Although I no longer see any way to share your Prime membership with non-family members (that appears to have ended in September), you can share with one other adult in your household (providing you don’t mind having access to each other’s payment methods) and set up accounts with teens and children, giving them each slightly different access to your account and prime benefits. If you currently share a membership with a Veteran, I don’t know if having the Veteran sign up will extend the date of both members, but it is worth a shot (and if it doesn’t, usually a call to Amazon support will get things worked out in your favor).

Prime benefits you can share

• Free Prime Delivery benefits
• Streaming access to Prime Video
• Free books with Prime Reading
• Earn 2% rewards on Prime Reload
• Amazon Photos and album sharing
• Free books with Amazon First Reads
• Unlimited listening on Audible Channels
• Early access to Amazon Lightning Deals

Digital content you can share through Family Library

• Share eBooks, audiobooks, apps and games on your Kindle and other Amazon devices and media apps
• Access digital content from both adult accounts and share with up to four child profiles

Teens (13-17 years old)
Teen logins allow teens to shop on their own and parents approve the order with a simple text. Teens may also access certain Prime benefits if their parents are a Prime member. Teen logins are not currently supported on Kindle

Children (12 and under)
Parents can add children to a Household to manage parental controls on Fire tablets and Kindle e-readers through Kindle FreeTime. Personalize each child’s experience by selecting what content they are able to see, and set educational goals and time limits. Children can access digital content that their parent allows on their child’s device but are not enabled to shop.

To receive this promotion, you must be a verified U.S. veteran, Active Duty or Reserve or National Guard member.

• This promotion is available Nov 6–11
• If eligible, you can sign up for Prime at $79/year (normally $119/year) for the first year
• You can attempt verification a maximum of three times
• Prime Student and discounted Prime members are not eligible for this promotion
• Amazon and Partner Rewards points can’t be applied towards this promotion
• Note: Discharge date is the day you left the military

Note:
By signing up, you agree to the Amazon Prime Terms and authorize Amazon to charge your default payment method or another payment method on file $79 plus any applicable taxes for a year of Prime. The $79 promotional offer will apply to your next Prime renewal. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Amazon Prime Terms, you acknowledge that the $79 Prime membership fee is non-refundable. At the end of your $79 one-year term, your membership will automatically renew, and Amazon will charge your default payment method or another payment method on file $119/year + any taxes. Your Amazon Prime membership continues until cancelled. If you do not wish to continue for $119/year plus any applicable taxes, you may cancel any time by visiting Your Account.

All prices current at the time the post is written.

Start off with The Name of the Star ($9.99 Kindle; $29.99 Audible), the first novel in The Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson, narrated by Nicola Barber [Brilliance Audio].

Book Description
The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city – gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific work of Jack the Ripper in the autumn of 1888. Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was with her at the time, didn’t notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, what is he planning to do about her?

In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

The Canterville Ghost (varies Kindle; $9.95 Audible), by Oscar Wilde, narrated by Rupert Degas [Naxos AudioBooks], is the second free selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from nothing to a few dollars and probably get an edition that will work for reading along while listening.

Book Description
The Canterville Ghost is a novella by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of Wilde’s stories to be published, appearing in two parts in The Court and Society Review, 23 February and 2 March 1887. The story is about a family who moves to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead nobleman, who killed his wife and was starved to death by his wife’s brothers. It has been adapted for the stage and screen several times. The home of the Canterville Ghost was the ancient Canterville Chase, which has all the accoutrements of a traditional haunted house. Descriptions of the wainscoting, the library panelled in black oak, and the armour in the hallway characterise the setting. Wilde mixes the macabre with comedy, juxtaposing devices from traditional English ghost stories such as creaking floorboards, clanking chains, and ancient prophecies.

Click HERE to get the free downloads. For each book, click on the audiobook cover, enter your name and an email address, then click on the Get your FREE download now button; on some systems, you’ll be prompted to save an ODM file (others will run it automatically) and, if so, save it to your desktop, then click it after it downloads, to start Overdrive. Don’t stop until you see the Overdrive software open up (there is a link at Sync, if you don’t already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you’ll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download. By default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started. Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won’t be able to get these for free (you can double click any title in Overdrive and will get a message that either it entirely downloaded or you’ll get a list of the “parts” and can download the ones that you don’t have).

You can’t get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

The new picks for this month’s Amazon First Reads program have been available long enough that we can now look at the reviews before making a selection. In celebration of Amazon Prime Day, this month Amazon Prime Members can pick any two of these books for free and get them to read — and keep — now.

Be sure to check out some of the early Amazon Prime Day deals, such as the offer from Whole Foods: Spend $10 by 7/9/19 and get $10 to spend at Amazon on Prime Day. And for us ebook readers, if you spend $20 on eBooks between July 5 and July 14, 2019, you’ll get a $5 eBook credit – but you must activate the offer first, or you don’t get the deal.

A Fire Sparkling by Julianne MacLean

From the USA Today bestselling author of A Curve in the Road comes a spellbinding novel about one woman’s love, loss, and courage during wartime.

After a crushing betrayal by the man she loves, Gillian Gibbons flees to her family home for a much-needed escape, but when she finds an old photograph of her grandmother in the arms of a Nazi officer, Gillian’s life gets even more complicated. Rattled by the discovery, Gillian attempts to unravel the truth behind the photos, setting her off on an epic journey through the past…

1939. England is on the brink of war as Vivian Hughes falls in love with a handsome British official, but when bombs begin to fall and Vivian’s happy life is destroyed in the blitz, she will do whatever it takes to protect those she loves…

As Gillian learns more about her grandmother’s past, the old photo begins to make more sense. But for every question answered, a new one takes its place. Faced with a truth that is not at all what she expected, Gillian attempts to shine a light not only on the mysteries of her family’s past but also on her own future.

This gorgeously written multigenerational saga is a heart-wrenching yet hopeful examination of one woman’s struggle to survive, perfect for fans of The Nightingale and Beneath a Scarlet Sky.

What You Did by Claire McGowan

A vicious assault. A devastating accusation. Who should she trust, her husband or her best friend?

It was supposed to be the perfect reunion: six university friends together again after twenty years. Host Ali finally has the life she always wanted, a career she can be proud of and a wonderful family with her college boyfriend, now husband. But that night her best friend makes an accusation so shocking that nothing will ever be the same again.

When Karen staggers in from the garden, bleeding and traumatised, she claims that she has been assaulted—by Ali’s husband, Mike. Ali must make a split-second decision: who should she believe? Her horrified husband, or her best friend? With Mike offering a very different version of events, Ali knows one of them is lying—but which? And why?

When the ensuing chaos forces her to re-examine the golden era the group shared at university, Ali realises there are darker memories too. Memories that have lain dormant for decades. Memories someone would kill to protect.

Forgotten Bones: Dead Remaining #1 by Vivian Barz

An unlikely pair teams up to investigate a brutal murder in a haunting thriller that walks the line between reality and impossibility.

When small-town police officers discover the grave of a young boy, they’re quick to pin the crime on a convicted criminal who lives nearby. But when it comes to murder, Officer Susan Marlan never trusts a simple explanation, so she’s just getting started.

