New releases on library shelf
One of the benefits of looking at the bright side of things during this six-week stay-at-home order is that I get to see and read the new book releases as they hit the shelves behind the closed doors of your public library.
Our collection is available for curbside pickup but I would like to bring these three specific titles to your attention.
The first is The Girl from the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat (Graydon House/2020). This debut novel is based on an incredible true story of courage and hope in WWll set on Jersey Island. The author was born there and draws upon her very own family history where Nazis had deported members of her immediate family to concentration camps for resistance activities only 16 years previously. This book vividly takes place among the daily conditions of loss of liberty plus fear of arrest for trivial offences. The reader lives day to day with Hedy Bercu as she must hide in plain sight as starvation and deprivation of basic needs for survival take their toll on her community over the length of the German occupation.
The next book is ICEBOUND Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Andrea Pitzer (Scribner/2021). Andrea comments that she is fascinated about stories of lost public memory events and ideas that were once common knowledge and by humanity’s tendency to NOT learn from the past. From this premise, she authors the tale of the famous Dutch Polar Explorer, William Barents, and his trials and tribulations that take place during his three Arctic expeditions. Imagine spending a year as a castaway living on Nova Zemba on top of the globe and having to fight off ravenous polar bears, gnawing hunger and perpetual polar night and then read the reality of making it through these situations.
The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec (ACE/2021) is a modern thriller about Loki, Angrboda and their three children (Hel, Fenrir and Jormungand). If you are familiar with the Norse myths, Icelandic Sagas or the Marvel movies, you will recognize these characters. But in Genevieve’s story, you are right there in their family cave, in the middle of their domestic squabbles and you too will hear told “how again the worlds are going to end?” This is fascinating entertainment provided by the Gods and Giants of olden times.
These and other “amazing to read” books that will enthrall and inspire you are sitting on our New Releases Shelves at the three branches of the Clearview Public Library. To book your reservation or inquire about Reader Advisory recommendations, please call 705-466-3011 (Creemore), 705-424-6288 (New Lowell) and/or 705-428-3585 (Stayner).
Michele McKenzie is deputy CEO of Clearview Public Library.
