Secrets 

Orphaned fifteen-year-old Judith Sparrow brings two secrets to her uncle's house in South Carolina: one, that her grief-stricken mother died in a madhouse, the other that she has disobeyed the only condition to living in her uncle's home -- nothing green is allowed in the house. 

Judith can't bear to part with the photograph of her mother in its lovely green silk frame. Surely this one small defiance will not jeopardize the happiness she finds in South Carolina -- with a family at last, and new friends, especially Zeke Carey, the miller's son. 

But Uncle Geoffrey's house holds a secret of its own. And Judith's small picture frame, hidden away at the bottom of her trunk, unleashes a powerful force that seems determined to bring that secret into the open. Or is Judith simply following her mother down the path toward madness?

PW called this period ghost story about an orphaned girl who moves a great distance to live with her only relatives "a satisfying spine-tingler." Ages 10-14.  
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In trying to understand the atom, physicists built quantum mechanics, the most successful theory in science and the basis of one-third of our economy. They found, to their embarrassment, that with their theory, physics encounters consciousness. Authors Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner explain all this in non-technical terms with help from some fanciful stories and anecdotes about the theory's developers. They present the quantum mystery honestly, emphasizing what is and what is not speculation. Quantum Enigma's description of the experimental quantum facts, and the quantum theory explaining them, is undisputed. Interpreting what it all means, however, is heatedly controversial. But every interpretation of quantum physics involves consciousness. Rosenblum and Kuttner therefore turn to exploring consciousness itself--and encounter quantum mechanics. Free will and anthropic principles become crucial issues, and the connection of consciousness with the cosmos suggested by some leading quantum cosmologists is mind-blowing. Readers are brought to a boundary where the particular expertise of physicists is no longer the only sure guide. They will find, instead, the facts and hints provided by quantum mechanics and the ability to speculate for themselves.

"A remarkable and readable presentation." --Charles Townes, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics 

"This book is unique.  EL The clearest expositions I have ever seen." --George Greenstein, Professor of Astronomy, Amherst College 

"An immensely important and exciting book." --Raymond Chester Russ, editor of Journal of Mind and Behavior 

"Exposes the hidden skeleton in the physicist's closet." --Nick Herbert, author of Quantum Reality 

In the few decades since the Bell's theorem experiments established the existence of entanglement (Einstein's "spooky action"), interest in the foundations, and the mysteries, of quantum mechanics has accelerated. In recent years, physicists, philosophers, computer engineers, and even biologists have expanded our realization of the significance of quantum phenomena. This second edition includes such advances. The authors have also drawn on many responses from readers and instructors to improve the clarity of the book's explanations.

Sixteen-year-old Maggie Bennet's life is in tatters. Her mother has disappeared, and is presumed dead. The next thing she knows, her father has dragged Maggie away from their elegant Newport home, off on some mad excursion to Yellowstone in Montana. Torn from the only life she?s ever known, away from her friends, from society, and verging on no prospects, Maggie is furious and devastated by her father?s betrayal. But when she arrives, she finds herself drawn to the frustratingly stubborn, handsome Tom Rowland, the son of a park geologist, and to the wild romantic beauty of Yellowstone itself. And as Tom and the promise of freedom capture Maggie?s heart, Maggie is forced to choose between who she is and who she wants to be.

From School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up–It's May of 1904, and 16-year-old Maggie Bennet should be planning her debut into Newport society. Unfortunately, her father has other plans. He takes her to Yellowstone National Park, following a lead on Maggie's mother, who disappeared the year before and is presumed dead. Upon their arrival, Papa reveals that they are broke and he has taken a job as architect at the park. As Maggie tries to start a new life and piece together the mystery of her mother's connection to Yellowstone, she is torn between her conflicting desires. She longs to take her proper place in society, something offered by George Graybull, the rich and powerful but arrogant and shallow older man who is courting her. At the same time, she wants freedom and true love, represented by Tom, the kind but poor son of a geologist. The story follows Maggie's struggle to overcome her own prejudices and society's limitations. The wilderness of Yellowstone, which is lovingly and beautifully depicted, reflects her inner turmoil and yearning for freedom, deemed madness in her bohemian mother. Though the style doesn't always ring true to the period and the plot and characterization sometimes lack subtlety, the gradual revelation of the truth about Maggie's mother, the developing relationship between Maggie and Tom, and the thrilling episodes sprinkled throughout will engage readers.Erin Carrillo, formerly at Alachua County Library District, Gainesville, FL
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. 