Meanwhile, college professor Eric Evans hallucinates a young boy in overalls: a symptom of his schizophrenia—or so he thinks. But when more bodies turn up, Eric has more visions, and they mirror details of the murder case. As the investigation continues, the police stick with their original conclusion, but Susan’s instincts tell her something is off. The higher-ups keep stonewalling her, and the FBI’s closing in.

Desperate for answers, Susan goes rogue and turns to Eric for help. Together they take an unorthodox approach to the case as the evidence keeps getting stranger. With Eric’s hallucinations intensifying and the body count rising, can the pair separate truth from illusion long enough to catch a monster?

Relative Fortunes: Julia Kydd #1 by Marlowe Benn

In 1920s New York, the price of a woman’s independence can be exorbitant—even fatal.

In 1924 Manhattan, women’s suffrage is old news. For sophisticated booklover Julia Kydd, life’s too short for politics. With her cropped hair and penchant for independent living, Julia wants only to launch her own new private press. But as a woman, Julia must fight for what’s hers—including the inheritance her estranged half brother, Philip, has challenged, putting her aspirations in jeopardy.

When her friend’s sister, Naomi Rankin, dies suddenly of an apparent suicide, Julia is shocked at the wealthy family’s indifference toward the ardent suffragist’s death. Naomi chose poverty and hardship over a submissive marriage and a husband’s control of her money. Now, her death suggests the struggle was more than she could bear.

Julia, however, is skeptical. Doubtful of her suspicions, Philip proposes a glib wager: if Julia can prove Naomi was in fact murdered, he’ll drop his claims to her wealth. Julia soon discovers Naomi’s life was as turbulent and enigmatic as her death. And as she gets closer to the truth, Julia sees there’s much more at stake than her inheritance…

The Boy Between Worlds: A Biography by Annejet van der Zijl and Kristen Gehrman (Translator)

From the Amazon Charts bestselling author of An American Princess comes the true story of an unconventional family divided by war and prejudice during WWII.

When they fell in love in 1928, Rika and Waldemar could not have been more different. She was a thirty-seven-year-old Dutch-born mother, estranged from her husband. He was her immigrant boarder, not yet twenty, and a wealthy Surinamese descendant of slaves. The child they have together, brown skinned and blue eyed, brings the couple great joy yet raises some eyebrows. Until the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands explodes their promising life.

What unfolds is more than the astonishing story of a love that prevailed over convention. It’s also the quest of a young boy. Through the cruelty of World War II, he will fight for a connection between his father’s South American birthplace and his mother’s European traditions. Lost and displaced for much of his life, but with a legacy of resilience in his blood, he will struggle to find his place in the world.

Moving deftly between personal experience and the devastating machinations of war, The Boy Between Worlds is an unforgettable journey of hope, love, and courage in the face of humanity’s darkest hour.

Pirates Don’t Go to Kindergarten! by Lisa Robinson and Eda Kaban (Illustrator)

Yo, ho, ho! It’s a mutiny against kindergarten!

Pirate Emma is about to start kindergarten! But Emma’s not so sure she’s ready for a new captain and crew. Especially since Cap’n Chu—the roughest, toughest, awesomest preschool cap’n ever—is right down the hall. So Emma decides to head back to the preschool ship to see if she can stir up a mutiny against kindergarten! Is that what she really wants? Or does she just miss her beloved Cap’n Chu? Batten down the hatches, mateys, because the first day of school is going to be stormy!

Age Level: 3 – 7; Grade Level: P – 2

They Could Have Named Her Anything by Stephanie Jimenez

Racism, class, and betrayal collide in this poignant debut novel about restoring the broken bonds of family and friendship.

Every morning, seventeen-year-old Maria Anís Rosario takes the subway an hour from her boisterous and close-knit family in Queens to her private high school on the Upper East Side, where she struggles to fit in as one of the only Latina students—until Rocky welcomes her into this new life. White, rebellious, and ignored by her wealthy parents, Rocky uses her money toward one goal: to get away with anything. To Maria, it’s a dazzling privilege.

As a bond develops between these unlikely friends, neither can see what they share most—jealousy and the desire for each other’s lives. But crackling under the surface of their seemingly supportive alliance, the girls begin to commit little betrayals as they strive to get closer to their ideals regardless of the consequences.

Told from the perspectives of Maria, Rocky, and their fathers, They Could Have Named Her Anything explores the heartfelt expectation of what it means to live up to the name you’ve been given and the more rewarding discovery of what really matters.

Prognosis: A Memoir of My Brain by Sarah Vallance

The searing, wry memoir about a woman’s fight for a new life after a devastating brain injury.

When Sarah Vallance is thrown from a horse and suffers a jarring blow to the head, she believes she’s walked away unscathed. The next morning, things take a sharp turn as she’s led from work to the emergency room. By the end of the week, a neurologist delivers a devastating prognosis: Sarah suffered a traumatic brain injury that has caused her IQ to plummet, with no hope of recovery. Her brain has irrevocably changed.

Afraid of judgment and deemed no longer fit for work, Sarah isolates herself from the outside world. She spends months at home, with her dogs as her only source of companionship, battling a personality she no longer recognizes and her shock and rage over losing simple functions she’d taken for granted. Her life is consumed by fear and shame until a chance encounter gives Sarah hope that her brain can heal. That conversation lights a small flame of determination, and Sarah begins to push back, painstakingly reteaching herself to read and write, and eventually reentering the workforce and a new, if unpredictable, life.

In this highly intimate account of devastation and renewal, Sarah pulls back the curtain on life with traumatic brain injury, an affliction where the wounds are invisible and the lasting effects are often misunderstood. Over years of frustrating setbacks and uncertain triumphs, Sarah comes to terms with her disability and finds love with a woman who helps her embrace a new, accepting sense of self.

Bonus Offer:
The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugoni in paperback is $6.99. Library Journal Starred Review; Publishers Weekly Starred Review

An Amazon Charts, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

A pulse-pounding thriller of espionage, spy games, and treachery by the New York Times bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite Series.

Former CIA case officer Charles Jenkins is a man at a crossroads: in his early sixties, he has a family, a new baby on the way, and a security consulting business on the brink of bankruptcy. Then his former bureau chief shows up at his house with a risky new assignment: travel undercover to Moscow and locate a Russian agent believed to be killing members of a clandestine US spy cell known as the seven sisters.

Desperate for money, Jenkins agrees to the mission and heads to the Russian capital. But when he finds the mastermind agent behind the assassinations—the so-called eighth sister—she is not who or what he was led to believe. Then again, neither is anyone else in this deadly game of cat and mouse.

Pursued by a dogged Russian intelligence officer, Jenkins executes a daring escape across the Black Sea, only to find himself abandoned by the agency he serves. With his family and freedom at risk, Jenkins is in the fight of his life—against his own country.

Notes: Amazon’s Kindle First program is now called Amazon First Reads. In addition to letting Amazon Prime members pick one (sometimes two) of the selected books for free (to keep), Prime members can now purchase the hardcover edition of these books for $9.99 or less and there are free Short Stories and Kindle Singles, as well, for those with Kindle Unlimited. If you are not an Amazon Prime Member, then you can purchase any one of the books at a discounted price (usually $1.99) and download immediately (hardcovers are specially priced at $12.99 or less). Either way, If you want more than one, you’ll have to pre-order and the price generally goes up to $4.99-$5.99 for the subsequent books.

