Estelle Paranque

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Virginia

The Story of Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici

A brilliant and beautifully written deep dive into the complicated relationship between Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici, two of the most powerful women in Renaissance Europe who shaped each other as profoundly as they shaped the course of history.

Sixteenth-century Europe was a hostile world dominated by court politics and patriarchal structures, and yet against all odds, two women rose to power: Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. One a young Virgin Queen who ruled her kingdom alone, and the other a more experienced and clandestine leader who used her children to shape the dynasties of Europe, much has been written about these shrewd and strategic sovereigns. But though their individual legacies have been heavily scrutinized, nothing has been said of their complicated relationship--thirty years of camaraderie, competition, and conflict that forever changed the face of Europe.

In Blood, Fire, and Gold, historian Estelle Paranque offers a new way of looking at two of history's most powerful women: through the eyes of the other. Drawing on their private correspondence and brand-new research, Paranque shows how Elizabeth and Catherine navigated through uncharted waters that both united and divided their kingdoms, maneuvering between opposing political, religious, and social objectives--all while maintaining unprecedented power over their respective domains. Though different in myriad ways, their fates and lives remained intertwined of the course of three decades, even as the European geo-politics repeatedly set them against one another. Whether engaged in bloody battles or peaceful accords, Elizabeth and Catherine admired the force and resilience of the other, while never forgetting that they were, first and foremost, each other's true rival.

This is a story of two remarkable visionaries: a story of blood, fire, and gold. It is also a tale of ceaseless calculation, of love and rivalry, of war and wisdom, and--above all else--of the courage and sacrifice it takes to secure and sustain power as a woman in a male-dominated world.

A Times' "Book of the Week"

Blood, Fire and Gold

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Stanton Samenow

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Long-held myths defining the sources of and cures for crime are shattered in this ground-breaking book--and a chilling profile of today's criminal emerges.

Inside the Criminal Mind Inside the Criminal Mind (Revised and Updated Edition)

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Stacy Schiff

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

A Life

Her palace shimmered with onyx and gold but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first and poisoned the second; incest and assassination were family specialties. She had children by Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, two of the most prominent Romans of the day. With Antony she would attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled both their ends. Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Her supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.

Cleopatra

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Tina Kover

A New Understanding of Tolkien and His World

The surprising and illuminating look at how Tolkien's love of science and natural history shaped the creation of his Middle Earth, from its flora and fauna to its landscapes. The world J.R.R. Tolkien created is one of the most beloved in all of literature, and continues to capture hearts and imaginations around the world. From Oxford to ComiCon, the Middle Earth is analyzed and interpreted through a multitude of perspectives. But one essential facet of Tolkien and his Middle Earth has been overlooked: science. This great writer, creator of worlds and unforgettable character, and inventor of language was also a scientific autodidact, with an innate interest and grasp of botany, paleontologist and geologist, with additional passions for archeology and chemistry. Tolkien was an acute observer of flora and fauna and mined the minds of his scientific friends about ocean currents and volcanoes. It is these layers science that give his imaginary universe—and the creatures and characters that inhabit it—such concreteness. Within this gorgeously illustrated edition, a range of scientists—from astrophysicists to physicians, botanists to volcanologists—explore Tolkien’s novels, poems, and letters to reveal their fascinating scientific roots. A rewarding combination of literary exploration and scientific discovery, The Science of Middle-earth reveals the hidden meaning of the Ring’s corruption, why Hobbits have big feet, the origins of the Dwarves, the animals which inspired the dragons, and even whether or not an Ent is possible. Enhanced by superb original drawings, this transportive work will delight both Tolkien fans and science lovers and inspire us to view both Middle Earth—and our own world—with fresh eyes.

