Corcoran O’Connor is back!!! And followers will not be disappointed with Kent Krueger’s twenty-first novel following Cork’s life in northern Minnesota. (You can read it as a stand-alone, but there will be spoilers for the earlier books. My advice … Go back and start with #1: Iron Lake.)

Cork’s son is working to help unjustly imprisoned inmates gain release from prison. A new client is an Ojibwe man who was sentenced to life for murder in one of the first cases handled by Cork after he had been elected sheriff 25 years ago.

Complicating matters is that the prisoner has found a mission in helping other prisoners to leave their anger and find peace. He is not sure he should abandon this role. And he remembers virtually nothing of the murder to which he confessed.

There are twists and turns, and Cork’s grandson warns that the Windigo has returned.

Of course, the book is good!

Note: It officially comes out on September 2, but we’ll have copies for sale at our event with Krueger on August 29.

Narrow the Road
James Wade

It is 1930s East Texas. William’s father is missing, his mother is dying, and the bank is about to take their farm.

William determines that he must find his father and return him home. With Ollie, his best friend, he sets off on an odyssey that leads them into great dangers. They meet up with Lena, another teenager, who has escaped from a medicine show and sticks with them.

These three are not Tom and Huck and Becky. The poverty is real. The violence is real. The sadness is real. And there is some magnificent writing, here describing a migrant caravan heading west: There were old women and young children and there were proud, angry men and men who had already been broken. Men who walked by habit alone. Windup dolls of men who kept moving, kept breathing, but had been hollowed out long ago by a world that wouldn’t stop taking.

Here is another great quote …

You just play the cards you’re dealt. And if it’s hard, good. It ought to be. Because the only time things get easy is when you give up fighting. When you lay down and quit. That’s your easy days right there. Things being tough? That just means you still care. That’s all that means.

This is the very best novel I have read in a long time!

Note: this book will be published August 26.

Powerless
 Lauren Roberts

In a world where only Elites, people who have magic, are allowed to live and prosper, Paedyn Gray, an Ordinary, finds herself in a deadly situation where she has to compete against other elites. This book is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games series and Sarah J. Maas enthusiasts. This book is fast-paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat without knowing where the story will lead next. 

First-Time Caller
B.K. Borison

Do you love any early 2000s rom-com? If so, this is the book for you. Based on the movie “Sleepless in Seattle,” this book tells the story of single mom Lucie, whose daughter calls into the relationship advice radio show in Baltimore. First-Time Caller is a feel-good romance book that will have you severely invested in the lives of two fictional characters. 

Blueprint for Revolution
Srdja Poppvic

Blueprint for Revolution, theT.E.D. book group August selection, is an 'EXCELLENT' primer on the fundamentals of non-violent Democratic Activism. It provides: the history of... definition of... strategies for... pitfalls of... organizational models for and real-life anecdotal examples of successes and (importantly) failures experienced by movements to combat non-democratic governments. I think this book might be used as a textbook, for the revitalized teaching of Civics in our schools. The topics covered herein are necessary skills needed by all citizens, regardless of political association. Additionally, it alerts us to the tactics, being used to subvert democratic governance, as well as those movements seeking to support threatened democracies. The author writes with clarity, pathos, humor, and experience about the topics we see playing out before our eyes, in the news today. He does this in such a way that the reader gains an understanding of the basic skills so very necessary in any situation requiring community grass roots organization. Should you be wondering, I am an old-fashioned conservative democrat. Honestly, does anyone even remember what that is?

The Golden Road
William Dalrymple
 
This book is about the long-storied importance of the Indian sub-continent in history and it's influence over the course of thousands of years. It begins so early that the sequence of events in history, have become muddled. Buddhism, for instance, began in India, came to dominance there, and over the course of millennia, lost favor, even as it gained influence in Southeast Asia. All of this was way before the introduction of Islam. The Silk Road, so often thought of as an overland track from Asia to the Eastern Mediterranean, was more accurately the sea route from Sinai to the Western coast of India, and then continued on from Western India, all the way to the Japan and Indonesia. Trade powered the whole enterprise over thousands of years. Along with goods, ideas spread across this vast area. The dissemination of ideas is, I think, the primary focus of Dalrymple's book, and it's fascinating! If you enjoy History as told by a skilled researcher and writer, you will not want to miss this book!