New Releases: December 18, 2020
Adult Fiction
At Night All Blood is Black - David Diop
Genres: Fiction, Literary
Alfa Ndiaye is a Senegalese man who, never before having left his village, finds himself fighting as a so-called “Chocolat” soldier with the French army during World War I. When his friend Mademba Diop, in the same regiment, is seriously injured in battle, Diop begs Alfa to kill him and spare him the pain of a long and agonizing death in No Man’s Land.
Unable to commit this mercy killing, madness creeps into Alfa’s mind as he comes to see this refusal as a cruel moment of cowardice. Anxious to avenge the death of his friend and find forgiveness for himself, he begins a macabre ritual: every night he sneaks across enemy lines to find and murder a blue-eyed German soldier, and every night he returns to base, unharmed, with the German’s severed hand. At first his comrades look at Alfa’s deeds with admiration, but soon rumors begin to circulate that this super soldier isn’t a hero, but a sorcerer, a soul-eater. Plans are hatched to get Alfa away from the front, and to separate him from his growing collection of hands, but how does one reason with a demon, and how far will Alfa go to make amends to his dead friend?
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “At Night All Blood is Black” by David Diop
The Awakening (Dragon Heart Legacy #1) - Nora Roberts
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy
When Breen Kelly was a girl, her father would tell her stories of magical places. Now she’s an anxious twenty-something mired in student debt and working a job she hates. But one day she stumbles upon a shocking discovery: her mother has been hiding an investment account in her name. It has been funded by her long-lost father—and it’s worth nearly four million dollars.
This newfound fortune would be life-changing for anyone. But little does Breen know that when she uses some of the money to journey to Ireland, it will unlock mysteries she couldn’t have imagined. Here, she will begin to understand why she kept seeing that silver-haired, elusive man, why she imagined his voice in her head saying Come home, Breen Siobhan. It’s time you came home. Why she dreamed of dragons. And where her true destiny lies—through a portal in Galway that takes her to a land of faeries and mermaids, to a man named Keegan, and to the courage in her own heart that will guide her through a powerful, dangerous destiny.
Before You Go - Tommy Butler
Genres: Fiction
In the Before, humankind is created with a hole in its heart, the designers not realizing their mistake - if it was a mistake - until too late. Elliot Chance is just a boy, and knows nothing of this. All he knows is that he doesn't feel at home in this world, and his desire for escape becomes more urgent as he grows into adulthood, where the turbulence of life seems to offer no cure for the emptiness. Desperate and lost, he stumbles upon a support group on the edge of Manhattan. There he meets two other drifting souls - Sasha, a young woman who leaves coded messages in the copy she writes for advertising campaigns, and Bannor, whose detailed depictions of the future make Elliot think he may have actually been there. With these two unlikely allies, Elliot launches into the business of life, determined to be happy in spite of himself. Yet the hole in the heart is not so easily filled.
Dark Tides (Fairmile #2) - Philippa Gregory
Genres: Fiction, Historical
It's 1670 London, where Alinor is approached by a wealthy man who abandoned her years ago because he's interested in her son-who's his son and heir. Meanwhile, Alinor's warehouse is on hard times, and a Venetian widow soon sweeps in with both bad news and a promise to save the flailing business.
Daylight (Atlee Pine #3) - David Baldacci
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
For many long years, Atlee Pine was tormented by uncertainty after her twin sister, Mercy, was abducted at the age of six and never seen again. Now, just as Atlee is pressured to end her investigation into Mercy's disappearance, she finally gets her most promising breakthrough yet: the identity of her sister's kidnapper, Ito Vincenzo.
With time running out, Atlee and her assistant Carol Blum race to Vincenzo's last known location in Trenton, New Jersey -- and unknowingly stumble straight into John Puller's case, blowing his arrest during a drug ring investigation involving a military installation.
Stunningly, Pine and Puller's joint investigation uncovers a connection between Vincenzo's family and a breathtaking scheme that strikes at the very heart of global democracy. Peeling back the layers of deceit, lies and cover-ups, Atlee finally discovers the truth about what happened to Mercy. And that truth will shock Pine to her very core.
