|
Historical Fiction February 2017
|
|
|
|
New and Recently Released |
|
|
January 1946: Two WACs leave an officers’ club in Munich, and four Soviet NKGB agents kidnap them at knifepoint in the parking lot and shove them in the back of an ambulance. That is the agents’ first mistake, and their last. One of the WACs, a blond woman improbably named Claudette Colbert, works for the new Directorate of Central Intelligence, and three of the men end up dead and the fourth wounded. The “incident,” however, will send shock waves rippling up and down the line and have major repercussions not only for her, but for her boss, James Cronley, Chief DCI-Europe, and for everybody involved in their still-evolving enterprise. For, though the Germans may have been defeated, Cronley and his company are on the front lines of an entirely different kind of war now. The enemy has changed, the rules have changed—and the stakes have never been higher.
|
|
|
The Signal Flameby Andrew KrivakIn a small town in Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains Hannah and her son Bo mourn the loss of the family patriarch, Jozef Vinich. They were three generations under one roof. Three generations, but only one branch of a scraggy tree; they are a war-haunted family in a war-torn century. Having survived the trenches of World War I as an Austro-Hungarian conscript, Vinich journeyed to America and built a life for his family. His daughter married the Hungarian-born Bexhet Konar, who enlisted to fight with the Americans in the Second World War but brought disgrace on the family when he was imprisoned for desertion. He returned home to Pennsylvania a hollow man, only to be killed in a hunting accident on the family’s land. Finally, in 1971, Hannah’s prodigal younger son, Sam, was reported MIA in Vietnam. And so there is only Bo, a quiet man full of conviction, a proud work ethic, and a firstborn’s sense of duty. He is left to grieve but also to hope for reunion, to create a new life, to embrace the land and work its soil through the seasons. The Signal Flame is a stirring novel about generations of men and women and the events that define them, brothers who take different paths, the old European values yielding to new world ways, and the convalescence of memory and war.
|
|
|
Pachinko by Min Jin LeeProfoundly moving and gracefully told, Pachinko follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them. Betrayed by her wealthy lover, Sunja finds unexpected salvation when a young tubercular minister offers to marry her and bring her to Japan to start a new life. So begins a sweeping saga of exceptional people in exile from a homeland they never knew and caught in the indifferent arc of history. In Japan, Sunja's family members endure harsh discrimination, catastrophes, and poverty, yet they also encounter great joy as they pursue their passions and rise to meet the challenges this new home presents. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, they are bound together by deep roots as their family faces enduring questions of faith, family, and identity.
|
|
|
The Fire By Night by Teresa MessineoA first novel commemorating the unsung heroines of World War II traces the experiences of two military nurses who fight for survival and care for others in a makeshift medical unit and a POW camp, enduring dangerous existences while waiting for the war to end. When the conflict at last comes to a close, Jo and Kay discover that to achieve their own peace, they must find their place—and the hope of love—in a world that’s forever changed. With rich, superbly researched detail, Teresa Messineo’s thrilling novel brings to life the pain and uncertainty of war and the sustaining power of love and friendship, and illuminates the lives of the women who risked everything to save others during a horrifying time.
|
|
|
The Wicked City by Beatriz Williams In 1924, Geneva "Gin" Kelly, a quick-witted flapper from the hills of western Maryland, is a regular at this Village hideaway known as the Christopher Club. Caught up in a raid, Gin lands in the office of Prohibition enforcement agent Oliver Anson, who persuades her to help him catch her stepfather, Duke Kelly, one of Appalachia’s most notorious bootleggers. Sired by a wealthy New York scion who abandoned her showgirl mother, Gin is nobody’s fool. She strikes a risky bargain with the taciturn, straight-arrow Revenue agent, even though her on-again, off-again Princeton beau, Billy Marshall, wants to make an honest woman of her and heal the legacy of her hardscrabble childhood. Gin's alliance with Anson rattles Manhattan society, exposing sins that shock even this free-spirited redhead—sins that echo from the canyons of Wall Street to the mountain hollers of her hometown.
|
|
| The Paris Architectby Charles BelfoureIn 1942, Parisian architect Lucien Bernard accepts a lucrative commission from a wealthy businessman to design a secret room for the purpose of hiding Jewish fugitives from the Gestapo. Although Lucien has no particular love for the city's Jewish population, he loathes the occupying Germans and thrives on the challenge of deceiving them (the money doesn't hurt, either). But as Lucien's involvement in the scheme grows, he learns that no one can be trusted, not even those closest to him. Fans of suspenseful historical fiction set in Vichy France and featuring artists may also be interested in Paul Watkins' The Forger, in which a young American expatriate forges paintings to undermine the Third Reich. |
|
| Mission to Parisby Alan FurstArriving in Paris in 1938, Frederic Stahl, a Hollywood star on loan from Warner Bros. to a French studio, soon finds himself wooed by the "political warfare" branch of the Nazi progaganda machine. Born and raised in Vienna but naturalized in the U.S., Stahl has always steered clear of politics. However, his unease with the growing influence of the Third Reich in France and his distaste for being used prompts him to try his hand at espionage. Fans of noir-tinged historical spy fiction should enjoy this atmospheric stand-alone 12th installment of Alan Furst's Night Soldiers series. |
|
| City of Womenby David R. GillhamSigrid Schröder is the perfect wife, or so it appears. Married to a soldier fighting on the front lines, she lives in Berlin with her mother-in-law and works as a stenographer. However, she also pines for her married lover while helping her neighbors shelter Jewish families from the Gestapo. Focusing on Sigrid's inner life and the moral dilemmas she faces, City of Women is an introspective but dramatic story of an ordinary individual's resistance to authoritarian government. |
|
Saturday, March 4 The Home Buying Process 10:00 a.m. Be a prepared home seller or buyer. Learn what you need to know for a smooth transaction. Wednesday, February 22 Spring Sports Assessment 6:30 p.m. Gauri Sabnis of Synergex Physical Therapy will present information regarding toning-up for Spring sports. For student athletes' parents. Thursday, February 23 Organize Your Recipes Digitally 7:00 p.m. Do you have boxes full of recipe cards or folders full of torn-out pages from food magazines? Come learn how to digitize and organize those recipes so that they are available to you on any of your electronic devices. Saturday, March 2 Fact or Fiction: How to Spot Fake News 7:00 p.m. Learn tips to analyze news sources, tools for fact-checking, and ways to confirm news accuracy with a critical eye before sharing information.
|
NJ Makers Day 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Come participate in the 3rd annual NJ Makers Day! Come to imagine, create, tinker, and learn. This is an all-ages family event to complete several STEM challenges throughout the library, including our first ever Escape Room activity! Tuesday, March 28 Bites for Books 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. Join library friends and neighbors for dinner at Teddy's Restaurant. Teddy's will donate 20% of your bill to the Cranbury Library Foundation. Friday, April 27 Foods and Flavors of Thailand 6:30 p.m. Join Jen Diamond for a tour and taste of Thailand! Saturday, April 29 Stamp Roadshow 10:30 a.m. The Hamilton Township Philatelic Society will be on hand to evaluate the worth of your stamp collection! They'll also give pointers to the novice collector.
|
|
Cranbury Public Library
23 North Main Street ~
Cranbury, NJ 08512 ~ Phone: 609-655-0555 ~ Contact Us
|
|
|