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New Fiction
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Sister Snake
A glittering, bold, darkly funny novel about two sisters--one in New York, one in Singapore--who are bound by an ancient secret
Sisterhood is difficult for Su and Emerald. Su leads a sheltered, moneyed life as the picture-perfect wife of a conservative politician in Singapore. Emerald is a nihilistic sugar baby in New York, living from whim to whim and using her charms to make ends meet. But they share a secret: once, they were snakes, basking under a full moon in Tang dynasty China.
A thousand years later, their mysterious history is the only thing still binding them together. When Emerald experiences a violent encounter in Central Park and Su boards the next flight to New York, the two reach a tenuous reconciliation for the first time in decades. Su convinces Emerald to move to Singapore so she can keep an eye on her--but she soon begins to worry that Emerald's irrepressible behavior will out them both, in a sparkling, affluent city where everything runs like clockwork and any deviation from the norm is automatically suspect.
Razor-sharp, hilarious, and raw in emotion, Sister Snake explores chosen family, queerness, passing, and the struggle against conformity. Reimagining the Chinese folktale "The Legend of the White Snake," this is a novel about being seen for who you are--and, ultimately, how to live free.
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Rental House
DAKOTA JOHNSON’S TEATIME PICTURES DECEMBER BOOK CLUB PICK
ONE OF NPR’S “BOOKS WE LOVE” 2024
“One of the most nuanced, astute critiques of America now I’ve read in years. And it’s also frequently hilarious.”
—Los Angeles Times
“A funny, perceptive look at what it means to defy societal expectations…timeless.”
—Washington Post
“[For] basically anyone who is breathing, Rental House is a must-read."
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Sharp, insightful, occasionally heartbreaking, and incredibly relatable.”
—Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
“For anyone who’s experienced demanding parents, misunderstanding in-laws, a vacation-gone-wrong, or mid-life questions about how to reconcile your own personality liabilities with those of the person you love most.”
—Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot
From the award-winning author of Chemistry, a sharp-witted, insightful novel about a marriage as seen through the lens of two family vacations
Keru and Nate are college sweethearts who marry despite their family differences: Keru’s strict, Chinese, immigrant parents demand perfection (“To use a dishwasher is to admit defeat,” says her father), while Nate’s rural, white, working-class family distrusts his intellectual ambitions and his “foreign” wife.
Some years into their marriage, the couple invites their families on vacation. At a Cape Cod beach house, and later at a luxury Catskills bungalow, Keru, Nate, and their giant sheepdog navigate visits from in-laws and unexpected guests, all while wondering if they have what it takes to answer the big questions: How do you cope when your spouse and your family of origin clash? How many people (and dogs) make a family? And when the pack starts to disintegrate, what can you do to shepherd everyone back together?
With her “wry, wise, and simply spectacular” style (People) and “hilarious deadpan that recalls Gish Jen and Nora Ephron” (O, The Oprah Magazine), Weike Wang offers a portrait of family that is equally witty, incisive, and tender. -
Against the Grain
Detective Peter Diamond goes undercover at a seasonal festival in this delightful and bittersweet conclusion to the multi-award-winning series.
Detective Peter Diamond, chief of the Avon and Somerset Murder Squad, is taking a short holiday in the country. His former colleague Julie Hargreaves has invited Diamond and his partner, Paloma, to visit the idyllic village of Baskerville (no relation to the Sherlock Holmes story, so he’s told). It turns out Julie’s invitation was not without ulterior motives. The woman who owns the village’s largest dairy farm has been convicted of manslaughter following a terrible accident in her grain silo. Julie’s ex-investigator instinct tells her there has been a miscarriage of justice and a murderer is on the loose—but Julie’s been keeping secrets of her own, and can’t take her inquiry any further.