Eartheater - Dolores Reyes
Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism
Set in an unnamed slum in contemporary Argentina, Earth-eater is the story of a young woman who finds herself drawn to eating the earth--a compulsion that gives her visions of broken and lost lives. With her first taste of dirt, she learns the horrifying truth of her mother's death. Disturbed by what she witnesses, the woman keeps her visions to herself. But when Earth-eater begins an unlikely relationship with a withdrawn police officer, word of her ability begins to spread, and soon desperate members of her community beg for her help, anxious to uncover the truth about their own loved ones. Surreal and haunting, spare yet complex, Earth-eater is a dark, emotionally resonant tale told from a feminist perspective that brilliantly explores the stories of those left behind--the women enduring the pain of uncertainty, whose lives have been shaped by violence and loss.
A Family Affair - Nadine Bismuth
Genres: Fiction
Kitchen designer Magalie is being cheated upon and so cheats in turn, in the office and with a divorced policeman who has hired her. Her partner, Mathieu, has no idea what he wants, and the policeman Guillaume no idea how to court. So begins a story of messy relationships wrested against the odds from the detritus of failed marriages, the demands of professional lives, and the pull of the internet and its false messages of perfection. With an assiduous eye that is both clinical and sympathetic, Bismuth's elegant and highly readable novel captures the alienating nature of contemporary life and sheds light on this, our strange new world full of unrequited yearning in a sea of seeming plenty.
Fool Me Twice (Riley wolfe #2) - Jeff Lindsay
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Stealing a Faberge egg. Surviving a double cross. And pulling off the most incredible robbery ever, for the world’s most demanding—and dangerous collector.
This will be the challenge of thief extraordinaire Riley Wolfe’s life.
Fool Me Twice opens in St. Petersburg, where Riley steals the egg—no easy task. Betrayed by the pilot he hired to help him get away, he wakes chained to a rock wall on one of the Kerguelen Islands—the most remote spot on earth—prisoner of a top-dog international arms dealer, and a top-notch art collector. He wants Riley to steal an artwork. Small problem--it’s a fresco, “The Liberation of St. Peter.” Slightly larger problem--it’s in the Vatican.
And, it's a literal wall.
Riley has no choice: agree or die. But when his captor turns him loose, he's grabbed by another arms dealer looking to do a double cross. Worse, he gives Riley a special incentive: a surveillance photograph of Monique, the love of his life, and more important, the art forger he can't pull off any heist without. The threat is clear. Riley knows they both have only one way out.
How to Raise an Elephant (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #21) - Alexander McCall Smith
Genres: Fiction, Mystery
The next book in the perennially adored No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series sees Precious Ramotswe calling upon all her maternal instincts when she's faced with a two-ton case. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but can Mma Ramotswe and the rest of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency come together to raise a pipsqueak pachyderm? We may find out in this novel. We may not. Who can say?
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “How to Raise an Elephant” by Alexander McCall Smith
I Follow You - Peter May
Genres: Fiction, Thriller
To the outside world, suave, charming and confident doctor Marcus Valentine has it all. A loving wife, three kids, a great job. But there's something... or someone... missing. Driving to work one morning, his mind elsewhere and not on the road, he almost mows down a female jogger on a crossing. As she runs on, Marcus is transfixed. Infatuated. She is the spitting image of a girl he was crazy about in his teens. A girl he has never been able to get out of his mind. Lynette had dumped him harshly. For years he has fantasized about seeing her again and rekindling their flame. Might that jogger possibly be her all these years later? Could this be the most incredible coincidence? Despite all his attempts to resist, he is consumed by cravings for this woman. And when events take a tragically unexpected turn, his obsession threatens to destroy both their worlds. But still he won't stop. Can't stop.
Little Wishes - Michelle Adams
Genres: Fiction
On her favorite day of the year, Elizabeth Davenport awakens in her cottage on the wild and windy Cornish coast, opens her front door, and discovers a precious gift: the small blue crocus and a note that begins I Wish ... They are not signed, but she knows they've been left by her first and truest love, Tom Hale. Each of these precious missives convey a simple wish for something they had missed, and the life they might have shared. She has kept them all. But on this day, what should have been the fiftieth anniversary of their falling in love, the gift fails to arrive.
