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| July 14, 2016 |
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New bargain books have arrived, Readers!
See our latest selection in the store, and a few of our top picks this week below.
We hope you're finding time for summer reading and fun -- especially with Waldo hiding around downtown. It's not too late to join in our July scavenger hunt for raffle tickets!
New for you: Escape on a summer getaway to Italy and France in two new novels, or take a staycation with The Oregon Trail, now in paperback. Plus, album releases from Aaron Neville and more.
Join us tonight at 7:00 for a book event about raising grandchildren in cultural and racial harmony with author and OSU emerita Dr. Jean Moule at the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center.
We'll see you there!
~Marissa
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New Hardcovers
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by Alexander McCall Smith
[Fiction]
"Smith once again exhibits his versatility with this vibrant and delightful collection of short stories all centering on the themes of love and happenstance. Preceding each story is a vintage photograph that Smith found while doing research for a different project, and from each photo a world emerges. . .Smith peels off the layers of anonymity in these forgotten photos and imagines a new life for the subjects, and in one case the photographer. . .Both uplifting and at times bittersweet and emotional, this collection is sure to delight both Smith fans and newcomers alike." - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $26.00
Publisher: Pantheon Books; ISBN: 9781101871256
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by Catherine Banner
[Fiction]
"Banner makes her adult-fiction debut with this moving saga about four generations of an Italian family living on a small, sparsely populated island off the coast of Sicily. The patriarch, Amadeo Esposito, arrives on Castellammare in 1914 to become the island's first doctor. After serving in the Great War, Amadeo returns; marries Pina, the widow of the schoolmaster; and buys the House at the Edge of Night -- a popular cafe that fell into disrepair during the war. . . Banner's superbly written drama is rich in engaging characters and the mystical island stories passed on from one generation to the next." - Booklist
Hardcover; $27.00
Publisher: Random House; ISBN: 9780812998795
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by Eleanor Brown
[Fiction]
Madeleine is trapped in an unhappy marriage and a life she never wanted. In Madeleine's memories, her grandmother Margie is the kind of woman she should have been -- elegant, reserved, perfect. But when Madeleine finds a diary detailing Margie's bold, romantic trip to Jazz Age Paris, she meets the grandmother she never knew: a dreamer who defied her strict, staid family and spent an exhilarating summer writing in cafes, living on her own, and falling for a charismatic artist. Margie and Madeleine's stories intertwine to explore the joys and risks of living life on our own terms and of defying the rules that hold us back from our dreams.
Hardcover; $26.00
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons; ISBN: 9780399158919
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by Chuck Klosterman
[Non-Fiction]
But What If We're Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past. Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How seriously should we view the content of our dreams? And perhaps most disturbing, is it possible that we've reached the end of knowledge? Built on interviews with a variety of creative thinkers -- George Saunders, Jonathan Lethem, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, among others -- it's a seemingly impossible achievement: a book about the things we cannot know, explained as if we did.
Hardcover; $26.00
Publisher: Blue Rider Press; ISBN: 9780399184123
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by Dan Zak
[Non-Fiction]
In Almighty, Washington Post reporter Zak reexamines America's love-hate relationship to the bomb. At a time of concern about proliferation in such nations as Iran and North Korea, the U.S. arsenal is plagued by its own security problems. This life-or-death quandary is unraveled in Zak's eye-opening account, with a cast that includes the biophysicist who first educated the public on atomic energy, the prophet who predicted the creation of Oak Ridge, and the Washington bureaucrats and diplomats who are trying to keep the world safe. Part historical adventure, part courtroom drama, part moral thriller, Almighty reshapes the accepted narratives surrounding nuclear weapons.
