Back to School! College Life, Dark Academia, and Prep School Stories

Now that first days, orientation, and school supply purchasing has passed, students and teachers are buckling down to routines in mid-September. Are you the type that can't help buying a new outfit at the start of the school year, and delights in a new box of freshly sharpened colored pencils? Maybe you're curious about the inside baseball of publish or perish, or fascinated at the idea of secret societies? Whether you're a parent, a student, or a professor, these tales of college admissions, professors on sabbatical, or student-teacher dynamics could be your next reading assignment. Best enjoyed with a pumpkin spice latte and an apple cider donut.

Make sure to check out WPL's Reader's Corner for more book suggestions!

The Academy series by Elin Hilderbrand

1. The Academy 
   When a surprise national ranking thrusts underachieving Tiffin Academy into the spotlight, a viral gossip app begins exposing students’ and staff’s secrets, unraveling reputations and relationships as the boarding school’s carefully curated image gives way to chaos, scandal and unexpected alliances.
2. The Thoroughbreds
   September at Tiffin Academy is always a heady time, especially for the senior class--"sixth formers"--a season of college applications and intense pressure, of partying hard and last hurrahs. As the chapel bells ring in students and staff, everyone has something to look forward to--but in the midst of the anticipation and excitement, nagging questions and dark secrets lurk beneath the surface...

An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister
Two English professors enter a fake marriage in order to secure partner hire, but soon realize their feelings for each other aren't as fake as they'd once thought.

Admission by Julie Bauxbaum
The story of a teen whose promising future at the college of her dreams is upended by her minor celebrity mother’s arrest for a massive college admissions bribery scandal.

Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz 
Portia Nathan, an admissions officer for Princeton University, takes her job--and the 17-year-olds whose applications she sees--very seriously. In fact, they come before everything else in her very orderly life, a life that she has, to some extent, been sleep-walking through for a while now.

Alex Stern series by Leigh Bardugo

1. Ninth House 
   The offer: a full scholarship to Yale for Galaxy "Alex" Stern, a high school dropout with the rare ability to see ghosts.The catch: Tasked with monitoring the university's secret societies, Alex soon discovers that the elite institution is often willing to turn a blind eye to their occult transgressions.
2. Hell Bent
   Galaxy "Alex" Stern assembles a motley crew to help her locate a gateway to Hell and rescue her friend Darlington.
3. Dead Beat
   Demons are creeping through the streets of New Haven and the Yale campus, feeding on the souls of the living, terrifying the dead. Alex Stern and her allies can hunt them, but it's only a matter of time before the gates to the underworld open and they face a war they cannot win. To stop it, they'll have to reach deep into the secrets of Yale and its societies, and discover the truth hidden in Alex's own blood. Alex must contend with the machinations of a corrupt Lethe Board and a deadly vampire with his own connection to the societies. But she won't have to face the fight alone.

All Girls by Emily Layden 
Nine young women embark on personal and scholarly journeys of self-discovery at a prestigious New England prep school, where their evolving voices are shaped by a scandal that the administration would cover up.

All Souls series by Deborah Harkness

1. A Discovery of Witches
   Discovering a magical manuscript in Oxford's library, scholar Diana Bishop, a descendant of witches who has rejected her heritage, inadvertently unleashes a fantastical underworld of daemons, witches and vampires whose activities center around an enchanted treasure.
2. Shadow of Night
   A follow-up to A Discovery of Witches finds Oxford scholar and reluctant witch Diana and vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont in Elizabethan London, where Diana seeks a magical tutor and Matthew confronts elements from his past at the same time the mystery of Ashmole 782 deepens.
3. The Book of Life
   Historian and witch Diana Bishop and her vampire scientist husband Matthew Clairmont return from a trip to the past still searching for the elusive alchemy tome Ashmole 782 in the final installment of the best-selling trilogy following Shadow of Night.
4.  Time's Convert
   Then: Eighteenth-century surgeon Marcus MacNeil joined the Continental Army, met vampire Matthew de Clermont, and took the plunge into immortality.Now: Marcus is engaged to mortal Phoebe Taylor, who has agreed to undergo the dangerous transition to vampire prior to their marriage.
   The Blackbird Oracle
5. When the Congregation demands she and Matthew test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Oxford scholar and witch, Diana Bishop, forging a different path, confronts her family's dark past and reckons with her desire for even greater power--if she can let go of her fear of wielding it.

Babel, or the necessity of violence: an arcane history of the Oxford translators revolution by R.F. Kuang 
Great Britain, 1828: Robin Swift, a Chinese orphan raised in England, studies under the enigmatic Professor Lovell in preparation for entry to Oxford's Royal Institute of Translation, also known as Babel. Divided loyalties: As Robin pursues his studies, he also becomes involved with the Hermes Society, an underground network dedicated to thwarting Britain's imperial ambitions.

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas
A dangerously curious, rebellious undergraduate uncovers a shocking secret about an exclusive circle of students and the dark truths beneath their school’s promises of prestige.

The Cloisters by Katy Hays
Assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden, curatorial associate Ann Stilwell becomes obsessed with the history of fortune-telling after discovering a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future, blurring the line between the modern and the arcane.

