In the Shadow of Croft Towers by Abigail Wilson

From the publisher: from debut author Abigail Wilson comes a shadowy Regency tale of secrets and spies, love and treachery.

In the Shadow of Croft Towers is an atmospheric historical novel set in England in the early 1800s. Orphaned Sybil has been educated by an unknown benefactor and receives a mysterious letter that leads her to accept a position at the secluded manor known as Croft Towers. On the way there the coach is stopped by highwaymen, who seem less interested in the riches of the passengers than in the passengers themselves.

Upon arrival, Sybil meets the other inhabitants of Croft Towers and realizes one of them, her new employer's godson, was one  of the highwaymen. She keeps his secret and is slowly pulled into the intrigue that surrounds Croft Towers and those who live there.

In the Shadow of Croft Towers is predictable but a fun read, with secrets upon secrets and lies upon lies. If you are a fan of books like Rebecca and The Woman in White, you may enjoy this novel.

I read an advanced reader copy of this book from Netgalley. The book is scheduled to be published on January 15, 2019 and will be available at the Galesburg Public Library as a print book and as an ebook.

Infomocracy by Malka Older

Wow, this is hard book to classify. I found it hard to get into at first - really, really hard. It's set in a near-distant future where nations no longer exist but governments do. Every 10 years groups of 100,000 people choose which government they want to live under.

Many of the governments have formed from corporations, like Coca-Cola and Philip Morris. Others are remnants of former nation states; Liberty it seems pretty clear has sprung from the United States. There is also a global internet organization called Information that is like Facebook and Google etc. many times squared.

I had a hard time getting into Infomocracy because there are so many characters, and many had names I am unused to so I wasn't immediately able to picture even whether they were male or female. The action also jumps all over the world, and the names of all the governments were confusing. The world building was grand and chaotic, and the important characters were compelling. (Some of the characters introduced in the beginning faded away into minor importance.) 

Once I got about 100 pages in I really enjoyed Infomocracy. I wonder if my interest was partly sparked by reading this during the U.S. political conventions. There is a lot of subterfuge, and questions about who can trust who, and think I found that more interesting because there is a U.S. presidential race going on. 

As I said, this book is hard to classify. It's hard to even say, for example, that If you liked xxx, you will enjoy Infomocracy. It is a very intelligent work, and it was refreshing to read something that really, really is not English or American-centric. I recommend it to science fiction readers willing to take a chance on something a little unusual, and to readers looking to take their mind off American politics and the election by reading a book about...politics and an election.

The Galesburg Public LIbrary has Infomocracy as a print book and as an ebook.