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By: Kim Akers
This week at the Quincy Public Library the staff recommends The Black Swan of Paris by best-selling author Karen Robards. As the Black Swan, Genevieve Dumont is the most sought after entertainer in Paris. Her star status provides her with plenty of food while the rest of Paris starves, and gives her access to the highest levels of Nazi SS officers. Genevieve and her manager, Max Bonet, use this access to gather and pass information back and forth for the Resistance. Knowing that this is important work doesn’t help Genevieve’s anxiety, but she continues the charade no matter what it costs. When she learns that her estranged mother has been captured and her father killed by the Nazis, Genevieve knows she has to rescue her mother. Not just because her mother knows the real plans of the Allied invasion and the Nazis will torture the truth out of her, but because she’s her mother. Every second brings Genevieve and Max closer to rescuing her mother, but also puts them in greater danger of being discovered by the Nazis. Robards’ taut new thriller is perfect for fans of historical fiction.
Just days after the new year, a wealthy financier is murdered by his former lover’s new boyfriend as a result of a scandalous love triangle. A leading woman’s rights advocate runs for president. A Christian leader rallies the righteous to protest against pornography and sexual deviants. Voters on both sides of the ballot accuse the opposition of rigging the election. A prominent minister has an affair with his co-worker, the sordid details of which the liberal media quickly spreads throughout the country. All of this sounds familiar, right? You can find similar stories on practically any news site on any given day, only these shocking all true stories occurred in 1872. Moral codes and socially acceptable activities were changing as the 19th century was drawing to a close, and New York City was front and center of the reformation. Bill Greer takes an informative and detailed look at how the United States hasn’t really changed that much in his book A Dirty Year: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in Gilded Age New York.
Despite the fact that Giselle Burgess worked a full-time job and did whatever she could to save money for her family of six, the growing bills and shrinking paychecks eventually caused her family to be evicted from their home. They were able to find temporary housing in a local shelter, but it was more like a prison than a home. To help her daughters and the other girls in the shelter focus on building skills for the future, Giselle decided to start a Girl Scout troop in the shelter. She had been her daughters’ leader before they became homeless and knew the residents of the shelter – both girls and parents – could benefit from the program. She also knew she faced an uphill battle to convince not only the housing authority that this was a worthwhile endeavor, but the parents who were busy trying to get back on their feet and provide for their families. Journalist Nikita Stewart chronicles Giselle and her daughters’ efforts to create not just one shelter troop, but troops in all of the family shelters across New York City and shine a light on the desperation of family homelessness across the country. Troop 6000 is an inspirational book about courage, determination, and breaking the cycle of poverty.