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 Barry Stone

For the early settlers who came from crowded cities and long established villages, it must have been extraordinary to find you could pack your belongings onto a bullock dray and head off to rural grasslands out of the reach of meddlesome authorities. They could just mark out a parcel of land, bring in sheep or cattle, and build a future.

Some made their fortunes, others failed through drought, poor land, or bad management. Those who succeeded built vast pastoral empires running tens of thousands of head of stock, providing meat for the voracious growing colony and wool for export to England. These squatters became a bush aristocracy, with all the trappings. Families dined in gilded dining rooms with black servants waiting on them, dance halls were built in small communities, and grazing families intermarried to maintain control of property. Some even had their own artillery batteries, in case the workers revolted.

These were the “kings in grass castles” and it was a time of big dreams. Barry Stone tells stories of the men and women fanned across Australia across the 19th century and created a rural establishment that contributed more than any other segment of society to the growth of a prosperous nation.

Tom Gilling

A little known story of two Australian battalions abandoned in Java during World War II and the heroes who kept them alive in the worst of Japan’s prisoner of war camps.

They were thrown into a hopeless fight against an overwhelming enemy. Later, hundreds died as prisoners of war on the Thai-Burma Railway and in the freezing coal mines of Taiwan and Japan. Through it all, wrote Weary Dunlop, they showed ‘fortitude beyond anything I could have believed possible’.

Until now, the story of the 2000 diggers marooned on Java in February 1942 has been a footnote to the fall of Singapore and the bloody campaign in New Guinea. Led by an Adelaide lawyer, Brigadier Arthur Blackburn VC, and fighting with scrounged weapons, two Australian battalions – plus an assortment of cooks, laundrymen and deserters from Singapore – held up the might of the Imperial Japanese Army until ordered by their Dutch allies to surrender.

Drawing on personal diaries, official records and interviews with two of the last living survivors, this book tells the extraordinary story of the ‘lads from Java’, who laid down their weapons, but refused to give in.

Michael Caine

Now in his 85th year, Hollywood legend Michael Caine shares wisdom and stories from his remarkable career in this “engrossing” memoir that “shines with positive energy” (Library Journal, starred review).

One of our best-loved actors, Michael Caine has starred in over 100 films in his six-decade career, spanning classic movies like Alfie, Zulu, and The Italian Job (the inspiration for the book title) to playing Alfred opposite Christian Bale’s Batman in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Dark Knight trilogy. Caine has excelled in every kind of role–with a skill that’s made it look easy.

 Cathy Byrd

At the tender age of two, baseball prodigy Christian Haupt began sharing vivid memories of being a baseball player in the 1920s and ’30s. From riding cross-country on trains, to his fierce rivalry with Babe Ruth, Christian described historical facts about the life of American hero and baseball legend Lou Gehrig that he could not have possibly known at the time.

Distraught by her son’s uncanny revelations, Christian’s mother, Cathy, embarked on a sacred journey of discovery that would shake her beliefs to the core and forever change her views on life and death.

In this compelling and heartwarming memoir, Cathy Byrd shares her remarkable experiences, the lessons she learned as she searched to find answers to this great mystery, and a story of healing in the lives of these intertwined souls.

The Boy Who Knew Too Much will inspire even the greatest skeptics to consider the possibility that love never dies.

Laura Greaves

Dogs are renowned for their loyalty, and those saved from animal shelters or rescue groups seem to be especially devoted to the humans who have offered them a second chance.

In this extraordinary collection, meet the brave dogs that have shown incredible courage – even risking death – to protect their people.There?s Leala, the Staffy who raced for help when her two-year-old owner fell in a dam; Buddy, the labrador who licked his owner awake to save her from a house fire; and Brian, the pit bull who valiantly fought off three other dogs to protect his owner.From unforgettable moments of courage to heart-warming tales of true loyalty, these are the stories of some of the most heroic rescue dogs in the world.

 Danielle Steel

#1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel tells the uplifting story of an ordinary woman embracing an extraordinary adventure, and the daring choice that transforms her world.

Winona Farmington once dreamed of graduating from college, moving to New York City, and pursuing a career in publishing. Then real life got in the way when she left college and returned to her small Michigan hometown to care for her sick mother.

Years later, stuck in a dead-end job and an unsatisfying relationship, Winnie has concluded that dreams were meant for others. She consoles herself with binge-watching the British television series that she loves, Beauchamp Hall, enthralled by the sumptuous period drama set on a great Norfolk estate in the 1920s. The rich upstairs-downstairs world brilliantly brought to life by superb actors is the ultimate in escapism.

On the day Winnie is passed over for a long-overdue promotion, she is also betrayed by her boyfriend and her best friend. Heartbroken, she makes the first impulsive decision of her conventional life—which changes everything.

She packs her bags and flies to England to see the town where Beauchamp Hall is filmed. The quaint B & B where she stays feels like home. The brother and sister who live in the castle where the show is filmed, rich in titles but poor in cash, are more like long-lost friends than British nobility. And the show itself, with its colorful company and behind-the-scenes affairs, is a drama all its own. Winnie’s world comes alive on the set of the show.

What happens next is the stuff of dreams, as Winnie takes the boldest leap of all. Beauchamp Hall reminds us to follow our dreams. . . . You never know what magic will happen!

Barbara Kingsolver

The New York Times bestselling author of Flight Behavior, The Lacuna, and The Poisonwood Bible and recipient of numerous literary awards—including the National Humanities Medal, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the Orange Prize—returns with a timely novel that interweaves past and present to explore the human capacity for resiliency and compassion in times of great upheaval.

