Check out these highly anticipated new releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month!
FICTION
A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates: Written by Herself by Katherine Howe. At the bloody end of the Age of Pirates, Hannah Masury, an indentured servant in Boston is forced to flee for her life, disguising herself as a cabin boy on the ship of notorious pirate captain Ned Lowe. Thus begins a—yes—swashbuckling, tale of adventure on the high seas. When, three hundred years later, scholar Marian Beresford discovers hints as to the location of buried treasure in Hannah’s long-lost journal, she embarks upon a quest to find both the treasure and the truth behind Hannah’s tale.
A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter. The stories of five generations of indigenous women in Western Canada are woven together into a tapestry of funny, wise, confused, struggling, and resilient characters, including a young mother facing big decisions, a piano-playing octogenarian entering rehab for the first time, the ghost of the family matriarch who can’t seem to settle into the afterlife, and a love-sick bison. Problems abound; familial bonds persist; magic is afoot.
The Kingdom of Sweets: A Novel of the Nutcracker by Erika Johansen. In this eerie and
sophisticated re-imagining of the story
of The Nutcracker, twin sisters, Clara the adored, and Natasha the overshadowed and ignored, are set against one another one Christmas Eve,
when their evil godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer, brings them an enchanted gift—a Nutcracker—which allows
them entry into an alternate world, the Kingdom of Sweets. There, Natasha
discovers the truth about a dark destiny crafted long before her birth and she
must reckon with forces both earthly and magical, human and diabolical. To
which world does she truly belong?
A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith. So, what will we do when we have finally messed up the earth so badly that it is no longer habitable? I know, find another planet and move there! Not so fast, say the authors Weinersmith. We humans may be hurtling towards expansion into space but we have not begun to grapple with the myriad, scientific, political, socioeconomic, and legal challenges involved. With deep expertise, and a winning sense of humor, the authors address a host of issues including: Can we make space babies and raise space kids, grow space food on space farms, and govern space colonies in a way that ensures peaceful coexistence? Moreover, even if we can, should we? The answers to the three questions posed in the subtitle above are: maybe but not for a long time; uh…maybe, maybe not; and a resounding no.
The Purest Bond: Understanding the Human-Canine Connection by Jen Goldbeck
and Stacey Colino. Most dog owners know instinctively that sharing a home
with a canine companion, enhances their lives. Now, co-authors Goldbeck and Colino take a deep dive into the scientific
evidence that dog ownership improves emotional and physical health, and increases
mental acuity and cognitive skills. Most importantly, they suggest that dogs remind
us of all that is right in the world—love, trust, affection, playtime, and
exercise—at time when so much else seems so wrong...Perhaps it is no accident that
the adoption of shelter dogs doubled during the COVID pandemic.
