One Book, One Community Waterloo Region 2019

The 2019 One Book, One Community selection is The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman. Learn about the author, the book, events, and more at www.oboc.ca

In 1950s Quebec, French and English tolerate each other with precarious civility—much like Maggie Hughes’ parents. Maggie’s English-speaking father has ambitions for his daughter that don’t include marriage to the poor French boy on the next farm over. But Maggie’s heart is captured by Gabriel Phénix. When she becomes pregnant at fifteen, her parents force her to give baby Elodie up for adoption and get her life ‘back on track’.
 
Elodie is raised in Quebec’s impoverished orphanage system. It’s a precarious enough existence that takes a tragic turn when Elodie, along with thousands of other orphans in Quebec, is declared mentally ill as the result of a new law that provides more funding to psychiatric hospitals than to orphanages. Bright and determined, Elodie withstands abysmal treatment at the nuns’ hands, finally earning her freedom at seventeen, when she is thrust into an alien, often unnerving world.
 
Maggie, married to a businessman eager to start a family, cannot forget the daughter she was forced to abandon, and a chance reconnection with Gabriel spurs a wrenching choice. As time passes, the stories of Maggie and Elodie intertwine but never touch, until Maggie realizes she must take what she wants from life and go in search of her long-lost daughter, finally reclaiming the truth that has been denied them both.

Neon Prey

by John Sandford

Regular Price $39.00

Our Price $29.99

Clayton Deese looks like a small-time criminal, muscle for hire when his loan shark boss needs to teach someone a lesson. Now, seven months after a job that went south and landed him in jail, Deese has skipped out on bail, and the U.S. Marshals come looking for him. They don't much care about a low-level guy--it's his boss they want--but Deese might be their best chance to bring down the whole operation.
 
Then, they step onto a dirt trail behind Deese's rural Louisiana cabin and find a jungle full of graves.
 
Now Lucas Davenport is on the trail of a serial killer who has been operating for years without notice. His quarry is ruthless, and--as Davenport will come to find--full of surprises . . .

The Border

by Don Winslow

Regular Price $24.99

Our Price $19.99

The explosive, highly anticipated conclusion to the epic Cartel trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Force

What do you do when there are no borders? When the lines you thought existed simply vanish?  How do you plant your feet to make a stand when you no longer know what side you’re on?
 
The war has come home.
 
For over forty years, Art Keller has been on the front lines of America’s longest conflict: The War on Drugs. His obsession to defeat the world’s most powerful, wealthy, and lethal kingpin―the godfather of the Sinaloa Cartel, Adán Barrera―has left him bloody and scarred, cost him the people he loves, even taken a piece of his soul.
 
In a story that moves from deserts of Mexico to Wall Street, from the slums of Guatemala to the marbled corridors of Washington, D.C., Winslow follows a new generation of narcos, the cops who fight them, street traffickers, addicts, politicians, money-launderers, real-estate moguls, and mere children fleeing the violence for the chance of a life in a new country.
 
A shattering tale of vengeance, violence, corruption and justice, this last novel in Don Winslow’s magnificent, award-winning, internationally bestselling trilogy is packed with unforgettable, drawn-from-the-headlines scenes. Shocking in its brutality, raw in its humanity, The Border is an unflinching portrait of modern America, a story of—and for—our time.

The Huntress

by Kate Quinn

Regular Price $22.99

Our Price $18.99

From the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel, THE ALICE NETWORK, comes another fascinating historical novel about a battle-haunted English journalist and a Russian female bomber pilot who join forces to track the Huntress, a Nazi war criminal gone to ground in America.

In the aftermath of war, the hunter becomes the hunted…
 
Bold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans. When she is stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, and only Nina’s bravery and cunning will keep her alive.
 
Transformed by the horrors he witnessed from Omaha Beach to the Nuremberg Trials, British war correspondent Ian Graham has become a Nazi hunter. Yet one target eludes him: a vicious predator known as the Huntress. To find her, the fierce, disciplined investigator joins forces with the only witness to escape the Huntress alive: the brazen, cocksure Nina. But a shared secret could derail their mission unless Ian and Nina force themselves to confront it.
 