Willa Knox has always prided herself on being the embodiment of responsibility for her family. Which is why it’s so unnerving that she’s arrived at middle age with nothing to show for her hard work and dedication but a stack of unpaid bills and an inherited brick home in Vineland, New Jersey, that is literally falling apart. The magazine where she worked has folded, and the college where her husband had tenure has closed. The dilapidated house is also home to her ailing and cantankerous Greek father-in-law and her two grown children: her stubborn, free-spirited daughter, Tig, and her dutiful debt-ridden, ivy educated son, Zeke, who has arrived with his unplanned baby in the wake of a life-shattering development.

In an act of desperation, Willa begins to investigate the history of her home, hoping that the local historical preservation society might take an interest and provide funding for its direly needed repairs. Through her research into Vineland’s past and its creation as a Utopian community, she discovers a kindred spirit from the 1880s, Thatcher Greenwood.

A science teacher with a lifelong passion for honest investigation, Thatcher finds himself under siege in his community for telling the truth: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting new theory recently published by Charles Darwin. Thatcher’s friendships with a brilliant woman scientist and a renegade newspaper editor draw him into a vendetta with the town’s most powerful men. At home, his new wife and status-conscious mother-in-law bristle at the risk of scandal, and dismiss his financial worries and the news that their elegant house is structurally unsound.

Brilliantly executed and compulsively listenable, Unsheltered is the story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum, as they navigate the challenges of surviving a world in the throes of major cultural shifts. In this mesmerizing story told in alternating chapters, Willa and Thatcher come to realize that though the future is uncertain, even unnerving, shelter can be found in the bonds of kindred—whether family or friends—and in the strength of the human spirit.

 James Patterson

“Sir, the First Lady … has gone rogue.”

President Tucker is caught up in a media firestorm. The scandal of his affair has sent shockwaves through his re-election campaign, and threatens to derail everything he has worked for. To win the vote, he needs the First Lady to stand by his side.

But Grace Tucker has a mind of her own.

After years of compromise, unfulfilled promises, deception and betrayal, Grace refuses to give in to her husband’s demands. Escaping the city and her Secret Service agents, she is officially off the radar.

But did the First Lady run away? Or is she in far greater danger than anyone could have imagined?

Tami Hoag

An unfathomable loss or an unthinkable crime? Number one New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag keeps you guessing in her most harrowing thriller yet.

A panic-stricken woman runs in the dead of night, battered and bloodied, desperate to find help. . . .

When Detective Nick Fourcade enters the home of Genevieve Gauthier outside the sleepy town of Bayou Breaux, Louisiana, the bloody crime scene that awaits him is both the most brutal and the most confusing he’s ever seen. Genevieve’s seven-year-old son, P.J., has been murdered by an alleged intruder, yet Genevieve is alive and well, a witness inexplicably left behind to tell the tale. There is no evidence of forced entry, not a clue that points to a motive. Meanwhile, Nick’s wife, Detective Annie Broussard, sits in the emergency room with the grieving Genevieve. A mother herself, Annie understands the emotional devastation this woman is going through, but as a detective she’s troubled by a story that makes little sense. Who would murder a child and leave the only witness behind?

When the very next day P.J.’s sometimes babysitter, thirteen-year-old Nora Florette, is reported missing, the town is up in arms, fearing a maniac is preying on their children. With pressure mounting from a tough, no-nonsense new sheriff, the media, and the parents of Bayou Breaux, Nick and Annie dig deep into the dual mysteries. But sifting through Genevieve Gauthier’s tangled web of lovers and sorting through a cast of local lowlifes brings more questions than answers. Is someone from Genevieve’s past or present responsible for the death of her son? Is the missing teenager, Nora, a victim, or something worse? Then fingerprints at the scene change everything when they come back to a convicted criminal: Genevieve herself.

The spotlight falls heavily on the grieving mother who is both victim and accused. Could she have killed her own child to free herself of the burden of motherhood, or is the loss of her beloved boy pushing her to the edge of insanity? Could she have something to do with the disappearance of Nora Florette, or is the troubled teenager the key to the murder? How far will Nick and Annie have to go to uncover the dark truth of the boy?

 Clive Cussler

January 1968

Two submarines–one French, one Israeli–vanish in the Mediterranean within days of each other. Extensive search-and-rescue operations turn up no sign of either vessel. Thirty years later, the wreck of one is found; the other is never recovered.

Present Day

After an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico destroys three oil rigs trying to revive a dying field, Kurt, Joe and NUMA are tapped by the President of the United States to find out why many of the world’s most productive oilfields have gone dry. The trail leads them to Tessa Franco, a brilliant billionaire in the alternative energy field. Tessa’s goal is the end of the oil age; her company has spent billions developing the most powerful and efficient fuel-cell systems the world has ever seen. In the eyes of many she’s an environmental hero, but her connection to a rogue genetic engineer and central Asian money suggest something more.

The NUMA crew discovers that the oil fields are infected with a bacteria that is consuming the oil before it can be pumped out of the earth–and initial studies reveal no way to stop it. With the price of oil tripling, the world’s stock markets crashing and the health of the global economy hanging in the balance, Kurt is up against it. But finding a submarine that’s remained hidden for fifty years won’t be easy. And with uncountable money and an army of hired killers at her disposal, Tessa Franco will do everything in her power to stop him.