NEWS FRIDAY 19 JANUARY 2024

A beautiful sunny day, snow shining outside the window, and cold! A great day to read a good book!

 Most notable of the new arrivals this week is

 The Lost Café Schindler by Meriel Schindler

 Meriel Schindler spent her adult life trying to keep her father, Kurt, at bay. But when he died in 2017, he left behind piles of Nazi-era documents related to her family’s fate in Innsbruck, Austria, and a treasure trove of family albums reaching back to before World War I. Meriel was forced to confront not only their fractured relationship, but also the truth behind their family history.

The narrative centers around the Café Schindler, the social hub of Innsbruck. Famous for its pastries, home-distilled liquors, live entertainment, and hospitality, the restaurant attracted Austrians from all walks of life.

Meriel reconstructs the color and vibrancy of life in prewar Innsbruck against the majestic backdrop of the Austrian Alps, as well as the creeping menace and, finally, terror of the Nazi occupation. Beautifully written, it is an unforgettable portrait of an era and a testament to the pull of family history on future generations.

 More –

 Two novels by Monika Helfer –

 Last House Before the Mountain
Maria and Josef live with their children in a valley in westernmost Austria. When the First World War breaks out and Josef is drafted into the army, Maria is left to provide for her family alone. Every day is a struggle against starvation, the harsh alpine climate and the hostile nearby villagers who see Maria as little more than a beautiful temptress out for the men left behind. But when a red-haired stranger arrives in the village, Maria feels happiness seep back into her life and she faces a choice whose consequences will affect the lives of her family for generations to come.
Based on the author’s own family history, Last House Before the Mountain is a propulsive, haunting, multi-layered saga about love, family, and the hidden wages of war.

 Library for the War-Wounded
Inspired by the author's family history, Library for the War-Wounded transports readers to the aftermath of World War II, uncovering the life of Helfer's father, Josef, a man of many mysteries. To his daughter Monika, none was greater than his obsession with the home's unlikely and remarkable library, his great treasure and comfort as the country barrels away from the memory of war.

Beautifully restrained and compressed, Library for the War-Wounded turns lived experience into great literature by confronting the universal question: Can we ever truly know our parents?

For mystery readers - A Winter Grave by Peter May is now in paperback - a chilling new mystery set in the isolated Scottish Highlands.

A young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station in Kinlochleven discovers the body of a missing man entombed in ice.

Cameron Brodie, a Glasgow detective, sets out on a hazardous journey to the isolated and ice-bound village. He has his own reasons for wanting to investigate a murder case so far from his beat.Brodie must face up to the ghosts of his past and to a killer determined to bury forever the chilling secret that his investigation threatens to expose.

For Teen readers –

 Northwind by Gary Paulsen

Set along a rugged coastline centuries ago, Northwind does for the ocean what Hatchet does for the woods, as it relates the story of a young person’s battle to stay alive against the odds, where the high seas meet a coastal wilderness.
When a deadly plague reaches the small fish camp where he lives, an orphan named Leif is forced to take to the water in a cedar canoe. He flees northward, following a wild, fjord-riven shore, navigating from one danger to the next, unsure of his destination. Yet the deeper into his journey he paddles, the closer he comes to his truest self as he connects to “the heartbeat of the ocean . . . the pulse of the sea.” With hints of Nordic mythology and an irresistible narrative pull, Northwind is Gary Paulsen at his captivating, adventuresome best.

 The Everlasting Road follows Walking in Two Worlds by Wab Kinew as the boundaries between the virtual and real worlds are becoming dangerously blurred. Novels that blend Anishinaabe cultural teachings with science fiction for teen readers.