April 22, 2022
New Fiction
What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline – Jason Bennett is a suburban dad who owns a court-reporting business, but one night, his life takes a horrific turn. He is driving his family home after his daughter’s lacrosse game when a pickup truck begins tailgating them on a dark stretch of road. Suddenly two men jump from the pickup and pull guns on Jason, demanding the car. A flash of violence changes his life forever. Later that awful night, Jason and his family receive a visit from the FBI. The agents tell them that the carjackers were members of a dangerous drug-trafficking organization – and how Jason and his family are in their crosshairs. The agents advise the Bennetts to enter the witness protection program right away, and they have no choice but to agree. But WITSEC was designed to protect criminal informants, not law abiding families. Taken from all they know, trapped in an unfamiliar life, the Bennetts begin to fall apart at the seams. Then Jason learns a shocking truth and realizes that he has to take matters into his own hands.
Shadows of Berlin by David R. Gillham – 1955 in New York City: the city of instant coffee, bagels at Katz’s Deli, and ultramodern TVs. But in a certain walk-up in Chelsea, the past is as close as the present. Rashka Morgenstern, now Rachel Perlman, came to Manhattan with her uncle Fritz in a wave of displaced Jews who had managed to survive the horrors of war. She had hoped to find freedom from pain, in New York and in the arms of her new American husband, Aaron. But this child of Berlin cannot outrun her guilt simply by assuming the role of American housewife, not until she can shake off the ghosts of her past. And when Uncle Fritz discovers the most shocking portrait her mother had ever painted, sitting in a dreary midtown pawnshop, Rachel’s memories begin to terrorize her, forcing her to face the choices she made to stay alive – choices that might be her undoing.
New Non-Fiction
The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku – Born in Leipzig, Germany, into a Jewish family, Eddie Jaku was a teenager when his world was turned upside down. On November 9, 1938 – Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass – Eddie was beaten by SS thugs, arrested, and sent to a concentration camp with thousands of other Jews from across Germany. Every day for the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors in Buchenwald, in Auschwitz, and finally on a forced death march during the Third Reich’s last days. The Nazis took everything from Eddie – his family, his friends, and his country. But they did not break his spirit. Again unbelievable odds, Eddie found the will to survive. Overwhelmingly grateful, he made a promise: to smile every day in thanks for the precious gift he was given and to honor the six million Jews murdered by Hitler. Today, at one hundred years of age, despite all he suffered, Eddie calls himself the “happiest man on earth.” In his remarkable memoir, this born storyteller shares his wisdom and reflects on his amazing life, talking warmly and openly about the power of gratitude, tolerance, and kindness. Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful.
This is How Yours Marriage Ends by Matthew Fray – One night during his divorce, after a few too many vodkas and a call with a therapist, Matthew Fray started a blog attempting to piece together the story of how his marriage ended. Suffice it to say, Matthew is a decent guy, but he was kind of a shitty husband. As he shared raw, uncomfortable, and darkly humorous stories about the lessons he’d learned from his failed marriage, a peculiar thing happened: Matthew gained a following. It turned out he wasn’t alone. Written from his own surprising, life changing experience and his newfound insight as a relationship coach, Matthew Fray captures what is central to the overwhelming number of breakups and divorces: We simply haven’t been taught the necessary skills to navigate one of the most foundational aspects of our lives.