Extra-Curricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon
When a former pop star enrolls in college, the last thing she expects is A-plus chemistry with her psychology professor. Ramona loves the way she flusters him, taking every opportunity to push Nick's buttons, though what she really wants is to unbutton them completely. When a crisis brings them closer outside of class, they begin a tentative friendship amid an undeniable attraction. But Ramona can't be so easily finished with her old life, and they'll both have to confront their pasts if they want a chance at something real.

Getting In by Jennifer Finney Boylan
Four quirky high-school seniors and their dysfunctional family chaperones set off on a tour of the Ivy League, where they attempt to hide their lack of credentials from a strange cast of admissions officers.

Hierarchy Series by James Islington

1. The Will of the Many 
   A young man with a hidden past enters a leader academy under the orders of his adopted father and to secretly discover what lead to his brother's death in this historical fantasy series set in Ancient Rome.
2. The Strength of the Few
   At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this fantasy series.

How to Grieve Like a Victorian by Amy Carol Reeves
Dr. Lizzie Wells is grieving her husband in her own way—Victorian mourning clothes, handwritten letters, even an almost-kiss with his best friend, Henry. When a trip to London offers escape, Lizzie embraces new friends, bold adventures, and life’s messy beauty. But those late-night calls with Henry turn into something more, and when he shows up in London, Lizzie must decide: will she risk her heart for a second chance at love?

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
California film professor and podcaster Bodie Kane's marriage has recently ended, so she's back at her New Hampshire boarding school to teach a podcasting class to high schoolers. The project they all agree on: investigating the long-ago murder of Bodie's roommate.

In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia Anthology edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane
Spinetingling and sinister, this collection of 12 dark academia short stories from such masters of the genre as Olivia Blake, M. L. Rio and Susie Yang finds a lothario lecturer getting a visit from retribution; two graduates exhuming the secrets of a reclusive scholar; and much more.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos. 

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Secretly offering her services as a fake girlfriend, theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway engages in an all-out war of scholarly sabotage when the older brother of her favorite client, the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor's career, stands between her and her dream job at MIT.

The Magicians series by Lev Grossman

1. The Magicians
   Harboring secret preoccupations with a magical land he read about in a childhood fantasy series, Quentin Coldwater is unexpectedly admitted into an exclusive college of magic and rigorously educated in modern sorcery.
2. The Magician King
   After Quentin and his old friend Julia leave Fillory on a magical sailing ship, they end up back in Quentin's home in Chesterton, Massachusetts, and only Julia's dark magic can get them back to the realm they have grown to love
3. The Magician's Land
   Quentin Coldwater has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical land of his childhood dreams. With nothing left to lose he returns to where his story began, the Brakebills Preparatory College of Magic. But he can't hide from his past, and it's not long before it comes looking for him. Along with Plum, a brilliant young undergraduate with a dark secret of her own, Quentin sets out on a crooked path through a magical demimonde of gray magic and desperate characters. But all roads lead back to Fillory, and his new life takes him to old haunts, like Antarctica, and to buried secrets and old friends he thought were lost forever

The Magus by John Fowles

A young Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, accepts a teaching post on a remote Greek island in order to escape an unsatisfactory love affair. There, his friendship with a reclusive millionaire evolves into a mysterious--and deadly--game of violence, seduction, and betrayal. As he is drawn deeper into the trickster's psychological traps, Nicholas finds it increasingly difficult to distinguish past from present, fantasy from reality. He becomes a desperate man fighting for his sanity and his very survival.

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
When a member of a secret society known as The Maidens is murdered, a brilliant, but troubled, group therapist finds her obsession with proving the guilt of an untouchable Cambridge University professor spiraling out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her life.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Toru Watanabe, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
Prep follows former scholarship student Lee Fiora (now 24) as she looks back over her years at a prestigious prep school in Massachusetts. Perpetually an outsider, Lee watches from a distance as those around her interact and forge relationships, and proves herself to be particularly competent at observing how class distinctions play out on campus. When she finally does decide to participate more fully in campus events, it is with decidedly mixed results.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
A teacher at a girl's school in Edinburgh during the 1930s comes into conflict with school authorities because of her unorthodox teaching methods.

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
Practical American Bex Porter, who unexpectedly falls in love with crown prince Nick while attending Oxford.

The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis 
Set at a small, affluent liberal-arts college in New England at the height of the Reagan eighties, The Rules of Attraction is a startlingly funny, kaleidoscopic novel about three students with no plans for the future or even the present, who become entangled in a curious romantic triangle.

Scholomance series by Naomi Novik

1. A Deadly Education
   Galadriel "El" Higgins, a loner with an affinity for dark magic, just wants to survive until graduation, but the heroics of her classmate, golden boy Orion Lake, may prove more lethal than the maleficaria that infest the school
2. The Last Graduate
   Dark sorceress Galadriel "El" Higgins is determined to get herself and her classmates to graduation day without getting killed by monsters.
3. The Golden Enclaves 
   This conclusion to the Scholomance series follows El's post-school life...such as it is.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
When Richard Papen arrives on Hampden College's Vermont campus, he feels as if he's entered a different world. He's also drawn to the five close-knit, intelligent, and somewhat eccentric students in the Classics program led by a brilliant scholar. Once he's joined their exclusive group, however, he finds cracks under their sophisticated exteriors as secrets--and murder--threaten to tear them apart. If you enjoy psychological suspense and brilliant, self-indulgent characters, you'll likely also appreciate Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which stars a bright female high-school student who falls in with a similar crowd, with similar devastating repercussions.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles
A conflict of loyalties between prep school students Gene and his fearless friend, Phineas, leads to tragedy.

