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Dockside Picks Run the Gamut From Young People's Fiction to True Life Child Abuse

Here is where you will find what's new at St. Thomas' well-known, well-read Dockside Bookshop at Havensight Mall. Every week you will find new titles to peruse. Look for updates of our "picks" for fiction and nonfiction.
STORE HOURS
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Tuesday and Friday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Phone: 340-774-4937
E-mail: dockside@islands.vi
"Finding Miracles" by Julia Alvarez. Knopf Books for Young Readers, fiction – hard cover, 272 pp., $15.95.
Milly Kaufman is an ordinary American teenager living in Vermont — until she meets Pablo, a new student at her high school. His exotic accent, strange fashion sense, and intense interest in Milly force her to confront her identity as an adopted child from Pablo's native country. As their relationship grows, Milly decides to undertake a courageous journey to her homeland and along the way discovers the story of her birth is intertwined with the story of a country recovering from a brutal history.
Beautifully written by renowned author Julia Alvarez, "Finding Miracles" examines the emotional complexity of familial relationships and the miracles of everyday life.
"Forests of the Night" by James W. Hall. St. Martin's Minotaur, fiction – hard cover, 352 pp. , $24.95.
Policewoman Charlotte Monroe has cop instincts. Scratch that. There isn't a name for the gift she has, something that borders on psychic, an ability to read people's faces and body language like the morning headlines—to size up their intentions and act before they do.
Still, Charlotte's gift fails to prepare her for the stranger who shows up on her doorstep with a chilling warning for her husband, a mysterious note scrawled in Cherokee hieroglyphics, and a promise of things to come: "You're next."
The warning becomes more ominous as Charlotte and her husband, Parker, discover the complex truth about this man, including his position on the FBI Most Wanted list and his connection to their family.
When Charlotte's deeply troubled teenage daughter runs away to join the charismatic outlaw, Charlotte follows the two of them into the spectral mists of the Great Smoky Mountains—and to the beating heart of a 150-year-old blood feud that will endanger everything she loves and challenge everything she believes.
"Long Way Round" by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. Atria Books, non-fiction – hard cover, 320 pp., $26.95.
It started as a daydream. Poring over a map of the world at home one quiet Saturday afternoon, Ewan McGregor – actor and self-confessed bike nut – noticed that it was possible to ride all the way round the world, with just one short hop across the Bering Strait from Russia to Alaska. It was a revelation he couldn't get out of his head. So he picked up the phone and called Charley Boorman, his best friend, fellow actor and bike enthusiast. "Charley," he said. "I think you ought to come over for dinner…."
From London to New York, Ewan and Charley chased their shadows through Europe, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, across the Pacific to Alaska, then down through Canada and America. But as the miles slipped beneath the tires of their big BMWs, their troubles started. Exhaustion, injury and accidents tested their strength. Treacherous roads, unpredictable weather and turbulent politics challenged their stamina. They were chased by paparazzi in Kazakhstan, courted by men with very large guns in the Ukraine, hassled by the police, and given bulls' testicles for supper by Mongolian nomads.
And yet despite all these obstacles they managed to ride over 20,000 miles in four months, changing their lives forever in the process. As they traveled they documented their trip, taking photographs, and writing diaries by the campfire. "Long Way Round" is the result of their adventures – a fascinating, frank and highly entertaining travel book about two friends riding round the world together and, against all the odds, realizing their dream.
"A Brother's Journey; Surviving a Childhood of Abuse" by Richard B. Petzer. Warner Books, 272 pp., $21.95
In "A Child Called 'It,'" a book that has sold millions of copies around the world, Dave Pelzer told a story of horrific abuse, describing the terrible treatment he received at the hands of his mother and his brother Richard. Fortunately for Dave, he was removed from the Pelzer household by the time he was twelve years old.
Unfortunately for Richard, his mother needed a new scapegoat for her wrath, a new target for her alcohol-fueled anger. Turning to her middle son, she began treating him the same way she had treated Dave. Now it was Richard who received nocturnal beatings, had Tabasco sauce poured down his throat, was denied clean clothes, and was kicked and slapped to the point of needing hospitalization. Abuse became the reality of Richard Pelzer's daily life. Yet he survived. This is his story.
We will gladly order any books you want. E-mail us at dockside@islands.vi, or call 340-774-4937.
STORE HOURS
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Tuesday and Friday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Phone: 340-774-4937
E-mail: dockside@islands.vi

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