Fiction for Adults

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All books listed in Braille Books Acquired that also have an equivalent Electronic Braille version will now have both the BR and the EB number listed in the entry.

Family stories (fiction)

BR74351, EB74351 Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje. 3 v. of braille. California, 1970s. A man who lost his wife in childbirth is raising his two daughters, Anna and Claire, and tending his farm with the help of a young man, Coop, who he has more or less adopted. When the older Anna and Coop fall into a sexual relationship and are discovered, the man becomes violent and Anna and Coop flee forever. The force of this event on how these three individuals lead the rest of their lives is the tripartite tale followed over the course of the next several years. Descriptions of sex. Some descriptions of violence and some strong language. c2007.

BR73915, EB73915 Story house by Timothy Taylor. 4 v. of braille. Graham and Elliot Gordon, half-brothers, are the sons of famous architect Packer Gordon, and openly hostile towards each other. As teens, Packer takes them to ex-fighter Pogey Nealon, where they box three rounds that will change their lives forever. Twenty-odd years later, the brothers grudgingly get involved in restoring Nealon's house, with help from the producer of a reality show, though nobody is prepared for what takes place when the cameras roll. Some descriptions of sex, violence and strong language. 2006.

BR66890, EB66890 A village affair by Joanna Trollope. 3 v. of braille. Alice moves with her family to a peaceful English village where she hopes to overcome her depression, but it is her lesbian relationship with vivacious Clodagh that changes Alice's life. 1989.

Fantastic fiction

BR73999, EB73999 Song of Susannah by Stephen King. 5 v. of braille. The journey to the Dark Tower continues. Possessed by demon-mother Mia, gunslinger Susannah Dean prepares to give birth in New York City. Meanwhile, Roland and Eddie tumble into an ambush in 1977 Maine. Sequel to Wolves of the Calla (BR74002). Followed by "Dark tower" (BR73998). Descriptions of sex, violence, and strong language. Bestseller. 2004. (Dark tower ; 6)

General fiction

BR73993, EB73993 The five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom. 2 v. of braille. Eddie spends his last hours on earth in his usual way, maintaining the Ruby Pier amusement park rides. But something goes wrong, and Eddie dies on his eighty-third birthday while trying to save a little girl. In heaven he meets five people who explain his life to him. Bestseller. 2003.

BR73785, EB73785 The book of illusions by Paul Auster. 4 v. of braille. David Zimmer writes a critique of silent films made by Hector Mann - long presumed dead - as therapy for grief over losing his family. After the book's publication, Alma Grund arrives at his door to escort him to meet the elusive Hector Mann. Some descriptions of sex and some strong language. Bestseller. 2002.

BR74408, EB74408 The question by Austin Clarke. 3 v. of braille. An unnamed man, a judge at the Immigration and Refugee Board in Toronto and an immigrant from an unnamed Caribbean island, meets an unnamed white woman at a party. She quickly seduces him, and he abandons his long-time lover for the new woman. However, the man finds that his new love comes with some deeply trying accessories. Some descriptions of sex and violence, strong language. 2004, c1999.

BR74498, EB74498 The Subterraneans by Jack Kerouac. 2 v. of braille. Written over the course of thee days and three nights, "The Subterraneans" centres around the tempestuous breakup of Leo and Mardou - two denizens of the 1950's San Francisco underground. A tale of dark alleys and smoky rooms, artists, visionaries, and adventurers existing outside mainstream America's field of vision. Explicit descriptions of sex. Strong language. 1994, c1958.

BR74085, EB74085 The Immaculate Conception by Gaétan Soucy; translated by Lazer Lederhendler. 3 v. of braille. In 1920s Montreal, 75 parishioners die one terrible night at the hands of an arsonist. Among the survivors are Remouald, whose nightmarish, repressed childhood memories cause him constant turmoil; Séraphon, his invalid father who holds a self-destructive secret; and schoolteacher Clémentine Clément, who obsesses in solitude over past tragedies, unrequited passions, and the grim suspicion that something is woefully amiss with a group of young boys in her class. Some descriptions of sex and strong language. Descriptions of violence. c2005.