Teachers in Love series by M.A. Wardell

1. Teacher of the Year
   Teacher of the Year is a vivid character study of a lovable, neuro-spicy, Jewish, queer kindergarten teacher, falling for the dad of one of his students.
2. Mistletoe and Mishigas
   This spicy and swoony romance follows two men with opposite personalities as they pretend to date during the holiday season.
3. Napkins and Other Distractions
   Principal Kent Lester is proud of Lear Elementary School, but seven years after his divorce, he's finally ready to focus on his personal life. Things get off to a rocky start with his first date—although that doesn't stop them from spending the night together. Vincent Manda never seems to be able to move past the friend zone, and besides, he's not sure anyone can handle his OCD anyway. When his school buys new computer software, Kent’s alarmed to discover that his one-night stand is working on the installation.
4. Husband of the Year
   Olan Stone wants nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with kindergarten teacher Marvin Block. And his daughter, Illona, can't wait to call Marvin her stepfather. They're bashert-meant to be. However, as the big day approaches, family tensions and unresolved issues put their future together in jeopardy.

These Dreaming Spires: A Dark Academia Anthology edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane
Twelve original dark academia stories from bestselling thriller writers, featuring darkened libraries, exclusive elite schools, looming Gothic towers, charismatic professors, illicit affairs, and the rivalries and obsessions that lead to murder.

The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher
Former childhood best friends reunite at magical boarding school after years, only to find themselves enemies on opposite sides of the ugly secrets hidden within the gilded walls.

The World According to Garp by John Irving
T. S. Garp, a man with high ambitions for an artistic career and with obsessive devotion to his wife and children, and Jenny Fields, his famous feminist mother, find their lives surrounded by an assortment of people including teachers, whores, and radicals.

The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton
Arriving at St. Dunstan's Academy in Maine, shy, sensitive Laura Stearns falls under the spell of charismatic, neurotic overachiever Virginia, who gives her purpose until the new school chaplain challenges Virginia, forcing Laura to decide how far she will let her devotion to Virginia go.

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New Events for Entrepreneurs

The upcoming fall months are often a time of change and new beginnings. At the library, this holds true. We have two new learning opportunities for small business owners and entrepreneurs. We’ll be hosting Tom Lovely who is the Director of Business Development at the Spark. Social-Digital Marketing Agency for a presentation about digital marketing and branding on Tuesday, September 15 at 6.pm. – 7:00p.m. Also, if you’re curious about how to use AI for your business, David Echavarria Toro, founder of Ezbusy.ai, will be joining us on October 20 for AI Powered Entrepreneurship. Both presentations will be in the library’s Banx room

Our Money Matters series returns this fall. The Better Business Bureau will return with How to Spot a Scam. Mike Ford will present How Money Works, a great beginner class to help make personal finance and managing money more understandable.

Digital Marketing for Small Business – Tuesday, September 15 at 6:00p.m.

Learn the fundamentals of digital marketing, brand awareness and lead-generation for your small business.

Digital marketing is one of the most popular ways businesses get more customers, in-person visitors, and grow their brands. Understanding digital marketing is crucial to long-term success and growth in the digital age. Tom Lovely will provide an overview of digital marketing tactics, channels, common marketing problems, and helpful strategies to solve them. This class is for anyone who’s interested in learning about digital marketing, brand awareness and lead generation strategies. Click here to register.

AI Powered Entrepreneurship - Tuesday, October 20 at 6:00p.m.

Learn how various A.I. tools can increase productivity, brand visibility, and elevate your business.

David Echavarria Toro is the founder of EzBusy.AI, a firm that is focused on helping businesses scale content creation from websites, to ads, blogs and video by blending style. systems and strategy. David will bring his knowledge and expertise in generative A.I. and A.I. education and how these tools can bring clarity to any type of business to fine-tune marketing and branding. Learn about the development of A.I. and the applications and uses of the various platforms. David founded his company several years ago after graduating from Worcester State University. Click here to register.

SCORE- free business mentoring is available at the library. Please note that you must register at the SCORE Worcester website and complete their intake form.

Money Matters Series

How to Spot a Scam – Tuesday, October 6 at 1:00p.m.

 Learn how to protect yourself from the latest scams with experts from the Better Business Bureau and the Worcester Consumer Rights Program. Scammers are increasingly becoming more sophisticated with techniques that can even trick the most informed consumers. Click here to register.

How Money Works – Tuesday, October 27 at 6:00p.m.

This is an ideal beginners’ class that covers a variety of financial topics. This class is designed to provide foundational information and insights about credit cards, debt, investments, home ownership and basic taxation. Gain a better understanding of financial concepts to make informed decisions that will help you grow wealth over time. Presented by Mike Ford, a member of the Shrewsbury Toastmasters, who has had a distinguished career in business and helping families make informed financial decisions. Click here to register.

