On the Shelf

Header Right Social

FacebookInstagramYoutubeMeetupOn the Shelf Blog

Header Right Search

New for Adults

Eternal

by Leave a Comment

Eternal  by Lisa Scottoline
Format: Full cast digital audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

Author Lisa Scottoline is best known for writing legal thrillers. Eternal is Scottoline’s first historical novel, and it is just as good as her thrillers.  The story is based on true events that took place in Rome, Italy during World War II.  In 1937, Italians in Rome never believed that they would be touched by Hitler and his unnerving rules and laws.  But when Mussolini aligned the Fascist party with Hitler’s Nazis, terrible things began to tear their beautiful city, and the people within it, apart.

Scottoline has woven the true account of Rome’s fall to the Germans into the lives of high schoolers, Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro.  The three of them have grown up as best friends.  It seems as if overnight Rome is thrust into chaos and confusion.  The families of Marco, Elisabetta, and Sandro are caught up as casualties.

Marco lands a job working for the Fascist government, supporting what his family raised him to believe in.  Sandro and his family, always loyal to Fascist Mussolini, are shockingly moved to the Jewish ghetto and lose everything.  Elisabetta is caught struggling to support herself and at odds with the love that she feels for Marco and Sandro.  As World War II rages on, its consequences destroy the lives and dreams of these three friends and their families.

Scottoline does a wonderful job of revealing the devastation of Rome at Mussolini’s hands and expressing how love, friendship, faith, and family prevail enabling people to survive terror and hardship, and eventually begin to heal.  Fans of WWII historical fiction will appreciate Scottoline’s account of the effects WWII had on Italy.

Find it in the catalog!

 

 

Across the Green Grass Fields

by Leave a Comment

Title: Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
Format: Book
Published: January 12, 2021
Who it’s for: Adults and Teens

As with the previous 5 books in the Wayward Children series, this next novel is beautifully written in such a way that draws the reader into a fantasy world that is tempting and beautiful, but always expects more of its inhabitants than meets the eye.

Young Regan is growing up, and her parents have decided that now is the time to tell her about her genetic identity. As she grapples with this news, she hopes that she can trust Laurel with this really big secret about herself. She can’t. Regan runs to the woods between school and home, and stumbles across a strange doorway. It beckons her, but is she sure that she wants to enter? As she passes through the twisted branches, she enters Hoofland, and leaves her world behind. The supposed mythical, but very real, centaurs explain that the appearance of a human in their world means that “something’s coming”; and Regan will be expected to be a hero.

Across the Green Grass Fields is a stand alone novel in The Wayward Children series, introducing a new character. If you are curious about the first book, check out this previous blog post by Tess.

This series can be found in the adult fiction collection, but the stories will be loved by teens as well.

Find it in the catalog

The Invisible Woman

by Leave a Comment

The Invisible Woman by Erika Robuck
Format:  Digital Audiobook
Who it’s for:  Adults

This is a historical novel about an American woman named Virginia Hall, and her work as a secret agent during World War II.  Leading up to the war, Hall worked as an embassy secretary and desperately wanted to get into the American Foreign Service.  Not only was it rare for women to be accepted into the AFSA at the time, but rules were in place that forbid hiring people with disabilities as diplomats.  At the age of 27, Hall had accidentally shot herself in the left foot while hunting birds.  Her leg had been amputated below the knee and she wore a wooden prosthesis.

Virginia Hall eventually made her way to Europe as an ambulance driver for France, where she was recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in England.   She operated mainly out of France, where she was able to arrange contacts, assist intelligence agents, help British airmen who were shot down or had crashed over Europe, and help dozens escape France to neutral Spain and onward back to England.

After learning to become a wireless operator, Hall was contacted by the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS).  She was hired to train resistance groups in France called Maquis, so that they could support the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 with sabotage and guerrilla activities.  The Invisible Woman focuses on Hall’s work at this time (disguised as an old woman named Diane), and introduces us to the villagers, farmers, and housewives who risked their lives in support of Allied efforts.

For her efforts in France, Hall was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross in September, 1945, the only one awarded to a civilian woman in World War II.  Robuck brings to life the courage that some of the most obscure people demonstrated in order to defeat the Nazis.

Find it in the catalog

Migrations

by Leave a Comment

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
Format:  Book
Who it’s for:  Adults

Picture a future where most animals have become extinct.  Scientists are studying how to keep those remaining from complete termination.  The answer may lie with the Arctic terns.  Franny Stone is convinced of this truth.  To prove it to herself, Franny has made her way to Greenland with the goal of talking a fishing crew into following the terns on their last migration.  If Franny can get the crew to follow the terns that she has been able to catch and tag, she is convinced that the fishermen will find the fish they desperately need to support their livelihood, and Franny will prove her theory.

Here the mystery begins.  As the crew attempts to follow the terns through frigidly calm seas and unrelenting storms, the reader learns about the dangers of daily life on a fishing vessel, and Franny’s past life. One becomes intent on trying to figure out just who Franny is and what she has left behind.  The author describes Franny in the perilous present and then shifts to the past to explore who Franny was as a child, teenager and adult.  Why are the terns so important to her?  What is Franny running from? Why was she in jail? Where are her parents? Where is her husband?  Will the crew survive their dangerous journey? Will the terns survive their migration?  Will it be their last? The listener hangs on to the author’s every word until all answers are revealed in the story’s thrilling conclusion.

Find it in the catalog.

 

One by One by Ruth Ware

by Leave a Comment

Title: One by One by Ruth Ware
Format: Book or eBook
Who’s It For: Adults

Liz wasn’t sure of what to make of a snow weekend retreat with ex-coworkers from “Snoop,” creators of an app to follow the music tastes of celebrities. Why would they include her? She wasn’t one of the bright and beautiful movers and shakers. Could it be because she was a shareholder? What did they want from her?

Erin and Danny were preparing the French Alps chalet for the scheduled Snoop guests. Erin cleaned while Danny cooked. Even though her brother and boyfriend were killed in an avalanche, Erin had to return to work at the chalet. She had to face her fears.

In spite of awkward clashes and an unexpected business proposition among the Snoop retreaters, Liz and Erin each manage with their own personal challenges. Yet when members of the party begin disappearing one by one after an avalanche, who could be responsible?

Sounds intriguing, right?  Read all about it here.

Still Standing

by Leave a Comment

Still Standing by Larry Hogan and Ellis Henican
Format: Book, eBook, eAudiobook
Who it’s for: Adults
What do you know about Governor Larry Hogan? You may have heard during his six years in office about crises like the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, managing the COVID-19 pandemic, and his personal battle with cancer. You may have read news stories about bipartisan agreements on economic and justice department reforms during his tenure. Now you can go behind those headlines and get the inside story in Larry Hogan’s recently released autobiography.
In an era of political divide, Larry Hogan offers a refreshing approach to practical problem solving that focuses on listening, being respectful, and working on the problem at hand for the benefit of the people rather than promoting a political party or agenda. We need more voices like this on the political landscape today.

Find it in the catalog