National Network for Equitable Library Service

A swirling, psychedelic, bleakly funny fugue by the Booker-shortlisted author of The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on PlutoUna Fogarty, suffering from dementia in a seaside nursing home, would be all alone without her brother Dan, whose epic free-verse monologue tells their family story. Exile from Ireland and immigrant life in England. Their mother's trials as a call girl. Young Una's search for love in a seemingly haunted hippie squat, and the two-timing Scottish stoner poet she'll never get over.

A quest novel set in early eighth-century Tang Dynasty China, in the final days of the rule of the first Female Emperor Wu Zhao. The ailing hermit monk Harelip sends his disciple Baoshi on a pilgrimage from Mount Hua to Chang'an, the Western capital; Baoshi is the "walking boy" charged with locating Harelip's missing former lover Ardhanari. Baoshi lives with a secret only his Master knows, and he is filled with fears of being discovered.

Life in seventh-century China teems with magic, fox spirits, and demons; there is a fervent belief that the extraordinary resides within the lives of both commoners and royalty. During the years when the empress Wu Zhao gains ascendancy in the Tang court, her evil-minded lover Xie becomes obsessed with finding and possessing the oracle bone, a magical object that will bestow immortal powers on him.

1759. The North American colonies of Britain and France are pulled into war, and the loyalties of many New York merchants, who have secretly been trading with the French for years, are divided. When captured French officers are brought to Long Island to be billeted in private homes, it upends the lives of the Wilde family. Lydia Wilde, struggling to keep the peace in her fracturing family following her mother's death, has little time or kindness to spare for her unwanted guests. And Canadian lieutenant Jean-Philippe de Sabran has little desire to be there.

Grania is deaf, a victim of scarlet fever at age five in early 1900s Canada. After learning sign language and speech she meets and marries Jim, with whom she develops a special vocabulary. World War I erupts, and they attempt to sustain their love in a world as brutal as it is beautiful.

Summer 1755, Acadia. Amľie Belliveau lives with her family in Grande Pr,̌ Nova Scotia. The community believes they can remain on neutral political ground, but when they refuse to pledge allegiance to the British in their war against the French, the army invades Grande Pr,̌ claims the land, and rips the people from their homes. Amľie?s entire family, alongside the other Acadians, is exiled to ports unknown aboard dilapidated ships. Fortunately, Amľie has made a powerful ally.

As World War II escalates, dilemmas face adopted siblings Christine and Henry Delaney. Henry, a Mountie, prepares to marry, and Christine relies on faith to navigate the uncertainties of work and love and to decide about a return to northern Canada. Sequel to "Beyond the Gathering Storm" (EA36961). 2001. (Canadian West series ; 6).

China, 8th century. Shen Tai is the son of a general who led his forces in the empire's last war against their western enemies - a war where forty thousand men on both sides died. Tai has spent two years of official mourning alone at the battle site, laying to rest their unburied bones. One spring morning, he learns that the White Jade Princess is to present him with 250 Sardian horses, given in recognition of his honour done to the dead. Some descriptions of sex, some strong language, and descriptions of violence. Bestseller. 2010.

An epic tale of prideful emperors, battling courtiers, nomadic invasions, and of a woman at war in her own way to find a new place for women in the world. A world inspired by the glittering, decadent Song Dynasty of China. Sequel to "Under heaven". 2013.

Four siblings experience the drama, intrigue, and upheaval of the '60s summer when everything changed in Elin Hilderbrand's #1 New York Times bestselling historical novel. Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket.