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Adult Summer Reading 2020
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Fiction titles are available in both print and digital editions. To place a hold, click on a cover and go to our online catalog. You can schedule Contact-Free Pickup once the item is ready for you. Please see our instructions for scheduling Contact-Free Pickup. |
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Afterland
by
Lauren Beukes
Fleeing west to find a safe haven in a world vastly transformed by a pandemic that has killed nearly all men, a mother disguises her son as a girl to escape dangerous adversaries, including her own sister. 75,000 first printing. Tour.
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All adults here
by
Emma Straub
A matriarch confronts the legacy of her parenting mistakes while her adult children navigate respective challenges in high standards and immaturity, before a teen granddaughter makes a courageous decision to tell the truth. By the best-selling author of Modern Lovers
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All Things Left Wild
by
James Wade
After an attempted horse theft goes tragically wrong, sixteen-year-old Caleb Bentley is on the run with his mean-spirited older brother across the American Southwest at the turn of the twentieth century. Caleb’s moral compass and inner courage will be tested as they travel the harsh terrain and encounter those who have carved out a life there, for good or ill. Wealthy and bookish Randall Dawson, out of place in this rugged and violent country, is begrudgingly chasing after the Bentley brothers. With little sense of how to survive, much less how to take his revenge, Randall meets Charlotte, a woman experienced in the deadly ways of life in the West. Together they navigate the murky values of vigilante justice. Powerful and atmospheric, lyrical and fast-paced, All Things Left Wild is a coming-of-age for one man, a midlife odyssey for the other, and an illustration of the violence and corruption prevalent in our fast-expanding country. It artfully sketches the magnificence of the American West as mirrored in the human soul.Book Annotation
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Beach read
by
Emily Henry
An acclaimed but blocked literary master and a best-selling novelist who has stopped believing in true love agree to a summer-long writing project that challenges them write well in each others’ styles. Original.
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Blacktop wasteland : a novel
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S. A. Cosby
Compelled by poverty to agree to a lucrative final heist that will allow him to go straight, a skilled getaway driver finds his efforts complicated by racial dynamics and the ghosts of his past. 50,000 first printing.
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The book of longings
by
Sue Monk Kidd
A first-century intellectual fights the limitations imposed on women before an encounter with an 18-year-old Jesus leads to their marriage, his dangerous public ministry and her flight to safety in Alexandria. By the author of The Invention of Wings. Maps.
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The city we became
by
N. K. Jemisin
This first book of an exciting new series by a Hugo Award-winning author takes readers into the dark underbelly of New York City, where a roiling, ancient evil stirs in the halls of power, threatening to destroy the city and her six newborn avatars. 150,000 first printing.
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Clean hands
by
Patrick Hoffman
The award-winning author of The White Van presents the story of a corporate lawyer and high-priced fixer who must retrieve a lost cell phone containing vital secret documents, before uncovering the work of an unknown murderer.
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Conjure women : a novel
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Afia Atakora
A midwife and conjurer of curses reflects on her life before and after the Civil War, her relationships with the families she serves and the secrets she has learned about a plantation owner’s daughter. A first novel.
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Death in her hands
by
Ottessa Moshfegh
Discovering a note and grave while walking her dog in the woods, an elderly widow becomes obsessed with learning the victim’s story before her grip on reality is shaken by what she uncovers. By the award-winning author of McGlue.
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Devolution : a firsthand account of the Rainier sasquatch massacre
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Max Brooks
A modern retelling of the Bigfoot legend is presented as a gripping journal by a woman from a high-tech Pacific Northwest community who becomes cut off from civilization by a volcanic eruption before witnessing the flight of starving humanoid beings. Map(s).
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Friends and Strangers
by
J. Courtney Sullivan
Struggling to adjust to small-town life after having a baby, an accomplished New York City journalist immerses herself in social media before bonding with a babysitter from a very different walk of life. By the best-selling author of Maine. Tour.
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The girl from widow hills : a novel
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Megan Miranda
Rendered famous in childhood for her miraculous survival of a dangerous storm, a young woman changes her name and struggles to hide from the media before waking up one evening to find a corpse at her feet. 200,000 first printing.
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A good marriage : a novel
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Kimberly McCreight
Begged for help by an old friend, an overworked lawyer investigates a suspicious death in a Brooklyn brownstone before she is confronted by a close-knit circle of parents who would protect an exclusive school. 100,000 first printing.
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The guest list : a novel
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Lucy Foley
An expertly planned celebrity wedding between a rising television star and an ambitious magazine publisher is thrown into turmoil by petty jealousies, a college drinking game, the bride's ruined dress and an untimely murder. 100,000 first printing.