The Science of Middle-Earth

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Lauren Wilkinson

A Novel

“American Spy updates the espionage thriller with blazing originality.”—Entertainment Weekly “There has never been anything like it.”—Marlon James, GQ “So much fun . . . Like the best of John le Carré, it’s extremely tough to put down.”—NPR NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • NPR • Entertainment Weekly • Esquire • BuzzFeed • Vulture • Real Simple • Good Housekeeping • The New York Public Library What if your sense of duty required you to betray the man you love? It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliant, but she’s also a young black woman working in an old boys’ club. Her career has stalled out, she’s overlooked for every high-profile squad, and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. So when she’s given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes. Yes, even though she secretly admires the work Sankara is doing for his country. Yes, even though she is still grieving the mysterious death of her sister, whose example led Marie to this career path in the first place. Yes, even though a furious part of her suspects she’s being offered the job because of her appearance and not her talent. In the year that follows, Marie will observe Sankara, seduce him, and ultimately have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American. Inspired by true events—Thomas Sankara is known as “Africa’s Che Guevara”—American Spy knits together a gripping spy thriller, a heartbreaking family drama, and a passionate romance. This is a face of the Cold War you’ve never seen before, and it introduces a powerful new literary voice. NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD • Shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize “Spy fiction plus allegory, and a splash of pan-Africanism. What could go wrong? As it happens, very little. Clever, bracing, darkly funny, and really, really good.”—Ta-Nehisi Coates “Inspired by real events, this espionage thriller ticks all the right boxes, delivering a sexually charged interrogation of both politics and race.”—Esquire “Echoing the stoic cynicism of Hurston and Ellison, and the verve of Conan Doyle, American Spy lays our complicities—political, racial, and sexual—bare. Packed with unforgettable characters, it’s a stunning book, timely as it is timeless.”—Paul Beatty, Man Booker Prizewinning author of The Sellout

American Spy

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Philip Ellis

She wants to steal the ring. He wants to steal her heart.

You are cordially invited as two con artists fake-date their way into the poshest wedding in town.

Single, broke, and about to be ejected from her London flat, Cat feels left behind by her friends, who are all either married or engaged. At least if she picked a few pockets when fellow wedding guests get handsy, no one's the wiser. No one, that is, except her favorite bartender, Jake, who has his own less-than-legal side hustle.

When she's unceremoniously fired and roped into bridesmaid duties for best frenemy Louisa, Cat can't help but notice that Louisa's priceless diamond engagement ring sure would solve a lot of problems. But Cat isn't as skilled a thief as Jake is, so to pull off the scheme of their lives, they'll have to pair up. From an engagement party on a boat to the bachelorette weekend in Palermo, Cat and Jake play cat and mouse with each other in a romantic charade. But who's to say what's real and what's fake, when love and money are on the line?

Love and Other Scams

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Emily Henry

Oversized Hardcover (4 to 6 lbs)

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by BuzzFeed ∙ Paste Magazine ∙ Elle ∙ Southern Living ∙ SheReads ∙ Culturess ∙ Medium ∙ Her Campus ∙ Readers Digest ∙ Zibby Mag and more!

A couple who broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.
 
Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college--they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now--for reasons they're still not discussing--they don't.
 
They broke up five months ago. And still haven't told their best friends.
 
Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group's yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.
 
Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they'll all have together in this place. They can't stand to break their friends' hearts, and so they'll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It's a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week...in front of those who know you best?

Happy Place

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Daisy Lafarge

A New York Times Editor's Choice

"A magnetic, atmospheric, razor-sharp work." --Aysegül Savas, author of Walking on the Ceiling and White on White

An insightful look at a young woman's search for meaning, independence, and belonging in the face of a consuming relationship

Frances is an English graduate student bruised by a messy breakup. On the spur of the moment, she decides to volunteer at a farm in rural France with the hope that the change of scenery will help clear her head. The farm, curiously named Noa Noa, is owned by Paul, an appealing, enigmatic Frenchman. Frances is charmed by his easygoing ways and by the area itself, both welcome changes from the life she has known. Yet the more time she spends in Paul's world, the more unmoored she begins to feel. It isn't long before murmurings about Paul begin to surface and she realizes how ill-equipped she is for the emotional battle of wills that is smoldering around her, one that threatens to silence and engulf her.

In Paul, Daisy Lafarge has written a perceptive exploration of the power dynamics between men and women, told in a fresh and exciting new voice.



Paul

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Alex Michaelides

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

The Maidens

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The "delicious and addictive" (Salon) Claire DeWitt series returns with a thrilling, noirish knockout novel that follows three separate narratives starring the self-proclaimed "world's greatest detective." As Cara Hoffman, author of Running, says, this "is a hard-boiled, existential masterpiece."

Claire DeWitt, the hard-living and tough-talking private investigator, has always been something of a detective. As a young girl growing up in Brooklyn, Claire and her two best friends, Tracy and Kelly, fell under the spell of the book Detection by legendary French detective Jacques Silette. They solved many cases together, in the process witnessing human behavior at its worst. The three were inseparable--until the day Tracy vanished without a trace. That is still the only case Claire ever failed to solve.

Later, in her twenties, Claire is in Los Angeles trying to get her PI license by taking on a cold case that has stumped the LAPD. She hunts for the real story behind the death of a washed-up painter ten years earlier, whose successful, widely admired artist girlfriend had died a few months before him.