Kindle Unlimited subscribers can borrow the Amazon First Reads books when they are officially released.

Book Description
In 1939 Swiss travel writer and journalist Ella K. Maillart set off on an epic journey from Geneva to Kabul with fellow writer Annemarie Schwarzenbach in a brand new Ford. As the first European women to travel alone on Afghanistan’s Northern Road, Maillart and Schwarzenbach had a rare glimpse of life in Iran and Afghanistan at a time when their borders were rarely crossed by Westerners. As the two flash across Europe and the Near East in a streak of élan and daring, Maillart writes of comical mishaps, breathtaking landscapes, vitriolic religious clashes, and the ingenuity with which the women navigated what was often a dangerous journey. In beautiful, clear-eyed prose, The Cruel Way shows Maillart’s great ability to explore and experience other cultures in writing both lyrical and deeply empathetic.

While the core of the book is the journey itself and their interactions with people oppressed by political conflict and poverty, towards the end of the trip the women’s increasingly troubled relationship takes center stage. By then the glamorous, androgynous Schwarzenbach, whose own account of the trip can be found in All the Roads Are Open, is fighting a losing battle with her own drug addiction, and Maillart’s frustrated attempts to cure her show the profound depth of their relationship.

Complete with thirteen of Maillart’s own photographs from the journey, The Cruel Way is a classic of travel writing, and its protagonists are as gripping and fearless as any in literature.

Sign up for the free book from the University of Chicago. You’ll need to enter your email address, then check your email for the link to download the book. Mine arrived within seconds — you get a .ACSM file, which, when opened, will load the book inside of Adobe ADE. This is a DRM’d file and is not compatible with eInk Kindles, but can be read using Aldiko on a Kindle Fire.

If you are not an Amazon Prime Member, then you can purchase any one of the books at a discounted price (usually $1.99) and download immediately (hardcovers are specially priced at $12.99 or less). Either way, If you want more than one two this month, you’ll have to pre-order and the price generally goes up to $4.99-$5.99 for the subsequent books.

False Step by Victoria Helen Stone

Stay calm, keep smiling, and watch your step. In this marriage of secrets and lies, nothing is what it seems.

For days, all of Denver, Colorado, has worried over the fate of a missing child, little Tanner Holcomb. Then, a miracle: handsome, athletic Johnny Bradley finds him, frightened but unharmed, on a hiking trail miles from his wealthy family’s mountain home.

In a heartbeat, his rescuer goes from financially strapped fitness trainer to celebrated hero. The heat of the spotlight may prove too much for Johnny’s picture-perfect family, however. His wife, Veronica, despises the pressure of the sudden fame, afraid that secrets and bitter resentments of her marriage may come to light. And she’s willing to do anything to keep them hidden.

But when a shocking revelation exposes an even darker side to Tanner’s disappearance, Veronica realizes that nothing in her life can be trusted. And everything should be feared.

Along the Broken Bay by Flora J. Solomon

From the bestselling author of A Pledge of Silence comes a story of resistance, intrigue, and risking it all in the WWII Philippines.

December 1941. War has erupted in the Pacific, spelling danger for Gina Capelli Thorpe, an American expat living in Manila. When the Japanese invade and her husband goes missing, Gina flees with her daughter to the Zambales Mountains to avoid capture—or worse.

Desperate for money, medicine, and guns, the resistance recruits Gina to join their underground army and smuggles her back to Manila. There, she forges a new identity and opens a nightclub, where seductive beauties sing, dance, and tease secrets out of high-ranking Japanese officers while the wildly successful club and its enemy patrons help fund the resistance.

But operating undercover in the spotlight has Gina struggling to stay a step ahead of the Japanese. She’s risked everything to take a stand, but her club is a house of cards in the eye of a storm. Can Gina keep this delicate operation running long enough to outlast the enemy, or is she on a sure path to defeat that will put her family, her freedom, or even her life at risk?

Trance: Alex Madison #1 by Adam Southward

His victims are powerless. He is in control. This is his revenge—and he’s only just begun.

Three university scientists are found dead in a gruesome murder-suicide, and the only suspect in the case, Victor Lazar, is quickly captured. When the spate of violent suicides follows him to prison he is moved to solitary confinement, reserved for the highest-risk inmates. And then his assigned psychologist inexplicably takes his own life.

Alex Madison, a former forensic psychologist turned private therapist, is brought in to interview Victor. He suspects that Victor is controlling his victims, somehow coaxing them into a suggestive trance. It seems like science fiction, but as Alex digs deeper he uncovers a frightening reality of secret research and cruel experimentation—and the perpetrators are closer to home than he could ever have imagined.

Too late, Alex learns the true extent of what Victor is capable of—and who he’s after. With everything he holds dear at risk, can Alex take control of a dangerous mind—before it takes control of him?

Stars in His Eyes by Martí Gironell and Adrian Nathan West (Translator)

From the fascist Franco regime to Hollywood’s glamour—an epic historical novel based on the meteoric rise of one of the world’s most celebrated restaurateurs.

Ceferino Carrión is desperate for a new life—one of opportunity, fortune, and fame. But he knows he’ll never find this life in war-torn Spain. With his home country under the heel of the devastating Franco dictatorship and call-up papers on his doorstep, Cefe knows there’s only one thing he can do: run.

A new life awaits in America, as does a new name—Jean Leon. From the concrete valleys of the Bronx to the sun-soaked hills of California, Jean crosses paths with legendary superstars, political powerhouses, and dangerous mobsters as he flees his past and pursues his dreams. With friends like Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean to see him through, Jean soon gets his own taste of stardom, opening his glamourous Beverly Hills restaurant, La Scala, to nightly swarms of celebrities.

But with every new adrenaline rush of celebrity, Jean is further distanced from everyone he loves. Only in searching through his ever-receding past in Barcelona can he find the key to unlock the dream life he has risked so much to build.

The Blue Period by Luke Jerod Kummer

A riveting novel about the tragic romance that nearly destroyed a young Pablo Picasso—while granting him his first flight of creative genius.

From rowdy Barcelona barrooms to the incandescent streets of turn-of-the-century Paris, Pablo Picasso experiences the sumptuous highs and seedy lows of bohemian life alongside his rebellious poet friend with a shadowy past, Carles Casagemas.

Fleeing family misfortune and their parents’ expectations, the two young artists seek their creative outlet while chasing inspiration in drugs, decadence, and the liberated women of Montmartre—creatures far different from the veiled ones back home.

The new life feels like bliss, and nothing can come between them…until a dark-haired, enigmatic muse enters the picture. The two artists’ passion for Germaine will lead to a devastating turn. Amid soul-searching and despair, however, Picasso discovers a color palette in which to render his demons and paint himself into lasting history.

Bringing the exuberance of the era vividly to life, this richly imagined portrait of Picasso’s coming of age intertwines the love, death, lust, and friendships that inspired the immortal works of a defiant master.

The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages, Catfishing & Coming Out by William Dameron

A candid memoir of denial, stolen identities, betrayal, faking it, and coming out.

Do you know me?, the email began, sparking tremors of fear that turned into a full quake of panic when William Dameron discovered that his selfie had been stolen by strangers. On social networks and dating sites, his image and identity—a forty-year-old straight white male—had been used to hook countless women into believing in lies of love and romance. Was it all an ironic cosmic joke? Almost a decade prior, William himself had been living a lie that had lasted for more than twenty years. His secret? He was a gay man, a fact he hid from his wife and two daughters for almost as long as he had hidden it from himself.

