The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley

Title: The Authenticity Project
Author: Clare Pooley
Published: 2020
Call #: FIC Pooley   
http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=pooley&title=authenticity         

 
How well do you know the people who live near you? How well do they know you? Do you even know the names of your neighbors? … Everyone lies about their lives. What would happen if you shared the truth instead?  
 
Thus begins “The Authenticity Project,” a pale green notebook soon to be filled with six peoples’ real truths. Julian Jessop, a 79-year-old, fairly successful artist, got it all started. In the 15 years since losing his wife, he has grown estranged. The loneliness in going from everyone knowing your name to not having a single person to talk to (aside from bill collectors) drove him to put it all out there. Monica finds the notebook in her failing café, since abandoned by the older gentleman she just served coffee too. The notebook and café connect six people who desperately need each other, but have no idea yet.  
 
Our genuine truths often become secrets, as most of us hide or shield our authentic selves in some way. Some hide behind addiction. Others hide behind social media. Some simply change their own history so many times, it seems more real with each retelling. No one means to live a lie, but judgement and past experiences, seemingly on their own, build walls around our truths. Clare Pooley will surprise and inspire you with this inventive story of only finding happiness after letting your guard down.  
 
What would happen if you shared the truth instead? … Perhaps nothing. Or maybe telling that story would change your life, or the life of someone you’ve not met. That’s what I want to find out.  
Erin I.
Popular Materials Librarian

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

 

Title: The Drowning Kind  
By: Jennifer McMahon 
Call #: FIC McMahon 

Published: 2021

http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=mcmahon&title=drowning
 
This is the eerie sort of story I tend to associate with Jennifer McMahon and I was glad she didn't disappoint. After avoiding manic phone calls from her sister Lexie, Jax is startled to hear that she suddenly turned up dead in the family pool. Although Lexie suffered from bi-polar disorder and was clearly off her meds, Jax suspects that this wasn’t an accident or suicide. The clues Lexie left behind clear point to something amiss with the family pool but too many people are chalking it up to Lexie’s mental health. However, rumors have long since circulated that the pool was cursed and Lexie was not the first person to drown in the murky water. As Jax tries to uncover what her sister was working on, the mysterious history of the pool reveals a sinister past.
The story captivates from the beginning. The novel is written in a dual timeline (2019 and 1929) and both stories have a steady build of unease as the truth about the pool and the surrounding property unfurls. The 1929 story focuses on Ethel’s visit to a resort where she learns the springs there have magical powers to help wishes come true. When she makes a wish, she soon discovers that even wishes come at a cost. The connections between Ethel and Jax’s story run far deeper than location, which creates a slow burn of the creep factor throughout the book, something that might leave the reader unsettled until the very end. If you enjoyed McMahon's The Winter People and The Night Sister, definitely pick this one up.

Mary-Megan Kalvig

Popular Materials Asst.

 

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

 

 

Title: The Four Winds
Author: Kristin Hannah
Published: 2021
Call #: FIC/HANNAH
http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=hannah&title=four
 
Let’s be clear: this is not a book for the faint of heart! It is however, a compelling, emotional and… necessary book. Written by Kristin Hannah, the story is set in the 1930’s “dust bowl” of Texas with Elsa Martinelli as the main protagonist. The central plot of the novel revolves around the struggles she and her children encounter when the entire region and specifically the farm she is living on, suddenly undergoes catastrophic change due to a severe and widespread drought. Faced with almost unbearable hardships, she decides to do what many others did as well, head for a better life in California.
This really is a historical novel as the setting and events that Elsa endures were, as unbelievable as it may seem, quite common to those in similar circumstances to hers at the time. From near starvation to disease and sickness, poverty and discrimination, it is a wonder that so many of them found a way to persevere. And yet somehow, they had the will and determination to continue on in pursuit of their dreams.
The book certainly portrays Elsa as a courageous character but also one that feels “real” in a way that, although most of us would never have to go through anywhere near the pain and suffering she does, we can still identify with her. It is this universal struggle against oppression and hardship that we can, indeed must, root for. I highly recommend this book and believe that it is an important story that needed to be told!
 
