The fact that New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah has time to do much more than write may be hard to believe, but the author of 13 novels, including Night Road (out in paperback Jan. 3) and the highly anticipated Home Front (Jan. 31) loves to read. We asked her what five books are on her nightstand right now.
Down The Darkest Road by Tami Hoag
#1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag returns with the latest entry in her riveting Oak Knoll series. Deeper Than the Dead introduced Tami Hoag’s millions of fans to Oak Knoll, a small California town that, in the mid-’80s, seems as idyllic as any… until the see-no-evil killer shatters that notion. It takes FBI agent Vince Leone and a new technique called “profiling” to put an end to the trauma.
Secrets to the Grave brought Leone’s teacher-turned-child-advocate wife, Anne, into a central role. Together with Vince and local sheriff’s deputy Tony Mendez, she solves an Oak Knoll murder with a particularly challenging mystery: The victim had never existed.
Hoag returns once more to Oak Knoll for the third installment of this bestselling series. Through Leone’s pioneering, science-based investigatory skills, Hoag explores the early days of forensic police work. And through the chilling case at the heart of Down the Darkest Road, she hooks ever more readers into the meticulously crafted, all-too-terrifying world of Oak Knoll, where the scariest secrets of all can be found… down the darkest road.
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
More than five years in the writing, The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman’s most ambitious and mesmerizing novel, a tour de force of imagination and research set in ancient Israel. In 70 C.E., 900 Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and an expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine — a woman with uncanny insight and power. The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are keeping secrets, too — about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them and whom they love. The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman’s masterpiece.
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The circus arrives without warning, with no preceding announcements. It is simply there, when yesterday, it was not. Within the black-and-white-striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking curiosities. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is open only at night.
Behind the scenes, however, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love — a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved — from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons — hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.
Divergent by Veronika Roth
In 16-year-old Beatrice Prior’s world, society is divided into five factions: Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful) and Erudite (the intelligent). Each is dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a “perfect society.” At the age of 16, teens must choose the faction to which they will devote their lives.
On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris, rejects her family’s group and chooses another faction. After surviving a brutal initiation, Tris finds romance with a super-hot boy, but also discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly “perfect society.” To survive and save those they love, the two must use their strengths to uncover the truths about their identities, their families and the order of their society itself.
City of Ash by Megan Chance
When the great Seattle fire of 1889 leaves them with nothing to lose, two very different women discover a mutual passion for revenge. Chicago socialite and art patron Geneva Langley has brought scandal to her family for the last time. Her latest and boldest act of immodesty is too much for her father to bear, and he banishes her to Seattle, along with her scheming, ambitious husband, Nathan. Seattle is a far cry from Chicago; the streets are muddy and the society backward. Ginny feels stifled and alone.
Despite her considerable talent, Beatrice Wilkes is an actress whose dream of being a leading lady is fading rapidly. She can’t believe her luck when a new production gives her a chance at stardom, but Geneva Langley seizes the opportunity for her own and unwittingly crushes Bea’s last dream. The two women engage in a fierce battle for center stage, but the great Seattle fire ravages the city and changes their fates and plans. In its aftermath, Ginny and Bea see an opportunity to change their lives that would mean banding together to enact a truly wicked plan. Their dark and perilous alliance sets them on the path to either redemption or damnation.
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