Growing up in post-war Boston, seventeen-year-old Jordan McBride is determined to become a photographer. When her long-widowed father unexpectedly comes homes with a new fiancée, Jordan is thrilled. But there is something disconcerting about the soft-spoken German widow. Certain that danger is lurking, Jordan begins to delve into her new stepmother’s past—only to discover that there are mysteries buried deep in her family . . . secrets that may threaten all Jordan holds dear.
 
In this immersive, heart-wrenching story, Kate Quinn illuminates the consequences of war on individual lives, and the price we pay to seek justice and truth. 

The Lost Girls of Paris

by Pam Jenoff

Regular Price $21.99

Our Price $17.99

From the author of the runaway bestseller The Orphan’s Tale comes a remarkable story of friendship and courage centered around three women and a ring of female secret agents during World War II.

1946, Manhattan
 
One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. Unable to resist her own curiosity, Grace opens the suitcase, where she discovers a dozen photographs—each of a different woman. In a moment of impulse, Grace takes the photographs and quickly leaves the station.
 
Grace soon learns that the suitcase belonged to a woman named Eleanor Trigg, leader of a network of female secret agents who were deployed out of London during the war. Twelve of these women were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance, but they never returned home, their fates a mystery. Setting out to learn the truth behind the women in the photographs, Grace finds herself drawn to a young mother turned agent named Marie, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valor and betrayal.
 
Vividly rendered and inspired by true events, New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff shines a light on the incredible heroics of the brave women of the war and weaves a mesmerizing tale of courage, sisterhood and the great strength of women to survive in the hardest of circumstances.

The Malta Exchange

by Steve Berry

Regular Price $37.99

Our Price $29.99

The next in New York Times top 5 bestseller Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series involves the Knights of Malta, papal conclave, and lost documents that could change history. A deadly race for the Vatican’s oldest secret fuels New York Times bestseller Steve Berry’s latest international Cotton Malone thriller. 

The pope is dead. A conclave to select his replacement is about to begin. Cardinals are beginning to arrive at the Vatican, but one has fled Rome for Malta in search of a document that dates back to the 4th century and Constantine the Great.
 
Former Justice Department operative, Cotton Malone, is at Lake Como, Italy, on the trail of legendary letters between Winston Churchill and Benito Mussolini that disappeared in 1945 and could re-write history. But someone else seems to be after the same letters and, when Malone obtains then loses them, he’s plunged into a hunt that draws the attention of the legendary Knights of Malta.
 
The knights have existed for over nine hundred years, the only warrior-monks to survive into modern times. Now they are a global humanitarian organization, but within their ranks lurks trouble — the Secreti — an ancient sect intent on affecting the coming papal conclave. With the help of Magellan Billet agent Luke Daniels, Malone races the rogue cardinal, the knights, the Secreti, and the clock to find what has been lost for centuries. The final confrontation culminates behind the walls of the Vatican where the election of the next pope hangs in the balance.

Claws of the Panda

by
Jonathan Manthorpe

Claws of the Panda: Beijing's Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada

Claws of the Panda tells the story of Canada’s failure to construct a workable policy towards the People’s Republic of China. In particular the book tells of Ottawa’s failure to recognize and confront the efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate and influence Canadian politics, academia, and media, and to exert control over Canadians of Chinese heritage.  The party’s aims are to be able to turn Canadian public policy to China’s advantage, to acquire useful technology and intellectual property, to influence Canada’s international diplomacy, and, most important, to be able to monitor and intimidate Chinese Canadians and others it considers dissidents.

The book traces the evolution of the Canada-China relationship over nearly 150 years. It shows how Canadian leaders have constantly misjudged the reality and potential of the relationship while the CCP and its agents have benefited from Canadian naivete.

$24.95 trade paper

The Golden Tresses of the Dead

by Alan Bradley

Regular Price $29.95

Our Price $24.99

The spectacular final novel starring Flavia de Luce

Flavia de Luce, the twelve-year-old chemist and amateur detective, is eager to turn professional. She and her father's valet, Dogger, have founded a detective agency, Arthur Dogger & Associates, and unexpectedly cut into their first case during the revelry at her sister Ophelia's wedding reception. After an eventful ceremony with a missing best man and spontaneous ventriloquist act, spirits are high as Feely and her new husband head for the towering and beautifully iced wedding cake. But as Feely slices into the first piece, a scream rings out--the bridal cake contains a severed human finger. Delighted, Flavia wraps the finger in a napkin and whisks it away to her chemical laboratory. By studying the embalmed skin, the indentation of a ring and the slope of the fingernail, she'll not only be able to determine the identity of the victim--but also point a finger at a killer.

