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  The Leavenworth Case

  Anna Katharine Green

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  Anna Katharine Green was one of the first female mystery writers to publish under her own name. She was never very successful as an author, but the technical excellence of her books caused several law schools to use The Leavenworth Case as a textbook in some of their classes, as an example of how misleading circumstantial evidence can be.

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  The Man in the Wooden Hat

  Jane Gardam

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  Second in the Old Filth trilogy. “An astute, subtle depiction of marriage . . . absolutely wonderful” (The Washington Post). 
   
  Acclaimed as Jane Gardam’s masterpiece, Old Filth is a lyrical novel that recalls the fully lived life of Sir Edward Feathers. The Man in the Wooden Hat is the history of his marriage told from the perspective of his wife, Betty, a character as vivid and enchanting as Filth himself. 
   
  They met in Hong Kong after the war. Betty had spent the duration in a Japanese internment camp. Filth was already a successful barrister, handsome, fast becoming rich, in need of a wife but unaccustomed to romance. A perfect English couple of the late 1940s. 
   
  As a portrait of a marriage, with all the bittersweet secrets and surprising fulfillment of the fifty-year union of two remarkable people, The Man in the Wooden Hat is a triumph. Fiction of a very high order from a great novelist working at the pinnacle of her considerable power, it will be read and loved and recommended by all the many thousands of readers who found its predecessor, Old Filth, so compelling and thoroughly satisfying. 
   
  “Funny and affecting . . . It’s remarkable.” —The New York Times Book Review 
   
  “The latest occasion to celebrate Gardam . . . [a] superb novel.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR 
   
  “Told with quintessentially British humor . . . Gardam’s prose is witty and precise.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) 
   
   
   
  “It’s magnificent. . . . Funny, intelligent and immensely moving.” —Kirkus Reviews

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  The Belt of Gold - A Novel of...

  Cecelia Holland

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  In an exotic ancient land, a foreign stranger’s sworn mission of vengeance leads him into the perilous circle of a ruthless Byzantine empress In the early years of the ninth century, the road home from Jerusalem winds through Constantinople for two Frankish noblemen-warriors. But when an encounter with a young woman running for her life results in the murder of Hagen the White’s brother, he vows to find the perpetrators, no matter how highborn or powerful, and take his revenge. His hunt will carry him into the royal circle of the Basileus Irene, a ruthless despot who blinded her own son to force him off the throne. The beautiful and calculating empress is fascinated by this supposed barbarian who has sworn allegiance to the great Charlemagne, and she welcomes him into the imperial court—and into the dangerous fires of countless royal conspiracies. Suddenly Hagen must tread carefully through a vipers’ nest of plots, lies, and bloodthirsty power plays, for if the stranger trusts the wrong serpent, he will certainly die.   One of the world’s premier purveyors of historical fiction, acclaimed novelist Cecelia Holland ushers the reader into a thrilling, exotic, and colorful world ruled by one of history’s most complex and fascinating women. The Belt of Gold is a stunning tale of power and vengeance set against a breathtaking backdrop of Byzantine opulence, from the conspiracies of the empress’s court and the intrigues of the bedchamber to the heart-racing clashes of champions in the public arenas where famed charioteers seek ultimate glory before the eyes of an adoring populace.

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  Song for Night

  Chris Abani

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  “A devastating portrait of a boy holding onto the shreds of his innocence during a war that deliberately, remorselessly works to yank it away.”—Los Angeles Times   Part Inferno, part Paradise Lost, part Sunjata epic, Song for Night is the story of a West African boy soldier’s terrifying yet oddly beautiful journey through a nightmare landscape of brutal war in search of his lost platoon. The mute protagonist—his vocal cords cut to lower the risk of detection by the enemy—writes in a ghostly voice about his fellow minesweepers, the things he’s witnessed, and the things he’s done, each chapter headed by a line of the sign language these children invented. This “immersive and dreamlike” novella (Publishers Weekly, starred review) by a PEN/Hemingway Award winner is unlike anything else written about an African war. “Not since Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird or Agota Kristof’s Notebook Trilogy has there been such a harrowing novel about what it’s like to be a young person in a war. That Chris Abani is able to find humanity, mercy, and even, yes, forgiveness, amid such devastation is something of a miracle.”—Rebecca Brown, author of The End of Youth “Impressive and fast-paced…narrated with such dry and lucid precision that it brings to mind Babel, Hemingway, McCarthy.”—Esquire

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  My Name Is Revenge - Novella and...

  Ashley Kalagian-Blunt

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  "A heartfelt and gripping story of family, hardship and resilience." - Candice Fox 
  On 17 December 1980, at 9:47 am, two men shot the Turkish consul-general to Sydney and his bodyguard near the consul’s home in Vaucluse. The assassins aimed, fired, and vanished. 
  A young idealistic Armenian sets out to discover if his brother was involved in the crime – and how he can take part in the next one. 
  From Australia to the streets of 1920s Berlin and the horrors of the Armenian genocide of World War I, this story blends historical facts with compelling crime fiction. 
  Three companion essays narrated by the author delve into the history and personal stories behind the world’s first modern genocide and the legacy of its ongoing denial.  
   

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  The Love That I Have - 'Winter...

  James Moloney

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  'WINTER CALLS FOR A GOOD BOOK, AND WE'VE FOUND ONE TO RIVAL THE BOOK THIEF' 
  -- The Australian Women's Weekly 
    
  Margot Baumann has left school to take up her sister's job in the mailroom of a large prison. But this is Germany in 1944, and the prison is Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin. 
  Margot is shielded from the camp's brutality as she has no contact with prisoners. But she does handle their mail and, when given a cigarette lighter and told to burn the letters, she is horrified by the callous act she must carry out with her own hands. This is especially painful since her brother was taken prisoner at Stalingrad and her family have had no letters from him. So Margot steals a few letters, intending to send them in secret, only to find herself drawn to their heart-rending words of hope, of despair, and of love. 
  This is how Margot comes to know Dieter Kleinschmidt - through the beauty and the passion of his letters to his girlfriend. 
  And since his girlfriend is also named Margot, it is like reading love letters written for her. 
  From award-winning Australian author James Moloney, comes a fresh and compelling story about love, loss and profound bravery. For fans of The Book Thief, this powerful and heartbreaking story set during WW2 stays with you long after the final page is read. 
   
   
   
  AWARDS FOR JAMES MOLONEYIn 2019 James Moloney was honoured with the CBCA Nan Chauncy Award, which each year honours an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to Australian children's literature. 
  MORE PRAISE FOR THE LOVE THAT I HAVE: 
  'a beautiful, heartbreaking and affecting read. ... Definitely one for book club, just don't forget the tissues.' -- The Australian Women's Weekly 
  'a heartbreaking, harrowing and deeply hopeful story ... for readers of The Book Thief, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' -- Books+Publishing 
  'A compelling and emotionally charged story of young love and survival, bravery and humanity. The closing months of the Second World War in Germany are seen from a surprising and fresh perspective. I was holding back tears from page 72.' -- Shona Martyn, Spectrum Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald 
  'a profoundly hopeful and humanity-affirming novel, portraying the equalising power that compassion has above all injustice. This is a novel for people who enjoyed The Book Thief, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, All the Light We Cannot See, and more recently, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.' -- Better Reading 
  'This is historical fiction at its best - thoughtfully written, relevant today, throwing new light on well-worn themes of love, loyalty and friendship. It is also a gut-wrenching read that is up there with Anne Frank's diary for immediacy and impact. Recommended.' -- CBCA Reading Time

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