About the Author

Janet S. Fox (Janet Fox) is a writer, mom, and former high school English teacher. Her first young adult novel FAITHFUL (Speak/Penguin, 2010), was a 2011 Amelia Bloomer list pick, and is set in Yellowstone National Park in 1904. FORGIVEN, a companion YA novel (Speak/Penguin, 2011) set in 1906 San Francisco at the time of the Great Earthquake, was a Junior Library Guild selection and WILLA Literary Award finalist. Janet's third YA, SIRENS (Speak, 1012), is a "noir romance" set in 1925 New York. GET ORGANIZED WITHOUT LOSING IT is her award-winning middle grade self-help book for kids (Free Spirit Publishing, 2006), and her debut middle grade novel, THE CHARMED CHILDREN OF ROOKSKILL CASTLE, is a spooky historical fantasy set in Scotland (Viking, 2016). Look for her second middle grade novel, THE LAST TRUE KNIGHT, from Viking in 2018. Janet is a 2010 graduate of the MFA/Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Janet currently lives in the mountains of Montana. The family loves dogs and is ruled by a rambunctious yellow lab puppy.

Could a witch hunt happen again in Salem?

For readers of Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader Brunonia Barry returns to Salem with this spellbinding new thriller, a complex brew of suspense, seduction and murder.

“Dark and suspenseful, Barry’s well-constructed tale is filled with traps and red herrings as the truth is slowly revealed and Salem is forced to confront its sordid past.”—Publishers Weekly

When a teenage boy dies suspiciously on Halloween night, Salem's chief of police, John Rafferty, wonders if there is a connection between his death and Salem’s most notorious cold case, a triple homicide dubbed "The Goddess Murders," in which three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were slashed on Halloween night in 1989. He finds unexpected help in Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims newly returned to town. Neither believes that the main suspect, Rose Whelan, respected local historian, is guilty of murder or witchcraft. 

“Barry fans will welcome the return of beloved characters and the introduction of new ones into a contemporary Salem appropriately fraught with remnants and reminders of its dark and twisted history. This spooky, multilayered medley of mysteries is sure to be a bestseller.”
—Booklist (starred review)

But exonerating Rose might mean crossing paths with a dangerous force. Were the women victims of an all-too-human vengeance, or was the devil raised in Salem that night? And if they cannot discover what truly happened, will evil rise again?

About the Author

Brunonia Barry is the New York Times and international best selling author of The Lace Reader, The Map of True Places, and her latest book: The Fifth Petal. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She was the first American author to win the International Women’s Fiction Festival’s Baccante Award and was a past recipient of Ragdale Artists’ Colony’s Strnad Invitational Fellowship as well as the winner of New England Book Festival’s award for Best Fiction. Her reviews and articles on writing have appeared in the London Times and the Washington Post, and the Huffington Post. Brunonia co-chairs the Salem Athenaeum’s Writers’ Committee. She lives in Salem with her husband Gary Ward and their dog, Angel. Gary and Bru are the organizers of the Salem Literary Festival.

The New York Times bestseller by the author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, National Post, BookPage, and Kirkus Reviews

“A fiendish delight . . . Mitchell is something of a magician.”—The Washington Post 

Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door.

Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you’ll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won’t want to leave. Later, you’ll find that you can’t. Every nine years, the house’s residents—an odd brother and sister—extend a unique invitation to someone who’s different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it’s already too late. . . .

Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story—as only David Mitchell could imagine it.

