|
The Yield
by Tara June Winch
What it's about: Knowing that he will soon die, Albert ‘Poppy’ Gondiwindi takes pen to paper. His life has been spent on the banks of the Murrumby River at Prosperous House, on Massacre Plains. Albert is determined to pass on the language of his people and everything that was ever remembered. He finds the words on the wind. Meanwhile, August Gondiwindi has been living on the other side of the world for ten years when she learns of her grandfather’s death. She returns home for his burial, wracked with grief and burdened with all she tried to leave behind. Her homecoming is bittersweet as she confronts the love of her kin and news that Prosperous is to be repossessed by a mining company. Determined to make amends, she endeavours to save their land – a quest that leads her to the voice of her grandfather and into the past, the stories of her people, the secrets of the river.
|
|
| Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean KwokWhat happens: Though they're sisters, Sylvie Lee was raised in the Netherlands, while Amy Lee was raised in the U.S. When Sylvie goes missing, Amy begins to question everything she knows about her family.
For fans of: Celeste Ng's tragic family mystery Everything I Never Told You or Cristina Henriquez's immigrant story The Book of Unknown Americans. |
|
|
The White Girl
by Tony Birch
What it's about: Odette Brown has lived her whole life on the fringes of a small country town. After her daughter disappeared and left her with her granddaughter Sissy to raise on her own, Odette has managed to stay under the radar of the welfare authorities who are removing fair-skinned Aboriginal children from their families. When a new policeman arrives in town, determined to enforce the law, Odette must risk everything to save Sissy and protect everything she loves.
|
|
|
The second-worst restaurant in France : a Paul Stuart novel
by Alexander McCall Smith
What it's about: A follow-up to the best-selling My Italian Bulldozer finds Paul Stuart navigating romantic complications while writing his latest cookbook before finding his fortunes tangled up with those of an infamous restaurant in the French countryside.
|
|
|
The water thief
by Claire Hajaj
What it's about: When a drought forces the villagers to use a polluted lake for their drinking water, Nick makes a choice to divert funds from the hospital project to build a well for the villagers, but his decision has consequences for the village and his host family.
|
|
|
The dollmaker
by Nina Allan
What it's about: Stitch by perfect stitch, Andrew Garvie makes exquisite dolls in the finest antique style. Like him, they are diminutive, but graceful, unique and with surprising depths. Perhaps that's why he answers the enigmatic personal ad in his collector's magazine. Letter by letter, Bramber Winters reveals more of her strange, sheltered life in an institution on Bodmin Moor, and the terrible events that put her there as a child. Andrew knows what it is to be trapped; and as they knit closer together, he weaves a curious plan to rescue her. On his journey through the old towns of England he reads the fairytales of Ewa Chaplin--potent, eldritch stories which, like her lifelike dolls, pluck at the edges of reality and thread their way into his mind. When Andrew and Bramber meet at last, they will have a choice--to remain alone with their painful pasts or break free and, unlike their dolls, come to life.
|
|
| The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro ArikawaFeaturing: Satoru, who becomes the owner of a stray cat he names Nana, and Nana himself, who narrates this sweet, touching story.
Why the road trip? Five years on, Nana needs a new home (we won't say why), and so Satoru takes Nana on the road, visiting three of his old friends along the way.
Want a taste? "I yawned back. Sorry. Zero interest. Noriko just didn't get it. A wide box spoils all the fun; it offers none of the charms of being inside a box." |
|
| Hippie by Paulo CoelhoWhat it's about: a Brazilian man and a Dutch woman's journey of self-discovery as they travel by bus from Amsterdam to Kathmandu.
Why you might like it: This semi-autobiographical novel by bestselling author Paulo Coelho bursts with experiences; the bus is filled with like-minded individuals fully participating in the hippie lifestyle.
Reviewers say: "a nostalgic immersion in the mind-blowing 1960s" (Kirkus Reviews).
|
|
| America for Beginners by Leah FranquiIntroducing: Pival Sengupta, a widow from India who has booked a tour from New York to California; her inexperienced guide, Satya; and Rebecca, the unemployed actress hired to chaperone them.
What happens: Despite very disparate backgrounds, the three become something like friends.
Author alert: Though author Leah Franqui currently lives in India, she is not herself Indian; for an Indian author's perspective on newcomers to the U.S., try Amitava Kumar's Immigrant, Montana. |
|
| One Plus One by Jojo MoyesThe problem: House cleaner Jess' daughter Tanzie is a math genius -- but there's no money to send her to a prestigious school. Winning a Scottish math competition could solve the problem -- but they have no way to get there from their home in southern England.
The solution: To avoid some personal and professional problems, Jess' wealthy client Ed Nicholls agrees to drive them (plus Jess' goth stepson and their enormous dog) to Scotland.
Why you might like it: The offbeat journey offers plenty of drama and amusement, as well as a bit of unexpected romance. |
|
| Lake Success by Gary ShteyngartFeaturing: self-made millionaire Barry Cohen, who is baffled by the implosion of his seemingly perfect life (hint: it's his own fault).
What happens: Barry flees his problems by embarking on a poorly thought-out cross-country bus trip (his carry-on is stuffed with expensive watches rather than clothes); meanwhile, his unfulfilled wife starts an affair with a neighbor when not working with her autistic son.
For fans of: Jess Walter's The Financial Lives of the Poets; Patrick DeWitt's French Exit. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|