Pierce County Library System
Information & Imagination

Calculating stars, The
(Kowal, Mary Robinette)
On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process. Elma York's experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition's attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn't take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can't go into space, too. Elma's drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.

Catherine the Great: portrait of a woman **
(Massie, Robert K.,)
Presents a reconstruction of the eighteenth-century empress's life that covers her efforts to engage Russia in the cultural life of Europe, her creation of the Hermitage, and her numerous scandal-free romantic affairs

Chasing Fireflies
(Charles Martin)
A woman on a suicide run kicks her abused son out of the car. The little boy, apparently mute, is an artistic prodigy who excels at chess. When paramedics find the malnourished six-year-old boy near a burning car that holds a dead woman, they wonder who he is and why he won't talk. Chase, a small-town journalist, is assigned to cover the story and investigate the boy's identity. But will his search unearth long-buried emotions about his own history? [Fiction 342 pages] [Added 4/10] [39093047156823]

Citizen Vince: a novel
(Walter, Jess)
From the highly acclaimed new crime novelist: a story of witness protection, petty thievery, local politics, and murder―set against the turbulent backdrop of the 1980 presidential election It’s the fall of 1980, the last week before the presidential election that pits the downtrodden Jimmy Carter against the suspiciously sunny Ronald Reagan. In a seedy suburban house in Spokane, a small-time crook formerly from New York, Vince Camden, pockets his weekly allotment of stolen credit cards and heads off to his witness-protection job at a donut shop. A the shop he takes a shine to a regular named Kelly, who works for a local politician. Somehow he finds himself and the politician in a parking lot at three in the morning, giving the slip to a couple of menacing thugs. And then he crosses the path of a young detective―and discovers his credit-scam partner, lying dead in his passport-photo office with a Cheerio-size bullet-hole in his head.

Citizens of London: the Americans who stood with Britain in its darkest, finest hour
(Olson, Lynne.)
The behind-the-scenes story of how the United States forged its wartime alliance with Britain, told from the perspective of three key American players in London: Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and John Gilbert Winant

Conquistadora: a novel
(Santiago, Esmeralda.)
Drawn to the exotic island of Puerto Rico by the diaries of an ancestor who traveled there with Ponce de Le?on, Ana Cubillas becomes involved with enamored twin brothers Ram?on and Inocente before convincing them to claim a sugar plantation they have inherited.