 

Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao

There is no doubt that everyone has an opinion about artificial intelligence. Karen Hao has long explored how technology impacts how we live, work, and communicate with others. She spent years interviewing people who are at the epicenter of artificial intelligence --OpenAI. Silicon Valley has become a powerhouse shaping the next wave of what is our modern-day industrial revolution. Click here to request.

 

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Art Heists, Fraud, and Fakes in Fiction and Nonfiction

Our museum pass program offers discounted admission to Worcester Art Museum and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts--among others--but this month we are bringing art to you! As the library celebrates The Seven Art Movements with a tactile, interactive exhibit detailing the evolution of seven influential art movements with representative works of art, reproduced in textured 3-D raised relief with audio narration to describe each painting, it's the perfect time to read a companion book about art. Here's a list of read-a-likes for tales of art fakes and frauds, heists and cons, and art world crime. 

Make sure to check out WPL's Reader's Corner for more book suggestions!

Investigative, True Crime (Fiction)

All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art by Orlando Whitfield
Describes the rise and fall of former best friends Orlando Whitfield and Inigo Philbrick, one an art gallery owner and the other an art dealer who navigated success, financial ruin and finally, betrayal resulting in imprisonment for art fraud.

Art Fraud: 50 Fakes That Fooled the Art World by Susie Hodge
Step inside the astonishing world of art forgery, where masterpieces are faked, fortunes are made, and almost no one is who they seem. Art Fraud reveals the true stories behind some of the greatest scams in art history, where con artists forged their way to fame, fortune or infamy.

The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World by Anthony M. Amore
The Art of the Con tells the stories of some of history's most notorious yet untold cons. They involve stolen art hidden for decades; elaborate ruses that involve the Nazis and allegedly plundered art; the theft of a conceptual prototype from a well-known artist by his assistant to be used later to create copies; the use of online and television auction sites to scam buyers out of millions; and other confidence scams incredible not only for their boldness but more so because they actually worked.

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel
From New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, to the Smithsonian Institution in D.C., to Boston's Museum of Fine Art, to dozens of regional museums throughout the United States, no museum was off-limits to art thief Myles Connor. His IQ is at genius level, and his charm is legendary.

The Devil Wears Rothko: Inside the Art Scandal That Rocked the World by Barry Avrich
From the moment an eccentric woman walked into New York's Knoedler Gallery with a Mark Rothko painting, everyone was fooled. For the next ten years, she ran a lucrative forgery ring, selling or consigning forty expertly crafted counterfeits claimed to be the works of Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and others. By the time the house of cards finally fell, the Knoedler Gallery and a dozen collectors had been tricked into buying over $80 million in fake art

The Duke of Wellington Kidnapped!: The Incredible True Story of the Art Theft That Changed a Nation by Alan Hirsch
In 1961, a thief broke into the National Gallery in London and committed the most sensational art heist in British history. He stole the museum's much prized painting, The Duke of Wellington by Francisco Goya. Despite unprecedented international attention and an unflagging investigation, the case was not solved for four years, and even then, only because the culprit came forward voluntarily.

The Gardner Heist: A True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser
Documents the unsolved theft of twelve masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, tracing the research of the late art detective Harold Smith while recounting the author's own forays into the art underworld.

The Great Chinese Art Heist: Imperialism, Organized Crime, and the Hidden Story of China's Stolen Artistic Treasures by Ralph Pezzullo
The extraordinary story of the theft of priceless Chinese antiques around the world and the connection to crimes spanning more than two centuries—with present-day implications.

Heist: An Inside Look at the World's 100 Greatest Heists, Cons, and Capers: From Burglaries to Bank Jobs and Everything In Between by Pete Stegemeyer
Unlock the cultural obsession with high-stakes robberies in Heist, a collection of the world's greatest real-life break-ins. From the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's famous art heist to the disappearance of the Marie Antoinette watch, these 100% true stories will have you on the edge of your seat--and double checking the locks on your doors!

The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps by Michael Blanding
The story of an infamous crime, a revered map dealer with an unsavory secret, and the ruthless subculture that consumed him

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel
The previously untold story of a little-known WWII Allied division whose mission was to track down European art and treasures that had been looted by the Nazis at Hitler's command.

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman
The creator of the FBI's Art Crime Team recounts his dramatic career, describing high-stakes undercover missions involving valuable stolen antiquities, in an account that covers his role in a famous unsolved crime.

The Rembrandt Heist: The Story of a Criminal Genius, A Stolen Masterpiece, and an Enigmatic Friendship by Anthony Amore
A true crime tale of unbelievable friendship, loyalty, criminal genius, and a staggeringly audacious plot to steal one of the world’s most valuable paintings—and return it.

The Thefts of the Mona Lisa: The Complete Story of the World's Most Famous Artwork by Noah Charney
A best-selling, Pulitzer Prize finalist examines the criminal biography of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, focusing on separating fact from fiction in the story of what is not only the most famous art heist in history, but which is the single most famous theft of all time.

Thirteen Perfect Fugitives: The True Story of the Mob, Murder, and the World's Largest Art Heist by Geoffrey Kelley
The true story of the world's largest art heist, as told by the FBI agent who investigated the case. On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art were plucked from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two subjects posing as police officers. They rang the night bell, claiming they were responding to a call of disturbance. After incapacitating the guard and his partner with handcuffs and duct tape, the subjects spent the next eighty-one minutes inside the museum, leisurely removing some of the world's most valuable pieces of artwork from the walls, including a rare Vermeer and Rembrandt's only known seascape.