Blanca Stephens
Popular Materials Assistant

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

Title: The Echo Wife
Author: Sarah Gailey
Published: 2021
Call #: FIC Gailey

http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=gailey&title=echo

What if you could make a copy of the person you thought you loved, and just tweak it here and there to remove their ‘flaws’ and enhance their ‘better’ qualities? When you’re married to the foremost expert on human cloning, this is more than an idle thought experiment.
What if you discovered that your spouse was cheating, and the other woman turned out to be you – only not you, in significant and telling ways?
Doctor Evelyn Caldwell is not an easy person to love, and her frustrated husband has a unique option for remedying that – or so he believes, when he performs an illicit experiment based on her award-winning work. When she discovers what he’s done, she doesn’t realize how much worse it can get – until Martine calls her one night, begging for help, and meets her at the door covered in blood.
Neither of them realizes how much worse it can get, until they start digging up the back yard.
Sarah Gailey has crafted a compelling mystery and psychological study that feels like realistic, near-future possibility even as the circumstances become increasingly bizarre. They skillfully ratchet up the tension as, discovery by discovery, Evelyn and Martine come to understand themselves, each other, the man they both tried to love, and the full scope of his transgressions. The characters are brilliantly realized, especially the hard, complicated Evelyn, and the two women’s journey from simple rivalry to reluctant, brittle, cautious cooperation and connection is emotionally and intellectually gripping.
The Echo Wife examines issues of parenthood as well as partnership, and does not serve up easy, palatable answers. Gailey gradually reveals Evelyn’s childhood and relationship with her parents, creating a fascinating context for the adult Evelyn. The solutions Evelyn and Martine, her distorted echo, devise for their problems may tidy up all the loose ends – for the time being, at least – but they do not resolve all the lingering questions.

Dori D.
Popular Materials Asst. 

The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher

 

Title: The Wrong Family 

Author: Tarryn Fisher 

Published: 2020 

Call #: FIC Fisher 

http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=fisher&title=wrong + family

Do you ever wonder if someone is as perfect as they seem? Winnie Crouch is your typical Type A personality, always wants things a particular way and doesn’t like to be told no. She puts on a great façade to the outside world – hardworking, very put together, largely humanitarian in her goals. For a while, even Winnie believed herself to be the girl with all her cards in a row. Until the incident, that is.  

 

Winnie and her husband, Nigel, have a housemate named Juno. Being a former therapist, Juno has a hard time ignoring difficult family situations. She witnesses the stress between Winnie and Nigel and between the couple their teenage son, Sam. Juno gets a crippling diagnosis which will perpetually get worse the rest of her days. She vows to herself not to get involved, or further, get too involved like she has in the past.  

 

Until one day, Juno hears Nigel and Winnie arguing about something she simply cannot ignore. While, Juno thinks she knows what’s right, who is to say she isn’t just repeating her past, digging where she doesn’t belong. Because, as it turns out, Juno has many secrets of her own.  

 

Tarryn Fisher keeps the reader wondering if anyone is as they seem in this twisting domestic thriller. With beautifully built layers, Fisher keeps you guessing until the incredible climactic ending.  

Erin I.

Popular Materials Librarian

Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly

 

Title: The Sunflower Sisters

Author: Kelly, Martha Hall

Published: 2021

Call #: FIC Kelly

http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=hall&title=sunflower

The story is told from three women’s perspectives during the Civil War. Georgeanna Woolsey, who is a nurse and has a large family of sisters and one brother, and the wish to start a school for nurses. Anne-May Wilson, mistress of a plantation and slaves, whose husband enlists. Jemma, one of the Wilson’s slaves who is sold and then conscripted to the army and desperately wants to get her mother and twin sister away from Wilson’s.

“Georgey” and her sister Eliza are nurses who work on hospital ships and in tents close to the battlefields. They fight against prejudice from the doctors and male nurses they work for and with.

