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<title><![CDATA[Jamie harper's Wish List]]></title>

<description><![CDATA[]]></description>

<link><![CDATA[http://www.indiebound.org/users/jamie-harper/wishlist]]></link>

<language><![CDATA[en-us]]></language>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Major Pettigrew's Last Stand]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781400068937</link>
<description><![CDATA[You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart.The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition? ]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Major Pettigrew's Last Stand]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Helen Simonson]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Random House]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781400068937]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart.The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition? ]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9781588369659]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2010-03-02T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Man from Beijing]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307271860</link>
<description><![CDATA[The acclaimed author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, writing at the height of his powers, now gives us an electrifying stand-alone global thriller.January 2006. In the Swedish hamlet of Hesjövallen, nineteen people have been massacred. The only clue is a red ribbon found at the scene. Judge Birgitta Roslin has particular reason to be shocked: Her grandparents, the Andréns, are among the victims, and Birgitta soon learns that an Andrén family in Nevada has also been murdered. She then discovers the nineteenth-century diary of an Andrén ancestor—a gang master on the American transcontinental railway—that describes brutal treatment of Chinese slave workers. The police insist that only a lunatic could have committed the Hesjövallen murders, but Birgitta is determined to uncover what she now suspects is a more complicated truth.The investigation leads to the highest echelons of power in present-day Beijing, and to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But the narrative also takes us back 150 years into the depths of the slave trade between China and the United States—a history that will ensnare Birgitta as she draws ever closer to solving the Hesjövallen murders.]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Man from Beijing]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Laurie Thompson; Henning Mankell]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Knopf]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780307271860]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[The acclaimed author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, writing at the height of his powers, now gives us an electrifying stand-alone global thriller.January 2006. In the Swedish hamlet of Hesjövallen, nineteen people have been massacred. The only clue is a red ribbon found at the scene. Judge Birgitta Roslin has particular reason to be shocked: Her grandparents, the Andréns, are among the victims, and Birgitta soon learns that an Andrén family in Nevada has also been murdered. She then discovers the nineteenth-century diary of an Andrén ancestor—a gang master on the American transcontinental railway—that describes brutal treatment of Chinese slave workers. The police insist that only a lunatic could have committed the Hesjövallen murders, but Birgitta is determined to uncover what she now suspects is a more complicated truth.The investigation leads to the highest echelons of power in present-day Beijing, and to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But the narrative also takes us back 150 years into the depths of the slave trade between China and the United States—a history that will ensnare Birgitta as she draws ever closer to solving the Hesjövallen murders.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9780307593177]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2010-02-16T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Crimson Rooms]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780399156229</link>
<description><![CDATA[ In the spirit of Sarah Waters and Geraldine Brooks, a dramatic mystery about love, secrets, and discovery in post-World War I London.  Still haunted by the death of her only brother, James, in the Great War, Evelyn Gifford is completely unprepared when a young nurse and her six-year-old son appear on the Giffords' doorstep one night. The child, the nurse claims, is James's, conceived in a battlefield hospital. The grief-stricken Giffords take them both in; but Evelyn, a struggling attorney, must now support her entire family-at a time when work for women lawyers is almost nonexistent.  Suddenly a new case falls in Evelyn's lap: Seemingly hopeless, it's been abandoned by her male coworkers. The accused-a veteran charged with murdering his young wife- is almost certain to die on the gallows. . . . And yet, Evelyn believes he is truly innocent, just as she suspects there may be more to the story of her "nephew" than meets the eye. . .]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Crimson Rooms]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Katharine  McMahon]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Putnam Adult]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780399156229]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[ In the spirit of Sarah Waters and Geraldine Brooks, a dramatic mystery about love, secrets, and discovery in post-World War I London.  Still haunted by the death of her only brother, James, in the Great War, Evelyn Gifford is completely unprepared when a young nurse and her six-year-old son appear on the Giffords' doorstep one night. The child, the nurse claims, is James's, conceived in a battlefield hospital. The grief-stricken Giffords take them both in; but Evelyn, a struggling attorney, must now support her entire family-at a time when work for women lawyers is almost nonexistent.  Suddenly a new case falls in Evelyn's lap: Seemingly hopeless, it's been abandoned by her male coworkers. The accused-a veteran charged with murdering his young wife- is almost certain to die on the gallows. . . . And yet, Evelyn believes he is truly innocent, just as she suspects there may be more to the story of her "nephew" than meets the eye. . .]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2010-02-18T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[No Mercy]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416590958</link>
