Washoe County Library System

As World War I raged across the globe, hundreds of young women toiled away at the radium-dial factories, where they painted clock faces with a mysterious new substance called radium. Assured by their bosses that the luminous material was safe, the women themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered from head to toe with the glowing dust. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" were considered the luckiest alive--until they began to fall mysteriously...

Spanning much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the novel follows the fortunes of the extraordinary Whittaker family as led by the enterprising Henry Whittaker--a poor-born Englishman who makes a great fortune in the South American quinine trade, eventually becoming the richest man in Philadelphia. Born in 1800, Henry's brilliant daughter, Alma (who inherits both her father's money and his mind).

Charleston, 1799: A daughter of Southern gentility and a gifted painter, Catherine Edilean Harcourt has no lack of suitors at home in Virginia, waiting to fulfill her dream of marriage and family. But Cay's adventurous spirit, fostered by growing up with her three brothers, is piqued while visiting her godfather in South Carolina. Bedridden with a broken leg, he asks Cay to fill in for him on an urgent task: on her way to a fancy dress ball, she must...

"A huge warm saga . . . A deeply satisfying story written with love and confidence." --Maeve Binchy in The New York Times Book Review. For the first time ever in trade paperback, Rosamunde Pilcher's beloved, #1 New York Times bestselling novela captivating story of life and love. An instant bestseller when it was first published, The Shell Seekers is an enduring classic which has touched the hearts of millions of readers worldwide. A novel of connection,...

Leaving New York City behind for the summer to pursue her passion for painting in Edilean's tightly knit artistic community, Jecca Layton is swept off her feet by the town's handsome doctor and they both must make a difficult decision when the summer ends.

France, 1760. Marianne is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Because she is a reluctant bride-to-be, Marianne arrives under the guise of companionship, observing Héloïse by day and secretly painting her by firelight at night. As the two women orbit one another, intimacy and attraction grow as they share Héloïse's first moments of freedom. Héloïse's portrait soon becomes a collaborative...

Explores the intimate details of the life of Frida Kahlo, using rare, never-before seen footage, family interviews, and photographs. Includes interviews with Amando Almazán, Olivier Debroise, Teresa Del Conde, Arturo García Bustos, Hayden Herrera, Cristina Kahlo, Ana C. Treviño "Bambi", and Martha Zamoro. This documentary explores Kahlo's turbulent relationship with Deigo Rivera, her lesbian affairs, and her mastering of the art that depicted her...

"Lisa Alther and Francoise Gilot have been friends for more than twenty-five years. Although from different backgrounds (Gilot from cosmopolitan Paris, Alther from small-town Tennessee) and different generations, they found they have a great deal in common as women who managed to support themselves with careers in the arts, while simultaneously balancing the obligations of work and parenthood. About Women is their extended conversation, in which they...