Sebold, Alice – The Lovely Bones
"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I
was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6,
1973."
So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to
her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what
she expected, even as she is watching life on earth
continue without her -- her friends trading rumours
about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her griefstricken family unravelling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, THE
LOVELY BONES succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope,
humour, suspense, even joy.
Hulme, Keri - The Bone People
In a tower on the New Zealand sea lives Kerewin
Holmes, part Maori, part European, an artist estranged
from her art, a woman in exile from her family. One
night her solitude is disrupted by a visitor—a speechless,
mercurial boy named Simon, who tries to steal from her
and then repays her with his most precious possession.
As Kerewin succumbs to Simon's feral charm, she also
falls under the spell of his Maori foster father Joe, who rescued the boy
from a shipwreck and now treats him with an unsettling mixture of
tenderness and brutality.
Angelou, Maya - I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, selfsufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya
and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment
and the prejudice of the local "powhitetrash." At eight
years old and back at her mother's side in St. Louis, Maya
is attacked by a man many times her age and has to live
with the consequences for a lifetime.
Williams, Michael - Who killed Jimmy Valentine
When the body of a young musician is found on the top of an
abandoned, moving taxi, it appears that he is the latest victim
of the taxi war. The murder provokes outrage from the local
community, for whom Jimmy Valentine was a symbol of hope.
The task of solving the case falls to Jake Mulligan, a new
recruit to the Cape Town Murder and Robbery Unit. As his
investigation progresses, Jake enlists the help of a journalist, Kate
Edwards. Together they find out that there's more to the case than meets
the eye.
Steele, Danielle - Amazing Grace
In the earthquake’s aftermath, the lives of four strangers
will converge.… Sarah Sloane, the wife of a financial
whiz, watches her perfect world fall to pieces…. Grammywinning singer Melanie Free comes to a turning point in
her life and career…. Photographer Everett Carson finds
new purpose amid the carnage…and Sister Maggie Kent,
a nun who works with the homeless, searches through the rubble–and
knows that there is much to be done….
Rowling, J.K - Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban
For Twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held
an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of
killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to
be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort. Now he
has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might
be headed: Harry Potter's defeat of You-Know-Who was
Black's downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard
Black muttering in his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts ... he's at Hogwarts."
Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school,
surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a
traitor in their midst.
Clare, Cassandra - The Mortal Instruments – City of
Bones
Clary Fray is seeing things: vampires in Brooklyn and
werewolves in Manhattan. Irresistibly drawn to the
Shadowhunters, a secret group of warriors dedicated to
ridding the earth of demons, Clary encounters the dark side
of New York City – and the dangers of forbidden love.
Singleton, Sarah - The Stranger
Charlotte is heading to a tiger sanctuary to do some
voluntary work as part of her travels. But a fellow
traveller working at the sanctuary starts to make her
feel uncomfortable and she decides to ask Otto to visit
her, pretending to be her boyfriend. When things start
going wrong at the sanctuary, Charlotte fears a
vendetta against her could be to blame. As tigers
come under attack from poachers, the local authorities threaten to
replace the sanctuary's management. Mark the journalist reappears,
ostensibly covering the poaching crisis, but also delving into the
background of the traveller who is making Charlotte's life a misery. But by
now Otto and Charlotte's 'fake' relationship seems to be developing into
something a little more serious...and how will Mark, and Otto's ex, Jen,
feel about that?
O’Brien, Tim - The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried is a set of connected short
pieces that tell the stories of the men of the Alpha
Company (foot soldiers in Vietnam) before, during, and
after the Vietnam War. Among other things, it deals with
the surreal and ambiguous nature of this war, the
inadequacy of plain facts in communicating certain essential truths, and
the alienation of the Vietnam War vet.
Landy , Derek - Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire
Valkyrie Cain - once known to the world as twelveyear-old Stephanie Edgley - has learned a great deal
since beginning her apprenticeship to Skulduggery
Pleasant, the well-dressed, living-dead wizarddetective. But she hasn't learned nearly enough to
defeat the horrors massing against her and her friends:
An old foe of Skulduggery's, Baron Vengeous, is bent
on bringing back to life the horrible Grotesquery - an unkillable monster
assembled from the most fearsome beasts of legend. It's up to the
ingenious, fearless, and quick-witted Valkyrie and Skulduggery to stop the
Grotesquery from coming fully to life. Because once the thing is alive, it
will call to its masters, the evil Faceless Ones who return will mean the
end of the world
Green, John - Looking For Alaska
Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words–and
tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for
boarding school to seek what the dying poet
Francois Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much
awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska
Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy,
Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great
Perhaps.
