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| Early Morning Riser by Katherine HeinyWhat it's about: the ever-evolving relationship between second-grade teacher Jane and the local Casanova, Duncan. Over 17 years, they form an unconventional family that includes his ex-wife and a childlike coworker.
Why you might like it: Buzzing with humor and peopled with characters who are easy to root for, this engaging tale of quotidian small-town life is a heartwarming portrayal of community.
For fans of: Emma Straub's All Adults Here; Amy Poeppel's Musical Chairs. |
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| Caul Baby by Morgan JerkinsStarring: three generations of Melancons, a Harlem family of healers who sell their caul only to wealthy white families while ignoring their Black neighbors. Until, that is, a child they're raising as their own starts looking into her own past.
Read it for: the consequences of Harlem's gentrification over 20 years; the intergenerational links among two Black families; the questions of belonging and identity; the touches of magical realism.
Read this next: The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. |
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| The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez QuadeWhat it is: the tale of three generations of the Padilla family, whose matriarch is dying, whose first son is an ambitionless alcoholic, whose pregnant teen is both strong and frail.
Read it for: the depictions of faith and religion, New Mexico's rich culture and traditions, and the Mexican-American family at the heart of it all.
What you need to know: The Five Wounds is the July pick for Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club; it's an expansion of a short story from author Kristin Valdez Quade's collection Night of the Fiestas. |
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The lamplighters
by Emma Stonex
A debut non-pseudonymous novel of psychological suspense, based on true events, follows the experiences of three wives on a remote Cornish Coast tower when their lighthouse-keeper husbands go mysteriously missing.
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| The Night Always Comes by Willy VlautinStarring: 30-year-old Portland, Oregon waitress Lynette, who's been working multiple jobs to buy the house that she, her mother, and her disabled brother are living in.
What happens: This is a heart-wrenching novel from an author who specializes in the downtrodden, so it will come as no surprise that the initial deal Lynette has worked out fails...and she's moved by desperation to consider other, more dangerous options to secure housing for her family.
Read it for: an exploration of the perils of gentrification; the fully realized and sympathetic characters; Lynette's inner strength. |
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Coffee, Tea and Comfort Food |
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Hana Khan carries on
by Uzma Jalaluddin
When the halal restaurant where she waitresses is threatened by new competition, a rising podcaster uncovers a long-buried family secret and falls for a rival before their community is upended by a hate attack. Original.
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The kitchen front : a novel
by Jennifer Ryan
"From the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies' Choir comes a new World War II-set story of four women on the home front competing for a spot hosting a BBC wartime cookery program and a chance to better their lives. Two years into World War II, Britain is feeling her losses; the Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front is putting on a cooking contest--and the grand prize is a job as the program's first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the contest presents a crucial chance to change their lives. For a young widow, it's a chance to pay off her husband's debts and keep aroof over her children's heads. For a kitchen maid, it's a chance to leave servitude and find freedom. For the lady of the manor, it's a chance to escape her wealthy husband's increasingly hostile behavior. And for a trained chef, it's a chance to challenge the men at the top of her profession. These four women are giving the competition their all--even if that sometimes means bending the rules. But with so much at stake, will the contest that aims to bring the community together serve only to break it apart?"
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Egg shooters
by Laura Childs
Interrupting an emergency room shooter at the local hospital, Cackleberry Club Café owner Suzanne teams up with Petra and Toni to find the escaped killer before he tracks them down. By the best-selling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries.
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| The Peacock Emporium by Jojo MoyesWhat happens: Searching for a place to belong, Suzanna Fairley-Hume opens the Peacock Emporium, a coffee and curiosities shop in her small British hometown, making connections with the town's residents that help her to take control of her life.
For fans of: relationship-oriented novels in which new friendships lead to new opportunities for growth and self-fulfillment -- and a happy ending. |
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| The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa SeeWhat it's about: the bond between mothers and daughters; China's centuries-old tea business; international and trans-racial adoptions.
Starring: Haley, given to a Chinese orphanage with only a cake of rare tea to point to her origins and adopted by white Americans; her birth mother Li-Yan, who's deeply involved in the Yunnan Province tea market and who narrates much of this absorbing tale.
Read this next: Meng Jin's Little Gods. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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