Hardcover; $27.00
Publisher: Blue Rider Press; ISBN: 9780399173752
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New Paperbacks
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by Rinker Buck
[Non-Fiction]
". . .When [Buck] found out that the Oregon Trail is meticulously preserved and traversable. . .[he] and his foul-mouthed handyman brother, Nick, set out to follow the 2,000-mile path, with only a covered wagon and mule team as their mode of transportation. The ensuing tale combines the brothers' personal narrative with the remarkable history of the trail, including written accounts from the pioneers who braved it. . .Buck's enthusiasm for the often arduous trip, coupled with his honest assessment of poor judgments and mistakes along the way, makes for an entertaining and enlightening account of one of America's most legendary migrations. . ." - Publishers Weekly
Paperback; $16.99
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; ISBN: 9781451659177
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by Alaa Al Aswany
[Fiction]
In British-occupied Egypt, on the eve of the 1952 revolution, respected landowner Abd el-Aziz Gaafar has fallen on hard times. Bankrupt, he moves his family to Cairo and takes a menial job at the Automobile Club, a luxurious lodge for its European members, where Egyptians appear only as fearful servants. As the nation teeters on the brink of change, both servants and masters are subsumed by social upheaval, and the Egyptians of the Automobile Club face a choice: to live safely but without dignity as servants, or to risk everything and fight for their rights. An essential work of social criticism from one of the Arab world's greatest literary voices.
Paperback; $17.00
Publisher: Vintage; ISBN: 9780307947314
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by The Arbinger Institute
[Non-Fiction]
Unknowingly, too many of us operate from an inward mindset a narrow-minded focus on self-centered goals and objectives. When faced with personal ineffectiveness or lagging organizational performance, most of us instinctively look for quick-fix behavioral band-aids, not recognizing the underlying mindset at the heart of our most persistent challenges. Through true stories and simple yet profound guidance and tools, The Outward Mindset enables individuals and organizations to make the one change that most dramatically improves performance, sparks collaboration, and accelerates innovation a shift to an outward mindset.
Paperback; $16.95
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; ISBN: 9781626567153
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by John Irving
[Fiction]
"Successful novelist Juan Diego Guerrero is traveling to the Philippines to fulfill a long-ago promise. On his journey, he is taken under the wing of a mysterious mother and daughter, who seem to appear and disappear at opportune times and manipulate his actions. Perhaps owing to his misuse of his beta-blocker prescription, Juan Diego is haunted by memories of his childhood in Oaxaca, Mexico, and his sister Lupe, who can read minds and predict the future (though not always accurately). . .Irving also makes sly winks at his own oeuvre and his life as a novelist, while taking a stand on the place of imagination in fiction. . ." - Library Journal
Paperback; $17.00
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; ISBN: 9781451664171
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by Gregory Maguire
[Fiction]
". . .Maguire takes us on the journey [of Alice in Wonderland] again, this time in the company of Ada, who has fallen down the legendary rabbit hole after her friend. While Ada goes in search of Alice, always a few steps behind in the same vibrantly colorful land, Alice's sister, Lydia, remains in the ordinary world of Victorian England, searching the streets of Oxford for the missing girls, while her father visits with Charles Darwin to discuss the future of faith. . .[Maguire] weaves an intricate web of symbolism and allegory, asking readers to consider issues of humanity that are as timeless as the original tale itself. . ." - Booklist, Starred Review
Paperback; $15.99
Publisher: William Morrow & Company; ISBN: 9780060859749
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New For Young Readers
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by Judy Sierra and G. Brian Karas
[Fiction]
Ages 3 to 7
From the E.B. White Read Aloud Award-winning author Judy Sierra comes a darling picture book about the joys of storytime in a preschool classroom illustrated by acclaimed and New York Times bestselling artist G. Brian Karas. In Miss Bingo's classroom, there's always time to tell a story! Here are Jiro and Annabelle, Rufus and Rory. They're here to have fun with amazing Miss Bingo, the storytime rhymer, the singing flamingo. She tells them of kittens, and mittens, and mice, Miss Muffet, her tuffet, and sugar, and spice. A celebration of stories, friendship, and the joy of reading that can be shared over and over again.