Messidoro, Diane - How To Keep A Boy As A Pet
The Official Truth about dating the male human species!
Can taming a gorgeous boy really be as easy as walking a
dog? Circe Shaw is on a mission. She must transform into
a fabulously sophisticated journalist and discover the
amazing scientific truth about boys. Urgently. But life is
beyond complicated. Circe has to deal with a poisonous
rival, her mum’s annoying ‘just friends’ men and her own Dark Past. Can
Circe’s daring investigation really teach her the facts of love?
Will it help her finally get a boyfriend?
Or will it break her heart…?
Grisham, John - The Brethren
Three former judges (known as "The Brethren")
incarcerated at Trumble, afictional, federal minimum
security prison located in northern Florida, develop
a scam to blackmail wealthy closeted gay men. With
the help of their lawyer, Trevor Carson, they
transfer their ill-gotten money to a
secret Bahamian bank account.
Child, Lee - Die Trying
Jack Reacher is in both the wrong and the right place at
the same time when FBI Special Agent and daughter of
the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Holly Johnson is
abducted from a Chicago street. It is the wrong place
because Reacher, a former army major drifting around
the country, is kidnapped as well. It is the right place
because only he has the instincts to foil the complex,
deadly plan of the kidnappers, a Montana militia group headed by a
charismatic, brilliant, but psychotic leader.
Viviano, Frank – Blood Washes Blood
Viviano's great-great grandfather was a legendary
bandit who travelled the countryside of Sicily by night
in the robes of a friar and was known as "the Monk."
His brutal murder has remained shrouded in mystery
for four generations. Until now. Populated by an
extraordinary cast of nineteenth-century Robin Hood
brigands and twentieth-century underworld bosses,
here is a true-life Godfather, in which past and present finally merge into
a single story with a shattering climax that ultimately changes the way
the author views his immigrant family's complex legacy -- and himself.
Archer, Geoffrey - Honour Among Thieves
Spring 1994, Washington, D.C. - While the
Clinton Administration grapples with its domestic
policies, a sinister plot is being masterminded six
thousand miles away in Baghdad. By using $100
million as bait and spinning a deadly web of
corruption, forgery, and terror, Saddam Hussein
seeks to embarrass the U.S. with the ultimate
revenge: to steal a treasured historical
document and then destroy it before the world's media-on July 4, 1994.
Toltz , Steve - Fraction Of The Whole
The fact is, the whole of Australia despises my father
more than any other man, just as they adore my uncle
more than any other man. I might as well set the story
straight about both of them . Anyway, you know how it
is. Every family has a story like this one. Most of his life,
Jasper Dean couldn't decide whether to pity, hate, love,
or murder his certifiably paranoid father, Martin, a man
who over- analysed anything and everything and imparted his selfgarnered wisdom to his only son. But now that Martin is dead, Jasper can
fully reflect on the crackpot who raised him in intellectual captivity, and
what he realizes is that, for all its lunacy, theirs was a grand adventure.
Tullock, Jonathan and Shirley - I Am A Cloud, I Can Blow
Anywhere
Mulumbe's village is plagued by marauders, and then an
elephant eats the last of her family's crop. She determines
to save her family, and embarks on an adventure fraught
with danger: travelling to the famed City of Gold to be
reunited with her brother, Tom, and save her family by
earning some money. Grandmother tells her many riddles and it is these
life lessons that carry her through the obstacles and dangers she
encounters. Set in the beauty of the African forest and the ants' nest of a
township, this is a story of hunger. it is also a celebration of hope, dreams
and the unconquerable spirit of one African girl.
Coovadia , Imraan - The Wedding
Set in India and South Africa, The Wedding joins
Ismet Nassin, a clerk of modest prospects from
Bombay, and Khateja , a village beauty he marries
on the very day he spies her from the window of his
train. Matrimony happens fast, love lags behind.
Khateja is willful, difficult, and misanthropic—in
short, highly desirable. Ismet is in for the battle of
his life.
Benaron, Naomi - Running the Rift
Running the Rift follows the progress of Jean Patrick
Nkuba from the day he knows that running will be his
life to the moment he must run to save his life. A
naturally gifted athlete, he sprints over the thousand
hills of Rwanda and dreams of becoming his country’s
first Olympic medal winner in track. But Jean Patrick is
a Tutsi in a world that has become increasingly
restrictive and violent for his people. As tensions mount between the Hutu
and Tutsi, he holds fast to his dream that running might deliver him, and
his people, from the brutality around them.
