New Books - Doylestown Library

Here are a few of the new books available from the library in Doylestown and across the Bucks County Library system:

The Bear: A Novel by Claire Cameron - Drawing on a real life event that happened in a park in Canada in 1991, this is a story of fear and survival narrated by five year old Anna. While camping, Anna and her two year old brother, Stick, mercifully escape a horrific bear attack that kills their parents. Right before her mother dies, she mumbles that Anna must put her brother in the canoe and set off across the lake to safety. What follows is a vividly portrayed wilderness ordeal (poison ivy, hunger, rain, isolation) along with glimpses of inner resources that Anna draws upon (imagination, family, memory, hope) to get them through their horrific experience.  After their rescue, the drama  continues in the hospital with Anna’s encounter with a child psychologist, and years later, as adults, a return to the island with her brother. Harrowing, yet ultimately hopeful, this is a compelling read. However, this is not the book to take with you camping if you hope to sleep at all.

 After I’m Gone by Laura Lippman - A man and his women: his wife, his three daughters, his mistress. It’s 1976 and Felix Brewer is running rather than facing fifteen years in prison. His mistress, Julie, gets him to the Philadelphia airport in the back of a horse van and he vanishes into Canada. Felix trusts his wife, Bambi, to raise his three daughters and his best friends, a lawyer and a bail bondsman, to close down his business. But how can Felix leave it all? His family, his place of prominence in the Jewish community, the luxury and respectability he has bought with every illegally bet dollar? Then, ten years later, his mistress turns up dead in a park in Baltimore. The story of Bambi and his daughters unfolds: struggles, successes, good marriages and bad. Fast forward another 25 years and a retired Baltimore detective is investigating cold cases for some extra cash. He stumbles on the unsolved murder of Julie, and all roads begin leading back to Felix. This is a stand-alone for Lippman, and although it is cleverly linked to her Tess Monaghan series, it is less about murder and who-done-it than it is about the characters and their secrets.

 The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick - The author of Silver Linings Playbook brings us his latest quirky novel, a story about Bartholomew Neil, a thirty-eight year old who has lived with his mother his entire life. He has never had a girlfriend or really any friends, except his parish priest. He sets few goals in life. And now his mother is dying of brain cancer. The cancer has left her confused and disoriented and near the end, she has begun referring to Bartholomew as ‘Richard’. Bartholomew assumes that she means her favorite actor, Richard Gere. In a series of letters to the actor, Bartholomew outlines his isolated life. Life-skills and grief counselors try to assist but have issues of their own.  When he meets Max, a profane cat lover, he fulfills his life-long ambition to meet the ‘Girlbrarian’, a library worker he has worshiped from afar who happens to be Max’s sister. Other serendipitous events like this help bolster Bartholomew’s growing belief in what his mother called ‘the good luck of right now’. Quick has the ability to take characters with mental illness and incorporate them into compelling and important prose. Film rights have already been optioned.

Wake by Anna Hope - A debut novel with a lot of advance praise.  It’s London, 1920, and the city is preparing to celebrate the second anniversary of Armistice Day with the burial of the Unknown Soldier. Many are still haunted by the war, and this is the story of thee of them. Hettie, a dance instructor, lives at home with her mother and brother, who returned from combat mute. On day Hettie meets a wealthy, educated man to whom she is attracted, but there is something about him that she cannot reach. Evelyn works at the Pension Exchange where she helps thousands of men claim their benefits for wounds and debilitating distresses suffered during the war. Grief stricken about her own loss, she seeks solace from her adored older brother who has not been the same since returning from the front. Ada is beset with images of her son on every street corner, unable to accept that he is dead. Her husband, unable to bring her any solace, withdraws from her. One day a peddler appears at her door, like hundreds of other out of work veterans, but when he utters the name of her son, Ada is jolted to her core. The lives of these three women are inextricably linked together, their stories gathering power as the ties that bind them together become clearer and the body of the Unknown Soldier moves closer to its final resting place.

 A Burnable Book by Holsinger, Bruce - Another debut novel set in England, but several centuries earlier.  Holsinger is a Medieval historian of note; this is his first novel, and it has garnered much praise. It’s an absorbing narrative exploring royal power and dissent in 14th century England. The setting is London, 1385, and the race is on to recover a stolen book. Outside the city gates, Agnes, a prostitute, observes the murder of a wealthy woman by an Italian-speaking thug. Before the woman dies, she manages to give Agnes a book wrapped in a piece of tapestry. Meanwhile, John Gower, the 14th century equivalent of the hard-nosed, grizzled detective gets wind of a conspiracy against the reigning king, Edward II. Factions among lords, the clergy and commoners conspire to take the throne. Geoffrey Chaucer, at work on what will become the Canterbury Tales, and an unlikely range of prostitutes, poets, butchers and nuns are at the center of this twisted plot. With the help of Gower, Chaucer seeks a treasonous book that prophesies a royal death. This is a descriptive and multi-layered mystery with rich descriptions of everyday lives and privations of the lower classes. Recommended for readers of both historical fiction and nonfiction.

Something for everyone: mystery and adventure across the ages. Happy reading!

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