New fiction titles to transition into spring
“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade” (Charles Dickens, Great Expectations). We’ve reached that time of the year when the weather has become increasingly fickle, warm one day, cold the next. The one way I find consistency is in the pages of a good book. Here are some of the newest books arriving at Lethbridge Public Library:
The Great Divide – Christina Henríquez (2024). It is said that the canal will be the greatest feat of engineering in history. For local fisherman Francisco, he resents the foreign powers clamoring for a slice of his country. For his son Omar, a job offer is a chance to finally find connection. Stowaway Ada is determined to find a job that will earn enough money for her ailing sister’s surgery. John Oswald has journeyed to Panama to help eliminate malaria. Explore the intersecting lives of activists, fishmongers, labourers, journalists, neighbours, doctors, and soothsayers - those rarely acknowledged by history even as they carved out its course. [From the publisher].
Expiration Dates – Rebecca Serle (2024). Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it the exact amount of time they will be together. For over twenty years, Daphne always wonders when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favourite restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake. But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. [From the publisher].
The Year of the Locust – Terry Hayes (2024). Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again - by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide - and when to shoot. But some places don’t play by the rules. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan meet are such a place - a place where violence is the only way to survive. Kane travels there to exfiltrate a man with vital information for the safety of the West - but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction. [From the publisher].
Jonathan Jarvie is Information Services Librarian at the Lethbridge Public Library