In this emotional and unflinchingly honest memoir of coming out of the closet late in life, owning up to the past, and facing the future, William Dameron confronts steroid addiction, the shame and homophobia of his childhood, the sledgehammer of secrets that slowly tore his marriage apart, and his love for a gay father of three that would once again challenge the boundaries of trust. At the true heart of The Lie is a universal story about turning self-doubt into self-acceptance and about pain, anger, and the long journey of both seeking and giving forgiveness.

Spiky by Ilaria Guarducci (Author, Illustrator) and Laura Watkinson (Translator)

When Spiky loses his spikes, he must learn to share his softer side.

Spiky lives in the dark of the forest, where he spends his days being very, very bad, bullying the other forest creatures and sharpening the spikes on his body. Those spikes are handy for keeping everybody at a distance, and that’s just how Spiky likes it! But then one day the unthinkable happens: Spiky starts losing his spikes! Soon he is left looking as soft and as pink as a soft, pink marshmallow. What will Spiky do, now that he can no longer scare away the other forest creatures? Will he have to (gulp!) make friends? It’s a good thing Bernardo the bunny comes along to show him how it’s done.

First published in Italy, this charming story of friendship will have children giggling until the very end.

Age Level: 4 – 8; Grade Level: K – 2

Still I Miss You by Inês Pedrosa and Andrea Rosenberg (Translator)

From the acclaimed author of In Your Hands comes a heartrending novel about the struggle to hold on to what you’ve lost, and knowing when it’s time to let go.

In this keenly observant dissection of a love affair in limbo, award-winning author Inês Pedrosa masterfully draws readers into the feverish, unsparing dual confessions of a man and a woman who are finally baring their hearts, souls, fury, and grief over a relationship that was abruptly shattered and never forgotten. Until now, there was so much between them left unspoken.

With each new unguarded, darkly funny, and emotional disclosure, they’re brought back together—though impossibly so. Through the intimate voices of these unforgettable narrators unfolds a remarkable love story of regret and reconciliation, of loss and wrenching truths, told across lines few have ever considered crossing.

Praised by the New York Times for the “incantatory prose . . . absorbing in its history, as well as in its family dynamics” of her multigenerational saga In Your Hands, Pedrosa casts a seductive new spell with Still I Miss You, her second novel to be translated into English.

Notes: Free to Read with Kindle Unlimited are six Amazon original stories, all with the theme of Disorder this month.

Stories that get inside your head

Something disturbing is going on here. From small-town witch hunts to mass incarceration to exploitations of the flesh, this chilling collection of twisted short stories imagines the horrors of a modern world not unlike our own. What have we done?

Amazon’s Kindle First program is now called Amazon First Reads. In addition to letting Amazon Prime members pick one of the selected books for free (to keep), Prime members can now purchase the hardcover edition of these books for $9.99 or less and there are free Short Stories and Kindle Singles, as well, for those with Kindle Unlimited.

Kindle Unlimited subscribers can borrow the Amazon First Reads books when they are officially released.

Book Description
Northanger Abbey was the first of Jane Austen’s novels to be completed for publication, in 1803, but published after her death, at the end of 1817. The novel is a satire of the Gothic novels popular at the time of its first writing in 1798–99. The heroine, Catherine, thinks life is like a Gothic novel, but her real experiences bring her down to earth as an ordinary young woman. Austen first titled it Susan, when she sold it in 1803 for £10 to a London bookseller, Crosby & Co., who decided against publishing. In the spring of 1816, the bookseller sold it back to the novelist’s brother, Henry Austen, for the same sum, as the bookseller did not know that the writer was by then the author of four popular novels. She further revised the novel in 1816-1817, with the intention of having it published. The lead character’s name was changed from Susan to Catherine, and Austen changed the working title to Catherine. Austen died in July 1817. Her brother Henry renamed the novel and arranged for publication of Northanger Abbey in late December 1817 (1818 given on the title page), as the first two volumes of a four-volume set, the other two volumes being the more recently completed Austen novel, Persuasion, with a preface for the first time publicly identifying Jane Austen as the author of all her novels. Neither novel was published under the working title Jane Austen used. Aside from first being published together, the two novels are not linked, and later editions were published as separate novels. The novel is more explicitly comic than her other works and contains many literary allusions that her parents and siblings would have enjoyed, as a family entertainment—a piece of lighthearted parody to be read aloud by the fireside. The novel names many of the Gothic novels of that time and includes direct commentary by Austen on the value of novels, which were not valued as much as nonfiction or historical fiction. As almost all her letters were burned after her death, later scholars appreciate this insight into Austen’s views.

^** This is a high-quality, DRM-Free recording, which reproduces CD-quality sound with no signal loss, and you get one free each month if you subscribe to their “Naxos Music Group” newsletter. If you don’t have this month’s newsletter with your unique redemption code, then you’ll need to subscribe and then confirm your email account. You may get this month’s newsletter via email the same day, but will probably have to wait until the next day before your code works for the free album. If you are already a subscriber and can’t find the email, their customer service is very good and can even email you the album, if necessary. They can be a bit slow to respond sometimes; keep in mind, they are on the other side of the world from the US and don’t seem to work weekends or “evenings” there.

Start off with A Girl Like That ($7.80 Kindle; $24.49 Audible), by Tanaz Bhathena, narrated by Firdous Bamji, Neil Shah, Soneela Nankani and Lameece Issaq [Recorded Books]. Starred Reviews: Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal

Book Description
In this young adult debut set in Saudi Arabia, where the law forbids romantic relationships outside of marriage, two teens fall in love, with tragic consequences.

Sixteen-year-old Zarin Wadia is many things: an Indian girl, a bright and vivacious student, an orphan, a troublemaker whose romantic entanglements are the subject of endless gossip among the girls in her school. “You don’t want to get involved with a girl like that,” they say. So how is it that Porus, a Parsi boy, has only ever had eyes for her? And how did Zarin and Porus end up dead in a car together, crashed on the side of the highway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? When the religious police arrive, everything everyone thought they knew about Zarin is called into question.

An Enemy of the People (varies Kindle; $4.95 Audible), by Henrik Ibsen, translated by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, narrated by Rosalind Ayres, Gregory Harrison, Richard Kind, Alan Mandell, Jon Matthews, Alan Shearman, Josh Stamberg, Emily Swallow, Tom Virtue, Sam Boeck, Julia Coulter, Jeff Gardner, William Hickman and Adam Mondschein [L.A. Theatre Works], is the second free selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from nothing to a few dollars and probably get an edition that will work for reading along while listening.

Book Description
When a small town relies on tourists flocking to its baths, will a report of dangerously polluted waters be enough to shut them down? Henrik Ibsen weighs the cost of public health versus a town’s livelihood in An Enemy of the People. Adapted by Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

An L.A. Theatre Works full cast recording featuring: Rosalind Ayres as Catherine Stockman, Gregory Harrison as Peter Stockman, Richard Kind as Dr. Thomas Stockman, Alan Mandell as Morten Kill, Alan Shearman as Captain Horster, Jon Matthews as Billing, Josh Stamberg as Hovstad, Emily Swallow as Petra, Tom Virtue as Aslaksen. Additional voices by Sam Boeck, William Hickman, Adam Mondschein, Julia Coulter, and Jeff Gardner.

