Edge of Eternity: Book Three of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. In 1978, young author Follett made a name for himself with the publication of a spy thriller called Eye of the Needle. The book won the 1979 Edgar Award for best mystery and was later made into a successful movie. He went on to write several more successful espionage novels before completely changing genre gears. In 1989, Pillars of the Earth, a saga about the building of a cathedral in the Middle Ages, took the book world by storm and became an international bestseller. Eight years later, its sequel, World Without End,  established Follett as an accomplished and legitimate historical fiction author.

Follett then tackled the Century Trilogy with Fall of Giants and Winter of the World (both in paperback). Now, much to the delight of fans of these first two books, comes the conclusion, Edge of Eternity.  The trilogy has followed the fortunes of five intertwined families - American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh - as they make their way through the 20th century, and the finale covers one of the most tumultuous eras of all: the 1960s through the 1980s, encompassing civil rights, assassinations, Vietnam, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, presidential impeachment, revolution - and rock and roll. Follett is a gifted storyteller as well as a solid researcher, and readers interested in historical fiction and prepared to tackle the 1000+ page tomes will be well rewarded.


The Children Act by Ian McEwan. A favorite of independent booksellers, McEwan has won both the National Book Critics Circle Award (for Atonement) and England's Booker Prize (for Amsterdam), and his most recent novel, Sweet Tooth, a light but still-literary spy tale, was a bestseller in both hardcover and paperback. Never one to be pigeonholed, McEwan here gives us a contemporary new heroine and a look into English legal system. Here's a  description:

Fiona Maye is a leading High Court judge who presides over cases in the family court. She is renowned for her fierce intelligence, exactitude, and sensitivity. But her professional success belies private sorrow and domestic strife. There is the lingering regret of her childlessness, and now her marriage of 30 years is in crisis.
At the same time, she is called on to try an urgent case: Adam, a beautiful 17-year-old boy, is refusing for religious reasons the medical treatment that could save his life, and his devout parents echo his wishes. Time is running out. Should the secular court overrule sincerely expressed faith? In the course of reaching a decision, Fiona visits Adam in the hospital - an encounter that stirs long-buried feelings in her and powerful new emotions in the boy. Her judgment has momentous consequences for them both.

 
Rose Gold by Walter Mosley. We first met Easy Rawlins in 1990 when Mosley's debut mystery, Devil In a Blue Dress, was published. Set in Watts in the late 40's, the story introduced a unique detective - an out-of-work African American war vet who stumbles into a missing persons case and discovers he has some talent as a sleuth. Over the course of 14 books, Mosley has brought Easy through three decades and offered a rich social history of postwar Los Angeles.

In Rose Gold, which is set in the Patty Hearst era of radical black nationalism and political abductions, a black ex-boxer and the the leader of a revolutionary cell called Scorched Earth has kidnapped the daughter of a weapons manufacturer. If they don't receive the money, weapons, and apology they demand, their captor will die - horribly and publicly. So the FBI, the State Department, and the LAPD turn to the one man who can cross the necessary borders to resolve this dangerous standoff, and our man Rawlins is thrust into the fray. I've been a fan of this series from the outset, and Mosley has done a marvelous job of aging and maturing Easy while keeping him an interesting and flawed-but-heroic character.