In a tour-de-force tapestry of science fiction and historical fiction, Andromeda Romano-Lax presents a story set in Japan and Taiwan that spans a century of empire, conquest, progress, and destruction. 2029: In Japan, a historically mono-cultural nation, childbirth rates are at an all-time low and the elderly are living increasingly longer lives. This population crisis has precipitated the mass immigration of foreign medical workers from all over Asia, as well as the development of finely tuned artificial intelligence to step in where humans fall short. In Tokyo, Angelica Navarro, a Filipina nurse who has been in Japan for the last five years, works as caretaker for Sayoko Itou, a moody, secretive woman about to turn 100 years old. One day, Sayoko receives a present: a cutting-edge robot “friend” that will teach itself to anticipate Sayoko’s every need. Angelica wonders if she is about to be forced out of her much-needed job by an inanimate object—one with a preternatural ability to uncover the most deeply buried secrets of the humans around it. Meanwhile, Sayoko becomes attached to the machine. The old woman has been hiding secrets of her own for almost a century—and she’s too old to want to keep them anymore.   What she reveals is a hundred-year saga of forbidden love, hidden identities, and the horrific legacy of WWII and Japanese colonialism—a confession that will tear apart her own life and Angelica’s. Is the helper robot the worst thing that could have happened to the two women—or is it forcing the changes they both desperately needed? **

A modern-day historian finds her life intertwined with Annie Oakley's in an electrifying novel that explores female revenge an the allure of changing one's past. Ruth McClintock is obsessed with Annie Oakley. For nearly a decade, she has been studying the legendary sharpshooter, convinced that a scarring childhood event was the impetus for her crusade to arm every American woman. This fruitless search has cost Ruth her doctorate, a book deal, and her fiancé. But Ruth may finally have the evidence she is looking for. She has managed to hunt down what may be a journal of Oakley's midlife struggles, including secret visits to a psychoanalyst and the desire for vengeance against the "Wolves," or those who have wronged her. With the help of Reece, a tech-savvy senior at the local high school, Ruth attempts to establish the journal's provenance, but she's begun to have jarring out-of-body episodes that are possibly parallel to Annie's own lived...

"I was almost born Happy." So begins The Spanish Bow and the remarkable history of Feliu Delargo, who just misses being "Feliz" by a misunderstanding at his birth, which he barely survives.The accidental bequest of a cello bow from his dead father sets Feliu on the course of becoming a musician, unlikely given his beginnings in a dusty village in Catalonia. When he is compelled to flee to anarchist Barcelona, his education in music, life, and politics begins. But it isn’t until he arrives at the court of the embattled monarchy in Madrid that passion enters the composition with Aviva, a virtuoso violinist with a haunted past. As Feliu embarks on affairs, friendships, and rivalries, forces propelling the world toward a catastrophic crescendo sweep Feliu along in their wake.The Spanish Bow is a haunting fugue of music, politics, and passion set against half a century of Spanish history, from the tail end of the nineteenth century up through the Spanish Civil War and World War II.From Publishers WeeklyIn her impressive debut, Romano-Lax creates the epic story of Feliu Delargo, an underprivileged child prodigy whose musical ability brings him into contact with world leaders, first-class artists and a life filled with loss and triumph. Their father killed in Cuba just before the Spanish-American War, Feliu, his three brothers and one sister manage a meager life in Campo Seco, a small Catalan town, while their strong-willed mother fends off suitors. At 14, Feliu and his mother travel to Barcelona, where a cello tutor agrees to take on Feliu as a student. Over the years, as Feliu establishes himself, he crosses path with Justo Al-Cerra, an egotistical, manipulative pianist, and their touring leads to an intertwining of lives that becomes more complicated when they encounter Aviva, a violinist with her own emotional damage. As the trio tour and Europe careens toward WWII, Romano-Lax weaves into the narrative historical figures from Spanish royalty to Franco and Hitler, giving Feliu the opportunity to ponder the roles of morality in art and art in politics. Though the story has much heart and depth, Feliu's proximity to so many watershed moments of the 20th century can make him feel more like an instructive icon than a person. But for sheer scope and ambition, this is a tough debut to beat. (Sept.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistSet against the tumultuous backdrop of turn-of-the-century Spain, this fusion of art and politics traces the professional and personal evolution of a world-class cellist. As Feliu Delargo moves from prodigy to major talent, he travels from anarchist Barcelona to royalist Madrid. The volatile relationship between the idealistic Delargo and the pragmatic pianist Justo Al-Cerraz mirrors all the passion and turmoil of a Spain on the brink of civil war. Colleagues, friends, and rivals, the two take radically divergent paths when Franco assumes power, but are reunited in Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Joining forces, they prepare for one last fateful concert in order to save Aviva, the Jewish violinist they both love. This riveting historical page-turner moves inexorably toward a heartrending crescendo. Flanagan, Margaret

Ernst Vogler is twenty-six years old in 1938 when he is sent to Rome by his employer--the Third Reich's Sonderprojekte, which is collecting the great art of Europe and brining it to Germany for the Führer. Vogler is to collect a famous Classical Roman marble statue, The Discus Thrower, and get it to the German border, where it will be turned over to Gestapo custody. It is a simple, three-day job.Things start to go wrong almost immediately. The Italian twin brothers who have been hired to escort Vogler to the border seem to have priorities besides the task at hand--wild romances, perhaps even criminal jobs on the side--and Vogler quickly loses control of the assignment. The twins set off on a dangerous detour and Vogler realizes he will be lucky to escape this venture with his life, let alone his job. With nothing left to lose, the young German gives himself up to the Italian adventure, to the surprising love and inevitable losses along the way....

A wild ride that sets quirky and lively humanity against the grinding, impersonal forces of war, history and power.' Library Journal.A thrilling tale of art, beauty and love on the eve of war. In 1938 the Sonderprojekte is established under the watchful eye of Adolf Hitler, aka The Collector — and Germany begins to 'acquire' the great artworks of Europe. Twenty-six-year-old Ernst Vogler is sent to Rome to collect a famous marble statue, The Discus Thrower, and return with it to Berlin in three days. Those few days will change his life forever.

A novel of passion and ambition based on the life of one of the most controversial scientists--and mothers--of the 20th century In 1920, when she graduated from Vassar College with a degree in psychology, Rosalie Rayner took a coveted position at the Johns Hopkins research lab to assist charismatic John B. Watson, the man who pioneered behaviorist psychology. Together, Watson and Rayner conducted experiments on hundreds of babies to prove behaviorist principles of nurture over nature. One such experiment was the incredibly controversial "Little Albert" study, which which they fear-conditioned an infant. Watson and Rayner also embarked on a scandalous affair that cost them both their jobs. The Watsons' parenting book, Psychological Care of Infant and Child, which emphasized emotional detachment, was a bestseller and affected the upbringings of generations of American children--but Rosalie, now a mother herself, had to confront its tenets...