National Network for Equitable Library Service

Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change--Paris in 1878--The Painted Girls is ultimately a tale of two remarkable girls rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of "civilized society."

Caterina Pellegrini is a native Venetian, and like so many of them, she's had to leave home to pursue her career elsewhere, mostly abroad. She lands in Birmingham, England, as a research fellow and assistant professor. Birmingham, however, is no Venice, so when she gets word of a position back home, Caterina jumps at the opportunity. After nearly three centuries, two locked trunks, believed to contain the papers of a once-famous, now largely forgotten baroque composer, have been discovered.

In the year 1348, Tomas, a disgraced knight, comes upon a girl orphaned by the Black Plague who tells him that the disease is only part of a greater cataclysm--that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven.

This historical novel follows young Isabella of Castile in her dramatic and turbulent ascent to power as she transforms from the defiant, passionate daughter of an exiled widow into the famed warrior-queen who irrevocably changed the future of Spain.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby Thomas has an unusual skill: the ability to throw a ball as hard as the greatest pitchers. Based on a true story, Diamond Ruby chronicles the extraordinary life of a girl who rises from utter poverty to startling renown.

A young marine in Vietnam has big ambitions to command a company, but two other soldiers stand in his way. Then, as he experiences the cost of combat, he begins to see the terrible results of his ambition.

William F. Buckley, Jr. recreates a pivotal moment in history through the eyes of young interpreter-interrogator Sebastian, whose fate is entwined with the lives and deaths of some towering figures in twentieth-century history.

Young Alvin Maker is born into an alternative frontier America, where folk magic is real and he himself is gifted with power. But he must learn to use it wisely, for dark forces are arrayed against him.

Anna and her family have only one hope left to escape certain doom. It’s 1936 and life is becoming dangerous for the Jews of Krakow. As incidents of violence and persecution increase day by day, Anna begs her father to leave Poland, but he insists it’s impossible. How could he give up his position as an acclaimed clarinetist in the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra? When Anna and her father barely escape from a group of violent thugs, it becomes clear that the family must leave. But how? There seems to be only one possibility.

Winner of the 2010 Toronto Book Award

The Carnivore is a historical novel of disaster and betrayal, set in the Toronto of both 1954 and 2004.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Hazel, a young cop, Ray Townes, emerges as a hero. There are numerous accounts of his bravery, of the way he battled all night to save those who were trapped in houses swept away by the raging Humber River. His story is featured prominently in the newspapers, thrusting him into the spotlight as a local celebrity.