Marauder (Oregon Files #15) - Clive Cussler
Genres: Fiction, Thriller
Juan Cabrillo and his team of expert operatives return in this latest entry in Clive Cussler's Oregon Files series. Aboard the Oregon, one of the most advanced spy ships ever built, they face new challenges and nemeses as they undertake another dangerous mission.
Piece of My Heart (Under Suspicion #7) - Mary Higgins Clark
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Television producer Laurie Moran and her fiancée, Alex Buckley, the former host of her investigative television show, are just days away from their mid-August wedding, when things take a dark turn. Alex?s seven-year-old nephew, Johnny, vanishes from the beach. A search party begins and witnesses recall Johnny playing in the water and collecting shells behind the beach shack, but no one remembers seeing him after the morning. As the sun sets, Johnny?s skim board washes up to shore, and everyone realizes that he could be anywhere, even under water.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “Piece of My Heart” by Mary Higgins Clark
Plain Bad Heroines - Emily M Danforth
Genres: Fiction, Gothic
A century after the macabre deaths of several students at a New England girls' boarding school, the release of a sensational book on the school's history inspires a horror film adaptation that renews suspicions of a curse when the cast and crew arrive at the long-abandoned building. 1902, the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara are obsessed with each other and with Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. The girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. Their bodies are discovered in a nearby apple orchard, with a copy of Mary's book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. within five years three more people die on the property-- and the Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever. The now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the "haunted and cursed" Gilded Age institution. Her book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again for filming, soon it's impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “Plain Bad Heroines” by Emily M Danforth
Ready Player Two (Ready Player #2) - Ernest Cline
Genres: Fiction, Fantast, Sci-fi
Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday's contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday's vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous--and addictive--than even Wade dreamed possible. With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest--a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize. And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who'll kill millions to get what he wants. Wade's life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance. Lovingly nostalgic and wildly original as only Ernest Cline could conceive it, Ready Player Two takes us on another imaginative, fun, action-packed adventure through his beloved virtual universe, and jolts us thrillingly into the future once again.
Shadow of the Dragon (Jack Ryan #30) - Tom Clancy
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Aboard an icebreaker in the Arctic Ocean a sonar operator hears an unusual noise coming from the ocean floor. She can't isolate it and chalks the event up to an anomaly in a newly installed system.
Meanwhile, operatives with the Chinese Ministry of State Security are dealing with their own mystery--the disappearance of brilliant but eccentric scientist, Liu Wangshu. They're desperate to keep his crucial knowledge of aerospace and naval technology out of their rivals' hands.
Finding Liu is too great an opportunity for any intelligence service to pass up, but there's one more problem. A high-level Chinese mole, codenamed Surveyor, has managed to infiltrate American Intelligence. President Jack Ryan has only one choice: send John Clark and his Campus team deep into China to find an old graduate student of the professor's who may hold the key to his whereabouts. It's a dangerous gamble, but with John Clark holding the cards, Jack Ryan is all in.
Smoke Bitten (Mercy Thompson #12) - Patricia Briggs
Genres: Fiction, Paranormal
I am Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman. My only "superpowers" are that I turn into a thirty-five-pound coyote and I can fix Volkswagens. But I have friends in odd places and a pack of werewolves at my back. It looks like I'm going to need them. Centuries ago, the fae dwelt in Underhill-until she locked her doors against them. They left behind their great castles and troves of magical artifacts. They abandoned their prisoners and their pets. Without the fae to mind them, those creatures who remained behind roamed freely through Underhill, wreaking havoc. Only the deadliest survived. Now one of those prisoners has escaped. It can look like anyone, any creature it chooses. But if it bites you, it controls you. It lives for chaos and destruction. It can make you do anything-even kill the person you love the most. It is here, in the Tri-Cities, in my territory. It won't-can't-remain. Not if I have anything to say about it.
