Tuesday, December 3, 2019

iTunes Store: Top 25 Books in Fiction & Literature 2019-12-03

Kate Quinn - The Alice Network artwork The Alice Network
A Novel
Kate Quinn
Genre: Historical
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: June 06, 2017
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Seller: Harper Collins Canada Limited

Featuring an exclusive excerpt from Kate Quinn's next incredible historical novel, THE HUNTRESS NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY BESTSELLER #1 GLOBE AND MAIL HISTORICAL FICTION BESTSELLER One of NPR's Best Books of the Year! One of Bookbub's Biggest Historical Fiction Books of the Year! Reese Witherspoon Book Club Summer Reading Pick! The Girly Book Club Book of the Year! A Summer Book Pick from Good Housekeeping, Parade, Library Journal, Goodreads, Liz and Lisa, and BookBub In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption. 1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister. 1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose. Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth...no matter where it leads. “Both funny and heartbreaking, this epic journey of two courageous women is an unforgettable tale of little-known wartime glory and sacrifice. Quinn knocks it out of the park with this spectacular book!”—Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author of America's First Daughter



Mandy Robotham - The German Midwife artwork The German Midwife
Mandy Robotham
Genre: Historical
Price: $2.99
Publish Date: December 14, 2018
Publisher: Avon
Seller: Harper Collins Canada Limited

The USA Today Best Seller. “A powerful, haunting debut”—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network An enthralling new tale of courage, betrayal and survival in the hardest of circumstances that readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Secret Orphan and The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz will love. Germany, 1944. A prisoner in the camps, Anke Hoff is doing what she can to keep her pregnant campmates and their newborns alive.   But when Anke’s work is noticed, she is chosen for a task more dangerous than she could ever have imagined. Eva Braun is pregnant with the Führer’s child, and Anke is assigned as her midwife.    Before long, Anke is faced with an impossible choice. Does she serve the Reich she loathes and keep the baby alive? Or does she sacrifice an innocent child for the good of a broken world? *Published in the UK as A Woman of War* Reviews ‘The German Midwife is a book to harrow the soul and linger long in the mind. Anke, a German midwife sent to a labor camp for aiding Jewish mothers against Third Reich law, is whisked from hell-scape to eerie luxury when she is brought to Hitler's private mountain estate to care for his pregnant mistress Eva Braun. Mandy Robotham writes movingly of the eternal human struggle to preserve reverence for life in the midst of genocide and horror. A powerful, haunting debut.’ Kate Quinn ‘Incredibly powerful, harrowing but ultimately uplifting. I couldn’t put this down.’ Katie Fforde ‘A fascinating story which had me forgetting it’s fiction! So well written, I was left pondering if the events could actually be true. Enthralling!’ Kitty Neale ‘I cannot give enough praise for The German Midwife. This is definitely #1 on my list of historical fiction books I’ve read in 2018.’ NetGalley Reviewer ‘If you are looking for a page turner, this is it. I read the book cover to cover in 48 hours. If I could give this book a 6/5 Stars I would!’ NetGalley Reviewer ‘A lovely, heartbreaking book. Highly recommend!’ NetGalley Reviewer ‘Very compelling.’ NetGalley Reviewer ‘This book absolutely DESTROYED me. I went into it with high expectations, and I certainly wasn't let down.’ NetGalley Reviewer ‘The writing was excellent and the characters realistic […] an interesting and thoughtful page turner.’ NetGalley Reviewer About the author Mandy Robotham has been an aspiring author since the age of nine, but was waylaid by journalism and later enticed by birth. She’s now a practising midwife who writes about birth, death, love and everything else in between. She graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes University. This is her first novel.



