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Cover ArtHer Last Flight shifts between the 1947 story of a young photographer and the 1928-1937 story of an aviation sensation inspired by Amelia Earhart. Williams imagines a different ending to Amelia Earhart's disappearance and reveals the story through well-crafted character development of our two female protagonists. We get to know the women through their unfolding relationship as they get to know each other on a remote Hawaiian island. Bit by bit, Williams reveals the mystery in this engrossing work of historical fiction.
 
Publisher's description:
In 1947, photographer and war correspondent Janey Everett arrives at a remote surfing village on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to research a planned biography of forgotten aviation pioneer Sam Mallory, who joined the loyalist forces in the Spanish Civil War and never returned. Obsessed with Sam's fate, Janey has tracked down Irene Lindquist, the owner of a local island-hopping airline, whom she believes might actually be the legendary Irene Foster, Mallory's onetime student and flying partner. Foster's disappearance during a round-the-world flight in 1937 remains one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries. At first, the flinty Mrs. Lindquist denies any connection to Foster. But Janey informs her that the wreck of Sam Mallory's airplane has recently been discovered in a Spanish desert, and piece by piece, the details of Foster's extraordinary life emerge: from the beginnings of her flying career in Southern California, to her complicated, passionate relationship with Mallory, to the collapse of her marriage to her aggressive career manager, the publishing scion George Morrow. As Irene spins her tale to its searing conclusion, Janey's past gathers its own power. The duel between the two women takes a heartstopping turn. To whom does Mallory rightfully belong? Can we ever come to terms with the loss of those we love, and the lives we might have lived?

Find Her Last Flight in our online catalog.

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The highly anticipated latest from the award-winning author of The Old Drift. Kirkus gives it a starred review, stating, "If The Old Drift was an epic effort to outdo Márquez and Rushdie, this slippery yet admirably controlled novel aspires to outdo Toni Morrison, and it earns the comparison."
 
Publisher's description:
I don't want to tell you what happened. I want to tell you how it felt.
Cassandra Williams is twelve; her little brother, Wayne, is seven. One day, when they're alone together, there is an accident and Wayne is lost forever. His body is never recovered. The missing boy cleaves the family with doubt. Their father leaves, starts another family elsewhere. But their mother can't give up hope and launches an organization dedicated to missing children. As C grows older, she sees her brother everywhere: in bistros, airplane aisles, subway cars. Here is her brother's face, the light in his eyes, the way he seems to recognize her, too. But it can't be, of course. Or can it? Then one day, in another accident, C meets a man both mysterious and familiar, a man who is also searching for someone and for his own place in the world. His name is Wayne. Namwali Serpell's remarkable new novel captures the uncanny experience of grief, the way the past breaks over the present like waves in the sea. The Furrows is a bold exploration of memory and mourning that twists unexpectedly into a story of mistaken identity, double consciousness, and the wishful--and sometimes willful--longing for reunion with those we've lost.
 
Cover ArtFour years ago, Sylvie was booted from a Great British Baking Show-type competition early due to a technical mishap involving a faulty glittery unicorn cake and the show's resident broody and grumpy judge, Dominick. Fast forward to the present, and Sylvie owns a popular, colorful, and whimsical bakery that just so happens to be located across the street from Dom's classic and elegant bakery. The duo's rivalry becomes even more exacerbated when they are forced to compete for the incredible opportunity to bake the cake for an upcoming royal wedding. I am a big fan of Lucy Parker's romance novels; she has a unique way of building delicious and sweet intimacy between her characters. It is impossible now to root for Sylvie and Dom to fall in love, as their seemingly opposite personalities actually might be more similar to each other than they once thought. The two also share similarly tragic childhoods that lead them to bonding and building deep connections. This novel also features one of my personal favorite romance novel quirks, which is when the novel's climax does not revolve around if the couple will get together or not, but instead has an external conflict. There's no doubting Sylvie and Dominick's relationship. This novel is perfect for fans of Mhariri McFarlane, Beth O'Leary, and Mariana Zapata.
 
Publisher's description:
After being kicked off a baking competition show by judge Dominic De Vere, successful London baker Sylvie Fairchild returns to "Operation Cake" as a judge, setting off an intense rivalry and maybe a bit of romance.
 
Cover ArtA book that explores what seeing is--and it is not just the passive act of looking, but also taking in from the visual sense and drawing for others to see. The basic sentences and vocabulary make this accessible for beginning readers, but there is more to this book than just the simplicity of the text.
 
Publisher's description: A boy goes for a walk where he sees a dog, trucks, flowers, a bird, and other things; and then goes home to draw them.
 