Hardcover; $17.99
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books; 9781481418515
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by Chris Colfer
[Fiction]
Ages 8 to 12
The fifth book in Chris Colfer's #1 New York Times bestselling series The Land of Stories! In the highly anticipated continuation, Conner learns that the only place to fight the Masked Man's literary army is "inside his own short stories." When the twins and their friends enter worlds crafted from Conner's imagination, finding allies no one else could have ever dreamed of, the race begins to put an end to the Masked Man's reign of terror. Can the twins finally restore peace in the fairy tale world?
Hardcover; $19.99
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 9780316383295
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New Bargain Books
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Our brand new shipment of bargain books has arrived! Stop in soon for the best selection of these high quality, low price titles.
Featured this week:
Regular price: $14.00
Promo price: $5.98!
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New Music
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Apache
Pop/Folk
Apache is the 2016 album from multiple Grammy award-winner Aaron Neville -- member of the world-renowned Neville Brothers and one of the most recognizable voices in American music history. ($13.98)
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Love & Hate
Pop/Folk
Michael Kiwanuka's second album, Love & Hate, was produced by Grammy Award winner Dangermouse and young up-and-coming producer Inflo. Kiwanuka is a British soul musician who has been compared to Bill Withers, Randy Newman, and Terry Callier.($10.99)
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Rattle & Roar
Pop/Folk
With their second album, the EARLS OF LEICESTER deliver a fresh batch of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs songs, with their Grammy-winning blend of virtuosity and perspective.($15.98)
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The Country Blues
Pop/Folk
Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley's debut duo album earned a Grammny nomination for the Best Bluegrass Album. Their latest is a mix of insouciant funk, jazzy instrumentals, and blues shouters. ($16.98)
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Events at Grass Roots
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Maximilian Uriarte
Monday, July 18 at 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
The White Donkey is the first graphic novel about the war in Iraq written and illustrated by a veteran. Originally funded by a Kickstarter campaign that received major national news coverage and went viral on social media, Uriarte's first printing of 3,000 paperback copies sold out in 36 hours and has been unavailable since then. Little, Brown and Company has now re-released the book in a new, hardcover edition. A vivid and moving look at war and PTSD, The White Donkey follows young Marines as they experience the ugly, pedestrian, and often meaningless side of military service in rural Iraq.
Maximilian Uriarte enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 2006 at the age of nineteen and served for four years. In 2010 Uriarte created the popular comic strip Terminal Lance while still on active duty. Uriarte has a bachelor's degree from California College of the Arts. The author will be reading and signing books at this event.
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Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche
Tuesday, July 19 at 7:00 p.m. 
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
In Our Pristine Mind, a Tibetan Buddhist master shows us how to go beyond mindfulness with meditation and journey deep into ultimate happiness, transforming every area of our lives. Orgyen Chowang empowers us to gradually experience our mind as pure awareness -- free from the feelings, thoughts, and other mental events that obscure its true nature. Using simple language, he provides precise, experiential instructions that make this life-transforming realization attainable for all, whether we are just seeking a happier life or are pursuing the spiritual journey all the way to enlightenment.
Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche, a meditation master in the Nyingma lineage of the Buddhist tradition, has a passion for presenting teachings in a practical and experiential way for modern audiences. His primary teacher was Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche, one of the greatest Dzogchen masters of the last century. The author will be reading and signing books at this event.
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David Baker
Wednesday, July 20 at 7:00 p.m. 
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
Join us for an entertaining evening with Corvallis author David Baker celebrating the paperback release of Vintage, his humorous and evocative debut novel. Vintage follows a food journalist's desperate attempt to save his career -- and possibly, his marriage -- by tracking an extremely valuable bottle of wine stolen by the Nazis over half a century ago.
Author David Baker is no stranger to the winemaking process. He has spent time working in commercial vineyards and has been known to make a passable pinot noir in his garage. In addition to sharing readings from the book, he will be talking about the changing wine industry on a global and local scale, as well as his research and writing process for Vintage. The author will be reading and signing books at this event.