Nora Roberts - Under Currents artwork Under Currents
A Novel
Nora Roberts
Genre: Fiction & Literature
Price: $15.99
Publish Date: July 09, 2019
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Seller: Macmillan

For both Zane and Darby, their small town roots hold a terrible secret. Now, decades later, they've come together to build a new life. But will the past set them free or pull them under? Zane Bigelow grew up in a beautiful, perfectly kept house in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Strangers and even Zane’s own aunt across the lake see his parents as a successful surgeon and his stylish wife, making appearances at their children’s ballet recitals and baseball games. Only Zane and his sister know the truth, until one brutal night finally reveals cracks in the facade, and Zane escapes for college without a thought of looking back... Years later, Zane returns to his hometown determined to reconnect with the place and people that mean so much to him, despite the painful memories. As he resumes life in the colorful town, he meets a gifted landscape artist named Darby, who is on the run from ghosts of her own. Together they will have to teach each other what it means to face the past, and stand up for the ones they love.



Erin Morgenstern - The Starless Sea artwork The Starless Sea
A Novel
Erin Morgenstern
Genre: Fiction & Literature
Price: $16.99
Publish Date: November 05, 2019
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world—a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea. Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.



Sylvie Kurtz - A Little Christmas Magic artwork A Little Christmas Magic
Sylvie Kurtz
Genre: Fiction & Literature
Price: $0.99
Publish Date: October 07, 2019
Publisher: Sylvie Kurtz
Seller: Draft2Digital, LLC

In this heartwarming holiday romance, can a grieving, confirmed grinch thaw his heart in time for Christmas? Widow Beth Lannigen is determined to give her son the beautiful Christmas that he would have had if his father was still alive. She's not going to let anyone spoil the holidays, not even her new grinch of a neighbor. The only reason Logan Ward liked Christmas was because of the light in his daughter's eyes. But she's gone now. The ex-cop wants to ride out the festivities in the cold isolation of his dilapidated new house. Until the bright hummingbird of a new neighbor falls off a ladder and becomes his responsibility, along with her small son. When a sledding accident put Beth's son in the hospital and jeopardizes his Christmas, can Logan put aside his heartache and play Santa?



Susan Wiggs - Just Breathe artwork Just Breathe
A Novel
Susan Wiggs
Genre: Family
Price: $6.99
Publish Date: July 15, 2019
Publisher: MIRA Books
Seller: Harlequin Enterprises Limited

What happens when a cartoonist’s life gets turned upside-down? Find out in this contemporary romance by New York Times bestseller Susan Wiggs! Sarah Moon tackles life’s issues with a sharp wit in her syndicated comic strip, Just Breathe. With both Sarah and her cartoon heroine undergoing fertility treatments, her fiction often reflects her reality. However, she hadn’t scripted her husband’s infidelity. In the wake of her shattered marriage, Sarah flees to the coastal town in California where she grew up. There, she revisits her troubling past: an emotionally distant father, the loss of her mother and an unexpected connection with Will Bonner, the high school heartthrob skewered mercilessly in her comics. But he’s been through some changes himself. And just as her heart is about to reawaken, Sarah makes a most startling discovery. She’s pregnant. With her ex’s twins. The winds of change have led Sarah to this surprising new beginning. All she can do is just close her eyes…and breathe. Originally published in 2008



Gerald Green - Holocaust artwork Holocaust
Gerald Green
Genre: Historical
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: June 29, 2010
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC

The epic novel of two families and the genocide in Nazi Germany, by the writer of the blockbuster TV miniseries.   The Dorfs are “good” Germans, loyal to the new Nazi regime, with whom their son Erik, a promising lawyer, finds his ambitions realized with the SS at the side of the ruthless Reinhard Heydrich.   The Weisses are Jewish, also “good” Germans—but under the new regime, they are doomed.   Told through the reminiscences of Erik Dorf, the ambitious SS officer, and the courageous young Jew Rudi Weiss, who ran away from his family as a young boy in an effort to fight the Nazis, this novel takes us through almost every significant event of the Third Reich, from the horrific reality of Kristallnacht to the mass exterminations at Auschwitz. It is a portrait of the extraordinary choices all Germans were forced to make on a daily basis—and the unimaginable consequences if they were wrong.   A winner of the Dag Hammarskjöld International Prize, with more than two million copies sold, Holocaust is an unforgettable glimpse into this monumental human tragedy.



