On the shelves - March 5

The following books are available for checkout at:

Clovis-Carver Public Library

Van Gogh's Letters edited by H. Anna Suh and given in memory of Charles (Chuck) Higdon, presents more than 150 of Van Gogh's letters, excerpted, newly translated, and set side by side with over 250 sketches, drawings, and paintings. The result is an elegantly rendered collection that allows us to see into the heart and soul of one of the greatest, yet most troubled, artists of all time, and to view the world through the windows of his eyes.

Excellent Daughters by Katherine Zoepf unveils the never-before-reported story of this generation of Arab women, who are questioning authority, changing societies, and leading revolutions. Many are beginning to face down religious and social traditions, desiring to live independently, delay marriage, and pursue professional goals. The world changes because of wars and terrorist attacks, but also because of remarkable women who choose a different path.

A Space Traveler's Guide to the Solar System by astronomer Mark Thompson takes you on an epic voyage of discovery, a journey through the universe on your very own space mission. What would it be like to tour the solar system, visiting the sun and the planets. How would you navigate and produce fuel? What would you see, feel, eat, how would you survive? From take-off to the reality of living in the confines of a spaceship and the strange sensation of weightlessness, this is an adventure like no other. Suit up, strap in, and enjoy the ride!

The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders immerses us in Victorian England when Laetitia Rodd, no young ingénue in distress, but an older, competent widow, helps her brother, a defense barrister, in solving crimes. Although her husband's death left her in need, Laetitia refuses to become the unpaid governess of her nephews and nieces, and instead uses her arch intelligence and iron discretion to augment what few resources she does have to unravel an intriguing tangle of mysteries, including murder, to save the innocent and punish the guilty.

The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian takes on upper-middle class America, ripping apart any illusion of safety or moral high ground when a sleepwalker who has experienced episodes of near violence while unconscious goes missing. However, more questions than answers arise as her daughter Lianna peels back the layers of the mystery surrounding the disappearance, and finds herself drawn to a lead detective who seems to know more than he is revealing.

Silence by Shusaku Endo, now also a major motion picture, captures the remarkable period of seventeenth-century Japan as two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to a country hostile to their religion, where feudal lords force the faithful to publicly renounce their beliefs. Eventually captured and forced to watch their Japanese Christian brothers lay down their lives for their faith, the priests bear witness to unimaginable cruelties that test their own beliefs.

Portales Public Library

Death of a Ghost by M.C. Beaton

In the latest saga of Police Sergent Hamish Macbeth, the villagers of Drim are concerned about what they fear might be ghosts in a nearby “haunted” castle. While the “ghosts” are presumed to be local teenagers that are smoking, doing drugs, and making a lot of commotion, and Inspector Blair, Hamish's professional rival, waves a series of murders off as closed, Hamish is certain that there is more to the strange noises coming from the castle. When Hamish and his policeman, Charlie Carson, spend the night in the castle to investigate, they find that there are no ghosts to be found, but instead they discover a dead body propped against a wall in the cellar, which later disappears when they return after briefly leaving. Hamish believes that the missing corpse must be linked to the other murders in the area, and that something or somebody strange is in fact lurking within the walls of the castle, but with the murders supposedly solved, he must find the connection before the “ghost” can kill yet another victim.

The Mother's Promise by Sally Hepworth

Alice Stanhope is a single mother who lives alone in Northern California with her teenage daughter Zoe, who suffers from crippling social anxiety. Zoe has never known her father or who he is, and Alice has no other family, but their dynamic of two has always worked for the both of them, with Alice protecting Zoe from the outside world. When Alice suddenly comes down with a severe illness, she worries about what the situation will do for Zoe and she reaches out to two women that she hopes will be able to help them: Kate, a nurse, and Sonja, a social worker. As both Sonja and Kate, practically strangers, become involved in Alice and Zoe's lives and the four of them grow closer, they learn that in addition to Alice's illness and Zoe's fears, Kate has been struggling with her feelings concerning her own infertility, while Sonja is skilled at helping other people while unable to move on in certain areas of her own life.

Most Dangerous Place by James Grippando

According the FBI, the most dangerous place a woman between the ages of twenty and thirty can be is in a relationship with a man-due to the sad but real possibility of sexual assault-and this fact has never been so personal for Miami lawyer Jack Swyteck, who is suddenly faced with taking on a client tied to his own life. When Jack's old high school friend Keith Ingraham, now a successful banker in Hong Kong, comes to Miami for her his daughter's surgery, both men are looking forward to catching up with each other, but their plans and lives are thrown into disarray when Keith's wife, Isa, is arrested at the airport and is accused of trying to kill the man who raped her when she was in college. Jack agrees to represent Isa at Keith's request, but soon begins to regret his choice when he realizes that he will have to find a way to separate truth from fiction, vengeance from justice, and who the real victim is.

— Summaries by library staff