Stories (fiction)

The Art Forger by Barbara Shapiro
On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art worth today over $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there's more to this crime than meets the eye.

Artfully Yours by Joanna Lowell
Raised by her art-forger brother, Nina Finch would rather be baking instead of painting and accepts a job in the household of London’s most discerning art critic, who knows the paintings are fakes, but not that she painted them.

Bound by Ali Hazelwood
When bills pile up and her friends are in trouble, a grad student turns her art history skills into a forgery side hustle. It's supposed to be a short term deal, but her work draws the attention of Dr. Viktor Ashworth, a reserved, very British professor. Instead of turning her in, Ashworth kidnaps her—politely—and makes an unusual offer: forge a mysterious ancient manuscript for him. Soon Vero finds herself spending long nights with Viktor, bent over rare vellum samples and obscure inks. But as the con grows riskier, Vero has to wonder: what does Viktor really want, and why can't she stay away?

The Collector by Daniel Silva
Legendary art restorer and spy Gabriel Allon joins forces with a brilliant and beautiful master-thief to track down the world’s most valuable missing painting but soon finds himself in a desperate race to prevent an unthinkable conflict between Russia and the West.

The Collector's Apprentice by Barbara Shapiro
19-year-old Paulien Mertens, who becomes Vivienne Gregsby and finds a job with an American art collector who shares her passion for post-Impressionist art. Little does he know she's got an ulterior motive.Why you might like it: Cameos by famous artists and evocative details of Paris in the 1920s add atmosphere to a slow-burning tale of passion, murder, and revenge.

The Heist by Daniel Silva
Gabriel Allon, art restorer and occasional spy, searches for a stolen masterpiece by Caravaggio. Sometimes the best way to find a stolen masterpiece is to steal another one.

The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer
August, 1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincent Peruggia. Exactly what happens in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, and more than one historian has wondered if the painting now in the Louvre is a fake, switched in 1911. Present day: art professor Luke Perrone digs for the truth behind his most famous ancestor: Peruggia. His search attracts an Interpol detective with something to prove and an unfamiliar but curiously helpful woman. Soon, Luke tumbles deep into the world of art and forgery, a land of obsession and danger.

The Metropolitan Affair by Jocelyn Green
1925 New York City: Dr. Lauren Westlake, a Metropolitan Museum of Art assistant curator, reconnects with an old friend, police detective Joe Caravello, who was once in love with her.What happens: Lauren's estranged Egyptologist father tries to recruit her for an expedition, but she doubts his intentions. Meanwhile, she helps Joe search for an art forger, drawing the two of them close once again.

Painted Ladies by Robert B. Parker
Hired by a museum to provide protection during a ransom exchange for a stolen painting, Spenser is personally outraged when the ransom fails and the painting is not recovered, a case that makes him suspect the innocence of the art scholar who retained him.

The Picasso Heist by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
A rare masterpiece by Picasso is about to go to auction, and the whole world is watching. But bright art student Halston Graham sees an opportunity. One that could secure millions for her future, and freedom for her wrongly imprisoned father. To pull off the crime of the century, she must assemble an unlikely crack team—an expert in forgery, a ruthless mob boss, and an eccentric fashion designer. In a game where trust is a luxury and failure is not an option, will Halston's brilliance be enough to outsmart her enemies?

Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Daniel Silva
In this thrilling story of deception in the world of international fine art, restorer and spy Gabriel Allon scours Europe for the secret behind the forgery of a 17th-century masterpiece that has fooled experts and exchanged hands for millions.

Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists by Anthony M. Amore
In Stealing Rembrandts, authors Anthony M. Amore and Tom Mashberg reveal the actors behind the major art heists of the Dutch Master in the last century. Through thefts around the world--from Stockholm to Boston, Worcester to Ohio--the authors track daring entries into and escapes from the world's most renowned museums, and robbers who coolly walk offwith multimillion dollar paintings.

The Woman Who Stole Vermeer: The True Story of Rose Dugdale and the Russborough House Art Heist by Anthony M. Amore
Dugdale ran head-first towards the action, spearheading the first aerial terrorist attack in British history and pulling off the biggest art theft of her time. In 1974, she led a gang into the opulent Russborough House in Ireland and made off with millions in prized paintings, including works by Goya, Gainsborough, and Rubens, as well as Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid by the mysterious master Johannes Vermeer. Dugdale thus became - to this day - the only woman to pull off a major art heist.

The World to Come by Dara Horn
Having stolen a million-dollar Marc Chagall masterpiece, thirty-year-old quiz-show writer Benjamin Ziskind and his twin sister work to evade the police and evaluate the eighty-year-old link between their family and the famous painting.

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New Releases: September 2026 Edition

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, and check out WPL's Reader's Corner for more book suggestions!