Fern Michaels - Payback artwork Payback
Fern Michaels
Genre: Action & Adventure
Price: $6.99
Publish Date: September 01, 2005
Publisher: Zebra Books
Seller: Kensington Publishing Corp.

Some Women Get Angry. . . The Sisterhood Gets Even. Meet the Sisterhood--seven very different women who found one another in their darkest days and formed an indelible friendship, strong enough to heal their pasts and bring laughter and joy back into their lives. In Myra Rutledge's beautiful, Virginia home, amid hugs and fresh iced tea, shrimp fritters and shell-pink tulips, the friends have gathered to embark on their second mission of sweet revenge for one of their own. Julia Webster's husband, a U.S. Senator, has used his wife's graciousness and elegance to advance his career even as he's abused her trust at every turn and left her dreams for the future in tatters. Now, on the eve of his greatest political victory, he's about to learn a serious lesson in payback. Because the senator crossed the wrong woman. . .and there are six more where she came from. . . "Revenge is a dish best served with cloth napkins and floral centerpieces . . .fast-paced. . .puts poetic justice first." -- Publishers Weekly



Natasha Lester - The Paris Orphan artwork The Paris Orphan
Natasha Lester
Genre: Historical
Price: $12.99
Publish Date: September 03, 2019
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Seller: Hachette Digital, Inc.

A "rich and riveting" New York Times bestseller based on the true story of a female journalist who defied all the rules while covering World War II ( Publishers Weekly , starred review). New York City/Paris, 1942: When American model Jessica May arrives in Europe to cover the war as a photojournalist for Vogue , most of the soldiers are determined to make her life as difficult as possible. But three friendships change that. Journalist Martha Gellhorn encourages Jess to bend the rules. Captain Dan Hallworth keeps her safe in dangerous places so she can capture the stories that truly matter. And most important of all, the love of a little orphan named Victorine gives Jess strength to do the impossible. But her success will come at a price... France, 2005: Decades after World War II, D'Arcy Hallworth arrives at a beautiful chateau to curate a collection of famous wartime photos by a reclusive artist. It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but D'Arcy has no idea that this job will uncover decades of secrets that, once revealed, will change everything she thought she knew about her mother, Victorine, and alter D'Arcy's life forever. Includes a reading group guide! "An emotional and sweeping tale set against the backdrop of World War II...Rich detail, compelling characters, and an interwoven dual timeline make this an engrossing read for historical fiction fans." --Chanel Cleeton, USA Today bestselling author of Next Year in Havana "[A] splendid, breathtaking novel, full of mystery and passion...a must read!" --Jeanne Mackin, author of The Last Collection



Delia Owens - Where the Crawdads Sing artwork Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens
Genre: Literary
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: August 14, 2018
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

#1  New York Times  Bestseller More than 4 million copies sold A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick "I can't even express how much I love this book! I didn't want this story to end!"--Reese Witherspoon "Painfully beautiful."-- The New York Times Book Review "Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver."-- Bustle For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life--until the unthinkable happens. Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell,  Where the Crawdads Sing  is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.



Elizabeth Strout - Olive, Again (Oprah's Book Club) artwork Olive, Again (Oprah's Book Club)
A Novel
Elizabeth Strout
Genre: Literary
Price: $16.99
Publish Date: October 15, 2019
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout continues the life of her beloved Olive Kitteridge, a character who has captured the imaginations of millions. “Strout managed to make me love this strange woman I’d never met, who I knew nothing about. What a terrific writer she is.”—Zadie Smith,  The Guardian “Just as wonderful as the original . . .  Olive, Again  poignantly reminds us that empathy, a requirement for love, helps make life ‘not unhappy.’”—NPR NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time • Vogue •  The Washington Post   •   Esquire • Good Housekeeping • The New York Public Library • The Dallas Morning News •  Kirkus Reviews • Publishers Weekly • BookPage   Prickly, wry, resistant to change yet ruthlessly honest and deeply empathetic, Olive Kitteridge is “a compelling life force” ( San Francisco Chronicle ).  The   New Yorker  has said that Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,” and she has never done so more clearly than in these pages, where the iconic Olive struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the unforgettable Olive will continue to startle us, to move us, and to inspire us—in Strout’s words—“to bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace as we can.” Praise for Olive, Again “Olive is a brilliant creation not only because of her eternal cantankerousness but because she’s as brutally candid with herself about her shortcomings as she is with others. Her honesty makes people strangely willing to confide in her, and the raw power of Ms. Strout’s writing comes from these unvarnished exchanges, in which characters reveal themselves in all of their sadness and badness and confusion. . . . The great, terrible mess of living is spilled out across the pages of this moving book. Ms. Strout may not have any answers for it, but she isn’t afraid of it either.” — The Wall Street Journal



