New items are available at the Hancock County Public Library.
The following items are available at Hancock County Public Library, 900 W. McKenzie Road. For more information on the library’s collection or to reserve a title, visit hcplibrary.org.
Adult Fiction
“Good Riddance” by Elinor Lipman
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Daphne Maritch doesn’t quite know what to make of the heavily annotated high school yearbook she inherits from her mother, who held this relic dear. Too dear. The late June Maritch was the teacher to whom the Class of ‘68 had dedicated its yearbook, and in turn she went on to attend every reunion, scribbling notes and observations after each one — not always kindly — and noting who overstepped any kind of boundaries. In a fit of decluttering, Daphne concludes the yearbook did not “spark joy.” She discards it, but when it’s found in the recycling bin by a busybody neighbor/documentary filmmaker, the yearbook’s mysteries take on a whole new urgency, and Daphne finds herself entangled in a series of events both poignant and absurd.
Adult Nonfiction
“American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts,” by Chris McGreal
The opioid epidemic has been described as “one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine.” But calling it a mistake is a generous rewriting of the history of greed, corruption and indifference that pushed the U.S. into consuming more than 80 percent of the world’s opioid painkillers. Journeying through lives and communities wrecked by the epidemic, author Chris McGreal reveals not only how Big Pharma hooked Americans on powerfully addictive drugs, but the corruption of medicine and public institutions that let the opioid makers get away with it. The starting point for McGreal’s investigation is the miners who were promised that opioid painkillers would restore their wrecked bodies, but who became targets of “drug dealers in white coats.” A few physicians warned of impending disaster, but “American Overdose” exposes the forces they were up against including the pharmaceutical industry’s co-opting of the Food and Drug Administration and Congress in the drive to push painkillers — resulting in the resurgence of heroin cartels in the American heartland.