Today, Claire is on her way to Las Vegas when she's almost killed by a homicidal driver. In a haze of drugs and injuries, she struggles off the scene, determined to find her would-be killer's identity but the list of people who would be happy to see her dead is not a short one.

As these three "eccentric, enticingly artful" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) narratives converge, some mysteries are solved and others continue to haunt. But Claire will continue her search for the answer to the biggest mystery of all: what is the purpose of our lives, and how can anyone survive in a world so clearly designed to break our hearts again and again?

The Infinite Blacktop

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Sixteen-year-old Miles' first year at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks, but is defined by the search for answers about life and death after a fatal car crash. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults & ALA Quick Pick. Reprint.

Looking for Alaska

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Wonder Woman Vol. 3: Return of the Amazons collects issues #74-81 from "Year of the Villan -- Evil Unleashed." Written by G. Willow Wilson, the author of the New York Times bestselling comic book series Ms. Marvel, winner of the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.

Wonder Woman's journey through the broken realm has reached its end--but who waits for her there? And what exactly created this place between dimensions in the first place? The answer will shock Diana and provide the missing piece of a puzzle that's defined her entire life! But in the wake of Ares' escape from his prison, who among the Amazons could possibly change the course of history? Only one: Diana's long-lost aunt, Antiope! Plus, Lex Luthor visits fellow Legion of Doom member Cheetah and gives everything she needs to slake her thirst with Diana's blood...once and for all! But for Diana, even though her fabled bracelets are shattered, her will broken, is Wonder Woman...defeated? Must a world without love be one without our hero? Wonder Woman is forced to discover a new way to fight.

Wonder Woman Vol. 3: Loveless

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this book is written well, it just wasn’t for me! (the cover isn’t damaged that’s just the design) 

Combining the atmosphere of Jess Walters’ Beautiful Ruins with the intriguing historical backstory of Christina Baker Kline’s The Orphan Train, Deborah Lawrenson’s mesmerizing novel transports readers to a sunny Portuguese town with a shadowy past—where two women, decades apart, are drawn into a dark game of truth and lies that still haunts the shifting sea marshes. Traveling to Faro, Portugal, journalist Joanna Millard hopes to escape an unsatisfying relationship and a stalled career. Faro is an enchanting town, and the seaside views are enhanced by the company of Nathan Emberlin, a charismatic younger man. But behind the crumbling facades of Moorish buildings, Joanna soon realizes, Faro has a seedy underbelly, its economy compromised by corruption and wartime spoils. And Nathan has an ulterior motive for seeking her company: he is determined to discover the truth involving a child’s kidnapping that may have taken place on this dramatic coastline over two decades ago. Joanna’s subsequent search leads her to Ian Rylands, an English expat who cryptically insists she will find answers in The Alliance, a novel written by American Esta Hartford. The book recounts an American couple’s experience in Portugal during World War II, and their entanglements both personal and professional with their German enemies. Only Rylands insists the book isn’t fiction, and as Joanna reads deeper into The Alliance, she begins to suspect that Esta Hartford’s story and Nathan Emberlin’s may indeed converge in Faro—where the past not only casts a long shadow but still exerts a very present danger.

K C

@kcs.library

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Estelle Paranque

Blood, Fire and Gold

Stanton Samenow

Inside the Criminal Mind Inside the Criminal Mind (Revised and Updated Edition)

Stacy Schiff

Cleopatra

Tina Kover

The Science of Middle-Earth

Lauren Wilkinson

American Spy

Philip Ellis

Love and Other Scams

Emily Henry

Happy Place

Daisy Lafarge

Paul

Alex Michaelides

The Maidens

Sara Gran

The Infinite Blacktop

John Green

Looking for Alaska

G. Willow Wilson

Wonder Woman Vol. 3: Loveless

Deborah Lawrenson

300 Days of Sun

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Estelle Paranque

Blood, Fire and Gold

Stanton Samenow

Inside the Criminal Mind Inside the Criminal Mind (Revised and Updated Edition)

Stacy Schiff

Cleopatra

Tina Kover

The Science of Middle-Earth

Lauren Wilkinson

American Spy

Philip Ellis

Love and Other Scams

Emily Henry

Happy Place

Daisy Lafarge

Paul

Alex Michaelides

The Maidens

Sara Gran

The Infinite Blacktop

John Green

Looking for Alaska

G. Willow Wilson

Wonder Woman Vol. 3: Loveless

Deborah Lawrenson

300 Days of Sun

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