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Books

In My Hands Today…

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Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories – Mary Higgins Clark

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From Clark’s first-ever published story to classic tales featuring Alvirah and Willy, My Gal Sunday and many more, Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories gives readers the chance to revisit the short story highlights from the “Queen of Suspense.”

The jewel of this collection is the novella showcasing the dazzling and dangerous world of high fashion in 1970s New York City: Death Wears a Beauty Mask, which Mary began in 1974 and put aside to write Where Are the Children, the book that launched her career. Mary returned to Death Wears a Beauty Mask nearly forty years later and the result is spectacular.

Featuring the same chills and heart-pounding drama we’ve come to expect from a Mary Higgins Clark title, and including an exclusive author’s introduction, Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories is a spine-tingling read and glimpse into the evolution of the remarkable career of the “Queen of Suspense.”

In My Hands Today…

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The High Mountains of Portugal – Yann Martel

In Lisbon in 1904, a young man named Tomás discovers an old journal. It hints at the existence of an extraordinary artifact that—if he can find it—would redefine history. Traveling in one of Europe’s earliest automobiles, he sets out in search of this strange treasure.

Thirty-five years later, a Portuguese pathologist devoted to the murder mysteries of Agatha Christie finds himself at the center of a mystery of his own and drawn into the consequences of Tomás’s quest.

Fifty years on, a Canadian senator takes refuge in his ancestral village in northern Portugal, grieving the loss of his beloved wife. But he arrives with an unusual companion: a chimpanzee. And there the century-old quest will come to an unexpected conclusion.

The High Mountains of Portugal—part quest, part ghost story, part contemporary fable—offers a haunting exploration of great love and great loss. Filled with tenderness, humor, and endless surprise, it takes the reader on a road trip through Portugal in the last century—and through the human soul.

In My Hands Today…

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Switcheroo – Olivia Goldsmith

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At forty, Sylvie Schiffer has everything: a gorgeous house, two perfect children, a successful husband with a lucrative business. Everything but what she wants most: passion and romance.

With the twins off to college, Sylvie thinks her marriage is about to bloom, until she discovers that her husband, Bob, is already seeding the garden–with a woman named Marla!

When Sylvie confronts Marla, she gets the shock–and inspiration—of her life. Except for ten years and fifteen pounds, she and Marla could be twins. But all is not bliss even for Marla.

Though she has the best of love–romantic presents, hot sex, candlelit dinners–she lacks the one thing she wants most: a husband of her own. Going beyond revenge, Sylvie hatches a brilliant, hilarious, and daringly outrageous scheme that just might fulfill both their wildest dreams…or leave them with nothing but two broken hearts.

In My Hands Today…

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Rain Tree – Mahita Vas

Singapore, on the cusp of Independence.

In the midst of fear and uncertainty, a spirited young woman must choose between an education and her baby. When Ani is forcibly married, her dreams of becoming a teacher are shattered. Employed as a servant at Rain Tree, a colonial home, she indulges in English novels in her spare time.

When Ani is widowed soon after, she befriends her Chinese colleagues who shield her from her bigoted mistress. Ani learns that her husband has left her a horrifying debt, one she must keep secret to safeguard her job and dignity. Falling in love with a house guest brings temporary respite. And ramifications — Ani bears his child after he returns to England.

To keep her baby, Ani must leave the security of Rain Tree. With chronic unemployment, a housing shortage and impending Independence, Ani realises that without an education, life will be unbearable. With an illegitimate baby, life will be impossible. To alter her destiny, sacrifices must be made. But at what price? Rain Tree weaves a story of loyalty and hope with lessons on love unlike what Ani has learnt from English novels.

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Death by Perfume – You Jin, translated by Jeremy Tiang

In the late 1970s, a young Singaporean writer arrives in Jeddah with an infant son. She encounters a strange and often hostile environment with curiosity, empathy and good humour.

In this collection of linked stories, the narrator confronts a bored expat wife with dangerously extravagant tastes, a divorced engineer with the face of a camel, and a desperate security guard who only finds solace in downing bottles of perfume. Beguiling, plaintive and profoundly insightful, You Jin’s fiction is a beautiful evocation of Saudi society.