Xe Sands

When Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage, Tandi Jo Reese, finds eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, spanning from Iola's youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paper.

Say "algae" and most people think of pond scum. What they don't know is that without algae, none of us would exist. There are as many algae on Earth as stars in the universe, and they have been essential to life on our planet for eons. Algae created the Earth we know today, with its oxygen-rich atmosphere, abundant oceans, and coral reefs. Crude oil is made of dead algae, and algae are the ancestors of all plants. Today, seaweed production is a multi-billion...

Marrying an economics professor she met while catering an East Hampton dinner party, Angela finds her tragic past coming under scrutiny at the same time she is asked to defend her husband against wrongful accusations.

"The true story of Ivan, known as the Shopping Mall Gorilla, who lived alone in a small cage for almost 30 years before being relocated to the gorilla habitat at ZooAtlanta."-- Provided by publisher.

"They were the Princess Dianas of their day--perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the early twentieth century. The four captivating Russian Grand Duchesses--Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov--were much admired for their happy dispositions, their looks, the clothes they wore and their privileged lifestyle. Over the years, the story of the four Romanov sisters and their tragic end in a basement at Ekaterinburg in 1918...

"From the author of Pack Up the Moon comes a funny, romantic, and deeply moving novel about the unexpected rewards that come from life's swerves. Lark Smith was planning a fairy-tale wedding to her high school sweetheart when, in the blink of an eye, everything she dreamed of was suddenly gone. That day, Lark decided the best way to deal with loss was to prevent others from ever having to. Five years later, her goal of becoming a doctor-the best doctor-is...

"An evocative new novel from the New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins. Beware the wrath of a woman scorned-she just might save the world. Lillie knew the empty nest would be hard when her son left for college, but she had no idea of the full extent to which her world would come crashing down-until her husband announced out of the blue that he was in love with another woman, and he would be leaving, too. Besides the fact that this announcement...

Lola was a buckshot-riddled stray, lost on a Memphis highway. Cody was rejected from seven different homes. Ace had been sprayed with mace and left for dead on a train track. They were deemed unadoptable. Untrainable. Unsalvageable. These would become the same dogs America relied on when its worst disasters hit. In 1995, Wilma Melville volunteered as a canine search-and-rescue (SAR) handler with her Black Labrador Murphy in the aftermath of the Oklahoma...

"A riveting debut novel of psychological suspense about a young archivist whose obsession with her subject's mysterious death threatens to destroy her fragile grasp on sanity"-- Provided by publisher

"In a suspenseful collection of stories featuring fierce women--including one never-before-published novella--New York Times bestseller Laura Lippman showcases why she is one of today's top crime writers"-- Provided by publisher