Ocean State Libraries

When a man performs a dangerous, symbolic act on the mountain known as the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in contemporary Turkey, a deadly chain of events is set in motion that could destroy the certainties of modern life.

"It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns. In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined: A young boatbuilder's life is turned upside down when the only home he's ever known is raided...

A monk travels the world to protect an ancient scroll that holds the key to unlimited power. He needs to train a new scroll keeper, which he finds in a street-wise punk that saves him from capture.

No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is...

A chronicle of the life of a Buddhist monk from childhood to the end of his days.

"Here is science fiction of the highest literary excellence and thematic intelligence. A monastery founded by the scientist Liebowitz is discovered decades after an atomic war. In the first part of the book a young novice in the monastery is the protagonist; in the second part we see scholars in a new period of enlightment; and in the final section we observe man's proclivity for repeating mistakes and the apparent inevitability of history's repeating...

"Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy. To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything "I refuse to be nothing..." In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness......

It is October 1477 and Roger the Chapman, newly married and still enjoying wedded bliss in Bristol, England, is surprised to find his old, familiar feeling of restlessness returning. Within a month he is setting off, once again, on the ancient ridge road that dissects Dartmoor and heads for Plymouth, driven by some instinct that he is needed there. Roger accepts a lift from a carter who is going to visit his daughter, Joanna, in the oldest part of...

From the Edgar Award–winning author: When a troubled novice is blamed for a priest’s disappearance, Brother Cadfael seeks to save his soul—and his life.
Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in September of 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive nineteen-year-old novice.
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