Library Corner October 18th
New Fiction
FBI agent Nell Flynn hasn’t been home in ten years. Nell and her father, Homicide Detective Martin Flynn, have never had much of a relationship. And Suffolk County will always be awash in memories of her mother, Marisol, who was brutally murdered when Nell was just seven. When Martin dies in a motorcycle accident, Nell returns to the house where she grew up so that she can spread her father’s ashes and close his estate. At the behest of her father’s partner, Detective Lee Davis, Nell becomes involved in an investigation into the murders of two young women in Suffolk County. The further Nell digs, the more likely it seems to her that her father should be the prime suspect – and that his friends on the police force are covering his tracks. Plagued by doubts about her mother’s murder, and her own role in exonerating her father in that case, Nell can’t help but ask questions about who killed the two women and why. But she may not like the answers she finds – not just about those she loves, but about herself. Cristina Algers Girls Like Us is a fast-paced psychological thriller that will intrigue mystery readers as they shadow Nell's precarious quest for the truth at all costs, despite the consequences.
Mark Haddon's breathtaking novel begins with a harrowing plane crash: Maja, the pregnant wife of the unimaginably wealthy Philippe, is killed, but their daughter Angelica survives. Philippe's obsession with the girl's safety morphs into something sinister and grotesque as she grows into a beautiful teen. A young man named Darius, visiting Philippe with a business proposition, encounters Angelica and intuits their secret -- he decides to rescue her, but the attempt goes awry and he flees England by sea. This contemporary story mirrors the ancient legend of Antiochus, whose love for the daughter of his dead wife was discovered by the adventurer Appolinus of Tyre. The tale appeared in many forms through the ages; Apollinus becoming the swashbuckling Pericles in Shakespeare's eponymous play. In The Porpoise, as Angelique comes to terms with a life imprisoned on her father's estate, Darius morphs into Pericles, voyaging through a mythic world. In a bravura feat of storytelling, Haddon recounts his many exploits in thrilling fashion, mining the meaning of the old legends while creating parallels with the monstrous modern world Angelica inhabits. The language is rich and gorgeous; the conjured worlds are perfectly imagined; the plot moves forward at a ferocious pace.
But as much as Haddon plays with myth and meaning, his themes speak deeply to the current moment.
For centuries, the Tuatha De Danann lived in harmony on their island, at one with themselves and nature. Time flowed slowly, and seasons were gentle, unnaturally so – until the invaders came. The Gaels, looking for easy riches and conquest, followed the legend of an island to the west, a place where every desire would be fulfilled. They had not anticipated that this land would already be inhabited, and they were determined to be the island’s sole possessors. After a happy and innocent childhood, Joss was on the cusp of becoming a man when the Gaels slaughtered the kings and queens of his people. Those who survived scattered. Joss must unite what is left of his people and lead them into hiding – no easy task. But Joss and his people are not without strange abilities that may help them survive. Morgan Llywelyn, weaves Irish mythology, historical elements, and ancient places in the Irish landscape to create a riveting tale of migration, loss, and transformation in Only the Stones Survive.
New Non-Fiction
In 1795, a group of teenagers discovered a mysterious circular depression in the ground on Oak Island, a small island off the cost of Nova Scotia, Canada, and sparked rumors of buried treasure. They excavated a clay lined shaft full of soil interspersed with wood, but when they reached a depth of eight feet, water poured into the shaft and made further digging impossible. Since then the mystery of Oak Island’s “Money Pit” has enthralled generations of treasure hunters, including a young Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Swaths of the island have been bulldozed looking for answers, and excavation attempts have claimed at least four lives. Theories abound as to what’s hidden on Oak Island – pirates’ treasure, Marie Antoinette’s lost jewels, the Holy Grail, proof that Sir Francis Bacon was the true author of Shakespeare’s plays –yet to this day, the Money Pit remains an enigma. Randall Sullivan’s The Curse of Oak Island is a fascinating account of the strange, rich history of the island and the intrepid treasure hunters who have driven themselves to financial ruin, psychotic breakdowns, and even death in pursuit of answers.
The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and - despite her prosthetic leg – helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it. Virginia established vast spy networks throughout France, called weapons and explosives down from the skies, and became a linchpin for the Resistance. Even as her face covered WANTED posters and a bounty was placed on her head, Virginia refused order after order to evacuate. She finally escaped through a death defying hike over the Pyrenees into Spain, her cover blown. But she plunged back in, adamant that she had more lives to save, and led a victorious guerilla campaign, liberating swathes of France from the Nazis after D-Day. Based on new and extensive research, Sonia Purnell has for the first time uncovered the full secret life of Virginia Hall – an astounding and inspiring story of heroism, spycraft, resistance, and personal triumph over shocking adversity. A Woman of No Importance is the break taking story of how one woman’s fierce persistence helped win the war.