Includes an interview about the Deepwater Horizon, man-made environmental disasters, climate change, and the state of the world’s water supply with Joel K. Bourne Jr., former senior environment writer for National Geographic.

Directed by Martin Jarvis. Recorded in Los Angeles before a live audience at The James Bridges Theater, UCLA in April of 2014.

An Enemy of the People is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity series featuring science-themed plays. Major funding for the Relativity series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world.

Click HERE to get the free downloads. For each book, click on the audiobook cover, enter your name and an email address, then click on the Get your FREE download now button; on some systems, you’ll be prompted to save an ODM file (others will run it automatically) and, if so, save it to your desktop, then click it after it downloads, to start Overdrive. Don’t stop until you see the Overdrive software open up (there is a link at Sync, if you don’t already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you’ll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download. By default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started. Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won’t be able to get these for free (you can double click any title in Overdrive and will get a message that either it entirely downloaded or you’ll get a list of the “parts” and can download the ones that you don’t have).

You can’t get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

I’ve linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download. You’ll need the Overdrive Console loaded (directions are on Sync’s website) and I suggest you use the desktop app to ensure you download a copy for backup purposes.

Start off with A Night Divided ($10.99 Kindle; $17.15 Audible), by Jennifer A. Nielsen, narrated by Kate Simses [Scholastic Audio]. A New York Times Notable Children’s Book, A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, A Chicago Public Library “Best of the Best” Children’s Book, A Cybils Award Winner

Book Description
From New York Times best-selling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a stunning thriller about a girl who must escape to freedom after the Berlin Wall divides her family between east and west. With the rise of the Berlin Wall, 12-year-old Gerta finds her family divided overnight. She, her mother, and her brother, Fritz, live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, to think forbidden thoughts of freedom, yet she can’t help herself.

She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens; she, her family, her neighbors, and her friends are prisoners in their own city. But one day, while on her way to school, Gerta spots her father on a viewing platform on the western side, pantomiming a peculiar dance.

Then, when she receives a mysterious drawing, Gerta puts two and two together and concludes that her father wants Gerta and Fritz to tunnel beneath the wall, out of East Berlin. However, if they are caught, the consequences will be deadly. No one can be trusted. Will Gerta and her family find their way to freedom?

Tear Down This Wall: A City, a President, and the Speech that Ended the Cold War ($11.99 Kindle; $19.95 Audible), by Romesh Ratnesar, narrated by Wes Bleed [Oasis Audio], is the second free selection for this week.

Book Description
On June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan addressed a crowd of 20,000 people in West Berlin in the shadow of the Berlin Wall. The words he delivered that afternoon would become among the most famous in presidential history: “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate,” Reagan said. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wall!”

In this riveting and fast-paced audiobook, Romesh Ratnesar provides an account of how Reagan arrived at his defining moment and what followed from it. The audio is based on interviews with numerous former Reagan administration officials and American and German eyewitnesses to the speech, as well as recently declassified State Department documents and East German records of the president’s trip.

Ratnesar provides new details about the origins of Reagan’s speech and the debate within the administration about how to issue the fateful challenge to Gorbachev. Tear Down This Wall re-creates the charged atmosphere surrounding Reagan’s visit to Berlin and explores the speech’s role in bringing about the fall of the Berlin Wall less than two years later. At the heart of the story is the relationship between two giants of the late 20th century: Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Departing from the view that Reagan “won” the Cold War, Ratnesar demonstrates that both Reagan and Gorbachev played indispensable roles in bringing about the end of the U.S.-Soviet rivalry. It was the trust that Reagan and Gorbachev built in each other that allowed them finally to overcome the suspicions that had held their predecessors back. Calling on Gorbachev to tear down the Wall, in Reagan’s mind, might actually encourage him to do it.

Reagan’s speech in Berlin was more than a good sound bite. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we can now see the speech as the event that marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

Click HERE to get the free downloads. For each book, click on the audiobook cover, enter your name and an email address, then click on the Get your FREE download now button; on some systems, you’ll be prompted to save an ODM file (others will run it automatically) and, if so, save it to your desktop, then click it after it downloads, to start Overdrive. Don’t stop until you see the Overdrive software open up (there is a link at Sync, if you don’t already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you’ll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download. By default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started. Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won’t be able to get these for free (you can double click any title in Overdrive and will get a message that either it entirely downloaded or you’ll get a list of the “parts” and can download the ones that you don’t have).

You can’t get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Start off with Spill ($4.95 Audible), by Leigh Fondakowski, narrated by Elisa Bocanegra, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Nicholas Hormann, Travis Johns, Jane Kaczmarek, James Morrison, Darren Richardson, Kate Steele and Mark Jude Sullivan [L.A. Theatre Works].

Book Description
In April of 2010, British Petroleum gave orders to speed up production on its colossal drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon. Despite the objections of many on the rig, safety measures were ignored or overlooked. On April 20th, the Deepwater Horizon exploded. Eleven men paid the ultimate price and countless thousands who call the Gulf Coast home found their lives irrevocably altered.

Spill is part of our Relativity Series, presented with major funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world.

Directed by Martin Jarvis. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording, starring:

• Elisa Bocanegra as Arleen Weise, Andrea Fleytas
• Gilbert Glenn Brown as Obama, Jorey Danos, Christopher Pleasant
• Nicholas Hormann as Bob Bea, Pat O’Bryan, Gary Bartholemy, Wyman Wheeler
• Travis Johns as Keith Jones, Steve Bertone, Jonathan Henderson
• Jane Kaczmarek as Narrator, Lillian Miller
• James Morrison as Bill Anderson, Randy Ezell, Billy Nungesser
• Darren Richardson as Tony Hayward, Jimmy Harrell, Gordon Jones, Don Vidrine
• Kate Steele as Shelley Anderson, Jolene Danos
• Mark Jude Sullivan as Jason Anderson, Mike Williams

Production Manager, Nikki Hyde. Music Supervisor, Ronn Lipkin. Associate Artistic Director, Anna Lyse Erikson. Editor, Julian Nicholson. Recording Engineer, Sound Designer and Mixer, Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood.

Meet the Sky ($7.99 Kindle; $21.67 Audible), by McCall Hoyle, narrated by Morgan Fairbanks [], is the second free selection for this week.

Book Description
From award-winning author McCall Hoyle comes a new young adult novel, Meet the Sky, a story of love, letting go, and the unstoppable power of nature.

It all started with the accident. The one that caused Sophie’s dad to walk out of her life. The one that left Sophie’s older sister, Meredith, barely able to walk at all.

With nothing but pain in her past, all Sophie wants is to plan for the future – keep the family business running, get accepted to veterinary school, and protect her mom and sister from another disaster. But when a hurricane forms off the coast of North Carolina’s Outer Banks and heads right toward their island, Sophie realizes nature is one thing she can’t control.

After she gets separated from her family during the evacuation, Sophie finds herself trapped on the island with the last person she’d have chosen – the reckless and wild Finn Sanders, who broke her heart freshman year. As they struggle to find safety, Sophie learns that Finn has suffered his own heartbreak; but instead of playing it safe, Finn’s become the kind of guy who goes surfing in the eye of the hurricane. He may be the perfect person to remind Sophie how to embrace life again, but only if their newfound friendship can survive the storm.