The Suspect

by Fiona Barton

Regular Price $24.95

Our Price $19.99

The New York Times bestselling author of The Widow returns with a brand new novel of twisting psychological suspense about every parent's worst nightmare...

When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight--desperate, bereft and frantic with worry. What were the girls up to before they disappeared?
 
Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth--and this time is no exception. But she can't help thinking of her own son, whom she hasn't seen in two years, when he left home to travel. 
 
As the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even when it seems far away, danger can lie closer to home than one might think...

The Perfect Girlfriend

by Karen Hamilton

Regular Price $24.99

Our Price $19.99

You've never read a love story as twisted as this.

Juliette loves Nate. She will follow him anywhere. She’s even become a flight attendant for his airline, so she can keep a closer eye on him.
 
They are meant to be. The fact that Nate broke up with her six months ago means nothing. Because Juliette has a plan to win him back.
 
She is the perfect girlfriend. And she’ll make sure no one stops her from getting exactly what she wants.
 
True love hurts, but Juliette knows it’s worth all the pain...

The Coddling of the American Mind

by Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt 

Regular Price $37.00

Our Price $29.99

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did this happen?
 
First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths contradict basic psychological principles about well-being and ancient wisdom from many cultures.  Embracing these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—interferes with young people’s social, emotional, and intellectual development. It makes it harder for them to become autonomous adults who are able to navigate the bumpy road of life.
 
Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to promote the spread of these untruths. They explore changes in childhood such as the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised, child-directed play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade. They examine changes on campus, including the corporatization of universities and the emergence of new ideas about identity and justice. They situate the conflicts on campus within the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization and dysfunction.
 
This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.

The Burning Stone

by Jack Whyte

Regular Price $36.00

Our Price $29.99

From the bestselling author of the Dream of Eagles series and The Guardians trilogy comes a tale of revenge, dark secrets, and a mysterious cataclysm that decimated a Roman legion: the story behind the story that began it all.
 
Fleeing the massacre of his entire family save a single uncle, young Roman aristocrat Quintus Varrus arrives in fourth-century London not knowing who is to blame for the murders nor whom he can trust now. He fears for his life, but when he meets a young Irish woman named Lydia Mcuil, their lives quickly become intertwined and her father offers to set the young Roman up as a smith (under an Irish alias) in the town of Colchester while the young lovers get to know each other from a distance.
 
But the assassins haven't forgotten Quintus and a deadly ambush is barely thwarted, bringing the young Roman into friendship with his rescuer, a hardened former military policeman known as Rufus Cato, who has his own score to settle with the powerful man behind the attack. Quintus is introduced to the secrets of an ancient brotherhood that is trying to halt the rot that is destroying their beloved Empire--secrets that may finally reveal the identity of those who murdered his family, and expose the shocking reason why.
 
Set against the backdrop of a world in turmoil, this prequel to The Skystone, first in the Dream of Eagles series, is richly textured, intricately plotted, and filled with action and adventure: a perfect addition to the works of this master storyteller.

Us Against You

by Fredrik Backman

Regular Price $24.99

Our Price $19.99

Can a broken town survive a second tragedy? The follow-up to the international bestseller Beartown, from #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author Fredrik Backman.

After everything that the citizens of Beartown have gone through, they are struck yet another blow when they hear that their beloved local junior hockey team will soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in Hed, take in that fact. As the tension between the two towns simmers, a surprising newcomer is handpicked to try to save the Beartown club.
 
Soon a new team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the enmity with Hed grows more and more heated.
 
As the big game between Beartown and Hed approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt grows deeper. By the time the last game is finally played, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after all they’ve been through, the game they love can ever return to something simple and innocent.

War of the Wolf

by Bernard Cornwell

Regular Price $24.99

Our Price $19.99

At the fortress of the eagles, three kings will fight …
 
Uthred of Bebbanburg has won back his ancestral home but, threatened from all by enemies both old and new, he doesn't have long to enjoy the victory. For decades, Uthred has stood at the intersection between Pagan and Christian, between Saxon and Viking, between the old world he was born into and the new world being forged around him. But as the winds of change gather pace, the pressure on Uthred as father, as politician and as warrior grows as never before. 

all we ever wanted 

by Emily Giffin

Regular Price $32.00

Our Price $24.99

The new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of First Comes Love raises the daunting question: In the midst of a scandal that threatens a perfect life, how far are you willing to go to protect the ones you love?
 
