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Showing 1 - 20 of 20 items
By Ruth Thomas. 2011
There's been a spate of break-ins lately in the area and everyone in Kate's class is saying that the burglar…
is Desmond Locke's dad because he's just come out of prison. Everyone, that is, except Kate. She's sure that Mr Locke is innocent and turns to her Secret Seven books for inspiration - they always find the real thief. Kate and Desmond become detectives to find out the truth and prove Desmond's dad is innocent. But the truth isn't always what you would like it to be and Kate is horrified when she discovers who really is... GUILTY.By Christa Wolf. 2012
First published in 1963, in East Germany, They Divided the Sky tells the story of a young couple, living in…
the new, socialist, East Germany, whose relationship is tested to the extreme not only because of the political positions they gradually develop but, very concretely, by the Berlin Wall, which went up on August 13, 1961. The story is set in 1960 and 1961, a moment of high political cold war tension between the East Bloc and the West, a time when many thousands of people were leaving the young German Democratic Republic (the GDR) every day in order to seek better lives in West Germany, or escape the political ideology of the new country that promoted the "farmer and peasant" state over a state run by intellectuals or capitalists. The construction of the Wall put an end to this hemorrhaging of human capital, but separated families, friends, and lovers, for thirty years. The conflicts of the time permeate the relations between characters in the book at every level, and strongly affect the relationships that Rita, the protagonist, has not only with colleagues at work and at the teacher's college she attends, but also with her partner Manfred (an intellectual and academic) and his family. They also lead to an accident/attempted suicide that send her to hospital in a coma, and that provide the backdrop for the flashbacks that make up the narrative. Wolf's first full-length novel, published when she was thirty-five years old, was both a great literary success and a political scandal. Accused of having a 'decadent' attitude with regard to the new socialist Germany and deliberately misrepresenting the workers who are the foundation of this new state, Wolf survived a wave of political and other attacks after its publication. She went on to create a screenplay from the novel and participate in making the film version. More importantly, she went on to become the best-known East German writer of her generation, a writer who established an international reputation and never stopped working toward improving the socialist reality of the GDR.By Alain Poissant. 2015
Bonté III was five years old. A cow at that age is at her prime. Prime is an accounting term.…
A dairy farm is a business and must be managed as such. From this perspective, Bonté III’s days were numbered. Numbered is not an empty word. She had been a good representative of her breed. A cow, after all, has no need to try to be a cow. Her life is that of a cow: a predetermined cycle that is easily reflected on a balance sheet. She eats. She drinks. She ruminates. She urinates. She defecates. All this has a cost. She ovulates. She bears a calf. She gives birth. She produces milk. All this brings money. [...] Tit for tat. The only thing left to do for Bonté III was to call the butcher. The Fate of Bonté III is a story of love and loneliness with colourful characters, a reflection on life and the vital need to be useful to someone or to something.By Andrea Levy. 2010
Now a major BBC TV drama, starring Tamara Lawrance, Lenny Henry and Hayley Atwell.A Sunday Times bestseller (2011), shortlisted for…
the Man Booker Prize, The Long Song by Andrea Levy is a hauntingly beautiful, heartbreaking and unputdownable novel of the last days of slavery in Jamaica, for those who loved Homegoing, The Underground Railroad, or the film 12 Years a Slave.'A marvel of luminous storytelling' Financial TimesYou do not know me yet. My son Thomas, who is publishing this book, tells me, it is customary at this place in a novel to give the reader a little taste of the story that is held within these pages. As your storyteller, I am to convey that this tale is set in Jamaica during the last turbulent years of slavery and the early years of freedom that followed.July is a slave girl who lives upon a sugar plantation named Amity and it is her life that is the subject of this tale. She was there when the Baptist War raged in 1831, and she was present when slavery was declared no more. My son says I must convey how the story tells also of July's mama Kitty, of the negroes that worked the plantation land, of Caroline Mortimer the white woman who owned the plantation and many more persons besides - far too many for me to list here. But what befalls them all is carefully chronicled upon these pages for you to peruse.Perhaps, my son suggests, I might write that it is a thrilling journey through that time in the company of people who lived it. All this he wishes me to pen so the reader can decide if this is a novel they might care to consider. Cha, I tell my son, what fuss-fuss. Come, let them just read it for themselves.By Arturo Sangalli. 2009
