The author of such award-winning historical fiction as The Heart of the Spirits, Portrait in Sepia, and Inés of my Soul is back with another title destined for the bestseller list.

In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.

Together with two thousand other refugees, they embark on the SS Winnipeg, a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda, to Chile: "the long petal of sea and wine and snow." As unlikely partners, they embrace exile as the rest of Europe erupts in world war. Starting over on a new continent, their trials are just beginning, and over the course of their lives, they will face trial after trial. But they will also find joy as they patiently await the day when they will be exiles no more. Through it all, their hope of returning to Spain keeps them going. Destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world, Roser and Victor will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along.

A masterful work of historical fiction about hope, exile, and belonging, A Long Petal of the Sea can be reserved at Fulton County Libraries in hardcover, ebook, or downloadable mp3 audiobook. 

This uplifting debut about an unlikely heroine whose journey will leave you wanting to embark on a quest of your own.

Sometimes life isn't as simple as heroes and villains.

For Zelda, a twenty-one-year-old Viking enthusiast who lives with her older brother, Gert, life is best lived with some basic rules:

1. A smile means "thank you for doing something small that I liked."

 2. Fist bumps and dabs = respect.

 3. Strange people are not appreciated in her home.

 4. Tomatoes must go in the middle of the sandwich and not get the bread wet.

 5. Sometimes the most important things don't fit on lists.

But when Zelda finds out that Gert has resorted to some questionable—and dangerous—methods to make enough money to keep them afloat, Zelda decides to launch her own quest. Her mission: to be legendary. It isn't long before Zelda finds herself in a battle that tests the reach of her heroism, her love for her brother, and the depth of her Viking strength.

Click here to reserve When We Were Vikings in hardcover, ebook, or downloadable mp3 audiobook format.

Kiki Swinson's novels crackle with breakneck triple-twists, no-limits characters, and an unforgettably brutal portrayal of Southern life. Now she shatters all expectations as a young woman serving time must survive a prisoner-abuse conspiracy.

She killed her abusive boyfriend in self-defense. Now all she wants is to work her appeals, do her time, and earn her freedom. But when she tells her state-appointed attorney that prison guards are raping female prisoners, his betrayal lands her in a privately-owned Supermax penitentiary-and in lethal danger . . .

From the moment she hits the yard, she and other prisoners are victimized by illegal medical experiments. Injected with lethal diseases and made a test subject for experimental vaccines, she's clinging to life and determination by the slimmest thread.

Reserve your copy of Swinson's latest thriller in hardcover or ebook format. As soon as this title becomes available in audio format, we'll happily add it to our collection.

The city of Wichita, Kansas, is wracked with panic over the abduction of toddler pageant princess Lindy Bobo. However, the dealers at The Heart of America Antique Mall are too preoccupied by their own neurotic compulsions to take much notice. Postcards, perfume bottles, Barbies, vinyl records, kitschy neon beer signs—they collect and sell it all.

Rather than focus on Lindy, this colorful cast of characters is consumed by another drama: the impending arrival of Mark and Grant from the famed antiques television show Pickin' Fortunes, who are planning to film an episode at The Heart of America and secretly may be the last best hope of saving the mall from bankruptcy. Yet the mall and the missing beauty queen have more to do with each other than these vendors might think, and before long, the group sets in motion a series of events that lead to surprising revelations about Lindy's whereabouts. As the mall becomes implicated in her disappearance, will Mark and Grant be scared away from all of the drama or will they arrive in time to save The Heart of America from going under?

Reserve this hilarious debut novel in hardcover, ebook, or downloadable mp3 format.

Lydia Quixano Perez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.

Even though she knows they'll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with four books he would like to buy—two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia's husband's tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.

Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia—trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier's reach doesn't extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to? 

This gripping tale of asylum seekers can be reserved in hardcover, ebook, or mp3 audiobook format.

When As America ramps up efforts toward victory in World War II, Frances Glessner Lee stands at the front of a wood-paneled classroom within Harvard Medical School and addresses the young men attending her seminar on the developing field of forensic science. A grandmother without a college degree, Lee may appear better suited for a life of knitting than of investigation of unexpected death. Her colleagues and students, however, know her to be an extremely intelligent and exacting researcher and teacher-the perfect candidate, despite her gender, to push the scientific investigation of unexpected death out of the dark confines of centuries-old techniques and into the light of the modern day.

Lee's decades-long obsession with advancing the discipline of forensic science was a battle from the very beginning. In a time when many prestigious medical schools were closed to female students and young women were discouraged from entering any kind of scientific profession, Lee used her powerful social skills, family wealth, and uncompromising dedication to revolutionize a field that was usually political, often corrupt, and always deeply rooted in the primal human fear of death.

This book isn't available for sale or as a library book until February 4th, but you can win a print galley (a paperback used to promote the book before official release) of this title by emailing us within 24 hours of the New Books Newsletter email. Just put "Tiny Death" in the subject line of your email to Collection.Development@fultoncountyga.gov. We'll pick a winner at random from messages received between 8:30am Monday, 1/20/2020 and 8:30am Tuesday, 1/21/2020.

The winner will be notified via email and must be able to pick the book up at an AFPLS branch within one month. Just in case you aren't chosen, why not click here to reserve a copy with Fulton County Libraries? We'll be pleased to offer this title to all our readers on its release date.