Vicki Tharp - One Shot artwork One Shot
Vicki Tharp
Genre: Gay
Price: $0.99
Publish Date: October 21, 2019
Publisher: JPC Publishing
Seller: Draft2Digital, LLC

One pitch ended Alex Payne's Major League Baseball debut. Coming out as gay… Could end his career. Alex is dropped from the team after a prolonged post-surgical rehab stint. Short on cash and determined to make a comeback, Alex will stop at nothing to get enough money to continue his therapy and training. Including jumping headfirst into the world of gay p*rn. The only catch? To work with Black Stallion Studios, you have to be straight. No problem. Until Alex is paired with Elijah Maddox, and Alex discovers he's not so straight after all. Unfortunately, Elijah refuses to live in the closet. But when news breaks about Alex's association with Black Stallion, Alex's secret is exposed. Will Alex strike out and lose it all? Or can he find a way to have his career and his love?



Philipp Meyer - The Son artwork The Son
Philipp Meyer
Genre: Fiction & Literature
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: May 28, 2013
Publisher: Ecco
Seller: Harper Collins Canada Limited

Soon to be a TV Series on AMC starring Pierce Brosnan and co-written by Philipp Meyer. Now in paperback, the critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling epic, a saga of land, blood, and power that follows the rise of one unforgettable Texas family from the Comanche raids of the 1800s to the oil booms of the 20th century. Part epic of Texas, part classic coming-of-age story, part unflinching examination of the bloody price of power, The Son is a gripping and utterly transporting novel that maps the legacy of violence in the American west with rare emotional acuity, even as it presents an intimate portrait of one family across two centuries. Eli McCullough is just twelve-years-old when a marauding band of Comanche storm his Texas homestead and brutally murder his mother and sister, taking him as a captive. Despite their torture and cruelty, Eli--against all odds--adapts to life with the Comanche, learning their ways, their language, taking on a new name, finding a place as the adopted son of the chief of the band, and fighting their wars against not only other Indians, but white men, too-complicating his sense of loyalty, his promised vengeance, and his very understanding of self. But when disease, starvation, and westward expansion finally decimate the Comanche, Eli is left alone in a world in which he belongs nowhere, neither white nor Indian, civilized or fully wild. Deftly interweaving Eli’s story with those of his son, Peter, and his great-granddaughter, JA, The Son deftly explores the legacy of Eli’s ruthlessness, his drive to power, and his life-long status as an outsider, even as the McCullough family rises to become one of the richest in Texas, a ranching-and-oil dynasty of unsurpassed wealth and privilege. Harrowing, panoramic, and deeply evocative, The Son is a fully realized masterwork in the greatest tradition of the American canon-an unforgettable novel that combines the narrative prowess of Larry McMurtry with the knife edge sharpness of Cormac McCarthy.



