Fresh fiction finds: Six new large print novels to discover

This column was submitted by Evangeline Cessna of the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library.

This week's column features more New Large Print fiction for your enjoyment.

Agustina Maria Bazterrica delivers a work of literary horror about a woman cloistered in a secretive, violent religious order in The Unworthy. In her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman uses whatever she can find — discarded ink, dirt, and her own blood — to write the story of her life. She is a lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, an unworthy, who dreams of rising to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of her convent and pleasing the dreaded Superior Sister. The world outside is suffering from catastrophic events — cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet no longer exist, and bands of survivors fight and forage the barren landscape for any resources they can find. Our narrator may be controlled and punished, but she is safe. When a stranger makes her way past the convent walls to join the ranks of the unworthy, our narrator is forced to really reflect on her past and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can't she remember her life before? What really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened?

A Time Traveler's Masquerade is a novel by Sian Ann Bessey. One moment Isla Crawford is inside McQuivey's Costume Shop trying on a Jacobian-style gown for the upcoming parliamentary Autumn Ball, and the next, she is in an unfamiliar garden, barefoot, coatless, and at the mercy of a fierce storm. In her confusion, Isla seeks refuge in a Tudor manor, where she discovers she has inexplicably been sent back to 1605. She also realizes that it is just a few weeks before the climax of Guy Fawkes's infamous Gunpowder Plot. Lord Bancroft's life is turned upside down when a mysterious woman turns up on his sister's doorstep during a storm. He is intrigued by the quirky mannerisms and speech patterns of the stranger, and he feels compelled to protect her. He also heeds her warnings about a fatal plot against Parliament. Not knowing if she will ever get back home, Isla uses her twenty-first-century knowledge of the past to try and thwart The Gunpowder Plot without changing the course of history forever.

In The Atlas of Untold Stories by Sara Brunsvold, Chloe Vance — the dreamer of the family — must tell her hardheaded mother, Edie, that she has accepted a low-paying art instructor role at a Christian school in Prague. Chloe's older sister, Lauren, the 'responsible one,' is doing everything she can to hide the fact that she's been fired for a foolish mistake and is desperately searching for her next career move. Edie has her own problems. She is estranged from her own sister following their mother's recent death and is in no mood for any more changes. The three women embark on a nine-day road trip to visit significant literary sites throughout America's heartland. They are hoping to find inspiration through literary works and the lives of the authors they admire. As they experience the adventure and wonder of the classics, they'll discover the value of being honest with themselves and their family about their losses and failures. Only then can they come to terms with their own needs and desires.

Christina Dodd returns with another entry in the historical mystery series featuring Rosie Montague of Verona in her latest Thus With A Kiss I Die. It is another day in fair Verona and Rosie Mantague is contemplating her short 20-year-old life. She is unwed by her own design, but free as no married woman ever is. She is beautiful but without conceit and thinks her dear Mamma, Juliet, is the most beautiful creature to walk the earth. Rosie recently fell in love with Lysander of the House of Beautiful, but was thwarted by Escalus, the Prince of Verona who wanted Rosie for himself. When Escalus's father — as a ghost — appears to Rosie and asks her to find his killer. Having only recently dispatched Verona's firs serial killer, Rosie is none too pleased with the assignment. The ghost promises to unite Rosie with her One True Love, so she gathers clues. All the while, revolution brews beneath polite society's glittering surface and a dark shadow is stalking dear Rosie.

Long before Dorothy visits Oz, her aunt, Emily Gale and her husband, Henry set off on their own great adventure leaving Chicago behind for Kansas in Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor. It's 1924 in Chicago and Emily and Henry want to leave the grit of the city for the harsh beauty of the Kansas prairie. Emily knows that leaving the city means leaving her beloved sister, Annie, who was once closer to her than anyone in the world. Fast forward to 1932 and Emily and Henry have established themselves in their new home among the warm members of their farming community. When tragedy strikes, their orphaned niece, Dorothy, is left on their doorstep. Her wide-eyed niece isn't the only thing to disrupt their lives. Drought and horrific dust storms threaten to destroy everything they have built, and their beloved home becomes a place of uncertainty and danger. As secrets from the past catch up to the present, Emily fears she will lose the most cherished thing of all: Dorothy.

Michael Without Apology is by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Michael Woodbine is a film student struggling with self-acceptance. When he was seven years old, a near-fatal fireworks accident scarred him and led to him being placed in foster care. Even as a college freshman, Michael is trying to hide the effects of his trauma from his classmates, his adoptive family, and himself. He signs up for a film class and meets his teacher, Robert Dunning, who wears his own scars unapologetically. Robert encourages Michael to make a documentary exploring body image and self-perception. He places an ad seeking people who feel unattractive and rejected by society—and is surprised to learn that this is nearly everyone. Some participants are recovering from injury or surgery; others are dealing with everyday factors like aging or postpartum changes to their bodies. As Michael collects these stories and finally tells his own, he feels more connected to the world than ever before. He has one last hurdle to overcome: his overwhelming doubts about why his birth parents wouldn't fight to keep him.