Click HERE to get the free downloads. For each book, click on the audiobook cover, enter your name and an email address, then click on the Get your FREE download now button; on some systems, you’ll be prompted to save an ODM file (others will run it automatically) and, if so, save it to your desktop, then click it after it downloads, to start Overdrive. Don’t stop until you see the Overdrive software open up (there is a link at Sync, if you don’t already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you’ll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download. By default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started. Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won’t be able to get these for free (you can double click any title in Overdrive and will get a message that either it entirely downloaded or you’ll get a list of the “parts” and can download the ones that you don’t have).

You can’t get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

I’ve linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download. You’ll need the Overdrive Console loaded (directions are on Sync’s website) and I suggest you use the desktop app to ensure you download a copy for backup purposes.

Start off with The Epic Crush of Genie Lo ($9.99 Kindle; $24.49 Audible), by F. C. Yee, narrated by Nancy Wu [Recorded Books]. Starred Reviews: Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, School Library Journal

Book Description
American Born Chinese meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this grounded supernatural YA mash-up.

The struggle to get into a top-tier college consumes 16-year-old Genie’s every waking thought. But when she discovers she’s a celestial spirit who’s powerful enough to bash through the gates of heaven with her fists, her perfectionist existence is shattered. Enter Quentin, a transfer student from China whose tone-deaf assertiveness beguiles Genie to the brink of madness. Quentin nurtures Genie’s bodacious transformation – sometimes gently, sometimes aggressively – as her sleepy suburb in the Bay Area comes under siege from hell spawn.

This epic YA debut draws from Chinese folklore, features a larger-than-life heroine, and perfectly balances the realities of Genie’s grounded high school life with the absurd supernatural world she finds herself commanding.

Shadow of the Fox ($9.99 Kindle; $31.93 Audible), by Julie Kagawa, narrated by Joy Osmanski, Brian Nishii and Emily Woo Zeller [Harlequin Audio], is the second free selection for this week.

Book Description
One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish – and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos.

Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.

Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure – one part of the ancient scroll.

There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll…at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart.

With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself.

New from the New York Times best-selling author of The Talon Saga and The Iron Fey. Fans of Sarah J. Maas, Julie C. Dao, Marie Lu, Cassandra Clare, and more best-selling YA fantasy will be captivated by book one of this enchanting new series.

“One of my all-time favorite fantasy novels! I’m in love with this book, its characters, its worldbuilding!” (Ellen Oh, author of the Prophecy and Spirit Hunters series)

Click HERE to get the free downloads. For each book, click on the audiobook cover, enter your name and an email address, then click on the Get your FREE download now button; on some systems, you’ll be prompted to save an ODM file (others will run it automatically) and, if so, save it to your desktop, then click it after it downloads, to start Overdrive. Don’t stop until you see the Overdrive software open up (there is a link at Sync, if you don’t already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you’ll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download. By default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started. Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won’t be able to get these for free (you can double click any title in Overdrive and will get a message that either it entirely downloaded or you’ll get a list of the “parts” and can download the ones that you don’t have).

You can’t get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Start off with You ($3.99 Kindle; $18.24 Audible), by Charles Benoit, narrated by David Baker [HarperAudio].

Book Description
This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go.

You’re just a typical fifteen-year-old sophomore, an average guy named Kyle Chase. This can’t be happening to you. But then, how do you explain all the blood? How do you explain how you got here in the first place?

There had to have been signs, had to have been some clues it was coming. Did you miss them, or ignore them? Maybe if you can figure out where it all went wrong, you can still make it right. Or is it already too late? Think fast, Kyle. Time’s running out. How did this happen?

You is the riveting story of fifteen-year-old Kyle and the small choices he does and doesn’t make that lead to his own destruction.

In his stunning young-adult debut, Charles Benoit mixes riveting tension with an insightful—and unsettling—portrait of an ordinary teen in a tale that is taut, powerful, and shattering.

Othello (varies Kindle; $9.95 Audible), by William Shakespeare, narrated by Ewan McGregor, et al [Naxos AudioBooks], is the second free selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from nothing to a few dollars and probably get an edition that will work for reading along while listening.

Book Description
Shakespeare’s Othello is one of his finest and most famous tragedies. This highly acclaimed performance, which ran between November 2007 and February 2008 at the Donmar Warehouse in London, features Chiwetel Ejiofor as the Moor Othello, Ewan McGregor as the scheming Iago, and Kelly Reilly as the gentle Desdemona. This recording features music written specifically for the stage production which enjoyed huge success – each performance was a sell-out.

Click HERE to get the free downloads. For each book, click on the audiobook cover, enter your name and an email address, then click on the Get your FREE download now button; on some systems, you’ll be prompted to save an ODM file (others will run it automatically) and, if so, save it to your desktop, then click it after it downloads, to start Overdrive. Don’t stop until you see the Overdrive software open up (there is a link at Sync, if you don’t already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you’ll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download. By default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started. Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won’t be able to get these for free (you can double click any title in Overdrive and will get a message that either it entirely downloaded or you’ll get a list of the “parts” and can download the ones that you don’t have).

You can’t get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Cedille On The Move: High Energy Tracks from Chicago’s Classical Record Label ($8.99 Audio CD)

High-Energy tracks from Chicago’s classical record label Cedille Records presents a disc of high-energy selections from our CD catalogue, ideal for keeping you ‘on the move’ whether walking, running, biking, driving, exercising, or just enjoying the music’s rhythmic drive. The tracks run the gamut from a Vivaldi flute concerto to symphonic works by late-Classical era composers from Bohemia (Franz Krommer and Jan Vaclav Hugo Vorísek), to (later) 19th-century concertos and chamber works, to seven selections by contemporary or very recent composers. All feature propulsive rhythmic energy designed to keep the music (and you) ‘on the move.’

The bonus downloads are from these albums:

• Project W – Works by Diverse Women Composers
• Thomas Hampson: Songs from Chicago
• Portraits – Works for Flute, Clarinet & Piano
• Vivaldi: The Complete Viola d’Amore Concertos

WARNING: You only get one chance at the download, so be sure to use a freshly started browser, with a good internet connection. I advise just using the name they suggest, then go back to rename it later, if desired; if you accidentally click on Cancel on the download window, you don’t get a second chance with Naxos’ downloads. Instead, you’ll have to email their support staff to get the album sent to you via email. Since they are on the other side of the world for those of us in the US, there can be an overnight delay in getting a reply.

^** This is a high-quality, DRM-Free recording, which reproduces CD-quality sound with no signal loss, and you get one free each month if you subscribe to their “Naxos Music Group” newsletter. If you don’t have this month’s newsletter with your unique redemption code, then you’ll need to subscribe and then confirm your email account. You may get this month’s newsletter via email the same day, but will probably have to wait until the next day before your code works for the free album. If you are already a subscriber and can’t find the email, their customer service is very good and can even email you the album, if necessary. They can be a bit slow to respond sometimes; keep in mind, they are on the other side of the world from the US and don’t seem to work weekends or “evenings” there.

The selections from the April Naxos newsletter^*, which you may choose one to download and keep, are still available, thru May 9.

