February 12, 2021
Library Corner
New Fiction
The Children’s Train by Viola Ardone - Though Mussolini and the fascists have been defeated, the war has devastated Italy, especially the south. Seven-year-old Amerigo lives with his mother Antonietta in Naples, surviving on odd jobs and his wits like the rest of the poor in his neighborhood. But one day, Amerigo learns that a train will take him away from the rubble-strewn streets of the city to spend the winter with a family in the north, where he will be safe and have warm clothes and food to eat. Together with thousands of other southern children, Amerigo will cross the entire peninsula to a new life. Through his curious, innocent eyes, we see a nation rising from the ashes of war, reborn. As he comes to enjoy his new surroundings and the possibilities for a better future, Amerigo will make the heartbreaking choice to leave his mother and become a member of his adoptive family. Amerigo’s journey is a moving story of memory, indelible bonds, artistry, and self-exploration, and a soaring examination of what family can truly mean. Ultimately Amerigo comes to understand that sometimes we must give up everything, even a mother's love, to find our destiny.
The Heiress by Molly Greeley – As a fussy baby, Anne de Bourgh was prescribed laudanum by her doctor to quiet her, and now the young woman must take the opium-heavy syrup every day. Growing up confined to her father’s mansion, Anne had few companions except her cousins, including Fitzwilliam Darcy, whom she is meant to marry. But Darcy does not love Anne or want her. When her father dies expectantly, leaving her his vast fortune, Anne has a shocking moment of clarity: What if her life of fragility and illness isn’t truly real? What if she could free herself from the medicine that she’s been told she can’t live without? In a frenzy of desperation, Anne discards her laudanum and flees to her cousin in London, Colonel Fitzwilliam, who helps her through her painful recovery. Gone are her hallucinations and lethargy, now replaced by a keen, unsettling awareness of her own inexperience in the ways of the world. Anne must forge a new identity for herself, learning to navigate high society and the heartbreak of forbidden love. The once wan, passive Anne gives way to a braver, more confident woman – leading to a powerful reckoning with the domineering mother determined to control Anne’s fortune….and her life.
Lana’s War by Anita Abriel – Paris 1943: Lana Antanova, grieving the death of her husband – a music teacher killed at the hands of an SS officer – finds purpose again when she’s approached to join the Resistance on the French Riviera. As the daughter of a Russian countess, Lana has the perfect background to infiltrate the émigré society of Russian aristocrats who socialize with German officers, including the man who killed her husband. Lana’s cover story makes her the mistress of Guy Pascal, a wealthy Swiss industrialist and fellow Resistance member, in whose villa in Cap Ferrat she lives. Together they gather information on upcoming raids and help members of the Jewish community escape. Consumed by her work, she doesn’t expect to become attached to a young Jewish girl or wonder about the secrets held by the man whose house she shares. As the Nazis’ efforts intensify, her desire to protect the people she cares about puts them at risk, forcing her to make an impossible choice.
Outlawed by Anna North - In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw.
The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada’s life looks good; she loves her husband, and she loves working as an apprentice to her mother, a respected midwife. But after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are routinely hanged as witches, her survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows.
She joins up with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang, a band of outlaws led by a preacher-turned-robber known to all as the Kid. Charismatic, grandiose, and mercurial, the Kid is determined to create a safe haven for outcast women. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan that may get them all killed. And Ada must decide whether she’s willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all.