Green, John - The Fault in Our Stars
Despite the tumour-shrinking medical miracle that has
bought her a few years, Hazel has never been
anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon
diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named
Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid
Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely
rewritten. It’s Green’s most ambitious and
heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny,
thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.
Stieg , Larsson - Girl With The Dragon Tatoo
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a
family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by
the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found,
yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the
killer is a member of his own tightly knit but
dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial
journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent
computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When
the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders
from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family
history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander
are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect
themselves
Vonnegut , Kurt - Cat’s Cradle : A Novel
Cradle is Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical commentary on
modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of
this planet’s ultimate fate, it features a midget as the
protagonist, a complete, original theology created by a
calypso singer, and a vision of the future that is at once
blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny.
.Kallentoft,Mons - Autumn Killing
It is Autumn in Linkoping and the heavens have
opened, but not even these biblical rains can wash
away the blood of crimes past and present. Then the
brutally-stabbed body of self-made Internet billionaire
Jerry Petersson is discovered floating facedown in the
moat surrounding his home, the imposing Skogsa
Castle. Malin Fors, the brilliant but flawed star of the
Linkoping police force, is already struggling to keep her
life together following the recent murder attempt on her teenage
daughter, Tove. Now, as the Petersson case forces Malin to delve deep
into Linkoping's history and her own family's past, the secrets she
uncovers threaten to drown her too ...
Ngan, Natasha - The Elites
Hundreds of years into the future, wars, riots,
resource crises and rising sea-levels have destroyed
the old civilisations. Only one city has survived:
Neo-Babel, a city full of cultures – and racial
tension.
Fifteen-year-old Silver is an Elite, a citizen of NeoBabel chosen to guard the city due to her superior
DNA. She’d never dream of leaving – but then she fails to prevent the
assassination of Neo Babel’s president, setting off a chain of events more
shocking and devastating than she could ever have imagined.
Eve , Helen – Stella
Seventeen-year-old Stella Hamilton is the star blazing at
the heart of Temperley High. Leader of the maliciously
exclusive elite, she is envied and lusted after in equal
measure. And in the Hamilton tradition, she is in the final
stage of a six-year campaign to achieve her destiny: love
with her equally popular male equivalent, and a
triumphant election to Head Girl.
Knowles, Jo
- See You At Harry’s
Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. It seems as though
everyone in her family has better things to do than pay
attention to her. Mum helps Dad run "Harry's," the
family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high
school, and Holden pretends that Mum and Dad and
everyone else don't know he's gay, even as he fends off
bullies at school. If it wasn't for Ran, Fern's calm and
positive best friend, there'd be nowhere to turn. But then tragedy strikes
– and Fern feels not only more alone than ever, but also responsible for
the accident that has wrenched her family apart. All will not be well. Or at
least all will never be the same.
Maas , Sarah J - Crown of Midnight
After a year of hard labour in the Salt Mines of Endovier,
eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won
the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet
Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she
hides from even her most intimate confidantes. Keeping
up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's
bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given
a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for.
Rowling, J.K - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The heart of Book 7 is a hero's mission--not just in
Harry's quest for the Horcruxes, but in his journey
from boy to man--and Harry faces more danger than
that found in all six books combined, from the direct
threat of the Death Eaters and you-know-who, to the
subtle perils of losing faith in himself. Attentive readers
would do well to remember Dumbledore's warning
about making the choice between "what is right and what is easy," and
know that Rowling applies the same difficult principle to the conclusion of
her series.
Choo , Yangsze - The Ghost Bride
Seventeen-year-old Li Lan lives in 1890s Malaya with
her quietly-ruined father, who returns one evening with
a proposition - the fabulously wealthy Lim family want
Li Lan to marry their son. The only problem is, he's
dead. After a fateful visit to the Lim mansion, Li Lan
finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be
suitor, but also her desire for the Lims' handsome new
heir. At night she is drawn into the Chinese afterlife - a world of ghost
cities, paper funeral offerings, monstrous bureaucracy and vengeful
spirits. Enlisting the help of mysterious Er Lang (a dragon turned clerk) Li
Lan must uncover the secrets of the ghost world - before she becomes
trapped there forever.