January 2021 Adult Top 10 Picks

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  1. The Survivors
    by Jane Harper
    Flatiron Books
    Feb 02, 2021
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / International Crime & Mystery
    Hardback
    The Survivors
    by Jane Harper
    Flatiron Books
    Feb 02, 2021
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / International Crime & Mystery
    Hardback

    Instant New York Times Bestseller

    "I love Jane Harper's Australia-based mysteries....and The Survivors is the best yet. There are cave scenes that will freeze your blood." —Stephen King

    “As always, Harper skillfully evokes the landscape as she weaves a complicated, elegant web, full of long-buried secrets ready to come to light.”
    -The New York Times Book Review

    Kieran Elliott's life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.

    The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.

    Kieran's parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.

    When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away...

    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. The Sanatorium
    by Sarah Pearse
    Pamela Dorman Books
    Feb 02, 2021
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    The Sanatorium
    by Sarah Pearse
    Pamela Dorman Books
    Feb 02, 2021
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK | An instant New York Times bestseller!

    “An eerie, atmospheric novel that had me completely on the edge of my seat.” Reese Witherspoon

    “This spine-tingling, atmospheric thriller has it all… and twists you’ll never see coming.” —Richard Osman, New York Times bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club

    Sarah Pearse's next book, The Retreat, is forthcoming.

    You won't want to leave. . . until you can't.


    Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.

    An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.

    Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge--there's something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

    Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she's the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in. . .
    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. The Paris Library
    by Janet Skeslien Charles
    Simon & Schuster
    Feb 02, 2021
    FICTION / Historical / 20th Century / World War II & Holocaust
    Paperback / softback
    The Paris Library
    by Janet Skeslien Charles
    Simon & Schuster
    Feb 02, 2021
    FICTION / Historical / 20th Century / World War II & Holocaust
    Paperback / softback
    Based on the true World War II story of the American Library in Paris, an unforgettable novel about the power of books and the bonds of friendship—and the ordinary heroes who can be found in the most perilous times and the quietest places.

    Paris, 1939.

    Young, ambitious, and tempestuous, Odile Souchet has it all: Paul, her handsome police officer beau; Margaret, her best friend from England; Remy, her twin brother who she adores; and a dream job at the American Library in Paris, working alongside the library’s legendary director, Dorothy Reeder. When World War II breaks out, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear—including her beloved library. After the Nazi army marches into the City of Light and declares a war on words, Odile and her fellow librarians join the Resistance with the best weapons they have: books. Again and again, they risk their lives to help their fellow Jewish readers, but by war’s end, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.

    Montana, 1983.

    Odile’s solitary existence in gossipy small-town Montana is unexpectedly interrupted by her neighbor Lily, a lonely teenager craving adventure. As Lily uncovers more about Odile’s mysterious past, they find they share not only a love of language but also the same lethal jealousy. Odile helps Lily navigate the troubled waters of adolescence by always recommending the right book at the right time, never suspecting that Lily will be the one to help her reckon with her own terrible secret.

    Based on the true story of the American Library in Paris, The Paris Library is a mesmerizing and captivating novel about the people and the books that make us who we are, for good and for bad, and the courage it takes to forgive.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. A Town Called Solace
    by Mary Lawson Canada
    Knopf Canada
    Feb 16, 2021
    FICTION / Small Town & Rural
    Hardback
    A Town Called Solace
    by Mary Lawson Canada
    Knopf Canada
    Feb 16, 2021
    FICTION / Small Town & Rural
    Hardback
    NATIONAL BESTSELLER
    LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 BOOKER PRIZE
    NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GLOBE AND MAIL, CBC BOOKS AND THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

    "I've been telling everyone I know about Mary Lawson . . . Each of her novels is just a marvel" —Anne Tyler

    New York Times bestselling author Mary Lawson, acclaimed for digging into the "wilderness of the human heart", is back after almost a decade with a fresh and timely novel that is different in subject but just as emotional and atmospheric as her beloved earlier work.