Truth Be Told - Kia Abdullah
Genres: Fiction, Legal, Mystery
Are you ready to start this conversation?
Kamran Hadid feels invincible. He attends Hampton school, an elite all-boys boarding school in London, he comes from a wealthy family, and he has a place at Oxford next year. The world is at his feet. And then a night of revelry leads to a drunken encounter and he must ask himself a horrific question. With the help of assault counsellor, Zara Kaleel, Kamran reports the incident in the hopes that will be the end of it. But it's only the beginning...
Non-Fiction
Badass Habits - Jen Sincero
Genres: Non-fiction, Self help
The motivational coach and best-selling author of You Are a Badass shares illustrative case studies to outline a step-by-step, 21-day guide for overcoming self-sabotaging behaviors while cultivating habits that support healthy priorities and personal goals. "Badass Habits is a eureka-sparking, easy-to-digest look at how our habits make us who we are, from the measly moments that happen in private to the resolutions we loudly broadcast (and, erm, often don't keep) on social media. Habit busting and building goes way beyond becoming a dedicated flosser or never showing up late again--our habits reveal our unmet desires, the gaps in our boundaries, our level of self-awareness, and our unconscious beliefs and fears. Badass Habits features Jen's trademark hilarious voice and offers a much-needed fresh take on the conventional wisdom and science that shape the optimism (or pessimism?) around the age-old topic of habits. The book includes enlightening interviews with people who've successfully strengthened their discipline backbones, new perspective on how to train our brains to become our best selves, and offers a simple, 21 day, step-by-step guide for ditching habits that don't serve us and developing the habits we deem most important. Habits shouldn't be impossible to reset--and with healthy boundaries, knowledge of--and permission to go after--our desires, and an easy to implement plan of action, we can make any new goal a joyful habit.
Cold Case North - Michael Nest
Genres: Non-fiction, True Crime
A small team uncovers new evidence and exposes police failure in one of the North's most enduring missing persons cases. Missing persons. Double murder? Métis leader James Brady was one of the most famous Indigenous activists in Canada. A communist, strategist, and bibliophile, he led Métis and First Nations to rebel against government and church oppression. Brady's success made politicians and clergy fear him; he had enemies everywhere. In 1967, while prospecting in Saskatchewan with Cree Band Councillor and fellow activist, Absolom Halkett, both men vanished from their remote lakeside camp. For 50 years rumours swirled of secret mining interests, political intrigue, and murder. Cold Case North is the story of how a small team, with the help of the Indigenous community, exposed police failure in the original investigation, discovered new clues and testimony, and gathered the pieces of the North's most enduring missing persons puzzle.
The Gender Creative Child - Diane Ehrensaft
Genres: Non-fiction, Parenting
In this comprehensive resource, Dr. Ehrensaft explains the interconnected effects of biology, nurture, and culture to explore why gender can be fluid, rather than binary. As an advocate for the gender affirmative model and with the expertise she has gained over three decades of pioneering work with children and families, she encourages caregivers to listen to each child, learn their particular needs, and support their quest for a true gender self.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “The Gender Creative Child” by Diane Ehrensaft
Home Body - Rupi Kaur
Genres: Non-fiction, Poetry
Kaur walks readers through a reflective and intimate journey visiting the past, the present, and the potential of the self. In her poems, she has raw, honest conversations with oneself, reminding readers to fill up on love, acceptance, community, family, and embrace change.
The Last Days of John Lennon - James Patterson
Genres: Non-fiction, Biography
John Lennon was one of the world's most influential people. Mark David Chapman was one of the most invisible. By the end of 1980, the Beatles had been broken up for a decade -- a decade John Lennon had spent in search of his true identity: singer, songwriter, activist, burn out. "It's the perfect time to be coming back," he declared. Except that Lennon was a marked man. As early as the Beatles' controversial 1966 American tour, the band had feared for their safety. "You might as well put a target on me," Lennon said, and the Nixon administration complied by opening an FBI file. If only the agents hadn't been so intently focused on the star himself, they might have detected Mark David Chapman's powerful, ever-growing obsession with his onetime idol. Chapman, himself a tragic nowhere man, ultimately achieved the notoriety he craved by actualizing the target on Lennon -- single-handedly wounding the spirit of a generation.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “The Last Days of John Lennon” by James Patterson
The Mind-Body Cure - Bal Pawa
Genres: Non-fiction, Self-help, Health
A medical doctor and Harvard-trained mind-body expert shares the key to long-lasting health—stress management—with seven simple tools.
