Kobo Abe

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

California

The Woman in the Dunes, by celebrated writer and thinker Kobo Abe, combines the essence of myth, suspense and the existential novel.
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After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers that the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman. Together their fates become intertwined as they work side by side at this Sisyphean task.

The Woman in the Dunes

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#paperback #fiction #danieldefoe #penguinclassics #classics #plagueyear 

Pennsylvania

“The surprise ‘must-read’ for people facing the Covid-19 epidemic.” —The Telegraph In 1665 the plague swept through London, claiming over 97,000 lives. Daniel Defoe was just five at the time of the plague, but he later called on his own memories, as well as his writing experience, to create this vivid chronicle of the epidemic and its victims. A Journal (1722) follows Defoe's fictional narrator as he traces the devastating progress of the plague through the streets of London. Here we see a city transformed: some of its streets suspiciously empty, some—with crosses on their doors—overwhelmingly full of the sounds and smells of human suffering. And every living citizen he meets has a horrifying story that demands to be heard. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

A Journal of the Plague Year

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#fiction #historical #historicalfiction #paperback #romance #duke #Ashley #romance #bestseller Read one time. Shelf life only 

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

New Jersey

The Duke's Perfect Wife

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#paperback #fiction #thekiterunner #historical #socialscience #historicalfiction #suspense #thriller #vbbooksandthings

Virginia

Traces the unlikely friendship of Amir, a wealthy Afghanistani youth, and a servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of the nation's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.

The Kite Runner

8551dda3-8904-495a-96b9-6e46f338a2da-1

#historical #fiction #historicalfiction #kristinhannah #thefourwinds #histfic #dustbowl #botm #drama 

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Massachusetts

A Novel

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER #1 USA TODAY BESTSELLER #1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER #1 INDIE BESTSELLER "The Four Winds seems eerily prescient in 2021 . . . Its message is galvanizing and hopeful: We are a nation of scrappy survivors. We’ve been in dire straits before; we will be again. Hold your people close.”—The New York Times "A spectacular tour de force that shines a spotlight on the indispensable but often overlooked role of Greatest Generation women."—People "Through one woman’s survival during the harsh and haunting Dust Bowl, master storyteller, Kristin Hannah, reminds us that the human heart and our Earth are as tough, yet as fragile, as a change in the wind." —Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them. “My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.” Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive. In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family. The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it—the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

The Four Winds

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Bonnie Garmus

Top of hardcover has "pinched" marks from damage in shipping. Does not interfer with reading of book  See second and third picture 

'A vibrant and original story of hope and staying true to yourself. Laugh-out-loud funny and brimming with life, generosity and courage' RACHEL JOYCE

'A novel that sparks joy with every page' ELIZABETH DAY
____________
'Your ability to change everything - including yourself - starts here' ELIZABETH ZOTT

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one- Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.

Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ('combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride') proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.

Meet the unconventional, uncompromising Elizabeth Zott.
__________

'I loved Lessons in Chemistry and am devastated to have finished it!' NIGELLA LAWSON

'Elizabeth Zott is an iconic heroine - a feminist who refuses to be quashed, a mother who believes that her child is a person to behold, rather than to mould, and who will leave you, and the lens through which you see the world, quite changed' PANDORA SYKES

'It's the world versus Elizabeth Zott, and I had no trouble choosing a side. A page-turning and highly satisfying tale- zippy, zesty, and Zotty' MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD, author of GREAT CIRCLE

STYLIST MAGAZINE'S 'FICTION BOOKS YOU CAN'T MISS IN 2022'
OBSERVER'S 'TEN DEBUT NOVELISTS OF 2022'


Lessons in Chemistry

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The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson Rainbow Crate edition from June 2023 box
Signed bookplate included
Art print included 

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

North Carolina

The First Bright Thing Rainbow Crate edition with Signed Bookplate and Art Print

#hardcover #fiction #dearamerica #historicalfiction #juvenilefiction 

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Oklahoma

The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi

The first humorous book in the Dear America series, "West to a Land of Plenty" follows an Italian girl's immigrant family as they move from New York City to a utopian community in the frontier West.

