Dunedin Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute

Books Archive

Month: May 2022

Amongst Our Weapons (May 2022)

By Ben Aaronovitch

May 17, 2022

There is a world hidden underneath this great city…

The London Silver Vaults – for well over a century, the largest collection of silver for sale in the world.  It has more locks than the Bank of England and more cameras than a celebrity punch-up.

Not somewhere you can murder someone and vanish without a trace – only that’s what happened.

The disappearing act, the reports of a blinding flash of light and memory loss amongst the witnesses all make this a case for Detective Constable Peter Grant and the Special Assessment Unit.

Alongside their boss DCI Thomas Nightingale, the SAU find themselves embroiled in a mystery that encompasses London’s tangled history, foreign lands and, most terrifying of all, the North!

And Peter must solve this case soon because back home his partner Beverley is expecting twins any day now.  But what he doesn’t know is that he’s about to encounter something – and somebody – that nobody ever expects…

The Leonard Girls (May 2022)

By Deborah Challinor

May 17, 2022

In 1969, at the height of the Vietnam war, nurse Rowie Leonard is serving a 12 month tour of duty.  She supports the war and is committed to caring for wounded New Zealand and Australian troops.  After a few months, however, she realises that nothing at all about the conflict is as clear-cut as she’d assumed.

Her younger sister, Jo, is the opposite – a student at Auckland University, a folk singer and a fervent anti-war protestor.  But when Jo falls for professional soldier Sam Apanui, home on leave to visit his ill father, she finds herself torn between her feelings and her convictions.

As the three of them grapple with love, loss, and the stresses and sorrows of war, each will be forced to confront and question everything they believed.

The Gilded Cage (May 2022)

By Camilla Lackberg

May 17, 2022

A woman who has everything…

People would kill to have Faye Adelheim’s life.  She lives in a beautiful apartment, she has a gorgeous husband who gives her everything she’s ever wanted, and she has an adorable daughter who lights up her world.

Or does she?

So how is it, then, that Faye now finds herself in a police station?

The truth is about to come out…

The truth is that Faye’s life is far from what it seems.  And now, she’s been caught out.  There’s no way she’s going down without a fight.  The only question is – who will escape with their life?

Harbouring (May 2022)

By Jenny Pattrick

May 17, 2022

It is 1839 and Huw Pengellin is desperate to find a better life for his family than the one he ekes out in Wales.  His wife, Martha, is fully aware just how foolhardy Huw’s schemes can be, but she is keen to escape the foundry slums, as well as Huw’s brother Gareth, with his hot eyes and roving hands.  Might Colonel Wakefield’s plans to take settlers to the distant shores of New Zealand offer a solution?

On the other side of the world, watching the new arrivals, is Hineroa, who is also desperate to find a better life.  Will she be a slave for ever, will she ever be reunited with her people, and will the ships that keep sailing into the bay bring further trouble?

Change is underway, not just for those characters but also for the crescent of beach, thick bush and steep hills that are about to become the bustling settlement of Wellington.

Wish You Were Here (May 2022)

By Jodi Picoult

May 16, 2022

Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track.  She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art action world.  She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose – days before her thirtieth birthday.  Right on time.

But now she’s is stranded alone on what was planned to be a romantic idyll with Finn.  Unfortunately, Finn is trapped thousands of miles away, and Diana is on one of the world’s most beautiful islands with no food, no luggage, and no place to stay, forced to test her personal limits to survive.

Struggling to find her feet, Diana gradually connects with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to her.  As Diana helps her fight her demons she learns more about herself, and about the islands of Galapagos, where Darwin developed his theory of evolution.  The dramatic and sometimes dangerous terrain reflects Diana’s own experiences, her new relationships and growing awareness that she too is evolving into someone quite different.

A near-death experience brings Diana abruptly back to familiar city surroundings, where she tires to pick up the threads of her old life.  Has she changed or have the people around her?  Diana is no longer prepared to be just a follower, at work or in her relationships.  She breaks down years of estrangement with her mother takes the initiative in her career, and looks at Finn through new eyes.

The Maid (May 2022)

By Nita Prose

May 16, 2022

I am your maid.  I know your secrets.  Your dirty laundry.  But what do you know about me?

Molly the maid is all alone in the world.  A nobody.  She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through.  She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice?

But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed.  This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up.  And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways, she discovers a power she never knew was there.  She’s just a maid – but what can she see that others overlook?

This is the Night They Come for You (May 2022)

By Robert Goddard

May 16, 2022

On a stifling afternoon at Police HQ in Algiers, Superintendent Taleb, coasting towards retirement, with not even an air-conditioned office to show for his long years of service, is handed a ticking time bomb of a case which will take him deep into Algeria’s troubled past and its fraught relationship with France.

To his dismay, he is assigned to work with Agent Hidouchi, an intimidating representative of the country’s feared secret service, who makes it clear she intends to call the shots.  They are instructed to pursue a former agent, now on the run after twenty years in prison for his part in a high-level corruption scandal.  But their search will lead them inexorably towards a greater mystery, surrounding a murder that took place in Paris more than fifty years ago.

Uncovering the truth may be his responsibility, but Taleb is well aware that no one in Algeria wants to be reminded of the dark deeds carried out in the struggle for independence – or in the violence that has racked the nation since.

Soon, he will face a choice he has long sought to avoid, between self-preservation and doing the right-thing.

And, ultimately, the choice may not even be his to make.

The Diamond Eye (May 2022)

By Kate Quinn

May 16, 2022

She’s World War II’s most lethal sniper.  And the one they least expect…

In the snowbound city of Kiev, aspiring historian Mila Pavlichenko’s live revolves around her young son – until Hitler’s invasion of Russia changes everything.  Suddenly, she and her friends must take up arms to save their country from the Fuhrer’s destruction.

Handed a rifle, Mila discovers a gift – and months of blood sweat and tears turn the young woman into a deadly sniper: the most lethal hunter of Nazis.

But when an old enemy from Mila’s past joins forces with a terrifying new foe, she finds herself in the deadliest duel of her life.

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