Be assured that we won’t be crying April Fool! after you’ve made your selection of one of this month’s free album downloads. As usual, our offer is for real and comes with genuine appreciation for the continued support that Naxos enjoys from its worldwide following. The jokes come at our expense with a selection of three recordings that have their lighter moments. You can choose from a programme of Haydn symphonies, one with its hallmark ‘surprise’; chamber music featuring Mozart witticisms; and highlights from a Verdi comic opera that puts an endearing buffoon in the spotlight. – Klaus Heymann

This month’s selections are:

Haydn Famous Symphonies Vol 2 – No.94, No.101 & No.83 ($7.99 Amazon MP3; $8.99 Audio CD)

Haydn wrote more than a hundred symphonies, and this recording contains three of his finest, dating from the latter part of his distinguished career and all carrying nicknames that reveal the appeal they had for audiences of his day, and have maintained ever since. Written in 1785, Symphony No. 83 became known as ‘The Hen’ because of its farm-yard reference to the bird’s clucking in the opening movement; it also ends with a witty finale. Symphony No.101 belongs to the group of six symphonies written for Haydn’s second visit to London in 1794. An eerie introduction gives way to a bright D major movement from which the symphony derives its nickname, The Clock, on account of the accompanying figure with which the movement opens. Written for Haydn’s first visit to London and first performed in 1792, his Symphony No. 94 is commonly referred to as the ‘Surprise Symphony’ because of the arresting, loud outburst of a single chord that interrupts the gentle melodic statement at the start of its second movement.

Mozart: Chamber Music: Oboe Quartet / Horn Quintet / Musical Joke ($7.99 Amazon MP3; $9.56 Audio CD)

Friedrich Ramm was a noted oboe player in Mozart’s time, whose virtuosity, lyricism and tonal beauty were an inspiration to him. Ramm premiered Mozart’s Oboe Quartet, in which the composer creates a rich tapestry of the subtlest of chamber interplay. The exquisitely poised slow movement, only 36 bars long, has been described as a miracle of compression, a miracle of beauty. The Quintet in E fiat major for French horn, violin, two violas and bass (cello) was written in Vienna in 1782 for the Salzburg horn-player Ignaz Leutgeb (Leitgeb), who had been a member of the Archbishop’s musical establishment and had followed the Mozarts to Italy in 1773. Mozart wrote his lighthearted A Musical Joke not long after his father’s death, perhaps remembering his father’s contribution to similar genres. The piece makes fun of clumsy attempts at the classical form, with banal repetitions, endless sequences and banal melodic figures, before reaching its conclusion with a series of resounding discords.

Verdi: Falstaff ($7.99 Amazon MP3; $8.99 Audio CD $17.99 Extended Release Audio CD)

Falstaff was Verdi’s last opera and stands at the very peak of his musical and dramatic achievements. It was closely based on Shakespeare’s comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor, which was adapted for the operatic stage by Arrigo Boito. The central character is Sir John Falstaff, a constantly optimistic and hard living character who drives forward the plot with humorous abandon. Throughout the opera Verdi created music of scintillating wit, memorable lyricism and dramatic point.

Get the free album from Naxos by clicking the big yellow button in your email newsletter (I did a search for NAXOS to find mine in GMail). You may have to either expand the entire message, if it is truncated in GMail, or open the newsletter in your browser to get the download script to work. Once on the download page, you can choose from MP3 or FLAC^**; I recommend the latter.

WARNING: You only get one chance at the download, so be sure to use a freshly started browser, with a good internet connection. I advise just using the name they suggest, then go back to rename it later, if desired; if you accidentally click on Cancel on the download window, you don’t get a second chance with Naxos’ downloads. Instead, you’ll have to email their support staff to get the album sent to you via email. Since they are on the other side of the world for those of us in the US, there can be an overnight delay in getting a reply.

^*If you don’t have this month’s newsletter with your unique redemption code, then you’ll need to subscribe and then confirm your email account. You should get this month’s newsletter via email the same day, but will probably have to wait until the next day before your code works for the free album.

^**These are high-quality, DRM-Free recordings, which reproduce CD-quality sound with no signal loss, and you get to choose one free each month if you subscribe to their newsletter.

Book Description
In the late 1970s, Barbara Taylor, then an acclaimed young historian, began to suffer from severe anxiety. In the years that followed, Taylor’s world contracted around her illness. Eventually, her struggles were severe enough to lead to her admission to what had once been England’s largest psychiatric institution, the infamous Friern Mental Hospital in North London.

The Last Asylum is Taylor’s breathtakingly blunt and brave account of those years. In it, Taylor draws not only on her experience as a historian, but also, more importantly, on her own lived history at Friern— once known as the Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum and today the site of a luxury apartment complex. Taylor was admitted to Friern in July 1988, not long before England’s asylum system began to undergo dramatic change: in a development that was mirrored in America, the 1990s saw the old asylums shuttered, their patients left to plot courses through a perpetually overcrowded and underfunded system of community care. But Taylor contends that the emptying of the asylums also marked a bigger loss, a loss of community. She credits her own recovery to the help of a steadfast psychoanalyst and a loyal circle of friends— from Magda, Taylor’s manic-depressive roommate, to Fiona, who shares tips for navigating the system and stories of her boyfriend, the “Spaceman,” and his regular journeys to Saturn. The forging of that network of support and trust was crucial to Taylor’s recovery, offering a respite from the “stranded, homeless feelings” she and others found in the outside world.

A vivid picture of mental health treatment at a moment of epochal change, The Last Asylum is also a moving meditation on Taylor’s own experience, as well as that of millions of others who struggle with mental illness.

Sign up for the free book from the University of Chicago. You’ll need to enter your email address, then check your email for the link to download the book. Mine arrived within seconds — you get a .ACSM file, which, when opened, will load the book inside of Adobe ADE. This is a DRM’d file and is not compatible with eInk Kindles, but can be read using Aldiko on a Kindle Fire.

Today is the last day for this month’s Amazon First Reads program, which have been available long enough that we can now look at the reviews before making a selection. If you are an Amazon Prime Member, you can pick any one of these books for free and get it to read — and keep — now.

If you are not an Amazon Prime Member, then you can purchase any one of the books at a discounted price (usually $1.99) and download immediately (hardcovers are specially priced at $12.99 or less). Either way, If you want more than one, you’ll have to pre-order and the price generally goes up to $4.99-$5.99 for the subsequent books.

Cold Waters: Normal, Alabama #1 by Debbie Herbert

From USA Today bestselling author Debbie Herbert comes a thrilling story of murder and madness set in the darkest corner of Alabama.

Everyone thinks fourteen-year-old Violet is a murderer. After a summer-night swim with her best friend, Ainsley, Violet is found confused, wandering in the forest—and Ainsley’s never seen again. But without a body, murder charges won’t stick, so Violet is sent away.

After more than a decade in a psychiatric ward, Violet returns to her broken-down hometown of Normal, Alabama, to claim her dead mother’s inheritance and help her overworked sister care for their unstable, alcoholic father. Violet, still haunted by that night eleven years ago, endures horrific flashbacks and twisted hallucinations while townsfolk spit accusations—and for all she knows, they’re right.