Nonfiction

Data Are Made, Not Found A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census by danah boyd

An eye-opening story of the people who make the census, the United States' largest and most consequential dataset, and the growing threats to their crucial work. By many measures, the US census is the government's largest non-wartime operation, and one of the world's oldest and biggest data-making endeavors. The 2020 census required more than a decade of planning and technical work--not to mention managing nearly a quarter of a million temporary workers simultaneously--to collect data about the American public. That data was then processed to count each of 331,449,281 residents once--and only once--and in the right place. The operation is also one of the country's most consequential. Census data determine how political power and federal funding are allocated. Census data make politics, and consequently, politics make census data. In this urgent book, danah boyd explores what it took for the Census Bureau to make the 2020 census, amidst a global pandemic and natural disasters, and while navigating political forces that constrained the budget, micro-managed the schedule, and attacked statisticians' methods. With rare insider access to the Census Bureau, boyd observed and interviewed hundreds of government civil servants who made the 2020 census. By documenting the perspectives of government workers, Data Are Made, Not Found provides a rare glimpse into what it takes to make democracy's data. Each chapter reveals a different challenge--ranging from the last-minute fights about a citizenship question to the not-so-helpful help of well-intended stakeholders to avoid undercounts--and shows how civil servants responded to each problem, controversy, and hurdle. Boyd shows how many of the challenges that the Census Bureau faced in 2020 resulted from decades of political operatives, data users, and various stakeholders playing what boyd calls "Jenga politics," weakening the administrative state for short-term political gains by removing support and adding more requirements. Civil servants saved the 2020 census, but future censuses--and other data-making efforts related to elections, health, and the economy--are precarious. Boyd's message is clear and compelling: protecting democracy means protecting the people and institutions that produce this data. (courtesy of the publisher) 

Major Taylor by Frederick Noland
Veteran Bay Area indie cartoonist Noland (Our Little Wild Time) delivers a finely crafted and illuminating biography of Marshall "Major" Taylor, a Black bicycle racer who became an international superstar in the late 19th century. Growing up in the upper Midwest, Taylor exhibits a talent for performing bicycle tricks and later begins competitive racing, becoming a genuine force in the sport. Eventually, he's invited to compete in France and Australia and is celebrated as a hero by locals in both countries. But on his home turf Taylor faces racial discrimination, including sports organizations that vote to ban Black cyclists from membership. He's physically attacked on several occasions, most notably by fellow racer William Becker, who comes in third place following Taylor's win and who chokes him unconscious. Through his triumphs and travails, Taylor relies on his religious faith, as well as his family, mentors, and sports heroes like fellow biking legends Arthur "the Jersey Skeeter" Zimmerman and Louis "Birdie" Munger. Noland's skillful, seemingly effortless cartooning evokes Taylor's era with dynamism. Adroitly drawn historical context includes the origins of the bicycle and its "elegant yet simple" design, and various ways it influenced society and culture, such as how it became popular with suffragists. Honoring its subject and Black sports history, this graphic biography goes the distance. Copyright 2026 Publishers Weekly 

Racist by Design: Two Centuries of U.S. Immigration Control by Kelly Lytle Hernández
In this landmark examination of the racist roots of the American immigration system, MacArthur "genius" grant winner Hernández (Bad Mexicans) argues that "U.S. immigration control operates as a whites-only machine." Hernández traces U.S. immigration law from its earliest days during the Haitian revolution, when lawmakers sought to keep Black Caribbeans out of the states, through today's ICE raids and mass deportations. Much of the current immigration system, she notes, grew out of federal laws to deter Chinese laborers from participating in the California gold rush, creating a precedent for state-sanctioned exclusion, punishment, and removal of nonwhite immigrants that "has subsequently allowed racial discrimination to persist into the present." As eugenicist junk science was popularized in the 1910s and "Nordic nationalism" grew following WWI, new tools for exclusion like literacy tests and quota systems emerged, even as employers continued to utilize immigrant labor through limited guest worker permits with no pathway to citizenship. As other areas of public policy have shifted to distance themselves from racism and xenophobia, U.S. immigration control has "remained programmed to easier, quicker, safer, and cheaper for Europeans and their descendants." Throughout, Hernández surfaces heartening ways that "defiant migrants and their advocates have always figured out how to sabotage the machine." It's a definitive and forceful call for reform. (Sept.) Copyright 2026 Publishers Weekly

Fiction

American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee 

A big novel with a bigger heart, American Hagwon opens in 1992, when John Koh, a manager at a multinational trading company; his wife Helen; and their teenage kids, Mido, Bo, and DH, move back to Seoul from Sydney, where John had been stationed for work. In Seoul, families clamor for status, and education is a preoccupation, with kids routinely studying late into the night. Helen struggles to overcome financial roadblocks to get her children into a respectable hagwon, but things fall apart when the South Korean economy tanks in 1997.  The family then moves to Southern California, where a new kind of education begins. John takes a lowly job at a fish restaurant, and Mido works at an American hagwon and discovers a passion for teaching. But when tragedy strikes the Kohs, more and more responsibility falls to the younger generation. 
Copyright 2026 Publishers Weekly