<description><![CDATA[Mercy Gunderson is a straight shooter with a hard edge. On medical leave from the army, she returns home to South Dakota, which isn't much safer for her than Iraq. Arriving just after the death of her father, it is up to Mercy to decide what to do with the family ranch and try to deal with her irresponsible sister and nephew. Feeling guilty that she didn't make it home soon enough to see her father one last time, Mercy is suddenly pulled into the local community when the body of an Indian boy is found on her land. But nobody seems to be doing anything about it, especially not the local law enforcement.When tragedy strikes again, Mercy is ready to throw all her energy into her own investigation, and she's out for revenge. As she digs up the truth behind the shocking crimes, Mercy uncovers dark and dangerous secrets and must race to stop a killer before everything she's fought for is destroyed forever.]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[No Mercy]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Lori Armstrong]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Touchstone]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781416590958]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[Mercy Gunderson is a straight shooter with a hard edge. On medical leave from the army, she returns home to South Dakota, which isn't much safer for her than Iraq. Arriving just after the death of her father, it is up to Mercy to decide what to do with the family ranch and try to deal with her irresponsible sister and nephew. Feeling guilty that she didn't make it home soon enough to see her father one last time, Mercy is suddenly pulled into the local community when the body of an Indian boy is found on her land. But nobody seems to be doing anything about it, especially not the local law enforcement.When tragedy strikes again, Mercy is ready to throw all her energy into her own investigation, and she's out for revenge. As she digs up the truth behind the shocking crimes, Mercy uncovers dark and dangerous secrets and must race to stop a killer before everything she's fought for is destroyed forever.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2010-01-01T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[A Thousand Cuts]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780670021505</link>
<description><![CDATA[ A stunning debut novel that unravels the hidden story behind a school shooting   It should be an open-and-shut case. Samuel Szajkowski, a recently hired history teacher, walked into a school assembly with a gun and murdered three students and a colleague before turning the weapon on himself. It was a tragedy that could not have been predicted. Szajkowski, it seems clear, was a psychopath beyond help. Yet as Detective Inspector Lucia May- the only woman in her high-testosterone office in the Criminal Investigations Department-begins to piece together the testimonies of the various witnesses, an uglier and more complex picture emerges, calling into question the innocence of others. But no one, including Lucia's boss, is interested.  As the pressure to close the case builds and her colleagues' sexism takes a sinister turn, Lucia begins to realize that she has more in common with the killer than she could have imagined, and she becomes deter]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[A Thousand Cuts]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Simon  Lelic]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Viking Adult]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780670021505]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[ A stunning debut novel that unravels the hidden story behind a school shooting   It should be an open-and-shut case. Samuel Szajkowski, a recently hired history teacher, walked into a school assembly with a gun and murdered three students and a colleague before turning the weapon on himself. It was a tragedy that could not have been predicted. Szajkowski, it seems clear, was a psychopath beyond help. Yet as Detective Inspector Lucia May- the only woman in her high-testosterone office in the Criminal Investigations Department-begins to piece together the testimonies of the various witnesses, an uglier and more complex picture emerges, calling into question the innocence of others. But no one, including Lucia's boss, is interested.  As the pressure to close the case builds and her colleagues' sexism takes a sinister turn, Lucia begins to realize that she has more in common with the killer than she could have imagined, and she becomes deter]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2010-03-04T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Shadow Tag]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780061536090</link>
<description><![CDATA[ "Here is the most telling fact: you wish to possess me.   Here is another fact: I loved you and let you think you could."    When Irene America discovers that her husband, Gil, has been reading her diary, she begins a secret Blue Notebook, stashed securely in a safe-deposit box. There she records the truth about her life and her marriage, while turning her Red Diary?hidden where Gil will find it?into a manipulative farce. Alternating between these two records, complemented by unflinching third-person narration, Shadow Tag is an eerily gripping read.   When the novel opens, Irene is resuming work on her doctoral thesis about George Catlin, the nineteenth-century painter whose Native American subjects often regarded his portraits with suspicious wonder. Gil, who gained notoriety as an artist through his emotionally revealing portraits of his wife?work that is adoring, sensual, and humiliating, even shocking?realizes that his fear of losing Irene may force him to create the defining work of his career.   Meanwhile, Irene and Gil fight to keep up appearances for their three children: fourteen-year-old genius Florian, who escapes his family's unraveling with joints and a stolen bottle of wine; Riel, their only daughter, an eleven-year-old feverishly planning to preserve her family, no matter what disaster strikes; and sweet kindergartener Stoney, who was born, his parents come to realize, at the beginning of the end.   As her home increasingly becomes a place of violence and secrets, and she drifts into alcoholism, Irene moves to end her marriage. But her attachment to Gil is filled with shadowy need and delicious ironies. In brilliantly controlled prose, Shadow Tag fearlessly explores the complex nature of love, the fluid boundaries of identity, and one family's struggle for survival and redemption. ]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Shadow Tag]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Louise Erdrich]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Harper]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780061536090]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[ "Here is the most telling fact: you wish to possess me.   Here is another fact: I loved you and let you think you could."    When Irene America discovers that her husband, Gil, has been reading her diary, she begins a secret Blue Notebook, stashed securely in a safe-deposit box. There she records the truth about her life and her marriage, while turning her Red Diary?hidden where Gil will find it?into a manipulative farce. Alternating between these two records, complemented by unflinching third-person narration, Shadow Tag is an eerily gripping read.   When the novel opens, Irene is resuming work on her doctoral thesis about George Catlin, the nineteenth-century painter whose Native American subjects often regarded his portraits with suspicious wonder. Gil, who gained notoriety as an artist through his emotionally revealing portraits of his wife?work that is adoring, sensual, and humiliating, even shocking?realizes that his fear of losing Irene may force him to create the defining work of his career.   Meanwhile, Irene and Gil fight to keep up appearances for their three children: fourteen-year-old genius Florian, who escapes his family's unraveling with joints and a stolen bottle of wine; Riel, their only daughter, an eleven-year-old feverishly planning to preserve her family, no matter what disaster strikes; and sweet kindergartener Stoney, who was born, his parents come to realize, at the beginning of the end.   As her home increasingly becomes a place of violence and secrets, and she drifts into alcoholism, Irene moves to end her marriage. But her attachment to Gil is filled with shadowy need and delicious ironies. In brilliantly controlled prose, Shadow Tag fearlessly explores the complex nature of love, the fluid boundaries of identity, and one family's struggle for survival and redemption. ]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2010-02-01T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Wolf Hall]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780805080681</link>