West to a Land of Plenty

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A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK A BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB PICK "A masterpiece." - R.O. Kwon The Crucible meets True Grit in this riveting adventure story of a fugitive girl, a mysterious gang of robbers, and their dangerous mission to transform the Wild West. In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw. The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada’s life looks good; she loves her husband, and she loves working as an apprentice to her mother, a respected midwife. But after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are routinely hanged as witches, her survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows. She joins up with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang, a band of outlaws led by a preacher-turned-robber known to all as the Kid. Charismatic, grandiose, and mercurial, the Kid is determined to create a safe haven for outcast women. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan that may get them all killed. And Ada must decide whether she’s willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all. Featuring an irresistibly no-nonsense, courageous, and determined heroine, Outlawed dusts off the myth of the old West and reignites the glimmering promise of the frontier with an entirely new set of feminist stakes. Anna North has crafted a pulse-racing, page-turning saga about the search for hope in the wake of death, and for truth in a climate of small-mindedness and fear.

Outlawed

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Ian McEwan

Michigan

In 1935 England, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses an event involving her sister Cecilia and her childhood friend Robbie Turner, and she becomes the victim of her own imagination, which leads her on a lifelong search for truth and absolution.

Atonement

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Minor signs of use on dust cover #hardcover #fiction #QueenelizabethI #historicalfiction #themarriagegame #romance #drama #Tudorhistory #scandal #suspense

Mississippi

A Novel of Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth and Lord Robert Dudley conduct a scandalous relationship marked by rumors about an illegitimate child and the suspicious death of his wife.

The Marriage Game

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New York

One of Our Bombers is Missing

#fiction #historical #historicalfiction #paperback #histfic #newyorktimes #fantasy 

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

Washington

From the instant #1 New York Times bestselling author of the “eerie and fascinating” (USA TODAY) The Thirteenth Tale comes a “swift and entrancing, profound and beautiful” (Madeline Miller, internationally bestselling author of Circe) novel about how we explain the world to ourselves, ourselves to others, and the meaning of our lives in a universe that remains impenetrably mysterious. On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed. Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again, yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens. The child herself is mute and unable to answer the essential questions: Who is she? Where did she come from? And to whom does she belong? But answers proliferate nonetheless. Three families are keen to claim her. A wealthy young mother knows the girl is her kidnapped daughter, missing for two years. A farming family reeling from the discovery of their son’s secret liaison stand ready to welcome their granddaughter. The parson’s housekeeper, humble and isolated, sees in the child the image of her younger sister. But the return of a lost child is not without complications and no matter how heartbreaking the past losses, no matter how precious the child herself, this girl cannot be everyone’s. Each family has mysteries of its own, and many secrets must be revealed before the girl’s identity can be known. Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth. Suspenseful, romantic, and richly atmospheric, this is “a beguiling tale, full of twists and turns like the river at its heart, and just as rich and intriguing” (M.L. Stedman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Light Between Oceans).

Once Upon a River

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#paperback #fiction #historicalfiction #retelling #titanic 

Florida

A Riveting Story of Strength and Family

Spanning from rural Ireland to New York and Texas in the early 1900s, this novel explores the relationship between two sisters whose lives take very different directions after they survive the perilous voyage from Ireland to America aboard the Titanic.

The Titanic Sisters

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Victor Hugo's towering novel of Jean Valjean, his unjust imprisonment, and his lifelong flight from a relentless police officer.

Les Miserables

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"An atmospheric and spectacular novel where one woman's life is transformed by the arrival of a Victorian circus of wonders"--

Circus of Wonders

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Started this book but just wasn't for me, some wear at the top of the dust jacket #mystery #historical #fiction #suspense #hardcover 

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a riveting noir about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome thug, and the mystery of the missing woman that brings them together. 1970s Mexico City. Maite is a secretary who lives for one thing: the latest issue of Secret Romance. While student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes into stories of passion and danger. Her next-door neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art student, seems to live a life of intrigue and romance that Maite envies. When Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman--and journeying deeper into Leonora's secret life of student radicals and dissidents. Meanwhile, someone else is also looking for Leonora at the behest of his boss, a shadowy figure who commands goon squads dedicated to squashing political activists. Elvis is an eccentric thug who longs to escape his own life: He loathes violence and loves old movies and rock 'n' roll. But as Elvis searches for the missing woman, he comes to observe Maite from a distance--and grows more and more obsessed with this woman who shares his love of music, and the unspoken loneliness of his heart. Now as Maite and Elvis come closer to discovering the secrets behind Leonora's disappearance, they can no longer escape the danger that threatens to consume their lives, with hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies aiming to protect Leonora's secrets--at gunpoint. Their lives become more colorful than comics, more passionate than a pop song, and stranger than pulp fiction.

Velvet Was the Night

224a3331-0dd1-4e79-8f3e-3012382d4434-1

Diana Gabaldon

Mammoth Paperback (8 to 10 lbs)

Hurtled back through time more than two hundred years to Scotland in 1743, Claire Randall finds herself caught in the midst of an unfamiliar world torn apart by violence, pestilence, and revolution and haunted by her growing feelings for James Fraser, a young soldier. Reissue.

