Adult Fiction

The history of sound : stories

Shattuck, Ben, 1984- author.

A stunning collection of interconnected stories, set mostly in New England, exploring how the past is often misunderstood and how history, family, heartache, and desire can echo over centuries In twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. In Ben Shattuck's ingenious collection, each story has a companion story, which contains a revelation about the previous, paired story. Mysteries are revealed, history is refracted, and deep emotional connections are woven between characters and families. The haunting title story recalls the journey of two men who meet around a piano in a smoky, basement bar only to spend a summer walking the Maine woods collecting folk songs in the shadow of the first World War, forever marked by the odyssey. Decades later, a woman discovers the wax cylinders recorded that fateful summer while cleaning out her new house in Maine. Shattuck's inventive, exquisite stories transport readers from colonial Nantucket to the woods of New Hampshire-into a landscape both enduring and unmistakably modern. Memories, artifacts, paintings, and journals resurface in surprising and poignant ways among evocative beaches, forests, and orchards, revealing the secrets, misunderstandings, and love that linger across centuries. Written with breathtaking humanity and humor, The History of Sound is a love letter to New England, a radiant conversation between past and present, and a moving meditation on the abiding search for home.....

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That last Carolina summer

White, Karen (Karen S.), author.

As a child, Phoebe Manigault developed the gift of premonition after she was struck by lightning in the creeks near her Charleston home. Plagued throughout her life by mysterious dreams, and always living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, Addie, Phoebe eventually moves to the west coast, as far from her family as possible. Now, years later, she is summoned back to South Carolina, to help Addie care for their ailing mother. As Phoebe's return lures her back into deep-rooted tensions and conflicts, she is drawn toward Celeste, whose granddaughter years ago went missing. Their connection, woven through shared losses and hope, brings comfort to Phoebe, while Celeste's adult grandson Liam resurrects complicated emotions tied to Phoebe's past. But the longer Phoebe spends in her childhood home, the more her recurring nightmares intensify -- bringing her closer to the shocking truth that will irrevocably change everything.....

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Wyoming wilderness survival

Nelson, Jill Elizabeth, author.

Seeking refuge in the mountains... with killers in pursuit. Just as EMT Tracey Graham's murder conviction is about to be overturned, she is ambushed by the crime family who framed her -- and now want her dead. Fleeing into the woods sends her into the path of ex-cop Callum Mitchell, who has his own history with her assailants. But when his secluded cabin comes under attack, the wilderness is their only escape route. With Callum's toddler son in tow, they must evade hitmen while navigating treacherous terrain. But can they make it out alive...when there are predators around every corner?....

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The compound : a novel

Rawle, Aisling, 1998- author.

Lily -- a bored, beautiful twenty-something -- wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door. Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she'll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams -- but what will she have to do to win?....

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A thousand natural shocks

Hussain, Omar (Writer), author.

Dash, a reporter in Monterey, California, is desperate to outrun his past. During the day, he investigates the reemergence of a long-dormant serial killer. At night, he has become entangled with a criminal cult that promises a pill to erase his traumatic memory. But as Dash begins to lose his memories -- and his sense of self -- he discovers a dark secret about the cult, one that would horrify its members. And soon he finds himself in a race against time to evade the cult, unveil the killer, and reconcile his past before his own memories fade away.......

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Do not disturb

McFadden, Freida, author.

Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime. To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she's done. But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night. Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn't the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching. In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She'll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.....

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A thousand natural shocks

Hussain, Omar (Writer), author.

Dash, a reporter in Monterey, California, is desperate to outrun his past. During the day, he investigates the reemergence of a long-dormant serial killer. At night, he has become entangled with a criminal cult that promises a pill to erase his traumatic memory. But as Dash begins to lose his memories -- and his sense of self -- he discovers a dark secret about the cult, one that would horrify its members. And soon he finds himself in a race against time to evade the cult, unveil the killer, and reconcile his past before his own memories fade away.......

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Nesting

O'Donnell, Roisín, author.

On a bright spring afternoon, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes off the clothesline, she straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe—and that this time, when she leaves, she must stay away. On the surface, she has a perfect life: her sometimes kind and attentive husband, Ryan, is a good provider from a nice family, and they have another baby on the way. But he also monitors Ciara's every move, flies into unpredictable rages where he convinces her she can do nothing right, and has isolated her from work, friends, and her beloved family. Was fleeing the right thing to do? With no job and no support, Ciara struggles to provide a sense of normalcy for her little girls. Facing a broken housing system, they move into a hotel room on a floor reserved for women like her, eating takeout, washing their clothes in the bathroom sink, and building a community with the other residents. Ryan, meanwhile, wages a relentless campaign to win her back, and Ciara wavers. He never hit her, after all, and don't the girls need a stable home?....

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The compound : a novel

Rawle, Aisling, 1998- author.