<description><![CDATA[In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII’s court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king’s favor and ascend to the heights of political powerEngland in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph? In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.                                                            Hilary Mantel is the author of nine previous novels, including A Change of Climate, A Place of Greater Safety, and Eight Months on Ghazzah Street. She has also written a memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. Winner of the Hawthornden Prize, she reviews for The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and the London Review of Books. She lives in England.                   Winner of the National Book Critics Circle AwardShortlisted for the Orange Prize for FictionIn inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change.  England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph? In Mantel's 16th century monarchy, individuals must fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.                                      "It is a famous portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger: Thomas Cromwell in his finery, about 1534, looking formidable and clutching a piece of paper while he sits at a desk that holds the implements he used to write Henry VIII’s correspondence and draft Henry VIII’s laws. In Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel’s arch, elegant, richly detailed biographical novel centered on Cromwell, she has used Holbein’s delivery of the portrait as the basis for a dagger-sharp moment of truth . . . It is Ms. Mantel’s velvet-gloved delivery of such devastating observations, her book’s broad historical sweep and her counterintuitive choice to make Cromwell its primary focus that have helped make Wolf Hall a widely favored contender for this year’s Man Booker Prize . . . Her book’s main characters are scorchingly well rendered. And their sharp-clawed machinations are presented with nonstop verve in a book that can compress a wealth of incisiveness into a very few well-chosen words . . . Ms. Mantel also has improbable success in reinventing Anne Boleyn. Or at least she succeeds in newly underscoring Anne’s debt to Niccolo, as this book’s characters refer to Machiavelli. With the king’s friends, Cromwell notices: 'Anne is brittle in their company, and as ruthless with their compliments as a housewife snapping the necks of larks for the table. If her precise smile fades for a moment, they all lean forward, anxious to know how to please her. A bigger set of fools you would go far to seek.' And when Anne bears a daughter who can seemingly never inherit the throne (though she will of course grow up to be Queen Elizabeth I), Ms. Mantel provides a prime example of acerbic flair. The baby is described as 'an ugly, purple, grizzling knot of womankind, with an upstanding ruff of pale hair and a habit of kicking up her gown as if to display her most unfortunate feature.' Deft and diabolical as they are, Ms. Mantel’s slyly malicious turns of phrase would count for little more than banter if they could not succinctly capture the important struggles that have set her characters to talking. But she is able to place Cromwell on plausibly familiar terms with royalty and on a fair moral footing with More, that paragon of self-sacrifice . . . Wolf Hall is far too tricky a book to let Cromwell’s pronouncement be taken at face value. He is, after all, the king’s wily advocate. And he is never without an agenda. But this much is certain: More’s downfall has been assured by the time Cromwell finishes with him. Cromwell’s troubles, which will be no less lethal, are barely stirring when Wolf Hall ends. It is to be hoped that Ms. Mantel makes Cromwell’s endgame part of her future."?Janet Maslin, The New York Times ?A brilliant historical novel focused on the rise to power of a figure exceedingly unlikely, on the face of things, to arouse any sympathy at all . . . This is a novel too in which nothing is wasted, and nothing completely disappears.”?Stephen Greenblatt, The New York Review of Books?Whether we accept Ms Mantel’s reading of history or not, her characters have a lifeblood of their own . . . a Shakespearean vigour. Stylistically, her fly-on-the-wall approach is achieved through the present tense, of which she is a master. Her prose is muscular, avoiding cod Tudor dialogue and going for direct modern English. The result is Ms Mantel’s best novel yet.”?The Economist?A novel both fresh and finely wrought: a brilliant portrait of a society in the throes of disorienting change, anchored by a penetrating character study of Henry’s formidable advisor, Thomas Cromwell. It’s no wonder that her masterful book just won this year’s Booker Prize . . . [Mantel’s prose is] extraordinarily flexible, subtle, and shrewd.”?Wendy Smith, The Washington Post"Mantel has filled in the blanks plausibly, brilliantly. Wolf Hall has epic scale but lyric texture. Its 500-plus pages turn quickly, winged and falconlike. Trained in the law, Mantel can see the understated heroism in the skilled administrator's day-to-day decisions in service of a well-ordered civil society?not of a medieval fief based on war and not, heaven help us, a utopia . . . Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall is both spellbinding and believable."?Christopher Benfey, The New York Times Book Review ?[Mantel’s] interest is in the question of good and evil as it applies to people who wield great power. That means anguish, exultation, deals, spies, decapitations, and fabulous clothes . . . She always goes for color, richness, music. She has read Shakespeare closely. One also hears the accents of the young James Joyce.”?Joan Acocella, The New Yorker?Mantel’s abilities to channel the life and lexicon of the past are nothing short of astonishing. She burrows down through the historical record to uncover the tiniest, most telling details, evoking the minutiae of history as vividly as its grand sweep. The dialogue is so convincing that she seems to have been, in another life, a stenographer taking notes in the taverns and palaces of England.”?Ross King, Los Angeles Times?Instead of bringing the past to us, [Mantel's] writing, brilliant and black, launches us disconcertingly into the past. We are space-time travelers landed in an alien world . . . history is a feast whose various and vital excitements and intrigues make the book a long and complex pleasure.”?Richard Eder, The Boston Globe?Historical fiction at its finest, Wolf Hall captures the character of a nation and its people. It exemplifies something that has lately seemed as mythical as those serpent princesses: the great English novel.”?Bloomberg News"[Mantel] wades into the dark currents of 16th century English politics to sculpt a drama and a protagonist with a surprisingly contemporary feel . . . Wolf Hall is sometimes an ambitious read. But it is a rewarding one as well.”?Marjorie Kehe, The Christian Science Monitor?The story of Cromwell’s rise shimmers in Ms. Mantel’s spry intelligent prose . . . [Mantel] leaches out the bones of the story as it is traditionally known, and presents to us a phantasmagoric extravaganza of the characters’ plans and ploys, toils and tactics.”?Washington Times?There are no new stories, only new ways of telling them. Set during Henry VIII’s tumultuous, oft-covered reign, this epic novel . . . proves just how inspired a fresh take can be. [Mantel] is an author as audacious as Anne [Boleyn] herself, imagining private conversations between public figures and making it read as if she had a glass to the wall.”