Marielle's Summer Picks
This is not a Jack the Ripper book. This book is about Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Kate, and Mary Jane. Taking an extensive and critical look at the lives of these women, THE FIVE paints a powerful picture of the harsh realities faced by poor women in Victorian London. These women are brought back to life in this immersive work of narrative nonfiction, making you care so deeply that you’ll wish for a different ending to their stories.
A thrilling historical fantasy with a clever, strong girl in the lead, THE BIRD AND THE BLADE is as captivating as it is heartbreaking. With expertly crafted words and well researched facts, Megan Bannen brings the Mongol Empire to life and pulls you into Jinghua’s tragic and triumphant story. With a little magic and a steamy forbidden romance at the heart of it all, this book will break your heart in the most beautiful of ways.
With the snarky, sarcastic, self-deprecating, but always loveable Maggie as our guide we travel to France, on a writer's road to fighting writer’s block, and fall in love with life all over again. You will feel like the sun is inside you and be smiling even brighter as you read and long after you've finished. MAGGIE FINDS HER MUSE is the heartfelt and hopeful story everyone needs.
A fully immersive story set in a fresh expertly crafted world, THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER is an epic fantasy you won’t soon forget. Lush descriptions and atmospheric writing run through every page, but it is Lin’s journey that will draw you in and make you never want to leave. With political intrigue, a suspenseful plot, and a dark secret waiting to be brought to light, this story will leave you salivating for the next book in the series.
An excellent and unique look at the life of the Dame of Crime Fiction, this book is a wholly enjoyable reading experience. Alongside an overview of the key points of her life, you also get a deep dive into her novels, characters, and mystery expertise. Part biography, part literary study, filled with fun facts and charming anecdotes this is a joy ride through Agatha Christie’s life that keeps you laughing, crying, and smiling all the way through.
A dark and creepy atmosphere permeates this expertly and tightly plotted story, in one of Agatha Christie’s best standalone mysteries. You will easily be pulled into the lives of the strange Leonides family, and asking whodunit all the way through. With hidden family secrets, a setting so mundane it fills you with terror, and a thrill ride of suspense pushing you towards a shocking conclusion, CROOKED HOUSE is sublime and will haunt you long after the end.
A clever storyteller at her best, Agatha Christie weaves so many twists and turns, giving you strands of events that seem to have nothing to do with each other but somehow coalesce to mean murder in HALLOWE’EN PARTY. Christie shows you multiple paths to take in order to solve this terror filled whodunit, leaving you in suspense and confusion until the very last page. An expertly written and absolute thrill ride of a mystery.
A classic mystery with an ending that will shock you no matter how many times you read it, this is Agatha Christie at her best. With Hercule Poirot, at the helm, we are guided through the dark twists and turns of the Orient Express and the people aboard. But as secrets unravel and the killer is revealed, the hardest decision is between justice and doing what’s right. If you’re looking for a twisty whodunit this book is for you!