Outlander

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#paperback #fiction #fantasyfiction #youngadult #magicalrealisn #fantasy #newyorktimes 

Once upon a River

Slight bend in the back cover, otherwise good! #historical #historicalfiction #paperback #fiction #christianfiction #christian #romance #cleanromance #dressmaking #fashion

Iowa

Miss Harriet Peabody dreams of the day she can open up a shop selling refashioned gowns to independent working women like herself. Unfortunately, when an errand for her millinery shop job goes sadly awry due to a difficult customer, she finds herself out of an income. Mr. Oliver Addleshaw is on the verge of his biggest business deal yet when he learns his potential partner prefers to deal with men who are settled down and wed. When Oliver witnesses his ex not-quite-fiance cause the hapless Harriet to lose her job, he tries to make it up to her by enlisting her help in making a good impression on his business partner. Harriet quickly finds her love of fashion can't make her fashionable. She'll never truly fit into Oliver's world, but just as she's ready to call off the fake relationship, fancy dinners, and elegant balls, a threat from her past forces both Oliver and Harriet to discover that love can come in the most surprising packages.

After a Fashion

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#hardcover #fiction #historicalfiction #historical #botm #bookofthemonth #janiechang #myth #magic

The Library of Legends 

Laurie Lico Albanese

A vivid reimagining of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, the tragic heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and a journey into the enduring legacy of New England's witchcraft trials.

Who is the real Hester Prynne?

Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced them to flee Edinburgh for a fresh start in the New World. But only days after they've arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic--leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country, forced to make her way by any means possible.

When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows--while she is an unusually gifted needleworker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward's safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which?

In this sensuous and hypnotizing tale, a young immigrant woman grapples with our country's complicated past, and learns that America's ideas of freedom and liberty often fall short of their promise. Interwoven with Isobel and Nathaniel's story is a vivid interrogation of who gets to be a "real" American in the first half of the 19th century, a depiction of the early days of the Underground Railroad in New England, and atmospheric interstitials that capture the long history of "unusual" women being accused of witchcraft. Meticulously researched yet evocatively imagined, Laurie Lico Albanese's Hester is a timeless tale of art, ambition, and desire that examines the roots of female creative power and the men who try to shut it down.

Hester

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Connecticut

Owlcrate The Kingdom of Back

New Hampshire

A Washington Post Notable Book One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, The Economist, Financial Times Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award Finalist for the Women's Prize for Fiction Here is the story of the Iliad as we've never heard it before: in the words of Briseis, Trojan queen and captive of Achilles. Given only a few words in Homer's epic and largely erased by history, she is nonetheless a pivotal figure in the Trojan War. In these pages she comes fully to life: wry, watchful, forging connections among her fellow female prisoners even as she is caught between Greece's two most powerful warriors. Her story pulls back the veil on the thousands of women who lived behind the scenes of the Greek army camp--concubines, nurses, prostitutes, the women who lay out the dead--as gods and mortals spar, and as a legendary war hurtles toward its inevitable conclusion. Brilliantly written, filled with moments of terror and beauty, The Silence of the Girls gives voice to an extraordinary woman--and makes an ancient story new again.

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Kobo Abe

The Woman in the Dunes

Daniel Defoe; Cynthia Wall (Introduction by, Notes by)

A Journal of the Plague Year

Jennifer Ashley

The Duke's Perfect Wife

Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner

Kristin Hannah

The Four Winds

Bonnie Garmus

Lessons in Chemistry

J.R. Dawson

The First Bright Thing Rainbow Crate edition with Signed Bookplate and Art Print

Jim Murphy; Scholastic, Inc. Staff (Contribution by)

West to a Land of Plenty

Anna North

Outlawed

Ian McEwan

Atonement

Alison Weir

The Marriage Game

Dan Brennan

One of Our Bombers is Missing

Diane Setterfield

Once Upon a River

Patricia Falvey

The Titanic Sisters

Victor Hugo; Lee Fahnestock (Translator); Norman MacAfee (Translator)

Les Miserables

Elizabeth Macneal

Circus of Wonders

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Velvet Was the Night

Diana Gabaldon

Outlander

Diane Setterfield

Once upon a River

Jen Turano

After a Fashion

Janie Chang

The Library of Legends

Laurie Lico Albanese

Hester

Marie Lu

Owlcrate The Kingdom of Back

Pat Barker

The Silence of the Girls