Lily -- a bored, beautiful twenty-something -- wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door. Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she'll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams -- but what will she have to do to win?....

View in Catalog

Nesting

O'Donnell, Roisín, author.

On a bright spring afternoon, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes off the clothesline, she straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe—and that this time, when she leaves, she must stay away. On the surface, she has a perfect life: her sometimes kind and attentive husband, Ryan, is a good provider from a nice family, and they have another baby on the way. But he also monitors Ciara's every move, flies into unpredictable rages where he convinces her she can do nothing right, and has isolated her from work, friends, and her beloved family. Was fleeing the right thing to do? With no job and no support, Ciara struggles to provide a sense of normalcy for her little girls. Facing a broken housing system, they move into a hotel room on a floor reserved for women like her, eating takeout, washing their clothes in the bathroom sink, and building a community with the other residents. Ryan, meanwhile, wages a relentless campaign to win her back, and Ciara wavers. He never hit her, after all, and don't the girls need a stable home?....

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Smoke on the wind

Estes, Kelli, author.

Struggling with the tragic end of her marriage, Keaka Denney is on a bittersweet adventure in Scotland with her son, Colin. She's joining him on a weeklong hike along the West Highland Way before he enters university in Glasgow. Soon into the journey, Keaka's disquieting visions begin -- a woman from ages past reaching for Colin, a burning cottage, violence. Scotland, 1801. After Sorcha Chisholm and her son are wrenched from their home in a brutal eviction, they face an arduous trek toward a new beginning. When Sorcha learns she's wanted for a murder she didn't commit, she and her son run for their lives. Then help arrives from the strangest woman in the most unexpected ways. Centuries apart, Keaka and Sorcha walk the same path -- devoted mothers in circumstances beyond their control who will do anything to keep their sons safe. Defying logic, they find strength in each other. But what does their connection mean? And how far will it go?....

View in Catalog

The history of sound : stories

Shattuck, Ben, 1984- author.

A stunning collection of interconnected stories, set mostly in New England, exploring how the past is often misunderstood and how history, family, heartache, and desire can echo over centuries In twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. In Ben Shattuck's ingenious collection, each story has a companion story, which contains a revelation about the previous, paired story. Mysteries are revealed, history is refracted, and deep emotional connections are woven between characters and families. The haunting title story recalls the journey of two men who meet around a piano in a smoky, basement bar only to spend a summer walking the Maine woods collecting folk songs in the shadow of the first World War, forever marked by the odyssey. Decades later, a woman discovers the wax cylinders recorded that fateful summer while cleaning out her new house in Maine. Shattuck's inventive, exquisite stories transport readers from colonial Nantucket to the woods of New Hampshire-into a landscape both enduring and unmistakably modern. Memories, artifacts, paintings, and journals resurface in surprising and poignant ways among evocative beaches, forests, and orchards, revealing the secrets, misunderstandings, and love that linger across centuries. Written with breathtaking humanity and humor, The History of Sound is a love letter to New England, a radiant conversation between past and present, and a moving meditation on the abiding search for home.....

View in Catalog

Smoke on the wind

Estes, Kelli, author.

Struggling with the tragic end of her marriage, Keaka Denney is on a bittersweet adventure in Scotland with her son, Colin. She's joining him on a weeklong hike along the West Highland Way before he enters university in Glasgow. Soon into the journey, Keaka's disquieting visions begin -- a woman from ages past reaching for Colin, a burning cottage, violence. Scotland, 1801. After Sorcha Chisholm and her son are wrenched from their home in a brutal eviction, they face an arduous trek toward a new beginning. When Sorcha learns she's wanted for a murder she didn't commit, she and her son run for their lives. Then help arrives from the strangest woman in the most unexpected ways. Centuries apart, Keaka and Sorcha walk the same path -- devoted mothers in circumstances beyond their control who will do anything to keep their sons safe. Defying logic, they find strength in each other. But what does their connection mean? And how far will it go?....

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Mrs. Plansky goes rogue

Quinn, Spencer, author.

Mrs. Plansky is fresh off of winning a thrilling senior tennis championship with her doubles partner, Kev Dinardo, and is gearing up to celebrate with him on his yacht. That is, until the yacht is destroyed in a fire. Kev claims the fire was caused by a lightning strike, pure bad luck, but there's one small problem -- Mrs. Plansky didn't see any lightning. Already certain there's more going on than she's being told, Mrs. Plansky's curiosity turns to concern when Kev goes missing. Her suspicion gets the better of her and leads her to break into his house, only to find it ransacked. But Kev isn't the only person Mrs. Plansky has to worry about. A conversation with her dad reveals that not long ago, he'd introduced Kev to Jack, Mrs. Plansky's wayward tennis pro son. And now, her dad -- distracted by arrangements for his upcoming wedding -- either can't remember or has no interest in divulging any details. Worse? Now Jack has gone missing, too....