Under Story by Chloe Benjamin
Laurel Salter, a biologist and fungi specialist in crisis, takes a chance on a life-changing opportunity: a job as a dishwasher at the McMurdo Station research base in Antarctica. Ostensibly safe from all reminders of her previous life, she explores and adapts to the rhythms of her new, extremely isolated life with her coworkers. Laurel observes and inquires about the Arc, a mysterious, glowing dome over the ice. Questions about the Arc start to draw scientists from all over the world; before long, Laurel’s physicist ex-husband arrives too. Negotiating their history and shared pain leads them to Laurel’s thoughts on the possibilities of the Arc, based on Eli’s theory of a duoverse. They decide to test the Arc, using it to travel back in time to try to rescue their child before he’s lost to them forever. Benjamin’s immersive and atmospheric novel is a heartfelt and intellectually gripping missive to the planet, to loss, and to connection. VERDICT Fans of Benjamin’s The Immortalists will be thrilled as she again delivers on all levels. Equally appropriate for fans of mycelium, odes to the magic of the Earth, and speculation on the myriad possibilities for humanity. Copyright 2026 Library Journal

The Weight of Angels by John Boyne 

A dazzling counterfactual gives Oscar Wilde the long life he was denied.  What if Oscar Wilde had never risen to the Marquess of Queensberry’s bait? What if, instead of pursuing the libel case that destroyed him, he had ignored the infamous calling card accusing him of “posing as a sodomite”? In this bold, richly entertaining counterfactual, Boyne imagines a 20th-century life for Wilde, one in which disgrace falls first on his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, known as Bosie—Queensberry’s son—who is tried for gross indecency, sentenced to hard labor, and later writes De Profundis and The Ballad of Reading Gaol. It is a deliciously provocative reversal, and one of the novel’s sharpest pleasures is watching Boyne redistribute history’s punishments and glories. Boyne is a gifted ventriloquist. His Wilde is extravagantly witty, sometimes too much so, but the epigrams are rarely mere decoration. They mask loneliness, vanity, and the sheer labor of living in a society where, as Wilde observes, “Everyone knows what I am, but no one dares say it aloud.” The novel’s great achievement is not simply that Wilde lives, but that he keeps living: through Edwardian England, two world wars, the advent of Hollywood, and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. That long life gives the book its melancholy power. Wilde becomes a Nobel laureate, a writing collaborator of Churchill, and, finally, a wistful judge of his own moral failings toward his late wife, Constance. The “weight of angels” is ultimately the weight of the dead: Bosie; Constance; Wilde’s son, Cyril; lovers; friends; and all those men ruined by laws Wilde himself escaped. Not everything is convincing. Some secondary figures are broadly drawn, and scenes of domestic ease between Wilde, his lover Gus, and Wilde’s sons can feel wishful, even sentimental. Yet even when the details feel awry, the central conceit is irresistible.  A witty and melancholy act of literary resurrection. Copyright 2026 Kirkus Reviews

Contemporary Retellings, Adaptations, and Read-A-Likes for The Iliad

If you've read or seen The Odyssey, you may also be interested in The Iliad, which  retells the story of the last few weeks of the mythical Trojan War, including the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon, the death of Prince Hector, and the kidnapping and rescue of Helen.

What makes The Iliad so compelling, after so many years?  For some it's the epic adventure; for others, the depictions of Greek culture and society, for others, it's the comedy and humor within the story, and for others, it's the detailed descriptions of battle, warfare, and weapons. The archetypal characters and universal themes of pride and glory, the heroic code, fate and free will, and vengeance and justice, speak deeply to us, and help us navigate our own trials, relationships, and emotions. Whether you are familiar with classical mythology or this is your first time experiencing the epic adventure of The Iliad, here are read-a-like suggestions to introduce you to the plot, extend your understanding, or explore the themes.

Make sure to check out WPL's Reader's Corner for more book suggestions!

Classic Translations

Many scholars have put their brains to deciphering the ancient Greek texts that make up this epic tale, each with something different to offer. Compare translations at https://www.iliadtranslations.com/.

The Iliad by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson
The greatest literary landmark of antiquity masterfully rendered by the most celebrated translator of our time.

The Iliad by Homer, translated by Robert Fagel
An energetic, prose translation.

The Story of the Iliad : a dramatic retelling of Homer's epic and the last days of Troy by Homer, translated by Simon Armitage
In the final days of the Trojan War, the Trojans and the Greeks are caught in a bitter stalemate. Exhausted and desperate after ten years of warfare, gods and men battle among themselves for the glory of recognition and a hand in victory. Cleverly intertwining the Iliad and the Aeneid, Armitage poetically narrates the tale of Troy to its dire end, evoking a world plagued by deceit, conflict, and a deadly predilection for pride and envy. As with the Odyssey, Armitage reveals the echoes of ancient myth in our contemporary war-torn landscape, and reinvigorates the classic epics with adventure, passion, and, surprisingly, Shakespearean wit.

Troy: The Greek Myths Reimagined 
by Stephen Fry
A retelling of the Greek myth of the Trojan war.

Graphic Retellings

Comic-style panels are used to show and tell the story of the events leading up to the Trojan War.

The Iliad: A Graphic Novel adapted by Gareth Hinds
Retells, in graphic novel format, Homer's epic tale of the Iliad, recounting the last year of the Trojan War between the city of Troy and the Achaeans, an alliance of Greek city-states, as they try to reclaim Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, from a Trojan prince.