?People Magazine?Fans of historical fiction?or great writing?should howl with delight.”?USA Today?This masterwork is full of gems for the careful reader. The recurring details alone . . . shine through like some kind of Everyman’s poetry. Plainspoken and occasionally brutal, Wolf Hall is both as complex and as powerful as its subject, as messy as life itself.”?Clea Simon, The Boston Phoenix?Reader, you’re in excellent hands with Hilary Mantel . . . for this thrumming, thrilling read. . . . Part of the delight of masterfully paced Wolf Hall is how utterly modern it feels. It is political intrigue pulsing with energy and peopled by historical figures who have never seemed more alive?and more human.”?Ellen Kanner, Miami Herald?Wolf Hall is a solid historical novel that’s also a compelling read . . . Mantel’s narrative manages to be both rich and lean: there’s plenty of detail, but it’s not piled in endless paragraphs. The plot flows swiftly from one development to the next.”?David Loftus, The Oregonian?[Mantel] seamlessly blends fiction and history and creates a stunning story of Tudor England . . . With its excellent plotting and riveting dialogue, Wolf Hall is a gem of a novel that is both accurate and gripping.”?Cody Corliss, St. Louis Post-Dispatch ?[A] spirited novel . . . Mantel has a solid grasp of court politics and a knack for sharp, cutting dialogue.”?Thom Geier, Entertainment Weekly"The monarch is the focus of history, but somebody has to make the show run behind the pageantry. For Henry VIII, it was Thomas Cromwell, for a time, at least. Henry had his own take on term limits?an ax?and in time many of his advisers lost their heads on the chopping block. While Cromwell (a very distant relation to Oliver Cromwell, who was keen on the ax as well) managed the king's monumental project of taking the church away from Rome efficiently and loyally, he eventually rankled the irritable Henry (all those wives!) and was executed. Most Americans can be forgiven for confusing the Cromwells, but the English know the difference. Thomas is usually portrayed as a cunning, ruthless villain who smashed the monasteries while persecuting the real or imagined enemies of the king and of his heretical takeover of the Catholic church in England. All of this happened in the 16th century, when England was riven with religious upheaval and governed by a king desperate for a male heir. Married to the older Catherine of Aragon, a Spaniard and widow of his brother, Henry was unsuccessful in siring a son, only a daughter, Mary, who caused much mischief later. Guided by Cromwell, the king dumped Catherine for the younger and presumably more fertile Anne Boleyn. While this history sounds better suited for horse-breeding operations, lovers of royalty revel in it. It is the stuff of romance and mythology, and frequently the human dimension takes a backseat to the intrigue. Hilary Mantel has brilliantly restored that dimension to history in this highly original novel, a fictional biography of Cromwell that won the Man Booker Prize in September. History aside, Wolf Hall breathes life into a world of 500 years ago through Mantel's fully realized central character and the people who surround him. Much of the novel is about day-to-day living in the 16th century?the stocking of kitchens, making of clothes and, most vividly, the lives of families . . . If you give yourself over to her prose, you can find yourself in Cromwell's world in the profound way only fiction can deliver."?Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette"Henry VIII? Anne Boleyn? 500-plus pages? If Mantel hadn't won the 2009 Booker Prize for this I would never have read it. And would have missed out big-time. Mantel approaches this well-traveled road from a fresh viewpoint: that of the tolerant, brilliant, and witty Thomas Cromwell . . . Mantel shows Cromwell a contented and involved family man, despite his long hours. We are ever aware that life is precarious in this world and this is driven home when, escaping one year's plague season, his wife and two daughters succumb in the next. Cromwell never really recovers. Still, over the years his household grows as he takes in stray relatives, protégés and promising servants and indulges his passion for building. Mantel skillfully portrays his rise?his use of diplomacy and his own protestant sympathies to give Henry the freedom and money he wants?as the tumultuous life of the court unfolds in scandal and self-interest. Unlike the aristocracy to whom ordinary people are almost an alien species, Cromwell remains aware of the rhythm of common lives and ambitious for the country's practical needs?roads, better nutrition, even maps . . . Mantel's prose is clean and straightforward; she evokes the era without wielding archaic forms. Her research never protrudes, but the details paint pictures in the mind's eye. Dialogue drives much of the narrative, as words are meat and bread to Cromwell . . . Mantel intends a sequel, though so far it is only a title and a box of notes, she has said. Readers who were sorry to see this beguiling, dense, colorful and often funny novel end, will look forward to it."?Lynn Harnett, Portsmouth Herald?The essential Mantel element . . . is a style?of writing and of thinking?that combines steely-eyed intelligence with intense yet wide-ranging sympathy. This style implies enormous respect for her readers, as if she believes that we are as intelligent and empathetic as she is, and one of the acute pleasures of reading her books is that we sometimes find ourselves living up to those expectations. . . . If you are anything like me, you will finish Wolf Hall wishing it were twice as long as its 560 pages. Torn away from this sixteenth-century world, in which you have come to know the engaging, pragmatic Cromwell as if he were your own brother?as if he were yourself?you will turn to the Internet to find out more about him . . . But none of this, however instructive will make up for your feeling of loss, because none of this additional material will come clothed in the seductive, inimitable language of Mantel’s great fiction.”?Wendy Lesser, Bookforum?Mantel sets a new standard for historical fiction with her latest novel Wolf Hall, a riveting portrait of Thomas Cromwell . . . Mantel’s crystalline style, piercing eye and interest in, shall we say, the darker side of human nature, together with a real respect for historical accuracy, make this novel an engrossing, enveloping read.”?BookPage?This is in all respects a superior work of fiction, peopled with appealing characters living through a period of tense high drama . . . There will be few novels this year as good as this one.”?Library Journal (starred review)?Mixing fiction with fact, Mantel captures the atmosphere of the times and brings to life the important players.”?Publishers Weekly]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Wolf Hall]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Hilary Mantel]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Henry Holt and Co.]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780805080681]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII’s court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king’s favor and ascend to the heights of political powerEngland in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph? In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.                                                            Hilary Mantel is the author of nine previous novels, including A Change of Climate, A Place of Greater Safety, and Eight Months on Ghazzah Street. She has also written a memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. Winner of the Hawthornden Prize, she reviews for The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and the London Review of Books. She lives in England.                   