The Buzz...About Books

Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

Sisters Marnie and Nelly will do anything to stay together after their paren'ts die. Substance abusers who paid little attention to their children, their paren'ting skills were less than adequate. Since 15-year-old Marnie is almost old enough to take legal custody of her 12-year-old sister they decide to keep their deaths a secret just until Marnie’s 16th birthday. How hard can'that be?

The sisters bury their paren'ts in the backyard and work on avoiding attention. Unfortunately, someone does notice the girls’ situation. Nosy neighbour Lennie doesn’t believe the story he is told about an extended vacation in Turkey. 

Set on a Glasgow housing estate, the story is told in vignettes from the perspectives of Marnie, Nelly and Lennie. 

Winner of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize.

Schedule:

December

The Crooked Heart of Mercy by Billie Livingston
• Regular Print
• Audiobook
• eBook
• Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

Maggie and Ben are reeling from the loss of their son. As the book begins, limo driver Ben is in a hospital following a possible suicide attempt. His wife Maggie is struggling to support the couple and deal with her not-so-celibate priest brother whose recent scandal has made him an Internet celebrity.

These are troubled people in need of redemption. How can'they find it?

January

This is your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison
• Regular Print
• Audiobook
• eBook
• Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

Recently widowed Harriet Chance takes the Alaskan cruise that her late husband had planned before his death. She expects that it will give her an opportunity to scatter his ashes and move on with her life. Instead she finds herself revisiting her past and coming to terms with mistakes she’s made.

February

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
• Regular Print
• Audiobook
• eAudiobook
• eBook
• Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

August is an anthropologist studying mourning rituals in different cultures. She has returned to Brooklyn following the death of her father and reflects on her childhood and adolescence in the borough which began as an effort to recover and rebuild following family tragedies.

March

News of the World by Paulette Jiles
• Regular Print
• eBook

1870, Texas. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, ageing veteran of two wars, is working as a travelling news reader when he is offered an unusual mission. A young girl, who has spent the past several years living with Kiowa Indians following the deaths of the rest of her family, has been “rescued”. Kidd is enlisted to accompany the child on a treacherous journey to her relatives in San Antonio. 

April

The Conjoined by Jen Sookfong Lee
• Regular Print
• eBook

Cleaning her mother’s home after her death, social worker Jessica Campbell discovers the bodies of two dead girls in the basement freezers. Campbell believes they may be a pair of sisters who were briefly housed as foster children with the family. As she struggles to understand what has happened, Campbell finds herself reevaluating everything in her life.