National Network for Equitable Library Service

After settling with her husband outside of Boston, Henrietta has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she's found some stability and peace. But when they meet the neighbors next door, she spots a sports trophy that looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Could Hen's neighbor be a killer? Or is this the beginning of another psychotic episode?

Born in the Caribbean, Philomena Jones is abandoned by her mother and left to the mercy of her grandmother, who, after raising eight children and grandchildren, is not capable of dedicating herself to another child. Love-starved, Philomena is easy prey for the island's new pastor. She leaves home for America, hoping to find her mother, but ends up drifting and battling mental illness. Relocated to a supportive housing facility, Philomena meets a diverse cast of women who, despite their wildly differing backgrounds and difficulties, share one common bond; their history of abuse.

After being attacked by a grizzly bear in the Rocky Mountains, seventeen-year-old Abby Hughes' facial scars are all she can think about, and all that she thinks anyone else can see when they look at her. After months of hiding out at home, returning to high school feels as daunting to Abby as enduring seven plastic surgeries. She knows it will be hard to show her new face to the world, but Abby doesn't expect the level of rejection and hurt she receives, especially from people she thinks are her friends.

It's 1943. Enman and Una Greene are newly married. Each is haunted by their respective pasts, and each harbours secrets. They have hopes of a happy life together-though they have little idea how to create such a life. Enman brings Una to his childhood home in rural Barrein, Nova Scotia, where he hopes they will stay. Una is restless and feeling increasingly trapped, and longs for the city life she once had. Una meets a mysterious man, and then a body washes up on a beach. There are rumours of German sailors roaming the dunes.

When social attitudes researcher Bill Harcourt puts an advertisement in the newspaper for 'listeners' to work on an unconventional project, he anticipates that his team of eavesdroppers will discover previously untapped insights into public opinion. But as five eager listeners begin eavesdropping in the cafes, dentist waiting rooms, public toilets, tube trains and launderettes of London, discreetly noting the details of unguarded conversations, Bill starts to notice subtle changes in their behaviour and realises he has underestimated the compulsive nature of his group.

Twenty-nine-year-old Natasha Bell went for an evening jog, just like any other night - except now no one knows where she is. Not her sister, Abby - eighteen, eight months pregnant, and without a game plan. Not her childhood sweetheart, now ex-boyfriend, Greg, an introverted academic who could never bring himself to commit. Not her best friend Josie, a newlywed, born-again Christian, with whom Natasha recently had a falling out. And not detective Reuben Blake, who thought this case would be open 'n shut - a quick way to prove himself and move up the ranks.

Craig Forrester is newly home following World War I, newly married, and newly mired in social upheaval. Will he choose complacency alongside his peers, or his personal moral code? Originally published in 1923, The Magpie is a social commentary turned novel about the disillusionment that developed after the war.

Rotten Peaches is a gripping epic filled with disturbing and unforgettable insights into the human condition. Love, lust, race and greed. How far will you go? Two women. Two men. One happy ending. It takes place in Canada, the U.S. and South Africa. Nature or nurture. South Africa, racism and old prejudices - these are hardly old topics but what happens when biological half-siblings meet with insidious intentions? Can their moral corruption be blamed on genetics - were they born rotten to begin with? And what happens when they meet up with more of their ilk?

He calls himself your husband. But you're the only one who knows the truth. Several years ago, your husband, and the father of your young son, disappeared. Since then, you've dreamt of his return; railed against him for leaving you alone; grieved for your marriage; and, finally, vowed to move on. One morning, the phone rings. When you answer, a voice at the other end tells you your husband's on a plane bound for home, and that you'll see him tomorrow. You've imagined this reunion countless times. Of course you have. But nothing has prepared you for the reality.

Winner, Roehampton Poetry Prize, Finalist, Man Booker Prize, Finalist, Goldsmiths Prize. Walker is a D-Day veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder; he can't return home to rural Nova Scotia, and looks instead to the city for freedom, anonymity, and repair. As he finds his way from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco, we witness a crucial period of fracture in American history, one that also allowed film noir to flourish. The Dream had gone sour but - as those dark, classic movies made clear - the country needed outsiders to study and dramatize its new anxieties.