O’Sullivan Books

Looking for a last minute Christmas gift? Check out our collection of new and used titles, including "Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast" by Collin Varner. A local favourite, this title always sells out! https://www.osullivanbooks.com//edible-and-medicinal-flora

All of London is abuzz with the scandalous case of Frannie Langton, accused of the brutal double murder of her employers, renowned scientist George Benham and his eccentric French wife, Marguerite. Crowds pack the courtroom, eagerly following every twist, while the newspapers print lurid theories about the killings and the mysterious woman being tried at the Old Bailey. The testimonies against Frannie are damning. She is a seductress, a witch, a master manipulator, a whore. B...ut Frannie claims she cannot recall what happened that fateful evening, even if remembering could save her life. She doesn’t know how she came to be covered in the victims’ blood. But she does have a tale to tell: a story of her childhood on a Jamaican plantation, her apprenticeship under a debauched scientist who stretched all bounds of ethics, and the events that brought her into the Benhams’ London homeand into a passionate and forbidden relationship. Though Frannie’s testimony may seal her conviction, the truth will unmask the perpetrators of crimes far beyond murder and indict the whole of English society itself. The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a breathtaking debut: a murder mystery that travels across the Atlantic and through the darkest channels of history. A brilliant, searing depiction of race, class and oppression that penetrates the skin and sears the soul, it is the story of a woman of her own making in a world that would see her unmade. https://www.osullivanbooks.com//the-confessions-of-frannie #osullivanbooks #theconfessionsoffrannielangton #readingchallenge

Before the pandemic, our family had plans to visit relatives in Ireland this summer. Unfortunately it no longer seems like that will be possible, and I know we’re far from the only ones whose holiday or reunion have been canceled. It might seem like a trivial complaint given the current situation, but freedom of movement is something so many of us take for granted. How many of us spend all year looking forward to those two weeks of vacation? How many people are separated fro...m their families, and must travel overseas to be with them? How many people’s jobs are only made tolerable by the promise of some future escape to a distant, exotic locale? It might not be the worst thing about COVID-19, but I figure it’s something with which we can all relate. Something I’ve always loved about books is their ability to transport you to another world, and I’ve long said that the mark of a great author is the ability to make this world not only believable but completely engrossing. Would J.K. Rowling have defined the childhood of an entire generation if she hadn’t managed to half-convince us that there was really another world on the other side of a platform at King’s Cross Station? Would we have fallen in love with Middle Earth if Tolkien hadn’t painted such a rich, complex, and expansive backdrop for his epics? There’s something about books which just pulls me in, in a way that movies and television shows don’t ever seem to accomplish. That’s why I can read Camus and always manage to smell the sea. Or why I can read Outlander and feel like a whiskey, or pick up Connie Willis and believe for a moment that I’ve gone back in time. Which books do you find manage to take you away?

This beguiling (Seattle Times) and stunning novel begins in the summer of 2011. Nour has just lost her father to cancer, and her mother moves Nour and her sisters from New York City back to Syria to be closer to their family. In order to keep her father’s spirit alive as she adjusts to her new home, Nour tells herself their favorite storythe tale of Rawiya, a twelfth-century girl who disguised herself as a boy in order to apprentice herself to a famous mapmaker. But the Sy...ria Nour’s parents knew is changing, and it isn’t long before the war reaches their quiet Homs neighborhood. When a shell destroys Nour’s house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose: stay and risk more violence or flee across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safetyalong the very route Rawiya and her mapmaker took eight hundred years before in their quest to chart the world. As Nour’s family decides to take the risk, their journey becomes more and more dangerous, until they face a choice that could mean the family will be separated forever. Following alternating timelines and a pair of unforgettable heroines coming of age in perilous times, The Map of Salt and Stars is the magical and heart-wrenching (Christian Science Monitor) story of one girl telling herself the legend of another and learning that, if you listen to your own voice, some things can never be lost. https://www.osullivanbooks.com/p/the-map-of-salt-and-stars #osullivanbooks #themapofsaltandstars #readingchallenge #stayhomestaysafe

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that tell of her father, Jacob, and his twelve sons. Told in Dinah's voice, Anita Diamant imagines the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood - the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of the mothers - Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah - the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her th...rough childhood, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's lives. https://www.osullivanbooks.com/products/the-red-tent #osullivanbooks #readingchallenge #theredtent