Louise Public Library

In a secessionist rural state that has cut itself off completely from urban centres, where living is hardscrabble and poor but "free," Brooke Holland runs a farm with her husband and two daughters. Their existence at the fringes of modern society is tenuous--they make barely enough from each harvest to keep going--yet Brooke cherishes the loving, peaceful life they have carved out for themselves. She has even begun to believe she is free from the violent history she has kept a secret from her family. When escaped criminal Stephen Cawley attacks the farm, Brooke's buried talents surface, and she manages to quickly and harshly subdue him. Convinced that he has come in retribution for the blood feud that began years ago, Brooke sets out to bring Cawley to justice, planning to use the bounty on his head to lead her family into hiding far from danger. Fearing that other members of Cawley's infamous family will soon descend on the farm, Brooke insists that Milo and the girls flee with her, travelling miles on foot across an unforgiving landscape to reach the nearest marshal. Their journey, beginning at the onset of winter with little preparation, brings already strained family dynamics to the breaking point. As Brooke's ghosts--both real and imagined--close in, the ruthlessness that allowed her to survive her past may become the biggest threat to her hopes for a different future. What follows is a harrowing exploration of family loyalty, trauma and resilience.

"In love for the first time, a son's decisions about the future divides his family in this fearless and thought-provoking novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author of the "heart-tugging and emotional" (Romantic Times Book Reviews) Baxter Family books. In the shadow of very great loss, the only way to live with passion is truly, madly, deeply. When eighteen-year-old Tommy Baxter declares to his family that he wants to be a police officer after graduation, his mother, Reagan, won't hear of it. After all, she's still mourning the death of her own father on September 11 and she's determined to keep her son safe from danger and disaster. But Tommy's father, Luke Baxter, is proud of Tommy's decision, even arranging for his son to take part in a ride-along program with the Indianapolis Police Department. Meanwhile, Tommy is in love for the first time. Annalee Miller has been a family friend for years. Their relationship is sweet and too good to be true. After prom, Tommy begins seriously thinking about asking her to marry him but she hasn't been feeling well. Days later, tests reveal the unthinkable. While his girlfriend begins the fight of her life, Tommy is driven to learn more about the circumstances surrounding his birth...and the grandfather he never knew. Realizations come to light that rock Tommy's world, and he becomes determined to spend his future fighting crime. Or is this just his way to wage war in a battle he cannot win-the one facing Annalee? Blending romance and family drama into an emotionally satisfying story, Truly, Madly, Deeply is a testament to living and loving without fear, so that each moment is marked by reckless abandon and breathtaking passion"--

Kaylee Sloan's home in Southern California is full of wonderful memories of the woman who raised her. But the memories are prolonging her grief over her mother's recent death. A successful author, Kaylee hoped she could pour herself into her work. Instead she has terrible writer's block and a looming deadline. Determined to escape distractions and avoid the holiday season, Kaylee borrows a cabin in Virgin River. She knows the isolation will help her writing, and as she drives north through the mountains and the majestic redwoods, she immediately feels inspired. Until she arrives at a building that has just gone up in flames. Devastated, she heads to Jack's Bar to plan her next steps. The local watering hole is the heart of the town, and once she crosses the threshold, she's surprised to be embraced by people who are more than willing to help a friend - or a stranger - in need. Kaylee's world is expanding in ways she never dreamed possible. And when she rescues a kitten followed by a dog with a litter of puppies, she finds her heart opening up to the animals who need her. And then there's the dog trainer who knows exactly how to help her. As the holidays approach, Kaylee's dread turns to wonder. Because there's no better place to spend Christmas than Virgin River.

Someone is spreading rumors around Deadwood that Violet Parker likes to chat with dead folks. With her reputation endangered, her bank account on the verge of extinction, and her career threatening to go up in flames, Violet is desperate. When the opportunity to sell another vintage home materializes, she grabs it, even thought his "haunted" house was recently the stage for a two-act, murder-suicide tragedy. Ghost or no ghost, Violet knows this can't be as bad as the last house of horrors she tried to sell, but sexy Doc Nyce has serious doubts. Her only hope of hanging on to her job is to prove that the so-called ghostly sightings are merely the eccentric owner's optical delusions. But someone or something in the house wants Violet stopped dead.

"It is close to midnight on a Saturday night when Jack Reacher gets off a bus at the Greyhound station in Nashville. Reacher is in no hurry. He has no appointments to keep. No people to see. No scores to settle. Not yet anyway. But in the early morning hours, under particular circumstances, a familiar thought will be snaking through his sharp, instinctual lizard brain: A voice in his head telling him to walk away. Of course, this wouldn't be the first time he listened to his gut instead. Meanwhile, seventy-five miles south and west of Music City is a sleepy little town where a recently-fired guy nurses a grudge that will fester into fury--and a desire for payback. But who is watching him, standing guard over a long-buried secret, ready to strike before it can be revealed? If you don't have a sense of the danger you're in, then it's best to have Reacher."--

"From the ... author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality. Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house-a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known. For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe , Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds."-- Provided by publisher.

"Seduced by her employer's son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to 'the land beyond the seas,' Van Diemen's Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land. During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea, Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel--a skilled midwife and herbalist--is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors."-- Provided by publisher.

Getting snowed in at a luxurious, rustic ski chalet high in the French Alps doesn't sound like the worst problem in the world. Especially when there's a breathtaking vista, a full-service chef and housekeeper, a cozy fire to keep you warm, and others to keep you company. Unless that company happens to be eight coworkers...each with something to gain, something to lose, and something to hide. When the cofounder of Snoop, a trendy London-based tech startup, organizes a weeklong trip for the team in the French Alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other: PowerPoint presentations and strategy sessions broken up by mandatory bonding on the slopes. But as soon as one shareholder upends the agenda by pushing a lucrative but contentious buyout offer, tensions simmer and loyalties are tested. The storm brewing inside the chalet is no match for the one outside, however, and a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world. Even worse, one Snooper hadn't made it back from the slopes when the avalanche hit. As each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further....one by one.