Central Kansas Library System

In 1352 England, seventeen-year-old Annabel, granddaughter of a knight and a would-be nun, eludes a lecherous bailiff but falls in love with Lord Le Wyse, the ferocious and disfigured man to whom her family owes three years of indentured servitude, in this tale loosely based on Beauty and the Beast.

American merchant Captain Jeremiah Macy Hammond's trading empire faces pirates, violent storms, and illness as it forges new paths across the Pacific. There he meets Lady Yee, the Silver Lotus, daughter of a wealthy Cantonese merchant family.

Liss MacCrimmon misses the life of a professional dancer with Strathspey, the Scottish dance company she belonged to before her knee injury forced her into early retirement. When the company goes on tour, Liss is instrumental in bringing the show to her hometown of Moosetookalook, Maine. But when the company manager collapses and dies after biting into one of Liss's prized cocktail scones, it's up to Liss to find out whodunit before the killer makes...

One of the great masterworks of science fiction, the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are unsurpassed for their unique blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building. The story of our future begins with the history of Foundation and its greatest psychohistorian: Hari Seldon. For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. Only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory,...

"Katherine Parker is on the cusp of having everything she ever wanted - fame, money, and acclaim. So why isn't she happy? In search of answers, she comes incognito to Hope Harbor on the Oregon coast for some R&R. Maybe in her secluded rental house overlooking the serene Pacific she'll be able to calm the storm inside. Coffee shop owner Zach Garrett has found his niche after a traumatic loss - and he has no plans to change the life he's created. Nor...

"Before the massacre at Nariin, Enebish was one of the greatest warriors in the Sky King's Imperial Army: a rare and dangerous Night Spinner, blessed with the ability to control the threads of darkness. Now, she is known as Enebish the Destroyer--a monster and murderer, banished to a monastery for losing control of her power and annihilating a merchant caravan. Guilt stricken and scarred, Enebish tries to be grateful for her sanctuary, until her adoptive...

"Bookstore owner Tricia Miles tries to open a new chapter in life, but murder mars the pages in the latest entry to Lorna Barrett's New York Times bestselling Booktown series. Tricia Miles and her sister, Angelica, are the co-presidents of the Stoneham Chamber of Commerce. Things are changing in the booktown, and some merchants would say not for the better. They grumble that too many non-book-related stores are moving into the village, taking up the...

"When Napoleon Bonaparte's French troops occupy the Italian port city of Ancona in 1796-1797, freeing the city's Jews from their repressive ghetto, it unleashes a whirlwind of progressivism and brutal backlash as two very different cultures collide. Mirelle, a young Jewish maiden, must choose between her duty--an arranged marriage to a wealthy Jewish merchant--and her love for a dashing French Catholic soldier. Meanwhile, Francesca, a devout Catholic,...

It's 1830s England, and Culinarians--doyens who consult with society's elite to create gorgeous food and confections--are the crème de la crème of high society. Helena Higgins, top of her class at the Royal Academy, has a sharp demeanor and an even sharper palate--and knows stardom awaits her if she can produce greatness in her final year. Penelope Pickering is going to prove the value of non-European cuisine to all of England. Her contemporaries...

"Whispered secrets about her parents' past take on new urgency for Chariline as she pays one last visit to the land of her forefathers, the ancient kingdom of Cush. Raised as an orphan by her aunt, Chariline has only been told a few pieces of her parents' tragic love story. Her beautiful dark skin is proof that her father was Cushite, but she knows nothing else. While visiting her grandfather before his retirement as the Roman official in the queen's...