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The
Burning of Rachel Hayes
by
Doug
Allyn
Dr. David Westbrook
rescues a boy from an old well and becomes haunted by the bones he saw
in the well during the rescue. Were these the bones of Rachel Hayes, a
farm woman who disappeared in 1871? When a University of Michigan
anthropologist identifies the bones he is run off the road and killed.
The local sheriff believes it was just an accident, but David and a
local newspaper reporter take a different view. The sheriff still
doesn’t change his opinion when someone tries to burn down David’s
house while he is inside. A first-rate crime thriller that will keep you
guessing till the very end.
The Noodle Maker
by Ma
Jian
Jian presents nine
linked stories about life in post-Tiananmen China. Two men, one a writer
of political propaganda and the other a professional blood donor, meet
for dinner each week. Over the course of one evening, the writer
recounts the stories he would create if he had the courage to go up
against the Party. One story involves an illegal migrant who makes a
living by writing love letters for the illiterate but can’t help
falling in love himself. Another character, a heartbroken actress,
commits a public suicide by stepping into the jaws of a wild tiger in
front of her ex-boyfriend. A powerful, accessible, and often humorous
introduction to contemporary Chinese literature.
American Purgatorio
by John Haskell
Jack, the narrator,
walks out of a service center on the New Jersey parkway to discover his
wife, Anne, has disappeared in their car. After making his way back
home, he discovers a map on which Anne has circled several cities and he
sets out to find her. Haskell twists the mystery of what happened to
Anne into a compelling investigation of Jack’s fears, desires, and
coping mechanisms. A complex and riveting page-turner.
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