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Fiction A to Z October 2020
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| His Only Wife by Peace Adzo MedieThis title is On Order.
Starring: young Ghanaian Afi Tekple, who escapes poverty with an arranged marriage to wealthy Eli, who does not attend his own wedding and prioritizes his business (and his mistress) over Afi.
What happens: Making full use of her new family's connections, Afi learns new skills and gains confidence -- and soon wants to be the only woman in her husband's life.
What reviewers say: "an emotional rollercoaster" (Booklist). |
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| The Turner House by Angela FlournoyWhere it's set: The Turner family has owned their home on Detroit's East Side for more than 50 years, but their historically Black, working-class neighborhood has deteriorated badly and it may be time to let go of the now empty house.
What it's about: focusing on three of the 13 Turner siblings, this engaging family saga traces both family and social history, incorporating a family ghost and flashbacks of their late father's early years in Detroit after the Great Migration.
For fans of: the sweep of history found in Ayana Mathis' The Twelve Tribes of Hattie; the importance of home in Naima Coster's Halsey Street and Ann Patchett's The Dutch House. |
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| This Town Sleeps by Dennis E. StaplesWhat happens: Marion Lafournier, a young Ojibwe man in a relationship with a deeply closeted white man, follows the ghost of a dog to the grave of a local basketball star murdered ten years previously, launching him on a quest to find the truth -- and to repair ties within his own family.
Why you might like it: Wry humor and a nonlinear narrative distinguish Ojibwe author Dennis Staples' debut, which captures the crushing lack of options in his Minnesota reservation hometown from multiple perspectives. |
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| Past Perfect by Danielle SteelWhat it's about: a wealthy family has moved from Manhattan to San Francisco, but their new home, grand as it is, seems still to be occupied by a family who used to live there...a century ago.
What happens: The 21st-century Gregory family and the ghostly Butterfields of the early 1900s get along just fine, dressing for dinner, sharing the gossip of their day, and learning about each other's times.
Read it for: a story of family and friendship, and detailed depictions of life for the rich and famous in 1917 -- just be willing to suspend your disbelief before jumping in to this fantastical tale. |
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These Ghosts Are Family
by Maisy Card
Starring: Abel Paisley, a Jamaican immigrant to the U.S. who, decades earlier, faked his death and assumed another man's identity. Now on his deathbed, he's reaching out to the family he left behind.
Why you might like it: Spanning eight generations and 200 years of Jamaican history, this complex debut's large cast of characters provides insight into a family lineage that bore slavery, trauma, and deep regrets.
Read it if: You enjoyed Jennifer Nansumbuga Makumbi's similarly themed (though Uganda-set) Kintu.
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Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts
by Kate Racculia
Starring: an eclectic cast of characters, all sent on an inventive treasure hunt across Boston by an unconventional billionaire's final request.
For fans of: literary and pop culture references; ghost stories; inheritance drama; loners; bankers who used to be theater kids; Edgar Allan Poe; cape-wearing gentlemen; scavenger hunts; camp, whimsy, and eccentricity. And, of course, Ellen Raskin's classic kids' book The Westing Game.
Read this next: Ernest Cline's nostalgic, sci-fi scavenger hunt, Ready Player One.
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The ghost clause
by Howard A Norman
What it's about: Haunting his former home, now occupied by a rookie detective and his wife, ghost Simon witness the impact of a child's disappearance on the couple's relationship. By the award-winning author of The Bird Artist.
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The Afterlives
by Thomas Pierce
Starring: small-town loan officer Jim Byrd, who was technically dead for five minutes before reviving. He's rather disappointed that nothing profound accompanied the experience.
Why that matters: Seeking answers, Jim turns to investigating ghost sightings, psychic readings, and other potentially supernatural activities that now appear commonplace.
Why you might like it: Numerous plots, a breezy tone, and an accessible tinge of science fiction bring light to that common question -- what happens to us after we die?
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A game of ghosts : a Charlie Parker thriller
by John Connolly
What it's about: Tapped by the FBI to search for a missing private detective who had been tracking a series of murders linked to reports of hauntings, Charlie Parker infiltrates a paranormal criminal empire that makes pawns out of both innocent and guilty people.
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Three souls
by Janie Chang
What happens: The ghost of a young Chinese woman is unable to enter the afterlife until she atones for her sins, which are many, but when her 7-year-old daughter, the sole mourner at her funeral, is in danger, she may have to sacrifice her afterlife and remain trapped on earth to save her.
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A Sudden Light
by Garth Stein
Introducing: Trevor Riddell. He is 14 the year that his parents try a trial separation and he and his father move to Riddell House, a 100-year-old wooden mansion outside of Seattle. It's inhabited by Trevor's grandfather, who doesn't want to acquiesce to his children's demands that he move out and sell the land to developers. And the more Trevor learns, the more he sides with his grandfather.
Why you might like it: Part coming-of-age story, part family saga -- and throw in a ghost, to boot -- and this novel is a good choice if you're looking for something that combines a sophisticated writing style with a witty narrative voice.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Central Mississippi Regional Library System
100 Tamberline Street
Brandon, Mississippi 39042
601-825-0100
http://www.cmrls.lib.ms.us
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