Jane Gardam - The Man in the Wooden Hat artwork The Man in the Wooden Hat
Jane Gardam
Genre: Literary
Price: $12.99
Publish Date: October 27, 2009
Publisher: Europa Editions
Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC

Second in the Old Filth trilogy. “An astute, subtle depiction of marriage . . . absolutely wonderful” ( The Washington Post ). Acclaimed as Jane Gardam’s masterpiece, Old Filth is a lyrical novel that recalls the fully lived life of Sir Edward Feathers. The Man in the Wooden Hat is the history of his marriage told from the perspective of his wife, Betty, a character as vivid and enchanting as Filth himself. They met in Hong Kong after the war. Betty had spent the duration in a Japanese internment camp. Filth was already a successful barrister, handsome, fast becoming rich, in need of a wife but unaccustomed to romance. A perfect English couple of the late 1940s. As a portrait of a marriage, with all the bittersweet secrets and surprising fulfillment of the fifty-year union of two remarkable people, The Man in the Wooden Hat is a triumph. Fiction of a very high order from a great novelist working at the pinnacle of her considerable power, it will be read and loved and recommended by all the many thousands of readers who found its predecessor, Old Filth , so compelling and thoroughly satisfying. “Funny and affecting . . . It’s remarkable.” — The New York Times Book Review “The latest occasion to celebrate Gardam . . . [a] superb novel.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR “Told with quintessentially British humor . . . Gardam’s prose is witty and precise.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “It’s magnificent. . . . Funny, intelligent and immensely moving.” — Kirkus Reviews



Emily Gunnis - The Lost Child artwork The Lost Child
From the bestselling author of The Girl in the Letter
Emily Gunnis
Genre: Historical
Price: $2.99
Publish Date: August 16, 2019
Publisher: Headline
Seller: Hachette Digital, Inc.

A tragic death. A missing baby. A long-kept secret... Read The Lost Child , the heartwrenching new novel from the author of The Girl in the Letter, Emily Gunnis. If you love the novels of Kate Morton and Lucinda Riley, you will love this. Some novels hold you in their spell and never let you go... 1960. Thirteen-year-old Rebecca lives in fear of her father's temper. As a storm batters Seaview Cottage one night, she hears a visitor at the door and a violent argument ensues. By the time the police arrive, Rebecca's parents are dead and the visitor has fled. No one believes Rebecca heard a stranger downstairs... 2014. Iris, a journalist, is sent to cover the story of a new mother on the run with her desperately ill baby. But fatefully the trail leads to the childhood home of Iris's own mother, Rebecca...Seaview Cottage. As Iris races to unravel what happened the night Rebecca's parents were killed, it's time for Seaview Cottage to give up its secrets. Readers adore the novels of Emily Gunnis... 'Compelling, twisty, heart-wrenching and thought-provoking. A novel that stays with you' Sophie Kinsella 'Truly hard to put down. Fast paced, brilliantly plotted and desperately sad at times - all hallmarks of a bestseller' Lesley Pearse 'A pacy, heartrending read' S magazine, Sunday Express 'As moving as it is disturbing. A real triumph' Woman & Home



Barbara Kyle - The Queen's Lady artwork The Queen's Lady
Barbara Kyle
Genre: Historical
Price: $2.99
Publish Date: December 01, 2009
Publisher: Kensington Books
Seller: Kensington Publishing Corp.

London, 1527. Marry or serve: for Honor Larke, the choice is clear. Unwilling to perish of boredom as an obedient wife, she leaves the home of her ward to attend Her Majesty, Queen Catherine of Aragon. But life at Henry VIII's court holds more than artifice for an intelligent observer, and Honor knows how to watch--and when to act. . . Angered by the humiliation heaped upon her mistress as Henry cavorts with Anne Boleyn and presses Rome for a divorce, Honor volunteers to carry letters to the Queen's allies. It's a risky game, but Honor is confident--until she's proven wrong by dashing courtier Richard Thornleigh--a man who awakens her heart, and who also has something to hide. . .. Swept into a tide of intrigue and danger that stretches across Europe, the Queen's lady is about to learn everything: about pride, passion, greed--and the conscience of the King. . . "Weaves a fast-paced plot through some of the most harrowing years of English history." --Judith Merkle Riley "Excellent, exciting, compellingly readable." --Ellen Jones "Riveting, heady, glorious, inspired." --Susan Wiggs Includes a Reading Group Guide!