Praise for Slade House

“Entertainingly eerie . . . We turn to [Mitchell] for brain-tickling puzzle palaces, for character studies and for language.”—Chicago Tribune

“A ripping yarn . . . Like Shirley Jackson’s Hill House or the Overlook Hotel from Stephen King’s The Shining, [Slade House] is a thin sliver of hell designed to entrap the unwary. . . . As the Mitchellverse grows ever more expansive and connected, this short but powerful novel hints at still more marvels to come.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Like Stephen King in a fever . . . manically ingenious.”—The Guardian (U.K.)

“A haunted house story that savors of Dickens, Stephen King, J. K. Rowling and H. P. Lovecraft, but possesses more psychic voltage than any of them.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Tightly crafted and suspenseful yet warmly human . . . the ultimate spooky nursery tale for adults.”—The Huffington Post

“Diabolically entertaining . . . dark, thrilling, and fun . . . a thoroughly entertaining ride full of mind games, unexpected twists, and even a few laughs.”—The Daily Beast

“Plants died, milk curdled, and my children went slightly feral as I succumbed to the creepy magic of David Mitchell’s Slade House. It’s a wildly inventive, chilling, and—for all its otherworldliness—wonderfully human haunted house story. I plan to return to its clutches quite often.”—Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl and The Grownup 

“I gulped down this novel in a single evening. Painstakingly imagined and crackling with narrative velocity, it’s a Dracula for the new millennium, a reminder of how much fun fiction can be.”—Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

“David Mitchell doesn’t break rules so much as he proves them to be inhibitors to lively intelligent fiction.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes The Haunting from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon.

        The walls whisper. The ceilings shriek. No one can survive a night of terror inside Graymoss. The old plantation house has been in Lia’s family since the Civil War, but it’s been possessed for generations by a malicious spirit, and Lia’s family has always stayed far away.

        Now her parents have decided to move into Graymoss, and Lia must either change their minds or chase away the horror lurking inside the old house. Using clues from her great-great-grandmother’s diary and an old copy of Favorite Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, Lia must discover what—or who—the evil wants.

“Nixon creates a spooky setting fairly dripping in atmosphere, then spins an ever-tightening thread of tension.” –Kirkus Reviews

“A book that will please mystery fans…[and a] plot [that] keeps readers guessing until the end.” –School Library Journal

“Nixon has woven a tale that grabs and holds her readers…It’s a really fun read!” –VOYA

“A page-turner that will satisfy mystery and ghost story fans.” –Booklist

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes The Haunting from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon.

        The walls whisper. The ceilings shriek. No one can survive a night of terror inside Graymoss. The old plantation house has been in Lia’s family since the Civil War, but it’s been possessed for generations by a malicious spirit, and Lia’s family has always stayed far away.

        Now her parents have decided to move into Graymoss, and Lia must either change their minds or chase away the horror lurking inside the old house. Using clues from her great-great-grandmother’s diary and an old copy of Favorite Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, Lia must discover what—or who—the evil wants.

“Nixon creates a spooky setting fairly dripping in atmosphere, then spins an ever-tightening thread of tension.” –Kirkus Reviews

“A book that will please mystery fans…[and a] plot [that] keeps readers guessing until the end.” –School Library Journal

“Nixon has woven a tale that grabs and holds her readers…It’s a really fun read!” –VOYA

“A page-turner that will satisfy mystery and ghost story fans.” –Booklist

“The next Girl on the Train…Ware hews [close] to the new genre of twisty-mystery women’s books.”--Vulture

THE AUTHOR OF THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

An NPR Best Book of the Year, 2015

A ShelfAwareness Best Book of the Year, 2015

An Entertainment Weekly Summer Books Pick

A Buzzfeed “31 Books to Get Excited About this Summer” Pick

A Publishers Weekly “Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers” Pick

A BookReporter Summer Reading Pick

A New York Post “Best Novels to Read this Summer” Pick

A Shelf Awareness “Book Expo America 2015 Buzz Book” Pick

What should be a cozy and fun-filled weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in Ruth Ware’s suspenseful, compulsive, and darkly twisted psychological thriller.