The celebrated mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras left no writings. But what if he had and the manuscript was never found?…
Where would it be located? And what information would it reveal? These questions are the inspiration for the mathematical mystery novel Pythagoras' Revenge. Suspenseful and instructive, Pythagoras' Revenge weaves fact, fiction, mathematics, computer science, and ancient history into a surprising and sophisticated thriller. The intrigue begins when Jule Davidson, a young American mathematician who trolls the internet for difficult math riddles and stumbles upon a neo-Pythagorean sect searching for the promised reincarnation of Pythagoras. Across the ocean, Elmer Galway, a professor of classical history at Oxford, discovers an Arabic manuscript hinting at the existence of an ancient scroll--possibly left by Pythagoras himself. Unknown to one another, Jule and Elmer each have information that the other requires and, as they race to solve the philosophical and mathematical puzzles set before them, their paths ultimately collide. Set in 1998 with flashbacks to classical Greece, Pythagoras' Revenge investigates the confrontation between opposing views of mathematics and reality, and explores ideas from both early and cutting-edge mathematics. From academic Oxford to suburban Chicago and historic Rome, Pythagoras' Revenge is a sophisticated thriller that will grip readers from beginning to surprising end.By Charles Cumming. 2009
A brilliant young MI6 operative loses a prominent defector who disappears from a Hong Kong safe house in 1997. A…
decade later, he is back to tie up loose ends, and thwart a plot to destabilize China. Adult. Descriptions of sex. Strong language. ViolenceBy Avi. 1991
This tale offers a potent brew of mystery and adventure in this tale of an 11-year-old boy involved in a…
search for a centuries old shipwreck. The setting is among the Thimble Islands located off the coast of Connecticut thought to be the hiding spot of Captain Kidd's treasure. For grades 2-4By Irene Solà. 2022
A spellbinding Catalan novel that places one family's tragedies against the uncontainable life force of the land itself. Near a…
village high in the Pyrenees, Domènec wanders across a ridge, fancying himself more a poet than a farmer, to "reel off his verses over on this side of the mountain." He gathers black chanterelles and attends to a troubled cow. And then storm clouds swell, full of electrifying power. Reckless, gleeful, they release their bolts of lightning, one of which strikes Domènec. He dies. The ghosts of seventeenth-century witches gather around him, taking up the chanterelles he'd harvested before going on their merry ways. So begins this novel that is as much about the mountains and the mushrooms as it is about the human dramas that unfold in their midst. UnratedBy Adam Smyer. 2014
Knucklehead is the only title shortlisted for the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence!"By setting his novel in…
the '90s, Smyer, who lives in Oakland, has crafted some brutal deja vu. As [protagonist] Marcus reflects on Rodney King, the Million Man March and the Oklahoma City bombing, we think of Freddie Gray, Black Lives Matter and school shootings that have become a way of life. And when Marcus laments San Francisco's dwindling black population, here we are more than 20 years on, and it's only gotten worse. We should all be furious."--San Francisco Chronicle"Here is a list of things you'll need to read this book: ample space for stretching out the side stitches you'll get from laughter; half a box of tissues for the most gripping and harrowing dramas at the heart of the novel; a fresh stress ball for the tense situations the protagonist finds himself in (both of his own doing and not); and just a bit of that space in your heart to see people, in all their complexity, trying to do their best."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette"This book is bold in how it treats the reader as an insider to the reality of American blackness. It can be, in turns, lyrically poignant, cynical, hilarious, and infuriating."--Foreword Reviews, Starred Review"In this comic debut novel, lawyer Marcus Hayes careens through the racially divisive 1990s while trying to manage his compulsive anger, chaotic love life, and economic misfortunes...Smyer gives Marcus a sardonic and hilarious voice reminiscent of a Paul Beatty protagonist and endows him with a troubled psychology that plumbs the nuances of black male identity."--Kirkus Reviews"Marcus is an intelligent, acerbic, and often hilarious narrator, bringing a fresh, biting perspective to the social and racial tensions of the time that, as debut novelist Smyer makes clear, are not particularly different from today."--Library Journal"While loss and loneliness are at its core, Knucklehead is a mordantly funny book."--San Francisco Chronicle"While not strictly a crime novel, Smyer's debut Knucklehead does contain a whole lot of guns, violence, and rage, as well as plenty of love and sadness. A black lawyer in the late 80s through the mid-90s deals with micro and macro aggressions from a society determined to treat him as a criminal. Also, there are cats. Lots of cats."--Literary Hub"While the provocative subject material will take readers to a sometimes-uncomfortable place, this brilliant debut is also deeply, darkly funny...This is one of those books that simply has to be discussed, as it managed to tackle difficult topics with unexpected humor and pathos. While Marcus is a troubled character, his journey and the choices he makes will provide rich meat for discussion about race in America and how justifiable anger can turn toxic."--IndiePicks Magazine"[A] masterpiece...In this, his debut narrative, Smyer dramatically encapsulates the ancestral trauma, the collective guilt and suffering of tens of millions of people. Indeed he has scored big. Real big...A must buy."--Kaitur News (Guyana)"Smyer's debut explores themes of the self in chaos; the prose is clean as bone and the anger is focused and piercing."--Michigan Quarterly ReviewIn Knucklehead we meet Marcus Hayes, a black law student who struggles, sometimes unsuccessfully, with the impulse to confront everyday bad behavior with swift and antisocial action. The cause of this impulse is unknown to him.When Marcus unexpectedly becomes involved with the brilliant and kind Amalia Stewart, her love and acceptance pacify his demons. But when his demons return, he is no longer inclined to contain them.By P. J Petersen. 2002
Kevin is assigned community service--for car theft--at an animal rescue center. During a flood, he accompanies volunteers Tracy and her…
brother, Luke, on a mission to feed a trapped dog. The group runs into trouble when they encounter armed burglars looting a house. For grades 6-9 and older readers. 2002By Franklin W Dixon. 2002
Strange happenings at the Shorewood Nature Center cause Joe and Frank to go undercover to investigate. Someone wants the center…
shut down, but the Hardy boys get in the way, putting themselves at risk. The boys need to find out what's going on. American Action Fund. For grades 4-7. 1999By Cynthia Rylant. 2001
Mr. Riley, a possum who owns a music store, calls animal detectives Bunny and Jack about a trombone that keeps…
disappearing and reappearing in the shop's window. Bunny uses her brains and Jack spies clues to solve the case. Beginning chapter book. For grades K-3. 2001By Doug Cushman. 2000
By Jean Reynolds Page. 2005
South Carolina. Since her husband Ben unexpectedly died three months ago, thirty-three-year-old Gina Melrose has been living aboard their sailboat.…
When Reese, Ben's ex-wife, and her seven-year-old daughter Angel, who might be Ben's child, arrive on the boat, Gina confronts the possibility that Ben betrayed her. Strong language. 2005By Ngaio Marsh, St. Martin`s Press. 1998
Troy Alleyn, wife of Inspector Roderick Alleyn, paints a portrait of Shakespearean actor Sir Henry Ancred, a patriarch preparing to…
marry a young chorus girl. After a tense birthday dinner, Henry is found dead. Troy, finally reunited with Roderick after a prolonged separation, suspects poisoning and enlists Roderick's aid. 1947By Ngaio Marsh, St. Martin`s Press. 2000
Montague Reece invites Scotland Yard's Roderick Alleyn and artist wife Troy to his New Zealand estate and commissions Troy to…
paint his mistress, opera star Sommita. As Roderick tries to protect the singer from a nuisance photographer, rumors of drug involvement surface and Sommita is found murdered. 1980By Ngaio Marsh, St. Martin`s Press. 1999
When the beloved "queen of the British theater" is murdered in a cloud of perfume, the case literally reeks with…
likely suspects. It is up to Superintendent Roderick Alleyn to sniff out the motives and bring the killer to justice. 1960By Ngaio Marsh, St. Martin`s Press. 1999
Under cover on an international drug smuggling investigation, Scotland Yard inspector Roderick Alleyn accompanies a motley group of sightseers on…
a tour of Italian ruins. When their unscrupulous guide disappears and a postcard vendor is murdered, Alleyn advises the travelers not to leave town before the killer is apprehended. 1971By Ngaio Marsh, St. Martin`s Press. 1972
Artist Troy Alleyn visits Hilary Bill-Tasman's estate to paint Hilary's portrait. As Hilary prepares for a Christmas pageant, one of…
his eccentric guests disappears. Troy's husband, Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, arrives from London to help unravel the mystery and to interrogate Hilary's staff members--all of whom are convicted murderers. 1972By Pierre Gobeil. 2011
" Je crois maintenant qu'il est temps que je présente le principal intéressé de cette histoire. Peter, de son vrai…
nom Peterson Vincent. Né le 1er août 1997. Mon fils de Port-au-Prince. Diagnostiqué dyslexique et dysorthographique avec déficit d'attention dès sa maternelle, il a toujours eu des difficultés à suivre un programme scolaire et, parti comme ça, il devra sûrement reprendre sa cinquième année. Au milieu d'une année scolaire filant tout droit à la catastrophe, un père décide de prendre le large avec son fils de dix ans pour tenter de résoudre une situation intenable. C'est l'hiver. Ils quittent Montréal. Et sans autre rêve que le désir de vivre quelque chose de neuf, pendant plusieurs mois ils arpentent la Nouvelle-Angleterre jusqu'à Hyannis, au coeur du Cape Cod... " -- 4e de couv