The Iliad adapted by Miguel Angel Sepulveda
One of the true cornerstones of Western literature comes to the Marvel Illustrated line! The ancient world is embroiled in a mighty clash of armies: Greek vs. Trojan. Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, has betrayed her husband - the Greek, Menelaus - and fled to Troy with Trojan prince, Paris. The Greeks have sailed to Troy to bring her back - and crush all that stand in their way! This is the first chapter in the saga that virtually defines the word epic. It is a tale of gods and men, heroism and betrayal. From the lips of Homer to the pages of Marvel Illustrated! Collects Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad #1-8.

Fiction Adaptations

Faithful reproductions in historical or period style, and other looser interpretations give new insights into  Helen, Jason, Achilles and other heroes and.

Horses of Fire: A Novel of Troy by A. D. Rhine
Andromache, a warrior queen, Rhea, a horse-whisperer, Helen who is beautiful and the victim of abuse and Cassandra, a prophetess, fight for their lives as their stories intertwine in the weeks leading up to the battle of Troy.

Son of Nobody by Yann Martel
A brilliant retelling of the Trojan War from two commoners: an ancient soldier and a modern scholar.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Banished from his father's kingdom, 10-year-old prince Patroclus finds sanctuary in Phthia as a foster child of King Peleus and becomes friends with Peleus' demigod son, Achilles. The two boys become devoted to each other, but it's only a matter of time before Achilles must confront his fate on the plains of Troy in this retelling of The Iliad. Try this next: Pat Barker's Women of Troy trilogy.

Songs of Penelope series by Claire North:

Ithaca #1
A thought-provoking reimagining of Penelope of Ithaca as narrated by a bitter yet witty Hera, queen of the Greek gods.

House of Odysseus #2
On the isle of Ithaca, queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband Odysseus sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace—a peace that is shattered by the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra. Orestes' hands are stained with his mother's blood. Now, wracked with guilt, he is slowly losing his mind. Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the furies circle him. His uncle Menelaus, the battle-hungry king of Sparta, longs for Orestes' throne—and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims.

The Last Song of Penelope #3
Odysseus sailed to war and never returned. For 20 years his wife Penelope and the women of Ithaca have guarded the isle against suitors and rival kings. However, a beggar has arrived at the Palace. Ocean-battered, he is scorned by the suitors - but Penelope recognizes in him something: her husband, Odysseus, returned at last. Yet this Odysseus is no hero. By returning to the island in disguise, he is not merely plotting his revenge against the suitors but he's testing the loyalty of his queen. Has she been faithful to him all these years? And how much blood is Odysseus willing to shed to be sure? The song of Penelope is ending, and the song of Odysseus must ring through Ithaca's halls.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
An atmospheric and witty retelling of the Trojan War, from the shifting perspectives of both familiar and unfamiliar female characters. Starring: the goddess Calliope, who decides to make the most of her role as a Muse; Penelope, who starts losing patience after learning why it's taking so long for her husband Odysseus to return; Oenone, who was abandoned by her husband Paris for Helen of Sparta.

Women of Troy series by Pat Barker:

The Silence of the Girls #1
Reimagines The Iliad from the perspectives of the captured women living in the Greek camp in the final weeks of the Trojan War.

Women of Troy #2
A moving, gritty reimagining of the aftermath of the Trojan War, driven by complex female characters who tell first-person stories of grief, trauma, and vengeance. Starring: resilient and revenge-minded Briseis, who was enslaved by Achilles; prophetic princess Cassandra, whose visions of the war to come were ignored thanks to a curse from Apollo; Hector's widow Andromache, whose pragmatism might just help her rebuild a life worth living.

The Voyage Home #3
The Trojan War is over. Forced to be Agamemnon's concubine, Cassandra, along with her servant Ritsa (who often narrates), is taken by the victors to Mycenae, where Agamemnon's wife awaits his return with murder in her heart.

Nonfiction

Informational resources to deepen your understanding of Greek history and the Trojan War.

Athens: City of Wisdom by Bruce Clark
A sweeping narrative history of Athens, telling the three-thousand-year story of the birthplace of Western civilization.

Athens and Sparta: The Rivalry That Shaped Ancient Greece by Adrian Keith Goldsworthy
Athens and Sparta tells the definitive history of the relationship between brutal, militaristic Sparta and brash, radically democratic Athens. Adrian Goldsworthy narrates their incredible rise to prominence and how they became allies, rivals, and enemies. Goldsworthy shows that Athens and Sparta were more than competitors vying for power. They were polar opposites in ideology and culture, both driven by the Greek longing to excel, who led radically different experiments in how to run a state.

Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind by Edith Hall
An acclaimed classics scholar dissects the mindset of the ancient Greeks, beyond their invention of democracy, theatre and philosophy, discussing how their achievements were due as much to their collective spirit of individuality as their mariners' contact with diverse people in distant lands.

The Trojan War: A New History by Barry S. Strauss
Drawing on the latest archaeological research, an expert account of the famous historical battle confirms many details recounted in Homer's epic account, from Troy's alliance with the Hittite Empire and the role of Greek maritime commerce in the war to the significant fire at the end of the twelfth century and the facts about the Trojan horse.

For additional pairings, including poetry and teaching resources for The Odyssey, check out freshman English teacher Kristi Moore's excellent blog post and booklist, or our suggestions for retellings, adaptions, and read-a-likes for The Iliad.

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