TC NovDec 2025 Newsletter

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy On a remote, haunted-feeling island halfway between Tasmania and Australia,

The Art Spy by Michelle Young

Through his movie The Monument Men , that handsome George Clooney brought us the story of The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section

Hopefully, many of you have

become familiar with the engaging characters who live at Cooper Chase Retirement Community in England. Elizabeth is a tough-minded former spy, Joyce, a sweet, retired nurse, Ron, a street- smart former union organizer, and Ibrahim, a soft spoken psychiatrist. With the leadership of Elizabeth, these 4 pensioners have formed the Thursday Murder Club banding together to solve local crimes. Sometimes they use the local police but often bend the rules just a tad or more. As you ride along with these lovable characters created by Richard Osman, recently brought to life in the movie The Thursday Murder Club starring Helen Mirren, Cilia Mirie, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley, you will as AARP says, “Expect madcap fun” “There may be other aged detectives in print and on television, but for wit, intelligence and humanity, The Thursday Murder Club outranks them all. ” ― The Wall St. Journal

lives Dominic Salt with his two teenagers, and a young son. They are the sole remaining occupants after the researchers on this island have fled. Dominic’s family has been tasked with removing as many specimens as they can from the largest seed bank in the world before the increasing sea level claims them. Their lives are disrupted when the barely alive woman Rowan washes ashore during a massive storm. Rowan and Dominic’s family harbor some very deep secrets, and Rowan’s mysterious arrival becomes the catalyst that will open up the relationship between family members and also our relationship with the natural world. “A stunning amalgam of environmental fiction and a deep exploration of personal relationships- -an exceptional book that captures the soul and breaks the heart, only to put it back it bad together again.” ― Newsweek “A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.” ― Goodreads

of the Allies, a small corp of mostly men and a few women who found and recovered countless artworks stollen by the Nazis during WWII. But, did you know that one woman, a French art curator, would play an integral role in almost single-handedly saving 60,000 pieces of art. Her name was Rose Antonia Maria Valland and she is The Art Spy. Not only was she a museum art curator, but she was also a member of the French Resistance, and a captain in the French military. This book also tells the story of Alexandre Rosenberg, a French soldier who fought alongside the Allies to free France. His father was the exclusive art dealer for Picasso and Matisse. The Nazis had taken the family’s art collection, their gallery and their home in Paris. "The story of Valland’s courage and dedication to art and justice is compelling and inspiring... Ideal for fans of espionage and strong narrative nonfiction that reads like a compelling novel." ― Library Journal "Michelle Young shines new light on the heroic French curator Rose Valland... Young, an award-winning journalist, has an energetic and novelistic writing style... featuring dramatic cliffhangers and vivid sensory details that enhance the historical events." — New York Times These two risked everything to fight the evil that was the Nazis.