On the shelves - Sept. 19

The books listed below are now available for checkout at the Clovis-Carver Public Library. The library is open to the public, but patrons can still visit the online catalog at cloviscarverpl.booksys.net/opac/ccpl or call 575-769-7840 to request a specific item for curbside pickup.

“The Nature of a Lady” by Rodea M. White. Lady Elizabeth “Libby” Sinclair, with her love of microscopes and nature, isn’t favored in society. She flees to the beautiful Isles of Scilly for the summer and stumbles into the dangerous secrets left behind by her holiday cottage’s former occupant, also named Elizabeth, who mysteriously vanished. Oliver Tremayne — gentleman and clergyman — is determined to discover what happened to his sister, and he’s happy to accept the help of the girl now living in what should have been Beth’s summer cottage, especially when he realizes it’s the curious young lady he met briefly two years ago, who shares his love of botany and biology. But the hunt for his sister involves far more than nature walks, and he can’t quite believe all the secrets Beth had been keeping from him. As Libby and Oliver work together, they find ancient legends, pirate wrecks, betrayal, and the most mysterious phenomenon of all: love.

“The Turnout” by Megan Abbott. With their long necks and matching buns and pink tights, Dara and Marie Durant have been dancers since they can remember. Growing up, they were homeschooled and trained by their glamorous mother, founder of the Durant School of Dance. After their parents’ death in a tragic accident nearly a dozen years ago, the sisters began running the school together. Marie, warm and soft, teaches the younger students; Dara, with her precision, trains the older ones. Circling around one another, they have perfected a dance, six days a week, that keeps the studio thriving. But when a suspicious accident occurs, just at the onset of the school’s annual performance of “The Nutcracker,” an interloper arrives and threatens the sisters’ delicate balance.

“The Last Mona Lisa” by Jonathan Santlofer. August, 1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincent Peruggia. Exactly what happens in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, and more than one historian has wondered if the painting now returned to the Louvre is a fake, switched in 1911. Present day: Art professor Luke Perrone digs for the truth behind his most famous ancestor: Peruggia. His search attracts an Interpol detective with something to prove and an unfamiliar but curiously helpful woman. Soon, Luke tumbles deep into the world of art and forgery, a land of obsession and danger.

“The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice” by Scott Ellsworth. More than one-thousand homes and businesses. Restaurants and movie theaters, churches and doctors’ offices, a hospital, a public library, a post office. Looted, burned, and bombed from the air. Over the course of less than twenty-four hours in the spring of 1921, Tulsa’s infamous “Black Wall Street” was wiped off the map-and erased from the history books. Official records were disappeared, researchers were threatened, and the worst single incident of racial violence in American history was kept hidden for more than fifty years. But there were some secrets that would not die.

“Raising Butterflies in the Garden” by Brenda Dziedzic. A guide to rearing butterflies and moths in a butterfly-friendly garden. This exciting title is for butterfly lovers and gardeners who not only want to create a butterfly-friendly garden, but also want to support butterflies and moths in order to maintain healthy populations.

“Rainbow Food” by Linda Louis. Easy dishes for all occasions for colorful health. It’s been known for some time that colorful foods and spices help to boost nutrition and promote good health, but how do we do this without crunching our way through yet another boring salad of peppers and carrots? “Rainbow Food” has the answer: 50 easy and delicious recipes for all tastes using standard grocery foods. The only change to make will be fewer potatoes in the grocery bag and more vibrant fresh fruits and vegetables.

— Summaries provided by library staff