Arcadia Public Library

"When boarding-school student Oscar Drai meets Marina, she promises him a mystery and takes him to a secret graveyard deep in Barcelona, where they witness a woman dressed in black lay a single rose atop a gravestone etched with a black butterfly. Their curiosity leads them down a dangerous path, and they discover a decades-old conspiracy that puts their lives in the hands of forces more sinister and mystical than they could have believed possible"--...

En route from Lisbon to Buenos Aires in 1928, Max and Mecha meet aboard a luxurious transatlantic cruise ship. There Max teaches the stunning stranger and her erudite husband to dance the tango. A steamy affair ignites at sea and continues as the seedy decadence of Buenos Aires envelops the secret lovers. Nice, 1937. Still drawn to one another a decade later, Max and Mecha rekindle their dalliance. In the wake of a perilous mission gone awry, Mecha...

"In these two vibrant locales, Castaways follows the relationship between Alejandra and Julio against the backdrop of these poetic urban spaces where dreams, love, and uncertainty intertwine. Drawn to one another but constantly pushed or pulled in different directions by work, family, and life, Alejandra and Julio circle in and out of each other's lives, while first denying and then coming to accept the fact that by the time they are ready to love...

Selling more than 65,000 copies and topping bestseller lists around the world--Germany, Italy, Spain, and Latin America--this novel tells the poignant story of one man's quest for love and his soul in post-World War II America. Isabel Allende is also the internationally acclaimed bestselling author of The House of Spirts and others.

Set in rural Spain, the film is a story of a love triangle. The unnamed bride is due to marry a respectable groom, but her true desire lies with a mutual childhood friend, the rakish Leonardo, who is already married. On the day of the wedding, the star-crossed lovers flee, with devastating consequences.

Romantic fantasy set in early 20th century Mexico about a young couple, Tita and Pedro, blocked from marrying by a family tradition strictly enforced by Tita's cold and selfish mother. To be near his love the young man marries her sister, while Tita, as the family cook, expresses her passion for him through her cooking.

"Una novela calida y divertida, que despierta el intelecto y nos hace reir. Una version femenina del gran Ignatius Reilly. Eleanor Oliphant siempre dice lo que piensa. Lucha por dejar de ser alguien con pocas habilidades sociales. Se ha preparado un calendario vital cuidadoso y estricto para evitar interacciones sociales: los fines de semana los pasa sola comiendo pizza congelada y bebiendo vodka y todos los miercoles habla con su madre. Pero todo...

Three separate stories about love in Puerto Rico: a man accidentally reveals his brother's extra-marital affair to his sister-in-law when he mistakes her grief over the death of her grandmother for distress about the infidelity. The next story revolves around a man whose love for a bus driver drives him to take her and the bus passengers hostage until she consents to marriage. In the final story, an elderly woman is convinced to care for her terminally-ill...

In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony's vivid imagination. Robbie Turner, the educated son of the family's housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony's headstrong older sister Cecilia. He hopes that Cecilia has comparable feelings. All it will take is...