This is the second of Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy; the first, Wolf Hall, won both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Award. These novels, which follow the life and career of Cromwell (Thomas Cromwell, not to be confused with Oliver!), as he becomes a powerful ally of Henry XIII. Msntel, with her incredibly nuanced grasp of historical detail, simply immerses the reader in the world of Tudor England. Bring Up the Bodies opens in September 1535 and spans just a single pivotal year of the conspiracies and trials of Anne Boleyn, her family, and allies.

Thirty-six year old Cora Carlisle, of Wichita, Kansas, seems to have a perfect life in the summer of 1922.  When chance events  conspire so that she chaperones an extraordinary and talented young teenager to dance lessons in New York City, the facade of Cora’s life is lifted.  Cora is a captivating character, set in a fascinating historical and cultural framework.  Moriarity has crafted a deeply thought provoking story that lingers long after the last page is read.

Always there was music. So begins this wonderful story of a young couple who flee Prussia in 1904 to end up making their home in Missouri. Their story is told by their grandson, James, and like the best family stories, is filled with the coincidences, missed connections, and both the tragedy and magic of ordinary life. George breaks your heart with the quiet sacrifices and secrets of his characters, while he never forgets the wonder and humor of life. Carrying the reader across the generations with music and food, religion and prohibition, racism and patriotism, A Good American is a book to savor. (This is excerpted from a review in the February edition of The Indie Next List - and we couldn't improve it!)

This is a deeply satisfying book on so many levels. Brooks perfectly expresses the voice of twelve year old Bethia Mayfield, who narrates this story of life on Martha's Vineyard (and later in Cambridge town) in the 1660s. The story opens during the last summer of her childhood's freedom, when Bethia roams the island's wild lands under the pretext of gathering food for her family's larder. She encounters a young Wampanoag boy who later crosses into Puritan society and comes to be known as Caleb. Their unusual, often hidden friendship forms a thread between their shared lives, which are repeatedly beset by tragedy and great challenge. Once again, as she did in earlier books, Brooks pulls us into the richly imagined lives of her characters and then creates an even richer and more nuanced story with her confident command of the historical setting. This is historical fiction at its very best!

Read a few pages of this novel and you are likely to be pulled right into it. King won the New England Book Award for Fiction for this, along with many other accolades, and rightly so. Her writing is mesmerizing. Amid snippets of Nixon’s presidential resignation and glimpses of a society becoming unmoored from its traditional values, 11 year old Daley is trapped by the dissolution of her parent’s marriage, caught between the charismatic foolery of her father and her mother’s social liberalism. Throughout her life, she shrewdly observes this dysfunctional family through a lens of loyalty, wit and, above all else, love.

Liesel Meminger will enter your heart. She is a pale, skinny 9 year old when we first meet her, a foster child left in a small town outside Munich in 1939. We join her life for the next 4 years. Her story is written in words of indelible beauty that describe a life of pain, friendship, trust and love. It is a story about what humans are capable of, narrated in an extraordinary voice of tenderness and sardonic humor. This is an unusual, powerful story that will linger long after you have read the last page.

In this extraordinary novel, an old man writes a reminiscence of his life and heritage for his young son. This is a story that is thoughtful and complex, written with language often so beautiful that it demands to be read aloud. It is a moving, spiritually compelling story - a rare and wonderful book.

Even is you've seen the movie, you need to read the book!  It is so  good, it is just about impossible to put down!  The three women of this story, set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962, are simply good company.  They are smart, lively, decent people, and it is a pleasure to spend the hours of reading this book in their company.  Two of them are black servants in the town, the third is white, a new grad of Ole' Miss with a yen to write.  The narrative of what their lives are like and how they intersect will linger in your thoughts long after the book is finished.