View in Catalog

Do not disturb

McFadden, Freida, author.

Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime. To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she's done. But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night. Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn't the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching. In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She'll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.....

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The famine orphans

Falvey, Patricia, author.

Adapted from Goodreads.....

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Mrs. Plansky goes rogue

Quinn, Spencer, author.

Mrs. Plansky is fresh off of winning a thrilling senior tennis championship with her doubles partner, Kev Dinardo, and is gearing up to celebrate with him on his yacht. That is, until the yacht is destroyed in a fire. Kev claims the fire was caused by a lightning strike, pure bad luck, but there's one small problem -- Mrs. Plansky didn't see any lightning. Already certain there's more going on than she's being told, Mrs. Plansky's curiosity turns to concern when Kev goes missing. Her suspicion gets the better of her and leads her to break into his house, only to find it ransacked. But Kev isn't the only person Mrs. Plansky has to worry about. A conversation with her dad reveals that not long ago, he'd introduced Kev to Jack, Mrs. Plansky's wayward tennis pro son. And now, her dad -- distracted by arrangements for his upcoming wedding -- either can't remember or has no interest in divulging any details. Worse? Now Jack has gone missing, too....

View in Catalog

Wyoming wilderness survival

Nelson, Jill Elizabeth, author.

Seeking refuge in the mountains... with killers in pursuit. Just as EMT Tracey Graham's murder conviction is about to be overturned, she is ambushed by the crime family who framed her -- and now want her dead. Fleeing into the woods sends her into the path of ex-cop Callum Mitchell, who has his own history with her assailants. But when his secluded cabin comes under attack, the wilderness is their only escape route. With Callum's toddler son in tow, they must evade hitmen while navigating treacherous terrain. But can they make it out alive...when there are predators around every corner?....

View in Catalog

That last Carolina summer

White, Karen (Karen S.), author.

As a child, Phoebe Manigault developed the gift of premonition after she was struck by lightning in the creeks near her Charleston home. Plagued throughout her life by mysterious dreams, and always living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, Addie, Phoebe eventually moves to the west coast, as far from her family as possible. Now, years later, she is summoned back to South Carolina, to help Addie care for their ailing mother. As Phoebe's return lures her back into deep-rooted tensions and conflicts, she is drawn toward Celeste, whose granddaughter years ago went missing. Their connection, woven through shared losses and hope, brings comfort to Phoebe, while Celeste's adult grandson Liam resurrects complicated emotions tied to Phoebe's past. But the longer Phoebe spends in her childhood home, the more her recurring nightmares intensify -- bringing her closer to the shocking truth that will irrevocably change everything.....

View in Catalog

Vera, or faith : a novel

Shteyngart, Gary, 1972- author.

The Bradford-Shmulkin family is falling apart. A very modern blend of Russian, Jewish, Korean, and New England WASP, they love one another deeply but the pressures of life in an unstable America are fraying their bonds. There's Daddy, a struggling, cash-thirsty editor whose Russian heritage gives him a surprising new currency in the upside-down world of twenty-first-century geopolitics; his wife, Anne Mom, a progressive, underfunded blue blood from Boston who's barely holding the household together; their son, Dylan, whose blond hair and Mayflower lineage provide him pride of place in the newly forming American political order; and, above all, the young Vera, half-Jewish, half-Korean, and wholly original. Observant, sensitive, and always writing down new vocabulary words, Vera wants only three things in life: to make a friend at school; Daddy and Anne Mom to stay together; and to meet her birth mother, Mom Mom, who will at last tell Vera the secret of who she really is and how to ensure love's survival in this great, mad, imploding world.....

View in Catalog

The famine orphans

Falvey, Patricia, author.

Adapted from Goodreads.....

View in Catalog

Vera, or faith : a novel

Shteyngart, Gary, 1972- author.

The Bradford-Shmulkin family is falling apart. A very modern blend of Russian, Jewish, Korean, and New England WASP, they love one another deeply but the pressures of life in an unstable America are fraying their bonds. There's Daddy, a struggling, cash-thirsty editor whose Russian heritage gives him a surprising new currency in the upside-down world of twenty-first-century geopolitics; his wife, Anne Mom, a progressive, underfunded blue blood from Boston who's barely holding the household together; their son, Dylan, whose blond hair and Mayflower lineage provide him pride of place in the newly forming American political order; and, above all, the young Vera, half-Jewish, half-Korean, and wholly original. Observant, sensitive, and always writing down new vocabulary words, Vera wants only three things in life: to make a friend at school; Daddy and Anne Mom to stay together; and to meet her birth mother, Mom Mom, who will at last tell Vera the secret of who she really is and how to ensure love's survival in this great, mad, imploding world.....

View in Catalog