Diamond takes the bait; the case is a fascinating one, and he’s quite enjoying his incognito information-gathering, getting to know the villagers as they prepare for their annual Harvest Festival. The deeper into the cow dung Diamond mucks, the more convinced he becomes there was foul play. But maintaining his innocent tourist facade becomes harder as he closes in on his suspects. To protect his alias, he might have to learn how to operate a tractor or drive a herd of wayward cows. He might even be forced to attend a hoedown—not that he’d dance, not even to catch a killer. Or would he? The curmudgeonly detective has plenty to learn about himself as he tries on some new hats: undercover private investigator; village detective; country gentleman.
Over 30 years and 21 other novels, Peter Lovesey has bewitched his enormous fandom with the wry, stubborn, and fiendishly clever Peter Diamond. Now he brings his Anthony, Macavity, and CWA Dagger–winning series to a close with this delightful and bittersweet final installment. -
The Secret of the Three Fates
Following the atmospheric and award-winning gothic historical mystery debut, The Curse of Penryth Hall, USA Today bestselling author Jess Armstrong's heroine, Ruby Vaughn, returns in The Secret of the Three Fates, where the Scottish Hills hold ghosts of the past that threaten Ruby’s present.
American heiress Ruby Vaughn still hasn't entirely forgiven her octogenarian employer and housemate Mr. Owen for bringing the occult into their lives during her recent trip to Cornwall. He claims their journey to Manhurst Castle in the Scottish Borders is simply to appraise and acquire illuminated manuscripts for their rare books shop, however when Ruby discovers there are no manuscripts and receives news of a séance to be held that very night, she begins to grow suspicious about the true reason why they have come.
The Great War left grieving families willing to sacrifice anything for the chance to say goodbye to a lost loved one. Mr. Owen is no exception. He is desperate to speak to his son, but he doesn’t want to face the spirits alone. When the séance—hosted by a trio of mediums billing themselves as The Three Fates—goes awry, Mr. Owen’s secrets begin to unravel, threatening to reveal a history that he has been running from for half his life. Something Ruby knows all too well how to do.
When Ruby finds one of the Three Fates murdered the night of the seance, she and Mr. Owen quickly become the prime suspects. To clear their names, Ruby enlists the help of Ruan Kivell, the folk healer Pellar who helped her weeks before in Cornwall. As their investigation progresses Ruby and Ruan realize someone is determined to prevent them from uncovering the truth about what happened to the dead medium. -
Tom Clancy Defense Protocol
The stakes are sky-high when a power-mad Chinese president threatens Taiwan in the #1 New York Times bestselling Jack Ryan series.
For decades, Taiwan has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. An independent nation to the rest of the world, it is considered a rogue province by the PRC. Previous governments have tried to conquer the island using economic force and diplomatic pressure, but new Chinese President Li Jian Jun is done fooling around. He’s devised a secret military operation to take the island. Only one man knows how to stop Li’s mad and bloody plan for reunification and that’s Minister of Defense Qin Haiyu. Fearing for his life and the safety of his family, Qin covertly makes contact with the CIA in Beijing and signals his desire to defect to the West.
To get Qin out, John Clark creates an international task force reminiscent of Rainbow Six and goes undercover in mainland China. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Katie Ryan is deployed to the tip of the spear on the destroyer USS Jason Dunham to defend Taiwan. Threatened by an encircling Chinese armada, she’s under pressure to find a flaw in the invaders’ plan for her father to exploit.
For his part, President Jack Ryan may have the power of the entire US military at his disposal, but what he really needs are Li’s secret plans from Defense Minister Qin so he can stave off a war. Because America’s Defense Protocol could lead to a game of mutual destruction that could cost the lives of thousands of young soldiers, sailors, special operators as well as his daughter. -
Wind and Truth
The long-awaited explosive climax to the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive—the iconic epic fantasy masterpiece that has sold more than 10 million copies, from acclaimed bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.
Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare—and the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium’s place has thrown everything into disarray.
Desperate fighting continues simultaneously worldwide—Adolin in Azir, Sigzil and Venli at the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah in Thaylenah. The former assassin, Szeth, must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons . . . and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar.
At the same time, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiant killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium’s champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos. The fate of the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.
Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson
The Cosmere
The Stormlight Archive
● The Way of Kings
● Words of Radiance
● Edgedancer (novella)
● Oathbringer
● Dawnshard (novella)
● Rhythm of War
The Mistborn Saga
The Original Trilogy
● Mistborn
● The Well of Ascension
● The Hero of Ages
Wax & Wayne
● The Alloy of Law
● Shadows of Self
● The Bands of Mourning
● The Lost Metal
Other Cosmere novels
● Elantris
● Warbreaker
● Tress of the Emerald Sea
● Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
● The Sunlit Man
Collection
● Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
● Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
● The Scrivener's Bones
● The Knights of Crystallia
● The Shattered Lens
● The Dark Talent
● Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians (with Janci Patterson)
Other novels
● The Rithmatist
● Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds
● The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England
Other books by Brandon Sanderson
The Reckoners
● Steelheart
● Firefight
● Calamity
● Lux (with Steven Michael Bohls)
Skyward
● Skyward
● Starsight
● Cytonic
● Skyward Flight (with Janci Patterson)
● Defiant -
Lawbreaker
"You just can't do better than a Diana Palmer story to make your heart lighter and smile brighter."--Fresh Fiction
Tony Garza has been Odalie Everett's nemesis since the day they met. Once a New Jersey crime boss, Tony now owns an art gallery in New York, where he spends most of his time delegating his shadier business to subordinates. Odalie is a professional singer whose lifelong dream is to perform at the Met. She never expected to run into the heartbreaker from her past when she rents a small house near Tony's Manhattan apartment while taking voice lessons. But when they reconnect, they can't help but give in to unforgettable passion.
As their relationship blossoms, deadly figures from Tony's past come back to exact revenge, and he'll do anything to protect Odalie...even bring her back home to her family ranch in Texas. But as Odalie struggles with the idea of leaving behind her dreams in the city to have true love in Texas, she finds herself caught in the ultimate trap--and Tony's past won't let them go.
Also in the Long, Tall Texans Series:
- The Loner
- Notorious
- Unleashed
- Unbridaled
- Undaunted
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Locked In
The New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling Department Q series comes to a thrilling conclusion when the team must turn inward to solve the cold case that has put their own leader behind bars, a place where his enemies are plentiful and time is quickly running out.
On the day after Christmas, head of Department Q, Detective Carl Mørck, finds himself handcuffed in a police car headed for Copenhagen's Vestre prison. After fifteen years, a violent case from his past has caught up with him. Charges of drug trafficking and murder threaten to destroy his life and career. But he is being framed. Someone has a million-dollar bounty on his head to make sure he doesn't talk, putting him in grave danger among the prison's incarcerated criminals and corrupt officers. The question that remains is, Why?
Carl's colleagues at the Copenhagen Police Department instantly turn their backs on him, leaving the ever-loyal Department Q team as his only hope. In search of answers, Rose, Assad, and Gordon must disobey direct orders from way up the chain to try to unravel case. With only one another to trust and Carl's battle against the unknown mastermind's henchmen worsening by the day, they must work faster than ever before if they are to clear his name—and save his life. -
Where the Creek Bends
From acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller comes a beautifully rendered timeslip novel about the family we create for ourselves...
Madison Bettencourt has tried to assemble all the pieces of a perfect life, but nothing fits quite the way it should. She's moved back home to Montana to care for her grandmother, who is slipping further and further away. And she's called off her wedding, and worries her dreams of a family are fading with it.
As Madison rattles around her family home, childhood memories come flooding back. Bliss Morgan transformed eight-year-old Madison with her loyalty, and for a while, the two girls were as close as can be. But Madison never understood why Bliss suddenly vanished, leaving only a friendship bracelet and a message etched into a matchbook.
Before she can begin again, Madison must uncover what happened to Bliss, and Liam McKettrick--a widowed dad trying to repair his relationship with his two children--becomes her unlikely ally. He, too, understands the pang of regret. Yet there are mysteries that Madison hesitates to explore with anyone, and strange energies in Bettencourt Hall that blur the lines between past and present.