Sometimes the only thing to fear…is yourself.

When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But as the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora’s reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods.

"Ware slowly unspools the mystery, setting a truly spooky scene … with a constant undercurrent of danger. Read it on a dark and stormy night—with all the lights on."--Kirkus Reviews

"Who pulls a gun at a bachelorette party? The answers are unveiled with Gillian Flynn-style trickery."--O Magazine

"Likely to be the next Gone Girl."--Elizabeth Willse Surrounded by Books

"Haunting."--Style Boston

"Eerie and mysterious!"--EBookClassics

"An English psychological thriller...compared to Gone Girl and Girl on the Train."--Steve Bennett My San Antonio

Carolyn Hart's Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award-winning mystery series, Death on Demand, has long been a readers' favorite, with its richly evoked Southern atmosphere, ticklish wit, wildly eccentric characters, perplexing puzzles, and the most endearing pair of married sleuths since Nick and Nora Charles. Now the investigative efforts of Annie and Max Darling soar to a breathtaking new level, with a delightfully unexpected whodunit that's as sumptuous as a holiday dessert.

Sugarplum Dead

It's getting to look a lot like Christmas on the sea island of Broward's Rock, South Carolina. At the popular Death on Demand mystery bookstore, owner Annie Darling's energetic Yuletide preparations have to be put on hold thanks to several rather inconvenient distractions--including a slew of family woes ... and murder.

Annie's mother-in-law Laurel -- not normally the straightest of arrows anyway -- has taken to chatting up ghosts in the local graveyard. Across the island in a spacious, spooky mansion, ancient onetime movie star Marguerite Dumaney Ladson has called together all her living kin and their multitude of exes for her gala combination Xmas/birthday bash. Among the honored guests are two that Annie could well do without: her errant father, whom she hasn't seen in twenty five years, and Dr. Emory Swanson, Laurel's guide down "The Golden Path."

Like Laurel, wealthy old Rita Dumaney Ladson has fallen for Swanson's new-age-pseudo-occult gobbledygook. The question is: how are the gathered relatives going to react to the grande dame's announcement that she's leaving her fortune to the charismatic charlatan's Evermore Foundation? Not well, apparently, since a murder follows right on the heels of Rita's shocking revelation. And the finger of suspicion seems to be pointing straight at Annie Darling's recently arrived deadbeat dad.

Annie can feel no loyalty toward the father she's never really known, but she doesn't believe for a minute he's guilty. And when a second murder puts her conflicted emotions into an even more chaotic tailspin, Annie realizes that she will need all the help her easy-going PI. husband Max can offer to solve a related pair of homicides. Because, in this season of giving, fate is giving her more major headaches -- and a killer is giving her more corpses -- than even the normally unflappable Annie Darling may be able to handle.

Ever since Cass almost drowned (okay, she did drown, but she doesn't like to think about it), she can pull back the Veil that separates the living from the dead . . . and enter the world of spirits. Her best friend is even a ghost.

So things are already pretty strange. But they're about to get much stranger.

When Cass's parents start hosting a TV show about the world's most haunted places, the family heads off to Edinburgh, Scotland. Here, graveyards, castles, and secret passageways teem with restless phantoms. And when Cass meets a girl who shares her "gift," she realizes how much she still has to learn about the Veil -- and herself.

And she'll have to learn fast. The city of ghosts is more dangerous than she ever imagined.

NYT bestselling author Victoria Schwab delivers a thrillingly spooky and action-packed tale of hauntings, history, mystery, and the bond between friends (even if that friend is a ghost . . .).

Two boys and their mother spend a week fixing up an old mansion that belonged to their mysterious Great-Uncle. An ancient family secret lies somewhere within that sealed-up house.

