THREE MORE NEW TITLES added pre-Christmas to the Library shelves takes us on another globe-trotting journey encompassing some very different topics.
Peter May’s The Runner begins on the eve of the Beijing Olympics, while Rachael English’s The American Girl starts its journey in 1968 Boston but then takes us across the Atlantic to Ireland and 2013 Dublin in a tale of long-buried family secrets.
Finally, Rhiannon Navin’s Only Child delves into the topical subject of mass shootings in the United States and how a mother and her young son deal with the aftermath in very different ways.
Our DVD spot focuses on the second series of the hugely popular ITV series, Victoria the landmark account of the public and personal life of one of Britain’s greatest monarchs.
The Runner
by Peter May
THE SUFFERER: A prodigious Chinese swimmer kills himself on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. Days later, a champion weightlifter suffers a fatal heart attack prior to competition.
The Listener: Detective Li Yan senses a conspiracy surrounding the fatalities, and finds a female athlete willing to talk. But she will only trust one person: Li’s fiancée, Margaret Campbell.
The Runner: When Campbell’s contact herself vanishes, the gun is fired on a race against time. And Li must now outrun, and outwit, an enemy bent on pushing him beyond endurance.
The American Girl
by Rachael English
IT’S BOSTON IN 1968 and Rose Moroney is 17, smart, spirited – and pregnant. She wants to marry her boyfriend. Her ambitious parents have other plans. She is sent to Ireland, their birthplace, to deliver her daughter in a mother and baby home – and part with her against her will.
In Dublin in 2013, Martha Sheehan’s life has come undone. Her marriage is over and her husband has moved on with unsettling speed. Under pressure from her teenage daughter, she starts looking for the woman who gave her up for adoption more than 40 years before.
As her search leads her to the heart of long-buried family secrets, old flame Paudie Carmody – now a well-known broadcaster – re-enters the frame.
Only Child
by Rhiannon Child
THEY ALL WENT to school that Tuesday like normal. Not all of them went home… When the unthinkable happens, Zach is at school. Huddled in a cloakroom with his classmates and teacher, he is too young to understand that life will never be the same again.
Afterwards, the once close-knit community is left reeling. Zach’s dad retreats. His mum sets out to seek revenge. Zach, scared, lost and confused, disappears into his super-secret hideout to try to make sense of things. Nothing feels right – until he listens to his heart… But can he show the grown-ups how to love again?
DVD Corner
Victoria Season Two
DS364B
THIS LANDMARK ACCOUNT of the life of one of history’s greatest monarchs continues as the Queen faces the very modern challenges of balancing a growing family with her marriage to Prince Albert and her work as ruler of the most powerful nation on earth.
As Victoria’s reign continues into the 1840s there are constitutional crises and scandals at court, trips to France and Scotland, the devastating Irish Potato Famine and political machinations ending in tragedy. As the saga unfolds over vital moments in history, the Queen and Prince Albert must meet each public challenge while confronting profound personal changes.