Poignant and utterly captivating, Where the Creek Bends shows that finding yourself begins with following your heart, no matter where it leads.
Perfect for fans of:
- Second Chances
- Family Drama
- Small Town settings
- Susan Mallery, Nicolas Sparks and Ashley Poston
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Bellevue
From the bestselling author and "master of the medical thriller" (The New York Times), Robin Cook, comes a new tale of suspense-horror about a first-year resident whose life-shattering visions reveal the truth behind some of the greatest medical advances in the history of medicine.
Twenty-three-year-old Michael “Mitt” Fuller starts his surgical residency with great anticipation at the nearly three-hundred-year-old, iconic Bellevue Hospital, following in the footsteps of four previous, celebrated Fuller generations. The pressure is on for this newly minted doctor, and to his advantage he’s always had a secret sixth sense, a sensitivity to the nonphysical. But quickly one patient after another assigned to his care begin to die from mysterious causes. As he tries to juggle these inexplicable deaths with the demands of being a first-year resident, things rapidly spiral out of control.
Visions begin to plague Mitt—visions of a little girl in a bloodstained dress, bloodcurdling screams in the distance, and worse. As bodies mount and Mitt’s stress level rises, he finds himself drawn to the monumental, abandoned Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital building, which to his astonishment has somehow defied the wrecking-ball and still stands a few doors north of the modern Bellevue Hospital high-rise. Forcing an unauthorized entry into this storied but foreboding structure, Mitt discovers he’s more closely tied to the sins of the past than he ever thought possible.
New Nonfiction
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Trial by Ambush
In this dramatic true account about the power of sensationalized crime, one woman's case is exposed for its sexism, flagrant disregard for the truth, and, ultimately, the dangers posed by an unbridled prosecution.
Unwanted and neglected from birth, Barbara Graham had to overcome the odds just to survive. Her beauty was both a blessing and a curse--offering her too many options of all the wrong kind. Her innate sensitivity left her vulnerable to the harsh realities of the street, where she was left to fend for herself before she reached double digits. Her record of petty crimes spoke to a life that constantly teetered on the brink of disaster.
But in 1953, a catastrophic twist of fate would catapult her out of obscurity and into the headlines.
When a robbery spiraled out of control and escalated into a brutal murder, Barbara became the centerpiece of a media circus. Her beauty enraptured the press, and they were quick to portray her as a villainous femme fatale despite abundant evidence to the contrary--a fiction the prosecution eagerly promoted.
The frenzy of public interest and willful distortion paved a treacherous path for Barbara Graham. In Trial by Ambush, author and criminal lawyer Marcia Clark investigates the case exposing the fallacies in the demonizing picture they painted and the critical evidence that was never revealed.
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Heretic
"Heretic has the mother lode of tales too hot for Christendom. Nixey has carefully wrung out a number of apocryphal texts for scandal." --Harper's Magazine
From a celebrated classicist and author of The Darkening Age ("[a] ballista-bolt of a book"--New York Times Book Review), a biography of the many, diverse variations of Jesus who thrived in early Christian traditions--and how they were lost until just one "true" Christ survived.
Contrary to the teachings of the church today, in the first several centuries of Christianity's existence, there was no consensus as to who Jesus was or why he had mattered. Instead, there were many different Christs. One had a twin brother and traveled to India; another consorted with dragons. One particularly terrifying Christ scorned his parents and killed those who opposed him.
Moreover, in the early years of the first millennium there were many other saviors, many sons of gods who healed the sick and cured the lame. But as Christianity spread, they were pronounced unacceptable - even heretical - and they faded from view.
Heretic unearths the different versions of Christ who existed in the minds of early Christians, and the process of evolution--and elimination--by which Jesus became the singular figure we know today.
