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Fiction A to Z October 2020
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| The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysettby Annie LyonsWhat it's about: the end-of-life decisions of a world-weary octogenarian, who unexpectedly forges a bond with an exuberant child, who drags her out into a brighter world.
Read it if: you can't get enough of cantankerous older characters and their unlikely friendships, such as in Frederik Backman's A Man Called Ove, Elizabeth Berg's The Story of Arthur Truluv, or Beth Morrey's The Love Story of Missy Carmichael. |
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Edgar Allan Poe and the Empire of the Deadby Karen Lee StreetWhat happens? Summer, 1849. When Edgar Allan Poe travels to Paris to help his dear friend hunt down the elusive criminal who bought the Dupin family to ruin during the French Revolution, the sleuthing duo are engaged by the prefect of police to recover the stolen letter of an infamous Parisian salonnire. Is the thief one of the French literary greats who attend her salons, or might it be Dupin's own enemy who is scheming to become the Emperor of France? Poe and Dupin are quickly embroiled in a deadly cat and mouse game that takes them to the treacherous tunnels of the city's necropolis, where few who venture into the notorious Empire of the Dead manage to return from the darkness.
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The 2084 Report : an oral history of the Great Warmingby James Lawrence PowellWhat happens? This vivid, terrifying, and galvanizing novel reveals our future world after previous generations failed to halt climate change. 2084: Global warming has proven worse than even the direst predictions scientists had made at the turn of the century. No country-and no one-has remained unscathed. Through interviews with scientists, political leaders, and citizens around the globe, this riveting oral history describes in graphic detail the irreversible effects the Great Warming has had on humankind and the planet.
Perfect for: fans of The Drowned World and World War Z.
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Husband Materialby Emily Belden What's it about? Twenty-nine-year-old Charlotte Rosen has a secret: she's a widow. Ever since the fateful day that leveled her world, Charlotte has worked hard to move forward. Great job at a hot social media analytics company? Check. Roommate with no knowledge of her past? Check. Adorable dog? Check. All the while, she's faithfully data-crunched her way through life, calculating the probability of risk so that she can avoid it.
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Catherine Houseby Elisabeth ThomasWhat it's about: Catherine House is a school of higher learning like no other. Hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania, this crucible of reformist liberal arts study with its experimental curriculum, wildly selective admissions policy, and formidable endowment, has produced some of the world’s best minds: prize-winning authors, artists, inventors, Supreme Court justices, presidents. For those lucky few selected, tuition, room, and board are free. But acceptance comes with a price. Students are required to give the House three years—summers included—completely removed from the outside world. Family, friends, television, music, even their clothing must be left behind. In return, the school promises a future of sublime power and prestige, and that its graduates can become anything or anyone they desire.
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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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The Boy Who Drew Monstersby Keith DonohueWhat happens: Developing agoraphobia after nearly drowning, a ten-year-old boy draws increasingly disturbing pictures of monsters while his parents search for answers about strange noises coming from the nearby ocean at night.
Read it if: you like contemporary stories about family and personal dramas, and you're looking for something creepy that you'll want to read with the lights on.
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| Lost and Wanted by Nell FreudenbergerWhat it's about: Wealthy, stylish Charlie (who is Black) and nerdy scholarship student Helen (who is white) were best friends and roommates in college. Twenty years later, Charlie is dead...but Helen continues to receive texts from her.
Is it for you? This complex, leisurely paced novel is as much a character study of Helen, now a respected scientist, as it is a story of female friendship. Deep discussions of physics add an intriguing layer of appeal. |
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by Laura Purcell
Some doors are locked for a reason. Newly married, newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling country estate, The Bridge. With her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie only has her husband's awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. For inside her new home lies a locked room, and beyond that door lies a two-hundred-year-old diary and a deeply unsettling painted wooden figure - a Silent Companion - that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself.
Where it's set: A crumbling estate in the countryside of Victorian England. Very atmospheric with a strong sense of place. Is it for you? True gothic horror, and deeply disturbing in places but with a strong literary voice, this is only for those looking for a genuine scare. It features slow building tension and psychological torment in the classic tradition of the genre.
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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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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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