A BUMPER CROP of new titles added to the Library shelves in the run-up to Christmas include the atmospherically-charged Reservoir 13 by John McGregor, the equally intriguing The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz, rightfully one of the hightest-earning writers in Britain, and Irish novelist Patricia Scanlan’s delightful Orange Blossom Days, which will resonate with many who have had dealings in their apartment block with El Presidente.

Then there’s the latest from the prolific pen of that master of the spy story, John Le Carre, a tangled tale of families by Joanna Nadin and a sparkling debut novel from Sarah Haywood.

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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

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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.

NOVELS set in the rural idylls of Ireland and Devon contrast sharply with one set in the brash city of Houston, Texas, to provide us with three very different stories to feature in our regular look at new titles added to the Library shelves this month.

DVD Corner this time round features an ITV screened earlier this year, Girlfriends, which tells how three middle-aged women, friends since their teenage years, cope with a catalogue of family dramas.

The Girls Of Ennismore

by Patricia Falvey

IN 1900 IRELAND, two girls meet. They are from vastly, different worlds, they will be united in friendship through loves, losses and wars.

In the early years of the 20th century, Victoria Bell and Rosie Killeen are best friends, growing up in rural County Mayo, their friendship forged against the glorious backdrop of Ennismore House.

However, Victoria, born of the aristocracy, and Rosie, daughter of a local farmer, find that the disparity of their class and simmering social tensions in Ireland will push their friendship to the brink…

The Lie Of The Land

by Amanda Craig

QUENTIN AND LOTTIE BREDIN, like many modern couples, can’t afford to divorce. Having lost their jobs in the recession, together they must downsize and move with their three children from London to a house in a remote part of Devon.

Arrogant and adulterous, Quentin can’t understand why Lottie is so angry. Devastated and humiliated, Lottie feels herself to have been intolerably wounded. Sally Verity, happily married but unhappily childless , knows a different side to country life, as both a health visitor and a sheep farmer’s wife; and when the Bredins’ innocent teenage son Xan gets a zero-hours contract at a local pie factory, he sees yet another.

By the end of the year, all their lives will be changed forever.

The Jealous Kind

by James Lee Burke

HOUSTON LIFE IS as you would expect: drive-in restaurants, souped-up cars, juke boxes, teenagers discovering their sexuality. But beneath all this, a class war has begun and against this backdrop Aaron Holland Broussard discovers a world of violence he did not know existed.

When Aaron spots the beautiful and gifted Valerie Epstein fighting with her boyfriend, he inadvertently challenges the power of the Mob and one of the richest families in Texas.

As Aaron undergoes his harrowing evolution from boy to man, he discovers the inspirational and curative power of first love and how far he will go to protect it.

DVD Corner

Girlfriends

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WHEN LINDA IS SUDDENLY WIDOWED, she finds herself on her own for the first time in nearly 30 years. She turns to her old friends Gail and Sue for support. But it seems they may need her support in equal measure as each face up to the problems with being modern women of a certain age.

As the girlfriends come back together it’s clear that although their lives have changed over the years true friendship remains the same no matter how much time has passed.

Starring Phylis Logan, Miranda Richardson and Zoe Wanamaker.