    A Town Called Solace, the brilliant and emotionally radiant new novel from Mary Lawson, her first in nearly a decade, opens on a family in crisis. Sixteen-year-old Rose is missing. Angry and rebellious, she had a row with her mother, stormed out of the house and simply disappeared. Left behind is seven-year-old Clara, Rose’s adoring little sister. Isolated by her parents’ efforts to protect her from the truth, Clara is bewildered and distraught. Her sole comfort is Moses, the cat next door, whom she is looking after for his elderly owner, Mrs. Orchard, who went into hospital weeks ago and has still not returned.

    Enter Liam Kane, mid-thirties, newly divorced, newly unemployed, newly arrived in this small northern town, who moves into Mrs. Orchard’s house—where, in Clara’s view, he emphatically does not belong. Within a matter of hours he receives a visit from the police. It seems he is suspected of a crime.

    At the end of her life, Elizabeth Orchard is also thinking about a crime, one committed thirty years previously that had tragic consequences for two families, and in particular for one small child. She desperately wants to make amends before she dies.

    Told through three distinct, compelling points of view, the novel cuts back and forth among these unforgettable characters to uncover the layers of grief, remorse, and love that connect them. A Town Called Solace is a masterful, suspenseful, darkly funny and deeply humane novel by one of our great storytellers.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. Murder in an Irish Bookshop
    by Carlene O'Connor
    Kensington
    Feb 23, 2021
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
    Hardback
    Murder in an Irish Bookshop
    by Carlene O'Connor
    Kensington
    Feb 23, 2021
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
    Hardback
    In Carlene O'Connor's seventh installment of her USA Today bestselling Irish Village Mystery series, the grand opening of a new bookstore in Kilbane becomes the closing chapter of an author's life--and a whodunit that tests even Garda Siobhán O'Sullivan's deductive reasoning...

    "A mélange of clues from classic mysteries plus plenty of Irish charm produce an enjoyable read."--Kirkus Reviews

    Join a bestselling author and travel to County Cork in Ireland to solve a bookish mystery full of twists in a cozy whodunit perfect for fans of Sheila Connolly, Kate Carlisle, and Laura Childs!

    Between training the new town garda and trying to set a wedding date with her fiancé, Macdara Flannery, Siobhán O'Sullivan is feeling a bit overwhelmed. She's looking forward to visiting the new bookshop and curling up with an exciting novel--only to discover the shelves contain nothing but Literature with a capital L. The owner not only refuses to stock romances, mysteries, and science fiction, but won't even let customers enter his store unless they can quote James Joyce or Sean Hennessey.

    Despite the owner deliberately limiting his clientele, he's hosting a reading and autographing event featuring up and coming Irish writers who will be taking up residency in Kilbane for a month. Among them is indie author Deirdre Walsh, who spends more time complaining about the unfairness of the publishing industry and megastar bestsellers instead of her own creative works, causing a heated debate among the writers. She seems to have a particular distaste for the novels of Nessa Lamb.

    Then Deirdre's body is found the next day in the back of the store--with pages torn from Nessa's books stuffed in her mouth. Now, Siobhán must uncover which of Kilbane's literary guests took Deirdre's criticisms so personally they'd engage in foul play . . .
    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. Two White Queens and the One-Eyed Jack
    by Heidi von Palleske Canada
    Dundurn Press
    Feb 09, 2021
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    Two White Queens and the One-Eyed Jack
    by Heidi von Palleske Canada
    Dundurn Press
    Feb 09, 2021
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    “How the characters in this story are interconnected is a marvel of storytelling.” — JOHN IRVING

    Fate, circumstance, and the symbolism of sight collide in this modern gothic novel.


    On a hot June day in 1965, two six-year-old boys, Gareth and Jack, compete to see who can climb higher up a tree. When Jack falls and loses his eye on a thorn bush, the accident sets off a series of events that will bind the boys together for the rest of their lives.

    When the best friends meet albino twins Clara and Blanca, a shared fate unfolds. With Gareth and Jack’s help, the twins are able to reclaim their lives and leave their nightmarish past behind them.