"A brilliant book--sometimes frightening, occasionally funny, frequently unsettling and always a thrill to read. It probes painfully into the pathology of belief." -- The Times
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The Cure for Women
How Victorian male doctors used false science to argue that women were unfit for anything but motherhood—and the brilliant doctor who defied them
After Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to graduate from medical school, more women demanded a chance to study medicine. Barred entrance to universities like Harvard, women built their own first-rate medical schools and hospitals. Their success spurred a chilling backlash from elite, white male physicians who were obsessed with eugenics and the propagation of the white race. Distorting Darwin’s evolution theory, these haughty physicians proclaimed in bestselling books that women should never be allowed to attend college or enter a profession because their menstrual cycles made them perpetually sick. Motherhood was their constitution and duty.
Into the midst of this turmoil marched tiny, dynamic Mary Putnam Jacobi, daughter of New York publisher George Palmer Putnam and the first woman to be accepted into the world-renowned Sorbonne medical school in Paris. As one of the best-educated doctors in the world, she returned to New York for the fight of her life. Aided by other prominent women physicians and suffragists, Jacobi conducted the first-ever data-backed, scientific research on women's reproductive biology. The results of her studies shook the foundations of medical science and higher education. Full of larger than life characters and cinematically written, The Cure for Women documents the birth of a sexist science still haunting us today as the fight for control of women’s bodies and lives continues. -
Oathbreakers
"This is a serious, meticulous history that will also appeal to Game of Thrones fans, who will discover intriguing parallels between history and fiction." -- Booklist
"An enlightening portrait of the medieval mindset." -- Publishers Weekly
The authors of The Bright Ages return with a real-life Game of Thrones--the story of the Carolingian Civil War, a bloody, protracted battle pitting brother against brother, father against son, that would end an empire, upend a continent, and redefine the future of Europe
By the early ninth century, the Carolingian empire was at the height of its power. The Franks, led by Charlemagne, had built the largest European domain since Rome in its heyday. Though they jockeyed for power, prestige, and profit, the Frankish elites enjoyed political and cultural consensus. But just two generations later, their world was in shambles. Civil war, once an unthinkable threat, had erupted after Louis the Pious's sons tried to overthrow him--and then placed their knives at the other's neck. Families who had once charged into battle together now drew each other's blood.
The Carolingian Civil War would rage for years as kings fought kings, brother faced off against brother, and sons challenged fathers. Oathbreakers is the dramatic history of this brutal, turbulent time. Medieval historians David M. Perry and Matthew Gabriele illuminate what happens when a once unshakeable political and cultural order breaks down and long suppressed tensions flare into deadly violence. Drawn from rich primary sources, featuring a wide cast of characters, packed with dramatic twists and turns, this is history that rivals the greatest fictional epics--with consequences that continue to shape our own world.
Oathbreakers offers lessons of what deep cracks in a once-stable social and political fabric might reveal, and the bloody consequences of disagreeing on facts and reality. The Civil War at the heart of this tale asks: who is "in" and who is "out"? And what happens when things fall apart?
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LifeStyled
Transform your entire life by cutting mental clutter, reducing overwhelm, and simplifying your daily routines with this inspiring and comprehensive guide from the bestselling author of Minimalista and Organized Living.
As a professional home organizing expert with a diverse roster of clients ranging from students to CEOs, Shira Gill realized that almost everyone she worked with was overextended, overscheduled, and overwhelmed. So, using her signature blend of practical minimalism and organization, Shira designed a game-changing framework to streamline and simplify every part of your life, regardless of lifestyle or budget.
LifeStyled is built around three key steps: adjusting volume, creating systems, and implementing habits.
Applying these tools, you can transform your home, life, mindset, and schedule with accessible tips and quick wins—little things you can integrate or practice for quick, transformative results.
Chapters cover health, home, relationships, career, finance, and personal development with actionable prompts to help you:
- Learn realistic strategies to optimize your sleep, nutrition, and overall wellness.
- Implement simple habits and routines to create and maintain a home that feels good.
- Cut the relationship clutter and invest in meaningful connections and community.
- Redefine success on your own terms and align your financial strategy with your values.
- Prioritize activities that help you feel energized, engaged, and fully alive.
- Disrupt unproductive thought patterns and create motivating new narratives.
