picturesque town, but could one of the villagers really be responsible for such a bloody act? Gamache’s experience tells him that there is much more to this investigation than a simple murder, and he soon uncovers a terrible truth, a story shrouded in brutal history and dark, long-kept secrets.
Sure and Certain Death – Barbara Nadel – Fiction/Mystery – September - 978 0 7553 3623 4 hardcover $34.95; 978 0 7553 3624 1 trade paperback $24.95. The chilling new World War Two crime mystery by the CWA Dagger award-winning author Barbara Nadel; fourth in the popular Francis Hancock series.
London, 1940: Francis Hancock finds the brutally eviscerated body of a woman in a derelict house in Plaistow. Francis’ sister, Nancy, knew the victim. Then, shockingly, two more murders follow; again, the victims are female and also eviscerated.
Rumours start to spread through the East End about a modern day Jack the Ripper. When a fourth woman is murdered, Nancy finally admits that she knew all of the victims. They were all White Feather Girls during the First World War; women who spent their time giving any man out of uniform a white feather as a sign of cowardice. Francis is appalled, but also terrified that now his sister might be murdered too. He sets out to find the killer and discovers a trail of murderous resentment that goes back decades.
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he Perfect Man – Sheila O’Flanagan – Fiction – September - 978 0 7553 4379 9 hardcover $34.95; 978 0 7553 4380 5 trade paperback $24.95.
Two very different sisters, Mia (still in love with the married father of her daughter) and Britt (the ice maiden, who has ironically written a romantic bestseller), join a luxury honeymoon cruise in the Caribbean where Britt is the guest lecturer. Also on board is recently widowed Leo, still reeling from the discovery of his wife’s betrayal just before her death, and Steve, a ship’s officer who’s soon looking for more than a holiday romance with Mia. Can Steve replace Alejo and is there any chance that Britt and Leo can see what’s obvious to everyone else - that they really should get together? When the characters head for home - Mia to Spain, the others to Dublin - it seems that all romantic options are off, especially as Leo has rashly got engaged to glamorous, man-eating Pippin while at sea. But love has a way of triumphing in Sheila O’Flanagan’s novels, even if it takes till the very last page.
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he Chapel at the Edge of the World – Kirsten McKenzie – Fiction – September - 978-1-84854-149-8 hardcover $34.95; 978 1 8485 4244 0 trade paperback $24.95.
Frustrated by being a prisoner, Emilio is inspired by the idea of building a chapel on the barren island. The prisoners band together to transform a derelict hut with little more than salvaged odds and ends. While Emilio’s chapel will remain long after the POW camp, will his love for Rosa survive the hardships of war? For Rosa is no longer the girl he left behind. She is being drawn further into the Italian resistance movement and closer to danger.
Human resilience is at the heart of this powerful debut and the small Italian chapel remains, as it does in reality, as a symbol of these qualities.
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he Collaborator – Gerald Seymour – Fiction – November - 978 0 3409 1886 9 hardcover $34.95; 978 0 3409 1887 6 trade paperback $24.95.
She is an Italian accountancy student in London, and her boyfriend Eddie teaches at a language school. But the prime reason Immacolata Borelli came to Britain was to look after her gangster brother, wanted for multiple murders back home in Naples.
The Borelli clan are major players in the Camorra, a crime network more close-knit and ruthless than the Sicilian Mafia. Mario Castrolami is a senior Carabinieri investigator of the Camorra, his career dedicated to destroying the corruption and violence of the clans. When Immacolata calls from London to say she is prepared to collaborate with justice - to betray her own family - he knows she is setting in motion a terrifying and unpredictable series of events.
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nnvasion – Julian Stockwin – Fiction – November - 978 0 3409 6116 2 trade paperback $26.95.
Napoleon’s forces are poised to invade Britain, and Commander Thomas Kydd’s ship is at the forefront of the fleet defending the English coast. His honour restored after temporary disgrace in the Channel Islands, and reunited with his ship Teazer, Kydd seizes the chance to fight for his country.
Then Kydd is abruptly withdrawn from the fleet and sent back to Dover on a secret mission to guard a mysterious American inventor. Having worked his way up from press-ganged seaman to captain of his own ship, Kydd is furious to find he will miss his opportunity to prove himself in battle. And Kydd’s baffled superiors are equally angry to lose Kydd and his ship at such a dangerous time.
Yet Kydd’s role in the approaching war may be the most crucial part he has ever played.
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orthern Wilderness – Ray Mears – Nature/Travel – October – 978 0 340 98082 8 hardcover $39.95.
Northern Wilderness is a stunning celebration of one of earth’s great wildernesses. Ray Mears journeys on foot, by canoe and by snowshoe through mountains, forests, tundra and ice in a land where roads are still scarce.
He explores the vast Boreal Forest in Canada and its rich animal life from beavers to bears. Ray follows the paths of the great early northern explorers, Samuel Hearne and David Thompson, who survived through their knowledge of what we now call bushcraft, as they trekked across the tundra and the Rocky Mountains. He explores the frozen north and learns the ways of the Inuit, who teach him how to combat snow blindness and build shelter.
This book is rich in bushcraft, as Ray explains the unique survival techniques of the Native Canadians and the Inuit, as well as how the prospectors in the gold rush used bushcraft skills to survive in this inhospitable but awesome landscape.
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he Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham – Selina Hastings – Biography – November - 978 0 7195 6554 0 hardcover $50.00; 576 pp.
Somerset Maugham (1874–1965), author of classics such as Of Human Bondage and The Razor’s Edge, was one of the best known writers of his time. Yet much was hidden. Predominantly homosexual, Maugham made a disastrous marriage although deeply in love with a charming but dissolute young man. It was partly to escape his wife that Maugham undertook the journeys that inspired so many stories. Moving between London, New York and Hollywood, he entertained lavishly at his villa in the south of France, and during both world wars he worked for British Intelligence. Outwardly his life was richly rewarding, but privately he suffered anguish from an unrequited love affair and a shocking final betrayal.