Winner of the National Book Critics Circle AwardShortlisted for the Orange Prize for FictionIn inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change.  England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph? In Mantel's 16th century monarchy, individuals must fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.                                      "It is a famous portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger: Thomas Cromwell in his finery, about 1534, looking formidable and clutching a piece of paper while he sits at a desk that holds the implements he used to write Henry VIII’s correspondence and draft Henry VIII’s laws. In Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel’s arch, elegant, richly detailed biographical novel centered on Cromwell, she has used Holbein’s delivery of the portrait as the basis for a dagger-sharp moment of truth . . . It is Ms. Mantel’s velvet-gloved delivery of such devastating observations, her book’s broad historical sweep and her counterintuitive choice to make Cromwell its primary focus that have helped make Wolf Hall a widely favored contender for this year’s Man Booker Prize . . . Her book’s main characters are scorchingly well rendered. And their sharp-clawed machinations are presented with nonstop verve in a book that can compress a wealth of incisiveness into a very few well-chosen words . . . Ms. Mantel also has improbable success in reinventing Anne Boleyn. Or at least she succeeds in newly underscoring Anne’s debt to Niccolo, as this book’s characters refer to Machiavelli. With the king’s friends, Cromwell notices: 'Anne is brittle in their company, and as ruthless with their compliments as a housewife snapping the necks of larks for the table. If her precise smile fades for a moment, they all lean forward, anxious to know how to please her. A bigger set of fools you would go far to seek.' And when Anne bears a daughter who can seemingly never inherit the throne (though she will of course grow up to be Queen Elizabeth I), Ms. Mantel provides a prime example of acerbic flair. The baby is described as 'an ugly, purple, grizzling knot of womankind, with an upstanding ruff of pale hair and a habit of kicking up her gown as if to display her most unfortunate feature.' Deft and diabolical as they are, Ms. Mantel’s slyly malicious turns of phrase would count for little more than banter if they could not succinctly capture the important struggles that have set her characters to talking. But she is able to place Cromwell on plausibly familiar terms with royalty and on a fair moral footing with More, that paragon of self-sacrifice . . . Wolf Hall is far too tricky a book to let Cromwell’s pronouncement be taken at face value. He is, after all, the king’s wily advocate. And he is never without an agenda. But this much is certain: More’s downfall has been assured by the time Cromwell finishes with him. Cromwell’s troubles, which will be no less lethal, are barely stirring when Wolf Hall ends. It is to be hoped that Ms. Mantel makes Cromwell’s endgame part of her future."?Janet Maslin, The New York Times ?A brilliant historical novel focused on the rise to power of a figure exceedingly unlikely, on the face of things, to arouse any sympathy at all . . . This is a novel too in which nothing is wasted, and nothing completely disappears.”?Stephen Greenblatt, The New York Review of Books?Whether we accept Ms Mantel’s reading of history or not, her characters have a lifeblood of their own . . . a Shakespearean vigour. Stylistically, her fly-on-the-wall approach is achieved through the present tense, of which she is a master. Her prose is muscular, avoiding cod Tudor dialogue and going for direct modern English. The result is Ms Mantel’s best novel yet.”?The Economist?A novel both fresh and finely wrought: a brilliant portrait of a society in the throes of disorienting change, anchored by a penetrating character study of Henry’s formidable advisor, Thomas Cromwell. It’s no wonder that her masterful book just won this year’s Booker Prize . . . [Mantel’s prose is] extraordinarily flexible, subtle, and shrewd.”?Wendy Smith, The Washington Post"Mantel has filled in the blanks plausibly, brilliantly. Wolf Hall has epic scale but lyric texture. Its 500-plus pages turn quickly, winged and falconlike. Trained in the law, Mantel can see the understated heroism in the skilled administrator's day-to-day decisions in service of a well-ordered civil society?not of a medieval fief based on war and not, heaven help us, a utopia . . . Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall is both spellbinding and believable."?Christopher Benfey, The New York Times Book Review ?[Mantel’s] interest is in the question of good and evil as it applies to people who wield great power. That means anguish, exultation, deals, spies, decapitations, and fabulous clothes . . . She always goes for color, richness, music. She has read Shakespeare closely. One also hears the accents of the young James Joyce.”?Joan Acocella, The New Yorker?Mantel’s abilities to channel the life and lexicon of the past are nothing short of astonishing. She burrows down through the historical record to uncover the tiniest, most telling details, evoking the minutiae of history as vividly as its grand sweep. The dialogue is so convincing that she seems to have been, in another life, a stenographer taking notes in the taverns and palaces of England.”?Ross King, Los Angeles Times?Instead of bringing the past to us, [Mantel's] writing, brilliant and black, launches us disconcertingly into the past. We are space-time travelers landed in an alien world . . . history is a feast whose various and vital excitements and intrigues make the book a long and complex pleasure.”?Richard Eder, The Boston Globe?Historical fiction at its finest, Wolf Hall captures the character of a nation and its people. It exemplifies something that has lately seemed as mythical as those serpent princesses: the great English novel.”?Bloomberg News"[Mantel] wades into the dark currents of 16th century English politics to sculpt a drama and a protagonist with a surprisingly contemporary feel . . . Wolf Hall is sometimes an ambitious read. But it is a rewarding one as well.”?Marjorie Kehe, The Christian Science Monitor?The story of Cromwell’s rise shimmers in Ms. Mantel’s spry intelligent prose . . . [Mantel] leaches out the bones of the story as it is traditionally known, and presents to us a phantasmagoric extravaganza of the characters’ plans and ploys, toils and tactics.”?Washington Times?There are no new stories, only new ways of telling them. Set during Henry VIII’s tumultuous, oft-covered reign, this epic novel . . . proves just how inspired a fresh take can be. [Mantel] is an author as audacious as Anne [Boleyn] herself, imagining private conversations between public figures and making it read as if she had a glass to the wall.”?People Magazine?Fans of historical fiction?or great writing?should howl with delight.”?USA Today?This masterwork is full of gems for the careful reader. The recurring details alone . . . shine through like some kind of Everyman’s poetry. Plainspoken and occasionally brutal, Wolf Hall is both as complex and as powerful as its subject, as messy as life itself.”?Clea Simon, The Boston Phoenix?Reader, you’re in excellent hands with Hilary Mantel . . . for this thrumming, thrilling read. . . . Part of the delight of masterfully paced Wolf Hall is how utterly modern it feels. It is political intrigue pulsing with energy and peopled by historical figures who have never seemed more alive?and more human.”