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Susan Moon
Tuesday, July 26 at 7:00 p.m. 
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-five Centuries of Awakened Women brings together one hundred stories of awakened Buddhist women from the time of the Buddha until the present -- nuns, housewives, prostitutes, peasants, tea shop ladies -- and each story has a commentary by a different contemporary woman Buddhist teacher. In these pages, 100 wise women of the past meet with 100 wise women of the present. What does it mean to wake up as we really are in this world?
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Ellen Jackson & Trudy Toliver
Wednesday, July 27 at 7:00 p.m. 
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
Portland Farmers Market operates seven vibrant farmers markets in Portland, Oregon, including a year-round farmers market consistently named among North America's Top 10. This cookbook is a tribute to the farmers, chefs, and shoppers who embrace their world-class markets like no other. With 100 seasonally organized recipes for every meal of the day, stories of the market's farmers and producers, shopping and cooking tips, and glorious color photography, the Portland Farmers Market Cookbook is a celebration of a place and its people, who are proud to share their bounty with the Portland community and beyond.
Trudy Toliver is a lifelong Oregonian, environmentalist, and leader. She worked in roles focused on sustainability before joining Portland Farmers Market as executive director. Trudy believes that eating healthy food changes peoples' lives.
This event is co-sponsored by Grass Roots Books and the Corvallis Farmers Market. The authors will be reading and signing books at this event.
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Cory Frye
Wednesday, August 10 at 7:00 p.m. 
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
Murder in Plainview. On June 21, 1922, Linn County sheriff Charles Kendall and Reverend Roy Healy drove out to the town of Plainview to arrest a moonshining farmer named Dave West. By the end of the day, all three men were dead. First responders found Sheriff Kendall facedown with his pistol still holstered. The court appointed William Dunlap as the new sheriff, but within a year, someone killed him, too. Author and journalist Cory Frye delivers a riveting, detailed account of these shocking and tragic crimes that haunted Linn County for decades.
Cory Frye, 43, is a multiple award-winning writer and editor based in Oregon's lush, mushy Willamette Valley. His work has appeared in the Albany Democrat-Herald (where he currently serves as news editor), Corvallis Gazette-Times, Oregonian, Under the Radar, Stereo Subversion, Yahoo! Music, iTunes and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The author will be reading and signing books at this event.
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Community Events
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Darkside Show Times for 7/15-7/21
-Our Kind of Traitor -R A couple finds themselves lured into a Russian oligarch's plans to defect, and are soon positioned between the Russian Mafia and the British Secret Service, neither of whom they can trust. Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgård, Damian Lewis.
-Wiener-Dog -R A dachshund passes from oddball owner to oddball owner, whose radically dysfunctional lives are all impacted by the pooch. Todd Solondz directs. Greta Gerwig, Keaton Nigel.
-Genius -PG-13
Max Perkins's time as the book editor at Scribner, where he oversaw works by Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others. Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nichole Kidman, Laura Linney.
-Sing Street -PG-13
Sing Street is a feel-good musical set in 1980s Dublin with huge heart and irresistible optimism, and charming cast and hummable tunes. 97% on RT!
Arts/Literary Events
 Willamette Writers on the River: Monthly Meeting
with C. Lill Ahrens
"Exclusive: The Secret Powers of Chronology Revealed!"
Monday, July 18, at 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church, Allison Room
114 SW 8th St.
Corvallis, OR
Lill's entertaining presentation will help you use the tool of chronology to propel readers through your story to the very end. She will discuss all the ways you might be writing backwards, plus a handy "Checklist for Chronology" to help you turn "backward writing" around. Bring writing supplies and a double-spaced excerpt of your work -- a favorite scene with some action -- to test your own chronological powers.
Over the past ten years -- as an editor for Calyx Journal, the contest director for Oregon Writers Colony, a creative writing teacher, and editorial consultant -- Lill has read thousands of unpublished stories and debated finalists with her fellow editors and judges. This presentation is taken from Lill's current project, a how-to-write book, Creating a Movie in Your Reader's Mind.
