“The Last Cuentista”
The following items are available at the Hancock County Public Library, 900 W. McKenzie Road. Descriptions are provided by the publisher, unless otherwise noted. For more information on the library’s collection or to reserve a title, visit hcplibrary.org.
Fiction: “The Hotel Nantucket” by Elin Hilderbrand
After a tragic fire in 1922 that killed 19-year-old chambermaid, Grace Hadley, The Hotel Nantucket descended from a gilded age gem to a mediocre budget-friendly lodge to inevitably an abandoned eyesore — until it’s purchased and renovated top to bottom by London billionaire, Xavier Darling. Xavier hires Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton as his general manager, and Lizbet, in turn, pulls together a charismatic, if inexperienced, staff who share the vision of turning the fate of the hotel around. They face challenges in getting along with one another (and with the guests), in overcoming the hotel’s bad reputation, and in surviving the (mostly) harmless shenanigans of Grace Hadley herself – who won’t stop haunting the hotel until her murder is acknowledged.
Nonfiction: “James Patterson” by James Patterson
How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become one of the most successful storytellers in the world? James Patterson nearly died early on the morning he was born. His grandmother told him something that’s been his motto for his entire writing career: “Hungry dogs run faster.” When Patterson worked at a psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts, he met singer James Taylor. And poet Robert Lowell. His first novel, “The Thomas Berryman Number,” was turned down by 31 publishers. It then won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for best first mystery. While he toiled in advertising hell, Patterson wrote the ad jingle line “I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us Kid.” He has played golf with three American presidents. Dolly Parton once sang “Happy Birthday to James” over the phone. Patterson wanted to write the kind of novel that would be read and re-read so many times that the binding breaks and the book literally falls apart, pages scattering in the wind. He says, “I’m still working on that one.” So how did he wind up writing, and reading, so many books? This is a mystery story. -Amazon
Youth: “The Last Cuentista” by Donna Barba Higuera
A girl named Petra Pena wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra’s world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children – among them Petra and her family – have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet – and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth.
