Lost in the Stacks

This is the first of a series of mysteries set in 1920s India, featuring Perveen Mistry, one of the first female lawyers in India. She investigates the murder of a man at the home of the three widows of a wealthy Muslim mill owner. The widows live in strict seclusion and will talk to Perveen, while they cannot talk to a male lawyer. In alternating chapters set a few years earlier, we learn of the traumas Perveen went through as a young woman, and her disastrous marriage. Author Massey conveys a wonderful sense of the various cultures and religions in 1920s India.

This brilliantly-written historical novel tells the story of Anne Marie Grosholtz, who became the wax sculptor Madame Tussaud, in her own unique voice. Orphaned at an early age, Marie learns the art of modeling body parts for anatomical study from a physician. Eventually she draws the attention of the royal family, and she tutors the sister of Louis XVI. Her business prospers in the tumultuous days of the French Revolution, but her association with the royal family leads to her imprisonment. Marie is a survivor, though, and, after losing many friends during the revolution, she eventually goes to London, where her famous museum was established.

In the latest entry in Louise Penny's popular mystery series, Armand Gamache, former head of the Sûreté de Québec, now living in the tiny village of Three Pines, is named as the executor of the will of a woman he's never met. Soon afterwards, the body of her oldest son is found in a collapsed farmhouse. Gamache's investigation of the murder uncovers secrets, including a long-lasting family feud. Meanwhile, Gamache searches for a deadly drug he allowed to slip through, and which is about to hit the streets of Montréal.

Did the busy school year eat up all your time for leisure reading? No problem! The Shapiro Book Display will feature some of 2018's most popular reads, so you can still catch up on the books everyone's been talking about in the past year. Have a great winter break, and Happy New Year!

A new book on diversity and inclusion in higher education.

Heidi Waleson, opera critic for the Wall Street Journal, provides an in-depth history of the New York City Opera from its founding, through 70 years of ups and downs, and on to its declaration of bankruptcy in 2013 and the aftermath.

The Alice Network tells two parallel stories, in alternating chapters. One is about a young woman who worked as a spy, in an all-female spy network, in France during World War I. The other is about an American college student who goes to France shortly after World War II, to look for her French cousin who disappeared in occupied France. These two stories intersect in a powerful way and make for a very suspenseful novel.

Amy Meyerson's first novel, The Bookshop of Yesterdays explores family secrets and the difficultly of running a profitable book store.

It's every writer's favorite time of year, National Novel Writing Month! That means it's officially time to get cracking on that novel you've always wanted to write. This month, our Shapiro display features books about writing of various kinds, including novels, short stories, screenplays, and more! There's surely something here to help motivate you, or help you out if you get a bad case of writer's block. Good luck to everyone participating in NaNoWriMo 2018!

In Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World, Maryanne Wolf discusses the impact of reading digital content on the neural processing in the brain, deep reading, and empathy, among other topics.