BR74261, EB74261 The assassin's song by M.G. Vassanji. 4 v. of braille. Like his father before him, Karsan is designated the guardian of the Indian shrine of Nur Fazal, but he just wants to live an ordinary life. It's the 1960s, and, curious about the world beyond his Gujarati village, Karsan sends an application to Harvard and is astonished to be accepted. Revelling in his studies and America, he finds happiness as a professor and family man, but there is no escaping "perfect, terrible Karmic symmetry." Some descriptions of sex. 2007.

Historical novels

BR73741, EB73741 The birth house by Ami McKay. 4 v. of braille. Young Dora Rare befriends Marie Babineau, the local midwife, who wants Dora as her successor. After initial reluctance and intensive training, Dora is left the practice on the eve of her marriage to Archer Bigelow. When Dr. Gilbert Thomas arrives with the promise of fast, painless childbirth, Dora is determined, despite fierce opposition, to protect the birthing traditions and women's wisdom that have been passed down to her. Some descriptions of violence and strong language. Descriptions of sex. Winner of the 2007 OLA Evergreen Award. 2006.

BR73791, EB73791 The dream of Scipio by Iain Pears. 5 v. of braille. Set in Provence at three different critical moments of Western Civilization - the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, the Black Death in the fourteenth century, and World War II in the twentieth century - this novel follows the fortunes of three men: Manlius Hippomanes, a Gallic aristocrat obsessed with the preservation of Roman civilisation; Oliver de Noyen, a poet; and Julian Bareuve, an intellectual who joins the Vichy government. 2002.

Law & order fiction

BR74494, EB74494 Rumpole and the reign of terror by John Mortimer. 2 v. of braille. British barrister Horace Rumpole takes on the government when he accepts the case of a Pakistani doctor accused of aiding Al Qaeda. He also alienates his colleagues, his wife Hilda, and other clients, while he battles his own doubts. Meanwhile Hilda writes her memoirs. c2006, 2007.

Love Stories

BR62857, EB62857 Once a princess by Johanna Lindsey. 4 v. of braille. As the king of Cardinia lay dying, he made his son Stefan, the crown prince, promise that he would find and marry Princess Tatiana Janacek, to whom the prince is engaged. Stefan travels to America and finds her performing as a dancer in a Mississippi tavern. Unaware of her birthright, Tatiana is infuriated by Stefan's passion for her and vows never to yield to his desire. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 1991.

Mysteries

BR73677, EB73677 The lighthouse by P.D. James. 4 v. of braille. Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called to exclusive Combe Island off the Cornish coast to investigate a death at the high-end resort. Dalgliesh, Detective Inspector Kate Miskin, and Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith have their own emotional preoccupations - until another murder occurs. Some descriptions of sex and violence. 2005.

BR73790, EB73790 The dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell ; translated from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson. 4 v. of braille. Inspector Kurt Wallander and his team at the Ystad police station in Sk�ne, southern Sweden, receive an anonymous tip-off that comes to pass a few days later: a life raft is washed up on a beach. In it are two men, dressed in expensive suits, shot dead. The dead men were Eastern European criminals, victims of what seems to have been a gangland hit. But as the case soon takes on a sinister turn, Wallander finds himself in Riga, Latvia. There he is plunged into a frozen, alien world of police surveillance, scarcely veiled threats and lies. Some strong language. 2001. (Kurt Wallander ; 2)

Short stories

BR74412, EB74412 The twilight of the superheroes by Deborah Eisenberg. 3 v. of braille. A collection of short stories, including "Some Other, Better Otto," about a high-strung brother and his prodigiously talented, mentally ill sister, and the title piece, set in Manhattan around the events of 9/11, and focussing on the post-collegiate ennui of a group of 20-something friends facing an uncertain future. Some strong language. 2006.

