June 2017 Adult Top 10 Picks

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  1. The Child
    by Fiona Barton
    Penguin Canada
    Jun 27, 2017
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Paperback / softback
    The Child
    by Fiona Barton
    Penguin Canada
    Jun 27, 2017
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Paperback / softback
    The author of the stunning New York Times bestseller The Widow returns with a brand-new novel of twisting psychological suspense

    As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby?

    As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss.

    But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn—house by house—into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women—and torn between what she can and cannot tell…
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  2. Spoonbenders
    by Daryl Gregory
    Bond Street Books
    Jun 27, 2017
    FICTION / Family Life / General
    Hardback
    Spoonbenders
    by Daryl Gregory
    Bond Street Books
    Jun 27, 2017
    FICTION / Family Life / General
    Hardback
    **An NPR Best Book of 2017
    **An Amazon Best Book

    A generations-spanning family of psychics--both blessed and burdened by their abilities--must use their powers to save themselves from the CIA, the local mafia and a skeptic hell-bent on discrediting them in this hilarious, tender, magical novel about the invisible forces that bind us.


    The Telemachus family is known for performing inexplicable feats on talk shows and late-night television. Teddy, a master con-man, heads up a clan who possess gifts he only fakes: there's Maureen, who can astral-project; Irene, the Human Lie Detector; Frankie, gifted with telekinesis; and Buddy, the clairvoyant. But when, one night, the magic fails to materialize, the family withdraws to Chicago where they live in shame for years. Until: as they find themselves facing a troika of threats (CIA, Mafia, an unrelenting skeptic), Matty, grandson of the family patriarch, discovers a bit of the old Telemachus magic in himself. Now, they must put past obstacles behind them and unite like never before. But will it be enough to bring The Amazing Telemachus Family back to its amazing life?
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  3. The Little French Bistro
    by Nina George
    Crown
    Jun 13, 2017
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    The Little French Bistro
    by Nina George
    Crown
    Jun 13, 2017
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop, an extraordinary novel about self-discovery and new beginnings.

    Marianne is stuck in a loveless, unhappy marriage. After forty-one years, she has reached her limit, and one evening in Paris she decides to take action. Following a dramatic moment on the banks of the Seine, Marianne leaves her life behind and sets out for the coast of Brittany, also known as “the end of the world.”

    Here she meets a cast of colorful and unforgettable locals who surprise her with their warm welcome, and the natural ease they all seem to have, taking pleasure in life’s small moments. And, as the parts of herself she had long forgotten return to her in this new world, Marianne learns it’s never too late to begin the search for what life should have been all along.

    With all the buoyant charm that made The Little Paris Bookshop a beloved bestseller, The Little French Bistro is a tale of second chances and a delightful embrace of the joys of life in France.
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  4. The Substitute
    by Nicole Lundrigan
    Spiderline
    Jun 24, 2017
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General
    Paperback / softback
    The Substitute
    by Nicole Lundrigan
    Spiderline
    Jun 24, 2017
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General
    Paperback / softback

    In the tradition of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins, The Substitute is a deliciously creepy psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page.

    Warren Botts is a disillusioned Ph.D. taking a break from his lab to teach middle-school science. Gentle, soft-spoken, and introverted, Warren befriends thirteen-year-old Amanda, a lonely student looking for guidance.

    One morning, Warren returns from a jog to find Amanda dead, hanging from a tree in his backyard. A police investigation follows, but Warren is unable — or unwilling — to answer the questions that swirl around him. Suspicions mount, and Warren’s peaceful neighbours quickly become hostile.

    Meanwhile, an anonymous narrator who possesses a dangerous combination of extreme intelligence and emotional detachment offers insight into events past and present. As the tension builds, we gain an intimate understanding of the power of memories, secrets, and lies.

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  5. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
    by Arundhati Roy
    Hamish Hamilton
    Jun 06, 2017
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
    by Arundhati Roy
    Hamish Hamilton
    Jun 06, 2017
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    2017 Man Booker Prize Longlist