Shira has dedicated her career to helping people gain clarity and activate their best selves, even when they are short on time or capacity. In LifeStyled, she shows readers how to achieve more ease, alignment, and freedom, one tiny step at a time. -
Good Nature
A Next Big Idea Club must-read selection!
An Amazon Editor's Pick for Best Nonfiction Book!
A ground-breaking investigation into newly discovered evidence showing that remarkable things happen to our bodies and our minds when our senses connect with the natural world.
We all take for granted the idea that being in nature makes us feel better. But if you were a skeptical scientist—or indeed any kind of skeptic—who wanted hard scientific evidence for this idea, where would you look? And how would that evidence be gathered?
It wasn’t until Dr. Kathy Willis was asked to contribute to an international project looking for the societal benefits we gain from plants that she stumbled across a study that radically changed the way she saw the natural world. In the study there was clear proof that patients recovering from gall bladder operations recovered more quickly if they were looking at trees.
In fact, in the last decade there has been an explosion of “proof" that incredible things happen to our bodies and our minds when our senses interact with the natural world. In Good Nature, Kathy Willis takes the reader on a journey with her to dig out all the experiments around the world that are looking for this evidence—experiments made easier by the new kinds of data being collected from satellites and big-data biobanks. Having a vase of roses on your desk or a green wall in your office makes a measurable difference to your well-being; certain scents in room diffusers genuinely can boost your immune system; and, in a chapter that Kathy calls "Hidden Sense," we learn that touching organic soil has a significant effect on the healthiness of your microbiome.
What is remarkable about this book is how its revelations should be commonsense—schools should let children play in nature to improve their health and concentration; urban streets should have trees—and yet it reveals just how difficult it is to prove this to businesses and governments. As Kathy Willis says in her narrative, "We now know enough to self-prescribe in our homes, offices or working spaces, gardens, and when out walking. However small these individual actions might be, overall they have the potential to provide a large number of health benefits. And we need to be encouraging others to do the same. Nature is far more than just something that is useful for our health. It is not a dispensable commodity. It is an inherent part of us." -
The Last Tsar
"Elegantly written and magisterially researched" (Robert Service, author of A History of Modern Russia), the definitive story behind the self-destruction of the autocratic Romanov dynasty, by the world's foremost expert
When Tsar Nicholas II fell from power in 1917, Imperial Russia faced a series of overlapping crises, from war to social unrest. Though Nicholas's life is often described as tragic, it was not fate that doomed the Romanovs--it was poor leadership and a blinkered faith in autocracy.
Based on a trove of new archival discoveries, The Last Tsar narrates how Nicholas's resistance to reform doomed the monarchy. Encompassing the captivating personalities of the era, it untangles the struggles between the increasingly isolated Nicholas and Alexandra and the factions of scheming nobles, ruthless legislators, and pragmatic generals who sought to stabilize the restive Russian empire either with the Tsar or without him. By rejecting compromise, Nicholas undermined his supporters at crucial moments. His blunders cleared the way for all-out civil war and the eventual rise of the Soviet Union.
Definitive and engrossing, The Last Tsar uncovers how Nicholas II stumbled into revolution, taking his family, the Romanov dynasty, and the whole Russian Empire down with him. -
The Paris Girl
Movingly written by her own daughter, this captivating and intimate biography chronicles the astonishing courage Andrée Griotteray, a teenage girl in Nazi-occupied Paris who would become a hero of the French Resistance through her harrowing work as an underground intelligence courier. For readers of Three Ordinary Girls, A Woman of No Importance, Lis Parisiennes, The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line, and the many other untold stories of WWII’s “hidden figures.”
Andrée Griotteray was just 19 when the Germans invaded France and occupied Paris, where she worked as a clerk in the passport office. When her younger brother, Alain, created a resistance network named Orion, Andrée joined his efforts, secretly typing up and printing copies of an underground newspaper, and stealing I.D. cards which allowed scores of Jewish citizens to escape persecution.