    From the shores of Lake Ontario to the hustle of Berlin, from the art of oculary to punk opera, this is a story of dark secrets, suppressed desires, forgiveness, and love.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. The Four Winds
    by Kristin Hannah
    St. Martin's Press
    Feb 02, 2021
    FICTION / Women
    Hardback
    The Four Winds
    by Kristin Hannah
    St. Martin's Press
    Feb 02, 2021
    FICTION / Women
    Hardback

    "The Bestselling Hardcover Novel of the Year."--Publishers Weekly

    From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them.

    My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.”

    Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.

    By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.

    In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.

    The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it—the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. The Push
    by Ashley Audrain Canada
    Viking
    Jan 05, 2021
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Paperback / softback
    The Push
    by Ashley Audrain Canada
    Viking
    Jan 05, 2021
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Paperback / softback
    INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

    WINNER of the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Best First Crime Novel

    SHORTLISTED for the 2022 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize

    “Utterly addictive.” —Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train

    “Written with an unflinching eye and a stylistically sharp, tight economy The Push is a single-sitting read, as suspenseful as any thriller, as thoughtful as any literary novel, with an almost physical force behind each of its turns and revelations.” —Toronto Star


    A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family, and about a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for, and everything she feared.

    Blythe Connor is determined to be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby, Violet, that she never had.

    But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe doesn’t find the connection with her daughter she expected. She’s convinced something is wrong with Violet—she is distant, rejects affection, and becomes increasingly disruptive at preschool.

    Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. Fox doesn’t see what she sees; he sees a wife who is struggling to cope with the day-to-day challenges of being amother. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.

    Then, their son, Sam, is born—and with him, Blythe has the natural maternal connection she’d always dreamed of. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fallout forces Blythe to face the truth.

    The Push is a rare and extraordinary gift to readers: an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, about what really happens behind the closed doors of even the most perfect-looking families and about what it feels like when women are not believed.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. The Perfect Guests
    by Emma Rous
    Berkley
    Jan 12, 2021
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    The Perfect Guests
    by Emma Rous
    Berkley
    Jan 12, 2021
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    The USA Today bestselling author of The Au Pair returns with another delicious, twisty novel—about a grand estate with many secrets, an orphan caught in a web of lies, and a young woman playing a sinister game.

    1988. Beth Soames is fourteen years old when her aunt takes her to stay at Raven Hall, a rambling manor in the isolated East Anglian fens. The Averells, the family who lives there, are warm and welcoming, and Beth becomes fast friends with their daughter, Nina. At times, Beth even feels like she's truly part of the family...until they ask her to help them with a harmless game—and nothing is ever the same.

    2019. Sadie Langton is an actress struggling to make ends meet when she lands a well-paying gig to pretend to be a guest at a weekend party. She is sent a suitcase of clothing, a dossier outlining the role she is to play, and instructions. It's strange, but she needs the money, and when she sees the stunning manor she'll be staying at, she figures she’s got nothing to lose.

    In person, Raven Hall is even grander than she'd imagined—even with damage from a fire decades before—but the walls seem to have eyes. As day turns to night, Sadie starts to feel that there’s something off about the glamorous guests who arrive, and as the party begins, it becomes chillingly apparent their unseen host is playing games with everyone...including her.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. The Burning Girls
    by C. J. Tudor
    Doubleday Canada
    Feb 09, 2021
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Paperback / softback
    The Burning Girls
    by C. J. Tudor
    Doubleday Canada
    Feb 09, 2021
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Paperback / softback
    An unconventional vicar must exorcise the dark past of a remote village haunted by death and disappearances in this explosive and unsettling thriller from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man.

    A dark history lingers in Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, Protestant martyrs were betrayed—then burned. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the local parish hanged himself in the nave of the church.

    Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a fourteen-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping for a fresh start. Instead, Jack finds a town rife with conspiracies and secrets, and is greeted with a strange welcome package: an exorcism kit and a note that warns, "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known."

    The more Jack and daughter, Flo, explore the town and get to know its strange denizens, the deeper they are drawn into the age-old rifts, mysteries and suspicions. And when Flo begins to see specters of girls ablaze, it becomes apparent there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest.

    Uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village with a bloody past, where everyone has something to hide and no one trusts an outsider.
    View this title on BNC CataList

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