Tina's Picks
Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey
Rooney, Kathleen, 1980- author
2020
From the green countryside of England and the gray canyons of Wall Street come two unlikely heroes: one a pigeon and the other a soldier. Answering the call to serve in the war to end all wars, neither Cher Ami, the messenger bird, nor Charles Whittlesey, the Army officer, can anticipate how their lives will briefly intersect in a chaotic battle in the forests of France, where their wills will be tested, their fates will be shaped, and their lives will emerge forever altered. A saga of hope and duty, love and endurance, as well as the claustrophobia of fame, Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey is a tragic yet life-affirming war story that the world has never heard. Inspired by true events of World War I, Kathleen Rooney resurrects two long-forgotten yet unforgettable figures, recounting their tale in a pair of voices that will change the way that readers look at animals, freedom, and even history itself.
City of windows
Pobi, Robert, author
2019
During a horrible blizzard an FBI agent in a moving SUV in New York City is killed by a nearly impossible sniper shot. As the storm wipes out evidence, agent-in-charge Brett Kehoe turns to the one man who might be able to help them: former FBI agent Lucas Page. Now a university professor and bestselling author, Page left the FBI years ago after a tragic event robbed him of a leg, an arm, an eye, and the will to continue. The victim was his former partner-- and the murder is only the first in a series of all-but-impossible sniper shots. Page must discover what hidden past connects the victims, before he loses all that is dear to him
Drive your plow over the bones of the dead
Tokarczuk, Olga, 1962- author
2019
"With DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD, Man Booker International Prize-winner Olga Tokarczuk returns with a subversive, entertaining noir novel. In a remote Polish village, Janina Duszejko, an eccentric woman in her sixties, recounts the events surrounding the disappearance of her two dogs. She is reclusive, preferring the company of animals to people; she's unconventional, believing in the stars; and she is fond of the poetry of William Blake, from whose work the title of the book is taken. When members of a local hunting club are found murdered, Duszejko becomes involved in the investigation. By no means a conventional crime story, this existential thriller by `one of Europe's major humanist writers' (GUARDIAN) offers thought-provoking ideas on our perceptions of madness, injustice against marginalized people, animal rights, the hypocrisy of traditional religion, belief in predestination - and caused a genuine political uproar in Tokarczuk's native Poland." -- from Amazon.ca.
Mexican gothic
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia, author
2020
"The acclaimed author of Gods of Jade and Shadow returns with a darkly enchanting reimagining of Gothic fantasy, in which a spirited young woman discovers the haunting secrets of a beautiful old mansion in 1950s Mexico"-- Provided by publisher.
The nickel boys : a novel
Whitehead, Colson, 1969- author
2019
The story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.
Recipe for a perfect wife
Brown, Karma, author
2020
In her suburban house, Alice Hale finds an old cookbook and becomes captivated by the cookbook's previous owner: 1950s housewife Nellie Murdoch. When she discovers that Nellie left clues about her own life within the cookbook's pages - and in a mysterious series of unsent letters - she quickly realizes that the housewife's secrets may have been anything but harmless. As she uncovers a more sinister side to Nellie's marriage and with pressure mounting in her own marriage, Alice realizes that to protect herself she must harbour and hatch a few secrets of her own.
Under pressure
Pobi, Robert, author
2020
On a beautiful October evening, New York City's iconic Guggenheim Museum is closed for a tech company's private gala. Until an explosion rocks the night, instantly killing 702 people, including every single attendee-yet the damage to the building itself was minimal. Were all 702 victims in the wrong place at the wrong time, or was there only one target and 701 unlucky bystanders? Dr. Lucas Page, astrophysicist, university professor, and former FBI agent, is uniquely gifted for the task at hand-he can visualize a crime scene as if he was a bystander and can break down any set of data at a glance. Even though Page wants nothing to do with the FBI, with his city under attack and his family at risk, he steps in to find a killer in a haystack before they strike again.