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Community Events with Grass Roots
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Dr. Jean Moule
Thursday, July 14, at 7:00 p.m.
Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center
128 SW 9th St.
Corvallis, OR
Nurturing Grandchildren: Black, White & In-Between, is Dr. Jean Moule's poignant, cautionary, and heart-warming collection of short essays and magazine columns discussing racial identity, expectations, and relationships within interracial families. The book is a valuable resource that helps adults encourage and support multicultural children to play a positive role in the complicated racial relations in our nation. It also explores racial identity issues that we face during childhood and beyond via the author's personal experiences and academic discussion. Moule's book aims to help the nation's children, including her multi-ethnic grandchildren, live in culturally competent communities and families.
Jean Moule is an emerita faculty member at OSU, whose most popular class is "Racial and Cultural Harmony in the K-12 Classroom." At OSU, she created a unique immersion program for preparing educators to teach in bilingual and highly diverse settings. She and her husband Robbie raised three biracial children in rural Oregon. Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
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Store News
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Find Waldo Local 2016
 Where's Waldo? In Corvallis, of course! The famous children's book character in the striped shirt and black-rimmed specs is visiting 20 different local businesses throughout our community this July. Those who spot him can win prizes, including stickers, book coupons, gift certificates, and more. From American Dream Pizza to Tried & True Coffee, from The Inkwell Home Store to Grass Roots Books & Music, Waldo figures will be well hidden in local business establishments. Find Waldo is a great summer vacation activity, and a wonderful way for residents to support local business and the Buy Local First movement. The search for Waldo will be from July 1st -31st (all month long). To participate, pick up a "Find Waldo Local in Corvallis!" passport at Grass Roots with the names of all the participating businesses, and then get your passport stamped or signed for each Waldo you spot. The first 100 Waldo seekers to get their passports stamped or signed at 10 or more sites can bring their passports back to Grass Roots to collect prizes. For 18 or more stamps, you'll be entered into a grand prize drawing on August 1, at Grass Roots at 1:30 p.m. This year, participants can also #ColorWaldoAndWin: when you share a completed coloring sheet of Waldo on Instagram, you'll be entered into a drawing to be one of five lucky winners of a deluxe prize pack. Full list of participating businesses:
American Dream Pizza
Animal Crackers
Burst's Chocolates
Fingerboard Extension
Footwise
Francesco's
Gracewinds Music
Grass Roots Books & Music
The Inkwell Home Store
Irene's Boutique
Kaleidoscope Studios (Day Dreamers)
Many Hands Trading
Mod Pod Decor
New Morning Bakery
Northern Star
Peak Sports
Second Glance
Second Glance: The Annex
Second Glance: The Alley
Sedlak's Shoes
Sibling Revelry
The Toy Factory
Tried & True Coffee
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Jigsaw
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The jigsaw is taking a short break -- check back soon!
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Reading Group Selection
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Tuesday, August 2, at 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Join our newest bookseller Donovan as she leads our August reading group with The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Please note that due to the length of the book, we will take an extra month to read!
Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art. As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love -- and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
Regular Price: $20.00
On sale for: $17.00
Until Tuesday, August 2
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 9780316055444
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Night Stands
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Marissa
by Kiersten White
[Fiction]
If you're feeling like the YA you've been reading has been formulaic, this reimagining of Vlad the Impaler as a fierce heroine seeking her place in a ruthless empire is highly likely to break you out of that rut. White turns tropes on their heads, toys with gender roles, and explores a rich culture with dexterity of prose. The plot is complex, featuring gripping family dynamics and political savagery reminiscent of the series A Song of Ice and Fire, with a similarly dark tone. Though a historical novel, White makes the Ottoman Empire come alive in these pages.
Hardcover; $18.99
Publisher: Delacorte Press; ISBN: 9780553522310
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