March is the month of our "world famous in Christchurch" book sale. - Friday 11 March, 9:00am - 7:00pm
- Saturday 12 March, 9:00am - 4:00pm
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| The stargazer's sister: A novel by Carrie Brown"Save me," Caroline Herschel begs elder brother William, who rescues her from their family's home in Hanover, Germany, and brings her to England to serve as his housekeeper and assistant. Together, they build an observatory with a 40-foot telescope and set to work cataloguing the stars. But when William weds a wealthy widow, Caroline -- unmarried, penniless, and now homeless -- must make her own way in the world after a lifetime of serving others. Based on the life of groundbreaking 18th-century scientist Caroline Herschel, The Stargazer's Sister is a richly detailed novel about Europe's first female professional astronomer. |
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| Bohemian gospel: A novel by Dana Chamblee CarpenterBecause "no one had wanted her enough even to give her a name," she calls herself Mouse. Abandoned in infancy, Mouse is raised in the abbey at Teplá, where the brothers and sisters regard her with suspicion due to her visions, which are less heavenly than hellish. When she saves the life of Ottakar II, the 15-year-old king of Bohemia, she becomes his personal healer and accompanies him to Prague. At court, she must protect Ottakar and learn to survive in a world of traitors, while concealing her true nature. Although Bohemian Gospel is set in Eastern Europe in the 13th century about a young female mystic who becomes indispensable to the king of a troubled realm. |
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Wild lands
by Nicole Alexander
New South Wales, 1837. Settlers in search of fertile country are venturing far outside the colony. Literally cutting a swathe through the bush with their bare hands, they lay claim to territory beyond government jurisdiction and the reach of the law. As she accepts a position on one such farm, seventeen-year-old Kate Carter is unaware she is entering a land of outlaws, adventurers and murderous natives. Because the first people of this new world will no longer accept the white man's advance, and retaliatory attacks on both sides have made it a frontier on the brink of war. Into Kate's path comes Bronzewing, a young white man schooled by a settler family yet raised within an Aboriginal tribe. Caught between two worlds, Bronzewing strives to protect his adopted people and their vanishing civilisation. But as he and Kate will discover, 'beyond the outer limits' is a beautiful yet terrifying place, where it's impossible to know who is friend and who is enemy.
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| Winter by Christopher NicholsonDuring the winter of 1924, Thomas Hardy oversees a theatrical production of his acclaimed novel, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. During rehearsals, he becomes obsessed with Gertie, the young actress cast in the title role, despite the difference in their ages (he's 84, while she's in her twenties) and much to the dismay of Hardy's second wife, Florence. Set against a lyrical rural backdrop reminiscent of the author's fictional Wessex, this atmospheric and melancholy novel unfolds from the perspectives of Hardy, elderly and full of regret; Florence, an embittered woman who was Hardy's secretary before she became his wife; and Gertie, the young wife and mother who dreams of a career on the stage. |
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| Someone knows my name: A novel by Lawrence HillAbducted at age 11 from her African home, Aminata Diallo is enslaved and brought to South Carolina in 1745, where she becomes the property of an indigo trader who subsequently sells her to a Jewish duty inspector in Manhattan. As she dreams of freedom and returning home, she secretly learns to read and write. These skills serve her well as she works to compile The Book of Negroes, a list of thousands of black loyalists. Aminata hopes that the British, struggling to suppress an American revolution, will free all slaves loyal to the Crown and transport them back to Africa. Will she succeed? For an unusual perspective on American slavery, read this bestselling novel by Canadian author Lawrence Hill. |
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| The twelve tribes of Hattie: A novel by Ayana MathisIn 1925, 15-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees her native Georgia and settles in Philadelphia. By age 16, she's stuck in a disappointing marriage to an unreliable man as she bitterly mourns the deaths of her firstborn twins. Although Hattie goes on to bear and raise nine more children, her determination to prepare them for the worst that the world has to offer takes precedence over maternal tenderness. Unfolding in 12 interlinked sections, each from the point of view of a different character, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie follows the (mis)fortunes of one African-American family through the Great Migration, the Civil Rights Era, and into the latter years of the 20th century. |
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| The personal history of Rachel DuPree: A novel by Ann WeisgarberEager to escape a life of poverty in 1903 Chicago, boardinghouse cook Rachel marries black army veteran Isaac DuPree, who's been granted a 160-acre ranch in South Dakota under the Homestead Act. Fourteen years and five (living) children later, Rachel reflects on her hardscrabble life in the Badlands, wondering if she made the right choice. Descriptive and atmospheric, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree surveys the majestic, yet unforgiving, landscape of the American frontier while exploring its protagonist's emotional journey from idealistic girl to woman tempered by sorrow and loss. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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