Cover ArtIf you’re at all interested in fashion, clothing, or sewing, and their relationship with history, this book is for you. Or, if instead you like reading about World War II, this book presents an intriguing side of the conflict I knew nothing about prior to reading it. The Dressmakers of Auschwitz follows the lives of a group of seamstresses who find safety in the Upper Tailoring Studio of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where they sew clothing for the wives and families of highly ranked Nazi officials. Along with telling the true stories of these brave and talented women, this book provides a lot of knowledge on how the Third Reich’s choices impacted the European fashion scene, and the global clothing industry as a whole. Like any historical nonfiction, this book requires attention while reading, but I found its fresh and thoroughly researched contents absolutely fascinating and well worth a read.
- Alexis, twelfth-grade teen volunteer
Publisher's description:
A powerful chronicle of the women who used their sewing skills to survive the Holocaust, stitching beautiful clothes at an extraordinary fashion workshop created within one of the most notorious WWII death camps. At the height of the Holocaust twenty-five young inmates of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp—mainly Jewish women and girls—were selected to design, cut, and sew beautiful fashions for elite Nazi women in a dedicated salon. It was work that they hoped would spare them from the gas chambers. This fashion workshop—called the Upper Tailoring Studio—was established by Hedwig Höss, the camp commandant’s wife, and patronized by the wives of SS guards and officers. Here, the dressmakers produced high-quality garments for SS social functions in Auschwitz, and for ladies from Nazi Berlin’s upper crust. Drawing on diverse sources—including interviews with the last surviving seamstress—the book follows the fates of these brave women. Their bonds of family and friendship not only helped them endure persecution, but also to play their part in camp resistance. Weaving the dressmakers’ remarkable experiences within the context of Nazi policies for plunder and exploitation, historian Lucy Adlington exposes the greed, cruelty, and hypocrisy of the Third Reich and offers a fresh look at a little-known chapter of World War II and the Holocaust.

Find The Dressmakers of Auschwitz in our online catalog.
 

09/24/2022
Boulder Library
Cover ArtIn May 1996, the bodies of two women were found in Shenandoah National Park in a remote campsite. These young women, Julie Williams and Lollie Winans, had met and fallen in love at an outdoor skills camp and were preparing for a life full of adventure together when they met their brutal and tragic end. A thoughtful mix of true crime and sociology, Kathryn Miles asks why women and LGBTQIA+ folk are so much more at risk in the wilderness and even explicitly targeted for daring to access our shared public lands. Were these women targeted for their sexuality? Their gender? Their resolve to not be intimidated by men who claimed the wilderness as their own? She explores these questions in depth to better understand the motivations of the killer and instead walks into the startling realization that the man arrested could very well be the wrong guy. If you enjoyed I'll Be Gone In the Dark by Michelle McNamara, this book is for you.
 
Publisher's description:
In May 1996, two skilled backcountry leaders, Lollie Winans and Julie Williams, entered Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park for a week-long backcountry camping trip. The free-spirited and remarkable young couple had met and fallen in love the previous summer while working at a world-renowned outdoor program for women. During their final days in the park, they descended the narrow remnants of a trail and pitched their tent in a hidden spot. After the pair didn’t return home as planned, park rangers found a scene of horror at their campsite, their tent slashed open, their beloved dog missing, and both women dead in their sleeping bags. The unsolved murders of Winans and Williams continue to haunt all who had encountered them or knew their story. When award-winning journalist and outdoors expert Kathryn Miles begins looking into the case, she discovers conflicting evidence, mismatched timelines, and details that just don’t add up. With unprecedented access to crucial crime-scene forensics and key witnesses—and with a growing sense of both mission and obsession—she begins to uncover the truth. An innocent man, Miles is convinced, has been under suspicion for decades, while the true culprit is a known serial killer, if only authorities would take a closer look. Intimate, page-turning, and brilliantly reported, this is a love story and a call to justice, and a searching and urgent plea to make wilderness a safe space for women.
 
Cover ArtMonster was supposed to scare Tiger a long time ago, but instead they ended up becoming friends. Since then, Monster has been protecting Tiger as she sleeps by scaring off all her nightmares; until one day, when a nightmare comes along that is too much for Monster to scare on her own. Now Tiger and Monster must work together to scare off the nightmare! A tale of friendship, fears, and building confidence, sure to be a hit with beginning readers who enjoy Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug.
 
