10 noteworthy books for November and December (original) (raw)
Traveling during the holiday season can offer extra time for reading, so look for these new books at libraries and airport bookstores.
‘Eleanore of Avignon’ by Elizabeth DeLozier
As a midwife and healer in medieval Avignon, Eleanore tends to sick townsfolk with herbal potions, keeping a low profile to deter witchcraft accusations that have endangered her family in the past. A chance encounter leads to an apprenticeship with the pope’s personal physician, where a new world of opportunity awaits — status, powerful connections and valuable medical knowledge. But when the bubonic plague arrives, Eleanore, an outsider among the wealthy, is easily scapegoated, and she must summon all her skills to save her patients and herself. (Dutton)
‘To Die For: A 6:20 Man Thriller’ by David Baldacci
Escorting an orphaned girl in the FBI’s protective custody across the country is the perfect gig for former Army Ranger Travis Devine because it gives him a chance to evade the mysterious “girl on the train” who has been threatening to kill him. When 12-year-old Betsy insists her parents were not drug dealers, contrary to FBI reports, Travis senses trouble, especially after learning that her new guardian is under federal investigation for racketeering. Searching for the truth while trying to stay one step ahead of his nemesis, Travis stumbles into a government coverup that could put his life, and Betsy’s, in jeopardy. (Grand Central)
‘Something Close to Nothing’ by Tom Pyun
Just as Jared and Wynn are about to board a plane to meet the surrogate carrying their child, Wynn — haunted by unfulfilled dreams of becoming a dancer — abandons his partner of 11 years at the airport. Told in alternating chapters, the novel follows the struggles of both men, as Wynn explores new relationships and what it means to put his needs first, and Jared looks for happiness as a single parent to the child he has always wanted. As both reach for the lives their younger selves hoped for, they must decide what is most important. (Amble)
‘Shy Creatures’ by Clare Chambers
Helen, an art therapist having an affair with a married doctor at the progressive mid-century psychiatric hospital where they work, is unsatisfied with her life but uncertain how toimprove it. Her newest patient, William, arrives after the police were summoned to a run-down Victorian home where they found an unkempt, mute man whom neighbors hadn’t seen outside in decades. The novel’s dual timeline gradually reveals his story in reverse, as Helen searches for the cause of William’s withdrawal from the world and reconsiders her own choices. (Mariner)
‘Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures’ by Katherine Rundell
The best-selling children’s book author turns her pen to adult nonfiction with an entertaining collection highlighting the unique features and behaviors of endangered animals. Rundell describes pangolin babies sleeping like nesting dolls, rolled up in a ball and tucked in their mothers’ similarly coiled bodies. Misleadingly named, the sociable hermit crab can live for a century and grow larger than a bathtub. Golden moles, nature’s only known iridescent mammals, can live their entire lives without drinking a drop of water. Noting the perilous plights these animals face, Rundell encourages actions that can help save them. (Doubleday, Nov. 12)
‘Dirty Diana’ by Jen Besser and Shana Feste
In suburban Dallas, Diana’s marriage to Oliver is failing. She finds relief from the exhaustion of pretending everything is normal by remembering a time in her life when she liked herself better — when she was a young portrait artist capturing the vulnerability and honesty of women who shared their erotic fantasies. Resuscitating her artistic life brings back the sensuality she’s been desperately missing, but new connections may damage her troubled marriage beyond repair. Besser and Feste’s sex-positive novel, the first in a planned trilogy, is based on a popular scripted podcast produced and narrated by Demi Moore. (Dial, Nov. 19)
‘Agent Zo: The Untold Story of a Fearless World War II Resistance Fighter’ by Clare Mulley
Mulley’s comprehensive biography of Elzbieta Zawacka — known during World War II as Agent Zo — shines a spotlight on a courageous hero little known outside her native Poland. The only female member of Poland’s elite special forces paratrooper unit, Zo parachuted into Nazi-occupied territory to help organize resistance fighters. Completing hundreds of dangerous border crossings as a courier, she evaded Gestapo capture for years while supporting the Warsaw uprising. Arrested after the war by the Russians as an enemy of the communist regime, she endured a three-year imprisonment but survived and, at age 97, accomplished a long-held goal: attaining the rank of brigadier general (retired). (Pegasus, Dec. 3)
‘The Last One’ by Rachel Howzell Hall
Regaining consciousness just as a thief is making off with her belongings, Kai has no idea who or where she is; only that she needs her things back. After a destructive chase that leaves disgruntled townsfolk clamoring for restitution over broken wares, the thief herself, Olivia, offers an olive branch: a place to stay while Kai works off her debts. Their tenuous alliance proves helpful when the town is overrun with soldiers and other threatening fantastical creatures, and Olivia’s handsome brother joins Kai in a battle to protect the town while untangling her mysterious past. Hall’s strong female protagonist — also a hallmark of her previous mystery novels — leads an action-filled journey through a diverse and richly imagined world. (Red Tower, Dec. 3)
‘Bluebird Day’ by Megan Tady
The Matterhorn is the backdrop for Tady’s satisfying novel about a strained mother-daughter relationship that explores the achievement mindset and how society views competitive women. Both raised to believe that giving up was worse than losing, gifted Alpine ski racers Wylie Potts and her mother, Olympic champion Claudine, have been estranged for two years when they agree to appear together in a fitness competition in Zermatt, Switzerland. But when an avalanche strands them in a youth hostel with a cast of quirky international guests, the women confront the effects of long-kept secrets and grapple with whether glory is worth the sacrifice. (Zibby, Dec. 3)
‘I Might Be in Trouble’ by Daniel Aleman
David Alvarez is an emotional wreck. The love of his life is now his ex-boyfriend, his bank accounts are empty, and his literary stardom, once so certain, never came to pass. He looks for an evening’s distraction, and the internet leads him to Robert, a handsome man with a suite at the Plaza. Their whirlwind night leaves David feeling hopeful again, until he awakes the next morning next to Robert’s dead body. Worried he may have killed his date, he turns to his unflappable agent, Stacey, to help him figure out what to do with Robert’s body — and with his next novel. What could be a simple, darkly farcical romp turns into more as the novel delves into loneliness, self-sabotage and the courage required to keep chasing dreams. (Grand Central, Dec. 3)