A Dublin Student Doctor - Patrick Taylor
Irish Country Books, Book 6 of 16
 
Patrick Taylor's devoted listeners oknow Doctor Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly as a pugnacious general practitioner in the quaint Irish village of Ballybucklebo. Now Taylor turns back the clock to give us a portrait of the young Fingal�and show us the pivotal events that shaped the man he would become.

In the 1930s, fresh from a stint in the Royal Navy Reserve, and against the wishes of his disapproving father, Fingal O'Reilly goes to Dublin to study medicine. Fingal and his fellow aspiring doctors face the arduous demands of Trinity College and Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital. The hours are long and the cases challenging, but Fingal manages to find time to box and play rugby�and to romance a fetching, gray-eyed nurse named Kitty O'Hallorhan.

Dublin is a city of slums and tenements, where brutal poverty breeds diseases that the limited medical knowledge of the time is often ill-equipped to handle. His teachers warn Fingal not to become too attached to his patients, but can he truly harden himself to the suffering he sees all around him�or can he find a way to care for his patients without breaking his heart?
 
A Dublin Student Doctor is a moving, deeply human story that will touch longtime fans of the Irish Country Books series as well as readers who are meeting Doctor Fingal O'Reilly for the very first time.
 
The Underside of Joy - Sere Prince Halverson
Set against the backdrop of Redwood forests and shimmering vineyards, Ser� Prince Halverson's compelling debut tells the story of two women, bound by an unspeakable loss, who each claims to be the mother of the same two children.
 
To Ella Beene, happiness means living in the Northern California river town of Elbow with her husband, Joe, and his two young children. Yet one summer day, Joe breaks his own rule - never turn your back on the ocean - and a sleeper wave strikes him down, drowning not only the man but his many secrets.
 
For three years, Ella has been the only mother the kids have known and has believed that their biological mother, Paige, abandoned them. But when Paige shows up at the funeral, intent on reclaiming the children, Ella soon realizes there may be more to Paige and Joe's story. "Ella's the best thing that's happened to this family," say her close-knit Italian-American in-laws, for generations the proprietors of a local market. But their devotion quickly falters when the custody fight between mother and stepmother urgently and powerfully collides with Ella's quest for truth.
 
The Underside of Joy is not a fairy-tale version of stepmotherhood pitting good Ella against evil Paige, but an exploration of the complex relationship of two mothers. Their conflict uncovers a map of scars - both physical and emotional - on the families' deeply buried tragedies, including Italian internment camps during World War II and postpartum psychosis.
 
Weaving a rich fictional tapestry abundantly alive with the glorious natural beauty of the novel's setting, Halverson is a captivating guide through the flora and fauna of human emotion: grief and anger, shame and forgiveness, happiness and its shadow complement... the underside of joy.
 
Three-Day Town - Margaret Maron
Deborah Knott Short Stories, Book 17 of 20
 
New York Times best-selling author Margaret Maron�s meticulously crafted Judge Deborah Knott mysteries display the work of a master. In the series� 17th entry, Deborah and Sheriff�s Deputy Dwight Bryant are on their way to New York City for a belated honeymoon. Once in the city, however, they get swept up in a mystery involving a stolen package and a murdered doorman.
 
Emory's Gift - W. Bruce Cameron
After 13-year-old Charlie Hall�s mother dies and his father retreats into the silence of grief, Charlie finds himself drifting lost and alone through the brutal halls of junior high school.
 
But Charlie Hall is not entirely friendless. In the woods behind his house, Charlie is saved from a mountain lion by a grizzly bear, a species thought to be extinct in northern Idaho.
 
And this very unusual bear will change Charlie�s life forever. Deeply moving, and interwoven with hope and joy, Emory�s Gift is not only a heartwarming and charming coming-of-age story, but also a page-turning, insightful look at how faith, trust, and unconditional love can heal a broken family and can bridge the gaps that divide us.
 
Paperback