Anne-May keeps a journal of information about battles and other things she hears and she has Jemma write it to cover up her involvement. She is a spy for the Confederacy. She passes this information to a store owner in the town who uses Anne-May and provides her with snuff that she is increasingly addicted too.

Jemma hides the journal and Anne-May tears her house up trying to find it. Jemma says she has hidden it in plain sight. At the end of the book, we find out where.

The story is both sweeping and intimate. From New York City to Washington, DC where the sisters meet President Lincoln to the battle of Gettysburg and the plantations of Maryland.

The time of the Civil War is richly drawn. The characters, including the secondary characters, are complex and compelling. There is romance, adventure, spies, page-turning action, and danger all mixed together to make a great read.

Michaelle S.

Popular Materials Asst.

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

 

Title: Writers & Lovers 

Author: Lily King 

Published: 2020 

Call #: FIC King 

http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=King&title=writers

 

One by one, all of Casey Peabody’s grad school friends caved – taking on careers that had nothing to do with their craft. All of them vowed to have creative careers, hopefully writing the next great American novel. She knows they hope to have time to write again but won’t. While it might be the responsible move, she can’t allow herself to give up on her dream, it’s all she has left.  

 

After unexpectedly losing her mother and breaking apart from the love of her life in quick succession, Casey finds herself in a dismal state. She is left with only her brother and father; the latter is still resentful that Casey didn’t follow his dream for her to become a professional golfer. The only consistent thing in her life has been the novel she has been writing for the past 6 years. It is what drives her to bike three miles to her job hustling tables at an overpriced brunch restaurant in Harvard Square serving coddled ivy league students. It is what keeps her motivated and disciplined. It connects her to other people. It is what makes living in a semi-remodeled garden shed attached to a friend’s garage acceptable, as it is somewhere that is just hers. It is what allows her to wake up especially early, even after barely sleeping for worry of the debt collectors hunting her down for heaps of student loan debt. Writing is also what leads her to meet two very different love interests and opens doors to worlds she never imagined.  

 

Described in several reviews not only as one of the best of 2020, but also as a “portrait of an artist as a young woman,” Writers & Lovers is exactly that. While at heart, it is a coming-of-age story, it is full of brave insight on being a young woman – those observations which are universally true now and in 1997 when the book takes place. Lily King invites us into the depths of the struggling artist’s brain, all while keeping it airy and sprinkling it with intelligent humor. We see the agony and triumph writers go through, whether life cooperates or not.   

Erin I.

Popular Materials Assistant.

Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

 

Title: The Book of Lost Names  

By: Kristin Harmel
Published: 2020 
Call #: FIC Harmel 

 http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=harmel&title=book+of

In her fifth WWII novel, Kristin Harmel tells the story of a forger’s quest to make sure the people she’s helping don’t forget who they were. In 2005, Eva Traube Adams stumbles upon a man hoping to reunite owners with books stolen by the Nazi during WWII. He’s intrigued by one book which seems to contain a code and Eva has the answer since she’s the one who put it there.  

 

After she witnesses her father’s arrest for being Jewish, she uses her artistic skills to create fake documents for her and her mother to leave Nazi occupied Paris. They retreat to a small town near the Switzerland border. It is only meant to be a stopover before making it to freedom, but the local Resistance group recognizes Eva’s skill at forgery and requests her help in creating documents for the children they are helping escape France. Unable to ignore those in need, Eva stays, drawn both to cause and her attraction to fellow forger Remy. Together they created the code that they put in an old religious text as a way to keep track of the true identities of everyone they help so that their past won’t be erased, but the ever-increasing presence of the Nazis and war threaten to expose them all. 

 

Not only does this book offer an interesting insight into the role of forgers in the war, but it poses thought provoking questions about identity. Eva’s mother constantly claims Eva is losing herself as she moves forward with her life, forgetting about her father who they left behind and losing her religion as she works in a Catholic church and falls for a Catholic boy. In the same way, does creating a new name and identity for a person erase where they came from? Through an engaging story with the threat of war and a touch of romance, this book questions what defines a person and what matters most when the end can happen at any moment.

Mary-Megan K.   

