Director's Picks - April
All the queen's men
Bennett, S. J. (Sophia J.), author.
2022
"Amateur detective Queen Elizabeth II is back in this hugely entertaining follow-up to The Windsor Knot, in which Her Majesty must determine how a missing painting is connected to the shocking death of a staff member inside Buckingham Palace"-- Provided by publisher.
Glory : a novel
Bulawayo, NoViolet, author.
2022
Inspired by the unexpected fall by coup, in November 2017, of Robert Mugabe - Zimbabwe's president who took office in 1980 and, NoViolet Bulawayo's bold, vividly imagined novel shows a country imploding - lucid imagery immerses us in the daily life of a traumatized nation. At the centre of this tumult is Destiny, who has returned to the motherland from American to bear witness to revolution - and, unwittingly, narrate the secret history and the potential legacy of the women who have quietly pulled the strings in this country.
A long petal of the sea
Allende, Isabel, author
2020
"In the late 1930s, civil war gripped Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life irreversibly intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them wants, and together are sponsored by poet Pablo Neruda to embark on the SS Winnipeg along with 2,200 other refugees in search of a new life. As unlikely partners, they embrace exile and emigrate to Chile as the rest of Europe erupts in World War. Starting over on a new continent, their trials are just beginning. Over the course of their lives, they will face test after test. But they will also find joy as they wait patiently for a day when they are exiles no more, and will find friends in the most unlikely of places. Through it all, it is that hope of being reunited with their home that keeps them going. And in the end, they will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along"-- Provided by publisher.
The maid : a novel
Prose, Nita, author
2022
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly Gray throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. But Molly's orderly life is turned on its head the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself very dead in his bed. Molly quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black.
The other Bennet sister : a novel
Hadlow, Janice, author
2021
What if Mary Bennet's life took a different path from that laid out for her in Pride and Prejudice? What if the frustrated intellectual of the Bennet family, the marginalized middle daughter, the plain girl who takes refuge in her books, eventually found the fulfillment enjoyed by her prettier, more confident sisters? Ultimately, Mary's journey is like that taken by every Austen heroine. She learns that she can only expect joy when she has accepted who she really is. Only when she undergoes this evolution does she have a chance at finding fulfillment; only then does she have the clarity to recognize her partner when he presents himself--and only at that moment is she genuinely worthy of love.
Violeta : a novel
Allende, Isabel, author
2022
Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family with five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth. Through her father's prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses everything and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling. She tells her story in the form of a letter to someone she loves above all others, recounting times of devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy.
The Windsor knot : a novel
Bennett, S. J. (Sophia J.), author
2021
Windsor Castle, 2016. The morning after her ninetieth birthday celebrations, the Queen is shocked to discover that one of her guests has been found dead in his room. It quickly becomes clear that his death was no accident, but when MI5 begin to suspect her loyal servants, she knows that they are looking in the wrong place. For the Queen has been living a double life ever since she was a teenager: by day she upholds her royal duties, while secretly solving cases as an amateur detective. With the Crown's reputation on the line, her investigations must be kept under wraps - and she must always ensure that someone else gets the credit. With the help of her Assistant Private Secretary Rozie Oshodi, it's up to the Queen to find the real killer - before they strike again.