Critical praise for Matterhorn has been extraordinary,and this a book likely to be read generations from now. Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, gives perhaps the best and most succinct description. There have been, he says, "some very good novels about the Vietnam War, but this is the first great one, and I doubt it will ever be surpassed . . . Here is story telling so authentic, so moving and so intense, so relentlessly dramatic, that there were times I wasn't sure I could stand to turn the page. As with the best fiction, I was sad to reach the end." In the annals of writings on the U.S. War in Vietnam, Matterhorn is sure to be linked with Michael Herr's nonfiction account, Dispatches, and Philip Caputo's memoir, Rumor of War.

In honor of the Queen's Jubilee, we'll keep his witty little novel that explores the subversive pleasures of reading on our list. When the Queen’s corgis stray into a mobile library, she feels duty bound to check something out, and so discovers the joy of reading. Her new pleasure soon upsets the royal applecart, disturbs the palace staff, and has far reaching and funny consequences.

This richly atmospheric literary thriller will keep you guessing to the end! As the new year begins, there are odd and unsettling incidents at the elite St. Oswald's School for boys. Before long, a wicked game of 'chess' evolves between a beloved classics teacher nearing retirement and his unknown, formidable opponent who has a bitter grudge and a master strategy planned to the final, deadly move.

Claire Roth is a young Boston artist who, for reasons of her own, agrees to paint a copy of one of the Degas master pieces stolen during the infamous Gardner Museum heist. Shapiro’s depiction of the art world, the technical details of how paintings are forged and how authenticators are fooled, enhance a fast moving, complex plot.

This is the first of a particularly satisfying detective series. These books are set in England (and elsewhere) during the years following World War I, and follow the adventures of Mary Russell, a quirky, intelligent young woman who gradually becomes friend, partner and wife of Sherlock Holmes. Every book in the series is well written and well plotted, and it is especially fun to see peripheral characters emerge to greater significance as the series moves along. These books share the same time period and characteristic tone of the Maisy Dobbs books by Jacqueline Winspear, which we also recommend highly.

Across Brattleboro, Vermont, rich people (some with dark secrets) are waking up in their high-security, alarm-equipped houses to find a Post-It note reading 'You're it!" stuck to their bedside tables.  There is nothing stolen (that anyone admits), except bits of gourmet treats from the refrigerator that have been eaten.  This new Joe Gunther is a quirky, fascinating mystery filled with off-beat characters and a true feel for Vermont.  Archer has been a great friend to Morgan Hill (and independent booksellers everywhere!) and it is always a pleasure to recommend his books.

Here is an absolute gem of a book! First published in 1988, this collection of highly opinionated personal essays on cooking and life remains an all time favorite, and it is a book that should be reread periodically. Colwin's common sense, her refreshing humor and lively stories will send you back into the kitchen refreshed and challenged. Be sure to try her gingerbread recipes; we can't decide which is the best.

Ever since Diane Rehm's extraordinary NPR interview, this has been on the best seller list.  It is an amazing, mesmerizing, true story of World War II.  The narrative focuses on an encounter a few days before Christmas 1943 between a badly wounded American B-17 and a German Ace flying a Messerschmitt.  Makos gives us this story, but enriches it with the backgrounds and war experiences of the men involved. Ultimately, this is a story of heroism and morality. It is a book hard to put down! 

When her husband (who speaks Mandarin with "pure tones") was offered a two year job in Beijing, Conley was hesitant to move their young sons. Before long, however, their family was readily navigating a strange society and spending their weekends exploring the countryside, where they feasted on dumplings and found adventures in small villages and on the Great Wall. But their lives abruptly changed again when Susan discovered she had breast cancer. This is a deeply appealing, beautifully written memoir of a wonderful family, written with love, humor and even wisdom.

The subtitle to this is A Guide to Succession Planning for your Cottage, Cabin, Camp or Vacation Home, and that aptly summarizes the contents. This is a well organized, easy to read and understand guide to issues that face many families in our beautiful area, and it offers a creative method to solving a situation that all too often becomes hurtful and contentious.