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Do you know what you will be reading this weekend? From a medical thriller to a biography of the Manchester cult band The Smiths, discover the six books we have selected this week.

The J.M. Barrie Ladies’ Swimming Society by Barbara J. Zitwer  | Contemporary Women

Joey, an overworked New York architect, is in the Cotswolds to oversee the restoration of Stanway House – the stately home that inspired J.M. Barrie to write Peter Pan. It hasn’t been easy. The local residents aren’t exactly welcoming, and then there’s the problem of the brooding caretaker, a man who seems to take every opportunity to undermine her plans. She soon begins to feel that she can’t do anything right.
Until, that is, she discovers the J.M. Barrie Ladies’ Swimming Society and begins to take a daily dip with them in their own private Neverland. For Joey, meeting Aggie, Gala, Lilia and co. is a life-changing experience, the beginning of a friendship that will transform her in the most remarkable of ways…

Supervolcano: All Fall Down by Harry Turtledove | Supervolcano #2 | Post-Apocalyptic

In the aftermath of the supervolcano’s eruption in Yellowstone Park, North America is covered in ash. Farmlands cannot produce food. Machinery has been rendered useless. Cities are no longer habitable. And the climate across the globe grows colder every day.
Former police officer Colin Ferguson’s family is spread across the United States, separated by the catastrophe, and struggling to survive as the nation attempts to recover and reestablish some measure of civilization…

Me and The Devil by Nick Tosches | Literary

An aging New Yorker, a writer named Nick, feels life ebbing out of him. The world has gone to hell and Nick is so sick of it all that he can’t even have a glass of champagne. Then one night he meets a tantalizing young woman who agrees to come back to his apartment. Their encounter is the most strangely extraordinary of his life. Propelled by uncontrollable, primordial desires, he enters a new and unimagined dimension of the forbidden and is filled with a sexual and spiritual ecstasy that is as intense as it is unholy.
Suddenly Nick’s senses are alive. He feels strong, unconquerable , beyond all inhibition and earthly morality. He indulges in life’s pleasures, pure and perverse, sublime and dangerous, from the delicate flavors of the perfect tomato to the fleshy beauty of a woman’s thigh. But Nick’s desire to sustain his rapture leads him to a madness and a darkness far greater and dreadful than have ever ridden the demon mares of night.

A Light That Never Goes Out by Tony Fletcher | Biography

They were, their fans believe, the best band in the world. Hailing from Manchester, England, The Smiths–Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke, and Mike Joyce–were critical and popular favorites throughout their mid-1980s heyday and beyond. To this day, due to their unforgettable songs and lyrics, they are considered one of the greatest British rock groups of all time–up there with the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, and the Clash.
Tony Fletcher paints a vivid portrait of the fascinating personalities within the group: Morrissey, the witty, literate lead singer whose loner personality and complex lyrics made him an icon for teenagers who felt forlorn and forgotten; his songwriting partner Marr, the gregarious guitarist who became a rock god for a generation of indie kids; and the talented, good-looking rhythm section duo of bassist Rourke and drummer Joyce. Despite the band’s tragic breakup at the height of their success, A Light That Never Goes Out is a celebration: the saga of four working-class kids from a northern English city who come together despite contrasting personalities, find a musical bond, inspire a fanatical following, and leave a legacy that changed the music world–and the lives of their fans.

Nano by Robin Cook | Thriller

After a tumultuous year in which her mentor is murdered and her estranged father comes back into her life, Pia Grazdani, the embattled medical student from Death Benefit, decides to take a year off from her medical studies and escape New York City. Intrigued by the promise of the burgeoning field of medical technology and the chance to clear her head, Pia takes a job at Nano, LLC, a lavishly funded, security-conscious nanotechnology insititute in the picturesque foothills of the Rockies. Nano, LLC is ahead of the curve in the competitive world of molecular manufacturing, including the construction of microbivores, tiny nano-robots with the ability to gobble up viruses and bacteria.
But the corporate campus is a place of secrets. She’s warned by her boss not to investigate the other work being done at the gigantic facility, nor to ask questions about the source of the seemingly endless capital that funds the institute’s research. And when Pia encounters a fellow employee on a corporate jogging path, suffering the effects of a seizure, she soon realizes she may have literally stumbled upon Nano LLC’s human guinea pigs. Is the tech giant on the cusp of one of the biggest medical discoveries of the twenty-first century—a treatment option for millions—or have they already sold out to the highest bidder?

Ice and Fire by David Wingrove | Chung Kuo #4 | Science-Fiction

Spring 2201 – Spring 2203: The T’ang who make up the ruling Seven are struggling to maintain stasis and prevent change, as the “War That Wasn’t A War” is fought within the levels of Chung Kuo’s great world-spanning City: a war fought not with armies on battlefields but with an inventive evil – with bombs and betrayals, brutal assassinations and sly poisonings. Adding to the pressure for change is the existence of a document that charts the true history of this world, not the version invented and policed by the Ministry – the “Thousand Eyes” – who have, for so long, maintained this dark shadow at the very heart of Chung Kuo. Its discovery by the Dispersionists will fuel their ardent desire for change and for an end to Han rule. Lined up against the Dispersionists are a handful of men utterly loyal to the Seven – men like General Tolonen, along with the two men he has recruited from the Lowers, Gregor Karr and Kao Chen. When Tolonen destroys the newly-built generation-starship, The New Hope, he will change Chung Kuo for good by declaring war on the Dispertionists.