Other books that might interest you

• 

  Paper Doll - A Novel

  Jim Shepard

  • 0
  • 1
  • 0

  During the air war over Germany, the crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress tries to achieve some competence as a unit before their most catastrophic mission yet They call their plane “Paper Doll,” the joke being its suggestion of flimsiness, inconsequence, and perishability, and none of them, from the veterans to the newcomers, feel the bravery they’d like to project. But now, despite their myriad limitations, they’ve been tasked with living through the tension and boredom of base life, saving one another’s lives, and rejoicing at those missions they’ve survived—until they’re confronted by the shock of a mission directed against the ball-bearing factories in Schweinfurt, a mission that will outfly the capacities of their fighter escorts and take them hundreds of miles through the most heavily defended sectors of the German Air Defense.   National Book Award finalist and author of The Book of Aron Jim Shepard brilliantly illustrates both the lunacy and intimacy of these young men’s lives on the ground as well as their growing disillusionment and terror at what lies ahead. Unsentimental and unsparing in its honesty, Paper Doll portrays with stirring clarity the realities of war and the bonds forged in the face of death.

  Show book

• 

  The Vanishing Point

  Andrea Hotere

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  London, 1991: Alex Johns, trainee art intern at the Courtauld, believes a hidden secret lies within Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas – one of the most written about paintings of all time. Her own mother died in mysterious circumstances while trying to uncover its secrets and Alex is troubled by memories of her own encounter as a child with the girl in the painting – the Infanta Margarita – who continues to haunt her. Alex must take up her mother's work and find evidence to uncover the truths within the canvas.A treacherous trail through the art world, the church and 17th century Spanish Court via mysterious drawings, letters and cryptic notes has Alex trying to piece together what happened in King Philip's court... But powerful players will do anything to stop these truths coming to light. Madrid, 1656: The Infanta Margarita senses that those around her believe the royal household is cursed. She wonders why her father, the King, is a pale shadow of himself and why the Queen is distressed; what threatens the royal offspring? She struggles to fight for her own destiny as the forces around her seek to marry her off and send her from the home she loves. In the tradition of Tracy Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring and A.S. Byatt's Possession, Andrea Hotere's The Vanishing Point slowly reveals the secrets in the painting that have been closely guarded for centuries.  But will Alex live to share them with the art world or is she, too, cursed?

  Show book

• 

  The Winthrop Covenant

  Louis Auchincloss

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Spanning three centuries, these nine stories share the conflicts of a wealthy New England family while portraying the rise and fall of the Puritan ethic. 
   
  The Winthrop Heritage begins in the stern confines of the Massachusetts Bay Colony—Governor John Winthrop’s covenant with God versus Anne Hutchinson’s compulsion to martyrdom. The burden of conscience falls in varying ways to the Governor’s descendants. To his grandson, a judge in the Salem witch trials, it means dying in torment. To Rebecca Bayard, wife of a Hudson Valley patroon, it becomes an obsessive sense of duty leading to ironic consequences. It persuades an American diplomat, negotiating in Paris with the canny Talleyrand, to reject the easy gain of private power. 
   
  On the eve of the Civil War, Winthrop Ward, pillar of rectitude in New York society, finds himself playing God at the price of his own humanity. At the century’s turn, there is Adam Winthrop, wealthy clubman and cultural arbiter, and his protégée Ada Guest—the passionate bluestocking novelist who opts to escape his stifling patronage. In a New England boarding school in the 1920s, the headmaster’s bedeviled Winthrop soul becomes a strange challenge to the chaplain. On the current scene, young and fashionable Natica Seligmann yearns for salvation from an empty life. And finally, there is John Winthrop Gardiner, staunch State Department hawk, whose son is an Army deserter—and whose alcoholic ex-wife perceives only too clearly the latter-day perversions of the Puritan spirit. 
   
  A compassionate, searching, and wholly arresting view of a moral strain that, for better or worse, has marked our national character, The Winthrop Covenant is one of Louis Auchincloss’ highest fictional achievements.

  Show book

• 

  Unbidden Visitor An - A Cooneen...

  Dianne Trimble

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A short story inspired by Northern Ireland's famous Cooneen ghost. 
   
  A tale of family, friends, and fear... 
  And the unnatural force that threatens to ruin everything... 
   
  March 1913:  Struggling to make ends meet, widow Bridget Murphy finds life in rural Ireland difficult, raising six children while farming her small acreage.  With the help of neighbours and friends, Bridget is able to cope with the many arduous tasks and chores required of her.   
  When an unnatural and terrifying force invades their house, threatening their family, Bridget is surprised to see so many backs turning on her.  Fearing for themselves, those she once counted on for help and support will not risk their safety for her. Father Smyth, their priest, is the only one who stands alongside their family in the battle against the uninvited and fearsome poltergeist.  But, prayers alone won’t run the farm. Will Bridget find a way to save her home and her family before there's nowhere left to turn?  

  Show book

• 

  The Keening - A Mystery of...

  Anne Emery

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The murdered body of Sorcha the prophetess is discovered following a lavish banquet at the Maguire castle in 16th-century Ireland. In the present day, a dig commences on the land, and not only is a body discovered, but a sheaf of prophecies. Who killed Sorcha?
  		 
  There has been a guesthouse on the Tierney land in County Fermanagh for hundreds of years. Now Tierney’s Hotel is faced with a development that will block the hotel’s best feature, its view of Enniskillen Castle. But the project can be stopped if there are important historical artifacts buried on the property. Enter the archaeologists.
  		 
  Mick’s ancestor, Brigid Tierney, ran the guesthouse in the late 1500s. We see Brigid and Shane and their children at a lavish banquet at the castle, home of the ruling family, the Maguires. The wine and ale flow freely, the harpist plays, the bard recites the Maguires’ heroic deeds. But one woman has a sense of foreboding. Sorcha the prophetess sees harrowing times ahead. The Tudors of England are determined to complete their brutal conquest of Ireland.
  		 
  The morning after the banquet, Sorcha is found dead on a bed of oak leaves. And Shane is accused of the killing. His lawyer, Terence, conducts his defence on the hilltop that constitutes the court in 1595.
  		 
  Ireland has had a complex and at times woeful history, and we see that history being played out in the lives of the Tierneys, past and present. 
  		 
  In 2018, the dig commences on Mick Tierney’s land. Historical artifacts? Yes. But also a sheaf of prophecies. And a body ― a bogman ― four hundred years old.

  Show book

• 

  The Fairbairn Girls

  Una-Mary Parker

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A nineteenth-century family of Scottish aristocrats falls victim to a mysterious curse in this historical saga by the author of Riches—“A spellbinding read” (Booklist).   Scotland, 1891. The aristocratic Fairbairn family have occupied Lochlee Castle in Argyllshire for the past five centuries. The current head of the family, the Earl of Rothbury, along with his wife, two sons, and nine daughters, all seem destined for a happy future. But on the day that his daughter Laura’s engagement is announced, Lord Rothbury receives an unsettling visit from a mysterious man who harbors a grudge—and a curse—for the Rothbury family.   Soon it seems the whole family is doomed, with tragedy and heartbreak around every corner. As the years go on, the surviving Fairbairns attempt to show bravery in adversity. But will they ever escape the curse?   “With an unusual plot full of unexpected twists and a graceful writing style, Parker’s latest is not only a spellbinding read but also an eye-opening look at the role of the aristocracy and women in Scotland at the turn of the nineteenth-to-twentieth century.” —Booklist

  Show book