Publisher's description:
Tiger is a very lucky kid: she has a monster living under her bed. Every night, Tiger and Monster play games until it's time for lights out. Of course, Monster would never try to scare Tiger--that's not what best friends do. But Monster needs to scare someone...it's a monster, after all. So while Tiger sleeps, Monster scares all of her nightmares away. Thanks to her friend, Tiger has nothing but good dreams. But waiting in the darkness is a nightmare so big and mean that Monster can't fight it alone. Only teamwork and a lot of bravery can chase this nightmare away.
 
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This moving, lyrical novel from award winning author Yiyun Li will be of interest to readers who love Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan series. CU Boulder professor Megan O'Grady, reviewing the title for the New York Times Book Review, calls The Book of Goose "the most propulsively entertaining of Li’s novels, and Li herself "one of our finest living authors."
 
Publisher's description:

A magnificent, beguiling tale winding from the postwar rural provinces to Paris, from an English boarding school, to the quiet Pennsylvania home where a woman can live without her past, The Book of Goose is a story of disturbing intimacy and obsession, of exploitation and strength of will, by the celebrated author Yiyun Li.

Fabienne is dead. Her childhood best friend, Agnès, receives the news in America, far from the French countryside where the two girls were raised--the place that Fabienne helped Agnès escape ten years ago. Now, Agnès is free to tell her story. As children in a war-ravaged, backwater town, they'd built a private world, invisible to everyone but themselves--until Fabienne hatched the plan that would change everything, launching Agnès on an epic trajectory through fame, fortune, and terrible loss.

Find The Book of Goose in our online catalog.

Cover ArtIn this work, Nicholas Black Elk tells the true story of his youth and his heritage as a member of the Lakota Sioux in the later years of 19th century. His account in words is written in text by John G. Neihardt (recorded in the 1930s), and encompasses occurrences of religious vision/transformation and struggles for physical survival alike. And even more than that, it is the story of a culture's efforts to survive in the face of persecution.
 
Publisher's description:

Black Elk Speaks, the story of the Oglala Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950) and his people during momentous twilight years of the nineteenth century, offers readers much more than a precious glimpse of a vanished time. Black Elk's searing visions of the unity of humanity and Earth, conveyed by John G. Neihardt, have made this book a classic that crosses multiple genres. Whether appreciated as the poignant tale of a Lakota life, as a history of a Native nation, or as an enduring spiritual testament, Black Elk Speaks is unforgettable. Black Elk met the distinguished poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt in 1930 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and asked Neihardt to share his story with the world. Neihardt understood and conveyed Black Elk's experiences in this powerful and inspirational message for all humankind. This complete edition features a new introduction by historian Philip J. Deloria and annotations of Black Elk's story by renowned Lakota scholar Raymond J. DeMallie. Three essays by John G. Neihardt provide background on this landmark work along with pieces by Vine Deloria Jr., Raymond J. DeMallie, Alexis Petri, and Lori Utecht. Maps, original illustrations by Standing Bear, and a set of appendixes rounds out the edition.

 
Cover ArtIf you are looking for a gentle story that will take you to Seattle, make you laugh, and draw you in to familiar, wise (and some are hapless) characters, then Always Gardenia is for you. The main character is Gardenia Pitkin who shines as a resourceful and kind mother, grandmother, and friend as she sorts through her own problems of loss, loneliness, and a low bank balance. Always Gardenia evokes the witty and thoughtful style of Barbara Pym and leaves the reader cheering for endearing characters and hoping for a sequel.
 
Publisher's description:
Two years after the death of her beloved husband, Torre, fifty-six-year-old Gardenia Pitkin is adjusting to life as a widow. She's lonely and struggling financially, but she counts her blessings--her son, Hans, and grandson, Milo; her good friend Sylvie; and a new job as an administrative assistant in the English department of the University of the Northwest in Seattle. And her eccentric boss, the Chaucer specialist Arnold Wiggens, proves to be as besotted with his dachshund as Gardenia is with hers. But enter stage right Lex Ohashi, who seems determined to court Gardenia, and Dr. Laurel DuBarr, a new adjunct English professor, who quickly becomes Arnold's romantic infatuation. Meanwhile, Gardenia suspects that her daughter-in-law, Caitlin Curlew, is carrying on with another man. Should she tell her son? Does she want a new relationship with Lex? And what about her blossoming friendship with the quirky but endearing Arnold Wiggens? With nods to the wry comedic sensibility of Barbara Pym and her respect for the role of "trivialities" in human life, Always Gardenia combines laugh-out-loud moments with wise reflections on friendships, families, and loss, as well as the complex relationship between mothers and their grown sons.

Find Always Gardenia in our online catalog.

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