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Hamnet
by
Maggie O'Farrell
The award-winning author of I Am, I Am, I Am presents the evocative story of a young Shakespeare’s marriage to a talented herbalist before the ravaging death of their 11-year-old son shapes the production of his greatest play.
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The henna artist
by
Alka Joshi
A talented henna artist for wealthy confidantes finds her efforts to control her own destiny in 1950s Jaipur threatened by the abusive husband she fled as a teenage girl. A first novel. 75,000 first printing.
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The herd : a novel
by
Andrea Bartz
When the enigmatic founder of their exclusive New York women’s mentorship community goes missing, two sisters search for answers to protect their friends and careers before uncovering dangerous secrets. By the author of The Lost Night.
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Home before dark : a novel
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Riley Sager
Twenty-five years after her father published a wildly popular nonfiction book based on her family’s rushed exit from a haunted Victorian estate, naysayer Maggie inherits the house and begins renovations, only to make a number of disturbing discoveries.
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If it bleeds : new fiction
by
Stephen King
The award-winning literary master presents a collection of four novella-length tales, complementing the title piece with the stories, Mr. Harrigan's Phone, The Life of Chuck and Rat. One million first printing
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Interlibrary Loan
by
Gene Wolfe
A sequel to A Borrowed Man is set in a future world of artificial intelligence where a clone is loaned out to a little girl before discovering that his original self, a mystery writer, is still alive. 25,000 first printing
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The knockout queen
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Rufi Thorpe
In a novel of love, violence and friendship in the California suburbs, privileged teen Bunny Lampert befriends in-the-closet rebel Michael, who lives on the other side of the tracks.
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Lake Life
by
David James Poissant
The members of the Starling family return for one last weekend to their beloved, but for-sale, summer home in North Carolina, where they witness a tragedy that acts as a catalyst to a series of dramatic revelations. 60,000 first printing.
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The lightness : a novel
by
Emily Temple
One year after her father leaves home for a meditation retreat and never returns, Olivia, yearning to make sense of his departure and to escape her overbearing mother, runs away and retraces his path to a place known as the Levitation Center. A first novel. 100,000 first printing.
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Love
by
Roddy Doyle
Attending his father’s deathbed in hospice, a man reconnects with a drinking buddy from his Dublin youth while reflecting on a long-ago love, his wife’s role in upending his life and the truth about his departure from Ireland.
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Mexican Gothic
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Silvia Moreno-Garcia
A reimagining of the classic gothic suspense novel follows the experiences of a courageous socialite in 1950s Mexico who is drawn into the treacherous secrets of an isolated mansion. By the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow.
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The motion of the body through space : a novel
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Lionel Shriver
Deciding in the face of an ignominious early retirement to enter a triathlon, a once-sedentary narcissist embarks on an obsessive fitness regime while his surgery-debilitated wife is treated with contempt by his sexy personal trainer. 50,000 first printing.
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The only good Indians : a novel
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Stephen Graham Jones
A novel that blends classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. 50,000 first printing.
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Redhead by the side of the road
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Anne Tyler
A tech expert and building superintendent finds his circumscribed routines upended by his significant other’s eviction and the appearance of teen at his doorstep who claims to be his son. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Breathing Lessons.
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Sad Janet : a novel
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Lucie Britsch
Preferring to avoid the prescription medications utilized and recommended by her worried loved ones, a depressed dog shelter employee is compelled by a breakup and the holiday season to try a promising new medication, with unexpected results. A first novel.
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Sex and vanity : a novel
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Kevin Kwan
When George, the man with whom she had brief fling several years earlier, unexpectedly appears in East Hampton, newly engaged Lucie Churchill is drawn to him again and spins a web of deceit in an attempt to block him from her life – and her heart.
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Sorry for your trouble : stories
by
Richard Ford
A new short-story collection by the award-winning author of Independence Day includes the novella, "The Run of Yourself," in which a New Orleans lawyer tackles the challenges of living beyond his Irish wife's death. 150,000 first printing
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Utopia Avenue : a novel
by
David Mitchell
The members of a music band in 1967 London navigate the era’s parties, drugs and politics as well as their own egos and tragedies while exploring transformative perspectives about youth, art and fame. By the award-winning author of Cloud Atlas.
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The vanishing half
by
Brit Bennett
Separated by their embrace of different racial identities, two mixed-race identical twins reevaluate their choices as one raises a black daughter in their southern hometown while the other passes for white with a husband who is unaware of her heritage.
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