Nina Browning married a third-generation Nashvillian, enjoys a newly lavish lifestyle thanks to the sudden success of her husband's tech business and has a son, Finch, who just got accepted to Princeton.
 
Thomas Talone is a single dad, works multiple jobs and has a daughter, Lyla, who was recently accepted to Nashville's most prestigious private high school on a scholarship. 
They couldn't be prouder.
 
Then scandal strikes, and the worlds of these very different families collide. Lyla passes out at a party, drunk and half-naked. Finch snaps a picture, types out a caption and click--sends it out to a few friends. The photo spreads quickly, and soon heated reactions bubble throughout the already-divided community. Before long, the families find themselves in the midst of an ethical war as their community takes sides, throws blame and implodes. The gray area between right and wrong grows thick, and Nina and Tom are forced to question every assumption they've held about love and family loyalty. Emily Giffin tells a riveting story of characters who face impossible choices--but emerge to live a life truer to themselves than they ever had before.

Lethal White 

by Robert Galbraith

Regular Price $38.00

Our Price $29.99

Lethal White is the fourth book in the Cormoran Strike series from the international bestselling author Robert Galbraith.

"I seen a kid killed...He strangled it, up by the horse."
 
When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike's office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.
 
Trying to get to the bottom of Billy's story, Strike and Robin Ellacott-once his assistant, now a partner in the agency-set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.
 
And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike's own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been-Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that.

The Guardians of Your Heart

By Becca Blue

In this supernatural thriller of a love story, Sophie Reid learns about reiki, dark arts, friendship and love while finding her true self. She also learns that there is a whole other world out there that controls our own and the final battle between the angels above, the demons below, and every last one of us in between was about to begin. Can she risk everyone she loves, including her own life, to save Nathan?
The Guardians Of Your Heart is sure to make you stop and think about the rest of your life. What will you do when fate knocks at your door?

$24.99 trade paper

The Gynesaurs: What Happens Between the Stirrups, Stays Betwen the Stirrups

by Cambridge author Pat Oliver

Nominated for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal of Humour

Dr. Anthea Brock, gynecologist extraordinaire, was perfectly content to be a single woman past her reproductive prime—or Gynesaur, as she and her coworkers termed it. Her decision to remain childless, after all, was why she’d divorced her ex-husband, Ian, and left Britain to start a new practice in Ontario.
Usually one to lead with her head and not her heart, Anthea is surprised when a return trip to Wales results in a heated romp with Ian. Even more unexpected is the pregnancy that results from it. Conflicted, Anthea turns to her fellow Gynesaurs for guidance. But they’ve got troubles of their own.
Carolina Stiletto, daughter of a murdered mafia member, is unraveling her family legacy. Molly McGilvery—widow, mother, and sister to a special needs brother—is ready for romance. Glynda Wicksteed, left penniless by her gay ex-husband, struggles to pursue her dreams after a devastating diagnosis.
Amid personal strife, the Gynesaurs must also juggle a roster of eccentric patients and plan the upcoming (boring but important) hospital fundraiser. Trusting in the unbreakable bonds of love and friendship, will these four extraordinary women find the courage to evolve or risk becoming extinct?

$20.00 trade paper
 

Walking Home

by Lynda L. Wilson

Walking Home is an intimate ramble through the lush Ontario countryside as Lynda and husband Doug set out to become the first to walk the 127-km Guelph to Goderich Rail Trail. Laugh-out-loud funny and poignant in turn, Walking Home is a love story amidst deer flies, detours and the sweltering heat of an Ontario summer. Untangling the rich history of the trail and towns along the way, the two aging hikers discover the meaning of home and just how difficult it can be to let go.

Praise for Walking Home:

"Funny, touching, heart-wrenching and true-blue.  I enjoyed the read every single step of the way.  It is a tremendous story — well penned — engaging and well worth the read. Peter Smith — Writer/Producer/Playwright/Actor; Project Director, Blyth Arts & Cultural Initiative 14/19

"This is Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods Canadian style.” Valerie Hill, Waterloo Region Record (January 4, 2016 article)

$19.95 trade paper