?Ellen Kanner, Miami Herald?Wolf Hall is a solid historical novel that’s also a compelling read . . . Mantel’s narrative manages to be both rich and lean: there’s plenty of detail, but it’s not piled in endless paragraphs. The plot flows swiftly from one development to the next.”?David Loftus, The Oregonian?[Mantel] seamlessly blends fiction and history and creates a stunning story of Tudor England . . . With its excellent plotting and riveting dialogue, Wolf Hall is a gem of a novel that is both accurate and gripping.”?Cody Corliss, St. Louis Post-Dispatch ?[A] spirited novel . . . Mantel has a solid grasp of court politics and a knack for sharp, cutting dialogue.”?Thom Geier, Entertainment Weekly"The monarch is the focus of history, but somebody has to make the show run behind the pageantry. For Henry VIII, it was Thomas Cromwell, for a time, at least. Henry had his own take on term limits?an ax?and in time many of his advisers lost their heads on the chopping block. While Cromwell (a very distant relation to Oliver Cromwell, who was keen on the ax as well) managed the king's monumental project of taking the church away from Rome efficiently and loyally, he eventually rankled the irritable Henry (all those wives!) and was executed. Most Americans can be forgiven for confusing the Cromwells, but the English know the difference. Thomas is usually portrayed as a cunning, ruthless villain who smashed the monasteries while persecuting the real or imagined enemies of the king and of his heretical takeover of the Catholic church in England. All of this happened in the 16th century, when England was riven with religious upheaval and governed by a king desperate for a male heir. Married to the older Catherine of Aragon, a Spaniard and widow of his brother, Henry was unsuccessful in siring a son, only a daughter, Mary, who caused much mischief later. Guided by Cromwell, the king dumped Catherine for the younger and presumably more fertile Anne Boleyn. While this history sounds better suited for horse-breeding operations, lovers of royalty revel in it. It is the stuff of romance and mythology, and frequently the human dimension takes a backseat to the intrigue. Hilary Mantel has brilliantly restored that dimension to history in this highly original novel, a fictional biography of Cromwell that won the Man Booker Prize in September. History aside, Wolf Hall breathes life into a world of 500 years ago through Mantel's fully realized central character and the people who surround him. Much of the novel is about day-to-day living in the 16th century?the stocking of kitchens, making of clothes and, most vividly, the lives of families . . . If you give yourself over to her prose, you can find yourself in Cromwell's world in the profound way only fiction can deliver."?Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette"Henry VIII? Anne Boleyn? 500-plus pages? If Mantel hadn't won the 2009 Booker Prize for this I would never have read it. And would have missed out big-time. Mantel approaches this well-traveled road from a fresh viewpoint: that of the tolerant, brilliant, and witty Thomas Cromwell . . . Mantel shows Cromwell a contented and involved family man, despite his long hours. We are ever aware that life is precarious in this world and this is driven home when, escaping one year's plague season, his wife and two daughters succumb in the next. Cromwell never really recovers. Still, over the years his household grows as he takes in stray relatives, protégés and promising servants and indulges his passion for building. Mantel skillfully portrays his rise?his use of diplomacy and his own protestant sympathies to give Henry the freedom and money he wants?as the tumultuous life of the court unfolds in scandal and self-interest. Unlike the aristocracy to whom ordinary people are almost an alien species, Cromwell remains aware of the rhythm of common lives and ambitious for the country's practical needs?roads, better nutrition, even maps . . . Mantel's prose is clean and straightforward; she evokes the era without wielding archaic forms. Her research never protrudes, but the details paint pictures in the mind's eye. Dialogue drives much of the narrative, as words are meat and bread to Cromwell . . . Mantel intends a sequel, though so far it is only a title and a box of notes, she has said. Readers who were sorry to see this beguiling, dense, colorful and often funny novel end, will look forward to it."?Lynn Harnett, Portsmouth Herald?The essential Mantel element . . . is a style?of writing and of thinking?that combines steely-eyed intelligence with intense yet wide-ranging sympathy. This style implies enormous respect for her readers, as if she believes that we are as intelligent and empathetic as she is, and one of the acute pleasures of reading her books is that we sometimes find ourselves living up to those expectations. . . . If you are anything like me, you will finish Wolf Hall wishing it were twice as long as its 560 pages. Torn away from this sixteenth-century world, in which you have come to know the engaging, pragmatic Cromwell as if he were your own brother?as if he were yourself?you will turn to the Internet to find out more about him . . . But none of this, however instructive will make up for your feeling of loss, because none of this additional material will come clothed in the seductive, inimitable language of Mantel’s great fiction.”?Wendy Lesser, Bookforum?Mantel sets a new standard for historical fiction with her latest novel Wolf Hall, a riveting portrait of Thomas Cromwell . . . Mantel’s crystalline style, piercing eye and interest in, shall we say, the darker side of human nature, together with a real respect for historical accuracy, make this novel an engrossing, enveloping read.”?BookPage?This is in all respects a superior work of fiction, peopled with appealing characters living through a period of tense high drama . . . There will be few novels this year as good as this one.”?Library Journal (starred review)?Mixing fiction with fact, Mantel captures the atmosphere of the times and brings to life the important players.”?Publishers Weekly]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-10-13T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Little Bee]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416589648</link>
<description><![CDATA[ WE DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK.    It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.   Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:   It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.   The story starts there, but the book doesn't.   And it's what happens afterward that is most important.   Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Little Bee]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Cleave]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Simon & Schuster]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781416589648]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[ WE DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK.    It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.   Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:   It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.   The story starts there, but the book doesn't.   And it's what happens afterward that is most important.   Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2010-02-16T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780385343497</link>
<description><![CDATA[It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Alan Bradley]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Bantam]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780385343497]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2010-01-19T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Forgotten Garden]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416550556</link>
