Full AspenCat Catalog

In a historic farmhouse outside Boston, seventy-year-old Percy Darling is settling happily into retirement: reading novels, watching old movies, and swimming naked in his pond. His routines are disrupted, however, when he is persuaded to let a locally beloved preschool take over his barn. As Percy sees his rural refuge overrun by children, parents, and teachers, he must reexamine the solitary life he has made in the three decades since the sudden...

At the request of his late grandfather, Rennie goes to Iceland to right an old wrong, and gets drawn into investigating a murder.

"A little boy spends the day with his grandfather, endearingly imagining himself to be the caregiver. On a walk through the forest, the grandfather teaches him to identify a number of animals and their tracks: raven, rabbit, deer, sparrow. Back at the house, their special time ends with milk, cookies, and story time that turns into a nap. Ojibwe translations of the animal names are found on the endpapers."--

Retired Chicago cop Harry Bentley was doing just fine. He had custody of his grandson, DaShawn, giving him a second chance at being a good parent. He was enjoying a second romance with the enchanting Estelle Williams. He had finally connected with God, thanks to the Yada Yada brothers. And he was even enjoying SouledOut Community Church and helping at Manna House shelter for women. Then a blind spot developed in the center of his vision.

Retired Chicago cop Harry Bentley was lying low after blowing the whistle on a gang of rogue cops and was awaiting the day when Internal Affairs would call him to testify. His cover was working as a doorman in a Chicago lakefront luxury highrise. Through penthouse resident Gabby Fairbanks, Harry meets the Yada Yada brothers and a new circle of friends to replace his old police cohorts. When Harry discovers he has a grandson he didn't know about, will...

"Ever since a car accident tore her family apart, Holly has been part of a lonely-hearts holiday letter–writing club. Each December, she writes to a stranger who is also spending Christmas alone, and receives a letter from another lonely person in return. Usually, the letters go unanswered. That’s the point—the letters are anonymous, and the senders write whatever is in their heart. But this year, the letter Holly receives is different; not...

"A vivid, masterly novel about a Flemish man who reconstructs his grandfather's story--his hopes, loves, and art, all disrupted by the First World War--from the unflinching notebooks he filled with pieces of his life. The life of Urbain Martien--artist, soldier, survivor of World War I--lies contained in two notebooks he left behind when he died in 1981. His grandson, a writer, retells his story, the notebooks giving him the impetus to imagine his...

"This tour-de-force is widely regarded as the quintessential post-WWII Japanese novel. A plan to kidnap a major corporation's CEO becomes an allegory for the alienation of the individual self, a mirror to modern-day Japaense identity. In 1995 in Tokyo, five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on the horses. They have little in common except a disaffection with their lives. One is a poorly socialized but genius factory welder. One is a demoted...

"Gus Hollister owes all his success to his feisty grandmother, Rose, and her two sisters, Iris and Violet. They raised him, sent him to the best schools, and helped him start his own accounting business. Rose even bought the house Gus lives in with his wife, Elaine. Now, Gus stands to lose everything--his home, his car, and his business. Worse, he's alienated his beloved grandma, who tried to warn him about Elaine's greedy ways. Heartsick and remorseful,...