    2018 Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist


    The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
    is a dazzling new novel by the internationally celebrated author of The God of Small Things. It takes us on an intimate journey of many years across the Indian subcontinent—from the cramped neighborhoods of Old Dehli and the roads of the new city to the mountains and valleys of Kashmir and beyond, where war is peace and peace is war.
    It is an aching love story and a decisive remonstration, a story told in a whisper, in a shout, through unsentimental tears and sometimes with a bitter laugh. Each of its characters is indelibly, tenderly rendered. Its heroes are people who have been broken by the world they live in and then rescued, patched together by acts of love—and by hope.
    The tale begins with Anjum—who used to be Aftab—unrolling a threadbare Persian carpet in a city graveyard she calls home. We encounter the odd, unforgettable Tilo and the men who loved her—including Musa, sweetheart and ex-sweetheart, lover and ex-lover; their fates are as entwined as their arms used to be and always will be. We meet Tilo's landlord, a former suitor, now an intelligence officer posted to Kabul. And then we meet the two Miss Jebeens: the first a child born in Srinagar and buried in its overcrowded Martyrs' Graveyard; the second found at midnight, abandoned on a concrete sidewalk in the heart of New Delhi.
    As this ravishing, deeply humane novel braids these richly complex lives together, it reinvents what a novel can do and can be. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness demonstrates on every page the miracle of Arundhati Roy's storytelling gifts.
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  6. If Found. . . Please Return to Elise Gravel
    by Shira Adriance Canada
    Drawn & Quarterly
    Jun 06, 2017
    JUVENILE FICTION / Comics & Graphic Novels / General
    Hardback
    If Found. . . Please Return to Elise Gravel
    by Shira Adriance Canada
    Drawn & Quarterly
    Jun 06, 2017
    JUVENILE FICTION / Comics & Graphic Novels / General
    Hardback

    Welcome to the charming world of cartoonist Elise Gravel’s notebook, where her imagination runs wild with creatures of all shapes and sizes

    In the outrageously amusing If Found…Please Return to Elise Gravel, Elise Gravel offers readers a sneak peek into her sketchbook, where colorful monsters, imaginary friends, a grumpy things reign supreme. Meet Donald, who sings off-key; Francine, who likes to eat stones; and Marvin, the man with lots of stuff in his beard. Mixing the real with the fantastical, Elise’s drawings exude curiosity, as microbes and mushrooms share the page with speckled pepper pops, gloppers, and floofs.

    Filled to the brim with vibrant felt marker illustrations, If Found… is not just an exhibition of Gravel’s work, but a challenge to young artists to keep a daily sketchbook. She reveals her top tips to becoming a successful illustrator—practice! practice! practice!—while empowering young artists to face their fears of making “ugly drawings.” Stop worrying about what makes a drawing good or bad—Elise draws anything and everything and you can too!

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  7. The People We Hate at the Wedding
    by Grant Ginder
    Flatiron Books
    Jun 06, 2017
    FICTION / Family Life / Marriage & Divorce
    Hardback
    The People We Hate at the Wedding
    by Grant Ginder
    Flatiron Books
    Jun 06, 2017
    FICTION / Family Life / Marriage & Divorce
    Hardback

    "It’s for the same audience that flocked to The Nest, Where’d You Go, Bernadette? or dare I say a little book you might be a fan of, Crazy Rich Asians."
    Kevin Kwan, New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians

    "Sinfully good."

    — Elin Hilderbrand

    Entertainment Weekly's Summer Must-Read


    A Publishers Weekly BEST SUMMER BOOKS, 2017

    New York Post Best Books of Summer

    Redbook's 10 Books You Have To Read This Summer

    Relationships are awful. They'll kill you, right up to the point where they start saving your life.

    Paul and Alice’s half-sister Eloise is getting married! In London! There will be fancy hotels, dinners at “it” restaurants and a reception at a country estate complete with tea lights and embroidered cloth napkins.

    They couldn’t hate it more.

    The People We Hate at the Wedding is the story of a less than perfect family. Donna, the clan’s mother, is now a widow living in the Chicago suburbs with a penchant for the occasional joint and more than one glass of wine with her best friend while watching House Hunters International. Alice is in her thirties, single, smart, beautiful, stuck in a dead-end job where she is mired in a rather predictable, though enjoyable, affair with her married boss. Her brother Paul lives in Philadelphia with his older, handsomer, tenured track professor boyfriend who’s recently been saying things like “monogamy is an oppressive heteronormative construct,” while eyeing undergrads. And then there’s Eloise. Perfect, gorgeous, cultured Eloise. The product of Donna’s first marriage to a dashing Frenchman, Eloise has spent her school years at the best private boarding schools, her winter holidays in St. John and a post-college life cushioned by a fat, endless trust fund. To top it off, she’s infuriatingly kind and decent.

    As this estranged clan gathers together, and Eloise's walk down the aisle approaches, Grant Ginder brings to vivid, hilarious life the power of family, and the complicated ways we hate the ones we love the most in the most bitingly funny, slyly witty and surprisingly tender novel you’ll read this year.