Review

With their mother, Roy and his brother Jason move into a spooky old mansion that belonged to their great-uncle Mel. Encounters with a weird old man, and the discovery of a secret cupboard create an air of mystery and suspense.
—Pennsylvania School Library Association

About the Author

Steve Brezenoff lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife, Beth, their son, Sam, and their small, smelly dog, Harry. Besides writing books, he enjoys playing video games, riding his bicycle, and helping middle-school students to improve their writing skills. Steve's ideas almost always come to him in his dreams, so he does his best writing in his pajamas.

The ghosts of the past come calling in a spellbinding heart-stopper from the “Queen of the Northern Gothic.”

“Simultaneously melancholy and sweet at its core.” —Kirkus Reviews

After the end of her marriage, Kate Granger has retreated to her parents’ home on Lake Superior to pull herself together—only to discover the body of a murdered woman washed into the shallows. Tucked in the folds of the woman’s curiously vintage gown is an infant, as cold and at peace as its mother. No one can identify the woman. Except for Kate. She’s seen her before. In her dreams…

One hundred years ago, a love story ended in tragedy, its mysteries left unsolved. It’s time for the lake to give up its secrets. As each mystery unravels, it pulls Kate deeper into the eddy of a haunting folktale that has been handed down in whispers over generations. Now, it’s Kate’s turn to listen.

As the drowned woman reaches out from the grave, Kate reaches back. They must come together, if only in dreams, to right the sinister wrongs of the past.

Reviews

An Entertainment Weekly New and Notable selection

A Refinery29 Best Book of November

A Liz & Lisa Best Book of the Month

“Well-delineated characters and a suspenseful plot make this a winner.” —Publishers Weekly

“Daughters of the Lake has everything you could want in a spellbinding read: unexpected family secrets, ghosts, tragic love stories, intertwined fates.” —Refinery29

“…Perfect for anyone who loves a good ghost story that bleeds into the present day.” —Health

“Daughters of the Lake is gothic to its core, a story of ghostly revenge, of wronged parties setting history right.” —Star Tribune

“Daughters of the Lake provides an immersive reading experience to those who love ghostly mysteries, time travel, and lovely descriptions.” —New York Journal of Books

“Daughters of the Lake is an alchemical blend of romance, intrigue, ancestry, and the supernatural.” —Bookreporter

“Eerie, atmospheric, and mesmerizing.” —Novelgossip

“…Haunting and heartbreaking…A masterful work of suspense…” —Midwest Book Review

“In Wendy Webb’s entrancing Daughters of the Lake, dreams open a door between the dead and the living, a lake spirit calls to a family of gifted women, and a century-old murder is solved under the cover of fog. This northern gothic gem is everything that is delicious, spooky, and impossible to put down.” —Emily Carpenter, author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, The Weight of Lies, and Every Single Secret

“The tentacles of the past reach out to threaten Kate Granger in this atmospheric tale, set on the shores of Lake Superior. Filled with all the intrigue of old houses and their long-buried secrets, this gothic tale will make you shiver.” —Elizabeth Hall, bestselling author of Miramont’s Ghost

“Wendy Webb’s deftly woven tale hits all the right notes. A lost legacy of lake spirits, restless ghostly figures, and a past shrouded in fog and regret blend in delicious harmony in Daughters of the Lake. The queen of northern gothic does it again with this quintessential ghost story [that’s] every bit as compelling and evocative as her fans have come to expect.” —Eliza Maxwell, bestselling author of The Unremembered Girl

About the Author

Wendy Webb knew from the minute she read A Wrinkle in Time at age eleven that she was destined to be a writer. After two decades as a journalist, writing for varied publications including USA Today, the Huffington Post, the Star Tribune, Midwest Living, and others, Wendy wrote her first novel, The Tale of Halcyon Crane. When it won the 2011 Minnesota Book Award for genre fiction, she started writing fiction full-time. Her second and third novels, The Fate of Mercy Alban and The Vanishing, established her as a leading suspense novelist, whom reviewers are calling the Queen of the Northern Gothic. She lives in Minneapolis and is at work on her next novel. Visit her online at wendykwebb.com and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as wendywebbauthor.