As the summer heats up, details of Ainsley’s fate appear like a beast’s wild eyes, watching in the darkness, and grim revelations about Violet’s family threaten to devour her. Already on the edge of madness, Violet must fight to keep her sanity long enough for the terrible truth to burst from the cold, dark waters.

The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms

“A laugh-out-loud funny, pitch-perfect novel that will have readers rooting for this unlikely, relatable, and totally lovable heroine, The Overdue Life of Amy Byler is the ultimate escape—and will leave moms everywhere questioning whether it isn’t time for a #momspringa of their own.” —New York Journal of Books

Overworked and underappreciated, single mom Amy Byler needs a break. So when the guilt-ridden husband who abandoned her shows up and offers to take care of their kids for the summer, she accepts his offer and escapes rural Pennsylvania for New York City.

Usually grounded and mild mannered, Amy finally lets her hair down in the city that never sleeps. She discovers a life filled with culture, sophistication, and—with a little encouragement from her friends—a few blind dates. When one man in particular makes quick work of Amy’s heart, she risks losing herself completely in the unexpected escape, and as the summer comes to an end, Amy realizes too late that she must make an impossible decision: stay in this exciting new chapter of her life, or return to the life she left behind.

But before she can choose, a crisis forces the two worlds together, and Amy must stare down a future where she could lose both sides of herself, and every dream she’s ever nurtured, in the beat of a heart.

A Well-Read Woman: The Life, Loves, and Legacy of Ruth Rappaport by Kate Stewart

The inspiring true story of an indomitable librarian’s journey from Nazi Germany to Seattle to Vietnam—all for the love of books.

Growing up under Fascist censorship in Nazi Germany, Ruth Rappaport absorbed a forbidden community of ideas in banned books. After fleeing her home in Leipzig at fifteen and losing both parents to the Holocaust, Ruth drifted between vocations, relationships, and countries, searching for belonging and purpose. When she found her calling in librarianship, Ruth became not only a witness to history but an agent for change as well.

Culled from decades of diaries, letters, and photographs, this epic true story reveals a driven woman who survived persecution, political unrest, and personal trauma through a love of books. It traces her activism from the Zionist movement to the Red Scare to bibliotherapy in Vietnam and finally to the Library of Congress, where Ruth made an indelible mark and found a home. Connecting it all, one constant thread: Ruth’s passion for the printed word, and the haven it provides—a haven that, as this singularly compelling biography proves, Ruth would spend her life making accessible to others. This wasn’t just a career for Ruth Rappaport. It was her purpose.

One Word Kill: Impossible Times #1 by Mark Lawrence

Ready Player One meets Stranger Things in this new novel by the bestselling author who George RR Martin describes as “an excellent writer.”

In January 1986, fifteen-year-old boy-genius Nick Hayes discovers he’s dying. And it isn’t even the strangest thing to happen to him that week.

Nick and his Dungeons & Dragons-playing friends are used to living in their imaginations. But when a new girl, Mia, joins the group and reality becomes weirder than the fantasy world they visit in their weekly games, none of them are prepared for what comes next. A strange—yet curiously familiar—man is following Nick, with abilities that just shouldn’t exist. And this man bears a cryptic message: Mia’s in grave danger, though she doesn’t know it yet. She needs Nick’s help—now.

He finds himself in a race against time to unravel an impossible mystery and save the girl. And all that stands in his way is a probably terminal disease, a knife-wielding maniac and the laws of physics.

Challenge accepted.

Where the Desert Meets the Sea: A Novel by Werner Sonne and Steve Anderson

An illuminating and heart-stirring historical novel set in post-WWII Palestine, where the boundaries of love and friendship are challenged by the intractable conflicts of war.

Jerusalem, 1947: Judith, a young Jewish survivor of the Dachau concentration camp, arrives in Mandatory Palestine, seeking refuge with her only remaining relative, her uncle. When she learns that he has died, she tries to take her own life in despair.

After awakening in the hospital, Judith learns that Hana, a Muslim Arab nurse, has saved her life by donating her own blood. While the two women develop a fragile bond, each can’t help but be drawn deeper into the political machinations tearing the country apart. After witnessing the repeated attacks inflicted on the Jews, Judith makes the life-changing decision to join the Zionist fight for Jerusalem. And Hana’s star-crossed love for Dr. David Cohen, an American Jew out of his element and working only to save lives, will put her own life in danger.

Then the political situation worsens. When tensions erupt, a shocking act of violence threatens Judith and Hana’s friendship—and the destinies of everyone they love.

We Are Not Friends: You Are Not Small #4 by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant

Two fuzzy friends are having a fun playdate when a new pal hops in. As the day continues, each friend feels left out at times. It isn’t so easy to figure out how to act when everything seems to change. With humor and heart, the beloved characters from Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner You Are (Not) Small navigate a friendship triangle as only they can.

Age Level: 3 – 7; Grade Level: P – 2

Amazon First Short Reads – Free to Read with Kindle Unlimited

The Diamond Formula by Alina Simone

A possible genius, a smidgen of madness, a twist of science, and an invention that very nearly changed the world—all collide in a giddy, unbelievably true mystery set in turn-of-the-century Paris.

In 1905, inventor Henri Lemoine claimed that he’d uncovered the secret to a coveted alchemy: creating diamonds in a laboratory. It intrigued a host of investors, and it soon made Lemoine an international celebrity. Then he disappeared.

The Diamond Formula is part of Inventions: Untold Stories of the Beautiful Era, a collection of incredible true stories from the belle epoque, an age of innovation, daring, bluster, and beauty when anything seemed possible. Each piece can be read, listened to, and marveled at in a single sitting.

Jump! by Daniel Engber

In the first few years of the twentieth century, inventors discovered how to soar into the sky. This breathtaking true story is about two men who, on one fateful weekend, tried to show the world a way back down.

It was early February 1912, and Franz Reichelt, a Paris tailor, and Rodman Law, a self-described “professional jackass” from New York, were poised, respectively, on the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty, ready to deploy an experimental parachute. In bat wings and bundled linen, they were almost certain their contraptions would work. Here is the tale of their inspirations and their pluck—and what happened next.

Jump! is part of Inventions: Untold Stories of the Beautiful Era, a collection of incredible true stories from the belle epoque, an age of innovation, daring, bluster, and beauty when anything seemed possible. Each piece can be read, listened to, and marveled at in a single sitting.

The Electricity Fairy by Alex Mar

The inspiring true story of Loïe Fuller, a radical nineteenth-century art nouveau icon who turned artificial light into performance art and became the incandescent inventor of modern dance.

In a new era lit by Edison bulbs, Loïe Fuller was the quicksilver that connected scientific and artistic inspiration. In a flurry of shifting lights and serpentine spins, she inspired the earliest films of Georges Méliès and held Jean Cocteau spellbound. She even sought out the Curies for a radioactive showstopper. In this transportive and hypnotic historical narrative, the uninhibited Folies Bergère superstar la fée lumière is finally restored to her shimmering, glorious place in modern history.

The Electricity Fairy is part of Inventions: Untold Stories of the Beautiful Era, a collection of incredible true stories from the belle epoque, an age of innovation, daring, bluster, and beauty when anything seemed possible. Each piece can be read, listened to, and marveled at in a single sitting.

Note: Kindle Unlimited subscribers can borrow the Amazon First Reads books when they are officially released.