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  8. The Party
    by Robyn Harding Canada
    Gallery/Scout Press
    Jun 06, 2017
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    The Party
    by Robyn Harding Canada
    Gallery/Scout Press
    Jun 06, 2017
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    Robyn Harding’s domestic drama, hailed as “tense and riveting” by Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls, explores the aftermath of a sweet sixteen birthday party that goes horribly awry, as the members of a wealthy family in San Francisco find their picture-perfect life unraveling, their darkest secrets revealed, and their friends turned to enemies.

    One invitation. A lifetime of regrets.

    Sweet sixteen. It’s an exciting coming-of-age, a milestone, and a rite of passage. Jeff and Kim Sanders plan on throwing a party for their daughter, Hannah—a sweet girl with good grades and nice friends. Rather than an extravagant, indulgent affair, they invite four girls over for pizza, cake, movies, and a sleepover. What could possibly go wrong?

    But things do go wrong, horrifically so, and Jeff and Kim’s flawless life in a wealthy San Francisco suburb suddenly begins to come apart. In the ugly aftermath, friends become enemies, dark secrets are revealed in the Sanders’ marriage, and the truth about their perfect daughter is exposed.

    Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies, this is a white-knuckled and “riveting tale that is impossible to put down” (Bill Clegg, New York Times bestselling author of Did You Ever Have a Family).
    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. Please Proceed to the Nearest Exit
    by Jessica Raya Canada
    McClelland & Stewart
    Jun 06, 2017
    FICTION / Coming of Age
    Paperback / softback
    Please Proceed to the Nearest Exit
    by Jessica Raya Canada
    McClelland & Stewart
    Jun 06, 2017
    FICTION / Coming of Age
    Paperback / softback
    In the tradition of Miriam Toews's A Complicated Kindness, Mona Awad's 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, and Marjorie Celona's Y, and set against the shadow of the Vietnam War and the changing social mores of 1970s America, a sharply comic novel that follows the tumultuous coming of age of both a mother and daughter, at a time when womanhood itself was coming of age.

    We're all just one bad decision away from disaster.
    For as long as 14-year-old Robin Fisher can remember, she has lived by her insurance salesman father's credo, happy to live the American Dream and catalogue everyday calamities under "Bad Things that Happen to Other People." But life in 1970s Golden, California, doesn't prove so golden after her father deserts the family, setting in motion a series of events that results in Robin accidentally setting fire to an abandoned party house. Seemingly overnight, she discovers that earthquakes or the possibility of electrocution are nothing compared to the hazards of high school or coming home to a family that is suddenly one member short. As Robin struggles to keep an eye on her fixation with Bic lighters and her newly independent mother's own growing pains, she is drawn into the orbit of Carol "Jesus Freak" Closter, a vulnerable yet charismatic classmate whose friendship will challenge Robin in ways she could never have imagined. When Carol finally crosses a dangerous line, it's Robin who must make a heartbreaking decision of her own.
    Hilarious, insightful, and deeply moving, Please Proceed to the Nearest Exit illuminates those unforgettable moments in life when everything changes, whether we want it to or not.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. Be Ready for the Lightning
    by Grace O'Connell Canada
    Random House Canada
    Jun 06, 2017
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    Be Ready for the Lightning
    by Grace O'Connell Canada
    Random House Canada
    Jun 06, 2017
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    From acclaimed New Face of Fiction alumna Grace O'Connell, a suspenseful, poignant and provocative tale about violence, sibling love, friendship, heroism--all told through the lens of a young woman trapped in a hijacked bus.

    On the surface, Veda's life in Vancouver seems to be going just fine--at nearly thirty, she has a good job, lifelong friends, and a close bond with her brother, Conrad. But Conrad's violent behavior, a problem since he was a teen, is getting more and more serious, and Veda's ongoing commitment to watch out for him is pushing her to a breaking point.
    When Veda is injured as a bystander during one of Conrad's many fights, she knows it's time to leave Vancouver for a fresh start. She heads to New York, staying in the Manhattan apartment of old friends Al and Marie. Exploring the city, she swings between feeling hopeful and lost--until one day the bus she's on is hijacked by a sweet-faced gun-toting man named Peter. He instructs Veda and the other passengers to spray paint the bus windows black, and what ensues is a gripping and unpredictable hostage situation, the outcome of which will make Veda question everything she knows about herself and the nature of fear.
    Told with powerful immediacy and warmth, at once unsettling and engrossing, Be Ready for the Lightning is a story of violence, its attractions and repulsions; of love, loyalty and friendship; and of a young woman finding an unexpected kind of bravery.
    View this title on BNC CataList

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