The Color Of Silence

At seventeen, Alex feels as if her life is over. She will never recover from the trauma of the car accident that took the life of her best friend, Cali. All joy left when Cali died, including their shared love of singing. Why even bother speaking? Alex blames herself for the accident, and no one would want to hear what she has to say anyway. Ordered by a judge to do community service, she must spend time at a hospital with a girl named Joanie, who has minimal control of her body and no speech. Never having known another way of being, Joanie has an extraordinary internal life. She has been listening and watching as the world goes on around her, but Joanie is so full of words, thoughts and images that if she could ever figure out a way to let them loose, they would come swirling out in a torrent of syllables. She would fill every room with the colors of her dreams until the whole world became a rainbow of her making. Brought together by accident, Alex and Joanie have experienced the helplessness of silence. Their growing connection may lead them both to find the power of their voices.

"Do you have a favorite sound?" little Yoshio asks. The musician answers, "The most beautiful sound is the sound of ma, of silence." But Yoshio lives in Tokyo, Japan: a giant, noisy, busy city. He hears shoes squishing through puddles, trains whooshing, cars beeping, and families laughing. Tokyo is like a symphony hall! Where is silence? Join Yoshio on his journey through the hustle and bustle of the city to find the most beautiful sound of all.

Badge of Color, Breaking the Silence documents Harlen "Lamb" Lambert's decision to apply and become the first African American police officer in Santa Ana, Orange County in 1967. This autobiography is both a memoir and a history lesson on his upbringing in the Jim Crow South, his time in the Army, and his career as a police officer where he served heroically. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the history of law enforcement, civil rights, and Southern California.

The National Book Award–finalist movingly examines the lives of a group of New Yorkers deeply affected by one woman’s troubled life—and death. Marian is haunted by an unspoken past reflected in the choices she makes. Whether it’s her drug addiction or her dubious affairs, she finds herself increasingly adrift and alone. Yet in a city of millions, her story plays a part in the lives of others. Jaded cops who register Marian at a glance, a lover who agonizes over her abortion, a close friend stunned by her tragic overdose, a panhandling dwarf making the rounds in her Upper West Side neighborhood—each story weaves back and forth through time, revealing a compelling, compassionate portrait of one woman’s tragic fate. In a novel whose “structure combines delicacy and great tensile strength . . . Bell’s voice is increasingly diverse, accurate and, in this book of mourning, powerfully moving” (Publishers Weekly). One of America’s finest storytellers shows once again that he is a writer of “superb command” (The New York Times).

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Star. A profoundly moving and deeply personal memoir by the co-host of National Public Radio’s flagship program All Things Considered. While exploring the hidden conversation on race unfolding throughout America in the wake of President Obama’s election, Michele Norris discovered that there were painful secrets within her own family that had been willfully withheld. These revelations—from her father’s shooting by a Birmingham police officer to her maternal grandmother’s job as an itinerant Aunt Jemima in the Midwest—inspired a bracing journey into her family’s past, from her childhood home in Minneapolis to her ancestral roots in the Deep South. The result is a rich and extraordinary family memoir—filled with stories that elegantly explore the power of silence and secrets—that boldly examines racial legacy and what it means to be an American.

When Shan was fifteen years old, dark soldiers came out of the west, like a cloud of evil boiling over the soft hills of his homeland. They commanded terrible beasts, which killed with hook claws like scythes and cold eyes that dripped icy fire. The soldiers wore helmets that looked like fiends, tusked and snarling and sneering. The terrible consequences of war have left the boy Shan wounded in body and mind by the invading army of Magravandias. He's taken from his devastated village by the magus Taropat, chosen by the master's mysterious impulse to become the wizard's pupil, and a weapon against the invading empire. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

From the bestselling author of The Color of Night, the gripping story of a man forced to give up everything he's worked for his entire life, or face the horrifying consequences. "The plot grabs you and just won't let go."--James Patterson.