Tag Archives: Books

In My Hands Today…

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The Secret Magdalene – Ki Longfellow

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Raised like sisters, Mariamne and Salome are indulged with riches, position, and learning—a rare thing for females in Jerusalem. But Mariamne has a further gift: an illness has left her with visions; she has the power of prophecy. It is her prophesying that drives the two girls to flee to Egypt, where they study philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy in the Great Library of Alexandria.

After seven years they return to a Judaea where many now believe John the Baptizer is the messiah. Salome too begins to believe, but Mariamne, now called Magdalene, is drawn to his cousin, Yeshu’a, a man touched by the divine in the same way she was during her days of illness. Together they speak of sharing their direct experience of God; but Yeshu’a unexpectedly gains a reputation as a healer, and as the ill and the troubled flock to him, he and Magdalene are forced to make a terrible decision.

In My Hands Today…

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The Secret Sky – Atia Abawi

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Fatima is a Hazara girl, raised to be obedient and dutiful.

Samiullah is a Pashtun boy raised to defend the traditions of his tribe.

They were not meant to fall in love. But they do.

And the story that follows shows both the beauty and the violence in current-day Afghanistan as Fatima and Samiullah fight their families, their cultures and the Taliban to stay together.

Based on the people Atia Abawi met and the events she covered during her nearly five years in Afghanistan, this stunning novel is a must-read for anyone who has lived during America’s War in Afghanistan.

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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.”

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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.

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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.