National Network for Equitable Library Service

Beneath the Statue is an inventory of the tactics of the weak, the methods of the contained and the imprisoned, and the weapons of those who cannot fight. Each story is like its own small island on a vast sea, an isolated world where things work differently. Yet among the family dramas, political machinations, the surreal dreamscapes, and the nightmares come to life, what rises again and again is the urge to struggle on, the need to fight even when it feels impossible.

"The sudden death of Margot Morris and her two young daughters in a house fire sends shock-waves through a small rural community. The Morrises are a close-knit family, long associated with the mysterious arts of taxidermy and bee-keeping. Margot's three surviving siblings, Teddy, Agatha and Sylvia are left to wonder if Margot's death was an accident or murder, while the town is enveloped by speculation about this eccentric family whose close bonds are now being tested by tragedy."--

"A year after the early death of his wife, John Davies comes hesitantly out of retirement to take a job at The Wheaton, a senior's residence. Having resisted 'getting involved' for his entire life, John is immediately out of his comfort zone. The Wheaton is a boundary-free environment, and he is immersed in the kinds of sticky matters he usually does his best to avoid. Surrounded by mortality and the ghosts of regret haunting many of the residents, John begins to do the unthinkable: relate to his fellow creatures and reconsider his past.

"When aspiring stage-manager Rebecca Weir falls for the married director of SenseInSound theatre company, she initiates a love triangle and working collaboration which go on for two decades. Set in Toronto at the start of the 1980s, You'll Know Even Then explores the genesis of what its disciples call 'The Work'. The director, Marlin, has the status of a Guru in SenseInSound, but is he pushing people's limits or abusing his power? Is the 'The Work' a cutting-edge artistic practice, a road to personal healing, or a cult?"--

"Waterton is a town with dark secrets, and after a summer of murder and mayhem, American ex-pat, Rich Evans, knows exactly how far people will go to hide them. Jobless after the fiery destruction of the hotel he once managed, Rich is charged with arson. Only one person, local mechanic Louise ?Lou? Newman, believes in his innocence. But even Lou's love and support can't dispel the darkness that's spreading through the community. Dead animals appear on porches, strangers threaten the safety of the locals, and a fingerprint from the fire is linked to a decades-old murder.

"The Siberian Odyssey of Hans Schroeder is the ironic and tragic story of a young German mesmerized by the Hitler Youth aura who finds himself on the Russian front where he is taken prisoner. Years later, he is released from his Siberian prisoner-of-war camp and eventually emigrates to Massachusetts, USA, and leads what appears to be an exemplary family life. And, then, he commits the gruesome crime of a double murder.

"Story of a young British immigrants experiences as she comes to Alberta, Canada."--

"It is the story of a youth growing up in today's Warsaw, Poland, and his interactions with one of the survivors of the Holocaust."

"Broadly adapted from George Orwell's classic "Animal Farm", this book narrates the transformation of fairly happy, functional farm, taken over by a bunch of farm animals led by some pigs, who succeed in driving away the 'human' masters who once ran the place.