What if someone told you that 75 percent of disease is caused by continuous and excessive stress hormones released by the body? What if they said you could manage that chronic stress and its harmful side effects with seven easy and affordable tools? The Mind-Body Cure teaches you to do just that, interweaving evidence-based science with practical advice to calm your mind so you can move from primitive fight-or-flight mode to send healing hormones into your body instead. Dr. Bal Pawa also shares her own story of anxiety and chronic pain following a tragic car accident. Only when she recognized how stress hormones disrupt every system in the body, from digestion to immunity to sleep, was she able to reclaim her health. Having healed herself—and many patients since—Dr. Pawa now shares the secrets to good health in The Mind-Body Cure.
Stuff You Should Know - Josh Clark & Chuck Bryant
Genres: Non-fiction, Trivia
The duo behind the massively successful podcast "Stuff You Should Know" offers an unexpected look at weird, fascinating, delightful, or unexpected elements of a wide variety of topics, featuring new subjects that they've long wondered about and wanted to explore.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “Stuff You Should Know” by John Clark & Chuck Bryant
What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat - Aubrey Gordon
Genres: Non-fiction, Social issues
Anti-fatness is everywhere. In What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unearths the cultural attitudes and social systems that have led to people being denied basic needs because they are fat and calls for social justice movements to be inclusive of plus-sized people's experiences. Unlike the recent wave of memoirs and quasi self-help books that encourage readers to love and accept themselves, Gordon pushes the discussion further towards authentic fat activism, which includes ending legal weight discrimination, giving equal access to health care for large people, increased access to public spaces, and ending anti-fat violence. As she argues, I did not come to body positivity for self-esteem. I came to it for social justice.
By sharing her experiences as well as those of others--from smaller fat to very fat people--she concludes that to be fat in our society is to be seen as an undeniable failure, unlovable, unforgivable, and morally condemnable. Fatness is an open invitation for others to express disgust, fear, and insidious concern. To be fat is to be denied humanity and empathy. Studies show that fat survivors of sexual assault are less likely to be believed and less likely than their thin counterparts to report various crimes; 27% of very fat women and 13% of very fat men attempt suicide; over 50% of doctors describe their fat patients as awkward, unattractive, ugly and noncompliant; and in 48 states, it's legal--even routine--to deny employment because of an applicant's size.
Advancing fat justice and changing prejudicial structures and attitudes will require work from all people. What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat is a crucial tool to create a tectonic shift in the way we see, talk about, and treat our bodies, fat and thin alike.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat” by Aubrey Gordon
Young Adult Fiction
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (Folk of the Air novella) - Holly Black
Genres: Young adult fiction, Fantasy
Before he was a cruel prince or a wicked king, Cardan was a faerie child with a heart of stone...and a wicked tongue. Born into a family overburdened with heirs, nourished on cat milk and contempt, perhaps it's no surprise he turned out the way he did. This is the story of Elfhame's enigmatic high king, Cardan-- and his visits the mortal world to face the troll woman, Aslog of the West-- told wholly from Cardan's perspective.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories” by Holly Black
Lies Like Poison - Chelsea Pitcher
Genres: Young adult fiction, Mystery
Poppy, Lily, and Belladonna would do anything to protect their best friend, Raven. When they discovered he was suffering abuse at the hands of his stepmother, they came up with a lethal plan: petals of poppy, belladonna, and lily in her evening tea so she'd never be able to hurt Raven again. But someone got cold feet, and the group fell apart. Three years later, on the eve of Raven's seventeenth birthday, his stepmother turns up dead. When belladonna is found in her tea, it's only Belladonna who is carted off to jail. Belle reaches out to her estranged friends to prove her innocence. Soon everyone has something to lose... and something equally dangerous to hide.
