NCW Libraries

In this follow-up to her acclaimed 2007 novel The Bastard of Istanbul, Turkish author Elif Shafak unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives-one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz-that together incarnate the poet's timeless message of love.Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary...

"Three people--a suburban housewife, a talented documentary photographer, and a detective--living lives they never wanted, hiding secrets that even those closest to them would never suspect, will find that the past doesn't recede ... and that desperation and hunger can lurk behind even the prettiest facades."--Provided by publisher.

"An emotionally charged novel about family -- the slow accumulation of wrongs that drive us apart and the unlikely paths that lead us home again. Piper Hart has poured all her energy into raising her son, Fred, while her often-absent husband, Isaac, has poured all his energy into a career defending the wrongly accused. She's always told herself her son is perfectly normal, but somewhere deep inside her rests a tiny suspicion that all is not well....

"When Lisa Lee, a vulnerable young woman, vanishes from a pretty Scottish seaside town, Anna and Fin find themselves at the centre of an Internet frenzy to find her. But Lisa may not be the hapless victim her father thinks. She had an unsuccessful YouTube channel and her last film showed her breaking into an abandoned French chateau with other UrbExers and stumbling across a priceless Roman silver casket. One day after Lisa vanishes that casket gets...

Based on his widely read columns for The New Yorker, Ian Frazier's uproarious first novel, The Cursing Mommy's Book of Days, centers on a profoundly memorable character, sprung from an impressively fertile imagination. Structured as a daybook of sorts, the book follows the Cursing Mommy-beleaguered wife of Larry and mother of two boys, twelve and eight-as she tries (more or less) valiantly to offer tips on how to do various tasks around the home,...

"When Milwaukee wife and mother M.J. Boudreaux realizes that her husband Chris seems more interested in spending time at the casino than he does with her, she seeks out an activity that they can do together to reignite their flame, and it seems that poker is her best bet. Although it doesn't give her the quality time with Chris that she'd hoped, M.J. finds she has a natural knack for the game. Increasingly unhappy at home, she turns to the felt of...