Popular Materials Asst. 

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

 

Title: The Exiles

Author: Christina Baker Kline

Published: 2020

Call #: FIC/KLINE

http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=kline&title=exiles

 Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train  and A Piece of the World, is back with her latest offering: The Exiles.    The story of three women intertwines in this novel set in the 1840s.  Evangeline is a young governess who was taken advantage of by her employer's son and now finds herself with no job, a baby on the way, and a one-way ticket to Australia as a convict.   Hazel is a midwife from Scotland who finds herself on the same ship as Evangeline as they both are sent abroad for their alleged crimes.  Hazel and Evangeline meet under harsh conditions while on the transport ship.  Finally, Mathinna is the 8 year old daughter of an Aboriginal chief, taken by the Governor of Australia as an attempt to "civilize" her.  It fails, and she is returned to her people on Flinders' Island, where many aboriginals have been banished to after the English colonizes Australia.   

     The well-researched, often intimate, story is filled with unflinching details of hardships, horrible living conditions, prejudice, suffering and survival.  As each female character develops in her own state of exile,  the tenuous bonds of relationships grow and strengthen, making for an ultimately uplifting story. 

Michaelle S.

Popular Materials Asst. 

One by One by Ruth Ware

Title: One by One

Author: Ruth Ware 

Published: 2020 

Call #: FIC WARE 

 

When members of the streaming app Snoop head to a swanky ski chalet, they quickly find the least exciting part of their trip will be the skiing. The retreat is sprung forth by founders of the company, Topher and Ava, who are aware they are in a bind. The company has received a buyout offer, but they are on opposite sides of the issue and the other shareholders quickly take alliances, leaving Liz in the middle. When compared with former model Ava, Liz has always felt awkward and drab. Liz both feels she owes the company and resents the founders for pushing her out years before.  

 

The ski chalet is run by caretaker, Erin, and the chef, Danny. They see the friction among Snoop members but are sure it’s typical corporate politics at play. However, when the group returns from their first skiing rendezvous with only 8 of the 9 who went out, Erin realizes she must try to get help. However, the inclement weather which sent the group back early only continues, causing an avalanche which traps them. When a second member of the group is later found poisoned and a third is strangled, Snoop members sees they are dropping one by one… If no one can come or go, who is to blame?  

 

Ruth Ware utilizes the familiar trope we admire of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. This closed circle mystery keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. The story is told using alternating first-person accounts from Erin and Liz. The Kirkus Review sums it up with perfection, “The solution is maddeningly simple but the construction, simply masterful.”  

Erin I.

Popular Materials Senior Services Librarian

The Diabolical Bones by Bella Ellis

 

Title: The Diabolical Bones: A Bronte Sisters Mystery, Book 2

Author: Bella Ellis

Published: 2021

Call #:  Fic/Ellis

 

In this delightful sequel to last year’s ”The Vanished Bride,”  the Bronte sisters are back on the case!  It is winter, 1846 and bitter cold has set in upon Yorkshire.  The Bronte Sisters are beginning to contemplate writing novels and expanding their detective business when a child’s body is discovered buried in the chimney at Top Withens Hall, and the home’s owner refuses to answer any questions.  Emily, Charlotte and Ann decide to take matters into their own hands.  What they discover sends fear shivering down their spines.  It seems as if an ancient magic, long thought dead, is coming back to haunt Haworth village and its citizenry.   Ancient magic and misguided prejudice threaten all who would interfere.  Will they be able to discover who, or what, is threatening the most innocent amongst them? 

Ellis’s strong atmospheric writing makes it easy for the reader to fall in love with the characters.   My own opinion of them, forged mostly through reading their books, has changed after reading the two books in this series.  The characters feel authentically real and full of life.  Emily, Anne and Charlotte all have their own unique personalities, making the reader feel as if they know them well.  To me, this is the strength of the novel.  This is a well written historical mystery, full of Gothic atmosphere and suspense.  Fans of historical fiction, cozy mysteries, gothic stories and general fiction readers will all enjoy this story.

Jill B.

Popular Materials Manager