<description><![CDATA[From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The House at Riverton, a novel that takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through generations and across continents as two women try to uncover their family’s secret past A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book—a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-fi rst birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, "Nell" sets out to trace her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell’s death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. A spellbinding tale of mystery and self-discovery, The Forgotten Garden will take hold of your imagination and never let go.]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Forgotten Garden]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kate Morton]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Washington Square Press]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781416550556]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The House at Riverton, a novel that takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through generations and across continents as two women try to uncover their family’s secret past A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book—a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-fi rst birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, "Nell" sets out to trace her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell’s death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. A spellbinding tale of mystery and self-discovery, The Forgotten Garden will take hold of your imagination and never let go.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2010-03-01T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Outlander]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780061491344</link>
<description><![CDATA[In 1903 Mary Boulton flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At nineteen, she has just become a widow?and her husband's killer. As bloodhounds track her frantic race toward the mountains, she is tormented by mad visions and by the knowledge that her two ruthless brothers-in-law are in pursuit, determined to avenge their younger brother's death. Responding to little more than the primitive instinct for survival at any cost, she retreats ever deeper into the wilderness?and into the wilds of her own mind. ]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Outlander]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Gil Adamson]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Harper Perennial]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780061491344]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[In 1903 Mary Boulton flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At nineteen, she has just become a widow?and her husband's killer. As bloodhounds track her frantic race toward the mountains, she is tormented by mad visions and by the knowledge that her two ruthless brothers-in-law are in pursuit, determined to avenge their younger brother's death. Responding to little more than the primitive instinct for survival at any cost, she retreats ever deeper into the wilderness?and into the wilds of her own mind. ]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-07-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Well and the Mine]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781594484490</link>
<description><![CDATA[A novel of warmth and true feeling, The Well and the Mine explores the value of community, charity, family, and hope that we can give each other during a time of hardship. In a small Alabama coal-mining town during the summer of 1931, nine-year-old Tess Moore sits on her back porch and watches a woman toss a baby into her family's well without a word. This shocking act of violence sets in motion a chain of events that forces Tess and her older sister Virgie to look beyond their own door and learn the value of kindness and lending a helping hand. As Tess and Virgie try to solve the mystery of the well, an accident puts their seven-year-old brother's life in danger, forcing the Moore family to come to a new understanding of the power of love and compassion. Winner of the 2008 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Fiction Award.]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Well and the Mine]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Gin  Phillips]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Riverhead Trade]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781594484490]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[A novel of warmth and true feeling, The Well and the Mine explores the value of community, charity, family, and hope that we can give each other during a time of hardship. In a small Alabama coal-mining town during the summer of 1931, nine-year-old Tess Moore sits on her back porch and watches a woman toss a baby into her family's well without a word. This shocking act of violence sets in motion a chain of events that forces Tess and her older sister Virgie to look beyond their own door and learn the value of kindness and lending a helping hand. As Tess and Virgie try to solve the mystery of the well, an accident puts their seven-year-old brother's life in danger, forcing the Moore family to come to a new understanding of the power of love and compassion. Winner of the 2008 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Fiction Award.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-04-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780345505347</link>
<description><![CDATA["Sentimental, heartfelt….the exploration of Henry’s changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don’t repeat those injustices."-- Kirkus Reviews“A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war--not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today's world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel." -- Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain“Jamie Ford's first novel explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle area during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love.  An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut.”-- Lisa See, bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret FanIn the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago. Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jamie Ford]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Ballantine Books]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780345505347]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA["Sentimental, heartfelt….the exploration of Henry’s changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don’t repeat those injustices."-- Kirkus Reviews“A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war--not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today's world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel." -- Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain“Jamie Ford's first novel explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle area during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love.  An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut.”-- Lisa See, bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret FanIn the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago. Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9780345512505]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2009-10-06T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The House at Riverton]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416550532</link>
<description><![CDATA[The House at Riverton is a gorgeous debut novel set in England between the wars. It is the story of an aristocratic family, a house, a mysterious death and a way of life that vanished forever, told in flashback by a woman who witnessed it all and kept a secret for decades.   Grace Bradley went to work at Riverton House as a servant when she was just a girl, before the First World War. For years her life was inextricably tied up with the Hartford family, most particularly the two daughters, Hannah and Emmeline.   In the summer of 1924, at a glittering society party held at the house, a young poet shot himself. The only witnesses were Hannah and Emmeline and only they -- and Grace -- know the truth.   In 1999, when Grace is ninety-eight years old and living out her last days in a nursing home, she is visited by a young director who is making a film about the events of that summer. She takes Grace back to Riverton House and reawakens her memories. Told in flashback, this is the story of Grace's youth during the last days of Edwardian aristocratic privilege shattered by war, of the vibrant twenties and the changes she witnessed as an entire way of life vanished forever.   The novel is full of secrets -- some revealed, others hidden forever, reminiscent of the romantic suspense of Daphne du Maurier. It is also a meditation on memory, the devastation of war and a beautifully rendered window into a fascinating time in history.   Originally published to critical acclaim in Australia, already sold in ten countries and a #1 bestseller in England, The House at Riverton is a vivid, page-turning novel of suspense and passion, with characters -- and an ending -- the reader won't soon forget.]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The House at Riverton]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kate Morton]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Washington Square Press]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781416550532]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[The House at Riverton is a gorgeous debut novel set in England between the wars. It is the story of an aristocratic family, a house, a mysterious death and a way of life that vanished forever, told in flashback by a woman who witnessed it all and kept a secret for decades.   Grace Bradley went to work at Riverton House as a servant when she was just a girl, before the First World War. For years her life was inextricably tied up with the Hartford family, most particularly the two daughters, Hannah and Emmeline.   In the summer of 1924, at a glittering society party held at the house, a young poet shot himself. The only witnesses were Hannah and Emmeline and only they -- and Grace -- know the truth.   In 1999, when Grace is ninety-eight years old and living out her last days in a nursing home, she is visited by a young director who is making a film about the events of that summer. She takes Grace back to Riverton House and reawakens her memories. Told in flashback, this is the story of Grace's youth during the last days of Edwardian aristocratic privilege shattered by war, of the vibrant twenties and the changes she witnessed as an entire way of life vanished forever.   The novel is full of secrets -- some revealed, others hidden forever, reminiscent of the romantic suspense of Daphne du Maurier. It is also a meditation on memory, the devastation of war and a beautifully rendered window into a fascinating time in history.   Originally published to critical acclaim in Australia, already sold in ten countries and a #1 bestseller in England, The House at Riverton is a vivid, page-turning novel of suspense and passion, with characters -- and an ending -- the reader won't soon forget.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-03-03T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Good Thief]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780385337465</link>
<description><![CDATA[Winner of the 2008 John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize * A Washington Post Best Book of 2008 * A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2008 Richly imagined and gothically spooky, The Good Thief introduces one of the most appealing young heroes in contemporary fiction and ratifies Hannah Tinti as one of our most exciting talents writing today. Twelve year-old Ren is missing his left hand. How it was lost is a mystery that Ren has been trying to solve for his entire life, as well as who his parents are, and why he was abandoned as an infant at Saint Anthony’s Orphanage for boys. When a young man named Benjamin Nab appears, claiming to be Ren’s long-lost brother, his convincing tale of how Ren lost his hand persuades the monks at the orphanage to release the boy and to give Ren some hope. But is Benjamin really who he says he is? As Ren is introduced to a life of hardscrabble adventure filled with outrageous scam artists, grave robbers, and petty thieves, he begins to suspect that Benjamin not only holds the key to his future, but to his past as well….]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Good Thief]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Hannah Tinti]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Dial Press Trade Paperback]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780385337465]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[Winner of the 2008 John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize * A Washington Post Best Book of 2008 * A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2008 Richly imagined and gothically spooky, The Good Thief introduces one of the most appealing young heroes in contemporary fiction and ratifies Hannah Tinti as one of our most exciting talents writing today. Twelve year-old Ren is missing his left hand. How it was lost is a mystery that Ren has been trying to solve for his entire life, as well as who his parents are, and why he was abandoned as an infant at Saint Anthony’s Orphanage for boys. When a young man named Benjamin Nab appears, claiming to be Ren’s long-lost brother, his convincing tale of how Ren lost his hand persuades the monks at the orphanage to release the boy and to give Ren some hope. But is Benjamin really who he says he is? As Ren is introduced to a life of hardscrabble adventure filled with outrageous scam artists, grave robbers, and petty thieves, he begins to suspect that Benjamin not only holds the key to his future, but to his past as well….]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9780440337898]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2009-08-11T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Girl Who Played with Fire]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307269980</link>
<description><![CDATA[Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government.But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander—the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played with Fire.As Blomkvist, alone in his belief in Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all.]]></description>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Girl Who Played with Fire]]></dc:title>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Stieg Larsson]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Knopf]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780307269980]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government.But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander—the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played with Fire.As Blomkvist, alone in his belief in Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9780307272300]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2009-07-28T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

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