BR73597, EB73597 Runaway: stories by Alice Munro. 4 v. of braille. Short stories that take place throughout Canada - northern Ontario, the Prairies, the West Coast, Stratford - and feature women and men drifting in and out of each other's orbits, pulled by forces they don't understand. In "Runaway," a woman considers leaving her husband with the help of a neighbour, but the husband has other plans. In "Trespasses," a small town's women dream of escaping their lives only to find themselves in lives they never imagined. Some strong language. Booklist's Best of 2004. 2004.

BR72884, EB72884 Iterations by Robert J. Sawyer ; introduction by James Alan Gardner. 3 v. of braille. Short stories in which Sherlock Holmes solves the problem of the missing aliens, and the truth is revealed about the bones of Peking Man and the alligators in the sewers of New York. Visit a future Toronto sealed inside a steel dome, encounter pure evil aboard the Russian space station Mir, and meet a man doomed to commit murder over and over again because of the pressures of Canadian publishing. 2002.

Suspense (fiction)

BR74134, EB74134 Crisis by Robin Cook. 6 v. of braille. Dr. Craig Bowman is delivered an ego-shattering blow when he is sued for malpractice by the husband of one of his patients, hypochondriac Patience Stanhope, who died while under his care. Bowman's wife asks her brother, medical examiner Dr. Jack Stapleton, to use his expertise to help with her husband's defence. Stapleton agrees, but what should be a routine forensic exercise quickly turns into a dangerous trail of lies, deception and murder. Some strong language and some descriptions of violence. 2006.

BR74341, EB74341 Dragon tears by Dean Koontz. 5 v. of braille. Detectives Harry Lyon and Connie Gulliver, who are on a mission to fight corruption, encounter a respectable-looking man who enters a diner and suddenly peppers the room with bullets. While investigating, Harry is approached by a strange man who predicts Harry and others will be dead by dawn. Harry begins to wonder if he is dealing with a case of possession. Violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex. Bestseller 1993.

BR74463, EB74463 Blackout by Annie Solomon. 3 v. of braille. Washington, D.C. Accused of murdering top spy Frank Temple, bookseller Margo Scott cannot remember the past month. Undercover federal agent Jake Wise, sent by Frank to watch Margo, tries to confirm her identity. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. Rita Award winner. 2006.

War stories

BR73815, EB73815 Sharpe's Waterloo: Richard Sharpe and the Waterloo campaign, 15 June to 18 June 1815 by Bernard Cornwell. 5 v. of braille. It is 1815, and Richard Sharpe is serving on the staff of the inexperienced and incompetent Young Frog, William, Prince of Orange, who refuses to listen to reports of an enormous army led by Napoleon marching towards them. The Battle of Waterloo commences, and just as victory seems impossible, Sharpe takes command, and the bloodiest battle of his career becomes his own magnificent triumph. Some strong language. Sequel to "Sharpe's revenge". 1993, c1990. (Richard Sharpe ; 20)

BR73555, EB73555 Fateless by Imre Kert�sz ; translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson. 2 v. of braille. At the age of 14 George Koves is plucked from his home in a Jewish section of Budapest and placed on a train to Auschwitz. He does not understand the reason for his fate - he doesn't even particularly think of himself as Jewish. Throughout his horrific experiences, Georg insists on making sense of what he witnesses - or pretending that what he witnesses makes sense. Some strong language. 1992, c1975.

Westerns

BR73953, EB73953 High country by Willard Wyman. 5 v. of braille. Ty Hardin leaves Montana to learn 'packing' (leading mule trains into mountains where wagons can't go) from the best - Fenton Pardee. After many adventures and being wounded in World War II, Ty eventually heads for the Sierra Nevada - the highest country of all - to become a legend in his own right. 2006 Spur Awards winner. Some descriptions of sex, descriptions of violence, some strong language. 2005.

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