Charming and pretty, Andrée nimbly avoided the unwanted attentions of German officers, even as she secretly began working as an undercover courier. Displaying fearlessness in the face of immense pressure, she traveled throughout the county delivering vital intelligence destined for France’s allies—until the day she was betrayed and arrested.
Throughout her ordeal, Andrée stayed composed, refusing to inform on her comrades. Before she was set free, she even duped her interrogators into revealing who had betrayed Orion, and continued her underground activities until France’s liberation.
Weaving in diary entries, letters, and conversations, Andrée’s daughter, Francelle, brings a uniquely personal slant to her mother’s story. The Paris Girl reveals the narrow escapes and moments of terror, the daily acts of bravery and defiance, and the extraordinary courage displayed by Andrée and so many of her contemporaries, that helped turned the tide of war. -
Custodians of Wonder
A vivid look at 10 astonishing people who are maintaining some of the world's oldest and rarest cultural traditions.
Eliot Stein has traveled the globe in search of remarkable people who are preserving some of our most extraordinary cultural rites. In Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive, Stein introduces readers to a man saving the secret ingredient in Japan's 700-year-old original soy sauce recipe. In Italy, he learns how to make the world's rarest pasta from one of the only women alive who knows how to make it. And in India, he discovers a family rumored to make a mysterious metal mirror believed to reveal your truest self. From shadowing Scandinavia's last night watchman to meeting a 27th-generation West African griot to tracking down Cuba's last official cigar factory “readers” more than a century after they spearheaded the fight for Cuban independence, Stein uncovers an almost lost world.
Climbing through Peru’s southern highlands, he encounters the last Inca bridge master who rebuilds a grass-woven bridge every year from the fabled Inca Road System. He befriends a British beekeeper who maintains a touching custom of "telling the bees" important news of the day. And he crunches through a German forest to find the official mailman of the only tree in the world with its own address – to which countless people from across the world have written in hopes of finding love. These are just some of the last custodians preserving age-old rites on the brink of disappearance against all odds. Let Eliot Stein introduce you to all of them. -
The Last Kilo
From true-crime legend T. J. English, the epic, behind-the-scenes saga of "Los Muchachos," one of the most successful cocaine trafficking organizations in American history--a story of glitz, glamour, and organized crime set against 1980's Miami.
Despite what Scarface might lead one to believe, violence was not the dominant characteristic of the cocaine business. It was corruption: the dirty cops, agents, lawyers, judges, and politicians who made the drug world go round. And no one managed that carousel of dangerous players better than Willy Falcon.
A Cuban exile whose family escaped Fidel Castro's Cuba when he was eleven years old, Falcon, as a teenager, became active in the anti-Castro movement. He began smuggling cocaine into the U.S. as a way to raise money to buy arms for the Contras in Central America. This counter-revolutionary activity led directly to Willy's genesis as a narco. He and his partners built an extraordinary international organization from the ground up. Los Muchachos, the syndicate founded by Falcon, thrived as a major cocaine distribution network in the U.S. from the late 1970's into the early 1990's. At their height, Los Muchachos made more than a hundred million dollars a year. At the same time, Willy, his brother Tavy Falcon, and partner Sal Magluta became famous as championship powerboat racers.
Cocaine, used by everyone from A-list celebrities to lawyers and people in law enforcement, came to define an era, and for a time, Willy Falcon and those like him--major suppliers, of whom there were only a few--became stars in their own right. They were the deliverers of good times, at least until the downside of persistent cocaine use became apparent: delusions of grandeur, psychological addiction, financial ruin. Thus, the War on Drugs was born, and federal authorities came after Falcon and his crew with a vengeance. Willy found himself on the run, his marriage and family life in shambles, the halcyon days of boat races and lavish trips to Vegas and parties at the Mutiny night club seemingly a distant memory.
T. J. English has been granted unprecedented access to the inner workings of Los Muchachos, sitting down with Willy Falcon and his associates for many lengthy interviews, and revealing never-before-understood details about drug trafficking. A classic of true-crime writing from a master of the genre, The Last Kilo traces the rise and fall of a true cocaine empire--and the lives left in its wake.