Danielle Steel - Spy artwork Spy
A Novel
Danielle Steel
Genre: Fiction & Literature
Price: $16.99
Publish Date: November 26, 2019
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

A young woman is caught up in a dangerous double life on behalf of her country during World War II in Danielle Steel’s thrilling new novel.   At eighteen, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite white lace and satin dress her mother has ordered from Paris. With her delicate blond looks, she is a stunning beauty who seems destined for a privileged life. But fate, a world war, and her own quietly rebellious personality lead her down a different path. By 1939, Europe is on fire and England is at war. From her home in idyllic Hampshire, Alex makes her way to London as a volunteer in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. But she has skills that draw the attention of another branch of the service. Fluent in French and German, she would make the perfect secret agent. Within a year, Alex is shocking her family in trousers and bright red lipstick. They must never know about the work she does—no one can know, not even the pilot she falls in love with. While her country and those dearest to her pay the terrible price of war, Alex learns the art of espionage, leading to life-and-death missions behind enemy lines and a long career as a spy in exotic places and historic times. Spy follows Alex’s extraordinary adventures in World War II and afterward in India, Pakistan, Morocco, Hong Kong, Moscow, and Washington, D.C., when her husband, Richard, enters the foreign service and both become witnesses to a rapidly changing world from post-war to Cold War. She lives life on the edge, with a secret she must always keep hidden.



Dorothea Benton Frank - The Christmas Pearl artwork The Christmas Pearl
Dorothea Benton Frank
Genre: Fiction & Literature
Price: $9.99
Publish Date: October 13, 2009
Publisher: William Morrow
Seller: Harper Collins Canada Limited

Still spry at ninety-three, Theodora has lived long enough to see her family grow into an insufferable bunch of truculent knuckleheads. Having finally gathered the whole bickering brood together for the holidays at her South Carolina home, the grand matriarch pines wistfully for those extravagant, homey Christmases of her childhood. How she misses the tables groaning with home-cooked goodies, the over-the-top decorations, those long, lovely fireside chats with Pearl, her grandmother's beloved housekeeper and closest confidante. These days, where is the love and the joy . . . and the peace? But this is, after all, a magical time. Someone very special has heard Theodora's plea—and is about to arrive at her door with pockets full of Gullah magic and enough common sense to transform this Christmas into the miracle it's truly meant to be.



Wilbur Smith & Tom Harper - The Tiger's Prey artwork The Tiger's Prey
A Novel of Adventure
Wilbur Smith & Tom Harper
Genre: Action & Adventure
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: October 17, 2017
Publisher: William Morrow
Seller: Harper Collins Canada Limited

The New York Times bestselling author of Desert God and Pharaoh adds another chapter to his popular historical saga featuring the seafaring Tom Courtney, the hero of Monsoon and Blue Horizon, with this magnificent swashbuckling saga set in the eighteenth century and packed with action, violence, romance, and rousing adventure. Tom Courtney, one of four sons of master mariner Sir Hal Courtney, once again sets sail on a treacherous journey that will take him across the vast reaches of the ocean and pit him against dangerous enemies in exotic destinations. But just as the winds propel his sails, passion drives his heart. Turning his ship towards the unknown, Tom Courtney will ultimately find his destiny—and lay the future for the Courtney family. Wilbur Smith, the world’s greatest storyteller, once again recreates all the drama, uncertainty, and courage of a bygone era in this thrilling saga of the sea.



Margaret Atwood - The Testaments artwork The Testaments
A Novel
Margaret Atwood
Genre: Fiction & Literature
Price: $16.99
Publish Date: September 10, 2019
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Margaret Atwood's dystopian masterpiece,  The Handmaid's Tale,  has become a modern classic—and now she brings the iconic story to a dramatic conclusion in this riveting sequel. More than fifteen years after the events of  The Handmaid's Tale,  the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.   Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.   As Atwood unfolds  The Testaments,  she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes. "The literary event of the year." — The Guardian   "The international literary event of the season." — Globe and Mail   "It’s terrifying and exhilarating." —Judges of the Booker Prize 2019



Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale artwork The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood
Genre: Literary
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: January 01, 1985
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

In this multi-award-winning, bestselling novel, Margaret Atwood has created a stunning Orwellian vision of the near future. This is the story of Offred, one of the unfortunate “Handmaids” under the new social order who have only one purpose: to breed. In Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships, Offred’s persistent memories of life in the “time before” and her will to survive are acts of rebellion. Provocative, startling, prophetic, and with Margaret Atwood’s devastating irony, wit, and acute perceptive powers in full force, The Handmaid’s Tale is at once a mordant satire and a dire warning.