Master of One - Jaida Jones & Dani Bennett
Genres: Young adult fiction, Fantasy
Rags is a two-bit thief-- but an excellent one. When he's caught by royal sorcerer Morien the Last, he's being forced to find an ancient fae relics. But the "relics" Morien are after are actually people-- a fae prince, a Queensguard deserter, and others, including Rags. It's six misfits against a wicked enemy. Good thing Rags is smart-- and he has a plan that just might work.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “Master of One” by Jaida Jones and Dani Bennett
Junior Fiction
Anya and the Nightingale (Anya #2) - Sofiya Pasternack
Genres: Junior fiction, Fantasy
Thirteen-year-old Anya sets out to find her missing father but instead travels to Kiev, where she meets the tsar, dines with a rabbi, and rescues two brothers from a dangerous monster lurking beneath the city.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “Anya and the Nightingale” by Sofiya Pasternick
The Bad Guys in the One?! (Bad Guys #12) - Aaron Blabey
Genres: Junior fiction, Graphic novel
Seriously, WHAT is going on with Snake?! Terrible powers have been revealed! Evil allies have materialized! Inter-dimensional doors have opened! Shady-looking cloaks have been purchased! What is his deal?!
And that's not all! Why does Agent Fox suddenly have a whole lot more backstory than we'd counted on?! Dang it! We need answers! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!
Wolf and the gang are back. And things are worse than ever. Or badder than ever... if you think that sounds cooler and don't have a problem with bad grammar.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “The Bad Guys in the One?!” by Aaron Blabey
The Boy, the Wolf and the Stars - Shivaun Plozza
Genres: Junior fiction, Fantasy
Long ago, the land of Ulv was filled with magic. But that was before a wolf ate all the Stars in the night sky, ridding the world of magic and allowing Shadow Creatures, beasts made of shadow and evil, to flourish. Twelve-year-old Bo knows the stories but thinks the Stars and the wolf who ate them are nothing more than myths—until the day Bo’s guardian, Mads, is attacked by a giant wolf straight from the legends. With his dying breath, Mads tells Bo that Ulv is in danger and the only way to prevent the Shadow Creatures from taking over is to return the Stars to the sky.
And so Bo—accompanied by his best friend, a fox called Nix, a girl named Selene who’s magic is tied to the return of the Stars, and Tam, a bird-woman who has vowed to protect Bo at all costs—sets off on a quest to find the three magical keys that will release the Stars. But Bo isn’t the only one who wants the Stars, and the friends soon find themselves fleeing angry villagers, greedy merchants, and a vengeful wolf. And all the while, an evil witch lurks in the shadows and time is running out.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “The Boy, the Wolf and the Stars” by Shivaun Plozza
Jane, the Fox and Me - Fanny Britt
Genres: Junior fiction, Graphic novel
Hélène has been inexplicably ostracized by the girls who were once her friends. Her school life is full of whispers and lies — Hélène weighs 216; she smells like BO. Her loving mother is too tired to be any help. Fortunately, Hélène has one consolation, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Hélène identifies strongly with Jane’s tribulations, and when she is lost in the pages of this wonderful book, she is able to ignore her tormentors. But when Hélène is humiliated on a class trip in front of her entire grade, she needs more than a fictional character to allow her to see herself as a person deserving of laughter and friendship.
Leaving the outcasts’ tent one night, Hélène encounters a fox, a beautiful creature with whom she shares a moment of connection. But when Suzanne Lipsky frightens the fox away, insisting that it must be rabid, Hélène’s despair becomes even more pronounced: now she believes that only a diseased and dangerous creature would ever voluntarily approach her. But then a new girl joins the outcasts’ circle, Géraldine, who does not even appear to notice that she is in danger of becoming an outcast herself. And before long Hélène realizes that the less time she spends worrying about what the other girls say is wrong with her, the more able she is to believe that there is nothing wrong at all.