Holly Cortelyou - Last Sweet Surrender artwork Last Sweet Surrender
Holly Cortelyou
Genre: Fiction & Literature
Price: $0.99
Publish Date: July 22, 2018
Publisher: Holly Cortelyou
Seller: Draft2Digital, LLC

He's conquered mountains and built an empire…will he dare surrender everything for love? Free-spirited blogger Lena Anderson has no time for angry and obviously bitter recluses. How's she to know that the seriously gorgeous, bearded dude next door is Jaxson Prince, a world-class skier and entrepreneurial genius? When Lena accidently blows his cover, and the paparazzi descend, she unleashes the beast! Peace, quiet, and one bluebird day on the slopes…that's all Jax is looking for when he arrives in Vail for his best friend's wedding. But one badly aimed snowball has him rescuing stubborn, but sexy, Lena Anderson. If he's not interested in love or commitment, what's Jax doing playing house with five rambunctious kids…and the delectable and very independent Lena? With the help of an adorable snow angel on the powder perfect slopes of Vail, can Lena uncover a heart of gold inside this diamond in the rough? Welcome to Wescott Springs where finding love's a sweet & sexy small town romp! Come fall for Jax and Lena…where love is the sweetest surrender of them all. Grab your copy today!



Ann Patchett - The Dutch House artwork The Dutch House
A Novel
Ann Patchett
Genre: Literary
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: September 24, 2019
Publisher: Harper
Seller: Harper Collins Canada Limited

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! From the New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth and State of Wonder, comes Ann Patchett’s most powerful novel to date: a richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go. The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are. At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures. Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.



Joan Thomas - Five Wives artwork Five Wives
A Novel
Joan Thomas
Genre: Fiction & Literature
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: September 03, 2019
Publisher: HarperAvenue
Seller: Harper Collins Canada Limited

WINNER OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR FICTION In the tradition of The Poisonwood Bible and State of Wonder, a novel set in the rainforest of Ecuador about five women left behind when their missionary husbands are killed. Based on the shocking real-life events In 1956, a small group of evangelical Christian missionaries and their families journeyed to the rainforest in Ecuador intending to convert the Waorani, a people who had never had contact with the outside world. The plan was known as Operation Auca. After spending days dropping gifts from an aircraft, the five men in the party rashly entered the “intangible zone.” They were all killed, leaving their wives and children to fend for themselves. Five Wives is the fictionalized account of the real-life women who were left behind, and their struggles – with grief, with doubt, and with each other – as they continued to pursue their evangelical mission in the face of the explosion of fame that followed their husbands’ deaths. Five Wives is a riveting, often wrenching story of evangelism and its legacy, teeming with atmosphere and compelling characters and rich in emotional impact.  



Vi Khi Nao - Fish in Exile artwork Fish in Exile
Vi Khi Nao
Genre: Literary
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: October 10, 2016
Publisher: Coffee House Press
Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC

A couple loses their child in this poetic and devastating novel in which grief reaches “enthralling and mysterious pleasures” (Carol Maso).   A couple named Catholic and Ethos struggle with the loss of their child. How? With fishtanks and jellyfish burials, Persephone’s pomegranate seeds, and affairs with the neighbors. Fish in Exile spins unimaginable loss through classical and magical tumblers, distorting our view so that we can see the contours of a parent’s grief all the more clearly. “The result is a novel that forges a new vocabulary for the routine of grief, as well as the process of healing” ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).